Taddy the Lamplighter by B. Naughton

It was many years ago. I was a small boy then. I lived in a small town, in a small street. There were many boys who lived in this street. In the evening, after school, we usually met at the corner of this street and played games together. There were many games which we liked to play. But we always stopped our games when we saw an old man with a long pole. The end of the pole was burning. The man slowly walked along the street. He usually stopped at a gas lamppost and put the burning end of his pole to the lamp. There was a great noise and the lamp was lighted. We shouted with joy and the man always looked at us and smiled. We did not know his surname and called him Taddy the Lamplighter, but we liked him very much.

One cold December evening we were skating on a slide. When we were already tired, one of the boys cried, “Look! Taddy the Lamplighter is coming here with his pole. Let us put some snow on the slide and see what will happen!”

I could see that Ollie, who was the leader in all our games, did not like the idea, but all the other boys liked it so much that he did not try to stop us. Very quickly we put some snow on the slide and ran round the corner. There we stopped and watched old Taddy as he came along the street. He was slowly coming to the slide with his long pole in his hand. At last, he was on the slide. He began to put his burning pole up to the lamp when his foot slipped and he fell down on the slide. We shouted and ran away. On the corner of the next street, we stopped and waited for Taddy the Lamplighter. We waited five minutes, ten minutes, but he did not come. Then we went back to our slide and saw that old Taddy was still lying on the snow. We came up to him. He was groaning. “Oh, my lamps, my lamps!” he groaned. “I broke my arm, and who will light the lamps now?”

We helped him to stand up, and then Ollie spoke, “It is our fault, Taddy,” he said, “we put some snow on the slide and that is why you fell down. We shall take you to a doctor now and then we shall help you to light up the lamps.”

“No, no,” groaned Taddy, “we must light up the lamps first and then go to a doctor. People will be coming back from their work soon and they will not see their way in the dark.”

We helped Taddy to light up the lamps and then took him to Doctor Hardy. We waited for Taddy near the doctor’s house.

“Now we must help Taddy to light up the lamps every evening till his arm is better,” said one of the boys.

“It is not a problem to light up the lamps,” said Ollie. “The problem is that we must help Taddy to wake up people in the morning.”

At that time only a few people had alarm clocks at home. Most of the people woke up in the morning when Taddy came and knocked at their windows with his pole, because most of them slept on the first floor.

At last Taddy came out of the doctor’s house. His arm was bandaged and his face was sad. We came up to him and Ollie said,

“Taddy, it is our fault that you broke your arm and we shall help you to light up the lamps in the evening and to wake people up in the morning.”

“Oh, thank you, boys,” said Taddy. “Eighty-three men and women will be late for their work tomorrow morning if I do not wake them up in time, and I cannot hold my pole with one hand. It will be easy for you to help me because all the people whom I have to wake up get up late in the morning. The earliest man gets up at half past four.”

I did not think that half past four was very late in the morning, but Ollie looked at me and I said that I was ready to help him.

When I came home and told my mother everything, she smiled and said, “I shall wake you up at four o’clock.”

Next morning she woke me up at four o’clock, and when I came out into the street, Ollie and Taddy the Lamplighter were already waiting for me.

“Let us go to Alec Foster’s house,” said Taddy, “he is the first man whom we have to wake up.”

When we came up to Foster’s house, I knocked at his window and Taddy shouted, “Wake up, wake up, Alec. It is half past four already.”

We waited two or three minutes and Alec Foster came up to his window.

“What time is it now, Taddy?” he asked.

“It is thirty-three minutes past four o’clock now. The morning is cold, and you must put your warm coat on,” answered Taddy.

Then we went to Mike Duckley’s house and Taddy told me to knock hard. I knocked and knocked but nobody moved in the room.

“Mike Duckley,” shouted Taddy, “you lazy man, wake up. You are already late for your work!”

But Mike did not move.

“All right,” said Taddy, “let us go to Mrs. Spood’s house and then we shall come back here. Every morning I have to come back here two or three times before Mike Duckley wakes up.”

We came up to Mrs. Spood’s house and Taddy said, “Don’t knock hard! You will frighten Mrs. Spood. She is a very nervous lady.”

“Mrs. S-p-o-o-d, dear,” Taddy cried in a soft voice, “it is time to go to work, and don’t forget to put on your warm shoes or you will fall ill again as you did last week.”

So we went from one house to another and woke people up. At seven o’clock Taddy let Ollie and me go home.

“There are only six more people whom I have to wake up,” he said, “and I can do it without you.”

Every morning Ollie and I got up at four o’clock and went together with Taddy the Lamplighter to wake people up. Other boys helped Taddy to light the lamps up in the evening, but nobody wanted to get up so early in the morning to help him.

Two weeks passed. Then a month passed. Taddy’s arm was still bandaged and every day he said that he felt bad. Ollie and I saw no end to our work.

One morning, when we were walking in the street together with Taddy, we met Doctor Hardy. He looked at Taddy’s arm and said,

“Why is your arm bandaged, Taddy? I told you a week ago that your arm was all right and you could work with it.” Then the doctor took Taddy’s arm into his hands and began to pull it. “Yes, it is all right. You can do any work with it now,” he said again.

The doctor went away. Taddy took his pole from me and said with a sigh, “I hope you boys are not very angry with me. I liked your company so much that I did not want to go to all these houses alone.”

We did not know what to say. Then Ollie and I looked at each other and we both laughed.

“Of course we are not angry with you, Taddy,” Ollie said. “How can we be angry with you now, when you were not angry with us when you broke your arm.”