The Storyteller.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7928, 18 September 1905, Page 4

The Storyteller.

FAIRDEW'S GIFT, • He was a lop-sided, ungainly fellow, with ore leg anparenUv shorter • than the other, a sHrunkcn arm, and ? a face hideously scarred on one side. « He was a middle-aged man now, but ?> in his thijirt lie was just as hitter _ at the thought ol his deformities as he had been when he had first , realised them in his early manhood. , The disaster which had transformed Irom a handsome ami active Ja<rolT6uran3 "twenty into as ugly a' cripple as might be found in Kngland, Lad happened in a second. He hail "iven by trade a puddler, and the explosion of a blast furnace had splashed him irom head to fool with '■ turning metal. His comrades took him up lor dead, but Nature was £ strong in him, ami he survived. He | came out of hospital a total wreck, ii Willi a ringed pattern fixed on the ' vt as it might lor the withered smews oi Ins leg. and with a face !>. 'so withered and distorted ,'roui its manly comlinit-s that little thildltii ran away fiom him in terrui. Since he was by nature a tenr dci-he.irkil, sentimental sort of fel- ' low, wii'li a great liking for children, their In rior-strickes avoidance ol him cat him to the (pick. The, very first time the thiag liafpjfle:.,, u was when lie was linij iug lioio; r.,j . of hospital, leaving a record of ''dis • charge!, cured," on the books. A ' fat. baby of some three vears o. ; age, gravely dragging a broken box I tchmd her at the end of a frayed ct.rk, made so pretty a picture to tib fancy that he could not resist Ihv impulse to chuck her under the Dimpled chin. The child lookt.l so ioltmnly up at him with hitg, Wue t am ' at the first glimpse of iiis oiiligiir.d face sent out shiiek on fc, iflriek oi terror. These cries broughi g; our theimotlrer, fresh from the fampn "X wuh- h»r arms in g; Buds to the i'Umw. She was a wo- | taan of Fairdew's own class, which WlUitSmes very direct in spet<-h, & 411 |? sonietinies too stupid to have jf, > Teady instinct for pily. She called ? a " t ' ll> opprohious names she «mM lay h.r fengut. 10, and tlivv '• many , and she wound up hv u t^!- llr K hl "; i» good broad St l afionljj, sltire to ' an frighten does, an' • lnm-fj'i"' the life out of S futle chi dr.n wi' tI, H , u K | y 111U , I Jainlew J.stened , 0 the triade. until i. . . Y' "' lll had eeasid to "thunder a»d lighten at him an-l ha.l ninm! wuh ihe child in h,r sin-»v <■ £"' h ThC "' Wl "' a Sort choke p. in his voice, he said, "God forg.vr f * ~ e> It's none my fault as k ' rl s u ? >'- ' The woman made no w.wer lerhaps she had not hcaid .wthaps she hod not un;lersio ( „|' h Tc , r lr - re , '"s accident Fairdew's ft ' ,C "■ . h4i, l h,vn Hi list inct. because oi p ? ,s ""s-shajien mouth. He stood f !^rJ n Ln a l '' r h, ' r ,l: '' C'ving t ,lsl a d'eat hot lump rose t IB hi, throat, and his eyes filled ami

