Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-06-07

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 s SSsea.} ga' Tvtng tsp some slender stalk to ats stick. nursery He was frugal, sober and in dustTious. Small wonder that in that growing town he waxed rich and pres entity opened restaurant in the main street, connected with his market gar den, which became famous. His rela- tions to me never changed with his changed fortunes. He was always the simple market gardener and florist who had aided my first housekeeping and stood by me in an hour of need.
 Of all things regarding himself he was singularly reticent. I do not think he had any con6dants or intimates, even among his own countrymen, whom believed to be German. But one day he quite accidentally admitted he was a Swiss. As a youthful admirer of the race was delighted and told him so, with the enthusiastic addition that. could not quite understand his inde- pendence, with his devoted adherence to anothers cause. He smiled sadly and astonished me by saying that he had not heard from Switzerland since K he left, six years ago. He did not want to hear anything. He even avoided his countrymen lest he should was con- founded
 "But'' I said, surely you have a longing to return to your country All Swiss have. You will go back some day just to breathe the air of your native mountains"
 T shall go back some days" said Ruetli, after have made mooch, mooch money, but not for dot air.''
 What for, then?"
 "For revenge-to get efen."
 Surprised and for moment dismay- ed, as I was, could not help laughing Ruetli and revenge! Impossible! And to make it more absurd, he was still smoking gently and regarding me with soft, complacent eyes. So unchanged were his face and manner that he might have told me he was going back to be married
 "You do not oonderstand,' he said forgivingly. Some days shall dell to you 1t. It is story. You shall make 1t yourselluf for dose babers dot you write. It is not pretty perhaps, ain't it? But it is droo. And der endt is not yet''
 Only that Ruetli never joked, except in ponderous fashion with many in- volved sentences, should have thought he was taking good humored rise out of me. But it was not funny. I am afraid dismissed it from Iny mind as s revelation of something weak and puerile, quite inconsistent with his practical common sense and strong sim plicity, and wished he had not alluded to it. I never asked him to tell me the story. It was a year later, and only { when he had invited me to come to the opening of new hotel erected by him at mountain spa of great resort, that he himself alluded to 1t.
 The hotel was a wonderful affair even for those days, and Ruetli's out lay of capital convinced me that by this time he must have made the ''mooch money" he coveted, Something of this was in my mind when we sat by the window of his handsomely fur nished private office overlooking the pines of California canyon. I asked him If the scenery was like Switzer- land.
 "Ach, nor' he replied. 'But I will puild hotel shoost like dis dare"
 "Is that part of your revenge?" asked, with laugh.
 "Ah, so-a bart"
 felt relieved A revenge so prac- tical did not seem very malicious or idiotic. After pause he puffed con- templatively at his pipe and then said, T dell you somedings of dot story now"
 He began. should like to tell it in his own particular Mlnglish, mixed with American slang, but it would not con- vey the simplicity of the narrator. He was the son of a large family that had lived for centuries in one of the highest villages in the Bernese Oberland. He attained his size and strength early, but had singular distaste for the rough regular work on the farm, al- though he was a great climber and mountaineer He had an unsuitable love and curious knowledge of plants and flowers and knew the haunts of edelweiss, Alpine rose and blue gen. tian and had brought home rare d unknown blossoms from under the icy lips of glaciers But as hM did this when his time was supposed to be oc- cupied in looking after the cows in the higher pastures and making cheeses, there was trouble in that hardworking, practical far4ily. A. giant with the