Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1892-02-28

bidnesS or disappointment in him. Only
he undertakes himself and fancles his
powers blunted by his deformity. lie
keeps out OF the way and works alone In
a little shop. He will only do special
Jobs for me and one or two others. lie
says he would be our equal II he were
full grown. We deem him our peer and
treat him as such; but be will not come
out and take the place he could have at
once before the world. thought of him
and wished him to see this Cutoff as
soon as you showed it to me. You must
tell him | sent you, or he may be surly
at first, and so drive you away, or per-
haps refuse to do your work.
~ think l can make my way with
such a person, but if not, will use your
name. Where is he TO be found?"
This is his address. An out OF the
way place, you see, IL you know London.
A by-streeU on the Surrey side OF the
Thames. He is we'll TO do, but lives
there for special economy. He has a
method of charity which is like himself
thoroughly original. More good he
does in his odd way than any man l
know. He owns the whole bouSe over
the shop and uses it as private hos
pital or hospice for poor but worthy
sick and broken down people. "
"His own dwarfshnesss makes him
sympathetic?
I had some little difficulty in finding
Padiham's retiring place. l had already
diSSected il out OH the map, Identified 1t
by its neighborhoOd to a certain artery
and its closer neighborhood TO a certain
ganglion. 1t was Lamely court, quiet
retreat in n busy region. IL looked, In
deed, as if il had never taken very
active part in the world, or as If, when
it offered itself to hustle and traihc,
more enterprising localities had hustled
il aside and babe it decline into lethar-
gy. The withered brick houses had the
air and visage of people who have seen
better days and subsidized into the de-
spending byways, apart from the thor
oughfareS of the bold and sturdy. Mean
misery and Squalor did not abide there.
1t was not u den for the ragged, but a
shy retreat for the patched, for the de-
cent and decorOuS poor.
Half way down the court, on the sun
ny side, | found Padiham's house. IL
was quietly, not obtrusiyely, neater and
fresher than its neighborS. Its Orlcks
had a less wormeaten look, and its win
dow paues were all of glass and none OF
newspaper. The pot roses in all upper
story window were in bloom, and had
life enough 10 welcome the June sun
shine, while sister plants in other gar
rets all about the court were too TAR
bhghted ever to dream of gayer product
than some poor iaundiced bud. These
roses up in Padiham'S window cheered
the whole neighbOrhoOd greatly with
their lively cOlOring. 1t was as II some
pretty maiden with rosy cheeks and
riDer rosy lips were looking down into
that forlorn retreat and warming every
old, faded soul within every shabby
tenement with bright Renaissance of
days when life was in its perfume and
its flower.
Such was the aspect OF Padiham's
abode. His shop lurked in the base
ment.
1t was with much curiosity and inter-
est in Padiham that stepped down into
the basement. Padiham was in his shop
at work. No mistakiGg him. A stunted,
iron gray man, not misshapen, but only
shut together, like one barreIed opera
glass.
He took no notice of me and continued
his work.
I held my station near the door. did
not wish to spoil his job by the jar Of an
Besides, thought 1t as
we'll TO let him speak first. | was pre-
pared for an odd man; he might make
the advances, if he pleased.
Padiham went on filing in grim, in
teligent way. l glanced about the
shop.
There were models all about OF ma
chimes, some known, some strange to
me; disconnected portions of inventions
living side by side, and wanting only
bolt or a screw to be organized and
ready to rush at pumping, or lifting, or
dragging, or busy duty of some useful
kind. There was store, too, of interest
ing rubbiSh-memberS Of futile models
that could not do busy duty Of their
kind for some slight error and worth
careful study as warnings, for failure
with mechanics is the schOolmaSter Of
success. Drawings OF engines hung all
about the walls. As the guardian
genius Of the spot, there was a portrait
OF that wise benignant face of my friend
OF this morning, that great engineer
who had directed me hither.
Art in a dusky corner, by the chin
ney and force, hung two water color
drawings in neat gilt frames. They
were perhaps little homogeneous with
the scenery Of the gnome's cavern. l
did not, of course, expect TO find here a
portrait Of a truCulent bruiSer or leer-
ing bar maid. Beery journeymen keep
such low art hanging before them to Sc
duce them from any ambition TO become
master hands and beguile them back of
beer. Padiham would Of course need
drawings of models and machines, and
enjoy them; but l did not look for art
proper m this shop. There, however,
in the dim background, hung two cheer
full drawings, in their neat frames.
They renewed and repeated the feeling
which the gay roses in the upper win
dowS had given me. My fancy supplied
a link between the drawings and the
flowers. They infused a pleasant ele-
ment Of refinement into the woI kaday
Of the shop.
One OF these drawingS-I coul | just
family distinguish their subject, and
not the skill, greater or less, of their
handling-waS a view of an old brick
many gabled manor house on lawn
dotted with stately oaks. Its companion
and the light hardly permitted me TO
decipher it-seemed to be group OF
people seated on the grass and a horse
bending over them. l glanced at these
objects as my eye made the tour Of the
shop, but my head was filled with
Shorts Cutoff and this grim dwarf be-
fore me.
Presently Padiham laid down his file