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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11033 ***
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+The Angel over the Right Shoulder
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+
+
+The Angel over the Right Shoulder
+
+or the
+
+BEGINNING OF A NEW YEAR.
+
+BY
+
+THE AUTHOR OF "SUNNY SIDE."
+
+
+
+1852.
+
+
+
+
+The Angel over the Right Shoulder
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"There! a woman's work is never done," said Mrs. James; "I thought, for
+once, I was through; but just look at that lamp, now! it will not burn,
+and I must go and spend half an hour over it."
+
+"Don't you wish you had never been married?" said Mr. James, with a
+good-natured laugh.
+
+"Yes"--rose to her lips, but was checked by a glance at the group upon
+the floor, where her husband was stretched out, and two little urchins
+with sparkling eyes and glowing cheeks, were climbing and tumbling over
+him, as if they found in this play the very essence of fun.
+
+She did say, "I should like the good, without the evil, if I could have
+it."
+
+"You have no evils to endure," replied her husband.
+
+"That is just all you gentlemen know about it. What would you think, if
+you could not get an uninterrupted half hour to yourself, from morning
+till night? I believe you would give up trying to do anything."
+
+"There is no need of that; all you want, is _system_. If you arranged
+your work systematically, you would find that you could command your
+time."
+
+"Well," was the reply, "all I wish is, that you could just follow me
+around for one day, and see what I have to do. If you could reduce it
+all to system, I think you would show yourself a genius."
+
+When the lamp was trimmed, the conversation was resumed. Mr. James had
+employed the "half hour," in meditating on this subject.
+
+"Wife," said he, as she came in, "I have a plan to propose to you, and I
+wish you to promise me beforehand, that you will accede to it. It is to
+be an experiment, I acknowledge, but I wish it to have a fair trial. Now
+to please me, will you promise?"
+
+Mrs. James hesitated. She felt almost sure that his plan would be quite
+impracticable, for what does a man know of a woman's work? yet she
+promised.
+
+"Now I wish you," said he, "to set apart two hours of every day for your
+own private use. Make a point of going to your room and locking yourself
+in; and also make up your mind to let the work which is not done, go
+undone, if it must. Spend this time on just those things which will be
+most profitable to yourself. I shall bind you to your promise for one
+month--then, if it has proved a total failure, we will devise something
+else."
+
+"When shall I begin?"
+
+"To-morrow."
+
+The morrow came. Mrs. James had chosen the two hours before dinner as
+being, on the whole, the most convenient and the least liable to
+interruption. They dined at one o'clock. She wished to finish her
+morning work, get dressed for the day, and enter her room at eleven.
+
+Hearty as were her efforts to accomplish this, the hour of eleven found
+her with her work but half done; yet, true to her promise, she left all,
+retired to her room and locked the door.
+
+With some interest and hope, she immediately marked out a course of
+reading and study, for these two precious hours; then, arranging her
+table, her books, pen and paper, she commenced a schedule of her work
+with much enthusiasm. Scarcely had she dipped her pen in ink, when she
+heard the tramping of little feet along the hall, and then a pounding at
+her door.
+
+"Mamma! mamma! I cannot find my mittens, and Hannah is going to slide
+without me."
+
+"Go to Amy, my dear; mamma is busy."
+
+"So Amy busy too; she say she can't leave baby."
+
+The child began to cry, still standing close to the fastened door. Mrs.
+James knew the easiest, and indeed the only way of settling the trouble,
+was to go herself and hunt up the missing mittens. Then a parley must
+be held with Frank, to induce him to wait for his sister, and the
+child's tears must be dried, and little hearts must be all set right
+before the children went out to play; and so favorable an opportunity
+must not be suffered to slip, without impressing on young minds the
+importance of having a "place for everything and everything in its
+place;" this took time; and when Mrs. James returned to her study, her
+watch told her that _half_ her portion had gone. Quietly resuming her
+work, she was endeavoring to mend her broken train of thought, when
+heavier steps were heard in the hall, and the fastened door was once
+more besieged. Now, Mr. James must be admitted.
+
+"Mary," said he, "cannot you come and sew a string on for me? I do
+believe there is not a bosom in my drawer in order, and I am in a great
+hurry. I ought to have been down town an hour ago."
