Around the World in 88 Years -E Book - Arthur Burt

a jovial, lovable man who would take me out and buy me sweetsand clothes. Our rare visits to him were like going to heaven!The only occasions I ever remember drinking was when I was ayoungster of seven or eight and showed off before the men inthe saloon by sipping out of their glasses. They laughed and said,“He is going to be like his Granddad.” I loved my grandfather, inspite of his drinking. But I hated my father and his drinking, becauseFather’s alcoholism played such a tremendous part in makingour lives grim.Father lived a separate life from my mother and me, leaving thehouse every day by 11:00 AM to visit the different drinking saloons.He would come back at 3:00 PM and would go out againat 6:00 PM. We never knew what time he would return at night.He lived his whole life in an atmosphere of gambling, undercoverdrugs and other evil activities.Before I was born, he had a very serious accident when he wasmixing something with pestle and mortar, probably while he wasunder the influence of drink. The stuff exploded in his face, andhis eyeballs came out on his cheeks. Doctors put his eyes back in,but his sight was pretty well gone. So when I was 10 years oldand he was 65, I became very valuable to him — as his eyes, likeblind people use a dog.Everyday when I came home from school, I had to read the newspaperto him, and it would take me at least an hour. After reading,I mixed medicines and drugs, struggling through books likeThe British Pharmacopoeia and The Bloodless Phlebotomist. I madethe medicines, wrote the labels and stuck them on the bottles,wrapped them in white paper, and delivered them to countlesspeoples’ houses. Also, I made whiskey at Father’s instructions inhis still in the cellar. His other illegal activities, such as performingsurgery, were done in the pubs and the clubs secretly.Because most of my hours were filled with school, mixing medicines,reading to my father… my liberty was worth its weight ingold to me. My father’s sternness made me a disciplined boy andI dared not openly disobey him, so I developed a subtle, stealthymanner. If I could creep out of the house, my only opportunityof liberty, I would do so. But my father’s ears often made up forhis eyes! So I mastered how to lift the latch silently and how to3