Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1922-03-25
CONDENSED
CLASSICS
81
JOHN HALIFAX,
GENTLEMAN
~
T.
By MRS. UNLOCK
Condensation by
Basil King
By MRS. UNLOCK
Condensation by
Basil King
boy Of sixteen, was
n 700 III and crinnled RI malL

too Ill and crippled to walk.
= Owing to the rain my father
pushed my hand-carriage under an
archway. Taking shelter there we
found a handsome boy of thirteen,
well built, strong and looking more
than his age.
Fearing to lose time from work In
his tannery, my father engaged this
boy to push me home when the rain
ceased. Arrived at our house, I asked
him in for a meal. After his dinner
in the kitchen he Joined me In the din
ing room, telling me something of his
history. His name was John Halifax,
an orphan, without home, relatives
or money, and so obliged to roam
the country, looking for work. His
one treasure was Greek Testament,
on the ffy-leaf Of which was written
the name Of Guy Halifax. In addition
there were entries of the marriage of
Guy Halifax, gentleman, to MurieI
Joyce, spinster, in the year 1779; Of
the birth Of John Halifax in 1880; and
OF the death of Guy Halifax In 1881.
Being unable to write, the lad asked
me to make the additional entry, "Mu-
riel Halifax. died January /, 1791."
Never having had companion, I
took this boy as friend, inducing my
father, Abel Fletcher, to give him
work In the lanyard. 1t was humble
work, at pittance week, and the
boy took such good care of himself as
he could, sleeping In or on pile of
tanbark, and eating no more than
enough to keep him alive.
Those were the days of hard times
incidental to the Napoleonic wars,
with scarcity both of work and food.
AS I was helpless, 1t meant much to
my father to have growing up under
his eye a lad to whom his masters
interests were his own. In measure
John Halifax took my place in the tam
merry, and during the labor riots from
which my father suffered, as did most
employers of the time, my friend was
always on hand to soothe the workmen
and protect my fathers property.
In proportion as Abel Fletcher grew
old and infirm greater responsibility
fell on the younger mans shoulders.
BY the time he was twenty-one my ia
Their was willing to take him into part
nership, promoting him thus from the
standing of a waif, which was that
which he held in the eyes of our con-
sentative fellow-townsmen in Norton
Bury, in Worcestershire, to that of
solid citizen. No young man ever de-
served good fortune more. Develop
ing, too, a force of character which
could not but be progressive, he more
than once found himself at odds with
the old Tory elements that had long
held our townspeople In submission
and contempt.
Chief among the petty tyrants Of the
aristocratic class were the earl Of Lux
more and his son-in-law, Richard
Brithwood, the important landowners
of our neighborhood Hard-drinking,
hard-riding and profligate, they made
use of the full privileges Of birth and
position which In those days allowed
the nobility to be overbearing to all
whom they regarded as interiors. To
ward this spirit John Halifax bore
himself respectfully but manfully, ex-
citing the hatred of his opponents by
defeating their ends. A combination
Of circumstances brought him In the
long run into closer connection with
baAa than either he or they cared to
recognize.
When I was twenty-three and John
Halifax twenty, we took our first hol-
iday together, lodging at farmhouse
In the neighboring hills, where some
cousins of Richard Brithwood, Mr.
March and his daughter, Ursula, were
making temporary residence. The
father being an invalid, and growing
rapidly worse while we were there,
John Halifax was able to perform val
liable services for the daughter. BY
the time the father died, John and
Miss March were In love. The diff
culties to their marriage were OF O
kind only to be solved by overriding
them. John Halifax was poor and a
nobody; Ursula March was high-born
and an heiress. When he would have
retired 1t was she who, with the In
stincts of a big and noble heart, took
matters into her own hands. She did
this the more bravely, owing to the
fact that Richard Brlthwood, her
guardian, had the power to withhold
her income, which he did for years.
Their marriage was therefore In
modest conditions, but none the less
happy for that. Their first sorrow may
be said to have come when their eldest
child, Muriel, proved to have been
born blind. Almost the last act OF my
stern old father was to bless the babe
and proclaim her the child Of peace.
Next to his wife this little blind girl
was the object of her fathers dearest
affections. Three boys, Guy, Edwin,
and Walter, were born after her, and
lastly another little girl; but to none
did the heart of John Halifax go out
with the tenderness called forth by
the little one who never seemed al
fiicted because of her sweet happiness
When at the age Of eleven she was