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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/11290-0.txt b/11290-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0fc26bc --- /dev/null +++ b/11290-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4283 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11290 *** + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through the Florida + Board of Education, Division of Colleges and Universities, + PALMM Project, 2001. (Preservation and Access for American and + British Children's Literature, 1850-1869.) See + http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/dl/UF00001806.jpg + or + http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/dl/UF00001806.pdf + + + + + +EMILIE THE PEACEMAKER. + +BY MRS. THOMAS GELDART. + +AUTHOR OF "TRUTH IS EVERYTHING;" "NURSERY GUIDE;" "STORIES OF ENGLAND +AND HER FORTY COUNTIES;" AND "THOUGHTS FOR HOME." + +MDCCCLI. + + + + + +Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of +God.... Matt v. 9. + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. + +INTRODUCTION + +CHAPTER II. + +THE SOFT ANSWER + +CHAPTER III. + +THE LESSON AT THE COTTAGE + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE HOLIDAYS + +CHAPTER V. + +EDITH'S TRIALS + +CHAPTER VI. + +EMILIE'S TRIALS + +CHAPTER VII. + +BETTER THINGS + +CHAPTER VIII. + +GOOD FOR EVIL + +CHAPTER IX. + +FRED A PEACEMAKER + +CHAPTER X. + +EDITH'S VISIT TO JOE + +CHAPTER XI. + +JOE'S CHRISTMAS + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE CHRISTMAS TREE + + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE NEW HOME + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE LAST + + + + + + +CHAPTER FIRST. + +INTRODUCTION. + + +One bright afternoon, or rather evening, in May, two girls, with basket +in hand, were seen leaving the little seaport town in which they +resided, for the professed purpose of primrose gathering, but in reality +to enjoy the pure air of the first summer-like evening of a season, +which had been unusually cold and backward. Their way lay through bowery +lanes scented with sweet brier and hawthorn, and every now and then +glorious were the views of the beautiful ocean, which lay calmly +reposing and smiling beneath the setting sun. "How unlike that stormy, +dark, and noisy sea of but a week ago!" so said the friends to each +other, as they listened to its distant musical murmur, and heard the +waves break gently on the shingly beach. + +Although we have called them friends, there was a considerable +difference in their ages. That tall and pleasing, though plain, girl in +black, was the governess of the younger. Her name was Emilie Schomberg. +The little rosy, dark-eyed, and merry girl, her pupil, we shall call +Edith Parker. She had scarcely numbered twelve Mays, and was at the age +when primrosing and violeting have not lost their charms, and when +spring is the most welcome, and the dearest of all the four seasons. +Emilie Schomberg, as her name may lead you to infer, was a German. She +spoke English, however, so well, that you would scarcely have supposed +her to be a foreigner, and having resided in England for some years, had +been accustomed to the frequent use of that language. Emilie Schomberg +was the daily governess of little Edith. Little she was always called, +for she was the youngest of the family, and at eleven years of age, if +the truth must be told of her, was a good deal of a baby. + +Several schemes of education had been tried for this same little +Edith,--schools and governesses and masters,--but Emilie Schomberg, who +now came to her for a few hours every other day, had obtained greater +influence over her than any former instructor; and in addition to the +German, French, and music, which she undertook to teach, she instructed +Edith in a few things not really within her province, but nevertheless +of some importance; of these you shall judge. The search for primroses +was not a silent search--Edith is the first speaker. + +"Yes, Emilie, but it was very provoking, after I had finished my lessons +so nicely, and got done in time to walk out with you, to have mamma +fancy I had a cold, when I had nothing of the kind. I almost wish some +one would turn really ill, and then she would not fancy I was so, quite +so often." + +"Oh, hush, Edith dear! you are talking nonsense, and you are saying what +you cannot mean. I don't like to hear you so pert to that kind mamma of +yours, whenever she thinks it right to contradict you." + +"Emilie, I cannot help saying, and you know yourself, though you call +her kind, that mamma is cross, very cross sometimes. Yes, I know she is +very fond of me and all that, but still she _is_ cross, and it is no +use denying it. Oh, dear, I wish I was you. You never seem to have +anything to put you out. I never see you look as if you had been crying +or vexed, but I have so many many things to vex me at home." + +Emilie smiled. "As to my having nothing to put me out, you may be right, +and you may be wrong, dear. There is never any excuse for being what you +call _put out_, by which I understand cross and pettish, but I am rather +amused, too, at your fixing on a daily governess, as a person the least +likely in the world to have trials of temper and patience." "Yes, I dare +say I vex you sometimes, but"--"Well, not to speak of you, dear, whom I +love very much, though you are not perfect, I have other pupils, and do +you suppose, that amongst so many as I have to teach at Miss Humphrey's +school, for instance, there is not one self-willed, not one impertinent, +not one idle, not one dull scholar? My dear, there never was a person, +you may be sure of that, who had nothing to be tried, or, as you say, +put out with. But not to talk of my troubles, and I have not many I will +confess, except that great one, Edith, which, may you be many years +before you know, (the loss of a father;) not to talk of that, what are +your troubles? Your mamma is cross sometimes, that is to say, she does +not always give you all you ask for, crosses you now and then, is that +all?" + +"Oh no Emilie, there are Mary and Ellinor, they never seem to like me to +be with them, they are so full of their own plans and secrets. Whenever +I go into the room, there is such a hush and mystery. The fact is, they +treat me like a baby. Oh, it is a great misfortune to be the youngest +child! but of all my troubles, Fred is the greatest. John teases me +sometimes, but he is nothing to Fred. Emilie, you don't know what that +boy is; but you will see, when you come to stay with me in the holidays, +and you shall say then if you think I have nothing to put me out." + +The very recollection of her wrongs appeared to irritate the little +lady, and she put on a pout, which made her look anything but kind and +amiable. + +The primroses which she had so much desired, were not quite to her mind, +they were not nearly so fine as those that John and Fred had brought +home. Now she was tired of the dusty road, and she would go home by the +beach. So saying, Edith turned resolutely towards a stile, which led +across some fields to the sea shore, and not all Emilie's entreaties +could divert her from her purpose. + +"Edith, dear! we shall be late, very late! as it is we have been out too +long, come back, pray do;" but Edith was resolute, and ran on. Emilie, +who knew her pupil's self-will over a German lesson, although she had +little experience of her temper in other matters, was beginning to +despair of persuading her, and spoke yet more earnestly and firmly, +though still kindly and gently, but in vain. Edith had jumped over the +stile, and was on her way to the cliff, when her course was arrested by +an old sailor, who was sitting on a bench near the gangway leading to +the shore. He had heard the conversation between the governess and her +headstrong pupil, as he smoked his pipe on this favourite seat, and +playfully caught hold of the skirt of the young lady's frock, as she +passed, to Edith's great indignation. + +"Now, Miss, I could not, no, that I could'nt, refuse any one who asked +me so pretty as that lady did you. If she had been angry, and commanded +you back, why bad begets bad, and tit for tat you know, and I should +not so much have wondered: but, Miss, you should not vex her. No, don't +be angry with an old man, I have seen so much of the evils of young +folks taking their own way. Look here, young lady," said the weather +beaten sailor, as he pointed to a piece of crape round his hat; "this +comes of being fond of one's own way." + +Edith was arrested, and approached the stile, on the other side of which +Emilie Schomberg still leant, listening to the fisherman's talk with her +pupil. + +"You see, Miss," said he, "I have brought her round, she were a little +contrary at first, but the squall is over, and she is going home your +way. Oh, a capital good rule, that of your's, Miss!" "What," said Emilie +smiling, "Why, that 'soft answer,' that kind way. I see a good deal of +the ways of nurses with children, ah, and of governesses, and mothers, +and fathers too, as I sit about on the sea shore, mending my nets. I +ain't fit for much else now, you see, Miss, though I have seen a deal of +service, and as I sit sometimes watching the little ones playing on the +sand, and with the shingle, I keep my ears open, for I can't bear to see +children grieved, and sometimes I put in a word to the nurse maids. +Bless me! to see how some of 'em whip up the children in the midst of +their play. Neither with your leave, nor by your leave; 'here, come +along, you dirty, naughty boy, here's a wet frock! Come, this minute, +you tiresome child, it's dinner time.' Now that ain't what I call fair +play, Miss. I say you ought to speak civil, even to a child; and then, +the crying, and the shaking, and the pulling up the gangway. Many and +many is the little squaller I go and pacify, and carry as well as I can +up the cliff: but I beg pardon, Miss, hope I don't offend. Only I was +afraid, Miss there was a little awkward, and would give you trouble." + +"Indeed," said Emilie, "I am much obliged to you; where do you live?" + +"I live," said the old man, "I may say, a great part of my life, under +the sky, in summer time, but I lodge with my son, and he lives between +this and Brooke. In winter time, since the rheumatics has got hold of +me, I am drawn to the fire side, but my son's wife, she don't take after +him, bless him. She's a bit of a spirit, and when she talks more than I +like, why I wish myself at sea again, for an angry woman's tongue is +worse than a storm at sea, any day; if it was'nt for the children, bless +'em, I should not live with 'em, but I am very partial to them." + +"Well, we must say good night, now," said Emilie, "or we shall be late +home; I dare say we shall see you on the shore some day; good night." +"Good night to you, ma'am; good night, young lady; be friends, won't +you?" + +Edith's hand was given, but it was not pleasant to be conquered, and she +was a little sullen on the way home. They parted at the door of Edith's +house. Edith went in, to join a cheerful family in a comfortable and +commodious room; Emilie, to a scantily furnished, and shabbily genteel +apartment, let to her and a maiden aunt by a straw bonnet maker in the +town. + +We will peep at her supper table, and see if Miss Edith were quite right +in supposing that Emilie Schomberg had nothing to put her out. + + + + +CHAPTER SECOND. + +THE SOFT ANSWER. + + +An old lady was seated by a little ricketty round table, knitting; +knitting very fast. Surely she did not always knit so fast, Germans are +great knitters it is true, but the needles made quite a noise--click, +click, click--against one another. The table was covered with a +snow-white cloth. By her side was a loaf called by bakers and +housekeepers, crusty; the term might apply either to the loaf or the old +lady's temper. A little piece of cheese stood on a clean plate, and a +crab on another, a little pat of butter on a third, and this, with a jug +of water, formed the preparation for the evening meal of the aunt and +niece. Emilie went up to her aunt, gaily, with her bunch of primroses in +her hand, and addressing her in the German language, begged her pardon +for keeping supper waiting. The old lady knitted faster than ever, +dropped a stitch, picked it up, looked out of the window, and cleared +up, not her temper, but her throat; click, click went the needles, and +Emilie looked concerned. + +"Aunt, dear," she said, "shall we sit down to supper?" "My appetite is +gone, Emilie, I thank you." "I am really sorry, aunt, but you know you +are so kind, you wish me to take plenty of exercise, and I was detained +to-night. Miss Parker and I stayed chattering to an old sailor. It was +very thoughtless, pray excuse me. But now aunt, dear, see this fine +crab, you like crabs; old Peter Varley sent it to you, the old man you +knitted the guernsey for in the winter." + +No,--old Miss Schomberg was not to be brought round. Crabs were very +heavy things at night, very indigestible things, she wondered at Emilie +thinking she could eat them, so subject as she was to spasms, too. +Indeed she could eat no supper. She was very dull and not well, so +Emilie sat down to her solitary meal. She did not go on worrying her +aunt to eat, but she watched for a suitable opening, for the first +indication indeed, of the clearing up for which she hoped, and though +it must be confessed some such thoughts as "how cross and unreasonable +aunt is," did pass through her mind, she gave them no utterance. +Emilie's mind was under good discipline, she had learned to forbear in +love, and for the exercise of this virtue, she had abundant opportunity. + +Poor Emilie! she had not always been a governess, subject to the trials +of tuition; she had not always lived in a little lodging without the +comforts and joys of family and social intercourse. + +Her father had failed in business, in Frankfort, and when Emilie was +about ten years of age, he had come over to England, and had gained his +living there by teaching his native language. He had been dead about a +twelve-month, and Emilie, at the age of twenty-one, found herself alone +in the world, in England at least, with the exception of the old German +aunt, to whom I have introduced you, and who had come over with her +brother, from love to him and his motherless child. She had a very small +independence, and when left an orphan, the kind old aunt, for kind she +was, in spite of some little infirmities of temper, persisted in sharing +with her her board and lodging, till Emilie, who was too active and +right minded to desire to depend on her for support, sought employment +as a teacher. + +The seaport town of L----, in the south of England, whither Emilie and +her father had gone in the vain hope of restoring his broken health, +offered many advantages to our young German mistress. She had had a good +solid education. Her father, who was a scholar, had taught her, and had +taught her well, so that besides her own language, she was able to teach +Latin and French, and to instruct, as the advertisements say, "in the +usual branches of English education." She was musical, had a fine ear +and correct taste, and accordingly met with pupils without much +difficulty. In the summer months especially she was fully employed. +Families who came for relaxation were, nevertheless, glad to have their +daughters taught for a few hours in the week; and you may suppose that +Emilie Schomberg did not lead an idle life. For remuneration she fared, +as alas teachers do fare, but ill. The sum which many a gentleman freely +gives to his butler or valet, is thought exorbitant, nay, is rarely +given to a governess, and Emilie, as a daily governess, was but poorly +paid. + +The expenses of her father's long illness and funeral were heavy, and +she was only just out of debt; therefore, with the honesty and +independence of spirit that marked her, she lived carefully and frugally +at the little rooms of Miss Webster, the straw bonnet maker, in High +Street. + +From what I have told you already, you will easily perceive that Emilie +was accustomed to command her temper; she had been trained to do this +early in life. Her father, who foresaw for his child a life dependent on +her character and exertion, a life of labour in teaching and governing +others, taught Emilie to govern herself. Never was an only child less +spoiled than she; but she was ruled in love. She knew but one law, that +of kindness, and it made her a good subject. + +Many were the sensible lessons that the good man gave her, as leaning on +her strong arm he used to pace up and down the grassy slopes which +bordered the sea shore. "Look, Emilie," he would say, "look at that +governess marshalling her scholars out. Do they look happy? think you +that they obey that stern mistress out of _love_? Listen, she calls to +them to keep their ranks and not to talk so loud. What unhappy faces +among them! Emilie, my child, you may keep school some day; oh, take +care and gain the love of the young ones, I don't believe there is any +other successful government, so I have found it." "With me, ah yes, +papa!" "With you, my child, and with all my scholars; I had little +experience as a teacher, when first it pleased God to make me dependent +on my own exertions as such, but I found out the secret. Gain your +pupils' love, Emilie, and a silken thread will draw them; without that +love, cords will not drag, scourges will scarcely drive them." + +Emilie found this advice of her father's rather hard to follow now and +then. Her first essay in teaching was in Mrs. Parker's family. Edith was +to "be finished." And now poor Emilie found that there was more to teach +Edith than German and French, and that there was more difficulty in +teaching her to keep her temper than her voice in tune. Edith was +affectionate, but self-willed and irritable. Her mamma's treatment had +not tended to improve her in this respect. Mrs. Parker had bad health, +and said she had bad spirits. She was a kind, generous, and affectionate +woman, but was always in trouble. In trouble with her chimneys because +they smoked; in trouble with her maids who did not obey her; and worst +of all in trouble with herself; for she had good sense and good +principle, but she had let her temper go too long undisciplined, and it +was apt to break forth sometimes against those she loved, and would +cause her many bitter tears and self-upbraidings. + +She took an interest in the poor German master, for she was a benevolent +woman, and cheered his dying bed by promising to assist his daughter. +She even offered to take her into her family; but this could not be +thought of. Good aunt Agnes had left her country for the sake of +Emilie--Emilie would not desert her aunt now. + +The scene at the supper table was not an uncommon one, but Emilie was +frequently more successful in winning aunt Agnes to a smile than on this +occasion. "Perhaps I tried too much; perhaps I did not try enough, +perhaps I tried in the wrong way," thought Emilie, as she received her +aunt's cold kiss, and took up her bed room candle to retire for the +night. When aunt Agnes said good night, it was so very distantly, so +very unkindly, that an angry demand for explanation almost rose to +Emilie's lips, and though she did not utter it, she said her good night +coldly and stiffly too, and thus they parted. But when Emilie opened the +Bible that night, her eye rested on the words, "Be ye kind one to +another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God for Christ's sake +hath forgiven you," then Emilie could not rest. She did not forgive her +aunt; she felt that she did not; but Emilie was _human_, and human +nature is proud. "I did nothing to offend her," reasoned pride, "it was +only because I was out a little late, and I said I was sorry and I tried +to bring her round. Ah well, it will all be right to-morrow; it is no +use to think of it now," and she prepared to kneel down to pray. Just +then her eye rested on her father's likeness; she remembered how he used +to say, when she was a child and lisped her little prayer at his knee, +"Emilie, have you any unkind thoughts to any one? Do you feel at peace +with all? for God says, 'When thou bringest thy gift before the altar, +and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave +there thy gift before the altar, _first_ be reconciled to thy brother, +and _then_ go and offer thy gift.'" On one or two occasions had Emilie +arisen, her tender conscience thus appealed to, and thrown her arms +round her nurse's or her aunt's neck, to beg their forgiveness for some +little offence committed by her and forgotten perhaps by them, and would +then kneel down and offer up her evening prayer. So Emilie hushed +pride's voice, and opening her door, crossed the little passage to her +aunt's sleeping room, and putting her arm round her neck fondly said, +"Dear aunt!" It was enough, the good old lady hugged her lovingly. "Ah, +Emilie dear, I am a cross old woman, and thou art a dear good child. +Bless thee!" In half an hour after the inmates of the little lodging in +High Street were sound asleep, at peace with one another, and at peace +with God. + + + + +CHAPTER THIRD. + +THE LESSON AT THE COTTAGE. + + +Edith was very busily searching for corallines and sea weeds, a few days +after the evening walk recorded in our first chapter. She was alone, for +her two sisters had appeared more than usually confidential and +unwilling for her company, and her dear teacher was engaged that +afternoon at the Young Ladies' Seminary, so she tried to make herself +happy in her solitary ramble. A boat came in at this moment, and the +pleasant shout of the boatmen's voices, and the grating of the little +craft as it landed on the pebbly shore, attracted the young lady's +notice, and she stood for a few moments to watch the proceedings. +Amongst those on shore, who had come to lend a hand in pulling the boat +in, Edith thought that she recognised a face, and on a little closer +inspection she saw it was old Joe Murray, who had stopped her course to +the beach a few evenings before. She did not wish to encounter Joe, so +slipping behind the blue jacketed crowd, she walked quickly forwards, +but Joe followed her. + +"Young lady," he said, "if you are looking for corallines, you can't do +better than ask your papa some fine afternoon, to drive you as far as +Sheldon, and you'll find a sight of fine weeds there, as I know, for my +boy, my poor boy I lost, I mean," said he, again touching the rusty +crape on his hat, "my boy was very curious in those things, and had +quite a museum of 'em at home." How could Edith stand against such an +attack? It was plain that the old man wanted to make peace with her, +and, cheerfully thanking him, she was moving on, but the old boots +grinding the shingle, were again heard behind her, and turning round, +she saw Joe at her heels. + +"Miss, I don't know as I ought to have stopped you that night. I am a +poor old fisherman, and you are a young lady, but I meant no harm, and +for the moment only did it in a joke." + +"Oh, dear," said Edith, "don't think any more about it, I was very +cross that night, and you were quite right, I should have got Miss +Schomberg into sad trouble if I had gone that way. As it was, I was out +too late. Have you lost a son lately, said Edith, I heard you say you +had just now? Was he drowned?" inquired the child, kindly looking up +into Joe's face. + +"Yes Miss, he was drowned," said Joe, "he came by his death very sadly. +Will you please, Miss, to come home with me, and I will shew you his +curiosities, and if you please to take a fancy to any, I'm sure you are +very welcome. I don't know any good it does me to turn 'em over, and +look at them as I do times and often, but somehow when we lose them we +love, we hoard up all they loved. He had a little dog, poor Bob had, a +little yapping thing, and I never took to the animal, 'twas always +getting into mischief, and gnawing the nets, and stealing my fish, and I +used often to say, 'Bob, my boy, I love you but not your dog. No, that +saying won't hold good now. I can't love that dog of yours. Sell it, +boy--give it away--get rid of it some how.' All in good part, you know, +Miss, for I never had any words with him about it. And now Bob is +gone--do you know, Miss, I love that dumb thing with the sort of love I +should love his child, if he had left me one. If any one huffs Rover, (I +ain't a very huffish man,) but I can tell you I shew them I don't like +it, I let the creature lay at my feet at night, and I feed him myself +and fondle him for the sake of him who loved him so. And you may depend +Miss, the dog knows his young master is gone, and the way he is gone +too, for I could not bring him on the shore for a long while, but he +would set up such a howl as would rend your heart to hear. And that made +me love the poor thing I can tell you." + +"But how did it happen?" softly asked Edith. + +"Why Miss it ain't at all an extraordinary way in which he met his +death. It was in this way. He was very fond of me, poor boy, but he +liked his way better than my way too often. And may be I humoured him a +little too much. He was my Benjamin, you must know Miss, for his mother +died soon after he was born. Sure enough I made an idol of the lad, and +we read somewhere in the Bible, Miss, that 'the idols he will utterly +abolish.' But I don't like looking at the sorrow that way neither. I +would rather think that 'whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.' Well, +Miss, like father like son. My boy loved the sea, as was natural he +should, but he was too venturesome; I used often to say, 'Bob, the +oldest sailor living can't rule the waves and winds, and if you are such +a mad cap as to go out sailing in such equally weather on this coast, as +sure as you are alive you will repent it.' He and some young chaps +hereabouts, got such a wonderful notion of sailing, and though I have +sailed many and many a mile, in large vessels and small, I always hold +to it that it is ticklish work for the young and giddy. Why sometimes +you are on the sea, Miss, ah, as calm as it is now--all in peace and +safety--a squall comes, and before you know what you are about you are +capsized. I had told him this, and he knew it, Miss, but he got a good +many idle acquaintances, as I told you, and they tempted him often to do +bold reckless things such as boys call brave." + +"It was one morning at the end of September, Bob says to me, 'Father, we +are going to keep my birthday; I am sixteen to-day,' and so he was, +bless him, sixteen the very day he died. 'We are going to keep my +birthday,' says he, 'Newton, and Somers, and Franklin, and I, we are all +going to Witton,' that is the next town, Miss, as you may know, 'we are +going to have a sail there, and dine at grandmother's, and home again at +night, eh Father.' 'Bob,' says I, 'I can't give my consent; that +ticklish sailing boat of young Woods' requires wiser heads and steadier +hands than your's to manage. You know my opinion of sailing, and you +won't grieve me, I hope, by going.' I might have told him, but I did +not, that I did not like the lads he was going with, but I knew that +would only make him angry, and do no good just as his heart was set upon +a frolic with them, so I said nought of that, but I tried to win him, +(that's my way with the young ones,) though I failed this time; go he +would, and he would have gone, let me have been as angry as you please. +But I have this comfort, that no sharp words passed my lips that day, +and no bitter ones his. I saw he was set on the frolic, and I hoped no +harm would come of it. How I watched the sky that day, Miss, no mortal +knows; how I started when I saw a sea gull skim across the waves! how I +listened for the least sound of a squall! Snap was just as fidgetty +seemingly, and we kept stealing down to the beach, long before it was +likely they should be back. As I stood watching there in the evening, +where I knew they would land, I saw young Newton's mother; she pulled me +by my sleeve, anxious like, and said, 'What do you think of the weather +Joe?' 'Why, Missis,' said I, 'there is an ugly look about the sky, but I +don't wish to frighten you; please God they'll soon be home, for Bob +promised to be home early.'" + +"Well, Miss, there we stood, the waves washing our feet, till it grew +dark, and then I could stand it no longer. I said to the poor mother, +'keep a good heart,' but I had little hope myself, God knows, and off I +made for Witton. Well, they had not been there, I found the grandmother +had seen nothing of them. They were picked up a day or so after, all +four of them washed up by the morning tide; their boat had drifted no +one knows where, and no one knows how it happened; but I suppose they +were driven out by the fresh breeze that sprung up, and not knowing how +to manage the sails, they were capsized." + +"There they all lay. Miss, in the churchyard. It was a solemn sight, I +can tell you, to see those four coffins, side by side, in the church. +They were all strong hearty lads, and all under seventeen. I go and sit +on his grave sometimes, and spell over all I said, and all he said that +day; and glad enough I am, that I can remember neither cross word nor +cross look. Ah, my lady, I should remember it if it had been so. We +think we are good fathers and good friends to them we love while they +are alive, but as soon as we lose 'em, all the kindness we ever did them +seems little enough, while all the bad feelings we had, and sharp words +we spoke, come up to condemn us." + +By this time they had reached the fisherman's cottage; it was prettily +situated, as houses on the south coast often are, under the shadow of a +fine over-hanging cliff. Masses of rock, clad with emerald green, were +scattered here and there, and the thriving plants in the little garden, +gave evidence of the mildness of the air in those parts, though close +upon the sea. The cottage was very low, but white and cheerful looking +outside, and as clean and trim within as a notable and stirring woman +could make it. Joe's daughter-in-law, the same described by Joe the +other evening as the woman of a high spirit, was to-day absent on an +errand to the town; and Edith, who loved children, stopped at the +threshold to notice two or three little curly-headed prattlers, who were +playing together at grotto making, an amusement which cost grandfather +many a half-penny. Some dispute seemed to have arisen at the moment of +their entrance between the young builders, for a good-humoured, +plain-looking girl, of twelve, the nursemaid of the baby, and the +care-taker of four other little ones, was trying to pacify the +aggrieved. In vain--little Susy was in a great passion, and with her +tiny foot kicked over the grotto, the result of several hours' labour; +first, in searching on the shore for shells and pebbles, and secondly, +in its erection. Then arose such a shriek and tumult amongst the +children, as those only can conceive who know what a noise disappointed +little creatures, from three to seven years old, can make. They all set +upon Susy, "naughty, mischievous, tiresome," were among the words. The +quiet looking girl, who had been trying to settle the dispute, now +interfered again. She led Susy away gently, but firmly, into another +part of the garden, where spying her grandfather, she took the unwilling +and ashamed little girl for him to deal with, and ran hack to the crying +children and ruined grotto. + +"Oh, hush! dears, pray hush," said Sarah, beginning to pick up the +shells, "we will soon build it up again." This they all declared +impossible, and cried afresh, but Sarah persevered, and quietly went on +piling up the shells, till at last one little mourner took up her coarse +pinafore and wiping her eyes, said, "Sarah does it very nicely." The +grotto rose beautifully, and at last they were all quiet and happy +again; all but poor Susy, who, seeing herself excluded, kept up a +terrible whine. "I wonder if Susan is sorry," said Sarah. "Not she, not +she, don't ask her here again," said they all. "Why not," said the +grandfather, who having walked about with Susy awhile, and talked +gravely to her, appeared to have brought about a change in her temper? +"Why because she will knock it down again the first time any thing puts +her out." "Won't you try her?" said Sarah, pleadingly; but they still +said "No! no!" "Don't you mind the day, Dick," said Sarah, "when you +pulled grandfather's new net all into the mud, and tangled his twine, +and spoilt him a whole day's work?" "Yes," said Dick. "Ah, and don't +you mind, too, when he went out in the boat next day, and you asked to +go with him, just as if nothing had happened, and you had done no harm, +he said, 'ah, Dick, if I were to mind what _revenge_ says, I would not +take you with me; you have injured me very much, but I'll mind what +_love_ says, and that tells me to return good for evil?'" "Yes," says +Dick. "Do you think you could have hurt any thing of grandfather's after +that?" "No," said Dick, "but I did not do it in a rage, as Susy did." +"You did mischief, though," said Sarah; "but I want Susy to give over +going into these rages. I want to cure her. Beating her does no good, +mother says that herself; wont you all try and help to cure Susy?" + +These children were not angels. I am writing of children as they are you +know, and though they yielded, it was rather sullenly, and little Susan +was given to understand that she was not a very welcome addition. Susy +kept very close to Sarah, sobbing and heaving, till the children seeing +her subdued, made more room for her, and her smile returned. Now the +law of kindness prevailed, and when the time came to run down to the +shore for some more shells, to replace those that had been broken, Susy, +at Sarah's hint, ran first and fastest, and brought her little pinafore +fullest of all. Edith watched all this, and her good old mentor was +willing that she should. "I suppose you have taught them this way of +settling disputes," said Edith to Joe. "I, oh no, Miss, I can't take all +the credit. Sarah, there, she has taken to me very much since my Bob +died, and she said to me the day of his funeral, when her heart was soft +and tender-like, 'Grandfather, tell me what I can do to comfort you.' +'Oh, child,' says I, 'my grief is too deep for you to touch, but you are +a kind girl, I'll tell you what to do to-night. Leave me alone, and, oh, +try and make the children quiet, for my head aches as bad as my heart. +Sally.'" + +"Then Sarah tried that day and the next, but found it hard work; the +boys quarrelled and fought, and the little once scratched and cried, and +their mother came and beat one or two of the worst, but all did no good. +There was no peace till bed time; still I encouraged her and told her, +you know, about 'a soft answer turning away wrath,' and since that +time, she has less often given railing for railing; and has not huffed +and worried them, as elder sisters are apt to do. She is a good girl, is +Sarah, but here comes the Missis home from market." "The Missis" +certainly did not look very sweet, and her heavy load had heated her. +She did not welcome Edith pleasantly, which, the old man observing, led +her away to a little room he occupied at the back of the cottage, and +showed her the corallines. + +Edith saw plainly that though the poor father offered her any of them +she liked to take, he suffered in parting with them, so calling Dick and +Mary, she asked if they would hunt for some for her, like those in +grandfather's stores. They consented joyfully, and Edith promising often +to come and see the old man, ran down the cliff briskly, and hastened +home. She thought a good deal as she walked, and asked herself if she +should have had the patience and the gentleness of that poor cottage +girl; if she should have soothed Susy, and comforted Dick and Mary; if +she should have troubled herself to kneel down in the broiling sun and +build up a few trumpery shells into a grotto, to be upset and destroyed +presently. She came to the conclusion that for good, pleasant, prettily +behaved children, she might have done so, but for shrieking, passionate, +quarrelsome little things as they appeared to her then, she certainly +should not. She felt humbled at the contrast between herself and Sarah; +and when she arrived at home, for the first time, perhaps, in her life, +she patiently bore her mamma's reproaches for being so late, and for the +impropriety of walking away from her sisters, no one knew where. She was +not yet quite skilled enough in the art of peace, to give the "soft +answer;" but her silence and quietness turned away Mrs. Parker's wrath, +and after dinner, Edith prepared herself for the visit of her dear +Emilie. + + + + +CHAPTER FOURTH. + +THE HOLIDAYS. + + +Mrs. Parker and her two elder daughters were going to pay a visit to +town this summer, and as Edith was not thought old enough to accompany +them, Mrs. Parker resolved to ask Emilie to take charge of her. The only +difficulty was how to dispose of aunt Agnes; aunt Agnes wishing them to +believe that she did not mind being alone, but all the while minding it +very much. At last it occurred to Emilie that perhaps Mrs. Crosse, at +the farm in Edenthorpe, a few miles off, would, if she knew of the +difficulty, ask aunt Agnes there for a few weeks. Mrs. Crosse and aunt +Agnes got on so wonderfully well together, and as she had often been +invited, the only thing now was to get her in the mind to go. This was +effected in due time, and Mr. Crosse came up to the lodgings for her and +her little box, in his horse and gig, on the very evening that Emilie +was to go the Parkers', to be installed as housekeeper and governess in +the lady's absence. Edith had come to see the dear old aunt off; and now +re-entered the lodgings to help Emilie to collect her things, and to +settle with Miss Webster for the lodgings, before her departure. Miss +Webster had met with a tenant for six weeks, and was in very good +spirits, and very willing to take care of the Schombergs' goods, which, +to tell the truth, were not likely to oppress her either in number or +value, with the exception of one cherished article, one relic of former +days--a good semi-grand piano, which M. Schomberg had purchased for his +daughter, about a year before his death. Miss Webster looked very much +confused as Emilie bade her good-bye, and said--"Miss Schomberg, you +have not, I see, left your piano unlocked." + +"No," said Emilie, "certainly I have not; I did not suppose----" + +"Why," replied Miss Webster, "the lodgers, seeing a piano, will be sure +to ask for the key, Miss, and to be sure you wo'nt object." + +Emilie hesitated. Did she remember the time when Miss Webster, indignant +at Emilie for being a fortnight behind-hand in her weekly rent, refused +to lend a sofa for her dying father, without extra pay? Did she recall +the ill-made slops, the wretched attendance to which this selfish woman +treated them during the pressure of poverty and distress? Emilie was +human, and she remembered all. She knew, moreover, that Miss Webster +would make a gain of her instrument, and that it might suffer from six +weeks' rough use. She stood twisting some straw plait that lay on the +counter, in her fingers, and then coolly saying she would consider of +it, walked out of the shop with Edith, her bosom swelling with +conflicting feelings. The slight had been to her _father_--to her dear +dead father--she could not love Miss Webster, nor respect her--she could +not oblige her. She felt so now, however, and despised the meanness of +the lodging-house keeper, in making the request. + +Edith was by her side in good spirits, though she was to miss the London +journey. Not every young lady would be so content to remain all the +holiday-time with the governess; but Edith loved her governess. Happy +governess, to be loved by her pupil! + +Mrs. Parker received Emilie very kindly: she was satisfied that her +dear child would be happy in her absence, and she knew enough of Emilie, +she said, to believe that she would see that Mr. Parker had his meals +regularly and nicely served, and that the servants did not rob or run +away, or the boys put their dirty feet on the sofa, or bright fender +tops, or lead Edith into mischief; in short, the things that Emilie was +to see to were so numerous, that it would have required more eyes than +she possessed, and far more vigilance and experience than she lay claim +to, to fulfill all Mrs. Parker's desires. + +Amidst all the talking and novelty of her new situation, however, Emilie +was absent and thoughtful; she was dispirited, and yet she was not +subject to low spirits either. There was a cause. She had a tender +conscience--a conscience with which she was in the habit of conversing, +and conscience kept whispering to her the words--"What things soever ye +would that men should do unto you, do ye also to them." In vain she +tried to silence this monitor, and at last she asked to withdraw for a +few minutes, and scribbled a hasty note to Miss Webster; the first she +wrote was as follows:-- + +"Dear Miss W.--I enclose the key of the pianoforte. I should have +acceded to your request, only I remembered standing on that very spot, +by that very counter, a year ago, petitioning hard for the loan of a +sofa for my dying father, who, in his feverish and restless state, +longed to leave the bed for awhile. I remembered that, and I could not +feel as if I could oblige you; but I have thought better of it, and beg +you will use the piano." + +"Yours truly, + +"EMILIE SCHOMBERG." + +She read the note before folding it, however; and somehow it did not +satisfy her. She crumpled it up, took a turn or two in the room, and +then wrote the following:-- + +"Dear Miss Webster--I am sorry that I for a moment hesitated to lend you +my piano. It was selfish, and I hope you will excuse the incivility. I +enclose the key, and as your lodgers do not come in until to-morrow, I +hope the delay will not have inconvenienced you. + +"Believe me, yours truly, + +"EMILIE SCHOMBERG." + +Having sealed her little note, she asked Mrs. Parker's permission to +send it into High Street, and Emilie Schomberg was herself again. You +will see, by-and-bye, how Emilie returned Miss Webster's selfishness in +a matter yet more important than the loan of the piano. It would have +been meeting evil with evil had she retaliated the mean conduct of her +landlady. She would undoubtedly have done so, had she yielded to the +impulses of her nature; but "how then could I have prayed," said Emilie, +"forgive me my trespasses as I forgive them that trespass against me." + +The travellers set off early in the morning, and now began the holiday +of both governess and pupil. They loved one another so well that the +prospect of six weeks' close companionship was irksome to neither; but +Emilie had not a holiday of it altogether. Miss Edith was exacting and +petulant at times, even with those she loved, and she loved none better +than Emilie. Fred, the tormenting brother of whom Edith had spoken in +her list of troubles in our first chapter, was undeniably troublesome; +and the three maid-servants set themselves from the very first to resist +the governess's temporary authority; so we are wrong in calling these +Emilie's holidays. She had not, indeed, undertaken the charge very +willingly; but Mrs. Parker had befriended her in extremity, and she +loved Edith dearly, notwithstanding much in her that was not loveable, +so she armed herself for the conflict, and cheerfully and humbly +commenced her new duties. + +Fred and his elder brother John were at home for the holidays; they were +high-spirited lads of fourteen and fifteen years of age, and were +particularly fond of teasing both their elder sisters and little Edith; +a taste, by-the-bye, by no means peculiar to the Master Parkers, but one +which we cannot admire, nevertheless. + +The two boys, with Emilie and Edith, were on their way to pay aunt Agnes +a little visit, having received from Mrs. Crosse, at the farm, a request +for the honour of the young lady's company as well as that of her +brothers. John and Frederick were to walk, and Emily and Edith were to +go in the little pony gig. As they were leaving the town, Edith caught +sight of John coming out of a shop which was a favourite resort of most +of the young people and visitors of the town of L----. It was +professedly a stationer's and bookseller's, and was kept by Mrs. Cox, a +widow woman, who sold balls, fishing tackle, books, boats, miniature +spades, barrows, garden tools, patent medicines, &c., and who had +lately increased her importance, in the eyes of the young gentlemen, by +the announcement that various pyrotechnical wonders were to be obtained +at her shop. There are few boys who have not at some time of their +boyhood had a mania for pyrotechnics--in plain English, +_fire-works_--and there are few parents, and parents' neighbours, who +can say that they relish the smell of gunpowder on their premises. + +Mr. Parker had a particular aversion to amusements of the kind. He was +an enemy to fishing, to cricketing, to boating; he was a very quiet, +gentlemanly, dignified sort of man, and, although a kind father, had +perhaps set up rather too high a standard of quietness and order and +sedateness for his children. It is a curious fact, but one which it +would be rather difficult to disprove, that children not unfrequently +are the very opposites of their parents, in qualities such as I have +described. Possibly they may not have been inculcated quite in the right +manner; but that is not our business here. + +Edith guessed what her brothers were after, and told her suspicious to +Emilie; but not until they were within sight of the farm-house. John +and Fred, who had been a short cut across the fields, were in high glee +awaiting their arrival, and assisted Edith and her friend to alight more +politely than usual. Aunt Agnes was in ecstasies of delight to see her +dear Emilie, and she caressed Edith most lovingly also. Edith liked the +old lady, who had a fund of fairy tales, such as the German language is +rich in. Often would Edith go and sit by the old lady as she knitted, +and listen to the story of the "Flying Trunk," or the "Two Swans," with +untiring interest; and old ladies of a garrulous turn like good +listeners. So aunt Agnes called Edith a charming girl, and Edith, who +had seldom seen aunt Agnes otherwise than conversable and pleasant, +thought her a very nice old lady. + +Mrs. Crosse was extremely polite; and in the bustle of greeting, and +putting up the pony, and aunt Agnes' questions, the fire-work affair was +almost forgotten. When they all met at tea, the farmer, who had almost +as great a horror of gunpowder as Mr. Parker--and in the vicinity of +barns and stacks, with greater reason--declared he smelt a smell which +he never tolerated in his house, and asked his boys if they had any +about them. They denied it, but it was evident they knew something of +the matter; and now Emilie's concern was very great. + +After tea she took John by the arm, and looking into his face, said, "I +am going to be very intrusive, Sir; I am not your governess, and I have +no right to control you, but I wish to be your friend, and may I advise +you? Don't take those fire-works out on Mr. Crosse's premises, you have +no idea the mischief you might do. You could not have brought them to a +worse place. Be persuaded, pray do, to give it up." John, thus appealed +to, laughed heartily at Miss Schomberg's fears, said something not very +complimentary about Miss S. speaking one word for the farmer's stack, +and two for her own nerves, and made his escape to join his brother, and +the two young farmers, who were delighted at the prospect of a frolic. + +What was to be done? The lads were gone out, and doubtless would send up +their rockets and let off their squibs somewhere on the farm, which was +a very extensive one. The very idea of fire-works would put aunt Agnes +into a terrible state of alarm, so Emilie held her peace. To tell the +farmer would, she knew, irritate him fearfully; and yet no time was to +be lost. She was older than any of the party, and it was in reliance on +her discretion that the visit had been permitted. She appealed to Edith, +but Edith, who either had a little fancy to see the fire-works, or, who +feared her brothers' ridicule, or who thought Emilie took too much upon +herself, gave her no help in the matter. + +"Well, Edith," said Emilie, when the farmer's wife left the room to make +some preparation for a sumptuous supper, "I have made up my mind what to +do. I will not stay here if your brothers are to run any foolish risks +with those fire-works. I will go home at once, and tell your papa, he +will be in time to stop it; or I will apprise Mr. Crosse, and he can +take what steps he pleases." + +"Well, you will have a fine life of it, Miss Schomberg, if you tell any +tales, I can tell you," said Edith, pettishly, "and it really is no +business of yours. They are not under your care if I am. Oh, let them +be. Fred said he should let them off on the Langdale hills, far enough +away from the farm." + +But Emilie was firm. She tied on her bonnet, and determined to make one +more effort--it should be with Fred this time. She followed the track of +the lads, having first inquired of a farm-boy which road they had taken, +and as they had loitered, and she walked very fast, she soon overtook +them. They were seated on a bank by the road-side, when she got up to +them, and John was just displaying his treasures, squibs to make Miss +Edith jump, Catherine wheels, roman candles, sky-rockets, and blue +lights and crackers. The farmer's sons, Jerry and Tom, grinned +delightedly. Emilie stood for a few moments irresolute; the boys were +rude, and looked so daring--what should she say? + +"Young gentlemen," she began; they all took off their hats in mock +deference. "A woman preaching, I declare." "Go on. Madam, hear! hear! +hear!" said the young Crosses. "Young gentlemen," continued Emilie, with +emphasis, "it is to _you_ I am speaking. I am determined that those +fire-works shall not be let off, if I can prevent it, on Mr. Crosse's +premises. If you will not give up your intention, I shall walk to L--, +and inform your father, and you know very well how displeased he will +be." + +"Who says we are going to let them off on Mr. Crosse's premises?" said +Fred, fiercely. "You are very interfering Miss Schomberg, will you go +back to your our own business, and to little Edith." + +"I will go to L----, master Fred," said Emilie, firmly, but kindly. "I +shall be sorry to get you into trouble, and I would rather not take the +walk, but I shall certainly do what I say if you persist." + +The boys looked doubtfully at one another. Fred seemed a little disposed +to yield, but to be conquered by his sister's governess was very +humiliating. However, they knew from Edith's account that Emilie, though +kind, was firm; and, therefore, after a little further altercation, they +agreed not to send up the fire-works that night, but they promised her +at the same time that she should not hear the last of it. They returned +to the farm much out of humour, and having hidden them in the box of the +pony gig, came in just in time for supper. + +The ride home was a silent one; Edith saw that her brothers were put +out, and began to think she did not like Emilie Schomberg to live with +at all. Emilie had done right, but she had a hard battle to fight; all +were against her. No one likes to be contradicted, or as Fred said, to +be managed. Emilie, however, went steadily on, speaking the truth, but +speaking it in love, and acting always "as seeing Him who is invisible." + + + + +CHAPTER FIFTH. + +EDITH'S TRIALS. + + +"Now, Emilie, what do you think of my life?" said Edith, one day after +she and Fred had had one of their usual squabbles. "What do you think of +Fred _now_?" + +"I think, Edith, dear, that I would try and win him over to love and +affection, and not thwart and irritate him as you do. Have you forgotten +old Joe's maxim, 'a soft answer turneth away wrath?' but your grievous +words too often stir up strife. You told me the other day, dear, how +much the conduct of Sarah Murray pleased you; now you may act towards +John and Fred as Sarah did to little Susy." + +Edith shook her head. "It is not in me, Emilie, I am afraid." + +"No, dear," said Emilie, "you are right, it is not _in_ you." + +"Well then what is the use of telling me to do things impossible?" + +"I did not say impossible, Edith, did I?" + +"No, but you say it is not in me to be gentle and all that, and I dare +say it is not; but you don't get much the better thought of, gentle as +you are. Miss Schomberg. John and Fred don't behave better to you than +they do to me, so far as I see." + +"Edith, dear, you set out wrong in your attempts to do right," said +Emily, kindly. "It is not _in_ you; it is not _in_ any one by nature to +be always gentle and kind. It is not in me I know. I was once a very +petulant child, being an only one, and it was but by very slow process +that I learned to govern myself, and I am learning it still." + +At this moment Fred came in, bearing in one hand a quantity of paper, +and in another a book with directions for balloon making. "Now Edith, +you are a clever young lady," he began. + +"Oh, yes," said Edith, wrathfully, "When it suits you, you can flatter." + +"No, but Edith, don't be cross, come! I want you to do me a service. I +want you to cut me out this tissue paper into the shape of this +pattern. I am going to send up a balloon to-morrow, and I can't cut it +out, will you do it for me?" + +"Yes, yes," said Emilie, "we will do it together. Oh, come that is a +nice job, Edith dear, I can help you in that," and Emilie cleared away +her own work quick as thought, and asked Fred for particular directions +how it was to be done, all this time trying to hide Edith's +unwillingness to oblige her brother, and making it appear that Edith and +she were of one mind to help him. + +Fred, who since the fire-work affair had treated Emilie somewhat rudely, +and had on many occasions annoyed her considerably, looked in +astonishment at Miss Schomberg. She saw his surprise and understood it. +"Fred," said she frankly, "I know what you are thinking of, but let us +be friends. Give me the gratification of helping you to this pleasure, +since I hindered you of the other. You won't be too proud, will you, to +have my help?" + +Fred coloured. "Miss Schomberg," said he, "I don't deserve it of you, I +beg your pardon;" and thus they were reconciled. + +Oh, it is not often in great things that we are called upon to show +that we love our neighbour as ourselves. It is in the daily, hourly, +exercise of little domestic virtues, that they who truly love God may be +distinguished from those who love him not. It was not because Emilie was +naturally amiable or naturally good that she was thus able to show this +loving and forgiving spirit. She loved God, and love to him actuated +her; she thus adorned the doctrine of her Saviour in all things. Young +reader there is no such thing as a religion of words and feelings alone, +it must be a religion of _acts_; a life of warfare against the sins that +most easily beset you; a mortification of selfishness and pride, and a +humble acknowledgment, when you have done your _very best_, that you are +only unprofitable servants. Had you heard Emilie communing with her own +heart, you would have heard no self gratulation. She was far from +perfect even in the sight of man; in the sight of God she knew that in +many things she offended. + +It is not a perfect character that I would present to you in Emilie +Schomberg; but one who with all the weakness and imperfection of human +nature, made the will of God her rule and delight. This is not natural, +it is the habit of mind of those only who are created anew, new +creatures in Christ Jesus. + +This you may be sure Emilie did not fail to teach her pupil; but a great +many such lessons may be received into the head without one finding an +entrance to the heart, and Edith was in the not very uncommon habit of +looking on her faults in the light of misfortunes, just as any one might +regard a deformed limb or a painful disorder. She was, indeed, too much +accustomed to talk of her faults, and was a great deal too easy about +them. + +"My dear," Emilie would say after her confessions, "I do not believe you +see how sinful these things are, or surely you would not so very, very, +often commit them." This was the real state of the case; and it may be +said of all those who are in the habit of mere confessions, that they do +not believe things to be so very bad, because they do not understand how +very good and holy is the God against whom they sin. Edith had this to +learn; books could not teach her this. She who taught her all else so +well, could not teach her this; it was to be learned from a higher +source still. + +Well, you are thinking, some of you, that this is a prosy chapter, but +you must not skip it. It is just what Emily Schomberg would have said to +you, if you had been pupils of hers. The end of reading is not, or ought +not to be, mere amusement; so read a grave page now and then with +attention and thoughtfulness. + + + + +CHAPTER SIXTH. + +EMILIE'S TRIALS. + + +The truth must be told of Emilie; she was not clever with her hands, and +she was, nevertheless, a little too confident in her power of execution, +so willing and anxious was she to serve you. The directions Fred gave +her were far from clear; and after the paper was all cut and was to be +pasted together, sorrowful to say, it would not do at all. Fred, in +spite of his late apology was very angry, and seizing the scissors said +he should know better another time than to ask Miss Schomberg to do what +she did not understand. "You have wasted my paper, too," said the boy, +"and my time in waiting for what I could better have done myself." + +Emilie was very sorry, and she said so; but a balloon could not exactly +be made out of her sorrow, and nothing short of a balloon would pacify +Fred, that was plain. "Must it be ready for to-morrow?" she asked. + +"Yes, it _must_," he said. Three other boys were going to send up +balloons. It was the Queen's coronation day, and he had promised to take +a fourth balloon to the party; and the rehearsal of all this stirred up +Fred's ire afresh, and he looked any thing but kind at Miss Schomberg. +What was to be done? Edith suggested driving to the next market town to +buy one; but her papa wanted the pony gig, so they could only sally +forth to Mrs. Cox's for some more tissue paper, and begin the work +again. This was very provoking to Edith. + +"To have spent all the morning and now to be going to spend all the +afternoon over a trumpery balloon, which you can't make after all, Miss +Schomberg, is very tiresome, and I wanted to go to old Joe Murray's +to-day and see if the children have picked me up any corallines." + +"I am very sorry, dear, my carelessness should punish you; but don't +disturb me by grumbling and I will try and get done before tea, and then +we will go together." This time Emilie was more successful; she took +pains to understand what was to be done, and the gores of her balloon +fitted beautifully. + +"Now Edith, dear, ring for some paste," said Emilie, just as the clock +struck four; Margaret answered the bell. Margaret was the housemaid, and +so far from endeavouring in her capacity to overcome evil with good, she +was perpetually making mischief and increasing any evil there might be, +either in kitchen or parlour, by her mode of delivering a message. She +would be sure to add her mite to any blame that she might hear, in her +report to the kitchen, and thus, without being herself a bad or violent +temper, was continually fomenting strife, and adding fuel to the fire of +the cook, who was of a very choleric turn. The request for paste was +civilly made and received, but Emilie unfortunately called Margaret back +to say, "Oh, ask cook, please, to make it stiffer than she did the last +that we had for the kite; that did not prove quite strong." + +Margaret took the message down and informed cook that "Miss Schomberg +did not think she knew how to make paste." "Then let her come and make +it herself," said cook. "She wants to be cook I think; she had better +come. I sha'nt make it. What is it for?" + +"Oh," said Margaret, "she is after some foreign filagree work of hers, +that's all." + +"Well, I'm busy now and I am not going to put myself out about it, she +must wait." + +Emilie did wait the due time, but as the paste did not come she went +down for it. "Is the paste ready, cook?" she asked. + +"No, Miss Schomberg," was the short reply, and cook went on assiduously +washing up her plates. + +"Will you be so kind as to make it, cook, for I want it particularly +that it may have as much time as possible to dry." + +"Perhaps you will make it yourself then," was the gracious rejoinder. +Emilie was not above making a little paste, and as she saw that +something had put cook out, she willingly consented; but she did not +know where to get either flour or saucepan, and cook and Margaret kept +making signs and laughing, so that it was not very pleasant. She grew +quite hot, as she had to ask first for a spoon, then for a saucepan, +then for the flour and water; at last she modestly turned round and +said, "Cook, I really do not quite know how to make a little paste. I +am ashamed to say it, but I have lived so long in lodgings that I see +nothing of what is done in the kitchen. Will you tell or show me? I am +very ignorant." + +Her kind civil tone quite changed cook's, and she said, "Oh, Miss, I'll +make it, only you see, you shouldn't have said I didn't know how." +Emilie explained, and the cook was pacified, and gave Miss Schomberg a +good deal of gratuitous information during the process. How she did not +like her place, and should not stay, and how she disliked her mistress, +and plenty more--to which Emilie listened politely, but did not make +much reply. She plainly perceived that cook wanted a very forbearing +mistress, but she could not exactly tell her so. She merely said in her +quaint quiet way, that every one had something to bear, and the paste +being made, she left the kitchen. + +"Well, I must say, Miss Schomberg has a nice way of speaking, which gets +over you some how," said cook, "I wish I had her temper." + +More than one in the kitchen mentally echoed that wish of cook's. + +The balloon went on beautifully, and was completed by seven o'clock. +Fred was delighted when he came in to tea, and John no less so. All the +rude speeches were forgotten, and Emilie was as sympathetic in her joy +as an elder sister could have been. "I don't know what you will do +without Miss Schomberg," said Mr. Parker, as he sipped his tea. + +"She had better come and live with us," said Fred, "and keep us all in +order. I'm sure I should have no objection." + +Emilie felt quite paid for the little self-denial she had exercised, +when she found that her greatest enemy, he who had declared he would +"plague her to death, and pay her off for not letting them send up their +fire-works," was really conquered by that powerful weapon, _love_. + +Fred had thought more than he chose to acknowledge of Emilie's kindness; +he could not forget it. It was so different to the treatment he had met +with from his associates generally. It made him ask what could be the +reason of Emilie's conduct. She had nothing to get by it, that was +certain, and Fred made up his mind to have some talk with Miss Schomberg +on the subject the first time they were alone. He had some trials at +school with a boy who was bent on annoying him, and trying to stir up +his temper; perhaps the peacemaker might tell him how to deal with this +lad. Fred was an impetuous boy, and now began to like Miss Schomberg as +warmly as he had previously disliked her. + +On their way to old Joe's house that night, Emilie thought she would +call in on Miss Webster, not having parted from her very warmly on the +first night of the holidays. A fortnight of these holidays had passed +away, and Emilie began to long for her quiet evenings, and to see dear +aunt Agnes again. She looked quite affectionately up to the little +sitting room window, where her geraniums stood, and even thought kindly +of Miss Webster herself, to whom it was not quite so easy to feel +genial. She entered the shop. The apprentice sate there at work, busily +trimming a fine rice straw bonnet for the lodger within. She looked up +joyously at Emilie's approach. She thought how often that kind German +face had been to her like a sunbeam on a dull path; how often her +musical voice had spoken words of counsel, and comfort, and sympathy, +to her in her hard life. How she had pressed her hand when she (the +apprentice) came home one night and told her, "My poor mother is dead," +and how she had said, "We are both orphans now, Lucy. We can feel for +one another." How she had taught her by example, often, and by word +sometimes, not to answer again if any thing annoyed or irritated her, +and in short how much Lucy had missed the young lady only Lucy could +say. + +Emilie inquired for her mistress, but the words were scarcely out of her +lips, than she said, "Oh, Miss, she's so bad! She has scalt her foot, +and is quite laid up, and the lodgers are very angry. They say they +don't get properly attended to and so they mean to go. Dear me, there is +such a commotion, but her foot is very had, poor thing, and I have to +mind the shop, or I would wait upon her more; and the girl is very +inattentive and saucy, so that I don't see what we are to do. Will you +go and see Miss Webster, Miss?" + +Emilie cheerfully consented, leaving Edith with Lucy to learn straw +plaiting, if she liked, and to listen to her artless talk. Lucy had less +veneration for the name of Queen Victoria than for that of Schomberg. +Emilie was to her the very perfection of human nature, and accordingly +she sang her praises loud and long. + +On the sofa, the very sofa for which M. Schomberg had so longed, lay +Miss Webster, the expression of her face manifesting the greatest pain. +The servant girl had just brought up her mistress's tea, a cold, +slopped, miserable looking mess. A slice of thick bread and butter, half +soaked in the spilled beverage, was on a plate, and that a dirty one; +and the tray which held the meal was offered to the poor sick woman so +carelessly, that the contents were nearly shot into her lap. It was easy +to see that love formed no part of Betsey's service of her mistress, and +that she rendered every attention grudgingly and ill. Emilie went up +cordially to Miss Webster, and was not prepared for the repulsive +reception with which she met. She wondered what she could have said or +done, except, indeed, in the refusal of the instrument, and that was +atoned for. Emilie might have known, however, that nothing makes our +manners so distant and cold to another, as the knowledge that we have +injured or offended him. Miss Webster, in receiving Emilie's advances, +truly was experiencing the truth of the scripture saying, that coals of +fire should be heaped on her head. + +Poor Miss Webster! "There! set down the tray, you may go, and don't let +me see you in that filthy cap again, not fit to be touched with a pair +of tongs; and don't go up to Mrs. Newson in that slipshod fashion, don't +Betsey; and when you have taken up tea come here, I have an errand for +you to go. Shut the door gently. Oh, dear! dear, these servants!" + +This was so continually the lament of Miss Webster, that Emilie would +not have noticed it, but that she appeared so miserable, and she +therefore kindly said, "I am afraid Betsey does not wait on you nicely, +Miss Webster, she is so very young. I had no idea of this accident, how +did it happen?" + +How it happened took Miss Webster some time to tell. It happened in no +very unusual manner, and the effect was a scalt foot, which she +forthwith shewed Miss Schomberg. There was no doubt that it was a very +bad foot, and Emilie saw that it needed a good nurse more than a good +doctor. Mr. Parker was a medical man, and Emilie knew she should have no +difficulty in obtaining that kind of assistance for her. But the +nursing! Miss Webster was feverish and uneasy, and in such suffering +that something must be done. At the sight of her pain all was forgotten, +but that she was a fellow-creature, helpless and forsaken, and that she +must be helped. + +All this time any one coming in might have imagined that Emilie had been +the cause of the disaster, so affronted was Miss Webster's manner, and +so pettishly did she reject all her visitor's suggestions as +preposterous and impossible. + +"Will you give up your walk to-night, Edith," said Emilie on her return +to the shop, "Poor Miss Webster is in such pain I cannot leave her, and +if you would run home and ask your papa to step in and see her, and say +she has scalt her foot badly, I would thank you very much." + +Emilie spoke earnestly, so earnestly that Edith asked if she were grown +very fond of that "sour old maid all of a sudden." + +"Very fond! No Edith; but it does not, or ought not to require us to be +very fond of people to do our duty to them." + +"Well, I don't see what duty you owe to that mean creature, and I see no +reason why I should lose my walk again to-night. You treat people you +don't love better than those you do it seems; or else your professions +of loving me mean nothing. All day long you have been after Fred's +balloon, and now I suppose mean to be all night long after Miss +Webster's foot." + +Emilie made no reply; she could only have reproached Edith for +selfishness and temper at least equal to Miss Webster's, but telling +Lucy she should soon return, hastened to Mr. Parker's house, followed by +Edith; he was soon at the patient's side, and as Emilie foretold, it was +a case more for an attentive nurse than a skilful doctor. He promised to +send her an application, but, "Miss Schomberg," said he, "sleep is what +she wants; she tells me she has had no rest since the accident occurred. +What is to be done?" "Can you not send for a neighbour, Miss Webster, or +some one to attend to your household, and to nurse you too. If you worry +yourself in this way you will be quite ill." + +Poor Miss Webster was ill, she knew it; and having neither neighbour +nor friend within reach, she did what was very natural in her case, she +took up her handkerchief and began to cry. "Oh, come, Miss Webster," +said Emilie, cheerfully, "I will get you to bed, and Lucy shall come +when the shop is closed, and to-morrow I will get aunt Agnes to come and +nurse you. Keep up your spirits." + +"Ah, it is very well to talk of keeping up spirits, and as to your aunt +Agnes, there never was any love lost between us. No thank you, Miss +Schomberg, no thank you. If I may just trouble you to help me to the +side of my bed, I can get in, and do very well alone. _Good_ night." +Emilie stood looking pitifully at her. "I hope I don't keep you, Miss +Schomberg, pray don't stay, you cannot help me," and here Miss Webster +rose, but the agony of putting her foot to the ground was so great that +she could not restrain a cry, and Emilie, who saw that the poor sufferer +was like a child in helplessness, and like a child, moreover, in +petulance, calmly but resolutely declared her intention of remaining +until Lucy could leave the shop. + +Having helped her landlady into bed, she ran down-stairs to try and +appease the indignant lodgers, who protested, and with truth, that they +had rung, rung, rung, and no one answered the bell; that they wanted +tea, that Miss Webster had undertaken to wait on them, that they were +_not_ waited on, and that accordingly they would seek other lodgings on +the morrow, they would, &c., &c. "Miss Webster, ma'am, is very ill +to-night. She has a young careless servant girl, and is, I assure you, +very much distressed that you should be put out thus. I will bring up +your tea, ma'am, in five minutes, if you will allow me. It is very +disagreeable for you, but I am sure if you could see the poor woman, +ma'am, you would pity her." Mrs. Harmer did pity her only from Emilie's +simple account of her state, and declared she was very sorry she had +seemed angry, but the girl did not say her mistress was ill, only that +she was lying down, which appeared very disrespectful and inattentive, +when they had been waiting two hours for tea. + +The shop was by this time cleared up, and Lucy was able to attend to the +lodgers. Whilst Emilie having applied the rags soaked in the lotion +which had arrived, proceeded to get Miss Webster a warm and neatly +served cup of tea. + +It would have been very cheering to hear a pleasant "thank you;" but +Miss Webster received all these attentions with stiff and almost silent +displeasure. Do not blame her too severely, a hard struggle was going +on; but the law of kindness is at work, and it will not fail. + + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTH. + +BETTER THINGS. + + +"Ah, if Miss Schomberg had asked me to wait on _her_, how gladly would I +have done it, night after night, day after day, and should have thought +myself well paid with a smile; but to sit up all night with a person, +who cares no more for me, than I for her, and that is nothing! and then +to have to get down to-morrow and attend to the shop, all the same as if +I had slept well, is no joke. Oh, dear me! how sleepy I am, two o'clock! +I was to change those rags at two; I really scarcely dare attempt it, +she seems so irritable now." So soliloquized Lucy, who, kindhearted as +she was, could not be expected to take quite so much delight in nursing +her cross mistress, who never befriended her, as she would have done a +kinder, gentler person; but Lucy read her Bible, and she had been +trying, though not so long as Emilie, nor always so successfully it +must be owned, to live as though she read it. + +"Miss Webster, ma'am, the doctor said those rags were to be changed +every two hours. May I do it for you? I can't do it as well as Miss +Schomberg, but I will do my very best not to hurt you." + +"I want sleep child," said Miss Webster, "I want _sleep_, leave me +alone." + +"You can't sleep in such pain, ma'am," said poor Lucy, quite at her wits +ends. + +"Don't you think, I must know that as well as you? There! there's that +rush light gone out, and you never put any water in the tin; a pretty +nurse you make, now I shall have that smell in my nose all night. You +must have set it in a draught. What business has a rush light to go out +in a couple of hours? I wonder." + +Lucy put the obnoxious night shade out of the room, and went back to the +bedside. For a long time she was unsuccessful, but at last Miss Webster +consented to have her foot dressed, and even cheered her young nurse by +the acknowledgment that she did it very well, considering; and thus the +night wore away. + +Quite early Emilie was at her post, and was grieved to see that Miss +Webster still looked haggard and suffering, and as if she had not slept. +In answer to her inquiries, Lucy said that she had no rest all night. + +"Rest! and how can I rest, Miss Schomberg? I can't afford to lose my +lodgers, and lose them I shall." + +"Only try and keep quiet," said Emilie, "and I will see that they do not +suffer from want of attendance. _You_ cannot help them, do consent to +leave all thought, all management, to those who can think and manage. +May aunt Agnes come and nurse you, and attend to the housekeeping?" + +"Yes," was reluctantly, and not very graciously uttered. + +"Well then, Lucy will have time to attend to you. I would gladly nurse +you myself, but you know I may not neglect Miss Parker; now take this +draught, and try and sleep." + +"Miss Schomberg," said the poor woman, "you won't lack friends to nurse +you on a sick bed; I have none." + +"Miss Webster, if I were to be laid on a sick bed, and were to lose aunt +Agnes, I should be alone in a country that is not my own country, +without money and without friends; but we may both of us have a friend +who sticketh closer than a brother, think of him, ma'am, now, and ask +him to make your bed in your sickness." + +She took the feverish hand of the patient as she said this, who, +bursting into a flood of tears, replied, "Ah, Miss Schomberg! I don't +deserve it of you, and that is the truth; but keep my hand, it feels +like a friend's, hold it, will you, and I think I shall sleep a little +while;" and Emilie stood and held her hand, stood till she was faint and +weary, and then withdrawing it as gently as ever mother unloosed an +infant's hold, she withdrew, shaded the light from the sleeper's eyes, +and stole out of the room, leaving the sufferer at ease, and in one of +those heavy sleeps which exhaustion and illness often produce. + +Her visit to the kitchen was most discouraging. Betsey was only just +down, and the kettle did not boil, nor were any preparations made for +the lodgers' breakfast, to which it only wanted an hour. Emilie could +have found it in her heart to scold the lazy, selfish girl, who had +enjoyed a sound sleep all night, whilst Lucy had gone unrefreshed to +her daily duties, but she forebore. "Scolding never does answer," +thought Emilie, "and I won't begin to-day, but I must try and reform +this girl at all events, by some means, and that shall be done at once." + +"Come, Betsey," said Emilie pleasantly, "now, we shall see what sort of +a manager you will be; you must do all you can to make things tidy and +comfortable for the lodgers. Is their room swept and dusted?" + +"Oh, deary me, Miss, what time have I had for that, I should like to +know?" + +"Well now, get every thing ready for their breakfast, and pray don't +bang doors or make a great clatter with the china, as you set the table. +Every sound is heard in this small house, and your mistress has had no +sleep all night." + +"Well, she'll be doubly cross to day, then, I'll be bound. Howsoever, I +shall only stay my month, and it don't much matter what I do, she never +gives a servant a good character, and I don't expect it." + +"No, and you will not deserve it if you are inattentive and unfeeling +now. It is not doing as you would be done by, either. Do now, Betsey, +forget, for a few days, that Miss Webster ever scolded or found fault +with you. If you want to love any one just do him a kindness, and you +don't know how fast love springs up in the heart; you would be much +happier, Betsey, I am sure. Come _try_, you are not a cross girl, and +you don't mean to be unkind now. I shall expect to hear from Lucy, when +I come again, how well you have managed together." + +Fred went to Mr. Crosse's after breakfast, in the pony gig, for aunt +Agnes, who, at a summons from Emilie, was quite willing to come and see +after Miss Webster's household. She soon put mutters into a better +train, both in kitchen and parlour, so that the pacified lodgers +consented to remain. And though neither Lucy nor Betsey altogether liked +aunt Agnes, they found her quite an improvement on Miss Webster. + +It is not our object to follow Miss Webster through her domestic +troubles nor through the tedious process of the convalescence of a scalt +foot. We will rather follow Edith into her chamber, and see how she is +trying to learn the arts of the Peacemaker there. + +Edith's head is bent over a book, a torn book, and her countenance is +flushed and heated. She is out of breath, too, and her hair is hanging +disordered about her pretty face; not pretty now, however; it is an +angry face--and an angry face is never pretty. + +Has she been quarrelling with Fred again? yes, even so. Fred would not +give up Hans Andersen's Tales, which Emilie had just given Edith, and +which she was reading busily, when some one came to see her about a new +bonnet, so she left the book on the table, and in the mean time Fred +came in, snatched it up, and was soon deep in the feats of the "Flying +Trunk." Then came the little lady back and demanded the book, not very +pleasantly, if the truth must be told. Fred meant to give it up, but he +meant to tease his sister first, and Edith, who had no patience to wait, +snatched at the book. Fred of course resisted, and it was not until the +book had been nearly parted from its cover, and some damage had ensued +to the dress and hair of both parties that Edith regained possession; +not _peaceable_ possession, however, for both of the children's spirits +were ruffled. + +Edith flew to her room almost as fast as if she had been on the "Flying +Trunk," in the Fairy Tale. When there, she could not read, and in +displeasure with herself and with every one, dashed the little volume +away and cried long and bitterly. Edith had not been an insensible +spectator of the constantly and self-denying gentle conduct of Emilie. +Her example, far more than her precepts, had affected her powerfully, +but she had much to contend with, and it seemed to her as if at the very +times she meant to be kind and gentle something occurred to put her out. +"I _will_ try, oh, I will try," said Edith again and again, "but it is +such hard work."--Yes, Edith, hard enough, and work which even Emilie +can scarcely help you in. You wrestle against a powerful and a cruel +enemy, and you need great and powerful aid; but you have read your Bible +Edith, and again and again has Emilie said to you, "of yourself you can +do nothing." + +Edith had had a long conversation on this very subject only that morning +with her friend, as they were walking on the sea shore, and under the +influence of the calm lovely summer's sky, and within the sound of +Emilie's clear persuasive voice, it did not seem a hard matter to Edith +to love and to be loving. She could love Fred, she could even bear a +rough pull of the hair from him, she could stand a little teasing from +John, who found fault with a new muslin frock she wore at dinner, and we +all know it is not pleasant to have our dress found fault with; but this +attack of Fred's about the book, was _not_ to be borne, not by Edith, at +least, and thus she sobbed and cried in her own room, thinking herself +the most miserable of creatures, and very indignant that Emilie did not +come to comfort her; "but she is gone out after that tiresome old woman, +with her scalt foot, I dare say," said Edith, "and she would only tell +me I was wrong if she were here--oh dear! oh dear me!" and here she +sobbed again. + +Solitude is a wonderfully calming, composing thing; Emilie knew that, +and she did quite right to leave Edith alone. It was time she should +listen seriously to a voice which seldom made itself heard, but +conscience was resolute to-day, and did not spare Edith. It told her all +the truth, (you may trust conscience for that,) it told her that the +very reason why she failed in her efforts to do right was because she +had a wrong _motive_; and that was, love of the approbation of her +fellow creatures, and not real love to God. She would have quarrelled +with any one else who dared to tell her this; but it was of no use +quarrelling with conscience. Conscience had it all its own way to-day, +and went on answering every objection so quietly, and to the point, that +by degrees Edith grew quiet and subdued; and what do you think she did? +She took up a little Bible that lay on her table, and began to read it. +She could not pray as yet. She did not feel kind enough for that. Emilie +had often said to her that she should be at peace with every one before +she lifted up her heart to the "God of peace." She turned over the +leaves and tried to find the chapter, which she knew very well, about +the king who took account of his servants, and who forgave the man the +great debt of ten thousand talents; and then when that man went out and +found his servant who owed him but one hundred pence, he took him by the +throat, and said, "Pay me that thou owest." In vain did the man beseech +for patience, he that had only just been forgiven ten thousand talents +could not have pity on the man who owed him but one hundred pence. + +Often had Edith read this chapter, and very just was her indignation +against the hard-hearted servant, who, with his king's lesson of mercy +and forgiveness fresh in his memory, could not practise the same to one +who owed him infinitely less than he had done his master; and yet here +was little Edith who could not forgive Fred his injuries, when, +nevertheless, God was willing to forgive hers. Had Fred injured her as +she had injured God? surely not; and yet she might now kneel down and +receive at once the forgiveness of all her _great_ sins. Nay, more: she +had been receiving mercy and patience at the hands of her Heavenly +Father many years. She had neglected Him, done many things contrary to +his law, owed him, indeed, the ten thousand talents, and yet she was +spared. + +She had a great deal of revenge in her heart still, however; and she +could not, reason as she would, try as she would, read as she would, get +it out, so she sunk down on her knees, and lifted up her heart very +sincerely, to ask God to take it away. She had often said her prayers, +and had found no difficulty in that, but now it seemed quite different. +She could find no words, she could only feel. Well, that was enough. He +who saw in secret, saw her heart, and knew how it felt. She felt she +needed forgiveness, and that she could only have it by asking it of Him +who had power to forgive sins. She took her great debt to Jesus, and he +cancelled it; she hoped she was forgiven, and now, oh! how ready she +felt to forgive Fred. How small a sum seemed his hundred pence--his +little acts of annoyances compared with her many sins against God. Now +she felt and understood the meaning of the Saviour's lesson to Peter. +She had entered the same school as Peter, and though a slow she was a +sincere learner. + +She is in the right way now to learn the true law of kindness. None but +the _Saviour,_ who was love itself, could teach her this. If any earthly +teacher could have done so, surely Emilie would have succeeded. + +She went down to tea softened and sad, for she felt very humble. The +consideration of her great unlikeness to the character of Jesus, +affected her. "When he was reviled he reviled not again; when he +suffered he threatened not;" and this thought made her feel more than +any sermon or lecture or reproof she ever had in her life, how she +needed to be changed, her whole self changed; not her old bad nature +_patched_ up, but her whole heart made _new_. She did not say much at +tea; she did not formally apologise to Fred for her conduct to him. He +looked very cross, so perhaps it was wiser to act rather than to speak; +but she handed him the bread and butter, and buttered him a piece of +toast, and in many little quiet ways told him she wished to be friends +with him. John began at her frock again. She could not laugh, (she was +not in a laughing humour,) but she said she would not wear it any more, +during his holidays, if he disliked it so _very_ much. The greatest +trial to her temper was the being told she looked cross. Emilie, who +could see the sun of peace behind the cloud, was half angry herself at +this speech, and said to Mr. Parker, "If she looks cross she is not +cross, Sir, but I think she is not in very good spirits. Every one looks +a little sad sometimes;" and Mr. Porker, happily, being called out to a +patient at that moment, gave Edith opportunity to swallow her grief. + +After tea the boys prepared to accompany their sister and her governess +in the usual evening walk. Edith did not desire their company, but she +did not say so; and they all went out very silent for them. On their +road to the beach they met a man who had a cage of canaries to sell, the +very things that Fred had desired so long, and to purchase which he had +saved his money. + +Edith had no taste for noisy canaries; few great talkers have, for they +do interrupt conversation must undeniably, but Fred thought it would be +most delightful to have them, and as he had a breeding cage which had +belonged to one of his elder sisters years before, he asked the price +and began to make his bargain. The birds were bought and the man +dispatched to the house with them, with orders to call for payment at +nine o'clock, before Fred remembered that he did not exactly know where +he should keep them. In the sitting room it would be quite out of the +question he knew, for the noise would distract his mother. Papa was not +likely to admit canaries into his study for consultations; and Fred knew +only of one likely or possible place, but the door to that was closed, +unless he could find a door to Edith's heart, and he had just quarrelled +with Edith; what a pity! To make it up with her, however, just to gain +his point, he was too proud to do, and was therefore gloomy and uncivil. + +"Where are you going to keep your canaries Fred?" asked his sister. + +"In the cage," said Fred, shortly and tartly. + +"Yes; but in what room?" + +"In my bed-room," said Fred. + +"Oh, I dare say! will you though?" said John, who as he shared his +brother's apartment had some right to have a voice in the matter. "I am +not going to be woke at daylight every morning by your canaries. And +such an unwholesome plan; I am sure papa and mamma won't let you. What a +pity you bought the birds! you can't keep them in our small house. Get +off your bargain, I would if I were you. Besides, who will take care of +them all the week? they will want feeding other days besides Saturdays, +I suppose." + +Fred looked annoyed, and dropped behind the party. Edith whispered to +Emilie, "Go you on with John, I want to talk to Fred." + +"Fred, dear," said she, "will you keep your birds in my little room, +where my old toys are? I will clear a place, and I shan't mind their +singing, _do_ Fred. I have often hindered your pleasures, now let me +have the comfort of making it up a little to you, and I will feed them +and clean them while you are at school in the week." + +"You may change your mind Edith, and you know if my birds are in your +room, I shall have to be there a good deal; and they will make a rare +noise sometimes, and some one must take care of them all the week--I can +only attend to them on Saturdays, you know." + +"Yes, I have been thinking of all that, and I expect I shall sometimes +_wish_ to change my mind, but I shall not do it. I am very selfish I +know, but I mean to try to be better, Fred. Take my little room, do." + +Fred was a proud boy, and would rather have had to thank any one than +Edith just then; but nevertheless he accepted her offer, and thanked his +little sister, though not quite so kindly as he might have done, and +that is the truth. There is a grace in accepting as well as in giving. +Edith had given up what she had much prized, the independence of a +little room, (it was but a little one,) a little room all to herself; +but she did so because she felt love springing up in her heart. She +acted in obedience to the dictates of the law of kindness, and she felt +lighter and happier than she had done for a long time. Fred was by +degrees quite cheered, and amused his companions by his droll talk for +some way. Spying, however, one of his school-fellows on the rocks at a +distance, he and John, joined him abruptly, and thus Emilie and Edith +were left alone. + +Sincerity is never loquacious, never egotistic. If you don't understand +these words I will tell you what I mean. A person really in earnest; and +sincere, does not talk much of earnestness and sincerity, still loss of +himself. Edith could not tell Emilie of her new resolutions, of her +mental conflict, but she was so loving and affectionate in her manner to +her friend, that I think Emilie understood; at any rate, she saw that +Edith was very pleasant, and very gentle that night, and loved her more +than ever. She saw and felt there was a change come over her. They +walked far, and on their return found the canaries arrived, and Fred +very busy in putting them up in their new abode. He had rather +unceremoniously moved Edith's bookcase and boxes, to make room for the +bird cages. She did say, "I think you might have asked my leave," but +she instantly recalled it. "Oh, never mind; what pretty little things, I +shall like to have them with me." + +It really was a trial to Edith to see all her neat arrangements upset, +and to find how very coolly Fred did it, too. She sighed and thought, +"Ah, I shall not be mistress here now I see!" but Fred was gone down +stairs for some water and seed, and did not hear her laments. He was +very full of his scheme for canary breeding at supper, and Emilie was +quite as full of sympathy in his joy as Fred desired; she took a real +interest in the matter. Her father, she said, had given much attention +to canary breeding, for the Germans were noted for their management of +canaries; she could help him, she thought, if he would accept her help. +So they were very merry over the affair at supper time, and Mr. Parker, +in his quiet way, enjoyed it too. Suddenly, however, the merriment +received a check. Margaret, who had been to look at the birds, came in +with the intelligence that Muff, the pet cat of Miss Edith, was sitting +in the dusk, watching the canaries with no friendly eye, and that she +had even made a dart at the cage; and she prophesied that the birds +would not be safe long. A bird of ill omen was Margaret always; she +thought the worst and feared the worst of every one, man or animal. +"Why, it is easy to keep the door of the cage shut," John remarked, but +to keep puss out of her old haunts was not possible. + +Muff was not a kitten, but a venerable cat, who had belonged to Edith's +elder sister, and was given to Edith, the day that sister married, as a +very precious gift; and Edith loved that grey cat, loved her dearly. She +always sat in the same place in that dear little room. Edith had only +that day made her a new red leather collar, and Muff looked very smart +in it. "Muff won't hurt the birds, Fred dear," said Edith, "she is not +like a common cat." Whatever points of dissimilarity there might he +between Muff and the cat race in general, in this particular she quite +resembled them; she loved birds, and would not be very nice as to the +manner of obtaining them. What was to be done? Fred had all manner of +projects in his head for teaching the canaries to fly out and in the +cage, to bathe, to perch on his finger, etc.; but if, whenever any one +chanced to leave the door of the room open, Muff were to bounce in, why +there was an end to all such schemes. In short, Muff would get the birds +by fair means or foul, there was no doubt of that, and Fred was +desperate. I cannot tell how many times Muff was called "a nasty cat," +"a tiresome cat," "a vicious cat," and little Edith's heart was full, +for she did not believe any evil of her favourite; and to hear her so +maligned, seemed like a personal insult; but she bore it patiently. She +asked Emilie at bed time what she should do about Muff; she had so long +been accustomed to her seat by the sunny window in Edith's room, that to +try and tempt her from it she knew would be vain. + +Emilie agreed with her, but hoped Muff would practise self-denial. +Before Edith lay down to rest that night, she again thought over all +that she had done through the day; again knelt down and asked for help +to overcome that which was sinful within her, and then lay down to +sleep. Edith was but a child, and she could not forget Muff; she +thought, and very truly, that there was a general wish to displace her +Muff. Not one in the house would be sorry to see Muff sent away she +know, and Margaret at supper time seemed so pleased to report of Muff's +designs. This thought made her love Muff all the more, but then there +were Fred's birds. It would be very sad if any of them should be lost +through her cat; what should she do? She wished to win Fred to love and +gentleness. Should she part with Muff? Miss Schomberg (aunt Agnes that +is) had expressed a wish for a nice quiet cat, and this, her beauty, +would just suit her. "Shall I take Muff to High-Street to-morrow? I +will," were her last thoughts, but the resolution cost her something, +and Edith's pillow was wet with tears. When she arose the next morning +she felt as we are all apt to feel after the excitement of new and +sudden resolves, rather flat; and the sight of Muff sitting near a +laurel bush in the garden, enjoying the morning sun, quite unnerved her. +"Part with Muff! No, I cannot; and I don't believe any one would do such +a thing for such a boy as Fred. I cannot part with Muff, that's certain. +Fred had better give up his birds, and so I shall tell him." + +All this is very natural, but what is very natural is often very wrong, +and Edith did not fuel that calm happiness which she had done the night +before. When she received Emilie's morning kiss, she said, "Well, Miss +Schomberg, I thought last night I had made up my mind to part with Muff, +but I really cannot! I do love her so!" + +"It would be a great trial to you, I should think," said Emilie, "and +one that no one could _ask_ of you, but if she had a good master, do you +think you should mind it so very much? You would only have your own +sorrow to think of, and really it would be a kindness if those poor +birds are to be kept. The cat terrifies them by springing at the wires, +and if they were sitting they would certainly be frightened off their +nests." + +Edith looked perplexed; "What shall I do Emilie? I _do_ wish to please +Fred, I do wish to do as I would be done by; I really want to get rid of +my selfish nature, and yet it will keep coming back." + +"Watch as well as pray, dear," said Emilie affectionately, "and you will +conquer at last." They went down to breakfast together. "Watch and +pray." That word "watch," was R word in season to Edith, she had +_prayed_ but had well nigh forgotten to _watch_. + +She could not eat her meal, however, her heart was full with the +greatness of the sacrifice before her. Do not laugh at the word _great_ +sacrifice. It was very great to Edith; she loved with all her heart; and +to part with what we love, be it a dog, a cat, a bird, or any inanimate +possession, is a great pang. After breakfast she went into the little +room where Muff usually eat, and taking hold of the favourite, hugged +and kissed her lovingly, then carrying her down stairs to the kitchen, +asked cook for a large basket, and with a little help from Margaret, +tied her down and safely confined her; then giving the precious load to +her father's errand boy, trotted into the town, and stopped not till she +reached Miss Webster's door. Her early visit rather astonished aunt +Agnes, who was at that moment busily engaged in dressing Miss Webster's +foot, and at the announcement of Betsey--"Please Ma'am little Miss +Parker is called and has brought you a cat," she jumped so that she +spilled Miss Webster's lotion. + +"A cat! a cat!" echoed the ladies. "I will have no cats here Miss +Schomberg, if you please," said the irritable Mistress. "I always did +hate cats, there is no end to the mischief they do. I never did keep +one, and never mean to do." + +Miss Schomberg went down stairs into Miss Webster's little parlour, and +there saw Edith untying her beloved Muff. "Well aday! my child, what +brings you here? all alone too. Surely Emilie isn't ill, oh dear me +something must be amiss." + +"Oh no, Miss Schomberg, no, only I heard you say you would like a cat, +and Fred has got some new birds and I mayn't keep Muff, and so will you +take her and be kind to her?" + +"My dear child," said aunt Agnes in a bewilderment, "I would take her +gladly but Miss Webster has a bird you know, and is so awfully neat and +particular, oh, it won't do; you must not bring her here, and I _must_ +go back and finish Miss Webster's foot. She is very poorly to-day. Oh +how glad I shall be when my Emilie comes back! Good bye, take the cat, +dear, away, pray do;" and, so saying, aunt Agnes bustled off, leaving +poor Edith more troubled and perplexed with Muff than ever. + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTH. + +GOOD FOR EVIL. + + +Old Joe Murray was seated on the beach, nearer the town than his house +stood, watching the groups of busy children, digging and playing in the +sand, now helping them in their play, and now giving his hint to the +nurses around him, when Edith tapped him on the shoulder. There was +something so unusually serious, not _cross_, in Edith's countenance, +that Joe looked at her inquiringly. "There, set down the basket, +Nockells, and run back quick, tell papa I kept you; I am afraid you will +get into disgrace." + +"Mayn't I drown Puss?" said Nockells. + +"No! you cruel boy, _no!_" said Edith, vehemently. "_You_ shall not have +the pleasure, no one shall do it who would take a pleasure in it." + +"What is the matter Miss?" asked Joe, as soon as Nockells turned away. + +"The matter, oh Joe! I want Muff drowned; my cat I mean, my dear cat;" +and then she told her tale up to the point of Miss Webster's refusing to +admit Muff as a lodger, and cried most bitterly as she said, "and I +won't have her ill-treated, so I will drown her, will you do it for me +Joe, please do now, or my courage will be gone? but I won't stay to look +at it, so good-bye," said she, and slipping a shilling into Joe's hand, +ran home with the news to Fred, that the cat was by this time at the +bottom of the tea, and his canaries were safe for ever from her claws. + +Fred was not a hard-hearted boy, and his sister's tale really grieved +him. He kissed her several times over, as he said he now wished he had +never bought the birds, that they had caused Edith nothing but trouble +and that he was very sorry. + +"I am not sorry, Fred dear, at least I am only sorry for being forced to +drown Muff. I like to give you my room, and I like to give up my cat to +you, and I shall not cry any more about it, so don't be unhappy." + +"And all this for me," said Fred; "I who teased you so yesterday +afternoon, and always am teasing you, I think!" How pleased Emilie +looked! She did not praise Edith, but she gave her such a look of +genuine approval as was a rich reward to her little pupil. "_This_ is +the way. Edith dear, to overcome evil with good; go on, _watch_ and +pray, and you will subdue Fred in time as well as your own evil +tempers." + +How easy all this looks to read about! How swift the transition from bad +to good! Who has not felt, in reading Rosamond and Frank, a kind of envy +that they so soon overcame their errors, so soon conquered their bad +habits and evil dispositions? Dear young reader, it is _not_ easy to +subdue self; it is not easy to practise this law of kindness, love, and +forbearance; it is not easy to live peaceably with all men, but believe +me, it is not impossible. He who giveth liberally and upbraideth not, +will give you grace, and wisdom, and help to do this if you ask it. The +promise is, "Ask and ye shall receive." Edith In her helplessness naked +strength of God and it was given. That which was given to her He will +not withhold from you. Only try Him. + +For the comfort of those who may not have such a friend as Emilie, we +would remind our readers that the actual work of Edith's change, for +such it was, was that which no friend however wise and however good +could effect. There is no doubt but that to her example Edith owed much. +It led her to _think_ and to _compare_, and was part of the means used +by the all-wise God, to instruct this little girl; but if you have not +Emilie for a friend, you may all have the God, whom Emilie served, for a +friend. You may all read in the Bible which she studied, and in which +she learned, from God's love to man, how we should love each other. She +read there, "If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." + +The holidays drew to a close. The return of the mother and sisters was +at hand. Emilie was not without her fears for Edith at this time, but +she trusted in the help which she knew Edith would have if she sought +it, and was thus encouraged. The right understanding between her +brothers and herself she was rejoiced to see daily increasing. It was +not that there was nothing to ruffle the two most easily ruffled +spirits. Fred was not considerate, and would constantly recur to his old +habit of tensing Edith. Edith was easily teased, and would rather order +and advise Fred, which was sure to bring on a breeze; but they were far +less vindictive, less aggravating than formerly. They were learning to +bear and forbear. Edith had the most to bear, for although Fred was +impressed by her kind and altered conduct, and could never forget the +generous act of sacrifice when she parted with Muff to gratify him, he +was as yet more actuated by impulse than principle, and nothing but +principle, Christian principle I mean, will enable us to be kind and +gentle, and unselfish _habitually_, not by fits and starts, but every +day. + +Joe Murray was sitting at his door smoking his pipe, and watching his +little grandchildren as they played together (this time harmoniously) in +the garden. They were not building a grotto, they were dancing, and +jumping, and laughing, in the full merriment of good healthy happy +children. Emilie and Edith greeted Joe as an old friend, and Joe seemed +delighted to see them. The two children, who had been commissioned to +search for corallines, rushed up to Edith with a basket full of a +heterogeneous collection, and amongst a great deal of little value there +were some beautiful specimens of the very things Edith wanted. She +thanked the little Murrays sincerely, and then looked at Emilie. Should +she pay them? the look asked. It was evident the children had no idea of +such a thing, and felt fully repaid by Edith's pleasure. Edith only +wanted to know if it would take from that pleasure to receive money. She +had been learning of late to study what people liked, and wished to do +so now. + +Emilie did not understand her look, and so Edith followed her own +course. "Thank you, oh, thank you," she said. "It was very kind of you +to collect me so many, they please me very much. I wish I knew of +something that you would like as well as I like these, and if I can, I +will give it to you, or ask mamma to help me." The boy not being +troubled with bashfulness, immediately said, that of all things he +should like a regular rigged boat, a ship, "a little-un" that would +swim. The girl put her finger in her mouth and said "she didn't know." +"Are you going to have a boat?" said every little voice, "oh, what fun +we shall have." "Yes," said our peace-making friend, Sarah. "You know +that if Dick gets any thing it is the same as if you all did. He is such +a kind boy, Miss, he plays with the little ones, and gives up to them +so nicely, you'd be surprised." + +"I am glad of that," said Emilie, "it will be such a pleasure to Miss +Edith to give pleasure to them all--but come, Jenny, you have not fixed +yet what you will have." Jenny said she did not want to be paid, but she +had thought, perhaps Miss Parker might give them something, and if Miss +Parker did not think it too much, she should like a shilling better than +any thing. + +Every one looked inquiringly, except Sarah. Sarah was but the uneducated +daughter of a poor fisherman, but she studied human nature as it lay +before her in the different characters of her brothers and sisters, and +she guessed the workings of Jenny's mind. + +"What do you want a shilling for?" said the mother sharply, who had +joined the group. "You ought not to have asked for anything, what bad +manners you have! The weeds cost you nothing, and you ought to be much +obliged to Miss Parker for accepting them." + +"I wanted the shilling very much," persisted Jenny, as Edith pressed it +into her hand, and off she ran, as though to hide her treasure. + +But Edith had caught sight of something, and forgot shilling and every +thing else in that glimpse. Her own dear old Muff sleeping on the hearth +of the kitchen which she had not yet entered. I shall not tell you all +the endearments she used to puss, they would look ridiculous on paper; +they made even those who heard them smile, but she was so overjoyed that +there was some excuse for her. Mrs. Murray rather damped her joy at once +by saying, "Oh, she's a sad thief, Miss. She steals the fish terribly. I +suppose you can't take her back, Miss?" + +"Ah, Joe," said Edith sorrowfully, "you see, you had better have drowned +her." + +"So I think," said Mrs. Murray. + +"No, no, no," cried Jane, coming forwards. "I have a shilling now, and +Barker the carrier will take her for that all the way to Southampton, +where aunt Martha lives, and aunt Martha loves cats, and will take care +of Muff; she shan't be drowned, Miss," said Jenny, kindly. + +The mother looked surprised, and they all admired Jenny's kind +intentions. Emilie slipped another shilling into her hand as they went +away, and said "You will find a use for it." "Good night Jenny, and +thank you," said poor Edith, with a sigh, for she had already looked +forward to many joyful meetings with Muff--her newly-found treasure. But +as old Joe, who followed them down the cliff said, there was no end to +the trouble Muff caused, what with stealing fish, and upsettings and +breakings; and she would be happier at aunt Martha's, where there was +neither fish nor child, and more room to walk about in than Muff enjoyed +here. + +"But how kind of Jenny," said Edith, "how thoughtful for Muff!" + +"No, Miss, 't aint for Muff exactly," said Joe, "though she pitied you, +as they all did, in thinking of drowning the cat; but bless the dear +children, they are all trying in their way, I do believe; to please +their mother, and to win her to be more happy and gentle like. You see +she has had a hard struggle with them, so many as there are, and so +little to do with; and that and bad health have soured her temper like; +but she'll come to. Oh Miss Edith, take my word for it, if ever you have +to live where folks are cross and snappish, be _you_ good-humoured. A +little of the leaven of sweetness and good temper lightens a whole lump +of crossness and bad humour. One bright Spirit in a family will keep +the sun shining in _one_ spot; it can't then be _all_ dark, you see, and +if there's ever such a little spot of sunshine, there must be some light +in the house, which may spread before long, Miss." + +"Goodnight, Joe," and "Good night, ladies," passed, and the friends were +left alone--alone upon the quiet beach. The sun had set, for it was +late; the tide was ebbing, and now left the girls a beautiful smooth +path of sand for some little distance, on which the sound of their light +steps was scarcely heard, as they rapidly walked towards home. + +"Who would think, Edith, that our six weeks' holiday would be at an end +to-morrow?" said Emilie. + +"I don't know, Emilie, I feel it much longer." + +"_Do_ you? then you have not been so happy as I hoped to have made you, +dear; I have been a great deal occupied with other things, but it could +scarcely be helped." + +"No, Emilie, I have not been happy a great part of the holidays, but I +am happy now; happier at least, and it was no fault of yours at any +time. I know now why I was so discontented with my condition, and why I +thought I had more to try me than anybody else. I feel that I was in +fault; that I _am_ in fault, I should say; but, oh Emilie, I am trying, +trying hard, to--" and here, Edith, softened by the remembrance that +soon she and her friend must part, burst into tears. + +"And you have succeeded, succeeded nobly, Edith, my darling. I have +watched you, and but that I feared to interfere, I would have noticed +your victories to you. I may do so now." + +"My _victories_, Emilie! Are you making fun of me? I feel to have been +so very irritable of late.--My _victories!_" + +"Just because, dear, you take notice of your irritability as you did not +use to do, and because you have constantly before your eyes that great +pattern in whom was no sin." + +"Emilie, I will tell you something--your patience, your example, has +done me a great deal of good, I hope; but there is one thing in your +kind of advice, which does me more good than all. You have talked more +of the love of God than of any other part of his character, and the +words which first struck me very much, when I first began to wish that I +were different, were those you told me one Sunday evening, some time +ago. 'Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and +gave his Son a ransom for sinners.' There seemed such a contrast between +my conduct to God, and His to me; and then it has made me, I hope, a +little more, (a _very_ little, you know,) I am not boasting, Emilie, am +I? it has made me a _little_ more willing to look over things which used +to vex me so. What are Fred's worst doings to me, compared with my +_best_ to God?" + +Thus they talked, and now, indeed, did the friends love one another; and +heartily did each, by her bedside that night, thank God for his gospel, +which tells of his love to man, the greatest illustration truly of the +law of kindness. + + + + +CHAPTER NINTH. + +FRED A PEACEMAKER. + + +"Talk not of wasted affection, affection never is wasted.... its waters +returning back to their spring, like the rain shall fill them full of +refreshment"--_H. W. Longfellow_. + +"Well Fred," said Emilie at the supper table, from which Mr. Parker was +absent, "I go away to-morrow and we part better friends than we met, I +think, don't we?" + +"Oh yes, Miss Schomberg, we are all better friends, and it is all your +doing." + +"My doing, oh no! Fred, that _is_ flattery. I have not made Edith so +gentle and so good as she has of late been to you. _I_ never advised her +to give up that little room to you nor to send poor Muff away." + +"_Didn't_ you? well, now I always thought you did; I always kid that to +you, and so I don't believe I have half thanked Edith as I ought." + +"Indeed you might have done." + +"Well, I hope I shall not get quarrelsome at school again, but I wish I +was in a large school. I fancy I should be much happier. Only being us +five at Mr. Barton's, we are so thrown together, somehow we can't help +falling out and interfering with each other sometimes. Now there is +young White, I never can agree with him, it is _impossible_." + +"Dear me!" said Emilie, without contradicting him, "why?" + +"He treats me so very ill; not openly and above-board, as we say, but in +such a nasty sneaking way, he is always trying to injure me. He knows +sometimes I fall asleep after I am called. Well, he dresses so quietly, +(I sleep in his room, I wish I didn't,) he steals down stairs and then +laughs with such triumph when I come down late and get a lecture or a +fine for it. If I am very busy over an exercise out of school hours, he +comes and talks to me, or reads some entertaining book close to my ears, +aloud to one of the boys, to hinder my doing it properly, but that is +not half his nasty ways. Could _you love_ such a boy Miss Schomberg?" + +"Well, I would try to make him more loveable, Fred, and then I might +perhaps love him," said Emilie. + +"Ah, Emilie, your 'overcome evil with good' rule would fail there _I_ +can tell you; you may laugh." + +"No, I won't laugh, I am going to be serious. You will allow me to +preach a short sermon to-night, the last for some time, you know, and +mine shall be but a text, or a very little more, and then 'good night.' +Will you try to love that boy for a few weeks? _really_ try, and see if +he does not turn out better than you expect. If he do not, I will +promise you that you will be the better for it. Love is never wasted, +but remember, Fred, it is wicked and sad to hate one another, and it +comes to be a serious matter, for 'If any man love not his brother whom +he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen.' Good night." + +"Good night, Miss Schomberg, you have taught me to like you," and oh, +how I did dislike you once! thought Fred, but he did not say so. + +Miss Webster's foot got well at last, but it was a long time about it. +The lodgers went away at the end of the six weeks, and aunt Agnes and +Emilie were quietly settled in their little apartments again. The piano +was a little out of tune, but Emilie expected as much, and now after her +six weeks' holiday, so called, she prepared to begin her life of daily +teaching. Her kindness to Miss Webster was for some time to all +appearance thrown away, but no, that cannot be--kindness and love can +never be wasted. They bless him that gives, if not him that takes the +offering. By and bye, however, a few indications of the working of the +good system appeared. Miss Webster would offer to come and sit and chat +with aunt Agnes when Emilie was teaching or walking; and aunt Agnes in +return taught Miss Webster knitting stitches and crochet work. Miss +Webster would clean Emilie's straw bonnet, and when asked for the bill, +she would say that it came to nothing; and would now and then send up a +little offering of fruit or fish, when she thought her lodgers' table +was not well supplied. Little acts in themselves, but great when we +consider that they were those of an habitually cold and selfish person. +She did not express love; but she showed the softening influence of +affection, and Emilie at least understood and appreciated it. + +Fred had perhaps the hardest work of all the actors on this little +stage; he thought so at least. Joe White was an unamiable and, as Fred +expressed it, a sneaking boy. He had never been accustomed to have his +social affections cultivated in childhood, and consequently, he grew up +into boyhood without any heart as it is called. Good Mr. Barton was +quite puzzled with him. He said there was no making any impression on +him, and that Mr. Barton could make none was very evident. Who shall +make it? Even Fred; for he is going to try Emilie's receipt for the cure +of the complaint under which Master White laboured, a kind of moral +ossification of the heart. Will he succeed? We shall see. + +Perhaps, had Joe White at this time fallen down and broken his leg, or +demanded in any way a _great_ sacrifice of personal comfort from his +school-fellow, he would have found it easier to return good for his evil, +than in the daily, hourly, calls for the exercise of forgiveness and +forbearance which occurred at school. Oh, how many will do _great_ +things in the way of gifts or service, who will not do the little acts +of kindness and self denial which common life demands. Many a person has +built hospitals or alms houses, and has been ready to give great gifts +to the poor and hungry, who has been found at home miserably deficient +in domestic virtues. Dear children, cultivate these. You have, very few +of you, opportunities for great sacrifices. They occur rarely in real +life, and it would be well if the relations of fictitious life abounded +less in them; but you may, all of you, find occasions to speak a gentle +word, to give a kind smile, to resign a pursuit which annoys or vexes +another, to cure a bad habit, to give up a desired pleasure. You may, +all of you, practice the injunction, to live not unto yourselves. Fred, +I say, found it a hard matter to carry out Emilie's plan towards Joe +White, who came back from home more evilly disposed than ever, and all +the boys agreed he was a perfect nuisance. + +"I would try and make him loveable." Those words of Emilie's often +recurred to Fred as he heard the boys say how they disliked Joe White +worse and worse. So Fred tried first by going up to him very gravely one +day, and saying how they all disliked him, and how he hoped he would +mend; but that did not do at all. Fred found the twine of his kite all +entangled next day, and John said he saw White playing with it soon +after Fred had spoken to him. + +"I'd go and serve him out; just you go and tangle his twine, and see how +he likes it," said John. + +"I will--but no! I won't," Bald Fred, "that's evil for evil, and that is +what I am not going to do. I mean to leave that plan off." + +An opportunity soon occurred for returning good for evil Miss Barton had +a donkey, and this donkey, whose proper abode was the paddock, sometimes +broke bounds, and regaled itself on the plants in the young gentlemen's +gardens, in a manner highly provoking to those who had any taste for +flowers. If Joe White had any love for anything, it was for flowers. +Now, there is something so pure and beautiful in flowers; called by that +good philanthropist Wilberforce, the "smiles of God," that I think there +must be a little tender spot in that heart which truly loves flowers. +Joe tended his as a parent would a child. His garden was his child, and +certainly it did his culture credit. Fred liked a garden too, and these +boys' gardens were side by side. They were the admiration of the whole +family, so neatly raked, so free from stones or weeds, so gay with +flowers of the best kind. They were rival gardens, but undoubtedly +White's was in the best order. John and Fred always went home on a +Saturday, as Mr. Barton's house was not far from L----. Joe was a +boarder entirely, his home was at a distance, and to this Fred Parker +ascribed the superiority of his garden. He was able to devote the whole +of Saturday, which was a holiday, to its culture. Well, the donkey of +which I spoke, one day took a special fancy to the boys' gardens; and it +so happened, that he was beginning to apply himself to nibble the tops +of Joe's dahlias, which were just budding. Joe was that day confined to +the house with a severe cold, and little did he think as he lay in bed, +sipping Mrs. Barton's gruel and tea, of the scenes that were being +enacted in his own dear garden. Fred fortunately spied the donkey, and +though there had been lately a little emulation between them, who should +grow the finest dahlias, he at once carried out the principle of +returning good for evil, drove the donkey off, even though his course +lay over his own flower beds, and then set to work to repair the damage +done. A few minutes more, and all Joe's dahlias would have been +sacrificed. Fred saved them, raked the border neatly, tied up the +plants, and restored all to order again; and who can tell but those who +thus act, the pleasure, the comfort of Fred's heart? Why, not the first +prize at the horticultural show for the first dahlia in the country, +would have given him half the joy; and a still nobler sacrifice he +made--he did not tell of his good deeds. Now, Fred began to realise the +pleasures of forbearance and kindness indeed. + +There could not have been a better way of reaching young White's heart +than through his garden. Fred's was a fortunate commencement. He never +boasted of the act, but one of the boys told Mr. Barton, who did not +fail to remind Joe of it at a suitable time, and that time was when +White presented his master with a splendid bouquet of dahlias for his +supper table, when he was going to have a party of friends. The boys, +who were treated like members of the family, were invited to join that +party, and then did Mr. Barton narrate the scene of the donkey's +invasion, of which, however, the guests did not perceive the point; but +those for whom it was intended understood it all. At bed time that +night, Joe White begged his school-fellow's pardon for entangling his +kite twine, and went to bed very humble and grateful, and with a little +love and kindness dawning, which made his rest sweeter and his dreams +happier. Thus Fred began his lessons of love; it was thus he endeavoured +to make Joe lovable, and congratulated himself on his first successful +attempt. He did not speak in the very words of the Poet, but his +sentiments were the same, as he talked to John of his victory. + + "There is a golden chord of sympathy, + Fix'd in the harp of every human soul, + Which by the breath of kindness when 'tis swept, + Wakes angel-melodies in savage hearts; + Inflicts sore chastisements for treasured wrongs, + And melts away the ice of hate to streams of love; + Nor aught but _kindness_ can that fine chord touch." + +Joe Murray was quite right in telling Edith that a little of the leaven +of kindness and love went a great way in a family. No man can live to +himself, that is to say, no man's acts can affect himself only. Had Fred +set an example of revenge and retaliation, other boys would have no +doubt acted in like manner on the first occasion of irritation. Now they +all helped to reform Joe White, and did not return evil for evil, as +had been their custom. Fred was the oldest but one of the little +community, and had always been looked up to as a clever boy, up to all +kinds of spore and diversion. He was the leader of their plays and +amusements, and but for the occasional outbreaks of his violent temper +would have been a great favourite. As it was, the boys liked him, and +his master was undoubtedly very fond of Fred Parker. He was an honest +truthful boy though impetuous and headstrong. + +Permission was given the lads, who as we have said were six in number, +to walk out one fine September afternoon without the guardianship of +their master. They were to gather blackberries, highly esteemed by Mrs. +Barton for preserves, and it was the great delight of the boys to supply +her every year with this fruit. Blackberrying is a very amusing thing to +country children. It is less so perhaps in its consequences to the +nurse, or sempstress, who has to repair the terrible rents which +merciless brambles make, but of that children, boys especially, think +little or nothing. On they went, each provided with a basket and a long +crome stick, for the purpose of drawing distant clusters over ditches +or from some height within the reach of the gatherer. At first they +jumped and ran and sang in all the merriment of independence. The very +consciousness of life, health, and freedom was sufficient enjoyment, and +there was no end to their fun and their frolics until they came to the +spot where the blackberries grew in the greatest abundance. Then they +began to gather and eat and fill their baskets in good earnest. The most +energetic amongst them was Fred, and he had opportunities enough this +afternoon for practising kindness and self-denial, for White was in one +of his bad moods, and pushed before Fred whenever he saw a fine and +easily to be obtained cluster of fruit; and once, (Fred thought +purposely,) upset his basket, which stood upon the pathway, all in the +dust. Still Fred bore all this very well, and set about the gathering +with renewed ardour, though one or two of the party called out, "Give it +him, Parker; toss his out and see how he likes it." No, Fred had begun +to taste the sweet fruits of kindness, he would not turn aside to pluck +the bitter fruits of revenge and passion. So he gave no heed to the +matter, only leaving the coast clear for White whenever he could, and +helping a little boy whom White had pushed aside to fill his basket. + +Without any particular adventures, and with only the usual number of +scratches and falls, and only the common depth of dye in lips and +fingers, the boys sat down to rest beneath the shade of some fine trees, +which skirted a beautiful wood. + +"I say," said John Parker, "let us turn in here, we shall find shade +enough, and I had rather sit on the grass and moss than on this bank. +Come along, we have only to climb the hedge." + +"But that would be trespassing," said one conscientious boy, who went by +the name of Simon Pure, because he never would join in any sport he +thought wrong, and used to recall the master's prohibitions rather +oftener to his forgetful companions than they liked. + +"Trespassing! a fig for trespassing," said John Parker, clearing away +all impediments, and bestriding the narrow ditch, planted a foot firmly +on the opposite bank. + +"You may get something not so sweet as a fig for trespassing, John, +though," said his brother Fred, who came up at this moment. + +"Man-traps and spring-guns are fictions my lad," said Philip Harcourt, a +boy of much the same turn as John, not easily persuaded any way; "Now +for it, over Parker; be quick, man," and over he jumped. + +Then followed Harcourt, White, and another little boy, whose name was +Arthur, leaving Fred and Simon Pure in the middle of the road. The wood +was, undoubtedly, a very delightful place, and more than one fine +pheasant rustled amongst the underwood, and the squirrels leaped from +bough to bough, whilst the music of the birds was charming. Fred, +himself, was tempted as he peeped over the gap, and stood irresolute. +The plantation was far enough from the residence of the owner, nor was +it likely that they could do much mischief beyond frightening the game, +and as it was not sitting time, Fred himself argued it could do no harm, +but little Riches, the boy called Pure, who was a great admirer of Fred, +especially since the affair of the Dahlias, begged him not to go; "Mr. +Barton, you know, has such a great dislike to our trespassing," said +Riches, "and if we stay here resolutely they will be sure to come back." + +"Don't preach to me," was the rather unexpected reply, for Fred was not +_perfect_ yet, though he had gained a victory or two over his temper of +late. + +"I didn't mean to preach, but I do wish the boys would come home, it is +growing late; and with our heavy baskets we shall only just get in in +time." + +"Halloo!" shouted Fred, getting on the bank. "Come back, won't you, or +we shall be too late; come, John, you are the eldest, come along." But +his call was drowned in the sound of their voices, which were echoing +through the weeds, much to the annoyance, no doubt, of the stately +pheasants who were not accustomed to human sounds like these. They were +not at any great distance, and Fred could just distinguish parts of +their conversation. + +John and Harcourt were urging White, a delicate boy, and no climber, to +mount a high tree in the wood, to enjoy they said the glorious sea-view; +but in reality to make themselves merry at his expense, being certain +that if he managed to scramble up he would have some difficulty in +getting down, and would get a terrible fright at least. White stood at +the bottom of the tree, looking at his companions as they rode on one of +the higher branches of a fine spruce fir. + +"Don't venture! White," shouted Fred as loudly as he could shout, "don't +attempt it! They only want to make game of you, and you'll never get +down if you manage to get up. Take my advice now, don't try." + +"Mind your own business," and a large sod of earth was the reply. The +sod struck the boy on the face, and his nose bled profusely. + +"There," said young Riches, "what a cowardly trick! Oh! I think White +the meanest spirited boy I ever saw. He wouldn't have flung that sod at +you if you had been within arm's length of him; well, I do dislike that +White." + +"I'll give it to him," said Fred, as he vaulted over the fence, but +immediately words, which Emilie had once repeated to him when they were +talking about offensive and defensive warfare, came into his mind, and +he stopped short. Those words were:--"If any man smite thee on thy +right cheek turn to him the other also," and Fred was in the road again. + +"Well," said Riches, "we have done and said all we can, let us be going +home, their disobeying orders is no excuse for us, so come along +Parker--won't you? They have a watch, and their blackberries won't run +away, I suppose." + +"Can't we manage between us, though, to carry some of them?" said Fred. +"This large basket is not nearly full, let us empty one of them into it. +There, now we have only left them two. I've got White's load. I've half +a mind to set it down, but no I won't though. You will carry John's, +Won't you, that's lighter, and between them they may carry the other." + +They went on a few steps when they both turned to listen. "I thought," +said Fred, "I heard my name called. It could only be fancy, though. Yet, +hush! There it is! quite plain," and so it was. + +John called to him loudly to stop, and at that moment such a scream was +heard echoing through the woods, as sent the wood pigeons flying +terrified about, and started the hares from their hiding places. "Stop, +oh stop, Fred, White can't get down," said John, breathless, "and I +believe he will fall, if he hasn't already, he says he is giddy. Pray +come back and see if you can't help him, you are such a famous climber." + +Fred could not refuse, and in less than five minutes he was on the spot, +but it was too late. The branch had given way, and the boy lay at the +foot of the tree senseless, to all appearance dead. There was no blood, +no outward sign of injury, but--his face! Fred did not forget for many +years afterwards, its dreadful, terrified, ghastly expression. What was +to be done? They were so horror-struck that for a few minutes they stood +in perfect silence, so powerfully were they convinced that the lad had +ceased to breathe, that they remained solemn and still as in the +presence of death. + +To all minds death has great solemnities; to the young, when it strikes +one of their own age and number, especially. "Come," said Fred, turning +to Riches, "come, we must not leave him here to die, poor fellow. Take +off his neck-handkerchief, Harcourt, and run you, Riches, to the stream +close by, where we first sat down, and get some water. Get it in your +cap, man, you have nothing else to put it in. Quick! quick!" + +"Joe! Joe!" said John, "only speak, only look, Joe, if you can, we are +so frightened."