700 Common Words Exercise No. 18
This is the story which my friend sometimes tells on a
long summer evening, as we sit together by the open window, finding pleasure in
the sweet clear air after the still heat of the day. In those days I was an
even better walker than I am today, and as you know I still very much like a
good, quick walk. Well, on that particular August morning I set out quite
early, before the day was too warm for easy walking. I carried with me enough
food to meet my small needs and was therefore able to keep away from towns of
any kind. I was healthy in the way that the young are healthy, and I walked
with quick easy steps, covering the first eight miles of the road in just under
two hours. But with the increasing warmth of the day I found that I was doing
very little more than two and a half miles an hour. Even the small additional
weight of the food I was carrying troubled me, and as it was by this time
several hours since my last meal it seemed reasonable that I should look out
for a place where I could rest and have a meal in peace. After a time I reached
a point where the road comes very near to a small river, and I was pleased
enough by that time to walk across the field and to find near the water some
undergrowth high enough to offer me some cover from the full light and heat of
the open countryside round about. I took water from the clear, quick-running
river, and built a small fire upon some stones, and so made my simple meal.
Such was the heat of the day that it was as much as I could do to keep my eyes
open, but, using all my will-power, I was about to clear away the rest of the
food when I saw standing before me a little old woman. So lined was her face
that it seemed to me there was no room left upon it for any personal expression
or feeling, and her dress was as old as her face. Standing there, she appeared
to me to be not of this day, not of yesterday, and not of tomorrow, but to
represent Time itself. But when she began to speak I found her words were
common-place enough. Sir, she said, Could you give me some bread and perhaps
some milk? I immediately began to clean up the piece of ground which had served
as a table for me, making a place for the old woman to sit. I saw, however,
that she took almost nothing of the food and drink offered to her, and as she
sat without speaking I watched her face. Tell me, old woman, I said, to my own
complete surprise, were you always as you are now or were you once young and
beautiful? Had you once a home and a family, or have you always walked these
roads and fields? The old woman turned her head and looked at me for a long
time without speaking. The lines on her face grew even deeper, and her old blue
eyes were serious as she answered: Young man, I cannot remember. For long eggs
I have walked these roads and these fields. I have walked other roads and other
fields. Always I have walked and always I shall walk. I am old, and perhaps I
have never been young. I am plain, and perhaps I have never been beautiful. But
you, you are young and you are beautiful. You are strong and you have health.
You have all the qualities of the young. Because of these things I am speaking
to you now. Shall I tell her to go away? I thought, She does not know what she
is talking about anyway. I will stand up and get my things together and
continue my walk. I moved, but immediately the voice of this strange old woman
came to me again, No, do not go. You must hear what I have to say. Yes, I
thought. I will wait and hear what she has to say, for if she is as wise as she
is old her words may be of some use to me in the future. But the seconds passed
and no words came. I looked again and no one was there. Not feeling very
pleased with myself at the thought that I must have been weak enough to fall
off for a few minutes, and believing that these had not really happened, I
began to clear up what was left of my meal. And then I knew that the old woman,
had been there, for my bread was gone and in its place was this. At this point
in his story my friend opens his hand, and on it rests a lovely clear blue
stone, in a beautiful setting of gold. I always carry this about with me now,
he adds, and I know that someday I shall see that old woman again, and find out
what it was she had to say.
Ghulam Mustafa
Personal Assistant (BS-16)
Punjab Civil Secretariat Lahore.
Official Contact: 03034399996
Gmail ID: gmpa61@gmail.com
Official Address: Mustafa Shorthand & Computer
Institute Near Nagina Masjid Kale Ki Puli Bagh
Munshi Ladha Opposite Madni Academy and Unique
Bakery Mohni Road Lahore.
Official Timings: Monday to Saturday Regular Classes.
From 06:00 P.M to 09:00 P.M.
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Mustafa Shorthand & Computer Institute Lahore
Username: GMShorthandInstituteLahore:
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Official Telegram Group: Mustafa Shorthand &
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Official Twitter Account: Ghulam Mustafa
Username: @MustafaPAGAD
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Official Blog: Mustafa Shorthand & Computer
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Prepared according to the Standards of PPSC,
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Special Classes of Sir Isaac Pitman New Course, Old
Course, 700 Common Words, Shortforms, English
Typing, Urdu Typing,
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