Mower County transcript., 1892-05-25
TCONTINUED.1 I

Faulnaln lett his lathe, came toward
me, surveyed me earnestly again and
then took down the drawing wherein l
appeared. He compared the man stand
ing before him with his counterfeit pre-
sentiment. There could be no mistaking
me. l had the honor to resemble nv
self, as the artist had remembered me,
'You're the man." said Padiham.
GIVE heard of you. 1 wasn't looking
sharp not to have known you when you
tirst came in and stood there by the door
waiting. for me to speak first. Richard
Wade, give me your hand! I suppose if
am the best mechanic in England
called so on good authority-you won't
mind striking palms with me-"
shook him by the hand pretty vigor-
ously.
'You've got a middling strong grip of
your list for one of the overgrown sort, ,"
said he. "Where's your friend, John
Brent?'
''Here in London, searching for Miss
Citheroe!''
"Where's your horse black"
"Dead! Shot and drowned in the Mis-
souri,, helping off fugitive slave"
''That's brave. Well, Richard Wade.
my dear child Ellen Clitheroe and her
father are here in my house. They are
safe here, after all their troubles, up in
that room where perhaps you marked the
roses in the window. She has been sick
at heart to have heard nothing from you
since she came to England. It will be
the one thing she lacks to see you, and if
you will let me say few words to YOU
first, I'll take you to them"
'sGo on. If you have protected my
friends, you are my friend, and want
to hear what you have to say"
Il am short, and I shall try to make a
long story Short" said Padiham. 81
wish to tell you, in as few words as /
may, why Mr.. Clitheroe and his daughter
are in my house.
''Look at me, a stunted man! Life in
coal mine stunted me. suppose I was
born underground. know that I never
remember when I was not at work,
either harnessed like a dog and dragging
Goals through a shop where I could not
stand upright, or, when grew stronger
bigger l was not to grow-down in
the darkest holes, beating out with a
pickax stuff to make other mems houses
warm and CHEEKY. If had had air and
sun and light and hope I might have
been shapely man.
sit was in Lancashire, the coal mine
where had been shut up, boy and man,
some twenty years, as reckon. There
came one day a weakly man, who hadn't
been used to work hard, into the shaft,
and they put him at drawing out the
Goals I dug. Hugh was the name he
gave, and he hadn't been long enough
underground to get his face black be-
fore we'd baptized him Gentleman Hugh.
had never seen gentleman to'know
him, but l had a feeling of what one
ought to be, and so had my mates in the
PIT. Gentleman Hugh seemed to us to
suit the nickname we gave him We're
roughs down in the coal pits, and some
OF US are brutes enough; but Gentleman
dugh managed to get Us all on his side,
and there wasn't a man of us that
wouldn't give him lift.
Gentleman Hugh took a fancy to me
and so did I to him. Nature had mis-
used me and life had misused him. We.
had something to pity each other for.
But | had the advantage in the dark
damp hole where we worked. had lost
nothing; knew of nothing better; was
healthy and strong if I was stunted; I
could help Gentleman Hugh and save
him wearing himself out. And so did.
He was the first person or creature had
ever cared for.
II did what could for him in tighten
ing his work, but he gave me back a hum
dred times what could give. was
hands without head, or without any head
that could make my hands of use. He
had head enough, and things in his head,
but his hands were never meant for
tools to get a living. Gentleman Hugh
walked up my brains. knew how to
pick and dig, and sometimes wondered
If that was all should ever be at. But
air and daylight seemed as if they did
not belong to me. was drudge and
never thought of anything but drudging
until Gentleman Hugh came down into
my shaft and began to tell me what there
was outside Of coal mines.
.1He told me about himself; that he
was Hugh Citheroe, a gentleman, and
how he had been ruined by factories and
coal speculations. It was his losing his
fortune in 9 coal mine that set him on
coming into ours to make his bread, and
poor bread, too, for a gentleman. He
said he was sick of daylight. It was
%< h<so n 1,