--No answer. + +"Joe!" said Fred, and he tried to raise him. No assistance and no +resistance; Joe fell back passive on the arm of his friend, yes, +friend--they were no longer enemies you know. Had Fred returned evil for +evil, had he rushed on him as he first intended when he received the sod +from White, he would not have felt as he now did. The boys, who, out of +mischief, to use the mildest word, tempted him to climb to a height, +beyond that which even they themselves could have accomplished, were not +to be envied in _their_ feelings. Poor fellows, and yet they only did +what many a reckless, mischievous school boy has done and is doing every +day; they only meant to tease him a bit, to pay him off for being so +spiteful all the way, and so cross to Fred when he spoke. But it was no +use trying to still the voice which spoke loudly within them, which told +them that they had acted with heartless cruelty, and that their conduct +had, perhaps, cost a fellow-creature his life. + +"Will you wait with him whilst I run to L---- for papa?" said Fred. + +"What alone?" they cried. + +"Alone! why there are four of you, will be at least when Riches comes +back." + +"Oh no! no! do you stay Fred, you are the only one that knows what you +are after." + +"Well, which of you will go then? It is near two miles, and you must +run, for his _life_--mind that." No one stirred, and Riches at this +moment coming up with the water, Fred told him in few words what he +meant to do, and bade him go and stand by the poor lad. That was all +that could be done, and "Riches don't be hard on them; their consciences +are telling them all you could tell them. Don't lecture them, I mean; +you would not like it yourself." + +Off ran Fred, and to his great joy, spying a cart, with one of farmer +Crosse's men in it, he hailed it, told his tale, and thus they were at +L---- in a very short space of time. Terrified indeed was Mrs. Parker at +the sight of her son driving furiously up in farmer Crosse's +spring-cart, and his black eye and swelled face did not tend to pacify +her on nearer inspection. The father, a little more used to be called +out in a hurry, and to prepare for emergencies, was not so alarmed, but +had self-possession enough to remember what would be needed, and to +collect various articles for the patient's use. + +The journey to the wood was speedily accomplished, but the poor lads who +were keeping watch, often said afterwards that it seemed to them almost +a lifetime, such was the crowd of fearful and wretched thoughts and +forebodings, such the anxiety, and hopelessness of their situation. +There in the silence of the wood lay their young companion, stretched +lifeless, and they were the cause. The least rustle amongst the leaves +they mistook for a movement of the sufferer; but he moved not. How did +they watch Mr. Parker's face as he knelt down and applied his fingers to +the boy's wrist first, and then to his heart! With what intense anxiety +did they watch the preparations for applying remedies and restoratives! +"Was he, was he dead, _quite_ dead?" they asked. No, not dead, but the +doctor shook his head seriously, and their exclamations of joy and +relief were soon checked. + +Not to follow them through the process of restoring animation, we will +say that he was carefully removed to Mr. Barton's house, and tenderly +watched by his kind wife. He had been stunned by the fall, but this was +not the extent of the mischief. It was found upon examination that the +spine had received irreparable injury, and that if poor White lived, +which was doubtful, it would be as a helpless cripple. Who can tell the +reflections of those boys? Who can estimate the misery of hearts which +had thus returned evil for evil? It was a sore lesson, but one which of +itself could yield no good fruit. + +It was a great grief to Fred that his presence, in the excitable state +of the sufferer, seemed to do him harm. He would have liked to sit by +him, and share in the duties of his nursing, but whenever Fred +approached, White became restless and uneasy, and continually alluded, +even in his delirium, to the sod he had thrown, and to other points of +his ungrateful malicious conduct to his school-fellow. This feeling, +however, in time wore away, and many an hour did Fred take from play to +go and sit by poor Joe's couch. + +He had no mother to come and watch beside that couch, no kind gentle +sister, no loving father. He was an orphan, taken care of by an uncle +and aunt, who had no experience in training children, and were +accustomed to view young persons in the light of evils, which it was +unfortunately necessary to _bear_ until the _fault_ of youth should have +passed away. Will you not then cease to wonder that Joe seemed to have +so little heart? Affection needs to be cultivated; his uncle thought +that in sending him to school and giving him a good education, he was +doing his duty by the boy. His aunt considered that if in the holidays +she let him rove about as he pleased, saw to the repairs of his clothes, +sent him back fitted out comfortably, with a little pocket money and a +little _advice_, she had done _her_ duty by the child. But poor Joe! No +kind mother ever stole to his bedside to whisper warnings and gentle +reproof if the conduct of the day had been wrong; no knee ever bent to +ask for grace and blessing on that orphan boy; no sympathy was ever +expressed in one of his joys or griefs; no voice encouraged him in +self-denial; no heart rejoiced in his little victories over temper and +pride. Now, instead of blaming and disliking, will you not pity and love +the unlovable and neglected lad? + +He had not been long under Mr. Barton's care, and after all, what could +a schoolmaster do in twelve months, to remedy the evils which had been +growing up for twelve years? He did his best, but the result was very +little, and perhaps the most useful lesson Joe ever had was that which +Fred gave him about the Dahlias. + + + + +CHAPTER TENTH. + +EDITH'S VISIT TO JOE. + + +Fred and Edith were sitting in the Canary room one Saturday afternoon, +shortly after the event recorded in the last chapter; Edith listening +with an earnest interest to the oft-repeated tale of the fall in the +wood. + +"How glad you must have felt, Fred, when you thought he was dead, that +you had not returned his unkindness." + +"Glad! Edith, I cannot tell you how glad; but glad is'nt the word, +either. On my knees that night, and often since, I have thanked God who +helped me to check the temper that arose. Those words out of the Bible +did it: 'If any man smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other +also.' Emilie told me that text one day, and I said I did'nt think I +could ever do that, but I was helped somehow; but come, Edith, let us +go and see Emilie Schomberg, I have'nt seen her since all this happened, +though you have. How beautifully you keep my cages Edith! I think you +are very clever; the birds get on better than they did with me. Is there +any one you would like to give a bird to, dear? For I am sure you ought +to share the pleasures, you have plenty of the trouble of my canaries." + +"Oh, I have pleasure enough, and their songs always seem like rejoicings +over our reconciliation that day ever so long ago; you remember, don't +you, Fred? but I should like a bird _very_ much to give to Miss +Schomberg; she seems low-spirited, and says she is often very lonely. A +bird would be nice company for her, shall we take her one?" + +"It would be rather a troublesome gift without a cage, Edith, but I have +money enough, I think, and I will buy a cage, and then she shall have +her bird." + +"We will hang it up to greet her on Sunday morning, shall we?" Thus the +brother and sister set out, and it was a beautiful sight to their +mother, who dearly loved them, to see the two who once were so +quarrelsome and disunited now walking together in _love_. + +Emilie was not at home, and they stood uncertain which way to walk, +when Fred said, "Edith, I want some one to teach poor Joe love; will you +go with me and see him? You taught me to love you, and I think Joe would +be happier if he could see some one he could take a fancy to. Papa said +he might see one at a time now, and poor fellow, I do pity him so. Will +you go? It is a fine fresh afternoon, let us go to Mr. Barton's." + +The October sky was clear and the air bracing, and side by side walked +Fred and Edith on their errand of mercy to poor neglected Joe, their +young hearts a little saddened by the remembrance of his sufferings, "Is +not his aunt coming?" asked Edith. + +"No! actually she is not," replied Fred. "She says in her letter she +could not stand the fatigue of the journey, and that her physicians +order her to try the waters of Bath and Cheltenham. Unfeeling creature!" + +Thus they chatted till they arrived at Mr. Barton's house. Mrs. Barton +received them very kindly. "Oh, Miss Parker, she said, my heart aches +for that poor lad upstairs, and yet with all this trial, and the +wonderful providential escape he has had, would you believe it? his +heart seems very little affected. He is not softened that I can see. I +told him to day how thankful he ought to be that God did not cut him off +in all his sins, and he answered that they who tempted him into danger +would have the most to answer for." + +Ah, Mrs. Barton, it is not the way to people's hearts usually to find +fault and upbraid them. There was much truth in what you said to Joe, +but truth sometimes irritates by the way and time in which it is spoken, +and it seems in this case that the _kind_ of truth you told did not +exactly suit the state of the boy's mind. Edith did not say this of +course to the good lady, whose intentions were excellent, but who was +rather too much disposed to be severe on young persona, and certainly +Joe had tried her in many ways. + +"I will go and see whether Joe would like to see Edith may I, madam, +asked Fred?" Permission was given. + +"My sister is here, Joe, you have often heard me mention her, would you +like to see her?" + +"Oh, I don't know, my back is so bad. Oh dear me, and your father tells +me I am to lie flat in this way, months. What am I to do all through +the Christmas holidays too? Oh! dear, dear me. Well, yes, she may come +up." + +With this not very gracious invitation little Edith stepped upstairs, +and being of a very tender nature, no sooner did she see poor Joe's +suffering state than she began to cry. They were tears of such genuine +sympathy, such exquisite tenderness, that they touched Joe. He did not +withdraw the hand she held, and felt even sorry when she herself took +hers away. "How sorry I am for you!" said Edith, when she could speak, +"but may I come and read to you sometimes, and wait upon you when there +is no one else? I think I could amuse you a little, and it might pass +the time away. I only mean when you have no one better, you know." + +Joe's permission was not very cordial, he was so afraid of girls' +_flummery_, as he called it "She plays backgammon and chess, Joe, and I +can promise you she reads beautifully." + +"Well, I will come on Monday," said Edith, gaily, "and send me away if +you don't want me; but dear me, do you like this light on your eyes? +I'll ask mamma for a piece of green baize to pin up. Good bye." + +As she was going out of the room Joe called her back. "I have such a +favour to ask of you, Miss Parker. Don't bring that preaching German +lady here of whom I have heard Fred speak; I don't mind you, but I +cannot bear so much preaching. Mrs. Barton and her together would craze +me." Edith promised, but she felt disappointed. She had hoped that +Emilie might have gained an entrance, and she knew that Emilie would +have found out the way to his heart, if she could once have got into his +presence; but she concealed her disappointment having made the required +promise, and ran after her brother. + +"I don't like going where I am so plainly not wanted, Fred," said she on +their way home, "Oh, what a sad thing poor White's temper is for himself +and every one about him." + +"Yes Edith, but _we_ are not always sweet-tempered, and you must +remember that poor White has no mother and no father, no one in short to +love." Edith found at first that it required more judgment than she +possessed to make her visit to Joe White either pleasant or useful. +Illness had increased his irritability, and so far from submitting +patiently to the confinement and restriction imposed, he was quite +fuming with impatience to be allowed to sit up and amuse himself at +least. + +How ingenious is affection in contriving alleviations! Here Joe sadly +wanted some one whose wits were quickened by love. Mrs. Barton nursed +him admirably; he was kept very neat and nice, and his room always had a +clean tidy appearance; but it lacked the little tokens of love which +oft-times turn the sick chamber into a kind of paradise. No flowers, no +little contrivances for amusement, no delicate article of food to tempt +his sickly appetite. Poor Joe! Edith soon saw this, and yet it needs +experience in illness to adapt one's self to sick nursing. Besides she +was afraid, she did not like to offer books and flowers, and these +visits were quite dreaded by her. + +"Will you not go and see Joe, Emilie?" asked Edith, one day of her +friend, as she was recounting the difficulties in her way. "You get at +people's hearts much better than ever I could do." + +"My dear child," said Emilie, "did not Joe say that he begged you never +would bring the preaching German to see him? oh no, dear, I cannot +force my company on him. Besides you have not tried long enough, +kindness does not work miracles; try a little longer Edith, and be +patient with Joe as God is with us. How often we turn away from Him when +He offers to be reconciled to us. Think of that, dear." + +"Fred is very patient and persevering; I often wonder, Miss Schomberg, +that John, who really did cause the accident, seems to think less about +Joe than Fred, who had not any thing to do with it." + +"It is not at all astonishing, Edith. It requires that our actions +should be brought to the light of God's Word to see them in their true +condition. An impenitent murderer thinks less of his crime than a true +penitent, who has been moral all his life, thinks of his great sin of +ingratitude and ungodliness." + + + + +CHAPTER ELEVENTH. + +JOE'S CHRISTMAS. + + +Christmas was at hand; Christmas with its holidays, its greetings, its +festive meetings, its gifts, its bells, and its rejoicings. That season +when mothers prepare for the return of their children from school, and +are wont to listen amidst storms of wind and snow for the carriage +wheels; when little brothers and sisters strain their eyes to catch the +first glimpse of the dear ones' approach along the snowy track; when the +fire blazes within, and lamps are lit up to welcome them home; and hope +and expectation and glad heart beatings are the lot of so many--of many, +not of all. Christmas was come, but it brought no hope, no gladness, no +mirth to poor White, either present or in prospect. The music and the +bells of Christmas, the skating, the pony riding, the racing, the brisk +walk, the home endearments were not for Joe--poor Joe. No mother longed +for his return, no brother or little sister pressed to the hall door to +get the first look or the first word; no father welcomed Joe back to the +hearth-warmth of home sweet home. Poor orphan boy! + +Joe's uncle and aunt wrote him a kind letter, quite agreed in Mr. +Parker's opinion that a journey into Lincolnshire was, in the state of +his back and general health, out of the question, were fully satisfied +that he was under the best care, both medical and magisterial, (they had +never seen either doctor or master, and had only known of Mr. Barton +through an advertisement,) and sent him a handsome present of pocket +money, with the information that they were going to the South of France +for the winter. Joe bore the news of their departure very coolly, and +carelessly pocketed the money, knowing as he did that he had a handsome +property in his uncle's hands, and no one would have supposed from any +exhibition of feeling that he manifested, that he had any feeling or any +care about the matter. Once, indeed, when a fly came to the door to +convey Harcourt to the railway, and he saw from the window of his room +the happy school-boy jumping with glee into the vehicle, and heard him +say to Mr. Barton, "Oh yes, Sir, I shall be met!" he turned to Fred who +sate by him and said, "No one is expecting _me_, no one in the whole +world is thinking of me now, Parker." + +Fred told his mother of this speech, a speech so full of bitter truth +that it made Mrs. Parker, kind creature as she was, shed tears, and she +asked her husband if young White could not be removed to pass the +Christmas holidays with them. The distance was not great, and they could +borrow Mr. Darford's carriage, and perhaps it might do him good. Mr. +Parker agreed, and the removal was effected. + +For some days it seemed doubtful whether the change would be either for +poor White's mental happiness or bodily improvement. The exertion, and +the motion and excitement together, wrought powerfully on his nervous +frame, and he was more distressed, and irritable than ever. He could not +sleep, he ate scarcely any thing, he rarely spoke, and more than once +Mrs. Parker regretted that the proposal had been made. In vain Edith +brought him plants from the little greenhouse, fine camellias, pots of +snow-drops, and lovely anemones. They seemed rather to awaken painful +than pleasing remembrances and associations, and once even when he had +lain long looking at a white camellia he burst into tears. It is a great +trial of temper, a great test of the sincerity of our purpose, when the +means we use to please and gratify seem to have just the contrary +effect. In the sick room especially, where kind acts, and gentle words, +and patient forbearance are so constantly demanded, it is difficult to +refrain from expressions of disappointment when all our endeavours fail; +when those we wish to please and comfort, obstinately refuse to be +pleased and comforted. Often did Fred and Edith hold counsel as to what +would give Joe pleasure, but he was as reserved and gloomy as ever, and +his heart seemed inaccessible to kindness and affection. Besides, there +were continual subjects of annoyance which they could scarcely prevent, +with all the forethought and care in the world. + +The boys were very thoughtful, for boys; Mrs. Parker had it is true +warned them not to talk of their out-of-door pleasures and amusements +to or before Joe, and they were generally careful; but sometimes they +would, in the gladness of their young hearts, break out into praises of +the fine walk they had just had on the cliff, or the glorious skating on +the pond, of the beauty of the pony, and of undiscovered walks and rides +in the neighbourhood. Once, in particular, Emilie, who was spending the +afternoon with the Parkers, was struck with the expression of agony that +arose to Joe's face from a very trifling circumstance. They were all +talking with some young companion of what they would be when they grew +up, and one of them appealing to Joe, he quickly said, "oh, a sailor--I +care for nobody at home and nobody cares for me, so I shall go to sea." + +"To sea!" the boy repeated in wonder. + +"And why not?" said Joe, petulantly, "where's the great wonder of that?" + +There was a silence all through the little party; no one seemed willing +to remind the poor lad of that which he, for a moment, seemed to +forget--his helpless crippled state. It was only Emilie who noticed his +look of hopelessness; she sat near him and heard his stifled sigh, and +oh, how her heart ached for the poor lad! + +This conversation and some remarks that the boy made, led Mr. and Mrs. +Parker seriously to think that he entertained hopes of recovery, and +they were of opinion that it would be kinder to undeceive him, than to +allow him to hope for that which could never he. Mr. Parker began to +talk to him about it one day, very kindly, after an examination of his +back, when White said, abruptly, "I don't doubt you are very skilful. +Sir, and all that, but I should like to see some other doctor. I have +money enough to pay his fee, and uncle said I was to have no expense +spared in getting me the best advice. Sir J. ---- comes here at Christmas, +I know, to see his father, and I should like to see him and consult him, +Sir, may I?" Mr. Parker of course could make no objection, and a day was +fixed for the consultation. It was a very unsatisfactory one and at once +crushed all Joe's hopes. The result was communicated to him as gently +and kindly as possible. + +Mrs. Parker was a mother, and her sympathy for poor Joe was more lasting +than that of the younger branches of the family. She went to him on the +Sunday evening following the physician's visit to tell him the whole +truth, and she often said afterwards how she dreaded the task. Joe lay +on the sofa before the dining room window, watching the blue sea sit a +distance, and thinking with all the ardour of youthful longing of the +time when his back should be well, and he should be a voyager in one of +those beautiful ships. He should have no regrets, and no friends to +regret him; then he groaned at the pain and inconvenience and privation +of his present state, and panted for restoration. Mrs. Parker entered +and eat down by him. + +"Is Sir J. C---- gone, Ma'am?" + +"Yes, he has been gone some minutes." + +"What does he say?" asked the lad earnestly. "He said very little to me, +nothing indeed, only all that fudge I am always hearing--'rest, +patience,' and so on." + +"He thinks it a very serious case, my dear; he says that the recumbent +posture is very important." + +"But for how long, Ma'am? I would lie twelve months patiently enough if +I hoped then to be allowed to walk about, and to be able to do as other +boys do." + +"Sir J. C---- thinks, Joe, that you never will recover. I am grieved to +tell you so, but it is the truth, and we think it best you should know +it. Your spine is so injured that it is impossible you should ever +recover; but you may have many enjoyments, though not able to be active +like other boys. You must keep up your spirits; it is the will of God +and you must submit." + +Poor Mrs. Parker having disburdened her mind of a great load, and +performed her dreaded task, left the room, telling her husband that the +boy bore it very well, indeed, he did not seem to feel it much. The bell +being already out for church, she called the young people to accompany +her thither, leaving one maid-servant and the errand boy at home, and +poor Joe to meditate on his newly-acquired information that he would be +a cripple for life. Edith looked in and asked softly, "shall I stay?" +but the "No" was so very decided, and so very stern that she did not +repeat the question, so they all went off together, a cheerful family +party. + +The errand boy betook himself to a chair in the kitchen, where he was +soon sound asleep, and the maid-servant to the back gate to gossip with +a sailor; so Joe was left alone with a hand-bell on the table, plenty of +books if he liked to read them, and as far as outward comforts went +with nothing to complain of. "And here I am a cripple for life," +ejaculated the poor fellow, when the sound of their voices died away and +the bell ceased; "and, oh, may that life be a short one! I wish, oh, I +wish, I were dead! who would care to hear this? no one--I wish from my +heart I were dead;" and here the boy sobbed till his poor weak frame was +convulsed with agony, and he felt as if his heart (for he had a heart) +would break. + +In his wretchedness he longed for affection, he longed for some one who +would really care for him, "but _no one_ cares for me," groaned the lad, +"no one, and I wish I might die to night." Ah, Joe, may God change you +_very_ much before he grants that wish! After he had sobbed a while, he +began to think more calmly, but his thoughts were thoughts of revenge +and hatred. "_John_ has been the cause of it all." Then he thought +again, "they may well make all this fuss over me, when their son caused +all my misery; let them do what they will they will never make it up to +me, but they only tolerate me I can see, I know I am in the way; they +don't ask me here because they care for me, not they, it's only out of +pity;" and here, rolling his head from side to side, sobbed and cried +afresh. "What would I give for some one to love me, for some one to wait +on me because they loved me! but here I am to lie all my life, a +helpless, hopeless, cripple; oh dear! oh dear! my heart _will_ break. +Those horrid bells! will they never have done?" + + * * * * * + +At the very moment when poor Joe was thinking that no one on earth cared +for him, that not a heart was the sadder for his sorrow, a kind heart +not far off was feeling very much for him. "I shall not go to church +to-night, aunt Agnes," said Emilie Schomberg, "I shall go and hear what +Sir J.C.'s opinion of poor Joe White is. I cannot get that poor fellow +out of my mind." + +"No, poor boy, it is a sad case," said aunt Agnes, "but why it should +keep you from church, my dear, I don't see. _I_ shall go." + +So they trotted off, Emilie promising to leave aunt Agnes safe at the +church door, where she met the Parkers just about to enter. "Oh Emilie," +said little Edith, "poor Joe! we have had Sir J.C.'s opinion, and it is +quite as had if not worse than papa's, there is so much disease and +such great injury done. He is all alone, Emilie, do go and sit with +him." + +"It is just what I wish to do, dear, but do you think he will let me?" + +"Yes, oh yes, try at least," said Edith, and they parted. + +When Emilie rang at the bell Joe was in the midst of his sorrow, but +thinking it might only be a summons for Mr. Parker, he did not take much +notice of it until the door opened and the preaching German lady, as he +called Emilie, entered the room. When she saw his swollen eyes and +flushed face, she wished that she had not intruded, but she went frankly +up to him, and began talking as indifferently as possible, to give him +time to recover himself, said how very cold it was, stirred the fire +into a cheerful blaze, and then relapsed into silence. The silence was +broken at times by heavy sighs, however--they were from poor Joe. Emilie +now went to the piano, and in her clear voice sang softly that beautiful +anthem, "I will arise and go to my Father." It was not the first time +that Joe had shown something like emotion at the sound of music; now it +softened and composed him. "I should like to hear that again," he said, +in a voice so unlike his own that Emilie was surprised. + +She sang it and some others that she thought he would like, and then +said, "I hope I have not tired you, but I am afraid you are in pain." + +"I am," said Joe, in his old gruff uncivil voice, "in great pain." + +"Can I do any thing for you?" asked Emilie, modestly. + +"No _nothing_, nothing can be done! I shall have to lie on my back as +long as I live, and never walk or stand or do any thing like other +boys--but I hope I shan't live long, that's all." + +Emilie did not attempt to persuade him that it would not be as bad as he +thought--that he would adapt himself to his situation, and in time grow +reconciled to it. She knew that his mind was in no state to receive such +consolation, that it rather needed full and entire sympathy, and this +she could and did most sincerely offer. "I am _very_ sorry for you," she +said quietly, "_very_ sorry," and she approached a little nearer to his +couch, and looked at him so compassionately that Joe believed her. + +"Don't you think that fellow John ought to be ashamed of himself, and I +don't believe he ever thinks of it," said Joe, recurring to his old +feeling of revenge and hatred. + +"Perhaps he thinks of it more than you imagine," said Emilie, "but don't +fancy that no one cares about you, that is the way to be very unhappy." + +"It is _true_," said Joe, sadly. + +"God cares for you," however, replied Emily softly. + +"Oh, if I could think that, it would be a comfort," Miss Schomberg, "and +I do need comfort; I do, I do indeed, groaned the boy." + +Emilie's tears fell fast. No words of sympathy however touching, no +advice however wise and good, no act however kind could have melted Joe +as the tears of that true-hearted girl. He felt confidence in their +sincerity, but that any one should feel for _him_, should shed tears for +him, was so new, so softening an idea, that he was subdued. Not another +word passed on the subject. Emilie returned to the piano, and soon had +the joy of seeing Joe in a tranquil sleep; she shaded the lamp that it +might not awake him, covered his poor cold feet with her warm tartan, +and with a soft touch lifted the thick hair from his burning forehead, +and stood looking at him with such intense interest, suck earnest +prayerful benevolence, that it might have been an angel visit to that +poor sufferer's pillow, so soothing was it in its influence. He half +opened his eyes, saw that look, felt that touch, and tears stole down +his cheeks; tears not of anger, nor discontent, but of something like +gratitude that after all _one_ person in the world cared for him. His +sleep was short, and when he awoke, he said abruptly to Emilie, "I want +to feel less angry against John," Miss Schomberg, "but I don't know how. +It was such a cruel trick, such a cowardly trick, and I cannot forgive +him." + +"I don't want to preach," said Emily, smiling, "but perhaps if you would +read a little in this book you would find help in the very difficult +duty of forgiving men their trespasses." + +"Ah, the Bible, but I find that dull reading; it always makes me low +spirited, I always associate it with lectures from uncle and Mr. Barton. +When I did wrong I was plied up with texts." + +Emilie did not know what answer to make to this speech. At last she +said, "Do you remember the account of the Saviour's crucifixion, how, +when in agony worse than yours, he said, 'Father forgive them.' May I +read it to you?" + +He did not object, and Emilie read that history which has softened many +hearts as hard as Joe's. He made but little remark as Emilie closed the +book, nor did she add to that which she had been reading by any comment, +but; bidding him a kind good night, went to meet Aunt Agnes at the +church door, and conduct her safely home. + +There is a turning point in most persons' lives, either for good or +evil. Joe White was able long afterwards to recall that miserable Sunday +evening, with its storm of agitation and revenge, and then its lull of +peace and love. He who said, "Peace, be still," to the tempestuous +ocean, spoke those words to Joe's troubled spirit, and the boy was +willing to listen and to learn. Would a long lecture on the sinfulness +and impropriety of his revengeful and hardened state have had the same +effect on Joe, as Emilie's hopeful, gentle, almost silent sympathy? We +think not. "I would try and make him lovable," so said and so acted +Emilie Schomberg, and for that effort had the orphan cause to thank her +through time and eternity. + +Joe was not of an open communicative turn, he was accustomed to keep +his feelings and thoughts very much to himself, and he therefore did not +tell either Fred or Edith of his conversation with Emilie, but when they +came to bid him good night, he spoke softly to them, and when John came +to his couch he did not offer one finger and turn away his face, as he +had been in the habit of doing, but said, "Good night," freely, almost +kindly. + +The work went on slowly but surely, still he held back forgiveness to +John, and while he did this, he could not be happy, he could not himself +feel that he was forgiven. "I do forgive him, at least I wish him no +ill, Miss Schomberg," he said in one of his conversations with Emilie. +"I don't suppose I need be very fond of him. Am I required to be that?" + +"What does the Bible say, Joe? 'If thine enemy hunger feed him, if he +thirst give him drink.' '_I_ say unto you,' Christ says, '_Love_ your +enemies.' He does not say don't hate them, he means _Love_ them. Do you +think you have more to forgive John than Jesus had to forgive those who +hung him on the cross?" + +"It seems to me, Miss Schomberg, so different that example is far above +me. I cannot be like Him you know." + +"Yet Joe there have been instances of persons who have followed his +example in their way and degree, and who have been taught by Him, and +helped by Him to forgive their fellow-creatures." + +"But it is not in human nature to do it, I know, at least is not in +mine." + +"But try and settle it in your mind, Joe, that John did not mean to +injure you, that had he had the least idea that you would fall he would +never have tempted you to climb. If you look upon it as accidental on +your part, and thoughtlessness on his, it will feel easier to forgive +him perhaps, and I am sure you may. You are quite wrong in supposing +that John does not think of it. He told Edith only yesterday that he +never could forgive himself for tempting you to climb, and that he did +not wonder at your cold and distant way to him. Poor fellow! it would +make him much happier if you would treat him as though you forgave him, +which you cannot do unless you _from your heart_ forgive him." + + + + +CHAPTER TWELFTH. + +THE CHRISTMAS TREE. + + +The conversation last recorded, between Emilie and Joe, took place a few +days before Christmas. Every one noticed that Joe was more silent and +thoughtful than usual, but he was not so morose; he received the little +attentions of his friend more gratefully, and was especially fond of +having Emilie talk to him, sing to him, or read to him. Emilie and her +aunt were spending a few days at the Parkers' house, and it seemed to +add very much to Joe's comfort. This Emilie was like a spirit of peace +pervading the whole family. She was so sure to win Edith to obey her +mamma, to stop John if he went a little too far in his jokes with his +sister, to do sundry little services for Mrs. Parker, and to make +herself such an agreeable companion to Emma, and Caroline, that they all +agreed they wished that they had her always with them. Edith confessed +to Emilie one day that she thought Emma and Caroline wonderfully +improved, and as to her mamma, how very seldom she was cross now. + +"We are very apt to think other persons in fault when we ourselves are +cross and irritable, this may have been the case here, Edith, may it +not?" + +"Well! perhaps so, but I am sure I am much happier than I was, Emilie." + +"'_Great peace_ have they that love God's law,' my dear, 'and nothing +shall offend them.' What a gospel of peace it is Edith, is it not?" + +The great work in hand, just now, was the Christmas tree. These +Christmas trees are becoming very common in our English homes, and the +idea, like many more beautiful, bright, domestic thoughts, is borrowed +from the Germans. You may be sure that Emilie and aunt Agnes were quite +up to the preparations for this Christmas tree, and so much the more +welcome were they as Christmas guests. + +"I have plenty of money," said Joe, "but I don't know, somehow, what +sort of present to make, Miss Schomberg, yet I think I might pay for +all the wax lights and ornaments, and the filagree work you talk of." + +"A capital thought," said Emilie, and she took his purse, promising to +lay out what was needful to the best advantage. Joe helped Emilie and +the Miss Parkers very efficiently as he lay "useless," he said, but they +thought otherwise, and gave him many little jobs of pasting, gumming, +etc. It was a beautiful tree, I assure you; but Joe had a great deal of +mysterious talk with Emilie, apart from the rest, which, however, we +must not divulge until Christmas eve. A little box came from London on +the morning of the day, directed to Joe. Edith was very curious to know +its contents; so was Fred, so was John; Emilie only smiled. + +"Joe, won't you unpack that box now, to gratify us all?" said Mr. +Parker, as Joe put the box on one side, nodded to Emilie, and began his +breakfast. No, Joe could not oblige him. Evening came at last, and the +Christmas tree was found to bear rich fruit. From many a little +sparkling pendant branch hung offerings for Joe; poor Joe, who thought +no one in the world cared for him. He lay on his reclining chair looking +happier and brighter than usual, but as the gifts poured into his lap, +gifts so evidently the offspring of tenderness and affection, so +numerous, and so adapted to his condition, his countenance assumed a +more serious and thoughtful cast. Every cue gave him something. There is +no recounting the useful and pretty, if not costly, articles that Joe +became possessor of. A beautiful tartan wrapper for his feet, from Mrs. +Parker; a reading desk and book from Mr. Parker; a microscope from John +and Fred; a telescope from Emilie and Edith; some beautiful knitted +socks from aunt Agnes; a pair of Edith and Fred's very best canaries. + +When his gifts were arranged on his new table, a beautifully made table, +ordered for him by Mr. Parker, and exactly adapted to his prostrate +condition, and Joe saw every one's looks directed towards him lovingly, +and finally received a lovely white camellia blossom from Edith's hand, +he turned his face aside upon the sofa pillow and buried it in his +hands. What could be the matter with him? asked Mrs. Parker, tenderly. +Had any one said any thing to wound or vex him? "Oh no! no! no!" What +was it then? was he overcome with the heat of the room? "No, oh no!" +but might he be wheeled into the dining room, he asked? Mr. Parker +consented, of course, but aunt Agnes was sure he was ill. "Take him some +salvolatile, Emilie, at once." + +"No aunt," said Emilie, "he will be better without that, he is only +overcome." + +"And is not that just the very thing I was saying, Emilie, child, give +him some camphor julep then; camphor julep is a very reviving thing +doctor! Mr. Parker, won't you give him something to revive him." + +"I think," said Emilie, who understood his emotion and guessed its +cause, "I think he will be better alone. His spirits are weak, owing to +illness, I would not disturb him." + +"Come," said Mrs. Parker, "let us look at the tree, its treasures are +not half exhausted." Wonderful to say, although Joe had given his purse +to Emilie for the adornment of the tree, there still were presents for +every one from him; and what was yet more surprising to those who knew +that Joe had not naturally much delicacy of feeling or much +consideration for others, each present was exactly the thing that each +person liked and wished for. But John was the most astonished with his +share; it was a beautiful case of mathematical instruments, such a case +as all L---- and all the county of Hampshire together could not produce; +a case which Joe had bought for himself in London, and on which he +greatly prided himself. John had seen and admired it, and Joe gave this +prized, cherished case to John--his enemy John. "It must be intended for +you Fred," said John, after a minute's consideration; "but no, here is +my name on it." + +Margaret, at this moment, brought in a little note from Joe for John, +who, when he had read it, coloured and said, "Papa, perhaps you will +read it aloud, I cannot." + +It was as follows:-- + + DEAR JOHN, + + I have been, as you must have seen, + very unhappy and very cross since my accident; I have + had my heart filled with thoughts of malice and revenge, + and to _you_. I have not felt as though I could forgive + you, and I have often told Emilie and Edith this; but + they have not known how wickedly I have felt to you, + nor how much I now need to ask your forgiveness for + thoughts which, in my helpless state, were as bad as actions. + Often, as I saw you run out in the snow to slide + or skate, I have wished (don't hate me for it) that you + might fall and break your leg or your arm, that you might + know a little of what I suffered. Thank God, all that is + passed away, and I now do not write so much to say I + forgive you, for I believe from my heart you only meant + to tease me a little, not to hurt me, but to ask you to pardon + me for thoughts far worse and more evil than your + thoughtless mischief to me. Will you all believe me, too, + when I say that I would not take my past, lonely, miserable + feelings back again, to be the healthiest, most active + boy on earth. Emilie has been a good friend to me, may + God bless her, and bless you all for your patience and + kindness to. + + JOS. WHITE. + + Pray do not ask me to come back to you to night, I + cannot indeed. I am not unhappy, but since my illness + my spirits are weak, and I can bear very little; your + kindness has been too much. + + J.W. + +The contents of the little box were now displayed. It was the only +costly present on that Christmas tree, full as it was, and rich in love. +The present was a little silver inkstand, with a dove in the centre, +bearing not an olive branch, but a little scroll in its beak, with these +words, which Emilie had suggested, and being a favourite German proverb +of hers. I will give it in her own language, in which by the bye it was +engraved. She had written the letter containing the order for the plate +to a fellow-countryman of hers, in London, and had forgotten to specify +that the motto must be in English; but never mind, she translated it for +them, and I will translate it for you. "Friede ernährt, unfriede +verzehrt." "In peace we bloom, in discord we consume." The inkstand was +for Mr. and Mrs. Parker, and the slip of paper said it was from their +grateful friend, Joe White. That was the secret. Emilie had kept it +well; they rather laughed at her for not translating the motto, but no +matter, she had taught them all a German phrase by the mistake. + +Where was she gone? she had slipped away from the merry party, and was +by Joe's couch. Joe's heart was very full, full with the newly-awakened +sense that he loved and that he was loved; full of earnest resolves to +become less selfish, less thankless, less irritable. He knew his lot +now, knew all that lay before him, the privations, the restrictions, the +weakness, and the sufferings. He knew that he could never hope again to +share in the many joys of boyhood and youth; that he must lay aside his +cricket ball, his hoop, his kite, in short all his active amusements, +and consign himself to the couch through the winter, spring, summer, +autumn, and winter again. He felt this very bitterly; and when all the +gifts were lavished upon him, he thought, "Oh, for my health and +strength again, and I would gladly give up _all_ these gifts, nay, I +would joyfully be a beggar." But when he was alone, in the view of all I +have written and more, he felt that he could forgive John, that in short +he must ask John to forgive him, and this conviction came not suddenly +and by chance, but as the result of honest sober consideration, of his +own sincere communings with conscience. + +Still he felt very desolate, still he could scarcely believe in Emilie's +assurance, "You may have God for your friend," and something of this he +told Miss Schomberg, when she came to sit by him for awhile. She had but +little faith in her own eloquence, we have said, and she felt now more +than ever how dangerous it would be to deceive him, so she did not lull +him into false peace, but she soothed him with the promise of Him who +loves us not because of our worthiness, but who has compassion on us out +of his free mercy. Herein is love indeed, thought poor Joe, and he +meditated long upon it, so long that his heart began to feel something +of its power, and he sank to sleep that night happier and calmer than he +had ever slept before, wondering in his last conscious moments that God +should love _him_. + +Poor Joel he had much to struggle with; for if indulgence and +over-weening affection ruin their thousands, neglect and heartlessness +ruin tens of thousands. The heart not used to exercise the affection, +becomes as it were paralyzed, and so he found it. He could not love as +he ought, he could not be grateful as he knew he ought to be, and he +found himself continually receiving acts of kindness, as matters of +course, and without suitable feeling of kindness and gratitude in +return; but the more he knew of himself the more he felt of his own +unworthiness, the more gratefully he acknowledged and appreciated the +love of others to him. The ungrateful are always proud. The humble, +those who know how undeserving they are, are always grateful. + + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEENTH. + +THE NEW HOME. + + +Let us pass by twelve months, and see how the law of kindness is working +then. Mrs. Parker is certainly happier, less troubled than she was two +years ago; Edith is a better and more dutiful child, and the sisters are +far more sociable with her than formerly. The dove of peace has taken up +its abode in the Parker family. How is it in High Street? Emilie and +aunt Agnes are not there, but Miss Webster is still going on with her +straw bonnet trade and her lodging letting, and she is really as good +tempered as we can expect of a person whose temper has been bad so very +long, and who has for so many years been accustomed to view her fellow +creatures suspiciously and unkindly. + +But Emilie is gone, and are you not curious to know where? I will tell +you; she is gone back to Germany--she and her aunt Agnes are both gone +to Frankfort to live. The fact is, that Emilie is married. She was +engaged to a young Professor of languages, at the very time when the +Christmas tree was raised last year in Mr. Parker's drawing room. He +formed one of the party, indeed, and, but that I am such a very bad hand +at describing love affairs, I might have mentioned it then; besides, +this is not a _love story_ exactly, though there is a great deal about +_love_ in it. + +Lewes Franks had come over to England with letters of recommendation +from one or two respectable English families at Frankfort, and was +anxious to return with two or three English pupils, and commence a +school in that town. His name was well known to Mr. Parker, who gladly +promised to consign his two sons, John and Fred to his care, but +recommended young Franks to get married. This Franks was not loth to do +when he saw Emilie Schomberg, and after rather a short courtship, and +quite a matter of fact one, they married and went over to Germany, +accompanied by John, Fred, and Joe White. Mr. Barton, after the sad +accident in the plantation, had so little relish for school keeping, +that he very gladly resigned his pupils to young Franks, who, if he had +little experience in tuition, was admirably qualified to train the young +by a natural gentleness and kindness of disposition, and sincere and +stedfast christian principle. + +Edith longed to accompany them, but that was not to be thought of, and +so she consoled herself by writing long letters to Emilie, which +contained plenty of L---- news. I will transcribe one for you. + +The following was dated a few months after the departure of the party, +not the first though, you may be sure. + + L----, Dec, 18-- + DEAREST EMILIE, + + I am thinking so much of you to-night + that I must write to tell you so. I wish letters + only cost one penny to Frankfort, and I would write to + you every day. I want so to know how you are spending + your Christmas at Frankfort. We shall have no Christmas + tree this year. We all agreed that it would be a melancholy + attempt at mirth now you are gone, and dear Fred + and John and poor Joe. I fancy you will have one + though, and oh, I wish I was with you to see it, but + mamma is often very poorly now, and likes me to be + with her, and I know I am in the right place, so I + won't wish to be elsewhere. Papa is very much from + home now, he has so many patients at a distance, and + sometimes he takes me long rides with him, which is + a great pleasure. One of his patients is just dead, + you will be sorry to hear who I mean--Poor old Joe + Murray! He took cold in November, going out with + his Life Boat, one very stormy night, to a ship in + distress off L---- sands, the wind and rain were very + violent, and he was too long in his wet clothes, but he + saved with his own arm two of the crew; two boys about + the age of his own poor Bob. Every one says it was a + noble act; they were just ready to sink, and the boat in + another moment would have gone off without them. His + own life was in great danger, but be said he remembered + your, or rather the Saviour's, "Golden Rule," and could + not hesitate. Think of remembering that in a November + storm in the raging sea! He plunged in and dragged + first one and then another into the boat. These boys + were brothers, and it was their first voyage. They told + Joe that they had gone to sea out of opposition to their + father, who contradicted their desires in every thing, but + that now they had had quite enough of it, and should + return; but I must not tell you all their story, or my + letter will he too long. Joe, as I told you, caught cold, + and though he was kindly nursed and Sarah waited on him + beautifully, he got worse and worse. I often went to see + him, and he was very fond of my reading in the Bible + to him; but one day last week he was taken with inflammation + of the chest, and died in a few hours. Papa says he + might have lived years, but for that cold, he was such a + healthy man. I feel very sorry he is gone. + + I can't help crying when I think of it, for I remember + he was very useful to me that May evening when we + were primrose gathering. Do you recollect that evening, + Emilie? Ah, I have much to thank you for. What a + selfish, wilful, irritable girl I was! So I am now at times, + my evil thoughts and feelings cling so close to me, and + I have no longer you, dear Emilie, to warn and to encourage + me, but I have Jesus still. He Is a good Friend + to me, a better even than you have been. + + I owe you a great deal Emilie; you taught me to love, + you showed me the sin of temper, and the beauty of peace + and love. I go and see Miss Webster sometimes, as you + wish; she is getting very much more sociable than she was, + and does not give quite such short answers. She often + speaks of you, and says you were a good friend to her; that + is a great deal for her to say, is it not? How happy you + must be to have every one love you! I am glad to + say that Fred's canaries are well, but they don't _agree_ at + all times. There is no teaching canaries to love one + another, so all I can do is to separate the fighters; but + I love those birds, I love them for Fred's sake, and I love + them for the remembrances they awaken of our first days + of peace and union. + + My love to Joe, poor Joe! Do write and tell me how + he goes on, does he walk at all? Ever dear Emilie, + + Your affectionate + + EDITH. + +There were letters to John and Fred in the same packet, and I think you +will like to hear one of Fred's to his sister, giving an account of the +Christmas festivities at Frankfort. + + DEAR EDITH, + + I am very busy to-day, but I must + give you a few lines to tell you how delighted your letters + made us. We are very happy here, but _home_ is the place + after all, and it is one of our good Master's most constant + themes. He is always talking to us about home, and + encouraging us to talk of and think of it. Emilie seems + like a sister to us, and she enters into all our feelings as + well us you could do yourself. + + Well, you will want to know something about our + Christmas doings at school. They have been glorious I + can tell you--such a Christmas tree! Such a lot of + presents in our _shoes_ on Christmas morning; such dinings + and suppings, and musical parties! You must know every + one sings here, the servants go singing about the house + like nightingales, or sweeter than nightingales to my + mind, like our dear "Kanarien Vogel." + + You ask for Joe, he is very patient, and kind and good + to us all, he and John are capital friends; and oh, Edith, + it would do your heart good to see how John devotes himself + to the poor fellow. He waits upon him like a servant, + but it is all _love_ service. Joe can scarcely bear him out + of his sight. Herr Franks was asked the other day, by + a gentleman who came to sup with us, if they were brothers. + John watches all Joe's looks, and is so careful + that nothing may be said to wound him, or to remind + him of his great affliction more than needs be. It was a + beautiful sight on New Year's Eve to see Joe's boxes + that he has carved. He has become very clever at that + work, and there was an article of his carving for every + one, but the best was for Emilie, and she _deserted_ it. + Oh, how he loves Emilie! If he is beginning to feel in + one of his old cross moods, he says that Emilie's face, or + Emilie's voice disperses it all, and well it may; Emilie + has sweetened sourer tempers than Joe White's. + + But now comes a sorrowful part of my letter. Joe is + very unwell, he has a cough, (he was never strong you + know,) and the doctor says he is very much afraid his + lungs are diseased. He certainly gets thinner and + weaker, and he said to me to-day what I must tell you. + He spoke of his longings to travel (to go to Australia was + always his fancy.) "And now, Fred," he said, "I never + think of going _there_, I am thinking of a longer journey + _still_." "A longer journey, Joe!" I said, "Well, you have + got the travelling mania on you yet, I see." He looked + so sad, that I said, "What do you mean Joe?" He + replied, "Fred, I think nothing of journeys and voyages + in this world now. I am thinking of a pilgrimage to the + land where all our wandering's will have an end. I + longed, oh Fred, you know how I longed to go to foreign + lands, but I long now as I never longed before to go to + _Heaven_." I begged him not to talk of dying, but he said + it did not make him low spirited. Emilie and he talked + of it often. Ah Edith! that boy is more fit for heaven + than any of us who a year or two ago thought him + scarcely fit to be our companion, but as Emilie said the + other day, God often causes the very afflictions that he + sends to become his choicest mercies. So it has been + with poor White, I am sure. I find I have nearly filled + my letter about Joe, but we all think a great deal of him. + Don't you remember Emilie's saying, "I would try to + make him lovable." He is lovable now, I assure you. + + I am sorry our canaries quarrel, but that is no fault of + yours. We have only two school-fellows at present, but + Herr Franks does not wish for a large school; he says he + likes to be always with us, and to be our companion, which + if there were more of us he could not so well manage. We + have one trouble, and that is in the temper of this newly + arrived German boy, but we are going to try and make + him lovable. He is a good way off it _yet_. + + I must leave John to tell you about the many things I + have forgotten, and I will write soon. We have a cat + here whom we call _Muff_, after your old pet. Her name + often reminds me of your sacrifice for me. Ah! my dear + little sister, you heaped coals of fire on my head that day. + Truly you were not overcome of evil, you overcame evil + with good. Dear love to all at home. Your ever affectionate + brother, + + FRED PARKER. + + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEENTH. + +THE LAST. + + +"Hush, dears! hush!" said a gentle voice, pointing to a shaded window. +"He is asleep now, and we must have the window open for air this sultry +evening. I would not rake that bed to-night, John, I think." + +"It is _his_ garden, Emilie." + +"Yes, I know"--and she sighed.-- + +"It _is_ his garden, and his eye always sees the least weed and the +least untidiness. He will be sure to notice it when he is drawn out +to-morrow." + +"John there may be no to-morrow for Joe, he is altered very much to-day, +and it is evident to me he is sinking fast. He won't come down again, I +think." + +"May I go and sit by him, Emilie?" said the boy, quietly gathering up +his tools and preparing to leave his employment. + +"Yes, but be very still." + +It was a striking contrast; that fine, florid, healthy boy, whose frame +was gaining vigour and manliness daily, whose blight eye had scarcely +ever been dimmed by illness or pain, and that pale, deformed, weary +sleeper. So Emilie thought as she took her seat by the open window and +watched them both. The roses and the carnations that John had brought to +his friend were quietly laid on the table as he caught the first glimpse +of the dying boy. There was that in the action which convinced Emilie +that John was aware of his friend's state and they quietly sat down to +watch him. The stars came out one by one, the dew was falling, the birds +were all hurrying home, children were asleep in their happy beds; many +glad voices mingled by open casements and social supper tables, some few +lingered out of doors to enjoy the beauties of that quiet August night, +the last on earth of one, at least, of God's creatures. They watched on. + +"I have been asleep, Emilie, a beautiful sleep, I was dreaming of my +mother; I awoke, and it was you. John, _you_ there too! Good, patient, +watchful John. Leave me a moment, quite alone with John, will you, +Emilie? Moments are a great deal to me now." + +The friends were left alone, their talk was of death and eternity, on +the solemn realities of which one of them was about to enter, and +carefully as John had shielded Joe, tenderly as he had watched over him +hitherto, he must now leave him to pass the stream alone--yet not alone. + +Emilie soon returned; it was to see him die. It was not much that he +could say, and much was not needed. The agony of breathing those last +breaths was very great. He had lived long near to God, and in the dark +valley his Saviour was still near to him. He was at peace--at peace in +the dying conflict; it was only death now with whom he had to contend. +Being justified by faith, he had peace with God through the Lord Jesus +Christ. His last words were whispered in the ear of that good elder +sister, our true-hearted, loving Emilie. "Bless you, dear Emilie, God +_will_ bless you, for 'Blessed are the peacemakers.'" + + + * * * * * + +NORWICK: PRINTED BY JOSIAH FLETCHER + +NEW WORKS AND NEW EDITIONS + +Published by Arthur Hall, Virtue & Co. + +25, PATERNOSTER ROW. + + * * * * * + +Third Edition, in post 8vo. with numerous illustrations, price 8s. bound +in cloth, or 17s. morocco antique, + +NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS: + +An Historical Sketch of Ancient Assyria and Persia, with an Account of +the recent Researches in those Countries, + +By W.S.W. 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(Preservation and Access for American and + British Children's Literature, 1850-1869.) See<br> + <a href="http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/dl/UF00001806.jpg"> + http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/dl/UF00001806.jpg</a> + <br> + or<br> + <a href="http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/dl/UF00001806.pdf"> + http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/dl/UF00001806.pdf</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<br> +<hr class="full"> +<h1><b>EMILIE THE PEACEMAKER.</b></h1> + +<h2>BY MRS. THOMAS GELDART.</h2> + +<p>AUTHOR OF "TRUTH IS EVERYTHING;" "NURSERY GUIDE;" "STORIES OF ENGLAND +AND HER FORTY COUNTIES;" AND "THOUGHTS FOR HOME."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of +God.... Matt v. 9.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>LONDON: A. HALL. VIRTUE, & CO.. PATERNOSTER ROW; NORWICH: JOSIAH +FLETCHER.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>MDCCCLI.</p> + +<p>NORWICH; PRINTED BY JOSIAH FLETCHER.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CONTENTS"></a><h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> + + <a href="#CHAPTER_FIRST"><b>CHAPTER FIRST.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_SECOND"><b>CHAPTER SECOND.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_THIRD"><b>CHAPTER THIRD.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_FOURTH"><b>CHAPTER FOURTH.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_FIFTH"><b>CHAPTER FIFTH.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_SIXTH"><b>CHAPTER SIXTH.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_SEVENTH"><b>CHAPTER SEVENTH.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_EIGHTH"><b>CHAPTER EIGHTH.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_NINTH"><b>CHAPTER NINTH.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_TENTH"><b>CHAPTER TENTH.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_ELEVENTH"><b>CHAPTER ELEVENTH.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_TWELFTH"><b>CHAPTER TWELFTH.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_THIRTEENTH"><b>CHAPTER THIRTEENTH.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_FOURTEENTH"><b>CHAPTER FOURTEENTH.</b></a><br> + +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="EMILIE_THE_PEACEMAKER"></a><h2>EMILIE THE PEACEMAKER.</h2> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_FIRST"></a><h2>CHAPTER FIRST.</h2> + +<p>INTRODUCTION.</p> +<br> + +<p>One bright afternoon, or rather evening, in May, two girls, with basket +in hand, were seen leaving the little seaport town in which they +resided, for the professed purpose of primrose gathering, but in reality +to enjoy the pure air of the first summer-like evening of a season, +which had been unusually cold and backward. Their way lay through bowery +lanes scented with sweet brier and hawthorn, and every now and then +glorious were the views of the beautiful ocean, which lay calmly +reposing and smiling beneath the setting sun. "How unlike that stormy, +dark, and noisy sea of but a week ago!" so said the friends to each +other, as they listened to its distant musical murmur, and heard the +waves break gently on the shingly beach.</p> + +<p>Although we have called them friends, there was a considerable +difference in their ages. That tall and pleasing, though plain, girl in +black, was the governess of the younger. Her name was Emilie Schomberg. +The little rosy, dark-eyed, and merry girl, her pupil, we shall call +Edith Parker. She had scarcely numbered twelve Mays, and was at the age +when primrosing and violeting have not lost their charms, and when +spring is the most welcome, and the dearest of all the four seasons. +Emilie Schomberg, as her name may lead you to infer, was a German. She +spoke English, however, so well, that you would scarcely have supposed +her to be a foreigner, and having resided in England for some years, had +been accustomed to the frequent use of that language. Emilie Schomberg +was the daily governess of little Edith. Little she was always called, +for she was the youngest of the family, and at eleven years of age, if +the truth must be told of her, was a good deal of a baby.</p> + +<p>Several schemes of education had been tried for this same little +Edith,—schools and governesses and masters,—but Emilie Schomberg, who +now came to her for a few hours every other day, had obtained greater +influence over her than any former instructor; and in addition to the +German, French, and music, which she undertook to teach, she instructed +Edith in a few things not really within her province, but nevertheless +of some importance; of these you shall judge. The search for primroses +was not a silent search—Edith is the first speaker.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Emilie, but it was very provoking, after I had finished my lessons +so nicely, and got done in time to walk out with you, to have mamma +fancy I had a cold, when I had nothing of the kind. I almost wish some +one would turn really ill, and then she would not fancy I was so, quite +so often."</p> + +<p>"Oh, hush, Edith dear! you are talking nonsense, and you are saying what +you cannot mean. I don't like to hear you so pert to that kind mamma of +yours, whenever she thinks it right to contradict you."</p> + +<p>"Emilie, I cannot help saying, and you know yourself, though you call +her kind, that mamma is cross, very cross sometimes. Yes, I know she is +very fond of me and all that, but still she <i>is</i> cross, and it is no +use denying it. Oh, dear, I wish I was you. You never seem to have +anything to put you out. I never see you look as if you had been crying +or vexed, but I have so many many things to vex me at home."</p> + +<p>Emilie smiled. "As to my having nothing to put me out, you may be right, +and you may be wrong, dear. There is never any excuse for being what you +call <i>put out</i>, by which I understand cross and pettish, but I am rather +amused, too, at your fixing on a daily governess, as a person the least +likely in the world to have trials of temper and patience." "Yes, I dare +say I vex you sometimes, but"—"Well, not to speak of you, dear, whom I +love very much, though you are not perfect, I have other pupils, and do +you suppose, that amongst so many as I have to teach at Miss Humphrey's +school, for instance, there is not one self-willed, not one impertinent, +not one idle, not one dull scholar? My dear, there never was a person, +you may be sure of that, who had nothing to be tried, or, as you say, +put out with. But not to talk of my troubles, and I have not many I will +confess, except that great one, Edith, which, may you be many years +before you know, (the loss of a father;) not to talk of that, what are +your troubles? Your mamma is cross sometimes, that is to say, she does +not always give you all you ask for, crosses you now and then, is that +all?"</p> + +<p>"Oh no Emilie, there are Mary and Ellinor, they never seem to like me to +be with them, they are so full of their own plans and secrets. Whenever +I go into the room, there is such a hush and mystery. The fact is, they +treat me like a baby. Oh, it is a great misfortune to be the youngest +child! but of all my troubles, Fred is the greatest. John teases me +sometimes, but he is nothing to Fred. Emilie, you don't know what that +boy is; but you will see, when you come to stay with me in the holidays, +and you shall say then if you think I have nothing to put me out."</p> + +<p>The very recollection of her wrongs appeared to irritate the little +lady, and she put on a pout, which made her look anything but kind and +amiable.</p> + +<p>The primroses which she had so much desired, were not quite to her mind, +they were not nearly so fine as those that John and Fred had brought +home. Now she was tired of the dusty road, and she would go home by the +beach. So saying, Edith turned resolutely towards a stile, which led +across some fields to the sea shore, and not all Emilie's entreaties +could divert her from her purpose.</p> + +<p>"Edith, dear! we shall be late, very late! as it is we have been out too +long, come back, pray do;" but Edith was resolute, and ran on. Emilie, +who knew her pupil's self-will over a German lesson, although she had +little experience of her temper in other matters, was beginning to +despair of persuading her, and spoke yet more earnestly and firmly, +though still kindly and gently, but in vain. Edith had jumped over the +stile, and was on her way to the cliff, when her course was arrested by +an old sailor, who was sitting on a bench near the gangway leading to +the shore. He had heard the conversation between the governess and her +headstrong pupil, as he smoked his pipe on this favourite seat, and +playfully caught hold of the skirt of the young lady's frock, as she +passed, to Edith's great indignation.</p> + +<p>"Now, Miss, I could not, no, that I could'nt, refuse any one who asked +me so pretty as that lady did you. If she had been angry, and commanded +you back, why bad begets bad, and tit for tat you know, and I should +not so much have wondered: but, Miss, you should not vex her. No, don't +be angry with an old man, I have seen so much of the evils of young +folks taking their own way. Look here, young lady," said the weather +beaten sailor, as he pointed to a piece of crape round his hat; "this +comes of being fond of one's own way."</p> + +<p>Edith was arrested, and approached the stile, on the other side of which +Emilie Schomberg still leant, listening to the fisherman's talk with her +pupil.</p> + +<p>"You see, Miss," said he, "I have brought her round, she were a little +contrary at first, but the squall is over, and she is going home your +way. Oh, a capital good rule, that of your's, Miss!" "What," said Emilie +smiling, "Why, that 'soft answer,' that kind way. I see a good deal of +the ways of nurses with children, ah, and of governesses, and mothers, +and fathers too, as I sit about on the sea shore, mending my nets. I +ain't fit for much else now, you see, Miss, though I have seen a deal of +service, and as I sit sometimes watching the little ones playing on the +sand, and with the shingle, I keep my ears open, for I can't bear to see +children grieved, and sometimes I put in a word to the nurse maids. +Bless me! to see how some of 'em whip up the children in the midst of +their play. Neither with your leave, nor by your leave; 'here, come +along, you dirty, naughty boy, here's a wet frock! Come, this minute, +you tiresome child, it's dinner time.' Now that ain't what I call fair +play, Miss. I say you ought to speak civil, even to a child; and then, +the crying, and the shaking, and the pulling up the gangway. Many and +many is the little squaller I go and pacify, and carry as well as I can +up the cliff: but I beg pardon, Miss, hope I don't offend. Only I was +afraid, Miss there was a little awkward, and would give you trouble."</p> + +<p>"Indeed," said Emilie, "I am much obliged to you; where do you live?"</p> + +<p>"I live," said the old man, "I may say, a great part of my life, under +the sky, in summer time, but I lodge with my son, and he lives between +this and Brooke. In winter time, since the rheumatics has got hold of +me, I am drawn to the fire side, but my son's wife, she don't take after +him, bless him. She's a bit of a spirit, and when she talks more than I +like, why I wish myself at sea again, for an angry woman's tongue is +worse than a storm at sea, any day; if it was'nt for the children, bless +'em, I should not live with 'em, but I am very partial to them."</p> + +<p>"Well, we must say good night, now," said Emilie, "or we shall be late +home; I dare say we shall see you on the shore some day; good night." +"Good night to you, ma'am; good night, young lady; be friends, won't +you?"</p> + +<p>Edith's hand was given, but it was not pleasant to be conquered, and she +was a little sullen on the way home. They parted at the door of Edith's +house. Edith went in, to join a cheerful family in a comfortable and +commodious room; Emilie, to a scantily furnished, and shabbily genteel +apartment, let to her and a maiden aunt by a straw bonnet maker in the +town.</p> + +<p>We will peep at her supper table, and see if Miss Edith were quite right +in supposing that Emilie Schomberg had nothing to put her out.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_SECOND"></a><h2>CHAPTER SECOND.</h2> + +<p>THE SOFT ANSWER.</p> +<br> + +<p>An old lady was seated by a little ricketty round table, knitting; +knitting very fast. Surely she did not always knit so fast, Germans are +great knitters it is true, but the needles made quite a noise—click, +click, click—against one another. The table was covered with a +snow-white cloth. By her side was a loaf called by bakers and +housekeepers, crusty; the term might apply either to the loaf or the old +lady's temper. A little piece of cheese stood on a clean plate, and a +crab on another, a little pat of butter on a third, and this, with a jug +of water, formed the preparation for the evening meal of the aunt and +niece. Emilie went up to her aunt, gaily, with her bunch of primroses in +her hand, and addressing her in the German language, begged her pardon +for keeping supper waiting. The old lady knitted faster than ever, +dropped a stitch, picked it up, looked out of the window, and cleared +up, not her temper, but her throat; click, click went the needles, and +Emilie looked concerned.</p> + +<p>"Aunt, dear," she said, "shall we sit down to supper?" "My appetite is +gone, Emilie, I thank you." "I am really sorry, aunt, but you know you +are so kind, you wish me to take plenty of exercise, and I was detained +to-night. Miss Parker and I stayed chattering to an old sailor. It was +very thoughtless, pray excuse me. But now aunt, dear, see this fine +crab, you like crabs; old Peter Varley sent it to you, the old man you +knitted the guernsey for in the winter."</p> + +<p>No,—old Miss Schomberg was not to be brought round. Crabs were very +heavy things at night, very indigestible things, she wondered at Emilie +thinking she could eat them, so subject as she was to spasms, too. +Indeed she could eat no supper. She was very dull and not well, so +Emilie sat down to her solitary meal. She did not go on worrying her +aunt to eat, but she watched for a suitable opening, for the first +indication indeed, of the clearing up for which she hoped, and though +it must be confessed some such thoughts as "how cross and unreasonable +aunt is," did pass through her mind, she gave them no utterance. +Emilie's mind was under good discipline, she had learned to forbear in +love, and for the exercise of this virtue, she had abundant opportunity.</p> + +<p>Poor Emilie! she had not always been a governess, subject to the trials +of tuition; she had not always lived in a little lodging without the +comforts and joys of family and social intercourse.</p> + +<p>Her father had failed in business, in Frankfort, and when Emilie was +about ten years of age, he had come over to England, and had gained his +living there by teaching his native language. He had been dead about a +twelve-month, and Emilie, at the age of twenty-one, found herself alone +in the world, in England at least, with the exception of the old German +aunt, to whom I have introduced you, and who had come over with her +brother, from love to him and his motherless child. She had a very small +independence, and when left an orphan, the kind old aunt, for kind she +was, in spite of some little infirmities of temper, persisted in sharing +with her her board and lodging, till Emilie, who was too active and +right minded to desire to depend on her for support, sought employment +as a teacher.</p> + +<p>The seaport town of L----, in the south of England, whither Emilie and +her father had gone in the vain hope of restoring his broken health, +offered many advantages to our young German mistress. She had had a good +solid education. Her father, who was a scholar, had taught her, and had +taught her well, so that besides her own language, she was able to teach +Latin and French, and to instruct, as the advertisements say, "in the +usual branches of English education." She was musical, had a fine ear +and correct taste, and accordingly met with pupils without much +difficulty. In the summer months especially she was fully employed. +Families who came for relaxation were, nevertheless, glad to have their +daughters taught for a few hours in the week; and you may suppose that +Emilie Schomberg did not lead an idle life. For remuneration she fared, +as alas teachers do fare, but ill. The sum which many a gentleman freely +gives to his butler or valet, is thought exorbitant, nay, is rarely +given to a governess, and Emilie, as a daily governess, was but poorly +paid.</p> + +<p>The expenses of her father's long illness and funeral were heavy, and +she was only just out of debt; therefore, with the honesty and +independence of spirit that marked her, she lived carefully and frugally +at the little rooms of Miss Webster, the straw bonnet maker, in High +Street.</p> + +<p>From what I have told you already, you will easily perceive that Emilie +was accustomed to command her temper; she had been trained to do this +early in life. Her father, who foresaw for his child a life dependent on +her character and exertion, a life of labour in teaching and governing +others, taught Emilie to govern herself. Never was an only child less +spoiled than she; but she was ruled in love. She knew but one law, that +of kindness, and it made her a good subject.</p> + +<p>Many were the sensible lessons that the good man gave her, as leaning on +her strong arm he used to pace up and down the grassy slopes which +bordered the sea shore. "Look, Emilie," he would say, "look at that +governess marshalling her scholars out. Do they look happy? think you +that they obey that stern mistress out of <i>love</i>? Listen, she calls to +them to keep their ranks and not to talk so loud. What unhappy faces +among them! Emilie, my child, you may keep school some day; oh, take +care and gain the love of the young ones, I don't believe there is any +other successful government, so I have found it." "With me, ah yes, +papa!" "With you, my child, and with all my scholars; I had little +experience as a teacher, when first it pleased God to make me dependent +on my own exertions as such, but I found out the secret. Gain your +pupils' love, Emilie, and a silken thread will draw them; without that +love, cords will not drag, scourges will scarcely drive them."</p> + +<p>Emilie found this advice of her father's rather hard to follow now and +then. Her first essay in teaching was in Mrs. Parker's family. Edith was +to "be finished." And now poor Emilie found that there was more to teach +Edith than German and French, and that there was more difficulty in +teaching her to keep her temper than her voice in tune. Edith was +affectionate, but self-willed and irritable. Her mamma's treatment had +not tended to improve her in this respect. Mrs. Parker had bad health, +and said she had bad spirits. She was a kind, generous, and affectionate +woman, but was always in trouble. In trouble with her chimneys because +they smoked; in trouble with her maids who did not obey her; and worst +of all in trouble with herself; for she had good sense and good +principle, but she had let her temper go too long undisciplined, and it +was apt to break forth sometimes against those she loved, and would +cause her many bitter tears and self-upbraidings.</p> + +<p>She took an interest in the poor German master, for she was a benevolent +woman, and cheered his dying bed by promising to assist his daughter. +She even offered to take her into her family; but this could not be +thought of. Good aunt Agnes had left her country for the sake of +Emilie—Emilie would not desert her aunt now.</p> + +<p>The scene at the supper table was not an uncommon one, but Emilie was +frequently more successful in winning aunt Agnes to a smile than on this +occasion. "Perhaps I tried too much; perhaps I did not try enough, +perhaps I tried in the wrong way," thought Emilie, as she received her +aunt's cold kiss, and took up her bed room candle to retire for the +night. When aunt Agnes said good night, it was so very distantly, so +very unkindly, that an angry demand for explanation almost rose to +Emilie's lips, and though she did not utter it, she said her good night +coldly and stiffly too, and thus they parted. But when Emilie opened the +Bible that night, her eye rested on the words, "Be ye kind one to +another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God for Christ's sake +hath forgiven you," then Emilie could not rest. She did not forgive her +aunt; she felt that she did not; but Emilie was <i>human</i>, and human +nature is proud. "I did nothing to offend her," reasoned pride, "it was +only because I was out a little late, and I said I was sorry and I tried +to bring her round. Ah well, it will all be right to-morrow; it is no +use to think of it now," and she prepared to kneel down to pray. Just +then her eye rested on her father's likeness; she remembered how he used +to say, when she was a child and lisped her little prayer at his knee, +"Emilie, have you any unkind thoughts to any one? Do you feel at peace +with all? for God says, 'When thou bringest thy gift before the altar, +and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave +there thy gift before the altar, <i>first</i> be reconciled to thy brother, +and <i>then</i> go and offer thy gift.'" On one or two occasions had Emilie +arisen, her tender conscience thus appealed to, and thrown her arms +round her nurse's or her aunt's neck, to beg their forgiveness for some +little offence committed by her and forgotten perhaps by them, and would +then kneel down and offer up her evening prayer. So Emilie hushed +pride's voice, and opening her door, crossed the little passage to her +aunt's sleeping room, and putting her arm round her neck fondly said, +"Dear aunt!" It was enough, the good old lady hugged her lovingly. "Ah, +Emilie dear, I am a cross old woman, and thou art a dear good child. +Bless thee!" In half an hour after the inmates of the little lodging in +High Street were sound asleep, at peace with one another, and at peace +with God.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_THIRD"></a><h2>CHAPTER THIRD.</h2> + +<p>THE LESSON AT THE COTTAGE.</p> +<br> + +<p>Edith was very busily searching for corallines and sea weeds, a few days +after the evening walk recorded in our first chapter. She was alone, for +her two sisters had appeared more than usually confidential and +unwilling for her company, and her dear teacher was engaged that +afternoon at the Young Ladies' Seminary, so she tried to make herself +happy in her solitary ramble. A boat came in at this moment, and the +pleasant shout of the boatmen's voices, and the grating of the little +craft as it landed on the pebbly shore, attracted the young lady's +notice, and she stood for a few moments to watch the proceedings. +Amongst those on shore, who had come to lend a hand in pulling the boat +in, Edith thought that she recognised a face, and on a little closer +inspection she saw it was old Joe Murray, who had stopped her course to +the beach a few evenings before. She did not wish to encounter Joe, so +slipping behind the blue jacketed crowd, she walked quickly forwards, +but Joe followed her.</p> + +<p>"Young lady," he said, "if you are looking for corallines, you can't do +better than ask your papa some fine afternoon, to drive you as far as +Sheldon, and you'll find a sight of fine weeds there, as I know, for my +boy, my poor boy I lost, I mean," said he, again touching the rusty +crape on his hat, "my boy was very curious in those things, and had +quite a museum of 'em at home." How could Edith stand against such an +attack? It was plain that the old man wanted to make peace with her, +and, cheerfully thanking him, she was moving on, but the old boots +grinding the shingle, were again heard behind her, and turning round, +she saw Joe at her heels.</p> + +<p>"Miss, I don't know as I ought to have stopped you that night. I am a +poor old fisherman, and you are a young lady, but I meant no harm, and +for the moment only did it in a joke."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear," said Edith, "don't think any more about it, I was very +cross that night, and you were quite right, I should have got Miss +Schomberg into sad trouble if I had gone that way. As it was, I was out +too late. Have you lost a son lately, said Edith, I heard you say you +had just now? Was he drowned?" inquired the child, kindly looking up +into Joe's face.</p> + +<p>"Yes Miss, he was drowned," said Joe, "he came by his death very sadly. +Will you please, Miss, to come home with me, and I will shew you his +curiosities, and if you please to take a fancy to any, I'm sure you are +very welcome. I don't know any good it does me to turn 'em over, and +look at them as I do times and often, but somehow when we lose them we +love, we hoard up all they loved. He had a little dog, poor Bob had, a +little yapping thing, and I never took to the animal, 'twas always +getting into mischief, and gnawing the nets, and stealing my fish, and I +used often to say, 'Bob, my boy, I love you but not your dog. No, that +saying won't hold good now. I can't love that dog of yours. Sell it, +boy—give it away—get rid of it some how.' All in good part, you know, +Miss, for I never had any words with him about it. And now Bob is +gone—do you know, Miss, I love that dumb thing with the sort of love I +should love his child, if he had left me one. If any one huffs Rover, (I +ain't a very huffish man,) but I can tell you I shew them I don't like +it, I let the creature lay at my feet at night, and I feed him myself +and fondle him for the sake of him who loved him so. And you may depend +Miss, the dog knows his young master is gone, and the way he is gone +too, for I could not bring him on the shore for a long while, but he +would set up such a howl as would rend your heart to hear. And that made +me love the poor thing I can tell you."</p> + +<p>"But how did it happen?" softly asked Edith.</p> + +<p>"Why Miss it ain't at all an extraordinary way in which he met his +death. It was in this way. He was very fond of me, poor boy, but he +liked his way better than my way too often. And may be I humoured him a +little too much. He was my Benjamin, you must know Miss, for his mother +died soon after he was born. Sure enough I made an idol of the lad, and +we read somewhere in the Bible, Miss, that 'the idols he will utterly +abolish.' But I don't like looking at the sorrow that way neither. I +would rather think that 'whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.' Well, +Miss, like father like son. My boy loved the sea, as was natural he +should, but he was too venturesome; I used often to say, 'Bob, the +oldest sailor living can't rule the waves and winds, and if you are such +a mad cap as to go out sailing in such equally weather on this coast, as +sure as you are alive you will repent it.' He and some young chaps +hereabouts, got such a wonderful notion of sailing, and though I have +sailed many and many a mile, in large vessels and small, I always hold +to it that it is ticklish work for the young and giddy. Why sometimes +you are on the sea, Miss, ah, as calm as it is now—all in peace and +safety—a squall comes, and before you know what you are about you are +capsized. I had told him this, and he knew it, Miss, but he got a good +many idle acquaintances, as I told you, and they tempted him often to do +bold reckless things such as boys call brave."</p> + +<p>"It was one morning at the end of September, Bob says to me, 'Father, we +are going to keep my birthday; I am sixteen to-day,' and so he was, +bless him, sixteen the very day he died. 'We are going to keep my +birthday,' says he, 'Newton, and Somers, and Franklin, and I, we are all +going to Witton,' that is the next town, Miss, as you may know, 'we are +going to have a sail there, and dine at grandmother's, and home again at +night, eh Father.' 'Bob,' says I, 'I can't give my consent; that +ticklish sailing boat of young Woods' requires wiser heads and steadier +hands than your's to manage. You know my opinion of sailing, and you +won't grieve me, I hope, by going.' I might have told him, but I did +not, that I did not like the lads he was going with, but I knew that +would only make him angry, and do no good just as his heart was set upon +a frolic with them, so I said nought of that, but I tried to win him, +(that's my way with the young ones,) though I failed this time; go he +would, and he would have gone, let me have been as angry as you please. +But I have this comfort, that no sharp words passed my lips that day, +and no bitter ones his. I saw he was set on the frolic, and I hoped no +harm would come of it. How I watched the sky that day, Miss, no mortal +knows; how I started when I saw a sea gull skim across the waves! how I +listened for the least sound of a squall! Snap was just as fidgetty +seemingly, and we kept stealing down to the beach, long before it was +likely they should be back. As I stood watching there in the evening, +where I knew they would land, I saw young Newton's mother; she pulled me +by my sleeve, anxious like, and said, 'What do you think of the weather +Joe?' 'Why, Missis,' said I, 'there is an ugly look about the sky, but I +don't wish to frighten you; please God they'll soon be home, for Bob +promised to be home early.'"</p> + +<p>"Well, Miss, there we stood, the waves washing our feet, till it grew +dark, and then I could stand it no longer. I said to the poor mother, +'keep a good heart,' but I had little hope myself, God knows, and off I +made for Witton. Well, they had not been there, I found the grandmother +had seen nothing of them. They were picked up a day or so after, all +four of them washed up by the morning tide; their boat had drifted no +one knows where, and no one knows how it happened; but I suppose they +were driven out by the fresh breeze that sprung up, and not knowing how +to manage the sails, they were capsized."</p> + +<p>"There they all lay. Miss, in the churchyard. It was a solemn sight, I +can tell you, to see those four coffins, side by side, in the church. +They were all strong hearty lads, and all under seventeen. I go and sit +on his grave sometimes, and spell over all I said, and all he said that +day; and glad enough I am, that I can remember neither cross word nor +cross look. Ah, my lady, I should remember it if it had been so. We +think we are good fathers and good friends to them we love while they +are alive, but as soon as we lose 'em, all the kindness we ever did them +seems little enough, while all the bad feelings we had, and sharp words +we spoke, come up to condemn us."</p> + +<p>By this time they had reached the fisherman's cottage; it was prettily +situated, as houses on the south coast often are, under the shadow of a +fine over-hanging cliff. Masses of rock, clad with emerald green, were +scattered here and there, and the thriving plants in the little garden, +gave evidence of the mildness of the air in those parts, though close +upon the sea. The cottage was very low, but white and cheerful looking +outside, and as clean and trim within as a notable and stirring woman +could make it. Joe's daughter-in-law, the same described by Joe the +other evening as the woman of a high spirit, was to-day absent on an +errand to the town; and Edith, who loved children, stopped at the +threshold to notice two or three little curly-headed prattlers, who were +playing together at grotto making, an amusement which cost grandfather +many a half-penny. Some dispute seemed to have arisen at the moment of +their entrance between the young builders, for a good-humoured, +plain-looking girl, of twelve, the nursemaid of the baby, and the +care-taker of four other little ones, was trying to pacify the +aggrieved. In vain—little Susy was in a great passion, and with her +tiny foot kicked over the grotto, the result of several hours' labour; +first, in searching on the shore for shells and pebbles, and secondly, +in its erection. Then arose such a shriek and tumult amongst the +children, as those only can conceive who know what a noise disappointed +little creatures, from three to seven years old, can make. They all set +upon Susy, "naughty, mischievous, tiresome," were among the words. The +quiet looking girl, who had been trying to settle the dispute, now +interfered again. She led Susy away gently, but firmly, into another +part of the garden, where spying her grandfather, she took the unwilling +and ashamed little girl for him to deal with, and ran hack to the crying +children and ruined grotto.</p> + +<p>"Oh, hush! dears, pray hush," said Sarah, beginning to pick up the +shells, "we will soon build it up again." This they all declared +impossible, and cried afresh, but Sarah persevered, and quietly went on +piling up the shells, till at last one little mourner took up her coarse +pinafore and wiping her eyes, said, "Sarah does it very nicely." The +grotto rose beautifully, and at last they were all quiet and happy +again; all but poor Susy, who, seeing herself excluded, kept up a +terrible whine. "I wonder if Susan is sorry," said Sarah. "Not she, not +she, don't ask her here again," said they all. "Why not," said the +grandfather, who having walked about with Susy awhile, and talked +gravely to her, appeared to have brought about a change in her temper? +"Why because she will knock it down again the first time any thing puts +her out." "Won't you try her?" said Sarah, pleadingly; but they still +said "No! no!" "Don't you mind the day, Dick," said Sarah, "when you +pulled grandfather's new net all into the mud, and tangled his twine, +and spoilt him a whole day's work?" "Yes," said Dick. "Ah, and don't +you mind, too, when he went out in the boat next day, and you asked to +go with him, just as if nothing had happened, and you had done no harm, +he said, 'ah, Dick, if I were to mind what <i>revenge</i> says, I would not +take you with me; you have injured me very much, but I'll mind what +<i>love</i> says, and that tells me to return good for evil?'" "Yes," says +Dick. "Do you think you could have hurt any thing of grandfather's after +that?" "No," said Dick, "but I did not do it in a rage, as Susy did." +"You did mischief, though," said Sarah; "but I want Susy to give over +going into these rages. I want to cure her. Beating her does no good, +mother says that herself; wont you all try and help to cure Susy?"</p> + +<p>These children were not angels. I am writing of children as they are you +know, and though they yielded, it was rather sullenly, and little Susan +was given to understand that she was not a very welcome addition. Susy +kept very close to Sarah, sobbing and heaving, till the children seeing +her subdued, made more room for her, and her smile returned. Now the +law of kindness prevailed, and when the time came to run down to the +shore for some more shells, to replace those that had been broken, Susy, +at Sarah's hint, ran first and fastest, and brought her little pinafore +fullest of all. Edith watched all this, and her good old mentor was +willing that she should. "I suppose you have taught them this way of +settling disputes," said Edith to Joe. "I, oh no, Miss, I can't take all +the credit. Sarah, there, she has taken to me very much since my Bob +died, and she said to me the day of his funeral, when her heart was soft +and tender-like, 'Grandfather, tell me what I can do to comfort you.' +'Oh, child,' says I, 'my grief is too deep for you to touch, but you are +a kind girl, I'll tell you what to do to-night. Leave me alone, and, oh, +try and make the children quiet, for my head aches as bad as my heart. +Sally.'"</p> + +<p>"Then Sarah tried that day and the next, but found it hard work; the +boys quarrelled and fought, and the little once scratched and cried, and +their mother came and beat one or two of the worst, but all did no good. +There was no peace till bed time; still I encouraged her and told her, +you know, about 'a soft answer turning away wrath,' and since that +time, she has less often given railing for railing; and has not huffed +and worried them, as elder sisters are apt to do. She is a good girl, is +Sarah, but here comes the Missis home from market." "The Missis" +certainly did not look very sweet, and her heavy load had heated her. +She did not welcome Edith pleasantly, which, the old man observing, led +her away to a little room he occupied at the back of the cottage, and +showed her the corallines.</p> + +<p>Edith saw plainly that though the poor father offered her any of them +she liked to take, he suffered in parting with them, so calling Dick and +Mary, she asked if they would hunt for some for her, like those in +grandfather's stores. They consented joyfully, and Edith promising often +to come and see the old man, ran down the cliff briskly, and hastened +home. She thought a good deal as she walked, and asked herself if she +should have had the patience and the gentleness of that poor cottage +girl; if she should have soothed Susy, and comforted Dick and Mary; if +she should have troubled herself to kneel down in the broiling sun and +build up a few trumpery shells into a grotto, to be upset and destroyed +presently. She came to the conclusion that for good, pleasant, prettily +behaved children, she might have done so, but for shrieking, passionate, +quarrelsome little things as they appeared to her then, she certainly +should not. She felt humbled at the contrast between herself and Sarah; +and when she arrived at home, for the first time, perhaps, in her life, +she patiently bore her mamma's reproaches for being so late, and for the +impropriety of walking away from her sisters, no one knew where. She was +not yet quite skilled enough in the art of peace, to give the "soft +answer;" but her silence and quietness turned away Mrs. Parker's wrath, +and after dinner, Edith prepared herself for the visit of her dear +Emilie.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_FOURTH"></a><h2>CHAPTER FOURTH.</h2> + +<p>THE HOLIDAYS.</p> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Parker and her two elder daughters were going to pay a visit to +town this summer, and as Edith was not thought old enough to accompany +them, Mrs. Parker resolved to ask Emilie to take charge of her. The only +difficulty was how to dispose of aunt Agnes; aunt Agnes wishing them to +believe that she did not mind being alone, but all the while minding it +very much. At last it occurred to Emilie that perhaps Mrs. Crosse, at +the farm in Edenthorpe, a few miles off, would, if she knew of the +difficulty, ask aunt Agnes there for a few weeks. Mrs. Crosse and aunt +Agnes got on so wonderfully well together, and as she had often been +invited, the only thing now was to get her in the mind to go. This was +effected in due time, and Mr. Crosse came up to the lodgings for her and +her little box, in his horse and gig, on the very evening that Emilie +was to go the Parkers', to be installed as housekeeper and governess in +the lady's absence. Edith had come to see the dear old aunt off; and now +re-entered the lodgings to help Emilie to collect her things, and to +settle with Miss Webster for the lodgings, before her departure. Miss +Webster had met with a tenant for six weeks, and was in very good +spirits, and very willing to take care of the Schombergs' goods, which, +to tell the truth, were not likely to oppress her either in number or +value, with the exception of one cherished article, one relic of former +days—a good semi-grand piano, which M. Schomberg had purchased for his +daughter, about a year before his death. Miss Webster looked very much +confused as Emilie bade her good-bye, and said—"Miss Schomberg, you +have not, I see, left your piano unlocked."</p> + +<p>"No," said Emilie, "certainly I have not; I did not suppose----"</p> + +<p>"Why," replied Miss Webster, "the lodgers, seeing a piano, will be sure +to ask for the key, Miss, and to be sure you wo'nt object."</p> + +<p>Emilie hesitated. Did she remember the time when Miss Webster, indignant +at Emilie for being a fortnight behind-hand in her weekly rent, refused +to lend a sofa for her dying father, without extra pay? Did she recall +the ill-made slops, the wretched attendance to which this selfish woman +treated them during the pressure of poverty and distress? Emilie was +human, and she remembered all. She knew, moreover, that Miss Webster +would make a gain of her instrument, and that it might suffer from six +weeks' rough use. She stood twisting some straw plait that lay on the +counter, in her fingers, and then coolly saying she would consider of +it, walked out of the shop with Edith, her bosom swelling with +conflicting feelings. The slight had been to her <i>father</i>—to her dear +dead father—she could not love Miss Webster, nor respect her—she could +not oblige her. She felt so now, however, and despised the meanness of +the lodging-house keeper, in making the request.</p> + +<p>Edith was by her side in good spirits, though she was to miss the London +journey. Not every young lady would be so content to remain all the +holiday-time with the governess; but Edith loved her governess. Happy +governess, to be loved by her pupil!</p> + +<p>Mrs. Parker received Emilie very kindly: she was satisfied that her +dear child would be happy in her absence, and she knew enough of Emilie, +she said, to believe that she would see that Mr. Parker had his meals +regularly and nicely served, and that the servants did not rob or run +away, or the boys put their dirty feet on the sofa, or bright fender +tops, or lead Edith into mischief; in short, the things that Emilie was +to see to were so numerous, that it would have required more eyes than +she possessed, and far more vigilance and experience than she lay claim +to, to fulfill all Mrs. Parker's desires.</p> + +<p>Amidst all the talking and novelty of her new situation, however, Emilie +was absent and thoughtful; she was dispirited, and yet she was not +subject to low spirits either. There was a cause. She had a tender +conscience—a conscience with which she was in the habit of conversing, +and conscience kept whispering to her the words—"What things soever ye +would that men should do unto you, do ye also to them." In vain she +tried to silence this monitor, and at last she asked to withdraw for a +few minutes, and scribbled a hasty note to Miss Webster; the first she +wrote was as follows:—</p> + +<p>"Dear Miss W.—I enclose the key of the pianoforte. I should have +acceded to your request, only I remembered standing on that very spot, +by that very counter, a year ago, petitioning hard for the loan of a +sofa for my dying father, who, in his feverish and restless state, +longed to leave the bed for awhile. I remembered that, and I could not +feel as if I could oblige you; but I have thought better of it, and beg +you will use the piano."</p> + +<p>"Yours truly,</p> + +<p>"EMILIE SCHOMBERG."</p> + +<p>She read the note before folding it, however; and somehow it did not +satisfy her. She crumpled it up, took a turn or two in the room, and +then wrote the following:—</p> + +<p>"Dear Miss Webster—I am sorry that I for a moment hesitated to lend you +my piano. It was selfish, and I hope you will excuse the incivility. I +enclose the key, and as your lodgers do not come in until to-morrow, I +hope the delay will not have inconvenienced you.</p> + +<p>"Believe me, yours truly,</p> + +<p>"EMILIE SCHOMBERG."</p> + +<p>Having sealed her little note, she asked Mrs. Parker's permission to +send it into High Street, and Emilie Schomberg was herself again. You +will see, by-and-bye, how Emilie returned Miss Webster's selfishness in +a matter yet more important than the loan of the piano. It would have +been meeting evil with evil had she retaliated the mean conduct of her +landlady. She would undoubtedly have done so, had she yielded to the +impulses of her nature; but "how then could I have prayed," said Emilie, +"forgive me my trespasses as I forgive them that trespass against me."</p> + +<p>The travellers set off early in the morning, and now began the holiday +of both governess and pupil. They loved one another so well that the +prospect of six weeks' close companionship was irksome to neither; but +Emilie had not a holiday of it altogether. Miss Edith was exacting and +petulant at times, even with those she loved, and she loved none better +than Emilie. Fred, the tormenting brother of whom Edith had spoken in +her list of troubles in our first chapter, was undeniably troublesome; +and the three maid-servants set themselves from the very first to resist +the governess's temporary authority; so we are wrong in calling these +Emilie's holidays. She had not, indeed, undertaken the charge very +willingly; but Mrs. Parker had befriended her in extremity, and she +loved Edith dearly, notwithstanding much in her that was not loveable, +so she armed herself for the conflict, and cheerfully and humbly +commenced her new duties.</p> + +<p>Fred and his elder brother John were at home for the holidays; they were +high-spirited lads of fourteen and fifteen years of age, and were +particularly fond of teasing both their elder sisters and little Edith; +a taste, by-the-bye, by no means peculiar to the Master Parkers, but one +which we cannot admire, nevertheless.</p> + +<p>The two boys, with Emilie and Edith, were on their way to pay aunt Agnes +a little visit, having received from Mrs. Crosse, at the farm, a request +for the honour of the young lady's company as well as that of her +brothers. John and Frederick were to walk, and Emily and Edith were to +go in the little pony gig. As they were leaving the town, Edith caught +sight of John coming out of a shop which was a favourite resort of most +of the young people and visitors of the town of L----. It was +professedly a stationer's and bookseller's, and was kept by Mrs. Cox, a +widow woman, who sold balls, fishing tackle, books, boats, miniature +spades, barrows, garden tools, patent medicines, &c., and who had +lately increased her importance, in the eyes of the young gentlemen, by +the announcement that various pyrotechnical wonders were to be obtained +at her shop. There are few boys who have not at some time of their +boyhood had a mania for pyrotechnics—in plain English, +<i>fire-works</i>—and there are few parents, and parents' neighbours, who +can say that they relish the smell of gunpowder on their premises.</p> + +<p>Mr. Parker had a particular aversion to amusements of the kind. He was +an enemy to fishing, to cricketing, to boating; he was a very quiet, +gentlemanly, dignified sort of man, and, although a kind father, had +perhaps set up rather too high a standard of quietness and order and +sedateness for his children. It is a curious fact, but one which it +would be rather difficult to disprove, that children not unfrequently +are the very opposites of their parents, in qualities such as I have +described. Possibly they may not have been inculcated quite in the right +manner; but that is not our business here.</p> + +<p>Edith guessed what her brothers were after, and told her suspicious to +Emilie; but not until they were within sight of the farm-house. John +and Fred, who had been a short cut across the fields, were in high glee +awaiting their arrival, and assisted Edith and her friend to alight more +politely than usual. Aunt Agnes was in ecstasies of delight to see her +dear Emilie, and she caressed Edith most lovingly also. Edith liked the +old lady, who had a fund of fairy tales, such as the German language is +rich in. Often would Edith go and sit by the old lady as she knitted, +and listen to the story of the "Flying Trunk," or the "Two Swans," with +untiring interest; and old ladies of a garrulous turn like good +listeners. So aunt Agnes called Edith a charming girl, and Edith, who +had seldom seen aunt Agnes otherwise than conversable and pleasant, +thought her a very nice old lady.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Crosse was extremely polite; and in the bustle of greeting, and +putting up the pony, and aunt Agnes' questions, the fire-work affair was +almost forgotten. When they all met at tea, the farmer, who had almost +as great a horror of gunpowder as Mr. Parker—and in the vicinity of +barns and stacks, with greater reason—declared he smelt a smell which +he never tolerated in his house, and asked his boys if they had any +about them. They denied it, but it was evident they knew something of +the matter; and now Emilie's concern was very great.</p> + +<p>After tea she took John by the arm, and looking into his face, said, "I +am going to be very intrusive, Sir; I am not your governess, and I have +no right to control you, but I wish to be your friend, and may I advise +you? Don't take those fire-works out on Mr. Crosse's premises, you have +no idea the mischief you might do. You could not have brought them to a +worse place. Be persuaded, pray do, to give it up." John, thus appealed +to, laughed heartily at Miss Schomberg's fears, said something not very +complimentary about Miss S. speaking one word for the farmer's stack, +and two for her own nerves, and made his escape to join his brother, and +the two young farmers, who were delighted at the prospect of a frolic.</p> + +<p>What was to be done? The lads were gone out, and doubtless would send up +their rockets and let off their squibs somewhere on the farm, which was +a very extensive one. The very idea of fire-works would put aunt Agnes +into a terrible state of alarm, so Emilie held her peace. To tell the +farmer would, she knew, irritate him fearfully; and yet no time was to +be lost. She was older than any of the party, and it was in reliance on +her discretion that the visit had been permitted. She appealed to Edith, +but Edith, who either had a little fancy to see the fire-works, or, who +feared her brothers' ridicule, or who thought Emilie took too much upon +herself, gave her no help in the matter.</p> + +<p>"Well, Edith," said Emilie, when the farmer's wife left the room to make +some preparation for a sumptuous supper, "I have made up my mind what to +do. I will not stay here if your brothers are to run any foolish risks +with those fire-works. I will go home at once, and tell your papa, he +will be in time to stop it; or I will apprise Mr. Crosse, and he can +take what steps he pleases."</p> + +<p>"Well, you will have a fine life of it, Miss Schomberg, if you tell any +tales, I can tell you," said Edith, pettishly, "and it really is no +business of yours. They are not under your care if I am. Oh, let them +be. Fred said he should let them off on the Langdale hills, far enough +away from the farm."</p> + +<p>But Emilie was firm. She tied on her bonnet, and determined to make one +more effort—it should be with Fred this time. She followed the track of +the lads, having first inquired of a farm-boy which road they had taken, +and as they had loitered, and she walked very fast, she soon overtook +them. They were seated on a bank by the road-side, when she got up to +them, and John was just displaying his treasures, squibs to make Miss +Edith jump, Catherine wheels, roman candles, sky-rockets, and blue +lights and crackers. The farmer's sons, Jerry and Tom, grinned +delightedly. Emilie stood for a few moments irresolute; the boys were +rude, and looked so daring—what should she say?</p> + +<p>"Young gentlemen," she began; they all took off their hats in mock +deference. "A woman preaching, I declare." "Go on. Madam, hear! hear! +hear!" said the young Crosses. "Young gentlemen," continued Emilie, with +emphasis, "it is to <i>you</i> I am speaking. I am determined that those +fire-works shall not be let off, if I can prevent it, on Mr. Crosse's +premises. If you will not give up your intention, I shall walk to L—, +and inform your father, and you know very well how displeased he will +be."</p> + +<p>"Who says we are going to let them off on Mr. Crosse's premises?" said +Fred, fiercely. "You are very interfering Miss Schomberg, will you go +back to your our own business, and to little Edith."</p> + +<p>"I will go to L----, master Fred," said Emilie, firmly, but kindly. "I +shall be sorry to get you into trouble, and I would rather not take the +walk, but I shall certainly do what I say if you persist."</p> + +<p>The boys looked doubtfully at one another. Fred seemed a little disposed +to yield, but to be conquered by his sister's governess was very +humiliating. However, they knew from Edith's account that Emilie, though +kind, was firm; and, therefore, after a little further altercation, they +agreed not to send up the fire-works that night, but they promised her +at the same time that she should not hear the last of it. They returned +to the farm much out of humour, and having hidden them in the box of the +pony gig, came in just in time for supper.</p> + +<p>The ride home was a silent one; Edith saw that her brothers were put +out, and began to think she did not like Emilie Schomberg to live with +at all. Emilie had done right, but she had a hard battle to fight; all +were against her. No one likes to be contradicted, or as Fred said, to +be managed. Emilie, however, went steadily on, speaking the truth, but +speaking it in love, and acting always "as seeing Him who is invisible."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_FIFTH"></a><h2>CHAPTER FIFTH.</h2> + +<p>EDITH'S TRIALS.</p> +<br> + +<p>"Now, Emilie, what do you think of my life?" said Edith, one day after +she and Fred had had one of their usual squabbles. "What do you think of +Fred <i>now</i>?"</p> + +<p>"I think, Edith, dear, that I would try and win him over to love and +affection, and not thwart and irritate him as you do. Have you forgotten +old Joe's maxim, 'a soft answer turneth away wrath?' but your grievous +words too often stir up strife. You told me the other day, dear, how +much the conduct of Sarah Murray pleased you; now you may act towards +John and Fred as Sarah did to little Susy."</p> + +<p>Edith shook her head. "It is not in me, Emilie, I am afraid."</p> + +<p>"No, dear," said Emilie, "you are right, it is not <i>in</i> you."</p> + +<p>"Well then what is the use of telling me to do things impossible?"</p> + +<p>"I did not say impossible, Edith, did I?"</p> + +<p>"No, but you say it is not in me to be gentle and all that, and I dare +say it is not; but you don't get much the better thought of, gentle as +you are. Miss Schomberg. John and Fred don't behave better to you than +they do to me, so far as I see."</p> + +<p>"Edith, dear, you set out wrong in your attempts to do right," said +Emily, kindly. "It is not <i>in</i> you; it is not <i>in</i> any one by nature to +be always gentle and kind. It is not in me I know. I was once a very +petulant child, being an only one, and it was but by very slow process +that I learned to govern myself, and I am learning it still."</p> + +<p>At this moment Fred came in, bearing in one hand a quantity of paper, +and in another a book with directions for balloon making. "Now Edith, +you are a clever young lady," he began.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Edith, wrathfully, "When it suits you, you can flatter."</p> + +<p>"No, but Edith, don't be cross, come! I want you to do me a service. I +want you to cut me out this tissue paper into the shape of this +pattern. I am going to send up a balloon to-morrow, and I can't cut it +out, will you do it for me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes," said Emilie, "we will do it together. Oh, come that is a +nice job, Edith dear, I can help you in that," and Emilie cleared away +her own work quick as thought, and asked Fred for particular directions +how it was to be done, all this time trying to hide Edith's +unwillingness to oblige her brother, and making it appear that Edith and +she were of one mind to help him.</p> + +<p>Fred, who since the fire-work affair had treated Emilie somewhat rudely, +and had on many occasions annoyed her considerably, looked in +astonishment at Miss Schomberg. She saw his surprise and understood it. +"Fred," said she frankly, "I know what you are thinking of, but let us +be friends. Give me the gratification of helping you to this pleasure, +since I hindered you of the other. You won't be too proud, will you, to +have my help?"</p> + +<p>Fred coloured. "Miss Schomberg," said he, "I don't deserve it of you, I +beg your pardon;" and thus they were reconciled.</p> + +<p>Oh, it is not often in great things that we are called upon to show +that we love our neighbour as ourselves. It is in the daily, hourly, +exercise of little domestic virtues, that they who truly love God may be +distinguished from those who love him not. It was not because Emilie was +naturally amiable or naturally good that she was thus able to show this +loving and forgiving spirit. She loved God, and love to him actuated +her; she thus adorned the doctrine of her Saviour in all things. Young +reader there is no such thing as a religion of words and feelings alone, +it must be a religion of <i>acts</i>; a life of warfare against the sins that +most easily beset you; a mortification of selfishness and pride, and a +humble acknowledgment, when you have done your <i>very best</i>, that you are +only unprofitable servants. Had you heard Emilie communing with her own +heart, you would have heard no self gratulation. She was far from +perfect even in the sight of man; in the sight of God she knew that in +many things she offended.</p> + +<p>It is not a perfect character that I would present to you in Emilie +Schomberg; but one who with all the weakness and imperfection of human +nature, made the will of God her rule and delight. This is not natural, +it is the habit of mind of those only who are created anew, new +creatures in Christ Jesus.</p> + +<p>This you may be sure Emilie did not fail to teach her pupil; but a great +many such lessons may be received into the head without one finding an +entrance to the heart, and Edith was in the not very uncommon habit of +looking on her faults in the light of misfortunes, just as any one might +regard a deformed limb or a painful disorder. She was, indeed, too much +accustomed to talk of her faults, and was a great deal too easy about +them.</p> + +<p>"My dear," Emilie would say after her confessions, "I do not believe you +see how sinful these things are, or surely you would not so very, very, +often commit them." This was the real state of the case; and it may be +said of all those who are in the habit of mere confessions, that they do +not believe things to be so very bad, because they do not understand how +very good and holy is the God against whom they sin. Edith had this to +learn; books could not teach her this. She who taught her all else so +well, could not teach her this; it was to be learned from a higher +source still.</p> + +<p>Well, you are thinking, some of you, that this is a prosy chapter, but +you must not skip it. It is just what Emily Schomberg would have said to +you, if you had been pupils of hers. The end of reading is not, or ought +not to be, mere amusement; so read a grave page now and then with +attention and thoughtfulness.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_SIXTH"></a><h2>CHAPTER SIXTH.</h2> + +<p>EMILIE'S TRIALS.</p> +<br> + +<p>The truth must be told of Emilie; she was not clever with her hands, and +she was, nevertheless, a little too confident in her power of execution, +so willing and anxious was she to serve you. The directions Fred gave +her were far from clear; and after the paper was all cut and was to be +pasted together, sorrowful to say, it would not do at all. Fred, in +spite of his late apology was very angry, and seizing the scissors said +he should know better another time than to ask Miss Schomberg to do what +she did not understand. "You have wasted my paper, too," said the boy, +"and my time in waiting for what I could better have done myself."</p> + +<p>Emilie was very sorry, and she said so; but a balloon could not exactly +be made out of her sorrow, and nothing short of a balloon would pacify +Fred, that was plain. "Must it be ready for to-morrow?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it <i>must</i>," he said. Three other boys were going to send up +balloons. It was the Queen's coronation day, and he had promised to take +a fourth balloon to the party; and the rehearsal of all this stirred up +Fred's ire afresh, and he looked any thing but kind at Miss Schomberg. +What was to be done? Edith suggested driving to the next market town to +buy one; but her papa wanted the pony gig, so they could only sally +forth to Mrs. Cox's for some more tissue paper, and begin the work +again. This was very provoking to Edith.</p> + +<p>"To have spent all the morning and now to be going to spend all the +afternoon over a trumpery balloon, which you can't make after all, Miss +Schomberg, is very tiresome, and I wanted to go to old Joe Murray's +to-day and see if the children have picked me up any corallines."</p> + +<p>"I am very sorry, dear, my carelessness should punish you; but don't +disturb me by grumbling and I will try and get done before tea, and then +we will go together." This time Emilie was more successful; she took +pains to understand what was to be done, and the gores of her balloon +fitted beautifully.</p> + +<p>"Now Edith, dear, ring for some paste," said Emilie, just as the clock +struck four; Margaret answered the bell. Margaret was the housemaid, and +so far from endeavouring in her capacity to overcome evil with good, she +was perpetually making mischief and increasing any evil there might be, +either in kitchen or parlour, by her mode of delivering a message. She +would be sure to add her mite to any blame that she might hear, in her +report to the kitchen, and thus, without being herself a bad or violent +temper, was continually fomenting strife, and adding fuel to the fire of +the cook, who was of a very choleric turn. The request for paste was +civilly made and received, but Emilie unfortunately called Margaret back +to say, "Oh, ask cook, please, to make it stiffer than she did the last +that we had for the kite; that did not prove quite strong."</p> + +<p>Margaret took the message down and informed cook that "Miss Schomberg +did not think she knew how to make paste." "Then let her come and make +it herself," said cook. "She wants to be cook I think; she had better +come. I sha'nt make it. What is it for?"</p> + +<p>"Oh," said Margaret, "she is after some foreign filagree work of hers, +that's all."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm busy now and I am not going to put myself out about it, she +must wait."</p> + +<p>Emilie did wait the due time, but as the paste did not come she went +down for it. "Is the paste ready, cook?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"No, Miss Schomberg," was the short reply, and cook went on assiduously +washing up her plates.</p> + +<p>"Will you be so kind as to make it, cook, for I want it particularly +that it may have as much time as possible to dry."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you will make it yourself then," was the gracious rejoinder. +Emilie was not above making a little paste, and as she saw that +something had put cook out, she willingly consented; but she did not +know where to get either flour or saucepan, and cook and Margaret kept +making signs and laughing, so that it was not very pleasant. She grew +quite hot, as she had to ask first for a spoon, then for a saucepan, +then for the flour and water; at last she modestly turned round and +said, "Cook, I really do not quite know how to make a little paste. I +am ashamed to say it, but I have lived so long in lodgings that I see +nothing of what is done in the kitchen. Will you tell or show me? I am +very ignorant."</p> + +<p>Her kind civil tone quite changed cook's, and she said, "Oh, Miss, I'll +make it, only you see, you shouldn't have said I didn't know how." +Emilie explained, and the cook was pacified, and gave Miss Schomberg a +good deal of gratuitous information during the process. How she did not +like her place, and should not stay, and how she disliked her mistress, +and plenty more—to which Emilie listened politely, but did not make +much reply. She plainly perceived that cook wanted a very forbearing +mistress, but she could not exactly tell her so. She merely said in her +quaint quiet way, that every one had something to bear, and the paste +being made, she left the kitchen.</p> + +<p>"Well, I must say, Miss Schomberg has a nice way of speaking, which gets +over you some how," said cook, "I wish I had her temper."</p> + +<p>More than one in the kitchen mentally echoed that wish of cook's.</p> + +<p>The balloon went on beautifully, and was completed by seven o'clock. +Fred was delighted when he came in to tea, and John no less so. All the +rude speeches were forgotten, and Emilie was as sympathetic in her joy +as an elder sister could have been. "I don't know what you will do +without Miss Schomberg," said Mr. Parker, as he sipped his tea.</p> + +<p>"She had better come and live with us," said Fred, "and keep us all in +order. I'm sure I should have no objection."</p> + +<p>Emilie felt quite paid for the little self-denial she had exercised, +when she found that her greatest enemy, he who had declared he would +"plague her to death, and pay her off for not letting them send up their +fire-works," was really conquered by that powerful weapon, <i>love</i>.</p> + +<p>Fred had thought more than he chose to acknowledge of Emilie's kindness; +he could not forget it. It was so different to the treatment he had met +with from his associates generally. It made him ask what could be the +reason of Emilie's conduct. She had nothing to get by it, that was +certain, and Fred made up his mind to have some talk with Miss Schomberg +on the subject the first time they were alone. He had some trials at +school with a boy who was bent on annoying him, and trying to stir up +his temper; perhaps the peacemaker might tell him how to deal with this +lad. Fred was an impetuous boy, and now began to like Miss Schomberg as +warmly as he had previously disliked her.</p> + +<p>On their way to old Joe's house that night, Emilie thought she would +call in on Miss Webster, not having parted from her very warmly on the +first night of the holidays. A fortnight of these holidays had passed +away, and Emilie began to long for her quiet evenings, and to see dear +aunt Agnes again. She looked quite affectionately up to the little +sitting room window, where her geraniums stood, and even thought kindly +of Miss Webster herself, to whom it was not quite so easy to feel +genial. She entered the shop. The apprentice sate there at work, busily +trimming a fine rice straw bonnet for the lodger within. She looked up +joyously at Emilie's approach. She thought how often that kind German +face had been to her like a sunbeam on a dull path; how often her +musical voice had spoken words of counsel, and comfort, and sympathy, +to her in her hard life. How she had pressed her hand when she (the +apprentice) came home one night and told her, "My poor mother is dead," +and how she had said, "We are both orphans now, Lucy. We can feel for +one another." How she had taught her by example, often, and by word +sometimes, not to answer again if any thing annoyed or irritated her, +and in short how much Lucy had missed the young lady only Lucy could +say.</p> + +<p>Emilie inquired for her mistress, but the words were scarcely out of her +lips, than she said, "Oh, Miss, she's so bad! She has scalt her foot, +and is quite laid up, and the lodgers are very angry. They say they +don't get properly attended to and so they mean to go. Dear me, there is +such a commotion, but her foot is very had, poor thing, and I have to +mind the shop, or I would wait upon her more; and the girl is very +inattentive and saucy, so that I don't see what we are to do. Will you +go and see Miss Webster, Miss?"</p> + +<p>Emilie cheerfully consented, leaving Edith with Lucy to learn straw +plaiting, if she liked, and to listen to her artless talk. Lucy had less +veneration for the name of Queen Victoria than for that of Schomberg. +Emilie was to her the very perfection of human nature, and accordingly +she sang her praises loud and long.</p> + +<p>On the sofa, the very sofa for which M. Schomberg had so longed, lay +Miss Webster, the expression of her face manifesting the greatest pain. +The servant girl had just brought up her mistress's tea, a cold, +slopped, miserable looking mess. A slice of thick bread and butter, half +soaked in the spilled beverage, was on a plate, and that a dirty one; +and the tray which held the meal was offered to the poor sick woman so +carelessly, that the contents were nearly shot into her lap. It was easy +to see that love formed no part of Betsey's service of her mistress, and +that she rendered every attention grudgingly and ill. Emilie went up +cordially to Miss Webster, and was not prepared for the repulsive +reception with which she met. She wondered what she could have said or +done, except, indeed, in the refusal of the instrument, and that was +atoned for. Emilie might have known, however, that nothing makes our +manners so distant and cold to another, as the knowledge that we have +injured or offended him. Miss Webster, in receiving Emilie's advances, +truly was experiencing the truth of the scripture saying, that coals of +fire should be heaped on her head.