Uncle William: The Man Who Was Shif'less

Name: Uncle William: The Man Who Was Shif'less
Author: Jennette Lee

by Jennette Lee

Pages: about 134
Category: Literature & Fiction
Language: English
Reading time: 2.5 h at 250 wpm

Start readingThe whole book, as cards or one word at a time. 82 min at 450 wpm in Read mode.

From the opening

“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.”
“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.
“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.”

A short sample. Read the whole book

Uncle William: The Man Who Was Shif'less

From the opening

More to read