The evening times., 1895-11-11

IurDftnrt as though they meant 10 mai
| bid for the inu complete, who talked
| with OutlaDdish tongues anu ordered ex-
! pelsive dinners, and usually paid for them
| next morning, rather to Master Simon's
\ surprise. 1t appeared that there was once,
| in the time OF Naster Simou's grandfather.
| a certain potbOy at the Flowing Source
4 who ran OFF into tue world ami became a
/ great poet, and these p,IgrImases were
this story somehow very credit2ble To
/ himself. and came In time to take almost
| as much pride in it as iu his pigeons and
| broiled salmon. Regularly after dinner
| on these occasions he would exhibit an
| old pewter pint pot to the pilgrims, and
| draw their attention to the following
| verse, scratched upon II, as be asserted, Dy
the poets OWL hand:
..wbo buys beef bu ys bones;
Who buys land buys stones;
Who buys eggs buys shells;
But who bu US ale buys nothing els.
And the pilgrims feigned credu lity
according as they valued Master Simon's
| opinion of their intelligence.
But most welcome OF all were the mer-
| chant captains from POnteglos, among
| whom custom had made it q point OF
honor r., report themselves at the Flowing
! Source within twenty-four hours after
| dropping ancior by fonicgios Quay. When
! or wny or how the custom arose, nobody
was old enough to remember; but a master
mariner would as soon have thought OF
| sailing without log or iead-line as OF
| putting in and out of Ponteglos without
tdhiuS SfilOn aIt- tdUiuE IOf
| ORDERS" as they put it. Master Simon had
never climbed sea-going ship except TO
shake hands with "a friend and wish him
good voyage and return to shore with the
pilot But the teak walls or his parlOr
were lined with charts OF such very remote
parts OF the world. and his shelves with
s-cI a quantity Of foreign china and marine
q rtnsities. and he spoke Familiarity of
Galapagos, Batavia, Cape Verde, the
Horn, tue straits oI AiagcIiJn and So FORTH
and would bring his telescope so know
ingly TO bear on the gilt weathercock
over PonteglUs church tower, that, until
you knew the truth, you would have sworn
nalf his life had been spent on the quarter
deck And while the sea captains-sarols
men, attired in blue cloth, wearing rings
| in their ears-sat and smoked canister and
other queer toDaCcos i'll painted china pipes.
and talked or countries whose very names
conjured up visions OF parrots and carved
| idols and sharks and brown natives in
| flashing canoes, Master simon would put a
siirevFd Question or two and wag his lead
what he expected And sometimes toward
| the close OF the sitting, ir he knew his
company very wen he would reward them
with his fayorite and only song, The
Golden Vanitce."
"A ship have got in the North Countree,
And l had her christened the Golden
Vaitee;
o, fear she'll be taken by a Spanish
Gai-a-lee,
As she sails by the Low lands low" 80
In some hazy way he had persuaded
himself that the Spanish galleon OF the
ballad was the very ship whose timbers
overarched him and the audience; and
for the moment, being himself inverted
tso TO speak, by the potency OF his own
singing, he blew oul.ilis chest and straddled
| out his thick calves and screw ed up his
eyes, quite as If his rOof-tree We're risil,
side up onfe more in blue ater, and he
on the deck beside the weaIher-raiI But
the mood began to pass as soon as he
locked the door behind his guests and
Ann The fIlnk n.sfIreG him nrlf laSr
cup of muiled ale and withdrew with the
saucepan And another noon " ould find
him seated under his leaning housc-front,
his eyes half closed, his attention divided
betw cen the whisper OF the tide and thu
murmur in the pi.eon-cotes overhead, his
body at ease, and his soul content. His
was q happy hfe-of had been, but foi
TWO crumpled rose-leaves. To begin with.
there were those coDfounded pot-boys
1t puzzled Master Simon almost as it
annoyed him; he paid fair wages, and
passed for good employer. but he could
not keep pot-boy for twelve months
As matter of fact. / know the river TO
have been at the bottom of the mischief
the river-and perhaps the talk of the
snip captains II might satisfy Master
simon to sit and watch the salmon passing
up IN autumn toward their spawning beds.
against his landing-stage to clear Them of
the sea-lice: 10 watch them and their Young
passing seaward in the early spring; 10
watch and wait and spread his nets in due
season but Tor the youngsters this run
ming water was a constant lure-the song
OF 1T and the dmpIe on it, IL Coaxed
them, as II coaxed The old galleon. to lean
over and listen And the moment that
listening became intolerable they were off
Only one of them-the poet before men
tioned-had ever expressed any desire 10
return and revisit
The shining level and the dazzIe,, ,r,,-a
Emerging from his covert of green woods.
Old hernnrics. and wales Mysterious,
Lost between uplands where the haryesters
r ause IN tne swathe, shading their eyes to
Some little trader stealing up from sea:
Ipheniseives IN sunset. she twilight ghost
All, living, God,
Grant in the end this world may slip way
Win Whisper OF that water by the bows
" such DARK, bearing me home-thy stars
breaking the gloom like kingfishers, thy
heights '
Golden with wheat, thy waiting angels
there
ldoubt if he meant it t.anymore thar Virgil
meant MS 1iumlna amen silvasque in
eiortus." At any rate the public knew
what was due to itself. and, when the time
came. gave tile man a handsome funeral
in Westminster Abbey Among his nall
bearers walked the prime minister the
comma nder-in chief, the president of the
Royal Academy of Arts. and tas represent
ing rural hfei the minister OF agriculture.
What else disturbed tie placid current of
Master Sinons cogitations? Why, this:
he was the last of his race, nd unmar rried.
For hlmseff, he had no inclination to
marry But sometimes, as he shaved his
chin OF morning, the reflection in his
mirror would suggest another Was he
not neglecting public duty?
Now. there dwelt down at Ponteglos a
Mistress Prudence Waddilove, a widow,
who kept the Pandora's Box Inn on the
quay-a very tidy business. Master Simon
had known her long before she married the
late Waddilove: had. indeed, sat on the
same form with her in infants school, she
being by two years his junior, but always
trifle quicker of wit. He attended her
husbands funeral, in a neighborly way.
and week later put on his black suit
again and went aown-still in neighborly
Prudence received him in the best parior,
which sInelt damp and chilly in comparison
with the little room behind the bar Master
Simon remarked that she must be finding
it lonely. WhereupOn che wept
Master Simon suggested that he. for his
part, had tried pigeon-breetiing, and found
that it alleviated solitude in a wonderful
like. ri bring you down a pair. They're
pretty to watch. or course, husband
is different
"of COURSE Miss Prudence asscnted.
her grief too recent to allow a smile even
at the picture of the late Watidlove ia
man of full habit) cleaviDg the air with fire. 1
quent somersaults. She added, not quite
incOnsequent1y.
''Of course" said Master Simon. in his
turn.
But I think" she went on. s.I would
rather have a pair OF carriers
Now why in the world?' Thought Master
Simon he Kept carrier pigeons, to be
sure. He kept pigeons OF every sort
tuniblers. poulcrs. carriers, Belgians. drag
ons-the subdivisions. when you came to
them, were endless. But the carriers were
by no means his show birds. He Kept
them mainly for the convenience of Ann,
the cook Ann had q cunning eye for a
pigeon. ami sometimes ventured q trifle
OF her savings on a match. and though in
his masculine pride he never consulted her,