</p> + +<p>Poor Miss Webster! "There! set down the tray, you may go, and don't let +me see you in that filthy cap again, not fit to be touched with a pair +of tongs; and don't go up to Mrs. Newson in that slipshod fashion, don't +Betsey; and when you have taken up tea come here, I have an errand for +you to go. Shut the door gently. Oh, dear! dear, these servants!"</p> + +<p>This was so continually the lament of Miss Webster, that Emilie would +not have noticed it, but that she appeared so miserable, and she +therefore kindly said, "I am afraid Betsey does not wait on you nicely, +Miss Webster, she is so very young. I had no idea of this accident, how +did it happen?"</p> + +<p>How it happened took Miss Webster some time to tell. It happened in no +very unusual manner, and the effect was a scalt foot, which she +forthwith shewed Miss Schomberg. There was no doubt that it was a very +bad foot, and Emilie saw that it needed a good nurse more than a good +doctor. Mr. Parker was a medical man, and Emilie knew she should have no +difficulty in obtaining that kind of assistance for her. But the +nursing! Miss Webster was feverish and uneasy, and in such suffering +that something must be done. At the sight of her pain all was forgotten, +but that she was a fellow-creature, helpless and forsaken, and that she +must be helped.</p> + +<p>All this time any one coming in might have imagined that Emilie had been +the cause of the disaster, so affronted was Miss Webster's manner, and +so pettishly did she reject all her visitor's suggestions as +preposterous and impossible.</p> + +<p>"Will you give up your walk to-night, Edith," said Emilie on her return +to the shop, "Poor Miss Webster is in such pain I cannot leave her, and +if you would run home and ask your papa to step in and see her, and say +she has scalt her foot badly, I would thank you very much."</p> + +<p>Emilie spoke earnestly, so earnestly that Edith asked if she were grown +very fond of that "sour old maid all of a sudden."</p> + +<p>"Very fond! No Edith; but it does not, or ought not to require us to be +very fond of people to do our duty to them."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't see what duty you owe to that mean creature, and I see no +reason why I should lose my walk again to-night. You treat people you +don't love better than those you do it seems; or else your professions +of loving me mean nothing. All day long you have been after Fred's +balloon, and now I suppose mean to be all night long after Miss +Webster's foot."</p> + +<p>Emilie made no reply; she could only have reproached Edith for +selfishness and temper at least equal to Miss Webster's, but telling +Lucy she should soon return, hastened to Mr. Parker's house, followed by +Edith; he was soon at the patient's side, and as Emilie foretold, it was +a case more for an attentive nurse than a skilful doctor. He promised to +send her an application, but, "Miss Schomberg," said he, "sleep is what +she wants; she tells me she has had no rest since the accident occurred. +What is to be done?" "Can you not send for a neighbour, Miss Webster, or +some one to attend to your household, and to nurse you too. If you worry +yourself in this way you will be quite ill."</p> + +<p>Poor Miss Webster was ill, she knew it; and having neither neighbour +nor friend within reach, she did what was very natural in her case, she +took up her handkerchief and began to cry. "Oh, come, Miss Webster," +said Emilie, cheerfully, "I will get you to bed, and Lucy shall come +when the shop is closed, and to-morrow I will get aunt Agnes to come and +nurse you. Keep up your spirits."</p> + +<p>"Ah, it is very well to talk of keeping up spirits, and as to your aunt +Agnes, there never was any love lost between us. No thank you, Miss +Schomberg, no thank you. If I may just trouble you to help me to the +side of my bed, I can get in, and do very well alone. <i>Good</i> night." +Emilie stood looking pitifully at her. "I hope I don't keep you, Miss +Schomberg, pray don't stay, you cannot help me," and here Miss Webster +rose, but the agony of putting her foot to the ground was so great that +she could not restrain a cry, and Emilie, who saw that the poor sufferer +was like a child in helplessness, and like a child, moreover, in +petulance, calmly but resolutely declared her intention of remaining +until Lucy could leave the shop.</p> + +<p>Having helped her landlady into bed, she ran down-stairs to try and +appease the indignant lodgers, who protested, and with truth, that they +had rung, rung, rung, and no one answered the bell; that they wanted +tea, that Miss Webster had undertaken to wait on them, that they were +<i>not</i> waited on, and that accordingly they would seek other lodgings on +the morrow, they would, &c., &c. "Miss Webster, ma'am, is very ill +to-night. She has a young careless servant girl, and is, I assure you, +very much distressed that you should be put out thus. I will bring up +your tea, ma'am, in five minutes, if you will allow me. It is very +disagreeable for you, but I am sure if you could see the poor woman, +ma'am, you would pity her." Mrs. Harmer did pity her only from Emilie's +simple account of her state, and declared she was very sorry she had +seemed angry, but the girl did not say her mistress was ill, only that +she was lying down, which appeared very disrespectful and inattentive, +when they had been waiting two hours for tea.</p> + +<p>The shop was by this time cleared up, and Lucy was able to attend to the +lodgers. Whilst Emilie having applied the rags soaked in the lotion +which had arrived, proceeded to get Miss Webster a warm and neatly +served cup of tea.</p> + +<p>It would have been very cheering to hear a pleasant "thank you;" but +Miss Webster received all these attentions with stiff and almost silent +displeasure. Do not blame her too severely, a hard struggle was going +on; but the law of kindness is at work, and it will not fail.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_SEVENTH"></a><h2>CHAPTER SEVENTH.</h2> + +<p>BETTER THINGS.</p> +<br> + +<p>"Ah, if Miss Schomberg had asked me to wait on <i>her</i>, how gladly would I +have done it, night after night, day after day, and should have thought +myself well paid with a smile; but to sit up all night with a person, +who cares no more for me, than I for her, and that is nothing! and then +to have to get down to-morrow and attend to the shop, all the same as if +I had slept well, is no joke. Oh, dear me! how sleepy I am, two o'clock! +I was to change those rags at two; I really scarcely dare attempt it, +she seems so irritable now." So soliloquized Lucy, who, kindhearted as +she was, could not be expected to take quite so much delight in nursing +her cross mistress, who never befriended her, as she would have done a +kinder, gentler person; but Lucy read her Bible, and she had been +trying, though not so long as Emilie, nor always so successfully it +must be owned, to live as though she read it.</p> + +<p>"Miss Webster, ma'am, the doctor said those rags were to be changed +every two hours. May I do it for you? I can't do it as well as Miss +Schomberg, but I will do my very best not to hurt you."</p> + +<p>"I want sleep child," said Miss Webster, "I want <i>sleep</i>, leave me +alone."</p> + +<p>"You can't sleep in such pain, ma'am," said poor Lucy, quite at her wits +ends.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think, I must know that as well as you? There! there's that +rush light gone out, and you never put any water in the tin; a pretty +nurse you make, now I shall have that smell in my nose all night. You +must have set it in a draught. What business has a rush light to go out +in a couple of hours? I wonder."</p> + +<p>Lucy put the obnoxious night shade out of the room, and went back to the +bedside. For a long time she was unsuccessful, but at last Miss Webster +consented to have her foot dressed, and even cheered her young nurse by +the acknowledgment that she did it very well, considering; and thus the +night wore away.</p> + +<p>Quite early Emilie was at her post, and was grieved to see that Miss +Webster still looked haggard and suffering, and as if she had not slept. +In answer to her inquiries, Lucy said that she had no rest all night.</p> + +<p>"Rest! and how can I rest, Miss Schomberg? I can't afford to lose my +lodgers, and lose them I shall."</p> + +<p>"Only try and keep quiet," said Emilie, "and I will see that they do not +suffer from want of attendance. <i>You</i> cannot help them, do consent to +leave all thought, all management, to those who can think and manage. +May aunt Agnes come and nurse you, and attend to the housekeeping?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," was reluctantly, and not very graciously uttered.</p> + +<p>"Well then, Lucy will have time to attend to you. I would gladly nurse +you myself, but you know I may not neglect Miss Parker; now take this +draught, and try and sleep."</p> + +<p>"Miss Schomberg," said the poor woman, "you won't lack friends to nurse +you on a sick bed; I have none."</p> + +<p>"Miss Webster, if I were to be laid on a sick bed, and were to lose aunt +Agnes, I should be alone in a country that is not my own country, +without money and without friends; but we may both of us have a friend +who sticketh closer than a brother, think of him, ma'am, now, and ask +him to make your bed in your sickness."</p> + +<p>She took the feverish hand of the patient as she said this, who, +bursting into a flood of tears, replied, "Ah, Miss Schomberg! I don't +deserve it of you, and that is the truth; but keep my hand, it feels +like a friend's, hold it, will you, and I think I shall sleep a little +while;" and Emilie stood and held her hand, stood till she was faint and +weary, and then withdrawing it as gently as ever mother unloosed an +infant's hold, she withdrew, shaded the light from the sleeper's eyes, +and stole out of the room, leaving the sufferer at ease, and in one of +those heavy sleeps which exhaustion and illness often produce.</p> + +<p>Her visit to the kitchen was most discouraging. Betsey was only just +down, and the kettle did not boil, nor were any preparations made for +the lodgers' breakfast, to which it only wanted an hour. Emilie could +have found it in her heart to scold the lazy, selfish girl, who had +enjoyed a sound sleep all night, whilst Lucy had gone unrefreshed to +her daily duties, but she forebore. "Scolding never does answer," +thought Emilie, "and I won't begin to-day, but I must try and reform +this girl at all events, by some means, and that shall be done at once."</p> + +<p>"Come, Betsey," said Emilie pleasantly, "now, we shall see what sort of +a manager you will be; you must do all you can to make things tidy and +comfortable for the lodgers. Is their room swept and dusted?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, deary me, Miss, what time have I had for that, I should like to +know?"</p> + +<p>"Well now, get every thing ready for their breakfast, and pray don't +bang doors or make a great clatter with the china, as you set the table. +Every sound is heard in this small house, and your mistress has had no +sleep all night."</p> + +<p>"Well, she'll be doubly cross to day, then, I'll be bound. Howsoever, I +shall only stay my month, and it don't much matter what I do, she never +gives a servant a good character, and I don't expect it."</p> + +<p>"No, and you will not deserve it if you are inattentive and unfeeling +now. It is not doing as you would be done by, either. Do now, Betsey, +forget, for a few days, that Miss Webster ever scolded or found fault +with you. If you want to love any one just do him a kindness, and you +don't know how fast love springs up in the heart; you would be much +happier, Betsey, I am sure. Come <i>try</i>, you are not a cross girl, and +you don't mean to be unkind now. I shall expect to hear from Lucy, when +I come again, how well you have managed together."</p> + +<p>Fred went to Mr. Crosse's after breakfast, in the pony gig, for aunt +Agnes, who, at a summons from Emilie, was quite willing to come and see +after Miss Webster's household. She soon put mutters into a better +train, both in kitchen and parlour, so that the pacified lodgers +consented to remain. And though neither Lucy nor Betsey altogether liked +aunt Agnes, they found her quite an improvement on Miss Webster.</p> + +<p>It is not our object to follow Miss Webster through her domestic +troubles nor through the tedious process of the convalescence of a scalt +foot. We will rather follow Edith into her chamber, and see how she is +trying to learn the arts of the Peacemaker there.</p> + +<p>Edith's head is bent over a book, a torn book, and her countenance is +flushed and heated. She is out of breath, too, and her hair is hanging +disordered about her pretty face; not pretty now, however; it is an +angry face—and an angry face is never pretty.</p> + +<p>Has she been quarrelling with Fred again? yes, even so. Fred would not +give up Hans Andersen's Tales, which Emilie had just given Edith, and +which she was reading busily, when some one came to see her about a new +bonnet, so she left the book on the table, and in the mean time Fred +came in, snatched it up, and was soon deep in the feats of the "Flying +Trunk." Then came the little lady back and demanded the book, not very +pleasantly, if the truth must be told. Fred meant to give it up, but he +meant to tease his sister first, and Edith, who had no patience to wait, +snatched at the book. Fred of course resisted, and it was not until the +book had been nearly parted from its cover, and some damage had ensued +to the dress and hair of both parties that Edith regained possession; +not <i>peaceable</i> possession, however, for both of the children's spirits +were ruffled.</p> + +<p>Edith flew to her room almost as fast as if she had been on the "Flying +Trunk," in the Fairy Tale. When there, she could not read, and in +displeasure with herself and with every one, dashed the little volume +away and cried long and bitterly. Edith had not been an insensible +spectator of the constantly and self-denying gentle conduct of Emilie. +Her example, far more than her precepts, had affected her powerfully, +but she had much to contend with, and it seemed to her as if at the very +times she meant to be kind and gentle something occurred to put her out. +"I <i>will</i> try, oh, I will try," said Edith again and again, "but it is +such hard work."—Yes, Edith, hard enough, and work which even Emilie +can scarcely help you in. You wrestle against a powerful and a cruel +enemy, and you need great and powerful aid; but you have read your Bible +Edith, and again and again has Emilie said to you, "of yourself you can +do nothing."</p> + +<p>Edith had had a long conversation on this very subject only that morning +with her friend, as they were walking on the sea shore, and under the +influence of the calm lovely summer's sky, and within the sound of +Emilie's clear persuasive voice, it did not seem a hard matter to Edith +to love and to be loving. She could love Fred, she could even bear a +rough pull of the hair from him, she could stand a little teasing from +John, who found fault with a new muslin frock she wore at dinner, and we +all know it is not pleasant to have our dress found fault with; but this +attack of Fred's about the book, was <i>not</i> to be borne, not by Edith, at +least, and thus she sobbed and cried in her own room, thinking herself +the most miserable of creatures, and very indignant that Emilie did not +come to comfort her; "but she is gone out after that tiresome old woman, +with her scalt foot, I dare say," said Edith, "and she would only tell +me I was wrong if she were here—oh dear! oh dear me!" and here she +sobbed again.</p> + +<p>Solitude is a wonderfully calming, composing thing; Emilie knew that, +and she did quite right to leave Edith alone. It was time she should +listen seriously to a voice which seldom made itself heard, but +conscience was resolute to-day, and did not spare Edith. It told her all +the truth, (you may trust conscience for that,) it told her that the +very reason why she failed in her efforts to do right was because she +had a wrong <i>motive</i>; and that was, love of the approbation of her +fellow creatures, and not real love to God. She would have quarrelled +with any one else who dared to tell her this; but it was of no use +quarrelling with conscience. Conscience had it all its own way to-day, +and went on answering every objection so quietly, and to the point, that +by degrees Edith grew quiet and subdued; and what do you think she did? +She took up a little Bible that lay on her table, and began to read it. +She could not pray as yet. She did not feel kind enough for that. Emilie +had often said to her that she should be at peace with every one before +she lifted up her heart to the "God of peace." She turned over the +leaves and tried to find the chapter, which she knew very well, about +the king who took account of his servants, and who forgave the man the +great debt of ten thousand talents; and then when that man went out and +found his servant who owed him but one hundred pence, he took him by the +throat, and said, "Pay me that thou owest." In vain did the man beseech +for patience, he that had only just been forgiven ten thousand talents +could not have pity on the man who owed him but one hundred pence.</p> + +<p>Often had Edith read this chapter, and very just was her indignation +against the hard-hearted servant, who, with his king's lesson of mercy +and forgiveness fresh in his memory, could not practise the same to one +who owed him infinitely less than he had done his master; and yet here +was little Edith who could not forgive Fred his injuries, when, +nevertheless, God was willing to forgive hers. Had Fred injured her as +she had injured God? surely not; and yet she might now kneel down and +receive at once the forgiveness of all her <i>great</i> sins. Nay, more: she +had been receiving mercy and patience at the hands of her Heavenly +Father many years. She had neglected Him, done many things contrary to +his law, owed him, indeed, the ten thousand talents, and yet she was +spared.</p> + +<p>She had a great deal of revenge in her heart still, however; and she +could not, reason as she would, try as she would, read as she would, get +it out, so she sunk down on her knees, and lifted up her heart very +sincerely, to ask God to take it away. She had often said her prayers, +and had found no difficulty in that, but now it seemed quite different. +She could find no words, she could only feel. Well, that was enough. He +who saw in secret, saw her heart, and knew how it felt. She felt she +needed forgiveness, and that she could only have it by asking it of Him +who had power to forgive sins. She took her great debt to Jesus, and he +cancelled it; she hoped she was forgiven, and now, oh! how ready she +felt to forgive Fred. How small a sum seemed his hundred pence—his +little acts of annoyances compared with her many sins against God. Now +she felt and understood the meaning of the Saviour's lesson to Peter. +She had entered the same school as Peter, and though a slow she was a +sincere learner.</p> + +<p>She is in the right way now to learn the true law of kindness. None but +the <i>Saviour,</i> who was love itself, could teach her this. If any earthly +teacher could have done so, surely Emilie would have succeeded.</p> + +<p>She went down to tea softened and sad, for she felt very humble. The +consideration of her great unlikeness to the character of Jesus, +affected her. "When he was reviled he reviled not again; when he +suffered he threatened not;" and this thought made her feel more than +any sermon or lecture or reproof she ever had in her life, how she +needed to be changed, her whole self changed; not her old bad nature +<i>patched</i> up, but her whole heart made <i>new</i>. She did not say much at +tea; she did not formally apologise to Fred for her conduct to him. He +looked very cross, so perhaps it was wiser to act rather than to speak; +but she handed him the bread and butter, and buttered him a piece of +toast, and in many little quiet ways told him she wished to be friends +with him. John began at her frock again. She could not laugh, (she was +not in a laughing humour,) but she said she would not wear it any more, +during his holidays, if he disliked it so <i>very</i> much. The greatest +trial to her temper was the being told she looked cross. Emilie, who +could see the sun of peace behind the cloud, was half angry herself at +this speech, and said to Mr. Parker, "If she looks cross she is not +cross, Sir, but I think she is not in very good spirits. Every one looks +a little sad sometimes;" and Mr. Porker, happily, being called out to a +patient at that moment, gave Edith opportunity to swallow her grief.</p> + +<p>After tea the boys prepared to accompany their sister and her governess +in the usual evening walk. Edith did not desire their company, but she +did not say so; and they all went out very silent for them. On their +road to the beach they met a man who had a cage of canaries to sell, the +very things that Fred had desired so long, and to purchase which he had +saved his money.</p> + +<p>Edith had no taste for noisy canaries; few great talkers have, for they +do interrupt conversation must undeniably, but Fred thought it would be +most delightful to have them, and as he had a breeding cage which had +belonged to one of his elder sisters years before, he asked the price +and began to make his bargain. The birds were bought and the man +dispatched to the house with them, with orders to call for payment at +nine o'clock, before Fred remembered that he did not exactly know where +he should keep them. In the sitting room it would be quite out of the +question he knew, for the noise would distract his mother. Papa was not +likely to admit canaries into his study for consultations; and Fred knew +only of one likely or possible place, but the door to that was closed, +unless he could find a door to Edith's heart, and he had just quarrelled +with Edith; what a pity! To make it up with her, however, just to gain +his point, he was too proud to do, and was therefore gloomy and uncivil.</p> + +<p>"Where are you going to keep your canaries Fred?" asked his sister.</p> + +<p>"In the cage," said Fred, shortly and tartly.</p> + +<p>"Yes; but in what room?"</p> + +<p>"In my bed-room," said Fred.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I dare say! will you though?" said John, who as he shared his +brother's apartment had some right to have a voice in the matter. "I am +not going to be woke at daylight every morning by your canaries. And +such an unwholesome plan; I am sure papa and mamma won't let you. What a +pity you bought the birds! you can't keep them in our small house. Get +off your bargain, I would if I were you. Besides, who will take care of +them all the week? they will want feeding other days besides Saturdays, +I suppose."</p> + +<p>Fred looked annoyed, and dropped behind the party. Edith whispered to +Emilie, "Go you on with John, I want to talk to Fred."</p> + +<p>"Fred, dear," said she, "will you keep your birds in my little room, +where my old toys are? I will clear a place, and I shan't mind their +singing, <i>do</i> Fred. I have often hindered your pleasures, now let me +have the comfort of making it up a little to you, and I will feed them +and clean them while you are at school in the week."</p> + +<p>"You may change your mind Edith, and you know if my birds are in your +room, I shall have to be there a good deal; and they will make a rare +noise sometimes, and some one must take care of them all the week—I can +only attend to them on Saturdays, you know."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have been thinking of all that, and I expect I shall sometimes +<i>wish</i> to change my mind, but I shall not do it. I am very selfish I +know, but I mean to try to be better, Fred. Take my little room, do."</p> + +<p>Fred was a proud boy, and would rather have had to thank any one than +Edith just then; but nevertheless he accepted her offer, and thanked his +little sister, though not quite so kindly as he might have done, and +that is the truth. There is a grace in accepting as well as in giving. +Edith had given up what she had much prized, the independence of a +little room, (it was but a little one,) a little room all to herself; +but she did so because she felt love springing up in her heart. She +acted in obedience to the dictates of the law of kindness, and she felt +lighter and happier than she had done for a long time. Fred was by +degrees quite cheered, and amused his companions by his droll talk for +some way. Spying, however, one of his school-fellows on the rocks at a +distance, he and John, joined him abruptly, and thus Emilie and Edith +were left alone.</p> + +<p>Sincerity is never loquacious, never egotistic. If you don't understand +these words I will tell you what I mean. A person really in earnest; and +sincere, does not talk much of earnestness and sincerity, still loss of +himself. Edith could not tell Emilie of her new resolutions, of her +mental conflict, but she was so loving and affectionate in her manner to +her friend, that I think Emilie understood; at any rate, she saw that +Edith was very pleasant, and very gentle that night, and loved her more +than ever. She saw and felt there was a change come over her. They +walked far, and on their return found the canaries arrived, and Fred +very busy in putting them up in their new abode. He had rather +unceremoniously moved Edith's bookcase and boxes, to make room for the +bird cages. She did say, "I think you might have asked my leave," but +she instantly recalled it. "Oh, never mind; what pretty little things, I +shall like to have them with me."</p> + +<p>It really was a trial to Edith to see all her neat arrangements upset, +and to find how very coolly Fred did it, too. She sighed and thought, +"Ah, I shall not be mistress here now I see!" but Fred was gone down +stairs for some water and seed, and did not hear her laments. He was +very full of his scheme for canary breeding at supper, and Emilie was +quite as full of sympathy in his joy as Fred desired; she took a real +interest in the matter. Her father, she said, had given much attention +to canary breeding, for the Germans were noted for their management of +canaries; she could help him, she thought, if he would accept her help. +So they were very merry over the affair at supper time, and Mr. Parker, +in his quiet way, enjoyed it too. Suddenly, however, the merriment +received a check. Margaret, who had been to look at the birds, came in +with the intelligence that Muff, the pet cat of Miss Edith, was sitting +in the dusk, watching the canaries with no friendly eye, and that she +had even made a dart at the cage; and she prophesied that the birds +would not be safe long. A bird of ill omen was Margaret always; she +thought the worst and feared the worst of every one, man or animal. +"Why, it is easy to keep the door of the cage shut," John remarked, but +to keep puss out of her old haunts was not possible.</p> + +<p>Muff was not a kitten, but a venerable cat, who had belonged to Edith's +elder sister, and was given to Edith, the day that sister married, as a +very precious gift; and Edith loved that grey cat, loved her dearly. She +always sat in the same place in that dear little room. Edith had only +that day made her a new red leather collar, and Muff looked very smart +in it. "Muff won't hurt the birds, Fred dear," said Edith, "she is not +like a common cat." Whatever points of dissimilarity there might he +between Muff and the cat race in general, in this particular she quite +resembled them; she loved birds, and would not be very nice as to the +manner of obtaining them. What was to be done? Fred had all manner of +projects in his head for teaching the canaries to fly out and in the +cage, to bathe, to perch on his finger, etc.; but if, whenever any one +chanced to leave the door of the room open, Muff were to bounce in, why +there was an end to all such schemes. In short, Muff would get the birds +by fair means or foul, there was no doubt of that, and Fred was +desperate. I cannot tell how many times Muff was called "a nasty cat," +"a tiresome cat," "a vicious cat," and little Edith's heart was full, +for she did not believe any evil of her favourite; and to hear her so +maligned, seemed like a personal insult; but she bore it patiently. She +asked Emilie at bed time what she should do about Muff; she had so long +been accustomed to her seat by the sunny window in Edith's room, that to +try and tempt her from it she knew would be vain.</p> + +<p>Emilie agreed with her, but hoped Muff would practise self-denial. +Before Edith lay down to rest that night, she again thought over all +that she had done through the day; again knelt down and asked for help +to overcome that which was sinful within her, and then lay down to +sleep. Edith was but a child, and she could not forget Muff; she +thought, and very truly, that there was a general wish to displace her +Muff. Not one in the house would be sorry to see Muff sent away she +know, and Margaret at supper time seemed so pleased to report of Muff's +designs. This thought made her love Muff all the more, but then there +were Fred's birds. It would be very sad if any of them should be lost +through her cat; what should she do? She wished to win Fred to love and +gentleness. Should she part with Muff? Miss Schomberg (aunt Agnes that +is) had expressed a wish for a nice quiet cat, and this, her beauty, +would just suit her. "Shall I take Muff to High-Street to-morrow? I +will," were her last thoughts, but the resolution cost her something, +and Edith's pillow was wet with tears. When she arose the next morning +she felt as we are all apt to feel after the excitement of new and +sudden resolves, rather flat; and the sight of Muff sitting near a +laurel bush in the garden, enjoying the morning sun, quite unnerved her. +"Part with Muff! No, I cannot; and I don't believe any one would do such +a thing for such a boy as Fred. I cannot part with Muff, that's certain. +Fred had better give up his birds, and so I shall tell him."</p> + +<p>All this is very natural, but what is very natural is often very wrong, +and Edith did not fuel that calm happiness which she had done the night +before. When she received Emilie's morning kiss, she said, "Well, Miss +Schomberg, I thought last night I had made up my mind to part with Muff, +but I really cannot! I do love her so!"</p> + +<p>"It would be a great trial to you, I should think," said Emilie, "and +one that no one could <i>ask</i> of you, but if she had a good master, do you +think you should mind it so very much? You would only have your own +sorrow to think of, and really it would be a kindness if those poor +birds are to be kept. The cat terrifies them by springing at the wires, +and if they were sitting they would certainly be frightened off their +nests."</p> + +<p>Edith looked perplexed; "What shall I do Emilie? I <i>do</i> wish to please +Fred, I do wish to do as I would be done by; I really want to get rid of +my selfish nature, and yet it will keep coming back."</p> + +<p>"Watch as well as pray, dear," said Emilie affectionately, "and you will +conquer at last." They went down to breakfast together. "Watch and +pray." That word "watch," was R word in season to Edith, she had +<i>prayed</i> but had well nigh forgotten to <i>watch</i>.</p> + +<p>She could not eat her meal, however, her heart was full with the +greatness of the sacrifice before her. Do not laugh at the word <i>great</i> +sacrifice. It was very great to Edith; she loved with all her heart; and +to part with what we love, be it a dog, a cat, a bird, or any inanimate +possession, is a great pang. After breakfast she went into the little +room where Muff usually eat, and taking hold of the favourite, hugged +and kissed her lovingly, then carrying her down stairs to the kitchen, +asked cook for a large basket, and with a little help from Margaret, +tied her down and safely confined her; then giving the precious load to +her father's errand boy, trotted into the town, and stopped not till she +reached Miss Webster's door. Her early visit rather astonished aunt +Agnes, who was at that moment busily engaged in dressing Miss Webster's +foot, and at the announcement of Betsey—"Please Ma'am little Miss +Parker is called and has brought you a cat," she jumped so that she +spilled Miss Webster's lotion.</p> + +<p>"A cat! a cat!" echoed the ladies. "I will have no cats here Miss +Schomberg, if you please," said the irritable Mistress. "I always did +hate cats, there is no end to the mischief they do. I never did keep +one, and never mean to do."</p> + +<p>Miss Schomberg went down stairs into Miss Webster's little parlour, and +there saw Edith untying her beloved Muff. "Well aday! my child, what +brings you here? all alone too. Surely Emilie isn't ill, oh dear me +something must be amiss."</p> + +<p>"Oh no, Miss Schomberg, no, only I heard you say you would like a cat, +and Fred has got some new birds and I mayn't keep Muff, and so will you +take her and be kind to her?"</p> + +<p>"My dear child," said aunt Agnes in a bewilderment, "I would take her +gladly but Miss Webster has a bird you know, and is so awfully neat and +particular, oh, it won't do; you must not bring her here, and I <i>must</i> +go back and finish Miss Webster's foot. She is very poorly to-day. Oh +how glad I shall be when my Emilie comes back! Good bye, take the cat, +dear, away, pray do;" and, so saying, aunt Agnes bustled off, leaving +poor Edith more troubled and perplexed with Muff than ever.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_EIGHTH"></a><h2>CHAPTER EIGHTH.</h2> + +<p>GOOD FOR EVIL.</p> +<br> + +<p>Old Joe Murray was seated on the beach, nearer the town than his house +stood, watching the groups of busy children, digging and playing in the +sand, now helping them in their play, and now giving his hint to the +nurses around him, when Edith tapped him on the shoulder. There was +something so unusually serious, not <i>cross</i>, in Edith's countenance, +that Joe looked at her inquiringly. "There, set down the basket, +Nockells, and run back quick, tell papa I kept you; I am afraid you will +get into disgrace."</p> + +<p>"Mayn't I drown Puss?" said Nockells.</p> + +<p>"No! you cruel boy, <i>no!</i>" said Edith, vehemently. "<i>You</i> shall not have +the pleasure, no one shall do it who would take a pleasure in it."</p> + +<p>"What is the matter Miss?" asked Joe, as soon as Nockells turned away.</p> + +<p>"The matter, oh Joe! I want Muff drowned; my cat I mean, my dear cat;" +and then she told her tale up to the point of Miss Webster's refusing to +admit Muff as a lodger, and cried most bitterly as she said, "and I +won't have her ill-treated, so I will drown her, will you do it for me +Joe, please do now, or my courage will be gone? but I won't stay to look +at it, so good-bye," said she, and slipping a shilling into Joe's hand, +ran home with the news to Fred, that the cat was by this time at the +bottom of the tea, and his canaries were safe for ever from her claws.</p> + +<p>Fred was not a hard-hearted boy, and his sister's tale really grieved +him. He kissed her several times over, as he said he now wished he had +never bought the birds, that they had caused Edith nothing but trouble +and that he was very sorry.</p> + +<p>"I am not sorry, Fred dear, at least I am only sorry for being forced to +drown Muff. I like to give you my room, and I like to give up my cat to +you, and I shall not cry any more about it, so don't be unhappy."</p> + +<p>"And all this for me," said Fred; "I who teased you so yesterday +afternoon, and always am teasing you, I think!" How pleased Emilie +looked! She did not praise Edith, but she gave her such a look of +genuine approval as was a rich reward to her little pupil. "<i>This</i> is +the way. Edith dear, to overcome evil with good; go on, <i>watch</i> and +pray, and you will subdue Fred in time as well as your own evil +tempers."</p> + +<p>How easy all this looks to read about! How swift the transition from bad +to good! Who has not felt, in reading Rosamond and Frank, a kind of envy +that they so soon overcame their errors, so soon conquered their bad +habits and evil dispositions? Dear young reader, it is <i>not</i> easy to +subdue self; it is not easy to practise this law of kindness, love, and +forbearance; it is not easy to live peaceably with all men, but believe +me, it is not impossible. He who giveth liberally and upbraideth not, +will give you grace, and wisdom, and help to do this if you ask it. The +promise is, "Ask and ye shall receive." Edith In her helplessness naked +strength of God and it was given. That which was given to her He will +not withhold from you. Only try Him.</p> + +<p>For the comfort of those who may not have such a friend as Emilie, we +would remind our readers that the actual work of Edith's change, for +such it was, was that which no friend however wise and however good +could effect. There is no doubt but that to her example Edith owed much. +It led her to <i>think</i> and to <i>compare</i>, and was part of the means used +by the all-wise God, to instruct this little girl; but if you have not +Emilie for a friend, you may all have the God, whom Emilie served, for a +friend. You may all read in the Bible which she studied, and in which +she learned, from God's love to man, how we should love each other. She +read there, "If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another."</p> + +<p>The holidays drew to a close. The return of the mother and sisters was +at hand. Emilie was not without her fears for Edith at this time, but +she trusted in the help which she knew Edith would have if she sought +it, and was thus encouraged. The right understanding between her +brothers and herself she was rejoiced to see daily increasing. It was +not that there was nothing to ruffle the two most easily ruffled +spirits. Fred was not considerate, and would constantly recur to his old +habit of tensing Edith. Edith was easily teased, and would rather order +and advise Fred, which was sure to bring on a breeze; but they were far +less vindictive, less aggravating than formerly. They were learning to +bear and forbear. Edith had the most to bear, for although Fred was +impressed by her kind and altered conduct, and could never forget the +generous act of sacrifice when she parted with Muff to gratify him, he +was as yet more actuated by impulse than principle, and nothing but +principle, Christian principle I mean, will enable us to be kind and +gentle, and unselfish <i>habitually</i>, not by fits and starts, but every +day.</p> + +<p>Joe Murray was sitting at his door smoking his pipe, and watching his +little grandchildren as they played together (this time harmoniously) in +the garden. They were not building a grotto, they were dancing, and +jumping, and laughing, in the full merriment of good healthy happy +children. Emilie and Edith greeted Joe as an old friend, and Joe seemed +delighted to see them. The two children, who had been commissioned to +search for corallines, rushed up to Edith with a basket full of a +heterogeneous collection, and amongst a great deal of little value there +were some beautiful specimens of the very things Edith wanted. She +thanked the little Murrays sincerely, and then looked at Emilie. Should +she pay them? the look asked. It was evident the children had no idea of +such a thing, and felt fully repaid by Edith's pleasure. Edith only +wanted to know if it would take from that pleasure to receive money. She +had been learning of late to study what people liked, and wished to do +so now.</p> + +<p>Emilie did not understand her look, and so Edith followed her own +course. "Thank you, oh, thank you," she said. "It was very kind of you +to collect me so many, they please me very much. I wish I knew of +something that you would like as well as I like these, and if I can, I +will give it to you, or ask mamma to help me." The boy not being +troubled with bashfulness, immediately said, that of all things he +should like a regular rigged boat, a ship, "a little-un" that would +swim. The girl put her finger in her mouth and said "she didn't know." +"Are you going to have a boat?" said every little voice, "oh, what fun +we shall have." "Yes," said our peace-making friend, Sarah. "You know +that if Dick gets any thing it is the same as if you all did. He is such +a kind boy, Miss, he plays with the little ones, and gives up to them +so nicely, you'd be surprised."</p> + +<p>"I am glad of that," said Emilie, "it will be such a pleasure to Miss +Edith to give pleasure to them all—but come, Jenny, you have not fixed +yet what you will have." Jenny said she did not want to be paid, but she +had thought, perhaps Miss Parker might give them something, and if Miss +Parker did not think it too much, she should like a shilling better than +any thing.</p> + +<p>Every one looked inquiringly, except Sarah. Sarah was but the uneducated +daughter of a poor fisherman, but she studied human nature as it lay +before her in the different characters of her brothers and sisters, and +she guessed the workings of Jenny's mind.</p> + +<p>"What do you want a shilling for?" said the mother sharply, who had +joined the group. "You ought not to have asked for anything, what bad +manners you have! The weeds cost you nothing, and you ought to be much +obliged to Miss Parker for accepting them."</p> + +<p>"I wanted the shilling very much," persisted Jenny, as Edith pressed it +into her hand, and off she ran, as though to hide her treasure.</p> + +<p>But Edith had caught sight of something, and forgot shilling and every +thing else in that glimpse. Her own dear old Muff sleeping on the hearth +of the kitchen which she had not yet entered. I shall not tell you all +the endearments she used to puss, they would look ridiculous on paper; +they made even those who heard them smile, but she was so overjoyed that +there was some excuse for her. Mrs. Murray rather damped her joy at once +by saying, "Oh, she's a sad thief, Miss. She steals the fish terribly. I +suppose you can't take her back, Miss?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, Joe," said Edith sorrowfully, "you see, you had better have drowned +her."</p> + +<p>"So I think," said Mrs. Murray.</p> + +<p>"No, no, no," cried Jane, coming forwards. "I have a shilling now, and +Barker the carrier will take her for that all the way to Southampton, +where aunt Martha lives, and aunt Martha loves cats, and will take care +of Muff; she shan't be drowned, Miss," said Jenny, kindly.</p> + +<p>The mother looked surprised, and they all admired Jenny's kind +intentions. Emilie slipped another shilling into her hand as they went +away, and said "You will find a use for it." "Good night Jenny, and +thank you," said poor Edith, with a sigh, for she had already looked +forward to many joyful meetings with Muff—her newly-found treasure. But +as old Joe, who followed them down the cliff said, there was no end to +the trouble Muff caused, what with stealing fish, and upsettings and +breakings; and she would be happier at aunt Martha's, where there was +neither fish nor child, and more room to walk about in than Muff enjoyed +here.</p> + +<p>"But how kind of Jenny," said Edith, "how thoughtful for Muff!"</p> + +<p>"No, Miss, 't aint for Muff exactly," said Joe, "though she pitied you, +as they all did, in thinking of drowning the cat; but bless the dear +children, they are all trying in their way, I do believe; to please +their mother, and to win her to be more happy and gentle like. You see +she has had a hard struggle with them, so many as there are, and so +little to do with; and that and bad health have soured her temper like; +but she'll come to. Oh Miss Edith, take my word for it, if ever you have +to live where folks are cross and snappish, be <i>you</i> good-humoured. A +little of the leaven of sweetness and good temper lightens a whole lump +of crossness and bad humour. One bright Spirit in a family will keep +the sun shining in <i>one</i> spot; it can't then be <i>all</i> dark, you see, and +if there's ever such a little spot of sunshine, there must be some light +in the house, which may spread before long, Miss."</p> + +<p>"Goodnight, Joe," and "Good night, ladies," passed, and the friends were +left alone—alone upon the quiet beach. The sun had set, for it was +late; the tide was ebbing, and now left the girls a beautiful smooth +path of sand for some little distance, on which the sound of their light +steps was scarcely heard, as they rapidly walked towards home.</p> + +<p>"Who would think, Edith, that our six weeks' holiday would be at an end +to-morrow?" said Emilie.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, Emilie, I feel it much longer."</p> + +<p>"<i>Do</i> you? then you have not been so happy as I hoped to have made you, +dear; I have been a great deal occupied with other things, but it could +scarcely be helped."</p> + +<p>"No, Emilie, I have not been happy a great part of the holidays, but I +am happy now; happier at least, and it was no fault of yours at any +time. I know now why I was so discontented with my condition, and why I +thought I had more to try me than anybody else. I feel that I was in +fault; that I <i>am</i> in fault, I should say; but, oh Emilie, I am trying, +trying hard, to—" and here, Edith, softened by the remembrance that +soon she and her friend must part, burst into tears.</p> + +<p>"And you have succeeded, succeeded nobly, Edith, my darling. I have +watched you, and but that I feared to interfere, I would have noticed +your victories to you. I may do so now."</p> + +<p>"My <i>victories</i>, Emilie! Are you making fun of me? I feel to have been +so very irritable of late.—My <i>victories!</i>"</p> + +<p>"Just because, dear, you take notice of your irritability as you did not +use to do, and because you have constantly before your eyes that great +pattern in whom was no sin."</p> + +<p>"Emilie, I will tell you something—your patience, your example, has +done me a great deal of good, I hope; but there is one thing in your +kind of advice, which does me more good than all. You have talked more +of the love of God than of any other part of his character, and the +words which first struck me very much, when I first began to wish that I +were different, were those you told me one Sunday evening, some time +ago. 'Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and +gave his Son a ransom for sinners.' There seemed such a contrast between +my conduct to God, and His to me; and then it has made me, I hope, a +little more, (a <i>very</i> little, you know,) I am not boasting, Emilie, am +I? it has made me a <i>little</i> more willing to look over things which used +to vex me so. What are Fred's worst doings to me, compared with my +<i>best</i> to God?"</p> + +<p>Thus they talked, and now, indeed, did the friends love one another; and +heartily did each, by her bedside that night, thank God for his gospel, +which tells of his love to man, the greatest illustration truly of the +law of kindness.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_NINTH"></a><h2>CHAPTER NINTH.</h2> + +<p>FRED A PEACEMAKER.</p> +<br> + +<p>"Talk not of wasted affection, affection never is wasted.... its waters +returning back to their spring, like the rain shall fill them full of +refreshment"—<i>H. W. Longfellow</i>.</p> + +<p>"Well Fred," said Emilie at the supper table, from which Mr. Parker was +absent, "I go away to-morrow and we part better friends than we met, I +think, don't we?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, Miss Schomberg, we are all better friends, and it is all your +doing."</p> + +<p>"My doing, oh no! Fred, that <i>is</i> flattery. I have not made Edith so +gentle and so good as she has of late been to you. <i>I</i> never advised her +to give up that little room to you nor to send poor Muff away."</p> + +<p>"<i>Didn't</i> you? well, now I always thought you did; I always kid that to +you, and so I don't believe I have half thanked Edith as I ought."</p> + +<p>"Indeed you might have done."</p> + +<p>"Well, I hope I shall not get quarrelsome at school again, but I wish I +was in a large school. I fancy I should be much happier. Only being us +five at Mr. Barton's, we are so thrown together, somehow we can't help +falling out and interfering with each other sometimes. Now there is +young White, I never can agree with him, it is <i>impossible</i>."</p> + +<p>"Dear me!" said Emilie, without contradicting him, "why?"</p> + +<p>"He treats me so very ill; not openly and above-board, as we say, but in +such a nasty sneaking way, he is always trying to injure me. He knows +sometimes I fall asleep after I am called. Well, he dresses so quietly, +(I sleep in his room, I wish I didn't,) he steals down stairs and then +laughs with such triumph when I come down late and get a lecture or a +fine for it. If I am very busy over an exercise out of school hours, he +comes and talks to me, or reads some entertaining book close to my ears, +aloud to one of the boys, to hinder my doing it properly, but that is +not half his nasty ways. Could <i>you love</i> such a boy Miss Schomberg?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I would try to make him more loveable, Fred, and then I might +perhaps love him," said Emilie.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Emilie, your 'overcome evil with good' rule would fail there <i>I</i> +can tell you; you may laugh."</p> + +<p>"No, I won't laugh, I am going to be serious. You will allow me to +preach a short sermon to-night, the last for some time, you know, and +mine shall be but a text, or a very little more, and then 'good night.' +Will you try to love that boy for a few weeks? <i>really</i> try, and see if +he does not turn out better than you expect. If he do not, I will +promise you that you will be the better for it. Love is never wasted, +but remember, Fred, it is wicked and sad to hate one another, and it +comes to be a serious matter, for 'If any man love not his brother whom +he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen.' Good night."</p> + +<p>"Good night, Miss Schomberg, you have taught me to like you," and oh, +how I did dislike you once! thought Fred, but he did not say so.</p> + +<p>Miss Webster's foot got well at last, but it was a long time about it. +The lodgers went away at the end of the six weeks, and aunt Agnes and +Emilie were quietly settled in their little apartments again. The piano +was a little out of tune, but Emilie expected as much, and now after her +six weeks' holiday, so called, she prepared to begin her life of daily +teaching. Her kindness to Miss Webster was for some time to all +appearance thrown away, but no, that cannot be—kindness and love can +never be wasted. They bless him that gives, if not him that takes the +offering. By and bye, however, a few indications of the working of the +good system appeared. Miss Webster would offer to come and sit and chat +with aunt Agnes when Emilie was teaching or walking; and aunt Agnes in +return taught Miss Webster knitting stitches and crochet work. Miss +Webster would clean Emilie's straw bonnet, and when asked for the bill, +she would say that it came to nothing; and would now and then send up a +little offering of fruit or fish, when she thought her lodgers' table +was not well supplied. Little acts in themselves, but great when we +consider that they were those of an habitually cold and selfish person. +She did not express love; but she showed the softening influence of +affection, and Emilie at least understood and appreciated it.</p> + +<p>Fred had perhaps the hardest work of all the actors on this little +stage; he thought so at least. Joe White was an unamiable and, as Fred +expressed it, a sneaking boy. He had never been accustomed to have his +social affections cultivated in childhood, and consequently, he grew up +into boyhood without any heart as it is called. Good Mr. Barton was +quite puzzled with him. He said there was no making any impression on +him, and that Mr. Barton could make none was very evident. Who shall +make it? Even Fred; for he is going to try Emilie's receipt for the cure +of the complaint under which Master White laboured, a kind of moral +ossification of the heart. Will he succeed? We shall see.</p> + +<p>Perhaps, had Joe White at this time fallen down and broken his leg, or +demanded in any way a <i>great</i> sacrifice of personal comfort from his +school-fellow, he would have found it easier to return good for his evil, +than in the daily, hourly, calls for the exercise of forgiveness and +forbearance which occurred at school. Oh, how many will do <i>great</i> +things in the way of gifts or service, who will not do the little acts +of kindness and self denial which common life demands. Many a person has +built hospitals or alms houses, and has been ready to give great gifts +to the poor and hungry, who has been found at home miserably deficient +in domestic virtues. Dear children, cultivate these. You have, very few +of you, opportunities for great sacrifices. They occur rarely in real +life, and it would be well if the relations of fictitious life abounded +less in them; but you may, all of you, find occasions to speak a gentle +word, to give a kind smile, to resign a pursuit which annoys or vexes +another, to cure a bad habit, to give up a desired pleasure. You may, +all of you, practice the injunction, to live not unto yourselves. Fred, +I say, found it a hard matter to carry out Emilie's plan towards Joe +White, who came back from home more evilly disposed than ever, and all +the boys agreed he was a perfect nuisance.</p> + +<p>"I would try and make him loveable." Those words of Emilie's often +recurred to Fred as he heard the boys say how they disliked Joe White +worse and worse. So Fred tried first by going up to him very gravely one +day, and saying how they all disliked him, and how he hoped he would +mend; but that did not do at all. Fred found the twine of his kite all +entangled next day, and John said he saw White playing with it soon +after Fred had spoken to him.</p> + +<p>"I'd go and serve him out; just you go and tangle his twine, and see how +he likes it," said John.</p> + +<p>"I will—but no! I won't," Bald Fred, "that's evil for evil, and that is +what I am not going to do. I mean to leave that plan off."</p> + +<p>An opportunity soon occurred for returning good for evil Miss Barton had +a donkey, and this donkey, whose proper abode was the paddock, sometimes +broke bounds, and regaled itself on the plants in the young gentlemen's +gardens, in a manner highly provoking to those who had any taste for +flowers. If Joe White had any love for anything, it was for flowers. +Now, there is something so pure and beautiful in flowers; called by that +good philanthropist Wilberforce, the "smiles of God," that I think there +must be a little tender spot in that heart which truly loves flowers. +Joe tended his as a parent would a child. His garden was his child, and +certainly it did his culture credit. Fred liked a garden too, and these +boys' gardens were side by side. They were the admiration of the whole +family, so neatly raked, so free from stones or weeds, so gay with +flowers of the best kind. They were rival gardens, but undoubtedly +White's was in the best order. John and Fred always went home on a +Saturday, as Mr. Barton's house was not far from L----. Joe was a +boarder entirely, his home was at a distance, and to this Fred Parker +ascribed the superiority of his garden. He was able to devote the whole +of Saturday, which was a holiday, to its culture. Well, the donkey of +which I spoke, one day took a special fancy to the boys' gardens; and it +so happened, that he was beginning to apply himself to nibble the tops +of Joe's dahlias, which were just budding. Joe was that day confined to +the house with a severe cold, and little did he think as he lay in bed, +sipping Mrs. Barton's gruel and tea, of the scenes that were being +enacted in his own dear garden. Fred fortunately spied the donkey, and +though there had been lately a little emulation between them, who should +grow the finest dahlias, he at once carried out the principle of +returning good for evil, drove the donkey off, even though his course +lay over his own flower beds, and then set to work to repair the damage +done. A few minutes more, and all Joe's dahlias would have been +sacrificed. Fred saved them, raked the border neatly, tied up the +plants, and restored all to order again; and who can tell but those who +thus act, the pleasure, the comfort of Fred's heart? Why, not the first +prize at the horticultural show for the first dahlia in the country, +would have given him half the joy; and a still nobler sacrifice he +made—he did not tell of his good deeds. Now, Fred began to realise the +pleasures of forbearance and kindness indeed.</p> + +<p>There could not have been a better way of reaching young White's heart +than through his garden. Fred's was a fortunate commencement. He never +boasted of the act, but one of the boys told Mr. Barton, who did not +fail to remind Joe of it at a suitable time, and that time was when +White presented his master with a splendid bouquet of dahlias for his +supper table, when he was going to have a party of friends. The boys, +who were treated like members of the family, were invited to join that +party, and then did Mr. Barton narrate the scene of the donkey's +invasion, of which, however, the guests did not perceive the point; but +those for whom it was intended understood it all. At bed time that +night, Joe White begged his school-fellow's pardon for entangling his +kite twine, and went to bed very humble and grateful, and with a little +love and kindness dawning, which made his rest sweeter and his dreams +happier. Thus Fred began his lessons of love; it was thus he endeavoured +to make Joe lovable, and congratulated himself on his first successful +attempt. He did not speak in the very words of the Poet, but his +sentiments were the same, as he talked to John of his victory.</p> + +"There is a golden chord of sympathy,<br> +Fix'd in the harp of every human soul,<br> +Which by the breath of kindness when 'tis swept,<br> +Wakes angel-melodies in savage hearts;<br> +Inflicts sore chastisements for treasured wrongs,<br> +And melts away the ice of hate to streams of love;<br> +Nor aught but <i>kindness</i> can that fine chord touch."<br> + +<p>Joe Murray was quite right in telling Edith that a little of the leaven +of kindness and love went a great way in a family. No man can live to +himself, that is to say, no man's acts can affect himself only. Had Fred +set an example of revenge and retaliation, other boys would have no +doubt acted in like manner on the first occasion of irritation. Now they +all helped to reform Joe White, and did not return evil for evil, as +had been their custom. Fred was the oldest but one of the little +community, and had always been looked up to as a clever boy, up to all +kinds of spore and diversion. He was the leader of their plays and +amusements, and but for the occasional outbreaks of his violent temper +would have been a great favourite. As it was, the boys liked him, and +his master was undoubtedly very fond of Fred Parker. He was an honest +truthful boy though impetuous and headstrong.</p> + +<p>Permission was given the lads, who as we have said were six in number, +to walk out one fine September afternoon without the guardianship of +their master. They were to gather blackberries, highly esteemed by Mrs. +Barton for preserves, and it was the great delight of the boys to supply +her every year with this fruit. Blackberrying is a very amusing thing to +country children. It is less so perhaps in its consequences to the +nurse, or sempstress, who has to repair the terrible rents which +merciless brambles make, but of that children, boys especially, think +little or nothing. On they went, each provided with a basket and a long +crome stick, for the purpose of drawing distant clusters over ditches +or from some height within the reach of the gatherer. At first they +jumped and ran and sang in all the merriment of independence. The very +consciousness of life, health, and freedom was sufficient enjoyment, and +there was no end to their fun and their frolics until they came to the +spot where the blackberries grew in the greatest abundance. Then they +began to gather and eat and fill their baskets in good earnest. The most +energetic amongst them was Fred, and he had opportunities enough this +afternoon for practising kindness and self-denial, for White was in one +of his bad moods, and pushed before Fred whenever he saw a fine and +easily to be obtained cluster of fruit; and once, (Fred thought +purposely,) upset his basket, which stood upon the pathway, all in the +dust. Still Fred bore all this very well, and set about the gathering +with renewed ardour, though one or two of the party called out, "Give it +him, Parker; toss his out and see how he likes it." No, Fred had begun +to taste the sweet fruits of kindness, he would not turn aside to pluck +the bitter fruits of revenge and passion. So he gave no heed to the +matter, only leaving the coast clear for White whenever he could, and +helping a little boy whom White had pushed aside to fill his basket.</p> + +<p>Without any particular adventures, and with only the usual number of +scratches and falls, and only the common depth of dye in lips and +fingers, the boys sat down to rest beneath the shade of some fine trees, +which skirted a beautiful wood.</p> + +<p>"I say," said John Parker, "let us turn in here, we shall find shade +enough, and I had rather sit on the grass and moss than on this bank. +Come along, we have only to climb the hedge."</p> + +<p>"But that would be trespassing," said one conscientious boy, who went by +the name of Simon Pure, because he never would join in any sport he +thought wrong, and used to recall the master's prohibitions rather +oftener to his forgetful companions than they liked.</p> + +<p>"Trespassing! a fig for trespassing," said John Parker, clearing away +all impediments, and bestriding the narrow ditch, planted a foot firmly +on the opposite bank.</p> + +<p>"You may get something not so sweet as a fig for trespassing, John, +though," said his brother Fred, who came up at this moment.</p> + +<p>"Man-traps and spring-guns are fictions my lad," said Philip Harcourt, a +boy of much the same turn as John, not easily persuaded any way; "Now +for it, over Parker; be quick, man," and over he jumped.</p> + +<p>Then followed Harcourt, White, and another little boy, whose name was +Arthur, leaving Fred and Simon Pure in the middle of the road. The wood +was, undoubtedly, a very delightful place, and more than one fine +pheasant rustled amongst the underwood, and the squirrels leaped from +bough to bough, whilst the music of the birds was charming. Fred, +himself, was tempted as he peeped over the gap, and stood irresolute. +The plantation was far enough from the residence of the owner, nor was +it likely that they could do much mischief beyond frightening the game, +and as it was not sitting time, Fred himself argued it could do no harm, +but little Riches, the boy called Pure, who was a great admirer of Fred, +especially since the affair of the Dahlias, begged him not to go; "Mr. +Barton, you know, has such a great dislike to our trespassing," said +Riches, "and if we stay here resolutely they will be sure to come back."</p> + +<p>"Don't preach to me," was the rather unexpected reply, for Fred was not +<i>perfect</i> yet, though he had gained a victory or two over his temper of +late.</p> + +<p>"I didn't mean to preach, but I do wish the boys would come home, it is +growing late; and with our heavy baskets we shall only just get in in +time."</p> + +<p>"Halloo!" shouted Fred, getting on the bank. "Come back, won't you, or +we shall be too late; come, John, you are the eldest, come along." But +his call was drowned in the sound of their voices, which were echoing +through the weeds, much to the annoyance, no doubt, of the stately +pheasants who were not accustomed to human sounds like these. They were +not at any great distance, and Fred could just distinguish parts of +their conversation.</p> + +<p>John and Harcourt were urging White, a delicate boy, and no climber, to +mount a high tree in the wood, to enjoy they said the glorious sea-view; +but in reality to make themselves merry at his expense, being certain +that if he managed to scramble up he would have some difficulty in +getting down, and would get a terrible fright at least. White stood at +the bottom of the tree, looking at his companions as they rode on one of +the higher branches of a fine spruce fir.</p> + +<p>"Don't venture! White," shouted Fred as loudly as he could shout, "don't +attempt it! They only want to make game of you, and you'll never get +down if you manage to get up. Take my advice now, don't try."</p> + +<p>"Mind your own business," and a large sod of earth was the reply. The +sod struck the boy on the face, and his nose bled profusely.</p> + +<p>"There," said young Riches, "what a cowardly trick! Oh! I think White +the meanest spirited boy I ever saw. He wouldn't have flung that sod at +you if you had been within arm's length of him; well, I do dislike that +White."</p> + +<p>"I'll give it to him," said Fred, as he vaulted over the fence, but +immediately words, which Emilie had once repeated to him when they were +talking about offensive and defensive warfare, came into his mind, and +he stopped short. Those words were:—"If any man smite thee on thy +right cheek turn to him the other also," and Fred was in the road again.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Riches, "we have done and said all we can, let us be going +home, their disobeying orders is no excuse for us, so come along +Parker—won't you? They have a watch, and their blackberries won't run +away, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"Can't we manage between us, though, to carry some of them?" said Fred. +"This large basket is not nearly full, let us empty one of them into it. +There, now we have only left them two. I've got White's load. I've half +a mind to set it down, but no I won't though. You will carry John's, +Won't you, that's lighter, and between them they may carry the other."</p> + +<p>They went on a few steps when they both turned to listen. "I thought," +said Fred, "I heard my name called. It could only be fancy, though. Yet, +hush! There it is! quite plain," and so it was.</p> + +<p>John called to him loudly to stop, and at that moment such a scream was +heard echoing through the woods, as sent the wood pigeons flying +terrified about, and started the hares from their hiding places. "Stop, +oh stop, Fred, White can't get down," said John, breathless, "and I +believe he will fall, if he hasn't already, he says he is giddy. Pray +come back and see if you can't help him, you are such a famous climber."</p> + +<p>Fred could not refuse, and in less than five minutes he was on the spot, +but it was too late. The branch had given way, and the boy lay at the +foot of the tree senseless, to all appearance dead. There was no blood, +no outward sign of injury, but—his face! Fred did not forget for many +years afterwards, its dreadful, terrified, ghastly expression. What was +to be done? They were so horror-struck that for a few minutes they stood +in perfect silence, so powerfully were they convinced that the lad had +ceased to breathe, that they remained solemn and still as in the +presence of death.</p> + +<p>To all minds death has great solemnities; to the young, when it strikes +one of their own age and number, especially. "Come," said Fred, turning +to Riches, "come, we must not leave him here to die, poor fellow. Take +off his neck-handkerchief, Harcourt, and run you, Riches, to the stream +close by, where we first sat down, and get some water. Get it in your +cap, man, you have nothing else to put it in. Quick! quick!"</p> + +<p>"Joe! Joe!" said John, "only speak, only look, Joe, if you can, we are +so frightened."—No answer.</p> + +<p>"Joe!" said Fred, and he tried to raise him. No assistance and no +resistance; Joe fell back passive on the arm of his friend, yes, +friend—they were no longer enemies you know. Had Fred returned evil for +evil, had he rushed on him as he first intended when he received the sod +from White, he would not have felt as he now did. The boys, who, out of +mischief, to use the mildest word, tempted him to climb to a height, +beyond that which even they themselves could have accomplished, were not +to be envied in <i>their</i> feelings. Poor fellows, and yet they only did +what many a reckless, mischievous school boy has done and is doing every +day; they only meant to tease him a bit, to pay him off for being so +spiteful all the way, and so cross to Fred when he spoke. But it was no +use trying to still the voice which spoke loudly within them, which told +them that they had acted with heartless cruelty, and that their conduct +had, perhaps, cost a fellow-creature his life.</p> + +<p>"Will you wait with him whilst I run to L---- for papa?" said Fred.</p> + +<p>"What alone?" they cried.</p> + +<p>"Alone! why there are four of you, will be at least when Riches comes +back."</p> + +<p>"Oh no! no! do you stay Fred, you are the only one that knows what you +are after."</p> + +<p>"Well, which of you will go then? It is near two miles, and you must +run, for his <i>life</i>—mind that." No one stirred, and Riches at this +moment coming up with the water, Fred told him in few words what he +meant to do, and bade him go and stand by the poor lad. That was all +that could be done, and "Riches don't be hard on them; their consciences +are telling them all you could tell them. Don't lecture them, I mean; +you would not like it yourself."</p> + +<p>Off ran Fred, and to his great joy, spying a cart, with one of farmer +Crosse's men in it, he hailed it, told his tale, and thus they were at +L---- in a very short space of time. Terrified indeed was Mrs. Parker at +the sight of her son driving furiously up in farmer Crosse's +spring-cart, and his black eye and swelled face did not tend to pacify +her on nearer inspection. The father, a little more used to be called +out in a hurry, and to prepare for emergencies, was not so alarmed, but +had self-possession enough to remember what would be needed, and to +collect various articles for the patient's use.</p> + +<p>The journey to the wood was speedily accomplished, but the poor lads who +were keeping watch, often said afterwards that it seemed to them almost +a lifetime, such was the crowd of fearful and wretched thoughts and +forebodings, such the anxiety, and hopelessness of their situation. +There in the silence of the wood lay their young companion, stretched +lifeless, and they were the cause. The least rustle amongst the leaves +they mistook for a movement of the sufferer; but he moved not. How did +they watch Mr. Parker's face as he knelt down and applied his fingers to +the boy's wrist first, and then to his heart! With what intense anxiety +did they watch the preparations for applying remedies and restoratives! +"Was he, was he dead, <i>quite</i> dead?" they asked. No, not dead, but the +doctor shook his head seriously, and their exclamations of joy and +relief were soon checked.</p> + +<p>Not to follow them through the process of restoring animation, we will +say that he was carefully removed to Mr. Barton's house, and tenderly +watched by his kind wife. He had been stunned by the fall, but this was +not the extent of the mischief. It was found upon examination that the +spine had received irreparable injury, and that if poor White lived, +which was doubtful, it would be as a helpless cripple. Who can tell the +reflections of those boys? Who can estimate the misery of hearts which +had thus returned evil for evil? It was a sore lesson, but one which of +itself could yield no good fruit.</p> + +<p>It was a great grief to Fred that his presence, in the excitable state +of the sufferer, seemed to do him harm. He would have liked to sit by +him, and share in the duties of his nursing, but whenever Fred +approached, White became restless and uneasy, and continually alluded, +even in his delirium, to the sod he had thrown, and to other points of +his ungrateful malicious conduct to his school-fellow. This feeling, +however, in time wore away, and many an hour did Fred take from play to +go and sit by poor Joe's couch.</p> + +<p>He had no mother to come and watch beside that couch, no kind gentle +sister, no loving father. He was an orphan, taken care of by an uncle +and aunt, who had no experience in training children, and were +accustomed to view young persons in the light of evils, which it was +unfortunately necessary to <i>bear</i> until the <i>fault</i> of youth should have +passed away. Will you not then cease to wonder that Joe seemed to have +so little heart? Affection needs to be cultivated; his uncle thought +that in sending him to school and giving him a good education, he was +doing his duty by the boy. His aunt considered that if in the holidays +she let him rove about as he pleased, saw to the repairs of his clothes, +sent him back fitted out comfortably, with a little pocket money and a +little <i>advice</i>, she had done <i>her</i> duty by the child. But poor Joe! No +kind mother ever stole to his bedside to whisper warnings and gentle +reproof if the conduct of the day had been wrong; no knee ever bent to +ask for grace and blessing on that orphan boy; no sympathy was ever +expressed in one of his joys or griefs; no voice encouraged him in +self-denial; no heart rejoiced in his little victories over temper and +pride. Now, instead of blaming and disliking, will you not pity and love +the unlovable and neglected lad?</p> + +<p>He had not been long under Mr. Barton's care, and after all, what could +a schoolmaster do in twelve months, to remedy the evils which had been +growing up for twelve years? He did his best, but the result was very +little, and perhaps the most useful lesson Joe ever had was that which +Fred gave him about the Dahlias.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_TENTH"></a><h2>CHAPTER TENTH.</h2> + +<p>EDITH'S VISIT TO JOE.</p> +<br> + +<p>Fred and Edith were sitting in the Canary room one Saturday afternoon, +shortly after the event recorded in the last chapter; Edith listening +with an earnest interest to the oft-repeated tale of the fall in the +wood.</p> + +<p>"How glad you must have felt, Fred, when you thought he was dead, that +you had not returned his unkindness."</p> + +<p>"Glad! Edith, I cannot tell you how glad; but glad is'nt the word, +either. On my knees that night, and often since, I have thanked God who +helped me to check the temper that arose. Those words out of the Bible +did it: 'If any man smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other +also.' Emilie told me that text one day, and I said I did'nt think I +could ever do that, but I was helped somehow; but come, Edith, let us +go and see Emilie Schomberg, I have'nt seen her since all this happened, +though you have. How beautifully you keep my cages Edith! I think you +are very clever; the birds get on better than they did with me. Is there +any one you would like to give a bird to, dear? For I am sure you ought +to share the pleasures, you have plenty of the trouble of my canaries."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I have pleasure enough, and their songs always seem like rejoicings +over our reconciliation that day ever so long ago; you remember, don't +you, Fred? but I should like a bird <i>very</i> much to give to Miss +Schomberg; she seems low-spirited, and says she is often very lonely. A +bird would be nice company for her, shall we take her one?"</p> + +<p>"It would be rather a troublesome gift without a cage, Edith, but I have +money enough, I think, and I will buy a cage, and then she shall have +her bird."</p> + +<p>"We will hang it up to greet her on Sunday morning, shall we?" Thus the +brother and sister set out, and it was a beautiful sight to their +mother, who dearly loved them, to see the two who once were so +quarrelsome and disunited now walking together in <i>love</i>.</p> + +<p>Emilie was not at home, and they stood uncertain which way to walk, +when Fred said, "Edith, I want some one to teach poor Joe love; will you +go with me and see him? You taught me to love you, and I think Joe would +be happier if he could see some one he could take a fancy to. Papa said +he might see one at a time now, and poor fellow, I do pity him so. Will +you go? It is a fine fresh afternoon, let us go to Mr. Barton's."</p> + +<p>The October sky was clear and the air bracing, and side by side walked +Fred and Edith on their errand of mercy to poor neglected Joe, their +young hearts a little saddened by the remembrance of his sufferings, "Is +not his aunt coming?" asked Edith.</p> + +<p>"No! actually she is not," replied Fred. "She says in her letter she +could not stand the fatigue of the journey, and that her physicians +order her to try the waters of Bath and Cheltenham. Unfeeling creature!"</p> + +<p>Thus they chatted till they arrived at Mr. Barton's house. Mrs. Barton +received them very kindly. "Oh, Miss Parker, she said, my heart aches +for that poor lad upstairs, and yet with all this trial, and the +wonderful providential escape he has had, would you believe it? his +heart seems very little affected. He is not softened that I can see. I +told him to day how thankful he ought to be that God did not cut him off +in all his sins, and he answered that they who tempted him into danger +would have the most to answer for."</p> + +<p>Ah, Mrs. Barton, it is not the way to people's hearts usually to find +fault and upbraid them. There was much truth in what you said to Joe, +but truth sometimes irritates by the way and time in which it is spoken, +and it seems in this case that the <i>kind</i> of truth you told did not +exactly suit the state of the boy's mind. Edith did not say this of +course to the good lady, whose intentions were excellent, but who was +rather too much disposed to be severe on young persona, and certainly +Joe had tried her in many ways.</p> + +<p>"I will go and see whether Joe would like to see Edith may I, madam, +asked Fred?" Permission was given.</p> + +<p>"My sister is here, Joe, you have often heard me mention her, would you +like to see her?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know, my back is so bad. Oh dear me, and your father tells +me I am to lie flat in this way, months. What am I to do all through +the Christmas holidays too? Oh! dear, dear me. Well, yes, she may come +up."</p> + +<p>With this not very gracious invitation little Edith stepped upstairs, +and being of a very tender nature, no sooner did she see poor Joe's +suffering state than she began to cry. They were tears of such genuine +sympathy, such exquisite tenderness, that they touched Joe. He did not +withdraw the hand she held, and felt even sorry when she herself took +hers away. "How sorry I am for you!" said Edith, when she could speak, +"but may I come and read to you sometimes, and wait upon you when there +is no one else? I think I could amuse you a little, and it might pass +the time away. I only mean when you have no one better, you know."</p> + +<p>Joe's permission was not very cordial, he was so afraid of girls' +<i>flummery</i>, as he called it "She plays backgammon and chess, Joe, and I +can promise you she reads beautifully."</p> + +<p>"Well, I will come on Monday," said Edith, gaily, "and send me away if +you don't want me; but dear me, do you like this light on your eyes? +I'll ask mamma for a piece of green baize to pin up. Good bye."</p> + +<p>As she was going out of the room Joe called her back. "I have such a +favour to ask of you, Miss Parker. Don't bring that preaching German +lady here of whom I have heard Fred speak; I don't mind you, but I +cannot bear so much preaching. Mrs. Barton and her together would craze +me." Edith promised, but she felt disappointed. She had hoped that +Emilie might have gained an entrance, and she knew that Emilie would +have found out the way to his heart, if she could once have got into his +presence; but she concealed her disappointment having made the required +promise, and ran after her brother.</p> + +<p>"I don't like going where I am so plainly not wanted, Fred," said she on +their way home, "Oh, what a sad thing poor White's temper is for himself +and every one about him."</p> + +<p>"Yes Edith, but <i>we</i> are not always sweet-tempered, and you must +remember that poor White has no mother and no father, no one in short to +love." Edith found at first that it required more judgment than she +possessed to make her visit to Joe White either pleasant or useful. +Illness had increased his irritability, and so far from submitting +patiently to the confinement and restriction imposed, he was quite +fuming with impatience to be allowed to sit up and amuse himself at +least.</p> + +<p>How ingenious is affection in contriving alleviations! Here Joe sadly +wanted some one whose wits were quickened by love. Mrs. Barton nursed +him admirably; he was kept very neat and nice, and his room always had a +clean tidy appearance; but it lacked the little tokens of love which +oft-times turn the sick chamber into a kind of paradise. No flowers, no +little contrivances for amusement, no delicate article of food to tempt +his sickly appetite. Poor Joe! Edith soon saw this, and yet it needs +experience in illness to adapt one's self to sick nursing. Besides she +was afraid, she did not like to offer books and flowers, and these +visits were quite dreaded by her.</p> + +<p>"Will you not go and see Joe, Emilie?" asked Edith, one day of her +friend, as she was recounting the difficulties in her way. "You get at +people's hearts much better than ever I could do."</p> + +<p>"My dear child," said Emilie, "did not Joe say that he begged you never +would bring the preaching German to see him? oh no, dear, I cannot +force my company on him. Besides you have not tried long enough, +kindness does not work miracles; try a little longer Edith, and be +patient with Joe as God is with us. How often we turn away from Him when +He offers to be reconciled to us. Think of that, dear."</p> + +<p>"Fred is very patient and persevering; I often wonder, Miss Schomberg, +that John, who really did cause the accident, seems to think less about +Joe than Fred, who had not any thing to do with it."</p> + +<p>"It is not at all astonishing, Edith. It requires that our actions +should be brought to the light of God's Word to see them in their true +condition. An impenitent murderer thinks less of his crime than a true +penitent, who has been moral all his life, thinks of his great sin of +ingratitude and ungodliness."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_ELEVENTH"></a><h2>CHAPTER ELEVENTH.</h2> + +<p>JOE'S CHRISTMAS.</p> +<br> + +<p>Christmas was at hand; Christmas with its holidays, its greetings, its +festive meetings, its gifts, its bells, and its rejoicings. That season +when mothers prepare for the return of their children from school, and +are wont to listen amidst storms of wind and snow for the carriage +wheels; when little brothers and sisters strain their eyes to catch the +first glimpse of the dear ones' approach along the snowy track; when the +fire blazes within, and lamps are lit up to welcome them home; and hope +and expectation and glad heart beatings are the lot of so many—of many, +not of all. Christmas was come, but it brought no hope, no gladness, no +mirth to poor White, either present or in prospect. The music and the +bells of Christmas, the skating, the pony riding, the racing, the brisk +walk, the home endearments were not for Joe—poor Joe. No mother longed +for his return, no brother or little sister pressed to the hall door to +get the first look or the first word; no father welcomed Joe back to the +hearth-warmth of home sweet home. Poor orphan boy!</p> + +<p>Joe's uncle and aunt wrote him a kind letter, quite agreed in Mr. +Parker's opinion that a journey into Lincolnshire was, in the state of +his back and general health, out of the question, were fully satisfied +that he was under the best care, both medical and magisterial, (they had +never seen either doctor or master, and had only known of Mr. Barton +through an advertisement,) and sent him a handsome present of pocket +money, with the information that they were going to the South of France +for the winter. Joe bore the news of their departure very coolly, and +carelessly pocketed the money, knowing as he did that he had a handsome +property in his uncle's hands, and no one would have supposed from any +exhibition of feeling that he manifested, that he had any feeling or any +care about the matter. Once, indeed, when a fly came to the door to +convey Harcourt to the railway, and he saw from the window of his room +the happy school-boy jumping with glee into the vehicle, and heard him +say to Mr. Barton, "Oh yes, Sir, I shall be met!" he turned to Fred who +sate by him and said, "No one is expecting <i>me</i>, no one in the whole +world is thinking of me now, Parker."</p> + +<p>Fred told his mother of this speech, a speech so full of bitter truth +that it made Mrs. Parker, kind creature as she was, shed tears, and she +asked her husband if young White could not be removed to pass the +Christmas holidays with them. The distance was not great, and they could +borrow Mr. Darford's carriage, and perhaps it might do him good. Mr. +Parker agreed, and the removal was effected.</p> + +<p>For some days it seemed doubtful whether the change would be either for +poor White's mental happiness or bodily improvement. The exertion, and +the motion and excitement together, wrought powerfully on his nervous +frame, and he was more distressed, and irritable than ever. He could not +sleep, he ate scarcely any thing, he rarely spoke, and more than once +Mrs. Parker regretted that the proposal had been made. In vain Edith +brought him plants from the little greenhouse, fine camellias, pots of +snow-drops, and lovely anemones. They seemed rather to awaken painful +than pleasing remembrances and associations, and once even when he had +lain long looking at a white camellia he burst into tears. It is a great +trial of temper, a great test of the sincerity of our purpose, when the +means we use to please and gratify seem to have just the contrary +effect. In the sick room especially, where kind acts, and gentle words, +and patient forbearance are so constantly demanded, it is difficult to +refrain from expressions of disappointment when all our endeavours fail; +when those we wish to please and comfort, obstinately refuse to be +pleased and comforted. Often did Fred and Edith hold counsel as to what +would give Joe pleasure, but he was as reserved and gloomy as ever, and +his heart seemed inaccessible to kindness and affection. Besides, there +were continual subjects of annoyance which they could scarcely prevent, +with all the forethought and care in the world.</p> + +<p>The boys were very thoughtful, for boys; Mrs. Parker had it is true +warned them not to talk of their out-of-door pleasures and amusements +to or before Joe, and they were generally careful; but sometimes they +would, in the gladness of their young hearts, break out into praises of +the fine walk they had just had on the cliff, or the glorious skating on +the pond, of the beauty of the pony, and of undiscovered walks and rides +in the neighbourhood. Once, in particular, Emilie, who was spending the +afternoon with the Parkers, was struck with the expression of agony that +arose to Joe's face from a very trifling circumstance. They were all +talking with some young companion of what they would be when they grew +up, and one of them appealing to Joe, he quickly said, "oh, a sailor—I +care for nobody at home and nobody cares for me, so I shall go to sea."</p> + +<p>"To sea!" the boy repeated in wonder.</p> + +<p>"And why not?" said Joe, petulantly, "where's the great wonder of that?"</p> + +<p>There was a silence all through the little party; no one seemed willing +to remind the poor lad of that which he, for a moment, seemed to +forget—his helpless crippled state. It was only Emilie who noticed his +look of hopelessness; she sat near him and heard his stifled sigh, and +oh, how her heart ached for the poor lad!</p> + +<p>This conversation and some remarks that the boy made, led Mr. and Mrs. +Parker seriously to think that he entertained hopes of recovery, and +they were of opinion that it would be kinder to undeceive him, than to +allow him to hope for that which could never he. Mr. Parker began to +talk to him about it one day, very kindly, after an examination of his +back, when White said, abruptly, "I don't doubt you are very skilful. +Sir, and all that, but I should like to see some other doctor. I have +money enough to pay his fee, and uncle said I was to have no expense +spared in getting me the best advice. Sir J. ---- comes here at Christmas, +I know, to see his father, and I should like to see him and consult him, +Sir, may I?" Mr. Parker of course could make no objection, and a day was +fixed for the consultation. It was a very unsatisfactory one and at once +crushed all Joe's hopes. The result was communicated to him as gently +and kindly as possible.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Parker was a mother, and her sympathy for poor Joe was more lasting +than that of the younger branches of the family. She went to him on the +Sunday evening following the physician's visit to tell him the whole +truth, and she often said afterwards how she dreaded the task. Joe lay +on the sofa before the dining room window, watching the blue sea sit a +distance, and thinking with all the ardour of youthful longing of the +time when his back should be well, and he should be a voyager in one of +those beautiful ships. He should have no regrets, and no friends to +regret him; then he groaned at the pain and inconvenience and privation +of his present state, and panted for restoration. Mrs. Parker entered +and eat down by him.</p> + +<p>"Is Sir J. C---- gone, Ma'am?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, he has been gone some minutes."</p> + +<p>"What does he say?" asked the lad earnestly. "He said very little to me, +nothing indeed, only all that fudge I am always hearing—'rest, +patience,' and so on."</p> + +<p>"He thinks it a very serious case, my dear; he says that the recumbent +posture is very important."</p> + +<p>"But for how long, Ma'am? I would lie twelve months patiently enough if +I hoped then to be allowed to walk about, and to be able to do as other +boys do."</p> + +<p>"Sir J. C---- thinks, Joe, that you never will recover. I am grieved to +tell you so, but it is the truth, and we think it best you should know +it. Your spine is so injured that it is impossible you should ever +recover; but you may have many enjoyments, though not able to be active +like other boys. You must keep up your spirits; it is the will of God +and you must submit."</p> + +<p>Poor Mrs. Parker having disburdened her mind of a great load, and +performed her dreaded task, left the room, telling her husband that the +boy bore it very well, indeed, he did not seem to feel it much. The bell +being already out for church, she called the young people to accompany +her thither, leaving one maid-servant and the errand boy at home, and +poor Joe to meditate on his newly-acquired information that he would be +a cripple for life. Edith looked in and asked softly, "shall I stay?" +but the "No" was so very decided, and so very stern that she did not +repeat the question, so they all went off together, a cheerful family +party.</p> + +<p>The errand boy betook himself to a chair in the kitchen, where he was +soon sound asleep, and the maid-servant to the back gate to gossip with +a sailor; so Joe was left alone with a hand-bell on the table, plenty of +books if he liked to read them, and as far as outward comforts went +with nothing to complain of. "And here I am a cripple for life," +ejaculated the poor fellow, when the sound of their voices died away and +the bell ceased; "and, oh, may that life be a short one! I wish, oh, I +wish, I were dead! who would care to hear this? no one—I wish from my +heart I were dead;" and here the boy sobbed till his poor weak frame was +convulsed with agony, and he felt as if his heart (for he had a heart) +would break.</p> + +<p>In his wretchedness he longed for affection, he longed for some one who +would really care for him, "but <i>no one</i> cares for me," groaned the lad, +"no one, and I wish I might die to night." Ah, Joe, may God change you +<i>very</i> much before he grants that wish! After he had sobbed a while, he +began to think more calmly, but his thoughts were thoughts of revenge +and hatred. "<i>John</i> has been the cause of it all." Then he thought +again, "they may well make all this fuss over me, when their son caused +all my misery; let them do what they will they will never make it up to +me, but they only tolerate me I can see, I know I am in the way; they +don't ask me here because they care for me, not they, it's only out of +pity;" and here, rolling his head from side to side, sobbed and cried +afresh. "What would I give for some one to love me, for some one to wait +on me because they loved me! but here I am to lie all my life, a +helpless, hopeless, cripple; oh dear! oh dear! my heart <i>will</i> break. +Those horrid bells! will they never have done?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>At the very moment when poor Joe was thinking that no one on earth cared +for him, that not a heart was the sadder for his sorrow, a kind heart +not far off was feeling very much for him. "I shall not go to church +to-night, aunt Agnes," said Emilie Schomberg, "I shall go and hear what +Sir J.C.'s opinion of poor Joe White is. I cannot get that poor fellow +out of my mind."</p> + +<p>"No, poor boy, it is a sad case," said aunt Agnes, "but why it should +keep you from church, my dear, I don't see. <i>I</i> shall go."</p> + +<p>So they trotted off, Emilie promising to leave aunt Agnes safe at the +church door, where she met the Parkers just about to enter. "Oh Emilie," +said little Edith, "poor Joe! we have had Sir J.C.'s opinion, and it is +quite as had if not worse than papa's, there is so much disease and +such great injury done. He is all alone, Emilie, do go and sit with +him."</p> + +<p>"It is just what I wish to do, dear, but do you think he will let me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, oh yes, try at least," said Edith, and they parted.</p> + +<p>When Emilie rang at the bell Joe was in the midst of his sorrow, but +thinking it might only be a summons for Mr. Parker, he did not take much +notice of it until the door opened and the preaching German lady, as he +called Emilie, entered the room. When she saw his swollen eyes and +flushed face, she wished that she had not intruded, but she went frankly +up to him, and began talking as indifferently as possible, to give him +time to recover himself, said how very cold it was, stirred the fire +into a cheerful blaze, and then relapsed into silence. The silence was +broken at times by heavy sighs, however—they were from poor Joe. Emilie +now went to the piano, and in her clear voice sang softly that beautiful +anthem, "I will arise and go to my Father." It was not the first time +that Joe had shown something like emotion at the sound of music; now it +softened and composed him. "I should like to hear that again," he said, +in a voice so unlike his own that Emilie was surprised.</p> + +<p>She sang it and some others that she thought he would like, and then +said, "I hope I have not tired you, but I am afraid you are in pain."</p> + +<p>"I am," said Joe, in his old gruff uncivil voice, "in great pain."</p> + +<p>"Can I do any thing for you?" asked Emilie, modestly.</p> + +<p>"No <i>nothing</i>, nothing can be done! I shall have to lie on my back as +long as I live, and never walk or stand or do any thing like other +boys—but I hope I shan't live long, that's all."</p> + +<p>Emilie did not attempt to persuade him that it would not be as bad as he +thought—that he would adapt himself to his situation, and in time grow +reconciled to it. She knew that his mind was in no state to receive such +consolation, that it rather needed full and entire sympathy, and this +she could and did most sincerely offer. "I am <i>very</i> sorry for you," she +said quietly, "<i>very</i> sorry," and she approached a little nearer to his +couch, and looked at him so compassionately that Joe believed her.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think that fellow John ought to be ashamed of himself, and I +don't believe he ever thinks of it," said Joe, recurring to his old +feeling of revenge and hatred.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he thinks of it more than you imagine," said Emilie, "but don't +fancy that no one cares about you, that is the way to be very unhappy."</p> + +<p>"It is <i>true</i>," said Joe, sadly.</p> + +<p>"God cares for you," however, replied Emily softly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, if I could think that, it would be a comfort," Miss Schomberg, "and +I do need comfort; I do, I do indeed, groaned the boy."</p> + +<p>Emilie's tears fell fast. No words of sympathy however touching, no +advice however wise and good, no act however kind could have melted Joe +as the tears of that true-hearted girl. He felt confidence in their +sincerity, but that any one should feel for <i>him</i>, should shed tears for +him, was so new, so softening an idea, that he was subdued. Not another +word passed on the subject. Emilie returned to the piano, and soon had +the joy of seeing Joe in a tranquil sleep; she shaded the lamp that it +might not awake him, covered his poor cold feet with her warm tartan, +and with a soft touch lifted the thick hair from his burning forehead, +and stood looking at him with such intense interest, suck earnest +prayerful benevolence, that it might have been an angel visit to that +poor sufferer's pillow, so soothing was it in its influence. He half +opened his eyes, saw that look, felt that touch, and tears stole down +his cheeks; tears not of anger, nor discontent, but of something like +gratitude that after all <i>one</i> person in the world cared for him. His +sleep was short, and when he awoke, he said abruptly to Emilie, "I want +to feel less angry against John," Miss Schomberg, "but I don't know how. +It was such a cruel trick, such a cowardly trick, and I cannot forgive +him."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to preach," said Emily, smiling, "but perhaps if you would +read a little in this book you would find help in the very difficult +duty of forgiving men their trespasses."</p> + +<p>"Ah, the Bible, but I find that dull reading; it always makes me low +spirited, I always associate it with lectures from uncle and Mr. Barton. +When I did wrong I was plied up with texts."</p> + +<p>Emilie did not know what answer to make to this speech. At last she +said, "Do you remember the account of the Saviour's crucifixion, how, +when in agony worse than yours, he said, 'Father forgive them.' May I +read it to you?"</p> + +<p>He did not object, and Emilie read that history which has softened many +hearts as hard as Joe's. He made but little remark as Emilie closed the +book, nor did she add to that which she had been reading by any comment, +but; bidding him a kind good night, went to meet Aunt Agnes at the +church door, and conduct her safely home.</p> + +<p>There is a turning point in most persons' lives, either for good or +evil. Joe White was able long afterwards to recall that miserable Sunday +evening, with its storm of agitation and revenge, and then its lull of +peace and love. He who said, "Peace, be still," to the tempestuous +ocean, spoke those words to Joe's troubled spirit, and the boy was +willing to listen and to learn. Would a long lecture on the sinfulness +and impropriety of his revengeful and hardened state have had the same +effect on Joe, as Emilie's hopeful, gentle, almost silent sympathy? We +think not. "I would try and make him lovable," so said and so acted +Emilie Schomberg, and for that effort had the orphan cause to thank her +through time and eternity.</p> + +<p>Joe was not of an open communicative turn, he was accustomed to keep +his feelings and thoughts very much to himself, and he therefore did not +tell either Fred or Edith of his conversation with Emilie, but when they +came to bid him good night, he spoke softly to them, and when John came +to his couch he did not offer one finger and turn away his face, as he +had been in the habit of doing, but said, "Good night," freely, almost +kindly.</p> + +<p>The work went on slowly but surely, still he held back forgiveness to +John, and while he did this, he could not be happy, he could not himself +feel that he was forgiven. "I do forgive him, at least I wish him no +ill, Miss Schomberg," he said in one of his conversations with Emilie. +"I don't suppose I need be very fond of him. Am I required to be that?"</p> + +<p>"What does the Bible say, Joe? 'If thine enemy hunger feed him, if he +thirst give him drink.' '<i>I</i> say unto you,' Christ says, '<i>Love</i> your +enemies.' He does not say don't hate them, he means <i>Love</i> them. Do you +think you have more to forgive John than Jesus had to forgive those who +hung him on the cross?"</p> + +<p>"It seems to me, Miss Schomberg, so different that example is far above +me. I cannot be like Him you know."</p> + +<p>"Yet Joe there have been instances of persons who have followed his +example in their way and degree, and who have been taught by Him, and +helped by Him to forgive their fellow-creatures."</p> + +<p>"But it is not in human nature to do it, I know, at least is not in +mine."</p> + +<p>"But try and settle it in your mind, Joe, that John did not mean to +injure you, that had he had the least idea that you would fall he would +never have tempted you to climb. If you look upon it as accidental on +your part, and thoughtlessness on his, it will feel easier to forgive +him perhaps, and I am sure you may. You are quite wrong in supposing +that John does not think of it. He told Edith only yesterday that he +never could forgive himself for tempting you to climb, and that he did +not wonder at your cold and distant way to him. Poor fellow! it would +make him much happier if you would treat him as though you forgave him, +which you cannot do unless you <i>from your heart</i> forgive him."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_TWELFTH"></a><h2>CHAPTER TWELFTH.</h2> + +<p>THE CHRISTMAS TREE.</p> +<br> + +<p>The conversation last recorded, between Emilie and Joe, took place a few +days before Christmas. Every one noticed that Joe was more silent and +thoughtful than usual, but he was not so morose; he received the little +attentions of his friend more gratefully, and was especially fond of +having Emilie talk to him, sing to him, or read to him. Emilie and her +aunt were spending a few days at the Parkers' house, and it seemed to +add very much to Joe's comfort. This Emilie was like a spirit of peace +pervading the whole family. She was so sure to win Edith to obey her +mamma, to stop John if he went a little too far in his jokes with his +sister, to do sundry little services for Mrs. Parker, and to make +herself such an agreeable companion to Emma, and Caroline, that they all +agreed they wished that they had her always with them. Edith confessed +to Emilie one day that she thought Emma and Caroline wonderfully +improved, and as to her mamma, how very seldom she was cross now.</p> + +<p>"We are very apt to think other persons in fault when we ourselves are +cross and irritable, this may have been the case here, Edith, may it +not?"</p> + +<p>"Well! perhaps so, but I am sure I am much happier than I was, Emilie."</p> + +<p>"'<i>Great peace</i> have they that love God's law,' my dear, 'and nothing +shall offend them.' What a gospel of peace it is Edith, is it not?"</p> + +<p>The great work in hand, just now, was the Christmas tree. These +Christmas trees are becoming very common in our English homes, and the +idea, like many more beautiful, bright, domestic thoughts, is borrowed +from the Germans. You may be sure that Emilie and aunt Agnes were quite +up to the preparations for this Christmas tree, and so much the more +welcome were they as Christmas guests.</p> + +<p>"I have plenty of money," said Joe, "but I don't know, somehow, what +sort of present to make, Miss Schomberg, yet I think I might pay for +all the wax lights and ornaments, and the filagree work you talk of."</p> + +<p>"A capital thought," said Emilie, and she took his purse, promising to +lay out what was needful to the best advantage. Joe helped Emilie and +the Miss Parkers very efficiently as he lay "useless," he said, but they +thought otherwise, and gave him many little jobs of pasting, gumming, +etc. It was a beautiful tree, I assure you; but Joe had a great deal of +mysterious talk with Emilie, apart from the rest, which, however, we +must not divulge until Christmas eve. A little box came from London on +the morning of the day, directed to Joe. Edith was very curious to know +its contents; so was Fred, so was John; Emilie only smiled.</p> + +<p>"Joe, won't you unpack that box now, to gratify us all?" said Mr. +Parker, as Joe put the box on one side, nodded to Emilie, and began his +breakfast. No, Joe could not oblige him. Evening came at last, and the +Christmas tree was found to bear rich fruit. From many a little +sparkling pendant branch hung offerings for Joe; poor Joe, who thought +no one in the world cared for him. He lay on his reclining chair looking +happier and brighter than usual, but as the gifts poured into his lap, +gifts so evidently the offspring of tenderness and affection, so +numerous, and so adapted to his condition, his countenance assumed a +more serious and thoughtful cast. Every cue gave him something. There is +no recounting the useful and pretty, if not costly, articles that Joe +became possessor of. A beautiful tartan wrapper for his feet, from Mrs. +Parker; a reading desk and book from Mr. Parker; a microscope from John +and Fred; a telescope from Emilie and Edith; some beautiful knitted +socks from aunt Agnes; a pair of Edith and Fred's very best canaries.</p> + +<p>When his gifts were arranged on his new table, a beautifully made table, +ordered for him by Mr. Parker, and exactly adapted to his prostrate +condition, and Joe saw every one's looks directed towards him lovingly, +and finally received a lovely white camellia blossom from Edith's hand, +he turned his face aside upon the sofa pillow and buried it in his +hands. What could be the matter with him? asked Mrs. Parker, tenderly. +Had any one said any thing to wound or vex him? "Oh no! no! no!" What +was it then? was he overcome with the heat of the room? "No, oh no!" +but might he be wheeled into the dining room, he asked? Mr. Parker +consented, of course, but aunt Agnes was sure he was ill. "Take him some +salvolatile, Emilie, at once."</p> + +<p>"No aunt," said Emilie, "he will be better without that, he is only +overcome."</p> + +<p>"And is not that just the very thing I was saying, Emilie, child, give +him some camphor julep then; camphor julep is a very reviving thing +doctor! Mr. Parker, won't you give him something to revive him."</p> + +<p>"I think," said Emilie, who understood his emotion and guessed its +cause, "I think he will be better alone. His spirits are weak, owing to +illness, I would not disturb him."</p> + +<p>"Come," said Mrs. Parker, "let us look at the tree, its treasures are +not half exhausted." Wonderful to say, although Joe had given his purse +to Emilie for the adornment of the tree, there still were presents for +every one from him; and what was yet more surprising to those who knew +that Joe had not naturally much delicacy of feeling or much +consideration for others, each present was exactly the thing that each +person liked and wished for. But John was the most astonished with his +share; it was a beautiful case of mathematical instruments, such a case +as all L---- and all the county of Hampshire together could not produce; +a case which Joe had bought for himself in London, and on which he +greatly prided himself. John had seen and admired it, and Joe gave this +prized, cherished case to John—his enemy John. "It must be intended for +you Fred," said John, after a minute's consideration; "but no, here is +my name on it."</p> + +<p>Margaret, at this moment, brought in a little note from Joe for John, +who, when he had read it, coloured and said, "Papa, perhaps you will +read it aloud, I cannot."</p> + +<p>It was as follows:—</p> + +"DEAR JOHN,<br> +<br> +"I have been, as you must have seen,<br> +very unhappy and very cross since my accident; I have<br> +had my heart filled with thoughts of malice and revenge,<br> +and to <i>you</i>. I have not felt as though I could forgive<br> +you, and I have often told Emilie and Edith this; but<br> +they have not known how wickedly I have felt to you,<br> +nor how much I now need to ask your forgiveness for<br> +thoughts which, in my helpless state, were as bad as actions.<br> +Often, as I saw you run out in the snow to slide<br> +or skate, I have wished (don't hate me for it) that you<br> +might fall and break your leg or your arm, that you might<br> +know a little of what I suffered. Thank God, all that is<br> +passed away, and I now do not write so much to say I<br> +forgive you, for I believe from my heart you only meant<br> +to tease me a little, not to hurt me, but to ask you to pardon<br> +me for thoughts far worse and more evil than your<br> +thoughtless mischief to me. Will you all believe me, too,<br> +when I say that I would not take my past, lonely, miserable<br> +feelings back again, to be the healthiest, most active<br> +boy on earth. Emilie has been a good friend to me, may<br> +God bless her, and bless you all for your patience and<br> +kindness to.<br> +<br> +"JOS. WHITE.<br> +<br> +"Pray do not ask me to come back to you to night, I<br> +cannot indeed. I am not unhappy, but since my illness<br> +my spirits are weak, and I can bear very little; your<br> +kindness has been too much.<br> +<br> +"J. W."<br> + +<p>The contents of the little box were now displayed. It was the only +costly present on that Christmas tree, full as it was, and rich in love. +The present was a little silver inkstand, with a dove in the centre, +bearing not an olive branch, but a little scroll in its beak, with these +words, which Emilie had suggested, and being a favourite German proverb +of hers. I will give it in her own language, in which by the bye it was +engraved. She had written the letter containing the order for the plate +to a fellow-countryman of hers, in London, and had forgotten to specify +that the motto must be in English; but never mind, she translated it for +them, and I will translate it for you. "Friede ernährt, unfriede +verzehrt." "In peace we bloom, in discord we consume." The inkstand was +for Mr. and Mrs. Parker, and the slip of paper said it was from their +grateful friend, Joe White. That was the secret. Emilie had kept it +well; they rather laughed at her for not translating the motto, but no +matter, she had taught them all a German phrase by the mistake.</p> + +<p>Where was she gone? she had slipped away from the merry party, and was +by Joe's couch. Joe's heart was very full, full with the newly-awakened +sense that he loved and that he was loved; full of earnest resolves to +become less selfish, less thankless, less irritable. He knew his lot +now, knew all that lay before him, the privations, the restrictions, the +weakness, and the sufferings. He knew that he could never hope again to +share in the many joys of boyhood and youth; that he must lay aside his +cricket ball, his hoop, his kite, in short all his active amusements, +and consign himself to the couch through the winter, spring, summer, +autumn, and winter again. He felt this very bitterly; and when all the +gifts were lavished upon him, he thought, "Oh, for my health and +strength again, and I would gladly give up <i>all</i> these gifts, nay, I +would joyfully be a beggar." But when he was alone, in the view of all I +have written and more, he felt that he could forgive John, that in short +he must ask John to forgive him, and this conviction came not suddenly +and by chance, but as the result of honest sober consideration, of his +own sincere communings with conscience.</p> + +<p>Still he felt very desolate, still he could scarcely believe in Emilie's +assurance, "You may have God for your friend," and something of this he +told Miss Schomberg, when she came to sit by him for awhile. She had but +little faith in her own eloquence, we have said, and she felt now more +than ever how dangerous it would be to deceive him, so she did not lull +him into false peace, but she soothed him with the promise of Him who +loves us not because of our worthiness, but who has compassion on us out +of his free mercy. Herein is love indeed, thought poor Joe, and he +meditated long upon it, so long that his heart began to feel something +of its power, and he sank to sleep that night happier and calmer than he +had ever slept before, wondering in his last conscious moments that God +should love <i>him</i>.</p> + +<p>Poor Joel he had much to struggle with; for if indulgence and +over-weening affection ruin their thousands, neglect and heartlessness +ruin tens of thousands. The heart not used to exercise the affection, +becomes as it were paralyzed, and so he found it. He could not love as +he ought, he could not be grateful as he knew he ought to be, and he +found himself continually receiving acts of kindness, as matters of +course, and without suitable feeling of kindness and gratitude in +return; but the more he knew of himself the more he felt of his own +unworthiness, the more gratefully he acknowledged and appreciated the +love of others to him. The ungrateful are always proud. The humble, +those who know how undeserving they are, are always grateful.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_THIRTEENTH"></a><h2>CHAPTER THIRTEENTH.</h2> + +<p>THE NEW HOME.</p> +<br> + +<p>Let us pass by twelve months, and see how the law of kindness is working +then. Mrs. Parker is certainly happier, less troubled than she was two +years ago; Edith is a better and more dutiful child, and the sisters are +far more sociable with her than formerly. The dove of peace has taken up +its abode in the Parker family. How is it in High Street? Emilie and +aunt Agnes are not there, but Miss Webster is still going on with her +straw bonnet trade and her lodging letting, and she is really as good +tempered as we can expect of a person whose temper has been bad so very +long, and who has for so many years been accustomed to view her fellow +creatures suspiciously and unkindly.</p> + +<p>But Emilie is gone, and are you not curious to know where? I will tell +you; she is gone back to Germany—she and her aunt Agnes are both gone +to Frankfort to live. The fact is, that Emilie is married. She was +engaged to a young Professor of languages, at the very time when the +Christmas tree was raised last year in Mr. Parker's drawing room. He +formed one of the party, indeed, and, but that I am such a very bad hand +at describing love affairs, I might have mentioned it then; besides, +this is not a <i>love story</i> exactly, though there is a great deal about +<i>love</i> in it.</p> + +<p>Lewes Franks had come over to England with letters of recommendation +from one or two respectable English families at Frankfort, and was +anxious to return with two or three English pupils, and commence a +school in that town. His name was well known to Mr. Parker, who gladly +promised to consign his two sons, John and Fred to his care, but +recommended young Franks to get married. This Franks was not loth to do +when he saw Emilie Schomberg, and after rather a short courtship, and +quite a matter of fact one, they married and went over to Germany, +accompanied by John, Fred, and Joe White. Mr. Barton, after the sad +accident in the plantation, had so little relish for school keeping, +that he very gladly resigned his pupils to young Franks, who, if he had +little experience in tuition, was admirably qualified to train the young +by a natural gentleness and kindness of disposition, and sincere and +stedfast christian principle.</p> + +<p>Edith longed to accompany them, but that was not to be thought of, and +so she consoled herself by writing long letters to Emilie, which +contained plenty of L---- news. I will transcribe one for you.</p> + +<p>The following was dated a few months after the departure of the party, +not the first though, you may be sure.</p> + +L----, Dec, 18—<br> +DEAREST EMILIE,<br> +<br> +I am thinking so much of you to-night<br> +that I must write to tell you so. I wish letters<br> +only cost one penny to Frankfort, and I would write to<br> +you every day. I want so to know how you are spending<br> +your Christmas at Frankfort. We shall have no Christmas<br> +tree this year. We all agreed that it would be a melancholy<br> +attempt at mirth now you are gone, and dear Fred<br> +and John and poor Joe. I fancy you will have one<br> +though, and oh, I wish I was with you to see it, but<br> +mamma is often very poorly now, and likes me to be<br> +with her, and I know I am in the right place, so I<br> +won't wish to be elsewhere. Papa is very much from<br> +home now, he has so many patients at a distance, and<br> +sometimes he takes me long rides with him, which is<br> +a great pleasure. One of his patients is just dead,<br> +you will be sorry to hear who I mean—Poor old Joe<br> +Murray! He took cold in November, going out with<br> +his Life Boat, one very stormy night, to a ship in<br> +distress off L---- sands, the wind and rain were very<br> +violent, and he was too long in his wet clothes, but he<br> +saved with his own arm two of the crew; two boys about<br> +the age of his own poor Bob. Every one says it was a<br> +noble act; they were just ready to sink, and the boat in<br> +another moment would have gone off without them. His<br> +own life was in great danger, but be said he remembered<br> +your, or rather the Saviour's, "Golden Rule," and could<br> +not hesitate. Think of remembering that in a November<br> +storm in the raging sea! He plunged in and dragged<br> +first one and then another into the boat. These boys<br> +were brothers, and it was their first voyage. They told<br> +Joe that they had gone to sea out of opposition to their<br> +father, who contradicted their desires in every thing, but<br> +that now they had had quite enough of it, and should<br> +return; but I must not tell you all their story, or my<br> +letter will he too long. Joe, as I told you, caught cold,<br> +and though he was kindly nursed and Sarah waited on him<br> +beautifully, he got worse and worse. I often went to see<br> +him, and he was very fond of my reading in the Bible<br> +to him; but one day last week he was taken with inflammation<br> +of the chest, and died in a few hours. Papa says he<br> +might have lived years, but for that cold, he was such a<br> +healthy man. I feel very sorry he is gone.<br> +<br> +I can't help crying when I think of it, for I remember<br> +he was very useful to me that May evening when we<br> +were primrose gathering. Do you recollect that evening,<br> +Emilie? Ah, I have much to thank you for. What a<br> +selfish, wilful, irritable girl I was! So I am now at times,<br> +my evil thoughts and feelings cling so close to me, and<br> +I have no longer you, dear Emilie, to warn and to encourage<br> +me, but I have Jesus still. He Is a good Friend<br> +to me, a better even than you have been.<br> +<br> +I owe you a great deal Emilie; you taught me to love,<br> +you showed me the sin of temper, and the beauty of peace<br> +and love. I go and see Miss Webster sometimes, as you<br> +wish; she is getting very much more sociable than she was,<br> +and does not give quite such short answers. She often<br> +speaks of you, and says you were a good friend to her; that<br> +is a great deal for her to say, is it not? How happy you<br> +must be to have every one love you! I am glad to<br> +say that Fred's canaries are well, but they don't <i>agree</i> at<br> +all times. There is no teaching canaries to love one<br> +another, so all I can do is to separate the fighters; but<br> +I love those birds, I love them for Fred's sake, and I love<br> +them for the remembrances they awaken of our first days<br> +of peace and union.<br> +<br> +My love to Joe, poor Joe! Do write and tell me how<br> +he goes on, does he walk at all? Ever dear Emilie,<br> +<br> +Your affectionate<br> +<br> +EDITH.<br> + +<p>There were letters to John and Fred in the same packet, and I think you +will like to hear one of Fred's to his sister, giving an account of the +Christmas festivities at Frankfort.</p> + +DEAR EDITH,<br> +<br> +I am very busy to-day, but I must<br> +give you a few lines to tell you how delighted your letters<br> +made us. We are very happy here, but <i>home</i> is the place<br> +after all, and it is one of our good Master's most constant<br> +themes. He is always talking to us about home, and<br> +encouraging us to talk of and think of it. Emilie seems<br> +like a sister to us, and she enters into all our feelings as<br> +well us you could do yourself.<br> +<br> +Well, you will want to know something about our<br> +Christmas doings at school. They have been glorious I<br> +can tell you—such a Christmas tree! Such a lot of<br> +presents in our <i>shoes</i> on Christmas morning; such dinings<br> +and suppings, and musical parties! You must know every<br> +one sings here, the servants go singing about the house<br> +like nightingales, or sweeter than nightingales to my<br> +mind, like our dear "Kanarien Vogel."<br> +<br> +You ask for Joe, he is very patient, and kind and good<br> +to us all, he and John are capital friends; and oh, Edith,<br> +it would do your heart good to see how John devotes himself<br> +to the poor fellow. He waits upon him like a servant,<br> +but it is all <i>love</i> service. Joe can scarcely bear him out<br> +of his sight. Herr Franks was asked the other day, by<br> +a gentleman who came to sup with us, if they were brothers.<br> +John watches all Joe's looks, and is so careful<br> +that nothing may be said to wound him, or to remind<br> +him of his great affliction more than needs be. It was a<br> +beautiful sight on New Year's Eve to see Joe's boxes<br> +that he has carved. He has become very clever at that<br> +work, and there was an article of his carving for every<br> +one, but the best was for Emilie, and she <i>deserted</i> it.<br> +Oh, how he loves Emilie! If he is beginning to feel in<br> +one of his old cross moods, he says that Emilie's face, or<br> +Emilie's voice disperses it all, and well it may; Emilie<br> +has sweetened sourer tempers than Joe White's.<br> +<br> +But now comes a sorrowful part of my letter. Joe is<br> +very unwell, he has a cough, (he was never strong you<br> +know,) and the doctor says he is very much afraid his<br> +lungs are diseased. He certainly gets thinner and<br> +weaker, and he said to me to-day what I must tell you.<br> +He spoke of his longings to travel (to go to Australia was<br> +always his fancy.) "And now, Fred," he said, "I never<br> +think of going <i>there</i>, I am thinking of a longer journey<br> +<i>still</i>." "A longer journey, Joe!" I said, "Well, you have<br> +got the travelling mania on you yet, I see." He looked<br> +so sad, that I said, "What do you mean Joe?" He<br> +replied, "Fred, I think nothing of journeys and voyages<br> +in this world now. I am thinking of a pilgrimage to the<br> +land where all our wandering's will have an end. I<br> +longed, oh Fred, you know how I longed to go to foreign<br> +lands, but I long now as I never longed before to go to<br> +<i>Heaven</i>." I begged him not to talk of dying, but he said<br> +it did not make him low spirited. Emilie and he talked<br> +of it often. Ah Edith! that boy is more fit for heaven<br> +than any of us who a year or two ago thought him<br> +scarcely fit to be our companion, but as Emilie said the<br> +other day, God often causes the very afflictions that he<br> +sends to become his choicest mercies. So it has been<br> +with poor White, I am sure. I find I have nearly filled<br> +my letter about Joe, but we all think a great deal of him.<br> +Don't you remember Emilie's saying, "I would try to<br> +make him lovable." He is lovable now, I assure you.<br> +<br> +I am sorry our canaries quarrel, but that is no fault of<br> +yours. We have only two school-fellows at present, but<br> +Herr Franks does not wish for a large school; he says he<br> +likes to be always with us, and to be our companion, which<br> +if there were more of us he could not so well manage. We<br> +have one trouble, and that is in the temper of this newly<br> +arrived German boy, but we are going to try and make<br> +him lovable. He is a good way off it <i>yet</i>.<br> +<br> +I must leave John to tell you about the many things I<br> +have forgotten, and I will write soon. We have a cat<br> +here whom we call <i>Muff</i>, after your old pet. Her name<br> +often reminds me of your sacrifice for me. Ah! my dear<br> +little sister, you heaped coals of fire on my head that day.<br> +Truly you were not overcome of evil, you overcame evil<br> +with good. Dear love to all at home. Your ever affectionate<br> +brother,<br> +<br> +FRED PARKER.<br> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_FOURTEENTH"></a><h2>CHAPTER FOURTEENTH.</h2> + +<p>THE LAST.</p> +<br> + +<p>"Hush, dears! hush!" said a gentle voice, pointing to a shaded window. +"He is asleep now, and we must have the window open for air this sultry +evening. I would not rake that bed to-night, John, I think."</p> + +<p>"It is <i>his</i> garden, Emilie."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know"—and she sighed.—</p> + +<p>"It <i>is</i> his garden, and his eye always sees the least weed and the +least untidiness. He will be sure to notice it when he is drawn out +to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"John there may be no to-morrow for Joe, he is altered very much to-day, +and it is evident to me he is sinking fast. He won't come down again, I +think."</p> + +<p>"May I go and sit by him, Emilie?" said the boy, quietly gathering up +his tools and preparing to leave his employment.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but be very still."</p> + +<p>It was a striking contrast; that fine, florid, healthy boy, whose frame +was gaining vigour and manliness daily, whose blight eye had scarcely +ever been dimmed by illness or pain, and that pale, deformed, weary +sleeper. So Emilie thought as she took her seat by the open window and +watched them both. The roses and the carnations that John had brought to +his friend were quietly laid on the table as he caught the first glimpse +of the dying boy. There was that in the action which convinced Emilie +that John was aware of his friend's state and they quietly sat down to +watch him. The stars came out one by one, the dew was falling, the birds +were all hurrying home, children were asleep in their happy beds; many +glad voices mingled by open casements and social supper tables, some few +lingered out of doors to enjoy the beauties of that quiet August night, +the last on earth of one, at least, of God's creatures. They watched on.</p> + +<p>"I have been asleep, Emilie, a beautiful sleep, I was dreaming of my +mother; I awoke, and it was you. John, <i>you</i> there too! Good, patient, +watchful John. Leave me a moment, quite alone with John, will you, +Emilie? Moments are a great deal to me now."</p> + +<p>The friends were left alone, their talk was of death and eternity, on +the solemn realities of which one of them was about to enter, and +carefully as John had shielded Joe, tenderly as he had watched over him +hitherto, he must now leave him to pass the stream alone—yet not alone.</p> + +<p>Emilie soon returned; it was to see him die. It was not much that he +could say, and much was not needed. The agony of breathing those last +breaths was very great. He had lived long near to God, and in the dark +valley his Saviour was still near to him. He was at peace—at peace in +the dying conflict; it was only death now with whom he had to contend. +Being justified by faith, he had peace with God through the Lord Jesus +Christ. His last words were whispered in the ear of that good elder +sister, our true-hearted, loving Emilie. "Bless you, dear Emilie, God +<i>will</i> bless you, for 'Blessed are the peacemakers.'"</p> + + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>NORWICK: PRINTED BY JOSIAH FLETCHER</p> + +<p>NEW WORKS AND NEW EDITIONS</p> + +<p>Published by Arthur Hall, Virtue & Co.</p> + +<p>25, PATERNOSTER ROW.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Third Edition, in post 8vo. with numerous illustrations, price 8s. bound +in cloth, or 17s. morocco antique,</p> + +<p>NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS:</p> + +<p>An Historical Sketch of Ancient Assyria and Persia, with an Account of +the recent Researches in those Countries,</p> + +<p>By W.S.W. 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A glowing spirit of devotion distinguishes +the whole work. In every page we find 'thoughts that breathe and words +that burn.' A purer body of ethics we have never read; and he who can +peruse it without emotion, clothed as it is in the graceful garb of +poetry, must have a very cold and insensible heart."—<i>Times</i>.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>ALSO, BY THE SAME AUTHOR,</p> + +<p>Second Edition, fcp. 8vo. price 7s, 6d, cloth gilt,</p> + +<p>THE CHRISTIAN LIFE,</p> + +<p>A MANUAL OF SACRED VERSE.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>NEW WORKS AND NEW EDITIONS.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>NEW SERIES OF ILLUSTRATED MANUALS.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>New Edition, in fcp. 8vo. price 3<i>s</i>. in emblematic cover,</p> + +<p>THE MANUAL OF HERALDRY,</p> + +<p>BEING A Concise description of the several terms used, and containing a +DICTIONARY OF EVERY DESIGNATION IN THE SCIENCE.</p> + +<p>ILLUSTRATED BY 400 ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Uniform with the above, price 3<i>s</i>.</p> + +<p>A NEW MANUAL OF PERSPECTIVE,</p> + +<p>CONTAINING Remarks on the Theory of the Art, and its Practical +Application in the Production of Drawings, calculated for the use of +Students in Architectural and Picturesque Drawing, Draughtsmen, +Engravers, Builders, Carpenters, Engineers, &c. &c.</p> + +<p>ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS.</p> + +<p>By N. WHITTOCK,</p> + +<p>Author of the Oxford Drawing Book, &c.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Just Published, also uniform, price 3<i>s</i>.</p> + +<p>THE MANUAL OF GEOGRAPHY, PHYSICAL AND POLITICAL,</p> + +<p>For the use of Schools and Families. With Questions for Examination.</p> + +<p>EDWARD FARR, Esq. F.S.A. Author of "History of England," &c.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>NEW WORKS AND NEW EDITIONS.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Just Published, in post 8vo. price 6<i>s</i>. bound in cloth,</p> + +<p>PHYSIOLOGY OF HUMAN NATURE;</p> + +<p>Being an Investigation of the Moral and Physical Condition of Man, in +his relation to the Inspired Word of God.</p> + +<p>DEDICATED TO THE REV. DR. CUMMING. By R. CROSS, M.D.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>In 12mo. cloth, price 7<i>s</i>. 6d.</p> + +<p>THE TRUE CHURCH:</p> + +<p>Showing what is the true Church. The ingathering of the Jews to the +Church: in what manner, and when. The course of the Church—the Past, +the Present, and the Future. By JAMES BIDEN.</p> + +<p>In this work will be found an explanation of Daniel's Prophecies, +including the last, which has never before been understood. Also an +interpretation, in part, of the city of Ezekiel's Vision, showing its +spiritual character. Also an interpretation of the greater part of the +Revelation of St. John; giving to portions an entirely new reading, +especially to the whole of the 20th chapter.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>In One Volume, price 5<i>s</i>. cloth lettered,</p> + +<p>TOIL AND TRIAL, A Story of London Life. By Mrs. NEWTON CROSLAND, (late +CAMILLA TOULMIN.) With frontispiece by John Leech. And +THE DOUBLE CLAIM, A Tale of Real Life. By Mrs. T.K. HERVEY. With +Frontispiece by WEIR.</p> + +<p><i>Notices of "Toil and Trial."</i></p> + +<p>"The book is well calculated to help an Important +movement."—<i>Athenaeum.</i></p> + +<p>"She is a moralist, who draws truth from sorrow with the hand of a +master, and depicts the miseries of mankind only that she may improve +their condition."—<i>Bell's Weekly Messenger</i></p> + +<p>"Mrs. Crosland's purpose is good."—<i>Globe</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>In post octavo,</p> + +<p>BARON WILLIAM VON HUMBOLDT'S LETTERS TO A LADY.</p> + +<p>From the German, With Introduction, by DR. STEBBING.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>ELEGANT GIFT BOOKS BY W. H. BARTLETT.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>GLEANINGS, PICTORIAL AND ANTIQUARIAN, ON THE OVERLAND ROUTE,</p> + +<p>By the Author of "Walks about Jerusalem," "Forty Days In the Desert," +"The Nile Boat," &c.</p> + +<p>This Volume is Illustrated with Twenty-eight Engravings on Steel, and +numerous Woodcuts. Trice 16s. cloth gilt.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>In a handsome super-royal 8vo. volume, price 16s. cloth gilt,</p> + +<p>THE NILE BOAT; OR, GLIMPSES OF THE LAND OF EGYPT;</p> + +<p>Illustrated by 35 Steel Engravings, Two Maps, and numerous Cuts.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>FORTY DAYS IN THE DESERT, ON THE TRACK OF THE ISRAELITES;</p> + +<p>Being a Narrative of a Journey from Cairo, by Wady Feiran, to Mount +Sinai, and Petra. With Twenty-seven Engravings on Steel, from Sketches +taken on the Route, a Map, and numerous Woodcuts. Third Edition. +Super-royal 8vo. cloth gilt, 12s.; morocco gilt, 21s.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>WALKS ABOUT JERUSALEM, ILLUSTRATED BY TWENTY-FOUR ENGRAVINGS ON STEEL,</p> + +<p>A Map, and many superior Woodcuts. Third Edition. Super-royal 8vo. cloth +gilt, 12s.; morocco gilt, 21s.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>SCRIPTURE SITES AND SCENES, FROM ACTUAL SURVEY, IN EGYPT, ARABIA, AND +PALESTINE.</p> + +<p>Illustrated with 17 Steel Engravings, 3 Maps, and 37 Woodcuts. 4s. cloth +gilt, post 8vo.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Just published, post 8vo. price 10s. 6d. bound in cloth,</p> + +<p>DEALINGS WITH THE INQUISITION AT ROME.</p> + +<p>BY DR. GIACINTO ACHILLI.</p> + +<p>Extract from the Work.—"It is to unmask and expose Popery, as it is at +the present day, that I undertake the writing of this work ...I should +be sorry for it to be said or thought, that I undertook it to gratify +any bad feeling; my sole motive has been to make the truth evident, that +all may apprehend it. It was for hearing and speaking the truth that I +incurred the hatred of the Papal Court; it was for the truth's sake that +I hesitated at no sacrifice it required of me; and it is for the truth +that I lay the present Narrative before the public."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>EDITED BY DR. CUMMING. 18mo. cloth, price 1s. 6d.</p> + +<p>MATTHEW POOLE'S DIALOGUE BETWEEN A POPISH PRIEST AND AN ENGLISH +PROTESTANT.</p> + +<p>Wherein the principal Points and Arguments of both Religions are truly +Proposed, and fully Examined.</p> + +<p>New Edition, with the References revised and corrected.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Second Edition, enlarged and improved, 12mo. cloth, price 2s. 6d.</p> + +<p>ROMANISM IN ENGLAND EXPOSED.</p> + +<p>A Series of Letters, exposing the Blasphemous and Soul-destroying system +advocated and taught by the Redemptorist Fathers of Clapham. By C.H. +Collete, Esq.</p> + +<p>"We strongly recommend this publication, which is particularly valuable +just now."—<i>Royal Cornwall Gazette</i>.</p> + +<p>"We recommend the work to the serious and earnest attention of our +readers as one of unusual interest, and as discovering the active +existence, in our very midst, of a system of idolatry and blasphemy as +gross as any recorded in the History of Popery."—<i>Bell's Weekly +Messenger</i>.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Also, by the same Author, price 1s.</p> + +<p>POPISH INFALLIBILITY.</p> + +<p>Letters to Viscount Fielding on his Secession.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>WORKS BY THE REV. JOHN CUMMING, D.D.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>1. Published this day, in fcap. 8vo. price 9s. cloth, elegantly gilt or +13s. morocco extra,</p> + +<p>PROPHETIC STUDIES: OR, LECTURES ON THE BOOK OF DANIEL.</p> + +<p>2. Also, by the same Author, New Editions, revised and corrected, with +Two Indices. In Two vols. price 9s. each, cloth gilt; or 26s. morocco +extra,</p> + +<p>APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES; OR, LECTURES ON THE BOOK OF REVELATION. Delivered +in Exeter Hall, and at Crown Court Church.</p> + +<p>3. Also, uniform with the above. Fifth Thousand.</p> + +<p>APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES, THIRD SERIES; OR, LECTURES ON THE SEVEN CHURCHES +OF ASIA MINOR. Illustrated by Wood Engravings, representing the present +state of the Apcetolic Churches.</p> + +<p>4. New Edition, in the Press.</p> + +<p>LECTURES FOR THE TIMES: AN EXPOSITION OF TRIDENTE AND TRACTARIAN POPERY.</p> + +<p>5. Now complete, in One Volume, containing 688 pages, price 6s. cloth +lettered,</p> + +<p>A CHEAP EDITION OF THE CELEBRATED PROTESTANT DISCUSSION Between the Rev. +JOHN CUMMING, D.D. and DANIEL FRENCH, Esq. Barrister-at-Law, held at +Hammersmith, in MDCCCXXXIX.</p> + +<p>"No Clergyman's library can be complete without it."—<i>Bell's +Messenger.</i></p> + +<p>"A compendium of argument."—<i>Gentleman's Magazine.</i></p> + +<p>"The subject <i>pro</i> and <i>con</i> is all but exhausted."—<i>Church and State +Gazette.</i></p> + +<p>"This book ought to be in the hands of every Protestant in Britain, more +particularly all Clergymen, Ministers, and Teachers; a more thorough +acquaintance with the great Controversy may be acquired from this volume +than from any other source."</p> + +<p>6. Seventh Edition, fcap. 8vo. cloth, price 3<i>s</i>.</p> + +<p>"IS CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD?" A Manual of Christian Evidences for +Scripture Readers, Sunday School Teachers, City Missionaries, and Young +Persons.</p> + +<p>"We never read a work of this description which gave us so much +satisfaction. It is a work of the utmost value."—<i>Ecclesiastical +Times</i>.</p> + +<p>"It is drawn up with much care, clearness, and earnestness."—<i>Aberdeen +Journal</i>.</p> + +<p>"The topics contained in this volume are treated with intelligence, +clearness, and eloquence."—<i>Dr. Vaughan's Review</i>.</p> + +<p>"As a popular compendium of Christian Evidence, we thoroughly recommend +this volume."—<i>Noncomformist</i>.</p> + +<p>"It bears the impress of a clear and vigorous understanding. Dr. Cumming +has done great service to the cause of Divine Revelation by the +publication of it."—<i>Church of England Journal</i>.</p> + +<p>7. Third Edition, fcap. 8vo. price 3<i>s</i>. cloth gilt,</p> + +<p>OUR FATHER; A Manual of Family Prayers for General and Special +Occasions, with short Prayers for spare minutes, and Passages for +Reflection.</p> + +<p>8. Uniform with the above,</p> + +<p>THE COMMUNION TABLE; Or, Communicant's Manual: a plain and practical +Exposition of the Lord's Supper.</p> + +<p>9. Just published, price 4<i>s</i>. cloth gilt,</p> + +<p>OCCASIONAL DISCOURSES. VOL. II. CONTENTS.</p> + +<p>1. LIBERTY. 2. EQUALITY. 3. FRATERNITY. 4. THE REVOLUTIONISTS. 5. THE +TRUE CHARTER. 6. THE TRUE SUCCESSION. 7. PSALM FOR THE DAY. 8. +THANKSGIVING.</p> + +<p>10. DR. CUMMING'S SERMON BEFORE THE QUEEN. Sixteenth Thousand, price +1<i>s</i>.</p> + +<p>SALVATION: A Sermon preached in the Parish Church of Crathie, Balmoral, +before Her Majesty the Queen, on Sunday, Sept. 22d, 1850.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Second Edition, revised and corrected, with an Index,</p> + +<p>CHEMISTRY NO MYSTERY:</p> + +<p>Being the Subject-matter of a Course of Lectures by Dr. Scoffeon. In +12mo. cloth lettered, price 5s.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Third Edition, revised and corrected,</p> + +<p>BAKEWELL'S PHILOSOPHICAL CONVERSATIONS. Illustrated with Diagrams and +Woodcuts. In 12mo. cloth, price 5s.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>A NEW TREATISE on THE GAME OF CHESS.</p> + +<p>By George Walker, Esq. Ninth Edition. 12mo. cloth lettered, reduced to +5s.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Eighth Edition, price 3s. in cloth, with Frontispiece,</p> + +<p>SELECT POETRY FOR CHILDREN; with Brief Explanatory Notes. Arranged for +the use of Schools and Families by Joseph Payne.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Second Edition, in 19mo. cloth, price 6s.</p> + +<p>STUDIES IN ENGLISH POETRY. Edited by Joseph Payne.</p> + +<p>With short Biographical Sketches and Notes, intended as a Text-Book for +the higher classes in Schools, and as an Introduction to the study of +English Literature.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>In preparation, uniform with the above, by the same Editor. STUDIES IN +ENGLISH PROSE.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Just published, price 6d.</p> + +<p>THE ILLUSTRATED FRENCH AND ENGLISH PRIMER.</p> + +<p>With nearly 100 Engravings on Wood.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>THE +HOFLAND LIBRARY: +FOR THE +INSTRUCTION AND AMUSEMENT OF YOUTH.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>ILLUSTRATED WITH PLATES.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>EACH VOLUME HANDSOMELY BOUND IN EMBOSSED SCARLET CLOTH, WITH GILT EDGES, +&c.</p> + +<p>FIRST CLASS, in 12mo. Price 2s. 6d.</p> + +<p>1. ALFRED CAMPBELL; or Travels of a Young Pilgrim. 2. DECISION; a Tale. +3. ENERGY. 4. FAREWELL TALES. 5. FORTITUDE. 6. HUMILITY. 7. INTEGRITY. +8. MODERATION. 9. PATIENCE. 10. REFLECTION. 11. SELF-DENIAL. 12. YOUNG +CADET; or, Travels in Hindostan. 13. YOUNG PILGRIM; or, Alfred Campell's +Return.</p> + +<p>SECOND CLASS, in 18mo. Price 1s. 6d.</p> + +<p>1. ADELAIDE: or, Massacre of St. Bartholomew. 2. AFFECTIONATE BROTHERS. +3. ALICIA AND HER AUNT; or, Think before you Speak. 4. BARBADOS GIRL. 5. +BLIND FARMER AND HIS CHILDREN. 6. CLERGYMAN'S WIDOW and her YOUNG +FAMILY. 7. DAUGHTER-IN-LAW, HER FATHER AND FAMILY. 8. ELIZABETH AND HER +THREE BEGGAR BOYS. 9. GODMOTHER'S TALES. 10. GOOD GRANDMOTHER AND HER +OFFSPRING. 11. MERCHANT'S WIDOW and her YOUNG FAMILY. 12. RICH BOYS AND +POOR BOYS, and other Tales. 13. THE SISTERS; a Domestic Tale. 14. STOLEN +BOY; an Indian Tale. 15. WILLIAM AND HIS UNCLE BEN. 16. YOUNG NORTHERN +TRAVELLER. 17. YOUNG CRUSOE; or, Shipwrecked Boy.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>NEW ILLUSTRATED WORKS FOR THE YOUNG.</p> + +<p>Uniformly printed in square 16 mo. handsomely bound in cloth, price 2s. +6d. each.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>1. With Plates on Steel, Second Edition,</p> + +<p>HOW TO WIN LOVE; OR, RHONDA'S LESSON. BY THE AUTHOR OF "MICHAEL THE +MINER," ETC.</p> + +<p>"A very captivating story."—<i>Morning Post.</i></p> + +<p>"Truthfulness, descriptive talent, and pure morality in every line."— +<i>Literary Gazette.</i></p> + +<p>"Just what a story for children ought to be."—<i>Douglas Jerrold's +Newspaper.</i></p> + +<p>2. PIPPIE'S WARNING; OR, THE ADVENTURES OF A DANCING DOG. BY CATHERINE +CROWE, AUTHOR OF 'SUSAN HOPLEY,' ETC.</p> + +<p>"A capital story."—<i>Athenaeum.</i> "This is a capital child's +book."—<i>Scotsman.</i></p> + +<p>3. STRATAGEMS. BY MRS. NEWTON CROSLAND, (late CAMILLA TOULMIN.)</p> + +<p>"A sweet tale, penned in a fair mood, and such as will make a rare gift +for a child."—<i>Sun</i>.</p> + +<p>4. With Four Illustrations.</p> + +<p>MY OLD PUPILS. The former work of this author, "MY SCHOOLBOY DAYS," has +attained great popularity, upwards of ten thousand copies having been +circulated in this country alone.</p> + +<p>5 Third Edition, with gilt edges,</p> + +<p>STORIES FROM THE GOSPELS. By MRS. HENRY LYNCH, AUTHOR OF "MAUDE +EFFINGHAM," ETC.</p> + +<p>6. Just published,</p> + +<p>PLEASANT PASTIME; Or, DRAWING-ROOM DRAMAS, for Private Representation by +the Young.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>NEW TALE FOR THE YOUNG, BY SILVERPEN.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>JUST PUBLISHED, In foolscap 8vo. price 7<i>s</i>. 6<i>d</i>. elegantly bound and +gilt, WITH +NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS BY HARVEY,</p> + +<p>THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE DAUGHTER. THE STORY OF A CHILD'S LIFE AMIDST THE +WOODS AND HILLS.</p> + +<p>BY ELIZA METEYARD.</p> + +<p>"This is a very delightful book, especially calculated for the amusement +and instruction of our young friends; and is evidently the production of +a right-thinking and accomplished mind."—<i>Church of England Review</i>.</p> + +<p>"An elegant, interesting, and unobjectionable present for young ladies. +The moral of the book turns on benevolence."—<i>Christian Times</i>.</p> + +<p>"This Story of a Child's Life is so full of beauty end meekness that we +can hardly express our sense of its worth in the words of common +praise."—<i>Nonconformist</i>.</p> + +<p>"This will be a choice present for the young."—<i>British Quarterly +Review</i>.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>A GIFT BOOK FOR ALL SEASONS.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>In square post 8vo, price 5<i>s</i>. handsomely bound and gilt,</p> + +<p>THE JUVENILE CALENDAR, AND ZODIAC OF FLOWERS By Mrs. T. K. Hervey</p> + +<p>WITH TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE MONTHS. By RICHARD DOYLE.</p> + +<p>"Never has the graceful pencil of Mr. Doyle been more gracefully +employed than in sketching the charming illustrations of this charming +volume."—<i>Sun</i>.</p> + +<p>"A very pretty as well as very interesting book."—<i>Observer</i>.</p> + +<p>"One need not ask for a prettier or more appropriate gift."—<i>Atlas</i>.</p> + +<p>"One of the most charming gift-books for the young which we have never +met with."—<i>Nonconformist</i>.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>In fcp. 8vo. price 5<i>s</i>. cloth gilt, illustrated by FRANKLIN,</p> + +<p>COLA MONTI; OR, THE STORY OF A GENIUS. A TALE FOR BOYS.</p> + +<p>BY THE AUTHOR OF "HOW TO WIN LOVE," ETC.</p> + +<p>"We heartily command it as delightful holiday reading."—<i>Critic</i>.</p> + +<p>"A lively narrative of school-boy adventures."</p> + +<p>"A very charming and admirably written volume. It is adapted to make +boys better."</p> + +<p>"A simple and pleasing story of school-boy life."—<i>John Bull</i>.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>In 18mo. price 1<i>s</i>. 6<i>d</i>. with Illustrations by A. COOPER, R A.</p> + +<p>THE VOICE OF MANY WATERS. BY MRS. DAVID OSBORNE.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>NEW CHRISTMAS BOOK FOR THE YOUNG.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Just published, in fcap. 8vo. price 5<i>s</i>. handsomely bound, with gilt +edges,</p> + +<p>THE ILLUSTRATED YEAR BOOK. SECOND SERIES. THE WONDERS, EVENTS, AND +DISCOVERIES OF 1850.</p> + +<p>EDITED BY JOHN TIMBS.</p> + +<p>WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD. <i>Among the Contents of this +interesting Volume will be found</i> THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. OCEAN STEAMERS. +CHURCH BUILDING. THE KOH-I-NOOR. TROPICAL STORMS. NEPAULESE EMBASSY. +SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH. PANORAMAS. OVERLAND ROUTE. COLOSSAL STATUE OF +"BAVARIA." INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION, 1851.</p> + +<p>"What a treasure in a country house must not such an Encyclopaedia of +amusing knowledge afford, when the series has grown to a few volumes. +Not only an Encyclopaedia of amusing and useful knowledge, but that +which will give to memory a chronological chart of our acquisition of +information. This admirable idea is well followed out in the little +volume in our hands. The notiore are all clear, full, and satisfactory, +and the engravings with which the volume is embellished are every way +worthy of the literary part of the work."—<i>Standard</i>.</p> + +<p>"The work is well done, and deserves notice as a striking memorial of +the chief occurrences of 1850."—<i>Atlas</i>.</p> + +<p>"Books such as this are, and will be, the landmarks of social, +scientific, mechanical, and moral progress; it extends to nearly four +hundred pages of well-condensed matter, illustrated with numerous +excellently engraved wood blocks."—<i>Advertiser</i>.</p> + +<p>"It is a stirring and instructive volume for intelligent young +people."—<i>Evangelical</i>.</p> + +<p><b>The former Volume, for 1849, still continues on Sale.</b></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>NEW GIFT BOOK FOR THE SEASON.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>In 8vo. price 16s. bound in cloth, or 24s. morocco elegant,</p> + +<p>PILGRIMAGES TO ENGLISH SHRINES.</p> + +<p>BY MRS. S.C. HALL.</p> + +<p>WITH NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS BY F.W. FAIRHOLT, F S.A. <i>Among the +interesting subjects of this Volume will be found,</i> The Birth-place or +John Bunyan; the Burial-place of John Hampden; the Residence of Hannah +More; the Tomb of Sir Thomas Gresham; the Tomb of Thomas Gray; the +Birth-place of Thomas Chatterton; the Birth-place of Richard Wilson; the +House of Andrew Marvel; the Tomb of John Stow; the Heart of Sir Nicholas +Crispe; the Printing Office of William Caxton; Shaftesbury House; the +Dwelling of James Barry; the Residence of Dr. Isaac Watts; the Prison of +Lady Mary Grey; the Town of John Kyrle (the Man of Ross); the Tomb of +William Hogarth; the Studio of Thomas Gainsborough, R.A.</p> + +<p>NOTICES OF THE PRESS "Descriptions of such Shrines come home with deep +interest to all hearts—all English hearts—particularly when they are +done with the earnestness which distinguishes Mrs. Hall's writings. That +lady's earnestness and enthusiasm are of the right sort—felt for +freedom of thought and action, for taste, and for genius winging its +flight in a noble direction. They are displayed, oftentimes most +naturally, throughout the attractive pages of this volume."—<i>Observer.</i></p> + +<p>"Mrs. Hall's talents are too well known to require our commendation of +her 'Pilgrimages,' which are every way worthy of the beautiful woodcuts +that illustrate almost every page, and this is very high praise +indeed."—<i>Standard.</i></p> + +<p>"The illustrations are very effective; and the whole work externally and +internally, is worthy of the patronage of all who love to be instructed +as well as amazed."<i>—Church and State Gazette.</i></p> + +<p>"The book is a pleasant one; a collection of a great deal of curious +information about a number of curious places and persons, cleverly and +readily put together, and combined into an elegant volume."—<i>Guardian</i>.</p> +<br> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11290 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9d2eb73 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #11290 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11290) diff --git a/old/11290-8.txt b/old/11290-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..84a70b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11290-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4709 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Emilie the Peacemaker, by Mrs. Thomas Geldart + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Emilie the Peacemaker + +Author: Mrs. Thomas Geldart + +Release Date: February 25, 2004 [eBook #11290] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: iso-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EMILIE THE PEACEMAKER*** + + +E-text prepared by Internet Archive; +University of Florida; and Amy Petri and Project +Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders + + + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through the Florida + Board of Education, Division of Colleges and Universities, + PALMM Project, 2001. (Preservation and Access for American and + British Children's Literature, 1850-1869.) See + http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/dl/UF00001806.jpg + or + http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/dl/UF00001806.pdf + + + + + +EMILIE THE PEACEMAKER. + +BY MRS. THOMAS GELDART. + +AUTHOR OF "TRUTH IS EVERYTHING;" "NURSERY GUIDE;" "STORIES OF ENGLAND +AND HER FORTY COUNTIES;" AND "THOUGHTS FOR HOME." + +MDCCCLI. + + + + + +Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of +God.... Matt v. 9. + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. + +INTRODUCTION + +CHAPTER II. + +THE SOFT ANSWER + +CHAPTER III. + +THE LESSON AT THE COTTAGE + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE HOLIDAYS + +CHAPTER V. + +EDITH'S TRIALS + +CHAPTER VI. + +EMILIE'S TRIALS + +CHAPTER VII. + +BETTER THINGS + +CHAPTER VIII. + +GOOD FOR EVIL + +CHAPTER IX. + +FRED A PEACEMAKER + +CHAPTER X. + +EDITH'S VISIT TO JOE + +CHAPTER XI. + +JOE'S CHRISTMAS + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE CHRISTMAS TREE + + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE NEW HOME + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE LAST + + + + + + +CHAPTER FIRST. + +INTRODUCTION. + + +One bright afternoon, or rather evening, in May, two girls, with basket +in hand, were seen leaving the little seaport town in which they +resided, for the professed purpose of primrose gathering, but in reality +to enjoy the pure air of the first summer-like evening of a season, +which had been unusually cold and backward. Their way lay through bowery +lanes scented with sweet brier and hawthorn, and every now and then +glorious were the views of the beautiful ocean, which lay calmly +reposing and smiling beneath the setting sun. "How unlike that stormy, +dark, and noisy sea of but a week ago!" so said the friends to each +other, as they listened to its distant musical murmur, and heard the +waves break gently on the shingly beach. + +Although we have called them friends, there was a considerable +difference in their ages. That tall and pleasing, though plain, girl in +black, was the governess of the younger. Her name was Emilie Schomberg. +The little rosy, dark-eyed, and merry girl, her pupil, we shall call +Edith Parker. She had scarcely numbered twelve Mays, and was at the age +when primrosing and violeting have not lost their charms, and when +spring is the most welcome, and the dearest of all the four seasons. +Emilie Schomberg, as her name may lead you to infer, was a German. She +spoke English, however, so well, that you would scarcely have supposed +her to be a foreigner, and having resided in England for some years, had +been accustomed to the frequent use of that language. Emilie Schomberg +was the daily governess of little Edith. Little she was always called, +for she was the youngest of the family, and at eleven years of age, if +the truth must be told of her, was a good deal of a baby. + +Several schemes of education had been tried for this same little +Edith,--schools and governesses and masters,--but Emilie Schomberg, who +now came to her for a few hours every other day, had obtained greater +influence over her than any former instructor; and in addition to the +German, French, and music, which she undertook to teach, she instructed +Edith in a few things not really within her province, but nevertheless +of some importance; of these you shall judge. The search for primroses +was not a silent search--Edith is the first speaker. + +"Yes, Emilie, but it was very provoking, after I had finished my lessons +so nicely, and got done in time to walk out with you, to have mamma +fancy I had a cold, when I had nothing of the kind. I almost wish some +one would turn really ill, and then she would not fancy I was so, quite +so often." + +"Oh, hush, Edith dear! you are talking nonsense, and you are saying what +you cannot mean. I don't like to hear you so pert to that kind mamma of +yours, whenever she thinks it right to contradict you." + +"Emilie, I cannot help saying, and you know yourself, though you call +her kind, that mamma is cross, very cross sometimes. Yes, I know she is +very fond of me and all that, but still she _is_ cross, and it is no +use denying it. Oh, dear, I wish I was you. You never seem to have +anything to put you out. I never see you look as if you had been crying +or vexed, but I have so many many things to vex me at home." + +Emilie smiled. "As to my having nothing to put me out, you may be right, +and you may be wrong, dear. There is never any excuse for being what you +call _put out_, by which I understand cross and pettish, but I am rather +amused, too, at your fixing on a daily governess, as a person the least +likely in the world to have trials of temper and patience." "Yes, I dare +say I vex you sometimes, but"--"Well, not to speak of you, dear, whom I +love very much, though you are not perfect, I have other pupils, and do +you suppose, that amongst so many as I have to teach at Miss Humphrey's +school, for instance, there is not one self-willed, not one impertinent, +not one idle, not one dull scholar? My dear, there never was a person, +you may be sure of that, who had nothing to be tried, or, as you say, +put out with. But not to talk of my troubles, and I have not many I will +confess, except that great one, Edith, which, may you be many years +before you know, (the loss of a father;) not to talk of that, what are +your troubles? Your mamma is cross sometimes, that is to say, she does +not always give you all you ask for, crosses you now and then, is that +all?" + +"Oh no Emilie, there are Mary and Ellinor, they never seem to like me to +be with them, they are so full of their own plans and secrets. Whenever +I go into the room, there is such a hush and mystery. The fact is, they +treat me like a baby. Oh, it is a great misfortune to be the youngest +child! but of all my troubles, Fred is the greatest. John teases me +sometimes, but he is nothing to Fred. Emilie, you don't know what that +boy is; but you will see, when you come to stay with me in the holidays, +and you shall say then if you think I have nothing to put me out." + +The very recollection of her wrongs appeared to irritate the little +lady, and she put on a pout, which made her look anything but kind and +amiable. + +The primroses which she had so much desired, were not quite to her mind, +they were not nearly so fine as those that John and Fred had brought +home. Now she was tired of the dusty road, and she would go home by the +beach. So saying, Edith turned resolutely towards a stile, which led +across some fields to the sea shore, and not all Emilie's entreaties +could divert her from her purpose. + +"Edith, dear! we shall be late, very late! as it is we have been out too +long, come back, pray do;" but Edith was resolute, and ran on. Emilie, +who knew her pupil's self-will over a German lesson, although she had +little experience of her temper in other matters, was beginning to +despair of persuading her, and spoke yet more earnestly and firmly, +though still kindly and gently, but in vain. Edith had jumped over the +stile, and was on her way to the cliff, when her course was arrested by +an old sailor, who was sitting on a bench near the gangway leading to +the shore. He had heard the conversation between the governess and her +headstrong pupil, as he smoked his pipe on this favourite seat, and +playfully caught hold of the skirt of the young lady's frock, as she +passed, to Edith's great indignation. + +"Now, Miss, I could not, no, that I could'nt, refuse any one who asked +me so pretty as that lady did you. If she had been angry, and commanded +you back, why bad begets bad, and tit for tat you know, and I should +not so much have wondered: but, Miss, you should not vex her. No, don't +be angry with an old man, I have seen so much of the evils of young +folks taking their own way. Look here, young lady," said the weather +beaten sailor, as he pointed to a piece of crape round his hat; "this +comes of being fond of one's own way." + +Edith was arrested, and approached the stile, on the other side of which +Emilie Schomberg still leant, listening to the fisherman's talk with her +pupil. + +"You see, Miss," said he, "I have brought her round, she were a little +contrary at first, but the squall is over, and she is going home your +way. Oh, a capital good rule, that of your's, Miss!" "What," said Emilie +smiling, "Why, that 'soft answer,' that kind way. I see a good deal of +the ways of nurses with children, ah, and of governesses, and mothers, +and fathers too, as I sit about on the sea shore, mending my nets. I +ain't fit for much else now, you see, Miss, though I have seen a deal of +service, and as I sit sometimes watching the little ones playing on the +sand, and with the shingle, I keep my ears open, for I can't bear to see +children grieved, and sometimes I put in a word to the nurse maids. +Bless me! to see how some of 'em whip up the children in the midst of +their play. Neither with your leave, nor by your leave; 'here, come +along, you dirty, naughty boy, here's a wet frock! Come, this minute, +you tiresome child, it's dinner time.' Now that ain't what I call fair +play, Miss. I say you ought to speak civil, even to a child; and then, +the crying, and the shaking, and the pulling up the gangway. Many and +many is the little squaller I go and pacify, and carry as well as I can +up the cliff: but I beg pardon, Miss, hope I don't offend. Only I was +afraid, Miss there was a little awkward, and would give you trouble." + +"Indeed," said Emilie, "I am much obliged to you; where do you live?" + +"I live," said the old man, "I may say, a great part of my life, under +the sky, in summer time, but I lodge with my son, and he lives between +this and Brooke. In winter time, since the rheumatics has got hold of +me, I am drawn to the fire side, but my son's wife, she don't take after +him, bless him. She's a bit of a spirit, and when she talks more than I +like, why I wish myself at sea again, for an angry woman's tongue is +worse than a storm at sea, any day; if it was'nt for the children, bless +'em, I should not live with 'em, but I am very partial to them." + +"Well, we must say good night, now," said Emilie, "or we shall be late +home; I dare say we shall see you on the shore some day; good night." +"Good night to you, ma'am; good night, young lady; be friends, won't +you?" + +Edith's hand was given, but it was not pleasant to be conquered, and she +was a little sullen on the way home. They parted at the door of Edith's +house. Edith went in, to join a cheerful family in a comfortable and +commodious room; Emilie, to a scantily furnished, and shabbily genteel +apartment, let to her and a maiden aunt by a straw bonnet maker in the +town. + +We will peep at her supper table, and see if Miss Edith were quite right +in supposing that Emilie Schomberg had nothing to put her out. + + + + +CHAPTER SECOND. + +THE SOFT ANSWER. + + +An old lady was seated by a little ricketty round table, knitting; +knitting very fast. Surely she did not always knit so fast, Germans are +great knitters it is true, but the needles made quite a noise--click, +click, click--against one another. The table was covered with a +snow-white cloth. By her side was a loaf called by bakers and +housekeepers, crusty; the term might apply either to the loaf or the old +lady's temper. A little piece of cheese stood on a clean plate, and a +crab on another, a little pat of butter on a third, and this, with a jug +of water, formed the preparation for the evening meal of the aunt and +niece. Emilie went up to her aunt, gaily, with her bunch of primroses in +her hand, and addressing her in the German language, begged her pardon +for keeping supper waiting. The old lady knitted faster than ever, +dropped a stitch, picked it up, looked out of the window, and cleared +up, not her temper, but her throat; click, click went the needles, and +Emilie looked concerned. + +"Aunt, dear," she said, "shall we sit down to supper?" "My appetite is +gone, Emilie, I thank you." "I am really sorry, aunt, but you know you +are so kind, you wish me to take plenty of exercise, and I was detained +to-night. Miss Parker and I stayed chattering to an old sailor. It was +very thoughtless, pray excuse me. But now aunt, dear, see this fine +crab, you like crabs; old Peter Varley sent it to you, the old man you +knitted the guernsey for in the winter." + +No,--old Miss Schomberg was not to be brought round. Crabs were very +heavy things at night, very indigestible things, she wondered at Emilie +thinking she could eat them, so subject as she was to spasms, too. +Indeed she could eat no supper. She was very dull and not well, so +Emilie sat down to her solitary meal. She did not go on worrying her +aunt to eat, but she watched for a suitable opening, for the first +indication indeed, of the clearing up for which she hoped, and though +it must be confessed some such thoughts as "how cross and unreasonable +aunt is," did pass through her mind, she gave them no utterance. +Emilie's mind was under good discipline, she had learned to forbear in +love, and for the exercise of this virtue, she had abundant opportunity. + +Poor Emilie! she had not always been a governess, subject to the trials +of tuition; she had not always lived in a little lodging without the +comforts and joys of family and social intercourse. + +Her father had failed in business, in Frankfort, and when Emilie was +about ten years of age, he had come over to England, and had gained his +living there by teaching his native language. He had been dead about a +twelve-month, and Emilie, at the age of twenty-one, found herself alone +in the world, in England at least, with the exception of the old German +aunt, to whom I have introduced you, and who had come over with her +brother, from love to him and his motherless child. She had a very small +independence, and when left an orphan, the kind old aunt, for kind she +was, in spite of some little infirmities of temper, persisted in sharing +with her her board and lodging, till Emilie, who was too active and +right minded to desire to depend on her for support, sought employment +as a teacher. + +The seaport town of L----, in the south of England, whither Emilie and +her father had gone in the vain hope of restoring his broken health, +offered many advantages to our young German mistress. She had had a good +solid education. Her father, who was a scholar, had taught her, and had +taught her well, so that besides her own language, she was able to teach +Latin and French, and to instruct, as the advertisements say, "in the +usual branches of English education." She was musical, had a fine ear +and correct taste, and accordingly met with pupils without much +difficulty. In the summer months especially she was fully employed. +Families who came for relaxation were, nevertheless, glad to have their +daughters taught for a few hours in the week; and you may suppose that +Emilie Schomberg did not lead an idle life. For remuneration she fared, +as alas teachers do fare, but ill. The sum which many a gentleman freely +gives to his butler or valet, is thought exorbitant, nay, is rarely +given to a governess, and Emilie, as a daily governess, was but poorly +paid. + +The expenses of her father's long illness and funeral were heavy, and +she was only just out of debt; therefore, with the honesty and +independence of spirit that marked her, she lived carefully and frugally +at the little rooms of Miss Webster, the straw bonnet maker, in High +Street. + +From what I have told you already, you will easily perceive that Emilie +was accustomed to command her temper; she had been trained to do this +early in life. Her father, who foresaw for his child a life dependent on +her character and exertion, a life of labour in teaching and governing +others, taught Emilie to govern herself. Never was an only child less +spoiled than she; but she was ruled in love. She knew but one law, that +of kindness, and it made her a good subject. + +Many were the sensible lessons that the good man gave her, as leaning on +her strong arm he used to pace up and down the grassy slopes which +bordered the sea shore. "Look, Emilie," he would say, "look at that +governess marshalling her scholars out. Do they look happy? think you +that they obey that stern mistress out of _love_? Listen, she calls to +them to keep their ranks and not to talk so loud. What unhappy faces +among them! Emilie, my child, you may keep school some day; oh, take +care and gain the love of the young ones, I don't believe there is any +other successful government, so I have found it." "With me, ah yes, +papa!" "With you, my child, and with all my scholars; I had little +experience as a teacher, when first it pleased God to make me dependent +on my own exertions as such, but I found out the secret. Gain your +pupils' love, Emilie, and a silken thread will draw them; without that +love, cords will not drag, scourges will scarcely drive them." + +Emilie found this advice of her father's rather hard to follow now and +then. Her first essay in teaching was in Mrs. Parker's family. Edith was +to "be finished." And now poor Emilie found that there was more to teach +Edith than German and French, and that there was more difficulty in +teaching her to keep her temper than her voice in tune. Edith was +affectionate, but self-willed and irritable. Her mamma's treatment had +not tended to improve her in this respect. Mrs. Parker had bad health, +and said she had bad spirits. She was a kind, generous, and affectionate +woman, but was always in trouble. In trouble with her chimneys because +they smoked; in trouble with her maids who did not obey her; and worst +of all in trouble with herself; for she had good sense and good +principle, but she had let her temper go too long undisciplined, and it +was apt to break forth sometimes against those she loved, and would +cause her many bitter tears and self-upbraidings. + +She took an interest in the poor German master, for she was a benevolent +woman, and cheered his dying bed by promising to assist his daughter. +She even offered to take her into her family; but this could not be +thought of. Good aunt Agnes had left her country for the sake of +Emilie--Emilie would not desert her aunt now. + +The scene at the supper table was not an uncommon one, but Emilie was +frequently more successful in winning aunt Agnes to a smile than on this +occasion. "Perhaps I tried too much; perhaps I did not try enough, +perhaps I tried in the wrong way," thought Emilie, as she received her +aunt's cold kiss, and took up her bed room candle to retire for the +night. When aunt Agnes said good night, it was so very distantly, so +very unkindly, that an angry demand for explanation almost rose to +Emilie's lips, and though she did not utter it, she said her good night +coldly and stiffly too, and thus they parted. But when Emilie opened the +Bible that night, her eye rested on the words, "Be ye kind one to +another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God for Christ's sake +hath forgiven you," then Emilie could not rest. She did not forgive her +aunt; she felt that she did not; but Emilie was _human_, and human +nature is proud. "I did nothing to offend her," reasoned pride, "it was +only because I was out a little late, and I said I was sorry and I tried +to bring her round. Ah well, it will all be right to-morrow; it is no +use to think of it now," and she prepared to kneel down to pray. Just +then her eye rested on her father's likeness; she remembered how he used +to say, when she was a child and lisped her little prayer at his knee, +"Emilie, have you any unkind thoughts to any one? Do you feel at peace +with all? for God says, 'When thou bringest thy gift before the altar, +and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave +there thy gift before the altar, _first_ be reconciled to thy brother, +and _then_ go and offer thy gift.'" On one or two occasions had Emilie +arisen, her tender conscience thus appealed to, and thrown her arms +round her nurse's or her aunt's neck, to beg their forgiveness for some +little offence committed by her and forgotten perhaps by them, and would +then kneel down and offer up her evening prayer. So Emilie hushed +pride's voice, and opening her door, crossed the little passage to her +aunt's sleeping room, and putting her arm round her neck fondly said, +"Dear aunt!" It was enough, the good old lady hugged her lovingly. "Ah, +Emilie dear, I am a cross old woman, and thou art a dear good child. +Bless thee!" In half an hour after the inmates of the little lodging in +High Street were sound asleep, at peace with one another, and at peace +with God. + + + + +CHAPTER THIRD. + +THE LESSON AT THE COTTAGE. + + +Edith was very busily searching for corallines and sea weeds, a few days +after the evening walk recorded in our first chapter. She was alone, for +her two sisters had appeared more than usually confidential and +unwilling for her company, and her dear teacher was engaged that +afternoon at the Young Ladies' Seminary, so she tried to make herself +happy in her solitary ramble. A boat came in at this moment, and the +pleasant shout of the boatmen's voices, and the grating of the little +craft as it landed on the pebbly shore, attracted the young lady's +notice, and she stood for a few moments to watch the proceedings. +Amongst those on shore, who had come to lend a hand in pulling the boat +in, Edith thought that she recognised a face, and on a little closer +inspection she saw it was old Joe Murray, who had stopped her course to +the beach a few evenings before. She did not wish to encounter Joe, so +slipping behind the blue jacketed crowd, she walked quickly forwards, +but Joe followed her. + +"Young lady," he said, "if you are looking for corallines, you can't do +better than ask your papa some fine afternoon, to drive you as far as +Sheldon, and you'll find a sight of fine weeds there, as I know, for my +boy, my poor boy I lost, I mean," said he, again touching the rusty +crape on his hat, "my boy was very curious in those things, and had +quite a museum of 'em at home." How could Edith stand against such an +attack? It was plain that the old man wanted to make peace with her, +and, cheerfully thanking him, she was moving on, but the old boots +grinding the shingle, were again heard behind her, and turning round, +she saw Joe at her heels. + +"Miss, I don't know as I ought to have stopped you that night. I am a +poor old fisherman, and you are a young lady, but I meant no harm, and +for the moment only did it in a joke." + +"Oh, dear," said Edith, "don't think any more about it, I was very +cross that night, and you were quite right, I should have got Miss +Schomberg into sad trouble if I had gone that way. As it was, I was out +too late. Have you lost a son lately, said Edith, I heard you say you +had just now? Was he drowned?" inquired the child, kindly looking up +into Joe's face. + +"Yes Miss, he was drowned," said Joe, "he came by his death very sadly. +Will you please, Miss, to come home with me, and I will shew you his +curiosities, and if you please to take a fancy to any, I'm sure you are +very welcome. I don't know any good it does me to turn 'em over, and +look at them as I do times and often, but somehow when we lose them we +love, we hoard up all they loved. He had a little dog, poor Bob had, a +little yapping thing, and I never took to the animal, 'twas always +getting into mischief, and gnawing the nets, and stealing my fish, and I +used often to say, 'Bob, my boy, I love you but not your dog. No, that +saying won't hold good now. I can't love that dog of yours. Sell it, +boy--give it away--get rid of it some how.' All in good part, you know, +Miss, for I never had any words with him about it. And now Bob is +gone--do you know, Miss, I love that dumb thing with the sort of love I +should love his child, if he had left me one. If any one huffs Rover, (I +ain't a very huffish man,) but I can tell you I shew them I don't like +it, I let the creature lay at my feet at night, and I feed him myself +and fondle him for the sake of him who loved him so. And you may depend +Miss, the dog knows his young master is gone, and the way he is gone +too, for I could not bring him on the shore for a long while, but he +would set up such a howl as would rend your heart to hear. And that made +me love the poor thing I can tell you." + +"But how did it happen?" softly asked Edith. + +"Why Miss it ain't at all an extraordinary way in which he met his +death. It was in this way. He was very fond of me, poor boy, but he +liked his way better than my way too often. And may be I humoured him a +little too much. He was my Benjamin, you must know Miss, for his mother +died soon after he was born. Sure enough I made an idol of the lad, and +we read somewhere in the Bible, Miss, that 'the idols he will utterly +abolish.' But I don't like looking at the sorrow that way neither. I +would rather think that 'whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.' Well, +Miss, like father like son. My boy loved the sea, as was natural he +should, but he was too venturesome; I used often to say, 'Bob, the +oldest sailor living can't rule the waves and winds, and if you are such +a mad cap as to go out sailing in such equally weather on this coast, as +sure as you are alive you will repent it.' He and some young chaps +hereabouts, got such a wonderful notion of sailing, and though I have +sailed many and many a mile, in large vessels and small, I always hold +to it that it is ticklish work for the young and giddy. Why sometimes +you are on the sea, Miss, ah, as calm as it is now--all in peace and +safety--a squall comes, and before you know what you are about you are +capsized. I had told him this, and he knew it, Miss, but he got a good +many idle acquaintances, as I told you, and they tempted him often to do +bold reckless things such as boys call brave." + +"It was one morning at the end of September, Bob says to me, 'Father, we +are going to keep my birthday; I am sixteen to-day,' and so he was, +bless him, sixteen the very day he died. 'We are going to keep my +birthday,' says he, 'Newton, and Somers, and Franklin, and I, we are all +going to Witton,' that is the next town, Miss, as you may know, 'we are +going to have a sail there, and dine at grandmother's, and home again at +night, eh Father.' 'Bob,' says I, 'I can't give my consent; that +ticklish sailing boat of young Woods' requires wiser heads and steadier +hands than your's to manage. You know my opinion of sailing, and you +won't grieve me, I hope, by going.' I might have told him, but I did +not, that I did not like the lads he was going with, but I knew that +would only make him angry, and do no good just as his heart was set upon +a frolic with them, so I said nought of that, but I tried to win him, +(that's my way with the young ones,) though I failed this time; go he +would, and he would have gone, let me have been as angry as you please. +But I have this comfort, that no sharp words passed my lips that day, +and no bitter ones his. I saw he was set on the frolic, and I hoped no +harm would come of it. How I watched the sky that day, Miss, no mortal +knows; how I started when I saw a sea gull skim across the waves! how I +listened for the least sound of a squall! Snap was just as fidgetty +seemingly, and we kept stealing down to the beach, long before it was +likely they should be back. As I stood watching there in the evening, +where I knew they would land, I saw young Newton's mother; she pulled me +by my sleeve, anxious like, and said, 'What do you think of the weather +Joe?' 'Why, Missis,' said I, 'there is an ugly look about the sky, but I +don't wish to frighten you; please God they'll soon be home, for Bob +promised to be home early.'" + +"Well, Miss, there we stood, the waves washing our feet, till it grew +dark, and then I could stand it no longer. I said to the poor mother, +'keep a good heart,' but I had little hope myself, God knows, and off I +made for Witton. Well, they had not been there, I found the grandmother +had seen nothing of them. They were picked up a day or so after, all +four of them washed up by the morning tide; their boat had drifted no +one knows where, and no one knows how it happened; but I suppose they +were driven out by the fresh breeze that sprung up, and not knowing how +to manage the sails, they were capsized." + +"There they all lay. Miss, in the churchyard. It was a solemn sight, I +can tell you, to see those four coffins, side by side, in the church. +They were all strong hearty lads, and all under seventeen. I go and sit +on his grave sometimes, and spell over all I said, and all he said that +day; and glad enough I am, that I can remember neither cross word nor +cross look. Ah, my lady, I should remember it if it had been so. We +think we are good fathers and good friends to them we love while they +are alive, but as soon as we lose 'em, all the kindness we ever did them +seems little enough, while all the bad feelings we had, and sharp words +we spoke, come up to condemn us." + +By this time they had reached the fisherman's cottage; it was prettily +situated, as houses on the south coast often are, under the shadow of a +fine over-hanging cliff. Masses of rock, clad with emerald green, were +scattered here and there, and the thriving plants in the little garden, +gave evidence of the mildness of the air in those parts, though close +upon the sea. The cottage was very low, but white and cheerful looking +outside, and as clean and trim within as a notable and stirring woman +could make it. Joe's daughter-in-law, the same described by Joe the +other evening as the woman of a high spirit, was to-day absent on an +errand to the town; and Edith, who loved children, stopped at the +threshold to notice two or three little curly-headed prattlers, who were +playing together at grotto making, an amusement which cost grandfather +many a half-penny. Some dispute seemed to have arisen at the moment of +their entrance between the young builders, for a good-humoured, +plain-looking girl, of twelve, the nursemaid of the baby, and the +care-taker of four other little ones, was trying to pacify the +aggrieved. In vain--little Susy was in a great passion, and with her +tiny foot kicked over the grotto, the result of several hours' labour; +first, in searching on the shore for shells and pebbles, and secondly, +in its erection. Then arose such a shriek and tumult amongst the +children, as those only can conceive who know what a noise disappointed +little creatures, from three to seven years old, can make. They all set +upon Susy, "naughty, mischievous, tiresome," were among the words. The +quiet looking girl, who had been trying to settle the dispute, now +interfered again. She led Susy away gently, but firmly, into another +part of the garden, where spying her grandfather, she took the unwilling +and ashamed little girl for him to deal with, and ran hack to the crying +children and ruined grotto. + +"Oh, hush! dears, pray hush," said Sarah, beginning to pick up the +shells, "we will soon build it up again." This they all declared +impossible, and cried afresh, but Sarah persevered, and quietly went on +piling up the shells, till at last one little mourner took up her coarse +pinafore and wiping her eyes, said, "Sarah does it very nicely." The +grotto rose beautifully, and at last they were all quiet and happy +again; all but poor Susy, who, seeing herself excluded, kept up a +terrible whine. "I wonder if Susan is sorry," said Sarah. "Not she, not +she, don't ask her here again," said they all. "Why not," said the +grandfather, who having walked about with Susy awhile, and talked +gravely to her, appeared to have brought about a change in her temper? +"Why because she will knock it down again the first time any thing puts +her out." "Won't you try her?" said Sarah, pleadingly; but they still +said "No! no!" "Don't you mind the day, Dick," said Sarah, "when you +pulled grandfather's new net all into the mud, and tangled his twine, +and spoilt him a whole day's work?" "Yes," said Dick. "Ah, and don't +you mind, too, when he went out in the boat next day, and you asked to +go with him, just as if nothing had happened, and you had done no harm, +he said, 'ah, Dick, if I were to mind what _revenge_ says, I would not +take you with me; you have injured me very much, but I'll mind what +_love_ says, and that tells me to return good for evil?'" "Yes," says +Dick. "Do you think you could have hurt any thing of grandfather's after +that?" "No," said Dick, "but I did not do it in a rage, as Susy did." +"You did mischief, though," said Sarah; "but I want Susy to give over +going into these rages. I want to cure her. Beating her does no good, +mother says that herself; wont you all try and help to cure Susy?" + +These children were not angels. I am writing of children as they are you +know, and though they yielded, it was rather sullenly, and little Susan +was given to understand that she was not a very welcome addition. Susy +kept very close to Sarah, sobbing and heaving, till the children seeing +her subdued, made more room for her, and her smile returned. Now the +law of kindness prevailed, and when the time came to run down to the +shore for some more shells, to replace those that had been broken, Susy, +at Sarah's hint, ran first and fastest, and brought her little pinafore +fullest of all. Edith watched all this, and her good old mentor was +willing that she should. "I suppose you have taught them this way of +settling disputes," said Edith to Joe. "I, oh no, Miss, I can't take all +the credit. Sarah, there, she has taken to me very much since my Bob +died, and she said to me the day of his funeral, when her heart was soft +and tender-like, 'Grandfather, tell me what I can do to comfort you.' +'Oh, child,' says I, 'my grief is too deep for you to touch, but you are +a kind girl, I'll tell you what to do to-night. Leave me alone, and, oh, +try and make the children quiet, for my head aches as bad as my heart. +Sally.'" + +"Then Sarah tried that day and the next, but found it hard work; the +boys quarrelled and fought, and the little once scratched and cried, and +their mother came and beat one or two of the worst, but all did no good. +There was no peace till bed time; still I encouraged her and told her, +you know, about 'a soft answer turning away wrath,' and since that +time, she has less often given railing for railing; and has not huffed +and worried them, as elder sisters are apt to do. She is a good girl, is +Sarah, but here comes the Missis home from market." "The Missis" +certainly did not look very sweet, and her heavy load had heated her. +She did not welcome Edith pleasantly, which, the old man observing, led +her away to a little room he occupied at the back of the cottage, and +showed her the corallines. + +Edith saw plainly that though the poor father offered her any of them +she liked to take, he suffered in parting with them, so calling Dick and +Mary, she asked if they would hunt for some for her, like those in +grandfather's stores. They consented joyfully, and Edith promising often +to come and see the old man, ran down the cliff briskly, and hastened +home. She thought a good deal as she walked, and asked herself if she +should have had the patience and the gentleness of that poor cottage +girl; if she should have soothed Susy, and comforted Dick and Mary; if +she should have troubled herself to kneel down in the broiling sun and +build up a few trumpery shells into a grotto, to be upset and destroyed +presently. She came to the conclusion that for good, pleasant, prettily +behaved children, she might have done so, but for shrieking, passionate, +quarrelsome little things as they appeared to her then, she certainly +should not. She felt humbled at the contrast between herself and Sarah; +and when she arrived at home, for the first time, perhaps, in her life, +she patiently bore her mamma's reproaches for being so late, and for the +impropriety of walking away from her sisters, no one knew where. She was +not yet quite skilled enough in the art of peace, to give the "soft +answer;" but her silence and quietness turned away Mrs. Parker's wrath, +and after dinner, Edith prepared herself for the visit of her dear +Emilie. + + + + +CHAPTER FOURTH. + +THE HOLIDAYS. + + +Mrs. Parker and her two elder daughters were going to pay a visit to +town this summer, and as Edith was not thought old enough to accompany +them, Mrs. Parker resolved to ask Emilie to take charge of her. The only +difficulty was how to dispose of aunt Agnes; aunt Agnes wishing them to +believe that she did not mind being alone, but all the while minding it +very much. At last it occurred to Emilie that perhaps Mrs. Crosse, at +the farm in Edenthorpe, a few miles off, would, if she knew of the +difficulty, ask aunt Agnes there for a few weeks. Mrs. Crosse and aunt +Agnes got on so wonderfully well together, and as she had often been +invited, the only thing now was to get her in the mind to go. This was +effected in due time, and Mr. Crosse came up to the lodgings for her and +her little box, in his horse and gig, on the very evening that Emilie +was to go the Parkers', to be installed as housekeeper and governess in +the lady's absence. Edith had come to see the dear old aunt off; and now +re-entered the lodgings to help Emilie to collect her things, and to +settle with Miss Webster for the lodgings, before her departure. Miss +Webster had met with a tenant for six weeks, and was in very good +spirits, and very willing to take care of the Schombergs' goods, which, +to tell the truth, were not likely to oppress her either in number or +value, with the exception of one cherished article, one relic of former +days--a good semi-grand piano, which M. Schomberg had purchased for his +daughter, about a year before his death. Miss Webster looked very much +confused as Emilie bade her good-bye, and said--"Miss Schomberg, you +have not, I see, left your piano unlocked." + +"No," said Emilie, "certainly I have not; I did not suppose----" + +"Why," replied Miss Webster, "the lodgers, seeing a piano, will be sure +to ask for the key, Miss, and to be sure you wo'nt object." + +Emilie hesitated. Did she remember the time when Miss Webster, indignant +at Emilie for being a fortnight behind-hand in her weekly rent, refused +to lend a sofa for her dying father, without extra pay? Did she recall +the ill-made slops, the wretched attendance to which this selfish woman +treated them during the pressure of poverty and distress? Emilie was +human, and she remembered all. She knew, moreover, that Miss Webster +would make a gain of her instrument, and that it might suffer from six +weeks' rough use. She stood twisting some straw plait that lay on the +counter, in her fingers, and then coolly saying she would consider of +it, walked out of the shop with Edith, her bosom swelling with +conflicting feelings. The slight had been to her _father_--to her dear +dead father--she could not love Miss Webster, nor respect her--she could +not oblige her. She felt so now, however, and despised the meanness of +the lodging-house keeper, in making the request. + +Edith was by her side in good spirits, though she was to miss the London +journey. Not every young lady would be so content to remain all the +holiday-time with the governess; but Edith loved her governess. Happy +governess, to be loved by her pupil! + +Mrs. Parker received Emilie very kindly: she was satisfied that her +dear child would be happy in her absence, and she knew enough of Emilie, +she said, to believe that she would see that Mr. Parker had his meals +regularly and nicely served, and that the servants did not rob or run +away, or the boys put their dirty feet on the sofa, or bright fender +tops, or lead Edith into mischief; in short, the things that Emilie was +to see to were so numerous, that it would have required more eyes than +she possessed, and far more vigilance and experience than she lay claim +to, to fulfill all Mrs. Parker's desires. + +Amidst all the talking and novelty of her new situation, however, Emilie +was absent and thoughtful; she was dispirited, and yet she was not +subject to low spirits either. There was a cause. She had a tender +conscience--a conscience with which she was in the habit of conversing, +and conscience kept whispering to her the words--"What things soever ye +would that men should do unto you, do ye also to them." In vain she +tried to silence this monitor, and at last she asked to withdraw for a +few minutes, and scribbled a hasty note to Miss Webster; the first she +wrote was as follows:-- + +"Dear Miss W.--I enclose the key of the pianoforte. I should have +acceded to your request, only I remembered standing on that very spot, +by that very counter, a year ago, petitioning hard for the loan of a +sofa for my dying father, who, in his feverish and restless state, +longed to leave the bed for awhile. I remembered that, and I could not +feel as if I could oblige you; but I have thought better of it, and beg +you will use the piano." + +"Yours truly, + +"EMILIE SCHOMBERG." + +She read the note before folding it, however; and somehow it did not +satisfy her. She crumpled it up, took a turn or two in the room, and +then wrote the following:-- + +"Dear Miss Webster--I am sorry that I for a moment hesitated to lend you +my piano. It was selfish, and I hope you will excuse the incivility. I +enclose the key, and as your lodgers do not come in until to-morrow, I +hope the delay will not have inconvenienced you. + +"Believe me, yours truly, + +"EMILIE SCHOMBERG." + +Having sealed her little note, she asked Mrs. Parker's permission to +send it into High Street, and Emilie Schomberg was herself again. You +will see, by-and-bye, how Emilie returned Miss Webster's selfishness in +a matter yet more important than the loan of the piano. It would have +been meeting evil with evil had she retaliated the mean conduct of her +landlady. She would undoubtedly have done so, had she yielded to the +impulses of her nature; but "how then could I have prayed," said Emilie, +"forgive me my trespasses as I forgive them that trespass against me." + +The travellers set off early in the morning, and now began the holiday +of both governess and pupil. They loved one another so well that the +prospect of six weeks' close companionship was irksome to neither; but +Emilie had not a holiday of it altogether. Miss Edith was exacting and +petulant at times, even with those she loved, and she loved none better +than Emilie. Fred, the tormenting brother of whom Edith had spoken in +her list of troubles in our first chapter, was undeniably troublesome; +and the three maid-servants set themselves from the very first to resist +the governess's temporary authority; so we are wrong in calling these +Emilie's holidays. She had not, indeed, undertaken the charge very +willingly; but Mrs. Parker had befriended her in extremity, and she +loved Edith dearly, notwithstanding much in her that was not loveable, +so she armed herself for the conflict, and cheerfully and humbly +commenced her new duties. + +Fred and his elder brother John were at home for the holidays; they were +high-spirited lads of fourteen and fifteen years of age, and were +particularly fond of teasing both their elder sisters and little Edith; +a taste, by-the-bye, by no means peculiar to the Master Parkers, but one +which we cannot admire, nevertheless. + +The two boys, with Emilie and Edith, were on their way to pay aunt Agnes +a little visit, having received from Mrs. Crosse, at the farm, a request +for the honour of the young lady's company as well as that of her +brothers. John and Frederick were to walk, and Emily and Edith were to +go in the little pony gig. As they were leaving the town, Edith caught +sight of John coming out of a shop which was a favourite resort of most +of the young people and visitors of the town of L----. It was +professedly a stationer's and bookseller's, and was kept by Mrs. Cox, a +widow woman, who sold balls, fishing tackle, books, boats, miniature +spades, barrows, garden tools, patent medicines, &c., and who had +lately increased her importance, in the eyes of the young gentlemen, by +the announcement that various pyrotechnical wonders were to be obtained +at her shop. There are few boys who have not at some time of their +boyhood had a mania for pyrotechnics--in plain English, +_fire-works_--and there are few parents, and parents' neighbours, who +can say that they relish the smell of gunpowder on their premises. + +Mr. Parker had a particular aversion to amusements of the kind. He was +an enemy to fishing, to cricketing, to boating; he was a very quiet, +gentlemanly, dignified sort of man, and, although a kind father, had +perhaps set up rather too high a standard of quietness and order and +sedateness for his children. It is a curious fact, but one which it +would be rather difficult to disprove, that children not unfrequently +are the very opposites of their parents, in qualities such as I have +described. Possibly they may not have been inculcated quite in the right +manner; but that is not our business here. + +Edith guessed what her brothers were after, and told her suspicious to +Emilie; but not until they were within sight of the farm-house. John +and Fred, who had been a short cut across the fields, were in high glee +awaiting their arrival, and assisted Edith and her friend to alight more +politely than usual. Aunt Agnes was in ecstasies of delight to see her +dear Emilie, and she caressed Edith most lovingly also. Edith liked the +old lady, who had a fund of fairy tales, such as the German language is +rich in. Often would Edith go and sit by the old lady as she knitted, +and listen to the story of the "Flying Trunk," or the "Two Swans," with +untiring interest; and old ladies of a garrulous turn like good +listeners. So aunt Agnes called Edith a charming girl, and Edith, who +had seldom seen aunt Agnes otherwise than conversable and pleasant, +thought her a very nice old lady. + +Mrs. Crosse was extremely polite; and in the bustle of greeting, and +putting up the pony, and aunt Agnes' questions, the fire-work affair was +almost forgotten. When they all met at tea, the farmer, who had almost +as great a horror of gunpowder as Mr. Parker--and in the vicinity of +barns and stacks, with greater reason--declared he smelt a smell which +he never tolerated in his house, and asked his boys if they had any +about them. They denied it, but it was evident they knew something of +the matter; and now Emilie's concern was very great. + +After tea she took John by the arm, and looking into his face, said, "I +am going to be very intrusive, Sir; I am not your governess, and I have +no right to control you, but I wish to be your friend, and may I advise +you? Don't take those fire-works out on Mr. Crosse's premises, you have +no idea the mischief you might do. You could not have brought them to a +worse place. Be persuaded, pray do, to give it up." John, thus appealed +to, laughed heartily at Miss Schomberg's fears, said something not very +complimentary about Miss S. speaking one word for the farmer's stack, +and two for her own nerves, and made his escape to join his brother, and +the two young farmers, who were delighted at the prospect of a frolic. + +What was to be done? The lads were gone out, and doubtless would send up +their rockets and let off their squibs somewhere on the farm, which was +a very extensive one. The very idea of fire-works would put aunt Agnes +into a terrible state of alarm, so Emilie held her peace. To tell the +farmer would, she knew, irritate him fearfully; and yet no time was to +be lost. She was older than any of the party, and it was in reliance on +her discretion that the visit had been permitted. She appealed to Edith, +but Edith, who either had a little fancy to see the fire-works, or, who +feared her brothers' ridicule, or who thought Emilie took too much upon +herself, gave her no help in the matter. + +"Well, Edith," said Emilie, when the farmer's wife left the room to make +some preparation for a sumptuous supper, "I have made up my mind what to +do. I will not stay here if your brothers are to run any foolish risks +with those fire-works. I will go home at once, and tell your papa, he +will be in time to stop it; or I will apprise Mr. Crosse, and he can +take what steps he pleases." + +"Well, you will have a fine life of it, Miss Schomberg, if you tell any +tales, I can tell you," said Edith, pettishly, "and it really is no +business of yours. They are not under your care if I am. Oh, let them +be. Fred said he should let them off on the Langdale hills, far enough +away from the farm." + +But Emilie was firm. She tied on her bonnet, and determined to make one +more effort--it should be with Fred this time. She followed the track of +the lads, having first inquired of a farm-boy which road they had taken, +and as they had loitered, and she walked very fast, she soon overtook +them. They were seated on a bank by the road-side, when she got up to +them, and John was just displaying his treasures, squibs to make Miss +Edith jump, Catherine wheels, roman candles, sky-rockets, and blue +lights and crackers. The farmer's sons, Jerry and Tom, grinned +delightedly. Emilie stood for a few moments irresolute; the boys were +rude, and looked so daring--what should she say? + +"Young gentlemen," she began; they all took off their hats in mock +deference. "A woman preaching, I declare." "Go on. Madam, hear! hear! +hear!" said the young Crosses. "Young gentlemen," continued Emilie, with +emphasis, "it is to _you_ I am speaking. I am determined that those +fire-works shall not be let off, if I can prevent it, on Mr. Crosse's +premises. If you will not give up your intention, I shall walk to L--, +and inform your father, and you know very well how displeased he will +be." + +"Who says we are going to let them off on Mr. Crosse's premises?" said +Fred, fiercely. "You are very interfering Miss Schomberg, will you go +back to your our own business, and to little Edith." + +"I will go to L----, master Fred," said Emilie, firmly, but kindly. "I +shall be sorry to get you into trouble, and I would rather not take the +walk, but I shall certainly do what I say if you persist." + +The boys looked doubtfully at one another. Fred seemed a little disposed +to yield, but to be conquered by his sister's governess was very +humiliating. However, they knew from Edith's account that Emilie, though +kind, was firm; and, therefore, after a little further altercation, they +agreed not to send up the fire-works that night, but they promised her +at the same time that she should not hear the last of it. They returned +to the farm much out of humour, and having hidden them in the box of the +pony gig, came in just in time for supper. + +The ride home was a silent one; Edith saw that her brothers were put +out, and began to think she did not like Emilie Schomberg to live with +at all. Emilie had done right, but she had a hard battle to fight; all +were against her. No one likes to be contradicted, or as Fred said, to +be managed. Emilie, however, went steadily on, speaking the truth, but +speaking it in love, and acting always "as seeing Him who is invisible." + + + + +CHAPTER FIFTH. + +EDITH'S TRIALS. + + +"Now, Emilie, what do you think of my life?" said Edith, one day after +she and Fred had had one of their usual squabbles. "What do you think of +Fred _now_?" + +"I think, Edith, dear, that I would try and win him over to love and +affection, and not thwart and irritate him as you do. Have you forgotten +old Joe's maxim, 'a soft answer turneth away wrath?' but your grievous +words too often stir up strife. You told me the other day, dear, how +much the conduct of Sarah Murray pleased you; now you may act towards +John and Fred as Sarah did to little Susy." + +Edith shook her head. "It is not in me, Emilie, I am afraid." + +"No, dear," said Emilie, "you are right, it is not _in_ you." + +"Well then what is the use of telling me to do things impossible?" + +"I did not say impossible, Edith, did I?" + +"No, but you say it is not in me to be gentle and all that, and I dare +say it is not; but you don't get much the better thought of, gentle as +you are. Miss Schomberg. John and Fred don't behave better to you than +they do to me, so far as I see." + +"Edith, dear, you set out wrong in your attempts to do right," said +Emily, kindly. "It is not _in_ you; it is not _in_ any one by nature to +be always gentle and kind. It is not in me I know. I was once a very +petulant child, being an only one, and it was but by very slow process +that I learned to govern myself, and I am learning it still." + +At this moment Fred came in, bearing in one hand a quantity of paper, +and in another a book with directions for balloon making. "Now Edith, +you are a clever young lady," he began. + +"Oh, yes," said Edith, wrathfully, "When it suits you, you can flatter." + +"No, but Edith, don't be cross, come! I want you to do me a service. I +want you to cut me out this tissue paper into the shape of this +pattern. I am going to send up a balloon to-morrow, and I can't cut it +out, will you do it for me?" + +"Yes, yes," said Emilie, "we will do it together. Oh, come that is a +nice job, Edith dear, I can help you in that," and Emilie cleared away +her own work quick as thought, and asked Fred for particular directions +how it was to be done, all this time trying to hide Edith's +unwillingness to oblige her brother, and making it appear that Edith and +she were of one mind to help him. + +Fred, who since the fire-work affair had treated Emilie somewhat rudely, +and had on many occasions annoyed her considerably, looked in +astonishment at Miss Schomberg. She saw his surprise and understood it. +"Fred," said she frankly, "I know what you are thinking of, but let us +be friends. Give me the gratification of helping you to this pleasure, +since I hindered you of the other. You won't be too proud, will you, to +have my help?" + +Fred coloured. "Miss Schomberg," said he, "I don't deserve it of you, I +beg your pardon;" and thus they were reconciled. + +Oh, it is not often in great things that we are called upon to show +that we love our neighbour as ourselves. It is in the daily, hourly, +exercise of little domestic virtues, that they who truly love God may be +distinguished from those who love him not. It was not because Emilie was +naturally amiable or naturally good that she was thus able to show this +loving and forgiving spirit. She loved God, and love to him actuated +her; she thus adorned the doctrine of her Saviour in all things. Young +reader there is no such thing as a religion of words and feelings alone, +it must be a religion of _acts_; a life of warfare against the sins that +most easily beset you; a mortification of selfishness and pride, and a +humble acknowledgment, when you have done your _very best_, that you are +only unprofitable servants. Had you heard Emilie communing with her own +heart, you would have heard no self gratulation. She was far from +perfect even in the sight of man; in the sight of God she knew that in +many things she offended. + +It is not a perfect character that I would present to you in Emilie +Schomberg; but one who with all the weakness and imperfection of human +nature, made the will of God her rule and delight. This is not natural, +it is the habit of mind of those only who are created anew, new +creatures in Christ Jesus. + +This you may be sure Emilie did not fail to teach her pupil; but a great +many such lessons may be received into the head without one finding an +entrance to the heart, and Edith was in the not very uncommon habit of +looking on her faults in the light of misfortunes, just as any one might +regard a deformed limb or a painful disorder. She was, indeed, too much +accustomed to talk of her faults, and was a great deal too easy about +them. + +"My dear," Emilie would say after her confessions, "I do not believe you +see how sinful these things are, or surely you would not so very, very, +often commit them." This was the real state of the case; and it may be +said of all those who are in the habit of mere confessions, that they do +not believe things to be so very bad, because they do not understand how +very good and holy is the God against whom they sin. Edith had this to +learn; books could not teach her this. She who taught her all else so +well, could not teach her this; it was to be learned from a higher +source still. + +Well, you are thinking, some of you, that this is a prosy chapter, but +you must not skip it. It is just what Emily Schomberg would have said to +you, if you had been pupils of hers. The end of reading is not, or ought +not to be, mere amusement; so read a grave page now and then with +attention and thoughtfulness. + + + + +CHAPTER SIXTH. + +EMILIE'S TRIALS. + + +The truth must be told of Emilie; she was not clever with her hands, and +she was, nevertheless, a little too confident in her power of execution, +so willing and anxious was she to serve you. The directions Fred gave +her were far from clear; and after the paper was all cut and was to be +pasted together, sorrowful to say, it would not do at all. Fred, in +spite of his late apology was very angry, and seizing the scissors said +he should know better another time than to ask Miss Schomberg to do what +she did not understand. "You have wasted my paper, too," said the boy, +"and my time in waiting for what I could better have done myself." + +Emilie was very sorry, and she said so; but a balloon could not exactly +be made out of her sorrow, and nothing short of a balloon would pacify +Fred, that was plain. "Must it be ready for to-morrow?" she asked. + +"Yes, it _must_," he said. Three other boys were going to send up +balloons. It was the Queen's coronation day, and he had promised to take +a fourth balloon to the party; and the rehearsal of all this stirred up +Fred's ire afresh, and he looked any thing but kind at Miss Schomberg. +What was to be done? Edith suggested driving to the next market town to +buy one; but her papa wanted the pony gig, so they could only sally +forth to Mrs. Cox's for some more tissue paper, and begin the work +again. This was very provoking to Edith. + +"To have spent all the morning and now to be going to spend all the +afternoon over a trumpery balloon, which you can't make after all, Miss +Schomberg, is very tiresome, and I wanted to go to old Joe Murray's +to-day and see if the children have picked me up any corallines." + +"I am very sorry, dear, my carelessness should punish you; but don't +disturb me by grumbling and I will try and get done before tea, and then +we will go together." This time Emilie was more successful; she took +pains to understand what was to be done, and the gores of her balloon +fitted beautifully. + +"Now Edith, dear, ring for some paste," said Emilie, just as the clock +struck four; Margaret answered the bell. Margaret was the housemaid, and +so far from endeavouring in her capacity to overcome evil with good, she +was perpetually making mischief and increasing any evil there might be, +either in kitchen or parlour, by her mode of delivering a message. She +would be sure to add her mite to any blame that she might hear, in her +report to the kitchen, and thus, without being herself a bad or violent +temper, was continually fomenting strife, and adding fuel to the fire of +the cook, who was of a very choleric turn. The request for paste was +civilly made and received, but Emilie unfortunately called Margaret back +to say, "Oh, ask cook, please, to make it stiffer than she did the last +that we had for the kite; that did not prove quite strong." + +Margaret took the message down and informed cook that "Miss Schomberg +did not think she knew how to make paste." "Then let her come and make +it herself," said cook. "She wants to be cook I think; she had better +come. I sha'nt make it. What is it for?" + +"Oh," said Margaret, "she is after some foreign filagree work of hers, +that's all." + +"Well, I'm busy now and I am not going to put myself out about it, she +must wait." + +Emilie did wait the due time, but as the paste did not come she went +down for it. "Is the paste ready, cook?" she asked. + +"No, Miss Schomberg," was the short reply, and cook went on assiduously +washing up her plates. + +"Will you be so kind as to make it, cook, for I want it particularly +that it may have as much time as possible to dry." + +"Perhaps you will make it yourself then," was the gracious rejoinder. +Emilie was not above making a little paste, and as she saw that +something had put cook out, she willingly consented; but she did not +know where to get either flour or saucepan, and cook and Margaret kept +making signs and laughing, so that it was not very pleasant. She grew +quite hot, as she had to ask first for a spoon, then for a saucepan, +then for the flour and water; at last she modestly turned round and +said, "Cook, I really do not quite know how to make a little paste. I +am ashamed to say it, but I have lived so long in lodgings that I see +nothing of what is done in the kitchen. Will you tell or show me? I am +very ignorant." + +Her kind civil tone quite changed cook's, and she said, "Oh, Miss, I'll +make it, only you see, you shouldn't have said I didn't know how." +Emilie explained, and the cook was pacified, and gave Miss Schomberg a +good deal of gratuitous information during the process. How she did not +like her place, and should not stay, and how she disliked her mistress, +and plenty more--to which Emilie listened politely, but did not make +much reply. She plainly perceived that cook wanted a very forbearing +mistress, but she could not exactly tell her so. She merely said in her +quaint quiet way, that every one had something to bear, and the paste +being made, she left the kitchen. + +"Well, I must say, Miss Schomberg has a nice way of speaking, which gets +over you some how," said cook, "I wish I had her temper." + +More than one in the kitchen mentally echoed that wish of cook's. + +The balloon went on beautifully, and was completed by seven o'clock. +Fred was delighted when he came in to tea, and John no less so. All the +rude speeches were forgotten, and Emilie was as sympathetic in her joy +as an elder sister could have been. "I don't know what you will do +without Miss Schomberg," said Mr. Parker, as he sipped his tea. + +"She had better come and live with us," said Fred, "and keep us all in +order. I'm sure I should have no objection." + +Emilie felt quite paid for the little self-denial she had exercised, +when she found that her greatest enemy, he who had declared he would +"plague her to death, and pay her off for not letting them send up their +fire-works," was really conquered by that powerful weapon, _love_. + +Fred had thought more than he chose to acknowledge of Emilie's kindness; +he could not forget it. It was so different to the treatment he had met +with from his associates generally. It made him ask what could be the +reason of Emilie's conduct. She had nothing to get by it, that was +certain, and Fred made up his mind to have some talk with Miss Schomberg +on the subject the first time they were alone. He had some trials at +school with a boy who was bent on annoying him, and trying to stir up +his temper; perhaps the peacemaker might tell him how to deal with this +lad. Fred was an impetuous boy, and now began to like Miss Schomberg as +warmly as he had previously disliked her. + +On their way to old Joe's house that night, Emilie thought she would +call in on Miss Webster, not having parted from her very warmly on the +first night of the holidays. A fortnight of these holidays had passed +away, and Emilie began to long for her quiet evenings, and to see dear +aunt Agnes again. She looked quite affectionately up to the little +sitting room window, where her geraniums stood, and even thought kindly +of Miss Webster herself, to whom it was not quite so easy to feel +genial. She entered the shop. The apprentice sate there at work, busily +trimming a fine rice straw bonnet for the lodger within. She looked up +joyously at Emilie's approach. She thought how often that kind German +face had been to her like a sunbeam on a dull path; how often her +musical voice had spoken words of counsel, and comfort, and sympathy, +to her in her hard life. How she had pressed her hand when she (the +apprentice) came home one night and told her, "My poor mother is dead," +and how she had said, "We are both orphans now, Lucy. We can feel for +one another." How she had taught her by example, often, and by word +sometimes, not to answer again if any thing annoyed or irritated her, +and in short how much Lucy had missed the young lady only Lucy could +say. + +Emilie inquired for her mistress, but the words were scarcely out of her +lips, than she said, "Oh, Miss, she's so bad! She has scalt her foot, +and is quite laid up, and the lodgers are very angry. They say they +don't get properly attended to and so they mean to go. Dear me, there is +such a commotion, but her foot is very had, poor thing, and I have to +mind the shop, or I would wait upon her more; and the girl is very +inattentive and saucy, so that I don't see what we are to do. Will you +go and see Miss Webster, Miss?" + +Emilie cheerfully consented, leaving Edith with Lucy to learn straw +plaiting, if she liked, and to listen to her artless talk. Lucy had less +veneration for the name of Queen Victoria than for that of Schomberg. +Emilie was to her the very perfection of human nature, and accordingly +she sang her praises loud and long. + +On the sofa, the very sofa for which M. Schomberg had so longed, lay +Miss Webster, the expression of her face manifesting the greatest pain. +The servant girl had just brought up her mistress's tea, a cold, +slopped, miserable looking mess. A slice of thick bread and butter, half +soaked in the spilled beverage, was on a plate, and that a dirty one; +and the tray which held the meal was offered to the poor sick woman so +carelessly, that the contents were nearly shot into her lap. It was easy +to see that love formed no part of Betsey's service of her mistress, and +that she rendered every attention grudgingly and ill. Emilie went up +cordially to Miss Webster, and was not prepared for the repulsive +reception with which she met. She wondered what she could have said or +done, except, indeed, in the refusal of the instrument, and that was +atoned for. Emilie might have known, however, that nothing makes our +manners so distant and cold to another, as the knowledge that we have +injured or offended him. Miss Webster, in receiving Emilie's advances, +truly was experiencing the truth of the scripture saying, that coals of +fire should be heaped on her head. + +Poor Miss Webster! "There! set down the tray, you may go, and don't let +me see you in that filthy cap again, not fit to be touched with a pair +of tongs; and don't go up to Mrs. Newson in that slipshod fashion, don't +Betsey; and when you have taken up tea come here, I have an errand for +you to go. Shut the door gently. Oh, dear! dear, these servants!" + +This was so continually the lament of Miss Webster, that Emilie would +not have noticed it, but that she appeared so miserable, and she +therefore kindly said, "I am afraid Betsey does not wait on you nicely, +Miss Webster, she is so very young. I had no idea of this accident, how +did it happen?" + +How it happened took Miss Webster some time to tell. It happened in no +very unusual manner, and the effect was a scalt foot, which she +forthwith shewed Miss Schomberg. There was no doubt that it was a very +bad foot, and Emilie saw that it needed a good nurse more than a good +doctor. Mr. Parker was a medical man, and Emilie knew she should have no +difficulty in obtaining that kind of assistance for her. But the +nursing! Miss Webster was feverish and uneasy, and in such suffering +that something must be done. At the sight of her pain all was forgotten, +but that she was a fellow-creature, helpless and forsaken, and that she +must be helped. + +All this time any one coming in might have imagined that Emilie had been +the cause of the disaster, so affronted was Miss Webster's manner, and +so pettishly did she reject all her visitor's suggestions as +preposterous and impossible. + +"Will you give up your walk to-night, Edith," said Emilie on her return +to the shop, "Poor Miss Webster is in such pain I cannot leave her, and +if you would run home and ask your papa to step in and see her, and say +she has scalt her foot badly, I would thank you very much." + +Emilie spoke earnestly, so earnestly that Edith asked if she were grown +very fond of that "sour old maid all of a sudden." + +"Very fond! No Edith; but it does not, or ought not to require us to be +very fond of people to do our duty to them." + +"Well, I don't see what duty you owe to that mean creature, and I see no +reason why I should lose my walk again to-night. You treat people you +don't love better than those you do it seems; or else your professions +of loving me mean nothing. All day long you have been after Fred's +balloon, and now I suppose mean to be all night long after Miss +Webster's foot." + +Emilie made no reply; she could only have reproached Edith for +selfishness and temper at least equal to Miss Webster's, but telling +Lucy she should soon return, hastened to Mr. Parker's house, followed by +Edith; he was soon at the patient's side, and as Emilie foretold, it was +a case more for an attentive nurse than a skilful doctor. He promised to +send her an application, but, "Miss Schomberg," said he, "sleep is what +she wants; she tells me she has had no rest since the accident occurred. +What is to be done?" "Can you not send for a neighbour, Miss Webster, or +some one to attend to your household, and to nurse you too. If you worry +yourself in this way you will be quite ill." + +Poor Miss Webster was ill, she knew it; and having neither neighbour +nor friend within reach, she did what was very natural in her case, she +took up her handkerchief and began to cry. "Oh, come, Miss Webster," +said Emilie, cheerfully, "I will get you to bed, and Lucy shall come +when the shop is closed, and to-morrow I will get aunt Agnes to come and +nurse you. Keep up your spirits." + +"Ah, it is very well to talk of keeping up spirits, and as to your aunt +Agnes, there never was any love lost between us. No thank you, Miss +Schomberg, no thank you. If I may just trouble you to help me to the +side of my bed, I can get in, and do very well alone. _Good_ night." +Emilie stood looking pitifully at her. "I hope I don't keep you, Miss +Schomberg, pray don't stay, you cannot help me," and here Miss Webster +rose, but the agony of putting her foot to the ground was so great that +she could not restrain a cry, and Emilie, who saw that the poor sufferer +was like a child in helplessness, and like a child, moreover, in +petulance, calmly but resolutely declared her intention of remaining +until Lucy could leave the shop. + +Having helped her landlady into bed, she ran down-stairs to try and +appease the indignant lodgers, who protested, and with truth, that they +had rung, rung, rung, and no one answered the bell; that they wanted +tea, that Miss Webster had undertaken to wait on them, that they were +_not_ waited on, and that accordingly they would seek other lodgings on +the morrow, they would, &c., &c. "Miss Webster, ma'am, is very ill +to-night. She has a young careless servant girl, and is, I assure you, +very much distressed that you should be put out thus. I will bring up +your tea, ma'am, in five minutes, if you will allow me. It is very +disagreeable for you, but I am sure if you could see the poor woman, +ma'am, you would pity her." Mrs. Harmer did pity her only from Emilie's +simple account of her state, and declared she was very sorry she had +seemed angry, but the girl did not say her mistress was ill, only that +she was lying down, which appeared very disrespectful and inattentive, +when they had been waiting two hours for tea. + +The shop was by this time cleared up, and Lucy was able to attend to the +lodgers. Whilst Emilie having applied the rags soaked in the lotion +which had arrived, proceeded to get Miss Webster a warm and neatly +served cup of tea. + +It would have been very cheering to hear a pleasant "thank you;" but +Miss Webster received all these attentions with stiff and almost silent +displeasure. Do not blame her too severely, a hard struggle was going +on; but the law of kindness is at work, and it will not fail. + + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTH. + +BETTER THINGS. + + +"Ah, if Miss Schomberg had asked me to wait on _her_, how gladly would I +have done it, night after night, day after day, and should have thought +myself well paid with a smile; but to sit up all night with a person, +who cares no more for me, than I for her, and that is nothing! and then +to have to get down to-morrow and attend to the shop, all the same as if +I had slept well, is no joke. Oh, dear me! how sleepy I am, two o'clock! +I was to change those rags at two; I really scarcely dare attempt it, +she seems so irritable now." So soliloquized Lucy, who, kindhearted as +she was, could not be expected to take quite so much delight in nursing +her cross mistress, who never befriended her, as she would have done a +kinder, gentler person; but Lucy read her Bible, and she had been +trying, though not so long as Emilie, nor always so successfully it +must be owned, to live as though she read it. + +"Miss Webster, ma'am, the doctor said those rags were to be changed +every two hours. May I do it for you? I can't do it as well as Miss +Schomberg, but I will do my very best not to hurt you." + +"I want sleep child," said Miss Webster, "I want _sleep_, leave me +alone." + +"You can't sleep in such pain, ma'am," said poor Lucy, quite at her wits +ends. + +"Don't you think, I must know that as well as you? There! there's that +rush light gone out, and you never put any water in the tin; a pretty +nurse you make, now I shall have that smell in my nose all night. You +must have set it in a draught. What business has a rush light to go out +in a couple of hours? I wonder." + +Lucy put the obnoxious night shade out of the room, and went back to the +bedside. For a long time she was unsuccessful, but at last Miss Webster +consented to have her foot dressed, and even cheered her young nurse by +the acknowledgment that she did it very well, considering; and thus the +night wore away. + +Quite early Emilie was at her post, and was grieved to see that Miss +Webster still looked haggard and suffering, and as if she had not slept. +In answer to her inquiries, Lucy said that she had no rest all night. + +"Rest! and how can I rest, Miss Schomberg? I can't afford to lose my +lodgers, and lose them I shall." + +"Only try and keep quiet," said Emilie, "and I will see that they do not +suffer from want of attendance. _You_ cannot help them, do consent to +leave all thought, all management, to those who can think and manage. +May aunt Agnes come and nurse you, and attend to the housekeeping?" + +"Yes," was reluctantly, and not very graciously uttered. + +"Well then, Lucy will have time to attend to you. I would gladly nurse +you myself, but you know I may not neglect Miss Parker; now take this +draught, and try and sleep." + +"Miss Schomberg," said the poor woman, "you won't lack friends to nurse +you on a sick bed; I have none." + +"Miss Webster, if I were to be laid on a sick bed, and were to lose aunt +Agnes, I should be alone in a country that is not my own country, +without money and without friends; but we may both of us have a friend +who sticketh closer than a brother, think of him, ma'am, now, and ask +him to make your bed in your sickness." + +She took the feverish hand of the patient as she said this, who, +bursting into a flood of tears, replied, "Ah, Miss Schomberg! I don't +deserve it of you, and that is the truth; but keep my hand, it feels +like a friend's, hold it, will you, and I think I shall sleep a little +while;" and Emilie stood and held her hand, stood till she was faint and +weary, and then withdrawing it as gently as ever mother unloosed an +infant's hold, she withdrew, shaded the light from the sleeper's eyes, +and stole out of the room, leaving the sufferer at ease, and in one of +those heavy sleeps which exhaustion and illness often produce. + +Her visit to the kitchen was most discouraging. Betsey was only just +down, and the kettle did not boil, nor were any preparations made for +the lodgers' breakfast, to which it only wanted an hour. Emilie could +have found it in her heart to scold the lazy, selfish girl, who had +enjoyed a sound sleep all night, whilst Lucy had gone unrefreshed to +her daily duties, but she forebore. "Scolding never does answer," +thought Emilie, "and I won't begin to-day, but I must try and reform +this girl at all events, by some means, and that shall be done at once." + +"Come, Betsey," said Emilie pleasantly, "now, we shall see what sort of +a manager you will be; you must do all you can to make things tidy and +comfortable for the lodgers. Is their room swept and dusted?" + +"Oh, deary me, Miss, what time have I had for that, I should like to +know?" + +"Well now, get every thing ready for their breakfast, and pray don't +bang doors or make a great clatter with the china, as you set the table. +Every sound is heard in this small house, and your mistress has had no +sleep all night." + +"Well, she'll be doubly cross to day, then, I'll be bound. Howsoever, I +shall only stay my month, and it don't much matter what I do, she never +gives a servant a good character, and I don't expect it." + +"No, and you will not deserve it if you are inattentive and unfeeling +now. It is not doing as you would be done by, either. Do now, Betsey, +forget, for a few days, that Miss Webster ever scolded or found fault +with you. If you want to love any one just do him a kindness, and you +don't know how fast love springs up in the heart; you would be much +happier, Betsey, I am sure. Come _try_, you are not a cross girl, and +you don't mean to be unkind now. I shall expect to hear from Lucy, when +I come again, how well you have managed together." + +Fred went to Mr. Crosse's after breakfast, in the pony gig, for aunt +Agnes, who, at a summons from Emilie, was quite willing to come and see +after Miss Webster's household. She soon put mutters into a better +train, both in kitchen and parlour, so that the pacified lodgers +consented to remain. And though neither Lucy nor Betsey altogether liked +aunt Agnes, they found her quite an improvement on Miss Webster. + +It is not our object to follow Miss Webster through her domestic +troubles nor through the tedious process of the convalescence of a scalt +foot. We will rather follow Edith into her chamber, and see how she is +trying to learn the arts of the Peacemaker there. + +Edith's head is bent over a book, a torn book, and her countenance is +flushed and heated. She is out of breath, too, and her hair is hanging +disordered about her pretty face; not pretty now, however; it is an +angry face--and an angry face is never pretty. + +Has she been quarrelling with Fred again? yes, even so. Fred would not +give up Hans Andersen's Tales, which Emilie had just given Edith, and +which she was reading busily, when some one came to see her about a new +bonnet, so she left the book on the table, and in the mean time Fred +came in, snatched it up, and was soon deep in the feats of the "Flying +Trunk." Then came the little lady back and demanded the book, not very +pleasantly, if the truth must be told. Fred meant to give it up, but he +meant to tease his sister first, and Edith, who had no patience to wait, +snatched at the book. Fred of course resisted, and it was not until the +book had been nearly parted from its cover, and some damage had ensued +to the dress and hair of both parties that Edith regained possession; +not _peaceable_ possession, however, for both of the children's spirits +were ruffled. + +Edith flew to her room almost as fast as if she had been on the "Flying +Trunk," in the Fairy Tale. When there, she could not read, and in +displeasure with herself and with every one, dashed the little volume +away and cried long and bitterly. Edith had not been an insensible +spectator of the constantly and self-denying gentle conduct of Emilie. +Her example, far more than her precepts, had affected her powerfully, +but she had much to contend with, and it seemed to her as if at the very +times she meant to be kind and gentle something occurred to put her out. +"I _will_ try, oh, I will try," said Edith again and again, "but it is +such hard work."--Yes, Edith, hard enough, and work which even Emilie +can scarcely help you in. You wrestle against a powerful and a cruel +enemy, and you need great and powerful aid; but you have read your Bible +Edith, and again and again has Emilie said to you, "of yourself you can +do nothing." + +Edith had had a long conversation on this very subject only that morning +with her friend, as they were walking on the sea shore, and under the +influence of the calm lovely summer's sky, and within the sound of +Emilie's clear persuasive voice, it did not seem a hard matter to Edith +to love and to be loving. She could love Fred, she could even bear a +rough pull of the hair from him, she could stand a little teasing from +John, who found fault with a new muslin frock she wore at dinner, and we +all know it is not pleasant to have our dress found fault with; but this +attack of Fred's about the book, was _not_ to be borne, not by Edith, at +least, and thus she sobbed and cried in her own room, thinking herself +the most miserable of creatures, and very indignant that Emilie did not +come to comfort her; "but she is gone out after that tiresome old woman, +with her scalt foot, I dare say," said Edith, "and she would only tell +me I was wrong if she were here--oh dear! oh dear me!" and here she +sobbed again. + +Solitude is a wonderfully calming, composing thing; Emilie knew that, +and she did quite right to leave Edith alone. It was time she should +listen seriously to a voice which seldom made itself heard, but +conscience was resolute to-day, and did not spare Edith. It told her all +the truth, (you may trust conscience for that,) it told her that the +very reason why she failed in her efforts to do right was because she +had a wrong _motive_; and that was, love of the approbation of her +fellow creatures, and not real love to God. She would have quarrelled +with any one else who dared to tell her this; but it was of no use +quarrelling with conscience. Conscience had it all its own way to-day, +and went on answering every objection so quietly, and to the point, that +by degrees Edith grew quiet and subdued; and what do you think she did? +She took up a little Bible that lay on her table, and began to read it. +She could not pray as yet. She did not feel kind enough for that. Emilie +had often said to her that she should be at peace with every one before +she lifted up her heart to the "God of peace." She turned over the +leaves and tried to find the chapter, which she knew very well, about +the king who took account of his servants, and who forgave the man the +great debt of ten thousand talents; and then when that man went out and +found his servant who owed him but one hundred pence, he took him by the +throat, and said, "Pay me that thou owest." In vain did the man beseech +for patience, he that had only just been forgiven ten thousand talents +could not have pity on the man who owed him but one hundred pence. + +Often had Edith read this chapter, and very just was her indignation +against the hard-hearted servant, who, with his king's lesson of mercy +and forgiveness fresh in his memory, could not practise the same to one +who owed him infinitely less than he had done his master; and yet here +was little Edith who could not forgive Fred his injuries, when, +nevertheless, God was willing to forgive hers. Had Fred injured her as +she had injured God? surely not; and yet she might now kneel down and +receive at once the forgiveness of all her _great_ sins. Nay, more: she +had been receiving mercy and patience at the hands of her Heavenly +Father many years. She had neglected Him, done many things contrary to +his law, owed him, indeed, the ten thousand talents, and yet she was +spared. + +She had a great deal of revenge in her heart still, however; and she +could not, reason as she would, try as she would, read as she would, get +it out, so she sunk down on her knees, and lifted up her heart very +sincerely, to ask God to take it away. She had often said her prayers, +and had found no difficulty in that, but now it seemed quite different. +She could find no words, she could only feel. Well, that was enough. He +who saw in secret, saw her heart, and knew how it felt. She felt she +needed forgiveness, and that she could only have it by asking it of Him +who had power to forgive sins. She took her great debt to Jesus, and he +cancelled it; she hoped she was forgiven, and now, oh! how ready she +felt to forgive Fred. How small a sum seemed his hundred pence--his +little acts of annoyances compared with her many sins against God. Now +she felt and understood the meaning of the Saviour's lesson to Peter. +She had entered the same school as Peter, and though a slow she was a +sincere learner. + +She is in the right way now to learn the true law of kindness. None but +the _Saviour,_ who was love itself, could teach her this. If any earthly +teacher could have done so, surely Emilie would have succeeded. + +She went down to tea softened and sad, for she felt very humble. The +consideration of her great unlikeness to the character of Jesus, +affected her. "When he was reviled he reviled not again; when he +suffered he threatened not;" and this thought made her feel more than +any sermon or lecture or reproof she ever had in her life, how she +needed to be changed, her whole self changed; not her old bad nature +_patched_ up, but her whole heart made _new_. She did not say much at +tea; she did not formally apologise to Fred for her conduct to him. He +looked very cross, so perhaps it was wiser to act rather than to speak; +but she handed him the bread and butter, and buttered him a piece of +toast, and in many little quiet ways told him she wished to be friends +with him. John began at her frock again. She could not laugh, (she was +not in a laughing humour,) but she said she would not wear it any more, +during his holidays, if he disliked it so _very_ much. The greatest +trial to her temper was the being told she looked cross. Emilie, who +could see the sun of peace behind the cloud, was half angry herself at +this speech, and said to Mr. Parker, "If she looks cross she is not +cross, Sir, but I think she is not in very good spirits. Every one looks +a little sad sometimes;" and Mr. Porker, happily, being called out to a +patient at that moment, gave Edith opportunity to swallow her grief. + +After tea the boys prepared to accompany their sister and her governess +in the usual evening walk. Edith did not desire their company, but she +did not say so; and they all went out very silent for them. On their +road to the beach they met a man who had a cage of canaries to sell, the +very things that Fred had desired so long, and to purchase which he had +saved his money. + +Edith had no taste for noisy canaries; few great talkers have, for they +do interrupt conversation must undeniably, but Fred thought it would be +most delightful to have them, and as he had a breeding cage which had +belonged to one of his elder sisters years before, he asked the price +and began to make his bargain. The birds were bought and the man +dispatched to the house with them, with orders to call for payment at +nine o'clock, before Fred remembered that he did not exactly know where +he should keep them. In the sitting room it would be quite out of the +question he knew, for the noise would distract his mother. Papa was not +likely to admit canaries into his study for consultations; and Fred knew +only of one likely or possible place, but the door to that was closed, +unless he could find a door to Edith's heart, and he had just quarrelled +with Edith; what a pity! To make it up with her, however, just to gain +his point, he was too proud to do, and was therefore gloomy and uncivil. + +"Where are you going to keep your canaries Fred?" asked his sister. + +"In the cage," said Fred, shortly and tartly. + +"Yes; but in what room?" + +"In my bed-room," said Fred. + +"Oh, I dare say! will you though?" said John, who as he shared his +brother's apartment had some right to have a voice in the matter. "I am +not going to be woke at daylight every morning by your canaries. And +such an unwholesome plan; I am sure papa and mamma won't let you. What a +pity you bought the birds! you can't keep them in our small house. Get +off your bargain, I would if I were you. Besides, who will take care of +them all the week? they will want feeding other days besides Saturdays, +I suppose." + +Fred looked annoyed, and dropped behind the party. Edith whispered to +Emilie, "Go you on with John, I want to talk to Fred." + +"Fred, dear," said she, "will you keep your birds in my little room, +where my old toys are? I will clear a place, and I shan't mind their +singing, _do_ Fred. I have often hindered your pleasures, now let me +have the comfort of making it up a little to you, and I will feed them +and clean them while you are at school in the week." + +"You may change your mind Edith, and you know if my birds are in your +room, I shall have to be there a good deal; and they will make a rare +noise sometimes, and some one must take care of them all the week--I can +only attend to them on Saturdays, you know." + +"Yes, I have been thinking of all that, and I expect I shall sometimes +_wish_ to change my mind, but I shall not do it. I am very selfish I +know, but I mean to try to be better, Fred. Take my little room, do." + +Fred was a proud boy, and would rather have had to thank any one than +Edith just then; but nevertheless he accepted her offer, and thanked his +little sister, though not quite so kindly as he might have done, and +that is the truth. There is a grace in accepting as well as in giving. +Edith had given up what she had much prized, the independence of a +little room, (it was but a little one,) a little room all to herself; +but she did so because she felt love springing up in her heart. She +acted in obedience to the dictates of the law of kindness, and she felt +lighter and happier than she had done for a long time. Fred was by +degrees quite cheered, and amused his companions by his droll talk for +some way. Spying, however, one of his school-fellows on the rocks at a +distance, he and John, joined him abruptly, and thus Emilie and Edith +were left alone. + +Sincerity is never loquacious, never egotistic. If you don't understand +these words I will tell you what I mean. A person really in earnest; and +sincere, does not talk much of earnestness and sincerity, still loss of +himself. Edith could not tell Emilie of her new resolutions, of her +mental conflict, but she was so loving and affectionate in her manner to +her friend, that I think Emilie understood; at any rate, she saw that +Edith was very pleasant, and very gentle that night, and loved her more +than ever. She saw and felt there was a change come over her. They +walked far, and on their return found the canaries arrived, and Fred +very busy in putting them up in their new abode. He had rather +unceremoniously moved Edith's bookcase and boxes, to make room for the +bird cages. She did say, "I think you might have asked my leave," but +she instantly recalled it. "Oh, never mind; what pretty little things, I +shall like to have them with me." + +It really was a trial to Edith to see all her neat arrangements upset, +and to find how very coolly Fred did it, too. She sighed and thought, +"Ah, I shall not be mistress here now I see!" but Fred was gone down +stairs for some water and seed, and did not hear her laments. He was +very full of his scheme for canary breeding at supper, and Emilie was +quite as full of sympathy in his joy as Fred desired; she took a real +interest in the matter. Her father, she said, had given much attention +to canary breeding, for the Germans were noted for their management of +canaries; she could help him, she thought, if he would accept her help. +So they were very merry over the affair at supper time, and Mr. Parker, +in his quiet way, enjoyed it too. Suddenly, however, the merriment +received a check. Margaret, who had been to look at the birds, came in +with the intelligence that Muff, the pet cat of Miss Edith, was sitting +in the dusk, watching the canaries with no friendly eye, and that she +had even made a dart at the cage; and she prophesied that the birds +would not be safe long. A bird of ill omen was Margaret always; she +thought the worst and feared the worst of every one, man or animal. +"Why, it is easy to keep the door of the cage shut," John remarked, but +to keep puss out of her old haunts was not possible. + +Muff was not a kitten, but a venerable cat, who had belonged to Edith's +elder sister, and was given to Edith, the day that sister married, as a +very precious gift; and Edith loved that grey cat, loved her dearly. She +always sat in the same place in that dear little room. Edith had only +that day made her a new red leather collar, and Muff looked very smart +in it. "Muff won't hurt the birds, Fred dear," said Edith, "she is not +like a common cat." Whatever points of dissimilarity there might he +between Muff and the cat race in general, in this particular she quite +resembled them; she loved birds, and would not be very nice as to the +manner of obtaining them. What was to be done? Fred had all manner of +projects in his head for teaching the canaries to fly out and in the +cage, to bathe, to perch on his finger, etc.; but if, whenever any one +chanced to leave the door of the room open, Muff were to bounce in, why +there was an end to all such schemes. In short, Muff would get the birds +by fair means or foul, there was no doubt of that, and Fred was +desperate. I cannot tell how many times Muff was called "a nasty cat," +"a tiresome cat," "a vicious cat," and little Edith's heart was full, +for she did not believe any evil of her favourite; and to hear her so +maligned, seemed like a personal insult; but she bore it patiently. She +asked Emilie at bed time what she should do about Muff; she had so long +been accustomed to her seat by the sunny window in Edith's room, that to +try and tempt her from it she knew would be vain. + +Emilie agreed with her, but hoped Muff would practise self-denial. +Before Edith lay down to rest that night, she again thought over all +that she had done through the day; again knelt down and asked for help +to overcome that which was sinful within her, and then lay down to +sleep. Edith was but a child, and she could not forget Muff; she +thought, and very truly, that there was a general wish to displace her +Muff. Not one in the house would be sorry to see Muff sent away she +know, and Margaret at supper time seemed so pleased to report of Muff's +designs. This thought made her love Muff all the more, but then there +were Fred's birds. It would be very sad if any of them should be lost +through her cat; what should she do? She wished to win Fred to love and +gentleness. Should she part with Muff? Miss Schomberg (aunt Agnes that +is) had expressed a wish for a nice quiet cat, and this, her beauty, +would just suit her. "Shall I take Muff to High-Street to-morrow? I +will," were her last thoughts, but the resolution cost her something, +and Edith's pillow was wet with tears. When she arose the next morning +she felt as we are all apt to feel after the excitement of new and +sudden resolves, rather flat; and the sight of Muff sitting near a +laurel bush in the garden, enjoying the morning sun, quite unnerved her. +"Part with Muff! No, I cannot; and I don't believe any one would do such +a thing for such a boy as Fred. I cannot part with Muff, that's certain. +Fred had better give up his birds, and so I shall tell him." + +All this is very natural, but what is very natural is often very wrong, +and Edith did not fuel that calm happiness which she had done the night +before. When she received Emilie's morning kiss, she said, "Well, Miss +Schomberg, I thought last night I had made up my mind to part with Muff, +but I really cannot! I do love her so!" + +"It would be a great trial to you, I should think," said Emilie, "and +one that no one could _ask_ of you, but if she had a good master, do you +think you should mind it so very much? You would only have your own +sorrow to think of, and really it would be a kindness if those poor +birds are to be kept. The cat terrifies them by springing at the wires, +and if they were sitting they would certainly be frightened off their +nests." + +Edith looked perplexed; "What shall I do Emilie? I _do_ wish to please +Fred, I do wish to do as I would be done by; I really want to get rid of +my selfish nature, and yet it will keep coming back." + +"Watch as well as pray, dear," said Emilie affectionately, "and you will +conquer at last." They went down to breakfast together. "Watch and +pray." That word "watch," was R word in season to Edith, she had +_prayed_ but had well nigh forgotten to _watch_. + +She could not eat her meal, however, her heart was full with the +greatness of the sacrifice before her. Do not laugh at the word _great_ +sacrifice. It was very great to Edith; she loved with all her heart; and +to part with what we love, be it a dog, a cat, a bird, or any inanimate +possession, is a great pang. After breakfast she went into the little +room where Muff usually eat, and taking hold of the favourite, hugged +and kissed her lovingly, then carrying her down stairs to the kitchen, +asked cook for a large basket, and with a little help from Margaret, +tied her down and safely confined her; then giving the precious load to +her father's errand boy, trotted into the town, and stopped not till she +reached Miss Webster's door. Her early visit rather astonished aunt +Agnes, who was at that moment busily engaged in dressing Miss Webster's +foot, and at the announcement of Betsey--"Please Ma'am little Miss +Parker is called and has brought you a cat," she jumped so that she +spilled Miss Webster's lotion. + +"A cat! a cat!" echoed the ladies. "I will have no cats here Miss +Schomberg, if you please," said the irritable Mistress. "I always did +hate cats, there is no end to the mischief they do. I never did keep +one, and never mean to do." + +Miss Schomberg went down stairs into Miss Webster's little parlour, and +there saw Edith untying her beloved Muff. "Well aday! my child, what +brings you here? all alone too. Surely Emilie isn't ill, oh dear me +something must be amiss." + +"Oh no, Miss Schomberg, no, only I heard you say you would like a cat, +and Fred has got some new birds and I mayn't keep Muff, and so will you +take her and be kind to her?" + +"My dear child," said aunt Agnes in a bewilderment, "I would take her +gladly but Miss Webster has a bird you know, and is so awfully neat and +particular, oh, it won't do; you must not bring her here, and I _must_ +go back and finish Miss Webster's foot. She is very poorly to-day. Oh +how glad I shall be when my Emilie comes back! Good bye, take the cat, +dear, away, pray do;" and, so saying, aunt Agnes bustled off, leaving +poor Edith more troubled and perplexed with Muff than ever. + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTH. + +GOOD FOR EVIL. + + +Old Joe Murray was seated on the beach, nearer the town than his house +stood, watching the groups of busy children, digging and playing in the +sand, now helping them in their play, and now giving his hint to the +nurses around him, when Edith tapped him on the shoulder. There was +something so unusually serious, not _cross_, in Edith's countenance, +that Joe looked at her inquiringly. "There, set down the basket, +Nockells, and run back quick, tell papa I kept you; I am afraid you will +get into disgrace." + +"Mayn't I drown Puss?" said Nockells. + +"No! you cruel boy, _no!_" said Edith, vehemently. "_You_ shall not have +the pleasure, no one shall do it who would take a pleasure in it." + +"What is the matter Miss?" asked Joe, as soon as Nockells turned away. + +"The matter, oh Joe! I want Muff drowned; my cat I mean, my dear cat;" +and then she told her tale up to the point of Miss Webster's refusing to +admit Muff as a lodger, and cried most bitterly as she said, "and I +won't have her ill-treated, so I will drown her, will you do it for me +Joe, please do now, or my courage will be gone? but I won't stay to look +at it, so good-bye," said she, and slipping a shilling into Joe's hand, +ran home with the news to Fred, that the cat was by this time at the +bottom of the tea, and his canaries were safe for ever from her claws. + +Fred was not a hard-hearted boy, and his sister's tale really grieved +him. He kissed her several times over, as he said he now wished he had +never bought the birds, that they had caused Edith nothing but trouble +and that he was very sorry. + +"I am not sorry, Fred dear, at least I am only sorry for being forced to +drown Muff. I like to give you my room, and I like to give up my cat to +you, and I shall not cry any more about it, so don't be unhappy." + +"And all this for me," said Fred; "I who teased you so yesterday +afternoon, and always am teasing you, I think!" How pleased Emilie +looked! She did not praise Edith, but she gave her such a look of +genuine approval as was a rich reward to her little pupil. "_This_ is +the way. Edith dear, to overcome evil with good; go on, _watch_ and +pray, and you will subdue Fred in time as well as your own evil +tempers." + +How easy all this looks to read about! How swift the transition from bad +to good! Who has not felt, in reading Rosamond and Frank, a kind of envy +that they so soon overcame their errors, so soon conquered their bad +habits and evil dispositions? Dear young reader, it is _not_ easy to +subdue self; it is not easy to practise this law of kindness, love, and +forbearance; it is not easy to live peaceably with all men, but believe +me, it is not impossible. He who giveth liberally and upbraideth not, +will give you grace, and wisdom, and help to do this if you ask it. The +promise is, "Ask and ye shall receive." Edith In her helplessness naked +strength of God and it was given. That which was given to her He will +not withhold from you. Only try Him. + +For the comfort of those who may not have such a friend as Emilie, we +would remind our readers that the actual work of Edith's change, for +such it was, was that which no friend however wise and however good +could effect. There is no doubt but that to her example Edith owed much. +It led her to _think_ and to _compare_, and was part of the means used +by the all-wise God, to instruct this little girl; but if you have not +Emilie for a friend, you may all have the God, whom Emilie served, for a +friend. You may all read in the Bible which she studied, and in which +she learned, from God's love to man, how we should love each other. She +read there, "If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." + +The holidays drew to a close. The return of the mother and sisters was +at hand. Emilie was not without her fears for Edith at this time, but +she trusted in the help which she knew Edith would have if she sought +it, and was thus encouraged. The right understanding between her +brothers and herself she was rejoiced to see daily increasing. It was +not that there was nothing to ruffle the two most easily ruffled +spirits. Fred was not considerate, and would constantly recur to his old +habit of tensing Edith. Edith was easily teased, and would rather order +and advise Fred, which was sure to bring on a breeze; but they were far +less vindictive, less aggravating than formerly. They were learning to +bear and forbear. Edith had the most to bear, for although Fred was +impressed by her kind and altered conduct, and could never forget the +generous act of sacrifice when she parted with Muff to gratify him, he +was as yet more actuated by impulse than principle, and nothing but +principle, Christian principle I mean, will enable us to be kind and +gentle, and unselfish _habitually_, not by fits and starts, but every +day. + +Joe Murray was sitting at his door smoking his pipe, and watching his +little grandchildren as they played together (this time harmoniously) in +the garden. They were not building a grotto, they were dancing, and +jumping, and laughing, in the full merriment of good healthy happy +children. Emilie and Edith greeted Joe as an old friend, and Joe seemed +delighted to see them. The two children, who had been commissioned to +search for corallines, rushed up to Edith with a basket full of a +heterogeneous collection, and amongst a great deal of little value there +were some beautiful specimens of the very things Edith wanted. She +thanked the little Murrays sincerely, and then looked at Emilie. Should +she pay them? the look asked. It was evident the children had no idea of +such a thing, and felt fully repaid by Edith's pleasure. Edith only +wanted to know if it would take from that pleasure to receive money. She +had been learning of late to study what people liked, and wished to do +so now. + +Emilie did not understand her look, and so Edith followed her own +course. "Thank you, oh, thank you," she said. "It was very kind of you +to collect me so many, they please me very much. I wish I knew of +something that you would like as well as I like these, and if I can, I +will give it to you, or ask mamma to help me." The boy not being +troubled with bashfulness, immediately said, that of all things he +should like a regular rigged boat, a ship, "a little-un" that would +swim. The girl put her finger in her mouth and said "she didn't know." +"Are you going to have a boat?" said every little voice, "oh, what fun +we shall have." "Yes," said our peace-making friend, Sarah. "You know +that if Dick gets any thing it is the same as if you all did. He is such +a kind boy, Miss, he plays with the little ones, and gives up to them +so nicely, you'd be surprised." + +"I am glad of that," said Emilie, "it will be such a pleasure to Miss +Edith to give pleasure to them all--but come, Jenny, you have not fixed +yet what you will have." Jenny said she did not want to be paid, but she +had thought, perhaps Miss Parker might give them something, and if Miss +Parker did not think it too much, she should like a shilling better than +any thing. + +Every one looked inquiringly, except Sarah. Sarah was but the uneducated +daughter of a poor fisherman, but she studied human nature as it lay +before her in the different characters of her brothers and sisters, and +she guessed the workings of Jenny's mind. + +"What do you want a shilling for?" said the mother sharply, who had +joined the group. "You ought not to have asked for anything, what bad +manners you have! The weeds cost you nothing, and you ought to be much +obliged to Miss Parker for accepting them." + +"I wanted the shilling very much," persisted Jenny, as Edith pressed it +into her hand, and off she ran, as though to hide her treasure. + +But Edith had caught sight of something, and forgot shilling and every +thing else in that glimpse. Her own dear old Muff sleeping on the hearth +of the kitchen which she had not yet entered. I shall not tell you all +the endearments she used to puss, they would look ridiculous on paper; +they made even those who heard them smile, but she was so overjoyed that +there was some excuse for her. Mrs. Murray rather damped her joy at once +by saying, "Oh, she's a sad thief, Miss. She steals the fish terribly. I +suppose you can't take her back, Miss?" + +"Ah, Joe," said Edith sorrowfully, "you see, you had better have drowned +her." + +"So I think," said Mrs. Murray. + +"No, no, no," cried Jane, coming forwards. "I have a shilling now, and +Barker the carrier will take her for that all the way to Southampton, +where aunt Martha lives, and aunt Martha loves cats, and will take care +of Muff; she shan't be drowned, Miss," said Jenny, kindly. + +The mother looked surprised, and they all admired Jenny's kind +intentions. Emilie slipped another shilling into her hand as they went +away, and said "You will find a use for it." "Good night Jenny, and +thank you," said poor Edith, with a sigh, for she had already looked +forward to many joyful meetings with Muff--her newly-found treasure. But +as old Joe, who followed them down the cliff said, there was no end to +the trouble Muff caused, what with stealing fish, and upsettings and +breakings; and she would be happier at aunt Martha's, where there was +neither fish nor child, and more room to walk about in than Muff enjoyed +here. + +"But how kind of Jenny," said Edith, "how thoughtful for Muff!" + +"No, Miss, 't aint for Muff exactly," said Joe, "though she pitied you, +as they all did, in thinking of drowning the cat; but bless the dear +children, they are all trying in their way, I do believe; to please +their mother, and to win her to be more happy and gentle like. You see +she has had a hard struggle with them, so many as there are, and so +little to do with; and that and bad health have soured her temper like; +but she'll come to. Oh Miss Edith, take my word for it, if ever you have +to live where folks are cross and snappish, be _you_ good-humoured. A +little of the leaven of sweetness and good temper lightens a whole lump +of crossness and bad humour. One bright Spirit in a family will keep +the sun shining in _one_ spot; it can't then be _all_ dark, you see, and +if there's ever such a little spot of sunshine, there must be some light +in the house, which may spread before long, Miss." + +"Goodnight, Joe," and "Good night, ladies," passed, and the friends were +left alone--alone upon the quiet beach. The sun had set, for it was +late; the tide was ebbing, and now left the girls a beautiful smooth +path of sand for some little distance, on which the sound of their light +steps was scarcely heard, as they rapidly walked towards home. + +"Who would think, Edith, that our six weeks' holiday would be at an end +to-morrow?" said Emilie. + +"I don't know, Emilie, I feel it much longer." + +"_Do_ you? then you have not been so happy as I hoped to have made you, +dear; I have been a great deal occupied with other things, but it could +scarcely be helped." + +"No, Emilie, I have not been happy a great part of the holidays, but I +am happy now; happier at least, and it was no fault of yours at any +time. I know now why I was so discontented with my condition, and why I +thought I had more to try me than anybody else. I feel that I was in +fault; that I _am_ in fault, I should say; but, oh Emilie, I am trying, +trying hard, to--" and here, Edith, softened by the remembrance that +soon she and her friend must part, burst into tears. + +"And you have succeeded, succeeded nobly, Edith, my darling. I have +watched you, and but that I feared to interfere, I would have noticed +your victories to you. I may do so now." + +"My _victories_, Emilie! Are you making fun of me? I feel to have been +so very irritable of late.