an' ye'll like him. But fer pity's sake, keep him off of
'ligion, if ye expect bring them traces back with ye to-day."

Douglas had no trouble in locating the shoe-maker's shop, where he
found Joe Benton busy half-soleing a pair of men's boots. He was a man
past sixty, grey-haired, and with a smooth-shaven face. His eyes were
what arrested Douglas' attention. They were honest eyes, which looked
clear and straight into his. There the old man's soul seemed to be
shining forth, so expressive were they. Douglas thought he could read
in those clear depths an unattainable longing, mingled with an
appealing pathos. When he smiled, his whole face was lighted with a
remarkable glory, and he appeared no longer a humble shoe-maker, but an
uncrowned king. His rude bench was his throne, and the humble shop his
royal palace. So it appeared to Douglas, and he wondered if others
were affected in the same way.

"Are you Jake June's hired man, the wrestler?" the shoe-maker asked,
after Douglas had told him the purpose of his visit.

"Yes, that's who I am," was the reply. "But how in the world did you
hear about our wrestling match?"

"Oh, news travels fast in Rixton, especially if Empty Dempster is the
carrier."

Douglas sat down upon a bench and observed Joe intently, as he gave the
final touch to a shoe in his lap. Many years had passed since he had
watched such work, and he recalled the old shoe-maker he used to know
when a lad.

"Can you fix the traces to-day?" he enquired. "If so, I might as well
wait for them."

"Yes, I'll mend them at once," and Joe put the finished shoe carefully
down by its mate. "I'm not rushed this afternoon."

"You are kept busy as a rule, I suppose?"

"Yes, always mending something. I have been doing it for over thirty
years now, and there is never any let-up."

"You must get very tired of it at times."

"No, I can't say I do. It gives me plenty of time to think as I sit
here alone in my little shop. I often wish that I could mend
everything in life as easily as I can a pair of shoes."

"Why, do you find things out of joint?" Douglas queried. "You haven't
seen much of the world, I suppose?"

"I don't have to travel to see the world, sir," and Joe paused in his
work and looked earnestly into his visitor's face. "I can see the
world right in this parish; that is, as much as I want to see of it."

"And you think there are many things here which need to be mended?"

"I certai