The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1889-11-22
miscellaneous.
A CLEVER CRIPPLE.

About hundred years ago large party
of guests (including some OF the most famous
men of that day. were assembled in the draw.
ing room of fine house in the most fashion.
able quarter OF Ednburg. By their frequent
glauces at the door they seemed to be ex-
pectng some one whom they specially wish
ed to see; and the one who looked most Gag
er of all, although he never spoke word
was boy who was sitting in corner all by
himself
AT first sight you would have noticed moth
ing very remarkable about him except that
his face was paler and thinner than it should
have been, and that he appeared to be lame
of one foot. But when you came to look
closer you would have been struck with his
high, massive forehead and clear bright eyes
which showed that whatever he might lack
in muscle was more than made up in brains
as that sickly looking boy with the lame
foot the prodigy of whom you were telling
me last night, Mitchclf asked handsome
and danditied young fellow, turning to an
older and graver man beside him.
THE very same; and he is prodigy, il
ever there was one yet. | really believe he
knows by heart every ballad that has ever
been written, and he writes ballads himself
too. But the most wonderful thing about
him TO my mind, is that he should be alive at
ALL"
Indeed! What do you meanP"
"Why, mean that, young as he is, he has
had as many narrow escapes of losing his
life as have had of mine and that's saying
a good deal, as you know. First and fore
most, when he was only a few month old he
fell so i'll that the doctors despared of saw
ing him, and"
"Oh, that's not unusual nowadays" inter-
rupted the younger man laughing. "Why, |
saw man myself only last summer,
who when met him was just completing
his hundredth year, and he had been given up
by the doctors before he had completed his
third"
"Well, this boy of ours surpassed even
that" said Mr.. Mitchell, "for he had another
narrow escape before had completed his Sec
ond. One night when he ought to have been
snug in bed, he slipped out OF the house sad
ran away over the wet grass as hard az he
could go. Before they caught him he had
caught something else, viz, a cold and fever
that laid him up for several days, and when
he began to get well again they found that
his right leg was crippled, just as you see it
now. Then, little while after that"
why, he must have had as many lives as
cat"
Pooh all that is nothing at all to what ia
coming. A little while after that, as was
saying, he was sent into the country with
his nurse, an odd sort of creature, who
must; | should think, have been more than
half crazy. Anyhow she took spite against
the child, because her having to be with him
kept her from going home, as she wanted to
do und at last what do you think she did
Why, took him out for walk one evening,
intending las she afterwards confessed } 10
kill him with her scissors and bury his body
in swamp"
"You don't say so"
"Fact assure you; but the little fellow
locked so bright and happy, and chung to
her so atfectionately, that when the time
came she couldn't make up her mind to do
it,"
"Well, that was nice piece of work, upon
my word What an extraordinary boy he
must be !"
"Yes, you may call him extraordinary.
What do you think he did just the other day
| had been making call at his fathers house
and when got up to go, he came to me and
said, I've got a present to give you, Mr..
Mitchell, but you must remember that gifts
are to be estimated, not according to their
intrinsic value, but according to the intention
of the donor
"Fne big words for a boy of that size" re-
marked the listener, rs well as he could
speak for laughing. THE last book he learn
ed must have been DR.. Johnsons Dictionary,
for the Doctor himself couldn't have beaten
that last sentence"
"And what do you suppose the gift turned
out to be, after all this flourish :" continued
his friend. "Wby, an old copy of Adams
Grammar with the cover half off, and lot
of dogs, horses, wild beasts, and what not
drawn in pencil upon almost every page!
have it in my writing desk now, done up in
brown paper"
sand do you mean to preserve 1t as relic
of the donor p "
Indeed do" answered Mr.. Mitchell grave
", "for I'm very much mistaken fthat little
cripple does not make such a name some day
that that gift of his will be well worth hay
ing"
But Just at that moment their talk was sud-
denly interrupted. There was a loud knock
at the front door, hustle was heard in the
hall below, and then firm, heavy step slow
ly assembled the stairs. The door flew open
and into the room strobe big, sun-burned
large-boned man, with great flashing eyes
while liveried servant announced:
"Mr. Robert Burns"
A buzz Of suppressed excitement, and q
general movement among the assembled com.
pany greeted the entrance of the famous
poei, who was already celebrated, not only
throughout Ednburg, but through the whole
length and breadth of Scotland. Amid the
universal hustle no one noticed the
crippled boy, who, with sudden flush on
his thin face, was devouring with his deep
earnest eyes every movement of his chosen
hero.
. Later in the evening, the lady of the house
begged Burns 10 write some verses in her al
bum. He was just about to do SO, when a
short poem on the next page caught his eye
1t was simple little piece, describing a col
| dier living in the suow OF q battlefield, but
the great poet read it with evident interest
"Who wrote you this poem 7" asked he in
his deep, strong voice.
But the lady could only tell him 1t had been
copied for her out of book of extracts aud
all the rest when they looked at it, were
equally at loss. just then the little cripple
called out:
81 know whose it is, Mr.. Burns, and II
you'll wait minute, think can l can find
| II for you"
He ran into the next room, and came back
presently, with big and rather dusty book
which he opened before the poet, who cast
one rapid glance at the lads kindling face
and then said, grave!y:
"Ye've begun to study these things airly
laddie."
Then, as the boy blushed and cast down
his eyes, Burns clapped him encouragingly
on the shoulder, and added:
This boy will be heard of yet"
And he was heard of in after years, as one
of the greatest poets and writers Of historical
romance that ever lived, for the crippled boy
whom Burns applauded was no other thar
Walter Scott.