--My _victories!_" + +"Just because, dear, you take notice of your irritability as you did not +use to do, and because you have constantly before your eyes that great +pattern in whom was no sin." + +"Emilie, I will tell you something--your patience, your example, has +done me a great deal of good, I hope; but there is one thing in your +kind of advice, which does me more good than all. You have talked more +of the love of God than of any other part of his character, and the +words which first struck me very much, when I first began to wish that I +were different, were those you told me one Sunday evening, some time +ago. 'Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and +gave his Son a ransom for sinners.' There seemed such a contrast between +my conduct to God, and His to me; and then it has made me, I hope, a +little more, (a _very_ little, you know,) I am not boasting, Emilie, am +I? it has made me a _little_ more willing to look over things which used +to vex me so. What are Fred's worst doings to me, compared with my +_best_ to God?" + +Thus they talked, and now, indeed, did the friends love one another; and +heartily did each, by her bedside that night, thank God for his gospel, +which tells of his love to man, the greatest illustration truly of the +law of kindness. + + + + +CHAPTER NINTH. + +FRED A PEACEMAKER. + + +"Talk not of wasted affection, affection never is wasted.... its waters +returning back to their spring, like the rain shall fill them full of +refreshment"--_H. W. Longfellow_. + +"Well Fred," said Emilie at the supper table, from which Mr. Parker was +absent, "I go away to-morrow and we part better friends than we met, I +think, don't we?" + +"Oh yes, Miss Schomberg, we are all better friends, and it is all your +doing." + +"My doing, oh no! Fred, that _is_ flattery. I have not made Edith so +gentle and so good as she has of late been to you. _I_ never advised her +to give up that little room to you nor to send poor Muff away." + +"_Didn't_ you? well, now I always thought you did; I always kid that to +you, and so I don't believe I have half thanked Edith as I ought." + +"Indeed you might have done." + +"Well, I hope I shall not get quarrelsome at school again, but I wish I +was in a large school. I fancy I should be much happier. Only being us +five at Mr. Barton's, we are so thrown together, somehow we can't help +falling out and interfering with each other sometimes. Now there is +young White, I never can agree with him, it is _impossible_." + +"Dear me!" said Emilie, without contradicting him, "why?" + +"He treats me so very ill; not openly and above-board, as we say, but in +such a nasty sneaking way, he is always trying to injure me. He knows +sometimes I fall asleep after I am called. Well, he dresses so quietly, +(I sleep in his room, I wish I didn't,) he steals down stairs and then +laughs with such triumph when I come down late and get a lecture or a +fine for it. If I am very busy over an exercise out of school hours, he +comes and talks to me, or reads some entertaining book close to my ears, +aloud to one of the boys, to hinder my doing it properly, but that is +not half his nasty ways. Could _you love_ such a boy Miss Schomberg?" + +"Well, I would try to make him more loveable, Fred, and then I might +perhaps love him," said Emilie. + +"Ah, Emilie, your 'overcome evil with good' rule would fail there _I_ +can tell you; you may laugh." + +"No, I won't laugh, I am going to be serious. You will allow me to +preach a short sermon to-night, the last for some time, you know, and +mine shall be but a text, or a very little more, and then 'good night.' +Will you try to love that boy for a few weeks? _really_ try, and see if +he does not turn out better than you expect. If he do not, I will +promise you that you will be the better for it. Love is never wasted, +but remember, Fred, it is wicked and sad to hate one another, and it +comes to be a serious matter, for 'If any man love not his brother whom +he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen.' Good night." + +"Good night, Miss Schomberg, you have taught me to like you," and oh, +how I did dislike you once! thought Fred, but he did not say so. + +Miss Webster's foot got well at last, but it was a long time about it. +The lodgers went away at the end of the six weeks, and aunt Agnes and +Emilie were quietly settled in their little apartments again. The piano +was a little out of tune, but Emilie expected as much, and now after her +six weeks' holiday, so called, she prepared to begin her life of daily +teaching. Her kindness to Miss Webster was for some time to all +appearance thrown away, but no, that cannot be--kindness and love can +never be wasted. They bless him that gives, if not him that takes the +offering. By and bye, however, a few indications of the working of the +good system appeared. Miss Webster would offer to come and sit and chat +with aunt Agnes when Emilie was teaching or walking; and aunt Agnes in +return taught Miss Webster knitting stitches and crochet work. Miss +Webster would clean Emilie's straw bonnet, and when asked for the bill, +she would say that it came to nothing; and would now and then send up a +little offering of fruit or fish, when she thought her lodgers' table +was not well supplied. Little acts in themselves, but great when we +consider that they were those of an habitually cold and selfish person. +She did not express love; but she showed the softening influence of +affection, and Emilie at least understood and appreciated it. + +Fred had perhaps the hardest work of all the actors on this little +stage; he thought so at least. Joe White was an unamiable and, as Fred +expressed it, a sneaking boy. He had never been accustomed to have his +social affections cultivated in childhood, and consequently, he grew up +into boyhood without any heart as it is called. Good Mr. Barton was +quite puzzled with him. He said there was no making any impression on +him, and that Mr. Barton could make none was very evident. Who shall +make it? Even Fred; for he is going to try Emilie's receipt for the cure +of the complaint under which Master White laboured, a kind of moral +ossification of the heart. Will he succeed? We shall see. + +Perhaps, had Joe White at this time fallen down and broken his leg, or +demanded in any way a _great_ sacrifice of personal comfort from his +school-fellow, he would have found it easier to return good for his evil, +than in the daily, hourly, calls for the exercise of forgiveness and +forbearance which occurred at school. Oh, how many will do _great_ +things in the way of gifts or service, who will not do the little acts +of kindness and self denial which common life demands. Many a person has +built hospitals or alms houses, and has been ready to give great gifts +to the poor and hungry, who has been found at home miserably deficient +in domestic virtues. Dear children, cultivate these. You have, very few +of you, opportunities for great sacrifices. They occur rarely in real +life, and it would be well if the relations of fictitious life abounded +less in them; but you may, all of you, find occasions to speak a gentle +word, to give a kind smile, to resign a pursuit which annoys or vexes +another, to cure a bad habit, to give up a desired pleasure. You may, +all of you, practice the injunction, to live not unto yourselves. Fred, +I say, found it a hard matter to carry out Emilie's plan towards Joe +White, who came back from home more evilly disposed than ever, and all +the boys agreed he was a perfect nuisance. + +"I would try and make him loveable." Those words of Emilie's often +recurred to Fred as he heard the boys say how they disliked Joe White +worse and worse. So Fred tried first by going up to him very gravely one +day, and saying how they all disliked him, and how he hoped he would +mend; but that did not do at all. Fred found the twine of his kite all +entangled next day, and John said he saw White playing with it soon +after Fred had spoken to him. + +"I'd go and serve him out; just you go and tangle his twine, and see how +he likes it," said John. + +"I will--but no! I won't," Bald Fred, "that's evil for evil, and that is +what I am not going to do. I mean to leave that plan off." + +An opportunity soon occurred for returning good for evil Miss Barton had +a donkey, and this donkey, whose proper abode was the paddock, sometimes +broke bounds, and regaled itself on the plants in the young gentlemen's +gardens, in a manner highly provoking to those who had any taste for +flowers. If Joe White had any love for anything, it was for flowers. +Now, there is something so pure and beautiful in flowers; called by that +good philanthropist Wilberforce, the "smiles of God," that I think there +must be a little tender spot in that heart which truly loves flowers. +Joe tended his as a parent would a child. His garden was his child, and +certainly it did his culture credit. Fred liked a garden too, and these +boys' gardens were side by side. They were the admiration of the whole +family, so neatly raked, so free from stones or weeds, so gay with +flowers of the best kind. They were rival gardens, but undoubtedly +White's was in the best order. John and Fred always went home on a +Saturday, as Mr. Barton's house was not far from L----. Joe was a +boarder entirely, his home was at a distance, and to this Fred Parker +ascribed the superiority of his garden. He was able to devote the whole +of Saturday, which was a holiday, to its culture. Well, the donkey of +which I spoke, one day took a special fancy to the boys' gardens; and it +so happened, that he was beginning to apply himself to nibble the tops +of Joe's dahlias, which were just budding. Joe was that day confined to +the house with a severe cold, and little did he think as he lay in bed, +sipping Mrs. Barton's gruel and tea, of the scenes that were being +enacted in his own dear garden. Fred fortunately spied the donkey, and +though there had been lately a little emulation between them, who should +grow the finest dahlias, he at once carried out the principle of +returning good for evil, drove the donkey off, even though his course +lay over his own flower beds, and then set to work to repair the damage +done. A few minutes more, and all Joe's dahlias would have been +sacrificed. Fred saved them, raked the border neatly, tied up the +plants, and restored all to order again; and who can tell but those who +thus act, the pleasure, the comfort of Fred's heart? Why, not the first +prize at the horticultural show for the first dahlia in the country, +would have given him half the joy; and a still nobler sacrifice he +made--he did not tell of his good deeds. Now, Fred began to realise the +pleasures of forbearance and kindness indeed. + +There could not have been a better way of reaching young White's heart +than through his garden. Fred's was a fortunate commencement. He never +boasted of the act, but one of the boys told Mr. Barton, who did not +fail to remind Joe of it at a suitable time, and that time was when +White presented his master with a splendid bouquet of dahlias for his +supper table, when he was going to have a party of friends. The boys, +who were treated like members of the family, were invited to join that +party, and then did Mr. Barton narrate the scene of the donkey's +invasion, of which, however, the guests did not perceive the point; but +those for whom it was intended understood it all. At bed time that +night, Joe White begged his school-fellow's pardon for entangling his +kite twine, and went to bed very humble and grateful, and with a little +love and kindness dawning, which made his rest sweeter and his dreams +happier. Thus Fred began his lessons of love; it was thus he endeavoured +to make Joe lovable, and congratulated himself on his first successful +attempt. He did not speak in the very words of the Poet, but his +sentiments were the same, as he talked to John of his victory. + + "There is a golden chord of sympathy, + Fix'd in the harp of every human soul, + Which by the breath of kindness when 'tis swept, + Wakes angel-melodies in savage hearts; + Inflicts sore chastisements for treasured wrongs, + And melts away the ice of hate to streams of love; + Nor aught but _kindness_ can that fine chord touch." + +Joe Murray was quite right in telling Edith that a little of the leaven +of kindness and love went a great way in a family. No man can live to +himself, that is to say, no man's acts can affect himself only. Had Fred +set an example of revenge and retaliation, other boys would have no +doubt acted in like manner on the first occasion of irritation. Now they +all helped to reform Joe White, and did not return evil for evil, as +had been their custom. Fred was the oldest but one of the little +community, and had always been looked up to as a clever boy, up to all +kinds of spore and diversion. He was the leader of their plays and +amusements, and but for the occasional outbreaks of his violent temper +would have been a great favourite. As it was, the boys liked him, and +his master was undoubtedly very fond of Fred Parker. He was an honest +truthful boy though impetuous and headstrong. + +Permission was given the lads, who as we have said were six in number, +to walk out one fine September afternoon without the guardianship of +their master. They were to gather blackberries, highly esteemed by Mrs. +Barton for preserves, and it was the great delight of the boys to supply +her every year with this fruit. Blackberrying is a very amusing thing to +country children. It is less so perhaps in its consequences to the +nurse, or sempstress, who has to repair the terrible rents which +merciless brambles make, but of that children, boys especially, think +little or nothing. On they went, each provided with a basket and a long +crome stick, for the purpose of drawing distant clusters over ditches +or from some height within the reach of the gatherer. At first they +jumped and ran and sang in all the merriment of independence. The very +consciousness of life, health, and freedom was sufficient enjoyment, and +there was no end to their fun and their frolics until they came to the +spot where the blackberries grew in the greatest abundance. Then they +began to gather and eat and fill their baskets in good earnest. The most +energetic amongst them was Fred, and he had opportunities enough this +afternoon for practising kindness and self-denial, for White was in one +of his bad moods, and pushed before Fred whenever he saw a fine and +easily to be obtained cluster of fruit; and once, (Fred thought +purposely,) upset his basket, which stood upon the pathway, all in the +dust. Still Fred bore all this very well, and set about the gathering +with renewed ardour, though one or two of the party called out, "Give it +him, Parker; toss his out and see how he likes it." No, Fred had begun +to taste the sweet fruits of kindness, he would not turn aside to pluck +the bitter fruits of revenge and passion. So he gave no heed to the +matter, only leaving the coast clear for White whenever he could, and +helping a little boy whom White had pushed aside to fill his basket. + +Without any particular adventures, and with only the usual number of +scratches and falls, and only the common depth of dye in lips and +fingers, the boys sat down to rest beneath the shade of some fine trees, +which skirted a beautiful wood. + +"I say," said John Parker, "let us turn in here, we shall find shade +enough, and I had rather sit on the grass and moss than on this bank. +Come along, we have only to climb the hedge." + +"But that would be trespassing," said one conscientious boy, who went by +the name of Simon Pure, because he never would join in any sport he +thought wrong, and used to recall the master's prohibitions rather +oftener to his forgetful companions than they liked. + +"Trespassing! a fig for trespassing," said John Parker, clearing away +all impediments, and bestriding the narrow ditch, planted a foot firmly +on the opposite bank. + +"You may get something not so sweet as a fig for trespassing, John, +though," said his brother Fred, who came up at this moment. + +"Man-traps and spring-guns are fictions my lad," said Philip Harcourt, a +boy of much the same turn as John, not easily persuaded any way; "Now +for it, over Parker; be quick, man," and over he jumped. + +Then followed Harcourt, White, and another little boy, whose name was +Arthur, leaving Fred and Simon Pure in the middle of the road. The wood +was, undoubtedly, a very delightful place, and more than one fine +pheasant rustled amongst the underwood, and the squirrels leaped from +bough to bough, whilst the music of the birds was charming. Fred, +himself, was tempted as he peeped over the gap, and stood irresolute. +The plantation was far enough from the residence of the owner, nor was +it likely that they could do much mischief beyond frightening the game, +and as it was not sitting time, Fred himself argued it could do no harm, +but little Riches, the boy called Pure, who was a great admirer of Fred, +especially since the affair of the Dahlias, begged him not to go; "Mr. +Barton, you know, has such a great dislike to our trespassing," said +Riches, "and if we stay here resolutely they will be sure to come back." + +"Don't preach to me," was the rather unexpected reply, for Fred was not +_perfect_ yet, though he had gained a victory or two over his temper of +late. + +"I didn't mean to preach, but I do wish the boys would come home, it is +growing late; and with our heavy baskets we shall only just get in in +time." + +"Halloo!" shouted Fred, getting on the bank. "Come back, won't you, or +we shall be too late; come, John, you are the eldest, come along." But +his call was drowned in the sound of their voices, which were echoing +through the weeds, much to the annoyance, no doubt, of the stately +pheasants who were not accustomed to human sounds like these. They were +not at any great distance, and Fred could just distinguish parts of +their conversation. + +John and Harcourt were urging White, a delicate boy, and no climber, to +mount a high tree in the wood, to enjoy they said the glorious sea-view; +but in reality to make themselves merry at his expense, being certain +that if he managed to scramble up he would have some difficulty in +getting down, and would get a terrible fright at least. White stood at +the bottom of the tree, looking at his companions as they rode on one of +the higher branches of a fine spruce fir. + +"Don't venture! White," shouted Fred as loudly as he could shout, "don't +attempt it! They only want to make game of you, and you'll never get +down if you manage to get up. Take my advice now, don't try." + +"Mind your own business," and a large sod of earth was the reply. The +sod struck the boy on the face, and his nose bled profusely. + +"There," said young Riches, "what a cowardly trick! Oh! I think White +the meanest spirited boy I ever saw. He wouldn't have flung that sod at +you if you had been within arm's length of him; well, I do dislike that +White." + +"I'll give it to him," said Fred, as he vaulted over the fence, but +immediately words, which Emilie had once repeated to him when they were +talking about offensive and defensive warfare, came into his mind, and +he stopped short. Those words were:--"If any man smite thee on thy +right cheek turn to him the other also," and Fred was in the road again. + +"Well," said Riches, "we have done and said all we can, let us be going +home, their disobeying orders is no excuse for us, so come along +Parker--won't you? They have a watch, and their blackberries won't run +away, I suppose." + +"Can't we manage between us, though, to carry some of them?" said Fred. +"This large basket is not nearly full, let us empty one of them into it. +There, now we have only left them two. I've got White's load. I've half +a mind to set it down, but no I won't though. You will carry John's, +Won't you, that's lighter, and between them they may carry the other." + +They went on a few steps when they both turned to listen. "I thought," +said Fred, "I heard my name called. It could only be fancy, though. Yet, +hush! There it is! quite plain," and so it was. + +John called to him loudly to stop, and at that moment such a scream was +heard echoing through the woods, as sent the wood pigeons flying +terrified about, and started the hares from their hiding places. "Stop, +oh stop, Fred, White can't get down," said John, breathless, "and I +believe he will fall, if he hasn't already, he says he is giddy. Pray +come back and see if you can't help him, you are such a famous climber." + +Fred could not refuse, and in less than five minutes he was on the spot, +but it was too late. The branch had given way, and the boy lay at the +foot of the tree senseless, to all appearance dead. There was no blood, +no outward sign of injury, but--his face! Fred did not forget for many +years afterwards, its dreadful, terrified, ghastly expression. What was +to be done? They were so horror-struck that for a few minutes they stood +in perfect silence, so powerfully were they convinced that the lad had +ceased to breathe, that they remained solemn and still as in the +presence of death. + +To all minds death has great solemnities; to the young, when it strikes +one of their own age and number, especially. "Come," said Fred, turning +to Riches, "come, we must not leave him here to die, poor fellow. Take +off his neck-handkerchief, Harcourt, and run you, Riches, to the stream +close by, where we first sat down, and get some water. Get it in your +cap, man, you have nothing else to put it in. Quick! quick!" + +"Joe! Joe!" said John, "only speak, only look, Joe, if you can, we are +so frightened."--No answer. + +"Joe!" said Fred, and he tried to raise him. No assistance and no +resistance; Joe fell back passive on the arm of his friend, yes, +friend--they were no longer enemies you know. Had Fred returned evil for +evil, had he rushed on him as he first intended when he received the sod +from White, he would not have felt as he now did. The boys, who, out of +mischief, to use the mildest word, tempted him to climb to a height, +beyond that which even they themselves could have accomplished, were not +to be envied in _their_ feelings. Poor fellows, and yet they only did +what many a reckless, mischievous school boy has done and is doing every +day; they only meant to tease him a bit, to pay him off for being so +spiteful all the way, and so cross to Fred when he spoke. But it was no +use trying to still the voice which spoke loudly within them, which told +them that they had acted with heartless cruelty, and that their conduct +had, perhaps, cost a fellow-creature his life. + +"Will you wait with him whilst I run to L---- for papa?" said Fred. + +"What alone?" they cried. + +"Alone! why there are four of you, will be at least when Riches comes +back." + +"Oh no! no! do you stay Fred, you are the only one that knows what you +are after." + +"Well, which of you will go then? It is near two miles, and you must +run, for his _life_--mind that." No one stirred, and Riches at this +moment coming up with the water, Fred told him in few words what he +meant to do, and bade him go and stand by the poor lad. That was all +that could be done, and "Riches don't be hard on them; their consciences +are telling them all you could tell them. Don't lecture them, I mean; +you would not like it yourself." + +Off ran Fred, and to his great joy, spying a cart, with one of farmer +Crosse's men in it, he hailed it, told his tale, and thus they were at +L---- in a very short space of time. Terrified indeed was Mrs. Parker at +the sight of her son driving furiously up in farmer Crosse's +spring-cart, and his black eye and swelled face did not tend to pacify +her on nearer inspection. The father, a little more used to be called +out in a hurry, and to prepare for emergencies, was not so alarmed, but +had self-possession enough to remember what would be needed, and to +collect various articles for the patient's use. + +The journey to the wood was speedily accomplished, but the poor lads who +were keeping watch, often said afterwards that it seemed to them almost +a lifetime, such was the crowd of fearful and wretched thoughts and +forebodings, such the anxiety, and hopelessness of their situation. +There in the silence of the wood lay their young companion, stretched +lifeless, and they were the cause. The least rustle amongst the leaves +they mistook for a movement of the sufferer; but he moved not. How did +they watch Mr. Parker's face as he knelt down and applied his fingers to +the boy's wrist first, and then to his heart! With what intense anxiety +did they watch the preparations for applying remedies and restoratives! +"Was he, was he dead, _quite_ dead?" they asked. No, not dead, but the +doctor shook his head seriously, and their exclamations of joy and +relief were soon checked. + +Not to follow them through the process of restoring animation, we will +say that he was carefully removed to Mr. Barton's house, and tenderly +watched by his kind wife. He had been stunned by the fall, but this was +not the extent of the mischief. It was found upon examination that the +spine had received irreparable injury, and that if poor White lived, +which was doubtful, it would be as a helpless cripple. Who can tell the +reflections of those boys? Who can estimate the misery of hearts which +had thus returned evil for evil? It was a sore lesson, but one which of +itself could yield no good fruit. + +It was a great grief to Fred that his presence, in the excitable state +of the sufferer, seemed to do him harm. He would have liked to sit by +him, and share in the duties of his nursing, but whenever Fred +approached, White became restless and uneasy, and continually alluded, +even in his delirium, to the sod he had thrown, and to other points of +his ungrateful malicious conduct to his school-fellow. This feeling, +however, in time wore away, and many an hour did Fred take from play to +go and sit by poor Joe's couch. + +He had no mother to come and watch beside that couch, no kind gentle +sister, no loving father. He was an orphan, taken care of by an uncle +and aunt, who had no experience in training children, and were +accustomed to view young persons in the light of evils, which it was +unfortunately necessary to _bear_ until the _fault_ of youth should have +passed away. Will you not then cease to wonder that Joe seemed to have +so little heart? Affection needs to be cultivated; his uncle thought +that in sending him to school and giving him a good education, he was +doing his duty by the boy. His aunt considered that if in the holidays +she let him rove about as he pleased, saw to the repairs of his clothes, +sent him back fitted out comfortably, with a little pocket money and a +little _advice_, she had done _her_ duty by the child. But poor Joe! No +kind mother ever stole to his bedside to whisper warnings and gentle +reproof if the conduct of the day had been wrong; no knee ever bent to +ask for grace and blessing on that orphan boy; no sympathy was ever +expressed in one of his joys or griefs; no voice encouraged him in +self-denial; no heart rejoiced in his little victories over temper and +pride. Now, instead of blaming and disliking, will you not pity and love +the unlovable and neglected lad? + +He had not been long under Mr. Barton's care, and after all, what could +a schoolmaster do in twelve months, to remedy the evils which had been +growing up for twelve years? He did his best, but the result was very +little, and perhaps the most useful lesson Joe ever had was that which +Fred gave him about the Dahlias. + + + + +CHAPTER TENTH. + +EDITH'S VISIT TO JOE. + + +Fred and Edith were sitting in the Canary room one Saturday afternoon, +shortly after the event recorded in the last chapter; Edith listening +with an earnest interest to the oft-repeated tale of the fall in the +wood. + +"How glad you must have felt, Fred, when you thought he was dead, that +you had not returned his unkindness." + +"Glad! Edith, I cannot tell you how glad; but glad is'nt the word, +either. On my knees that night, and often since, I have thanked God who +helped me to check the temper that arose. Those words out of the Bible +did it: 'If any man smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other +also.' Emilie told me that text one day, and I said I did'nt think I +could ever do that, but I was helped somehow; but come, Edith, let us +go and see Emilie Schomberg, I have'nt seen her since all this happened, +though you have. How beautifully you keep my cages Edith! I think you +are very clever; the birds get on better than they did with me. Is there +any one you would like to give a bird to, dear? For I am sure you ought +to share the pleasures, you have plenty of the trouble of my canaries." + +"Oh, I have pleasure enough, and their songs always seem like rejoicings +over our reconciliation that day ever so long ago; you remember, don't +you, Fred? but I should like a bird _very_ much to give to Miss +Schomberg; she seems low-spirited, and says she is often very lonely. A +bird would be nice company for her, shall we take her one?" + +"It would be rather a troublesome gift without a cage, Edith, but I have +money enough, I think, and I will buy a cage, and then she shall have +her bird." + +"We will hang it up to greet her on Sunday morning, shall we?" Thus the +brother and sister set out, and it was a beautiful sight to their +mother, who dearly loved them, to see the two who once were so +quarrelsome and disunited now walking together in _love_. + +Emilie was not at home, and they stood uncertain which way to walk, +when Fred said, "Edith, I want some one to teach poor Joe love; will you +go with me and see him? You taught me to love you, and I think Joe would +be happier if he could see some one he could take a fancy to. Papa said +he might see one at a time now, and poor fellow, I do pity him so. Will +you go? It is a fine fresh afternoon, let us go to Mr. Barton's." + +The October sky was clear and the air bracing, and side by side walked +Fred and Edith on their errand of mercy to poor neglected Joe, their +young hearts a little saddened by the remembrance of his sufferings, "Is +not his aunt coming?" asked Edith. + +"No! actually she is not," replied Fred. "She says in her letter she +could not stand the fatigue of the journey, and that her physicians +order her to try the waters of Bath and Cheltenham. Unfeeling creature!" + +Thus they chatted till they arrived at Mr. Barton's house. Mrs. Barton +received them very kindly. "Oh, Miss Parker, she said, my heart aches +for that poor lad upstairs, and yet with all this trial, and the +wonderful providential escape he has had, would you believe it? his +heart seems very little affected. He is not softened that I can see. I +told him to day how thankful he ought to be that God did not cut him off +in all his sins, and he answered that they who tempted him into danger +would have the most to answer for." + +Ah, Mrs. Barton, it is not the way to people's hearts usually to find +fault and upbraid them. There was much truth in what you said to Joe, +but truth sometimes irritates by the way and time in which it is spoken, +and it seems in this case that the _kind_ of truth you told did not +exactly suit the state of the boy's mind. Edith did not say this of +course to the good lady, whose intentions were excellent, but who was +rather too much disposed to be severe on young persona, and certainly +Joe had tried her in many ways. + +"I will go and see whether Joe would like to see Edith may I, madam, +asked Fred?" Permission was given. + +"My sister is here, Joe, you have often heard me mention her, would you +like to see her?" + +"Oh, I don't know, my back is so bad. Oh dear me, and your father tells +me I am to lie flat in this way, months. What am I to do all through +the Christmas holidays too? Oh! dear, dear me. Well, yes, she may come +up." + +With this not very gracious invitation little Edith stepped upstairs, +and being of a very tender nature, no sooner did she see poor Joe's +suffering state than she began to cry. They were tears of such genuine +sympathy, such exquisite tenderness, that they touched Joe. He did not +withdraw the hand she held, and felt even sorry when she herself took +hers away. "How sorry I am for you!" said Edith, when she could speak, +"but may I come and read to you sometimes, and wait upon you when there +is no one else? I think I could amuse you a little, and it might pass +the time away. I only mean when you have no one better, you know." + +Joe's permission was not very cordial, he was so afraid of girls' +_flummery_, as he called it "She plays backgammon and chess, Joe, and I +can promise you she reads beautifully." + +"Well, I will come on Monday," said Edith, gaily, "and send me away if +you don't want me; but dear me, do you like this light on your eyes? +I'll ask mamma for a piece of green baize to pin up. Good bye." + +As she was going out of the room Joe called her back. "I have such a +favour to ask of you, Miss Parker. Don't bring that preaching German +lady here of whom I have heard Fred speak; I don't mind you, but I +cannot bear so much preaching. Mrs. Barton and her together would craze +me." Edith promised, but she felt disappointed. She had hoped that +Emilie might have gained an entrance, and she knew that Emilie would +have found out the way to his heart, if she could once have got into his +presence; but she concealed her disappointment having made the required +promise, and ran after her brother. + +"I don't like going where I am so plainly not wanted, Fred," said she on +their way home, "Oh, what a sad thing poor White's temper is for himself +and every one about him." + +"Yes Edith, but _we_ are not always sweet-tempered, and you must +remember that poor White has no mother and no father, no one in short to +love." Edith found at first that it required more judgment than she +possessed to make her visit to Joe White either pleasant or useful. +Illness had increased his irritability, and so far from submitting +patiently to the confinement and restriction imposed, he was quite +fuming with impatience to be allowed to sit up and amuse himself at +least. + +How ingenious is affection in contriving alleviations! Here Joe sadly +wanted some one whose wits were quickened by love. Mrs. Barton nursed +him admirably; he was kept very neat and nice, and his room always had a +clean tidy appearance; but it lacked the little tokens of love which +oft-times turn the sick chamber into a kind of paradise. No flowers, no +little contrivances for amusement, no delicate article of food to tempt +his sickly appetite. Poor Joe! Edith soon saw this, and yet it needs +experience in illness to adapt one's self to sick nursing. Besides she +was afraid, she did not like to offer books and flowers, and these +visits were quite dreaded by her. + +"Will you not go and see Joe, Emilie?" asked Edith, one day of her +friend, as she was recounting the difficulties in her way. "You get at +people's hearts much better than ever I could do." + +"My dear child," said Emilie, "did not Joe say that he begged you never +would bring the preaching German to see him? oh no, dear, I cannot +force my company on him. Besides you have not tried long enough, +kindness does not work miracles; try a little longer Edith, and be +patient with Joe as God is with us. How often we turn away from Him when +He offers to be reconciled to us. Think of that, dear." + +"Fred is very patient and persevering; I often wonder, Miss Schomberg, +that John, who really did cause the accident, seems to think less about +Joe than Fred, who had not any thing to do with it." + +"It is not at all astonishing, Edith. It requires that our actions +should be brought to the light of God's Word to see them in their true +condition. An impenitent murderer thinks less of his crime than a true +penitent, who has been moral all his life, thinks of his great sin of +ingratitude and ungodliness." + + + + +CHAPTER ELEVENTH. + +JOE'S CHRISTMAS. + + +Christmas was at hand; Christmas with its holidays, its greetings, its +festive meetings, its gifts, its bells, and its rejoicings. That season +when mothers prepare for the return of their children from school, and +are wont to listen amidst storms of wind and snow for the carriage +wheels; when little brothers and sisters strain their eyes to catch the +first glimpse of the dear ones' approach along the snowy track; when the +fire blazes within, and lamps are lit up to welcome them home; and hope +and expectation and glad heart beatings are the lot of so many--of many, +not of all. Christmas was come, but it brought no hope, no gladness, no +mirth to poor White, either present or in prospect. The music and the +bells of Christmas, the skating, the pony riding, the racing, the brisk +walk, the home endearments were not for Joe--poor Joe. No mother longed +for his return, no brother or little sister pressed to the hall door to +get the first look or the first word; no father welcomed Joe back to the +hearth-warmth of home sweet home. Poor orphan boy! + +Joe's uncle and aunt wrote him a kind letter, quite agreed in Mr. +Parker's opinion that a journey into Lincolnshire was, in the state of +his back and general health, out of the question, were fully satisfied +that he was under the best care, both medical and magisterial, (they had +never seen either doctor or master, and had only known of Mr. Barton +through an advertisement,) and sent him a handsome present of pocket +money, with the information that they were going to the South of France +for the winter. Joe bore the news of their departure very coolly, and +carelessly pocketed the money, knowing as he did that he had a handsome +property in his uncle's hands, and no one would have supposed from any +exhibition of feeling that he manifested, that he had any feeling or any +care about the matter. Once, indeed, when a fly came to the door to +convey Harcourt to the railway, and he saw from the window of his room +the happy school-boy jumping with glee into the vehicle, and heard him +say to Mr. Barton, "Oh yes, Sir, I shall be met!" he turned to Fred who +sate by him and said, "No one is expecting _me_, no one in the whole +world is thinking of me now, Parker." + +Fred told his mother of this speech, a speech so full of bitter truth +that it made Mrs. Parker, kind creature as she was, shed tears, and she +asked her husband if young White could not be removed to pass the +Christmas holidays with them. The distance was not great, and they could +borrow Mr. Darford's carriage, and perhaps it might do him good. Mr. +Parker agreed, and the removal was effected. + +For some days it seemed doubtful whether the change would be either for +poor White's mental happiness or bodily improvement. The exertion, and +the motion and excitement together, wrought powerfully on his nervous +frame, and he was more distressed, and irritable than ever. He could not +sleep, he ate scarcely any thing, he rarely spoke, and more than once +Mrs. Parker regretted that the proposal had been made. In vain Edith +brought him plants from the little greenhouse, fine camellias, pots of +snow-drops, and lovely anemones. They seemed rather to awaken painful +than pleasing remembrances and associations, and once even when he had +lain long looking at a white camellia he burst into tears. It is a great +trial of temper, a great test of the sincerity of our purpose, when the +means we use to please and gratify seem to have just the contrary +effect. In the sick room especially, where kind acts, and gentle words, +and patient forbearance are so constantly demanded, it is difficult to +refrain from expressions of disappointment when all our endeavours fail; +when those we wish to please and comfort, obstinately refuse to be +pleased and comforted. Often did Fred and Edith hold counsel as to what +would give Joe pleasure, but he was as reserved and gloomy as ever, and +his heart seemed inaccessible to kindness and affection. Besides, there +were continual subjects of annoyance which they could scarcely prevent, +with all the forethought and care in the world. + +The boys were very thoughtful, for boys; Mrs. Parker had it is true +warned them not to talk of their out-of-door pleasures and amusements +to or before Joe, and they were generally careful; but sometimes they +would, in the gladness of their young hearts, break out into praises of +the fine walk they had just had on the cliff, or the glorious skating on +the pond, of the beauty of the pony, and of undiscovered walks and rides +in the neighbourhood. Once, in particular, Emilie, who was spending the +afternoon with the Parkers, was struck with the expression of agony that +arose to Joe's face from a very trifling circumstance. They were all +talking with some young companion of what they would be when they grew +up, and one of them appealing to Joe, he quickly said, "oh, a sailor--I +care for nobody at home and nobody cares for me, so I shall go to sea." + +"To sea!" the boy repeated in wonder. + +"And why not?" said Joe, petulantly, "where's the great wonder of that?" + +There was a silence all through the little party; no one seemed willing +to remind the poor lad of that which he, for a moment, seemed to +forget--his helpless crippled state. It was only Emilie who noticed his +look of hopelessness; she sat near him and heard his stifled sigh, and +oh, how her heart ached for the poor lad! + +This conversation and some remarks that the boy made, led Mr. and Mrs. +Parker seriously to think that he entertained hopes of recovery, and +they were of opinion that it would be kinder to undeceive him, than to +allow him to hope for that which could never he. Mr. Parker began to +talk to him about it one day, very kindly, after an examination of his +back, when White said, abruptly, "I don't doubt you are very skilful. +Sir, and all that, but I should like to see some other doctor. I have +money enough to pay his fee, and uncle said I was to have no expense +spared in getting me the best advice. Sir J. ---- comes here at Christmas, +I know, to see his father, and I should like to see him and consult him, +Sir, may I?" Mr. Parker of course could make no objection, and a day was +fixed for the consultation. It was a very unsatisfactory one and at once +crushed all Joe's hopes. The result was communicated to him as gently +and kindly as possible. + +Mrs. Parker was a mother, and her sympathy for poor Joe was more lasting +than that of the younger branches of the family. She went to him on the +Sunday evening following the physician's visit to tell him the whole +truth, and she often said afterwards how she dreaded the task. Joe lay +on the sofa before the dining room window, watching the blue sea sit a +distance, and thinking with all the ardour of youthful longing of the +time when his back should be well, and he should be a voyager in one of +those beautiful ships. He should have no regrets, and no friends to +regret him; then he groaned at the pain and inconvenience and privation +of his present state, and panted for restoration. Mrs. Parker entered +and eat down by him. + +"Is Sir J. C---- gone, Ma'am?" + +"Yes, he has been gone some minutes." + +"What does he say?" asked the lad earnestly. "He said very little to me, +nothing indeed, only all that fudge I am always hearing--'rest, +patience,' and so on." + +"He thinks it a very serious case, my dear; he says that the recumbent +posture is very important." + +"But for how long, Ma'am? I would lie twelve months patiently enough if +I hoped then to be allowed to walk about, and to be able to do as other +boys do." + +"Sir J. C---- thinks, Joe, that you never will recover. I am grieved to +tell you so, but it is the truth, and we think it best you should know +it. Your spine is so injured that it is impossible you should ever +recover; but you may have many enjoyments, though not able to be active +like other boys. You must keep up your spirits; it is the will of God +and you must submit." + +Poor Mrs. Parker having disburdened her mind of a great load, and +performed her dreaded task, left the room, telling her husband that the +boy bore it very well, indeed, he did not seem to feel it much. The bell +being already out for church, she called the young people to accompany +her thither, leaving one maid-servant and the errand boy at home, and +poor Joe to meditate on his newly-acquired information that he would be +a cripple for life. Edith looked in and asked softly, "shall I stay?" +but the "No" was so very decided, and so very stern that she did not +repeat the question, so they all went off together, a cheerful family +party. + +The errand boy betook himself to a chair in the kitchen, where he was +soon sound asleep, and the maid-servant to the back gate to gossip with +a sailor; so Joe was left alone with a hand-bell on the table, plenty of +books if he liked to read them, and as far as outward comforts went +with nothing to complain of. "And here I am a cripple for life," +ejaculated the poor fellow, when the sound of their voices died away and +the bell ceased; "and, oh, may that life be a short one! I wish, oh, I +wish, I were dead! who would care to hear this? no one--I wish from my +heart I were dead;" and here the boy sobbed till his poor weak frame was +convulsed with agony, and he felt as if his heart (for he had a heart) +would break. + +In his wretchedness he longed for affection, he longed for some one who +would really care for him, "but _no one_ cares for me," groaned the lad, +"no one, and I wish I might die to night." Ah, Joe, may God change you +_very_ much before he grants that wish! After he had sobbed a while, he +began to think more calmly, but his thoughts were thoughts of revenge +and hatred. "_John_ has been the cause of it all." Then he thought +again, "they may well make all this fuss over me, when their son caused +all my misery; let them do what they will they will never make it up to +me, but they only tolerate me I can see, I know I am in the way; they +don't ask me here because they care for me, not they, it's only out of +pity;" and here, rolling his head from side to side, sobbed and cried +afresh. "What would I give for some one to love me, for some one to wait +on me because they loved me! but here I am to lie all my life, a +helpless, hopeless, cripple; oh dear! oh dear! my heart _will_ break. +Those horrid bells! will they never have done?" + + * * * * * + +At the very moment when poor Joe was thinking that no one on earth cared +for him, that not a heart was the sadder for his sorrow, a kind heart +not far off was feeling very much for him. "I shall not go to church +to-night, aunt Agnes," said Emilie Schomberg, "I shall go and hear what +Sir J.C.'s opinion of poor Joe White is. I cannot get that poor fellow +out of my mind." + +"No, poor boy, it is a sad case," said aunt Agnes, "but why it should +keep you from church, my dear, I don't see. _I_ shall go." + +So they trotted off, Emilie promising to leave aunt Agnes safe at the +church door, where she met the Parkers just about to enter. "Oh Emilie," +said little Edith, "poor Joe! we have had Sir J.C.'s opinion, and it is +quite as had if not worse than papa's, there is so much disease and +such great injury done. He is all alone, Emilie, do go and sit with +him." + +"It is just what I wish to do, dear, but do you think he will let me?" + +"Yes, oh yes, try at least," said Edith, and they parted. + +When Emilie rang at the bell Joe was in the midst of his sorrow, but +thinking it might only be a summons for Mr. Parker, he did not take much +notice of it until the door opened and the preaching German lady, as he +called Emilie, entered the room. When she saw his swollen eyes and +flushed face, she wished that she had not intruded, but she went frankly +up to him, and began talking as indifferently as possible, to give him +time to recover himself, said how very cold it was, stirred the fire +into a cheerful blaze, and then relapsed into silence. The silence was +broken at times by heavy sighs, however--they were from poor Joe. Emilie +now went to the piano, and in her clear voice sang softly that beautiful +anthem, "I will arise and go to my Father." It was not the first time +that Joe had shown something like emotion at the sound of music; now it +softened and composed him. "I should like to hear that again," he said, +in a voice so unlike his own that Emilie was surprised. + +She sang it and some others that she thought he would like, and then +said, "I hope I have not tired you, but I am afraid you are in pain." + +"I am," said Joe, in his old gruff uncivil voice, "in great pain." + +"Can I do any thing for you?" asked Emilie, modestly. + +"No _nothing_, nothing can be done! I shall have to lie on my back as +long as I live, and never walk or stand or do any thing like other +boys--but I hope I shan't live long, that's all." + +Emilie did not attempt to persuade him that it would not be as bad as he +thought--that he would adapt himself to his situation, and in time grow +reconciled to it. She knew that his mind was in no state to receive such +consolation, that it rather needed full and entire sympathy, and this +she could and did most sincerely offer. "I am _very_ sorry for you," she +said quietly, "_very_ sorry," and she approached a little nearer to his +couch, and looked at him so compassionately that Joe believed her. + +"Don't you think that fellow John ought to be ashamed of himself, and I +don't believe he ever thinks of it," said Joe, recurring to his old +feeling of revenge and hatred. + +"Perhaps he thinks of it more than you imagine," said Emilie, "but don't +fancy that no one cares about you, that is the way to be very unhappy." + +"It is _true_," said Joe, sadly. + +"God cares for you," however, replied Emily softly. + +"Oh, if I could think that, it would be a comfort," Miss Schomberg, "and +I do need comfort; I do, I do indeed, groaned the boy." + +Emilie's tears fell fast. No words of sympathy however touching, no +advice however wise and good, no act however kind could have melted Joe +as the tears of that true-hearted girl. He felt confidence in their +sincerity, but that any one should feel for _him_, should shed tears for +him, was so new, so softening an idea, that he was subdued. Not another +word passed on the subject. Emilie returned to the piano, and soon had +the joy of seeing Joe in a tranquil sleep; she shaded the lamp that it +might not awake him, covered his poor cold feet with her warm tartan, +and with a soft touch lifted the thick hair from his burning forehead, +and stood looking at him with such intense interest, suck earnest +prayerful benevolence, that it might have been an angel visit to that +poor sufferer's pillow, so soothing was it in its influence. He half +opened his eyes, saw that look, felt that touch, and tears stole down +his cheeks; tears not of anger, nor discontent, but of something like +gratitude that after all _one_ person in the world cared for him. His +sleep was short, and when he awoke, he said abruptly to Emilie, "I want +to feel less angry against John," Miss Schomberg, "but I don't know how. +It was such a cruel trick, such a cowardly trick, and I cannot forgive +him." + +"I don't want to preach," said Emily, smiling, "but perhaps if you would +read a little in this book you would find help in the very difficult +duty of forgiving men their trespasses." + +"Ah, the Bible, but I find that dull reading; it always makes me low +spirited, I always associate it with lectures from uncle and Mr. Barton. +When I did wrong I was plied up with texts." + +Emilie did not know what answer to make to this speech. At last she +said, "Do you remember the account of the Saviour's crucifixion, how, +when in agony worse than yours, he said, 'Father forgive them.' May I +read it to you?" + +He did not object, and Emilie read that history which has softened many +hearts as hard as Joe's. He made but little remark as Emilie closed the +book, nor did she add to that which she had been reading by any comment, +but; bidding him a kind good night, went to meet Aunt Agnes at the +church door, and conduct her safely home. + +There is a turning point in most persons' lives, either for good or +evil. Joe White was able long afterwards to recall that miserable Sunday +evening, with its storm of agitation and revenge, and then its lull of +peace and love. He who said, "Peace, be still," to the tempestuous +ocean, spoke those words to Joe's troubled spirit, and the boy was +willing to listen and to learn. Would a long lecture on the sinfulness +and impropriety of his revengeful and hardened state have had the same +effect on Joe, as Emilie's hopeful, gentle, almost silent sympathy? We +think not. "I would try and make him lovable," so said and so acted +Emilie Schomberg, and for that effort had the orphan cause to thank her +through time and eternity. + +Joe was not of an open communicative turn, he was accustomed to keep +his feelings and thoughts very much to himself, and he therefore did not +tell either Fred or Edith of his conversation with Emilie, but when they +came to bid him good night, he spoke softly to them, and when John came +to his couch he did not offer one finger and turn away his face, as he +had been in the habit of doing, but said, "Good night," freely, almost +kindly. + +The work went on slowly but surely, still he held back forgiveness to +John, and while he did this, he could not be happy, he could not himself +feel that he was forgiven. "I do forgive him, at least I wish him no +ill, Miss Schomberg," he said in one of his conversations with Emilie. +"I don't suppose I need be very fond of him. Am I required to be that?" + +"What does the Bible say, Joe? 'If thine enemy hunger feed him, if he +thirst give him drink.' '_I_ say unto you,' Christ says, '_Love_ your +enemies.' He does not say don't hate them, he means _Love_ them. Do you +think you have more to forgive John than Jesus had to forgive those who +hung him on the cross?" + +"It seems to me, Miss Schomberg, so different that example is far above +me. I cannot be like Him you know." + +"Yet Joe there have been instances of persons who have followed his +example in their way and degree, and who have been taught by Him, and +helped by Him to forgive their fellow-creatures." + +"But it is not in human nature to do it, I know, at least is not in +mine." + +"But try and settle it in your mind, Joe, that John did not mean to +injure you, that had he had the least idea that you would fall he would +never have tempted you to climb. If you look upon it as accidental on +your part, and thoughtlessness on his, it will feel easier to forgive +him perhaps, and I am sure you may. You are quite wrong in supposing +that John does not think of it. He told Edith only yesterday that he +never could forgive himself for tempting you to climb, and that he did +not wonder at your cold and distant way to him. Poor fellow! it would +make him much happier if you would treat him as though you forgave him, +which you cannot do unless you _from your heart_ forgive him." + + + + +CHAPTER TWELFTH. + +THE CHRISTMAS TREE. + + +The conversation last recorded, between Emilie and Joe, took place a few +days before Christmas. Every one noticed that Joe was more silent and +thoughtful than usual, but he was not so morose; he received the little +attentions of his friend more gratefully, and was especially fond of +having Emilie talk to him, sing to him, or read to him. Emilie and her +aunt were spending a few days at the Parkers' house, and it seemed to +add very much to Joe's comfort. This Emilie was like a spirit of peace +pervading the whole family. She was so sure to win Edith to obey her +mamma, to stop John if he went a little too far in his jokes with his +sister, to do sundry little services for Mrs. Parker, and to make +herself such an agreeable companion to Emma, and Caroline, that they all +agreed they wished that they had her always with them. Edith confessed +to Emilie one day that she thought Emma and Caroline wonderfully +improved, and as to her mamma, how very seldom she was cross now. + +"We are very apt to think other persons in fault when we ourselves are +cross and irritable, this may have been the case here, Edith, may it +not?" + +"Well! perhaps so, but I am sure I am much happier than I was, Emilie." + +"'_Great peace_ have they that love God's law,' my dear, 'and nothing +shall offend them.' What a gospel of peace it is Edith, is it not?" + +The great work in hand, just now, was the Christmas tree. These +Christmas trees are becoming very common in our English homes, and the +idea, like many more beautiful, bright, domestic thoughts, is borrowed +from the Germans. You may be sure that Emilie and aunt Agnes were quite +up to the preparations for this Christmas tree, and so much the more +welcome were they as Christmas guests. + +"I have plenty of money," said Joe, "but I don't know, somehow, what +sort of present to make, Miss Schomberg, yet I think I might pay for +all the wax lights and ornaments, and the filagree work you talk of." + +"A capital thought," said Emilie, and she took his purse, promising to +lay out what was needful to the best advantage. Joe helped Emilie and +the Miss Parkers very efficiently as he lay "useless," he said, but they +thought otherwise, and gave him many little jobs of pasting, gumming, +etc. It was a beautiful tree, I assure you; but Joe had a great deal of +mysterious talk with Emilie, apart from the rest, which, however, we +must not divulge until Christmas eve. A little box came from London on +the morning of the day, directed to Joe. Edith was very curious to know +its contents; so was Fred, so was John; Emilie only smiled. + +"Joe, won't you unpack that box now, to gratify us all?" said Mr. +Parker, as Joe put the box on one side, nodded to Emilie, and began his +breakfast. No, Joe could not oblige him. Evening came at last, and the +Christmas tree was found to bear rich fruit. From many a little +sparkling pendant branch hung offerings for Joe; poor Joe, who thought +no one in the world cared for him. He lay on his reclining chair looking +happier and brighter than usual, but as the gifts poured into his lap, +gifts so evidently the offspring of tenderness and affection, so +numerous, and so adapted to his condition, his countenance assumed a +more serious and thoughtful cast. Every cue gave him something. There is +no recounting the useful and pretty, if not costly, articles that Joe +became possessor of. A beautiful tartan wrapper for his feet, from Mrs. +Parker; a reading desk and book from Mr. Parker; a microscope from John +and Fred; a telescope from Emilie and Edith; some beautiful knitted +socks from aunt Agnes; a pair of Edith and Fred's very best canaries. + +When his gifts were arranged on his new table, a beautifully made table, +ordered for him by Mr. Parker, and exactly adapted to his prostrate +condition, and Joe saw every one's looks directed towards him lovingly, +and finally received a lovely white camellia blossom from Edith's hand, +he turned his face aside upon the sofa pillow and buried it in his +hands. What could be the matter with him? asked Mrs. Parker, tenderly. +Had any one said any thing to wound or vex him? "Oh no! no! no!" What +was it then? was he overcome with the heat of the room? "No, oh no!" +but might he be wheeled into the dining room, he asked? Mr. Parker +consented, of course, but aunt Agnes was sure he was ill. "Take him some +salvolatile, Emilie, at once." + +"No aunt," said Emilie, "he will be better without that, he is only +overcome." + +"And is not that just the very thing I was saying, Emilie, child, give +him some camphor julep then; camphor julep is a very reviving thing +doctor! Mr. Parker, won't you give him something to revive him." + +"I think," said Emilie, who understood his emotion and guessed its +cause, "I think he will be better alone. His spirits are weak, owing to +illness, I would not disturb him." + +"Come," said Mrs. Parker, "let us look at the tree, its treasures are +not half exhausted." Wonderful to say, although Joe had given his purse +to Emilie for the adornment of the tree, there still were presents for +every one from him; and what was yet more surprising to those who knew +that Joe had not naturally much delicacy of feeling or much +consideration for others, each present was exactly the thing that each +person liked and wished for. But John was the most astonished with his +share; it was a beautiful case of mathematical instruments, such a case +as all L---- and all the county of Hampshire together could not produce; +a case which Joe had bought for himself in London, and on which he +greatly prided himself. John had seen and admired it, and Joe gave this +prized, cherished case to John--his enemy John. "It must be intended for +you Fred," said John, after a minute's consideration; "but no, here is +my name on it." + +Margaret, at this moment, brought in a little note from Joe for John, +who, when he had read it, coloured and said, "Papa, perhaps you will +read it aloud, I cannot." + +It was as follows:-- + + DEAR JOHN, + + I have been, as you must have seen, + very unhappy and very cross since my accident; I have + had my heart filled with thoughts of malice and revenge, + and to _you_. I have not felt as though I could forgive + you, and I have often told Emilie and Edith this; but + they have not known how wickedly I have felt to you, + nor how much I now need to ask your forgiveness for + thoughts which, in my helpless state, were as bad as actions. + Often, as I saw you run out in the snow to slide + or skate, I have wished (don't hate me for it) that you + might fall and break your leg or your arm, that you might + know a little of what I suffered. Thank God, all that is + passed away, and I now do not write so much to say I + forgive you, for I believe from my heart you only meant + to tease me a little, not to hurt me, but to ask you to pardon + me for thoughts far worse and more evil than your + thoughtless mischief to me. Will you all believe me, too, + when I say that I would not take my past, lonely, miserable + feelings back again, to be the healthiest, most active + boy on earth. Emilie has been a good friend to me, may + God bless her, and bless you all for your patience and + kindness to. + + JOS. WHITE. + + Pray do not ask me to come back to you to night, I + cannot indeed. I am not unhappy, but since my illness + my spirits are weak, and I can bear very little; your + kindness has been too much. + + J.W. + +The contents of the little box were now displayed. It was the only +costly present on that Christmas tree, full as it was, and rich in love. +The present was a little silver inkstand, with a dove in the centre, +bearing not an olive branch, but a little scroll in its beak, with these +words, which Emilie had suggested, and being a favourite German proverb +of hers. I will give it in her own language, in which by the bye it was +engraved. She had written the letter containing the order for the plate +to a fellow-countryman of hers, in London, and had forgotten to specify +that the motto must be in English; but never mind, she translated it for +them, and I will translate it for you. "Friede ernährt, unfriede +verzehrt." "In peace we bloom, in discord we consume." The inkstand was +for Mr. and Mrs. Parker, and the slip of paper said it was from their +grateful friend, Joe White. That was the secret. Emilie had kept it +well; they rather laughed at her for not translating the motto, but no +matter, she had taught them all a German phrase by the mistake. + +Where was she gone? she had slipped away from the merry party, and was +by Joe's couch. Joe's heart was very full, full with the newly-awakened +sense that he loved and that he was loved; full of earnest resolves to +become less selfish, less thankless, less irritable. He knew his lot +now, knew all that lay before him, the privations, the restrictions, the +weakness, and the sufferings. He knew that he could never hope again to +share in the many joys of boyhood and youth; that he must lay aside his +cricket ball, his hoop, his kite, in short all his active amusements, +and consign himself to the couch through the winter, spring, summer, +autumn, and winter again. He felt this very bitterly; and when all the +gifts were lavished upon him, he thought, "Oh, for my health and +strength again, and I would gladly give up _all_ these gifts, nay, I +would joyfully be a beggar." But when he was alone, in the view of all I +have written and more, he felt that he could forgive John, that in short +he must ask John to forgive him, and this conviction came not suddenly +and by chance, but as the result of honest sober consideration, of his +own sincere communings with conscience. + +Still he felt very desolate, still he could scarcely believe in Emilie's +assurance, "You may have God for your friend," and something of this he +told Miss Schomberg, when she came to sit by him for awhile. She had but +little faith in her own eloquence, we have said, and she felt now more +than ever how dangerous it would be to deceive him, so she did not lull +him into false peace, but she soothed him with the promise of Him who +loves us not because of our worthiness, but who has compassion on us out +of his free mercy. Herein is love indeed, thought poor Joe, and he +meditated long upon it, so long that his heart began to feel something +of its power, and he sank to sleep that night happier and calmer than he +had ever slept before, wondering in his last conscious moments that God +should love _him_. + +Poor Joel he had much to struggle with; for if indulgence and +over-weening affection ruin their thousands, neglect and heartlessness +ruin tens of thousands. The heart not used to exercise the affection, +becomes as it were paralyzed, and so he found it. He could not love as +he ought, he could not be grateful as he knew he ought to be, and he +found himself continually receiving acts of kindness, as matters of +course, and without suitable feeling of kindness and gratitude in +return; but the more he knew of himself the more he felt of his own +unworthiness, the more gratefully he acknowledged and appreciated the +love of others to him. The ungrateful are always proud. The humble, +those who know how undeserving they are, are always grateful. + + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEENTH. + +THE NEW HOME. + + +Let us pass by twelve months, and see how the law of kindness is working +then. Mrs. Parker is certainly happier, less troubled than she was two +years ago; Edith is a better and more dutiful child, and the sisters are +far more sociable with her than formerly. The dove of peace has taken up +its abode in the Parker family. How is it in High Street? Emilie and +aunt Agnes are not there, but Miss Webster is still going on with her +straw bonnet trade and her lodging letting, and she is really as good +tempered as we can expect of a person whose temper has been bad so very +long, and who has for so many years been accustomed to view her fellow +creatures suspiciously and unkindly. + +But Emilie is gone, and are you not curious to know where? I will tell +you; she is gone back to Germany--she and her aunt Agnes are both gone +to Frankfort to live. The fact is, that Emilie is married. She was +engaged to a young Professor of languages, at the very time when the +Christmas tree was raised last year in Mr. Parker's drawing room. He +formed one of the party, indeed, and, but that I am such a very bad hand +at describing love affairs, I might have mentioned it then; besides, +this is not a _love story_ exactly, though there is a great deal about +_love_ in it. + +Lewes Franks had come over to England with letters of recommendation +from one or two respectable English families at Frankfort, and was +anxious to return with two or three English pupils, and commence a +school in that town. His name was well known to Mr. Parker, who gladly +promised to consign his two sons, John and Fred to his care, but +recommended young Franks to get married. This Franks was not loth to do +when he saw Emilie Schomberg, and after rather a short courtship, and +quite a matter of fact one, they married and went over to Germany, +accompanied by John, Fred, and Joe White. Mr. Barton, after the sad +accident in the plantation, had so little relish for school keeping, +that he very gladly resigned his pupils to young Franks, who, if he had +little experience in tuition, was admirably qualified to train the young +by a natural gentleness and kindness of disposition, and sincere and +stedfast christian principle. + +Edith longed to accompany them, but that was not to be thought of, and +so she consoled herself by writing long letters to Emilie, which +contained plenty of L---- news. I will transcribe one for you. + +The following was dated a few months after the departure of the party, +not the first though, you may be sure. + + L----, Dec, 18-- + DEAREST EMILIE, + + I am thinking so much of you to-night + that I must write to tell you so. I wish letters + only cost one penny to Frankfort, and I would write to + you every day. I want so to know how you are spending + your Christmas at Frankfort. We shall have no Christmas + tree this year. We all agreed that it would be a melancholy + attempt at mirth now you are gone, and dear Fred + and John and poor Joe. I fancy you will have one + though, and oh, I wish I was with you to see it, but + mamma is often very poorly now, and likes me to be + with her, and I know I am in the right place, so I + won't wish to be elsewhere. Papa is very much from + home now, he has so many patients at a distance, and + sometimes he takes me long rides with him, which is + a great pleasure. One of his patients is just dead, + you will be sorry to hear who I mean--Poor old Joe + Murray! He took cold in November, going out with + his Life Boat, one very stormy night, to a ship in + distress off L---- sands, the wind and rain were very + violent, and he was too long in his wet clothes, but he + saved with his own arm two of the crew; two boys about + the age of his own poor Bob. Every one says it was a + noble act; they were just ready to sink, and the boat in + another moment would have gone off without them. His + own life was in great danger, but be said he remembered + your, or rather the Saviour's, "Golden Rule," and could + not hesitate. Think of remembering that in a November + storm in the raging sea! He plunged in and dragged + first one and then another into the boat. These boys + were brothers, and it was their first voyage. They told + Joe that they had gone to sea out of opposition to their + father, who contradicted their desires in every thing, but + that now they had had quite enough of it, and should + return; but I must not tell you all their story, or my + letter will he too long. Joe, as I told you, caught cold, + and though he was kindly nursed and Sarah waited on him + beautifully, he got worse and worse. I often went to see + him, and he was very fond of my reading in the Bible + to him; but one day last week he was taken with inflammation + of the chest, and died in a few hours. Papa says he + might have lived years, but for that cold, he was such a + healthy man. I feel very sorry he is gone. + + I can't help crying when I think of it, for I remember + he was very useful to me that May evening when we + were primrose gathering. Do you recollect that evening, + Emilie? Ah, I have much to thank you for. What a + selfish, wilful, irritable girl I was! So I am now at times, + my evil thoughts and feelings cling so close to me, and + I have no longer you, dear Emilie, to warn and to encourage + me, but I have Jesus still. He Is a good Friend + to me, a better even than you have been. + + I owe you a great deal Emilie; you taught me to love, + you showed me the sin of temper, and the beauty of peace + and love. I go and see Miss Webster sometimes, as you + wish; she is getting very much more sociable than she was, + and does not give quite such short answers. She often + speaks of you, and says you were a good friend to her; that + is a great deal for her to say, is it not? How happy you + must be to have every one love you! I am glad to + say that Fred's canaries are well, but they don't _agree_ at + all times. There is no teaching canaries to love one + another, so all I can do is to separate the fighters; but + I love those birds, I love them for Fred's sake, and I love + them for the remembrances they awaken of our first days + of peace and union. + + My love to Joe, poor Joe! Do write and tell me how + he goes on, does he walk at all? Ever dear Emilie, + + Your affectionate + + EDITH. + +There were letters to John and Fred in the same packet, and I think you +will like to hear one of Fred's to his sister, giving an account of the +Christmas festivities at Frankfort. + + DEAR EDITH, + + I am very busy to-day, but I must + give you a few lines to tell you how delighted your letters + made us. We are very happy here, but _home_ is the place + after all, and it is one of our good Master's most constant + themes. He is always talking to us about home, and + encouraging us to talk of and think of it. Emilie seems + like a sister to us, and she enters into all our feelings as + well us you could do yourself. + + Well, you will want to know something about our + Christmas doings at school. They have been glorious I + can tell you--such a Christmas tree! Such a lot of + presents in our _shoes_ on Christmas morning; such dinings + and suppings, and musical parties! You must know every + one sings here, the servants go singing about the house + like nightingales, or sweeter than nightingales to my + mind, like our dear "Kanarien Vogel." + + You ask for Joe, he is very patient, and kind and good + to us all, he and John are capital friends; and oh, Edith, + it would do your heart good to see how John devotes himself + to the poor fellow. He waits upon him like a servant, + but it is all _love_ service. Joe can scarcely bear him out + of his sight. Herr Franks was asked the other day, by + a gentleman who came to sup with us, if they were brothers. + John watches all Joe's looks, and is so careful + that nothing may be said to wound him, or to remind + him of his great affliction more than needs be. It was a + beautiful sight on New Year's Eve to see Joe's boxes + that he has carved. He has become very clever at that + work, and there was an article of his carving for every + one, but the best was for Emilie, and she _deserted_ it. + Oh, how he loves Emilie! If he is beginning to feel in + one of his old cross moods, he says that Emilie's face, or + Emilie's voice disperses it all, and well it may; Emilie + has sweetened sourer tempers than Joe White's. + + But now comes a sorrowful part of my letter. Joe is + very unwell, he has a cough, (he was never strong you + know,) and the doctor says he is very much afraid his + lungs are diseased. He certainly gets thinner and + weaker, and he said to me to-day what I must tell you. + He spoke of his longings to travel (to go to Australia was + always his fancy.) "And now, Fred," he said, "I never + think of going _there_, I am thinking of a longer journey + _still_." "A longer journey, Joe!" I said, "Well, you have + got the travelling mania on you yet, I see." He looked + so sad, that I said, "What do you mean Joe?" He + replied, "Fred, I think nothing of journeys and voyages + in this world now. I am thinking of a pilgrimage to the + land where all our wandering's will have an end. I + longed, oh Fred, you know how I longed to go to foreign + lands, but I long now as I never longed before to go to + _Heaven_." I begged him not to talk of dying, but he said + it did not make him low spirited. Emilie and he talked + of it often. Ah Edith! that boy is more fit for heaven + than any of us who a year or two ago thought him + scarcely fit to be our companion, but as Emilie said the + other day, God often causes the very afflictions that he + sends to become his choicest mercies. So it has been + with poor White, I am sure. I find I have nearly filled + my letter about Joe, but we all think a great deal of him. + Don't you remember Emilie's saying, "I would try to + make him lovable." He is lovable now, I assure you. + + I am sorry our canaries quarrel, but that is no fault of + yours. We have only two school-fellows at present, but + Herr Franks does not wish for a large school; he says he + likes to be always with us, and to be our companion, which + if there were more of us he could not so well manage. We + have one trouble, and that is in the temper of this newly + arrived German boy, but we are going to try and make + him lovable. He is a good way off it _yet_. + + I must leave John to tell you about the many things I + have forgotten, and I will write soon. We have a cat + here whom we call _Muff_, after your old pet. Her name + often reminds me of your sacrifice for me. Ah! my dear + little sister, you heaped coals of fire on my head that day. + Truly you were not overcome of evil, you overcame evil + with good. Dear love to all at home. Your ever affectionate + brother, + + FRED PARKER. + + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEENTH. + +THE LAST. + + +"Hush, dears! hush!" said a gentle voice, pointing to a shaded window. +"He is asleep now, and we must have the window open for air this sultry +evening. I would not rake that bed to-night, John, I think." + +"It is _his_ garden, Emilie." + +"Yes, I know"--and she sighed.-- + +"It _is_ his garden, and his eye always sees the least weed and the +least untidiness. He will be sure to notice it when he is drawn out +to-morrow." + +"John there may be no to-morrow for Joe, he is altered very much to-day, +and it is evident to me he is sinking fast. He won't come down again, I +think." + +"May I go and sit by him, Emilie?" said the boy, quietly gathering up +his tools and preparing to leave his employment. + +"Yes, but be very still." + +It was a striking contrast; that fine, florid, healthy boy, whose frame +was gaining vigour and manliness daily, whose blight eye had scarcely +ever been dimmed by illness or pain, and that pale, deformed, weary +sleeper. So Emilie thought as she took her seat by the open window and +watched them both. The roses and the carnations that John had brought to +his friend were quietly laid on the table as he caught the first glimpse +of the dying boy. There was that in the action which convinced Emilie +that John was aware of his friend's state and they quietly sat down to +watch him. The stars came out one by one, the dew was falling, the birds +were all hurrying home, children were asleep in their happy beds; many +glad voices mingled by open casements and social supper tables, some few +lingered out of doors to enjoy the beauties of that quiet August night, +the last on earth of one, at least, of God's creatures. They watched on. + +"I have been asleep, Emilie, a beautiful sleep, I was dreaming of my +mother; I awoke, and it was you. John, _you_ there too! Good, patient, +watchful John. Leave me a moment, quite alone with John, will you, +Emilie? Moments are a great deal to me now." + +The friends were left alone, their talk was of death and eternity, on +the solemn realities of which one of them was about to enter, and +carefully as John had shielded Joe, tenderly as he had watched over him +hitherto, he must now leave him to pass the stream alone--yet not alone. + +Emilie soon returned; it was to see him die. It was not much that he +could say, and much was not needed. The agony of breathing those last +breaths was very great. He had lived long near to God, and in the dark +valley his Saviour was still near to him. He was at peace--at peace in +the dying conflict; it was only death now with whom he had to contend. +Being justified by faith, he had peace with God through the Lord Jesus +Christ. His last words were whispered in the ear of that good elder +sister, our true-hearted, loving Emilie. "Bless you, dear Emilie, God +_will_ bless you, for 'Blessed are the peacemakers.'" + + + * * * * * + +NORWICK: PRINTED BY JOSIAH FLETCHER + +NEW WORKS AND NEW EDITIONS + +Published by Arthur Hall, Virtue & Co. + +25, PATERNOSTER ROW. + + * * * * * + +Third Edition, in post 8vo. with numerous illustrations, price 8s. bound +in cloth, or 17s. morocco antique, + +NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS: + +An Historical Sketch of Ancient Assyria and Persia, with an Account of +the recent Researches in those Countries, + +By W.S.W. 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Super-royal 8vo. cloth +gilt, 12s.; morocco gilt, 21s. + + * * * * * + +SCRIPTURE SITES AND SCENES, FROM ACTUAL SURVEY, IN EGYPT, ARABIA, AND +PALESTINE. + +Illustrated with 17 Steel Engravings, 3 Maps, and 37 Woodcuts. 4s. cloth +gilt, post 8vo. + + * * * * * + +Just published, post 8vo. price 10s. 6d. bound in cloth, + +DEALINGS WITH THE INQUISITION AT ROME. + +BY DR. GIACINTO ACHILLI. + +Extract from the Work.--"It is to unmask and expose Popery, as it is at +the present day, that I undertake the writing of this work ...I should +be sorry for it to be said or thought, that I undertook it to gratify +any bad feeling; my sole motive has been to make the truth evident, that +all may apprehend it. It was for hearing and speaking the truth that I +incurred the hatred of the Papal Court; it was for the truth's sake that +I hesitated at no sacrifice it required of me; and it is for the truth +that I lay the present Narrative before the public." + + * * * * * + +EDITED BY DR. CUMMING. 18mo. cloth, price 1s. 6d. + +MATTHEW POOLE'S DIALOGUE BETWEEN A POPISH PRIEST AND AN ENGLISH +PROTESTANT. + +Wherein the principal Points and Arguments of both Religions are truly +Proposed, and fully Examined. + +New Edition, with the References revised and corrected. + + * * * * * + +Second Edition, enlarged and improved, 12mo. cloth, price 2s. 6d. + +ROMANISM IN ENGLAND EXPOSED. + +A Series of Letters, exposing the Blasphemous and Soul-destroying system +advocated and taught by the Redemptorist Fathers of Clapham. By C.H. +Collete, Esq. + +"We strongly recommend this publication, which is particularly valuable +just now."--_Royal Cornwall Gazette_. + +"We recommend the work to the serious and earnest attention of our +readers as one of unusual interest, and as discovering the active +existence, in our very midst, of a system of idolatry and blasphemy as +gross as any recorded in the History of Popery."--_Bell's Weekly +Messenger_. + + * * * * * + +Also, by the same Author, price 1s. + +POPISH INFALLIBILITY. + +Letters to Viscount Fielding on his Secession. + + * * * * * + +WORKS BY THE REV. JOHN CUMMING, D.D. + + * * * * * + +1. Published this day, in fcap. 8vo. price 9s. cloth, elegantly gilt or +13s. morocco extra, + +PROPHETIC STUDIES: OR, LECTURES ON THE BOOK OF DANIEL. + +2. Also, by the same Author, New Editions, revised and corrected, with +Two Indices. In Two vols. price 9s. each, cloth gilt; or 26s. morocco +extra, + +APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES; OR, LECTURES ON THE BOOK OF REVELATION. Delivered +in Exeter Hall, and at Crown Court Church. + +3. Also, uniform with the above. Fifth Thousand. + +APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES, THIRD SERIES; OR, LECTURES ON THE SEVEN CHURCHES +OF ASIA MINOR. Illustrated by Wood Engravings, representing the present +state of the Apcetolic Churches. + +4. New Edition, in the Press. + +LECTURES FOR THE TIMES: AN EXPOSITION OF TRIDENTE AND TRACTARIAN POPERY. + +5. Now complete, in One Volume, containing 688 pages, price 6s. cloth +lettered, + +A CHEAP EDITION OF THE CELEBRATED PROTESTANT DISCUSSION Between the Rev. +JOHN CUMMING, D.D. and DANIEL FRENCH, Esq. Barrister-at-Law, held at +Hammersmith, in MDCCCXXXIX. + +"No Clergyman's library can be complete without it."--_Bell's +Messenger._ + +"A compendium of argument."--_Gentleman's Magazine._ + +"The subject _pro_ and _con_ is all but exhausted."--_Church and State +Gazette._ + +"This book ought to be in the hands of every Protestant in Britain, more +particularly all Clergymen, Ministers, and Teachers; a more thorough +acquaintance with the great Controversy may be acquired from this volume +than from any other source." + +6. Seventh Edition, fcap. 8vo. cloth, price 3_s_. + +"IS CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD?" A Manual of Christian Evidences for +Scripture Readers, Sunday School Teachers, City Missionaries, and Young +Persons. + +"We never read a work of this description which gave us so much +satisfaction. It is a work of the utmost value."--_Ecclesiastical +Times_. + +"It is drawn up with much care, clearness, and earnestness."--_Aberdeen +Journal_. + +"The topics contained in this volume are treated with intelligence, +clearness, and eloquence."--_Dr. Vaughan's Review_. + +"As a popular compendium of Christian Evidence, we thoroughly recommend +this volume."--_Noncomformist_. + +"It bears the impress of a clear and vigorous understanding. Dr. Cumming +has done great service to the cause of Divine Revelation by the +publication of it."--_Church of England Journal_. + +7. Third Edition, fcap. 8vo. price 3_s_. cloth gilt, + +OUR FATHER; A Manual of Family Prayers for General and Special +Occasions, with short Prayers for spare minutes, and Passages for +Reflection. + +8. Uniform with the above, + +THE COMMUNION TABLE; Or, Communicant's Manual: a plain and practical +Exposition of the Lord's Supper. + +9. Just published, price 4_s_. cloth gilt, + +OCCASIONAL DISCOURSES. VOL. II. CONTENTS. + +1. LIBERTY. 2. EQUALITY. 3. FRATERNITY. 4. THE REVOLUTIONISTS. 5. THE +TRUE CHARTER. 6. THE TRUE SUCCESSION. 7. PSALM FOR THE DAY. 8. +THANKSGIVING. + +10. DR. CUMMING'S SERMON BEFORE THE QUEEN. Sixteenth Thousand, price +1_s_. + +SALVATION: A Sermon preached in the Parish Church of Crathie, Balmoral, +before Her Majesty the Queen, on Sunday, Sept. 22d, 1850. + + * * * * * + +Second Edition, revised and corrected, with an Index, + +CHEMISTRY NO MYSTERY: + +Being the Subject-matter of a Course of Lectures by Dr. Scoffeon. In +12mo. cloth lettered, price 5s. + + * * * * * + +Third Edition, revised and corrected, + +BAKEWELL'S PHILOSOPHICAL CONVERSATIONS. Illustrated with Diagrams and +Woodcuts. In 12mo. cloth, price 5s. + + * * * * * + +A NEW TREATISE on THE GAME OF CHESS. + +By George Walker, Esq. Ninth Edition. 12mo. cloth lettered, reduced to +5s. + + * * * * * + +Eighth Edition, price 3s. in cloth, with Frontispiece, + +SELECT POETRY FOR CHILDREN; with Brief Explanatory Notes. Arranged for +the use of Schools and Families by Joseph Payne. + + * * * * * + +Second Edition, in 19mo. cloth, price 6s. + +STUDIES IN ENGLISH POETRY. Edited by Joseph Payne. + +With short Biographical Sketches and Notes, intended as a Text-Book for +the higher classes in Schools, and as an Introduction to the study of +English Literature. + + * * * * * + +In preparation, uniform with the above, by the same Editor. STUDIES IN +ENGLISH PROSE. + + * * * * * + +Just published, price 6d. + +THE ILLUSTRATED FRENCH AND ENGLISH PRIMER. + +With nearly 100 Engravings on Wood. + + * * * * * + +THE +HOFLAND LIBRARY: +FOR THE +INSTRUCTION AND AMUSEMENT OF YOUTH. + + * * * * * + +ILLUSTRATED WITH PLATES. + + * * * * * + +EACH VOLUME HANDSOMELY BOUND IN EMBOSSED SCARLET CLOTH, WITH GILT EDGES, +&c. + +FIRST CLASS, in 12mo. Price 2s. 6d. + +1. ALFRED CAMPBELL; or Travels of a Young Pilgrim. 2. DECISION; a Tale. +3. ENERGY. 4. FAREWELL TALES. 5. FORTITUDE. 6. HUMILITY. 7. INTEGRITY. +8. MODERATION. 9. PATIENCE. 10. REFLECTION. 11. SELF-DENIAL. 12. YOUNG +CADET; or, Travels in Hindostan. 13. YOUNG PILGRIM; or, Alfred Campell's +Return. + +SECOND CLASS, in 18mo. Price 1s. 6d. + +1. ADELAIDE: or, Massacre of St. Bartholomew. 2. AFFECTIONATE BROTHERS. +3. ALICIA AND HER AUNT; or, Think before you Speak. 4. BARBADOS GIRL. 5. +BLIND FARMER AND HIS CHILDREN. 6. CLERGYMAN'S WIDOW and her YOUNG +FAMILY. 7. DAUGHTER-IN-LAW, HER FATHER AND FAMILY. 8. ELIZABETH AND HER +THREE BEGGAR BOYS. 9. GODMOTHER'S TALES. 10. GOOD GRANDMOTHER AND HER +OFFSPRING. 11. MERCHANT'S WIDOW and her YOUNG FAMILY. 12. RICH BOYS AND +POOR BOYS, and other Tales. 13. THE SISTERS; a Domestic Tale. 14. STOLEN +BOY; an Indian Tale. 15. WILLIAM AND HIS UNCLE BEN. 16. YOUNG NORTHERN +TRAVELLER. 17. YOUNG CRUSOE; or, Shipwrecked Boy. + + * * * * * + +NEW ILLUSTRATED WORKS FOR THE YOUNG. + +Uniformly printed in square 16 mo. handsomely bound in cloth, price 2s. +6d. each. + + * * * * * + +1. With Plates on Steel, Second Edition, + +HOW TO WIN LOVE; OR, RHONDA'S LESSON. BY THE AUTHOR OF "MICHAEL THE +MINER," ETC. + +"A very captivating story."--_Morning Post._ + +"Truthfulness, descriptive talent, and pure morality in every line."-- +_Literary Gazette._ + +"Just what a story for children ought to be."--_Douglas Jerrold's +Newspaper._ + +2. PIPPIE'S WARNING; OR, THE ADVENTURES OF A DANCING DOG. BY CATHERINE +CROWE, AUTHOR OF 'SUSAN HOPLEY,' ETC. + +"A capital story."--_Athenaeum._ "This is a capital child's +book."--_Scotsman._ + +3. STRATAGEMS. BY MRS. NEWTON CROSLAND, (late CAMILLA TOULMIN.) + +"A sweet tale, penned in a fair mood, and such as will make a rare gift +for a child."--_Sun_. + +4. With Four Illustrations. + +MY OLD PUPILS. The former work of this author, "MY SCHOOLBOY DAYS," has +attained great popularity, upwards of ten thousand copies having been +circulated in this country alone. + +5 Third Edition, with gilt edges, + +STORIES FROM THE GOSPELS. By MRS. HENRY LYNCH, AUTHOR OF "MAUDE +EFFINGHAM," ETC. + +6. Just published, + +PLEASANT PASTIME; Or, DRAWING-ROOM DRAMAS, for Private Representation by +the Young. + + * * * * * + +NEW TALE FOR THE YOUNG, BY SILVERPEN. + + * * * * * + +JUST PUBLISHED, In foolscap 8vo. price 7_s_. 6_d_. elegantly bound and +gilt, WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS BY HARVEY, + +THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE DAUGHTER. THE STORY OF A CHILD'S LIFE AMIDST THE +WOODS AND HILLS. + +BY ELIZA METEYARD. + +"This is a very delightful book, especially calculated for the amusement +and instruction of our young friends; and is evidently the production of +a right-thinking and accomplished mind."--_Church of England Review_. + +"An elegant, interesting, and unobjectionable present for young ladies. +The moral of the book turns on benevolence."--_Christian Times_. + +"This Story of a Child's Life is so full of beauty end meekness that we +can hardly express our sense of its worth in the words of common +praise."--_Nonconformist_. + +"This will be a choice present for the young."--_British Quarterly +Review_. + + * * * * * + +A GIFT BOOK FOR ALL SEASONS. + + * * * * * + +In square post 8vo, price 5_s_. handsomely bound and gilt, + +THE JUVENILE CALENDAR, AND ZODIAC OF FLOWERS By Mrs. T. K. Hervey + +WITH TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE MONTHS. By RICHARD DOYLE. + +"Never has the graceful pencil of Mr. Doyle been more gracefully +employed than in sketching the charming illustrations of this charming +volume."--_Sun_. + +"A very pretty as well as very interesting book."--_Observer_. + +"One need not ask for a prettier or more appropriate gift."--_Atlas_. + +"One of the most charming gift-books for the young which we have never +met with."--_Nonconformist_. + + * * * * * + +In fcp. 8vo. price 5_s_. cloth gilt, illustrated by FRANKLIN, + +COLA MONTI; OR, THE STORY OF A GENIUS. A TALE FOR BOYS. + +BY THE AUTHOR OF "HOW TO WIN LOVE," ETC. + +"We heartily command it as delightful holiday reading."--_Critic_. + +"A lively narrative of school-boy adventures." + +"A very charming and admirably written volume. It is adapted to make +boys better." + +"A simple and pleasing story of school-boy life."--_John Bull_. + + * * * * * + +In 18mo. price 1_s_. 6_d_. with Illustrations by A. COOPER, R A. + +THE VOICE OF MANY WATERS. BY MRS. DAVID OSBORNE. + + * * * * * + +NEW CHRISTMAS BOOK FOR THE YOUNG. + + * * * * * + +Just published, in fcap. 8vo. price 5_s_. handsomely bound, with gilt +edges, + +THE ILLUSTRATED YEAR BOOK. SECOND SERIES. THE WONDERS, EVENTS, AND +DISCOVERIES OF 1850. + +EDITED BY JOHN TIMBS. + +WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD. _Among the Contents of this +interesting Volume will be found_ THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. OCEAN STEAMERS. +CHURCH BUILDING. THE KOH-I-NOOR. TROPICAL STORMS. NEPAULESE EMBASSY. +SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH. PANORAMAS. OVERLAND ROUTE. COLOSSAL STATUE OF +"BAVARIA." INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION, 1851. + +"What a treasure in a country house must not such an Encyclopaedia of +amusing knowledge afford, when the series has grown to a few volumes. +Not only an Encyclopaedia of amusing and useful knowledge, but that +which will give to memory a chronological chart of our acquisition of +information. This admirable idea is well followed out in the little +volume in our hands. The notiore are all clear, full, and satisfactory, +and the engravings with which the volume is embellished are every way +worthy of the literary part of the work."--_Standard_. + +"The work is well done, and deserves notice as a striking memorial of +the chief occurrences of 1850."--_Atlas_. + +"Books such as this are, and will be, the landmarks of social, +scientific, mechanical, and moral progress; it extends to nearly four +hundred pages of well-condensed matter, illustrated with numerous +excellently engraved wood blocks."--_Advertiser_. + +"It is a stirring and instructive volume for intelligent young +people."--_Evangelical_. + +The former Volume, for 1849, still continues on Sale. + + * * * * * + +NEW GIFT BOOK FOR THE SEASON. + + * * * * * + +In 8vo. price 16s. bound in cloth, or 24s. morocco elegant, + +PILGRIMAGES TO ENGLISH SHRINES. + +BY MRS. S.C. HALL. + +WITH NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS BY F.W. FAIRHOLT, F.S.A. _Among the +interesting subjects of this Volume will be found,_ The Birth-place or +John Bunyan; the Burial-place of John Hampden; the Residence of Hannah +More; the Tomb of Sir Thomas Gresham; the Tomb of Thomas Gray; the +Birth-place of Thomas Chatterton; the Birth-place of Richard Wilson; the +House of Andrew Marvel; the Tomb of John Stow; the Heart of Sir Nicholas +Crispe; the Printing Office of William Caxton; Shaftesbury House; the +Dwelling of James Barry; the Residence of Dr. Isaac Watts; the Prison of +Lady Mary Grey; the Town of John Kyrle (the Man of Ross); the Tomb of +William Hogarth; the Studio of Thomas Gainsborough, R.A. + +NOTICES OF THE PRESS "Descriptions of such Shrines come home with deep +interest to all hearts--all English hearts--particularly when they are +done with the earnestness which distinguishes Mrs. Hall's writings. That +lady's earnestness and enthusiasm are of the right sort--felt for +freedom of thought and action, for taste, and for genius winging its +flight in a noble direction. They are displayed, oftentimes most +naturally, throughout the attractive pages of this volume."--_Observer._ + +"Mrs. Hall's talents are too well known to require our commendation of +her 'Pilgrimages,' which are every way worthy of the beautiful woodcuts +that illustrate almost every page, and this is very high praise +indeed."--_Standard._ + +"The illustrations are very effective; and the whole work externally and +internally, is worthy of the patronage of all who love to be instructed +as well as amazed."_--Church and State Gazette._ + +"The book is a pleasant one; a collection of a great deal of curious +information about a number of curious places and persons, cleverly and +readily put together, and combined into an elegant volume."--_Guardian_. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EMILIE THE PEACEMAKER*** + + +******* This file should be named 11290-8.txt or 11290-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/2/9/11290 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Emilie the Peacemaker</p> +<p>Author: Mrs. Thomas Geldart</p> +<p>Release Date: February 25, 2004 [eBook #11290]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: iso-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EMILIE THE PEACEMAKER***</p> +<br> +<br> +<center><h3>E-text prepared by Internet Archive;<br> + University of Florida;<br> + and Amy Petri and Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders</h3></center> +<br> +<table border=0 bgcolor="ccccff" cellpadding=10> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Images of the original pages are available through the Florida + Board of Education, Division of Colleges and Universities, + PALMM Project, 2001. (Preservation and Access for American and + British Children's Literature, 1850-1869.) See<br> + <a href="http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/dl/UF00001806.jpg"> + http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/dl/UF00001806.jpg</a> + <br> + or<br> + <a href="http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/dl/UF00001806.pdf"> + http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/dl/UF00001806.pdf</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<br> +<hr class="full"> +<h1><b>EMILIE THE PEACEMAKER.</b></h1> + +<h2>BY MRS. THOMAS GELDART.</h2> + +<p>AUTHOR OF "TRUTH IS EVERYTHING;" "NURSERY GUIDE;" "STORIES OF ENGLAND +AND HER FORTY COUNTIES;" AND "THOUGHTS FOR HOME."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of +God.... Matt v. 9.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>LONDON: A. HALL. VIRTUE, & CO.. PATERNOSTER ROW; NORWICH: JOSIAH +FLETCHER.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>MDCCCLI.</p> + +<p>NORWICH; PRINTED BY JOSIAH FLETCHER.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CONTENTS"></a><h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> + + <a href="#CHAPTER_FIRST"><b>CHAPTER FIRST.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_SECOND"><b>CHAPTER SECOND.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_THIRD"><b>CHAPTER THIRD.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_FOURTH"><b>CHAPTER FOURTH.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_FIFTH"><b>CHAPTER FIFTH.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_SIXTH"><b>CHAPTER SIXTH.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_SEVENTH"><b>CHAPTER SEVENTH.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_EIGHTH"><b>CHAPTER EIGHTH.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_NINTH"><b>CHAPTER NINTH.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_TENTH"><b>CHAPTER TENTH.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_ELEVENTH"><b>CHAPTER ELEVENTH.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_TWELFTH"><b>CHAPTER TWELFTH.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_THIRTEENTH"><b>CHAPTER THIRTEENTH.</b></a><br> + <a href="#CHAPTER_FOURTEENTH"><b>CHAPTER FOURTEENTH.</b></a><br> + +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="EMILIE_THE_PEACEMAKER"></a><h2>EMILIE THE PEACEMAKER.</h2> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_FIRST"></a><h2>CHAPTER FIRST.</h2> + +<p>INTRODUCTION.</p> +<br> + +<p>One bright afternoon, or rather evening, in May, two girls, with basket +in hand, were seen leaving the little seaport town in which they +resided, for the professed purpose of primrose gathering, but in reality +to enjoy the pure air of the first summer-like evening of a season, +which had been unusually cold and backward. Their way lay through bowery +lanes scented with sweet brier and hawthorn, and every now and then +glorious were the views of the beautiful ocean, which lay calmly +reposing and smiling beneath the setting sun. "How unlike that stormy, +dark, and noisy sea of but a week ago!" so said the friends to each +other, as they listened to its distant musical murmur, and heard the +waves break gently on the shingly beach.</p> + +<p>Although we have called them friends, there was a considerable +difference in their ages. That tall and pleasing, though plain, girl in +black, was the governess of the younger. Her name was Emilie Schomberg. +The little rosy, dark-eyed, and merry girl, her pupil, we shall call +Edith Parker. She had scarcely numbered twelve Mays, and was at the age +when primrosing and violeting have not lost their charms, and when +spring is the most welcome, and the dearest of all the four seasons. +Emilie Schomberg, as her name may lead you to infer, was a German. She +spoke English, however, so well, that you would scarcely have supposed +her to be a foreigner, and having resided in England for some years, had +been accustomed to the frequent use of that language. Emilie Schomberg +was the daily governess of little Edith. Little she was always called, +for she was the youngest of the family, and at eleven years of age, if +the truth must be told of her, was a good deal of a baby.</p> + +<p>Several schemes of education had been tried for this same little +Edith,—schools and governesses and masters,—but Emilie Schomberg, who +now came to her for a few hours every other day, had obtained greater +influence over her than any former instructor; and in addition to the +German, French, and music, which she undertook to teach, she instructed +Edith in a few things not really within her province, but nevertheless +of some importance; of these you shall judge. The search for primroses +was not a silent search—Edith is the first speaker.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Emilie, but it was very provoking, after I had finished my lessons +so nicely, and got done in time to walk out with you, to have mamma +fancy I had a cold, when I had nothing of the kind. I almost wish some +one would turn really ill, and then she would not fancy I was so, quite +so often."</p> + +<p>"Oh, hush, Edith dear! you are talking nonsense, and you are saying what +you cannot mean. I don't like to hear you so pert to that kind mamma of +yours, whenever she thinks it right to contradict you."</p> + +<p>"Emilie, I cannot help saying, and you know yourself, though you call +her kind, that mamma is cross, very cross sometimes. Yes, I know she is +very fond of me and all that, but still she <i>is</i> cross, and it is no +use denying it. Oh, dear, I wish I was you. You never seem to have +anything to put you out. I never see you look as if you had been crying +or vexed, but I have so many many things to vex me at home."</p> + +<p>Emilie smiled. "As to my having nothing to put me out, you may be right, +and you may be wrong, dear. There is never any excuse for being what you +call <i>put out</i>, by which I understand cross and pettish, but I am rather +amused, too, at your fixing on a daily governess, as a person the least +likely in the world to have trials of temper and patience." "Yes, I dare +say I vex you sometimes, but"—"Well, not to speak of you, dear, whom I +love very much, though you are not perfect, I have other pupils, and do +you suppose, that amongst so many as I have to teach at Miss Humphrey's +school, for instance, there is not one self-willed, not one impertinent, +not one idle, not one dull scholar? My dear, there never was a person, +you may be sure of that, who had nothing to be tried, or, as you say, +put out with. But not to talk of my troubles, and I have not many I will +confess, except that great one, Edith, which, may you be many years +before you know, (the loss of a father;) not to talk of that, what are +your troubles? Your mamma is cross sometimes, that is to say, she does +not always give you all you ask for, crosses you now and then, is that +all?"</p> + +<p>"Oh no Emilie, there are Mary and Ellinor, they never seem to like me to +be with them, they are so full of their own plans and secrets. Whenever +I go into the room, there is such a hush and mystery. The fact is, they +treat me like a baby. Oh, it is a great misfortune to be the youngest +child! but of all my troubles, Fred is the greatest. John teases me +sometimes, but he is nothing to Fred. Emilie, you don't know what that +boy is; but you will see, when you come to stay with me in the holidays, +and you shall say then if you think I have nothing to put me out."</p> + +<p>The very recollection of her wrongs appeared to irritate the little +lady, and she put on a pout, which made her look anything but kind and +amiable.</p> + +<p>The primroses which she had so much desired, were not quite to her mind, +they were not nearly so fine as those that John and Fred had brought +home. Now she was tired of the dusty road, and she would go home by the +beach. So saying, Edith turned resolutely towards a stile, which led +across some fields to the sea shore, and not all Emilie's entreaties +could divert her from her purpose.</p> + +<p>"Edith, dear! we shall be late, very late! as it is we have been out too +long, come back, pray do;" but Edith was resolute, and ran on. Emilie, +who knew her pupil's self-will over a German lesson, although she had +little experience of her temper in other matters, was beginning to +despair of persuading her, and spoke yet more earnestly and firmly, +though still kindly and gently, but in vain. Edith had jumped over the +stile, and was on her way to the cliff, when her course was arrested by +an old sailor, who was sitting on a bench near the gangway leading to +the shore. He had heard the conversation between the governess and her +headstrong pupil, as he smoked his pipe on this favourite seat, and +playfully caught hold of the skirt of the young lady's frock, as she +passed, to Edith's great indignation.</p> + +<p>"Now, Miss, I could not, no, that I could'nt, refuse any one who asked +me so pretty as that lady did you. If she had been angry, and commanded +you back, why bad begets bad, and tit for tat you know, and I should +not so much have wondered: but, Miss, you should not vex her. No, don't +be angry with an old man, I have seen so much of the evils of young +folks taking their own way. Look here, young lady," said the weather +beaten sailor, as he pointed to a piece of crape round his hat; "this +comes of being fond of one's own way."</p> + +<p>Edith was arrested, and approached the stile, on the other side of which +Emilie Schomberg still leant, listening to the fisherman's talk with her +pupil.</p> + +<p>"You see, Miss," said he, "I have brought her round, she were a little +contrary at first, but the squall is over, and she is going home your +way. Oh, a capital good rule, that of your's, Miss!" "What," said Emilie +smiling, "Why, that 'soft answer,' that kind way. I see a good deal of +the ways of nurses with children, ah, and of governesses, and mothers, +and fathers too, as I sit about on the sea shore, mending my nets. I +ain't fit for much else now, you see, Miss, though I have seen a deal of +service, and as I sit sometimes watching the little ones playing on the +sand, and with the shingle, I keep my ears open, for I can't bear to see +children grieved, and sometimes I put in a word to the nurse maids. +Bless me! to see how some of 'em whip up the children in the midst of +their play. Neither with your leave, nor by your leave; 'here, come +along, you dirty, naughty boy, here's a wet frock! Come, this minute, +you tiresome child, it's dinner time.' Now that ain't what I call fair +play, Miss. I say you ought to speak civil, even to a child; and then, +the crying, and the shaking, and the pulling up the gangway. Many and +many is the little squaller I go and pacify, and carry as well as I can +up the cliff: but I beg pardon, Miss, hope I don't offend. Only I was +afraid, Miss there was a little awkward, and would give you trouble."</p> + +<p>"Indeed," said Emilie, "I am much obliged to you; where do you live?"</p> + +<p>"I live," said the old man, "I may say, a great part of my life, under +the sky, in summer time, but I lodge with my son, and he lives between +this and Brooke. In winter time, since the rheumatics has got hold of +me, I am drawn to the fire side, but my son's wife, she don't take after +him, bless him. She's a bit of a spirit, and when she talks more than I +like, why I wish myself at sea again, for an angry woman's tongue is +worse than a storm at sea, any day; if it was'nt for the children, bless +'em, I should not live with 'em, but I am very partial to them."</p> + +<p>"Well, we must say good night, now," said Emilie, "or we shall be late +home; I dare say we shall see you on the shore some day; good night." +"Good night to you, ma'am; good night, young lady; be friends, won't +you?"</p> + +<p>Edith's hand was given, but it was not pleasant to be conquered, and she +was a little sullen on the way home. They parted at the door of Edith's +house. Edith went in, to join a cheerful family in a comfortable and +commodious room; Emilie, to a scantily furnished, and shabbily genteel +apartment, let to her and a maiden aunt by a straw bonnet maker in the +town.</p> + +<p>We will peep at her supper table, and see if Miss Edith were quite right +in supposing that Emilie Schomberg had nothing to put her out.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_SECOND"></a><h2>CHAPTER SECOND.</h2> + +<p>THE SOFT ANSWER.</p> +<br> + +<p>An old lady was seated by a little ricketty round table, knitting; +knitting very fast. Surely she did not always knit so fast, Germans are +great knitters it is true, but the needles made quite a noise—click, +click, click—against one another. The table was covered with a +snow-white cloth. By her side was a loaf called by bakers and +housekeepers, crusty; the term might apply either to the loaf or the old +lady's temper. A little piece of cheese stood on a clean plate, and a +crab on another, a little pat of butter on a third, and this, with a jug +of water, formed the preparation for the evening meal of the aunt and +niece. Emilie went up to her aunt, gaily, with her bunch of primroses in +her hand, and addressing her in the German language, begged her pardon +for keeping supper waiting. The old lady knitted faster than ever, +dropped a stitch, picked it up, looked out of the window, and cleared +up, not her temper, but her throat; click, click went the needles, and +Emilie looked concerned.</p> + +<p>"Aunt, dear," she said, "shall we sit down to supper?" "My appetite is +gone, Emilie, I thank you." "I am really sorry, aunt, but you know you +are so kind, you wish me to take plenty of exercise, and I was detained +to-night. Miss Parker and I stayed chattering to an old sailor. It was +very thoughtless, pray excuse me. But now aunt, dear, see this fine +crab, you like crabs; old Peter Varley sent it to you, the old man you +knitted the guernsey for in the winter."</p> + +<p>No,—old Miss Schomberg was not to be brought round. Crabs were very +heavy things at night, very indigestible things, she wondered at Emilie +thinking she could eat them, so subject as she was to spasms, too. +Indeed she could eat no supper. She was very dull and not well, so +Emilie sat down to her solitary meal. She did not go on worrying her +aunt to eat, but she watched for a suitable opening, for the first +indication indeed, of the clearing up for which she hoped, and though +it must be confessed some such thoughts as "how cross and unreasonable +aunt is," did pass through her mind, she gave them no utterance. +Emilie's mind was under good discipline, she had learned to forbear in +love, and for the exercise of this virtue, she had abundant opportunity.</p> + +<p>Poor Emilie! she had not always been a governess, subject to the trials +of tuition; she had not always lived in a little lodging without the +comforts and joys of family and social intercourse.</p> + +<p>Her father had failed in business, in Frankfort, and when Emilie was +about ten years of age, he had come over to England, and had gained his +living there by teaching his native language. He had been dead about a +twelve-month, and Emilie, at the age of twenty-one, found herself alone +in the world, in England at least, with the exception of the old German +aunt, to whom I have introduced you, and who had come over with her +brother, from love to him and his motherless child. She had a very small +independence, and when left an orphan, the kind old aunt, for kind she +was, in spite of some little infirmities of temper, persisted in sharing +with her her board and lodging, till Emilie, who was too active and +right minded to desire to depend on her for support, sought employment +as a teacher.</p> + +<p>The seaport town of L----, in the south of England, whither Emilie and +her father had gone in the vain hope of restoring his broken health, +offered many advantages to our young German mistress. She had had a good +solid education. Her father, who was a scholar, had taught her, and had +taught her well, so that besides her own language, she was able to teach +Latin and French, and to instruct, as the advertisements say, "in the +usual branches of English education." She was musical, had a fine ear +and correct taste, and accordingly met with pupils without much +difficulty. In the summer months especially she was fully employed. +Families who came for relaxation were, nevertheless, glad to have their +daughters taught for a few hours in the week; and you may suppose that +Emilie Schomberg did not lead an idle life. For remuneration she fared, +as alas teachers do fare, but ill. The sum which many a gentleman freely +gives to his butler or valet, is thought exorbitant, nay, is rarely +given to a governess, and Emilie, as a daily governess, was but poorly +paid.</p> + +<p>The expenses of her father's long illness and funeral were heavy, and +she was only just out of debt; therefore, with the honesty and +independence of spirit that marked her, she lived carefully and frugally +at the little rooms of Miss Webster, the straw bonnet maker, in High +Street.</p> + +<p>From what I have told you already, you will easily perceive that Emilie +was accustomed to command her temper; she had been trained to do this +early in life. Her father, who foresaw for his child a life dependent on +her character and exertion, a life of labour in teaching and governing +others, taught Emilie to govern herself. Never was an only child less +spoiled than she; but she was ruled in love. She knew but one law, that +of kindness, and it made her a good subject.</p> + +<p>Many were the sensible lessons that the good man gave her, as leaning on +her strong arm he used to pace up and down the grassy slopes which +bordered the sea shore. "Look, Emilie," he would say, "look at that +governess marshalling her scholars out. Do they look happy? think you +that they obey that stern mistress out of <i>love</i>? Listen, she calls to +them to keep their ranks and not to talk so loud. What unhappy faces +among them! Emilie, my child, you may keep school some day; oh, take +care and gain the love of the young ones, I don't believe there is any +other successful government, so I have found it." "With me, ah yes, +papa!" "With you, my child, and with all my scholars; I had little +experience as a teacher, when first it pleased God to make me dependent +on my own exertions as such, but I found out the secret. Gain your +pupils' love, Emilie, and a silken thread will draw them; without that +love, cords will not drag, scourges will scarcely drive them."</p> + +<p>Emilie found this advice of her father's rather hard to follow now and +then. Her first essay in teaching was in Mrs. Parker's family. Edith was +to "be finished." And now poor Emilie found that there was more to teach +Edith than German and French, and that there was more difficulty in +teaching her to keep her temper than her voice in tune. Edith was +affectionate, but self-willed and irritable. Her mamma's treatment had +not tended to improve her in this respect. Mrs. Parker had bad health, +and said she had bad spirits. She was a kind, generous, and affectionate +woman, but was always in trouble. In trouble with her chimneys because +they smoked; in trouble with her maids who did not obey her; and worst +of all in trouble with herself; for she had good sense and good +principle, but she had let her temper go too long undisciplined, and it +was apt to break forth sometimes against those she loved, and would +cause her many bitter tears and self-upbraidings.</p> + +<p>She took an interest in the poor German master, for she was a benevolent +woman, and cheered his dying bed by promising to assist his daughter. +She even offered to take her into her family; but this could not be +thought of. Good aunt Agnes had left her country for the sake of +Emilie—Emilie would not desert her aunt now.</p> + +<p>The scene at the supper table was not an uncommon one, but Emilie was +frequently more successful in winning aunt Agnes to a smile than on this +occasion. "Perhaps I tried too much; perhaps I did not try enough, +perhaps I tried in the wrong way," thought Emilie, as she received her +aunt's cold kiss, and took up her bed room candle to retire for the +night. When aunt Agnes said good night, it was so very distantly, so +very unkindly, that an angry demand for explanation almost rose to +Emilie's lips, and though she did not utter it, she said her good night +coldly and stiffly too, and thus they parted. But when Emilie opened the +Bible that night, her eye rested on the words, "Be ye kind one to +another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God for Christ's sake +hath forgiven you," then Emilie could not rest. She did not forgive her +aunt; she felt that she did not; but Emilie was <i>human</i>, and human +nature is proud. "I did nothing to offend her," reasoned pride, "it was +only because I was out a little late, and I said I was sorry and I tried +to bring her round. Ah well, it will all be right to-morrow; it is no +use to think of it now," and she prepared to kneel down to pray. Just +then her eye rested on her father's likeness; she remembered how he used +to say, when she was a child and lisped her little prayer at his knee, +"Emilie, have you any unkind thoughts to any one? Do you feel at peace +with all? for God says, 'When thou bringest thy gift before the altar, +and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave +there thy gift before the altar, <i>first</i> be reconciled to thy brother, +and <i>then</i> go and offer thy gift.'" On one or two occasions had Emilie +arisen, her tender conscience thus appealed to, and thrown her arms +round her nurse's or her aunt's neck, to beg their forgiveness for some +little offence committed by her and forgotten perhaps by them, and would +then kneel down and offer up her evening prayer. So Emilie hushed +pride's voice, and opening her door, crossed the little passage to her +aunt's sleeping room, and putting her arm round her neck fondly said, +"Dear aunt!" It was enough, the good old lady hugged her lovingly. "Ah, +Emilie dear, I am a cross old woman, and thou art a dear good child. +Bless thee!" In half an hour after the inmates of the little lodging in +High Street were sound asleep, at peace with one another, and at peace +with God.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_THIRD"></a><h2>CHAPTER THIRD.</h2> + +<p>THE LESSON AT THE COTTAGE.</p> +<br> + +<p>Edith was very busily searching for corallines and sea weeds, a few days +after the evening walk recorded in our first chapter. She was alone, for +her two sisters had appeared more than usually confidential and +unwilling for her company, and her dear teacher was engaged that +afternoon at the Young Ladies' Seminary, so she tried to make herself +happy in her solitary ramble. A boat came in at this moment, and the +pleasant shout of the boatmen's voices, and the grating of the little +craft as it landed on the pebbly shore, attracted the young lady's +notice, and she stood for a few moments to watch the proceedings. +Amongst those on shore, who had come to lend a hand in pulling the boat +in, Edith thought that she recognised a face, and on a little closer +inspection she saw it was old Joe Murray, who had stopped her course to +the beach a few evenings before. She did not wish to encounter Joe, so +slipping behind the blue jacketed crowd, she walked quickly forwards, +but Joe followed her.</p> + +<p>"Young lady," he said, "if you are looking for corallines, you can't do +better than ask your papa some fine afternoon, to drive you as far as +Sheldon, and you'll find a sight of fine weeds there, as I know, for my +boy, my poor boy I lost, I mean," said he, again touching the rusty +crape on his hat, "my boy was very curious in those things, and had +quite a museum of 'em at home." How could Edith stand against such an +attack? It was plain that the old man wanted to make peace with her, +and, cheerfully thanking him, she was moving on, but the old boots +grinding the shingle, were again heard behind her, and turning round, +she saw Joe at her heels.</p> + +<p>"Miss, I don't know as I ought to have stopped you that night. I am a +poor old fisherman, and you are a young lady, but I meant no harm, and +for the moment only did it in a joke."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear," said Edith, "don't think any more about it, I was very +cross that night, and you were quite right, I should have got Miss +Schomberg into sad trouble if I had gone that way. As it was, I was out +too late. Have you lost a son lately, said Edith, I heard you say you +had just now? Was he drowned?" inquired the child, kindly looking up +into Joe's face.</p> + +<p>"Yes Miss, he was drowned," said Joe, "he came by his death very sadly. +Will you please, Miss, to come home with me, and I will shew you his +curiosities, and if you please to take a fancy to any, I'm sure you are +very welcome. I don't know any good it does me to turn 'em over, and +look at them as I do times and often, but somehow when we lose them we +love, we hoard up all they loved. He had a little dog, poor Bob had, a +little yapping thing, and I never took to the animal, 'twas always +getting into mischief, and gnawing the nets, and stealing my fish, and I +used often to say, 'Bob, my boy, I love you but not your dog. No, that +saying won't hold good now. I can't love that dog of yours. Sell it, +boy—give it away—get rid of it some how.' All in good part, you know, +Miss, for I never had any words with him about it. And now Bob is +gone—do you know, Miss, I love that dumb thing with the sort of love I +should love his child, if he had left me one. If any one huffs Rover, (I +ain't a very huffish man,) but I can tell you I shew them I don't like +it, I let the creature lay at my feet at night, and I feed him myself +and fondle him for the sake of him who loved him so. And you may depend +Miss, the dog knows his young master is gone, and the way he is gone +too, for I could not bring him on the shore for a long while, but he +would set up such a howl as would rend your heart to hear. And that made +me love the poor thing I can tell you."</p> + +<p>"But how did it happen?" softly asked Edith.</p> + +<p>"Why Miss it ain't at all an extraordinary way in which he met his +death. It was in this way. He was very fond of me, poor boy, but he +liked his way better than my way too often. And may be I humoured him a +little too much. He was my Benjamin, you must know Miss, for his mother +died soon after he was born. Sure enough I made an idol of the lad, and +we read somewhere in the Bible, Miss, that 'the idols he will utterly +abolish.' But I don't like looking at the sorrow that way neither. I +would rather think that 'whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.' Well, +Miss, like father like son. My boy loved the sea, as was natural he +should, but he was too venturesome; I used often to say, 'Bob, the +oldest sailor living can't rule the waves and winds, and if you are such +a mad cap as to go out sailing in such equally weather on this coast, as +sure as you are alive you will repent it.' He and some young chaps +hereabouts, got such a wonderful notion of sailing, and though I have +sailed many and many a mile, in large vessels and small, I always hold +to it that it is ticklish work for the young and giddy. Why sometimes +you are on the sea, Miss, ah, as calm as it is now—all in peace and +safety—a squall comes, and before you know what you are about you are +capsized. I had told him this, and he knew it, Miss, but he got a good +many idle acquaintances, as I told you, and they tempted him often to do +bold reckless things such as boys call brave."</p> + +<p>"It was one morning at the end of September, Bob says to me, 'Father, we +are going to keep my birthday; I am sixteen to-day,' and so he was, +bless him, sixteen the very day he died. 'We are going to keep my +birthday,' says he, 'Newton, and Somers, and Franklin, and I, we are all +going to Witton,' that is the next town, Miss, as you may know, 'we are +going to have a sail there, and dine at grandmother's, and home again at +night, eh Father.' 'Bob,' says I, 'I can't give my consent; that +ticklish sailing boat of young Woods' requires wiser heads and steadier +hands than your's to manage. You know my opinion of sailing, and you +won't grieve me, I hope, by going.' I might have told him, but I did +not, that I did not like the lads he was going with, but I knew that +would only make him angry, and do no good just as his heart was set upon +a frolic with them, so I said nought of that, but I tried to win him, +(that's my way with the young ones,) though I failed this time; go he +would, and he would have gone, let me have been as angry as you please. +But I have this comfort, that no sharp words passed my lips that day, +and no bitter ones his. I saw he was set on the frolic, and I hoped no +harm would come of it. How I watched the sky that day, Miss, no mortal +knows; how I started when I saw a sea gull skim across the waves! how I +listened for the least sound of a squall! Snap was just as fidgetty +seemingly, and we kept stealing down to the beach, long before it was +likely they should be back. As I stood watching there in the evening, +where I knew they would land, I saw young Newton's mother; she pulled me +by my sleeve, anxious like, and said, 'What do you think of the weather +Joe?' 'Why, Missis,' said I, 'there is an ugly look about the sky, but I +don't wish to frighten you; please God they'll soon be home, for Bob +promised to be home early.'"</p> + +<p>"Well, Miss, there we stood, the waves washing our feet, till it grew +dark, and then I could stand it no longer. I said to the poor mother, +'keep a good heart,' but I had little hope myself, God knows, and off I +made for Witton. Well, they had not been there, I found the grandmother +had seen nothing of them. They were picked up a day or so after, all +four of them washed up by the morning tide; their boat had drifted no +one knows where, and no one knows how it happened; but I suppose they +were driven out by the fresh breeze that sprung up, and not knowing how +to manage the sails, they were capsized."</p> + +<p>"There they all lay. Miss, in the churchyard. It was a solemn sight, I +can tell you, to see those four coffins, side by side, in the church. +They were all strong hearty lads, and all under seventeen. I go and sit +on his grave sometimes, and spell over all I said, and all he said that +day; and glad enough I am, that I can remember neither cross word nor +cross look. Ah, my lady, I should remember it if it had been so. We +think we are good fathers and good friends to them we love while they +are alive, but as soon as we lose 'em, all the kindness we ever did them +seems little enough, while all the bad feelings we had, and sharp words +we spoke, come up to condemn us."