+
+The schedule was thrown aside, the workbasket taken, and Mrs. James
+followed him. She soon sewed on the tape, but then a button needed
+fastening--and at last a rip in his glove, was to be mended. As Mrs.
+James stitched away on the glove, a smile lurked in the corners of her
+mouth, which her husband observed.
+
+"What are you laughing at?" asked he.
+
+"To think how famously your plan works."
+
+"I declare!" said he, "is this your study hour? I am sorry, but what can
+a man do? He cannot go down town without a shirt bosom!"
+
+"Certainly not," said his wife, quietly.
+
+When her liege lord was fairly equipped and off, Mrs. James returned to
+her room. A half an hour yet remained to her, and of this she
+determined to make the most. But scarcely had she resumed her pen, when
+there was another disturbance in the entry. Amy had returned from
+walking out with the baby, and she entered the nursery with him, that
+she might get him to sleep. Now it happened that the only room in the
+house which Mrs. James could have to herself with a fire, was the one
+adjoining the nursery. She had become so accustomed to the ordinary
+noise of the children, that it did not disturb her; but the very
+extraordinary noise which master Charley sometimes felt called upon to
+make, when he was fairly on his back in the cradle, did disturb the
+unity of her thoughts. The words which she was reading rose and fell
+with the screams and lulls of the child, and she felt obliged to close
+her book, until the storm was over. When quiet was restored in the
+cradle, the children came in from sliding, crying with cold fingers--and
+just as she was going to them, the dinner-bell rang.
+
+"How did your new plan work this morning?" inquired Mr. James.
+
+"Famously," was the reply, "I read about seventy pages of German, and as
+many more in French."
+
+"I am sure _I_ did not hinder you long."
+
+"No--yours was only one of a dozen interruptions."
+
+"O, well! you must not get discouraged. Nothing succeeds well the first
+time. Persist in your arrangement, and by and by the family will learn
+that if they want anything of you, they must wait until after dinner."
+
+"But what can a man do?" replied his wife; "he cannot go down town
+without a shirt-bosom."
+
+"I was in a bad case," replied Mr. James, "it may not happen again. I am
+anxious to have you try the month out faithfully, and then we will see
+what has come of it."
+
+The second day of trial was a stormy one. As the morning was dark,
+Bridget over-slept, and consequently breakfast was too late by an hour.
+This lost hour Mrs. James could not recover. When the clock struck
+eleven, she seemed but to have commenced her morning's work, so much
+remained to be done. With mind disturbed and spirits depressed, she left
+her household matters "in the suds," as they were, and punctually
+retired to her study. She soon found, however, that she could not fix
+her attention upon any intellectual pursuit. Neglected duties haunted
+her, like ghosts around the guilty conscience. Perceiving that she was
+doing nothing with her books, and not wishing to lose the morning
+wholly, she commenced writing a letter. Bridget interrupted her before
+she had proceeded far on the first page.
+
+"What, ma'am, shall we have for dinner? No marketing ha'n't come."
+
+"Have some steaks, then."
+
+"We ha'n't got none, ma'am."
+
+"I will send out for some, directly."
+
+Now there was no one to send but Amy, and Mrs. James knew it. With a
+sigh, she put down her letter and went into the nursery.
+
+"Amy, Mr. James has forgotten our marketing. I should like to have you
+run over to the provision store, and order some beef-steaks. I will stay
+with the baby."
+
+Amy was not much pleased to be sent out on this errand. She remarked,
+that "she must change her dress first."
+
+"Be as quick as possible," said Mrs. James, "for I am particularly
+engaged at this hour."
+
+Amy neither obeyed, nor disobeyed, but managed to take her own time,
+without any very deliberate intention to do so. Mrs. James, hoping to
+get along with a sentence or two, took her German book into the nursery.
+But this arrangement was not to master Charley's mind. A fig did he care
+for German, but "the kitties," he must have, whether or no--and kitties
+he would find in that particular book--so he turned its leaves over in
+great haste. Half of the time on the second day of trial had gone, when
+Amy returned and Mrs. James with a sigh, left her nursery. Before one
+o'clock, she was twice called into the kitchen to superintend some
+important dinner arrangement, and thus it turned out that she did not
+finish one page of her letter.