flowed over. Then he limped on- sobbing broki'ii-iiearttdlyj dear Tin- inijtfciisivo, soft luuitrd iell'W bkaMl lik." a sheep, but, luckily. I!ir road was lonely, awl itiL-ri- was nobody to deride liiiil. or insult li:!n with |.ity. "1 ■ wished I wos d.ad i' ill '(j.'l'iuil maney an' main'} a liuse, but I niver wished ii like I ilo tl.is minute. l-'li, ,li.a a' d-.ar !" Hut his manhood shamed him in a little while. and lv controlled hitiiHli, and rul.'avd the tears Irom. Ins tjis wnli hands wb.iai had giown stiangcly >• 11 in a mv months' absn.ee from labour " 'Discharged, cur,d,' they luul said at 111' ta!lie mused, saMly, • iisl iie hol.Oled towards his home. "They sii'iiicil to ha' diappul nut a letter lo lily thliikin.' 'Discharged, cur.el' 'ud It a in', nearer the markj Eli but it's haul liuvs as a little bit ol a kidlur 'II nivi-r to able to loek at me ithout being scared. It's lor liie. Zckiel. 13 s lor [,o\v aiu alwyas. K< r iut, an' ivcr, an' jvet ! Mi. but it's liai.l !" lie had no folks ol fcla own to go holm- in, tat tlu> people be hadlodged with for a year or fvo bad received. liliu kindly, and iiad a sympathy which was nut the less real because it did not know how to express itself in preiuy phrases. Aud the litigh.oiils W'le neighbourly, and' old companions were generous. Fairdew was kept cm oi l!.e Bastille, as tluy call the workhouse in those parts, and a. friendly little jcljliing tailor taught the disabled man ins own trade, and whin lie died left his small business connection lo him, so that lu'y -on the mere material s.de .iccarne tolerable enough. But Fairdew was .siich .< iiobi.ling inonstiositx to loo'l at that he frightened alp the little children ; and the hobbledehoys of the place felt imperatively called upon lo storie him, and to gather about his door and shout insults to the harmless creature. He lived a great deal alone, doing his own household work, and rarely speaking tc anyone except on business ; but as time went on the stolid honesty ol his work and his owtt <Ood character for punctuality grew hnost a byword, and his custom in.reased. so that he took an apprentice or two and became prosperous, it was about this lime thai a great mil lilissiul astonishment fell upon .mil, ijr he made t'i.e discovery 'of ins "gift.'' He found out that be A as a pvt. and the fact made it self known to him in this wise. He Tas digging in bis own soft heart : or comiort, seated on the floor, aud Milling away at a waistcoat which vas in demand ior Sunday. It was i heavenly summer day. and a lazy •vir.d fed full wuh sw<> tness just .aimed itself through theop<n winlow. and the jirds wire singing. It *as so still lhat he toaki In ill" til. )ig-iron being clanked into lhecan.il joats.nearly a mile away, and tin ;oys were playing cricket in a field •car by, Willi a round pebble lor a ball im,.l a tatteiid coat for a wiek•t. Fairdew said to himself : "why should I moan, and pine, and sigh He knew he had leason enough I'm despondency, but he turned the word over and over in his mind in a, sor; if chastituii sadness, as if they made a kind of music for him. "Why -hould I moan and pine and .sigh Awl ail on a sudden,| without any will or eiioft of his own; these Words added themselves: "Whin o'er me bangs the •hining sky." He sat in • a sort of delicious stupor, gloating o\\i f'l.L. aMt: jiishimin his jhui making, lie wlii-p, j, ,i 1 the lines to himself aca.ti land again, and atlas: l.they grew to thi« ; Why should I moan and pine and 1 sigh. , Win n oil me hangs the shining sky; And buds sit singing in :lie isiiade. Which <;.>( for il.eir delight has made. Never nioiner lo\ed a forlorn chihP mot,- than Fairdew lov.-.l 'iiese simple Virs. s. They were yliis v ( rv e.'.rliesl and hi-: i.tv own. I!e s'-.>iued to himself to have found [an 111 Dorado of delight, a new land which was full of ai'.d v.'h.>.i> pleasures could neve! pall. It is just,

