Boreham on the Great Cloud of Witnesses

An old county cricketer had lost his sight. He was stone blind. And it was the grief of all his days that he could not see his own boy play the great game. The son became the crack bat of the school team, and used to lead his father to the ground. But, beyond hearing with inexpressible delight the comments of the crowd and his boy's play, he got small satisfaction from it.

One day he suddenly died. The following Saturday an important match was to be played. Other members of the team, who knew of the lad's affection for his blind father, took it for granted that their best bat would be absent. But, to their surprise, he strolled down in his flannels, and presented himself for play. And he batted that day as he had never done before. He snicked and cut and pulled and drove with magnificent audacity and judgment. His companions were bewildered. He rattled up a century in no time, and won the match with ease.

After the applause of the pavilion had died down, he turned to a comrade and asked, ‘How did I play?’
‘Never better; you outdid yourself. What did it all mean?’
‘Why, you see,’ said the young hero, ‘it was the first time my father ever saw me bat!’

F W Boreham, The Other Side of the Hill (London: Charles H Kelly, 1917), 195-196.

New Book For Sale

This is one of the 250+stories that can be found in the recently published book,

F W Boreham, All the Blessings of Life: The Best Stories of F W Boreham.

My publishing colleague, Michael Dalton has a Thanksgiving special on at the moment so it can be purchased (with the two other new Boreham books) at the best price.

Instructions are at this link:
F W Boreham Publishing News—Thanksgiving Special

Southern Hemisphere people might like to order from these links:

COC Online Shop
Steve Grosey Site

Image: “he batted that day as he had never done before.”

Another story from this new book can be found at this link:

Stories for Speakers and Writers