Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1902-03-07
SHIFLESS RUFE'S LOVEMAKING

at all bad looking and that he seemed
twice the man he had been before.
"Mr Dunning," she said, II hope
youll keep your bargain faithfully, as
shall keep mine. After you have
worked hard for year you may come
and see me--once. Whether you may
come again or not will depend on your.
self. Good-evening, Mr.. Dunning."
From the time he left the big house
that night he was fit to drop the title
"shiftless." Next morning, as soon as
II was light the ring of his AK was
heard across the valley. biting out the
chips as he chopped down the first tree
Of his year long stunt. Long before
noon that day his big, pulpy hands
were blistered and swollen, and by
shutdown they were a sight to be.
hold. That night his mother cried
over them and urged him to stop think
ing about the proud, stuck-up girl on
the other side of the valley.
The ideal" muttered the old won.
en- between whifls of her clay pipe
while she dressed Shiftless Rufe's
hand. DO you think Kitty Sylvester
will look at you Just because you've
been fool enough to work a whole
year? Why, it's puffickly ridiglis |
allus knew you was a little in you
head. Ruie, but didn't think you'd
make fool OF yourself for no conCeit.
ed Sylvester girl"
Shiftless RUFF made no reply, bui
while yet the next morning was gray
the sound Of the busy AK was again
waited across the valley, and this con.
tinued to the going down OF the sun.
And so IT went on. day after day, all
the fall and through the winter. No
matter how deep the snow. or how
stormy the weather, Rufe toiled uE.
ceasingly.
Before spring folks got to going by
! Rules ak and lantern in beginning aud
/ leaving off work mornings and nights
the same as they go by the big tannery
whistle down the valley now. and no.
body who began work as early as RuIs
did and worked till Rufe's lantern was
out at night was counted lazy.
/ And Rufe did more than chop cord.
wood that winter. He learned to read,
and this both his mother and father
considered a far more "ridiklis' pro
Ceeding. Yet more: he went to meet
ing every Sunday as regular as the
most piUus and thrifty of the whole
neighborhoOd. Not that he became re.
: ligious, so far as know, but by going
( to meeting he could get a glimpse or
two every Sunday of Kitty Sylvester.
Nobody knew then now this devotion
OF her once shiftless, no-account lover
affected Kitty Sylvester, but we learn.
ed afterward that the sound OF the AK
from morning to night echoing across
the valley became as music to her
ears, and that the light Of his candle
shining through the trees in the morn,
lngs and the evenings was delightful.
to her eyes.
| At last the long winter, with It's
cold its storms and its darkness wore
away. the spring passed and the sum.
mer with its heat came.
"Now Rufe'l weaken" said the loaf.
ers about the store. IT'S all right to
work hard when it's cold and the air
is bracing. but he'll let up in the hot
weather sure"
But they were wrong. All through
the .-eated term Rufe's ak gave rOisy
notice that he was still working. and
when fall began II was still biting our
chips and splitting up lengths.
On the last day of the stipulated
twelve months Shiftless Rufe went To-
work early and began with quick, eager
strokes to cut big hickory. He had
become an expert aXman by this time
j and the sun was not yet nigh in the
sky when the big tree came down with
q crash.
II so happened that | was over In the
big woods that day with a neighbor
looking at the timber We heard the
tree fall and at the same timc a
scream as II a strong man were in NOR.
tai agony, In hurry ran in the di.
rection of the sound, guided by low
means that followed the shrek. There
pinned under a branch of the fallen
tree. lay Shiftless Rufe, badly crushed
and barely conscious. For the first
time In the entire year he had miscal
Culated in telling his tree.
u wish you'd take me over to Sylves
ter's first" he said family. Il want
to call on his daughter. She said
might come tonight-and SO did her
g., father-and-maybe-if you take me
home before | go there | won't be able
to see her tonight al all
And so it was that was present
when Rufe Cunning made love to Kit
ty Sylvester. His love.mahing didn't
take long, for his strength was about
gone. but he had time to say what he
wanted TO say and to hear what he
wanted to hear. Gp.r.
And when, after long look into Kit
> tvs eyes, poor Rufe peacefully closed
his own, his big hand, no longer soft
and pulpy, but sinewy and strong
clasped her little one in the clasp OF
an accepted and acceptable lover
Nebraska State Journal.