"And the lad'll prove worthy his father, I warrant. Listen to the
turn of that song, now; I've heard Jamie singin' it many a day," says
another.
"Whack! whack! thump-pet-ty crack!
In go the shoe-nails with many a smack.
Zu! zu! pull the thread through;
Soon will the shoe be, done, master, for you!
"Nay! nay! there's nothin' to pay,
If it is not mended as good as I say.
I do my work honestly--that is the thing;
Then Jamie the cobbler's as good as the king!"
And the folks passed on, or stopped to leave shoes to mend.
Jim prospered in the old stall, and they called him "Nimble Jim, the
Cobbler," for soon he was fairly installed as cobbler to the whole
country-side. He was happy, and his old mother was happy, and proud,
too, of the success of her boy, who was the light of her home and the
joy of her heart.
All day Jim worked away at his bench. Winter evenings he read his few
books by the firelight; in the cool of the summer days, or in the
early mornings, he busied himself in the little garden.
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