St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1906-04-07
Luiigii's
Good Fortune
By FRANK HI. SWEET
Author of 1.-THE Capture Of the
Expedition" etc.
lCopyrieht, lg06. By Joseph 3. Bowles. J

copyright, i9O6. By Joseph =. Bowles)
Luigi ran his push-cart into an al
ley, looked sharply to thesflght and
left, then stepped behind the cart and
took his money from his pocket and
counted it anxiously. Seventy-two
cents-three Ira and a half. At home
Ira would keep him, with prudence,
for whole week; here, it took Ira
to pay for his corner Of room for a
single night. and another Ira for the
rent of his push-cart. And Rhetta's
mother had told him he must never
linger at their fruit counter again un-
til he could show at least a hundred
Ira.
A long, hopeless sigh started from
the depths of his chest, only to be cut
In half by vigorous thump of his fist
upon the push-cart. That was how
the man had done when he shouted
to them from the top of barrel the
night before, telling how the straight
road to the presidential chair was
through voting for the right alder
man. It was q good, strong, vigorous
way, . get there" way, as the man
had said; and once more Luigis small
Italian fist came down with the big
American thump Did he not have the
three and a half Ira already, and was
not his cart rounded into pyramids
with fresh fruit-two whole punches
of banan', cut into five and seven and
twelve fingers, to at various needs,
with half of an American box of or
anges. and apple and peach and
grape? He would hurry back and
make the hundred Ira in the quick
New York way. and then take it to
Rhetta's mother to buy fruit for their
stand. A stand was more lordly than
q cart, and he and Rhetta would stay
behind the counter and hold hands
and sell, while the shrewd old mother
did the buying and looked after their
whole room-or perhaps two rooms as
they became rich.
Il vigorous push sent the cart from
the alley back into the midst OF the
clashing turmoil of objurgation and
wheeling and disputing. the lodging
of wagons and horses feet and the ell
bowling Of competitors. Luigis eyes
were bright and his cheeks flushed
with the vigor Of his thoughts, but some
how, in this maelstrom of traffic, the
attaining Of the purpose did not seem
so easy as it had back there in the al.
I'm a
vendors were after the same thing
money, money, money; and they were
veterans in the pursuit, while he was
but a newcomer. Could he hope to
grasp the hundred Ira in the wild
scramble?
" All the good corners were occupied,
all the eligible places along the curbs
and at the crossings. As he pushed
his cart in toward the sidewalk from
time to time, or sought place near
q: corner, in hope Of q customer, he
was scowled at and thrust and threat
ened aside. These were their places,
they said. He must go and find some
unoccupied spot.
so he pushed on and on, keeping as
close to one or the other sidewalk as
he dared, and seeing customers pur-
chase from carts adjoining without SO
much as noticing his entreating voice
and reckoning fingers. But of course
it was natural. Where there were so
many carts, people bought from the
most convenient.
However, Luigi had one quality for
success which few OF his competitors
possessed, and that was liberality.
He had never heard Of the great
trench banker Lafitte, who was SO
kind-hearted and generous that he
was a universal dupe, yet who, be-
cause OF this very quality, rose from a
poor boy to be one of the richest and
most influential men Of France; or OF
many other great men whose chief
cause of success was the libera1ity
that brought them friends and patron
age. Indeed, il Luigi had paused to
consider his generosity as business
factor, he would have felt depressed
and very likely taken himself to task
for the failing. When he gave bana-
mas and oranges to big-eyed street
urchins whom he caught watching his
cart hungrily, it was through mo-
mentary kindly impulse, without
thought OF the past or future. But
then Luigi was only Is and but three
months in Elizabeth street, and the
warmth Of his own sunny Italy was
still In his heart and eyes and voice.
At length he stopped in the very
busiest part OF the street, with two
carts between him and the curb. He
had not made sale in an hour and,
IL no better, this spot could certainly
be no worse; 1t certainly would afford
him more things to look at.
Among these objects were presently
two weazen faced children, scarcely
old enough to be away from their
mothers skirts. They were standing
near the end Of his cart, holding hands.
their big, hollow eyes fixed hungrily
upon the fruit.
Luigi did not hesitate an instant. Sc
lecting the two largest Of the oranges
and bananas from his cart he gave them
to the children, and then stood watch
ing the wondering, incredulous eyes
and the almost savage joy with which
they began to devour the fruit.
He was too absorbed to notice upon
the sidewalk a group of persons who