t a literal fact that irom the houif of this sublime discovery the crippled tailor with that gargoyle face which frightened little children lived to music, went to sleep to music. The "gift"—it was always the "gift" lo Fairdcw—might seem a light and a little thing to other men, hut to him it was an atonement for what he had suffered, and if filled his life with a holy joy. It took a year or two to do it, but at length he luul amasswl verses enough to make a modest volume, and he, could afford to have them printed. If (here is one other joy in life which rivals Love's Young Dream it is the joy of type to tilt hitherto imprinted rhymester, and that joy "was Fairdew's. When the proof-sheets of the title-page leached him lie felt a terror of seld-gratulation. There it stood in print, "God's Goonesss to .Man ami Other PoeniSi By JSzekiel y Fairdew. Price i one shilling." And the booklet sold. The local gentry bloiighl |copics of it. It did wlulnu'iiy mote |; ietentious volumes failed to do. It paid expense A London paper named it, professing to linJ "a certain homely sweetness in the attless art of Mr Fairdew." Thus, like Ulysses, of whon he had never heard, Fairdew had become a name, and, for once in a way, a prophet had honour in his own country. His unpretentious volume was lead in many homes in that neighbourhood, and one night a strange i speaker at a temperance meeting elicited loud applause by a quotation "from your own local hard, Ezckiel FairdcWj'i Now it befell thai one tramfuel autumn evening, wliwn the skies were spit nil id with the murky glory which is known at times even in the Black Country, tire poet was hobtfjing along, the spoir-bank of the local canal at a very favourite spot of his, where Nature seemed to have made a pact ol peace with the handiwork of man. Trees grew there, amidst a tangle of blackberry vines, and sheep nibbled at tiho [grasses, following idly the caeklinjij tinkle of the bell on tlie neck of; the liqU-wel'hor., As a rule tire pka'ce was as solitary as a desert at this hour, and that was one of the reasons why Fairdew loved to stroll there, hut to-night there was an intruder on the scene. Fairdew gave little heed to her at first but ihy-aml by his attention .was attract oil tb her by the curious way in which she walked. "She's like a body in a trance," he said to himself. for the girl, with wide-open eyes looking straight before her. was setting one foot before the other with a long, groping pause, and then advancing its fellow in a similar way. and her hands were stretched ouli straight 'hbfose her. "Begosh, her's blind !" said Fairdew, He called out in that mumbling' voice ol his, "Don't l;e lightened, my wench. But stop. Thou art within a foot o' the cut, and thou'lt be in it in another minute. Wait till I can scramb'e down Hie bank." For l-lzeliiel Fairdew wrote his arthiss An nies in plain Kngjish, __ hut -poke the South Stradordshire "version of' tliat gnat !)uigue atid would halve I'i -si a-sfeuiicil tp have spoken any other. The girl stood waiting patiently until he had climbed down to her. "Cossent tha see, my pretty asked KairdeWj "Nay." she answertd, turning her glowing eyes upon him, guided by. I;is voice. "I've ni\er seen." ' "Can 1 gi e thee a bond to guide thee '' I'll not harm thee, lass. Now tell me where thou wants to go.). Th • shepherd's Walk? Ay, ay. It s a thing to be thankful [Jr as iheer was somebody high at hand lo warn thee." i

"1 in very lliaiikful," ll„. girl answered. "I don't know liow it happened. I never lost inv vvav before. I!ut I Inst my stick, und then 1 fell• I • limn the bank by tlit- roadside as I was looking for it." 1 .Vvw tear," sa;.l Karirdew, "I'll guide tliee home." "Nay," she aicswer.il. "I mean't 'Hag tlwe so far. 1 can tell as thouS'»st lame."

A),' lie said. ''l'm a cripple, anil a main ugly 'un. Hut 1 can guide thee lionii'." 'l'lie soft little hand reskd in {ii. s cf/nlMiiigly. He had itever u woman s hand for twenty years and more, and it's touch thrilled him. "ne'ie at Hie high road, now," *nr said a minute later. "Let me wl the wall, and 1 can lind my way quite easy.' 1 "Nay, nay," he answered. " I'll nuke a job of it while I'm a!>nit it. ril_ see tine home." "Oil," she ciicd unite suddenly, drawing her hand from him, anid on him with a blush and a beaming smile. "1 -do belieye lean guess who thee he," "Ay v" lie answered, "who be I tin n ; '

•She was smiling and Mushing and ! cniaptund. She stood with clasped hands, ami her blind eyes looked into his as if she saw him. . "Why, I do belieye lliou'st Mr I->e-k'icl Kandew, the Bank-side Hard." Thtil my name," he sa(id, "sure enough. What made thee guess my putty v" "Why the voice and thee—thee being, lame. Why, I've cried to think the man as wrote those lovely vers.s should ha' sufiercd so. I know fill all. I can tell 'em all by heart." Kurdcw could not speak. The. blind eyes which seemed to look into his own so calmly him like a spell. lie lound Ins voice at length, but it was huskv witli emotion. "Kh, my pretty lass," lie said. "I niuT thought to see a woman lookin as if her was lookin at me with a smilin' ffice like that o' thine." Dost think, she asked him with a childlike wistfulness, "I shouldn't like thec if I could see thee I know it, lass," he answered, -■idly. "I'm ugly enough tu set the 'togs baikin'." "Well." she said, "when a girl's' blind she's got to judge folk by what s inside 'em." They Were maiiied that day six months.

"1 could almost thank Ood for they a (Hid ion, sweet.iieartFairdew said. "A blind wife is the only wile lor 'Zekiel Kairdcw, Nature's ' kind, my pretty. Thou kloesn't liiiss what' thou st niver known." "1 miss nought now I have (bee, '.'■a 1 . said his wife, folding her loi.d anus round his neck. "What's thy starred face to nie. my darling hue. when I can lead thy soul !"