Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-10-29
THE DAILY
SHORT STORY.
Antonio


his way. IL was early morning and
raining-a cold drizzle that fell in
cessantly on his cap. and soaked his
shoes. He was not very warmly
dressed either. as there had been no
one TO see whether he was or not 4;
for Antonio belonged 10 large ltal-
ian family of children whose parents
were TOO busy to pay any attention
To them. save when they told them
what their days work was To he. or
when they were unusually bad
On this particular morning bust
ness was not very brisk. even after
Tony had spread out his wares in the
most tempting manner. very few
people of the hurrying crowd that
passed him. paused To buy: they
were all TOO anxious to get to shelter
themselves. So il was rather dull
morning. The only thing that hap
pened Ia break the monotony was "a
| fight with two small Swedes. and
even that was an every day occur
renee: for they went To school. an !
Antonio did not: and they Haunted
thei learning in his face and he
thrashed them. and so il went
In fact. there was only one OF An
tonio's family that did go To school.
and that was Frances; the only
daughter. and the baby. and the pet
of the family who must have what
ever little American girls had. Not
that he was Jealous of Frances. no
indeed: not even though he wanted
10 go To school more than she did. "a
great deal more. But then il was
her right.
Al noon time. the crowd on the
sidewalk i'm front of him grew denser.
and the street was fun of cars. car
riages. and wagons. More people
patronized his fruit stall. and he was
kept pretty busy. Then something
! happened.
Right i'm front of his stall. was II
bit of track that ran down grade.
and on rainy days il was almost inn
possible to stop the cars on il. Hap
pening 10 look up. while making
change for customer. he saw
Frances standing on that bit of
track. calmly watching the car slide
toward her-FranceS with smile ON
her pretty. baby face and her tiny
braids tied up. close To her diminu5
tive ears.
For IL minute. Antonio tried 10 cry
ont. tried To run. and could nor. But
only for u minute: then he sprang
out and dragged her off the track.
~ he turned To run. he slipped and
fell. striking his head. For n minute
he felt dizzy. and then n sense of
pain. then SiIcnce-silence in the
midst Of the crowd who tried. vainly.
To get past the big policeman hold
ing wee grille who. crying. said
~ on killa my Tony. YOU killa my
iony!"
The next thing Tony knew. he was
i'm soft. small he'd in long room.
full of beds. \ sweet faced woman
bent over him.
Lie still" she said. and To the boy
her voice sounded q! so sweet and
kind. For a minute. he did not know
where he was. and lay looking up al
her stupidity.
Won were hurt" the nurse sug
gested. Then memory came back
with rush.
+ Frances" he murmured.
''She is safe" said the nurse.
Then he sank into unconsciousnesS
again. The next time he came To. il
was with the sound of voice in
his ears: voice that neither rose.
nor fell. but seemed To GO on and on
i'm monotone. Upon opening his
eyes he saw his mother kneeling by
the side of the bed. crying. and AT
the foot knelt a priest praying in
Latin: il was his voice that Antonio
had heard. As he lay still and list
ened. a great fear clutched at his
heart. He was going to die. Did he
not know that this was the last thing
they did before person died? And
then even as he was thinking. he
tioated off again.
After that. he came to oftener
than before. Sometimes il was the
nurse that was beside him: some
times the doctor who told him that
he was fine boy. and would soon be
we'll: sometimes IL was his mother
and the priest: and once little Frances
came and cried and kissed him. But
the climax was one day when he was
some better. He opened his eyes
and saw his father, his father with
a look on his face the nearest to
tenderness that Antonio had ever
seen, but when he spoke, it was i'm
the same tone of voice in which he
said. You no sella da fruit. Won
getta da lick
''You liza still. YOU getta we'll"
Then he rose and stalked across the
room. Just as he reached the door
he turned. Il bring you banan." he
said. and went out.
Antonio turned and looked toward
the table. where the bananas lay.
Then he received a shock. 1t was
not the kind that he was accustomed
to eating. il was the twenty
five cent fruit-the kind only sold TO
the very best customers. o. surely
ne was not long for this world when
his father wasted good fruit on him
like this, Neither the prayers of the