CHAPTER X.—SCIENCE AND PHILANTHROPY.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 10298, 9 May 1896, Page 5

CHAPTER X.— SCIENCE AND PHILANTHROPY.

After so many unmerited failures, it is pleasant to be able to chronicle one successful invention by whioh Kirn waa enabled to contribute to the comfort of a poor, bed-ridden old woman, Sarah Green, who lived in a small cottage in the outskirts of Tetoombe, had been' a hard Worker as long 'as 'she wan able to work, going out oharing, washing, and nurßing, until old age crept upon her. , ' Whloh the prasßhopper is becoming aburdlng, Mr Tyrwhltt sir,' sh she one day observed to that gentleman, Mat alone lifting' waph-tnbs and a-hanging of the olothes O"er the line. An' I'm ' al-gittin' on for 70 an'— Thank you, air, an may you nevor know what it is to feel as if yon. couldn't bend your back to nave your life, an' when yon do bend it for serubbin' an' such JlUe, to feel as if you never could get it straight, again.' At last poor old Sally was laid on' her baok, dependent upon the charitable for I her rent and food, and upon the good offices of her nest door neighbour, who used fo pome in now and then, when she conld spare time, to look after tho invalid; or, as the latter espjsessed it • do for her.' One retainer howerer sue had, in the person of the aforesaid neighbour's daughter, og«d fifteeD, who, in consideration of a wage of two shillings a week paid =by- Miss drank, would (when she didn't forget it.) go Into Bayafi'g opttaga several timea a day, and ' tarn her over ' or ' prop her up, 1 these operations being rendered neceßaary by her inability to tntn .|6jrer or ait up_ unaided. For although she still retained considerable Btiengtn in her arms and-shouldera ' all the rest of her fejt'as Jf ffc didn't belong to her.' ' Whioh I wish it belonged toflomebody else,' she would to her sympathisers 'and when that gel Mary forgets to xjome and turn Jme over. It's weary work iyinj? here waiting. Not as she's a bad gel, op'y she forgets you see, which gals will lje gels, when they ain't boys, whioh everybody Jtapwa they're ten times wus.' Bess Crank happened to mention Sarah's troubles one evening after tea, wheronpon Kirn gravely brought in his .!$ saaare and drawing Instruments, and -for the. Rest of the evening was busy upon a drawing respecting which he wonld vouchsafe n,o yi few days afterwards, Maud Dobba •who took it in turn with Bess .Crank to I read .to Sapab, was astonished on entering the room of fche latter, to .find Xir n' and Mr Angus MoGbregor, the pariah doctor bußily rigging qp oyer her bed a mysterious arrangement of cords and pulleys. Tho pulleys hung, upon hooks S sorewed Into ihe niters, end thepordsi passed over tho pulley*, »»* P e ? a , fa 18.l 8 . t ' ened to a band of webbing ffbw We dootor was passing under Salfy fl'fl? mpits. j • JSh, Mr Crank, yer'e jest a gran yooag mon. See here, Miss Dobb9,what he has devised. This puir feckless anld bodyoouldna' torrn in her bed, and now she's only to pall this cord and in a twinkling she's turned on her right Bide, .and if she pulls this one she's tacoe^} on ]»f t. Avid whan she wants to sit up, she jaat palla this third cord, and it lifts ber u.p saj' and here he gives theeordapull whioh biinga Sally into a sittiig posture, muoh.,to her alarm. ■ 'Oh Mr McGregor, slrj I'm jso |ear- ! f nl, 1 orieß the poor qW body m the^,o«»^e ignoUm' principle.

1 NonseDsa wumrnan,' replies the Sootonman. 'Now just you do it for yersel, 1 and mind when you havo raised yersel 1 , hook thae loop over this hook— sol 1 After much adjuration, Sally is persuaded to try the apparatus, and soon to her delight, findß that she is now independent of ' that gel Mary,' as far as turning over and propping up are concernod. ' How clever of you Mr Crank/ says Maud with warm admiration, 'how hind.' And then she looks at Mm. ' Oh I like doing these things,' rpjoina Kirn, feeling very hot about the ears, and red in the face. ' I— l think I must go now.' Where Is the philosopher who will write us a treatise on Handshaking? A r work -describing the Shake Royal, (allied to which is the shake offioial) the shake flabby, in which you feel as if you had got hold of the fin of a fish, the shake genuine, the heartiness of which is aggravatingly simulated by the shake robustious, in whioh your hand is gripped as in a vice and Worked up and down like a pump-handle, the tender shake sacred to parting lovers, and the shake amatory, in which the young lady 'a fingers close upon yours with a gentle pressure which sends one eleofcrio thrill through you. It was a shake of this last kind with whioh Msnd favonred Kirn, altogether a different kind of thing from the shake of everyday life, whioh she afterwards bestowed upon Mr MoGregor, who announood hid Intention of bearing Kirn company into the town. (To le continued.)