The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-10-07
SAINT AN1HONY-.MTGHMAGR.

was nv udy at ALI DuL plLCH QaFK
night, \as it naturally is early on an
April morning in London, lit a stnmpy
candle and started to dress. He had
spent a wretched night and felt that
all he wanted was a good walk in the
fresh air, which would blow away the
memories of disagreeable dreams.
Having dressed, he went into the next
room and dived under a dilapidated
sofa in search of his shoes, one of
which was found subsequently in an
empty biscuit tin. The Honorable
Tommy Dexter was twenty-four years
old, a writer of story and verse, poor
in purse but rich in talent and youth.
His father had died when he was
eighteen years old, and at that mo-
ment his career at Harrow had come
to an abrupt end, and with it all
dreams of future years at Oxford. He
had returned to his old home, where
the grey stone walls, if endowed with
the gift Of speech, could have told
him the history of his grandparents
and their grandparents and so on, for
many hundreds of years-he had ar
rived there to find it no longer his,
and himself alone in the world and
almost penniless. But Tommy was
young. He saw there was nothing to
do but to work hard, and work he
did; he got a job on two weekly
papers and sold miscellaneous stories
and poems wherever and whenever he
could. He rented two rooms from a
lady who kept a greengrocer's store,
where you could purchase, for a trif1e,
shiny, r~ed-cheeked apples, heaps of
Spanish grapes, English hazelnuts,
oranges which had failed to sweeten
on their journey from Southern lands,
brussels sprouts which peeped cheek
lily out of every corner, and golden
bananas that hung down from the cell
ing.
But this was not the only shop
which turned it's tempting front upon
Capel Street, for it was indeed the
shopping section of the district; it
seemed to Tommy that everything
necessary for the inside and outside
of man could be found here. There
were stores which dealt in clothing
hats and caps, boots and shoes,
dresses and coats. There was glass
ware and hardware and ironWare; and
further down fish-salt and fresh-all
smelling to the high heavens. There
was flesh meat Of every beast in the
field. In the daytime the cutters
swarmed with children of all ages and
sizes, with two points in common
their shrill voices and their dirty
faces. The boys played soldiers and
fought and the little girls held babies
very large some of them were, and
quite out of proportion to their minia-
ture nurses. There were women also,
many of them, short and stubbed,
~typically cockney, with plain but
kindly, common faces, which told that
their hearts were in the right place
even if their aspirates were not.
Tommy walked along the dark
streets with a.. swinging step. He
cared little where he was going and
was conscious only of the pleasant
glow of exercise and the feeling of ad-
venture which comes to those who are
out at an unusual hour. Soon the
streets began to stir; the smooth
pavement re-eohoed to the sound of
passing feet. There were workmen
with their tools; milkmen with their
Gathering carts and shiny cans; men
and women returning from Covent
Garden, their hand-barrows laden with
fresh fruits and sweet country flowers
blue hyacinths, mysterious violets,
faring tulips, and snowdrops so fragile
that a breath of wind or a touch of
your hand would carry them away.
They brought with them visions of
quiet country paths, lonely places and
ploughed fields, long white roads and
gorse and heather, messy hollows in
the woods, and fields of rusting corn.
|, At the corner of a square stood a
little knot of men and women round
a coffee vendors stand-it was the
morning breakfast of the poor. Tom
my felt in his pocket and took out
sixpence, the third part of which
would buy for him a great cup of
weak coffee and a hunk of bread and
butter. He was hungry and enjoyed
it. Suddenly his eyes fell upon a very
E dirty and greasy man in a green over
coat and a dingy hat. He was FUN
bling with some coins, and as Tommy
drew closer he discovered that the
man was miserably trying to make
two ~ha'pennies into two pennies.
Tommy was touched.
Have a cup with me, mattel" he
said, sit will keep the cold out"
The man nodded and shuffled his
feet uneasily. But when the food was
his, all reserve left him; he devoured
it as if he were a starving animal. 1t
was a piteous sight. Tommy regarded
him ~open-mouthed and distressed.
"Are you often like this?" he said.
"Ow dyer mean-ungry? Oh, my
Gawd yes, I'm always 'ungry."
Here, take this" said Tommy i'm
pulsively, and gave him a coin which
he could ill afford.
The man looked at it and moved
off with a quick shuttle. He paused
and came back, holding out his palm.
Did yer know what yer was given
me, sir?" he asked, shamefacedly.
Tommy knew. 1t was his last soy.
ereign, and they mean much in those
days. He smiled without speaking.
The man nodded his thanks.
ITS food for weeks, SIR he said,
i &C. - R--l Co. ~voA1~r - = =