The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-10-29
A KNIGHT OF THE
TWENTIETH CENTURY


In terse words, the dispatches have
told the story of Billy Rugh, the
crippled newsboy, who gave skin of
his useless leg to save the life OF lit
tie Ethel Smythe, who was dying Of
burns in a nearby hospital, but IL re-
NAMED for the Texas Stylus to tell of
the true 'knighthood and romance in
the newsie's soul. which proved again
that the noblest sentiments may spring
from the CRIME of the gutter, even as
the pure-white lily flower lifts Its
head from the mud in which its roots
find their native home. The Stylus
says:
"Hully Gee, but dat COILS peach"
was the ecstatic, even IL vernacular,
expression of the crippled newsboy on
the corner, as the little girl with eyes
as blue as cornfiowers swept by on her
bicycle, her shapely, flashing, white
stockinged limbs moving crescendo on
the pedals and marking a vivid con-
trast in life and motion to the wither-
ed leg that was trailed by Billy Rugh,
newsy, "crip," and child OF the gutter.
The brown eyes under the shock OF
red hair blazed in the smudged white
face of the lad with admiration and
the healthful lassie. with the yellow
curls who used the paved sidewalks as
a right of way and rode her wheel
over them like the prettiest and most
reckless OF meteorites.
Socialists and philosophers might
well have sighed at the contrast be-
tween this little daughter of the rich
and this little son of the very poor,
but the little girl, moved to pity per-
haps by the lads crippled leg, had
flashed him a smile as she wheeled by
and the look that he cast upon her
was frankly adoring, and the demo-
cratic telepathy Of childhood had es-
tablished a wordless friendship be-
tween the two children separated by
the chasm of Dives.
Billy was no saint-no Juvenile mar
tyr He was born in a tenement, had
early lost such parents as he CHANGED
to have, could give a good account of
himself in a scrap with the other little
paper merchants, and shot craps and
snipes with the easy grace of the gut
ter urchin. He had tramped his way
into the little Indiana town, defended
his street corner vi ct crutches and
was as shrill and insistent as any of
his compeers in yelling 'Uxtra; all
only fl cents!"
Billy was a graduate from that orig
inal university of hard knocks, yclept
the Bowery, and his ocabulary was
fluent and untrammeled. ITS up to
muh to be muh own bes' fren','' Billy
was accustomed to say, and what
got in muh pocket that's muh." Fairly
he maintained himself in the brigand
life of the street Arabs, despite the
constant handicap of the trailing leg
withered from birth. He had never
read Of Roland or Paladin, Grail knight
or noblesse oblige and no one had
ever told him of Sir Philip Sidney's
gallant deed on a Dutch battlefield.
His heroes were the sluggers of Nc
Graw's Giants, Teddy Roosevelt the
lion slayer, and John L. Sullivan and
he yearned in his passionate little
heart for some one of the other of the
numerous white Hopes" to make
good and knock the everlastin' coco
on of liz Arthur" He was as much ar
alien to Sunday school as he was t
dancing school. although he would
have been undeniably interested IL
some of the stunts pulled off by David
and his freebooters in the Cave o.
Adullam.
Barney the barkeep" and Mike tn,
vender OF ''veeners" were his friends
and in the circles in which he moved h,
was regarded as educated and an au
thority on such matters as possessed {
real interest to the human race.
Billy was ignorant of the adage tina
"a cat may look at a king" but h,
was thoroughly cognizant that ;
gutter-snipe might look at a queen
and little Ethel Smythe, of the shape
ly, white-stockinged legs and the corn
flower eyes, he regarded as the queen
lest thing in queens.
Ethel lived in the big house will
the glazed brick front and the modern
plumbing. Her parents were rich AM
she was thoroughly acquainted witt
the uses OF grapefruit, marrons glaces
bath tubs, orange sticks, governesses
Sunday schools, and dancing ditto, i'm
ported soap and tooth brushes, to all o
which things Red Top Billy had re
NAMED a stranger. She loved outdoo
sports and especially her bicycle, o
which she had an expert knowledge
and rode with dashing grace tina
caused more eyes than Billy's t.
brighten. She did not know of Billy
exploits and achievements in his owl
world any more than he knew of he
in bicycling, but her tender little hear
ached for the white-faced boy on tn
corner who must always trail the use
less withered limb. and in the fire
masonry Of exchanged smiles the un
phrased friendship was formed, fed b.
pity on the one side and worship Of
the other.
1t was September. and the water ma
pies on the sidewalk had begun I
deck themselves in their red and gol
autumnal flnery. The air was shar
and crisp, with just a suspicion o
frost. and the sun shone valiantly an
with sparkle. Billy was at his corne
calling out "papes," when the purrin
of rubber-tires on the sidewalk, an
the flash Of white and blue warned hir
that Ethel was coming. Eagerly h
watched for and boarded up the smil
that she gave him in passing and the
his world rocked about him, for Their
was a chugging of motors, the quic
staccato exhaust of a motorcycle. an
a clash at the corner as the khaki
clad motorcycle cop and the little gin
met in a head-on collision. A shock.
cry. a gush of white steam, a quic
explosion and a red flame of burnin
gasolene greedily licking up the pref
ty. sheer fabric of the child's films
dress and white sweater, the swift
rush of onlookers and the means of
burned child as the blazing fabric
were eXtinguished in a hastily strippe
off overcoat by a passerby. over |
all lowered a helpless lad on crutche: