Tellef’s Grandmother
REALLY, no pleasanter place was to be found than down at Sandy Point,
where Tellef lived. The shabby gray hut stood among locust and wild
cherry trees on a small green plot, and if you went up on the knoll back
of the house you could get a wide view of the glorious open sea.
Tellef and Johnny Blossom had been friends ever since that time long ago
when they had had a fight and he had broken Tellef’s fishpole, and then
had given him the two half-dollars he had got from Uncle Isaac. Never
since had they been anything but the best of friends.
Another thing that was pleasant about going to Tellef’s was that no one
there talked to him about being heir of Kingthorpe and all that. He was
sick of that subject now.
And yet there was something sad, too, at Tellef’s house, for Tellef’s
grandmother was blind. Just think! When she went out of doors she had to
keep her hand on the house and walk that way, going round and round it;
and that looked so queer. Sometimes she would sit right down on the
grass and cry because she could not see; and somehow it seemed
especially sad that she should cry with those sightless eyes.
“Aren’t you glad that you can see?” said Grandmother to the boys one
day. “Don’t you thank God every day for your good eyes?”
No, Johnny Blossom had never thought of such a thing. He shut his eyes
tight so as to know how it would seem to be blind. Oh, dear, it must be
dreadful! Think of everything being dark—always, always dark!
One day he and Tellef took the grandmother up on the knoll. She longed
to feel the salt wind blowing directly from the water, she said. So
there she stood, with her gray hair tossing about her wistful old face,
and with her sightless eyes turned toward the sea.
“It was very kind of you boys to bring me up here,” said Grandmother.
“Oh, if I could only see the water! Is it smooth and bright?”
“Yes, it is like a mirror, Grandmother,” answered Tellef.
“Are there many ships in sight?”
“Yes, there goes a steamer to the east, and a beautiful boat lies right
near here, and far out there is sail after sail.”
“Far out?” asked Grandmother.
“Yes, far out against the sky.”
“Far out against the sky,” repeated Grandmother, staring with her
sightless eyes. Then she sat down to rest, with her hands folded under
her apron and her face still turned seaward, while Tellef and Johnny
Blossom played about in the heather.
“It must be dreadful to be blind,” said Johnny to Tellef.
“Yes,” said Tellef, tearing up bits of heather and tossing them away.
“It is cataracts Grandmother has in her eyes.”
“Is it?” said Johnny.
When they joined Grandmother again, she said: “It would be almost too
much to ask of any one, but if the master of Kingthorpe were alive, I do
believe I should have the courage to ask him for money enough to go and
have my eyes operated upon, so that if possible I might see the ocean
again.”
Then they took Grandmother carefully down the hill, one boy on each side
of her.
“Now that was kind of you,” said Grandmother as she sat once more on the
slope in front of the house.
Johnny Blossom dashed homeward over the hill, bounding his swiftest so
as to get home soon, for he had thought of something he was eager to
carry out. If the master of Kingthorpe were alive Grandmother would ask
him for money, she had said. Well, but really—he, Johnny Blossom, was
master of Kingthorpe now, so he must, of course, attend to it. And he
knew how he could do it. He would sell the fishing rod Uncle Isaac had
given him—it cost an awful lot of money, Miss Melling had said—and
Grandmother should have all he got for it. And his collection of
coins—he would sell that, too. It ought to bring a lot of money—those
old two-shilling pieces were so curious; and there was the English
coin—my! that was worth ever so much!—and the queer old medal.
Wasn’t there something else he could sell so that Grandmother should see
the ocean and everything again? Oh, of course—all those books about
Indians; they must be worth a good deal and he had at least twelve of
them. And his collection of eggs! Why, yes! They were perfectly
beautiful eggs, and rare, many of them. To be sure almost every one was
broken a little on one side. That didn’t matter a bit when they were
placed nicely in a box, but perhaps people who bought eggs would rather
have them whole. Well, the fishing rod was valuable, anyway.
Johnny Blossom was as red as a peony from his swift running when he
dashed in upon his mother.
“Mother dear, can’t you sell that fishing rod for me that I got from
Uncle Isaac?”
“Sell your fishing rod? Indeed, you must not think of such a thing.”
“Oh, yes, I must. I must. And my coin collection—awfully rare, some of
the coins are, really; and my egg collection, too—there are three
perfectly whole eggs in it, at the very least, and”—
“But why in the world should you sell all these things?”
“Oh, so that—so that—I tell you what, Mother, it is _dreadful_ to be
blind.”
Mother stared in blank amazement.
“And Tellef’s grandmother says that if the master of Kingthorpe were
alive, she would ask him for money to go and have her eyes operated on.
