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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/14543-0.txt b/14543-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..29429aa --- /dev/null +++ b/14543-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,694 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14543 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 14543-h.htm or 14543-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/5/4/14543/14543-h/14543-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/5/4/14543/14543-h.zip) + + + + + +FALSE FRIENDS + +THE SAILOR'S RESOLVE + +1884 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: LADY GRANGE READING TO HER SON. _Page 19._] + + +[Illustration: A TALK ABOUT THE PICTURE. _Page 33._] + + + + +FALSE FRIENDS + + "Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward."--PROV. xxii. 5. + +[Illustration: REFLECTION. _Page 25._] + +"Philip, your conduct has distressed me exceedingly," said Lady Grange, +laying her hand on the arm of her son, as they entered together the +elegant apartment which had been fitted up as her boudoir. "You could +not but know my feelings towards those two men--I will not call them +gentlemen--whose company you have again forced upon me. You must be +aware that your father has shut the door of this house against them." + +"My father has shut the door against better men than they are," said the +youth carelessly; "witness my own uncles Henry and George." + +The lip of the lady quivered, the indignant colour rose even to her +temples; she attempted to speak, but her voice failed her, and she +turned aside to hide her emotion. + +"Well, mother, I did not mean to vex you," said Philip, who was rather +weak in purpose than hardened in evil; "it _was_ a shame to bring Jones +and Wildrake here, but--but you see I couldn't help it." And he played +uneasily with his gold-headed riding-whip, while his eye avoided meeting +that of his mother. + +"They have acquired some strange influence, some mysterious hold over +you," answered the lady. "It cannot be," she added anxiously, "that you +have broken your promise,--that they have drawn you again to the +gaming-table,--that you are involved in debt to these men?" + +Philip whistled an air and sauntered up to the window. + +Lady Grange pressed her hand over her eyes, and a sigh, a very heavy +sigh, burst from her bosom. Philip heard, and turned impatiently round. + +"There's no use in making the worst of matters," said he; "what's done +can't be helped; and my debts, such as they are, won't ruin a rich man +like my father." + +"It is not that which I fear," said the mother faintly, with a terrible +consciousness that her son,--her hope, her pride, the delight of her +heart,--had entered on a course which, if persevered in, must end in his +ruin both of body and soul. "I tremble at the thought of the misery +which you are bringing on yourself. These men are making you their +victim: they are blinding your eyes; they are throwing a net around you, +and you have not the resolution to break from the snare." + +"They are very pleasant, jovial fellows!" cried Philip, trying to hide +under an appearance of careless gaiety the real annoyance which he felt +at the words of his mother. + +"I've asked them to dine here to-day and--" + +"I shall not appear at the table," said Lady Grange, drawing herself up +with dignity; "and if your father should arrive--" + +"Oh! he won't arrive to-night; he never travels so late." + +"But, Philip," said the lady earnestly again laying her cold hand on his +arm. She was interrupted by her wayward and undutiful son. + +"Mother, there's no use in saying anything more on the subject; it only +worries you, and puts me out of temper. I can't, and I won't be uncivil +to my friends;" and turning hastily round, Philip quitted the apartment. + +"Friends!" faintly echoed Lady Grange, as she saw the door close behind +her misguided son. "Oh!" she exclaimed, throwing herself on a sofa, and +burying her face, "was there ever a mother--ever a woman so unhappy as +I am!" + +Her cup was indeed very bitter; it was one which the luxuries that +surrounded her had not the least power to sweeten. Her husband was a man +possessing many noble qualities both of head and heart; but the fatal +love of gold, like those petrifying springs which change living twigs +to dead stone, had made him hardened, quarrelsome, and worldly. It had +drawn him away from the worship of his God; for there is deep truth in +the declaration of the apostle, that the covetous man is _an idolater_. +It was this miserable love of gold which had induced Sir Gilbert to +break with the family of his wife, and separate her from those to whom +her loving heart still clung with the fondest affection. Lady Grange +yearned for a sight of her early home; but gold had raised a barrier +between her and the companions of her childhood. And what had the +possession of gold done for the man who made it his idol? It had put +snares in the path of his only son; it had made the weak-minded but +head-strong youth be entrapped by the wicked for the sake of his wealth, +as the ermine is hunted down for its rich fur. It had given to himself +heavy responsibilities, for which he would have to answer at the bar of +Heaven; for from him unto whom much has been given, much at the last day +will be required. + +Yes, Lady Grange was very miserable. And how did she endeavour +to lighten the burden of her misery? Was it by counting over her +jewels,--looking at the costly and beautiful things which adorned her +dwelling,--thinking of her carriages and horses and glittering plate, or +the number of her rich and titled friends? No; she sought comfort where +Widow Green had sought it when her child lay dangerously ill, and there +was neither a loaf on her shelf nor a penny in her purse. The rich lady +did what the poor one had done,--she fell on her knees and with tears +poured out her heart to the merciful Father of all. She told him her +sorrows, she told him her fears; she asked him for that help which she +so much required. Her case was a harder one than the widow's. A visit +from the clergyman, a present from a benevolent friend, God's blessing +on a simple remedy, had soon changed Mrs. Green's sorrow into joy. +The anguish of Lady Grange lay deeper; her faith was more sorely tried; +her fears were not for the bodies but the souls of those whom she +loved;--and where is the mortal who can give us a cure for the disease +of sin? + +While his mother was weeping and praying, Philip was revelling and +drinking. Fast were the bottles pushed round, and often were the glasses +refilled. The stately banqueting-room resounded with laughter and +merriment; and as the evening advanced, with boisterous song. It was +late before the young men quitted the table; and then, heated with wine, +they threw the window wide open, to let the freshness of the night air +cool their fevered temples. + +Beautiful looked the park in the calm moonlight. Not a breath stirred +the branches of the trees, their dark shadows lay motionless on the +green sward: perfect silence and stillness reigned around. But the holy +quietness of nature was rudely disturbed by the voices of the revellers. + +With the conversation that passed I shall not soil my pages. The window +opened into a broad stone balcony, and seating themselves upon its +parapet, the young men exchanged stories and jests. After many sallies +of so-called wit, Wildrake rallied Philip on the quantity of wine which +he had taken, and betted that he could not walk steadily from the one +end of the balcony to the other. Philip, with that insane pride which +can plume itself on being _mighty to mingle strong drink_, maintained +that his head was as clear and his faculties as perfect as though he had +tasted nothing but water; and declared that he could walk round the edge +of the parapet with as steady a step as he would tread the gravel-path +in the morning! + +Wildrake laughed, and dared him to do it: Jones betted ten to one that +he could not. + +"Done!" cried Philip, and sprang up on the parapet in a moment. + +"Come down again!" called out Wildrake, who had enough of sense left to +perceive the folly and danger of the wager. + +Philip did not appear to hear him. Attempting to balance himself by his +arms, with a slow and unsteady step he began to make his way along the +lofty and narrow edge. + +The two young men held their breath. To one who with unsteady feet walks +the slippery margin of temptation, the higher his position, the greater +his danger; the loftier his elevation, the more perilous a fall! + +"He will never get to the end!" said Jones, watching with some anxiety +the movements of his companion. + +The words had scarcely escaped his lips when they received a startling +fulfilment. Philip had not proceeded half way along the parapet when a +slight sound in the garden below him attracted his attention. He glanced +down for a moment; and there, in the cold, clear moonlight, gazing +sternly upon him, he beheld his father! The sudden start of surprise +which he gave threw the youth off his balance,--he staggered back, lost +his footing, stretched out his hands wildly to save himself, and fell +with a loud cry to the ground! + +All was now confusion and terror. There were the rushing of footsteps +hither and thither, voices calling, bells loudly ringing, and, above +all, the voice of a mother's anguish, piercing to the soul! Jones and +Wildrake hurried off to the stables, saddled their horses themselves, +and dashed off at full speed to summon a surgeon, glad of any excuse +to make their escape from the place. + +The unfortunate Philip was raised from the ground, and carried into the +house. His groans showed the severity of his sufferings. The slightest +motion was to him torture, and an hour of intense suspense ensued before +the arrival of the surgeon. Lady Grange made a painful effort to be +calm. She thought of everything, did all that she could do for the +relief of her son, and even strove to speak words of comfort and hope +to her husband, who appeared almost stupified by his sorrow. Prayer was +still her support--prayer, silent, but almost unceasing. + +The surgeon arrived,--the injuries received by the sufferer were +examined, though it was long before Philip, unaccustomed to pain and +incapable of self-control, would permit necessary measures to be taken. +His resistance greatly added to his sufferings. He had sustained a +compound fracture of his leg, besides numerous bruises and contusions. +The broken bone had to be set, and the pale mother stood by, longing, in +the fervour of her unselfish love, that she could endure the agony in +the place of her son. The pampered child of luxury shrank sensitively +from pain, and the thought that he had brought all his misery upon +himself by his folly and disobedience rendered it yet more intolerable. +When the surgeon had at length done his work, Lady Grange retired with +him to another apartment, and, struggling to command her choking voice, +asked him the question on the reply to which all her earthly happiness +seemed to hang,--whether he had hope that the life of her boy might be +spared. + +"I have every hope", said the surgeon, cheerfully, "if we can keep down +the fever." Then, for the first time since she had seen her son lie +bleeding before her, the mother found the relief of tears. + +Through the long night she quitted not the sufferer's pillow, bathing +his fevered brow, relieving his thirst, whispering comfort to his +troubled spirit. Soon after daybreak Philip sank into a quiet, +refreshing sleep; and Lady Grange, feeling as if a mountain's weight had +been lifted from her heart, hurried to carry the good news to her husband. + +She found him in the spacious saloon, pacing restlessly to and fro. His +brow was knit, his lips compressed; his disordered dress and haggard +countenance showed that he, too, had watched the live-long night. + +"He sleeps at last, Gilbert, thank God!" Her face brightened as she +spoke; but there was no corresponding look of joy on that of her husband. + +"Gilbert, the doctor assures me that there is every prospect of our +dear boy's restoration!" + +"And to what is he to be restored?" said the father gloomily; "to +poverty--misery--ruin!" + +Lady Grange stood mute with surprise scarcely believing the evidence of +her senses almost deeming that the words must have been uttered in a +dream. But it was no dream, but one of those strange, stern realities +which we meet with in life. Her husband indeed stood before her a ruined +man! A commercial crash, like those which have so often reduced the rich +to poverty, coming almost as suddenly as the earthquake which shakes the +natural world, had overthrown all his fortune! The riches in which he +had trusted had taken to themselves wings and flown away. + +Here was another startling shock, but Lady Grange felt it far less than +the first. It seemed to her that if her son were only spared to her, she +could bear cheerfully any other trial. When riches had increased, she +had not set her heart upon them; she had endeavoured to spend them as a +good steward of God and to lay up treasure in that blessed place where +there is no danger of its ever being lost. Sir Gilbert was far more +crushed than his wife was by this misfortune. He saw his idol broken +before his eyes, and where was he to turn for comfort? Everything upon +which his eye rested was a source of pain to him; for must he not part +with all, leave all in which his heart had delighted, all in which his +soul had taken pride? He forgot that poverty was only forestalling by a +few years the inevitable work of death! + +The day passed wearily away. Philip suffered much pain, was weak and +low, and bitterly conscious how well he had earned the misery which he +was called on to endure. It was a mercy that he was experiencing, before +it was too late, that _thorns and snares are in the way of the froward_. +He liked his mother to read the Bible to him, just a few verses at a +time, as he had strength to bear it; and in this occupation she herself +found the comfort which she needed. Sir Gilbert, full of his own +troubles, scarcely ever entered the apartment of his son. + +Towards evening a servant came softly into the sick-room, bringing +a sealed letter for her lady. There was no post-mark upon it, and +the girl informed her mistress that the gentleman who had brought +it was waiting in the garden for a reply. The first glance at the +hand-writing, at the well-known seal, brought colour to the cheek of +the lady. But it was a hand-writing which she had been forbidden to +read; it was a seal which she must not break! She motioned to the maid +to take her place beside the invalid who happened at that moment to be +sleeping and with a quick step and a throbbing heart she hurried away +to find her husband. + +He was in his study, his arms resting on his open desk, and his head +bowed down upon them. Bills and papers, scattered in profusion on the +table, showed what had been the nature of the occupation which he had +not had the courage to finish. He started from his posture of despair +as his wife laid a gentle touch on his shoulder; and, without uttering +a word, she placed the unopened letter in his hand. + +My reader shall have the privilege of looking over Sir Gilbert's +shoulder, and perusing the contents of that letter:-- + + "Dearest Sister,--We have heard of your trials, and warmly + sympathize in your sorrow. Let Sir Gilbert know that we have placed + at his banker's, after having settled it upon you, double the sum + which caused our unhappy differences. Let the past be forgotten; + let us again meet as those should meet who have gathered together + round the same hearth, mourned over the same grave, and shared joys + and sorrows together, as it is our anxious desire to do now. I + shall be my own messenger, and shall wait in person to receive your + reply.--Your ever attached brother, + + "HENRY LATOUR." + +A few minutes more and Lady Grange was in the arms of her brother; while +Sir Gilbert was silently grasping the hand of one whom, but for +misfortune, he would never have known as a friend. + +All the neighbourhood pitied the gentle lady, the benefactress of the +poor, when she dismissed her servants, sold her jewels, and quitted +her beautiful home to seek a humbler shelter. Amongst the hundreds who +crowded to the public auction of the magnificent furniture and plate, +which had been the admiration of all who had seen them, many thought +with compassion of the late owners, reduced to such sudden poverty, +though the generosity of the lady's family had saved them from want +or dependence. + +And yet truly, never since her marriage had Lady Grange been less an +object of compassion. + +Her son was slowly but surely recovering, and his preservation from +meeting sudden death unprepared was to her a source of unutterable +thankfulness. Her own family appeared to regard her with even more +tender affection than if no coldness had ever arisen between them; and +their love was to her beyond price. Even Sir Gilbert's harsh, worldly +character, was somewhat softened by trials, and by the unmerited +kindness which he met with from those whom, in his prosperity, he +had slighted and shunned. Lady Grange felt that her prayers had been +answered indeed, though in a way very different from what she had hoped +or expected. The chain by which her son had been gradually drawn down +towards rum, by those who sought his company for the sake of his money, +had been suddenly snapped by the loss of his fortune. The weak youth +was left to the guidance of those to whom his welfare was really dear. +Philip, obliged to rouse himself from his indolence, and exert himself +to earn his living, became a far wiser and more estimable man than he +would ever have been as the heir to a fortune; and he never forgot the +lesson which pain, weakness, and shame had taught him,--that the way of +evil is also the way of sorrow. _Thorns and snares are in the way of +the froward._ + + Who Wisdom's path forsakes, + Leaves all true joy behind: + He who the peace of others breaks, + No peace himself shall find. + Flowers above and thorns below, + Little pleasure, lasting woe,-- + Such is the fate that sinners know! + + The drunkard gaily sings + Above his foaming glass; + But shame and pain the revel brings, + Ere many hours can pass. + Flowers above and thorns below, + Little pleasure, lasting woe,-- + Such is the fate that sinners know! + + The thief may count his gains;-- + If he the sum could see + Of future punishment and pains, + Sad would his reckoning be! + Flowers above and thorns below, + Little pleasure, lasting woe,-- + Such is the fate that sinners know! + + The Sabbath-breaker spurns + What Wisdom did ordain: + God's rest to Satan's use he turns,-- + A blessing to a bane. + Flowers above and thorns below, + Little pleasure, lasting woe,-- + Such is the fate which sinners know! + + O Lord, to thee we pray; + Do thou our faith increase; + Help us to walk in Wisdom's way,-- + The only way of peace: + For flowers above and thorns below, + Little pleasure, lasting woe,-- + Such is the fate which sinners know! + + + + + + + + +THE SAILOR'S RESOLVE. + + "An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in + transgression."--PROV. xxix. 22. + +The old sailor Jonas sat before the fire with his pipe in his mouth, +looking steadfastly into the glowing coals. Not that, following a +favourite practice of his little niece, he was making out red-hot +castles and flaming buildings in the grate, or that his thoughts were in +any way connected with the embers: he was doing what it would be well if +we all sometimes did,--looking into himself, and reflecting on what had +happened in relation to his own conduct. + +"So," thought he, "here am I, an honest old fellow,--I may say it, with +all my faults; and one who shrinks from falsehood more than from fire; +and I find that I, with my bearish temper, am actually driving those +about me into it--teaching them to be crafty, tricky, and cowardly! I +knew well enough that my gruffness plagued others, but I never saw how +it _tempted_ others until now; tempted them to meanness, I would say, +for I have found a thousand times that _an angry man stirreth up +strife_, and that a short word may begin a long quarrel. I am afraid +that I have not thought enough on this matter. I've looked on bad temper +as a very little sin, and I begin to suspect that it is a great one, +both in God's eyes and in the consequences that it brings. Let me see +if I can reckon up its evils! It makes those miserable whom one would +wish to make happy; it often, like an adverse gale, forces them to +back, instead of steering straight for the port. It dishonours one's +profession, lowers one's flag, makes the world mock at the religion +which can leave a man as rough and rugged as a heathen savage. It's +directly contrary to the Word of God,--it's wide as east from west of +the example set before us! Yes, a furious temper is a very evil thing; +I'd give my other leg to be rid of mine!" and in the warmth of his +self-reproach the sailor struck his wooden one against the hearth with +such violence as to make Alie start in terror that some fierce explosion +was about to follow. + +"Well, I've made up my mind as to its being an evil--a great evil," +continued Jonas, in his quiet meditation; "the next question is, how +is the evil to be got rid of? There's the pinch! It clings to one like +one's skin. It's one's nature,--how can one fight against nature? And +yet, I take it, it's the very business of faith to conquer our evil +nature. As I read somewhere, any dead dog can float with the stream; +it's the living dog that swims against it. I mind the trouble I had +about the wicked habit of swearing, when first I took to trying to serve +God and leave off my evil courses. Bad words came to my mouth as natural +as the very air that I breathed. What did I do to cure myself of that +evil? Why, I resolved again and again, and found that my resolutions +were always snapping like a rotten cable in a storm; and I was driven +from my anchorage so often, that I almost began to despair. Then I +prayed hard to be helped; and I said to myself, 'God helps those who +help themselves, and maybe if I determine to do something that I should +be sorry to do every time that an oath comes from my mouth, it would +assist me to remember my duty.' I resolved to break my pipe the first +time that I swore; and I've never uttered an oath from that day to this, +not even in my most towering passions! Now I'll try the same cure again; +not to punish a sin, but to prevent it. If I fly into a fury, I'll break +my pipe! There Jonas Colter, I give you fair warning!" and the old +sailor smiled grimly to himself, and stirred the fire with an air of +satisfaction. + +Not one rough word did Jonas utter that evening; indeed he was +remarkably silent, for the simplest way of saying nothing evil, he +thought, was to say nothing at all. Jonas looked with much pleasure +at his pipe when he put it on the mantle-piece for the night. "You've +weathered this day, old friend," said he; "we'll be on the look out +against squalls to-morrow." + +The next morning Jonas occupied himself in his own room with his phials, +and his nephew and niece were engaged in the kitchen in preparing for +the Sunday school, which their mother made, them regularly attend. The +door was open between the two rooms and as the place was not large, +Jonas heard every word that passed between Johnny and Alie almost as +well as if he had been close beside them. + +_Johnny_. I say, Alie-- + +_Alie_. Please, Johnny, let me learn this quietly. If I do not know it +my teacher will be vexed. My work being behind-hand yesterday has put me +quite back with my tasks. You know that I cannot learn so fast as you do. + +_Johnny_. Oh! you've plenty of time. I want you to do something for me. +Do you know that I have lost my new ball? + +_Alie_. Why, I saw you take it out of your pocket yesterday, just after +we crossed the stile on our way back from the farm. + +_Johnny_. That's it! I took it out of my pocket, and I never put it in +again. I want you to go directly and look for the ball. That stile is +only three fields off, you know. You must look carefully along the path +all the way; and lose no time, or some one else may pick it up. + +_Alie_. Pray, Johnny, don't ask me to go into the fields. + +_Johnny_. I tell you, you have plenty of time for your lessons. + +_Alie_. It is not that, but-- + +_Johnny_. Speak out, will you? + +_Alie_. You know--there are--cows! + +Johnny burst into a loud, coarse laugh of derision. "You miserable +little coward!" he cried; "I'd like to see one chasing you round the +meadow! How you'd scamper! how you'd scream! rare fun it would be,--ha! +ha! ha!" + +"Rare fun would it be, sir!" exclaimed an indignant voice, as Jonas +stumped from the next room, and, seizing his nephew by the collar of his +jacket, gave him a hearty shake; "rare fun would it be,--and what do you +call this? You dare twit your sister with cowardice!--you who sneaked +off yesterday like a fox because you had not the spirit to look an old +man in the face!--you who bully the weak and cringe to the strong!--you +who have the manners of a bear with the heart of a pigeon!" Every +sentence was accompanied by a violent shake, which almost took the +breath from the boy; and Jonas, red with passion, concluded his speech +by flinging Johnny from him with such force that, but for the wall +against which he staggered, he must have fallen to the ground. + +The next minute Jonas walked up to the mantle-piece, and exclaiming, in +a tone of vexation, "Run aground again!" took his pipe, snapped it in +two, and flung the pieces into the fire! He then stumped back to his +room, slamming the door behind him. + +"The old fury!" muttered the panting Johnny between his clenched teeth, +looking fiercely towards his uncle's room. + +"To break his own pipe!" exclaimed Alie. "I never knew him do anything +like that before, however angry he might be!" + +Johnny took down his cap from its peg, and, in as ill humour as can +well be imagined, went out to search for his ball. He took what revenge +he could on his formidable uncle, while amusing himself that afternoon +by looking over his "Robinson Crusoe." Johnny was fond of his pencil, +though he had never learned to draw; and the margins of his books were +often adorned with grim heads or odd figures by his hand. There was +a picture in "Robinson Crusoe" representing a party of cannibals, +as hideous as fancy could represent them, dancing around their fire. +Johnny diverted his mind and gratified his malice by doing his best so +to alter the foremost figure as to make him appear with a wooden leg, +while he drew on his head a straw hat, unmistakably like that of the old +sailor, and touched up the features so as to give a dim resemblance to +his face. To prevent a doubt as to the meaning of the sketch, Johnny +scribbled on the side of the picture,-- + + "In search of fierce savages no one need roam; + The fiercest and ugliest, you'll find him at home!" + +He secretly showed the picture to Alie. + +"O Johnny! how naughty! What would uncle say if he saw it?" + +"We might look out for squalls indeed! but uncle never by any chance +looks at a book of that sort." + +"I think that you had better rub out the pencilling as fast as you can," +said Alie. + +"Catch me rubbing it out!" cried Johnny; "it's the best sketch that ever +I drew, and as like the old savage as it can stare!" + +Late in the evening their mother returned from Brampton, where she had +been nursing a sick lady. Right glad were Johnny and Alie to see her +sooner than they had ventured to expect. She brought them a few oranges, +to show her remembrance of them. Nor was the old sailor forgotten; +carefully she drew from her bag and presented to him a new pipe. + +The children glanced at each other. Jonas took the pipe with a curious +expression on his face, which his sister was at a loss to understand. + +"Thank'ee kindly," he said; "I see it'll be a case of-- + + "'If ye try and don't succeed, + Try, try, try again.'" + +What he meant was a riddle to every one else present, although not to +the reader. + +The "try" was very successful on that evening and the following day. +Never had Johnny and Alie found their uncle so agreeable. His manner +almost approached to gentleness,--it was a calm after a storm. + +"Uncle is so very good and kind," said Alie to her brother, as they +walked home from afternoon service, "that I wonder how you can bear to +have that naughty picture still in your book. He is not in the least +like a cannibal, and it seems quite wrong to laugh at him so." + +"I'll rub it all out one of these days," replied Johnny; "but I must +show it first to Peter Crane. He says that I never hit on a likeness: if +he sees that, he'll never say so again!" + +The next morning Jonas occupied himself with gathering wild flowers and +herbs in the fields. He carried them into his little room, where Johnny +heard him whistling "Old Tom Bowling," like one at peace with himself +and all the world. + +Presently Jonas called to the boy to bring him a knife from the kitchen; +a request made in an unusually courteous tone of voice, and with which, +of course, Johnny immediately complied. + +He found Jonas busy drying his plants, by laying them neatly between the +pages of a book, preparatory to pressing them down. What was the terror +of Johnny when he perceived that the book whose pages Jonas was turning +over for this purpose was no other than his "Robinson Crusoe"! + +"Oh! if I could only get it out of his hands before he comes to that +horrid picture! Oh! what shall I do? what shall I do?" thought the +bewildered Johnny. "Uncle, I was reading that book," at last he mustered +courage to say aloud. + +"You may read it again to-morrow," was the quiet reply of Jonas. + +"Perhaps he will not look at that picture," reflected Johnny. "I wish +that I could see exactly which part of the book he is at! He looks too +quiet a great deal for any mischief to have been done yet! Dear! dear! +I would give anything to have that 'Robinson Crusoe' at the bottom of +the sea! I do think that my uncle's face is growing very red!