THE SHOP ON WHEELS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2511, 30 April 1902, Page 74

THE SHOP ON WHEELS.

i. It was neaily 3 o'clock m the morning, ai,d Joiiah Pirn almost bccan to d<.-pur of doing any more trade that night. " Never knew things to be so quiet," he muttered, in a tone of deep di-s^u-t " It's more like a country churchyard than London town " Mr Pirn had a pVa^ant habit of talking to himself, which wt-sw t -s probably the result <jf -o often has mg no one c!-t to talk }(!<-; -f I don't tlvi.k I'll take the old «hop home," he added, with a tkreatenaia; look ut las SLXVn.It rofffityiirn. - XJLjlltiM.

you home, and break you up for old iron ! Business!" he continued, turning tothetea- ! pot for sympathy. " What's the good of I talking about the state of trade, when a coffee-stall at the corner of Sloane street can't take more than ninepence in two hours? I shall chuck it, that's -nhat I shall do.'' It was one of the advantages of Mr Pirn's, business that if customers came not to him he could take his wares, shop and all, to thorn Just then a party of young people returning from some scene of social lestivity came in sight. Mr Pirn eyed thtm scornfully. " Toft's !" 'he said confidentially to the sugar-basin. "Not worth twopence to us!" But foi once even Mr Pirn's sagacity was at fault. One of the young men who was leading the way called out to the rest : "Here's a coffee-stan" ! Who wants coffee?" A young lady in the party at once said : " Oh. I would like to have some coffee at a stieet stall! Shall we stop?"' Then a young man. who was evidently a humorist , observed that they might as well die there as anywhere, so the wLole party pulled up, much to Mr Pirn's astonishment, and demanded coffee, hot. r Mr Pirn was not at all flustered at this inrush of aristocratic patronage. Indeed, he often boasted that at his temperance hote I—as1 — as he sometimes used to call his coffee-stal! — he served ail classes of society, fiom noble dukes to artful dodgers. So he served the party with hot coffee of the most aromatic and lefreshing quality in his power, talking all the time in a low voice, as was his custom, to the various articles about him. "Well, it is a lum world, and no mistake!" he said in a confidential whisper to his most intimate friend the coffee-urn. " Here's a lot of swells — downright out-and-outers, as you may see — who could have every blessed thing they ask for, must needs cem'e to a coffee-stall at 3 o'clock in the morning for penny cups of coffee." " It's jolly good coffee !" said the noisy young man who led the way "Is it?" inquired Mr Pirn drily. "That's rather surprising. Seeing that I've only been making coffee for the last 40 years, you wouldn't expect me to know anything about it yet." " that's one for you," said a member of the party to the noisy youth. " I suppose yon see some funny sides of life here, don't you?" he asked, turning to Mr Pirn. " Yes," replied the hotel proprietor, in the same slow, sarcastic tone of voice. " I get all sort.s and conditions of men here. I've had lords and loafers, Prime Ministers and jockeys, rogues and vagabonds, wise men and " — here he looked quizzically at the noisy young gentleman — '* fools." "What heading do we come under?' asked a young lady, turning a pair of beautiful grey-blue eyes to Mr Pirn inquiringly. The old marl, who had been reading human nature in the stillness of the night for nearly half a century, turned his keen eyes to her for a moment, and, after a glanc? at the young fellow who stood by her side, said, in a softer voice: " At present, my child, you come under no heading. You have not yet qualified yourself.' Then he looked again at the young fellow by her side, who had a curiously sti iking face, and said to the girl : "Your opportunity may be coming." By this time most of the party had gone on, 'and these two weie alone at the coffee stall. The girl appeared to be struck by the old man's remark, for she said : '"Is my oppoitunity really coming? I wonder it" I shall make nse of it? ' "What about me. old boy?" asked the young man. "Am I among the sheep or the goats? " "At present you aie among the goats' said the old coffee-stall keeper, gnmly. The young man was evidently half offended, and said sharply : " Oh. I ,think it's time we got on, Miss Trent! " With a nod from the girl and a somewhat gruff "Good-night!" from the young man, they went away, leaving Mr Pirn to his own caustic, shrewd thoughts " That's the way of the world," he mutteied to his friend the coffee-urn. "A irond goes by, and, out of the whole crowd, there's one man, and peihap- one woman, who is woith noting.' He pioceeded to pack up ln> n'onsil-, i-li.iUmg to his -llenl companions all the time " Yes ; we shall see him again," he said "Up the tiee or in the guttei Who know-? She doesn't know ; and yet it is s]ie who will wnte his fnti> And perhaps she doe-nt e\cn know that Fii- fate is in hei hand-. 'J hat's the pity of it— .-.he way not even knrw that the faU- of .i nniii il-ini lin h^r hands."