It costs frightfully, you see, Mother, and I have to be the master of
Kingthorpe now; so I want to give Tellef’s grandmother the money. I
_must_ do it because Uncle Isaac would, and I am the Kingthorpe heir.”
Johnny Blossom talked so fast that his words tumbled over each other.
“Oh, I must,” he continued, “for Grandmother said it would be heavenly
to see the ocean once more.”
Mother patted Johnny’s hand. “We’ll think about it, little John, and
talk it over with Father.”
But Johnny went to work at once to take the fishing rod apart, and then
wrapped it very carefully in old newspapers. Great sport it would have
been to have this fine rod to fish with—it was such a beauty—but think
of not being able to see, just to walk around a house holding on to the
walls! My, oh, my! how frightfully sad that was!
“I hear that you wish to sell your fishing rod so as to get money for
Tellef’s grandmother,” said Father at the dinner table. “Very well,
John. I will buy it and you shall run over to Sandy Point with the money
this afternoon.”
Johnny grew crimson with pleasure. “Oh, thank you, thank you!”
“You may bring me the fishing rod,” said Father.
“It’s all packed,” answered Johnny.
Then Father gave Johnny a sealed envelope.
“Take great care of this—there is a good deal of money in it—and run
down to Tellef’s grandmother with it at once. Say that it comes from
Kingthorpe.”
So Johnny Blossom dashed over the hill again. This was something worth
hurrying for. When he came to Sandy Point, he saw the grandmother
walking alone around the outside of the house, feeling her way as usual.
“Good day,” said Johnny Blossom, bowing low. “Please take this”—and he
put the envelope into her hand.
“What is it?” asked Grandmother.
“It’s money so that you can be made to see again,” answered Johnny,
earnestly.
“What are you talking about, boy?”
“I thought it was so awfully sad that you couldn’t see—not the trees,
nor the flowers, nor the ocean, nor anything—and so—and so—Father said
that I must tell you that this envelope came from Kingthorpe; but open
it, open it!”
Johnny Blossom was so excited that he kept hopping around. Grandmother
sat herself right down on the ground.
“It’s more than I can bear,” she said. “I’m all weak and trembly in my
knees. God bless you, boy, what is it you say? Shall I see once more?
Oh, God’s mercy is great!”
Johnny kept on hopping. “Yes, you’ll see everything, everything!”
“I hear they call you the heir of Kingthorpe,” said Grandmother, “and I
believe you are going to be just like the old master.”
By this time Tellef’s mother and Tellef and his sisters had joined them;
the envelope was opened and several bills fell out.
“Did you ever in your life!” exclaimed Tellef’s mother. “Here’s two
hundred dollars, Grandmother.”
My, oh my! All that money for a fishing rod, thought Johnny, still
dancing gleefully around Grandmother. But all at once Grandmother
started up eagerly and began to talk fast:
“I must go right away. Come and help me. I have no time to lose. I have
not seen the ocean for twelve years. I must go right away. Oh, to think
that the good God has remembered me, poor old body that I am!”
“You must thank Johnny Blossom, Grandmother,” said Tellef’s mother.
“I’m fairly out of my wits with joy,” replied Grandmother.
That night when Mother came into Johnny’s room to say good night, she
found him wide awake. His eyes were big and earnest as he whispered,
“Oh, Mother, it is wonderful to be heir of Kingthorpe.” And Johnny
Blossom that night, for the first time in his life, prayed a prayer that
he made himself, instead of repeating the Lord’s Prayer. He said:
“Thank you, God, for all the money for the fishing rod. Let Tellef’s
grandmother be made to see everything again. And thank you because I am
heir of Kingthorpe. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
* * * * *
Tellef’s grandmother went away and stayed a long time. Johnny Blossom
had almost forgotten the whole matter when Tellef said to him one day,
“Grandmother is coming home tomorrow, and she can see!” So the next day
Johnny Blossom and Tellef’s mother and sisters with Tellef went to the
wharf to meet Grandmother, who was coming by boat.
Up the gangplank she walked, entirely alone, and looking around with a
radiantly happy face.
“You must speak to Johnny Blossom too, Grandmother,” said Tellef’s
mother. Johnny came forward, bowed low, and reached out to Grandmother a
little sunburned hand.
“I thank you, sir,” said Grandmother. “I thank you, sir.”
Many persons were standing around, all looking at Grandmother and Johnny
Blossom.
“It is this little gentleman who has given me my eyes again, friends.
What a blessed miracle it is that I can _see_!”
Everybody looked at Johnny Blossom. Awfully embarrassing to have them
stare so! But later Johnny sat on the top of the hill and sang, “_Yes we
love our grand old Norway_,” with the greatest enthusiasm, he was so
overflowing with joy.
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