--yes! the +veins on his forehead are swelling! Depend on't he's turned over to +those unlucky cannibals, and will be ready to eat me like one of them! +I'd better make off before the thunder-clap comes!" + +"Going to sheer off again, Master Johnny?" said the old sailor, in a +very peculiar tone of voice, looking up from the open book on which his +finger now rested. + +"I've a little business," stammered out Johnny. + +"Yes, a little business with me, which you'd better square before you +hoist sail. Why, when you made such a good figure of this savage, did +you not clap jacket and boots on this little cannibal beside him, and +make a pair of 'em 'at home'? I suspect you and I are both in the same +boat as far as regards our tempers, my lad!" + +Johnny felt it utterly impossible to utter a word in reply. + +"I'm afraid," pursued the seaman, closing the book, "that we've both had +a bit too much of the savage about us,--too much of the dancing round +the fire. But mark me, Jack,--we learn even in that book that a savage, +a cannibal _may_ be tamed; and we learn from something far better, that +principle,--the noblest principle which can govern either the young or +the old,--_may_, ay, and _must_, put out the fire of fierce anger in our +hearts, and change us from wild beasts to men! So I've said my say," +added Jonas with a smile; "and in token of my first victory over my old +foe, come here, my boy, and give us your hand!" + +"O uncle, I am so sorry!" exclaimed Johnny, with moistened eyes, as he +felt the kindly grasp of the old man. + +"Sorry are you? and what were you on Saturday when I shook you as a cat +shakes a rat?" + +"Why, uncle, I own that I was angry." + +"Sorry now, and angry then? So it's clear that the mild way has the best +effect, to say nothing of the example." And Jonas fell into a fit of +musing. + +All was fair weather and sunshine in the home on that day, and on many +days after. Jonas had, indeed, a hard struggle to subdue his temper, and +often felt fierce anger rising in his heart, and ready to boil over in +words of passion or acts of violence; but Jonas, as he had endeavoured +faithfully to serve his Queen, while he fought under her flag, brought +the same earnest and brave sense of duty to bear on the trials of daily +life. He never again forgot his resolution, and every day that passed +made the restraint which he laid upon himself less painful and irksome +to him. + +If the conscience of any of my readers should tell him that, by his +unruly temper, he is marring the peace of his family, oh! let him not +neglect the evil as a small one, but, like the poor old sailor in my +story, resolutely struggle against it. For _an angry man stirreth up +strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression._ + + There is sin in commencing strife; + Sin in the thoughtless jest + Or angry burst, + Which awakens first + The ire in a brother's breast! + + There is sin in stirring up strife, + In fanning the smouldering flame, + By scornful eye, + Or proud reply, + Or anger-stirring name. + + There is sin in keeping up strife, + Dark, soul-destroying sin. + Who cherishes hate + May seek heaven's gate, + But never can enter in. + + For peace is the Christian's joy, + And love is the Christian's life; + He's bound for a home + Where hate cannot come, + Nor the shadow of sin or strife! + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14543 *** diff --git a/14543-h/14543-h.htm b/14543-h/14543-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c733822 --- /dev/null +++ b/14543-h/14543-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1082 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of False Friends, and The Sailor's Resolve, by Unknown</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + text-indent: 1em; + } + H1,H5,H6 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond; /* all headings centered */ + } + H2 { + text-align: center; font-size: 145%; color: maroon; font-family: garamond; /* centered and coloured */ + } + H3 { + text-align: center; font-size: 125%; font-family: garamond; /* centered and coloured */ + } + H4 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond; font-weight: normal;/* all headings centered */ + } + h1.pg {text-align: center; color: black; font-family: serif; } + h4.pg {text-align: center; color: black; font-family: serif; } + HR { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .note {margin-left: 2em; 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text-align: center;"><span style="font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 110%"> +Lady Grange Reading To Her Son.</span><br /> +<i>Page 19.</i></p> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>FALSE FRIENDS.</h2> + +<h2>THE SAILOR'S RESOLVE.</h2> + +<div class="img"> +<a name="Illustration_A_TALK_ABOUT_A_PICTURE"></a> +<a href="images/Image-2.png" target="_blank"> +<img border="0" src="images/Image-2.png" width="400" +alt="A Talk About The Picture." /></a> +<br /> +<p style="text-indent: 0em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 110%"> +A Talk About The Picture</span>.<br /> +<i>Page 33.</i></p> +</div> + +<br /> + +<p style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 110%; margin-bottom: 1em"> +1884.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<br /> +<a name="FALSE_FRIENDS"></a><h2>FALSE FRIENDS.</h2> + +<p style="text-indent: 0em; text-align: center;"> +"Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward."—PROV. xxii. 5.</p> +<br /> + +<div class="img"> +<a name="Illustration_REFLECTION"></a> +<a href="images/Image-3.png" target="_blank"> +<img border="0" src="images/Image-3.png" width="400" alt="Reflection." /></a> +<br /> +<p style="text-indent: 0em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 105%"> +Reflection.</span><br /> +<i>Page 25.</i></p> +</div> + +<br /> + +<p>"Philip, your conduct has distressed +me exceedingly," said Lady Grange, +laying her hand on the arm of her +son, as they entered together the elegant +apartment which had been fitted up as her +boudoir. "You could not but know my feelings +towards those two men—I will not call +them gentlemen—whose company you have +again forced upon me. You must be aware +that your father has shut the door of this +house against them."</p> + +<p>"My father has shut the door against +better men than they are," said the youth +carelessly; "witness my own uncles Henry +and George."</p> + +<p>The lip of the lady quivered, the indignant +colour rose even to her temples; she +attempted to speak, but her voice failed +her, and she turned aside to hide her emotion.</p> + +<p>"Well, mother, I did not mean to vex +you," said Philip, who was rather weak in +purpose than hardened in evil; "it <i>was</i> a +shame to bring Jones and Wildrake here, but—but +you see I couldn't help it." And he +played uneasily with his gold-headed riding-whip, +while his eye avoided meeting that of +his mother.</p> + +<p>"They have acquired some strange influence, +some mysterious hold over you," +answered the lady. "It cannot be," she +added anxiously, "that you have broken +your promise,—that they have drawn you +again to the gaming-table,—that you are involved +in debt to these men?"</p> + +<p>Philip whistled an air and sauntered up +to the window.</p> + +<p>Lady Grange pressed her hand over her +eyes, and a sigh, a very heavy sigh, burst +from her bosom. Philip heard, and turned +impatiently round.</p> + +<p>"There's no use in making the worst of +matters," said he; "what's done can't be +helped; and my debts, such as they are, won't +ruin a rich man like my father."</p> + +<p>"It is not that which I fear," said the +mother faintly, with a terrible consciousness +that her son,—her hope, her pride, the delight +of her heart,—had entered on a course which, +if persevered in, must end in his ruin both +of body and soul. "I tremble at the thought +of the misery which you are bringing on +yourself. These men are making you their +victim: they are blinding your eyes; they +are throwing a net around you, and you have +not the resolution to break from the snare."</p> + +<p>"They are very pleasant, jovial fellows!" +cried Philip, trying to hide under an appearance +of careless gaiety the real annoyance +which he felt at the words of his mother.</p> + +<p>"I've asked them to dine here to-day +and—"</p> + +<p>"I shall not appear at the table," said +Lady Grange, drawing herself up with dignity; +"and if your father should arrive—"</p> + +<p>"Oh! he won't arrive to-night; he never +travels so late."</p> + +<p>"But, Philip," said the lady earnestly +again laying her cold hand on his arm. She +was interrupted by her wayward and undutiful +son.</p> + +<p>"Mother, there's no use in saying anything +more on the subject; it only worries you, and +puts me out of temper. I can't, and I won't +be uncivil to my friends;" and turning +hastily round, Philip quitted the apartment.</p> + +<p>"Friends!" faintly echoed Lady Grange, +as she saw the door close behind her misguided +son. "Oh!" she exclaimed, throwing +herself on a sofa, and burying her face, +"was there ever a mother—ever a woman +so unhappy as I am!"</p> + +<p>Her cup was indeed very bitter; it was +one which the luxuries that surrounded +her had not the least power to sweeten. +Her husband was a man possessing many +noble qualities both of head and heart; but +the fatal love of gold, like those petrifying +springs which change living twigs to dead +stone, had made him hardened, quarrelsome, +and worldly. It had drawn him away from +the worship of his God; for there is deep +truth in the declaration of the apostle, that +the covetous man is <i>an idolater</i>. It was +this miserable love of gold which had induced +Sir Gilbert to break with the family +of his wife, and separate her from those to +whom her loving heart still clung with the +fondest affection. Lady Grange yearned for +a sight of her early home; but gold had +raised a barrier between her and the companions +of her childhood. And what had +the possession of gold done for the man who +made it his idol? It had put snares in the +path of his only son; it had made the weak-minded +but head-strong youth be entrapped +by the wicked for the sake of his wealth, as +the ermine is hunted down for its rich fur. +It had given to himself heavy responsibilities, +for which he would have to answer at +the bar of Heaven; for from him unto whom +much has been given, much at the last day +will be required.</p> + +<p>Yes, Lady Grange was very miserable. +And how did she endeavour to lighten the +burden of her misery? Was it by counting +over her jewels,—looking at the costly and +beautiful things which adorned her dwelling,—thinking +of her carriages and horses and +glittering plate, or the number of her rich +and titled friends? No; she sought comfort +where Widow Green had sought it when her +child lay dangerously ill, and there was +neither a loaf on her shelf nor a penny in +her purse. The rich lady did what the poor +one had done,—she fell on her knees and +with tears poured out her heart to the merciful +Father of all. She told him her sorrows, +she told him her fears; she asked him for +that help which she so much required. Her +case was a harder one than the widow's. A +visit from the clergyman, a present from a +benevolent friend, God's blessing on a simple +remedy, had soon changed Mrs. Green's sorrow +into joy. The anguish of Lady Grange +lay deeper; her faith was more sorely tried; +her fears were not for the bodies but the +souls of those whom she loved;—and where +is the mortal who can give us a cure for the +disease of sin?</p> + +<p>While his mother was weeping and praying, +Philip was revelling and drinking. Fast +were the bottles pushed round, and often +were the glasses refilled. The stately banqueting-room +resounded with laughter and +merriment; and as the evening advanced, +with boisterous song. It was late before the +young men quitted the table; and then, +heated with wine, they threw the window +wide open, to let the freshness of the night +air cool their fevered temples.</p> + +<p>Beautiful looked the park in the calm +moonlight. Not a breath stirred the branches +of the trees, their dark shadows lay motionless +on the green sward: perfect silence and +stillness reigned around. But the holy quietness +of nature was rudely disturbed by the +voices of the revellers.</p> + +<p>With the conversation that passed I shall +not soil my pages. The window opened into +a broad stone balcony, and seating themselves +upon its parapet, the young men exchanged +stories and jests. After many sallies of so-called +wit, Wildrake rallied Philip on the +quantity of wine which he had taken, and +betted that he could not walk steadily from +the one end of the balcony to the other. +Philip, with that insane pride which can +plume itself on being <i>mighty to mingle strong +drink</i>, maintained that his head was as clear +and his faculties as perfect as though he had +tasted nothing but water; and declared that +he could walk round the edge of the parapet +with as steady a step as he would tread the +gravel-path in the morning!</p> + +<p>Wildrake laughed, and dared him to do +it: Jones betted ten to one that he could not.</p> + +<p>"Done!" cried Philip, and sprang up on +the parapet in a moment.</p> + +<p>"Come down again!" called out Wildrake, +who had enough of sense left to perceive +the folly and danger of the wager.</p> + +<p>Philip did not appear to hear him. Attempting +to balance himself by his arms, +with a slow and unsteady step he began to +make his way along the lofty and narrow +edge.</p> + +<p>The two young men held their breath. +To one who with unsteady feet walks the +slippery margin of temptation, the higher +his position, the greater his danger; the +loftier his elevation, the more perilous a fall!