THE BLINDMAN'S HOLIDAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1848, 22 April 1887, Page 31

THE BLINDMAN'S HOLIDAY.

If in the kingdom of the blind the oneeyed man is monarch, what position in this world does the blind man who can see hold 1 This is not a conundrum, but a sober question, suggested to my mind by an incident which I believe is not so uncommon as one could desire. On my Wednesday outing in search of an outline I was doing the " Row," and had just passed through Hyde Park Corner with the stream of all that was fashionable in this big city. I had previously met a well-known raconteur, whose " quips and cranks " have made Mayfair merry for a long year. He was good enough to ask me to dine with him at the " Rechauffe," which everybody who is anybody knows is situated between the "Corner" and the City; and thither was I bending my steps, feeling as fit as the familiar fiddle, for had I not sported a nevr Chesterfield, in the top button hole of which was an orchid which Joseph of Birmingham might have been proud of 1 ' Moreover, it was given me by — but with this the reader has nothing to do, except that 1 may as well here state for the donor of " this very pretty thing " I had purchased in Bond street a heart-shaped gold locket, and which locket, carefully laid in the cream-coloured wool, bad been placed tenderly in a small tin box by the jeweller. I sauntered along Piccadilly in the true flaneur style. The crescent moon had put in an appearance — the evening was clear and there was a crispness in the air made doubly welcome after a week of fogs and wet. There was also at the cirous the usual congestion, and circulation had well-nigh stopped altogether. During a temporary lull in the line of landaus and cabs I saw an opportunity to cvoss, and I was about to do so when a series of spasmodic spurts on the siding made with a stick served to inform me that I was within speaking distance of a sightless man, whose face was full of intelligence. There was a cheery demeanour about him which even the battered older box?r and tattered garments failed to extinguish. I was wondering how the poor fellow was going to cross the human stream that kept on flowing westward, when he settled the point by saying, " Sir, would you kindly assist me to the other side ?" and he gently laid hold of my coat sleeve. Of such incongruos material is mortal man made up that my first feeling was one akin to shame. I had been trained in the school of contrasts, and something of the satire of the situation was painfully evident to me, when the orchid-laden Chesterfield and the ragged paletot met sleeve to sleeve. The man's appeal for guidance was made in the silver tinkle of a tenor voice, and as I looked into his face, I saw my rebuke written in pale resignation in closed eyelids. I hastened to reply " that he might trust himself to me." But to tow a blind man across the circus is not an easy task ; he clung to me with childlike tenacity, and I landed him safely on the first refuge. After a few minutes we put to sea again. He seemed to steer very badly, but finally I placed him all right on the opposite kerb. He thanked me so touchingly that I inquired of him about his means of subsistence. " I do wonderfully, sir," he replied, in the same cheery manner ; . I attend convivials with my concertina. I'm going on to the ' Harmonious Howlers ' to : night, and tomorrow I have got a Job witii the 'Battersea Bards.' I plays the accompaniments, and occasionally I sing. I'm a reg'lar f etcher, sir, I can tell you, wheml give 'em • Come into the garden, Maud.' Why," he added, with a touch of humour, " why, sometimes afore Maud's got into the garden I've had a hatful of coppers, I won't keep you, sir," he said ; and I must say, for a blind man, he bolted out of my sight with a swiftness that astounded me. I had only gone a few yards, when I saw that my gold sleeve-links were missing, and for a moment I was actually base enough to blame the blind Bartemeus of the Boro.' Instinctively I placed my hand in my tail pocket. I thought of the golden locket. Thank goodness ! the little tin was all right enough, and I at once exonerated my late companion and determined to write off my loss and let Mr Darwin look after the missing links. The dinner was a thorough success — served with elegance, eaten with gusto, it was a poem in four courses. Some Chateau la Rose was a thing to be remembered, and over a cigar I thought wonld be a good time to take my host's verdict on the purchase I had made, I withdrew the tin package,

undid the. paper; there was- the creamcoloured wool, but where was the golden toy 1 On a closer inspection I found the tin was not like the one the jeweller had put my trinket in. I hastily turned out the wool, and I then saw it was a tin cup into which blind men are wont to receive the alms- of the charitable, and lest I should be doubtful on that point, there was scratched around the tin this touching but to me sarcastic appeal — Please to remember the blind. Yes I wasn't likely to forget the rascal. No wonder he steered bo badly — he was busy behind in substituting his little tin pannikin for my golden present. . I thought it worth while to mention my misfortunes to a policeman, but when I described my blind companion I thought Al didn't give me the sympathy I deserved, for he said : "Blind! I knows him. He can see a jolly sight better than you can, sir ! " — Moonshine.