THE HOUSE ON THE HILL

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20896, 27 November 1937, Page 13

THE HOUSE ON THE HILL

At the top of a hill, I don’t know exactly where, there lived a little old man. He had a pretty little cottage

that perched right on the crest of the hill, and was surrounded by a neat garden full of flowers and shrubs, and trees in which birds had made their nests. It was a very steep hill, but it was covered with soft green grass, in which there were sometimes wild flowers, and a narrow white path wound lazily up its side. But the little old man hardly noticed all these beauties, because he was always dropping things down the side of the hill, and having to run after them, grumbling all the while about the steepness of the hillside.

So at last he decided to move to a house right at the bottom of a near by valley. The valley was a very pleasant place, filled with ferns and flowers, and with a tinkling little stream running past the front gate of the house.

Tire little old man felt very happy indeed, for a long time, and often he would drop things just for the pleasure of seeing that they could not roll away But the valley was shaded from the sun, and in time the little old man began to grumble about the lack of sunlight. “This is a miserable, dark place,” he muttered one day. “I am tired of living in a valley. I'll get a house along the road." So he moved again, this time to a dear little house by the road, and felt very contented. But not many people used the road, and he scarcely ever saw anyone.

One day a fluffy white kitten came along the road, and went to sleep in a patch of sunlight outside the front door. The little old man was glad to

see it, and asked it to stay with him. He would talk to it, and felt less lonely. But one day he scowled at the kitten and said: “What’s the use of a kitten about the place? You can’t talk to me, you just purr.” Just as he finished speaking, along the road came a little old woman, who stopped at his gate to admire the kitten. “Yes, it is pretty enough,” the little woman agreed, “but I’m tired of hearing it purr.” “What a lovely house you have,” said the little old woman. “Oh, yes,” he replied, “but I’m so tired of living alone. I get so lonely. Little old woman, would you marry me and come to live in my little house?” The little old woman loved the house and the kitten, and she saw the little old man was lonely so she said she would many him. The little old man was very happy, and as soon as they were married he painted the house, and planted more flowers, and put up shelves in the kitchen. And the little old woman washed th dishes, and polished the windows, and put flowers in the rooms, and was as happy as the little old man. One day he was in the garden, talking to the kitten, when the little old woman came in from a walk, looking very excited. “Little old man,” she said, “I have found the most delightful house to live in. Do let us move at once.” She took him to see the house, and he found it was the one in the valley that he had had before. He thought of the little house by the road that he loved so much, and where he was so happy, then he looked at the little old woman’s eager face, and remembered that it was she who had made him happy. “I won’t tell her I’ve lived here,” he thought to himself; “she'll find out for herself that it is dark here, and often misty, and that there are bats. Then she will want to go bad: to our house by the roadside." And aloud he said. “Very well, as you want to live here so much, we shall.”

They left the house by the road, and went into the house in the valley. The little old woman was delighted to have another house to put in order, and busily scrubbed floors and made curtains, and arranged the furniture. And the little old man to his very great surprise, was just as happy. He planted a garden, and made some new shelves, and did a hundred and one things to make the house in the valley more attractive. He had practically forgotten about

the house by the roadside when the little old woman came back from a walk with a happy smile on her face. “Little old man, little old man,” she called excitedly. “I have found the dearest little house for us. If we could go and live there I know I should never want to change my house again. Come quickly, and see it now.”

The little old man followed her out of the valley, along the road, and up the side of a steep hill. “There it Is,” said the little old woman triumphantly, and the little old man found himself gazing rather sadly, at his old house on the top of the hill.

“How could I bear to leave my beautiful house and garden in the valley?” he sighed to himself. Then he looked at the little old woman who was. waiting anxiously to hear what he would say. and remembered again that it was she who had made him so happy. “I can’t disappoint her,” he thought, so he smiled and said, “Why of course we can live here, if you want to so much.”

So he and the little old woman packed their bags again and put the cat in a basket. They climbed up the hill, stopping to admire the buttercups on the way, then set about putting the house in order. “I must have shelves for everything right away,” said the little old woman, “because if I drop anything it will roll right out of the door and down the hill.” She went to the door and looked away over the surrounding hills. “Isn’t it a lovely view?” she murmured. “Yes, isn’t it?” agreed the little old man, “and in a little while I'll have the garden looking well again.’’

And to himself he thought, “I believe I can be as happy here as I was in the house in the valley and in the one before that, on the road. In fact, I think I would be happy anywhere, so long as I had the little old woman to work for and make happy.”