The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-12-18
FROM OLGA SOLE.

~ most interesting Christmas memory
ELW concerns little cd man in London.
/ Was 10 ai the fir1e. The man
kept a small c0bbng shop He was pale.
wizenod and bent and must have been near
TIE f0ursc9re mark The little two-storie6
house III WHICH he lived and worked had
been his from boyhuo6 Iufrmity had con-
fned him 70 the house As a child. and a
strangely retiring disposition kept HIM in
and about has shop youth. An acci-
dent to limb az this time brought him
years Of inactivity. Middle age found him
a MARTYR 20 poverty and industry. aui at
the time first san him he was unique In
the n ghb9rhooG a. man who AZ four
score had never been farther than square
or tw0 from his little shop ia the heart Of
teeInng London
In his later years IL was reported ha had
taken largely In his reading 10 outdoor sub
jects. His shop was decorated with water
cBiors of woods, rivers and fields. brought
~ him by customers Who had discovered
his fondBess for Couutsrfeits of rural ma
ture SIngulsrIy. during h.a long aud busy
life he had never seen etrIhS beauties In
their primitive wealth OF verdure and flow
efs. Il was said that many an aid shoe had
been zealouSly heeled. s0ied OF patched for
a rose.
Flied with doscr pf0ns Of natures wealth
In rolling fields and running brooks il re-
manned for his sig,htieih year e. decide him
10 for himself the pictures writers had
been recreatiug him with Cor years
On the Christmas morning Of this nara
tive he declared to tbs neiehbors that he
who had never in all his life been more
than square from the house which saw
his birth would that day hum0r himself
with vision OF nature IN its first state.
The declaration. recall. created sensa-
ton In the neishborhood. II hundreds Of
willing guides offered themselves. The OH
cohbler declined all Of the kindncsses with
fhe statement that h. woud choose his own
companions Gathering about him dozen
or more children, % whom | was one. he
boarded a tram for f.oulon's outskirts
ON the way, the cid man OF 80. I'm sim
plcty Of speech aud subject. might have
been child. - heartily ad he enter into
our froiies on the trip The year offered
late winter. There had been 40 frost.
The little man had been given directions.
and noticed rs We began 10 rcacn the
suburbs tina, he closed his eyes.
when the conductor called out the end
of our Journey our host arose and | re-
member even now the Increased ps!lor OF
his striking face. He bundled us from the
tram before him. When he had alghted
ne was IN the center or the wild nature ~
Hampstead heath that circles Loudon on
the north.
shall never forget the citation % tile oil
cobhleg's face It's bent form shook with
what | since know TO bee intense emotion.
For several minutes be surveyed the roll
ing fields and hedges Then tears came to
hts eyes. lie kueit down ana fell the grass
a< he might Il IL Ncra velvet Tden he
rlucked a handNi avid inhaiei liz frag-
vance. Next he tasted g. Conscious OF our
hewlderm,nt ~ his conduct. h. once more
became child and proposed a Eamboi
Later ne mpi8int1 shat his shoes hurt
him. ana these he doTed. For round
hour the little o,d man and ma Juvenile
companions scsmptred oYov tAe swagi 80
the nnyyriest communion.
The cNh'laratisa ant set5vcratlon - ne
little ola cohaler cn our way hack boone ia
the tram stand out today ss >he most sim
sularjy happy Christmas morning e my
recollection
OLGA NETUERSOLr