Uncle William

ꗘ
Uncle William

The Project Gutenberg Etext of Uncle William, by Jennette Lee Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg file.
We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your own disk, thereby keeping an electronic path open for future readers.
Please do not remove this.
This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to view the etext. Do not change or edit it without written permission. The words are carefully chosen to provide users with the information they need to understand what they may and may not do with the etext. To encourage this, we have moved most of the information to the end, rather than having it all here at the beginning.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
*****These Etexts Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get etexts, and further information, is included below. We need your donations.
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541 Find out about how to make a donation at the bottom of this file.

Title: Uncle William
Author: Jennette Lee
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
Release Date: November, 2003 [Etext #4634] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on February 20, 2002]
The Project Gutenberg Etext of Uncle William, by Jennette Lee ****This file should be named ncwll10.txt or ncwll10.zip****
Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, ncwll11.txt VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, ncwll10a.txt
Etext prepared by Dagny, [email protected] and John Bickers, [email protected]
Project Gutenberg Etexts are often created from several printed editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not keep etexts in compliance with any particular paper edition.
The "legal small print" and other information about this book may now be found at the end of this file. Please read this important information, as it gives you specific rights and tells you about restrictions in how the file may be used.

UNCLE WILLIAM THE MAN WHO WAS SHIF'LESS
BY
JENNETTE LEE

TO GERALD STANLEY LEE
"Let him sing to me Who sees the watching of the stars above the day, Who hears the singing of the sunrise On its way Through all the night.
* * * * *
Let him sing to me Who is the sky-voice, the thunder-lover, Who hears above the winds' fast flying shrouds The drifted darkness, the heavenly strife, The singing on the sunny sides of all the clouds Of his own life."

UNCLE WILLIAM

I
"Yes, I'm shif'less. I'm gen'ally considered shif'less," said William Benslow. He spoke in a tone of satisfaction, and hitched his trousers skilfully into place by their one suspender.
His companion shifted his easel a little, squinting across the harbor at the changing light. There was a mysterious green in the water that he failed to find in his color-box.
William Benslow watched him patiently. "Kind o' ticklish business, ain't it?" he said.
The artist admitted that it was.
"I reckon I wouldn't ever 'a' done for a painter," said the old man, readjusting his legs. "It's settin'-work, and that's good; but you have to keep at it steady-like--keep a-daubin' and a-scrapin' and a- daubin' and a-scrapin', day in and day out. I shouldn't like it. Sailin' 's more in my line," he added, scanning the horizon. "You have to step lively when you do step, but there's plenty of off times when you can set and look and the boat just goes skimmin' along all o' herself, with the water and the sky all round you. I've been thankful a good many times the Lord saw fit to make a sailor of me."
The artist glanced a little quizzically at the tumble-down house on the cliff above them and then at the old boat, with its tattered maroon sail, anchored below. "There's not much money in it?" he suggested.
"Money? Dunno's there is," returned the other. "You don't reely need money if you're a sailor."
"No, I suppose not--no more than an artist."
"Don't you need money, either?" The old man spoke with cordial interest.
"Well, occasionally--not much. I have to buy canvas now and then, and colors--"
The old man nodded. "Same as me. Canvas costs a little, and color. I dye mine in magenta. You get it cheap in the bulk--"
The artist laughed out. "All right, Uncle William, all right," he said. "You teach me to trust in the Lord and I'll teach you art. You see that color out there,--deep green like shadowed grass--"
The old man nodded. "I've seen that a good many times," he said. "Cur'us, ain't it?--just the color of lobsters when you haul 'em."
The young man started. He