The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-10-09

membered II quite well. "In my opin-
ion." he said further. Mr.. Llewelyn
was the right man in the right place
He could be merry with those who were
merry and still be able to sympathise
truly with those In sorrow and trouble.
He was not like the majority of minis
ters Of the present day. too holy to look
at anyone enjoying himself with little
harmless pleasure. I often feel an in
but my old legs fail me, though my
arms are like whalebone STILL" at the
same time rapping the table with his
fingers as II to give force to his words.
Il could still sew as well as ever" he
continued, but l have no need to, as my
son John keeps me like lord"
I persuaded Mr.. Thomas to give me
greatly interest the reader. ! give the
narrative almost In his own words.
MY fathers name was Thomas
Thomas, a dapper little man of about
five feet In height, who was by trade a
shoemaker. He was native of Liam
ely, Characteristics. When quite
young he went to work to place called
Felin Ivan Ddu. in the Ogmore Valley.
While at this place he met Miss Cecil
Bevan, Hendre Fassett, whom he even-
tually married. They went to live at
Swansea, at which place l was born.
Here my father worked hard for sever
al years. While at Swansea my pa
rents became members in the chapel at
| which Joseph Harris (GomeD was min
lister. When / was s years old my pa
rents moved to Bridgend. We We're
twelve children. but their lives now
only one besides myself, namely, Will
liam, a tailor by trade, who lives at
Meath. My father failed to continue
working at the trade. as his eyesight
failed, being naturally of bad eyesight.
When his eyes failed him he was en-
gagged by Mr.. Harris (GOmer) to can
vas the county with his books, which
occupation he was engaged in for years.
1t was during this period we moved to
Bridgend. / had received a good edu-
cation, and had intended being a print
er, but Mr.. Harris died when l was Is
years old, and that scheme fell to the
ground. l then hoped to become a
| tailor and was apprenticed to n man
who was a tailor of some note in the
town. and succeeded in becoming an
adept at my trade. / was very fond
Of music, and could play the clarionet
| when very young. and for some time
led a band in the town. / married
when rather young Miss Catherine
| Jones, the daughter of Llewelyn Jones
| the saddler. q highly respectable fami-
| ly in the town. We had seven children,
Of which John Is the eldest. and is only
some 20 years younger than am. When
| John was very young l had bought
| him a violin, hoping that he would
learn to play it, but I soon found out
| that he had no great inclination for
| that instrument. BY some means OF
| other u harp found its way into our
house. and after Il short time found
| John was fond Of playing it, and soon
Ga do
came to know that Thomas Evans
| harp, Of Newton. the Maid of Sker's
| love. was for sale, and ! went to New
town and bought 1t. 1t was on this
harp that John commenced learning
| to play i'm earnest. 1t was rather a
I poor harp, but it did very we'll under
the circumstances, and the boy learned
to play Welsh airs on ii. Before he was
Is years old determined that he should
compete for the Welsh harp that was
offered to the best player on the triple
harp at the Abergavenny eisteddfod.
In order to prepare him for this COM
petition / tried to get the son of Mr..
Zephaniah Williams, Of Tredegar (who
| was a well-knOwn player on the triple
harp to coach him for a few weeks.
so that they should get used to that
kind of harp Mr.. Williams found had
! undertaken to tutor another person for
this competition, but he allowed John
to obtain every advantage he could
by letting him have the use of a triple
harp and also by showing him n few
things. The great day came, and John
and journeyed to the eisteddofd. Be-
fore the competition came on l took
John to an hotel that was close by and
ordered sixpennyworth of 'sherub,' and
made him drink 1t every drop. AS he
went up the stairs he turned to me and