The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1909-06-10
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
WAXEY AND !
THE RAT
BY ALLEN p. AMES.
By ALLEN p. AMES.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Copyright, by j. Il. Lippincott Coz

WaXey-so- called on account of his
peculiarly colorless compleXion-wan-
dcred gloomily up the street meditat-
ing plans of revenge. He had been
wTonged by the Italian who kept the
fruit store around the corner-so
grossly wronged that for the first time
in year he was moved to tears. They
were no idle, wOman's tears, but the
tears of a man who pOnders as he
weeps, and the childish paroxysm Of
anger had already been succeeded by
a period of calm thought. But several
schemes presented by his precocious
wits had been rejected as inadequate
until finally he had begun to despair
of ever getting even. His grimy little
fists sunk deeper into his trousers
pockets, and his backing box dangled
dejcctedly from his shoulder with none
Of its customary air of commercial
alertness.
Giuseppe, the Italian, wasn't such q
bad fellow at heart. His two besetting
sins, ayariCe and vanity, worked their
own punishment, for his life was a con
slant struggle between them. When he
called WaXey into his little hole in the
wall and set him TO polishing his boots
he really meant TO pay the boy 1t was
the evening when he called on Bettina,
and his boots must be as radiant as
the bosom of his one white shirt, which
had come from the laundry that same
day smooth and shiny as the back Of a
celluloid hairbrush. But when the job
was done and the bootblack arose per-
spring with exercise in the close little
room, Giuseppe's heart misgave him.
A nickel-five cents! 1t was a tremen-
dous fee for such an infant.
"Gooda boy, Wax said he; q give
you MICA banan' for dat Amt you
glade
Nav yer don't" growled the boy.
Il want five cents. The kids would fire
me orter der union If ! gave shines
for less'n dat"
But Giuseppe, undisturbed and smil-
ing, cut long, yellow banana from the
bunch and proffered it with the air Of
one comforting the freedom of a city.
You gOoda boy" he repeated, showing
his white teeth; II giva you MICA ba-
man," and, needless of WaXey's pro
tests, forced the fruit into his hand
and gently pushed him out Of the store
Then after locking the door he retired
TO the little back room where he slept
and cooked his meals to dress for the
evening, leaving the boy to pound on
the door and shrek black curses at the
top of his shrill treble. Wishing to
avoid the annoyance of further encoun.
ter, the Italian left his quarters by a
window which opened into a rear al
ley; and WaXey, after wearing himself
| out storming at the entrance, flung the
| banana on the sidewalk and walked
| away, sohbiug.
And now dark despair was settling
| about him when, like mamma dropped
| from heaven to feed his starved sense
| Of Justice, he bcheld right at his feet
| the means Of deliyerance, and great
wave of joy swept over him as he
| stopped ana picked up an enormous
| dead rat The narrow street rang with
his whoop Of delight as the tail came
of in his grasp and the bloated body
dropped back to the pavement. The
rat was well-ripe. For the
| same reason its value was doubled
Most persons, upon making such O
| glorious find, would have hurried
lhoughtlessly to their enemy's door
flung the rat In, and departed well sat
ished But Waxey was not so servilt
to custom Dead rats did not Otter
come his way, and he had no intention
Of wasting such superb specimen al
this.
Charley lIerzog, ne greengrocel
and faithful friend gave for the ask
ing several sheets of thick wrappin,