Part 15 (2/2)
Willie fell back on his principles, and thought for a minute.
”Of course, if I'm to be any good at all I must have a hand in what Hector calls the general business of the universe, grannie.”
”To be sure; and that, as a smith, you would have; but why should you choose to be a smith rather than anything else in the world?”
”Because--because--people can't get on without horse-shoes, and ploughs and harrows, and tires for cart-wheels, and locks, and all that. It would help people very much if I were a smith.”
”I don't doubt it. But if you were a mason you could do quite as much to make them comfortable; you could build them houses.”
”Yes, I could. It would be delightful to build houses for people. I should like that.”
”It's very hard work,” said his grandmother. ”Only you wouldn't mind that, I know, Willie.”
”No man minds hard work,” said Willie. ”I think I should like to be a mason; for then, you see, I should be able to look at what I had done.
The ploughs and carts would go away out of sight, but the good houses would stand where I had built them, and I should be able to see how comfortable the people were in them. I should come nearer to the people themselves that way with my work. Yes, grannie, I would rather be a mason than a smith.”
”A carpenter fits up the houses inside,” said his grandmother. ”Don't you think, with his work, he comes nearer the people that live in it than the mason does?”
”To be sure,” cried Willie, laughing. ”People hardly see the mason's work, except as they're coming up to the door. I know more about carpenter's work too. _Yes_, grannie, I have settled now; I'll be a carpenter--there!” cried Willie, jumping up from his seat. ”If it hadn't been for Mr Spelman, I don't see how we could have had _you_ with us, grannie. Think of that!”
”Only, if you had been a tailor or a shoemaker, you would have come still nearer to the people themselves.”
”I don't know much about tailoring,” returned Willie. ”I could st.i.tch well enough, but I couldn't cut out. I could soon be a shoemaker, though. I've done everything wanted in a shoe or a boot with my own hands already; Hector will tell you so. I could begin to be a shoemaker to-morrow. That is nearer than a carpenter. Yes.”
”I was going to suggest,” said his grannie, ”that there's a kind of work that goes yet nearer to the people it helps than any of those. But, of course, if you've made up your mind”--
”Oh no, grannie! I don't mean it so much as that--if there's a better way, you know. Tell me what it is.”
”I want you to think and find out.”
Willie thought, looked puzzled, and said he couldn't tell what it was.
”Then you must think a little longer,” said his grandmother. ”And now go and wash your hands.”
CHAPTER XVIX.
A TALK WITH Mr SHEPHERD.
In a few minutes Willie came rus.h.i.+ng back from his room, with his hands and face half wet and half dry.
”Grannie! grannie!” he panted--”what a stupid I am! How can a body be so stupid! Of course you mean a doctor's work! My father comes nearer to people to help them than anybody else can--and yet I never thought what you meant. How is it you can know a thing and not know it at the same moment?”
”Well, now you've found what I meant, what do you think of it?” said his grandmother.
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