</p> + +<p>"He will never get to the end!" said +Jones, watching with some anxiety the +movements of his companion.</p> + +<p>The words had scarcely escaped his lips +when they received a startling fulfilment. +Philip had not proceeded half way along +the parapet when a slight sound in the garden +below him attracted his attention. He +glanced down for a moment; and there, in +the cold, clear moonlight, gazing sternly +upon him, he beheld his father! The sudden +start of surprise which he gave threw +the youth off his balance,—he staggered +back, lost his footing, stretched out his +hands wildly to save himself, and fell with +a loud cry to the ground!</p> + +<p>All was now confusion and terror. There +were the rushing of footsteps hither and +thither, voices calling, bells loudly ringing, +and, above all, the voice of a mother's +anguish, piercing to the soul! Jones and +Wildrake hurried off to the stables, saddled +their horses themselves, and dashed off at +full speed to summon a surgeon, glad of any +excuse to make their escape from the place.</p> + +<p>The unfortunate Philip was raised from +the ground, and carried into the house. His +groans showed the severity of his sufferings. +The slightest motion was to him torture, and +an hour of intense suspense ensued before +the arrival of the surgeon. Lady Grange +made a painful effort to be calm. She +thought of everything, did all that she could +do for the relief of her son, and even strove +to speak words of comfort and hope to her +husband, who appeared almost stupified by +his sorrow. Prayer was still her support—prayer, +silent, but almost unceasing.</p> + +<p>The surgeon arrived,—the injuries received +by the sufferer were examined, though it was +long before Philip, unaccustomed to pain and +incapable of self-control, would permit necessary +measures to be taken. His resistance +greatly added to his sufferings. He had sustained +a compound fracture of his leg, besides +numerous bruises and contusions. The broken +bone had to be set, and the pale mother stood +by, longing, in the fervour of her unselfish +love, that she could endure the agony in the +place of her son. The pampered child of +luxury shrank sensitively from pain, and the +thought that he had brought all his misery +upon himself by his folly and disobedience +rendered it yet more intolerable. When +the surgeon had at length done his work, +Lady Grange retired with him to another +apartment, and, struggling to command +her choking voice, asked him the question +on the reply to which all her earthly +happiness seemed to hang,—whether he had +hope that the life of her boy might be +spared.</p> + +<p>"I have every hope", said the surgeon, +cheerfully, "if we can keep down the fever." +Then, for the first time since she had seen +her son lie bleeding before her, the mother +found the relief of tears.</p> + +<p>Through the long night she quitted not +the sufferer's pillow, bathing his fevered +brow, relieving his thirst, whispering comfort +to his troubled spirit. Soon after daybreak +Philip sank into a quiet, refreshing sleep; +and Lady Grange, feeling as if a mountain's +weight had been lifted from her heart, hurried +to carry the good news to her husband.</p> + +<p>She found him in the spacious saloon, +pacing restlessly to and fro. His brow was +knit, his lips compressed; his disordered +dress and haggard countenance showed that +he, too, had watched the live-long night.</p> + +<p>"He sleeps at last, Gilbert, thank God!" +Her face brightened as she spoke; but there +was no corresponding look of joy on that of +her husband.</p> + +<p>"Gilbert, the doctor assures me that there +is every prospect of our dear boy's restoration!"</p> + +<p>"And to what is he to be restored?" said +the father gloomily; "to poverty—misery—ruin!"</p> + +<p>Lady Grange stood mute with surprise +scarcely believing the evidence of her senses +almost deeming that the words must have +been uttered in a dream. But it was no +dream, but one of those strange, stern realities +which we meet with in life. Her husband +indeed stood before her a ruined man! A +commercial crash, like those which have so +often reduced the rich to poverty, coming +almost as suddenly as the earthquake which +shakes the natural world, had overthrown +all his fortune! The riches in which he had +trusted had taken to themselves wings and +flown away.</p> + +<p>Here was another startling shock, but +Lady Grange felt it far less than the first. +It seemed to her that if her son were only +spared to her, she could bear cheerfully any +other trial. When riches had increased, she +had not set her heart upon them; she had +endeavoured to spend them as a good steward +of God and to lay up treasure in that blessed +place where there is no danger of its ever +being lost. Sir Gilbert was far more crushed +than his wife was by this misfortune. He +saw his idol broken before his eyes, and +where was he to turn for comfort? Everything +upon which his eye rested was a source +of pain to him; for must he not part with +all, leave all in which his heart had delighted, +all in which his soul had taken +pride? He forgot that poverty was only +forestalling by a few years the inevitable +work of death!</p> + +<p>The day passed wearily away. Philip +suffered much pain, was weak and low, and +bitterly conscious how well he had earned +the misery which he was called on to endure. +It was a mercy that he was experiencing, +before it was too late, that <i>thorns and snares +are in the way of the froward</i>. He liked his +mother to read the Bible to him, just a few +verses at a time, as he had strength to bear +it; and in this occupation she herself found +the comfort which she needed. Sir Gilbert, +full of his own troubles, scarcely ever entered +the apartment of his son.</p> + +<p>Towards evening a servant came softly +into the sick-room, bringing a sealed letter +for her lady. There was no post-mark upon +it, and the girl informed her mistress that +the gentleman who had brought it was +waiting in the garden for a reply. The first +glance at the hand-writing, at the well-known +seal, brought colour to the cheek of the lady. +But it was a hand-writing which she had +been forbidden to read; it was a seal which +she must not break! She motioned to the +maid to take her place beside the invalid +who happened at that moment to be sleeping +and with a quick step and a throbbing heart +she hurried away to find her husband.</p> + +<p>He was in his study, his arms resting on +his open desk, and his head bowed down +upon them. Bills and papers, scattered in +profusion on the table, showed what had +been the nature of the occupation which +he had not had the courage to finish. He +started from his posture of despair as his +wife laid a gentle touch on his shoulder; and, +without uttering a word, she placed the +unopened letter in his hand.</p> + +<p>My reader shall have the privilege of looking +over Sir Gilbert's shoulder, and perusing +the contents of that letter:—</p> + +<blockquote><p><span style="font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 100%"> +"Dearest Sister</span>,—We have heard of +your trials, and warmly sympathize in your +sorrow. Let Sir Gilbert know that we have +placed at his banker's, after having settled it +upon you, double the sum which caused our +unhappy differences. Let the past be forgotten; +let us again meet as those should +meet who have gathered together round the +same hearth, mourned over the same grave, +and shared joys and sorrows together, as it +is our anxious desire to do now. I shall be +my own messenger, and shall wait in person +to receive your reply.—Your ever attached +brother,</p> + +<p><span style="font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 100%"> +"Henry Latour.</span>"</p></blockquote> + +<p>A few minutes more and Lady Grange was +in the arms of her brother; while Sir Gilbert +was silently grasping the hand of one whom, +but for misfortune, he would never have +known as a friend.</p> + +<p>All the neighbourhood pitied the gentle +lady, the benefactress of the poor, when she +dismissed her servants, sold her jewels, and +quitted her beautiful home to seek a humbler +shelter. Amongst the hundreds who crowded +to the public auction of the magnificent furniture +and plate, which had been the admiration +of all who had seen them, many thought with +compassion of the late owners, reduced to such +sudden poverty, though the generosity of the +lady's family had saved them from want or +dependence.</p> + +<p>And yet truly, never since her marriage +had Lady Grange been less an object of compassion.</p> + +<p>Her son was slowly but surely recovering, +and his preservation from meeting sudden +death unprepared was to her a source of +unutterable thankfulness. Her own family +appeared to regard her with even more tender +affection than if no coldness had ever arisen +between them; and their love was to her +beyond price. Even Sir Gilbert's harsh, +worldly character, was somewhat softened +by trials, and by the unmerited kindness +which he met with from those whom, in his +prosperity, he had slighted and shunned. +Lady Grange felt that her prayers had been +answered indeed, though in a way very +different from what she had hoped or expected. +The chain by which her son had +been gradually drawn down towards rum, +by those who sought his company for the +sake of his money, had been suddenly snapped +by the loss of his fortune. The weak youth +was left to the guidance of those to whom +his welfare was really dear. Philip, obliged +to rouse himself from his indolence, and +exert himself to earn his living, became a +far wiser and more estimable man than he +would ever have been as the heir to a fortune; +and he never forgot the lesson which pain, +weakness, and shame had taught him,—that +the way of evil is also the way of sorrow. +<i>Thorns and snares are in the way of the +froward.</i></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>Who Wisdom's path forsakes,<br /></span> +<span> Leaves all true joy behind:<br /></span> +<span>He who the peace of others breaks,<br /></span> +<span> No peace himself shall find.<br /></span> +<span>Flowers above and thorns below,<br /></span> +<span>Little pleasure, lasting woe,—<br /></span> +<span>Such is the fate that sinners know!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>The drunkard gaily sings<br /></span> +<span> Above his foaming glass;<br /></span> +<span>But shame and pain the revel brings,<br /></span> +<span> Ere many hours can pass.<br /></span> +<span>Flowers above and thorns below,<br /></span> +<span>Little pleasure, lasting woe,—<br /></span> +<span>Such is the fate that sinners know!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>The thief may count his gains;—<br /></span> +<span> If he the sum could see<br /></span> +<span>Of future punishment and pains,<br /></span> +<span> Sad would his reckoning be!<br /></span> +<span>Flowers above and thorns below,<br /></span> +<span>Little pleasure, lasting woe,—<br /></span> +<span>Such is the fate that sinners know!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>The Sabbath-breaker spurns<br /></span> +<span> What Wisdom did ordain:<br /></span> +<span>God's rest to Satan's use he turns,—<br /></span> +<span> A blessing to a bane.<br /></span> +<span>Flowers above and thorns below,<br /></span> +<span>Little pleasure, lasting woe,—<br /></span> +<span>Such is the fate which sinners know!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>O Lord, to thee we pray;<br /></span> +<span> Do thou our faith increase;<br /></span> +<span>Help us to walk in Wisdom's way,—<br /></span> +<span> The only way of peace:<br /></span> +<span>For flowers above and thorns below,<br /></span> +<span>Little pleasure, lasting woe,—<br /></span> +<span>Such is the fate which sinners know!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<br /> + +<a name="THE_SAILORS_RESOLVE"></a><h2>THE SAILOR'S RESOLVE.</h2> + +<p style="text-indent: 0em; text-align: center;"> +"An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in +transgression."—PROV. xxix. 22.</p> + +<br /> + +<p>The old sailor Jonas sat before the fire +with his pipe in his mouth, looking +steadfastly into the glowing coals. +Not that, following a favourite practice of +his little niece, he was making out red-hot +castles and flaming buildings in the grate, or +that his thoughts were in any way connected +with the embers: he was doing what it would +be well if we all sometimes did,—looking +into himself, and reflecting on what had +happened in relation to his own conduct.</p> + +<p>"So," thought he, "here am I, an honest +old fellow,—I may say it, with all my faults; +and one who shrinks from falsehood more +than from fire; and I find that I, with my +bearish temper, am actually driving those +about me into it—teaching them to be crafty, +tricky, and cowardly! I knew well enough +that my gruffness plagued others, but I never +saw how it <i>tempted</i> others until now; tempted +them to meanness, I would say, for I have +found a thousand times that <i>an angry man +stirreth up strife</i>, and that a short word may +begin a long quarrel. I am afraid that I +have not thought enough on this matter. +I've looked on bad temper as a very little +sin, and I begin to suspect that it is a great +one, both in God's eyes and in the consequences +that it brings. Let me see if I can +reckon up its evils! It makes those miserable +whom one would wish to make happy; +it often, like an adverse gale, forces them to +back, instead of steering straight for the +port. It dishonours one's profession, lowers +one's flag, makes the world mock at the +religion which can leave a man as rough and +rugged as a heathen savage. It's directly +contrary to the Word of God,—it's wide as +east from west of the example set before us! +Yes, a furious temper is a very evil thing; +I'd give my other leg to be rid of mine!" and +in the warmth of his self-reproach the sailor +struck his wooden one against the hearth +with such violence as to make Alie start in +terror that some fierce explosion was about +to follow.