The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-05-10
EVENING STORY
Tony Returns.
CBy Dorothy Douglas.)

TONY Bozzi, who had built 1t ana
ldived alone in it among his cn1ckels
and flowers, had sailed OH on tne IL =.
transport ship that had le1t the mar ooi
when Italy entered the war.
Tony had raised himself above the
| level of the fruit and peanut Venoers'
who comprised great part Oh lne
Italian settlement. He owned not only
his tiny home and slightly productive
garden and chickens, but ne also
owned an automobile, which he ran as
a taxi from the station to nearby
| tates. He met all trains and hao nldue
| himself more or less of a necessity u
| suburbaniteS.
! Now, Tony had gone to seek adven-
| ture on the battlefield of his mother
| country and had left the caretaklng OF
his cottage to the man who mad taken
! his taxi service from him.
Charlotte Conway had never seen
Tony nor had she heard of him until
| she learned that his tiny cottage was
available. 1t seemed to her, IN de-
scription, like the very place she had
been looking up and down the Worlo
| for.
! AS dressmakers assistant, she had
saved sufficient money to live on while
| she established herself as a village
seamstress, but it must needs be a very
! tiny cottage and a minimum or eX-
| pense that she could undertake.
| When she saw the cottage Charlotte
felt that she was looking at the place
called Paradise.
| Even chickens" she exclaimed as
she observed the fine Orpington COCK
strutting about with his eight hens
She pinched herself to see if she were
| really alive. Chickens had been in
cluded in her dreamiest of dreams.
| Charlotte arranged to take the cot
| tage and returned to town to pack her
meager belongings. Her sewing ma
| chine and a placard announcing her
| self as seamstress were among the
most important of her possessions. She
| anticipated great contentment sewing
for village women and tending the
tiny garden and the chickens between
stitches
With all her love of the country
Charlotte's knowledge was not prac-
tical-least of all concerning poultry
She found herself begging knowledge
the second day after her arrival from
her neighbor over the fence.
/ Dressmaking progressed slowly, but
Charlotte was not sorry, because she
begrudged every moment that she
her excellent care her hens produced
more eggs than she could use. She
got six and seven a day and once
though her neighbor said it was most
unusual-she had eight eggs from
eight hens. But she averaged five a
day through the month. She was de-
lighted to realize that this number
would enable her to sell two dozen a
week and thus make her hens self
supporting.
in the village that would pay her so
cents a dozen, but it was not until she
actually fingered the 81 bill as pay
ment that she could believe it was
true. Never had she earned money
so easily.
A few days later she went to her
neighbor with a furrow between her
eyes.
lone of my Minorcas sets and sets
and sets all day and kind of growls
with herr" she questioned in dismay.
Her neighbor laughed amusedly.
"Broody-that's ALL he said.
'Broody?" -Charlotte's eyes ques-
toned still.
II "Sure!" laughed the man. Put
thirteen eggs in the nest under her
Twenty-one days later you will have
little chicks instead of the eggs. It's
her motherly instinct-she wants a
family to boss
in relief. Her Eeighbor was kind
enough to offer to help her set the
broody one properly.
This was only the beginning of the
Matching season. Soon Charlotte was
kept more than busy with her hens
and their perpetually arriving chicks.
Together with this work came orders
for dressmaking that completely filled
Charlotte's days.
Charlotte realized, without having
intended to, that she had developed
Tony Bozzi's small chicken run into
| paying poultry business. 1t is true the
scale was small. yet it enabled Char
lotte to establish flattering account
in the village bank.
And then the inevita BILE happened.
/ Tony wrote to say that he was re-
turning He had lost a foot some
where on the field of battle and had
been in the hospital for weeks. As
| soon as his cork foot was safely a part
of him he would be'able to travel
/ We'll" Charlotte thought after
reading Tony's letter, 81 have done my
little bit in esta blishing a business
for one manned hero. 1t is just a
| kind of fate that has permitted me
to swing on the pendulum of chance
land drop into Tony BozZi's cottage. It's
a strange and lovely world" she add
ed. Her thoughts were entirely I'M
| selfish She woHld claim no part in
| the business she had developed. She
had been happy and the out of door
life had given her good health.
Tony's soft Italian eyes, shaded with
recent suffering, lit up when he saw
his cottage and heard the cack1e of
| happy hens.
| Charlotte realized a great sense of
| inward delight when she saw his sur
prise. When she shook his hand she
felt that she was greeting hero and
| ner eyes were WOnueTIuAiy expressive
Tony.was awed by the joy that his re-
turn afforded him.
- "But-norfoi" He raised a protest
| ing hand when Charlotte acquainted
| him with facts and plans for himself
'I cannot take it. 1t is you who have
| done it ALL
''And can I not do this one little
thing-for hero of sunny Italy" She
gazed appealingly at Tony
mo. mott is not possfb1e,' he ex-
/ claimed Writ u,
wonderful dreams that suddenly flung
| their light before him. And in the
midst of his dreams, while Charlotte
stood wondering again just why Fate
had given her SO pleasant a part to
play. the neighbor over the fence