31. A couple of yeais rolled by, nurl still Mr Pirn wheeled his temperance hotel night hy night to the corner of Sloane street. He was still making caustic observations on the ways of the woikl at large and holding confidential chats with his coffteurn. But Li" coffee-uin was not his only companion, for many improbable people have stopped at his hotel, and learnt to appreciate the queer old man's acuteness. There w a<- one man — a young man — who had taken to coming almost every night — or, rather, morning — to drink one of Mr Pirn's cups of coffe?. He was -very pale and shabby-looking, and there was a pinched, sharp look about his face that told quick-eyed Mr Pan clearly enough of the tale of semi-starvation that was being told. Hardly anyone would recognise in him the weil-dic-s<-,_d young swell who once stopped at tlie stall at 3 o'clock in the morning, with a young lady who had singularly beautiful grey-blue eye. But Mr Pirn had not forgotten the fact, though he had not once referred to it. " Good-evening, sir," said Mr Pirn one night to his queer customer. "And hojv's Ik jßfftjld. jifigji jisjnitjaujl'i

"Oh, ivell enough!'' spid the young man, quietly. Mr Pirn looked at him keenly. People who are half-starved and weai shabby clothes don't often speak of the world _as tieating them "' well enough " "I pc'int pictuies which the world won't buy," slid the young man; "but I don'fc know whose fault that is." "Can't nnnage to paint pictures VfhLh the' world will buy. I '"' asked Mr Pirn. The young man looked at him with a smile. " Of course I could if I wanted to," he said. "Only you don't choose to?" remarked the old man. "No ; I don"t choose to,' 1 said his customer. " Well, I'm hanged ! "' said Mr Pirn, with a twinkle in his eye. " I'm blest if I wasn't right when I said you were the one man in the crowd worth noting! "' "When did you say that?'' asked the young man. " A couple of years ago," said Mr Pirn, " when you stopped here one night with a party of toffs. You were differently dressed then, and you had a young lady with you." The young man coloured slightly, paid for his coffee, and went away hurriedly. But one night when he was visiting the coffee stall lie took out his notebook and made a sketch of Mr Pirn and his temperance hotel. " Oh," said Mr Pirn. qtiizzically, when the sketch was finished, "so you're the young man who paints pictures that the world won't buy? Now, I'll tell you what I'll do. If you care to scribble a copy o£ that on the front of my s.tall, for my customers to look at while they drink their coffee, you can come here for coffee every night free of charge.'' The young man laughed "What's the good of a sketch of you?" he asked. " That's my business," said Mr Pirn. " It's a business offer ; you can take it or Heave it, as you like." "I accept," said the young man. "Why should I not? I have painted a good many pictures and got nothing for them. At any rate, I shall get coffee for this." So the following night he brought his materials with him, and worked away for over an hour, with apparently a keen sense of enjoyment. '" How is it that you've come down in the world?" asked Mr* Pirn, suddenly. "You used to look as smart as any of them." " Because I'm what most people would call a fool," said the young man. " I can earn a good enough living, if I chose to . do so, by sketching for the illustrated papers. But I've got a conceited notion in my head that I'm fit for something better. So I plough away at a class of work which the public won't buy. See? " "I see." said Mr Pirn, quickly. "You won't mix chicoiy with your coffee." Xow, there is a certain celebrated artisfc in London who loves art for itself, and not merely for what it brings in. He is a, queer, wandering, Bohemian character, who delight* in roaming about the great old city at night, when he thinks he sees more of real human nature than in the day. He was an occasional customer of Mr Pirn's — a fact which Mr Pirn no doubt had in his mind when he asked for a sketch' to adorn his stall — and not long after'it was finished it happened to catch his c3 r e. He looked at it carelessly. But it seemed to rivet his attention, and he put down his cup of coffee to look at it more closely, while Mr Pirn smoked his pipe in observant silence. But the gieat man was not satisGed with, merely looking at the sketch, for he took out a glass and examined every bit of it anxiously. "Who paiiited that?'' he asked at last ''A young fiuud of mmr; " mkl Mr Pirn, briefly. "A young friend of ymns?'* echoed the artist, incredulously. ' What's his name?" "I don't know his name, 1 ' said Mr Pirn;' " no moie do you." " I know the name of every painter in London." " Yes ; but jou don't know the name of this one," insisted Mr Pirn. "He doesu'fc advertise m any paper, and he doesn't inn about asking the successful for help.'' " Tell me his- name ! ' said the artist, impatiently. " J'cl! me hi« name. I say! We haven't liuny artists in lingland ; let me lincl this ojie quickly!" That was how the tide turned. In two or thiee mornings the great man had taught him nuue of painting than he had learnt in so many yeais. More than that, he intioduced him to the public; so that his Timl; k'ot f <UI " attention, and he no longer had to slip out at night to take ins walk in oider to hide hi 1 - shabby clothes. In some way the public heard of the strange manner in which he had been discovered ; but there was a circumstance connected with his career which never became public — no, not even when his marriage with the beautiful Miss Trent was announced — and that was a pile of letter?, carefully hidden away in his trunk, which, had cheered him week by week, without once disappointing .him, all through the long time of struggling— letters which had only one message : "lam waiting for you.. Struggle on ; fear nothing." Not once had they met after that night when he first knew her ; but Mr Pirn could have told how once or twice a young lady, carefully wrapped in a long cloak, had come to him late at night, merely to hear him talk of a customer who was veiy, very shabby and very poor.

— Til opening a bird f how at Norwich, Sir 8. Hoare, M.P., raid 50.C00 canaries, bred in Norwich, were <xnl to all parts of the world yearly. In mai.y cases the canaries "paid tho rent.' To " Tattereall " there's many a man Who owe 3 his bank account, And they who lowly life began Climbed quickly up the mount. We trust that those whom charm of gold To perils may allure, Such as neglect of cough or cold,