</p> + +<p>"Well, I've made up my mind as to its +being an evil—a great evil," continued Jonas, +in his quiet meditation; "the next question +is, how is the evil to be got rid of? There's +the pinch! It clings to one like one's skin. +It's one's nature,—how can one fight against +nature? And yet, I take it, it's the very +business of faith to conquer our evil nature. +As I read somewhere, any dead dog can float +with the stream; it's the living dog that swims +against it. I mind the trouble I had about +the wicked habit of swearing, when first I +took to trying to serve God and leave off my +evil courses. Bad words came to my mouth +as natural as the very air that I breathed. +What did I do to cure myself of that evil? +Why, I resolved again and again, and found +that my resolutions were always snapping +like a rotten cable in a storm; and I was +driven from my anchorage so often, that I +almost began to despair. Then I prayed +hard to be helped; and I said to myself, +'God helps those who help themselves, and +maybe if I determine to do something that +I should be sorry to do every time that +an oath comes from my mouth, it would +assist me to remember my duty.' I resolved +to break my pipe the first time that I swore; +and I've never uttered an oath from that +day to this, not even in my most towering +passions! Now I'll try the same cure again; +not to punish a sin, but to prevent it. If I +fly into a fury, I'll break my pipe! There +Jonas Colter, I give you fair warning!" +and the old sailor smiled grimly to himself, +and stirred the fire with an air of satisfaction.</p> + +<p>Not one rough word did Jonas utter that +evening; indeed he was remarkably silent, +for the simplest way of saying nothing evil, +he thought, was to say nothing at all. Jonas +looked with much pleasure at his pipe when +he put it on the mantle-piece for the night. +"You've weathered this day, old friend," +said he; "we'll be on the look out against +squalls to-morrow."</p> + +<p>The next morning Jonas occupied himself +in his own room with his phials, and his +nephew and niece were engaged in the +kitchen in preparing for the Sunday school, +which their mother made, them regularly +attend. The door was open between the two +rooms and as the place was not large, Jonas +heard every word that passed between +Johnny and Alie almost as well as if he had +been close beside them.</p> + +<p><i>Johnny</i>. I say, Alie—</p> + +<p><i>Alie</i>. Please, Johnny, let me learn this +quietly. If I do not know it my teacher will +be vexed. My work being behind-hand yesterday +has put me quite back with my tasks. +You know that I cannot learn so fast as +you do.</p> + +<p><i>Johnny</i>. Oh! you've plenty of time. I +want you to do something for me. Do you +know that I have lost my new ball?</p> + +<p><i>Alie</i>. Why, I saw you take it out of your +pocket yesterday, just after we crossed the +stile on our way back from the farm.</p> + +<p><i>Johnny</i>. That's it! I took it out of my +pocket, and I never put it in again. I want +you to go directly and look for the ball. +That stile is only three fields off, you know. +You must look carefully along the path all +the way; and lose no time, or some one else +may pick it up.</p> + +<p><i>Alie</i>. Pray, Johnny, don't ask me to go +into the fields.</p> + +<p><i>Johnny</i>. I tell you, you have plenty of +time for your lessons.</p> + +<p><i>Alie</i>. It is not that, but—</p> + +<p><i>Johnny</i>. Speak out, will you?</p> + +<p><i>Alie</i>. You know—there are—cows!</p> + +<p>Johnny burst into a loud, coarse laugh of +derision. "You miserable little coward!" he +cried; "I'd like to see one chasing you round +the meadow! How you'd scamper! how +you'd scream! rare fun it would be,—ha! +ha! ha!"</p> + +<p>"Rare fun would it be, sir!" exclaimed an +indignant voice, as Jonas stumped from the +next room, and, seizing his nephew by the +collar of his jacket, gave him a hearty shake; +"rare fun would it be,—and what do you call +this? You dare twit your sister with cowardice!—you +who sneaked off yesterday like a +fox because you had not the spirit to look an +old man in the face!—you who bully the +weak and cringe to the strong!—you who +have the manners of a bear with the heart +of a pigeon!" Every sentence was accompanied +by a violent shake, which almost +took the breath from the boy; and Jonas, +red with passion, concluded his speech by +flinging Johnny from him with such force +that, but for the wall against which he staggered, +he must have fallen to the ground.</p> + +<p>The next minute Jonas walked up to the +mantle-piece, and exclaiming, in a tone of +vexation, "Run aground again!" took his +pipe, snapped it in two, and flung the pieces +into the fire! He then stumped back to his +room, slamming the door behind him.</p> + +<p>"The old fury!" muttered the panting +Johnny between his clenched teeth, looking +fiercely towards his uncle's room.</p> + +<p>"To break his own pipe!" exclaimed Alie. +"I never knew him do anything like that +before, however angry he might be!"</p> + +<p>Johnny took down his cap from its peg, +and, in as ill humour as can well be imagined, +went out to search for his ball. He took +what revenge he could on his formidable +uncle, while amusing himself that afternoon +by looking over his "Robinson Crusoe." +Johnny was fond of his pencil, though he +had never learned to draw; and the margins +of his books were often adorned with grim +heads or odd figures by his hand. There +was a picture in "Robinson Crusoe" representing +a party of cannibals, as hideous as +fancy could represent them, dancing around +their fire. Johnny diverted his mind and +gratified his malice by doing his best so to +alter the foremost figure as to make him +appear with a wooden leg, while he drew on +his head a straw hat, unmistakably like that +of the old sailor, and touched up the features +so as to give a dim resemblance to his face. +To prevent a doubt as to the meaning of the +sketch, Johnny scribbled on the side of the +picture,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"In search of fierce savages no one need roam;<br /></span> +<span>The fiercest and ugliest, you'll find him at home!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>He secretly showed the picture to Alie.</p> + +<p>"O Johnny! how naughty! What would +uncle say if he saw it?"</p> + +<p>"We might look out for squalls indeed! +but uncle never by any chance looks at a +book of that sort."</p> + +<p>"I think that you had better rub out the +pencilling as fast as you can," said Alie.</p> + +<p>"Catch me rubbing it out!" cried Johnny; +"it's the best sketch that ever I drew, and as +like the old savage as it can stare!"</p> + +<p>Late in the evening their mother returned +from Brampton, where she had been nursing a +sick lady. Right glad were Johnny and Alie +to see her sooner than they had ventured to +expect. She brought them a few oranges, to +show her remembrance of them. Nor was +the old sailor forgotten; carefully she drew +from her bag and presented to him a new +pipe.</p> + +<p>The children glanced at each other. Jonas +took the pipe with a curious expression on +his face, which his sister was at a loss to +understand.</p> + +<p>"Thank'ee kindly," he said; "I see it'll +be a case of—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"'If ye try and don't succeed,<br /></span> +<span>Try, try, try again.'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>What he meant was a riddle to every one +else present, although not to the reader.</p> + +<p>The "try" was very successful on that +evening and the following day. Never had +Johnny and Alie found their uncle so agreeable. +His manner almost approached to +gentleness,—it was a calm after a storm.</p> + +<p>"Uncle is so very good and kind," said +Alie to her brother, as they walked home +from afternoon service, "that I wonder how +you can bear to have that naughty picture +still in your book. He is not in the least +like a cannibal, and it seems quite wrong to +laugh at him so."</p> + +<p>"I'll rub it all out one of these days," replied +Johnny; "but I must show it first to +Peter Crane. He says that I never hit on a +likeness: if he sees that, he'll never say so +again!"</p> + +<p>The next morning Jonas occupied himself +with gathering wild flowers and herbs in the +fields. He carried them into his little room, +where Johnny heard him whistling "Old +Tom Bowling," like one at peace with himself +and all the world.</p> + +<p>Presently Jonas called to the boy to bring +him a knife from the kitchen; a request +made in an unusually courteous tone of voice, +and with which, of course, Johnny immediately +complied.</p> + +<p>He found Jonas busy drying his plants, +by laying them neatly between the pages of +a book, preparatory to pressing them down. +What was the terror of Johnny when he +perceived that the book whose pages Jonas +was turning over for this purpose was no +other than his "Robinson Crusoe"!</p> + +<p>"Oh! if I could only get it out of his +hands before he comes to that horrid picture! +Oh! what shall I do? what shall I do?" +thought the bewildered Johnny. "Uncle, I +was reading that book," at last he mustered +courage to say aloud.</p> + +<p>"You may read it again to-morrow," was +the quiet reply of Jonas.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he will not look at that picture," +reflected Johnny. "I wish that I could see +exactly which part of the book he is at! He +looks too quiet a great deal for any mischief +to have been done yet! Dear! dear! I +would give anything to have that 'Robinson +Crusoe' at the bottom of the sea! I do +think that my uncle's face is growing very +red!—yes! the veins on his forehead are +swelling! Depend on't he's turned over to +those unlucky cannibals, and will be ready +to eat me like one of them! I'd better make +off before the thunder-clap comes!"</p> + +<p>"Going to sheer off again, Master Johnny?" +said the old sailor, in a very peculiar tone of +voice, looking up from the open book on +which his finger now rested.</p> + +<p>"I've a little business," stammered out +Johnny.</p> + +<p>"Yes, a little business with me, which +you'd better square before you hoist sail. +Why, when you made such a good figure of +this savage, did you not clap jacket and boots +on this little cannibal beside him, and make +a pair of 'em 'at home'? I suspect you and +I are both in the same boat as far as regards +our tempers, my lad!"</p> + +<p>Johnny felt it utterly impossible to utter +a word in reply.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid," pursued the seaman, closing +the book, "that we've both had a bit too +much of the savage about us,—too much of +the dancing round the fire. But mark me, +Jack,—we learn even in that book that a +savage, a cannibal <i>may</i> be tamed; and we +learn from something far better, that principle,—the +noblest principle which can govern +either the young or the old,—<i>may</i>, ay, and +<i>must</i>, put out the fire of fierce anger in our +hearts, and change us from wild beasts to +men! So I've said my say," added Jonas +with a smile; "and in token of my first +victory over my old foe, come here, my boy, +and give us your hand!"</p> + +<p>"O uncle, I am so sorry!" exclaimed +Johnny, with moistened eyes, as he felt the +kindly grasp of the old man.</p> + +<p>"Sorry are you? and what were you on +Saturday when I shook you as a cat shakes +a rat?"</p> + +<p>"Why, uncle, I own that I was angry."</p> + +<p>"Sorry now, and angry then? So it's +clear that the mild way has the best effect, +to say nothing of the example." And Jonas +fell into a fit of musing.</p> + +<p>All was fair weather and sunshine in the +home on that day, and on many days after. +Jonas had, indeed, a hard struggle to subdue +his temper, and often felt fierce anger rising +in his heart, and ready to boil over in words +of passion or acts of violence; but Jonas, as +he had endeavoured faithfully to serve his +Queen, while he fought under her flag, +brought the same earnest and brave sense of +duty to bear on the trials of daily life. He +never again forgot his resolution, and every +day that passed made the restraint which he +laid upon himself less painful and irksome +to him.</p> + +<p>If the conscience of any of my readers +should tell him that, by his unruly temper, +he is marring the peace of his family, oh! +let him not neglect the evil as a small one, +but, like the poor old sailor in my story, +resolutely struggle against it. For <i>an angry +man stirreth up strife, and a furious man +aboundeth in transgression.</i></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>There is sin in commencing strife;<br /></span> +<span> Sin in the thoughtless jest<br /></span> +<span> Or angry burst,<br /></span> +<span> Which awakens first<br /></span> +<span> The ire in a brother's breast!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>There is sin in stirring up strife,<br /></span> +<span> In fanning the smouldering flame,<br /></span> +<span> By scornful eye,<br /></span> +<span> Or proud reply,<br /></span> +<span> Or anger-stirring name.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>There is sin in keeping up strife,<br /></span> +<span> Dark, soul-destroying sin.<br /></span> +<span> Who cherishes hate<br /></span> +<span> May seek heaven's gate,<br /></span> +<span> But never can enter in.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>For peace is the Christian's joy,<br /></span> +<span> And love is the Christian's life;<br /></span> +<span> He's bound for a home<br /></span> +<span> Where hate cannot come,<br /></span> +<span> Nor the shadow of sin or strife!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p> </p> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14543 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/14543-h/images/Image-1.jpg b/14543-h/images/Image-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cd23d99 --- /dev/null +++ b/14543-h/images/Image-1.jpg diff --git a/14543-h/images/Image-2.png b/14543-h/images/Image-2.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dc7c9b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/14543-h/images/Image-2.png diff --git a/14543-h/images/Image-3.png b/14543-h/images/Image-3.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c49fe55 --- /dev/null +++ b/14543-h/images/Image-3.png 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. 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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: False Friends, and The Sailor's Resolve</p> +<p>Author: Unknown</p> +<p>Release Date: December 31, 2004 [eBook #14543]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FALSE FRIENDS, AND THE SAILOR'S RESOLVE***</p> +<p> </p> +<h4>E-text prepared by Sherry Hamby, Ted Garvin, Melissa Er-Raqabi, Jeannie Howse,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (https://www.pgdp.net)</h4> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="img"> +<a name="Illustration_LADY_GRANGE_READING_TO_HER_SON"></a> +<a href="images/Image-1.jpg" target="_blank"> +<img border="0" src="images/Image-1.jpg" width="400" +alt="Lady Grange Reading To Her Son." /></a> +<br /> +<p style="text-indent: 0em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 110%"> +Lady Grange Reading To Her Son.</span><br /> +<i>Page 19.</i></p> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>FALSE FRIENDS.</h2> + +<h2>THE SAILOR'S RESOLVE.