Year: 1877

FOR THE CHILDREN.


Little IsuDi, the wood Carver


From the Christian Intelllgsncer


Christen, the father of Rubi, was Q


gnide; II you assembled the MettenberQ


some years since, you may have seen


him. He had two sons, Joseph, O


handsome young fellow, who was q


guide like his father, and poor, de.


formed little Rubi. Poor lad" }" his


father would say, "he will always be


q burden to us, he 10 80 lame and mis-


shapen. wish he was like our Jo-


seph, but alas he Is SO ugly and help.


less" Rubi cried when his father


spoke so roughly of him, but his moth


er wiped his tears with her coarse


apron and said: Never mind, poor


boy, l will buy you something nice


the next time l go down to sell my


lace" for she used to make lace and


sell 1t to the fine ladies who went by
| brought him wooden toy represent
ing goat, carved by Pete, who lived


along the Black Lutschine, and who


made his living by doing such work.


Rubl thought the goat was not as


natural rs II might be; its head seemed


too small, and Its legs too long, but he
did not say SO TO his mother, for al
though he was only deformed little
Swiss boy, he had finer feelings than
some other better folk and he was very
thankful to his mother for her kind


ness, although he did not think much
| of his present as work Of art. He


kept constantly looking ut the i'll
shaped goat, and wondering If he could


n OF carve If he should try.


| He was 80 persistent in asking that


finally his mother got the necessary
tools for him, andhe not only succeed
ed, but he soon became very expert.
He worked daily in his fathers alb
sence. He would often say, Dear
mother, If can be as good q wood
carver as some have been, then
would not be burden to YOU"


"Y0u are not burden to me, Rub, !"
she would reply; "you are the COM
fort of my life;" then his mother
would kiss him, and thus these two
seemed dearer to each other for the
very helplessness Of poor Rubi and
his dependence upon her love.


One cold autumn day Christen and
Jose were near the deep, gorge between
the Jungfrau and the Wengernalp, and
they were caught by these storm.
Oh! what storms those Oberland gil
ants can get up among themselves.
Christen was brought home with q
broken leg, trying 10 save Jose, who
fell.


"There will be no one to support you
now,n groaned the father" that poor,
helpless Rubi will be more of bur-
den than ever, and you, the mother,
will get blind over your lace work If
you have to support us all"


mot 80, father" cried Rubi ~
have q little money here / have saved
up. Take it, use it, 1t Is all yours"
The father did not know how the boy
had earned the money; he thought 1t
had been the gift of some traveller who
had taken compassion upon the poor
defOrmed lad. The money which had
been paid from time to time at the
wayside by those who purchased
Rubi's carvings was soon exhausted,
because it was only pedestrians who
used that mountain path, and Rubi
cried every night to think that he was
only burden, and he could not sup
port his mother as he hoped.


One day there were footsteps heard
without, and in came HOttinger, the
rich dealer in carved work. In his
hand he held a delicate carving of a
chamois climbing over the rocks.
Does the boy who carved this live
here?n he asked.


"No,n said the father from his bed
in the corner, "no one lives here but
my wife and ], and that poor, helpless
creature youder. If only my handsome
Joseph had been spared he could have
showed you, sir, the road over to
Meiringen It Is there, l suppose the
man lives who carved yonder piece"


"No, father, no" cried poor kubi /,
ait Is who carved yonder piece"
"You," exclaimed the father; sir,
the boy must have gone crazy. He
never carved thing in his life. Alas !!
is that to be added to my misfortunes =?
Is the boy to be an idiot like Jose Hor-
ner's children over at Brienz ?n and he
looked at his broken leg and grOaned,
while the tears ran down his cheeks.
.'It is very strange" said Hottinger,
"for the man of whom 1 bought this
told me that the boy who lived here
carved 1t, and have come to order
some work of him."


The mother was not at home, but
had gone out to sell her lace, and the
father would not listen to his son. He
thought Rubi was getting crazed, or
idiotic, as so many of the Swiss are,
and he would not allow any orders for
copies of the carving to be left with
them, for as he honestly said, he
would not cheat the merchant into
thinking that the orders would be
filled.


AS you zee, Christen was a very hon.
est, straightforward fellow, but very
stupid and o very obstinate one. Hot
finger left to look elsewhere for the
artist Rubi hobbled out of the chalet
after him.


"Oh, sir, please, 1 am not an idiot.
Father tires of the sight Of me because
am ugly and misshapen. l am not
like handsome Jose, my brother, but
did, sir, / did carve the piece In your
hand :" and then Rubi cried from very
excitement and eagerness to make the
merchant believe him. But his tears
and his twitchings and trembling oc-
casicned by his earnestness did not
make his appearance more prepOssess-
ing. and the man was only the more
convinced that the father was right
and the child was out of his mind.
He thought that the beautiful chamois
could never have been the work of that
miserable, deformed boy.


While still the child sat on the road
side crying as If his heart would break
from disappointment, he saw his


mother coming up the mountain path
In the distance. Then his eagerness
to keep the merchant until she could
come, made his manner more crazy
than before, for he knew that If his
mother reached there before the mer-
chant left she could tell him that 1t


was he who had done the wonderful
carving. Poor Rubi caught the mer-
chant by the arm, bnt 1t was not bard
to shake off child so deformed.
Then he put both arms around the
free himself without hurting Rubi.
Tho ,v,orobouf lob od angry and the