UNCLE BENJAMIN'S SECRET.
LITTLE Ben was fond of making toy boats and ships and sailing them. He
sometimes took them to the pond on the Common, and sometimes to wharves
at low tide.
One day, as he was going out of the door of the sign of the Blue Ball,
boat in hand, Uncle Benjamin followed him.
The old man with white hair watched the boy fondly day by day, and he
found in him many new things that made him proud to have him bear his
name.
"Ben," he called after him, "may I go too?"
"Yes, yes, Uncle Benjamin. I am going down beside Long Wharf. Let us
take Baby Jane, and I will leave the boat behind. The baby likes to go
out with us."
The old man's heart was glad to feel the heart that was in the voice.
Little Ben took Baby Jane from his mother's arms, and they went toward
the sea, where were small crafts, and sat down on board of one of the
safely anchored boats. It was a sunny day, with a light breeze, and the
harbor lay before them bright, calm, and fair.
"Ben, let us talk together a little. I am an old man; I do not know how
many years or even days more I may have to spend with you. I hope
many, for I have always loved to live, and, since I have come to know
you and to give my heart to you, life is dearer to me than ever. I have
a secret which I wish to tell you.
"Ben, as I have said, I have found in you _personality_. You do not
fully know what that means now. Think of it fifty years from now, then
you will know. You just now gave up your boat-sailing for me and the
baby. You like to help others to be more comfortable and happy, and that
is the way to grow. That is the law of life, and the purpose of life is
to grow. You may not understand what I mean now; think of what I say
fifty years from now.
"Ben, I have faith in you. I want that you should always remember me as
one who saw what was in you and believed in you."
"Is that the secret that you wanted to tell me, uncle?" asked little
Ben.
"No, no, no, Ben; I am a poor man after a hard life. You do pity me,
don't you? Where are my ten children now, except one? Go ask the English
graveyard. My wife is gone. I am almost alone in the world. All bright
things seemed to be going out in my life when you came into it bearing
my name. I like to tell you this again and again. Oh, little Ben, you do
not know how I love you! To be with you is to be happy.
[Illustration: UNCLE BENJAMIN'S SECRET.]
"One after one my ten children went away to their long rest where the
English violets come and go. Two after one they went, three after two,
and four after three. I lost my property, and Samuel went to America,
and I was told that Brother Josiah had named you for me and made me
your godfather. Then, as there was nothing but graves left for me in
old England, I wished to come to America too.
"Ben, Ben, you have heard all this before, but, listen, I must tell you
more. I wanted to cross the ocean, but I had little money for such a
removal, and I used to walk about London with empty hands and wish for
L100, and my wishes brought me nothing but sorrow, and I would go to my
poor lodgings and weep. Oh, you can not tell how I used to feel!
"I had a few things left--they were as dear to me as my own heart. I am
coming to the secret now, Ben. You are asking in your mind what those
things were that I sold; they were the things most precious of all to
me, and among them were--were my pamphlets."
The old man bowed over, and his lip quivered.
"What were your pamphlets, uncle? You said that you would explain to me
what they were."
"Ben, there are some things that we come to possess that are a part of
ourselves. Our heart goes into them--our blood--our life--our hope. It
was so with my pamphlets, Ben. This is the secret I have to tell.
"I loved the cause of the Commonwealth--Cromwell's days. In the last
days of the Commonwealth, when I had but little money to spare, I used
to buy pamphlets on the times. When I had read a pamphlet, thoughts
would come to me. I did not seem to think them; they came to me, and I
used to note these thoughts down on the margins of the leaves in the
pamphlets. Those thoughts were more to me than anything that I ever had
in life."
"I would have felt so too, uncle."
"Years passed, and I had a little library of pamphlets, the margins
filled with my own thoughts. Poetry is the soul's vision, and I wrote my
poetry on those pamphlets. Ben, oh, my pamphlets! my pamphlets! They
were my soul; all the best of me went into them.
"Well, Ben, times changed. King Charles returned, and the Commonwealth
vanished, but I still added to my pamphlets for years and years. Then I
heard of you. I always loved Brother Josiah, and my son was on this side
of the water, and the longing grew to sail for America, where my heart
then was, as I have told you."
"I see how you felt, uncle."
"I dreamed how to get the money; I prayed for the money. One day a
London bookseller said to me: 'You have been collecting pamphlets. Have
you one entitled Human Freedom'? I answered that I had, but that it was
covered with notes. He asked me to let him come to my lodgings and read
it. He came and looked over all my pamphlets, and told me that a part of
the collection had become rare and valuable; that they might have a
value in legal cases that would arise owing to the change in the times.
He offered to buy them. I refused to sell them, on account of what I had
written on the margins of the leaves. What I wrote were my revelations.
"He went away. Then my loneliness increased, and my longing to come to
America. I could sell my valuables, and among them the pamphlets, and
this would give me money wherewith to make the great change."
"You sold them, uncle?"
"When I thought of Brother Josiah, I was tempted to do it. But I at
first said 'No.' When I heard that my son was making a home for himself
here, I again was tempted to do it. But I said, 'No.' I could not sell
myself.
"Then there came a letter from Brother Josiah. It said: 'I have another
son. We have named him Benjamin, after you. We have named you as his
godfather.'
"Then I sat down on the side of the bed in my room, and the tears fell.
"'_We have named him Benjamin_'--how those words went to my heart!"
"It was the first time that you ever heard of me, wasn't it, uncle?"
"Yes, yes; it makes me happy to hear you say that. And you will never
forget me, will you, Ben?"
"Never, uncle, if I live to be eighty years old! But, uncle, you sold
the pamphlets!"
"Yes. When I read your name in Josiah's letter I felt a weight lifted
from my mind. I said to myself that I would part with myself--that is,
the pamphlets--for you."
"Did you sell them for me, uncle?"
"Yes, I sold them for you, Benjamin."
"What was the man's name that bought them, uncle?"
"I hoped that you would ask me that. His name was Axel. Repeat it, Ben."
"Axel."
"It is a hard name to forget."
"I shall never forget it, uncle."
"Ben, you may go to London sometime."
"We are all poor now."
"But you have _personality_, and people who look out for others are
needed by others for many things. Maybe they will sometime send you
there."
"Who, uncle?"
"Oh, I don't know. But if ever you should go to London, go to all the
old bookstores, and what name will you look for?"
"Axel, uncle."
"Ben, those are not books; they are myself. I sold myself when I sold
them--I sold myself for you. Axel, Ben, Axel."
Little Ben repeated "Axel," and wondered if he would ever see London or
meet with his uncle in those pamphlets which the latter claimed to be
his other self.
"Axel," he repeated, pinching Baby Jane's cheek. Baby Jane laughed in
the sunlight on the blue sea when she saw the excitement in Ben's face.
The tide was coming in, the boat was rocking, and Ben said:
"We must go home now, for Jenny's sake."