</h2> + +<div class="img"> +<a name="Illustration_A_TALK_ABOUT_A_PICTURE"></a> +<a href="images/Image-2.png" target="_blank"> +<img border="0" src="images/Image-2.png" width="400" +alt="A Talk About The Picture." /></a> +<br /> +<p style="text-indent: 0em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 110%"> +A Talk About The Picture</span>.<br /> +<i>Page 33.</i></p> +</div> + +<br /> + +<p style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 110%; margin-bottom: 1em"> +1884.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<br /> +<a name="FALSE_FRIENDS"></a><h2>FALSE FRIENDS.</h2> + +<p style="text-indent: 0em; text-align: center;"> +"Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward."—PROV. xxii. 5.</p> +<br /> + +<div class="img"> +<a name="Illustration_REFLECTION"></a> +<a href="images/Image-3.png" target="_blank"> +<img border="0" src="images/Image-3.png" width="400" alt="Reflection." /></a> +<br /> +<p style="text-indent: 0em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 105%"> +Reflection.</span><br /> +<i>Page 25.</i></p> +</div> + +<br /> + +<p>"Philip, your conduct has distressed +me exceedingly," said Lady Grange, +laying her hand on the arm of her +son, as they entered together the elegant +apartment which had been fitted up as her +boudoir. "You could not but know my feelings +towards those two men—I will not call +them gentlemen—whose company you have +again forced upon me. You must be aware +that your father has shut the door of this +house against them."</p> + +<p>"My father has shut the door against +better men than they are," said the youth +carelessly; "witness my own uncles Henry +and George."</p> + +<p>The lip of the lady quivered, the indignant +colour rose even to her temples; she +attempted to speak, but her voice failed +her, and she turned aside to hide her emotion.</p> + +<p>"Well, mother, I did not mean to vex +you," said Philip, who was rather weak in +purpose than hardened in evil; "it <i>was</i> a +shame to bring Jones and Wildrake here, but—but +you see I couldn't help it." And he +played uneasily with his gold-headed riding-whip, +while his eye avoided meeting that of +his mother.</p> + +<p>"They have acquired some strange influence, +some mysterious hold over you," +answered the lady. "It cannot be," she +added anxiously, "that you have broken +your promise,—that they have drawn you +again to the gaming-table,—that you are involved +in debt to these men?"</p> + +<p>Philip whistled an air and sauntered up +to the window.</p> + +<p>Lady Grange pressed her hand over her +eyes, and a sigh, a very heavy sigh, burst +from her bosom. Philip heard, and turned +impatiently round.</p> + +<p>"There's no use in making the worst of +matters," said he; "what's done can't be +helped; and my debts, such as they are, won't +ruin a rich man like my father."</p> + +<p>"It is not that which I fear," said the +mother faintly, with a terrible consciousness +that her son,—her hope, her pride, the delight +of her heart,—had entered on a course which, +if persevered in, must end in his ruin both +of body and soul. "I tremble at the thought +of the misery which you are bringing on +yourself. These men are making you their +victim: they are blinding your eyes; they +are throwing a net around you, and you have +not the resolution to break from the snare."</p> + +<p>"They are very pleasant, jovial fellows!" +cried Philip, trying to hide under an appearance +of careless gaiety the real annoyance +which he felt at the words of his mother.</p> + +<p>"I've asked them to dine here to-day +and—"</p> + +<p>"I shall not appear at the table," said +Lady Grange, drawing herself up with dignity; +"and if your father should arrive—"</p> + +<p>"Oh! he won't arrive to-night; he never +travels so late."</p> + +<p>"But, Philip," said the lady earnestly +again laying her cold hand on his arm. She +was interrupted by her wayward and undutiful +son.</p> + +<p>"Mother, there's no use in saying anything +more on the subject; it only worries you, and +puts me out of temper. I can't, and I won't +be uncivil to my friends;" and turning +hastily round, Philip quitted the apartment.</p> + +<p>"Friends!" faintly echoed Lady Grange, +as she saw the door close behind her misguided +son. "Oh!" she exclaimed, throwing +herself on a sofa, and burying her face, +"was there ever a mother—ever a woman +so unhappy as I am!"</p> + +<p>Her cup was indeed very bitter; it was +one which the luxuries that surrounded +her had not the least power to sweeten. +Her husband was a man possessing many +noble qualities both of head and heart; but +the fatal love of gold, like those petrifying +springs which change living twigs to dead +stone, had made him hardened, quarrelsome, +and worldly. It had drawn him away from +the worship of his God; for there is deep +truth in the declaration of the apostle, that +the covetous man is <i>an idolater</i>. It was +this miserable love of gold which had induced +Sir Gilbert to break with the family +of his wife, and separate her from those to +whom her loving heart still clung with the +fondest affection. Lady Grange yearned for +a sight of her early home; but gold had +raised a barrier between her and the companions +of her childhood. And what had +the possession of gold done for the man who +made it his idol? It had put snares in the +path of his only son; it had made the weak-minded +but head-strong youth be entrapped +by the wicked for the sake of his wealth, as +the ermine is hunted down for its rich fur. +It had given to himself heavy responsibilities, +for which he would have to answer at +the bar of Heaven; for from him unto whom +much has been given, much at the last day +will be required.</p> + +<p>Yes, Lady Grange was very miserable. +And how did she endeavour to lighten the +burden of her misery? Was it by counting +over her jewels,—looking at the costly and +beautiful things which adorned her dwelling,—thinking +of her carriages and horses and +glittering plate, or the number of her rich +and titled friends? No; she sought comfort +where Widow Green had sought it when her +child lay dangerously ill, and there was +neither a loaf on her shelf nor a penny in +her purse. The rich lady did what the poor +one had done,—she fell on her knees and +with tears poured out her heart to the merciful +Father of all. She told him her sorrows, +she told him her fears; she asked him for +that help which she so much required. Her +case was a harder one than the widow's. A +visit from the clergyman, a present from a +benevolent friend, God's blessing on a simple +remedy, had soon changed Mrs. Green's sorrow +into joy. The anguish of Lady Grange +lay deeper; her faith was more sorely tried; +her fears were not for the bodies but the +souls of those whom she loved;—and where +is the mortal who can give us a cure for the +disease of sin?</p> + +<p>While his mother was weeping and praying, +Philip was revelling and drinking. Fast +were the bottles pushed round, and often +were the glasses refilled. The stately banqueting-room +resounded with laughter and +merriment; and as the evening advanced, +with boisterous song. It was late before the +young men quitted the table; and then, +heated with wine, they threw the window +wide open, to let the freshness of the night +air cool their fevered temples.</p> + +<p>Beautiful looked the park in the calm +moonlight. Not a breath stirred the branches +of the trees, their dark shadows lay motionless +on the green sward: perfect silence and +stillness reigned around. But the holy quietness +of nature was rudely disturbed by the +voices of the revellers.</p> + +<p>With the conversation that passed I shall +not soil my pages. The window opened into +a broad stone balcony, and seating themselves +upon its parapet, the young men exchanged +stories and jests. After many sallies of so-called +wit, Wildrake rallied Philip on the +quantity of wine which he had taken, and +betted that he could not walk steadily from +the one end of the balcony to the other. +Philip, with that insane pride which can +plume itself on being <i>mighty to mingle strong +drink</i>, maintained that his head was as clear +and his faculties as perfect as though he had +tasted nothing but water; and declared that +he could walk round the edge of the parapet +with as steady a step as he would tread the +gravel-path in the morning!</p> + +<p>Wildrake laughed, and dared him to do +it: Jones betted ten to one that he could not.</p> + +<p>"Done!" cried Philip, and sprang up on +the parapet in a moment.</p> + +<p>"Come down again!" called out Wildrake, +who had enough of sense left to perceive +the folly and danger of the wager.</p> + +<p>Philip did not appear to hear him. Attempting +to balance himself by his arms, +with a slow and unsteady step he began to +make his way along the lofty and narrow +edge.</p> + +<p>The two young men held their breath. +To one who with unsteady feet walks the +slippery margin of temptation, the higher +his position, the greater his danger; the +loftier his elevation, the more perilous a fall!</p> + +<p>"He will never get to the end!" said +Jones, watching with some anxiety the +movements of his companion.</p> + +<p>The words had scarcely escaped his lips +when they received a startling fulfilment. +Philip had not proceeded half way along +the parapet when a slight sound in the garden +below him attracted his attention. He +glanced down for a moment; and there, in +the cold, clear moonlight, gazing sternly +upon him, he beheld his father! The sudden +start of surprise which he gave threw +the youth off his balance,—he staggered +back, lost his footing, stretched out his +hands wildly to save himself, and fell with +a loud cry to the ground!</p> + +<p>All was now confusion and terror. There +were the rushing of footsteps hither and +thither, voices calling, bells loudly ringing, +and, above all, the voice of a mother's +anguish, piercing to the soul! Jones and +Wildrake hurried off to the stables, saddled +their horses themselves, and dashed off at +full speed to summon a surgeon, glad of any +excuse to make their escape from the place.</p> + +<p>The unfortunate Philip was raised from +the ground, and carried into the house. His +groans showed the severity of his sufferings. +The slightest motion was to him torture, and +an hour of intense suspense ensued before +the arrival of the surgeon. Lady Grange +made a painful effort to be calm. She +thought of everything, did all that she could +do for the relief of her son, and even strove +to speak words of comfort and hope to her +husband, who appeared almost stupified by +his sorrow. Prayer was still her support—prayer, +silent, but almost unceasing.</p> + +<p>The surgeon arrived,—the injuries received +by the sufferer were examined, though it was +long before Philip, unaccustomed to pain and +incapable of self-control, would permit necessary +measures to be taken. His resistance +greatly added to his sufferings. He had sustained +a compound fracture of his leg, besides +numerous bruises and contusions. The broken +bone had to be set, and the pale mother stood +by, longing, in the fervour of her unselfish +love, that she could endure the agony in the +place of her son. The pampered child of +luxury shrank sensitively from pain, and the +thought that he had brought all his misery +upon himself by his folly and disobedience +rendered it yet more intolerable. When +the surgeon had at length done his work, +Lady Grange retired with him to another +apartment, and, struggling to command +her choking voice, asked him the question +on the reply to which all her earthly +happiness seemed to hang,—whether he had +hope that the life of her boy might be +spared.</p> + +<p>"I have every hope", said the surgeon, +cheerfully, "if we can keep down the fever." +Then, for the first time since she had seen +her son lie bleeding before her, the mother +found the relief of tears.</p> + +<p>Through the long night she quitted not +the sufferer's pillow, bathing his fevered +brow, relieving his thirst, whispering comfort +to his troubled spirit. Soon after daybreak +Philip sank into a quiet, refreshing sleep; +and Lady Grange, feeling as if a mountain's +weight had been lifted from her heart, hurried +to carry the good news to her husband.</p> + +<p>She found him in the spacious saloon, +pacing restlessly to and fro. His brow was +knit, his lips compressed; his disordered +dress and haggard countenance showed that +he, too, had watched the live-long night.</p> + +<p>"He sleeps at last, Gilbert, thank God!" +Her face brightened as she spoke; but there +was no corresponding look of joy on that of +her husband.</p> + +<p>"Gilbert, the doctor assures me that there +is every prospect of our dear boy's restoration!"</p> + +<p>"And to what is he to be restored?" said +the father gloomily; "to poverty—misery—ruin!"</p> + +<p>Lady Grange stood mute with surprise +scarcely believing the evidence of her senses +almost deeming that the words must have +been uttered in a dream. But it was no +dream, but one of those strange, stern realities +which we meet with in life. Her husband +indeed stood before her a ruined man! A +commercial crash, like those which have so +often reduced the rich to poverty, coming +almost as suddenly as the earthquake which +shakes the natural world, had overthrown +all his fortune! The riches in which he had +trusted had taken to themselves wings and +flown away.</p> + +<p>Here was another startling shock, but +Lady Grange felt it far less than the first. +It seemed to her that if her son were only +spared to her, she could bear cheerfully any +other trial. When riches had increased, she +had not set her heart upon them; she had +endeavoured to spend them as a good steward +of God and to lay up treasure in that blessed +place where there is no danger of its ever +being lost. Sir Gilbert was far more crushed +than his wife was by this misfortune. He +saw his idol broken before his eyes, and +where was he to turn for comfort? Everything +upon which his eye rested was a source +of pain to him; for must he not part with +all, leave all in which his heart had delighted, +all in which his soul had taken +pride? He forgot that poverty was only +forestalling by a few years the inevitable +work of death!</p> + +<p>The day passed wearily away. Philip +suffered much pain, was weak and low, and +bitterly conscious how well he had earned +the misery which he was called on to endure. +It was a mercy that he was experiencing, +before it was too late, that <i>thorns and snares +are in the way of the froward</i>. He liked his +mother to read the Bible to him, just a few +verses at a time, as he had strength to bear +it; and in this occupation she herself found +the comfort which she needed. Sir Gilbert, +full of his own troubles, scarcely ever entered +the apartment of his son.