"
"And are you happy?"
"Aye, I am--though times is 'ard."
"And pray what is your name?"
"Martin, sir--Thomas Martin."
"Then, Thomas Martin, you are a man--and a better, a far better man
than I, for--hear me confess, Tom Martin, I have never performed any
one of these man's virtues. You have done nobly!" And I thrust five
guineas into his work-hardened palm.
"Well drown'd me!" he gasped, very much as if he were undergoing that
watery ordeal. "Egad, sir! Lord love your eyes an' limbs--"
"For the children and their mother," said I.
"God bless ye, sir!"
"Indeed I hope He may. Heaven knows I have been a sufficing failure
hitherto, a sorrow to myself and my friends. But you, Tom Martin, have
inspired me to attempt a notable good action--perhaps the noblest of
my life. So good-bye, Tom; let me hasten to perform the best act I
ever did!"
Hurrying into the inn I called for pens, ink and paper, and sitting
down forthwith, wrote this:
MY DEAR ANTHONY:
The wind has whispered, a bird has sung to me, and an ostler, by name
Tom Martin (long may he flourish) has shown me a man's work.
For who am I, poor finite wretch, to judge my fellows and condemn such
as work me evil (and, inadvertently, themselves also, since Evil is
double-edged and cuts both ways?) Who am I to despise or dislove them
for the pain they cause me to endure (and, inadvertently, themselves
also?) Should I not rather seek to forget past wrongs, to cherish and
comfort such as despitefully use me? Is not this the secret of true
and abiding happiness?
My two uncles (whom God eternally bless!) waked in me the desire to be
a true man; and what is there more manly than to forget a wrong, to
forgive past trespasses and cherish the hand that has hurt us?
So to-day, dear Anthony, instead of awaiting you here, I do a better
thing; to-day at last, I go seeking my manhood in the achievement of a
nobler act than I ever thought possible of my accomplishment; to-day I
go to Diana.
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