</p> + +<p>By this time they had reached the fisherman's cottage; it was prettily +situated, as houses on the south coast often are, under the shadow of a +fine over-hanging cliff. Masses of rock, clad with emerald green, were +scattered here and there, and the thriving plants in the little garden, +gave evidence of the mildness of the air in those parts, though close +upon the sea. The cottage was very low, but white and cheerful looking +outside, and as clean and trim within as a notable and stirring woman +could make it. Joe's daughter-in-law, the same described by Joe the +other evening as the woman of a high spirit, was to-day absent on an +errand to the town; and Edith, who loved children, stopped at the +threshold to notice two or three little curly-headed prattlers, who were +playing together at grotto making, an amusement which cost grandfather +many a half-penny. Some dispute seemed to have arisen at the moment of +their entrance between the young builders, for a good-humoured, +plain-looking girl, of twelve, the nursemaid of the baby, and the +care-taker of four other little ones, was trying to pacify the +aggrieved. In vain—little Susy was in a great passion, and with her +tiny foot kicked over the grotto, the result of several hours' labour; +first, in searching on the shore for shells and pebbles, and secondly, +in its erection. Then arose such a shriek and tumult amongst the +children, as those only can conceive who know what a noise disappointed +little creatures, from three to seven years old, can make. They all set +upon Susy, "naughty, mischievous, tiresome," were among the words. The +quiet looking girl, who had been trying to settle the dispute, now +interfered again. She led Susy away gently, but firmly, into another +part of the garden, where spying her grandfather, she took the unwilling +and ashamed little girl for him to deal with, and ran hack to the crying +children and ruined grotto.</p> + +<p>"Oh, hush! dears, pray hush," said Sarah, beginning to pick up the +shells, "we will soon build it up again." This they all declared +impossible, and cried afresh, but Sarah persevered, and quietly went on +piling up the shells, till at last one little mourner took up her coarse +pinafore and wiping her eyes, said, "Sarah does it very nicely." The +grotto rose beautifully, and at last they were all quiet and happy +again; all but poor Susy, who, seeing herself excluded, kept up a +terrible whine. "I wonder if Susan is sorry," said Sarah. "Not she, not +she, don't ask her here again," said they all. "Why not," said the +grandfather, who having walked about with Susy awhile, and talked +gravely to her, appeared to have brought about a change in her temper? +"Why because she will knock it down again the first time any thing puts +her out." "Won't you try her?" said Sarah, pleadingly; but they still +said "No! no!" "Don't you mind the day, Dick," said Sarah, "when you +pulled grandfather's new net all into the mud, and tangled his twine, +and spoilt him a whole day's work?" "Yes," said Dick. "Ah, and don't +you mind, too, when he went out in the boat next day, and you asked to +go with him, just as if nothing had happened, and you had done no harm, +he said, 'ah, Dick, if I were to mind what <i>revenge</i> says, I would not +take you with me; you have injured me very much, but I'll mind what +<i>love</i> says, and that tells me to return good for evil?'" "Yes," says +Dick. "Do you think you could have hurt any thing of grandfather's after +that?" "No," said Dick, "but I did not do it in a rage, as Susy did." +"You did mischief, though," said Sarah; "but I want Susy to give over +going into these rages. I want to cure her. Beating her does no good, +mother says that herself; wont you all try and help to cure Susy?"</p> + +<p>These children were not angels. I am writing of children as they are you +know, and though they yielded, it was rather sullenly, and little Susan +was given to understand that she was not a very welcome addition. Susy +kept very close to Sarah, sobbing and heaving, till the children seeing +her subdued, made more room for her, and her smile returned. Now the +law of kindness prevailed, and when the time came to run down to the +shore for some more shells, to replace those that had been broken, Susy, +at Sarah's hint, ran first and fastest, and brought her little pinafore +fullest of all. Edith watched all this, and her good old mentor was +willing that she should. "I suppose you have taught them this way of +settling disputes," said Edith to Joe. "I, oh no, Miss, I can't take all +the credit. Sarah, there, she has taken to me very much since my Bob +died, and she said to me the day of his funeral, when her heart was soft +and tender-like, 'Grandfather, tell me what I can do to comfort you.' +'Oh, child,' says I, 'my grief is too deep for you to touch, but you are +a kind girl, I'll tell you what to do to-night. Leave me alone, and, oh, +try and make the children quiet, for my head aches as bad as my heart. +Sally.'"</p> + +<p>"Then Sarah tried that day and the next, but found it hard work; the +boys quarrelled and fought, and the little once scratched and cried, and +their mother came and beat one or two of the worst, but all did no good. +There was no peace till bed time; still I encouraged her and told her, +you know, about 'a soft answer turning away wrath,' and since that +time, she has less often given railing for railing; and has not huffed +and worried them, as elder sisters are apt to do. She is a good girl, is +Sarah, but here comes the Missis home from market." "The Missis" +certainly did not look very sweet, and her heavy load had heated her. +She did not welcome Edith pleasantly, which, the old man observing, led +her away to a little room he occupied at the back of the cottage, and +showed her the corallines.</p> + +<p>Edith saw plainly that though the poor father offered her any of them +she liked to take, he suffered in parting with them, so calling Dick and +Mary, she asked if they would hunt for some for her, like those in +grandfather's stores. They consented joyfully, and Edith promising often +to come and see the old man, ran down the cliff briskly, and hastened +home. She thought a good deal as she walked, and asked herself if she +should have had the patience and the gentleness of that poor cottage +girl; if she should have soothed Susy, and comforted Dick and Mary; if +she should have troubled herself to kneel down in the broiling sun and +build up a few trumpery shells into a grotto, to be upset and destroyed +presently. She came to the conclusion that for good, pleasant, prettily +behaved children, she might have done so, but for shrieking, passionate, +quarrelsome little things as they appeared to her then, she certainly +should not. She felt humbled at the contrast between herself and Sarah; +and when she arrived at home, for the first time, perhaps, in her life, +she patiently bore her mamma's reproaches for being so late, and for the +impropriety of walking away from her sisters, no one knew where. She was +not yet quite skilled enough in the art of peace, to give the "soft +answer;" but her silence and quietness turned away Mrs. Parker's wrath, +and after dinner, Edith prepared herself for the visit of her dear +Emilie.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_FOURTH"></a><h2>CHAPTER FOURTH.</h2> + +<p>THE HOLIDAYS.</p> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Parker and her two elder daughters were going to pay a visit to +town this summer, and as Edith was not thought old enough to accompany +them, Mrs. Parker resolved to ask Emilie to take charge of her. The only +difficulty was how to dispose of aunt Agnes; aunt Agnes wishing them to +believe that she did not mind being alone, but all the while minding it +very much. At last it occurred to Emilie that perhaps Mrs. Crosse, at +the farm in Edenthorpe, a few miles off, would, if she knew of the +difficulty, ask aunt Agnes there for a few weeks. Mrs. Crosse and aunt +Agnes got on so wonderfully well together, and as she had often been +invited, the only thing now was to get her in the mind to go. This was +effected in due time, and Mr. Crosse came up to the lodgings for her and +her little box, in his horse and gig, on the very evening that Emilie +was to go the Parkers', to be installed as housekeeper and governess in +the lady's absence. Edith had come to see the dear old aunt off; and now +re-entered the lodgings to help Emilie to collect her things, and to +settle with Miss Webster for the lodgings, before her departure. Miss +Webster had met with a tenant for six weeks, and was in very good +spirits, and very willing to take care of the Schombergs' goods, which, +to tell the truth, were not likely to oppress her either in number or +value, with the exception of one cherished article, one relic of former +days—a good semi-grand piano, which M. Schomberg had purchased for his +daughter, about a year before his death. Miss Webster looked very much +confused as Emilie bade her good-bye, and said—"Miss Schomberg, you +have not, I see, left your piano unlocked."</p> + +<p>"No," said Emilie, "certainly I have not; I did not suppose----"</p> + +<p>"Why," replied Miss Webster, "the lodgers, seeing a piano, will be sure +to ask for the key, Miss, and to be sure you wo'nt object."</p> + +<p>Emilie hesitated. Did she remember the time when Miss Webster, indignant +at Emilie for being a fortnight behind-hand in her weekly rent, refused +to lend a sofa for her dying father, without extra pay? Did she recall +the ill-made slops, the wretched attendance to which this selfish woman +treated them during the pressure of poverty and distress? Emilie was +human, and she remembered all. She knew, moreover, that Miss Webster +would make a gain of her instrument, and that it might suffer from six +weeks' rough use. She stood twisting some straw plait that lay on the +counter, in her fingers, and then coolly saying she would consider of +it, walked out of the shop with Edith, her bosom swelling with +conflicting feelings. The slight had been to her <i>father</i>—to her dear +dead father—she could not love Miss Webster, nor respect her—she could +not oblige her. She felt so now, however, and despised the meanness of +the lodging-house keeper, in making the request.</p> + +<p>Edith was by her side in good spirits, though she was to miss the London +journey. Not every young lady would be so content to remain all the +holiday-time with the governess; but Edith loved her governess. Happy +governess, to be loved by her pupil!</p> + +<p>Mrs. Parker received Emilie very kindly: she was satisfied that her +dear child would be happy in her absence, and she knew enough of Emilie, +she said, to believe that she would see that Mr. Parker had his meals +regularly and nicely served, and that the servants did not rob or run +away, or the boys put their dirty feet on the sofa, or bright fender +tops, or lead Edith into mischief; in short, the things that Emilie was +to see to were so numerous, that it would have required more eyes than +she possessed, and far more vigilance and experience than she lay claim +to, to fulfill all Mrs. Parker's desires.</p> + +<p>Amidst all the talking and novelty of her new situation, however, Emilie +was absent and thoughtful; she was dispirited, and yet she was not +subject to low spirits either. There was a cause. She had a tender +conscience—a conscience with which she was in the habit of conversing, +and conscience kept whispering to her the words—"What things soever ye +would that men should do unto you, do ye also to them." In vain she +tried to silence this monitor, and at last she asked to withdraw for a +few minutes, and scribbled a hasty note to Miss Webster; the first she +wrote was as follows:—</p> + +<p>"Dear Miss W.—I enclose the key of the pianoforte. I should have +acceded to your request, only I remembered standing on that very spot, +by that very counter, a year ago, petitioning hard for the loan of a +sofa for my dying father, who, in his feverish and restless state, +longed to leave the bed for awhile. I remembered that, and I could not +feel as if I could oblige you; but I have thought better of it, and beg +you will use the piano."</p> + +<p>"Yours truly,</p> + +<p>"EMILIE SCHOMBERG."</p> + +<p>She read the note before folding it, however; and somehow it did not +satisfy her. She crumpled it up, took a turn or two in the room, and +then wrote the following:—</p> + +<p>"Dear Miss Webster—I am sorry that I for a moment hesitated to lend you +my piano. It was selfish, and I hope you will excuse the incivility. I +enclose the key, and as your lodgers do not come in until to-morrow, I +hope the delay will not have inconvenienced you.</p> + +<p>"Believe me, yours truly,</p> + +<p>"EMILIE SCHOMBERG."</p> + +<p>Having sealed her little note, she asked Mrs. Parker's permission to +send it into High Street, and Emilie Schomberg was herself again. You +will see, by-and-bye, how Emilie returned Miss Webster's selfishness in +a matter yet more important than the loan of the piano. It would have +been meeting evil with evil had she retaliated the mean conduct of her +landlady. She would undoubtedly have done so, had she yielded to the +impulses of her nature; but "how then could I have prayed," said Emilie, +"forgive me my trespasses as I forgive them that trespass against me."</p> + +<p>The travellers set off early in the morning, and now began the holiday +of both governess and pupil. They loved one another so well that the +prospect of six weeks' close companionship was irksome to neither; but +Emilie had not a holiday of it altogether. Miss Edith was exacting and +petulant at times, even with those she loved, and she loved none better +than Emilie. Fred, the tormenting brother of whom Edith had spoken in +her list of troubles in our first chapter, was undeniably troublesome; +and the three maid-servants set themselves from the very first to resist +the governess's temporary authority; so we are wrong in calling these +Emilie's holidays. She had not, indeed, undertaken the charge very +willingly; but Mrs. Parker had befriended her in extremity, and she +loved Edith dearly, notwithstanding much in her that was not loveable, +so she armed herself for the conflict, and cheerfully and humbly +commenced her new duties.</p> + +<p>Fred and his elder brother John were at home for the holidays; they were +high-spirited lads of fourteen and fifteen years of age, and were +particularly fond of teasing both their elder sisters and little Edith; +a taste, by-the-bye, by no means peculiar to the Master Parkers, but one +which we cannot admire, nevertheless.</p> + +<p>The two boys, with Emilie and Edith, were on their way to pay aunt Agnes +a little visit, having received from Mrs. Crosse, at the farm, a request +for the honour of the young lady's company as well as that of her +brothers. John and Frederick were to walk, and Emily and Edith were to +go in the little pony gig. As they were leaving the town, Edith caught +sight of John coming out of a shop which was a favourite resort of most +of the young people and visitors of the town of L----. It was +professedly a stationer's and bookseller's, and was kept by Mrs. Cox, a +widow woman, who sold balls, fishing tackle, books, boats, miniature +spades, barrows, garden tools, patent medicines, &c., and who had +lately increased her importance, in the eyes of the young gentlemen, by +the announcement that various pyrotechnical wonders were to be obtained +at her shop. There are few boys who have not at some time of their +boyhood had a mania for pyrotechnics—in plain English, +<i>fire-works</i>—and there are few parents, and parents' neighbours, who +can say that they relish the smell of gunpowder on their premises.</p> + +<p>Mr. Parker had a particular aversion to amusements of the kind. He was +an enemy to fishing, to cricketing, to boating; he was a very quiet, +gentlemanly, dignified sort of man, and, although a kind father, had +perhaps set up rather too high a standard of quietness and order and +sedateness for his children. It is a curious fact, but one which it +would be rather difficult to disprove, that children not unfrequently +are the very opposites of their parents, in qualities such as I have +described. Possibly they may not have been inculcated quite in the right +manner; but that is not our business here.</p> + +<p>Edith guessed what her brothers were after, and told her suspicious to +Emilie; but not until they were within sight of the farm-house. John +and Fred, who had been a short cut across the fields, were in high glee +awaiting their arrival, and assisted Edith and her friend to alight more +politely than usual. Aunt Agnes was in ecstasies of delight to see her +dear Emilie, and she caressed Edith most lovingly also. Edith liked the +old lady, who had a fund of fairy tales, such as the German language is +rich in. Often would Edith go and sit by the old lady as she knitted, +and listen to the story of the "Flying Trunk," or the "Two Swans," with +untiring interest; and old ladies of a garrulous turn like good +listeners. So aunt Agnes called Edith a charming girl, and Edith, who +had seldom seen aunt Agnes otherwise than conversable and pleasant, +thought her a very nice old lady.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Crosse was extremely polite; and in the bustle of greeting, and +putting up the pony, and aunt Agnes' questions, the fire-work affair was +almost forgotten. When they all met at tea, the farmer, who had almost +as great a horror of gunpowder as Mr. Parker—and in the vicinity of +barns and stacks, with greater reason—declared he smelt a smell which +he never tolerated in his house, and asked his boys if they had any +about them. They denied it, but it was evident they knew something of +the matter; and now Emilie's concern was very great.</p> + +<p>After tea she took John by the arm, and looking into his face, said, "I +am going to be very intrusive, Sir; I am not your governess, and I have +no right to control you, but I wish to be your friend, and may I advise +you? Don't take those fire-works out on Mr. Crosse's premises, you have +no idea the mischief you might do. You could not have brought them to a +worse place. Be persuaded, pray do, to give it up." John, thus appealed +to, laughed heartily at Miss Schomberg's fears, said something not very +complimentary about Miss S. speaking one word for the farmer's stack, +and two for her own nerves, and made his escape to join his brother, and +the two young farmers, who were delighted at the prospect of a frolic.</p> + +<p>What was to be done? The lads were gone out, and doubtless would send up +their rockets and let off their squibs somewhere on the farm, which was +a very extensive one. The very idea of fire-works would put aunt Agnes +into a terrible state of alarm, so Emilie held her peace. To tell the +farmer would, she knew, irritate him fearfully; and yet no time was to +be lost. She was older than any of the party, and it was in reliance on +her discretion that the visit had been permitted. She appealed to Edith, +but Edith, who either had a little fancy to see the fire-works, or, who +feared her brothers' ridicule, or who thought Emilie took too much upon +herself, gave her no help in the matter.</p> + +<p>"Well, Edith," said Emilie, when the farmer's wife left the room to make +some preparation for a sumptuous supper, "I have made up my mind what to +do. I will not stay here if your brothers are to run any foolish risks +with those fire-works. I will go home at once, and tell your papa, he +will be in time to stop it; or I will apprise Mr. Crosse, and he can +take what steps he pleases."</p> + +<p>"Well, you will have a fine life of it, Miss Schomberg, if you tell any +tales, I can tell you," said Edith, pettishly, "and it really is no +business of yours. They are not under your care if I am. Oh, let them +be. Fred said he should let them off on the Langdale hills, far enough +away from the farm."</p> + +<p>But Emilie was firm. She tied on her bonnet, and determined to make one +more effort—it should be with Fred this time. She followed the track of +the lads, having first inquired of a farm-boy which road they had taken, +and as they had loitered, and she walked very fast, she soon overtook +them. They were seated on a bank by the road-side, when she got up to +them, and John was just displaying his treasures, squibs to make Miss +Edith jump, Catherine wheels, roman candles, sky-rockets, and blue +lights and crackers. The farmer's sons, Jerry and Tom, grinned +delightedly. Emilie stood for a few moments irresolute; the boys were +rude, and looked so daring—what should she say?</p> + +<p>"Young gentlemen," she began; they all took off their hats in mock +deference. "A woman preaching, I declare." "Go on. Madam, hear! hear! +hear!" said the young Crosses. "Young gentlemen," continued Emilie, with +emphasis, "it is to <i>you</i> I am speaking. I am determined that those +fire-works shall not be let off, if I can prevent it, on Mr. Crosse's +premises. If you will not give up your intention, I shall walk to L—, +and inform your father, and you know very well how displeased he will +be."</p> + +<p>"Who says we are going to let them off on Mr. Crosse's premises?" said +Fred, fiercely. "You are very interfering Miss Schomberg, will you go +back to your our own business, and to little Edith."</p> + +<p>"I will go to L----, master Fred," said Emilie, firmly, but kindly. "I +shall be sorry to get you into trouble, and I would rather not take the +walk, but I shall certainly do what I say if you persist."</p> + +<p>The boys looked doubtfully at one another. Fred seemed a little disposed +to yield, but to be conquered by his sister's governess was very +humiliating. However, they knew from Edith's account that Emilie, though +kind, was firm; and, therefore, after a little further altercation, they +agreed not to send up the fire-works that night, but they promised her +at the same time that she should not hear the last of it. They returned +to the farm much out of humour, and having hidden them in the box of the +pony gig, came in just in time for supper.</p> + +<p>The ride home was a silent one; Edith saw that her brothers were put +out, and began to think she did not like Emilie Schomberg to live with +at all. Emilie had done right, but she had a hard battle to fight; all +were against her. No one likes to be contradicted, or as Fred said, to +be managed. Emilie, however, went steadily on, speaking the truth, but +speaking it in love, and acting always "as seeing Him who is invisible."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_FIFTH"></a><h2>CHAPTER FIFTH.</h2> + +<p>EDITH'S TRIALS.</p> +<br> + +<p>"Now, Emilie, what do you think of my life?" said Edith, one day after +she and Fred had had one of their usual squabbles. "What do you think of +Fred <i>now</i>?"</p> + +<p>"I think, Edith, dear, that I would try and win him over to love and +affection, and not thwart and irritate him as you do. Have you forgotten +old Joe's maxim, 'a soft answer turneth away wrath?' but your grievous +words too often stir up strife. You told me the other day, dear, how +much the conduct of Sarah Murray pleased you; now you may act towards +John and Fred as Sarah did to little Susy."</p> + +<p>Edith shook her head. "It is not in me, Emilie, I am afraid."</p> + +<p>"No, dear," said Emilie, "you are right, it is not <i>in</i> you."</p> + +<p>"Well then what is the use of telling me to do things impossible?"</p> + +<p>"I did not say impossible, Edith, did I?"</p> + +<p>"No, but you say it is not in me to be gentle and all that, and I dare +say it is not; but you don't get much the better thought of, gentle as +you are. Miss Schomberg. John and Fred don't behave better to you than +they do to me, so far as I see."</p> + +<p>"Edith, dear, you set out wrong in your attempts to do right," said +Emily, kindly. "It is not <i>in</i> you; it is not <i>in</i> any one by nature to +be always gentle and kind. It is not in me I know. I was once a very +petulant child, being an only one, and it was but by very slow process +that I learned to govern myself, and I am learning it still."</p> + +<p>At this moment Fred came in, bearing in one hand a quantity of paper, +and in another a book with directions for balloon making. "Now Edith, +you are a clever young lady," he began.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Edith, wrathfully, "When it suits you, you can flatter."</p> + +<p>"No, but Edith, don't be cross, come! I want you to do me a service. I +want you to cut me out this tissue paper into the shape of this +pattern. I am going to send up a balloon to-morrow, and I can't cut it +out, will you do it for me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes," said Emilie, "we will do it together. Oh, come that is a +nice job, Edith dear, I can help you in that," and Emilie cleared away +her own work quick as thought, and asked Fred for particular directions +how it was to be done, all this time trying to hide Edith's +unwillingness to oblige her brother, and making it appear that Edith and +she were of one mind to help him.</p> + +<p>Fred, who since the fire-work affair had treated Emilie somewhat rudely, +and had on many occasions annoyed her considerably, looked in +astonishment at Miss Schomberg. She saw his surprise and understood it. +"Fred," said she frankly, "I know what you are thinking of, but let us +be friends. Give me the gratification of helping you to this pleasure, +since I hindered you of the other. You won't be too proud, will you, to +have my help?"</p> + +<p>Fred coloured. "Miss Schomberg," said he, "I don't deserve it of you, I +beg your pardon;" and thus they were reconciled.</p> + +<p>Oh, it is not often in great things that we are called upon to show +that we love our neighbour as ourselves. It is in the daily, hourly, +exercise of little domestic virtues, that they who truly love God may be +distinguished from those who love him not. It was not because Emilie was +naturally amiable or naturally good that she was thus able to show this +loving and forgiving spirit. She loved God, and love to him actuated +her; she thus adorned the doctrine of her Saviour in all things. Young +reader there is no such thing as a religion of words and feelings alone, +it must be a religion of <i>acts</i>; a life of warfare against the sins that +most easily beset you; a mortification of selfishness and pride, and a +humble acknowledgment, when you have done your <i>very best</i>, that you are +only unprofitable servants. Had you heard Emilie communing with her own +heart, you would have heard no self gratulation. She was far from +perfect even in the sight of man; in the sight of God she knew that in +many things she offended.</p> + +<p>It is not a perfect character that I would present to you in Emilie +Schomberg; but one who with all the weakness and imperfection of human +nature, made the will of God her rule and delight. This is not natural, +it is the habit of mind of those only who are created anew, new +creatures in Christ Jesus.</p> + +<p>This you may be sure Emilie did not fail to teach her pupil; but a great +many such lessons may be received into the head without one finding an +entrance to the heart, and Edith was in the not very uncommon habit of +looking on her faults in the light of misfortunes, just as any one might +regard a deformed limb or a painful disorder. She was, indeed, too much +accustomed to talk of her faults, and was a great deal too easy about +them.</p> + +<p>"My dear," Emilie would say after her confessions, "I do not believe you +see how sinful these things are, or surely you would not so very, very, +often commit them." This was the real state of the case; and it may be +said of all those who are in the habit of mere confessions, that they do +not believe things to be so very bad, because they do not understand how +very good and holy is the God against whom they sin. Edith had this to +learn; books could not teach her this. She who taught her all else so +well, could not teach her this; it was to be learned from a higher +source still.</p> + +<p>Well, you are thinking, some of you, that this is a prosy chapter, but +you must not skip it. It is just what Emily Schomberg would have said to +you, if you had been pupils of hers. The end of reading is not, or ought +not to be, mere amusement; so read a grave page now and then with +attention and thoughtfulness.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_SIXTH"></a><h2>CHAPTER SIXTH.</h2> + +<p>EMILIE'S TRIALS.</p> +<br> + +<p>The truth must be told of Emilie; she was not clever with her hands, and +she was, nevertheless, a little too confident in her power of execution, +so willing and anxious was she to serve you. The directions Fred gave +her were far from clear; and after the paper was all cut and was to be +pasted together, sorrowful to say, it would not do at all. Fred, in +spite of his late apology was very angry, and seizing the scissors said +he should know better another time than to ask Miss Schomberg to do what +she did not understand. "You have wasted my paper, too," said the boy, +"and my time in waiting for what I could better have done myself."</p> + +<p>Emilie was very sorry, and she said so; but a balloon could not exactly +be made out of her sorrow, and nothing short of a balloon would pacify +Fred, that was plain. "Must it be ready for to-morrow?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it <i>must</i>," he said. Three other boys were going to send up +balloons. It was the Queen's coronation day, and he had promised to take +a fourth balloon to the party; and the rehearsal of all this stirred up +Fred's ire afresh, and he looked any thing but kind at Miss Schomberg. +What was to be done? Edith suggested driving to the next market town to +buy one; but her papa wanted the pony gig, so they could only sally +forth to Mrs. Cox's for some more tissue paper, and begin the work +again. This was very provoking to Edith.</p> + +<p>"To have spent all the morning and now to be going to spend all the +afternoon over a trumpery balloon, which you can't make after all, Miss +Schomberg, is very tiresome, and I wanted to go to old Joe Murray's +to-day and see if the children have picked me up any corallines."</p> + +<p>"I am very sorry, dear, my carelessness should punish you; but don't +disturb me by grumbling and I will try and get done before tea, and then +we will go together." This time Emilie was more successful; she took +pains to understand what was to be done, and the gores of her balloon +fitted beautifully.</p> + +<p>"Now Edith, dear, ring for some paste," said Emilie, just as the clock +struck four; Margaret answered the bell. Margaret was the housemaid, and +so far from endeavouring in her capacity to overcome evil with good, she +was perpetually making mischief and increasing any evil there might be, +either in kitchen or parlour, by her mode of delivering a message. She +would be sure to add her mite to any blame that she might hear, in her +report to the kitchen, and thus, without being herself a bad or violent +temper, was continually fomenting strife, and adding fuel to the fire of +the cook, who was of a very choleric turn. The request for paste was +civilly made and received, but Emilie unfortunately called Margaret back +to say, "Oh, ask cook, please, to make it stiffer than she did the last +that we had for the kite; that did not prove quite strong."</p> + +<p>Margaret took the message down and informed cook that "Miss Schomberg +did not think she knew how to make paste." "Then let her come and make +it herself," said cook. "She wants to be cook I think; she had better +come. I sha'nt make it. What is it for?"</p> + +<p>"Oh," said Margaret, "she is after some foreign filagree work of hers, +that's all."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm busy now and I am not going to put myself out about it, she +must wait."</p> + +<p>Emilie did wait the due time, but as the paste did not come she went +down for it. "Is the paste ready, cook?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"No, Miss Schomberg," was the short reply, and cook went on assiduously +washing up her plates.</p> + +<p>"Will you be so kind as to make it, cook, for I want it particularly +that it may have as much time as possible to dry."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you will make it yourself then," was the gracious rejoinder. +Emilie was not above making a little paste, and as she saw that +something had put cook out, she willingly consented; but she did not +know where to get either flour or saucepan, and cook and Margaret kept +making signs and laughing, so that it was not very pleasant. She grew +quite hot, as she had to ask first for a spoon, then for a saucepan, +then for the flour and water; at last she modestly turned round and +said, "Cook, I really do not quite know how to make a little paste. I +am ashamed to say it, but I have lived so long in lodgings that I see +nothing of what is done in the kitchen. Will you tell or show me? I am +very ignorant."</p> + +<p>Her kind civil tone quite changed cook's, and she said, "Oh, Miss, I'll +make it, only you see, you shouldn't have said I didn't know how." +Emilie explained, and the cook was pacified, and gave Miss Schomberg a +good deal of gratuitous information during the process. How she did not +like her place, and should not stay, and how she disliked her mistress, +and plenty more—to which Emilie listened politely, but did not make +much reply. She plainly perceived that cook wanted a very forbearing +mistress, but she could not exactly tell her so. She merely said in her +quaint quiet way, that every one had something to bear, and the paste +being made, she left the kitchen.</p> + +<p>"Well, I must say, Miss Schomberg has a nice way of speaking, which gets +over you some how," said cook, "I wish I had her temper."</p> + +<p>More than one in the kitchen mentally echoed that wish of cook's.</p> + +<p>The balloon went on beautifully, and was completed by seven o'clock. +Fred was delighted when he came in to tea, and John no less so. All the +rude speeches were forgotten, and Emilie was as sympathetic in her joy +as an elder sister could have been. "I don't know what you will do +without Miss Schomberg," said Mr. Parker, as he sipped his tea.</p> + +<p>"She had better come and live with us," said Fred, "and keep us all in +order. I'm sure I should have no objection."</p> + +<p>Emilie felt quite paid for the little self-denial she had exercised, +when she found that her greatest enemy, he who had declared he would +"plague her to death, and pay her off for not letting them send up their +fire-works," was really conquered by that powerful weapon, <i>love</i>.</p> + +<p>Fred had thought more than he chose to acknowledge of Emilie's kindness; +he could not forget it. It was so different to the treatment he had met +with from his associates generally. It made him ask what could be the +reason of Emilie's conduct. She had nothing to get by it, that was +certain, and Fred made up his mind to have some talk with Miss Schomberg +on the subject the first time they were alone. He had some trials at +school with a boy who was bent on annoying him, and trying to stir up +his temper; perhaps the peacemaker might tell him how to deal with this +lad. Fred was an impetuous boy, and now began to like Miss Schomberg as +warmly as he had previously disliked her.</p> + +<p>On their way to old Joe's house that night, Emilie thought she would +call in on Miss Webster, not having parted from her very warmly on the +first night of the holidays. A fortnight of these holidays had passed +away, and Emilie began to long for her quiet evenings, and to see dear +aunt Agnes again. She looked quite affectionately up to the little +sitting room window, where her geraniums stood, and even thought kindly +of Miss Webster herself, to whom it was not quite so easy to feel +genial. She entered the shop. The apprentice sate there at work, busily +trimming a fine rice straw bonnet for the lodger within. She looked up +joyously at Emilie's approach. She thought how often that kind German +face had been to her like a sunbeam on a dull path; how often her +musical voice had spoken words of counsel, and comfort, and sympathy, +to her in her hard life. How she had pressed her hand when she (the +apprentice) came home one night and told her, "My poor mother is dead," +and how she had said, "We are both orphans now, Lucy. We can feel for +one another." How she had taught her by example, often, and by word +sometimes, not to answer again if any thing annoyed or irritated her, +and in short how much Lucy had missed the young lady only Lucy could +say.</p> + +<p>Emilie inquired for her mistress, but the words were scarcely out of her +lips, than she said, "Oh, Miss, she's so bad! She has scalt her foot, +and is quite laid up, and the lodgers are very angry. They say they +don't get properly attended to and so they mean to go. Dear me, there is +such a commotion, but her foot is very had, poor thing, and I have to +mind the shop, or I would wait upon her more; and the girl is very +inattentive and saucy, so that I don't see what we are to do. Will you +go and see Miss Webster, Miss?"</p> + +<p>Emilie cheerfully consented, leaving Edith with Lucy to learn straw +plaiting, if she liked, and to listen to her artless talk. Lucy had less +veneration for the name of Queen Victoria than for that of Schomberg. +Emilie was to her the very perfection of human nature, and accordingly +she sang her praises loud and long.</p> + +<p>On the sofa, the very sofa for which M. Schomberg had so longed, lay +Miss Webster, the expression of her face manifesting the greatest pain. +The servant girl had just brought up her mistress's tea, a cold, +slopped, miserable looking mess. A slice of thick bread and butter, half +soaked in the spilled beverage, was on a plate, and that a dirty one; +and the tray which held the meal was offered to the poor sick woman so +carelessly, that the contents were nearly shot into her lap. It was easy +to see that love formed no part of Betsey's service of her mistress, and +that she rendered every attention grudgingly and ill. Emilie went up +cordially to Miss Webster, and was not prepared for the repulsive +reception with which she met. She wondered what she could have said or +done, except, indeed, in the refusal of the instrument, and that was +atoned for. Emilie might have known, however, that nothing makes our +manners so distant and cold to another, as the knowledge that we have +injured or offended him. Miss Webster, in receiving Emilie's advances, +truly was experiencing the truth of the scripture saying, that coals of +fire should be heaped on her head.</p> + +<p>Poor Miss Webster! "There! set down the tray, you may go, and don't let +me see you in that filthy cap again, not fit to be touched with a pair +of tongs; and don't go up to Mrs. Newson in that slipshod fashion, don't +Betsey; and when you have taken up tea come here, I have an errand for +you to go. Shut the door gently. Oh, dear! dear, these servants!"</p> + +<p>This was so continually the lament of Miss Webster, that Emilie would +not have noticed it, but that she appeared so miserable, and she +therefore kindly said, "I am afraid Betsey does not wait on you nicely, +Miss Webster, she is so very young. I had no idea of this accident, how +did it happen?"</p> + +<p>How it happened took Miss Webster some time to tell. It happened in no +very unusual manner, and the effect was a scalt foot, which she +forthwith shewed Miss Schomberg. There was no doubt that it was a very +bad foot, and Emilie saw that it needed a good nurse more than a good +doctor. Mr. Parker was a medical man, and Emilie knew she should have no +difficulty in obtaining that kind of assistance for her. But the +nursing! Miss Webster was feverish and uneasy, and in such suffering +that something must be done. At the sight of her pain all was forgotten, +but that she was a fellow-creature, helpless and forsaken, and that she +must be helped.</p> + +<p>All this time any one coming in might have imagined that Emilie had been +the cause of the disaster, so affronted was Miss Webster's manner, and +so pettishly did she reject all her visitor's suggestions as +preposterous and impossible.</p> + +<p>"Will you give up your walk to-night, Edith," said Emilie on her return +to the shop, "Poor Miss Webster is in such pain I cannot leave her, and +if you would run home and ask your papa to step in and see her, and say +she has scalt her foot badly, I would thank you very much."</p> + +<p>Emilie spoke earnestly, so earnestly that Edith asked if she were grown +very fond of that "sour old maid all of a sudden."</p> + +<p>"Very fond! No Edith; but it does not, or ought not to require us to be +very fond of people to do our duty to them."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't see what duty you owe to that mean creature, and I see no +reason why I should lose my walk again to-night. You treat people you +don't love better than those you do it seems; or else your professions +of loving me mean nothing. All day long you have been after Fred's +balloon, and now I suppose mean to be all night long after Miss +Webster's foot."</p> + +<p>Emilie made no reply; she could only have reproached Edith for +selfishness and temper at least equal to Miss Webster's, but telling +Lucy she should soon return, hastened to Mr. Parker's house, followed by +Edith; he was soon at the patient's side, and as Emilie foretold, it was +a case more for an attentive nurse than a skilful doctor. He promised to +send her an application, but, "Miss Schomberg," said he, "sleep is what +she wants; she tells me she has had no rest since the accident occurred. +What is to be done?" "Can you not send for a neighbour, Miss Webster, or +some one to attend to your household, and to nurse you too. If you worry +yourself in this way you will be quite ill."</p> + +<p>Poor Miss Webster was ill, she knew it; and having neither neighbour +nor friend within reach, she did what was very natural in her case, she +took up her handkerchief and began to cry. "Oh, come, Miss Webster," +said Emilie, cheerfully, "I will get you to bed, and Lucy shall come +when the shop is closed, and to-morrow I will get aunt Agnes to come and +nurse you. Keep up your spirits."</p> + +<p>"Ah, it is very well to talk of keeping up spirits, and as to your aunt +Agnes, there never was any love lost between us. No thank you, Miss +Schomberg, no thank you. If I may just trouble you to help me to the +side of my bed, I can get in, and do very well alone. <i>Good</i> night." +Emilie stood looking pitifully at her. "I hope I don't keep you, Miss +Schomberg, pray don't stay, you cannot help me," and here Miss Webster +rose, but the agony of putting her foot to the ground was so great that +she could not restrain a cry, and Emilie, who saw that the poor sufferer +was like a child in helplessness, and like a child, moreover, in +petulance, calmly but resolutely declared her intention of remaining +until Lucy could leave the shop.</p> + +<p>Having helped her landlady into bed, she ran down-stairs to try and +appease the indignant lodgers, who protested, and with truth, that they +had rung, rung, rung, and no one answered the bell; that they wanted +tea, that Miss Webster had undertaken to wait on them, that they were +<i>not</i> waited on, and that accordingly they would seek other lodgings on +the morrow, they would, &c., &c. "Miss Webster, ma'am, is very ill +to-night. She has a young careless servant girl, and is, I assure you, +very much distressed that you should be put out thus. I will bring up +your tea, ma'am, in five minutes, if you will allow me. It is very +disagreeable for you, but I am sure if you could see the poor woman, +ma'am, you would pity her." Mrs. Harmer did pity her only from Emilie's +simple account of her state, and declared she was very sorry she had +seemed angry, but the girl did not say her mistress was ill, only that +she was lying down, which appeared very disrespectful and inattentive, +when they had been waiting two hours for tea.</p> + +<p>The shop was by this time cleared up, and Lucy was able to attend to the +lodgers. Whilst Emilie having applied the rags soaked in the lotion +which had arrived, proceeded to get Miss Webster a warm and neatly +served cup of tea.</p> + +<p>It would have been very cheering to hear a pleasant "thank you;" but +Miss Webster received all these attentions with stiff and almost silent +displeasure. Do not blame her too severely, a hard struggle was going +on; but the law of kindness is at work, and it will not fail.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_SEVENTH"></a><h2>CHAPTER SEVENTH.</h2> + +<p>BETTER THINGS.</p> +<br> + +<p>"Ah, if Miss Schomberg had asked me to wait on <i>her</i>, how gladly would I +have done it, night after night, day after day, and should have thought +myself well paid with a smile; but to sit up all night with a person, +who cares no more for me, than I for her, and that is nothing! and then +to have to get down to-morrow and attend to the shop, all the same as if +I had slept well, is no joke. Oh, dear me! how sleepy I am, two o'clock! +I was to change those rags at two; I really scarcely dare attempt it, +she seems so irritable now." So soliloquized Lucy, who, kindhearted as +she was, could not be expected to take quite so much delight in nursing +her cross mistress, who never befriended her, as she would have done a +kinder, gentler person; but Lucy read her Bible, and she had been +trying, though not so long as Emilie, nor always so successfully it +must be owned, to live as though she read it.</p> + +<p>"Miss Webster, ma'am, the doctor said those rags were to be changed +every two hours. May I do it for you? I can't do it as well as Miss +Schomberg, but I will do my very best not to hurt you."</p> + +<p>"I want sleep child," said Miss Webster, "I want <i>sleep</i>, leave me +alone."</p> + +<p>"You can't sleep in such pain, ma'am," said poor Lucy, quite at her wits +ends.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think, I must know that as well as you? There! there's that +rush light gone out, and you never put any water in the tin; a pretty +nurse you make, now I shall have that smell in my nose all night. You +must have set it in a draught. What business has a rush light to go out +in a couple of hours? I wonder."</p> + +<p>Lucy put the obnoxious night shade out of the room, and went back to the +bedside. For a long time she was unsuccessful, but at last Miss Webster +consented to have her foot dressed, and even cheered her young nurse by +the acknowledgment that she did it very well, considering; and thus the +night wore away.</p> + +<p>Quite early Emilie was at her post, and was grieved to see that Miss +Webster still looked haggard and suffering, and as if she had not slept. +In answer to her inquiries, Lucy said that she had no rest all night.</p> + +<p>"Rest! and how can I rest, Miss Schomberg? I can't afford to lose my +lodgers, and lose them I shall."</p> + +<p>"Only try and keep quiet," said Emilie, "and I will see that they do not +suffer from want of attendance. <i>You</i> cannot help them, do consent to +leave all thought, all management, to those who can think and manage. +May aunt Agnes come and nurse you, and attend to the housekeeping?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," was reluctantly, and not very graciously uttered.</p> + +<p>"Well then, Lucy will have time to attend to you. I would gladly nurse +you myself, but you know I may not neglect Miss Parker; now take this +draught, and try and sleep."</p> + +<p>"Miss Schomberg," said the poor woman, "you won't lack friends to nurse +you on a sick bed; I have none."</p> + +<p>"Miss Webster, if I were to be laid on a sick bed, and were to lose aunt +Agnes, I should be alone in a country that is not my own country, +without money and without friends; but we may both of us have a friend +who sticketh closer than a brother, think of him, ma'am, now, and ask +him to make your bed in your sickness."</p> + +<p>She took the feverish hand of the patient as she said this, who, +bursting into a flood of tears, replied, "Ah, Miss Schomberg! I don't +deserve it of you, and that is the truth; but keep my hand, it feels +like a friend's, hold it, will you, and I think I shall sleep a little +while;" and Emilie stood and held her hand, stood till she was faint and +weary, and then withdrawing it as gently as ever mother unloosed an +infant's hold, she withdrew, shaded the light from the sleeper's eyes, +and stole out of the room, leaving the sufferer at ease, and in one of +those heavy sleeps which exhaustion and illness often produce.</p> + +<p>Her visit to the kitchen was most discouraging. Betsey was only just +down, and the kettle did not boil, nor were any preparations made for +the lodgers' breakfast, to which it only wanted an hour. Emilie could +have found it in her heart to scold the lazy, selfish girl, who had +enjoyed a sound sleep all night, whilst Lucy had gone unrefreshed to +her daily duties, but she forebore. "Scolding never does answer," +thought Emilie, "and I won't begin to-day, but I must try and reform +this girl at all events, by some means, and that shall be done at once."</p> + +<p>"Come, Betsey," said Emilie pleasantly, "now, we shall see what sort of +a manager you will be; you must do all you can to make things tidy and +comfortable for the lodgers. Is their room swept and dusted?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, deary me, Miss, what time have I had for that, I should like to +know?"</p> + +<p>"Well now, get every thing ready for their breakfast, and pray don't +bang doors or make a great clatter with the china, as you set the table. +Every sound is heard in this small house, and your mistress has had no +sleep all night."</p> + +<p>"Well, she'll be doubly cross to day, then, I'll be bound. Howsoever, I +shall only stay my month, and it don't much matter what I do, she never +gives a servant a good character, and I don't expect it."</p> + +<p>"No, and you will not deserve it if you are inattentive and unfeeling +now. It is not doing as you would be done by, either. Do now, Betsey, +forget, for a few days, that Miss Webster ever scolded or found fault +with you. If you want to love any one just do him a kindness, and you +don't know how fast love springs up in the heart; you would be much +happier, Betsey, I am sure. Come <i>try</i>, you are not a cross girl, and +you don't mean to be unkind now. I shall expect to hear from Lucy, when +I come again, how well you have managed together."</p> + +<p>Fred went to Mr. Crosse's after breakfast, in the pony gig, for aunt +Agnes, who, at a summons from Emilie, was quite willing to come and see +after Miss Webster's household. She soon put mutters into a better +train, both in kitchen and parlour, so that the pacified lodgers +consented to remain. And though neither Lucy nor Betsey altogether liked +aunt Agnes, they found her quite an improvement on Miss Webster.</p> + +<p>It is not our object to follow Miss Webster through her domestic +troubles nor through the tedious process of the convalescence of a scalt +foot. We will rather follow Edith into her chamber, and see how she is +trying to learn the arts of the Peacemaker there.</p> + +<p>Edith's head is bent over a book, a torn book, and her countenance is +flushed and heated. She is out of breath, too, and her hair is hanging +disordered about her pretty face; not pretty now, however; it is an +angry face—and an angry face is never pretty.</p> + +<p>Has she been quarrelling with Fred again? yes, even so. Fred would not +give up Hans Andersen's Tales, which Emilie had just given Edith, and +which she was reading busily, when some one came to see her about a new +bonnet, so she left the book on the table, and in the mean time Fred +came in, snatched it up, and was soon deep in the feats of the "Flying +Trunk." Then came the little lady back and demanded the book, not very +pleasantly, if the truth must be told. Fred meant to give it up, but he +meant to tease his sister first, and Edith, who had no patience to wait, +snatched at the book. Fred of course resisted, and it was not until the +book had been nearly parted from its cover, and some damage had ensued +to the dress and hair of both parties that Edith regained possession; +not <i>peaceable</i> possession, however, for both of the children's spirits +were ruffled.</p> + +<p>Edith flew to her room almost as fast as if she had been on the "Flying +Trunk," in the Fairy Tale. When there, she could not read, and in +displeasure with herself and with every one, dashed the little volume +away and cried long and bitterly. Edith had not been an insensible +spectator of the constantly and self-denying gentle conduct of Emilie. +Her example, far more than her precepts, had affected her powerfully, +but she had much to contend with, and it seemed to her as if at the very +times she meant to be kind and gentle something occurred to put her out. +"I <i>will</i> try, oh, I will try," said Edith again and again, "but it is +such hard work."—Yes, Edith, hard enough, and work which even Emilie +can scarcely help you in. You wrestle against a powerful and a cruel +enemy, and you need great and powerful aid; but you have read your Bible +Edith, and again and again has Emilie said to you, "of yourself you can +do nothing."</p> + +<p>Edith had had a long conversation on this very subject only that morning +with her friend, as they were walking on the sea shore, and under the +influence of the calm lovely summer's sky, and within the sound of +Emilie's clear persuasive voice, it did not seem a hard matter to Edith +to love and to be loving. She could love Fred, she could even bear a +rough pull of the hair from him, she could stand a little teasing from +John, who found fault with a new muslin frock she wore at dinner, and we +all know it is not pleasant to have our dress found fault with; but this +attack of Fred's about the book, was <i>not</i> to be borne, not by Edith, at +least, and thus she sobbed and cried in her own room, thinking herself +the most miserable of creatures, and very indignant that Emilie did not +come to comfort her; "but she is gone out after that tiresome old woman, +with her scalt foot, I dare say," said Edith, "and she would only tell +me I was wrong if she were here—oh dear! oh dear me!" and here she +sobbed again.</p> + +<p>Solitude is a wonderfully calming, composing thing; Emilie knew that, +and she did quite right to leave Edith alone. It was time she should +listen seriously to a voice which seldom made itself heard, but +conscience was resolute to-day, and did not spare Edith. It told her all +the truth, (you may trust conscience for that,) it told her that the +very reason why she failed in her efforts to do right was because she +had a wrong <i>motive</i>; and that was, love of the approbation of her +fellow creatures, and not real love to God. She would have quarrelled +with any one else who dared to tell her this; but it was of no use +quarrelling with conscience. Conscience had it all its own way to-day, +and went on answering every objection so quietly, and to the point, that +by degrees Edith grew quiet and subdued; and what do you think she did? +She took up a little Bible that lay on her table, and began to read it. +She could not pray as yet. She did not feel kind enough for that. Emilie +had often said to her that she should be at peace with every one before +she lifted up her heart to the "God of peace." She turned over the +leaves and tried to find the chapter, which she knew very well, about +the king who took account of his servants, and who forgave the man the +great debt of ten thousand talents; and then when that man went out and +found his servant who owed him but one hundred pence, he took him by the +throat, and said, "Pay me that thou owest." In vain did the man beseech +for patience, he that had only just been forgiven ten thousand talents +could not have pity on the man who owed him but one hundred pence.</p> + +<p>Often had Edith read this chapter, and very just was her indignation +against the hard-hearted servant, who, with his king's lesson of mercy +and forgiveness fresh in his memory, could not practise the same to one +who owed him infinitely less than he had done his master; and yet here +was little Edith who could not forgive Fred his injuries, when, +nevertheless, God was willing to forgive hers. Had Fred injured her as +she had injured God? surely not; and yet she might now kneel down and +receive at once the forgiveness of all her <i>great</i> sins. Nay, more: she +had been receiving mercy and patience at the hands of her Heavenly +Father many years. She had neglected Him, done many things contrary to +his law, owed him, indeed, the ten thousand talents, and yet she was +spared.</p> + +<p>She had a great deal of revenge in her heart still, however; and she +could not, reason as she would, try as she would, read as she would, get +it out, so she sunk down on her knees, and lifted up her heart very +sincerely, to ask God to take it away. She had often said her prayers, +and had found no difficulty in that, but now it seemed quite different. +She could find no words, she could only feel. Well, that was enough. He +who saw in secret, saw her heart, and knew how it felt. She felt she +needed forgiveness, and that she could only have it by asking it of Him +who had power to forgive sins. She took her great debt to Jesus, and he +cancelled it; she hoped she was forgiven, and now, oh! how ready she +felt to forgive Fred. How small a sum seemed his hundred pence—his +little acts of annoyances compared with her many sins against God. Now +she felt and understood the meaning of the Saviour's lesson to Peter. +She had entered the same school as Peter, and though a slow she was a +sincere learner.</p> + +<p>She is in the right way now to learn the true law of kindness. None but +the <i>Saviour,</i> who was love itself, could teach her this. If any earthly +teacher could have done so, surely Emilie would have succeeded.</p> + +<p>She went down to tea softened and sad, for she felt very humble. The +consideration of her great unlikeness to the character of Jesus, +affected her. "When he was reviled he reviled not again; when he +suffered he threatened not;" and this thought made her feel more than +any sermon or lecture or reproof she ever had in her life, how she +needed to be changed, her whole self changed; not her old bad nature +<i>patched</i> up, but her whole heart made <i>new</i>. She did not say much at +tea; she did not formally apologise to Fred for her conduct to him. He +looked very cross, so perhaps it was wiser to act rather than to speak; +but she handed him the bread and butter, and buttered him a piece of +toast, and in many little quiet ways told him she wished to be friends +with him. John began at her frock again. She could not laugh, (she was +not in a laughing humour,) but she said she would not wear it any more, +during his holidays, if he disliked it so <i>very</i> much. The greatest +trial to her temper was the being told she looked cross. Emilie, who +could see the sun of peace behind the cloud, was half angry herself at +this speech, and said to Mr. Parker, "If she looks cross she is not +cross, Sir, but I think she is not in very good spirits. Every one looks +a little sad sometimes;" and Mr. Porker, happily, being called out to a +patient at that moment, gave Edith opportunity to swallow her grief.</p> + +<p>After tea the boys prepared to accompany their sister and her governess +in the usual evening walk. Edith did not desire their company, but she +did not say so; and they all went out very silent for them. On their +road to the beach they met a man who had a cage of canaries to sell, the +very things that Fred had desired so long, and to purchase which he had +saved his money.</p> + +<p>Edith had no taste for noisy canaries; few great talkers have, for they +do interrupt conversation must undeniably, but Fred thought it would be +most delightful to have them, and as he had a breeding cage which had +belonged to one of his elder sisters years before, he asked the price +and began to make his bargain. The birds were bought and the man +dispatched to the house with them, with orders to call for payment at +nine o'clock, before Fred remembered that he did not exactly know where +he should keep them. In the sitting room it would be quite out of the +question he knew, for the noise would distract his mother. Papa was not +likely to admit canaries into his study for consultations; and Fred knew +only of one likely or possible place, but the door to that was closed, +unless he could find a door to Edith's heart, and he had just quarrelled +with Edith; what a pity! To make it up with her, however, just to gain +his point, he was too proud to do, and was therefore gloomy and uncivil.</p> + +<p>"Where are you going to keep your canaries Fred?" asked his sister.</p> + +<p>"In the cage," said Fred, shortly and tartly.</p> + +<p>"Yes; but in what room?"</p> + +<p>"In my bed-room," said Fred.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I dare say! will you though?" said John, who as he shared his +brother's apartment had some right to have a voice in the matter. "I am +not going to be woke at daylight every morning by your canaries. And +such an unwholesome plan; I am sure papa and mamma won't let you. What a +pity you bought the birds! you can't keep them in our small house. Get +off your bargain, I would if I were you. Besides, who will take care of +them all the week? they will want feeding other days besides Saturdays, +I suppose."</p> + +<p>Fred looked annoyed, and dropped behind the party. Edith whispered to +Emilie, "Go you on with John, I want to talk to Fred."</p> + +<p>"Fred, dear," said she, "will you keep your birds in my little room, +where my old toys are? I will clear a place, and I shan't mind their +singing, <i>do</i> Fred. I have often hindered your pleasures, now let me +have the comfort of making it up a little to you, and I will feed them +and clean them while you are at school in the week."</p> + +<p>"You may change your mind Edith, and you know if my birds are in your +room, I shall have to be there a good deal; and they will make a rare +noise sometimes, and some one must take care of them all the week—I can +only attend to them on Saturdays, you know."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have been thinking of all that, and I expect I shall sometimes +<i>wish</i> to change my mind, but I shall not do it. I am very selfish I +know, but I mean to try to be better, Fred. Take my little room, do."</p> + +<p>Fred was a proud boy, and would rather have had to thank any one than +Edith just then; but nevertheless he accepted her offer, and thanked his +little sister, though not quite so kindly as he might have done, and +that is the truth. There is a grace in accepting as well as in giving. +Edith had given up what she had much prized, the independence of a +little room, (it was but a little one,) a little room all to herself; +but she did so because she felt love springing up in her heart. She +acted in obedience to the dictates of the law of kindness, and she felt +lighter and happier than she had done for a long time. Fred was by +degrees quite cheered, and amused his companions by his droll talk for +some way. Spying, however, one of his school-fellows on the rocks at a +distance, he and John, joined him abruptly, and thus Emilie and Edith +were left alone.</p> + +<p>Sincerity is never loquacious, never egotistic. If you don't understand +these words I will tell you what I mean. A person really in earnest; and +sincere, does not talk much of earnestness and sincerity, still loss of +himself. Edith could not tell Emilie of her new resolutions, of her +mental conflict, but she was so loving and affectionate in her manner to +her friend, that I think Emilie understood; at any rate, she saw that +Edith was very pleasant, and very gentle that night, and loved her more +than ever. She saw and felt there was a change come over her. They +walked far, and on their return found the canaries arrived, and Fred +very busy in putting them up in their new abode. He had rather +unceremoniously moved Edith's bookcase and boxes, to make room for the +bird cages. She did say, "I think you might have asked my leave," but +she instantly recalled it. "Oh, never mind; what pretty little things, I +shall like to have them with me."</p> + +<p>It really was a trial to Edith to see all her neat arrangements upset, +and to find how very coolly Fred did it, too. She sighed and thought, +"Ah, I shall not be mistress here now I see!" but Fred was gone down +stairs for some water and seed, and did not hear her laments. He was +very full of his scheme for canary breeding at supper, and Emilie was +quite as full of sympathy in his joy as Fred desired; she took a real +interest in the matter. Her father, she said, had given much attention +to canary breeding, for the Germans were noted for their management of +canaries; she could help him, she thought, if he would accept her help. +So they were very merry over the affair at supper time, and Mr. Parker, +in his quiet way, enjoyed it too. Suddenly, however, the merriment +received a check. Margaret, who had been to look at the birds, came in +with the intelligence that Muff, the pet cat of Miss Edith, was sitting +in the dusk, watching the canaries with no friendly eye, and that she +had even made a dart at the cage; and she prophesied that the birds +would not be safe long. A bird of ill omen was Margaret always; she +thought the worst and feared the worst of every one, man or animal. +"Why, it is easy to keep the door of the cage shut," John remarked, but +to keep puss out of her old haunts was not possible.</p> + +<p>Muff was not a kitten, but a venerable cat, who had belonged to Edith's +elder sister, and was given to Edith, the day that sister married, as a +very precious gift; and Edith loved that grey cat, loved her dearly. She +always sat in the same place in that dear little room. Edith had only +that day made her a new red leather collar, and Muff looked very smart +in it. "Muff won't hurt the birds, Fred dear," said Edith, "she is not +like a common cat." Whatever points of dissimilarity there might he +between Muff and the cat race in general, in this particular she quite +resembled them; she loved birds, and would not be very nice as to the +manner of obtaining them. What was to be done? Fred had all manner of +projects in his head for teaching the canaries to fly out and in the +cage, to bathe, to perch on his finger, etc.; but if, whenever any one +chanced to leave the door of the room open, Muff were to bounce in, why +there was an end to all such schemes. In short, Muff would get the birds +by fair means or foul, there was no doubt of that, and Fred was +desperate. I cannot tell how many times Muff was called "a nasty cat," +"a tiresome cat," "a vicious cat," and little Edith's heart was full, +for she did not believe any evil of her favourite; and to hear her so +maligned, seemed like a personal insult; but she bore it patiently. She +asked Emilie at bed time what she should do about Muff; she had so long +been accustomed to her seat by the sunny window in Edith's room, that to +try and tempt her from it she knew would be vain.</p> + +<p>Emilie agreed with her, but hoped Muff would practise self-denial. +Before Edith lay down to rest that night, she again thought over all +that she had done through the day; again knelt down and asked for help +to overcome that which was sinful within her, and then lay down to +sleep. Edith was but a child, and she could not forget Muff; she +thought, and very truly, that there was a general wish to displace her +Muff. Not one in the house would be sorry to see Muff sent away she +know, and Margaret at supper time seemed so pleased to report of Muff's +designs. This thought made her love Muff all the more, but then there +were Fred's birds. It would be very sad if any of them should be lost +through her cat; what should she do? She wished to win Fred to love and +gentleness. Should she part with Muff? Miss Schomberg (aunt Agnes that +is) had expressed a wish for a nice quiet cat, and this, her beauty, +would just suit her. "Shall I take Muff to High-Street to-morrow? I +will," were her last thoughts, but the resolution cost her something, +and Edith's pillow was wet with tears. When she arose the next morning +she felt as we are all apt to feel after the excitement of new and +sudden resolves, rather flat; and the sight of Muff sitting near a +laurel bush in the garden, enjoying the morning sun, quite unnerved her. +"Part with Muff! No, I cannot; and I don't believe any one would do such +a thing for such a boy as Fred. I cannot part with Muff, that's certain. +Fred had better give up his birds, and so I shall tell him."</p> + +<p>All this is very natural, but what is very natural is often very wrong, +and Edith did not fuel that calm happiness which she had done the night +before. When she received Emilie's morning kiss, she said, "Well, Miss +Schomberg, I thought last night I had made up my mind to part with Muff, +but I really cannot! I do love her so!"</p> + +<p>"It would be a great trial to you, I should think," said Emilie, "and +one that no one could <i>ask</i> of you, but if she had a good master, do you +think you should mind it so very much? You would only have your own +sorrow to think of, and really it would be a kindness if those poor +birds are to be kept. The cat terrifies them by springing at the wires, +and if they were sitting they would certainly be frightened off their +nests."</p> + +<p>Edith looked perplexed; "What shall I do Emilie? I <i>do</i> wish to please +Fred, I do wish to do as I would be done by; I really want to get rid of +my selfish nature, and yet it will keep coming back."</p> + +<p>"Watch as well as pray, dear," said Emilie affectionately, "and you will +conquer at last." They went down to breakfast together. "Watch and +pray." That word "watch," was R word in season to Edith, she had +<i>prayed</i> but had well nigh forgotten to <i>watch</i>.</p> + +<p>She could not eat her meal, however, her heart was full with the +greatness of the sacrifice before her. Do not laugh at the word <i>great</i> +sacrifice. It was very great to Edith; she loved with all her heart; and +to part with what we love, be it a dog, a cat, a bird, or any inanimate +possession, is a great pang. After breakfast she went into the little +room where Muff usually eat, and taking hold of the favourite, hugged +and kissed her lovingly, then carrying her down stairs to the kitchen, +asked cook for a large basket, and with a little help from Margaret, +tied her down and safely confined her; then giving the precious load to +her father's errand boy, trotted into the town, and stopped not till she +reached Miss Webster's door. Her early visit rather astonished aunt +Agnes, who was at that moment busily engaged in dressing Miss Webster's +foot, and at the announcement of Betsey—"Please Ma'am little Miss +Parker is called and has brought you a cat," she jumped so that she +spilled Miss Webster's lotion.</p> + +<p>"A cat! a cat!" echoed the ladies. "I will have no cats here Miss +Schomberg, if you please," said the irritable Mistress. "I always did +hate cats, there is no end to the mischief they do. I never did keep +one, and never mean to do."</p> + +<p>Miss Schomberg went down stairs into Miss Webster's little parlour, and +there saw Edith untying her beloved Muff. "Well aday! my child, what +brings you here? all alone too. Surely Emilie isn't ill, oh dear me +something must be amiss."</p> + +<p>"Oh no, Miss Schomberg, no, only I heard you say you would like a cat, +and Fred has got some new birds and I mayn't keep Muff, and so will you +take her and be kind to her?"</p> + +<p>"My dear child," said aunt Agnes in a bewilderment, "I would take her +gladly but Miss Webster has a bird you know, and is so awfully neat and +particular, oh, it won't do; you must not bring her here, and I <i>must</i> +go back and finish Miss Webster's foot. She is very poorly to-day. Oh +how glad I shall be when my Emilie comes back! Good bye, take the cat, +dear, away, pray do;" and, so saying, aunt Agnes bustled off, leaving +poor Edith more troubled and perplexed with Muff than ever.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_EIGHTH"></a><h2>CHAPTER EIGHTH.</h2> + +<p>GOOD FOR EVIL.</p> +<br> + +<p>Old Joe Murray was seated on the beach, nearer the town than his house +stood, watching the groups of busy children, digging and playing in the +sand, now helping them in their play, and now giving his hint to the +nurses around him, when Edith tapped him on the shoulder. There was +something so unusually serious, not <i>cross</i>, in Edith's countenance, +that Joe looked at her inquiringly. "There, set down the basket, +Nockells, and run back quick, tell papa I kept you; I am afraid you will +get into disgrace."</p> + +<p>"Mayn't I drown Puss?" said Nockells.</p> + +<p>"No! you cruel boy, <i>no!</i>" said Edith, vehemently. "<i>You</i> shall not have +the pleasure, no one shall do it who would take a pleasure in it."</p> + +<p>"What is the matter Miss?" asked Joe, as soon as Nockells turned away.</p> + +<p>"The matter, oh Joe! I want Muff drowned; my cat I mean, my dear cat;" +and then she told her tale up to the point of Miss Webster's refusing to +admit Muff as a lodger, and cried most bitterly as she said, "and I +won't have her ill-treated, so I will drown her, will you do it for me +Joe, please do now, or my courage will be gone? but I won't stay to look +at it, so good-bye," said she, and slipping a shilling into Joe's hand, +ran home with the news to Fred, that the cat was by this time at the +bottom of the tea, and his canaries were safe for ever from her claws.</p> + +<p>Fred was not a hard-hearted boy, and his sister's tale really grieved +him. He kissed her several times over, as he said he now wished he had +never bought the birds, that they had caused Edith nothing but trouble +and that he was very sorry.</p> + +<p>"I am not sorry, Fred dear, at least I am only sorry for being forced to +drown Muff. I like to give you my room, and I like to give up my cat to +you, and I shall not cry any more about it, so don't be unhappy."</p> + +<p>"And all this for me," said Fred; "I who teased you so yesterday +afternoon, and always am teasing you, I think!" How pleased Emilie +looked! She did not praise Edith, but she gave her such a look of +genuine approval as was a rich reward to her little pupil. "<i>This</i> is +the way. Edith dear, to overcome evil with good; go on, <i>watch</i> and +pray, and you will subdue Fred in time as well as your own evil +tempers."</p> + +<p>How easy all this looks to read about! How swift the transition from bad +to good! Who has not felt, in reading Rosamond and Frank, a kind of envy +that they so soon overcame their errors, so soon conquered their bad +habits and evil dispositions? Dear young reader, it is <i>not</i> easy to +subdue self; it is not easy to practise this law of kindness, love, and +forbearance; it is not easy to live peaceably with all men, but believe +me, it is not impossible. He who giveth liberally and upbraideth not, +will give you grace, and wisdom, and help to do this if you ask it. The +promise is, "Ask and ye shall receive." Edith In her helplessness naked +strength of God and it was given. That which was given to her He will +not withhold from you. Only try Him.</p> + +<p>For the comfort of those who may not have such a friend as Emilie, we +would remind our readers that the actual work of Edith's change, for +such it was, was that which no friend however wise and however good +could effect. There is no doubt but that to her example Edith owed much. +It led her to <i>think</i> and to <i>compare</i>, and was part of the means used +by the all-wise God, to instruct this little girl; but if you have not +Emilie for a friend, you may all have the God, whom Emilie served, for a +friend. You may all read in the Bible which she studied, and in which +she learned, from God's love to man, how we should love each other. She +read there, "If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another."</p> + +<p>The holidays drew to a close. The return of the mother and sisters was +at hand. Emilie was not without her fears for Edith at this time, but +she trusted in the help which she knew Edith would have if she sought +it, and was thus encouraged. The right understanding between her +brothers and herself she was rejoiced to see daily increasing. It was +not that there was nothing to ruffle the two most easily ruffled +spirits. Fred was not considerate, and would constantly recur to his old +habit of tensing Edith. Edith was easily teased, and would rather order +and advise Fred, which was sure to bring on a breeze; but they were far +less vindictive, less aggravating than formerly. They were learning to +bear and forbear. Edith had the most to bear, for although Fred was +impressed by her kind and altered conduct, and could never forget the +generous act of sacrifice when she parted with Muff to gratify him, he +was as yet more actuated by impulse than principle, and nothing but +principle, Christian principle I mean, will enable us to be kind and +gentle, and unselfish <i>habitually</i>, not by fits and starts, but every +day.</p> + +<p>Joe Murray was sitting at his door smoking his pipe, and watching his +little grandchildren as they played together (this time harmoniously) in +the garden. They were not building a grotto, they were dancing, and +jumping, and laughing, in the full merriment of good healthy happy +children. Emilie and Edith greeted Joe as an old friend, and Joe seemed +delighted to see them. The two children, who had been commissioned to +search for corallines, rushed up to Edith with a basket full of a +heterogeneous collection, and amongst a great deal of little value there +were some beautiful specimens of the very things Edith wanted. She +thanked the little Murrays sincerely, and then looked at Emilie. Should +she pay them? the look asked. It was evident the children had no idea of +such a thing, and felt fully repaid by Edith's pleasure. Edith only +wanted to know if it would take from that pleasure to receive money. She +had been learning of late to study what people liked, and wished to do +so now.</p> + +<p>Emilie did not understand her look, and so Edith followed her own +course. "Thank you, oh, thank you," she said. "It was very kind of you +to collect me so many, they please me very much. I wish I knew of +something that you would like as well as I like these, and if I can, I +will give it to you, or ask mamma to help me." The boy not being +troubled with bashfulness, immediately said, that of all things he +should like a regular rigged boat, a ship, "a little-un" that would +swim. The girl put her finger in her mouth and said "she didn't know." +"Are you going to have a boat?" said every little voice, "oh, what fun +we shall have." "Yes," said our peace-making friend, Sarah. "You know +that if Dick gets any thing it is the same as if you all did. He is such +a kind boy, Miss, he plays with the little ones, and gives up to them +so nicely, you'd be surprised."</p> + +<p>"I am glad of that," said Emilie, "it will be such a pleasure to Miss +Edith to give pleasure to them all—but come, Jenny, you have not fixed +yet what you will have." Jenny said she did not want to be paid, but she +had thought, perhaps Miss Parker might give them something, and if Miss +Parker did not think it too much, she should like a shilling better than +any thing.</p> + +<p>Every one looked inquiringly, except Sarah. Sarah was but the uneducated +daughter of a poor fisherman, but she studied human nature as it lay +before her in the different characters of her brothers and sisters, and +she guessed the workings of Jenny's mind.</p> + +<p>"What do you want a shilling for?" said the mother sharply, who had +joined the group. "You ought not to have asked for anything, what bad +manners you have! The weeds cost you nothing, and you ought to be much +obliged to Miss Parker for accepting them."</p> + +<p>"I wanted the shilling very much," persisted Jenny, as Edith pressed it +into her hand, and off she ran, as though to hide her treasure.</p> + +<p>But Edith had caught sight of something, and forgot shilling and every +thing else in that glimpse. Her own dear old Muff sleeping on the hearth +of the kitchen which she had not yet entered. I shall not tell you all +the endearments she used to puss, they would look ridiculous on paper; +they made even those who heard them smile, but she was so overjoyed that +there was some excuse for her. Mrs. Murray rather damped her joy at once +by saying, "Oh, she's a sad thief, Miss. She steals the fish terribly. I +suppose you can't take her back, Miss?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, Joe," said Edith sorrowfully, "you see, you had better have drowned +her."</p> + +<p>"So I think," said Mrs. Murray.</p> + +<p>"No, no, no," cried Jane, coming forwards. "I have a shilling now, and +Barker the carrier will take her for that all the way to Southampton, +where aunt Martha lives, and aunt Martha loves cats, and will take care +of Muff; she shan't be drowned, Miss," said Jenny, kindly.</p> + +<p>The mother looked surprised, and they all admired Jenny's kind +intentions. Emilie slipped another shilling into her hand as they went +away, and said "You will find a use for it." "Good night Jenny, and +thank you," said poor Edith, with a sigh, for she had already looked +forward to many joyful meetings with Muff—her newly-found treasure. But +as old Joe, who followed them down the cliff said, there was no end to +the trouble Muff caused, what with stealing fish, and upsettings and +breakings; and she would be happier at aunt Martha's, where there was +neither fish nor child, and more room to walk about in than Muff enjoyed +here.</p> + +<p>"But how kind of Jenny," said Edith, "how thoughtful for Muff!"</p> + +<p>"No, Miss, 't aint for Muff exactly," said Joe, "though she pitied you, +as they all did, in thinking of drowning the cat; but bless the dear +children, they are all trying in their way, I do believe; to please +their mother, and to win her to be more happy and gentle like. You see +she has had a hard struggle with them, so many as there are, and so +little to do with; and that and bad health have soured her temper like; +but she'll come to. Oh Miss Edith, take my word for it, if ever you have +to live where folks are cross and snappish, be <i>you</i> good-humoured. A +little of the leaven of sweetness and good temper lightens a whole lump +of crossness and bad humour. One bright Spirit in a family will keep +the sun shining in <i>one</i> spot; it can't then be <i>all</i> dark, you see, and +if there's ever such a little spot of sunshine, there must be some light +in the house, which may spread before long, Miss."</p> + +<p>"Goodnight, Joe," and "Good night, ladies," passed, and the friends were +left alone—alone upon the quiet beach. The sun had set, for it was +late; the tide was ebbing, and now left the girls a beautiful smooth +path of sand for some little distance, on which the sound of their light +steps was scarcely heard, as they rapidly walked towards home.</p> + +<p>"Who would think, Edith, that our six weeks' holiday would be at an end +to-morrow?" said Emilie.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, Emilie, I feel it much longer."</p> + +<p>"<i>Do</i> you? then you have not been so happy as I hoped to have made you, +dear; I have been a great deal occupied with other things, but it could +scarcely be helped."</p> + +<p>"No, Emilie, I have not been happy a great part of the holidays, but I +am happy now; happier at least, and it was no fault of yours at any +time. I know now why I was so discontented with my condition, and why I +thought I had more to try me than anybody else. I feel that I was in +fault; that I <i>am</i> in fault, I should say; but, oh Emilie, I am trying, +trying hard, to—" and here, Edith, softened by the remembrance that +soon she and her friend must part, burst into tears.</p> + +<p>"And you have succeeded, succeeded nobly, Edith, my darling. I have +watched you, and but that I feared to interfere, I would have noticed +your victories to you. I may do so now."</p> + +<p>"My <i>victories</i>, Emilie! Are you making fun of me? I feel to have been +so very irritable of late.—My <i>victories!</i>"</p> + +<p>"Just because, dear, you take notice of your irritability as you did not +use to do, and because you have constantly before your eyes that great +pattern in whom was no sin."</p> + +<p>"Emilie, I will tell you something—your patience, your example, has +done me a great deal of good, I hope; but there is one thing in your +kind of advice, which does me more good than all. You have talked more +of the love of God than of any other part of his character, and the +words which first struck me very much, when I first began to wish that I +were different, were those you told me one Sunday evening, some time +ago. 'Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and +gave his Son a ransom for sinners.' There seemed such a contrast between +my conduct to God, and His to me; and then it has made me, I hope, a +little more, (a <i>very</i> little, you know,) I am not boasting, Emilie, am +I? it has made me a <i>little</i> more willing to look over things which used +to vex me so. What are Fred's worst doings to me, compared with my +<i>best</i> to God?"</p> + +<p>Thus they talked, and now, indeed, did the friends love one another; and +heartily did each, by her bedside that night, thank God for his gospel, +which tells of his love to man, the greatest illustration truly of the +law of kindness.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_NINTH"></a><h2>CHAPTER NINTH.</h2> + +<p>FRED A PEACEMAKER.</p> +<br> + +<p>"Talk not of wasted affection, affection never is wasted.... its waters +returning back to their spring, like the rain shall fill them full of +refreshment"—<i>H. W. Longfellow</i>.</p> + +<p>"Well Fred," said Emilie at the supper table, from which Mr. Parker was +absent, "I go away to-morrow and we part better friends than we met, I +think, don't we?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, Miss Schomberg, we are all better friends, and it is all your +doing."</p> + +<p>"My doing, oh no! Fred, that <i>is</i> flattery. I have not made Edith so +gentle and so good as she has of late been to you. <i>I</i> never advised her +to give up that little room to you nor to send poor Muff away."</p> + +<p>"<i>Didn't</i> you? well, now I always thought you did; I always kid that to +you, and so I don't believe I have half thanked Edith as I ought."</p> + +<p>"Indeed you might have done."</p> + +<p>"Well, I hope I shall not get quarrelsome at school again, but I wish I +was in a large school. I fancy I should be much happier. Only being us +five at Mr. Barton's, we are so thrown together, somehow we can't help +falling out and interfering with each other sometimes. Now there is +young White, I never can agree with him, it is <i>impossible</i>."</p> + +<p>"Dear me!" said Emilie, without contradicting him, "why?"</p> + +<p>"He treats me so very ill; not openly and above-board, as we say, but in +such a nasty sneaking way, he is always trying to injure me. He knows +sometimes I fall asleep after I am called. Well, he dresses so quietly, +(I sleep in his room, I wish I didn't,) he steals down stairs and then +laughs with such triumph when I come down late and get a lecture or a +fine for it. If I am very busy over an exercise out of school hours, he +comes and talks to me, or reads some entertaining book close to my ears, +aloud to one of the boys, to hinder my doing it properly, but that is +not half his nasty ways. Could <i>you love</i> such a boy Miss Schomberg?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I would try to make him more loveable, Fred, and then I might +perhaps love him," said Emilie.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Emilie, your 'overcome evil with good' rule would fail there <i>I</i> +can tell you; you may laugh."</p> + +<p>"No, I won't laugh, I am going to be serious. You will allow me to +preach a short sermon to-night, the last for some time, you know, and +mine shall be but a text, or a very little more, and then 'good night.' +Will you try to love that boy for a few weeks? <i>really</i> try, and see if +he does not turn out better than you expect. If he do not, I will +promise you that you will be the better for it. Love is never wasted, +but remember, Fred, it is wicked and sad to hate one another, and it +comes to be a serious matter, for 'If any man love not his brother whom +he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen.' Good night."</p> + +<p>"Good night, Miss Schomberg, you have taught me to like you," and oh, +how I did dislike you once! thought Fred, but he did not say so.</p> + +<p>Miss Webster's foot got well at last, but it was a long time about it. +The lodgers went away at the end of the six weeks, and aunt Agnes and +Emilie were quietly settled in their little apartments again. The piano +was a little out of tune, but Emilie expected as much, and now after her +six weeks' holiday, so called, she prepared to begin her life of daily +teaching. Her kindness to Miss Webster was for some time to all +appearance thrown away, but no, that cannot be—kindness and love can +never be wasted. They bless him that gives, if not him that takes the +offering. By and bye, however, a few indications of the working of the +good system appeared. Miss Webster would offer to come and sit and chat +with aunt Agnes when Emilie was teaching or walking; and aunt Agnes in +return taught Miss Webster knitting stitches and crochet work. Miss +Webster would clean Emilie's straw bonnet, and when asked for the bill, +she would say that it came to nothing; and would now and then send up a +little offering of fruit or fish, when she thought her lodgers' table +was not well supplied. Little acts in themselves, but great when we +consider that they were those of an habitually cold and selfish person. +She did not express love; but she showed the softening influence of +affection, and Emilie at least understood and appreciated it.</p> + +<p>Fred had perhaps the hardest work of all the actors on this little +stage; he thought so at least. Joe White was an unamiable and, as Fred +expressed it, a sneaking boy. He had never been accustomed to have his +social affections cultivated in childhood, and consequently, he grew up +into boyhood without any heart as it is called. Good Mr. Barton was +quite puzzled with him. He said there was no making any impression on +him, and that Mr. Barton could make none was very evident. Who shall +make it? Even Fred; for he is going to try Emilie's receipt for the cure +of the complaint under which Master White laboured, a kind of moral +ossification of the heart. Will he succeed? We shall see.</p> + +<p>Perhaps, had Joe White at this time fallen down and broken his leg, or +demanded in any way a <i>great</i> sacrifice of personal comfort from his +school-fellow, he would have found it easier to return good for his evil, +than in the daily, hourly, calls for the exercise of forgiveness and +forbearance which occurred at school. Oh, how many will do <i>great</i> +things in the way of gifts or service, who will not do the little acts +of kindness and self denial which common life demands. Many a person has +built hospitals or alms houses, and has been ready to give great gifts +to the poor and hungry, who has been found at home miserably deficient +in domestic virtues. Dear children, cultivate these. You have, very few +of you, opportunities for great sacrifices. They occur rarely in real +life, and it would be well if the relations of fictitious life abounded +less in them; but you may, all of you, find occasions to speak a gentle +word, to give a kind smile, to resign a pursuit which annoys or vexes +another, to cure a bad habit, to give up a desired pleasure. You may, +all of you, practice the injunction, to live not unto yourselves. Fred, +I say, found it a hard matter to carry out Emilie's plan towards Joe +White, who came back from home more evilly disposed than ever, and all +the boys agreed he was a perfect nuisance.</p> + +<p>"I would try and make him loveable." Those words of Emilie's often +recurred to Fred as he heard the boys say how they disliked Joe White +worse and worse. So Fred tried first by going up to him very gravely one +day, and saying how they all disliked him, and how he hoped he would +mend; but that did not do at all. Fred found the twine of his kite all +entangled next day, and John said he saw White playing with it soon +after Fred had spoken to him.</p> + +<p>"I'd go and serve him out; just you go and tangle his twine, and see how +he likes it," said John.</p> + +<p>"I will—but no! I won't," Bald Fred, "that's evil for evil, and that is +what I am not going to do. I mean to leave that plan off."</p> + +<p>An opportunity soon occurred for returning good for evil Miss Barton had +a donkey, and this donkey, whose proper abode was the paddock, sometimes +broke bounds, and regaled itself on the plants in the young gentlemen's +gardens, in a manner highly provoking to those who had any taste for +flowers. If Joe White had any love for anything, it was for flowers. +Now, there is something so pure and beautiful in flowers; called by that +good philanthropist Wilberforce, the "smiles of God," that I think there +must be a little tender spot in that heart which truly loves flowers. +Joe tended his as a parent would a child. His garden was his child, and +certainly it did his culture credit. Fred liked a garden too, and these +boys' gardens were side by side. They were the admiration of the whole +family, so neatly raked, so free from stones or weeds, so gay with +flowers of the best kind. They were rival gardens, but undoubtedly +White's was in the best order. John and Fred always went home on a +Saturday, as Mr. Barton's house was not far from L----. Joe was a +boarder entirely, his home was at a distance, and to this Fred Parker +ascribed the superiority of his garden. He was able to devote the whole +of Saturday, which was a holiday, to its culture. Well, the donkey of +which I spoke, one day took a special fancy to the boys' gardens; and it +so happened, that he was beginning to apply himself to nibble the tops +of Joe's dahlias, which were just budding. Joe was that day confined to +the house with a severe cold, and little did he think as he lay in bed, +sipping Mrs. Barton's gruel and tea, of the scenes that were being +enacted in his own dear garden. Fred fortunately spied the donkey, and +though there had been lately a little emulation between them, who should +grow the finest dahlias, he at once carried out the principle of +returning good for evil, drove the donkey off, even though his course +lay over his own flower beds, and then set to work to repair the damage +done. A few minutes more, and all Joe's dahlias would have been +sacrificed. Fred saved them, raked the border neatly, tied up the +plants, and restored all to order again; and who can tell but those who +thus act, the pleasure, the comfort of Fred's heart? Why, not the first +prize at the horticultural show for the first dahlia in the country, +would have given him half the joy; and a still nobler sacrifice he +made—he did not tell of his good deeds. Now, Fred began to realise the +pleasures of forbearance and kindness indeed.</p> + +<p>There could not have been a better way of reaching young White's heart +than through his garden. Fred's was a fortunate commencement. He never +boasted of the act, but one of the boys told Mr. Barton, who did not +fail to remind Joe of it at a suitable time, and that time was when +White presented his master with a splendid bouquet of dahlias for his +supper table, when he was going to have a party of friends. The boys, +who were treated like members of the family, were invited to join that +party, and then did Mr. Barton narrate the scene of the donkey's +invasion, of which, however, the guests did not perceive the point; but +those for whom it was intended understood it all. At bed time that +night, Joe White begged his school-fellow's pardon for entangling his +kite twine, and went to bed very humble and grateful, and with a little +love and kindness dawning, which made his rest sweeter and his dreams +happier. Thus Fred began his lessons of love; it was thus he endeavoured +to make Joe lovable, and congratulated himself on his first successful +attempt. He did not speak in the very words of the Poet, but his +sentiments were the same, as he talked to John of his victory.</p> + +"There is a golden chord of sympathy,<br> +Fix'd in the harp of every human soul,<br> +Which by the breath of kindness when 'tis swept,<br> +Wakes angel-melodies in savage hearts;<br> +Inflicts sore chastisements for treasured wrongs,<br> +And melts away the ice of hate to streams of love;<br> +Nor aught but <i>kindness</i> can that fine chord touch."<br> + +<p>Joe Murray was quite right in telling Edith that a little of the leaven +of kindness and love went a great way in a family. No man can live to +himself, that is to say, no man's acts can affect himself only. Had Fred +set an example of revenge and retaliation, other boys would have no +doubt acted in like manner on the first occasion of irritation. Now they +all helped to reform Joe White, and did not return evil for evil, as +had been their custom. Fred was the oldest but one of the little +community, and had always been looked up to as a clever boy, up to all +kinds of spore and diversion. He was the leader of their plays and +amusements, and but for the occasional outbreaks of his violent temper +would have been a great favourite. As it was, the boys liked him, and +his master was undoubtedly very fond of Fred Parker. He was an honest +truthful boy though impetuous and headstrong.</p> + +<p>Permission was given the lads, who as we have said were six in number, +to walk out one fine September afternoon without the guardianship of +their master. They were to gather blackberries, highly esteemed by Mrs. +Barton for preserves, and it was the great delight of the boys to supply +her every year with this fruit. Blackberrying is a very amusing thing to +country children. It is less so perhaps in its consequences to the +nurse, or sempstress, who has to repair the terrible rents which +merciless brambles make, but of that children, boys especially, think +little or nothing. On they went, each provided with a basket and a long +crome stick, for the purpose of drawing distant clusters over ditches +or from some height within the reach of the gatherer. At first they +jumped and ran and sang in all the merriment of independence. The very +consciousness of life, health, and freedom was sufficient enjoyment, and +there was no end to their fun and their frolics until they came to the +spot where the blackberries grew in the greatest abundance. Then they +began to gather and eat and fill their baskets in good earnest. The most +energetic amongst them was Fred, and he had opportunities enough this +afternoon for practising kindness and self-denial, for White was in one +of his bad moods, and pushed before Fred whenever he saw a fine and +easily to be obtained cluster of fruit; and once, (Fred thought +purposely,) upset his basket, which stood upon the pathway, all in the +dust. Still Fred bore all this very well, and set about the gathering +with renewed ardour, though one or two of the party called out, "Give it +him, Parker; toss his out and see how he likes it." No, Fred had begun +to taste the sweet fruits of kindness, he would not turn aside to pluck +the bitter fruits of revenge and passion. So he gave no heed to the +matter, only leaving the coast clear for White whenever he could, and +helping a little boy whom White had pushed aside to fill his basket.</p> + +<p>Without any particular adventures, and with only the usual number of +scratches and falls, and only the common depth of dye in lips and +fingers, the boys sat down to rest beneath the shade of some fine trees, +which skirted a beautiful wood.</p> + +<p>"I say," said John Parker, "let us turn in here, we shall find shade +enough, and I had rather sit on the grass and moss than on this bank. +Come along, we have only to climb the hedge."</p> + +<p>"But that would be trespassing," said one conscientious boy, who went by +the name of Simon Pure, because he never would join in any sport he +thought wrong, and used to recall the master's prohibitions rather +oftener to his forgetful companions than they liked.</p> + +<p>"Trespassing! a fig for trespassing," said John Parker, clearing away +all impediments, and bestriding the narrow ditch, planted a foot firmly +on the opposite bank.</p> + +<p>"You may get something not so sweet as a fig for trespassing, John, +though," said his brother Fred, who came up at this moment.</p> + +<p>"Man-traps and spring-guns are fictions my lad," said Philip Harcourt, a +boy of much the same turn as John, not easily persuaded any way; "Now +for it, over Parker; be quick, man," and over he jumped.</p> + +<p>Then followed Harcourt, White, and another little boy, whose name was +Arthur, leaving Fred and Simon Pure in the middle of the road. The wood +was, undoubtedly, a very delightful place, and more than one fine +pheasant rustled amongst the underwood, and the squirrels leaped from +bough to bough, whilst the music of the birds was charming. Fred, +himself, was tempted as he peeped over the gap, and stood irresolute. +The plantation was far enough from the residence of the owner, nor was +it likely that they could do much mischief beyond frightening the game, +and as it was not sitting time, Fred himself argued it could do no harm, +but little Riches, the boy called Pure, who was a great admirer of Fred, +especially since the affair of the Dahlias, begged him not to go; "Mr. +Barton, you know, has such a great dislike to our trespassing," said +Riches, "and if we stay here resolutely they will be sure to come back."</p> + +<p>"Don't preach to me," was the rather unexpected reply, for Fred was not +<i>perfect</i> yet, though he had gained a victory or two over his temper of +late.</p> + +<p>"I didn't mean to preach, but I do wish the boys would come home, it is +growing late; and with our heavy baskets we shall only just get in in +time."</p> + +<p>"Halloo!" shouted Fred, getting on the bank. "Come back, won't you, or +we shall be too late; come, John, you are the eldest, come along." But +his call was drowned in the sound of their voices, which were echoing +through the weeds, much to the annoyance, no doubt, of the stately +pheasants who were not accustomed to human sounds like these. They were +not at any great distance, and Fred could just distinguish parts of +their conversation.</p> + +<p>John and Harcourt were urging White, a delicate boy, and no climber, to +mount a high tree in the wood, to enjoy they said the glorious sea-view; +but in reality to make themselves merry at his expense, being certain +that if he managed to scramble up he would have some difficulty in +getting down, and would get a terrible fright at least. White stood at +the bottom of the tree, looking at his companions as they rode on one of +the higher branches of a fine spruce fir.</p> + +<p>"Don't venture! White," shouted Fred as loudly as he could shout, "don't +attempt it! They only want to make game of you, and you'll never get +down if you manage to get up. Take my advice now, don't try."</p> + +<p>"Mind your own business," and a large sod of earth was the reply. The +sod struck the boy on the face, and his nose bled profusely.</p> + +<p>"There," said young Riches, "what a cowardly trick! Oh! I think White +the meanest spirited boy I ever saw. He wouldn't have flung that sod at +you if you had been within arm's length of him; well, I do dislike that +White."</p> + +<p>"I'll give it to him," said Fred, as he vaulted over the fence, but +immediately words, which Emilie had once repeated to him when they were +talking about offensive and defensive warfare, came into his mind, and +he stopped short. Those words were:—"If any man smite thee on thy +right cheek turn to him the other also," and Fred was in the road again.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Riches, "we have done and said all we can, let us be going +home, their disobeying orders is no excuse for us, so come along +Parker—won't you? They have a watch, and their blackberries won't run +away, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"Can't we manage between us, though, to carry some of them?" said Fred. +"This large basket is not nearly full, let us empty one of them into it. +There, now we have only left them two. I've got White's load. I've half +a mind to set it down, but no I won't though. You will carry John's, +Won't you, that's lighter, and between them they may carry the other."</p> + +<p>They went on a few steps when they both turned to listen. "I thought," +said Fred, "I heard my name called. It could only be fancy, though. Yet, +hush! There it is! quite plain," and so it was.</p> + +<p>John called to him loudly to stop, and at that moment such a scream was +heard echoing through the woods, as sent the wood pigeons flying +terrified about, and started the hares from their hiding places. "Stop, +oh stop, Fred, White can't get down," said John, breathless, "and I +believe he will fall, if he hasn't already, he says he is giddy. Pray +come back and see if you can't help him, you are such a famous climber."</p> + +<p>Fred could not refuse, and in less than five minutes he was on the spot, +but it was too late. The branch had given way, and the boy lay at the +foot of the tree senseless, to all appearance dead. There was no blood, +no outward sign of injury, but—his face! Fred did not forget for many +years afterwards, its dreadful, terrified, ghastly expression. What was +to be done? They were so horror-struck that for a few minutes they stood +in perfect silence, so powerfully were they convinced that the lad had +ceased to breathe, that they remained solemn and still as in the +presence of death.</p> + +<p>To all minds death has great solemnities; to the young, when it strikes +one of their own age and number, especially. "Come," said Fred, turning +to Riches, "come, we must not leave him here to die, poor fellow. Take +off his neck-handkerchief, Harcourt, and run you, Riches, to the stream +close by, where we first sat down, and get some water. Get it in your +cap, man, you have nothing else to put it in. Quick! quick!"</p> + +<p>"Joe! Joe!" said John, "only speak, only look, Joe, if you can, we are +so frightened."—No answer.</p> + +<p>"Joe!" said Fred, and he tried to raise him. No assistance and no +resistance; Joe fell back passive on the arm of his friend, yes, +friend—they were no longer enemies you know. Had Fred returned evil for +evil, had he rushed on him as he first intended when he received the sod +from White, he would not have felt as he now did. The boys, who, out of +mischief, to use the mildest word, tempted him to climb to a height, +beyond that which even they themselves could have accomplished, were not +to be envied in <i>their</i> feelings. Poor fellows, and yet they only did +what many a reckless, mischievous school boy has done and is doing every +day; they only meant to tease him a bit, to pay him off for being so +spiteful all the way, and so cross to Fred when he spoke. But it was no +use trying to still the voice which spoke loudly within them, which told +them that they had acted with heartless cruelty, and that their conduct +had, perhaps, cost a fellow-creature his life.</p> + +<p>"Will you wait with him whilst I run to L---- for papa?" said Fred.</p> + +<p>"What alone?" they cried.</p> + +<p>"Alone! why there are four of you, will be at least when Riches comes +back."</p> + +<p>"Oh no! no! do you stay Fred, you are the only one that knows what you +are after."</p> + +<p>"Well, which of you will go then? It is near two miles, and you must +run, for his <i>life</i>—mind that." No one stirred, and Riches at this +moment coming up with the water, Fred told him in few words what he +meant to do, and bade him go and stand by the poor lad. That was all +that could be done, and "Riches don't be hard on them; their consciences +are telling them all you could tell them. Don't lecture them, I mean; +you would not like it yourself."</p> + +<p>Off ran Fred, and to his great joy, spying a cart, with one of farmer +Crosse's men in it, he hailed it, told his tale, and thus they were at +L---- in a very short space of time. Terrified indeed was Mrs. Parker at +the sight of her son driving furiously up in farmer Crosse's +spring-cart, and his black eye and swelled face did not tend to pacify +her on nearer inspection. The father, a little more used to be called +out in a hurry, and to prepare for emergencies, was not so alarmed, but +had self-possession enough to remember what would be needed, and to +collect various articles for the patient's use.</p> + +<p>The journey to the wood was speedily accomplished, but the poor lads who +were keeping watch, often said afterwards that it seemed to them almost +a lifetime, such was the crowd of fearful and wretched thoughts and +forebodings, such the anxiety, and hopelessness of their situation. +There in the silence of the wood lay their young companion, stretched +lifeless, and they were the cause. The least rustle amongst the leaves +they mistook for a movement of the sufferer; but he moved not. How did +they watch Mr. Parker's face as he knelt down and applied his fingers to +the boy's wrist first, and then to his heart! With what intense anxiety +did they watch the preparations for applying remedies and restoratives! +"Was he, was he dead, <i>quite</i> dead?" they asked. No, not dead, but the +doctor shook his head seriously, and their exclamations of joy and +relief were soon checked.</p> + +<p>Not to follow them through the process of restoring animation, we will +say that he was carefully removed to Mr. Barton's house, and tenderly +watched by his kind wife. He had been stunned by the fall, but this was +not the extent of the mischief. It was found upon examination that the +spine had received irreparable injury, and that if poor White lived, +which was doubtful, it would be as a helpless cripple. Who can tell the +reflections of those boys? Who can estimate the misery of hearts which +had thus returned evil for evil? It was a sore lesson, but one which of +itself could yield no good fruit.</p> + +<p>It was a great grief to Fred that his presence, in the excitable state +of the sufferer, seemed to do him harm. He would have liked to sit by +him, and share in the duties of his nursing, but whenever Fred +approached, White became restless and uneasy, and continually alluded, +even in his delirium, to the sod he had thrown, and to other points of +his ungrateful malicious conduct to his school-fellow. This feeling, +however, in time wore away, and many an hour did Fred take from play to +go and sit by poor Joe's couch.</p> + +<p>He had no mother to come and watch beside that couch, no kind gentle +sister, no loving father. He was an orphan, taken care of by an uncle +and aunt, who had no experience in training children, and were +accustomed to view young persons in the light of evils, which it was +unfortunately necessary to <i>bear</i> until the <i>fault</i> of youth should have +passed away. Will you not then cease to wonder that Joe seemed to have +so little heart? Affection needs to be cultivated; his uncle thought +that in sending him to school and giving him a good education, he was +doing his duty by the boy. His aunt considered that if in the holidays +she let him rove about as he pleased, saw to the repairs of his clothes, +sent him back fitted out comfortably, with a little pocket money and a +little <i>advice</i>, she had done <i>her</i> duty by the child. But poor Joe! No +kind mother ever stole to his bedside to whisper warnings and gentle +reproof if the conduct of the day had been wrong; no knee ever bent to +ask for grace and blessing on that orphan boy; no sympathy was ever +expressed in one of his joys or griefs; no voice encouraged him in +self-denial; no heart rejoiced in his little victories over temper and +pride. Now, instead of blaming and disliking, will you not pity and love +the unlovable and neglected lad?</p> + +<p>He had not been long under Mr. Barton's care, and after all, what could +a schoolmaster do in twelve months, to remedy the evils which had been +growing up for twelve years? He did his best, but the result was very +little, and perhaps the most useful lesson Joe ever had was that which +Fred gave him about the Dahlias.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_TENTH"></a><h2>CHAPTER TENTH.</h2> + +<p>EDITH'S VISIT TO JOE.</p> +<br> + +<p>Fred and Edith were sitting in the Canary room one Saturday afternoon, +shortly after the event recorded in the last chapter; Edith listening +with an earnest interest to the oft-repeated tale of the fall in the +wood.</p> + +<p>"How glad you must have felt, Fred, when you thought he was dead, that +you had not returned his unkindness."</p> + +<p>"Glad! Edith, I cannot tell you how glad; but glad is'nt the word, +either. On my knees that night, and often since, I have thanked God who +helped me to check the temper that arose. Those words out of the Bible +did it: 'If any man smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other +also.' Emilie told me that text one day, and I said I did'nt think I +could ever do that, but I was helped somehow; but come, Edith, let us +go and see Emilie Schomberg, I have'nt seen her since all this happened, +though you have. How beautifully you keep my cages Edith! I think you +are very clever; the birds get on better than they did with me. Is there +any one you would like to give a bird to, dear? For I am sure you ought +to share the pleasures, you have plenty of the trouble of my canaries."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I have pleasure enough, and their songs always seem like rejoicings +over our reconciliation that day ever so long ago; you remember, don't +you, Fred? but I should like a bird <i>very</i> much to give to Miss +Schomberg; she seems low-spirited, and says she is often very lonely. A +bird would be nice company for her, shall we take her one?"</p> + +<p>"It would be rather a troublesome gift without a cage, Edith, but I have +money enough, I think, and I will buy a cage, and then she shall have +her bird."</p> + +<p>"We will hang it up to greet her on Sunday morning, shall we?" Thus the +brother and sister set out, and it was a beautiful sight to their +mother, who dearly loved them, to see the two who once were so +quarrelsome and disunited now walking together in <i>love</i>.</p> + +<p>Emilie was not at home, and they stood uncertain which way to walk, +when Fred said, "Edith, I want some one to teach poor Joe love; will you +go with me and see him? You taught me to love you, and I think Joe would +be happier if he could see some one he could take a fancy to. Papa said +he might see one at a time now, and poor fellow, I do pity him so. Will +you go? It is a fine fresh afternoon, let us go to Mr. Barton's."</p> + +<p>The October sky was clear and the air bracing, and side by side walked +Fred and Edith on their errand of mercy to poor neglected Joe, their +young hearts a little saddened by the remembrance of his sufferings, "Is +not his aunt coming?" asked Edith.</p> + +<p>"No! actually she is not," replied Fred. "She says in her letter she +could not stand the fatigue of the journey, and that her physicians +order her to try the waters of Bath and Cheltenham. Unfeeling creature!"</p> + +<p>Thus they chatted till they arrived at Mr. Barton's house. Mrs. Barton +received them very kindly. "Oh, Miss Parker, she said, my heart aches +for that poor lad upstairs, and yet with all this trial, and the +wonderful providential escape he has had, would you believe it? his +heart seems very little affected. He is not softened that I can see. I +told him to day how thankful he ought to be that God did not cut him off +in all his sins, and he answered that they who tempted him into danger +would have the most to answer for."</p> + +<p>Ah, Mrs. Barton, it is not the way to people's hearts usually to find +fault and upbraid them. There was much truth in what you said to Joe, +but truth sometimes irritates by the way and time in which it is spoken, +and it seems in this case that the <i>kind</i> of truth you told did not +exactly suit the state of the boy's mind. Edith did not say this of +course to the good lady, whose intentions were excellent, but who was +rather too much disposed to be severe on young persona, and certainly +Joe had tried her in many ways.</p> + +<p>"I will go and see whether Joe would like to see Edith may I, madam, +asked Fred?" Permission was given.</p> + +<p>"My sister is here, Joe, you have often heard me mention her, would you +like to see her?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know, my back is so bad. Oh dear me, and your father tells +me I am to lie flat in this way, months. What am I to do all through +the Christmas holidays too? Oh! dear, dear me. Well, yes, she may come +up."</p> + +<p>With this not very gracious invitation little Edith stepped upstairs, +and being of a very tender nature, no sooner did she see poor Joe's +suffering state than she began to cry. They were tears of such genuine +sympathy, such exquisite tenderness, that they touched Joe. He did not +withdraw the hand she held, and felt even sorry when she herself took +hers away. "How sorry I am for you!" said Edith, when she could speak, +"but may I come and read to you sometimes, and wait upon you when there +is no one else? I think I could amuse you a little, and it might pass +the time away. I only mean when you have no one better, you know."</p> + +<p>Joe's permission was not very cordial, he was so afraid of girls' +<i>flummery</i>, as he called it "She plays backgammon and chess, Joe, and I +can promise you she reads beautifully."</p> + +<p>"Well, I will come on Monday," said Edith, gaily, "and send me away if +you don't want me; but dear me, do you like this light on your eyes? +I'll ask mamma for a piece of green baize to pin up. Good bye."</p> + +<p>As she was going out of the room Joe called her back. "I have such a +favour to ask of you, Miss Parker. Don't bring that preaching German +lady here of whom I have heard Fred speak; I don't mind you, but I +cannot bear so much preaching. Mrs. Barton and her together would craze +me." Edith promised, but she felt disappointed. She had hoped that +Emilie might have gained an entrance, and she knew that Emilie would +have found out the way to his heart, if she could once have got into his +presence; but she concealed her disappointment having made the required +promise, and ran after her brother.</p> + +<p>"I don't like going where I am so plainly not wanted, Fred," said she on +their way home, "Oh, what a sad thing poor White's temper is for himself +and every one about him."</p> + +<p>"Yes Edith, but <i>we</i> are not always sweet-tempered, and you must +remember that poor White has no mother and no father, no one in short to +love." Edith found at first that it required more judgment than she +possessed to make her visit to Joe White either pleasant or useful. +Illness had increased his irritability, and so far from submitting +patiently to the confinement and restriction imposed, he was quite +fuming with impatience to be allowed to sit up and amuse himself at +least.</p> + +<p>How ingenious is affection in contriving alleviations! Here Joe sadly +wanted some one whose wits were quickened by love. Mrs. Barton nursed +him admirably; he was kept very neat and nice, and his room always had a +clean tidy appearance; but it lacked the little tokens of love which +oft-times turn the sick chamber into a kind of paradise. No flowers, no +little contrivances for amusement, no delicate article of food to tempt +his sickly appetite. Poor Joe! Edith soon saw this, and yet it needs +experience in illness to adapt one's self to sick nursing. Besides she +was afraid, she did not like to offer books and flowers, and these +visits were quite dreaded by her.</p> + +<p>"Will you not go and see Joe, Emilie?" asked Edith, one day of her +friend, as she was recounting the difficulties in her way. "You get at +people's hearts much better than ever I could do."</p> + +<p>"My dear child," said Emilie, "did not Joe say that he begged you never +would bring the preaching German to see him? oh no, dear, I cannot +force my company on him. Besides you have not tried long enough, +kindness does not work miracles; try a little longer Edith, and be +patient with Joe as God is with us. How often we turn away from Him when +He offers to be reconciled to us. Think of that, dear."</p> + +<p>"Fred is very patient and persevering; I often wonder, Miss Schomberg, +that John, who really did cause the accident, seems to think less about +Joe than Fred, who had not any thing to do with it."</p> + +<p>"It is not at all astonishing, Edith. It requires that our actions +should be brought to the light of God's Word to see them in their true +condition. An impenitent murderer thinks less of his crime than a true +penitent, who has been moral all his life, thinks of his great sin of +ingratitude and ungodliness."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_ELEVENTH"></a><h2>CHAPTER ELEVENTH.</h2> + +<p>JOE'S CHRISTMAS.</p> +<br> + +<p>Christmas was at hand; Christmas with its holidays, its greetings, its +festive meetings, its gifts, its bells, and its rejoicings. That season +when mothers prepare for the return of their children from school, and +are wont to listen amidst storms of wind and snow for the carriage +wheels; when little brothers and sisters strain their eyes to catch the +first glimpse of the dear ones' approach along the snowy track; when the +fire blazes within, and lamps are lit up to welcome them home; and hope +and expectation and glad heart beatings are the lot of so many—of many, +not of all. Christmas was come, but it brought no hope, no gladness, no +mirth to poor White, either present or in prospect. The music and the +bells of Christmas, the skating, the pony riding, the racing, the brisk +walk, the home endearments were not for Joe—poor Joe. No mother longed +for his return, no brother or little sister pressed to the hall door to +get the first look or the first word; no father welcomed Joe back to the +hearth-warmth of home sweet home. Poor orphan boy!</p> + +<p>Joe's uncle and aunt wrote him a kind letter, quite agreed in Mr. +Parker's opinion that a journey into Lincolnshire was, in the state of +his back and general health, out of the question, were fully satisfied +that he was under the best care, both medical and magisterial, (they had +never seen either doctor or master, and had only known of Mr. Barton +through an advertisement,) and sent him a handsome present of pocket +money, with the information that they were going to the South of France +for the winter. Joe bore the news of their departure very coolly, and +carelessly pocketed the money, knowing as he did that he had a handsome +property in his uncle's hands, and no one would have supposed from any +exhibition of feeling that he manifested, that he had any feeling or any +care about the matter. Once, indeed, when a fly came to the door to +convey Harcourt to the railway, and he saw from the window of his room +the happy school-boy jumping with glee into the vehicle, and heard him +say to Mr. Barton, "Oh yes, Sir, I shall be met!" he turned to Fred who +sate by him and said, "No one is expecting <i>me</i>, no one in the whole +world is thinking of me now, Parker."</p> + +<p>Fred told his mother of this speech, a speech so full of bitter truth +that it made Mrs. Parker, kind creature as she was, shed tears, and she +asked her husband if young White could not be removed to pass the +Christmas holidays with them. The distance was not great, and they could +borrow Mr. Darford's carriage, and perhaps it might do him good. Mr. +Parker agreed, and the removal was effected.</p> + +<p>For some days it seemed doubtful whether the change would be either for +poor White's mental happiness or bodily improvement. The exertion, and +the motion and excitement together, wrought powerfully on his nervous +frame, and he was more distressed, and irritable than ever. He could not +sleep, he ate scarcely any thing, he rarely spoke, and more than once +Mrs. Parker regretted that the proposal had been made. In vain Edith +brought him plants from the little greenhouse, fine camellias, pots of +snow-drops, and lovely anemones. They seemed rather to awaken painful +than pleasing remembrances and associations, and once even when he had +lain long looking at a white camellia he burst into tears. It is a great +trial of temper, a great test of the sincerity of our purpose, when the +means we use to please and gratify seem to have just the contrary +effect. In the sick room especially, where kind acts, and gentle words, +and patient forbearance are so constantly demanded, it is difficult to +refrain from expressions of disappointment when all our endeavours fail; +when those we wish to please and comfort, obstinately refuse to be +pleased and comforted. Often did Fred and Edith hold counsel as to what +would give Joe pleasure, but he was as reserved and gloomy as ever, and +his heart seemed inaccessible to kindness and affection. Besides, there +were continual subjects of annoyance which they could scarcely prevent, +with all the forethought and care in the world.</p> + +<p>The boys were very thoughtful, for boys; Mrs. Parker had it is true +warned them not to talk of their out-of-door pleasures and amusements +to or before Joe, and they were generally careful; but sometimes they +would, in the gladness of their young hearts, break out into praises of +the fine walk they had just had on the cliff, or the glorious skating on +the pond, of the beauty of the pony, and of undiscovered walks and rides +in the neighbourhood. Once, in particular, Emilie, who was spending the +afternoon with the Parkers, was struck with the expression of agony that +arose to Joe's face from a very trifling circumstance. They were all +talking with some young companion of what they would be when they grew +up, and one of them appealing to Joe, he quickly said, "oh, a sailor—I +care for nobody at home and nobody cares for me, so I shall go to sea."</p> + +<p>"To sea!" the boy repeated in wonder.</p> + +<p>"And why not?" said Joe, petulantly, "where's the great wonder of that?"</p> + +<p>There was a silence all through the little party; no one seemed willing +to remind the poor lad of that which he, for a moment, seemed to +forget—his helpless crippled state. It was only Emilie who noticed his +look of hopelessness; she sat near him and heard his stifled sigh, and +oh, how her heart ached for the poor lad!</p> + +<p>This conversation and some remarks that the boy made, led Mr. and Mrs. +Parker seriously to think that he entertained hopes of recovery, and +they were of opinion that it would be kinder to undeceive him, than to +allow him to hope for that which could never he. Mr. Parker began to +talk to him about it one day, very kindly, after an examination of his +back, when White said, abruptly, "I don't doubt you are very skilful. +Sir, and all that, but I should like to see some other doctor. I have +money enough to pay his fee, and uncle said I was to have no expense +spared in getting me the best advice. Sir J. ---- comes here at Christmas, +I know, to see his father, and I should like to see him and consult him, +Sir, may I?" Mr. Parker of course could make no objection, and a day was +fixed for the consultation. It was a very unsatisfactory one and at once +crushed all Joe's hopes. The result was communicated to him as gently +and kindly as possible.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Parker was a mother, and her sympathy for poor Joe was more lasting +than that of the younger branches of the family. She went to him on the +Sunday evening following the physician's visit to tell him the whole +truth, and she often said afterwards how she dreaded the task. Joe lay +on the sofa before the dining room window, watching the blue sea sit a +distance, and thinking with all the ardour of youthful longing of the +time when his back should be well, and he should be a voyager in one of +those beautiful ships. He should have no regrets, and no friends to +regret him; then he groaned at the pain and inconvenience and privation +of his present state, and panted for restoration. Mrs. Parker entered +and eat down by him.</p> + +<p>"Is Sir J. C---- gone, Ma'am?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, he has been gone some minutes."</p> + +<p>"What does he say?" asked the lad earnestly. "He said very little to me, +nothing indeed, only all that fudge I am always hearing—'rest, +patience,' and so on."</p> + +<p>"He thinks it a very serious case, my dear; he says that the recumbent +posture is very important."</p> + +<p>"But for how long, Ma'am? I would lie twelve months patiently enough if +I hoped then to be allowed to walk about, and to be able to do as other +boys do."</p> + +<p>"Sir J. C---- thinks, Joe, that you never will recover. I am grieved to +tell you so, but it is the truth, and we think it best you should know +it. Your spine is so injured that it is impossible you should ever +recover; but you may have many enjoyments, though not able to be active +like other boys. You must keep up your spirits; it is the will of God +and you must submit."</p> + +<p>Poor Mrs. Parker having disburdened her mind of a great load, and +performed her dreaded task, left the room, telling her husband that the +boy bore it very well, indeed, he did not seem to feel it much. The bell +being already out for church, she called the young people to accompany +her thither, leaving one maid-servant and the errand boy at home, and +poor Joe to meditate on his newly-acquired information that he would be +a cripple for life. Edith looked in and asked softly, "shall I stay?" +but the "No" was so very decided, and so very stern that she did not +repeat the question, so they all went off together, a cheerful family +party.</p> + +<p>The errand boy betook himself to a chair in the kitchen, where he was +soon sound asleep, and the maid-servant to the back gate to gossip with +a sailor; so Joe was left alone with a hand-bell on the table, plenty of +books if he liked to read them, and as far as outward comforts went +with nothing to complain of. "And here I am a cripple for life," +ejaculated the poor fellow, when the sound of their voices died away and +the bell ceased; "and, oh, may that life be a short one! I wish, oh, I +wish, I were dead! who would care to hear this? no one—I wish from my +heart I were dead;" and here the boy sobbed till his poor weak frame was +convulsed with agony, and he felt as if his heart (for he had a heart) +would break.