+
+On the third morning the sun shone, and Mrs. James rose early, made
+every provision which she deemed necessary for dinner, and for the
+comfort of her family; and then, elated by her success, in good spirits,
+and with good courage, she entered her study precisely at eleven
+o'clock, and locked her door. Her books were opened, and the challenge
+given to a hard German lesson. Scarcely had she made the first onset,
+when the door-bell was heard to ring, and soon Bridget coming nearer and
+nearer--then tapping at the door.
+
+"Somebodies wants to see you in the parlor, ma'am."
+
+"Tell them I am engaged, Bridget."
+
+"I told 'em you were to-home, ma'am, and they sent up their names, but I
+ha'n't got 'em, jist."
+
+There was no help for it--Mrs. James must go down to receive her
+callers. She had to smile when she felt little like it--to be sociable
+when her thoughts were busy with her task. Her friends made a long
+call--they had nothing else to do with their time, and when they went,
+others came. In very unsatisfactory chit-chat, her morning slipped away.
+
+On the next day, Mr. James invited company to tea, and her morning was
+devoted to preparing for it; she did not enter her study. On the day
+following, a sick-head-ache confined her to her bed, and on Saturday the
+care of the baby devolved upon her, as Amy had extra work to do. Thus
+passed the first week.
+
+True to her promise, Mrs. James patiently persevered for a month, in her
+efforts to secure for herself this little fragment of her broken time,
+but with what success, the first week's history can tell. With its
+close, closed the month of December.
+
+On the last day of the old year, she was so much occupied in her
+preparations for the morrow's festival, that the last hour of the day
+was approaching, before she made her good night's call in the nursery.
+She first went to the crib and looked at the baby. There he lay in his
+innocence and beauty, fast asleep. She softly stroked his golden
+hair--she kissed gently his rosy cheek--she pressed the little dimpled
+hand in hers, and then, carefully drawing the coverlet over it, tucked
+it in, and stealing yet another kiss--she left him to his peaceful
+dreams and sat down on her daughter's bed. She also slept sweetly, with
+her dolly hugged to her bosom. At this her mother smiled, but soon grave
+thoughts entered her mind, and these deepened into sad ones. She thought
+of her disappointment and the failure of her plans. To her, not only the
+past month but the whole past year, seemed to have been one of fruitless
+effort--all broken and disjointed--even her hours of religious duty had
+been encroached upon, and disturbed. She had accomplished nothing, that
+she could see, but to keep her house and family in order, and even this,
+to her saddened mind, seemed to have been but indifferently done. She
+was conscious of yearnings for a more earnest life than this.
+Unsatisfied longings for something which she had not attained, often
+clouded what, otherwise, would have been a bright day to her; and yet
+the causes of these feelings seemed to lie in a dim and misty region,
+which her eye could not penetrate.
+
+What then did she need? To see some _results_ from her life's work? To
+know that a golden cord bound her life-threads together into _unity_ of
+purpose--notwithstanding they seemed, so often, single and broken?
+
+She was quite sure that she felt no desire to shrink from duty, however
+humble, but she sighed for some comforting assurance of what _was duty_.
+Her employments, conflicting as they did with her tastes, seemed to her
+frivolous and useless. It seemed to her that there was some better way
+of living, which she, from deficiency in energy of character, or of
+principle, had failed to discover. As she leaned over her child, her
+tears fell fast upon its young brow.
+
+Most earnestly did she wish, that she could shield that child from the
+disappointments and mistakes and self-reproach from which the mother was
+then suffering; that the little one might take up life where she could
+give it to her--all mended by her own experience. It would have been a
+comfort to have felt, that in fighting the battle, she had fought for
+both; yet she knew that so it could not be--that for ourselves must we
+all learn what are those things which "make for our peace."
+
+The tears were in her eyes, as she gave the good-night to her sleeping
+daughter--then with soft steps she entered an adjoining room, and there
+fairly kissed out the old year on another chubby cheek, which nestled
+among the pillows. At length she sought her own rest.
+
+Soon she found herself in a singular place. She was traversing a vast
+plain. No trees were visible, save those which skirted the distant
+horizon, and on their broad tops rested wreaths of golden clouds. Before
+her was a female, who was journeying towards that region of light.
+Little children were about her, now in her arms, now running by her
+side, and as they travelled, she occupied herself in caring for them.
