THE SWISS WOOD CARVER

In which we see that physical infirmity is no bar to success.

Once upon a time there lived in Meringen, Switzerland, a crippled boy named Rubi. He had fallen down one of the small hills near his home and had hurt his hip, so that all his life he had to use crutches. But he was a brave boy, and did his best to help the family in their work.

His father was a guide in the great mountains, and his mother was a lace maker. Poor Rubi was too crippled to climb the mountains or to work in the valleys, and his father said: “Poor little Rubi! what will become of him and the mother if anything should happen to me?”

Rubi sat all day and watched the goats, and sometimes saw a chamois on a far cliff of the mountains. One day his mother brought him a toy goat carved out of wood that she had found in one of the shops of Meringen. Rubi looked at it and said:

“I can make a better goat than that.” So his mother bought him some tools and some wood and he began to carve animals. But his father did not know anything about it, for Rubi kept it a secret from him.

One day Rubi’s father was hurt by falling from a mountain side, and was laid up for a long time with a broken leg. The poor mother made very little by her lace making, and the winter was coming on. Rubi, by this time, had made a little money by selling his carved animals in the village. Every one he had was eagerly bought by a dealer; but the dealer did not pay the boy much. Rubi gave the money to his mother to help pay expenses.

One day, while Rubi was working in his shed, a traveler came to the door. In his hand was a beautifully carved chamois climbing a rock. He said:

“I am looking for the man who carved this chamois; I was told that he lived here.” But Rubi’s father looked at the carving and said:

“No, sir, none of us here can do such carving as that.”

Just then Rubi came in and seeing the chamois in the man’s hand, said: “I did that myself a year ago, but I can do better now.”

Everybody was astonished, especially when Rubi showed them other things he had made. There were goats, and bears, and dogs, and little horses, and all kinds of toys that Rubi had carved and stored away in the box his mother had given him.

The traveler was found to be one of the great dealers in carved woods. “You must go with me and work in my shop,” said the dealer.

And it so happened that Rubi went with the dealer and became one of the finest workmen he had ever known. So we see that even a crippled boy can become famous if he only tries.