1952 Magnet Yearbook

'\
Hope fulfilled
, 'AL BELLINGER. 48
THE ;\IA(; ' ET
T h littl man walked ae ro's the
carpet toward: the desk. H was
bent. a. if discouraged, and poo rly
dr ~ d. Hi ' face was sad and hi
lip;'. accus om d to whis ling. were
now drawn straight. How he hated
h snow and slush, he bu Ie and
impati nc of his . ' ew Wor ld ! If
onlv h could s again, for a few
mom nt • hi: s unny village on the
ag Ie:: Italian slop s : .'0 only was
h Ion Iy. bu wh en he did speak. i
was only by , ruggling with the
harsh, unmusical sounds of he E ngli:h
language. om times. af er a
long. iring day of looking for a job.
he almost wish d he had stayed in
Ita lv, H had h ard much ab u he
opp' rtuniti in anada - but they
had vet 0 b r a liz d. If h co uld find
a posi ion h would a least have a
f ling of b longing and everything
would b btl'.
Hi. hart sank as he approached
th d sk, R m mb r ing the cou ntless
ti me ' h had applied . on ly 0 be refu
ed, he thought how hop less this
application was. T he fac of the
wo man a th desk was hard. al mo t
unfriendlv. How di ff rent these un ­
smiling Ca na dia n. w r f rom the
ea y. gay Ita lia n. he had known.
T he li tl man r ach d he desk
and .0 d fumbling with his h t. until
he woman had put down th eleph
one. T hen mu tering his co ur a ge.
he said. " cusat mi, I d no sp ak
E nglish good". The woman looked
up. and 0 hi. con' rna ion. smiled.
Was she la ug h ing a hi p or appear ­
ance ? H hop d no - :he looked
much mol' fri ndlv now. T h n ' he
la ug hed out r ig ht 'a nd said, "Non
irnpor a . I do not 'P ak Ita lia n ,. r y
well." The littl man': mouth d ropped
op n in amazement. T he woman
laughed and b gan to a. k him he
question. in Italian. tha h had found
so difficult to answe r b fo re. N ow
it was easy. \Yh n t h usual quest ionna
ire had b n fill lout. h a ked
hi m if he hacl appli cI fo r many othe r
positions. At this fi rst s ig n of sympathv
t he li t l man broke into a
fluent account of his trou bl : s ine h
had come to .a na da . Ha nds ancl
tongue moving rapidly. h pour cI out
his grievances. his Ion lin SST his difficulty
with English and his fa illll' to
find a job. his ff'orts to ke p war m.
all were r ela xed in t he h at of hi s
emot ion.
It seemed as if h would talk fo r­
eve r but th e telephon cut s h r illy into
hi s sto ry . After sh had I' placed th
receiver, the woman sa id. s m ili ng , the
wOI"(I: he had wanted to h ar for so
long. " Ple ase I' ' port to hi s d sk for
work to mo r row morning." Th little
man nodded d umbly . hi s y s shining.
He turn d and wa lk d away from the
desk , hi: hea d he ld high and a mile
on hi: face. A " he pass d t he window.
the littl man sa w tha t snow w a f a lling.
He didn't f I 'old now, and the
snow was v r v b au iful, aft rail.