The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1894-09-04

the Mildmays to lay in their entire stock
of firewood III September instead of
waiting until the price should be higher
they said to one another what q comfort
it was to have a servant who really
looked after their interests. SO Antonio
was commissioned to buy the wood,
and he bought it. He made hand
some commission on the transaction,
and in addition he had about one
fifth of the whole amount of wood de-
livered at his own residence. 1t is true
that this was not quite enough to pro-
vide him fuel for the entire winter, but
the deficiency could easily be remedied
by simply carrying home three or four
sticks under his coat every night, and
Antonio was not a man who shrank
from any honest labor when the good
of his family was in view.
About 10 days after the arrival Of his
Englishman Antonio informed him that
the gondola needed to 90 to the squero
to have its bottom cleaned, at a cost Of
10 francs. This, however, he insisted
upon paying out of his own pocket, be-
cause the foulness of the bottom had
been incurred before he entered Mr..
/ Mildmay' 8 service. This scrupulous dis
play of honesty still further convinced
4 the Englishman that he had the pearl
/ of gondoliers, and when the next day
/ Antonio asked him to give him as
/ loan, to be deducted from his future
wages, 80 francs, wherewith to make
certain essential but wholly unintelligi-
BILE repairs to the gondola, Mr.. Mild
may was of his wife's opinion that it
would be shame to require the poor
man ever to repay it,
The first thing that shook the Mild
mays confidence in Antonio was lit
tie incident in connection with a chick
en-. They had had pair of roast fowls
for dinner and had eaten only one, in
tending to have the other served cold
for luncheon the next day. When late
in the evening Mrs Mildmay acciden-
tally discovered Antonio in the act of
going out of the house with the cold
fowl stuffed under his coat, she demand
ed an explanation. 1T is true, parona,
said Antonio, THAT | took the fowl.
And why? Because all the evening |
had seen You and the paron sitting to-
gether in such love and happiness that
my heart bled for poor Antonio, who
has no happy fireside at which to sit.
And so l said to myself: Antonio, sure
ly you deserve a little happiness as well
as these good and noble peoplel Take
the cold fowl and eat it with love and
gratitude in your hearth
Mrs. Mildmay could not scold him aft
er this defense, and she simply contented
herself with telling him that he might
keep the fowl for this time, but that
such a method of equalizing the benefits
of fortune must not occur again. An
tonic promised both her and himself
that it should not, and though he con-
tinued to keep his wifes table fully
supplied from that of the Mildmays the
latter never again found him in posses
sion of surreptitious chickens.
One day Antonio found a goldpiece
80 francs, in fact--on the floor of his
gondola. He knew it must have been
dropped by the paron, and he promptly
brought it TO him. ''How wrong was, .
said Mrs. Mildmay, ''to doubt the poor
fellow because of that affair of the
chickenl No one would ever have been
the wiser if he had kept that 30 franc
piece, but he brought it to us like an
honest man. For once she was right
in believing Antonio to be honest.
Nothing could have induced him to sui
ly his soul and hands by unlawfully de-
tanning his masters money. He was
determined to make all the money out
of his providential Englishman that he
could make in ways that every Condo
lier knows to be perfectly legitimate,
but he was no thief, and Mr.. Mildmay
could fearlessly have trusted him with
all the money in his purse.
Antonio was now one of the happiest
men in Venice, but one morning he
came to Mr. Mildmay with face of
pathetic sadness and asked for days
holiday 1T is not for pleasure that /
ask it, - he said my only pleasure is
to serve the best of masters But my
little boy is dead and is to be buried to-
day. / should like to go with the coffin
to San Michele "
Mr.. Mildmay was unspeakably touch
ed by the mans Sorrow and the quiet
heroism with which he bore it. He gave
him the days holiday and 90 francs to-
ward the funeral expenses of his child.
When Antonio appeared in the morn
ing, quiet, sad, but scrupulously anx-
ious to do his whole duty, the Mildmays
felt that they really loved the silent and
stricken man.
Misfortune seemed suddenly to have
run amuck at Antonio A week after
the death of his child he announced in
his usual quiet way that his wife was
dead 1t was very sudden, so he said.
He did not know exactly what was the
disease, but he thought it-was rheuma-
tism The Mildmays Thought it strange
that rheumatism should have carried
off a woman only % years old, but
strange things happen in Venice, and
the climate is unquestionably damp
Antonio asked for half holiday to at
tend the funeral, and he added that UNI
less the paron could advance him 200
francs of his wages he should be unable
to save his wife from being buried in
the common ditch OF course this could
never be permitted, and Antonio re-
ceived the 200 francs, and Mrs. Mild
may told her husband that if he should
think of deducting it from the unhappy
mans wages she could never respect
him again.
For time the darts of death spared
the household of Antonio. The gondola
made its alleged monthly visit to the
suuero to have its bottom cleaned
at Mr.. Mildmay's expense, and the
amount of repairs and paint which
it needed did seem Unexpectedly large.
But Antonio was not foolishly grasp
ing. So long as he doubled his wages
by tradesmen's commissions and by
little devices connected with the keep
ing of the gondola he felt that he
was combining thrift with prudence.
He made, however, one serious mis-
take, of which he aftorward repented
when it was too late Instead Of Civ
ing the Madonna the two wax candles
which he had promised her he gave her
two stearine candles, trusting that she
would not notice the difference. 1t was
not in keeping with his honest and re
ligious character, and there were times
when the recollection of it made him
feel uneasy.
AS the winter wore ON Antonio's de-
votion to his employers never slackened.
Beyond the commissions which it is but
just and right that the faithful Condo
lier should exact from those dogs of
tradesmen, even if they did charge the
same commissions in his masters bills,
he was tireless in protecting the Mild
mays from imposition. He was never
too tired to do anything that no was
asked to do, and although, when his
brother Spiro was temporarily out OF
arnnlovmant Antonio discovered that