A GRAND LIFE ENDS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22961, 12 February 1938, Page 9 (Supplement)

A GRAND LIFE ENDS

Young Folk of Victo Mourn Beloved

Specially Written for Youth*' Leisure Hour By LESLIE JILLETT

THOUSANDS of Australian children all over the State of 'Victoria are mourning the psßting of a kindly man whom they kner as "The Storyman." Every Saturday afternoon for 14 years he had visited the Children's Hospital, Melbourne, to read to the patients the stories he had written with his own pen, and to distribute gifts of books and sweets bought out of his savings. Oil Saturday, January 22, he died. He had no money. He had spent it all on the children.

"The Storyman," an apt name bestowed by the children who loved him, concealed the identity of Mr. Norman Allanby, aged 61 years, who was employed as a ilerk.

Thoughts for Others Not many people knew of Mr. Allanby and his self-sacrificial mission. A friend said that he was unmarried and came from an old pioneer family in Hobart. Once he was a journalist. During the last 14 years he used to leave his office at noon each Saturday, have a quick luncheon and arrive at the Children's Hospital at 1 p.m. His landlady at Middle Parky, on the day after his death, said: "He was a quiet-living man,' who always thought of others. He lived for the children. Every day the postman brought him many letters Most of them were addressed in childish writing, simply to 'The Storyman.' Even with wrong addresses they were delivered. The postman knew him. Some came to-day. He

used to sit up late writing letters—* hundreds of them—for hi?, seemed to keep in touch wjth all the children long after they had left hospital." Mri ' Allanby was a returned soldier and a shy who spurned, publicity. But he was a born spinner of children's tales.' Maiiy a child," forced to spend weary months in a sick bed, had reason to cherish the happily-worded postcards which "The Storyman" sent.

A Shy Man He also took the patients for walks, taught them to play gamos in the adjacent Royal Park and wrote and arranged little plays in which the children acted. He went from bed to bed in the two medical and the two surgical wards at the Children's Hospital and spoke to everyone. « Eight weeks ago "The Storyman" became ill. Then scores of the children whom he had befriended wrote to him. Many do not know yet that he is dead. Certainly his memory will live for many years. And his stories, too. The other morning- the young patients in the hospital which "The will visit no more were discussing his tales—"Mr. Grunt Who Went to China for Gold," "The Owl and the Thieves," and "The Boy Who Faded Away." "Gee," said one of them, "no one can teli a story like 'The Storyman.' "

Inscription in Book The creed which Jay behind Mr. Allanby's long service to the children was revealed after his death by the discovery of a book, containing the addresses of the children with whom he corresponded. The inscription, a quotation fiom Cardinal Newman, was:— "One secret act of self-denial, one sacrifice of inclination lo pleasure, is worth all the mere good thoughts, Warm feelings and passionate prayers in which idle people indulge ihemsiloes. It will give us more comfort on our death-bed to reflect on one act of self-denying mercy, purity or humility than to recollect the shedding of many tears and the recurrence of frequent transports and much spiritual exaltation

It has been suggested that Mr. Allanby's devotion, which played a tonic part in the recovery of many children, should be commemorated by the endowment of a cot at the Children's Hospital, carrying a plaque on which the story of his work would be told.