RAINBOWS END

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 144, 21 June 1939, Page 20

RAINBOWS END

A young girl of elxteon, with round checks tunned by wind and sun and full' curls, peeping from under her bonnet, popped her head in nt the cottage door. "And how lire you to-day, Mother Mmlfy ;" she asked. "Kit, hut I'm a* fit as ever, thnnk .yon, my ilcni , ." s,iid f■■«• old lady. "And how lire you, Sunshine, dear?" Sunshine wiM not. Klla'x real mum , ; but because nf her plcii«nttt smile mill cheerful nut lire everybody called her h<l. Kvcn us the old Indy mentioned ■tlii" gliT* pet mum , tin , hum mint' from behind it woolly cloud and flooded Mother Morley's hiiiiill colt age with it" lijrht. The lit tin home was clean and tidy, but the wiirm light showed it to bo (willfully bare and shabby—for it «M the emull home of tin old woninii who was doing her bent to iniike, both end* moot. "But, Mother Morley," said Ella, "it was your eyes I inrunt. Are those glasses milking work easier for you?" "Bless you, my dear— mid your mother for giving me tliem. F can see much bettor now. Tiiku a look at what I've done- slnen I had them." From the drawer of a email worktnble the old Indy took some fancywork nnd urn-end it. out for Klhi's ndminitioii. Bits of lace, patterned needlework, knitting of nil sort*—Mr*. Morley laid out her work while Rlla picked up one piece and then another to rviiiniiii' it. Mia. Morley waited, patient but eager, for thp young girl's praise. She knew how quickly elm was aging and that her eyeelght would noon bo of no use to hen But while oho could nee she ' would work for many an hour, threading Jipf needle* anxiously, picking up dropped stitches with great labour, in though her very Hfe depended on it. Nobody quite realised how tirelessly •ho worked for, to a large extent, her life did depend on the amount of work shn could do. Day in, day out, naw Mother Morley eewlng ewi»y in her little cnttnge, and every Saturday afternoon Klla ciime and took the finished work to be mold, using all her powers nf persuasion in tho town in order to keep the old lady supplied with the necessities of life. * But it could not po on, Ella saw. Tears came into the girl , * eyes a<4 she looked at the work done with so much ''are. How ninny hours, she wondered, bad Mrs. Morley spent on this little preen jacket? And who wa-s there in t T pton who would wear so old-fashioned • garment T Something of her mood passed into Mr*. Morley , s trembling voice, as she •nld noxiously! "Well, my dear?" "T will do my best to find a customer for it, Mother Morley," Ella replied. "But people in TTpton seem to be different nowadays," she «'«nt on. "Large, stores go up in nearly every street and people flock to buy the clothes advertised. The things seem pood, T know, but they don't ln»t long. Now your work will last. Mother, and 1 hough T don't want to dishearten you 1 must say t liiit It's get I in? more difficult to Mell (he good work when everything i H so cheap," The old lndy's Imnds trembled, but she raised n smiling face to Klin. "Never mind, dear, It's n great bleesIng to have your help, flood-bye. Sunshlnot God bless your kind little lienrtt" But, though Mother Mortev worked hinder that week than she "had over Hone before, the ~i,,. of worfc slowly. Her sight was fast failing her, tnntis-li she dared ~ot admit It, even to herself. Soon lifter Mrs. Morley fell sick. She had ow<r«l mined herself, the doctor *"•!'!. "'id if she did n ot | mvp „ r ,, n ,. pletn rest she would lose her sight. The poor old ludy bore up bravely In the face of disaster. When Ella came as usual on Saturday, her fm-e all smiling, "he met us smiling a countenance an her own.

"What i« it, Mother Morley?" *he cried. "I thought to find you *ick and here you are. looking an though you were never better in your life! Tell me your good ni'wi." "It'.-i not mil Ii news I have to tell, Sunshine," wild the old lady from her bed. "I have no work to show, but I've hud an idea, and F want you to do me ii favour." "Kindly. -- answered Ella. "Von see {hut picture over the mn lit elpiece, the one culled "Where the Kainbnw Knds' —I wiint you to take it down for me." "This picture. Sunshine, was given to me by my grandfather. He was a noted (picture dealer, but a «|iieer old fellow. Everybody thought he had ii massed n fortune, lie didnt cure for any of his relations, however, and always treated them sourly; but me he was very fond of. He would take me on his knee and stroke my curls and tell me many a story. ''One story he told me was a great favourite of mine. Ft was called, 'Where ho Rairi'bow Knds.' and told of a young man who found hU life's happiness not by seeking for pots of gold, but by Working in honest labour for the good of mankind. fSrandfatiier used to laugh when f told him I thought n pot of gold ii useless tiling: I would much rather have a husband like the man in the story. 'I hope yon will marry someone like that, Mary,' he would snv, 'lint money is useful smoetimes, all the. snine.' "Well the poor old fellow died when he was 8". My parents were bitterly disappointed when the will was read: he had left nucli a small amount of money after all. To me be left this picture, with a little note saying: 'To Alary, for use when she most needs it.' Father could make nothing of it; it was just an old picture of no great value, so he let me keep it. But I treasured it. remembering the happy stories grandfather had told to me about the young seeker after happiness. "But now, Sunshine, I think T see what my poor old grandfather meant that I was. not to despise money, and wlwn most in need of it I was to sell this picture. So go, my dear, to the picture dealer /while my mind is made up." Old Mrs. Morley laughed as Ella went away, but hardly had the girl gone, than the tears flowed down her wrinkled cheeks. "I'm afraid my news will be hard to bear," she told the old lady. "When Mr. Thorogood heard what T had to say he gave but one look at the picture, and said: 'Mrs. Morley will be greatly disappointed, I'm afraid, but this picture is of no value to me at all. . He went on to say, however, that the frame is an especially good one, and will offer you £. r » for it." "That was a kind thought of Mr. Thorogood'*," she said at last. "Well, well, Ella dear. £*f will do a lot for me. Oive me the picture; I will take it out of its frame." The picture was secured very firmly; it took them some time to loosen the nails. Aβ the old lady took out the last one the thick piece of cardboard at the back of the picture fell away, and disclosed row upon row of tightlywadded Treasury notes beneath it! In her moment of great need Mary Morley found her crock of gold, for her eccentric old grandmother had concealed his fortune behind the worthless pictwrp"Mother Morley!" the young girl eried, her even shining with joy. "Now you need never work again!" "f!od bless him!" said the old lady, thinking of her grandfather's generosity. " 'Money is useful sometimes, all the fame, Mary!' Those were his words, and how little I heeded them then. But now " Mother Morley'» voice broke; she wept for eheer happiness.