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10 THE CHRISTIAN NATION. Vol. til.
Around the Old Arm
and them give for thee, dear
ginning to grow dark, and I quickened
my steps, reaching my of­
have them. O, they do so need
Jesus. Those over there never
fice door to find him coming on after
me. I entered by the side door
and had just turned on the light
when the bell rang. Answering it
1 found the man there.
him
Under the electric light I had
plainly before me, a large,
The pronunciation was closely,
"Weli^" I said.
"May I speak with doctor" he
asked.
"Ye-es," I consented, "but leave
that implement outside."
"Sure!" he replied, and dropped
both pick and hat before entering.
Chair.
This was not to my liking, to be
followed by a vicious-looking Italian,
at dusk, and to have his name
"I love It, 1 love It,
You remember No I was here.
And who shall dare
I wanted to—"
To chide me for loving
balance on my ear is "perfidy!" I
"0, yes!" I remembered.
The Old Arm Chair."
gave him a chair, and took one Reveni. He is going home with "Doctor," he said, "if you please
•PERFIDY."
for myself where I could touch Bibles, but, he would not go to I will thank you. I felt thatJ
By W. H. Morse, M.D. the police call.
the islands to the coatti!" did so want to go to the islands
The city clocks were striking
This was getting interesting. where—you, you know—I was.
"I am a Christian!" he began. T
five and the factory whistles were
"Why, man," I said, "you say that But, no! I did not seem fit. 1, a
don't know! I get my mind!"
the men in the convict settlements man who had served. But 1 pitied.
blowing when, on my way to my "Ah," I thought, "mentally deranged!tian.
Take it to them."
Doctor, I went! .y.Dove price of
need the Bible; you are a Chris­
I asked you. You encouraged me.
office one November afternoon, I
passed the trench where a gang of "Unless," he went on, "unless I "I I" he asked; then shook my tickets I had nine dollars, and
Italians were excavating for a do I shall sure be damned! Yes" his head. "O, I couldn't, couldn't I got me Testaments and Psalms.
sewer. At the instant of the time "Describe your symptoms," I any way! Think of it! I killed my At Palmero I was stopped. The
signal every man stopped work. said.
woman! 1 am not fit. No, not me." caribineers said I could not go. 1
"None symptoms, doctor!" he A long sigh of despair. I at
Ordinarily they pay little or no
gave a caribineer one Testament.
answered. "Not that! Say, doctor! once began to reason with him, He read it. Then he said I could
attention to passers on the sidewalk,
and it was therefore with Doctor, he went to Italy. He a could. His dark face brightened ti he took. I went to Lipari where
You know Joe Fancilini Yes and to encourage him all that I go with the next co.-npany of coat­
some surprise that I noticed that Christian. You know he did the
I once was. Ah, how glad they
one of the men looked up sharply pile of good. Yes"
were to see old Fedi! I just tell and
at me and touched fils hat. He
acted as if he was in haste to quit
I recalled Fancilini, an Italian
Protestant who, the previous year,
tell about dear Jesus, and give
some Testaments. O, they so hungry!
My! They want them all.
had gone home to Italy with a supply
of Scriptures in Italian and
No! I wanted some for Ustica. So
work, and after I had walked on
a few steps something impelled me
with them had done splendid colportage.
I cut up in portions some several
to look back, and I saw that he
for them. I come away, back to
was following, with his pick in his "O, I want to do same, too!" the
Palermo. I wanted so bad to get
hand. I turner at the next corner,
man went on, "But, doctor, please
to Ustica, but that caribineer said
when glancing back, I saw that tell me I cannot! I would be O,
he wanted me to go to Favignana,
so glad to carry Testaments home,
he was not far behind. It was be­
where he had his brother con­
them, doctor!"
"You are a Protestant" I asked.
"Sure."
"You contemplate returning to
Italy, and desire to do the same
as he did"
"If—" and the man began to
sob and cry. He calmed himself
stalwart man, very dark, anything
but clean, and apt to answer to with difficulty, and then continued,
"How can I Doctor, I have
'Charles Reade's definition of sinister.
In one hand he held his hat,
served."
"Served"
and in the other his pick.
"Yes, doctor, at both Lipari and
"The doctor " he asked. When Ustica.''
I had replied in the affirmative, he "Served, how"
said, "1 am Pierre Fedi. Service! ' "Why, doctor, I was one of the
coatti!"
"And what are they"
"perfidy," and my imagination did
He pronounced the word with
not have to take rein to realize
a shudder: "Convicts."
that he looked it. He did certainly
have a villainous appearance. in full
"You" My suspicions returned
force.
"Yes, doctor. I killed my woman.
Before that I did all crimes.
She was bad, and I stab her. Manslaughter,
ten years. I served."
"Well"
"The coatti need the dear Bible.
0, how I wish I was so I could
carry it to them, and tell them of
our dear Jesus! But no! Francilini,
he was good. I was bad. Never
do! No, no! And they need it
so, doctor! O, I wish! But you
see, I am not. There is Filippo
for an instant, and then, suddenly,
with a low "Good night!" he
went out. I bolted the door.
Some days after this, I was passing
the sewer trench, and thought
of him. The foreman stood by,
and I asked him if Fedrwas among
the men.
"No," he replied, "Fedi left Saturday
noon, when the men were
paid. He didn't return this week.
Another man in his place. Sorry.
Good workman. Probably gone
on some other job."
It was five months later, when
one Tuesday morning in late
April there came among my patients
a well-dressea, clean-shaved
man, who waited for his turn till
others had been attended. As he
came into the consultation room, a
peculiar feeling came over me. He
was a stranger, but in a sort of
instinctive way, I felt as if in the
presence of a dangerous man. 1
have often thought of it many
times since, and cannot account
for it. I could not even when he
spoke.
"Doctor," he said, "I am not ill.
I am quite well. You do not recall
me. At service, Pierre Fedi.
fined. So I go to Favignan. Same
good time. Those poor men so
glad to hear the clear Testament.
They took all I had. They did.
You see I not get to Ustica. But,
doctor, I work like last year on
public sewer, and next fall I go
once more!"
I have seen many returned missionaries,
but never one more happy
than that man. I have talked
with him at different times this
past summer, and he is to spend
the winter in Sicily, with the convict
island of Ustica as his field.
Hartford, Conn.
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