Hutchinson gazette., 1900-07-05
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BILLY CRUDBNs OPPORTUNITY (

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BILLY CRUDBN's OPPORTUNITY Z
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The quiet of the autumn night was
very agreeable to Billy Crudden. The
black shadow that the white moon
sent dancing about him appeared al
most friendly and companionable, as
II II were purt of him. He stnlked
through the village street with n con.
seriousness that In all the world there
were but two souls-hls own and that
of one other. He expected 10 see the
other very soon,
The autumn evenings in Moutre
village were always quiet. In the vim
ter there We're the choir meetings on
Saturday evening; and donation par
ty at the Baptist minister's OCCASION
ally; and In the enrly summer I'm ice
cream purity ut Nav Gllford's house
was ns regular as the Fourth Of July,
which Mourie celebrated In Il modest
wny, In the autumn the men folk
were tired when night came, for dur
ing the working hours Of the day
there was the cider to make and The
apples to store away, Und the corn TO
put In the bins, and the clstern to fN,
and the wood to split, md the burns
TO roof, and the colts to shOd, and the
loose bricks 10 fnsten ON the Chmneys,
and there seemed to be no end to odd
jobs; and during the long winter days
were short and the snow was deep, So
the men went to bed soon after sup.
per, and so did the women, for some
Of them had Il good many cows TO
milch early In the morning, and some
others were economical with the can
dies and the oil; for they were iru.
gal folk and wasted nothing save tho
years that slipped away,
There was light in the red tavern
MS Billy Crudden passed. and through
the open door he saw Il couple Of
neighbors talking with the landlord
over the bar, but he glunccd at them
in Il disntcrestcd way and logged on
down the hill toward the tunnery-
with his shadow dancing merrily be-
fore him, lie wns tall, rugged youth,
with the sharp features OF lcnnsyl.
yania Dutch in his face. His hands
were large like his feet and his fng.
crs were blunt like his speech, and
his clothes were badly cut like his
hair. lie was unpoliShed, aud unrash-
i0ncd, even coarse and rude at times,
but through his gentle blue eyes
those little windows Of the sou---one
could see The pathetic sweetness Of
the real man and almost lhe throDbing
Of his big heart.
There was a small white house, with
green shutters on the other side Of the
village, for Noutrie was built upon q
hill, with valley all around II; and
when Billy Cruddcn left the white
house, where he and his mother had
lived, he had to climb the hill 20 III
the red tavern, and then 90 down am
other hill toward the tannery, WHITTIER
he was bound on this quiet autumn
evening, lie crossed the old wooden
bridge, under which ran u gurglng
creek on It's way to the saw mill, and
walked on with Il livelier step. As ho
reached point OPPOSITE the tanncry
he gave Il long whistlc--a low Groom.
ing note followed by a sharp, Fhrill
one--not unlike the cry OF Bob White,
"NhirSt-Whirst," came Il faint whist.
ling murmur from the meadow beyond
the tannery, which caused the young
mans pulse to beat more rapidly, and
the black shadow in front OF m
danced up and down and sideways;
then it disappeared as he leaped the
meadow fence with II bound, only to
come back again like a long thin skel-
cton, rs he crossed the meadow.
over in the field "A red wagon box,
rather the worse for the weather it
had seen,luy bottom upward under an
apple Jrcc--a poor, intrm, old apple
tree, lonely remnant OF other days,
that gave no fruit and held on TO life
in its old age as If it were afraid to die,
On the wagon box sat a girl in the
moonlight She was not n pretty girl
and she was burerooted and barehead-
ed. Her brown hair reached to her
waist, and some of it hung over her
forehead like a VEIL and got into her
eyes and annoyed her, and forced her
to form habit Of tossing her head
sideways which made people accuse
her of turning up her nose at them,
but people were mistaken, and thus
Jennie Moul Il misjudged and a very
much wronged young woman, She
had n pug nose, and she found 1t quite
impossible to turn it up even had she
wanted to, and then she had no de-
sircs that way Jennie was sensi-
Bile girl, too matter of fact and com,
monplacc to turn up her nose Mt any
one or any thing.
Though Jennie Moul was not Il pret-
ty girl as one measures beauty, she
WAS always charming TO those who
knew her intimately and even to those
who knew her slightly. 1t all depend
ed how well one knew her. Her eyes
were remarkably large, and ,hey
were brown, like her hands, and her
checks were red like the gown she
wore. and her nose was stubbed Ike
the big toe on her right foot; forwhcn
Jennie came across the meadow from
her pap's house above the hillside she
had stubblcd on some roots and had
stubbcd her toe on Il jagged stone that
stuck its ugly peak out of the short
grass, like the most sunkcn wreck
When Billy Crudden approached the
apple tree he saw Jennie holding her
right foot across her knee, and he al