The Saint (Jenkins)

By William F. Jenkins

N the tiny village of Catalpa there lived a worthy man, a shoemaker, whose life was most exemplary. He was the model for all the people round about. He never drank, smoked, or swore; neither did he spend lavishly, nor borrow from anyone. Yet with all his saintly life, he was tolerant of all vices and weaknesses, and never reproached anyone for any crime or sin. When sin was mentioned in his presence, he took refuge in silence.

One day a learned scholar from the capital of the country in which the shoemaker lived passed that way. Hearing of this holy man, he determined to visit him, and learn whence his ethics were derived.

The shoemaker received him and heard his questions in silence. Then he spoke:

“Men call me a saint,” he said. “They say I am humble, chaste, industrious, thrifty, honest—in short, a paragon of all the virtues. I am. I am humble because the people around me say I am a saint, and I know they are such fools that they are not likely to be right in such a matter. I am chaste principally because I am cross-eyed, and no woman would look at me unless I had much money, which I have not. I am industrious because I like to eat occasionally, and here there is no other way to get food. I am thrifty. I owe no man money, because, fools though they are, yet none of my neighbors is fool enough to lend to me, and I am honest because there is nothing worth stealing in the village.”

“And your tolerance, and your silence when sin is spoken of?”

“My tolerance is honest envy, and I am silent because I have no sins of my own to brag about.”