A MAN who had a pair of boots that needed mending carried them to the cobbler’s and dropped them beside his bench, saying, “They’ll do any time to-day; send them home as soon as they are finished,” and without waiting for an answer departed.

While the cobbler was examining the boots and preparing to go to work on them, another man, with a badly-worn pair in his hand, came into the shop, and said:

“I want you to mend these at once; I’ll send for them in the evening.”

At this the cobbler let the first pair fall upon the floor, saying to himself: “As he will send, I must be sure and have them ready.”

And, going to work on them, he kept at it until they were done. In the evening the man’s little son called, and carried them away with him.

The next day, after breakfast, as he sat down on his bench, the cobbler said:

“Now I must get at the other pair, that was left first.”

But just as he was putting the last into one of them, a man entered the shop with a quick step and handed him a pair of shoes that were almost worn to pieces:

“I must have these, without fail, in the morning,” he cried, “and will call for them myself. On no account disappoint me.”

The cobbler at once dropped the boot that was in his lap, and, seeming to have caught the man’s ardor, thrust the last into one of his shoes and continued to work diligently until evening, and so finished them.

In the morning the man appeared, with as rapid a step as ever, and, finding his shoes done, paid for them, and was quickly gone.

A little while after this, as the cobbler sat calmly reading his newspaper, the man who left the first pair strolled into the shop.

“As I happen to be passing,” he said, “I’ll just take my[341]
[342] boots with me.” But, seeing a confused look on the cobbler’s face, he added:

“Of course they’re ready; you know they were to be done the day before yesterday.”

Then, looking on the floor, he saw them lying exactly where he had left them.

“I’ve been so very bu—busy,” stammered the cobbler, “that I haven’t got ’em quite finished yet.”

“‘Quite finished’!” exclaimed the man. “Why, you haven’t touched them!”

“But I’m going to begin this minute,” said the cobbler, “and you shall have them to-morrow, for certain.”

He who is the least urgent is apt to be the last served.