</p> + +<p>Towards evening a servant came softly +into the sick-room, bringing a sealed letter +for her lady. There was no post-mark upon +it, and the girl informed her mistress that +the gentleman who had brought it was +waiting in the garden for a reply. The first +glance at the hand-writing, at the well-known +seal, brought colour to the cheek of the lady. +But it was a hand-writing which she had +been forbidden to read; it was a seal which +she must not break! She motioned to the +maid to take her place beside the invalid +who happened at that moment to be sleeping +and with a quick step and a throbbing heart +she hurried away to find her husband.</p> + +<p>He was in his study, his arms resting on +his open desk, and his head bowed down +upon them. Bills and papers, scattered in +profusion on the table, showed what had +been the nature of the occupation which +he had not had the courage to finish. He +started from his posture of despair as his +wife laid a gentle touch on his shoulder; and, +without uttering a word, she placed the +unopened letter in his hand.</p> + +<p>My reader shall have the privilege of looking +over Sir Gilbert's shoulder, and perusing +the contents of that letter:—</p> + +<blockquote><p><span style="font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 100%"> +"Dearest Sister</span>,—We have heard of +your trials, and warmly sympathize in your +sorrow. Let Sir Gilbert know that we have +placed at his banker's, after having settled it +upon you, double the sum which caused our +unhappy differences. Let the past be forgotten; +let us again meet as those should +meet who have gathered together round the +same hearth, mourned over the same grave, +and shared joys and sorrows together, as it +is our anxious desire to do now. I shall be +my own messenger, and shall wait in person +to receive your reply.—Your ever attached +brother,</p> + +<p><span style="font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 100%"> +"Henry Latour.</span>"</p></blockquote> + +<p>A few minutes more and Lady Grange was +in the arms of her brother; while Sir Gilbert +was silently grasping the hand of one whom, +but for misfortune, he would never have +known as a friend.</p> + +<p>All the neighbourhood pitied the gentle +lady, the benefactress of the poor, when she +dismissed her servants, sold her jewels, and +quitted her beautiful home to seek a humbler +shelter. Amongst the hundreds who crowded +to the public auction of the magnificent furniture +and plate, which had been the admiration +of all who had seen them, many thought with +compassion of the late owners, reduced to such +sudden poverty, though the generosity of the +lady's family had saved them from want or +dependence.</p> + +<p>And yet truly, never since her marriage +had Lady Grange been less an object of compassion.</p> + +<p>Her son was slowly but surely recovering, +and his preservation from meeting sudden +death unprepared was to her a source of +unutterable thankfulness. Her own family +appeared to regard her with even more tender +affection than if no coldness had ever arisen +between them; and their love was to her +beyond price. Even Sir Gilbert's harsh, +worldly character, was somewhat softened +by trials, and by the unmerited kindness +which he met with from those whom, in his +prosperity, he had slighted and shunned. +Lady Grange felt that her prayers had been +answered indeed, though in a way very +different from what she had hoped or expected. +The chain by which her son had +been gradually drawn down towards rum, +by those who sought his company for the +sake of his money, had been suddenly snapped +by the loss of his fortune. The weak youth +was left to the guidance of those to whom +his welfare was really dear. Philip, obliged +to rouse himself from his indolence, and +exert himself to earn his living, became a +far wiser and more estimable man than he +would ever have been as the heir to a fortune; +and he never forgot the lesson which pain, +weakness, and shame had taught him,—that +the way of evil is also the way of sorrow. +<i>Thorns and snares are in the way of the +froward.</i></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>Who Wisdom's path forsakes,<br /></span> +<span> Leaves all true joy behind:<br /></span> +<span>He who the peace of others breaks,<br /></span> +<span> No peace himself shall find.<br /></span> +<span>Flowers above and thorns below,<br /></span> +<span>Little pleasure, lasting woe,—<br /></span> +<span>Such is the fate that sinners know!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>The drunkard gaily sings<br /></span> +<span> Above his foaming glass;<br /></span> +<span>But shame and pain the revel brings,<br /></span> +<span> Ere many hours can pass.<br /></span> +<span>Flowers above and thorns below,<br /></span> +<span>Little pleasure, lasting woe,—<br /></span> +<span>Such is the fate that sinners know!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>The thief may count his gains;—<br /></span> +<span> If he the sum could see<br /></span> +<span>Of future punishment and pains,<br /></span> +<span> Sad would his reckoning be!<br /></span> +<span>Flowers above and thorns below,<br /></span> +<span>Little pleasure, lasting woe,—<br /></span> +<span>Such is the fate that sinners know!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>The Sabbath-breaker spurns<br /></span> +<span> What Wisdom did ordain:<br /></span> +<span>God's rest to Satan's use he turns,—<br /></span> +<span> A blessing to a bane.<br /></span> +<span>Flowers above and thorns below,<br /></span> +<span>Little pleasure, lasting woe,—<br /></span> +<span>Such is the fate which sinners know!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>O Lord, to thee we pray;<br /></span> +<span> Do thou our faith increase;<br /></span> +<span>Help us to walk in Wisdom's way,—<br /></span> +<span> The only way of peace:<br /></span> +<span>For flowers above and thorns below,<br /></span> +<span>Little pleasure, lasting woe,—<br /></span> +<span>Such is the fate which sinners know!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<br /> + +<a name="THE_SAILORS_RESOLVE"></a><h2>THE SAILOR'S RESOLVE.</h2> + +<p style="text-indent: 0em; text-align: center;"> +"An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in +transgression."—PROV. xxix. 22.</p> + +<br /> + +<p>The old sailor Jonas sat before the fire +with his pipe in his mouth, looking +steadfastly into the glowing coals. +Not that, following a favourite practice of +his little niece, he was making out red-hot +castles and flaming buildings in the grate, or +that his thoughts were in any way connected +with the embers: he was doing what it would +be well if we all sometimes did,—looking +into himself, and reflecting on what had +happened in relation to his own conduct.</p> + +<p>"So," thought he, "here am I, an honest +old fellow,—I may say it, with all my faults; +and one who shrinks from falsehood more +than from fire; and I find that I, with my +bearish temper, am actually driving those +about me into it—teaching them to be crafty, +tricky, and cowardly! I knew well enough +that my gruffness plagued others, but I never +saw how it <i>tempted</i> others until now; tempted +them to meanness, I would say, for I have +found a thousand times that <i>an angry man +stirreth up strife</i>, and that a short word may +begin a long quarrel. I am afraid that I +have not thought enough on this matter. +I've looked on bad temper as a very little +sin, and I begin to suspect that it is a great +one, both in God's eyes and in the consequences +that it brings. Let me see if I can +reckon up its evils! It makes those miserable +whom one would wish to make happy; +it often, like an adverse gale, forces them to +back, instead of steering straight for the +port. It dishonours one's profession, lowers +one's flag, makes the world mock at the +religion which can leave a man as rough and +rugged as a heathen savage. It's directly +contrary to the Word of God,—it's wide as +east from west of the example set before us! +Yes, a furious temper is a very evil thing; +I'd give my other leg to be rid of mine!" and +in the warmth of his self-reproach the sailor +struck his wooden one against the hearth +with such violence as to make Alie start in +terror that some fierce explosion was about +to follow.</p> + +<p>"Well, I've made up my mind as to its +being an evil—a great evil," continued Jonas, +in his quiet meditation; "the next question +is, how is the evil to be got rid of? There's +the pinch! It clings to one like one's skin. +It's one's nature,—how can one fight against +nature? And yet, I take it, it's the very +business of faith to conquer our evil nature. +As I read somewhere, any dead dog can float +with the stream; it's the living dog that swims +against it. I mind the trouble I had about +the wicked habit of swearing, when first I +took to trying to serve God and leave off my +evil courses. Bad words came to my mouth +as natural as the very air that I breathed. +What did I do to cure myself of that evil? +Why, I resolved again and again, and found +that my resolutions were always snapping +like a rotten cable in a storm; and I was +driven from my anchorage so often, that I +almost began to despair. Then I prayed +hard to be helped; and I said to myself, +'God helps those who help themselves, and +maybe if I determine to do something that +I should be sorry to do every time that +an oath comes from my mouth, it would +assist me to remember my duty.' I resolved +to break my pipe the first time that I swore; +and I've never uttered an oath from that +day to this, not even in my most towering +passions! Now I'll try the same cure again; +not to punish a sin, but to prevent it. If I +fly into a fury, I'll break my pipe! There +Jonas Colter, I give you fair warning!" +and the old sailor smiled grimly to himself, +and stirred the fire with an air of satisfaction.</p> + +<p>Not one rough word did Jonas utter that +evening; indeed he was remarkably silent, +for the simplest way of saying nothing evil, +he thought, was to say nothing at all. Jonas +looked with much pleasure at his pipe when +he put it on the mantle-piece for the night. +"You've weathered this day, old friend," +said he; "we'll be on the look out against +squalls to-morrow."</p> + +<p>The next morning Jonas occupied himself +in his own room with his phials, and his +nephew and niece were engaged in the +kitchen in preparing for the Sunday school, +which their mother made, them regularly +attend. The door was open between the two +rooms and as the place was not large, Jonas +heard every word that passed between +Johnny and Alie almost as well as if he had +been close beside them.</p> + +<p><i>Johnny</i>. I say, Alie—</p> + +<p><i>Alie</i>. Please, Johnny, let me learn this +quietly. If I do not know it my teacher will +be vexed. My work being behind-hand yesterday +has put me quite back with my tasks. +You know that I cannot learn so fast as +you do.</p> + +<p><i>Johnny</i>. Oh! you've plenty of time. I +want you to do something for me. Do you +know that I have lost my new ball?</p> + +<p><i>Alie</i>. Why, I saw you take it out of your +pocket yesterday, just after we crossed the +stile on our way back from the farm.</p> + +<p><i>Johnny</i>. That's it! I took it out of my +pocket, and I never put it in again. I want +you to go directly and look for the ball. +That stile is only three fields off, you know. +You must look carefully along the path all +the way; and lose no time, or some one else +may pick it up.</p> + +<p><i>Alie</i>. Pray, Johnny, don't ask me to go +into the fields.</p> + +<p><i>Johnny</i>. I tell you, you have plenty of +time for your lessons.</p> + +<p><i>Alie</i>. It is not that, but—</p> + +<p><i>Johnny</i>. Speak out, will you?</p> + +<p><i>Alie</i>. You know—there are—cows!</p> + +<p>Johnny burst into a loud, coarse laugh of +derision. "You miserable little coward!" he +cried; "I'd like to see one chasing you round +the meadow! How you'd scamper! how +you'd scream! rare fun it would be,—ha! +ha! ha!"</p> + +<p>"Rare fun would it be, sir!" exclaimed an +indignant voice, as Jonas stumped from the +next room, and, seizing his nephew by the +collar of his jacket, gave him a hearty shake; +"rare fun would it be,—and what do you call +this? You dare twit your sister with cowardice!—you +who sneaked off yesterday like a +fox because you had not the spirit to look an +old man in the face!—you who bully the +weak and cringe to the strong!—you who +have the manners of a bear with the heart +of a pigeon!" Every sentence was accompanied +by a violent shake, which almost +took the breath from the boy; and Jonas, +red with passion, concluded his speech by +flinging Johnny from him with such force +that, but for the wall against which he staggered, +he must have fallen to the ground.</p> + +<p>The next minute Jonas walked up to the +mantle-piece, and exclaiming, in a tone of +vexation, "Run aground again!" took his +pipe, snapped it in two, and flung the pieces +into the fire! He then stumped back to his +room, slamming the door behind him.</p> + +<p>"The old fury!" muttered the panting +Johnny between his clenched teeth, looking +fiercely towards his uncle's room.</p> + +<p>"To break his own pipe!" exclaimed Alie. +"I never knew him do anything like that +before, however angry he might be!"</p> + +<p>Johnny took down his cap from its peg, +and, in as ill humour as can well be imagined, +went out to search for his ball. He took +what revenge he could on his formidable +uncle, while amusing himself that afternoon +by looking over his "Robinson Crusoe." +Johnny was fond of his pencil, though he +had never learned to draw; and the margins +of his books were often adorned with grim +heads or odd figures by his hand. There +was a picture in "Robinson Crusoe" representing +a party of cannibals, as hideous as +fancy could represent them, dancing around +their fire. Johnny diverted his mind and +gratified his malice by doing his best so to +alter the foremost figure as to make him +appear with a wooden leg, while he drew on +his head a straw hat, unmistakably like that +of the old sailor, and touched up the features +so as to give a dim resemblance to his face. +To prevent a doubt as to the meaning of the +sketch, Johnny scribbled on the side of the +picture,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"In search of fierce savages no one need roam;<br /></span> +<span>The fiercest and ugliest, you'll find him at home!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>He secretly showed the picture to Alie.</p> + +<p>"O Johnny! how naughty! What would +uncle say if he saw it?"