And
To This Day I Bless His Memory For All The Sweets He Gave Me, In A
Land Where Sweets Were Scarce, And For His Friendliness To Me When I
Was A Very Small Boy.
The second well-remembered individual was also only an occasional
visitor at our house, and was known all over the surrounding country
as the Hermit, for his name was never discovered.
He was perpetually
on the move, visiting in turn every house within a radius of forty or
fifty miles; and once about every seven or eight weeks he called on us
to receive a few articles of food - enough for the day's consumption.
Money he always refused with gestures of intense disgust, and he would
also decline cooked meat and broken bread. When hard biscuits were
given him, he would carefully examine them, and if one was found
chipped or cracked he would return it, pointing out the defect, and
ask for a sound one in return. He had a small, sun-parched face, and
silvery long hair; but his features were fine, his teeth white and
even, his eyes clear grey and keen as a falcon's. There was always a
set expression of deep mental anguish on his face, intensified with
perhaps a touch of insanity, which made it painful to look at him. As
he never accepted money or anything but food, he of course made his
own garments - and what garments they were! Many years ago I used to
see, strolling about St. James's Park, a huge hairy gentleman, with a
bludgeon in his hand, and clothed with a bear's skin to which the head
and paws were attached.
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