“THE PRINCESS AND THE PAUPER”

He was a man now, with a man’s work to do; and though he did it bravely and well, it left no room for colleges, or for studies, or for doing the great things he had dreamed of doing. That is why he grew to be the Pauper.”
“Couldn’t the Princess help?” This from Jill, softly. “The Pauper could not ask help–from a Princess.”
“But maybe she’d LIKE to help, if she knew,” contended David. “And maybe then she’d wave.” Mr. Jack shook his head.

“No, David, I’m afraid not. You see, the days of the Princess and the Pauper are not these days; and the Princess, spending her gold to make dreams come true for others, as princes and princesses always have done, perhaps does not dream that there can be any dreams left unfulfilled in a grocer’s clerk on a hill just across the valley. Others she made knights and ladies in her fairytale kingdom; but for the Pauper across the way, she has no thought–unless, perhaps, now and then, as an odd recollection of a boy who used to wave from a tiny piazza on a hill to a girl who waved back from a tower in another fairytale long ago.”

“And that’s all?” Jill’s voice was wistfully disappointed. “That’s all,” sighed Mr. Jack. “There isn’t any more–just now,”
finished Mr. Jack, his eyes on the towers that gleamed now softly white in the moonlight.

Through this story, Mr. Jack seems to weave his own history and feelings into a tale ostensibly about other characters, a princess and a pauper. Their childhood friendship and play signaling across their homes with waves and flags are fond memories that become tainted by adulthood’s complexities, particularly as the princess inherits vast wealth, transforming her into a societal figure far removed from her humble beginnings and playmate. Despite the pauper’s efforts to rise to her status, life’s harsh realities—a sick mother, poverty, ill health—keep him tethered to a humble existence, leading to unspoken and unresolved feelings. The story reflects on the distance that grows between two people due to changes in social status and the loss of childhood innocence. Mr. Jack’s narrative concludes on a somber note, recognizing that the characters’ lives and their potential reunion remain constrained by their divergent paths, symbolizing unfulfilled dreams and unreciprocated affection.