KENNETH'S SUCCESS

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 7, 18 February 1909, Page 277

KENNETH'S SUCCESS

' It's no much I can do,' said Kenneth Grant to himself; 'but I'll try my best to help mother.' And that was why he sat patiently hour after hour with his fishing rod in hand, hoping at last to get something towards the meal which c mother ' hardly knew how to supply for her hungry, sturdy family of boys and girls in her Highland cottage. There was no father to work; he was living, truly, but so ill and weak that he was only a burden now upon the wife, whose hands were already full ; and so at last they had settled to leave their own land and go south to London, where friends had promised to help them, and to put the boys in the way of helping themselves as they grew older. That day, as Kenneth sat fishing, he was thinking a great deal about the- journey, wondering what this city of London might be of which he heard so much talk, and how father and the rest would fare there, so very far away from home. But he did not speak his thoughts to Jamie and the younger ones. Their heads were full of Kenneth's success, and when they trudged home with their fish to mother they were prouder than he was of the result of his patient waiting. A month later and the Scottish laddies were away in the south, and already they had lost something from their sturdiness and health; or, perhaps, it was that they missed the bracing air of their own mountains. But this was nothing to the sad change in the father; he sank rapidly, and was soon at rest in a crowded cemetery in the strange country.

Bitter was the poor wife's grief that she should bury him there, away from his own ' bonnie Scotland,' as she said; but Poverty is a stern master, and she had no means to return to her own kindred, or to lay him to rest amongst those who had known and loved him.

Then begair the hard battle of life for the lonely woman; but Kenneth was her great comfort. The same fP iri i which had taught him, from his earliest childhood to help mother' taught' him now io shrink from no hardship or difficulty which lay lefore him. Her friends, who had brought them to the south, came forward now and put the oldest boy at a suitable school, he might receive an education which would fit him to support himself in trade Ah, how Kenneth worked ! How he toiled by day and far into the night -with that one aim — his-moiiher — to keep her froni wearying. Sneers, taunts, laughter surrounded him; his Scottish dialect, his look, his simple manners, all were made fun of by his companions; -but he bore everything" without murmuring or complaint. And then the tide turned, and everyone began to find out that Kenneth Grant was more than painstaking ; he was clever— brilliantly clever; and so as he grew older he was tried by praise, but even through that he remained unmoved. Simply and steadfastly he pursued his way his one thought centered in mother and home.

All that is years ago. The- little thoughtful laddie is a man now in a good way of business; he has helped himself and helped his brofchersfto make their way in a strange land, and the people say that the Grants have been wonderfully fortunate. But the mother knows that under God the ' fortune ' has lain in the\ goodness and perseverance of her eldest boy, and she is a- proud and happy woman as she looks round on her children, and thanks the Father in Heaven for His goodness to them all. One wish, and only one is in her heart, and that is to, see her 'am countrie' before she dies ; and Kenneth means to give it toher, too, and already they are -.planning a visit to the old place— the cottage, the glen, and the little stream where was their happy Highland home, long, long ago. A very quiet little story! Not much in it to cause wonder or amusement, but it bears with it its own lesson — that not by great deeds do we win the crown of success, but by faithful perseverance in common daily duty, by the steady aim at a noble purpose, we shall achieve all and more than all, for which, we hope- and strive.