</p> + +<p>In his wretchedness he longed for affection, he longed for some one who +would really care for him, "but <i>no one</i> cares for me," groaned the lad, +"no one, and I wish I might die to night." Ah, Joe, may God change you +<i>very</i> much before he grants that wish! After he had sobbed a while, he +began to think more calmly, but his thoughts were thoughts of revenge +and hatred. "<i>John</i> has been the cause of it all." Then he thought +again, "they may well make all this fuss over me, when their son caused +all my misery; let them do what they will they will never make it up to +me, but they only tolerate me I can see, I know I am in the way; they +don't ask me here because they care for me, not they, it's only out of +pity;" and here, rolling his head from side to side, sobbed and cried +afresh. "What would I give for some one to love me, for some one to wait +on me because they loved me! but here I am to lie all my life, a +helpless, hopeless, cripple; oh dear! oh dear! my heart <i>will</i> break. +Those horrid bells! will they never have done?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>At the very moment when poor Joe was thinking that no one on earth cared +for him, that not a heart was the sadder for his sorrow, a kind heart +not far off was feeling very much for him. "I shall not go to church +to-night, aunt Agnes," said Emilie Schomberg, "I shall go and hear what +Sir J.C.'s opinion of poor Joe White is. I cannot get that poor fellow +out of my mind."</p> + +<p>"No, poor boy, it is a sad case," said aunt Agnes, "but why it should +keep you from church, my dear, I don't see. <i>I</i> shall go."</p> + +<p>So they trotted off, Emilie promising to leave aunt Agnes safe at the +church door, where she met the Parkers just about to enter. "Oh Emilie," +said little Edith, "poor Joe! we have had Sir J.C.'s opinion, and it is +quite as had if not worse than papa's, there is so much disease and +such great injury done. He is all alone, Emilie, do go and sit with +him."</p> + +<p>"It is just what I wish to do, dear, but do you think he will let me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, oh yes, try at least," said Edith, and they parted.</p> + +<p>When Emilie rang at the bell Joe was in the midst of his sorrow, but +thinking it might only be a summons for Mr. Parker, he did not take much +notice of it until the door opened and the preaching German lady, as he +called Emilie, entered the room. When she saw his swollen eyes and +flushed face, she wished that she had not intruded, but she went frankly +up to him, and began talking as indifferently as possible, to give him +time to recover himself, said how very cold it was, stirred the fire +into a cheerful blaze, and then relapsed into silence. The silence was +broken at times by heavy sighs, however—they were from poor Joe. Emilie +now went to the piano, and in her clear voice sang softly that beautiful +anthem, "I will arise and go to my Father." It was not the first time +that Joe had shown something like emotion at the sound of music; now it +softened and composed him. "I should like to hear that again," he said, +in a voice so unlike his own that Emilie was surprised.</p> + +<p>She sang it and some others that she thought he would like, and then +said, "I hope I have not tired you, but I am afraid you are in pain."</p> + +<p>"I am," said Joe, in his old gruff uncivil voice, "in great pain."</p> + +<p>"Can I do any thing for you?" asked Emilie, modestly.</p> + +<p>"No <i>nothing</i>, nothing can be done! I shall have to lie on my back as +long as I live, and never walk or stand or do any thing like other +boys—but I hope I shan't live long, that's all."</p> + +<p>Emilie did not attempt to persuade him that it would not be as bad as he +thought—that he would adapt himself to his situation, and in time grow +reconciled to it. She knew that his mind was in no state to receive such +consolation, that it rather needed full and entire sympathy, and this +she could and did most sincerely offer. "I am <i>very</i> sorry for you," she +said quietly, "<i>very</i> sorry," and she approached a little nearer to his +couch, and looked at him so compassionately that Joe believed her.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think that fellow John ought to be ashamed of himself, and I +don't believe he ever thinks of it," said Joe, recurring to his old +feeling of revenge and hatred.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he thinks of it more than you imagine," said Emilie, "but don't +fancy that no one cares about you, that is the way to be very unhappy."</p> + +<p>"It is <i>true</i>," said Joe, sadly.</p> + +<p>"God cares for you," however, replied Emily softly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, if I could think that, it would be a comfort," Miss Schomberg, "and +I do need comfort; I do, I do indeed, groaned the boy."</p> + +<p>Emilie's tears fell fast. No words of sympathy however touching, no +advice however wise and good, no act however kind could have melted Joe +as the tears of that true-hearted girl. He felt confidence in their +sincerity, but that any one should feel for <i>him</i>, should shed tears for +him, was so new, so softening an idea, that he was subdued. Not another +word passed on the subject. Emilie returned to the piano, and soon had +the joy of seeing Joe in a tranquil sleep; she shaded the lamp that it +might not awake him, covered his poor cold feet with her warm tartan, +and with a soft touch lifted the thick hair from his burning forehead, +and stood looking at him with such intense interest, suck earnest +prayerful benevolence, that it might have been an angel visit to that +poor sufferer's pillow, so soothing was it in its influence. He half +opened his eyes, saw that look, felt that touch, and tears stole down +his cheeks; tears not of anger, nor discontent, but of something like +gratitude that after all <i>one</i> person in the world cared for him. His +sleep was short, and when he awoke, he said abruptly to Emilie, "I want +to feel less angry against John," Miss Schomberg, "but I don't know how. +It was such a cruel trick, such a cowardly trick, and I cannot forgive +him."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to preach," said Emily, smiling, "but perhaps if you would +read a little in this book you would find help in the very difficult +duty of forgiving men their trespasses."</p> + +<p>"Ah, the Bible, but I find that dull reading; it always makes me low +spirited, I always associate it with lectures from uncle and Mr. Barton. +When I did wrong I was plied up with texts."</p> + +<p>Emilie did not know what answer to make to this speech. At last she +said, "Do you remember the account of the Saviour's crucifixion, how, +when in agony worse than yours, he said, 'Father forgive them.' May I +read it to you?"</p> + +<p>He did not object, and Emilie read that history which has softened many +hearts as hard as Joe's. He made but little remark as Emilie closed the +book, nor did she add to that which she had been reading by any comment, +but; bidding him a kind good night, went to meet Aunt Agnes at the +church door, and conduct her safely home.</p> + +<p>There is a turning point in most persons' lives, either for good or +evil. Joe White was able long afterwards to recall that miserable Sunday +evening, with its storm of agitation and revenge, and then its lull of +peace and love. He who said, "Peace, be still," to the tempestuous +ocean, spoke those words to Joe's troubled spirit, and the boy was +willing to listen and to learn. Would a long lecture on the sinfulness +and impropriety of his revengeful and hardened state have had the same +effect on Joe, as Emilie's hopeful, gentle, almost silent sympathy? We +think not. "I would try and make him lovable," so said and so acted +Emilie Schomberg, and for that effort had the orphan cause to thank her +through time and eternity.</p> + +<p>Joe was not of an open communicative turn, he was accustomed to keep +his feelings and thoughts very much to himself, and he therefore did not +tell either Fred or Edith of his conversation with Emilie, but when they +came to bid him good night, he spoke softly to them, and when John came +to his couch he did not offer one finger and turn away his face, as he +had been in the habit of doing, but said, "Good night," freely, almost +kindly.</p> + +<p>The work went on slowly but surely, still he held back forgiveness to +John, and while he did this, he could not be happy, he could not himself +feel that he was forgiven. "I do forgive him, at least I wish him no +ill, Miss Schomberg," he said in one of his conversations with Emilie. +"I don't suppose I need be very fond of him. Am I required to be that?"</p> + +<p>"What does the Bible say, Joe? 'If thine enemy hunger feed him, if he +thirst give him drink.' '<i>I</i> say unto you,' Christ says, '<i>Love</i> your +enemies.' He does not say don't hate them, he means <i>Love</i> them. Do you +think you have more to forgive John than Jesus had to forgive those who +hung him on the cross?"</p> + +<p>"It seems to me, Miss Schomberg, so different that example is far above +me. I cannot be like Him you know."</p> + +<p>"Yet Joe there have been instances of persons who have followed his +example in their way and degree, and who have been taught by Him, and +helped by Him to forgive their fellow-creatures."</p> + +<p>"But it is not in human nature to do it, I know, at least is not in +mine."</p> + +<p>"But try and settle it in your mind, Joe, that John did not mean to +injure you, that had he had the least idea that you would fall he would +never have tempted you to climb. If you look upon it as accidental on +your part, and thoughtlessness on his, it will feel easier to forgive +him perhaps, and I am sure you may. You are quite wrong in supposing +that John does not think of it. He told Edith only yesterday that he +never could forgive himself for tempting you to climb, and that he did +not wonder at your cold and distant way to him. Poor fellow! it would +make him much happier if you would treat him as though you forgave him, +which you cannot do unless you <i>from your heart</i> forgive him."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_TWELFTH"></a><h2>CHAPTER TWELFTH.</h2> + +<p>THE CHRISTMAS TREE.</p> +<br> + +<p>The conversation last recorded, between Emilie and Joe, took place a few +days before Christmas. Every one noticed that Joe was more silent and +thoughtful than usual, but he was not so morose; he received the little +attentions of his friend more gratefully, and was especially fond of +having Emilie talk to him, sing to him, or read to him. Emilie and her +aunt were spending a few days at the Parkers' house, and it seemed to +add very much to Joe's comfort. This Emilie was like a spirit of peace +pervading the whole family. She was so sure to win Edith to obey her +mamma, to stop John if he went a little too far in his jokes with his +sister, to do sundry little services for Mrs. Parker, and to make +herself such an agreeable companion to Emma, and Caroline, that they all +agreed they wished that they had her always with them. Edith confessed +to Emilie one day that she thought Emma and Caroline wonderfully +improved, and as to her mamma, how very seldom she was cross now.</p> + +<p>"We are very apt to think other persons in fault when we ourselves are +cross and irritable, this may have been the case here, Edith, may it +not?"</p> + +<p>"Well! perhaps so, but I am sure I am much happier than I was, Emilie."</p> + +<p>"'<i>Great peace</i> have they that love God's law,' my dear, 'and nothing +shall offend them.' What a gospel of peace it is Edith, is it not?"</p> + +<p>The great work in hand, just now, was the Christmas tree. These +Christmas trees are becoming very common in our English homes, and the +idea, like many more beautiful, bright, domestic thoughts, is borrowed +from the Germans. You may be sure that Emilie and aunt Agnes were quite +up to the preparations for this Christmas tree, and so much the more +welcome were they as Christmas guests.</p> + +<p>"I have plenty of money," said Joe, "but I don't know, somehow, what +sort of present to make, Miss Schomberg, yet I think I might pay for +all the wax lights and ornaments, and the filagree work you talk of."</p> + +<p>"A capital thought," said Emilie, and she took his purse, promising to +lay out what was needful to the best advantage. Joe helped Emilie and +the Miss Parkers very efficiently as he lay "useless," he said, but they +thought otherwise, and gave him many little jobs of pasting, gumming, +etc. It was a beautiful tree, I assure you; but Joe had a great deal of +mysterious talk with Emilie, apart from the rest, which, however, we +must not divulge until Christmas eve. A little box came from London on +the morning of the day, directed to Joe. Edith was very curious to know +its contents; so was Fred, so was John; Emilie only smiled.</p> + +<p>"Joe, won't you unpack that box now, to gratify us all?" said Mr. +Parker, as Joe put the box on one side, nodded to Emilie, and began his +breakfast. No, Joe could not oblige him. Evening came at last, and the +Christmas tree was found to bear rich fruit. From many a little +sparkling pendant branch hung offerings for Joe; poor Joe, who thought +no one in the world cared for him. He lay on his reclining chair looking +happier and brighter than usual, but as the gifts poured into his lap, +gifts so evidently the offspring of tenderness and affection, so +numerous, and so adapted to his condition, his countenance assumed a +more serious and thoughtful cast. Every cue gave him something. There is +no recounting the useful and pretty, if not costly, articles that Joe +became possessor of. A beautiful tartan wrapper for his feet, from Mrs. +Parker; a reading desk and book from Mr. Parker; a microscope from John +and Fred; a telescope from Emilie and Edith; some beautiful knitted +socks from aunt Agnes; a pair of Edith and Fred's very best canaries.</p> + +<p>When his gifts were arranged on his new table, a beautifully made table, +ordered for him by Mr. Parker, and exactly adapted to his prostrate +condition, and Joe saw every one's looks directed towards him lovingly, +and finally received a lovely white camellia blossom from Edith's hand, +he turned his face aside upon the sofa pillow and buried it in his +hands. What could be the matter with him? asked Mrs. Parker, tenderly. +Had any one said any thing to wound or vex him? "Oh no! no! no!" What +was it then? was he overcome with the heat of the room? "No, oh no!" +but might he be wheeled into the dining room, he asked? Mr. Parker +consented, of course, but aunt Agnes was sure he was ill. "Take him some +salvolatile, Emilie, at once."</p> + +<p>"No aunt," said Emilie, "he will be better without that, he is only +overcome."</p> + +<p>"And is not that just the very thing I was saying, Emilie, child, give +him some camphor julep then; camphor julep is a very reviving thing +doctor! Mr. Parker, won't you give him something to revive him."</p> + +<p>"I think," said Emilie, who understood his emotion and guessed its +cause, "I think he will be better alone. His spirits are weak, owing to +illness, I would not disturb him."</p> + +<p>"Come," said Mrs. Parker, "let us look at the tree, its treasures are +not half exhausted." Wonderful to say, although Joe had given his purse +to Emilie for the adornment of the tree, there still were presents for +every one from him; and what was yet more surprising to those who knew +that Joe had not naturally much delicacy of feeling or much +consideration for others, each present was exactly the thing that each +person liked and wished for. But John was the most astonished with his +share; it was a beautiful case of mathematical instruments, such a case +as all L---- and all the county of Hampshire together could not produce; +a case which Joe had bought for himself in London, and on which he +greatly prided himself. John had seen and admired it, and Joe gave this +prized, cherished case to John—his enemy John. "It must be intended for +you Fred," said John, after a minute's consideration; "but no, here is +my name on it."</p> + +<p>Margaret, at this moment, brought in a little note from Joe for John, +who, when he had read it, coloured and said, "Papa, perhaps you will +read it aloud, I cannot."</p> + +<p>It was as follows:—</p> + +"DEAR JOHN,<br> +<br> +"I have been, as you must have seen,<br> +very unhappy and very cross since my accident; I have<br> +had my heart filled with thoughts of malice and revenge,<br> +and to <i>you</i>. I have not felt as though I could forgive<br> +you, and I have often told Emilie and Edith this; but<br> +they have not known how wickedly I have felt to you,<br> +nor how much I now need to ask your forgiveness for<br> +thoughts which, in my helpless state, were as bad as actions.<br> +Often, as I saw you run out in the snow to slide<br> +or skate, I have wished (don't hate me for it) that you<br> +might fall and break your leg or your arm, that you might<br> +know a little of what I suffered. Thank God, all that is<br> +passed away, and I now do not write so much to say I<br> +forgive you, for I believe from my heart you only meant<br> +to tease me a little, not to hurt me, but to ask you to pardon<br> +me for thoughts far worse and more evil than your<br> +thoughtless mischief to me. Will you all believe me, too,<br> +when I say that I would not take my past, lonely, miserable<br> +feelings back again, to be the healthiest, most active<br> +boy on earth. Emilie has been a good friend to me, may<br> +God bless her, and bless you all for your patience and<br> +kindness to.<br> +<br> +"JOS. WHITE.<br> +<br> +"Pray do not ask me to come back to you to night, I<br> +cannot indeed. I am not unhappy, but since my illness<br> +my spirits are weak, and I can bear very little; your<br> +kindness has been too much.<br> +<br> +"J. W."<br> + +<p>The contents of the little box were now displayed. It was the only +costly present on that Christmas tree, full as it was, and rich in love. +The present was a little silver inkstand, with a dove in the centre, +bearing not an olive branch, but a little scroll in its beak, with these +words, which Emilie had suggested, and being a favourite German proverb +of hers. I will give it in her own language, in which by the bye it was +engraved. She had written the letter containing the order for the plate +to a fellow-countryman of hers, in London, and had forgotten to specify +that the motto must be in English; but never mind, she translated it for +them, and I will translate it for you. "Friede ernährt, unfriede +verzehrt." "In peace we bloom, in discord we consume." The inkstand was +for Mr. and Mrs. Parker, and the slip of paper said it was from their +grateful friend, Joe White. That was the secret. Emilie had kept it +well; they rather laughed at her for not translating the motto, but no +matter, she had taught them all a German phrase by the mistake.</p> + +<p>Where was she gone? she had slipped away from the merry party, and was +by Joe's couch. Joe's heart was very full, full with the newly-awakened +sense that he loved and that he was loved; full of earnest resolves to +become less selfish, less thankless, less irritable. He knew his lot +now, knew all that lay before him, the privations, the restrictions, the +weakness, and the sufferings. He knew that he could never hope again to +share in the many joys of boyhood and youth; that he must lay aside his +cricket ball, his hoop, his kite, in short all his active amusements, +and consign himself to the couch through the winter, spring, summer, +autumn, and winter again. He felt this very bitterly; and when all the +gifts were lavished upon him, he thought, "Oh, for my health and +strength again, and I would gladly give up <i>all</i> these gifts, nay, I +would joyfully be a beggar." But when he was alone, in the view of all I +have written and more, he felt that he could forgive John, that in short +he must ask John to forgive him, and this conviction came not suddenly +and by chance, but as the result of honest sober consideration, of his +own sincere communings with conscience.</p> + +<p>Still he felt very desolate, still he could scarcely believe in Emilie's +assurance, "You may have God for your friend," and something of this he +told Miss Schomberg, when she came to sit by him for awhile. She had but +little faith in her own eloquence, we have said, and she felt now more +than ever how dangerous it would be to deceive him, so she did not lull +him into false peace, but she soothed him with the promise of Him who +loves us not because of our worthiness, but who has compassion on us out +of his free mercy. Herein is love indeed, thought poor Joe, and he +meditated long upon it, so long that his heart began to feel something +of its power, and he sank to sleep that night happier and calmer than he +had ever slept before, wondering in his last conscious moments that God +should love <i>him</i>.</p> + +<p>Poor Joel he had much to struggle with; for if indulgence and +over-weening affection ruin their thousands, neglect and heartlessness +ruin tens of thousands. The heart not used to exercise the affection, +becomes as it were paralyzed, and so he found it. He could not love as +he ought, he could not be grateful as he knew he ought to be, and he +found himself continually receiving acts of kindness, as matters of +course, and without suitable feeling of kindness and gratitude in +return; but the more he knew of himself the more he felt of his own +unworthiness, the more gratefully he acknowledged and appreciated the +love of others to him. The ungrateful are always proud. The humble, +those who know how undeserving they are, are always grateful.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_THIRTEENTH"></a><h2>CHAPTER THIRTEENTH.</h2> + +<p>THE NEW HOME.</p> +<br> + +<p>Let us pass by twelve months, and see how the law of kindness is working +then. Mrs. Parker is certainly happier, less troubled than she was two +years ago; Edith is a better and more dutiful child, and the sisters are +far more sociable with her than formerly. The dove of peace has taken up +its abode in the Parker family. How is it in High Street? Emilie and +aunt Agnes are not there, but Miss Webster is still going on with her +straw bonnet trade and her lodging letting, and she is really as good +tempered as we can expect of a person whose temper has been bad so very +long, and who has for so many years been accustomed to view her fellow +creatures suspiciously and unkindly.</p> + +<p>But Emilie is gone, and are you not curious to know where? I will tell +you; she is gone back to Germany—she and her aunt Agnes are both gone +to Frankfort to live. The fact is, that Emilie is married. She was +engaged to a young Professor of languages, at the very time when the +Christmas tree was raised last year in Mr. Parker's drawing room. He +formed one of the party, indeed, and, but that I am such a very bad hand +at describing love affairs, I might have mentioned it then; besides, +this is not a <i>love story</i> exactly, though there is a great deal about +<i>love</i> in it.</p> + +<p>Lewes Franks had come over to England with letters of recommendation +from one or two respectable English families at Frankfort, and was +anxious to return with two or three English pupils, and commence a +school in that town. His name was well known to Mr. Parker, who gladly +promised to consign his two sons, John and Fred to his care, but +recommended young Franks to get married. This Franks was not loth to do +when he saw Emilie Schomberg, and after rather a short courtship, and +quite a matter of fact one, they married and went over to Germany, +accompanied by John, Fred, and Joe White. Mr. Barton, after the sad +accident in the plantation, had so little relish for school keeping, +that he very gladly resigned his pupils to young Franks, who, if he had +little experience in tuition, was admirably qualified to train the young +by a natural gentleness and kindness of disposition, and sincere and +stedfast christian principle.</p> + +<p>Edith longed to accompany them, but that was not to be thought of, and +so she consoled herself by writing long letters to Emilie, which +contained plenty of L---- news. I will transcribe one for you.</p> + +<p>The following was dated a few months after the departure of the party, +not the first though, you may be sure.</p> + +L----, Dec, 18—<br> +DEAREST EMILIE,<br> +<br> +I am thinking so much of you to-night<br> +that I must write to tell you so. I wish letters<br> +only cost one penny to Frankfort, and I would write to<br> +you every day. I want so to know how you are spending<br> +your Christmas at Frankfort. We shall have no Christmas<br> +tree this year. We all agreed that it would be a melancholy<br> +attempt at mirth now you are gone, and dear Fred<br> +and John and poor Joe. I fancy you will have one<br> +though, and oh, I wish I was with you to see it, but<br> +mamma is often very poorly now, and likes me to be<br> +with her, and I know I am in the right place, so I<br> +won't wish to be elsewhere. Papa is very much from<br> +home now, he has so many patients at a distance, and<br> +sometimes he takes me long rides with him, which is<br> +a great pleasure. One of his patients is just dead,<br> +you will be sorry to hear who I mean—Poor old Joe<br> +Murray! He took cold in November, going out with<br> +his Life Boat, one very stormy night, to a ship in<br> +distress off L---- sands, the wind and rain were very<br> +violent, and he was too long in his wet clothes, but he<br> +saved with his own arm two of the crew; two boys about<br> +the age of his own poor Bob. Every one says it was a<br> +noble act; they were just ready to sink, and the boat in<br> +another moment would have gone off without them. His<br> +own life was in great danger, but be said he remembered<br> +your, or rather the Saviour's, "Golden Rule," and could<br> +not hesitate. Think of remembering that in a November<br> +storm in the raging sea! He plunged in and dragged<br> +first one and then another into the boat. These boys<br> +were brothers, and it was their first voyage. They told<br> +Joe that they had gone to sea out of opposition to their<br> +father, who contradicted their desires in every thing, but<br> +that now they had had quite enough of it, and should<br> +return; but I must not tell you all their story, or my<br> +letter will he too long. Joe, as I told you, caught cold,<br> +and though he was kindly nursed and Sarah waited on him<br> +beautifully, he got worse and worse. I often went to see<br> +him, and he was very fond of my reading in the Bible<br> +to him; but one day last week he was taken with inflammation<br> +of the chest, and died in a few hours. Papa says he<br> +might have lived years, but for that cold, he was such a<br> +healthy man. I feel very sorry he is gone.<br> +<br> +I can't help crying when I think of it, for I remember<br> +he was very useful to me that May evening when we<br> +were primrose gathering. Do you recollect that evening,<br> +Emilie? Ah, I have much to thank you for. What a<br> +selfish, wilful, irritable girl I was! So I am now at times,<br> +my evil thoughts and feelings cling so close to me, and<br> +I have no longer you, dear Emilie, to warn and to encourage<br> +me, but I have Jesus still. He Is a good Friend<br> +to me, a better even than you have been.<br> +<br> +I owe you a great deal Emilie; you taught me to love,<br> +you showed me the sin of temper, and the beauty of peace<br> +and love. I go and see Miss Webster sometimes, as you<br> +wish; she is getting very much more sociable than she was,<br> +and does not give quite such short answers. She often<br> +speaks of you, and says you were a good friend to her; that<br> +is a great deal for her to say, is it not? How happy you<br> +must be to have every one love you! I am glad to<br> +say that Fred's canaries are well, but they don't <i>agree</i> at<br> +all times. There is no teaching canaries to love one<br> +another, so all I can do is to separate the fighters; but<br> +I love those birds, I love them for Fred's sake, and I love<br> +them for the remembrances they awaken of our first days<br> +of peace and union.<br> +<br> +My love to Joe, poor Joe! Do write and tell me how<br> +he goes on, does he walk at all? Ever dear Emilie,<br> +<br> +Your affectionate<br> +<br> +EDITH.<br> + +<p>There were letters to John and Fred in the same packet, and I think you +will like to hear one of Fred's to his sister, giving an account of the +Christmas festivities at Frankfort.</p> + +DEAR EDITH,<br> +<br> +I am very busy to-day, but I must<br> +give you a few lines to tell you how delighted your letters<br> +made us. We are very happy here, but <i>home</i> is the place<br> +after all, and it is one of our good Master's most constant<br> +themes. He is always talking to us about home, and<br> +encouraging us to talk of and think of it. Emilie seems<br> +like a sister to us, and she enters into all our feelings as<br> +well us you could do yourself.<br> +<br> +Well, you will want to know something about our<br> +Christmas doings at school. They have been glorious I<br> +can tell you—such a Christmas tree! Such a lot of<br> +presents in our <i>shoes</i> on Christmas morning; such dinings<br> +and suppings, and musical parties! You must know every<br> +one sings here, the servants go singing about the house<br> +like nightingales, or sweeter than nightingales to my<br> +mind, like our dear "Kanarien Vogel."<br> +<br> +You ask for Joe, he is very patient, and kind and good<br> +to us all, he and John are capital friends; and oh, Edith,<br> +it would do your heart good to see how John devotes himself<br> +to the poor fellow. He waits upon him like a servant,<br> +but it is all <i>love</i> service. Joe can scarcely bear him out<br> +of his sight. Herr Franks was asked the other day, by<br> +a gentleman who came to sup with us, if they were brothers.<br> +John watches all Joe's looks, and is so careful<br> +that nothing may be said to wound him, or to remind<br> +him of his great affliction more than needs be. It was a<br> +beautiful sight on New Year's Eve to see Joe's boxes<br> +that he has carved. He has become very clever at that<br> +work, and there was an article of his carving for every<br> +one, but the best was for Emilie, and she <i>deserted</i> it.<br> +Oh, how he loves Emilie! If he is beginning to feel in<br> +one of his old cross moods, he says that Emilie's face, or<br> +Emilie's voice disperses it all, and well it may; Emilie<br> +has sweetened sourer tempers than Joe White's.<br> +<br> +But now comes a sorrowful part of my letter. Joe is<br> +very unwell, he has a cough, (he was never strong you<br> +know,) and the doctor says he is very much afraid his<br> +lungs are diseased. He certainly gets thinner and<br> +weaker, and he said to me to-day what I must tell you.<br> +He spoke of his longings to travel (to go to Australia was<br> +always his fancy.) "And now, Fred," he said, "I never<br> +think of going <i>there</i>, I am thinking of a longer journey<br> +<i>still</i>." "A longer journey, Joe!" I said, "Well, you have<br> +got the travelling mania on you yet, I see." He looked<br> +so sad, that I said, "What do you mean Joe?" He<br> +replied, "Fred, I think nothing of journeys and voyages<br> +in this world now. I am thinking of a pilgrimage to the<br> +land where all our wandering's will have an end. I<br> +longed, oh Fred, you know how I longed to go to foreign<br> +lands, but I long now as I never longed before to go to<br> +<i>Heaven</i>." I begged him not to talk of dying, but he said<br> +it did not make him low spirited. Emilie and he talked<br> +of it often. Ah Edith! that boy is more fit for heaven<br> +than any of us who a year or two ago thought him<br> +scarcely fit to be our companion, but as Emilie said the<br> +other day, God often causes the very afflictions that he<br> +sends to become his choicest mercies. So it has been<br> +with poor White, I am sure. I find I have nearly filled<br> +my letter about Joe, but we all think a great deal of him.<br> +Don't you remember Emilie's saying, "I would try to<br> +make him lovable." He is lovable now, I assure you.<br> +<br> +I am sorry our canaries quarrel, but that is no fault of<br> +yours. We have only two school-fellows at present, but<br> +Herr Franks does not wish for a large school; he says he<br> +likes to be always with us, and to be our companion, which<br> +if there were more of us he could not so well manage. We<br> +have one trouble, and that is in the temper of this newly<br> +arrived German boy, but we are going to try and make<br> +him lovable. He is a good way off it <i>yet</i>.<br> +<br> +I must leave John to tell you about the many things I<br> +have forgotten, and I will write soon. We have a cat<br> +here whom we call <i>Muff</i>, after your old pet. Her name<br> +often reminds me of your sacrifice for me. Ah! my dear<br> +little sister, you heaped coals of fire on my head that day.<br> +Truly you were not overcome of evil, you overcame evil<br> +with good. Dear love to all at home. Your ever affectionate<br> +brother,<br> +<br> +FRED PARKER.<br> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_FOURTEENTH"></a><h2>CHAPTER FOURTEENTH.</h2> + +<p>THE LAST.</p> +<br> + +<p>"Hush, dears! hush!" said a gentle voice, pointing to a shaded window. +"He is asleep now, and we must have the window open for air this sultry +evening. I would not rake that bed to-night, John, I think."</p> + +<p>"It is <i>his</i> garden, Emilie."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know"—and she sighed.—</p> + +<p>"It <i>is</i> his garden, and his eye always sees the least weed and the +least untidiness. He will be sure to notice it when he is drawn out +to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"John there may be no to-morrow for Joe, he is altered very much to-day, +and it is evident to me he is sinking fast. He won't come down again, I +think."</p> + +<p>"May I go and sit by him, Emilie?" said the boy, quietly gathering up +his tools and preparing to leave his employment.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but be very still."</p> + +<p>It was a striking contrast; that fine, florid, healthy boy, whose frame +was gaining vigour and manliness daily, whose blight eye had scarcely +ever been dimmed by illness or pain, and that pale, deformed, weary +sleeper. So Emilie thought as she took her seat by the open window and +watched them both. The roses and the carnations that John had brought to +his friend were quietly laid on the table as he caught the first glimpse +of the dying boy. There was that in the action which convinced Emilie +that John was aware of his friend's state and they quietly sat down to +watch him. The stars came out one by one, the dew was falling, the birds +were all hurrying home, children were asleep in their happy beds; many +glad voices mingled by open casements and social supper tables, some few +lingered out of doors to enjoy the beauties of that quiet August night, +the last on earth of one, at least, of God's creatures. They watched on.</p> + +<p>"I have been asleep, Emilie, a beautiful sleep, I was dreaming of my +mother; I awoke, and it was you. John, <i>you</i> there too! Good, patient, +watchful John. Leave me a moment, quite alone with John, will you, +Emilie? Moments are a great deal to me now."</p> + +<p>The friends were left alone, their talk was of death and eternity, on +the solemn realities of which one of them was about to enter, and +carefully as John had shielded Joe, tenderly as he had watched over him +hitherto, he must now leave him to pass the stream alone—yet not alone.</p> + +<p>Emilie soon returned; it was to see him die. It was not much that he +could say, and much was not needed. The agony of breathing those last +breaths was very great. He had lived long near to God, and in the dark +valley his Saviour was still near to him. He was at peace—at peace in +the dying conflict; it was only death now with whom he had to contend. +Being justified by faith, he had peace with God through the Lord Jesus +Christ. His last words were whispered in the ear of that good elder +sister, our true-hearted, loving Emilie. "Bless you, dear Emilie, God +<i>will</i> bless you, for 'Blessed are the peacemakers.'"</p> + + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>NORWICK: PRINTED BY JOSIAH FLETCHER</p> + +<p>NEW WORKS AND NEW EDITIONS</p> + +<p>Published by Arthur Hall, Virtue & Co.</p> + +<p>25, PATERNOSTER ROW.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Third Edition, in post 8vo. with numerous illustrations, price 8s. bound +in cloth, or 17s. morocco antique,</p> + +<p>NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS:</p> + +<p>An Historical Sketch of Ancient Assyria and Persia, with an Account of +the recent Researches in those Countries,</p> + +<p>By W.S.W. 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Super-royal 8vo. cloth +gilt, 12s.; morocco gilt, 21s.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>SCRIPTURE SITES AND SCENES, FROM ACTUAL SURVEY, IN EGYPT, ARABIA, AND +PALESTINE.</p> + +<p>Illustrated with 17 Steel Engravings, 3 Maps, and 37 Woodcuts. 4s. cloth +gilt, post 8vo.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Just published, post 8vo. price 10s. 6d. bound in cloth,</p> + +<p>DEALINGS WITH THE INQUISITION AT ROME.</p> + +<p>BY DR. GIACINTO ACHILLI.</p> + +<p>Extract from the Work.—"It is to unmask and expose Popery, as it is at +the present day, that I undertake the writing of this work ...I should +be sorry for it to be said or thought, that I undertook it to gratify +any bad feeling; my sole motive has been to make the truth evident, that +all may apprehend it. It was for hearing and speaking the truth that I +incurred the hatred of the Papal Court; it was for the truth's sake that +I hesitated at no sacrifice it required of me; and it is for the truth +that I lay the present Narrative before the public."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>EDITED BY DR. CUMMING. 18mo. cloth, price 1s. 6d.</p> + +<p>MATTHEW POOLE'S DIALOGUE BETWEEN A POPISH PRIEST AND AN ENGLISH +PROTESTANT.</p> + +<p>Wherein the principal Points and Arguments of both Religions are truly +Proposed, and fully Examined.</p> + +<p>New Edition, with the References revised and corrected.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Second Edition, enlarged and improved, 12mo. cloth, price 2s. 6d.</p> + +<p>ROMANISM IN ENGLAND EXPOSED.</p> + +<p>A Series of Letters, exposing the Blasphemous and Soul-destroying system +advocated and taught by the Redemptorist Fathers of Clapham. By C.H. +Collete, Esq.</p> + +<p>"We strongly recommend this publication, which is particularly valuable +just now."—<i>Royal Cornwall Gazette</i>.</p> + +<p>"We recommend the work to the serious and earnest attention of our +readers as one of unusual interest, and as discovering the active +existence, in our very midst, of a system of idolatry and blasphemy as +gross as any recorded in the History of Popery."—<i>Bell's Weekly +Messenger</i>.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Also, by the same Author, price 1s.</p> + +<p>POPISH INFALLIBILITY.</p> + +<p>Letters to Viscount Fielding on his Secession.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>WORKS BY THE REV. JOHN CUMMING, D.D.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>1. Published this day, in fcap. 8vo. price 9s. cloth, elegantly gilt or +13s. morocco extra,</p> + +<p>PROPHETIC STUDIES: OR, LECTURES ON THE BOOK OF DANIEL.</p> + +<p>2. Also, by the same Author, New Editions, revised and corrected, with +Two Indices. In Two vols. price 9s. each, cloth gilt; or 26s. morocco +extra,</p> + +<p>APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES; OR, LECTURES ON THE BOOK OF REVELATION. Delivered +in Exeter Hall, and at Crown Court Church.</p> + +<p>3. Also, uniform with the above. Fifth Thousand.</p> + +<p>APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES, THIRD SERIES; OR, LECTURES ON THE SEVEN CHURCHES +OF ASIA MINOR. Illustrated by Wood Engravings, representing the present +state of the Apcetolic Churches.</p> + +<p>4. New Edition, in the Press.</p> + +<p>LECTURES FOR THE TIMES: AN EXPOSITION OF TRIDENTE AND TRACTARIAN POPERY.</p> + +<p>5. Now complete, in One Volume, containing 688 pages, price 6s. cloth +lettered,</p> + +<p>A CHEAP EDITION OF THE CELEBRATED PROTESTANT DISCUSSION Between the Rev. +JOHN CUMMING, D.D. and DANIEL FRENCH, Esq. Barrister-at-Law, held at +Hammersmith, in MDCCCXXXIX.</p> + +<p>"No Clergyman's library can be complete without it."—<i>Bell's +Messenger.</i></p> + +<p>"A compendium of argument."—<i>Gentleman's Magazine.</i></p> + +<p>"The subject <i>pro</i> and <i>con</i> is all but exhausted."—<i>Church and State +Gazette.</i></p> + +<p>"This book ought to be in the hands of every Protestant in Britain, more +particularly all Clergymen, Ministers, and Teachers; a more thorough +acquaintance with the great Controversy may be acquired from this volume +than from any other source."</p> + +<p>6. Seventh Edition, fcap. 8vo. cloth, price 3<i>s</i>.</p> + +<p>"IS CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD?" A Manual of Christian Evidences for +Scripture Readers, Sunday School Teachers, City Missionaries, and Young +Persons.</p> + +<p>"We never read a work of this description which gave us so much +satisfaction. It is a work of the utmost value."—<i>Ecclesiastical +Times</i>.</p> + +<p>"It is drawn up with much care, clearness, and earnestness."—<i>Aberdeen +Journal</i>.</p> + +<p>"The topics contained in this volume are treated with intelligence, +clearness, and eloquence."—<i>Dr. Vaughan's Review</i>.</p> + +<p>"As a popular compendium of Christian Evidence, we thoroughly recommend +this volume."—<i>Noncomformist</i>.</p> + +<p>"It bears the impress of a clear and vigorous understanding. Dr. Cumming +has done great service to the cause of Divine Revelation by the +publication of it."—<i>Church of England Journal</i>.</p> + +<p>7. Third Edition, fcap. 8vo. price 3<i>s</i>. cloth gilt,</p> + +<p>OUR FATHER; A Manual of Family Prayers for General and Special +Occasions, with short Prayers for spare minutes, and Passages for +Reflection.</p> + +<p>8. Uniform with the above,</p> + +<p>THE COMMUNION TABLE; Or, Communicant's Manual: a plain and practical +Exposition of the Lord's Supper.</p> + +<p>9. Just published, price 4<i>s</i>. cloth gilt,</p> + +<p>OCCASIONAL DISCOURSES. VOL. II. CONTENTS.</p> + +<p>1. LIBERTY. 2. EQUALITY. 3. FRATERNITY. 4. THE REVOLUTIONISTS. 5. THE +TRUE CHARTER. 6. THE TRUE SUCCESSION. 7. PSALM FOR THE DAY. 8. +THANKSGIVING.</p> + +<p>10. DR. CUMMING'S SERMON BEFORE THE QUEEN. Sixteenth Thousand, price +1<i>s</i>.</p> + +<p>SALVATION: A Sermon preached in the Parish Church of Crathie, Balmoral, +before Her Majesty the Queen, on Sunday, Sept. 22d, 1850.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Second Edition, revised and corrected, with an Index,</p> + +<p>CHEMISTRY NO MYSTERY:</p> + +<p>Being the Subject-matter of a Course of Lectures by Dr. Scoffeon. In +12mo. cloth lettered, price 5s.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Third Edition, revised and corrected,</p> + +<p>BAKEWELL'S PHILOSOPHICAL CONVERSATIONS. Illustrated with Diagrams and +Woodcuts. In 12mo. cloth, price 5s.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>A NEW TREATISE on THE GAME OF CHESS.</p> + +<p>By George Walker, Esq. Ninth Edition. 12mo. cloth lettered, reduced to +5s.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Eighth Edition, price 3s. in cloth, with Frontispiece,</p> + +<p>SELECT POETRY FOR CHILDREN; with Brief Explanatory Notes. Arranged for +the use of Schools and Families by Joseph Payne.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Second Edition, in 19mo. cloth, price 6s.</p> + +<p>STUDIES IN ENGLISH POETRY. Edited by Joseph Payne.</p> + +<p>With short Biographical Sketches and Notes, intended as a Text-Book for +the higher classes in Schools, and as an Introduction to the study of +English Literature.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>In preparation, uniform with the above, by the same Editor. STUDIES IN +ENGLISH PROSE.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Just published, price 6d.</p> + +<p>THE ILLUSTRATED FRENCH AND ENGLISH PRIMER.</p> + +<p>With nearly 100 Engravings on Wood.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>THE +HOFLAND LIBRARY: +FOR THE +INSTRUCTION AND AMUSEMENT OF YOUTH.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>ILLUSTRATED WITH PLATES.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>EACH VOLUME HANDSOMELY BOUND IN EMBOSSED SCARLET CLOTH, WITH GILT EDGES, +&c.</p> + +<p>FIRST CLASS, in 12mo. Price 2s. 6d.</p> + +<p>1. ALFRED CAMPBELL; or Travels of a Young Pilgrim. 2. DECISION; a Tale. +3. ENERGY. 4. FAREWELL TALES. 5. FORTITUDE. 6. HUMILITY. 7. INTEGRITY. +8. MODERATION. 9. PATIENCE. 10. REFLECTION. 11. SELF-DENIAL. 12. YOUNG +CADET; or, Travels in Hindostan. 13. YOUNG PILGRIM; or, Alfred Campell's +Return.</p> + +<p>SECOND CLASS, in 18mo. Price 1s. 6d.</p> + +<p>1. ADELAIDE: or, Massacre of St. Bartholomew. 2. AFFECTIONATE BROTHERS. +3. ALICIA AND HER AUNT; or, Think before you Speak. 4. BARBADOS GIRL. 5. +BLIND FARMER AND HIS CHILDREN. 6. CLERGYMAN'S WIDOW and her YOUNG +FAMILY. 7. DAUGHTER-IN-LAW, HER FATHER AND FAMILY. 8. ELIZABETH AND HER +THREE BEGGAR BOYS. 9. GODMOTHER'S TALES. 10. GOOD GRANDMOTHER AND HER +OFFSPRING. 11. MERCHANT'S WIDOW and her YOUNG FAMILY. 12. RICH BOYS AND +POOR BOYS, and other Tales. 13. THE SISTERS; a Domestic Tale. 14. STOLEN +BOY; an Indian Tale. 15. WILLIAM AND HIS UNCLE BEN. 16. YOUNG NORTHERN +TRAVELLER. 17. YOUNG CRUSOE; or, Shipwrecked Boy.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>NEW ILLUSTRATED WORKS FOR THE YOUNG.</p> + +<p>Uniformly printed in square 16 mo. handsomely bound in cloth, price 2s. +6d. each.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>1. With Plates on Steel, Second Edition,</p> + +<p>HOW TO WIN LOVE; OR, RHONDA'S LESSON. BY THE AUTHOR OF "MICHAEL THE +MINER," ETC.</p> + +<p>"A very captivating story."—<i>Morning Post.</i></p> + +<p>"Truthfulness, descriptive talent, and pure morality in every line."— +<i>Literary Gazette.</i></p> + +<p>"Just what a story for children ought to be."—<i>Douglas Jerrold's +Newspaper.</i></p> + +<p>2. PIPPIE'S WARNING; OR, THE ADVENTURES OF A DANCING DOG. BY CATHERINE +CROWE, AUTHOR OF 'SUSAN HOPLEY,' ETC.</p> + +<p>"A capital story."—<i>Athenaeum.</i> "This is a capital child's +book."—<i>Scotsman.</i></p> + +<p>3. STRATAGEMS. BY MRS. NEWTON CROSLAND, (late CAMILLA TOULMIN.)</p> + +<p>"A sweet tale, penned in a fair mood, and such as will make a rare gift +for a child."—<i>Sun</i>.</p> + +<p>4. With Four Illustrations.</p> + +<p>MY OLD PUPILS. The former work of this author, "MY SCHOOLBOY DAYS," has +attained great popularity, upwards of ten thousand copies having been +circulated in this country alone.</p> + +<p>5 Third Edition, with gilt edges,</p> + +<p>STORIES FROM THE GOSPELS. By MRS. HENRY LYNCH, AUTHOR OF "MAUDE +EFFINGHAM," ETC.</p> + +<p>6. Just published,</p> + +<p>PLEASANT PASTIME; Or, DRAWING-ROOM DRAMAS, for Private Representation by +the Young.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>NEW TALE FOR THE YOUNG, BY SILVERPEN.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>JUST PUBLISHED, In foolscap 8vo. price 7<i>s</i>. 6<i>d</i>. elegantly bound and +gilt, WITH +NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS BY HARVEY,</p> + +<p>THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE DAUGHTER. THE STORY OF A CHILD'S LIFE AMIDST THE +WOODS AND HILLS.</p> + +<p>BY ELIZA METEYARD.</p> + +<p>"This is a very delightful book, especially calculated for the amusement +and instruction of our young friends; and is evidently the production of +a right-thinking and accomplished mind."—<i>Church of England Review</i>.</p> + +<p>"An elegant, interesting, and unobjectionable present for young ladies. +The moral of the book turns on benevolence."—<i>Christian Times</i>.</p> + +<p>"This Story of a Child's Life is so full of beauty end meekness that we +can hardly express our sense of its worth in the words of common +praise."—<i>Nonconformist</i>.</p> + +<p>"This will be a choice present for the young."—<i>British Quarterly +Review</i>.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>A GIFT BOOK FOR ALL SEASONS.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>In square post 8vo, price 5<i>s</i>. handsomely bound and gilt,</p> + +<p>THE JUVENILE CALENDAR, AND ZODIAC OF FLOWERS By Mrs. T. K. Hervey</p> + +<p>WITH TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE MONTHS. By RICHARD DOYLE.</p> + +<p>"Never has the graceful pencil of Mr. Doyle been more gracefully +employed than in sketching the charming illustrations of this charming +volume."—<i>Sun</i>.</p> + +<p>"A very pretty as well as very interesting book."—<i>Observer</i>.</p> + +<p>"One need not ask for a prettier or more appropriate gift."—<i>Atlas</i>.</p> + +<p>"One of the most charming gift-books for the young which we have never +met with."—<i>Nonconformist</i>.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>In fcp. 8vo. price 5<i>s</i>. cloth gilt, illustrated by FRANKLIN,</p> + +<p>COLA MONTI; OR, THE STORY OF A GENIUS. A TALE FOR BOYS.</p> + +<p>BY THE AUTHOR OF "HOW TO WIN LOVE," ETC.</p> + +<p>"We heartily command it as delightful holiday reading."—<i>Critic</i>.</p> + +<p>"A lively narrative of school-boy adventures."</p> + +<p>"A very charming and admirably written volume. It is adapted to make +boys better."</p> + +<p>"A simple and pleasing story of school-boy life."—<i>John Bull</i>.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>In 18mo. price 1<i>s</i>. 6<i>d</i>. with Illustrations by A. COOPER, R A.</p> + +<p>THE VOICE OF MANY WATERS. BY MRS. DAVID OSBORNE.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>NEW CHRISTMAS BOOK FOR THE YOUNG.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Just published, in fcap. 8vo. price 5<i>s</i>. handsomely bound, with gilt +edges,</p> + +<p>THE ILLUSTRATED YEAR BOOK. SECOND SERIES. THE WONDERS, EVENTS, AND +DISCOVERIES OF 1850.</p> + +<p>EDITED BY JOHN TIMBS.</p> + +<p>WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD. <i>Among the Contents of this +interesting Volume will be found</i> THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. OCEAN STEAMERS. +CHURCH BUILDING. THE KOH-I-NOOR. TROPICAL STORMS. NEPAULESE EMBASSY. +SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH. PANORAMAS. OVERLAND ROUTE. COLOSSAL STATUE OF +"BAVARIA." INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION, 1851.</p> + +<p>"What a treasure in a country house must not such an Encyclopaedia of +amusing knowledge afford, when the series has grown to a few volumes. +Not only an Encyclopaedia of amusing and useful knowledge, but that +which will give to memory a chronological chart of our acquisition of +information. This admirable idea is well followed out in the little +volume in our hands. The notiore are all clear, full, and satisfactory, +and the engravings with which the volume is embellished are every way +worthy of the literary part of the work."—<i>Standard</i>.</p> + +<p>"The work is well done, and deserves notice as a striking memorial of +the chief occurrences of 1850."—<i>Atlas</i>.</p> + +<p>"Books such as this are, and will be, the landmarks of social, +scientific, mechanical, and moral progress; it extends to nearly four +hundred pages of well-condensed matter, illustrated with numerous +excellently engraved wood blocks."—<i>Advertiser</i>.</p> + +<p>"It is a stirring and instructive volume for intelligent young +people."—<i>Evangelical</i>.</p> + +<p><b>The former Volume, for 1849, still continues on Sale.</b></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>NEW GIFT BOOK FOR THE SEASON.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>In 8vo. price 16s. bound in cloth, or 24s. morocco elegant,</p> + +<p>PILGRIMAGES TO ENGLISH SHRINES.</p> + +<p>BY MRS. S.C. HALL.</p> + +<p>WITH NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS BY F.W. FAIRHOLT, F S.A. <i>Among the +interesting subjects of this Volume will be found,</i> The Birth-place or +John Bunyan; the Burial-place of John Hampden; the Residence of Hannah +More; the Tomb of Sir Thomas Gresham; the Tomb of Thomas Gray; the +Birth-place of Thomas Chatterton; the Birth-place of Richard Wilson; the +House of Andrew Marvel; the Tomb of John Stow; the Heart of Sir Nicholas +Crispe; the Printing Office of William Caxton; Shaftesbury House; the +Dwelling of James Barry; the Residence of Dr. Isaac Watts; the Prison of +Lady Mary Grey; the Town of John Kyrle (the Man of Ross); the Tomb of +William Hogarth; the Studio of Thomas Gainsborough, R.A.</p> + +<p>NOTICES OF THE PRESS "Descriptions of such Shrines come home with deep +interest to all hearts—all English hearts—particularly when they are +done with the earnestness which distinguishes Mrs. Hall's writings. That +lady's earnestness and enthusiasm are of the right sort—felt for +freedom of thought and action, for taste, and for genius winging its +flight in a noble direction. They are displayed, oftentimes most +naturally, throughout the attractive pages of this volume."—<i>Observer.</i></p> + +<p>"Mrs. Hall's talents are too well known to require our commendation of +her 'Pilgrimages,' which are every way worthy of the beautiful woodcuts +that illustrate almost every page, and this is very high praise +indeed."—<i>Standard.</i></p> + +<p>"The illustrations are very effective; and the whole work externally and +internally, is worthy of the patronage of all who love to be instructed +as well as amazed."<i>—Church and State Gazette.</i></p> + +<p>"The book is a pleasant one; a collection of a great deal of curious +information about a number of curious places and persons, cleverly and +readily put together, and combined into an elegant volume."—<i>Guardian</i>.</p> +<br> +<hr class="full"> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EMILIE THE PEACEMAKER***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 11290-h.txt or 11290-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/2/9/11290">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/2/9/11290</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Emilie the Peacemaker + +Author: Mrs. Thomas Geldart + +Release Date: February 25, 2004 [eBook #11290] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EMILIE THE PEACEMAKER*** + + +E-text prepared by Internet Archive; +University of Florida; and Amy Petri and Project +Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders + + + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through the Florida + Board of Education, Division of Colleges and Universities, + PALMM Project, 2001. (Preservation and Access for American and + British Children's Literature, 1850-1869.) See + http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/dl/UF00001806.jpg + or + http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/dl/UF00001806.pdf + + + + + +EMILIE THE PEACEMAKER. + +BY MRS. THOMAS GELDART. + +AUTHOR OF "TRUTH IS EVERYTHING;" "NURSERY GUIDE;" "STORIES OF ENGLAND +AND HER FORTY COUNTIES;" AND "THOUGHTS FOR HOME." + +MDCCCLI. + + + + + +Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of +God.... Matt v. 9. + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. + +INTRODUCTION + +CHAPTER II. + +THE SOFT ANSWER + +CHAPTER III. + +THE LESSON AT THE COTTAGE + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE HOLIDAYS + +CHAPTER V. + +EDITH'S TRIALS + +CHAPTER VI. + +EMILIE'S TRIALS + +CHAPTER VII. + +BETTER THINGS + +CHAPTER VIII. + +GOOD FOR EVIL + +CHAPTER IX. + +FRED A PEACEMAKER + +CHAPTER X. + +EDITH'S VISIT TO JOE + +CHAPTER XI. + +JOE'S CHRISTMAS + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE CHRISTMAS TREE + + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE NEW HOME + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE LAST + + + + + + +CHAPTER FIRST. + +INTRODUCTION. + + +One bright afternoon, or rather evening, in May, two girls, with basket +in hand, were seen leaving the little seaport town in which they +resided, for the professed purpose of primrose gathering, but in reality +to enjoy the pure air of the first summer-like evening of a season, +which had been unusually cold and backward. Their way lay through bowery +lanes scented with sweet brier and hawthorn, and every now and then +glorious were the views of the beautiful ocean, which lay calmly +reposing and smiling beneath the setting sun. "How unlike that stormy, +dark, and noisy sea of but a week ago!" so said the friends to each +other, as they listened to its distant musical murmur, and heard the +waves break gently on the shingly beach. + +Although we have called them friends, there was a considerable +difference in their ages. That tall and pleasing, though plain, girl in +black, was the governess of the younger. Her name was Emilie Schomberg. +The little rosy, dark-eyed, and merry girl, her pupil, we shall call +Edith Parker. She had scarcely numbered twelve Mays, and was at the age +when primrosing and violeting have not lost their charms, and when +spring is the most welcome, and the dearest of all the four seasons. +Emilie Schomberg, as her name may lead you to infer, was a German. She +spoke English, however, so well, that you would scarcely have supposed +her to be a foreigner, and having resided in England for some years, had +been accustomed to the frequent use of that language. Emilie Schomberg +was the daily governess of little Edith. Little she was always called, +for she was the youngest of the family, and at eleven years of age, if +the truth must be told of her, was a good deal of a baby. + +Several schemes of education had been tried for this same little +Edith,--schools and governesses and masters,--but Emilie Schomberg, who +now came to her for a few hours every other day, had obtained greater +influence over her than any former instructor; and in addition to the +German, French, and music, which she undertook to teach, she instructed +Edith in a few things not really within her province, but nevertheless +of some importance; of these you shall judge. The search for primroses +was not a silent search--Edith is the first speaker. + +"Yes, Emilie, but it was very provoking, after I had finished my lessons +so nicely, and got done in time to walk out with you, to have mamma +fancy I had a cold, when I had nothing of the kind. I almost wish some +one would turn really ill, and then she would not fancy I was so, quite +so often." + +"Oh, hush, Edith dear! you are talking nonsense, and you are saying what +you cannot mean. I don't like to hear you so pert to that kind mamma of +yours, whenever she thinks it right to contradict you." + +"Emilie, I cannot help saying, and you know yourself, though you call +her kind, that mamma is cross, very cross sometimes. Yes, I know she is +very fond of me and all that, but still she _is_ cross, and it is no +use denying it. Oh, dear, I wish I was you. You never seem to have +anything to put you out. I never see you look as if you had been crying +or vexed, but I have so many many things to vex me at home." + +Emilie smiled. "As to my having nothing to put me out, you may be right, +and you may be wrong, dear. There is never any excuse for being what you +call _put out_, by which I understand cross and pettish, but I am rather +amused, too, at your fixing on a daily governess, as a person the least +likely in the world to have trials of temper and patience." "Yes, I dare +say I vex you sometimes, but"--"Well, not to speak of you, dear, whom I +love very much, though you are not perfect, I have other pupils, and do +you suppose, that amongst so many as I have to teach at Miss Humphrey's +school, for instance, there is not one self-willed, not one impertinent, +not one idle, not one dull scholar? My dear, there never was a person, +you may be sure of that, who had nothing to be tried, or, as you say, +put out with. But not to talk of my troubles, and I have not many I will +confess, except that great one, Edith, which, may you be many years +before you know, (the loss of a father;) not to talk of that, what are +your troubles? Your mamma is cross sometimes, that is to say, she does +not always give you all you ask for, crosses you now and then, is that +all?" + +"Oh no Emilie, there are Mary and Ellinor, they never seem to like me to +be with them, they are so full of their own plans and secrets. Whenever +I go into the room, there is such a hush and mystery. The fact is, they +treat me like a baby. Oh, it is a great misfortune to be the youngest +child! but of all my troubles, Fred is the greatest. John teases me +sometimes, but he is nothing to Fred. Emilie, you don't know what that +boy is; but you will see, when you come to stay with me in the holidays, +and you shall say then if you think I have nothing to put me out." + +The very recollection of her wrongs appeared to irritate the little +lady, and she put on a pout, which made her look anything but kind and +amiable. + +The primroses which she had so much desired, were not quite to her mind, +they were not nearly so fine as those that John and Fred had brought +home. Now she was tired of the dusty road, and she would go home by the +beach. So saying, Edith turned resolutely towards a stile, which led +across some fields to the sea shore, and not all Emilie's entreaties +could divert her from her purpose. + +"Edith, dear! we shall be late, very late! as it is we have been out too +long, come back, pray do;" but Edith was resolute, and ran on. Emilie, +who knew her pupil's self-will over a German lesson, although she had +little experience of her temper in other matters, was beginning to +despair of persuading her, and spoke yet more earnestly and firmly, +though still kindly and gently, but in vain. Edith had jumped over the +stile, and was on her way to the cliff, when her course was arrested by +an old sailor, who was sitting on a bench near the gangway leading to +the shore. He had heard the conversation between the governess and her +headstrong pupil, as he smoked his pipe on this favourite seat, and +playfully caught hold of the skirt of the young lady's frock, as she +passed, to Edith's great indignation. + +"Now, Miss, I could not, no, that I could'nt, refuse any one who asked +me so pretty as that lady did you. If she had been angry, and commanded +you back, why bad begets bad, and tit for tat you know, and I should +not so much have wondered: but, Miss, you should not vex her. No, don't +be angry with an old man, I have seen so much of the evils of young +folks taking their own way. Look here, young lady," said the weather +beaten sailor, as he pointed to a piece of crape round his hat; "this +comes of being fond of one's own way." + +Edith was arrested, and approached the stile, on the other side of which +Emilie Schomberg still leant, listening to the fisherman's talk with her +pupil. + +"You see, Miss," said he, "I have brought her round, she were a little +contrary at first, but the squall is over, and she is going home your +way. Oh, a capital good rule, that of your's, Miss!" "What," said Emilie +smiling, "Why, that 'soft answer,' that kind way. I see a good deal of +the ways of nurses with children, ah, and of governesses, and mothers, +and fathers too, as I sit about on the sea shore, mending my nets. I +ain't fit for much else now, you see, Miss, though I have seen a deal of +service, and as I sit sometimes watching the little ones playing on the +sand, and with the shingle, I keep my ears open, for I can't bear to see +children grieved, and sometimes I put in a word to the nurse maids. +Bless me! to see how some of 'em whip up the children in the midst of +their play. Neither with your leave, nor by your leave; 'here, come +along, you dirty, naughty boy, here's a wet frock! Come, this minute, +you tiresome child, it's dinner time.' Now that ain't what I call fair +play, Miss. I say you ought to speak civil, even to a child; and then, +the crying, and the shaking, and the pulling up the gangway. Many and +many is the little squaller I go and pacify, and carry as well as I can +up the cliff: but I beg pardon, Miss, hope I don't offend. Only I was +afraid, Miss there was a little awkward, and would give you trouble." + +"Indeed," said Emilie, "I am much obliged to you; where do you live?" + +"I live," said the old man, "I may say, a great part of my life, under +the sky, in summer time, but I lodge with my son, and he lives between +this and Brooke. In winter time, since the rheumatics has got hold of +me, I am drawn to the fire side, but my son's wife, she don't take after +him, bless him. She's a bit of a spirit, and when she talks more than I +like, why I wish myself at sea again, for an angry woman's tongue is +worse than a storm at sea, any day; if it was'nt for the children, bless +'em, I should not live with 'em, but I am very partial to them." + +"Well, we must say good night, now," said Emilie, "or we shall be late +home; I dare say we shall see you on the shore some day; good night." +"Good night to you, ma'am; good night, young lady; be friends, won't +you?" + +Edith's hand was given, but it was not pleasant to be conquered, and she +was a little sullen on the way home. They parted at the door of Edith's +house. Edith went in, to join a cheerful family in a comfortable and +commodious room; Emilie, to a scantily furnished, and shabbily genteel +apartment, let to her and a maiden aunt by a straw bonnet maker in the +town. + +We will peep at her supper table, and see if Miss Edith were quite right +in supposing that Emilie Schomberg had nothing to put her out. + + + + +CHAPTER SECOND. + +THE SOFT ANSWER. + + +An old lady was seated by a little ricketty round table, knitting; +knitting very fast. Surely she did not always knit so fast, Germans are +great knitters it is true, but the needles made quite a noise--click, +click, click--against one another. The table was covered with a +snow-white cloth. By her side was a loaf called by bakers and +housekeepers, crusty; the term might apply either to the loaf or the old +lady's temper. A little piece of cheese stood on a clean plate, and a +crab on another, a little pat of butter on a third, and this, with a jug +of water, formed the preparation for the evening meal of the aunt and +niece. Emilie went up to her aunt, gaily, with her bunch of primroses in +her hand, and addressing her in the German language, begged her pardon +for keeping supper waiting. The old lady knitted faster than ever, +dropped a stitch, picked it up, looked out of the window, and cleared +up, not her temper, but her throat; click, click went the needles, and +Emilie looked concerned. + +"Aunt, dear," she said, "shall we sit down to supper?" "My appetite is +gone, Emilie, I thank you." "I am really sorry, aunt, but you know you +are so kind, you wish me to take plenty of exercise, and I was detained +to-night. Miss Parker and I stayed chattering to an old sailor. It was +very thoughtless, pray excuse me. But now aunt, dear, see this fine +crab, you like crabs; old Peter Varley sent it to you, the old man you +knitted the guernsey for in the winter." + +No,--old Miss Schomberg was not to be brought round. Crabs were very +heavy things at night, very indigestible things, she wondered at Emilie +thinking she could eat them, so subject as she was to spasms, too. +Indeed she could eat no supper. She was very dull and not well, so +Emilie sat down to her solitary meal. She did not go on worrying her +aunt to eat, but she watched for a suitable opening, for the first +indication indeed, of the clearing up for which she hoped, and though +it must be confessed some such thoughts as "how cross and unreasonable +aunt is," did pass through her mind, she gave them no utterance. +Emilie's mind was under good discipline, she had learned to forbear in +love, and for the exercise of this virtue, she had abundant opportunity. + +Poor Emilie! she had not always been a governess, subject to the trials +of tuition; she had not always lived in a little lodging without the +comforts and joys of family and social intercourse. + +Her father had failed in business, in Frankfort, and when Emilie was +about ten years of age, he had come over to England, and had gained his +living there by teaching his native language. He had been dead about a +twelve-month, and Emilie, at the age of twenty-one, found herself alone +in the world, in England at least, with the exception of the old German +aunt, to whom I have introduced you, and who had come over with her +brother, from love to him and his motherless child. She had a very small +independence, and when left an orphan, the kind old aunt, for kind she +was, in spite of some little infirmities of temper, persisted in sharing +with her her board and lodging, till Emilie, who was too active and +right minded to desire to depend on her for support, sought employment +as a teacher. + +The seaport town of L----, in the south of England, whither Emilie and +her father had gone in the vain hope of restoring his broken health, +offered many advantages to our young German mistress. She had had a good +solid education. Her father, who was a scholar, had taught her, and had +taught her well, so that besides her own language, she was able to teach +Latin and French, and to instruct, as the advertisements say, "in the +usual branches of English education." She was musical, had a fine ear +and correct taste, and accordingly met with pupils without much +difficulty. In the summer months especially she was fully employed. +Families who came for relaxation were, nevertheless, glad to have their +daughters taught for a few hours in the week; and you may suppose that +Emilie Schomberg did not lead an idle life. For remuneration she fared, +as alas teachers do fare, but ill. The sum which many a gentleman freely +gives to his butler or valet, is thought exorbitant, nay, is rarely +given to a governess, and Emilie, as a daily governess, was but poorly +paid. + +The expenses of her father's long illness and funeral were heavy, and +she was only just out of debt; therefore, with the honesty and +independence of spirit that marked her, she lived carefully and frugally +at the little rooms of Miss Webster, the straw bonnet maker, in High +Street. + +From what I have told you already, you will easily perceive that Emilie +was accustomed to command her temper; she had been trained to do this +early in life. Her father, who foresaw for his child a life dependent on +her character and exertion, a life of labour in teaching and governing +others, taught Emilie to govern herself. Never was an only child less +spoiled than she; but she was ruled in love. She knew but one law, that +of kindness, and it made her a good subject. + +Many were the sensible lessons that the good man gave her, as leaning on +her strong arm he used to pace up and down the grassy slopes which +bordered the sea shore. "Look, Emilie," he would say, "look at that +governess marshalling her scholars out. Do they look happy? think you +that they obey that stern mistress out of _love_? Listen, she calls to +them to keep their ranks and not to talk so loud. What unhappy faces +among them! Emilie, my child, you may keep school some day; oh, take +care and gain the love of the young ones, I don't believe there is any +other successful government, so I have found it." "With me, ah yes, +papa!" "With you, my child, and with all my scholars; I had little +experience as a teacher, when first it pleased God to make me dependent +on my own exertions as such, but I found out the secret. Gain your +pupils' love, Emilie, and a silken thread will draw them; without that +love, cords will not drag, scourges will scarcely drive them." + +Emilie found this advice of her father's rather hard to follow now and +then. Her first essay in teaching was in Mrs. Parker's family. Edith was +to "be finished." And now poor Emilie found that there was more to teach +Edith than German and French, and that there was more difficulty in +teaching her to keep her temper than her voice in tune. Edith was +affectionate, but self-willed and irritable. Her mamma's treatment had +not tended to improve her in this respect. Mrs. Parker had bad health, +and said she had bad spirits. She was a kind, generous, and affectionate +woman, but was always in trouble. In trouble with her chimneys because +they smoked; in trouble with her maids who did not obey her; and worst +of all in trouble with herself; for she had good sense and good +principle, but she had let her temper go too long undisciplined, and it +was apt to break forth sometimes against those she loved, and would +cause her many bitter tears and self-upbraidings. + +She took an interest in the poor German master, for she was a benevolent +woman, and cheered his dying bed by promising to assist his daughter. +She even offered to take her into her family; but this could not be +thought of. Good aunt Agnes had left her country for the sake of +Emilie--Emilie would not desert her aunt now. + +The scene at the supper table was not an uncommon one, but Emilie was +frequently more successful in winning aunt Agnes to a smile than on this +occasion. "Perhaps I tried too much; perhaps I did not try enough, +perhaps I tried in the wrong way," thought Emilie, as she received her +aunt's cold kiss, and took up her bed room candle to retire for the +night. When aunt Agnes said good night, it was so very distantly, so +very unkindly, that an angry demand for explanation almost rose to +Emilie's lips, and though she did not utter it, she said her good night +coldly and stiffly too, and thus they parted. But when Emilie opened the +Bible that night, her eye rested on the words, "Be ye kind one to +another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God for Christ's sake +hath forgiven you," then Emilie could not rest. She did not forgive her +aunt; she felt that she did not; but Emilie was _human_, and human +nature is proud. "I did nothing to offend her," reasoned pride, "it was +only because I was out a little late, and I said I was sorry and I tried +to bring her round. Ah well, it will all be right to-morrow; it is no +use to think of it now," and she prepared to kneel down to pray. Just +then her eye rested on her father's likeness; she remembered how he used +to say, when she was a child and lisped her little prayer at his knee, +"Emilie, have you any unkind thoughts to any one? Do you feel at peace +with all? for God says, 'When thou bringest thy gift before the altar, +and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave +there thy gift before the altar, _first_ be reconciled to thy brother, +and _then_ go and offer thy gift.'" On one or two occasions had Emilie +arisen, her tender conscience thus appealed to, and thrown her arms +round her nurse's or her aunt's neck, to beg their forgiveness for some +little offence committed by her and forgotten perhaps by them, and would +then kneel down and offer up her evening prayer. So Emilie hushed +pride's voice, and opening her door, crossed the little passage to her +aunt's sleeping room, and putting her arm round her neck fondly said, +"Dear aunt!" It was enough, the good old lady hugged her lovingly. "Ah, +Emilie dear, I am a cross old woman, and thou art a dear good child. +Bless thee!" In half an hour after the inmates of the little lodging in +High Street were sound asleep, at peace with one another, and at peace +with God. + + + + +CHAPTER THIRD. + +THE LESSON AT THE COTTAGE. + + +Edith was very busily searching for corallines and sea weeds, a few days +after the evening walk recorded in our first chapter. She was alone, for +her two sisters had appeared more than usually confidential and +unwilling for her company, and her dear teacher was engaged that +afternoon at the Young Ladies' Seminary, so she tried to make herself +happy in her solitary ramble. A boat came in at this moment, and the +pleasant shout of the boatmen's voices, and the grating of the little +craft as it landed on the pebbly shore, attracted the young lady's +notice, and she stood for a few moments to watch the proceedings. +Amongst those on shore, who had come to lend a hand in pulling the boat +in, Edith thought that she recognised a face, and on a little closer +inspection she saw it was old Joe Murray, who had stopped her course to +the beach a few evenings before. She did not wish to encounter Joe, so +slipping behind the blue jacketed crowd, she walked quickly forwards, +but Joe followed her. + +"Young lady," he said, "if you are looking for corallines, you can't do +better than ask your papa some fine afternoon, to drive you as far as +Sheldon, and you'll find a sight of fine weeds there, as I know, for my +boy, my poor boy I lost, I mean," said he, again touching the rusty +crape on his hat, "my boy was very curious in those things, and had +quite a museum of 'em at home." How could Edith stand against such an +attack? It was plain that the old man wanted to make peace with her, +and, cheerfully thanking him, she was moving on, but the old boots +grinding the shingle, were again heard behind her, and turning round, +she saw Joe at her heels. + +"Miss, I don't know as I ought to have stopped you that night. I am a +poor old fisherman, and you are a young lady, but I meant no harm, and +for the moment only did it in a joke." + +"Oh, dear," said Edith, "don't think any more about it, I was very +cross that night, and you were quite right, I should have got Miss +Schomberg into sad trouble if I had gone that way. As it was, I was out +too late. Have you lost a son lately, said Edith, I heard you say you +had just now? Was he drowned?" inquired the child, kindly looking up +into Joe's face. + +"Yes Miss, he was drowned," said Joe, "he came by his death very sadly. +Will you please, Miss, to come home with me, and I will shew you his +curiosities, and if you please to take a fancy to any, I'm sure you are +very welcome. I don't know any good it does me to turn 'em over, and +look at them as I do times and often, but somehow when we lose them we +love, we hoard up all they loved. He had a little dog, poor Bob had, a +little yapping thing, and I never took to the animal, 'twas always +getting into mischief, and gnawing the nets, and stealing my fish, and I +used often to say, 'Bob, my boy, I love you but not your dog. No, that +saying won't hold good now. I can't love that dog of yours. Sell it, +boy--give it away--get rid of it some how.' All in good part, you know, +Miss, for I never had any words with him about it. And now Bob is +gone--do you know, Miss, I love that dumb thing with the sort of love I +should love his child, if he had left me one. If any one huffs Rover, (I +ain't a very huffish man,) but I can tell you I shew them I don't like +it, I let the creature lay at my feet at night, and I feed him myself +and fondle him for the sake of him who loved him so. And you may depend +Miss, the dog knows his young master is gone, and the way he is gone +too, for I could not bring him on the shore for a long while, but he +would set up such a howl as would rend your heart to hear. And that made +me love the poor thing I can tell you." + +"But how did it happen?" softly asked Edith. + +"Why Miss it ain't at all an extraordinary way in which he met his +death. It was in this way. He was very fond of me, poor boy, but he +liked his way better than my way too often. And may be I humoured him a +little too much. He was my Benjamin, you must know Miss, for his mother +died soon after he was born. Sure enough I made an idol of the lad, and +we read somewhere in the Bible, Miss, that 'the idols he will utterly +abolish.' But I don't like looking at the sorrow that way neither. I +would rather think that 'whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.' Well, +Miss, like father like son. My boy loved the sea, as was natural he +should, but he was too venturesome; I used often to say, 'Bob, the +oldest sailor living can't rule the waves and winds, and if you are such +a mad cap as to go out sailing in such equally weather on this coast, as +sure as you are alive you will repent it.' He and some young chaps +hereabouts, got such a wonderful notion of sailing, and though I have +sailed many and many a mile, in large vessels and small, I always hold +to it that it is ticklish work for the young and giddy. Why sometimes +you are on the sea, Miss, ah, as calm as it is now--all in peace and +safety--a squall comes, and before you know what you are about you are +capsized. I had told him this, and he knew it, Miss, but he got a good +many idle acquaintances, as I told you, and they tempted him often to do +bold reckless things such as boys call brave." + +"It was one morning at the end of September, Bob says to me, 'Father, we +are going to keep my birthday; I am sixteen to-day,' and so he was, +bless him, sixteen the very day he died. 'We are going to keep my +birthday,' says he, 'Newton, and Somers, and Franklin, and I, we are all +going to Witton,' that is the next town, Miss, as you may know, 'we are +going to have a sail there, and dine at grandmother's, and home again at +night, eh Father.' 'Bob,' says I, 'I can't give my consent; that +ticklish sailing boat of young Woods' requires wiser heads and steadier +hands than your's to manage. You know my opinion of sailing, and you +won't grieve me, I hope, by going.' I might have told him, but I did +not, that I did not like the lads he was going with, but I knew that +would only make him angry, and do no good just as his heart was set upon +a frolic with them, so I said nought of that, but I tried to win him, +(that's my way with the young ones,) though I failed this time; go he +would, and he would have gone, let me have been as angry as you please. +But I have this comfort, that no sharp words passed my lips that day, +and no bitter ones his. I saw he was set on the frolic, and I hoped no +harm would come of it. How I watched the sky that day, Miss, no mortal +knows; how I started when I saw a sea gull skim across the waves! how I +listened for the least sound of a squall! Snap was just as fidgetty +seemingly, and we kept stealing down to the beach, long before it was +likely they should be back. As I stood watching there in the evening, +where I knew they would land, I saw young Newton's mother; she pulled me +by my sleeve, anxious like, and said, 'What do you think of the weather +Joe?' 'Why, Missis,' said I, 'there is an ugly look about the sky, but I +don't wish to frighten you; please God they'll soon be home, for Bob +promised to be home early.'" + +"Well, Miss, there we stood, the waves washing our feet, till it grew +dark, and then I could stand it no longer. I said to the poor mother, +'keep a good heart,' but I had little hope myself, God knows, and off I +made for Witton. Well, they had not been there, I found the grandmother +had seen nothing of them. They were picked up a day or so after, all +four of them washed up by the morning tide; their boat had drifted no +one knows where, and no one knows how it happened; but I suppose they +were driven out by the fresh breeze that sprung up, and not knowing how +to manage the sails, they were capsized." + +"There they all lay. Miss, in the churchyard. It was a solemn sight, I +can tell you, to see those four coffins, side by side, in the church. +They were all strong hearty lads, and all under seventeen. I go and sit +on his grave sometimes, and spell over all I said, and all he said that +day; and glad enough I am, that I can remember neither cross word nor +cross look. Ah, my lady, I should remember it if it had been so. We +think we are good fathers and good friends to them we love while they +are alive, but as soon as we lose 'em, all the kindness we ever did them +seems little enough, while all the bad feelings we had, and sharp words +we spoke, come up to condemn us." + +By this time they had reached the fisherman's cottage; it was prettily +situated, as houses on the south coast often are, under the shadow of a +fine over-hanging cliff. Masses of rock, clad with emerald green, were +scattered here and there, and the thriving plants in the little garden, +gave evidence of the mildness of the air in those parts, though close +upon the sea. The cottage was very low, but white and cheerful looking +outside, and as clean and trim within as a notable and stirring woman +could make it. Joe's daughter-in-law, the same described by Joe the +other evening as the woman of a high spirit, was to-day absent on an +errand to the town; and Edith, who loved children, stopped at the +threshold to notice two or three little curly-headed prattlers, who were +playing together at grotto making, an amusement which cost grandfather +many a half-penny. Some dispute seemed to have arisen at the moment of +their entrance between the young builders, for a good-humoured, +plain-looking girl, of twelve, the nursemaid of the baby, and the +care-taker of four other little ones, was trying to pacify the +aggrieved. In vain--little Susy was in a great passion, and with her +tiny foot kicked over the grotto, the result of several hours' labour; +first, in searching on the shore for shells and pebbles, and secondly, +in its erection. Then arose such a shriek and tumult amongst the +children, as those only can conceive who know what a noise disappointed +little creatures, from three to seven years old, can make. They all set +upon Susy, "naughty, mischievous, tiresome," were among the words. The +quiet looking girl, who had been trying to settle the dispute, now +interfered again. She led Susy away gently, but firmly, into another +part of the garden, where spying her grandfather, she took the unwilling +and ashamed little girl for him to deal with, and ran hack to the crying +children and ruined grotto. + +"Oh, hush! dears, pray hush," said Sarah, beginning to pick up the +shells, "we will soon build it up again." This they all declared +impossible, and cried afresh, but Sarah persevered, and quietly went on +piling up the shells, till at last one little mourner took up her coarse +pinafore and wiping her eyes, said, "Sarah does it very nicely." The +grotto rose beautifully, and at last they were all quiet and happy +again; all but poor Susy, who, seeing herself excluded, kept up a +terrible whine. "I wonder if Susan is sorry," said Sarah. "Not she, not +she, don't ask her here again," said they all. "Why not," said the +grandfather, who having walked about with Susy awhile, and talked +gravely to her, appeared to have brought about a change in her temper? +"Why because she will knock it down again the first time any thing puts +her out." "Won't you try her?" said Sarah, pleadingly; but they still +said "No! no!" "Don't you mind the day, Dick," said Sarah, "when you +pulled grandfather's new net all into the mud, and tangled his twine, +and spoilt him a whole day's work?" "Yes," said Dick. "Ah, and don't +you mind, too, when he went out in the boat next day, and you asked to +go with him, just as if nothing had happened, and you had done no harm, +he said, 'ah, Dick, if I were to mind what _revenge_ says, I would not +take you with me; you have injured me very much, but I'll mind what +_love_ says, and that tells me to return good for evil?'" "Yes," says +Dick. "Do you think you could have hurt any thing of grandfather's after +that?" "No," said Dick, "but I did not do it in a rage, as Susy did." +"You did mischief, though," said Sarah; "but I want Susy to give over +going into these rages. I want to cure her. Beating her does no good, +mother says that herself; wont you all try and help to cure Susy?" + +These children were not angels. I am writing of children as they are you +know, and though they yielded, it was rather sullenly, and little Susan +was given to understand that she was not a very welcome addition. Susy +kept very close to Sarah, sobbing and heaving, till the children seeing +her subdued, made more room for her, and her smile returned. Now the +law of kindness prevailed, and when the time came to run down to the +shore for some more shells, to replace those that had been broken, Susy, +at Sarah's hint, ran first and fastest, and brought her little pinafore +fullest of all. Edith watched all this, and her good old mentor was +willing that she should. "I suppose you have taught them this way of +settling disputes," said Edith to Joe. "I, oh no, Miss, I can't take all +the credit. Sarah, there, she has taken to me very much since my Bob +died, and she said to me the day of his funeral, when her heart was soft +and tender-like, 'Grandfather, tell me what I can do to comfort you.' +'Oh, child,' says I, 'my grief is too deep for you to touch, but you are +a kind girl, I'll tell you what to do to-night. Leave me alone, and, oh, +try and make the children quiet, for my head aches as bad as my heart. +Sally.'" + +"Then Sarah tried that day and the next, but found it hard work; the +boys quarrelled and fought, and the little once scratched and cried, and +their mother came and beat one or two of the worst, but all did no good. +There was no peace till bed time; still I encouraged her and told her, +you know, about 'a soft answer turning away wrath,' and since that +time, she has less often given railing for railing; and has not huffed +and worried them, as elder sisters are apt to do. She is a good girl, is +Sarah, but here comes the Missis home from market." "The Missis" +certainly did not look very sweet, and her heavy load had heated her. +She did not welcome Edith pleasantly, which, the old man observing, led +her away to a little room he occupied at the back of the cottage, and +showed her the corallines. + +Edith saw plainly that though the poor father offered her any of them +she liked to take, he suffered in parting with them, so calling Dick and +Mary, she asked if they would hunt for some for her, like those in +grandfather's stores. They consented joyfully, and Edith promising often +to come and see the old man, ran down the cliff briskly, and hastened +home. She thought a good deal as she walked, and asked herself if she +should have had the patience and the gentleness of that poor cottage +girl; if she should have soothed Susy, and comforted Dick and Mary; if +she should have troubled herself to kneel down in the broiling sun and +build up a few trumpery shells into a grotto, to be upset and destroyed +presently. She came to the conclusion that for good, pleasant, prettily +behaved children, she might have done so, but for shrieking, passionate, +quarrelsome little things as they appeared to her then, she certainly +should not. She felt humbled at the contrast between herself and Sarah; +and when she arrived at home, for the first time, perhaps, in her life, +she patiently bore her mamma's reproaches for being so late, and for the +impropriety of walking away from her sisters, no one knew where. She was +not yet quite skilled enough in the art of peace, to give the "soft +answer;" but her silence and quietness turned away Mrs. Parker's wrath, +and after dinner, Edith prepared herself for the visit of her dear +Emilie. + + + + +CHAPTER FOURTH. + +THE HOLIDAYS. + + +Mrs. Parker and her two elder daughters were going to pay a visit to +town this summer, and as Edith was not thought old enough to accompany +them, Mrs. Parker resolved to ask Emilie to take charge of her. The only +difficulty was how to dispose of aunt Agnes; aunt Agnes wishing them to +believe that she did not mind being alone, but all the while minding it +very much. At last it occurred to Emilie that perhaps Mrs. Crosse, at +the farm in Edenthorpe, a few miles off, would, if she knew of the +difficulty, ask aunt Agnes there for a few weeks. Mrs. Crosse and aunt +Agnes got on so wonderfully well together, and as she had often been +invited, the only thing now was to get her in the mind to go. This was +effected in due time, and Mr. Crosse came up to the lodgings for her and +her little box, in his horse and gig, on the very evening that Emilie +was to go the Parkers', to be installed as housekeeper and governess in +the lady's absence. Edith had come to see the dear old aunt off; and now +re-entered the lodgings to help Emilie to collect her things, and to +settle with Miss Webster for the lodgings, before her departure. Miss +Webster had met with a tenant for six weeks, and was in very good +spirits, and very willing to take care of the Schombergs' goods, which, +to tell the truth, were not likely to oppress her either in number or +value, with the exception of one cherished article, one relic of former +days--a good semi-grand piano, which M. Schomberg had purchased for his +daughter, about a year before his death. Miss Webster looked very much +confused as Emilie bade her good-bye, and said--"Miss Schomberg, you +have not, I see, left your piano unlocked." + +"No," said Emilie, "certainly I have not; I did not suppose----" + +"Why," replied Miss Webster, "the lodgers, seeing a piano, will be sure +to ask for the key, Miss, and to be sure you wo'nt object." + +Emilie hesitated. Did she remember the time when Miss Webster, indignant +at Emilie for being a fortnight behind-hand in her weekly rent, refused +to lend a sofa for her dying father, without extra pay? Did she recall +the ill-made slops, the wretched attendance to which this selfish woman +treated them during the pressure of poverty and distress? Emilie was +human, and she remembered all. She knew, moreover, that Miss Webster +would make a gain of her instrument, and that it might suffer from six +weeks' rough use. She stood twisting some straw plait that lay on the +counter, in her fingers, and then coolly saying she would consider of +it, walked out of the shop with Edith, her bosom swelling with +conflicting feelings. The slight had been to her _father_--to her dear +dead father--she could not love Miss Webster, nor respect her--she could +not oblige her. She felt so now, however, and despised the meanness of +the lodging-house keeper, in making the request. + +Edith was by her side in good spirits, though she was to miss the London +journey. Not every young lady would be so content to remain all the +holiday-time with the governess; but Edith loved her governess. Happy +governess, to be loved by her pupil! + +Mrs. Parker received Emilie very kindly: she was satisfied that her +dear child would be happy in her absence, and she knew enough of Emilie, +she said, to believe that she would see that Mr. Parker had his meals +regularly and nicely served, and that the servants did not rob or run +away, or the boys put their dirty feet on the sofa, or bright fender +tops, or lead Edith into mischief; in short, the things that Emilie was +to see to were so numerous, that it would have required more eyes than +she possessed, and far more vigilance and experience than she lay claim +to, to fulfill all Mrs. Parker's desires. + +Amidst all the talking and novelty of her new situation, however, Emilie +was absent and thoughtful; she was dispirited, and yet she was not +subject to low spirits either. There was a cause. She had a tender +conscience--a conscience with which she was in the habit of conversing, +and conscience kept whispering to her the words--"What things soever ye +would that men should do unto you, do ye also to them." In vain she +tried to silence this monitor, and at last she asked to withdraw for a +few minutes, and scribbled a hasty note to Miss Webster; the first she +wrote was as follows:-- + +"Dear Miss W.--I enclose the key of the pianoforte. I should have +acceded to your request, only I remembered standing on that very spot, +by that very counter, a year ago, petitioning hard for the loan of a +sofa for my dying father, who, in his feverish and restless state, +longed to leave the bed for awhile. I remembered that, and I could not +feel as if I could oblige you; but I have thought better of it, and beg +you will use the piano." + +"Yours truly, + +"EMILIE SCHOMBERG." + +She read the note before folding it, however; and somehow it did not +satisfy her. She crumpled it up, took a turn or two in the room, and +then wrote the following:-- + +"Dear Miss Webster--I am sorry that I for a moment hesitated to lend you +my piano. It was selfish, and I hope you will excuse the incivility. I +enclose the key, and as your lodgers do not come in until to-morrow, I +hope the delay will not have inconvenienced you. + +"Believe me, yours truly, + +"EMILIE SCHOMBERG." + +Having sealed her little note, she asked Mrs. Parker's permission to +send it into High Street, and Emilie Schomberg was herself again. You +will see, by-and-bye, how Emilie returned Miss Webster's selfishness in +a matter yet more important than the loan of the piano. It would have +been meeting evil with evil had she retaliated the mean conduct of her +landlady. She would undoubtedly have done so, had she yielded to the +impulses of her nature; but "how then could I have prayed," said Emilie, +"forgive me my trespasses as I forgive them that trespass against me." + +The travellers set off early in the morning, and now began the holiday +of both governess and pupil. They loved one another so well that the +prospect of six weeks' close companionship was irksome to neither; but +Emilie had not a holiday of it altogether. Miss Edith was exacting and +petulant at times, even with those she loved, and she loved none better +than Emilie. Fred, the tormenting brother of whom Edith had spoken in +her list of troubles in our first chapter, was undeniably troublesome; +and the three maid-servants set themselves from the very first to resist +the governess's temporary authority; so we are wrong in calling these +Emilie's holidays. She had not, indeed, undertaken the charge very +willingly; but Mrs. Parker had befriended her in extremity, and she +loved Edith dearly, notwithstanding much in her that was not loveable, +so she armed herself for the conflict, and cheerfully and humbly +commenced her new duties. + +Fred and his elder brother John were at home for the holidays; they were +high-spirited lads of fourteen and fifteen years of age, and were +particularly fond of teasing both their elder sisters and little Edith; +a taste, by-the-bye, by no means peculiar to the Master Parkers, but one +which we cannot admire, nevertheless. + +The two boys, with Emilie and Edith, were on their way to pay aunt Agnes +a little visit, having received from Mrs. Crosse, at the farm, a request +for the honour of the young lady's company as well as that of her +brothers. John and Frederick were to walk, and Emily and Edith were to +go in the little pony gig. As they were leaving the town, Edith caught +sight of John coming out of a shop which was a favourite resort of most +of the young people and visitors of the town of L----. It was +professedly a stationer's and bookseller's, and was kept by Mrs. Cox, a +widow woman, who sold balls, fishing tackle, books, boats, miniature +spades, barrows, garden tools, patent medicines, &c., and who had +lately increased her importance, in the eyes of the young gentlemen, by +the announcement that various pyrotechnical wonders were to be obtained +at her shop. There are few boys who have not at some time of their +boyhood had a mania for pyrotechnics--in plain English, +_fire-works_--and there are few parents, and parents' neighbours, who +can say that they relish the smell of gunpowder on their premises. + +Mr. Parker had a particular aversion to amusements of the kind. He was +an enemy to fishing, to cricketing, to boating; he was a very quiet, +gentlemanly, dignified sort of man, and, although a kind father, had +perhaps set up rather too high a standard of quietness and order and +sedateness for his children. It is a curious fact, but one which it +would be rather difficult to disprove, that children not unfrequently +are the very opposites of their parents, in qualities such as I have +described. Possibly they may not have been inculcated quite in the right +manner; but that is not our business here. + +Edith guessed what her brothers were after, and told her suspicious to +Emilie; but not until they were within sight of the farm-house. John +and Fred, who had been a short cut across the fields, were in high glee +awaiting their arrival, and assisted Edith and her friend to alight more +politely than usual. Aunt Agnes was in ecstasies of delight to see her +dear Emilie, and she caressed Edith most lovingly also. Edith liked the +old lady, who had a fund of fairy tales, such as the German language is +rich in. Often would Edith go and sit by the old lady as she knitted, +and listen to the story of the "Flying Trunk," or the "Two Swans," with +untiring interest; and old ladies of a garrulous turn like good +listeners. So aunt Agnes called Edith a charming girl, and Edith, who +had seldom seen aunt Agnes otherwise than conversable and pleasant, +thought her a very nice old lady. + +Mrs. Crosse was extremely polite; and in the bustle of greeting, and +putting up the pony, and aunt Agnes' questions, the fire-work affair was +almost forgotten. When they all met at tea, the farmer, who had almost +as great a horror of gunpowder as Mr. Parker--and in the vicinity of +barns and stacks, with greater reason--declared he smelt a smell which +he never tolerated in his house, and asked his boys if they had any +about them. They denied it, but it was evident they knew something of +the matter; and now Emilie's concern was very great. + +After tea she took John by the arm, and looking into his face, said, "I +am going to be very intrusive, Sir; I am not your governess, and I have +no right to control you, but I wish to be your friend, and may I advise +you? Don't take those fire-works out on Mr. Crosse's premises, you have +no idea the mischief you might do. You could not have brought them to a +worse place. Be persuaded, pray do, to give it up." John, thus appealed +to, laughed heartily at Miss Schomberg's fears, said something not very +complimentary about Miss S. speaking one word for the farmer's stack, +and two for her own nerves, and made his escape to join his brother, and +the two young farmers, who were delighted at the prospect of a frolic. + +What was to be done? The lads were gone out, and doubtless would send up +their rockets and let off their squibs somewhere on the farm, which was +a very extensive one. The very idea of fire-works would put aunt Agnes +into a terrible state of alarm, so Emilie held her peace. To tell the +farmer would, she knew, irritate him fearfully; and yet no time was to +be lost. She was older than any of the party, and it was in reliance on +her discretion that the visit had been permitted. She appealed to Edith, +but Edith, who either had a little fancy to see the fire-works, or, who +feared her brothers' ridicule, or who thought Emilie took too much upon +herself, gave her no help in the matter. + +"Well, Edith," said Emilie, when the farmer's wife left the room to make +some preparation for a sumptuous supper, "I have made up my mind what to +do. I will not stay here if your brothers are to run any foolish risks +with those fire-works. I will go home at once, and tell your papa, he +will be in time to stop it; or I will apprise Mr. Crosse, and he can +take what steps he pleases." + +"Well, you will have a fine life of it, Miss Schomberg, if you tell any +tales, I can tell you," said Edith, pettishly, "and it really is no +business of yours. They are not under your care if I am. Oh, let them +be. Fred said he should let them off on the Langdale hills, far enough +away from the farm." + +But Emilie was firm. She tied on her bonnet, and determined to make one +more effort--it should be with Fred this time. She followed the track of +the lads, having first inquired of a farm-boy which road they had taken, +and as they had loitered, and she walked very fast, she soon overtook +them. They were seated on a bank by the road-side, when she got up to +them, and John was just displaying his treasures, squibs to make Miss +Edith jump, Catherine wheels, roman candles, sky-rockets, and blue +lights and crackers. The farmer's sons, Jerry and Tom, grinned +delightedly. Emilie stood for a few moments irresolute; the boys were +rude, and looked so daring--what should she say? + +"Young gentlemen," she began; they all took off their hats in mock +deference. "A woman preaching, I declare." "Go on. Madam, hear! hear! +hear!" said the young Crosses. "Young gentlemen," continued Emilie, with +emphasis, "it is to _you_ I am speaking. I am determined that those +fire-works shall not be let off, if I can prevent it, on Mr. Crosse's +premises. If you will not give up your intention, I shall walk to L--, +and inform your father, and you know very well how displeased he will +be." + +"Who says we are going to let them off on Mr. Crosse's premises?" said +Fred, fiercely. "You are very interfering Miss Schomberg, will you go +back to your our own business, and to little Edith." + +"I will go to L----, master Fred," said Emilie, firmly, but kindly. "I +shall be sorry to get you into trouble, and I would rather not take the +walk, but I shall certainly do what I say if you persist." + +The boys looked doubtfully at one another. Fred seemed a little disposed +to yield, but to be conquered by his sister's governess was very +humiliating. However, they knew from Edith's account that Emilie, though +kind, was firm; and, therefore, after a little further altercation, they +agreed not to send up the fire-works that night, but they promised her +at the same time that she should not hear the last of it. They returned +to the farm much out of humour, and having hidden them in the box of the +pony gig, came in just in time for supper. + +The ride home was a silent one; Edith saw that her brothers were put +out, and began to think she did not like Emilie Schomberg to live with +at all. Emilie had done right, but she had a hard battle to fight; all +were against her. No one likes to be contradicted, or as Fred said, to +be managed. Emilie, however, went steadily on, speaking the truth, but +speaking it in love, and acting always "as seeing Him who is invisible." + + + + +CHAPTER FIFTH. + +EDITH'S TRIALS. + + +"Now, Emilie, what do you think of my life?" said Edith, one day after +she and Fred had had one of their usual squabbles. "What do you think of +Fred _now_?" + +"I think, Edith, dear, that I would try and win him over to love and +affection, and not thwart and irritate him as you do. Have you forgotten +old Joe's maxim, 'a soft answer turneth away wrath?' but your grievous +words too often stir up strife. You told me the other day, dear, how +much the conduct of Sarah Murray pleased you; now you may act towards +John and Fred as Sarah did to little Susy." + +Edith shook her head. "It is not in me, Emilie, I am afraid." + +"No, dear," said Emilie, "you are right, it is not _in_ you." + +"Well then what is the use of telling me to do things impossible?" + +"I did not say impossible, Edith, did I?" + +"No, but you say it is not in me to be gentle and all that, and I dare +say it is not; but you don't get much the better thought of, gentle as +you are. Miss Schomberg. John and Fred don't behave better to you than +they do to me, so far as I see." + +"Edith, dear, you set out wrong in your attempts to do right," said +Emily, kindly. "It is not _in_ you; it is not _in_ any one by nature to +be always gentle and kind. It is not in me I know. I was once a very +petulant child, being an only one, and it was but by very slow process +that I learned to govern myself, and I am learning it still." + +At this moment Fred came in, bearing in one hand a quantity of paper, +and in another a book with directions for balloon making. "Now Edith, +you are a clever young lady," he began. + +"Oh, yes," said Edith, wrathfully, "When it suits you, you can flatter." + +"No, but Edith, don't be cross, come! I want you to do me a service. I +want you to cut me out this tissue paper into the shape of this +pattern. I am going to send up a balloon to-morrow, and I can't cut it +out, will you do it for me?" + +"Yes, yes," said Emilie, "we will do it together. Oh, come that is a +nice job, Edith dear, I can help you in that," and Emilie cleared away +her own work quick as thought, and asked Fred for particular directions +how it was to be done, all this time trying to hide Edith's +unwillingness to oblige her brother, and making it appear that Edith and +she were of one mind to help him. + +Fred, who since the fire-work affair had treated Emilie somewhat rudely, +and had on many occasions annoyed her considerably, looked in +astonishment at Miss Schomberg. She saw his surprise and understood it. +"Fred," said she frankly, "I know what you are thinking of, but let us +be friends. Give me the gratification of helping you to this pleasure, +since I hindered you of the other. You won't be too proud, will you, to +have my help?" + +Fred coloured. "Miss Schomberg," said he, "I don't deserve it of you, I +beg your pardon;" and thus they were reconciled. + +Oh, it is not often in great things that we are called upon to show +that we love our neighbour as ourselves. It is in the daily, hourly, +exercise of little domestic virtues, that they who truly love God may be +distinguished from those who love him not. It was not because Emilie was +naturally amiable or naturally good that she was thus able to show this +loving and forgiving spirit. She loved God, and love to him actuated +her; she thus adorned the doctrine of her Saviour in all things. Young +reader there is no such thing as a religion of words and feelings alone, +it must be a religion of _acts_; a life of warfare against the sins that +most easily beset you; a mortification of selfishness and pride, and a +humble acknowledgment, when you have done your _very best_, that you are +only unprofitable servants. Had you heard Emilie communing with her own +heart, you would have heard no self gratulation. She was far from +perfect even in the sight of man; in the sight of God she knew that in +many things she offended. + +It is not a perfect character that I would present to you in Emilie +Schomberg; but one who with all the weakness and imperfection of human +nature, made the will of God her rule and delight. This is not natural, +it is the habit of mind of those only who are created anew, new +creatures in Christ Jesus. + +This you may be sure Emilie did not fail to teach her pupil; but a great +many such lessons may be received into the head without one finding an +entrance to the heart, and Edith was in the not very uncommon habit of +looking on her faults in the light of misfortunes, just as any one might +regard a deformed limb or a painful disorder. She was, indeed, too much +accustomed to talk of her faults, and was a great deal too easy about +them. + +"My dear," Emilie would say after her confessions, "I do not believe you +see how sinful these things are, or surely you would not so very, very, +often commit them." This was the real state of the case; and it may be +said of all those who are in the habit of mere confessions, that they do +not believe things to be so very bad, because they do not understand how +very good and holy is the God against whom they sin. Edith had this to +learn; books could not teach her this. She who taught her all else so +well, could not teach her this; it was to be learned from a higher +source still. + +Well, you are thinking, some of you, that this is a prosy chapter, but +you must not skip it. It is just what Emily Schomberg would have said to +you, if you had been pupils of hers. The end of reading is not, or ought +not to be, mere amusement; so read a grave page now and then with +attention and thoughtfulness. + + + + +CHAPTER SIXTH. + +EMILIE'S TRIALS. + + +The truth must be told of Emilie; she was not clever with her hands, and +she was, nevertheless, a little too confident in her power of execution, +so willing and anxious was she to serve you. The directions Fred gave +her were far from clear; and after the paper was all cut and was to be +pasted together, sorrowful to say, it would not do at all. Fred, in +spite of his late apology was very angry, and seizing the scissors said +he should know better another time than to ask Miss Schomberg to do what +she did not understand. "You have wasted my paper, too," said the boy, +"and my time in waiting for what I could better have done myself." + +Emilie was very sorry, and she said so; but a balloon could not exactly +be made out of her sorrow, and nothing short of a balloon would pacify +Fred, that was plain. "Must it be ready for to-morrow?" she asked. + +"Yes, it _must_," he said. Three other boys were going to send up +balloons. It was the Queen's coronation day, and he had promised to take +a fourth balloon to the party; and the rehearsal of all this stirred up +Fred's ire afresh, and he looked any thing but kind at Miss Schomberg. +What was to be done? Edith suggested driving to the next market town to +buy one; but her papa wanted the pony gig, so they could only sally +forth to Mrs. Cox's for some more tissue paper, and begin the work +again. This was very provoking to Edith. + +"To have spent all the morning and now to be going to spend all the +afternoon over a trumpery balloon, which you can't make after all, Miss +Schomberg, is very tiresome, and I wanted to go to old Joe Murray's +to-day and see if the children have picked me up any corallines." + +"I am very sorry, dear, my carelessness should punish you; but don't +disturb me by grumbling and I will try and get done before tea, and then +we will go together." This time Emilie was more successful; she took +pains to understand what was to be done, and the gores of her balloon +fitted beautifully. + +"Now Edith, dear, ring for some paste," said Emilie, just as the clock +struck four; Margaret answered the bell. Margaret was the housemaid, and +so far from endeavouring in her capacity to overcome evil with good, she +was perpetually making mischief and increasing any evil there might be, +either in kitchen or parlour, by her mode of delivering a message. She +would be sure to add her mite to any blame that she might hear, in her +report to the kitchen, and thus, without being herself a bad or violent +temper, was continually fomenting strife, and adding fuel to the fire of +the cook, who was of a very choleric turn. The request for paste was +civilly made and received, but Emilie unfortunately called Margaret back +to say, "Oh, ask cook, please, to make it stiffer than she did the last +that we had for the kite; that did not prove quite strong." + +Margaret took the message down and informed cook that "Miss Schomberg +did not think she knew how to make paste." "Then let her come and make +it herself," said cook. "She wants to be cook I think; she had better +come. I sha'nt make it. What is it for?" + +"Oh," said Margaret, "she is after some foreign filagree work of hers, +that's all." + +"Well, I'm busy now and I am not going to put myself out about it, she +must wait." + +Emilie did wait the due time, but as the paste did not come she went +down for it. "Is the paste ready, cook?" she asked. + +"No, Miss Schomberg," was the short reply, and cook went on assiduously +washing up her plates. + +"Will you be so kind as to make it, cook, for I want it particularly +that it may have as much time as possible to dry." + +"Perhaps you will make it yourself then," was the gracious rejoinder. +Emilie was not above making a little paste, and as she saw that +something had put cook out, she willingly consented; but she did not +know where to get either flour or saucepan, and cook and Margaret kept +making signs and laughing, so that it was not very pleasant. She grew +quite hot, as she had to ask first for a spoon, then for a saucepan, +then for the flour and water; at last she modestly turned round and +said, "Cook, I really do not quite know how to make a little paste. I +am ashamed to say it, but I have lived so long in lodgings that I see +nothing of what is done in the kitchen. Will you tell or show me? I am +very ignorant." + +Her kind civil tone quite changed cook's, and she said, "Oh, Miss, I'll +make it, only you see, you shouldn't have said I didn't know how." +Emilie explained, and the cook was pacified, and gave Miss Schomberg a +good deal of gratuitous information during the process. How she did not +like her place, and should not stay, and how she disliked her mistress, +and plenty more--to which Emilie listened politely, but did not make +much reply. She plainly perceived that cook wanted a very forbearing +mistress, but she could not exactly tell her so. She merely said in her +quaint quiet way, that every one had something to bear, and the paste +being made, she left the kitchen. + +"Well, I must say, Miss Schomberg has a nice way of speaking, which gets +over you some how," said cook, "I wish I had her temper." + +More than one in the kitchen mentally echoed that wish of cook's. + +The balloon went on beautifully, and was completed by seven o'clock. +Fred was delighted when he came in to tea, and John no less so. All the +rude speeches were forgotten, and Emilie was as sympathetic in her joy +as an elder sister could have been. "I don't know what you will do +without Miss Schomberg," said Mr. Parker, as he sipped his tea. + +"She had better come and live with us," said Fred, "and keep us all in +order. I'm sure I should have no objection." + +Emilie felt quite paid for the little self-denial she had exercised, +when she found that her greatest enemy, he who had declared he would +"plague her to death, and pay her off for not letting them send up their +fire-works," was really conquered by that powerful weapon, _love_. + +Fred had thought more than he chose to acknowledge of Emilie's kindness; +he could not forget it. It was so different to the treatment he had met +with from his associates generally. It made him ask what could be the +reason of Emilie's conduct. She had nothing to get by it, that was +certain, and Fred made up his mind to have some talk with Miss Schomberg +on the subject the first time they were alone. He had some trials at +school with a boy who was bent on annoying him, and trying to stir up +his temper; perhaps the peacemaker might tell him how to deal with this +lad. Fred was an impetuous boy, and now began to like Miss Schomberg as +warmly as he had previously disliked her. + +On their way to old Joe's house that night, Emilie thought she would +call in on Miss Webster, not having parted from her very warmly on the +first night of the holidays. A fortnight of these holidays had passed +away, and Emilie began to long for her quiet evenings, and to see dear +aunt Agnes again. She looked quite affectionately up to the little +sitting room window, where her geraniums stood, and even thought kindly +of Miss Webster herself, to whom it was not quite so easy to feel +genial. She entered the shop. The apprentice sate there at work, busily +trimming a fine rice straw bonnet for the lodger within. She looked up +joyously at Emilie's approach. She thought how often that kind German +face had been to her like a sunbeam on a dull path; how often her +musical voice had spoken words of counsel, and comfort, and sympathy, +to her in her hard life. How she had pressed her hand when she (the +apprentice) came home one night and told her, "My poor mother is dead," +and how she had said, "We are both orphans now, Lucy. We can feel for +one another." How she had taught her by example, often, and by word +sometimes, not to answer again if any thing annoyed or irritated her, +and in short how much Lucy had missed the young lady only Lucy could +say. + +Emilie inquired for her mistress, but the words were scarcely out of her +lips, than she said, "Oh, Miss, she's so bad! She has scalt her foot, +and is quite laid up, and the lodgers are very angry. They say they +don't get properly attended to and so they mean to go. Dear me, there is +such a commotion, but her foot is very had, poor thing, and I have to +mind the shop, or I would wait upon her more; and the girl is very +inattentive and saucy, so that I don't see what we are to do. Will you +go and see Miss Webster, Miss?" + +Emilie cheerfully consented, leaving Edith with Lucy to learn straw +plaiting, if she liked, and to listen to her artless talk. Lucy had less +veneration for the name of Queen Victoria than for that of Schomberg. +Emilie was to her the very perfection of human nature, and accordingly +she sang her praises loud and long. + +On the sofa, the very sofa for which M. Schomberg had so longed, lay +Miss Webster, the expression of her face manifesting the greatest pain. +The servant girl had just brought up her mistress's tea, a cold, +slopped, miserable looking mess. A slice of thick bread and butter, half +soaked in the spilled beverage, was on a plate, and that a dirty one; +and the tray which held the meal was offered to the poor sick woman so +carelessly, that the contents were nearly shot into her lap. It was easy +to see that love formed no part of Betsey's service of her mistress, and +that she rendered every attention grudgingly and ill. Emilie went up +cordially to Miss Webster, and was not prepared for the repulsive +reception with which she met. She wondered what she could have said or +done, except, indeed, in the refusal of the instrument, and that was +atoned for. Emilie might have known, however, that nothing makes our +manners so distant and cold to another, as the knowledge that we have +injured or offended him. Miss Webster, in receiving Emilie's advances, +truly was experiencing the truth of the scripture saying, that coals of +fire should be heaped on her head. + +Poor Miss Webster! "There! set down the tray, you may go, and don't let +me see you in that filthy cap again, not fit to be touched with a pair +of tongs; and don't go up to Mrs. Newson in that slipshod fashion, don't +Betsey; and when you have taken up tea come here, I have an errand for +you to go. Shut the door gently. Oh, dear! dear, these servants!" + +This was so continually the lament of Miss Webster, that Emilie would +not have noticed it, but that she appeared so miserable, and she +therefore kindly said, "I am afraid Betsey does not wait on you nicely, +Miss Webster, she is so very young. I had no idea of this accident, how +did it happen?" + +How it happened took Miss Webster some time to tell. It happened in no +very unusual manner, and the effect was a scalt foot, which she +forthwith shewed Miss Schomberg. There was no doubt that it was a very +bad foot, and Emilie saw that it needed a good nurse more than a good +doctor. Mr. Parker was a medical man, and Emilie knew she should have no +difficulty in obtaining that kind of assistance for her. But the +nursing! Miss Webster was feverish and uneasy, and in such suffering +that something must be done. At the sight of her pain all was forgotten, +but that she was a fellow-creature, helpless and forsaken, and that she +must be helped. + +All this time any one coming in might have imagined that Emilie had been +the cause of the disaster, so affronted was Miss Webster's manner, and +so pettishly did she reject all her visitor's suggestions as +preposterous and impossible. + +"Will you give up your walk to-night, Edith," said Emilie on her return +to the shop, "Poor Miss Webster is in such pain I cannot leave her, and +if you would run home and ask your papa to step in and see her, and say +she has scalt her foot badly, I would thank you very much." + +Emilie spoke earnestly, so earnestly that Edith asked if she were grown +very fond of that "sour old maid all of a sudden." + +"Very fond! No Edith; but it does not, or ought not to require us to be +very fond of people to do our duty to them." + +"Well, I don't see what duty you owe to that mean creature, and I see no +reason why I should lose my walk again to-night. You treat people you +don't love better than those you do it seems; or else your professions +of loving me mean nothing. All day long you have been after Fred's +balloon, and now I suppose mean to be all night long after Miss +Webster's foot." + +Emilie made no reply; she could only have reproached Edith for +selfishness and temper at least equal to Miss Webster's, but telling +Lucy she should soon return, hastened to Mr. Parker's house, followed by +Edith; he was soon at the patient's side, and as Emilie foretold, it was +a case more for an attentive nurse than a skilful doctor. He promised to +send her an application, but, "Miss Schomberg," said he, "sleep is what +she wants; she tells me she has had no rest since the accident occurred. +What is to be done?" "Can you not send for a neighbour, Miss Webster, or +some one to attend to your household, and to nurse you too. If you worry +yourself in this way you will be quite ill." + +Poor Miss Webster was ill, she knew it; and having neither neighbour +nor friend within reach, she did what was very natural in her case, she +took up her handkerchief and began to cry. "Oh, come, Miss Webster," +said Emilie, cheerfully, "I will get you to bed, and Lucy shall come +when the shop is closed, and to-morrow I will get aunt Agnes to come and +nurse you. Keep up your spirits." + +"Ah, it is very well to talk of keeping up spirits, and as to your aunt +Agnes, there never was any love lost between us. No thank you, Miss +Schomberg, no thank you. If I may just trouble you to help me to the +side of my bed, I can get in, and do very well alone. _Good_ night." +Emilie stood looking pitifully at her. "I hope I don't keep you, Miss +Schomberg, pray don't stay, you cannot help me," and here Miss Webster +rose, but the agony of putting her foot to the ground was so great that +she could not restrain a cry, and Emilie, who saw that the poor sufferer +was like a child in helplessness, and like a child, moreover, in +petulance, calmly but resolutely declared her intention of remaining +until Lucy could leave the shop. + +Having helped her landlady into bed, she ran down-stairs to try and +appease the indignant lodgers, who protested, and with truth, that they +had rung, rung, rung, and no one answered the bell; that they wanted +tea, that Miss Webster had undertaken to wait on them, that they were +_not_ waited on, and that accordingly they would seek other lodgings on +the morrow, they would, &c., &c. "Miss Webster, ma'am, is very ill +to-night. She has a young careless servant girl, and is, I assure you, +very much distressed that you should be put out thus. I will bring up +your tea, ma'am, in five minutes, if you will allow me. It is very +disagreeable for you, but I am sure if you could see the poor woman, +ma'am, you would pity her." Mrs. Harmer did pity her only from Emilie's +simple account of her state, and declared she was very sorry she had +seemed angry, but the girl did not say her mistress was ill, only that +she was lying down, which appeared very disrespectful and inattentive, +when they had been waiting two hours for tea. + +The shop was by this time cleared up, and Lucy was able to attend to the +lodgers. Whilst Emilie having applied the rags soaked in the lotion +which had arrived, proceeded to get Miss Webster a warm and neatly +served cup of tea. + +It would have been very cheering to hear a pleasant "thank you;" but +Miss Webster received all these attentions with stiff and almost silent +displeasure. Do not blame her too severely, a hard struggle was going +on; but the law of kindness is at work, and it will not fail. + + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTH. + +BETTER THINGS. + + +"Ah, if Miss Schomberg had asked me to wait on _her_, how gladly would I +have done it, night after night, day after day, and should have thought +myself well paid with a smile; but to sit up all night with a person, +who cares no more for me, than I for her, and that is nothing! and then +to have to get down to-morrow and attend to the shop, all the same as if +I had slept well, is no joke. Oh, dear me! how sleepy I am, two o'clock! +I was to change those rags at two; I really scarcely dare attempt it, +she seems so irritable now." So soliloquized Lucy, who, kindhearted as +she was, could not be expected to take quite so much delight in nursing +her cross mistress, who never befriended her, as she would have done a +kinder, gentler person; but Lucy read her Bible, and she had been +trying, though not so long as Emilie, nor always so successfully it +must be owned, to live as though she read it. + +"Miss Webster, ma'am, the doctor said those rags were to be changed +every two hours. May I do it for you? I can't do it as well as Miss +Schomberg, but I will do my very best not to hurt you." + +"I want sleep child," said Miss Webster, "I want _sleep_, leave me +alone." + +"You can't sleep in such pain, ma'am," said poor Lucy, quite at her wits +ends. + +"Don't you think, I must know that as well as you? There! there's that +rush light gone out, and you never put any water in the tin; a pretty +nurse you make, now I shall have that smell in my nose all night. You +must have set it in a draught. What business has a rush light to go out +in a couple of hours? I wonder." + +Lucy put the obnoxious night shade out of the room, and went back to the +bedside. For a long time she was unsuccessful, but at last Miss Webster +consented to have her foot dressed, and even cheered her young nurse by +the acknowledgment that she did it very well, considering; and thus the +night wore away. + +Quite early Emilie was at her post, and was grieved to see that Miss +Webster still looked haggard and suffering, and as if she had not slept. +In answer to her inquiries, Lucy said that she had no rest all night. + +"Rest! and how can I rest, Miss Schomberg? I can't afford to lose my +lodgers, and lose them I shall." + +"Only try and keep quiet," said Emilie, "and I will see that they do not +suffer from want of attendance. _You_ cannot help them, do consent to +leave all thought, all management, to those who can think and manage. +May aunt Agnes come and nurse you, and attend to the housekeeping?" + +"Yes," was reluctantly, and not very graciously uttered. + +"Well then, Lucy will have time to attend to you. I would gladly nurse +you myself, but you know I may not neglect Miss Parker; now take this +draught, and try and sleep." + +"Miss Schomberg," said the poor woman, "you won't lack friends to nurse +you on a sick bed; I have none." + +"Miss Webster, if I were to be laid on a sick bed, and were to lose aunt +Agnes, I should be alone in a country that is not my own country, +without money and without friends; but we may both of us have a friend +who sticketh closer than a brother, think of him, ma'am, now, and ask +him to make your bed in your sickness." + +She took the feverish hand of the patient as she said this, who, +bursting into a flood of tears, replied, "Ah, Miss Schomberg! I don't +deserve it of you, and that is the truth; but keep my hand, it feels +like a friend's, hold it, will you, and I think I shall sleep a little +while;" and Emilie stood and held her hand, stood till she was faint and +weary, and then withdrawing it as gently as ever mother unloosed an +infant's hold, she withdrew, shaded the light from the sleeper's eyes, +and stole out of the room, leaving the sufferer at ease, and in one of +those heavy sleeps which exhaustion and illness often produce. + +Her visit to the kitchen was most discouraging. Betsey was only just +down, and the kettle did not boil, nor were any preparations made for +the lodgers' breakfast, to which it only wanted an hour. Emilie could +have found it in her heart to scold the lazy, selfish girl, who had +enjoyed a sound sleep all night, whilst Lucy had gone unrefreshed to +her daily duties, but she forebore. "Scolding never does answer," +thought Emilie, "and I won't begin to-day, but I must try and reform +this girl at all events, by some means, and that shall be done at once." + +"Come, Betsey," said Emilie pleasantly, "now, we shall see what sort of +a manager you will be; you must do all you can to make things tidy and +comfortable for the lodgers. Is their room swept and dusted?" + +"Oh, deary me, Miss, what time have I had for that, I should like to +know?" + +"Well now, get every thing ready for their breakfast, and pray don't +bang doors or make a great clatter with the china, as you set the table. +Every sound is heard in this small house, and your mistress has had no +sleep all night." + +"Well, she'll be doubly cross to day, then, I'll be bound. Howsoever, I +shall only stay my month, and it don't much matter what I do, she never +gives a servant a good character, and I don't expect it." + +"No, and you will not deserve it if you are inattentive and unfeeling +now. It is not doing as you would be done by, either. Do now, Betsey, +forget, for a few days, that Miss Webster ever scolded or found fault +with you. If you want to love any one just do him a kindness, and you +don't know how fast love springs up in the heart; you would be much +happier, Betsey, I am sure. Come _try_, you are not a cross girl, and +you don't mean to be unkind now. I shall expect to hear from Lucy, when +I come again, how well you have managed together." + +Fred went to Mr. Crosse's after breakfast, in the pony gig, for aunt +Agnes, who, at a summons from Emilie, was quite willing to come and see +after Miss Webster's household. She soon put mutters into a better +train, both in kitchen and parlour, so that the pacified lodgers +consented to remain. And though neither Lucy nor Betsey altogether liked +aunt Agnes, they found her quite an improvement on Miss Webster. + +It is not our object to follow Miss Webster through her domestic +troubles nor through the tedious process of the convalescence of a scalt +foot. We will rather follow Edith into her chamber, and see how she is +trying to learn the arts of the Peacemaker there. + +Edith's head is bent over a book, a torn book, and her countenance is +flushed and heated. She is out of breath, too, and her hair is hanging +disordered about her pretty face; not pretty now, however; it is an +angry face--and an angry face is never pretty. + +Has she been quarrelling with Fred again? yes, even so. Fred would not +give up Hans Andersen's Tales, which Emilie had just given Edith, and +which she was reading busily, when some one came to see her about a new +bonnet, so she left the book on the table, and in the mean time Fred +came in, snatched it up, and was soon deep in the feats of the "Flying +Trunk." Then came the little lady back and demanded the book, not very +pleasantly, if the truth must be told. Fred meant to give it up, but he +meant to tease his sister first, and Edith, who had no patience to wait, +snatched at the book. Fred of course resisted, and it was not until the +book had been nearly parted from its cover, and some damage had ensued +to the dress and hair of both parties that Edith regained possession; +not _peaceable_ possession, however, for both of the children's spirits +were ruffled. + +Edith flew to her room almost as fast as if she had been on the "Flying +Trunk," in the Fairy Tale. When there, she could not read, and in +displeasure with herself and with every one, dashed the little volume +away and cried long and bitterly. Edith had not been an insensible +spectator of the constantly and self-denying gentle conduct of Emilie. +Her example, far more than her precepts, had affected her powerfully, +but she had much to contend with, and it seemed to her as if at the very +times she meant to be kind and gentle something occurred to put her out. +"I _will_ try, oh, I will try," said Edith again and again, "but it is +such hard work."