+She taught them how to place their little feet--she gave them timely
+warnings of the pit-falls--she gently lifted them over the
+stumbling-blocks. When they were weary, she soothed them by singing of
+that brighter land, which she kept ever in view, and towards which she
+seemed hastening with her little flock. But what was most remarkable
+was, that, all unknown to her, she was constantly watched by two angels,
+who reposed on two golden clouds which floated above her. Before each
+was a golden book, and a pen of gold. One angel, with mild and loving
+eyes, peered constantly over her right shoulder--another kept as strict
+watch over her left. Not a deed, not a word, not a look, escaped their
+notice. When a good deed, word, look, went from her, the angel over the
+right shoulder with a glad smile, wrote it down in his book; when an
+evil, however trivial, the angel over the left shoulder recorded it in
+his book--then with sorrowful eyes followed the pilgrim until he
+observed penitence for the wrong, upon which he dropped a tear on the
+record, and blotted it out, and both angels rejoiced.
+
+To the looker-on, it seemed that the traveller did nothing which was
+worthy of such careful record. Sometimes she did but bathe the weary
+feet of her little children, but the angel over the _right
+shoulder_--wrote it down. Sometimes she did but patiently wait to lure
+back a little truant who had turned his face away from the distant
+light, but the angel over the _right shoulder_--wrote it down. Sometimes
+she did but soothe an angry feeling or raise a drooping eye-lid, or kiss
+away a little grief; but the angel over the right shoulder--_wrote it
+down_.
+
+Sometimes, her eye was fixed so intently on that golden horizon, and she
+became so eager to make progress thither, that the little ones, missing
+her care, did languish or stray. Then it was that the angel over the
+_left shoulder_, lifted his golden pen, and made the entry, and followed
+her with sorrowful eyes, until he could blot it out. Sometimes she
+seemed to advance rapidly, but in her haste the little ones had fallen
+back, and it was the sorrowing angel who recorded her progress.
+Sometimes so intent was she to gird up her loins and have her lamp
+trimmed and burning, that the little children wandered away quite into
+forbidden paths, and it was the angel over the _left shoulder_ who
+recorded her diligence.
+
+Now the observer as she looked, felt that this was a faithful and true
+record, and was to be kept to that journey's end. The strong clasps of
+gold on those golden books, also impressed her with the conviction that,
+when they were closed, it would only be for a future opening.
+
+Her sympathies were warmly enlisted for the gentle traveller, and with a
+beating heart she quickened her steps that she might overtake her. She
+wished to tell her of the angels keeping watch above her--to entreat her
+to be faithful and patient to the end--for her life's work was all
+written down--every item of it--and the _results_ would be known when
+those golden books should be unclasped. She wished to beg of her to
+think no duty trivial which must be done, for over her right shoulder
+and over her left were recording angels, who would surely take note of
+all!
+
+Eager to warn the traveller of what she had seen, she touched her. The
+traveller turned, and she recognized or seemed to recognize _herself_.
+Startled and alarmed she awoke in tears. The gray light of morning
+struggled through the half-open shutter, the door was ajar and merry
+faces were peeping in.
+
+"Wish you a happy new year, mamma,"--"Wish you a _Happy new Year_"--"a
+happy noo ear."
+
+She returned the merry greeting most heartily. It seemed to her as if
+she had entered upon a new existence. She had found her way through the
+thicket in which she had been entangled, and a light was now about her
+path. The _Angel over the Right Shoulder_ whom she had seen in her
+dream, would bind up in his golden book her life's work, if it were but
+well done. He required of her no great deeds, but faithfulness and
+patience to the end of the race which was set before her. Now she could
+see plainly enough, that though it was right and important for her to
+cultivate her own mind and heart, it was equally right and equally
+important, to meet and perform faithfully all those little household
+cares and duties on which the comfort and virtue of her family depended;
+for into these things the angels carefully looked--and these duties and
+cares acquired a dignity from the strokes of that golden, pen--they
+could not be neglected without danger.
+
+Sad thoughts and sadder misgivings--undefined yearnings and ungratified
+longings seemed to have taken their flight with the Old Year, and it was
+with fresh resolution and cheerful hope, and a happy heart, she welcomed
+the _Glad_ New Year. The _Angel over the Right Shoulder_ would go with
+her, and if she were found faithful, would strengthen and comfort her to
+its close.
+
+END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Angel Over the Right Shoulder
+by Elizabeth Wooster Stuart Phelps
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11033 ***