--Yes, Edith, hard enough, and work which even Emilie +can scarcely help you in. You wrestle against a powerful and a cruel +enemy, and you need great and powerful aid; but you have read your Bible +Edith, and again and again has Emilie said to you, "of yourself you can +do nothing." + +Edith had had a long conversation on this very subject only that morning +with her friend, as they were walking on the sea shore, and under the +influence of the calm lovely summer's sky, and within the sound of +Emilie's clear persuasive voice, it did not seem a hard matter to Edith +to love and to be loving. She could love Fred, she could even bear a +rough pull of the hair from him, she could stand a little teasing from +John, who found fault with a new muslin frock she wore at dinner, and we +all know it is not pleasant to have our dress found fault with; but this +attack of Fred's about the book, was _not_ to be borne, not by Edith, at +least, and thus she sobbed and cried in her own room, thinking herself +the most miserable of creatures, and very indignant that Emilie did not +come to comfort her; "but she is gone out after that tiresome old woman, +with her scalt foot, I dare say," said Edith, "and she would only tell +me I was wrong if she were here--oh dear! oh dear me!" and here she +sobbed again. + +Solitude is a wonderfully calming, composing thing; Emilie knew that, +and she did quite right to leave Edith alone. It was time she should +listen seriously to a voice which seldom made itself heard, but +conscience was resolute to-day, and did not spare Edith. It told her all +the truth, (you may trust conscience for that,) it told her that the +very reason why she failed in her efforts to do right was because she +had a wrong _motive_; and that was, love of the approbation of her +fellow creatures, and not real love to God. She would have quarrelled +with any one else who dared to tell her this; but it was of no use +quarrelling with conscience. Conscience had it all its own way to-day, +and went on answering every objection so quietly, and to the point, that +by degrees Edith grew quiet and subdued; and what do you think she did? +She took up a little Bible that lay on her table, and began to read it. +She could not pray as yet. She did not feel kind enough for that. Emilie +had often said to her that she should be at peace with every one before +she lifted up her heart to the "God of peace." She turned over the +leaves and tried to find the chapter, which she knew very well, about +the king who took account of his servants, and who forgave the man the +great debt of ten thousand talents; and then when that man went out and +found his servant who owed him but one hundred pence, he took him by the +throat, and said, "Pay me that thou owest." In vain did the man beseech +for patience, he that had only just been forgiven ten thousand talents +could not have pity on the man who owed him but one hundred pence. + +Often had Edith read this chapter, and very just was her indignation +against the hard-hearted servant, who, with his king's lesson of mercy +and forgiveness fresh in his memory, could not practise the same to one +who owed him infinitely less than he had done his master; and yet here +was little Edith who could not forgive Fred his injuries, when, +nevertheless, God was willing to forgive hers. Had Fred injured her as +she had injured God? surely not; and yet she might now kneel down and +receive at once the forgiveness of all her _great_ sins. Nay, more: she +had been receiving mercy and patience at the hands of her Heavenly +Father many years. She had neglected Him, done many things contrary to +his law, owed him, indeed, the ten thousand talents, and yet she was +spared. + +She had a great deal of revenge in her heart still, however; and she +could not, reason as she would, try as she would, read as she would, get +it out, so she sunk down on her knees, and lifted up her heart very +sincerely, to ask God to take it away. She had often said her prayers, +and had found no difficulty in that, but now it seemed quite different. +She could find no words, she could only feel. Well, that was enough. He +who saw in secret, saw her heart, and knew how it felt. She felt she +needed forgiveness, and that she could only have it by asking it of Him +who had power to forgive sins. She took her great debt to Jesus, and he +cancelled it; she hoped she was forgiven, and now, oh! how ready she +felt to forgive Fred. How small a sum seemed his hundred pence--his +little acts of annoyances compared with her many sins against God. Now +she felt and understood the meaning of the Saviour's lesson to Peter. +She had entered the same school as Peter, and though a slow she was a +sincere learner. + +She is in the right way now to learn the true law of kindness. None but +the _Saviour,_ who was love itself, could teach her this. If any earthly +teacher could have done so, surely Emilie would have succeeded. + +She went down to tea softened and sad, for she felt very humble. The +consideration of her great unlikeness to the character of Jesus, +affected her. "When he was reviled he reviled not again; when he +suffered he threatened not;" and this thought made her feel more than +any sermon or lecture or reproof she ever had in her life, how she +needed to be changed, her whole self changed; not her old bad nature +_patched_ up, but her whole heart made _new_. She did not say much at +tea; she did not formally apologise to Fred for her conduct to him. He +looked very cross, so perhaps it was wiser to act rather than to speak; +but she handed him the bread and butter, and buttered him a piece of +toast, and in many little quiet ways told him she wished to be friends +with him. John began at her frock again. She could not laugh, (she was +not in a laughing humour,) but she said she would not wear it any more, +during his holidays, if he disliked it so _very_ much. The greatest +trial to her temper was the being told she looked cross. Emilie, who +could see the sun of peace behind the cloud, was half angry herself at +this speech, and said to Mr. Parker, "If she looks cross she is not +cross, Sir, but I think she is not in very good spirits. Every one looks +a little sad sometimes;" and Mr. Porker, happily, being called out to a +patient at that moment, gave Edith opportunity to swallow her grief. + +After tea the boys prepared to accompany their sister and her governess +in the usual evening walk. Edith did not desire their company, but she +did not say so; and they all went out very silent for them. On their +road to the beach they met a man who had a cage of canaries to sell, the +very things that Fred had desired so long, and to purchase which he had +saved his money. + +Edith had no taste for noisy canaries; few great talkers have, for they +do interrupt conversation must undeniably, but Fred thought it would be +most delightful to have them, and as he had a breeding cage which had +belonged to one of his elder sisters years before, he asked the price +and began to make his bargain. The birds were bought and the man +dispatched to the house with them, with orders to call for payment at +nine o'clock, before Fred remembered that he did not exactly know where +he should keep them. In the sitting room it would be quite out of the +question he knew, for the noise would distract his mother. Papa was not +likely to admit canaries into his study for consultations; and Fred knew +only of one likely or possible place, but the door to that was closed, +unless he could find a door to Edith's heart, and he had just quarrelled +with Edith; what a pity! To make it up with her, however, just to gain +his point, he was too proud to do, and was therefore gloomy and uncivil. + +"Where are you going to keep your canaries Fred?" asked his sister. + +"In the cage," said Fred, shortly and tartly. + +"Yes; but in what room?" + +"In my bed-room," said Fred. + +"Oh, I dare say! will you though?" said John, who as he shared his +brother's apartment had some right to have a voice in the matter. "I am +not going to be woke at daylight every morning by your canaries. And +such an unwholesome plan; I am sure papa and mamma won't let you. What a +pity you bought the birds! you can't keep them in our small house. Get +off your bargain, I would if I were you. Besides, who will take care of +them all the week? they will want feeding other days besides Saturdays, +I suppose." + +Fred looked annoyed, and dropped behind the party. Edith whispered to +Emilie, "Go you on with John, I want to talk to Fred." + +"Fred, dear," said she, "will you keep your birds in my little room, +where my old toys are? I will clear a place, and I shan't mind their +singing, _do_ Fred. I have often hindered your pleasures, now let me +have the comfort of making it up a little to you, and I will feed them +and clean them while you are at school in the week." + +"You may change your mind Edith, and you know if my birds are in your +room, I shall have to be there a good deal; and they will make a rare +noise sometimes, and some one must take care of them all the week--I can +only attend to them on Saturdays, you know." + +"Yes, I have been thinking of all that, and I expect I shall sometimes +_wish_ to change my mind, but I shall not do it. I am very selfish I +know, but I mean to try to be better, Fred. Take my little room, do." + +Fred was a proud boy, and would rather have had to thank any one than +Edith just then; but nevertheless he accepted her offer, and thanked his +little sister, though not quite so kindly as he might have done, and +that is the truth. There is a grace in accepting as well as in giving. +Edith had given up what she had much prized, the independence of a +little room, (it was but a little one,) a little room all to herself; +but she did so because she felt love springing up in her heart. She +acted in obedience to the dictates of the law of kindness, and she felt +lighter and happier than she had done for a long time. Fred was by +degrees quite cheered, and amused his companions by his droll talk for +some way. Spying, however, one of his school-fellows on the rocks at a +distance, he and John, joined him abruptly, and thus Emilie and Edith +were left alone. + +Sincerity is never loquacious, never egotistic. If you don't understand +these words I will tell you what I mean. A person really in earnest; and +sincere, does not talk much of earnestness and sincerity, still loss of +himself. Edith could not tell Emilie of her new resolutions, of her +mental conflict, but she was so loving and affectionate in her manner to +her friend, that I think Emilie understood; at any rate, she saw that +Edith was very pleasant, and very gentle that night, and loved her more +than ever. She saw and felt there was a change come over her. They +walked far, and on their return found the canaries arrived, and Fred +very busy in putting them up in their new abode. He had rather +unceremoniously moved Edith's bookcase and boxes, to make room for the +bird cages. She did say, "I think you might have asked my leave," but +she instantly recalled it. "Oh, never mind; what pretty little things, I +shall like to have them with me." + +It really was a trial to Edith to see all her neat arrangements upset, +and to find how very coolly Fred did it, too. She sighed and thought, +"Ah, I shall not be mistress here now I see!" but Fred was gone down +stairs for some water and seed, and did not hear her laments. He was +very full of his scheme for canary breeding at supper, and Emilie was +quite as full of sympathy in his joy as Fred desired; she took a real +interest in the matter. Her father, she said, had given much attention +to canary breeding, for the Germans were noted for their management of +canaries; she could help him, she thought, if he would accept her help. +So they were very merry over the affair at supper time, and Mr. Parker, +in his quiet way, enjoyed it too. Suddenly, however, the merriment +received a check. Margaret, who had been to look at the birds, came in +with the intelligence that Muff, the pet cat of Miss Edith, was sitting +in the dusk, watching the canaries with no friendly eye, and that she +had even made a dart at the cage; and she prophesied that the birds +would not be safe long. A bird of ill omen was Margaret always; she +thought the worst and feared the worst of every one, man or animal. +"Why, it is easy to keep the door of the cage shut," John remarked, but +to keep puss out of her old haunts was not possible. + +Muff was not a kitten, but a venerable cat, who had belonged to Edith's +elder sister, and was given to Edith, the day that sister married, as a +very precious gift; and Edith loved that grey cat, loved her dearly. She +always sat in the same place in that dear little room. Edith had only +that day made her a new red leather collar, and Muff looked very smart +in it. "Muff won't hurt the birds, Fred dear," said Edith, "she is not +like a common cat." Whatever points of dissimilarity there might he +between Muff and the cat race in general, in this particular she quite +resembled them; she loved birds, and would not be very nice as to the +manner of obtaining them. What was to be done? Fred had all manner of +projects in his head for teaching the canaries to fly out and in the +cage, to bathe, to perch on his finger, etc.; but if, whenever any one +chanced to leave the door of the room open, Muff were to bounce in, why +there was an end to all such schemes. In short, Muff would get the birds +by fair means or foul, there was no doubt of that, and Fred was +desperate. I cannot tell how many times Muff was called "a nasty cat," +"a tiresome cat," "a vicious cat," and little Edith's heart was full, +for she did not believe any evil of her favourite; and to hear her so +maligned, seemed like a personal insult; but she bore it patiently. She +asked Emilie at bed time what she should do about Muff; she had so long +been accustomed to her seat by the sunny window in Edith's room, that to +try and tempt her from it she knew would be vain. + +Emilie agreed with her, but hoped Muff would practise self-denial. +Before Edith lay down to rest that night, she again thought over all +that she had done through the day; again knelt down and asked for help +to overcome that which was sinful within her, and then lay down to +sleep. Edith was but a child, and she could not forget Muff; she +thought, and very truly, that there was a general wish to displace her +Muff. Not one in the house would be sorry to see Muff sent away she +know, and Margaret at supper time seemed so pleased to report of Muff's +designs. This thought made her love Muff all the more, but then there +were Fred's birds. It would be very sad if any of them should be lost +through her cat; what should she do? She wished to win Fred to love and +gentleness. Should she part with Muff? Miss Schomberg (aunt Agnes that +is) had expressed a wish for a nice quiet cat, and this, her beauty, +would just suit her. "Shall I take Muff to High-Street to-morrow? I +will," were her last thoughts, but the resolution cost her something, +and Edith's pillow was wet with tears. When she arose the next morning +she felt as we are all apt to feel after the excitement of new and +sudden resolves, rather flat; and the sight of Muff sitting near a +laurel bush in the garden, enjoying the morning sun, quite unnerved her. +"Part with Muff! No, I cannot; and I don't believe any one would do such +a thing for such a boy as Fred. I cannot part with Muff, that's certain. +Fred had better give up his birds, and so I shall tell him." + +All this is very natural, but what is very natural is often very wrong, +and Edith did not fuel that calm happiness which she had done the night +before. When she received Emilie's morning kiss, she said, "Well, Miss +Schomberg, I thought last night I had made up my mind to part with Muff, +but I really cannot! I do love her so!" + +"It would be a great trial to you, I should think," said Emilie, "and +one that no one could _ask_ of you, but if she had a good master, do you +think you should mind it so very much? You would only have your own +sorrow to think of, and really it would be a kindness if those poor +birds are to be kept. The cat terrifies them by springing at the wires, +and if they were sitting they would certainly be frightened off their +nests." + +Edith looked perplexed; "What shall I do Emilie? I _do_ wish to please +Fred, I do wish to do as I would be done by; I really want to get rid of +my selfish nature, and yet it will keep coming back." + +"Watch as well as pray, dear," said Emilie affectionately, "and you will +conquer at last." They went down to breakfast together. "Watch and +pray." That word "watch," was R word in season to Edith, she had +_prayed_ but had well nigh forgotten to _watch_. + +She could not eat her meal, however, her heart was full with the +greatness of the sacrifice before her. Do not laugh at the word _great_ +sacrifice. It was very great to Edith; she loved with all her heart; and +to part with what we love, be it a dog, a cat, a bird, or any inanimate +possession, is a great pang. After breakfast she went into the little +room where Muff usually eat, and taking hold of the favourite, hugged +and kissed her lovingly, then carrying her down stairs to the kitchen, +asked cook for a large basket, and with a little help from Margaret, +tied her down and safely confined her; then giving the precious load to +her father's errand boy, trotted into the town, and stopped not till she +reached Miss Webster's door. Her early visit rather astonished aunt +Agnes, who was at that moment busily engaged in dressing Miss Webster's +foot, and at the announcement of Betsey--"Please Ma'am little Miss +Parker is called and has brought you a cat," she jumped so that she +spilled Miss Webster's lotion. + +"A cat! a cat!" echoed the ladies. "I will have no cats here Miss +Schomberg, if you please," said the irritable Mistress. "I always did +hate cats, there is no end to the mischief they do. I never did keep +one, and never mean to do." + +Miss Schomberg went down stairs into Miss Webster's little parlour, and +there saw Edith untying her beloved Muff. "Well aday! my child, what +brings you here? all alone too. Surely Emilie isn't ill, oh dear me +something must be amiss." + +"Oh no, Miss Schomberg, no, only I heard you say you would like a cat, +and Fred has got some new birds and I mayn't keep Muff, and so will you +take her and be kind to her?" + +"My dear child," said aunt Agnes in a bewilderment, "I would take her +gladly but Miss Webster has a bird you know, and is so awfully neat and +particular, oh, it won't do; you must not bring her here, and I _must_ +go back and finish Miss Webster's foot. She is very poorly to-day. Oh +how glad I shall be when my Emilie comes back! Good bye, take the cat, +dear, away, pray do;" and, so saying, aunt Agnes bustled off, leaving +poor Edith more troubled and perplexed with Muff than ever. + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTH. + +GOOD FOR EVIL. + + +Old Joe Murray was seated on the beach, nearer the town than his house +stood, watching the groups of busy children, digging and playing in the +sand, now helping them in their play, and now giving his hint to the +nurses around him, when Edith tapped him on the shoulder. There was +something so unusually serious, not _cross_, in Edith's countenance, +that Joe looked at her inquiringly. "There, set down the basket, +Nockells, and run back quick, tell papa I kept you; I am afraid you will +get into disgrace." + +"Mayn't I drown Puss?" said Nockells. + +"No! you cruel boy, _no!_" said Edith, vehemently. "_You_ shall not have +the pleasure, no one shall do it who would take a pleasure in it." + +"What is the matter Miss?" asked Joe, as soon as Nockells turned away. + +"The matter, oh Joe! I want Muff drowned; my cat I mean, my dear cat;" +and then she told her tale up to the point of Miss Webster's refusing to +admit Muff as a lodger, and cried most bitterly as she said, "and I +won't have her ill-treated, so I will drown her, will you do it for me +Joe, please do now, or my courage will be gone? but I won't stay to look +at it, so good-bye," said she, and slipping a shilling into Joe's hand, +ran home with the news to Fred, that the cat was by this time at the +bottom of the tea, and his canaries were safe for ever from her claws. + +Fred was not a hard-hearted boy, and his sister's tale really grieved +him. He kissed her several times over, as he said he now wished he had +never bought the birds, that they had caused Edith nothing but trouble +and that he was very sorry. + +"I am not sorry, Fred dear, at least I am only sorry for being forced to +drown Muff. I like to give you my room, and I like to give up my cat to +you, and I shall not cry any more about it, so don't be unhappy." + +"And all this for me," said Fred; "I who teased you so yesterday +afternoon, and always am teasing you, I think!" How pleased Emilie +looked! She did not praise Edith, but she gave her such a look of +genuine approval as was a rich reward to her little pupil. "_This_ is +the way. Edith dear, to overcome evil with good; go on, _watch_ and +pray, and you will subdue Fred in time as well as your own evil +tempers." + +How easy all this looks to read about! How swift the transition from bad +to good! Who has not felt, in reading Rosamond and Frank, a kind of envy +that they so soon overcame their errors, so soon conquered their bad +habits and evil dispositions? Dear young reader, it is _not_ easy to +subdue self; it is not easy to practise this law of kindness, love, and +forbearance; it is not easy to live peaceably with all men, but believe +me, it is not impossible. He who giveth liberally and upbraideth not, +will give you grace, and wisdom, and help to do this if you ask it. The +promise is, "Ask and ye shall receive." Edith In her helplessness naked +strength of God and it was given. That which was given to her He will +not withhold from you. Only try Him. + +For the comfort of those who may not have such a friend as Emilie, we +would remind our readers that the actual work of Edith's change, for +such it was, was that which no friend however wise and however good +could effect. There is no doubt but that to her example Edith owed much. +It led her to _think_ and to _compare_, and was part of the means used +by the all-wise God, to instruct this little girl; but if you have not +Emilie for a friend, you may all have the God, whom Emilie served, for a +friend. You may all read in the Bible which she studied, and in which +she learned, from God's love to man, how we should love each other. She +read there, "If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." + +The holidays drew to a close. The return of the mother and sisters was +at hand. Emilie was not without her fears for Edith at this time, but +she trusted in the help which she knew Edith would have if she sought +it, and was thus encouraged. The right understanding between her +brothers and herself she was rejoiced to see daily increasing. It was +not that there was nothing to ruffle the two most easily ruffled +spirits. Fred was not considerate, and would constantly recur to his old +habit of tensing Edith. Edith was easily teased, and would rather order +and advise Fred, which was sure to bring on a breeze; but they were far +less vindictive, less aggravating than formerly. They were learning to +bear and forbear. Edith had the most to bear, for although Fred was +impressed by her kind and altered conduct, and could never forget the +generous act of sacrifice when she parted with Muff to gratify him, he +was as yet more actuated by impulse than principle, and nothing but +principle, Christian principle I mean, will enable us to be kind and +gentle, and unselfish _habitually_, not by fits and starts, but every +day. + +Joe Murray was sitting at his door smoking his pipe, and watching his +little grandchildren as they played together (this time harmoniously) in +the garden. They were not building a grotto, they were dancing, and +jumping, and laughing, in the full merriment of good healthy happy +children. Emilie and Edith greeted Joe as an old friend, and Joe seemed +delighted to see them. The two children, who had been commissioned to +search for corallines, rushed up to Edith with a basket full of a +heterogeneous collection, and amongst a great deal of little value there +were some beautiful specimens of the very things Edith wanted. She +thanked the little Murrays sincerely, and then looked at Emilie. Should +she pay them? the look asked. It was evident the children had no idea of +such a thing, and felt fully repaid by Edith's pleasure. Edith only +wanted to know if it would take from that pleasure to receive money. She +had been learning of late to study what people liked, and wished to do +so now. + +Emilie did not understand her look, and so Edith followed her own +course. "Thank you, oh, thank you," she said. "It was very kind of you +to collect me so many, they please me very much. I wish I knew of +something that you would like as well as I like these, and if I can, I +will give it to you, or ask mamma to help me." The boy not being +troubled with bashfulness, immediately said, that of all things he +should like a regular rigged boat, a ship, "a little-un" that would +swim. The girl put her finger in her mouth and said "she didn't know." +"Are you going to have a boat?" said every little voice, "oh, what fun +we shall have." "Yes," said our peace-making friend, Sarah. "You know +that if Dick gets any thing it is the same as if you all did. He is such +a kind boy, Miss, he plays with the little ones, and gives up to them +so nicely, you'd be surprised." + +"I am glad of that," said Emilie, "it will be such a pleasure to Miss +Edith to give pleasure to them all--but come, Jenny, you have not fixed +yet what you will have." Jenny said she did not want to be paid, but she +had thought, perhaps Miss Parker might give them something, and if Miss +Parker did not think it too much, she should like a shilling better than +any thing. + +Every one looked inquiringly, except Sarah. Sarah was but the uneducated +daughter of a poor fisherman, but she studied human nature as it lay +before her in the different characters of her brothers and sisters, and +she guessed the workings of Jenny's mind. + +"What do you want a shilling for?" said the mother sharply, who had +joined the group. "You ought not to have asked for anything, what bad +manners you have! The weeds cost you nothing, and you ought to be much +obliged to Miss Parker for accepting them." + +"I wanted the shilling very much," persisted Jenny, as Edith pressed it +into her hand, and off she ran, as though to hide her treasure. + +But Edith had caught sight of something, and forgot shilling and every +thing else in that glimpse. Her own dear old Muff sleeping on the hearth +of the kitchen which she had not yet entered. I shall not tell you all +the endearments she used to puss, they would look ridiculous on paper; +they made even those who heard them smile, but she was so overjoyed that +there was some excuse for her. Mrs. Murray rather damped her joy at once +by saying, "Oh, she's a sad thief, Miss. She steals the fish terribly. I +suppose you can't take her back, Miss?" + +"Ah, Joe," said Edith sorrowfully, "you see, you had better have drowned +her." + +"So I think," said Mrs. Murray. + +"No, no, no," cried Jane, coming forwards. "I have a shilling now, and +Barker the carrier will take her for that all the way to Southampton, +where aunt Martha lives, and aunt Martha loves cats, and will take care +of Muff; she shan't be drowned, Miss," said Jenny, kindly. + +The mother looked surprised, and they all admired Jenny's kind +intentions. Emilie slipped another shilling into her hand as they went +away, and said "You will find a use for it." "Good night Jenny, and +thank you," said poor Edith, with a sigh, for she had already looked +forward to many joyful meetings with Muff--her newly-found treasure. But +as old Joe, who followed them down the cliff said, there was no end to +the trouble Muff caused, what with stealing fish, and upsettings and +breakings; and she would be happier at aunt Martha's, where there was +neither fish nor child, and more room to walk about in than Muff enjoyed +here. + +"But how kind of Jenny," said Edith, "how thoughtful for Muff!" + +"No, Miss, 't aint for Muff exactly," said Joe, "though she pitied you, +as they all did, in thinking of drowning the cat; but bless the dear +children, they are all trying in their way, I do believe; to please +their mother, and to win her to be more happy and gentle like. You see +she has had a hard struggle with them, so many as there are, and so +little to do with; and that and bad health have soured her temper like; +but she'll come to. Oh Miss Edith, take my word for it, if ever you have +to live where folks are cross and snappish, be _you_ good-humoured. A +little of the leaven of sweetness and good temper lightens a whole lump +of crossness and bad humour. One bright Spirit in a family will keep +the sun shining in _one_ spot; it can't then be _all_ dark, you see, and +if there's ever such a little spot of sunshine, there must be some light +in the house, which may spread before long, Miss." + +"Goodnight, Joe," and "Good night, ladies," passed, and the friends were +left alone--alone upon the quiet beach. The sun had set, for it was +late; the tide was ebbing, and now left the girls a beautiful smooth +path of sand for some little distance, on which the sound of their light +steps was scarcely heard, as they rapidly walked towards home. + +"Who would think, Edith, that our six weeks' holiday would be at an end +to-morrow?" said Emilie. + +"I don't know, Emilie, I feel it much longer." + +"_Do_ you? then you have not been so happy as I hoped to have made you, +dear; I have been a great deal occupied with other things, but it could +scarcely be helped." + +"No, Emilie, I have not been happy a great part of the holidays, but I +am happy now; happier at least, and it was no fault of yours at any +time. I know now why I was so discontented with my condition, and why I +thought I had more to try me than anybody else. I feel that I was in +fault; that I _am_ in fault, I should say; but, oh Emilie, I am trying, +trying hard, to--" and here, Edith, softened by the remembrance that +soon she and her friend must part, burst into tears. + +"And you have succeeded, succeeded nobly, Edith, my darling. I have +watched you, and but that I feared to interfere, I would have noticed +your victories to you. I may do so now." + +"My _victories_, Emilie! Are you making fun of me? I feel to have been +so very irritable of late.--My _victories!_" + +"Just because, dear, you take notice of your irritability as you did not +use to do, and because you have constantly before your eyes that great +pattern in whom was no sin." + +"Emilie, I will tell you something--your patience, your example, has +done me a great deal of good, I hope; but there is one thing in your +kind of advice, which does me more good than all. You have talked more +of the love of God than of any other part of his character, and the +words which first struck me very much, when I first began to wish that I +were different, were those you told me one Sunday evening, some time +ago. 'Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and +gave his Son a ransom for sinners.' There seemed such a contrast between +my conduct to God, and His to me; and then it has made me, I hope, a +little more, (a _very_ little, you know,) I am not boasting, Emilie, am +I? it has made me a _little_ more willing to look over things which used +to vex me so. What are Fred's worst doings to me, compared with my +_best_ to God?" + +Thus they talked, and now, indeed, did the friends love one another; and +heartily did each, by her bedside that night, thank God for his gospel, +which tells of his love to man, the greatest illustration truly of the +law of kindness. + + + + +CHAPTER NINTH. + +FRED A PEACEMAKER. + + +"Talk not of wasted affection, affection never is wasted.... its waters +returning back to their spring, like the rain shall fill them full of +refreshment"--_H. W. Longfellow_. + +"Well Fred," said Emilie at the supper table, from which Mr. Parker was +absent, "I go away to-morrow and we part better friends than we met, I +think, don't we?" + +"Oh yes, Miss Schomberg, we are all better friends, and it is all your +doing." + +"My doing, oh no! Fred, that _is_ flattery. I have not made Edith so +gentle and so good as she has of late been to you. _I_ never advised her +to give up that little room to you nor to send poor Muff away." + +"_Didn't_ you? well, now I always thought you did; I always kid that to +you, and so I don't believe I have half thanked Edith as I ought." + +"Indeed you might have done." + +"Well, I hope I shall not get quarrelsome at school again, but I wish I +was in a large school. I fancy I should be much happier. Only being us +five at Mr. Barton's, we are so thrown together, somehow we can't help +falling out and interfering with each other sometimes. Now there is +young White, I never can agree with him, it is _impossible_." + +"Dear me!" said Emilie, without contradicting him, "why?" + +"He treats me so very ill; not openly and above-board, as we say, but in +such a nasty sneaking way, he is always trying to injure me. He knows +sometimes I fall asleep after I am called. Well, he dresses so quietly, +(I sleep in his room, I wish I didn't,) he steals down stairs and then +laughs with such triumph when I come down late and get a lecture or a +fine for it. If I am very busy over an exercise out of school hours, he +comes and talks to me, or reads some entertaining book close to my ears, +aloud to one of the boys, to hinder my doing it properly, but that is +not half his nasty ways. Could _you love_ such a boy Miss Schomberg?" + +"Well, I would try to make him more loveable, Fred, and then I might +perhaps love him," said Emilie. + +"Ah, Emilie, your 'overcome evil with good' rule would fail there _I_ +can tell you; you may laugh." + +"No, I won't laugh, I am going to be serious. You will allow me to +preach a short sermon to-night, the last for some time, you know, and +mine shall be but a text, or a very little more, and then 'good night.' +Will you try to love that boy for a few weeks? _really_ try, and see if +he does not turn out better than you expect. If he do not, I will +promise you that you will be the better for it. Love is never wasted, +but remember, Fred, it is wicked and sad to hate one another, and it +comes to be a serious matter, for 'If any man love not his brother whom +he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen.' Good night." + +"Good night, Miss Schomberg, you have taught me to like you," and oh, +how I did dislike you once! thought Fred, but he did not say so. + +Miss Webster's foot got well at last, but it was a long time about it. +The lodgers went away at the end of the six weeks, and aunt Agnes and +Emilie were quietly settled in their little apartments again. The piano +was a little out of tune, but Emilie expected as much, and now after her +six weeks' holiday, so called, she prepared to begin her life of daily +teaching. Her kindness to Miss Webster was for some time to all +appearance thrown away, but no, that cannot be--kindness and love can +never be wasted. They bless him that gives, if not him that takes the +offering. By and bye, however, a few indications of the working of the +good system appeared. Miss Webster would offer to come and sit and chat +with aunt Agnes when Emilie was teaching or walking; and aunt Agnes in +return taught Miss Webster knitting stitches and crochet work. Miss +Webster would clean Emilie's straw bonnet, and when asked for the bill, +she would say that it came to nothing; and would now and then send up a +little offering of fruit or fish, when she thought her lodgers' table +was not well supplied. Little acts in themselves, but great when we +consider that they were those of an habitually cold and selfish person. +She did not express love; but she showed the softening influence of +affection, and Emilie at least understood and appreciated it. + +Fred had perhaps the hardest work of all the actors on this little +stage; he thought so at least. Joe White was an unamiable and, as Fred +expressed it, a sneaking boy. He had never been accustomed to have his +social affections cultivated in childhood, and consequently, he grew up +into boyhood without any heart as it is called. Good Mr. Barton was +quite puzzled with him. He said there was no making any impression on +him, and that Mr. Barton could make none was very evident. Who shall +make it? Even Fred; for he is going to try Emilie's receipt for the cure +of the complaint under which Master White laboured, a kind of moral +ossification of the heart. Will he succeed? We shall see. + +Perhaps, had Joe White at this time fallen down and broken his leg, or +demanded in any way a _great_ sacrifice of personal comfort from his +school-fellow, he would have found it easier to return good for his evil, +than in the daily, hourly, calls for the exercise of forgiveness and +forbearance which occurred at school. Oh, how many will do _great_ +things in the way of gifts or service, who will not do the little acts +of kindness and self denial which common life demands. Many a person has +built hospitals or alms houses, and has been ready to give great gifts +to the poor and hungry, who has been found at home miserably deficient +in domestic virtues. Dear children, cultivate these. You have, very few +of you, opportunities for great sacrifices. They occur rarely in real +life, and it would be well if the relations of fictitious life abounded +less in them; but you may, all of you, find occasions to speak a gentle +word, to give a kind smile, to resign a pursuit which annoys or vexes +another, to cure a bad habit, to give up a desired pleasure. You may, +all of you, practice the injunction, to live not unto yourselves. Fred, +I say, found it a hard matter to carry out Emilie's plan towards Joe +White, who came back from home more evilly disposed than ever, and all +the boys agreed he was a perfect nuisance. + +"I would try and make him loveable." Those words of Emilie's often +recurred to Fred as he heard the boys say how they disliked Joe White +worse and worse. So Fred tried first by going up to him very gravely one +day, and saying how they all disliked him, and how he hoped he would +mend; but that did not do at all. Fred found the twine of his kite all +entangled next day, and John said he saw White playing with it soon +after Fred had spoken to him. + +"I'd go and serve him out; just you go and tangle his twine, and see how +he likes it," said John. + +"I will--but no! I won't," Bald Fred, "that's evil for evil, and that is +what I am not going to do. I mean to leave that plan off." + +An opportunity soon occurred for returning good for evil Miss Barton had +a donkey, and this donkey, whose proper abode was the paddock, sometimes +broke bounds, and regaled itself on the plants in the young gentlemen's +gardens, in a manner highly provoking to those who had any taste for +flowers. If Joe White had any love for anything, it was for flowers. +Now, there is something so pure and beautiful in flowers; called by that +good philanthropist Wilberforce, the "smiles of God," that I think there +must be a little tender spot in that heart which truly loves flowers. +Joe tended his as a parent would a child. His garden was his child, and +certainly it did his culture credit. Fred liked a garden too, and these +boys' gardens were side by side. They were the admiration of the whole +family, so neatly raked, so free from stones or weeds, so gay with +flowers of the best kind. They were rival gardens, but undoubtedly +White's was in the best order. John and Fred always went home on a +Saturday, as Mr. Barton's house was not far from L----. Joe was a +boarder entirely, his home was at a distance, and to this Fred Parker +ascribed the superiority of his garden. He was able to devote the whole +of Saturday, which was a holiday, to its culture. Well, the donkey of +which I spoke, one day took a special fancy to the boys' gardens; and it +so happened, that he was beginning to apply himself to nibble the tops +of Joe's dahlias, which were just budding. Joe was that day confined to +the house with a severe cold, and little did he think as he lay in bed, +sipping Mrs. Barton's gruel and tea, of the scenes that were being +enacted in his own dear garden. Fred fortunately spied the donkey, and +though there had been lately a little emulation between them, who should +grow the finest dahlias, he at once carried out the principle of +returning good for evil, drove the donkey off, even though his course +lay over his own flower beds, and then set to work to repair the damage +done. A few minutes more, and all Joe's dahlias would have been +sacrificed. Fred saved them, raked the border neatly, tied up the +plants, and restored all to order again; and who can tell but those who +thus act, the pleasure, the comfort of Fred's heart? Why, not the first +prize at the horticultural show for the first dahlia in the country, +would have given him half the joy; and a still nobler sacrifice he +made--he did not tell of his good deeds. Now, Fred began to realise the +pleasures of forbearance and kindness indeed. + +There could not have been a better way of reaching young White's heart +than through his garden. Fred's was a fortunate commencement. He never +boasted of the act, but one of the boys told Mr. Barton, who did not +fail to remind Joe of it at a suitable time, and that time was when +White presented his master with a splendid bouquet of dahlias for his +supper table, when he was going to have a party of friends. The boys, +who were treated like members of the family, were invited to join that +party, and then did Mr. Barton narrate the scene of the donkey's +invasion, of which, however, the guests did not perceive the point; but +those for whom it was intended understood it all. At bed time that +night, Joe White begged his school-fellow's pardon for entangling his +kite twine, and went to bed very humble and grateful, and with a little +love and kindness dawning, which made his rest sweeter and his dreams +happier. Thus Fred began his lessons of love; it was thus he endeavoured +to make Joe lovable, and congratulated himself on his first successful +attempt. He did not speak in the very words of the Poet, but his +sentiments were the same, as he talked to John of his victory. + + "There is a golden chord of sympathy, + Fix'd in the harp of every human soul, + Which by the breath of kindness when 'tis swept, + Wakes angel-melodies in savage hearts; + Inflicts sore chastisements for treasured wrongs, + And melts away the ice of hate to streams of love; + Nor aught but _kindness_ can that fine chord touch." + +Joe Murray was quite right in telling Edith that a little of the leaven +of kindness and love went a great way in a family. No man can live to +himself, that is to say, no man's acts can affect himself only. Had Fred +set an example of revenge and retaliation, other boys would have no +doubt acted in like manner on the first occasion of irritation. Now they +all helped to reform Joe White, and did not return evil for evil, as +had been their custom. Fred was the oldest but one of the little +community, and had always been looked up to as a clever boy, up to all +kinds of spore and diversion. He was the leader of their plays and +amusements, and but for the occasional outbreaks of his violent temper +would have been a great favourite. As it was, the boys liked him, and +his master was undoubtedly very fond of Fred Parker. He was an honest +truthful boy though impetuous and headstrong. + +Permission was given the lads, who as we have said were six in number, +to walk out one fine September afternoon without the guardianship of +their master. They were to gather blackberries, highly esteemed by Mrs. +Barton for preserves, and it was the great delight of the boys to supply +her every year with this fruit. Blackberrying is a very amusing thing to +country children. It is less so perhaps in its consequences to the +nurse, or sempstress, who has to repair the terrible rents which +merciless brambles make, but of that children, boys especially, think +little or nothing. On they went, each provided with a basket and a long +crome stick, for the purpose of drawing distant clusters over ditches +or from some height within the reach of the gatherer. At first they +jumped and ran and sang in all the merriment of independence. The very +consciousness of life, health, and freedom was sufficient enjoyment, and +there was no end to their fun and their frolics until they came to the +spot where the blackberries grew in the greatest abundance. Then they +began to gather and eat and fill their baskets in good earnest. The most +energetic amongst them was Fred, and he had opportunities enough this +afternoon for practising kindness and self-denial, for White was in one +of his bad moods, and pushed before Fred whenever he saw a fine and +easily to be obtained cluster of fruit; and once, (Fred thought +purposely,) upset his basket, which stood upon the pathway, all in the +dust. Still Fred bore all this very well, and set about the gathering +with renewed ardour, though one or two of the party called out, "Give it +him, Parker; toss his out and see how he likes it." No, Fred had begun +to taste the sweet fruits of kindness, he would not turn aside to pluck +the bitter fruits of revenge and passion. So he gave no heed to the +matter, only leaving the coast clear for White whenever he could, and +helping a little boy whom White had pushed aside to fill his basket. + +Without any particular adventures, and with only the usual number of +scratches and falls, and only the common depth of dye in lips and +fingers, the boys sat down to rest beneath the shade of some fine trees, +which skirted a beautiful wood. + +"I say," said John Parker, "let us turn in here, we shall find shade +enough, and I had rather sit on the grass and moss than on this bank. +Come along, we have only to climb the hedge." + +"But that would be trespassing," said one conscientious boy, who went by +the name of Simon Pure, because he never would join in any sport he +thought wrong, and used to recall the master's prohibitions rather +oftener to his forgetful companions than they liked. + +"Trespassing! a fig for trespassing," said John Parker, clearing away +all impediments, and bestriding the narrow ditch, planted a foot firmly +on the opposite bank. + +"You may get something not so sweet as a fig for trespassing, John, +though," said his brother Fred, who came up at this moment. + +"Man-traps and spring-guns are fictions my lad," said Philip Harcourt, a +boy of much the same turn as John, not easily persuaded any way; "Now +for it, over Parker; be quick, man," and over he jumped. + +Then followed Harcourt, White, and another little boy, whose name was +Arthur, leaving Fred and Simon Pure in the middle of the road. The wood +was, undoubtedly, a very delightful place, and more than one fine +pheasant rustled amongst the underwood, and the squirrels leaped from +bough to bough, whilst the music of the birds was charming. Fred, +himself, was tempted as he peeped over the gap, and stood irresolute. +The plantation was far enough from the residence of the owner, nor was +it likely that they could do much mischief beyond frightening the game, +and as it was not sitting time, Fred himself argued it could do no harm, +but little Riches, the boy called Pure, who was a great admirer of Fred, +especially since the affair of the Dahlias, begged him not to go; "Mr. +Barton, you know, has such a great dislike to our trespassing," said +Riches, "and if we stay here resolutely they will be sure to come back." + +"Don't preach to me," was the rather unexpected reply, for Fred was not +_perfect_ yet, though he had gained a victory or two over his temper of +late. + +"I didn't mean to preach, but I do wish the boys would come home, it is +growing late; and with our heavy baskets we shall only just get in in +time." + +"Halloo!" shouted Fred, getting on the bank. "Come back, won't you, or +we shall be too late; come, John, you are the eldest, come along." But +his call was drowned in the sound of their voices, which were echoing +through the weeds, much to the annoyance, no doubt, of the stately +pheasants who were not accustomed to human sounds like these. They were +not at any great distance, and Fred could just distinguish parts of +their conversation. + +John and Harcourt were urging White, a delicate boy, and no climber, to +mount a high tree in the wood, to enjoy they said the glorious sea-view; +but in reality to make themselves merry at his expense, being certain +that if he managed to scramble up he would have some difficulty in +getting down, and would get a terrible fright at least. White stood at +the bottom of the tree, looking at his companions as they rode on one of +the higher branches of a fine spruce fir. + +"Don't venture! White," shouted Fred as loudly as he could shout, "don't +attempt it! They only want to make game of you, and you'll never get +down if you manage to get up. Take my advice now, don't try." + +"Mind your own business," and a large sod of earth was the reply. The +sod struck the boy on the face, and his nose bled profusely. + +"There," said young Riches, "what a cowardly trick! Oh! I think White +the meanest spirited boy I ever saw. He wouldn't have flung that sod at +you if you had been within arm's length of him; well, I do dislike that +White." + +"I'll give it to him," said Fred, as he vaulted over the fence, but +immediately words, which Emilie had once repeated to him when they were +talking about offensive and defensive warfare, came into his mind, and +he stopped short. Those words were:--"If any man smite thee on thy +right cheek turn to him the other also," and Fred was in the road again. + +"Well," said Riches, "we have done and said all we can, let us be going +home, their disobeying orders is no excuse for us, so come along +Parker--won't you? They have a watch, and their blackberries won't run +away, I suppose." + +"Can't we manage between us, though, to carry some of them?" said Fred. +"This large basket is not nearly full, let us empty one of them into it. +There, now we have only left them two. I've got White's load. I've half +a mind to set it down, but no I won't though. You will carry John's, +Won't you, that's lighter, and between them they may carry the other." + +They went on a few steps when they both turned to listen. "I thought," +said Fred, "I heard my name called. It could only be fancy, though. Yet, +hush! There it is! quite plain," and so it was. + +John called to him loudly to stop, and at that moment such a scream was +heard echoing through the woods, as sent the wood pigeons flying +terrified about, and started the hares from their hiding places. "Stop, +oh stop, Fred, White can't get down," said John, breathless, "and I +believe he will fall, if he hasn't already, he says he is giddy. Pray +come back and see if you can't help him, you are such a famous climber." + +Fred could not refuse, and in less than five minutes he was on the spot, +but it was too late. The branch had given way, and the boy lay at the +foot of the tree senseless, to all appearance dead. There was no blood, +no outward sign of injury, but--his face! Fred did not forget for many +years afterwards, its dreadful, terrified, ghastly expression. What was +to be done? They were so horror-struck that for a few minutes they stood +in perfect silence, so powerfully were they convinced that the lad had +ceased to breathe, that they remained solemn and still as in the +presence of death. + +To all minds death has great solemnities; to the young, when it strikes +one of their own age and number, especially. "Come," said Fred, turning +to Riches, "come, we must not leave him here to die, poor fellow. Take +off his neck-handkerchief, Harcourt, and run you, Riches, to the stream +close by, where we first sat down, and get some water. Get it in your +cap, man, you have nothing else to put it in. Quick! quick!" + +"Joe! Joe!" said John, "only speak, only look, Joe, if you can, we are +so frightened."--No answer. + +"Joe!" said Fred, and he tried to raise him. No assistance and no +resistance; Joe fell back passive on the arm of his friend, yes, +friend--they were no longer enemies you know. Had Fred returned evil for +evil, had he rushed on him as he first intended when he received the sod +from White, he would not have felt as he now did. The boys, who, out of +mischief, to use the mildest word, tempted him to climb to a height, +beyond that which even they themselves could have accomplished, were not +to be envied in _their_ feelings. Poor fellows, and yet they only did +what many a reckless, mischievous school boy has done and is doing every +day; they only meant to tease him a bit, to pay him off for being so +spiteful all the way, and so cross to Fred when he spoke. But it was no +use trying to still the voice which spoke loudly within them, which told +them that they had acted with heartless cruelty, and that their conduct +had, perhaps, cost a fellow-creature his life. + +"Will you wait with him whilst I run to L---- for papa?" said Fred. + +"What alone?" they cried. + +"Alone! why there are four of you, will be at least when Riches comes +back." + +"Oh no! no! do you stay Fred, you are the only one that knows what you +are after." + +"Well, which of you will go then? It is near two miles, and you must +run, for his _life_--mind that." No one stirred, and Riches at this +moment coming up with the water, Fred told him in few words what he +meant to do, and bade him go and stand by the poor lad. That was all +that could be done, and "Riches don't be hard on them; their consciences +are telling them all you could tell them. Don't lecture them, I mean; +you would not like it yourself." + +Off ran Fred, and to his great joy, spying a cart, with one of farmer +Crosse's men in it, he hailed it, told his tale, and thus they were at +L---- in a very short space of time. Terrified indeed was Mrs. Parker at +the sight of her son driving furiously up in farmer Crosse's +spring-cart, and his black eye and swelled face did not tend to pacify +her on nearer inspection. The father, a little more used to be called +out in a hurry, and to prepare for emergencies, was not so alarmed, but +had self-possession enough to remember what would be needed, and to +collect various articles for the patient's use. + +The journey to the wood was speedily accomplished, but the poor lads who +were keeping watch, often said afterwards that it seemed to them almost +a lifetime, such was the crowd of fearful and wretched thoughts and +forebodings, such the anxiety, and hopelessness of their situation. +There in the silence of the wood lay their young companion, stretched +lifeless, and they were the cause. The least rustle amongst the leaves +they mistook for a movement of the sufferer; but he moved not. How did +they watch Mr. Parker's face as he knelt down and applied his fingers to +the boy's wrist first, and then to his heart! With what intense anxiety +did they watch the preparations for applying remedies and restoratives! +"Was he, was he dead, _quite_ dead?" they asked. No, not dead, but the +doctor shook his head seriously, and their exclamations of joy and +relief were soon checked. + +Not to follow them through the process of restoring animation, we will +say that he was carefully removed to Mr. Barton's house, and tenderly +watched by his kind wife. He had been stunned by the fall, but this was +not the extent of the mischief. It was found upon examination that the +spine had received irreparable injury, and that if poor White lived, +which was doubtful, it would be as a helpless cripple. Who can tell the +reflections of those boys? Who can estimate the misery of hearts which +had thus returned evil for evil? It was a sore lesson, but one which of +itself could yield no good fruit. + +It was a great grief to Fred that his presence, in the excitable state +of the sufferer, seemed to do him harm. He would have liked to sit by +him, and share in the duties of his nursing, but whenever Fred +approached, White became restless and uneasy, and continually alluded, +even in his delirium, to the sod he had thrown, and to other points of +his ungrateful malicious conduct to his school-fellow. This feeling, +however, in time wore away, and many an hour did Fred take from play to +go and sit by poor Joe's couch. + +He had no mother to come and watch beside that couch, no kind gentle +sister, no loving father. He was an orphan, taken care of by an uncle +and aunt, who had no experience in training children, and were +accustomed to view young persons in the light of evils, which it was +unfortunately necessary to _bear_ until the _fault_ of youth should have +passed away. Will you not then cease to wonder that Joe seemed to have +so little heart? Affection needs to be cultivated; his uncle thought +that in sending him to school and giving him a good education, he was +doing his duty by the boy. His aunt considered that if in the holidays +she let him rove about as he pleased, saw to the repairs of his clothes, +sent him back fitted out comfortably, with a little pocket money and a +little _advice_, she had done _her_ duty by the child. But poor Joe! No +kind mother ever stole to his bedside to whisper warnings and gentle +reproof if the conduct of the day had been wrong; no knee ever bent to +ask for grace and blessing on that orphan boy; no sympathy was ever +expressed in one of his joys or griefs; no voice encouraged him in +self-denial; no heart rejoiced in his little victories over temper and +pride. Now, instead of blaming and disliking, will you not pity and love +the unlovable and neglected lad? + +He had not been long under Mr. Barton's care, and after all, what could +a schoolmaster do in twelve months, to remedy the evils which had been +growing up for twelve years? He did his best, but the result was very +little, and perhaps the most useful lesson Joe ever had was that which +Fred gave him about the Dahlias. + + + + +CHAPTER TENTH. + +EDITH'S VISIT TO JOE. + + +Fred and Edith were sitting in the Canary room one Saturday afternoon, +shortly after the event recorded in the last chapter; Edith listening +with an earnest interest to the oft-repeated tale of the fall in the +wood. + +"How glad you must have felt, Fred, when you thought he was dead, that +you had not returned his unkindness." + +"Glad! Edith, I cannot tell you how glad; but glad is'nt the word, +either. On my knees that night, and often since, I have thanked God who +helped me to check the temper that arose. Those words out of the Bible +did it: 'If any man smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other +also.' Emilie told me that text one day, and I said I did'nt think I +could ever do that, but I was helped somehow; but come, Edith, let us +go and see Emilie Schomberg, I have'nt seen her since all this happened, +though you have. How beautifully you keep my cages Edith! I think you +are very clever; the birds get on better than they did with me. Is there +any one you would like to give a bird to, dear? For I am sure you ought +to share the pleasures, you have plenty of the trouble of my canaries." + +"Oh, I have pleasure enough, and their songs always seem like rejoicings +over our reconciliation that day ever so long ago; you remember, don't +you, Fred? but I should like a bird _very_ much to give to Miss +Schomberg; she seems low-spirited, and says she is often very lonely. A +bird would be nice company for her, shall we take her one?" + +"It would be rather a troublesome gift without a cage, Edith, but I have +money enough, I think, and I will buy a cage, and then she shall have +her bird." + +"We will hang it up to greet her on Sunday morning, shall we?" Thus the +brother and sister set out, and it was a beautiful sight to their +mother, who dearly loved them, to see the two who once were so +quarrelsome and disunited now walking together in _love_. + +Emilie was not at home, and they stood uncertain which way to walk, +when Fred said, "Edith, I want some one to teach poor Joe love; will you +go with me and see him? You taught me to love you, and I think Joe would +be happier if he could see some one he could take a fancy to. Papa said +he might see one at a time now, and poor fellow, I do pity him so. Will +you go? It is a fine fresh afternoon, let us go to Mr. Barton's." + +The October sky was clear and the air bracing, and side by side walked +Fred and Edith on their errand of mercy to poor neglected Joe, their +young hearts a little saddened by the remembrance of his sufferings, "Is +not his aunt coming?" asked Edith. + +"No! actually she is not," replied Fred. "She says in her letter she +could not stand the fatigue of the journey, and that her physicians +order her to try the waters of Bath and Cheltenham. Unfeeling creature!" + +Thus they chatted till they arrived at Mr. Barton's house. Mrs. Barton +received them very kindly. "Oh, Miss Parker, she said, my heart aches +for that poor lad upstairs, and yet with all this trial, and the +wonderful providential escape he has had, would you believe it? his +heart seems very little affected. He is not softened that I can see. I +told him to day how thankful he ought to be that God did not cut him off +in all his sins, and he answered that they who tempted him into danger +would have the most to answer for." + +Ah, Mrs. Barton, it is not the way to people's hearts usually to find +fault and upbraid them. There was much truth in what you said to Joe, +but truth sometimes irritates by the way and time in which it is spoken, +and it seems in this case that the _kind_ of truth you told did not +exactly suit the state of the boy's mind. Edith did not say this of +course to the good lady, whose intentions were excellent, but who was +rather too much disposed to be severe on young persona, and certainly +Joe had tried her in many ways. + +"I will go and see whether Joe would like to see Edith may I, madam, +asked Fred?" Permission was given. + +"My sister is here, Joe, you have often heard me mention her, would you +like to see her?" + +"Oh, I don't know, my back is so bad. Oh dear me, and your father tells +me I am to lie flat in this way, months. What am I to do all through +the Christmas holidays too? Oh! dear, dear me. Well, yes, she may come +up." + +With this not very gracious invitation little Edith stepped upstairs, +and being of a very tender nature, no sooner did she see poor Joe's +suffering state than she began to cry. They were tears of such genuine +sympathy, such exquisite tenderness, that they touched Joe. He did not +withdraw the hand she held, and felt even sorry when she herself took +hers away. "How sorry I am for you!" said Edith, when she could speak, +"but may I come and read to you sometimes, and wait upon you when there +is no one else? I think I could amuse you a little, and it might pass +the time away. I only mean when you have no one better, you know." + +Joe's permission was not very cordial, he was so afraid of girls' +_flummery_, as he called it "She plays backgammon and chess, Joe, and I +can promise you she reads beautifully." + +"Well, I will come on Monday," said Edith, gaily, "and send me away if +you don't want me; but dear me, do you like this light on your eyes? +I'll ask mamma for a piece of green baize to pin up. Good bye." + +As she was going out of the room Joe called her back. "I have such a +favour to ask of you, Miss Parker. Don't bring that preaching German +lady here of whom I have heard Fred speak; I don't mind you, but I +cannot bear so much preaching. Mrs. Barton and her together would craze +me." Edith promised, but she felt disappointed. She had hoped that +Emilie might have gained an entrance, and she knew that Emilie would +have found out the way to his heart, if she could once have got into his +presence; but she concealed her disappointment having made the required +promise, and ran after her brother. + +"I don't like going where I am so plainly not wanted, Fred," said she on +their way home, "Oh, what a sad thing poor White's temper is for himself +and every one about him." + +"Yes Edith, but _we_ are not always sweet-tempered, and you must +remember that poor White has no mother and no father, no one in short to +love." Edith found at first that it required more judgment than she +possessed to make her visit to Joe White either pleasant or useful. +Illness had increased his irritability, and so far from submitting +patiently to the confinement and restriction imposed, he was quite +fuming with impatience to be allowed to sit up and amuse himself at +least. + +How ingenious is affection in contriving alleviations! Here Joe sadly +wanted some one whose wits were quickened by love. Mrs. Barton nursed +him admirably; he was kept very neat and nice, and his room always had a +clean tidy appearance; but it lacked the little tokens of love which +oft-times turn the sick chamber into a kind of paradise. No flowers, no +little contrivances for amusement, no delicate article of food to tempt +his sickly appetite. Poor Joe! Edith soon saw this, and yet it needs +experience in illness to adapt one's self to sick nursing. Besides she +was afraid, she did not like to offer books and flowers, and these +visits were quite dreaded by her. + +"Will you not go and see Joe, Emilie?" asked Edith, one day of her +friend, as she was recounting the difficulties in her way. "You get at +people's hearts much better than ever I could do." + +"My dear child," said Emilie, "did not Joe say that he begged you never +would bring the preaching German to see him? oh no, dear, I cannot +force my company on him. Besides you have not tried long enough, +kindness does not work miracles; try a little longer Edith, and be +patient with Joe as God is with us. How often we turn away from Him when +He offers to be reconciled to us. Think of that, dear." + +"Fred is very patient and persevering; I often wonder, Miss Schomberg, +that John, who really did cause the accident, seems to think less about +Joe than Fred, who had not any thing to do with it." + +"It is not at all astonishing, Edith. It requires that our actions +should be brought to the light of God's Word to see them in their true +condition. An impenitent murderer thinks less of his crime than a true +penitent, who has been moral all his life, thinks of his great sin of +ingratitude and ungodliness." + + + + +CHAPTER ELEVENTH. + +JOE'S CHRISTMAS. + + +Christmas was at hand; Christmas with its holidays, its greetings, its +festive meetings, its gifts, its bells, and its rejoicings. That season +when mothers prepare for the return of their children from school, and +are wont to listen amidst storms of wind and snow for the carriage +wheels; when little brothers and sisters strain their eyes to catch the +first glimpse of the dear ones' approach along the snowy track; when the +fire blazes within, and lamps are lit up to welcome them home; and hope +and expectation and glad heart beatings are the lot of so many--of many, +not of all. Christmas was come, but it brought no hope, no gladness, no +mirth to poor White, either present or in prospect. The music and the +bells of Christmas, the skating, the pony riding, the racing, the brisk +walk, the home endearments were not for Joe--poor Joe. No mother longed +for his return, no brother or little sister pressed to the hall door to +get the first look or the first word; no father welcomed Joe back to the +hearth-warmth of home sweet home. Poor orphan boy! + +Joe's uncle and aunt wrote him a kind letter, quite agreed in Mr. +Parker's opinion that a journey into Lincolnshire was, in the state of +his back and general health, out of the question, were fully satisfied +that he was under the best care, both medical and magisterial, (they had +never seen either doctor or master, and had only known of Mr. Barton +through an advertisement,) and sent him a handsome present of pocket +money, with the information that they were going to the South of France +for the winter. Joe bore the news of their departure very coolly, and +carelessly pocketed the money, knowing as he did that he had a handsome +property in his uncle's hands, and no one would have supposed from any +exhibition of feeling that he manifested, that he had any feeling or any +care about the matter. Once, indeed, when a fly came to the door to +convey Harcourt to the railway, and he saw from the window of his room +the happy school-boy jumping with glee into the vehicle, and heard him +say to Mr. Barton, "Oh yes, Sir, I shall be met!" he turned to Fred who +sate by him and said, "No one is expecting _me_, no one in the whole +world is thinking of me now, Parker." + +Fred told his mother of this speech, a speech so full of bitter truth +that it made Mrs. Parker, kind creature as she was, shed tears, and she +asked her husband if young White could not be removed to pass the +Christmas holidays with them. The distance was not great, and they could +borrow Mr. Darford's carriage, and perhaps it might do him good. Mr. +Parker agreed, and the removal was effected. + +For some days it seemed doubtful whether the change would be either for +poor White's mental happiness or bodily improvement. The exertion, and +the motion and excitement together, wrought powerfully on his nervous +frame, and he was more distressed, and irritable than ever. He could not +sleep, he ate scarcely any thing, he rarely spoke, and more than once +Mrs. Parker regretted that the proposal had been made. In vain Edith +brought him plants from the little greenhouse, fine camellias, pots of +snow-drops, and lovely anemones. They seemed rather to awaken painful +than pleasing remembrances and associations, and once even when he had +lain long looking at a white camellia he burst into tears. It is a great +trial of temper, a great test of the sincerity of our purpose, when the +means we use to please and gratify seem to have just the contrary +effect. In the sick room especially, where kind acts, and gentle words, +and patient forbearance are so constantly demanded, it is difficult to +refrain from expressions of disappointment when all our endeavours fail; +when those we wish to please and comfort, obstinately refuse to be +pleased and comforted. Often did Fred and Edith hold counsel as to what +would give Joe pleasure, but he was as reserved and gloomy as ever, and +his heart seemed inaccessible to kindness and affection. Besides, there +were continual subjects of annoyance which they could scarcely prevent, +with all the forethought and care in the world. + +The boys were very thoughtful, for boys; Mrs. Parker had it is true +warned them not to talk of their out-of-door pleasures and amusements +to or before Joe, and they were generally careful; but sometimes they +would, in the gladness of their young hearts, break out into praises of +the fine walk they had just had on the cliff, or the glorious skating on +the pond, of the beauty of the pony, and of undiscovered walks and rides +in the neighbourhood. Once, in particular, Emilie, who was spending the +afternoon with the Parkers, was struck with the expression of agony that +arose to Joe's face from a very trifling circumstance. They were all +talking with some young companion of what they would be when they grew +up, and one of them appealing to Joe, he quickly said, "oh, a sailor--I +care for nobody at home and nobody cares for me, so I shall go to sea." + +"To sea!" the boy repeated in wonder. + +"And why not?" said Joe, petulantly, "where's the great wonder of that?" + +There was a silence all through the little party; no one seemed willing +to remind the poor lad of that which he, for a moment, seemed to +forget--his helpless crippled state. It was only Emilie who noticed his +look of hopelessness; she sat near him and heard his stifled sigh, and +oh, how her heart ached for the poor lad! + +This conversation and some remarks that the boy made, led Mr. and Mrs. +Parker seriously to think that he entertained hopes of recovery, and +they were of opinion that it would be kinder to undeceive him, than to +allow him to hope for that which could never he. Mr. Parker began to +talk to him about it one day, very kindly, after an examination of his +back, when White said, abruptly, "I don't doubt you are very skilful. +Sir, and all that, but I should like to see some other doctor. I have +money enough to pay his fee, and uncle said I was to have no expense +spared in getting me the best advice. Sir J. ---- comes here at Christmas, +I know, to see his father, and I should like to see him and consult him, +Sir, may I?" Mr. Parker of course could make no objection, and a day was +fixed for the consultation. It was a very unsatisfactory one and at once +crushed all Joe's hopes. The result was communicated to him as gently +and kindly as possible. + +Mrs. Parker was a mother, and her sympathy for poor Joe was more lasting +than that of the younger branches of the family. She went to him on the +Sunday evening following the physician's visit to tell him the whole +truth, and she often said afterwards how she dreaded the task. Joe lay +on the sofa before the dining room window, watching the blue sea sit a +distance, and thinking with all the ardour of youthful longing of the +time when his back should be well, and he should be a voyager in one of +those beautiful ships. He should have no regrets, and no friends to +regret him; then he groaned at the pain and inconvenience and privation +of his present state, and panted for restoration. Mrs. Parker entered +and eat down by him. + +"Is Sir J. C---- gone, Ma'am?" + +"Yes, he has been gone some minutes." + +"What does he say?" asked the lad earnestly. "He said very little to me, +nothing indeed, only all that fudge I am always hearing--'rest, +patience,' and so on." + +"He thinks it a very serious case, my dear; he says that the recumbent +posture is very important." + +"But for how long, Ma'am? I would lie twelve months patiently enough if +I hoped then to be allowed to walk about, and to be able to do as other +boys do." + +"Sir J. C---- thinks, Joe, that you never will recover. I am grieved to +tell you so, but it is the truth, and we think it best you should know +it. Your spine is so injured that it is impossible you should ever +recover; but you may have many enjoyments, though not able to be active +like other boys. You must keep up your spirits; it is the will of God +and you must submit." + +Poor Mrs. Parker having disburdened her mind of a great load, and +performed her dreaded task, left the room, telling her husband that the +boy bore it very well, indeed, he did not seem to feel it much. The bell +being already out for church, she called the young people to accompany +her thither, leaving one maid-servant and the errand boy at home, and +poor Joe to meditate on his newly-acquired information that he would be +a cripple for life. Edith looked in and asked softly, "shall I stay?" +but the "No" was so very decided, and so very stern that she did not +repeat the question, so they all went off together, a cheerful family +party. + +The errand boy betook himself to a chair in the kitchen, where he was +soon sound asleep, and the maid-servant to the back gate to gossip with +a sailor; so Joe was left alone with a hand-bell on the table, plenty of +books if he liked to read them, and as far as outward comforts went +with nothing to complain of. "And here I am a cripple for life," +ejaculated the poor fellow, when the sound of their voices died away and +the bell ceased; "and, oh, may that life be a short one! I wish, oh, I +wish, I were dead! who would care to hear this? no one--I wish from my +heart I were dead;" and here the boy sobbed till his poor weak frame was +convulsed with agony, and he felt as if his heart (for he had a heart) +would break. + +In his wretchedness he longed for affection, he longed for some one who +would really care for him, "but _no one_ cares for me," groaned the lad, +"no one, and I wish I might die to night." Ah, Joe, may God change you +_very_ much before he grants that wish! After he had sobbed a while, he +began to think more calmly, but his thoughts were thoughts of revenge +and hatred. "_John_ has been the cause of it all." Then he thought +again, "they may well make all this fuss over me, when their son caused +all my misery; let them do what they will they will never make it up to +me, but they only tolerate me I can see, I know I am in the way; they +don't ask me here because they care for me, not they, it's only out of +pity;" and here, rolling his head from side to side, sobbed and cried +afresh. "What would I give for some one to love me, for some one to wait +on me because they loved me! but here I am to lie all my life, a +helpless, hopeless, cripple; oh dear! oh dear! my heart _will_ break. +Those horrid bells! will they never have done?" + + * * * * * + +At the very moment when poor Joe was thinking that no one on earth cared +for him, that not a heart was the sadder for his sorrow, a kind heart +not far off was feeling very much for him. "I shall not go to church +to-night, aunt Agnes," said Emilie Schomberg, "I shall go and hear what +Sir J.C.'s opinion of poor Joe White is. I cannot get that poor fellow +out of my mind." + +"No, poor boy, it is a sad case," said aunt Agnes, "but why it should +keep you from church, my dear, I don't see. _I_ shall go." + +So they trotted off, Emilie promising to leave aunt Agnes safe at the +church door, where she met the Parkers just about to enter. "Oh Emilie," +said little Edith, "poor Joe! we have had Sir J.C.'s opinion, and it is +quite as had if not worse than papa's, there is so much disease and +such great injury done. He is all alone, Emilie, do go and sit with +him." + +"It is just what I wish to do, dear, but do you think he will let me?" + +"Yes, oh yes, try at least," said Edith, and they parted. + +When Emilie rang at the bell Joe was in the midst of his sorrow, but +thinking it might only be a summons for Mr. Parker, he did not take much +notice of it until the door opened and the preaching German lady, as he +called Emilie, entered the room. When she saw his swollen eyes and +flushed face, she wished that she had not intruded, but she went frankly +up to him, and began talking as indifferently as possible, to give him +time to recover himself, said how very cold it was, stirred the fire +into a cheerful blaze, and then relapsed into silence. The silence was +broken at times by heavy sighs, however--they were from poor Joe. Emilie +now went to the piano, and in her clear voice sang softly that beautiful +anthem, "I will arise and go to my Father." It was not the first time +that Joe had shown something like emotion at the sound of music; now it +softened and composed him. "I should like to hear that again," he said, +in a voice so unlike his own that Emilie was surprised. + +She sang it and some others that she thought he would like, and then +said, "I hope I have not tired you, but I am afraid you are in pain." + +"I am," said Joe, in his old gruff uncivil voice, "in great pain." + +"Can I do any thing for you?" asked Emilie, modestly. + +"No _nothing_, nothing can be done! I shall have to lie on my back as +long as I live, and never walk or stand or do any thing like other +boys--but I hope I shan't live long, that's all." + +Emilie did not attempt to persuade him that it would not be as bad as he +thought--that he would adapt himself to his situation, and in time grow +reconciled to it. She knew that his mind was in no state to receive such +consolation, that it rather needed full and entire sympathy, and this +she could and did most sincerely offer. "I am _very_ sorry for you," she +said quietly, "_very_ sorry," and she approached a little nearer to his +couch, and looked at him so compassionately that Joe believed her. + +"Don't you think that fellow John ought to be ashamed of himself, and I +don't believe he ever thinks of it," said Joe, recurring to his old +feeling of revenge and hatred. + +"Perhaps he thinks of it more than you imagine," said Emilie, "but don't +fancy that no one cares about you, that is the way to be very unhappy." + +"It is _true_," said Joe, sadly. + +"God cares for you," however, replied Emily softly. + +"Oh, if I could think that, it would be a comfort," Miss Schomberg, "and +I do need comfort; I do, I do indeed, groaned the boy." + +Emilie's tears fell fast. No words of sympathy however touching, no +advice however wise and good, no act however kind could have melted Joe +as the tears of that true-hearted girl. He felt confidence in their +sincerity, but that any one should feel for _him_, should shed tears for +him, was so new, so softening an idea, that he was subdued. Not another +word passed on the subject. Emilie returned to the piano, and soon had +the joy of seeing Joe in a tranquil sleep; she shaded the lamp that it +might not awake him, covered his poor cold feet with her warm tartan, +and with a soft touch lifted the thick hair from his burning forehead, +and stood looking at him with such intense interest, suck earnest +prayerful benevolence, that it might have been an angel visit to that +poor sufferer's pillow, so soothing was it in its influence. He half +opened his eyes, saw that look, felt that touch, and tears stole down +his cheeks; tears not of anger, nor discontent, but of something like +gratitude that after all _one_ person in the world cared for him. His +sleep was short, and when he awoke, he said abruptly to Emilie, "I want +to feel less angry against John," Miss Schomberg, "but I don't know how. +It was such a cruel trick, such a cowardly trick, and I cannot forgive +him." + +"I don't want to preach," said Emily, smiling, "but perhaps if you would +read a little in this book you would find help in the very difficult +duty of forgiving men their trespasses." + +"Ah, the Bible, but I find that dull reading; it always makes me low +spirited, I always associate it with lectures from uncle and Mr. Barton. +When I did wrong I was plied up with texts." + +Emilie did not know what answer to make to this speech. At last she +said, "Do you remember the account of the Saviour's crucifixion, how, +when in agony worse than yours, he said, 'Father forgive them.' May I +read it to you?" + +He did not object, and Emilie read that history which has softened many +hearts as hard as Joe's. He made but little remark as Emilie closed the +book, nor did she add to that which she had been reading by any comment, +but; bidding him a kind good night, went to meet Aunt Agnes at the +church door, and conduct her safely home. + +There is a turning point in most persons' lives, either for good or +evil. Joe White was able long afterwards to recall that miserable Sunday +evening, with its storm of agitation and revenge, and then its lull of +peace and love. He who said, "Peace, be still," to the tempestuous +ocean, spoke those words to Joe's troubled spirit, and the boy was +willing to listen and to learn. Would a long lecture on the sinfulness +and impropriety of his revengeful and hardened state have had the same +effect on Joe, as Emilie's hopeful, gentle, almost silent sympathy? We +think not. "I would try and make him lovable," so said and so acted +Emilie Schomberg, and for that effort had the orphan cause to thank her +through time and eternity. + +Joe was not of an open communicative turn, he was accustomed to keep +his feelings and thoughts very much to himself, and he therefore did not +tell either Fred or Edith of his conversation with Emilie, but when they +came to bid him good night, he spoke softly to them, and when John came +to his couch he did not offer one finger and turn away his face, as he +had been in the habit of doing, but said, "Good night," freely, almost +kindly. + +The work went on slowly but surely, still he held back forgiveness to +John, and while he did this, he could not be happy, he could not himself +feel that he was forgiven. "I do forgive him, at least I wish him no +ill, Miss Schomberg," he said in one of his conversations with Emilie. +"I don't suppose I need be very fond of him. Am I required to be that?" + +"What does the Bible say, Joe? 'If thine enemy hunger feed him, if he +thirst give him drink.' '_I_ say unto you,' Christ says, '_Love_ your +enemies.' He does not say don't hate them, he means _Love_ them. Do you +think you have more to forgive John than Jesus had to forgive those who +hung him on the cross?" + +"It seems to me, Miss Schomberg, so different that example is far above +me. I cannot be like Him you know." + +"Yet Joe there have been instances of persons who have followed his +example in their way and degree, and who have been taught by Him, and +helped by Him to forgive their fellow-creatures." + +"But it is not in human nature to do it, I know, at least is not in +mine." + +"But try and settle it in your mind, Joe, that John did not mean to +injure you, that had he had the least idea that you would fall he would +never have tempted you to climb. If you look upon it as accidental on +your part, and thoughtlessness on his, it will feel easier to forgive +him perhaps, and I am sure you may. You are quite wrong in supposing +that John does not think of it. He told Edith only yesterday that he +never could forgive himself for tempting you to climb, and that he did +not wonder at your cold and distant way to him. Poor fellow! it would +make him much happier if you would treat him as though you forgave him, +which you cannot do unless you _from your heart_ forgive him." + + + + +CHAPTER TWELFTH. + +THE CHRISTMAS TREE. + + +The conversation last recorded, between Emilie and Joe, took place a few +days before Christmas. Every one noticed that Joe was more silent and +thoughtful than usual, but he was not so morose; he received the little +attentions of his friend more gratefully, and was especially fond of +having Emilie talk to him, sing to him, or read to him. Emilie and her +aunt were spending a few days at the Parkers' house, and it seemed to +add very much to Joe's comfort. This Emilie was like a spirit of peace +pervading the whole family. She was so sure to win Edith to obey her +mamma, to stop John if he went a little too far in his jokes with his +sister, to do sundry little services for Mrs. Parker, and to make +herself such an agreeable companion to Emma, and Caroline, that they all +agreed they wished that they had her always with them. Edith confessed +to Emilie one day that she thought Emma and Caroline wonderfully +improved, and as to her mamma, how very seldom she was cross now. + +"We are very apt to think other persons in fault when we ourselves are +cross and irritable, this may have been the case here, Edith, may it +not?" + +"Well! perhaps so, but I am sure I am much happier than I was, Emilie." + +"'_Great peace_ have they that love God's law,' my dear, 'and nothing +shall offend them.' What a gospel of peace it is Edith, is it not?" + +The great work in hand, just now, was the Christmas tree. These +Christmas trees are becoming very common in our English homes, and the +idea, like many more beautiful, bright, domestic thoughts, is borrowed +from the Germans. You may be sure that Emilie and aunt Agnes were quite +up to the preparations for this Christmas tree, and so much the more +welcome were they as Christmas guests. + +"I have plenty of money," said Joe, "but I don't know, somehow, what +sort of present to make, Miss Schomberg, yet I think I might pay for +all the wax lights and ornaments, and the filagree work you talk of." + +"A capital thought," said Emilie, and she took his purse, promising to +lay out what was needful to the best advantage. Joe helped Emilie and +the Miss Parkers very efficiently as he lay "useless," he said, but they +thought otherwise, and gave him many little jobs of pasting, gumming, +etc. It was a beautiful tree, I assure you; but Joe had a great deal of +mysterious talk with Emilie, apart from the rest, which, however, we +must not divulge until Christmas eve. A little box came from London on +the morning of the day, directed to Joe. Edith was very curious to know +its contents; so was Fred, so was John; Emilie only smiled. + +"Joe, won't you unpack that box now, to gratify us all?" said Mr. +Parker, as Joe put the box on one side, nodded to Emilie, and began his +breakfast. No, Joe could not oblige him. Evening came at last, and the +Christmas tree was found to bear rich fruit. From many a little +sparkling pendant branch hung offerings for Joe; poor Joe, who thought +no one in the world cared for him. He lay on his reclining chair looking +happier and brighter than usual, but as the gifts poured into his lap, +gifts so evidently the offspring of tenderness and affection, so +numerous, and so adapted to his condition, his countenance assumed a +more serious and thoughtful cast. Every cue gave him something. There is +no recounting the useful and pretty, if not costly, articles that Joe +became possessor of. A beautiful tartan wrapper for his feet, from Mrs. +Parker; a reading desk and book from Mr. Parker; a microscope from John +and Fred; a telescope from Emilie and Edith; some beautiful knitted +socks from aunt Agnes; a pair of Edith and Fred's very best canaries. + +When his gifts were arranged on his new table, a beautifully made table, +ordered for him by Mr. Parker, and exactly adapted to his prostrate +condition, and Joe saw every one's looks directed towards him lovingly, +and finally received a lovely white camellia blossom from Edith's hand, +he turned his face aside upon the sofa pillow and buried it in his +hands. What could be the matter with him? asked Mrs. Parker, tenderly. +Had any one said any thing to wound or vex him? "Oh no! no! no!" What +was it then? was he overcome with the heat of the room? "No, oh no!" +but might he be wheeled into the dining room, he asked? Mr. Parker +consented, of course, but aunt Agnes was sure he was ill. "Take him some +salvolatile, Emilie, at once." + +"No aunt," said Emilie, "he will be better without that, he is only +overcome." + +"And is not that just the very thing I was saying, Emilie, child, give +him some camphor julep then; camphor julep is a very reviving thing +doctor! Mr. Parker, won't you give him something to revive him." + +"I think," said Emilie, who understood his emotion and guessed its +cause, "I think he will be better alone. His spirits are weak, owing to +illness, I would not disturb him." + +"Come," said Mrs. Parker, "let us look at the tree, its treasures are +not half exhausted." Wonderful to say, although Joe had given his purse +to Emilie for the adornment of the tree, there still were presents for +every one from him; and what was yet more surprising to those who knew +that Joe had not naturally much delicacy of feeling or much +consideration for others, each present was exactly the thing that each +person liked and wished for. But John was the most astonished with his +share; it was a beautiful case of mathematical instruments, such a case +as all L---- and all the county of Hampshire together could not produce; +a case which Joe had bought for himself in London, and on which he +greatly prided himself. John had seen and admired it, and Joe gave this +prized, cherished case to John--his enemy John. "It must be intended for +you Fred," said John, after a minute's consideration; "but no, here is +my name on it." + +Margaret, at this moment, brought in a little note from Joe for John, +who, when he had read it, coloured and said, "Papa, perhaps you will +read it aloud, I cannot." + +It was as follows:-- + + DEAR JOHN, + + I have been, as you must have seen, + very unhappy and very cross since my accident; I have + had my heart filled with thoughts of malice and revenge, + and to _you_. I have not felt as though I could forgive + you, and I have often told Emilie and Edith this; but + they have not known how wickedly I have felt to you, + nor how much I now need to ask your forgiveness for + thoughts which, in my helpless state, were as bad as actions. + Often, as I saw you run out in the snow to slide + or skate, I have wished (don't hate me for it) that you + might fall and break your leg or your arm, that you might + know a little of what I suffered. Thank God, all that is + passed away, and I now do not write so much to say I + forgive you, for I believe from my heart you only meant + to tease me a little, not to hurt me, but to ask you to pardon + me for thoughts far worse and more evil than your + thoughtless mischief to me. Will you all believe me, too, + when I say that I would not take my past, lonely, miserable + feelings back again, to be the healthiest, most active + boy on earth. Emilie has been a good friend to me, may + God bless her, and bless you all for your patience and + kindness to. + + JOS. WHITE. + + Pray do not ask me to come back to you to night, I + cannot indeed. I am not unhappy, but since my illness + my spirits are weak, and I can bear very little; your + kindness has been too much. + + J.W. + +The contents of the little box were now displayed. It was the only +costly present on that Christmas tree, full as it was, and rich in love. +The present was a little silver inkstand, with a dove in the centre, +bearing not an olive branch, but a little scroll in its beak, with these +words, which Emilie had suggested, and being a favourite German proverb +of hers. I will give it in her own language, in which by the bye it was +engraved. She had written the letter containing the order for the plate +to a fellow-countryman of hers, in London, and had forgotten to specify +that the motto must be in English; but never mind, she translated it for +them, and I will translate it for you. "Friede ernaehrt, unfriede +verzehrt." "In peace we bloom, in discord we consume." The inkstand was +for Mr. and Mrs. Parker, and the slip of paper said it was from their +grateful friend, Joe White. That was the secret. Emilie had kept it +well; they rather laughed at her for not translating the motto, but no +matter, she had taught them all a German phrase by the mistake. + +Where was she gone? she had slipped away from the merry party, and was +by Joe's couch. Joe's heart was very full, full with the newly-awakened +sense that he loved and that he was loved; full of earnest resolves to +become less selfish, less thankless, less irritable. He knew his lot +now, knew all that lay before him, the privations, the restrictions, the +weakness, and the sufferings. He knew that he could never hope again to +share in the many joys of boyhood and youth; that he must lay aside his +cricket ball, his hoop, his kite, in short all his active amusements, +and consign himself to the couch through the winter, spring, summer, +autumn, and winter again. He felt this very bitterly; and when all the +gifts were lavished upon him, he thought, "Oh, for my health and +strength again, and I would gladly give up _all_ these gifts, nay, I +would joyfully be a beggar." But when he was alone, in the view of all I +have written and more, he felt that he could forgive John, that in short +he must ask John to forgive him, and this conviction came not suddenly +and by chance, but as the result of honest sober consideration, of his +own sincere communings with conscience. + +Still he felt very desolate, still he could scarcely believe in Emilie's +assurance, "You may have God for your friend," and something of this he +told Miss Schomberg, when she came to sit by him for awhile. She had but +little faith in her own eloquence, we have said, and she felt now more +than ever how dangerous it would be to deceive him, so she did not lull +him into false peace, but she soothed him with the promise of Him who +loves us not because of our worthiness, but who has compassion on us out +of his free mercy. Herein is love indeed, thought poor Joe, and he +meditated long upon it, so long that his heart began to feel something +of its power, and he sank to sleep that night happier and calmer than he +had ever slept before, wondering in his last conscious moments that God +should love _him_. + +Poor Joel he had much to struggle with; for if indulgence and +over-weening affection ruin their thousands, neglect and heartlessness +ruin tens of thousands. The heart not used to exercise the affection, +becomes as it were paralyzed, and so he found it. He could not love as +he ought, he could not be grateful as he knew he ought to be, and he +found himself continually receiving acts of kindness, as matters of +course, and without suitable feeling of kindness and gratitude in +return; but the more he knew of himself the more he felt of his own +unworthiness, the more gratefully he acknowledged and appreciated the +love of others to him. The ungrateful are always proud. The humble, +those who know how undeserving they are, are always grateful. + + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEENTH. + +THE NEW HOME. + + +Let us pass by twelve months, and see how the law of kindness is working +then. Mrs. Parker is certainly happier, less troubled than she was two +years ago; Edith is a better and more dutiful child, and the sisters are +far more sociable with her than formerly. The dove of peace has taken up +its abode in the Parker family. How is it in High Street? Emilie and +aunt Agnes are not there, but Miss Webster is still going on with her +straw bonnet trade and her lodging letting, and she is really as good +tempered as we can expect of a person whose temper has been bad so very +long, and who has for so many years been accustomed to view her fellow +creatures suspiciously and unkindly. + +But Emilie is gone, and are you not curious to know where? I will tell +you; she is gone back to Germany--she and her aunt Agnes are both gone +to Frankfort to live. The fact is, that Emilie is married. She was +engaged to a young Professor of languages, at the very time when the +Christmas tree was raised last year in Mr. Parker's drawing room. He +formed one of the party, indeed, and, but that I am such a very bad hand +at describing love affairs, I might have mentioned it then; besides, +this is not a _love story_ exactly, though there is a great deal about +_love_ in it. + +Lewes Franks had come over to England with letters of recommendation +from one or two respectable English families at Frankfort, and was +anxious to return with two or three English pupils, and commence a +school in that town. His name was well known to Mr. Parker, who gladly +promised to consign his two sons, John and Fred to his care, but +recommended young Franks to get married. This Franks was not loth to do +when he saw Emilie Schomberg, and after rather a short courtship, and +quite a matter of fact one, they married and went over to Germany, +accompanied by John, Fred, and Joe White. Mr. Barton, after the sad +accident in the plantation, had so little relish for school keeping, +that he very gladly resigned his pupils to young Franks, who, if he had +little experience in tuition, was admirably qualified to train the young +by a natural gentleness and kindness of disposition, and sincere and +stedfast christian principle. + +Edith longed to accompany them, but that was not to be thought of, and +so she consoled herself by writing long letters to Emilie, which +contained plenty of L---- news. I will transcribe one for you. + +The following was dated a few months after the departure of the party, +not the first though, you may be sure. + + L----, Dec, 18-- + DEAREST EMILIE, + + I am thinking so much of you to-night + that I must write to tell you so. I wish letters + only cost one penny to Frankfort, and I would write to + you every day. I want so to know how you are spending + your Christmas at Frankfort. We shall have no Christmas + tree this year. We all agreed that it would be a melancholy + attempt at mirth now you are gone, and dear Fred + and John and poor Joe. I fancy you will have one + though, and oh, I wish I was with you to see it, but + mamma is often very poorly now, and likes me to be + with her, and I know I am in the right place, so I + won't wish to be elsewhere. Papa is very much from + home now, he has so many patients at a distance, and + sometimes he takes me long rides with him, which is + a great pleasure. One of his patients is just dead, + you will be sorry to hear who I mean--Poor old Joe + Murray! He took cold in November, going out with + his Life Boat, one very stormy night, to a ship in + distress off L---- sands, the wind and rain were very + violent, and he was too long in his wet clothes, but he + saved with his own arm two of the crew; two boys about + the age of his own poor Bob. Every one says it was a + noble act; they were just ready to sink, and the boat in + another moment would have gone off without them. His + own life was in great danger, but be said he remembered + your, or rather the Saviour's, "Golden Rule," and could + not hesitate. Think of remembering that in a November + storm in the raging sea! He plunged in and dragged + first one and then another into the boat. These boys + were brothers, and it was their first voyage. They told + Joe that they had gone to sea out of opposition to their + father, who contradicted their desires in every thing, but + that now they had had quite enough of it, and should + return; but I must not tell you all their story, or my + letter will he too long. Joe, as I told you, caught cold, + and though he was kindly nursed and Sarah waited on him + beautifully, he got worse and worse. I often went to see + him, and he was very fond of my reading in the Bible + to him; but one day last week he was taken with inflammation + of the chest, and died in a few hours. Papa says he + might have lived years, but for that cold, he was such a + healthy man. I feel very sorry he is gone. + + I can't help crying when I think of it, for I remember + he was very useful to me that May evening when we + were primrose gathering. Do you recollect that evening, + Emilie? Ah, I have much to thank you for. What a + selfish, wilful, irritable girl I was! So I am now at times, + my evil thoughts and feelings cling so close to me, and + I have no longer you, dear Emilie, to warn and to encourage + me, but I have Jesus still. He Is a good Friend + to me, a better even than you have been. + + I owe you a great deal Emilie; you taught me to love, + you showed me the sin of temper, and the beauty of peace + and love. I go and see Miss Webster sometimes, as you + wish; she is getting very much more sociable than she was, + and does not give quite such short answers. She often + speaks of you, and says you were a good friend to her; that + is a great deal for her to say, is it not? How happy you + must be to have every one love you! I am glad to + say that Fred's canaries are well, but they don't _agree_ at + all times. There is no teaching canaries to love one + another, so all I can do is to separate the fighters; but + I love those birds, I love them for Fred's sake, and I love + them for the remembrances they awaken of our first days + of peace and union. + + My love to Joe, poor Joe! Do write and tell me how + he goes on, does he walk at all? Ever dear Emilie, + + Your affectionate + + EDITH. + +There were letters to John and Fred in the same packet, and I think you +will like to hear one of Fred's to his sister, giving an account of the +Christmas festivities at Frankfort. + + DEAR EDITH, + + I am very busy to-day, but I must + give you a few lines to tell you how delighted your letters + made us. We are very happy here, but _home_ is the place + after all, and it is one of our good Master's most constant + themes. He is always talking to us about home, and + encouraging us to talk of and think of it. Emilie seems + like a sister to us, and she enters into all our feelings as + well us you could do yourself. + + Well, you will want to know something about our + Christmas doings at school. They have been glorious I + can tell you--such a Christmas tree! Such a lot of + presents in our _shoes_ on Christmas morning; such dinings + and suppings, and musical parties! You must know every + one sings here, the servants go singing about the house + like nightingales, or sweeter than nightingales to my + mind, like our dear "Kanarien Vogel." + + You ask for Joe, he is very patient, and kind and good + to us all, he and John are capital friends; and oh, Edith, + it would do your heart good to see how John devotes himself + to the poor fellow. He waits upon him like a servant, + but it is all _love_ service. Joe can scarcely bear him out + of his sight. Herr Franks was asked the other day, by + a gentleman who came to sup with us, if they were brothers. + John watches all Joe's looks, and is so careful + that nothing may be said to wound him, or to remind + him of his great affliction more than needs be. It was a + beautiful sight on New Year's Eve to see Joe's boxes + that he has carved. He has become very clever at that + work, and there was an article of his carving for every + one, but the best was for Emilie, and she _deserted_ it. + Oh, how he loves Emilie! If he is beginning to feel in + one of his old cross moods, he says that Emilie's face, or + Emilie's voice disperses it all, and well it may; Emilie + has sweetened sourer tempers than Joe White's. + + But now comes a sorrowful part of my letter. Joe is + very unwell, he has a cough, (he was never strong you + know,) and the doctor says he is very much afraid his + lungs are diseased. He certainly gets thinner and + weaker, and he said to me to-day what I must tell you. + He spoke of his longings to travel (to go to Australia was + always his fancy.) "And now, Fred," he said, "I never + think of going _there_, I am thinking of a longer journey + _still_." "A longer journey, Joe!" I said, "Well, you have + got the travelling mania on you yet, I see." He looked + so sad, that I said, "What do you mean Joe?" He + replied, "Fred, I think nothing of journeys and voyages + in this world now. I am thinking of a pilgrimage to the + land where all our wandering's will have an end. I + longed, oh Fred, you know how I longed to go to foreign + lands, but I long now as I never longed before to go to + _Heaven_." I begged him not to talk of dying, but he said + it did not make him low spirited. Emilie and he talked + of it often. Ah Edith! that boy is more fit for heaven + than any of us who a year or two ago thought him + scarcely fit to be our companion, but as Emilie said the + other day, God often causes the very afflictions that he + sends to become his choicest mercies. So it has been + with poor White, I am sure. I find I have nearly filled + my letter about Joe, but we all think a great deal of him. + Don't you remember Emilie's saying, "I would try to + make him lovable." He is lovable now, I assure you. + + I am sorry our canaries quarrel, but that is no fault of + yours. We have only two school-fellows at present, but + Herr Franks does not wish for a large school; he says he + likes to be always with us, and to be our companion, which + if there were more of us he could not so well manage. We + have one trouble, and that is in the temper of this newly + arrived German boy, but we are going to try and make + him lovable. He is a good way off it _yet_. + + I must leave John to tell you about the many things I + have forgotten, and I will write soon. We have a cat + here whom we call _Muff_, after your old pet. Her name + often reminds me of your sacrifice for me. Ah! my dear + little sister, you heaped coals of fire on my head that day. + Truly you were not overcome of evil, you overcame evil + with good. Dear love to all at home. Your ever affectionate + brother, + + FRED PARKER. + + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEENTH. + +THE LAST. + + +"Hush, dears! hush!" said a gentle voice, pointing to a shaded window. +"He is asleep now, and we must have the window open for air this sultry +evening. I would not rake that bed to-night, John, I think." + +"It is _his_ garden, Emilie." + +"Yes, I know"--and she sighed.-- + +"It _is_ his garden, and his eye always sees the least weed and the +least untidiness. He will be sure to notice it when he is drawn out +to-morrow." + +"John there may be no to-morrow for Joe, he is altered very much to-day, +and it is evident to me he is sinking fast. He won't come down again, I +think." + +"May I go and sit by him, Emilie?" said the boy, quietly gathering up +his tools and preparing to leave his employment. + +"Yes, but be very still." + +It was a striking contrast; that fine, florid, healthy boy, whose frame +was gaining vigour and manliness daily, whose blight eye had scarcely +ever been dimmed by illness or pain, and that pale, deformed, weary +sleeper. So Emilie thought as she took her seat by the open window and +watched them both. The roses and the carnations that John had brought to +his friend were quietly laid on the table as he caught the first glimpse +of the dying boy. There was that in the action which convinced Emilie +that John was aware of his friend's state and they quietly sat down to +watch him. The stars came out one by one, the dew was falling, the birds +were all hurrying home, children were asleep in their happy beds; many +glad voices mingled by open casements and social supper tables, some few +lingered out of doors to enjoy the beauties of that quiet August night, +the last on earth of one, at least, of God's creatures. They watched on. + +"I have been asleep, Emilie, a beautiful sleep, I was dreaming of my +mother; I awoke, and it was you. John, _you_ there too! Good, patient, +watchful John. Leave me a moment, quite alone with John, will you, +Emilie? Moments are a great deal to me now." + +The friends were left alone, their talk was of death and eternity, on +the solemn realities of which one of them was about to enter, and +carefully as John had shielded Joe, tenderly as he had watched over him +hitherto, he must now leave him to pass the stream alone--yet not alone. + +Emilie soon returned; it was to see him die. It was not much that he +could say, and much was not needed. The agony of breathing those last +breaths was very great. He had lived long near to God, and in the dark +valley his Saviour was still near to him. He was at peace--at peace in +the dying conflict; it was only death now with whom he had to contend. +Being justified by faith, he had peace with God through the Lord Jesus +Christ. His last words were whispered in the ear of that good elder +sister, our true-hearted, loving Emilie. "Bless you, dear Emilie, God +_will_ bless you, for 'Blessed are the peacemakers.'" + + + * * * * * + +NORWICK: PRINTED BY JOSIAH FLETCHER + +NEW WORKS AND NEW EDITIONS + +Published by Arthur Hall, Virtue & Co. + +25, PATERNOSTER ROW. + + * * * * * + +Third Edition, in post 8vo. with numerous illustrations, price 8s. bound +in cloth, or 17s. morocco antique, + +NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS: + +An Historical Sketch of Ancient Assyria and Persia, with an Account of +the recent Researches in those Countries, + +By W.S.W. VAUX, M.A., of the British Museum. + + +NOTICES OF THE PRESS, ETC. + +ANTHEAEUM.--"Mr. Vaux's work is well executed, and he gives an accurate +and interesting summary of the recent discoveries made on the banks of +the Tigris." + +WEEKLY CHRONICLE.--"Fresh from the perusal of its immense array of +facts, couched in pure phrase, and arranged in the most lucid order, we +might be accused of enthusiasm, if we say it is the ablest summary of +history and modern investigation with which we are acquainted; but, as +most of our readers who open its pages will admit, our praise is far +from being exaggerated." + +SPECTATOR.--"One of the best historical, archaeological, and +geographical compilations that has appeared." + +WEEKLY NEWS.--"We can safely recommend it to the perusal of our readers +as the most useful work which has yet appeared upon the subject it +embraces." + +STANDARD--"Mr. VAUX has done his part admirably. A book which we could +wish to see in every 'Parlour Window.'" + +BELL'S MESSENGER.--"We never met with any book which is more likely to +elucidate the historical incidents of these localities." + +ECONOMIST.--"A good and popular account of the recent discoveries, as +well as the researches in the earliest known abode of mankind, and of +the explanations they supply of many doubtful and disputed points of +ancient history." + +MORNING ADVERTISER.--"Mr. VAUX has rendered good service to the reading +public." + +GLOBE.--"The volume is profusely embellished with engravings of the +antiquities of which it treats. We would recommend its perusal to all +who desire to know whatever our countrymen have done and are doing in +the East." + +OBSERVER.--"A valuable addition to archaeological science and learning." + +GUARDIAN.--"Nothing can be better than the spirit mid temper in which +Mr. VAUX has written, and he appears to have completely accomplished his +object in the composition of the book, which will assuredly take rank +among the best and ablest compilations of the day." + +NONCONFORMIST.--"A work more instructive and entertaining could scarcely +have been produced for the objects specifically intended." + +STANDARD OF FREEDOM.--"It will amply repay an attentive perusal, and we +have no doubt that it will be very generally welcomed." + + * * * * * + +WORKS BY MARTIN F. TUPPER, ESQ. D.C.L. F.R.S. Cheap Edition, in One +Vol. cloth, price 8s. + +THE CROCK OF GOLD, AND OTHER TALES. + +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY JOHN LEECH. + +_Extracts from Recent Notice of "The Crock of Gold."_ + +"We have rarely had occasion to speak more highly of any work than of +this. The purpose of the writer is admirable, the manner of his working +out the story is natural and truthful, and the sentiments conveyed are +all that can be desired."--_Bell's Weekly Messenger._ + +"We are glad to see such tales within the reach of the people. +Mechanics' Institutes, and libraries of a popular character, should +avail themselves of this edition."--_Plymouth Herald_. + +"A tale powerfully told, and with a good moral strongly enforced."-- +_Kentish Gazette._ + +"This is one of the most original, peculiar, racy, and interesting books +we have ever read."--_Cincinnati Gazette_. + +"It is the fervour of style, the freshness of illustration, the depth of +true feeling present in every page that gives these tales a charm +peculiar to themselves."--_New York Evening Post_, Edited by W. C. +Bryant. + + * * * * * + +_Second Edition._ In fcap. 8vo. cloth, price 7s. uniform with +"Proverbial Philosophy," with Vignette and Frontispiece. + +BALLADS FOR THE TIMES, AND OTHER POEMS. + + * * * * * + +Just published, in foolscap 8vo. price 3s. cloth, + +KING ALFRED'S POEMS, + +Now first turned into English Metre, by Mr. Tupper. + + * * * * * + +Price 10s 6d. with Portfolio, + +SCENES FROM THE LIFE OF MOSES, A SERIES OF TWENTY ENGRAVINGS IN OUTLINE, +Designed by SELOUS, and Engraved by ROLLS, + +"These beautiful plates will be found a suitable companion to the much +admired Series, by the same Artist, illustrative of Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's +Progress,' which were issued by the Art-Union of London." + + * * * * * + +Second Edition, in post 8vo. cloth, price 10s. with Portraits, + +LETTERS AND POEMS, + +SELECTED FROM THE WRITINGS OF BERNARD BARTON, + +With MEMOIR, Edited by his Daughter. + + * * * * * + +Twenty-fifth Edition, fcp. 8vo. price 5s. cloth gilt; 10s. morocco +extra, + +ILLUSTRATED BY CORBOULD; + +THE OMNIPRESENCE OF THE DEITY, + +And other Poems. + +BY ROBERT MONTGOMERY, M.A. + +"He has displayed a depth of thought, which would do honour to any +writer of the present day. A glowing spirit of devotion distinguishes +the whole work. In every page we find 'thoughts that breathe and words +that burn.' 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Trice 16s. cloth gilt. + + * * * * * + +In a handsome super-royal 8vo. volume, price 16s. cloth gilt, + +THE NILE BOAT; OR, GLIMPSES OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; + +Illustrated by 35 Steel Engravings, Two Maps, and numerous Cuts. + + * * * * * + +FORTY DAYS IN THE DESERT, ON THE TRACK OF THE ISRAELITES; + +Being a Narrative of a Journey from Cairo, by Wady Feiran, to Mount +Sinai, and Petra. With Twenty-seven Engravings on Steel, from Sketches +taken on the Route, a Map, and numerous Woodcuts. Third Edition. +Super-royal 8vo. cloth gilt, 12s.; morocco gilt, 21s. + + * * * * * + +WALKS ABOUT JERUSALEM, ILLUSTRATED BY TWENTY-FOUR ENGRAVINGS ON STEEL, + +A Map, and many superior Woodcuts. Third Edition. 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CUMMING. 18mo. cloth, price 1s. 6d. + +MATTHEW POOLE'S DIALOGUE BETWEEN A POPISH PRIEST AND AN ENGLISH +PROTESTANT. + +Wherein the principal Points and Arguments of both Religions are truly +Proposed, and fully Examined. + +New Edition, with the References revised and corrected. + + * * * * * + +Second Edition, enlarged and improved, 12mo. cloth, price 2s. 6d. + +ROMANISM IN ENGLAND EXPOSED. + +A Series of Letters, exposing the Blasphemous and Soul-destroying system +advocated and taught by the Redemptorist Fathers of Clapham. 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It is a work of the utmost value."--_Ecclesiastical +Times_. + +"It is drawn up with much care, clearness, and earnestness."--_Aberdeen +Journal_. + +"The topics contained in this volume are treated with intelligence, +clearness, and eloquence."--_Dr. Vaughan's Review_. + +"As a popular compendium of Christian Evidence, we thoroughly recommend +this volume."--_Noncomformist_. + +"It bears the impress of a clear and vigorous understanding. Dr. Cumming +has done great service to the cause of Divine Revelation by the +publication of it."--_Church of England Journal_. + +7. Third Edition, fcap. 8vo. price 3_s_. cloth gilt, + +OUR FATHER; A Manual of Family Prayers for General and Special +Occasions, with short Prayers for spare minutes, and Passages for +Reflection. + +8. Uniform with the above, + +THE COMMUNION TABLE; Or, Communicant's Manual: a plain and practical +Exposition of the Lord's Supper. + +9. Just published, price 4_s_. cloth gilt, + +OCCASIONAL DISCOURSES. VOL. II. 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DAUGHTER-IN-LAW, HER FATHER AND FAMILY. 8. ELIZABETH AND HER +THREE BEGGAR BOYS. 9. GODMOTHER'S TALES. 10. GOOD GRANDMOTHER AND HER +OFFSPRING. 11. MERCHANT'S WIDOW and her YOUNG FAMILY. 12. RICH BOYS AND +POOR BOYS, and other Tales. 13. THE SISTERS; a Domestic Tale. 14. STOLEN +BOY; an Indian Tale. 15. WILLIAM AND HIS UNCLE BEN. 16. YOUNG NORTHERN +TRAVELLER. 17. YOUNG CRUSOE; or, Shipwrecked Boy. + + * * * * * + +NEW ILLUSTRATED WORKS FOR THE YOUNG. + +Uniformly printed in square 16 mo. handsomely bound in cloth, price 2s. +6d. each. + + * * * * * + +1. With Plates on Steel, Second Edition, + +HOW TO WIN LOVE; OR, RHONDA'S LESSON. BY THE AUTHOR OF "MICHAEL THE +MINER," ETC. + +"A very captivating story."--_Morning Post._ + +"Truthfulness, descriptive talent, and pure morality in every line."-- +_Literary Gazette._ + +"Just what a story for children ought to be."--_Douglas Jerrold's +Newspaper._ + +2. PIPPIE'S WARNING; OR, THE ADVENTURES OF A DANCING DOG. BY CATHERINE +CROWE, AUTHOR OF 'SUSAN HOPLEY,' ETC. + +"A capital story."--_Athenaeum._ "This is a capital child's +book."--_Scotsman._ + +3. STRATAGEMS. BY MRS. NEWTON CROSLAND, (late CAMILLA TOULMIN.) + +"A sweet tale, penned in a fair mood, and such as will make a rare gift +for a child."--_Sun_. + +4. With Four Illustrations. + +MY OLD PUPILS. The former work of this author, "MY SCHOOLBOY DAYS," has +attained great popularity, upwards of ten thousand copies having been +circulated in this country alone. + +5 Third Edition, with gilt edges, + +STORIES FROM THE GOSPELS. By MRS. HENRY LYNCH, AUTHOR OF "MAUDE +EFFINGHAM," ETC. + +6. Just published, + +PLEASANT PASTIME; Or, DRAWING-ROOM DRAMAS, for Private Representation by +the Young. + + * * * * * + +NEW TALE FOR THE YOUNG, BY SILVERPEN. + + * * * * * + +JUST PUBLISHED, In foolscap 8vo. price 7_s_. 6_d_. elegantly bound and +gilt, WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS BY HARVEY, + +THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE DAUGHTER. THE STORY OF A CHILD'S LIFE AMIDST THE +WOODS AND HILLS. + +BY ELIZA METEYARD. + +"This is a very delightful book, especially calculated for the amusement +and instruction of our young friends; and is evidently the production of +a right-thinking and accomplished mind."--_Church of England Review_. + +"An elegant, interesting, and unobjectionable present for young ladies. +The moral of the book turns on benevolence."--_Christian Times_. + +"This Story of a Child's Life is so full of beauty end meekness that we +can hardly express our sense of its worth in the words of common +praise."--_Nonconformist_. + +"This will be a choice present for the young."--_British Quarterly +Review_. + + * * * * * + +A GIFT BOOK FOR ALL SEASONS. + + * * * * * + +In square post 8vo, price 5_s_. handsomely bound and gilt, + +THE JUVENILE CALENDAR, AND ZODIAC OF FLOWERS By Mrs. T. K. Hervey + +WITH TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE MONTHS. By RICHARD DOYLE. + +"Never has the graceful pencil of Mr. Doyle been more gracefully +employed than in sketching the charming illustrations of this charming +volume."--_Sun_. + +"A very pretty as well as very interesting book."--_Observer_. + +"One need not ask for a prettier or more appropriate gift."--_Atlas_. + +"One of the most charming gift-books for the young which we have never +met with."--_Nonconformist_. + + * * * * * + +In fcp. 8vo. price 5_s_. cloth gilt, illustrated by FRANKLIN, + +COLA MONTI; OR, THE STORY OF A GENIUS. A TALE FOR BOYS. + +BY THE AUTHOR OF "HOW TO WIN LOVE," ETC. + +"We heartily command it as delightful holiday reading."--_Critic_. + +"A lively narrative of school-boy adventures." + +"A very charming and admirably written volume. It is adapted to make +boys better." + +"A simple and pleasing story of school-boy life."--_John Bull_. + + * * * * * + +In 18mo. price 1_s_. 6_d_. with Illustrations by A. COOPER, R A. + +THE VOICE OF MANY WATERS. BY MRS. DAVID OSBORNE. + + * * * * * + +NEW CHRISTMAS BOOK FOR THE YOUNG. + + * * * * * + +Just published, in fcap. 8vo. price 5_s_. handsomely bound, with gilt +edges, + +THE ILLUSTRATED YEAR BOOK. SECOND SERIES. THE WONDERS, EVENTS, AND +DISCOVERIES OF 1850. + +EDITED BY JOHN TIMBS. + +WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD. _Among the Contents of this +interesting Volume will be found_ THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. OCEAN STEAMERS. +CHURCH BUILDING. THE KOH-I-NOOR. TROPICAL STORMS. NEPAULESE EMBASSY. +SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH. PANORAMAS. OVERLAND ROUTE. COLOSSAL STATUE OF +"BAVARIA." INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION, 1851. + +"What a treasure in a country house must not such an Encyclopaedia of +amusing knowledge afford, when the series has grown to a few volumes. +Not only an Encyclopaedia of amusing and useful knowledge, but that +which will give to memory a chronological chart of our acquisition of +information. This admirable idea is well followed out in the little +volume in our hands. The notiore are all clear, full, and satisfactory, +and the engravings with which the volume is embellished are every way +worthy of the literary part of the work."--_Standard_. + +"The work is well done, and deserves notice as a striking memorial of +the chief occurrences of 1850."--_Atlas_. + +"Books such as this are, and will be, the landmarks of social, +scientific, mechanical, and moral progress; it extends to nearly four +hundred pages of well-condensed matter, illustrated with numerous +excellently engraved wood blocks."--_Advertiser_. + +"It is a stirring and instructive volume for intelligent young +people."--_Evangelical_. + +The former Volume, for 1849, still continues on Sale. + + * * * * * + +NEW GIFT BOOK FOR THE SEASON. + + * * * * * + +In 8vo. price 16s. bound in cloth, or 24s. morocco elegant, + +PILGRIMAGES TO ENGLISH SHRINES. + +BY MRS. S.C. HALL. + +WITH NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS BY F.W. FAIRHOLT, F.S.A. _Among the +interesting subjects of this Volume will be found,_ The Birth-place or +John Bunyan; the Burial-place of John Hampden; the Residence of Hannah +More; the Tomb of Sir Thomas Gresham; the Tomb of Thomas Gray; the +Birth-place of Thomas Chatterton; the Birth-place of Richard Wilson; the +House of Andrew Marvel; the Tomb of John Stow; the Heart of Sir Nicholas +Crispe; the Printing Office of William Caxton; Shaftesbury House; the +Dwelling of James Barry; the Residence of Dr. Isaac Watts; the Prison of +Lady Mary Grey; the Town of John Kyrle (the Man of Ross); the Tomb of +William Hogarth; the Studio of Thomas Gainsborough, R.A. + +NOTICES OF THE PRESS "Descriptions of such Shrines come home with deep +interest to all hearts--all English hearts--particularly when they are +done with the earnestness which distinguishes Mrs. Hall's writings. That +lady's earnestness and enthusiasm are of the right sort--felt for +freedom of thought and action, for taste, and for genius winging its +flight in a noble direction. They are displayed, oftentimes most +naturally, throughout the attractive pages of this volume."--_Observer._ + +"Mrs. Hall's talents are too well known to require our commendation of +her 'Pilgrimages,' which are every way worthy of the beautiful woodcuts +that illustrate almost every page, and this is very high praise +indeed."--_Standard._ + +"The illustrations are very effective; and the whole work externally and +internally, is worthy of the patronage of all who love to be instructed +as well as amazed."_--Church and State Gazette._ + +"The book is a pleasant one; a collection of a great deal of curious +information about a number of curious places and persons, cleverly and +readily put together, and combined into an elegant volume."--_Guardian_. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EMILIE THE PEACEMAKER*** + + +******* This file should be named 11290.txt or 11290.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/2/9/11290 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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