</p> + +<p>"We might look out for squalls indeed! +but uncle never by any chance looks at a +book of that sort."</p> + +<p>"I think that you had better rub out the +pencilling as fast as you can," said Alie.</p> + +<p>"Catch me rubbing it out!" cried Johnny; +"it's the best sketch that ever I drew, and as +like the old savage as it can stare!"</p> + +<p>Late in the evening their mother returned +from Brampton, where she had been nursing a +sick lady. Right glad were Johnny and Alie +to see her sooner than they had ventured to +expect. She brought them a few oranges, to +show her remembrance of them. Nor was +the old sailor forgotten; carefully she drew +from her bag and presented to him a new +pipe.</p> + +<p>The children glanced at each other. Jonas +took the pipe with a curious expression on +his face, which his sister was at a loss to +understand.</p> + +<p>"Thank'ee kindly," he said; "I see it'll +be a case of—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"'If ye try and don't succeed,<br /></span> +<span>Try, try, try again.'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>What he meant was a riddle to every one +else present, although not to the reader.</p> + +<p>The "try" was very successful on that +evening and the following day. Never had +Johnny and Alie found their uncle so agreeable. +His manner almost approached to +gentleness,—it was a calm after a storm.</p> + +<p>"Uncle is so very good and kind," said +Alie to her brother, as they walked home +from afternoon service, "that I wonder how +you can bear to have that naughty picture +still in your book. He is not in the least +like a cannibal, and it seems quite wrong to +laugh at him so."</p> + +<p>"I'll rub it all out one of these days," replied +Johnny; "but I must show it first to +Peter Crane. He says that I never hit on a +likeness: if he sees that, he'll never say so +again!"</p> + +<p>The next morning Jonas occupied himself +with gathering wild flowers and herbs in the +fields. He carried them into his little room, +where Johnny heard him whistling "Old +Tom Bowling," like one at peace with himself +and all the world.</p> + +<p>Presently Jonas called to the boy to bring +him a knife from the kitchen; a request +made in an unusually courteous tone of voice, +and with which, of course, Johnny immediately +complied.</p> + +<p>He found Jonas busy drying his plants, +by laying them neatly between the pages of +a book, preparatory to pressing them down. +What was the terror of Johnny when he +perceived that the book whose pages Jonas +was turning over for this purpose was no +other than his "Robinson Crusoe"!</p> + +<p>"Oh! if I could only get it out of his +hands before he comes to that horrid picture! +Oh! what shall I do? what shall I do?" +thought the bewildered Johnny. "Uncle, I +was reading that book," at last he mustered +courage to say aloud.</p> + +<p>"You may read it again to-morrow," was +the quiet reply of Jonas.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he will not look at that picture," +reflected Johnny. "I wish that I could see +exactly which part of the book he is at! He +looks too quiet a great deal for any mischief +to have been done yet! Dear! dear! I +would give anything to have that 'Robinson +Crusoe' at the bottom of the sea! I do +think that my uncle's face is growing very +red!—yes! the veins on his forehead are +swelling! Depend on't he's turned over to +those unlucky cannibals, and will be ready +to eat me like one of them! I'd better make +off before the thunder-clap comes!"</p> + +<p>"Going to sheer off again, Master Johnny?" +said the old sailor, in a very peculiar tone of +voice, looking up from the open book on +which his finger now rested.</p> + +<p>"I've a little business," stammered out +Johnny.</p> + +<p>"Yes, a little business with me, which +you'd better square before you hoist sail. +Why, when you made such a good figure of +this savage, did you not clap jacket and boots +on this little cannibal beside him, and make +a pair of 'em 'at home'? I suspect you and +I are both in the same boat as far as regards +our tempers, my lad!"</p> + +<p>Johnny felt it utterly impossible to utter +a word in reply.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid," pursued the seaman, closing +the book, "that we've both had a bit too +much of the savage about us,—too much of +the dancing round the fire. But mark me, +Jack,—we learn even in that book that a +savage, a cannibal <i>may</i> be tamed; and we +learn from something far better, that principle,—the +noblest principle which can govern +either the young or the old,—<i>may</i>, ay, and +<i>must</i>, put out the fire of fierce anger in our +hearts, and change us from wild beasts to +men! So I've said my say," added Jonas +with a smile; "and in token of my first +victory over my old foe, come here, my boy, +and give us your hand!"</p> + +<p>"O uncle, I am so sorry!" exclaimed +Johnny, with moistened eyes, as he felt the +kindly grasp of the old man.</p> + +<p>"Sorry are you? and what were you on +Saturday when I shook you as a cat shakes +a rat?"</p> + +<p>"Why, uncle, I own that I was angry."</p> + +<p>"Sorry now, and angry then? So it's +clear that the mild way has the best effect, +to say nothing of the example." And Jonas +fell into a fit of musing.</p> + +<p>All was fair weather and sunshine in the +home on that day, and on many days after. +Jonas had, indeed, a hard struggle to subdue +his temper, and often felt fierce anger rising +in his heart, and ready to boil over in words +of passion or acts of violence; but Jonas, as +he had endeavoured faithfully to serve his +Queen, while he fought under her flag, +brought the same earnest and brave sense of +duty to bear on the trials of daily life. He +never again forgot his resolution, and every +day that passed made the restraint which he +laid upon himself less painful and irksome +to him.</p> + +<p>If the conscience of any of my readers +should tell him that, by his unruly temper, +he is marring the peace of his family, oh! +let him not neglect the evil as a small one, +but, like the poor old sailor in my story, +resolutely struggle against it. For <i>an angry +man stirreth up strife, and a furious man +aboundeth in transgression.</i></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>There is sin in commencing strife;<br /></span> +<span> Sin in the thoughtless jest<br /></span> +<span> Or angry burst,<br /></span> +<span> Which awakens first<br /></span> +<span> The ire in a brother's breast!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>There is sin in stirring up strife,<br /></span> +<span> In fanning the smouldering flame,<br /></span> +<span> By scornful eye,<br /></span> +<span> Or proud reply,<br /></span> +<span> Or anger-stirring name.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>There is sin in keeping up strife,<br /></span> +<span> Dark, soul-destroying sin.<br /></span> +<span> Who cherishes hate<br /></span> +<span> May seek heaven's gate,<br /></span> +<span> But never can enter in.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>For peace is the Christian's joy,<br /></span> +<span> And love is the Christian's life;<br /></span> +<span> He's bound for a home<br /></span> +<span> Where hate cannot come,<br /></span> +<span> Nor the shadow of sin or strife!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FALSE FRIENDS, AND THE SAILOR'S RESOLVE***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 14543-h.txt or 14543-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/5/4/14543">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/5/4/14543</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: False Friends, and The Sailor's Resolve + +Author: Unknown + +Release Date: December 31, 2004 [eBook #14543] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FALSE FRIENDS, AND THE SAILOR'S +RESOLVE*** + + +E-text prepared by Sherry Hamby, Ted Garvin, Melissa Er-Raqabi, Jeannie +Howse, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team +(https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 14543-h.htm or 14543-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/5/4/14543/14543-h/14543-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/5/4/14543/14543-h.zip) + + + + + +FALSE FRIENDS + +THE SAILOR'S RESOLVE + +1884 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: LADY GRANGE READING TO HER SON. _Page 19._] + + +[Illustration: A TALK ABOUT THE PICTURE. _Page 33._] + + + + +FALSE FRIENDS + + "Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward."--PROV. xxii. 5. + +[Illustration: REFLECTION. _Page 25._] + +"Philip, your conduct has distressed me exceedingly," said Lady Grange, +laying her hand on the arm of her son, as they entered together the +elegant apartment which had been fitted up as her boudoir. "You could +not but know my feelings towards those two men--I will not call them +gentlemen--whose company you have again forced upon me. You must be +aware that your father has shut the door of this house against them." + +"My father has shut the door against better men than they are," said the +youth carelessly; "witness my own uncles Henry and George." + +The lip of the lady quivered, the indignant colour rose even to her +temples; she attempted to speak, but her voice failed her, and she +turned aside to hide her emotion. + +"Well, mother, I did not mean to vex you," said Philip, who was rather +weak in purpose than hardened in evil; "it _was_ a shame to bring Jones +and Wildrake here, but--but you see I couldn't help it." And he played +uneasily with his gold-headed riding-whip, while his eye avoided meeting +that of his mother. + +"They have acquired some strange influence, some mysterious hold over +you," answered the lady. "It cannot be," she added anxiously, "that you +have broken your promise,--that they have drawn you again to the +gaming-table,--that you are involved in debt to these men?" + +Philip whistled an air and sauntered up to the window. + +Lady Grange pressed her hand over her eyes, and a sigh, a very heavy +sigh, burst from her bosom. Philip heard, and turned impatiently round. + +"There's no use in making the worst of matters," said he; "what's done +can't be helped; and my debts, such as they are, won't ruin a rich man +like my father." + +"It is not that which I fear," said the mother faintly, with a terrible +consciousness that her son,--her hope, her pride, the delight of her +heart,--had entered on a course which, if persevered in, must end in his +ruin both of body and soul. "I tremble at the thought of the misery +which you are bringing on yourself. These men are making you their +victim: they are blinding your eyes; they are throwing a net around you, +and you have not the resolution to break from the snare." + +"They are very pleasant, jovial fellows!" cried Philip, trying to hide +under an appearance of careless gaiety the real annoyance which he felt +at the words of his mother. + +"I've asked them to dine here to-day and--" + +"I shall not appear at the table," said Lady Grange, drawing herself up +with dignity; "and if your father should arrive--" + +"Oh! he won't arrive to-night; he never travels so late." + +"But, Philip," said the lady earnestly again laying her cold hand on his +arm. She was interrupted by her wayward and undutiful son. + +"Mother, there's no use in saying anything more on the subject; it only +worries you, and puts me out of temper. I can't, and I won't be uncivil +to my friends;" and turning hastily round, Philip quitted the apartment. + +"Friends!" faintly echoed Lady Grange, as she saw the door close behind +her misguided son. "Oh!" she exclaimed, throwing herself on a sofa, and +burying her face, "was there ever a mother--ever a woman so unhappy as +I am!" + +Her cup was indeed very bitter; it was one which the luxuries that +surrounded her had not the least power to sweeten. Her husband was a man +possessing many noble qualities both of head and heart; but the fatal +love of gold, like those petrifying springs which change living twigs +to dead stone, had made him hardened, quarrelsome, and worldly. It had +drawn him away from the worship of his God; for there is deep truth in +the declaration of the apostle, that the covetous man is _an idolater_. +It was this miserable love of gold which had induced Sir Gilbert to +break with the family of his wife, and separate her from those to whom +her loving heart still clung with the fondest affection. Lady Grange +yearned for a sight of her early home; but gold had raised a barrier +between her and the companions of her childhood. And what had the +possession of gold done for the man who made it his idol? It had put +snares in the path of his only son; it had made the weak-minded but +head-strong youth be entrapped by the wicked for the sake of his wealth, +as the ermine is hunted down for its rich fur. It had given to himself +heavy responsibilities, for which he would have to answer at the bar of +Heaven; for from him unto whom much has been given, much at the last day +will be required. + +Yes, Lady Grange was very miserable. And how did she endeavour +to lighten the burden of her misery? Was it by counting over her +jewels,--looking at the costly and beautiful things which adorned her +dwelling,--thinking of her carriages and horses and glittering plate, or +the number of her rich and titled friends? No; she sought comfort where +Widow Green had sought it when her child lay dangerously ill, and there +was neither a loaf on her shelf nor a penny in her purse. The rich lady +did what the poor one had done,--she fell on her knees and with tears +poured out her heart to the merciful Father of all. She told him her +sorrows, she told him her fears; she asked him for that help which she +so much required. Her case was a harder one than the widow's. A visit +from the clergyman, a present from a benevolent friend, God's blessing +on a simple remedy, had soon changed Mrs. Green's sorrow into joy. +The anguish of Lady Grange lay deeper; her faith was more sorely tried; +her fears were not for the bodies but the souls of those whom she +loved;--and where is the mortal who can give us a cure for the disease +of sin? + +While his mother was weeping and praying, Philip was revelling and +drinking. Fast were the bottles pushed round, and often were the glasses +refilled. The stately banqueting-room resounded with laughter and +merriment; and as the evening advanced, with boisterous song. It was +late before the young men quitted the table; and then, heated with wine, +they threw the window wide open, to let the freshness of the night air +cool their fevered temples. + +Beautiful looked the park in the calm moonlight. Not a breath stirred +the branches of the trees, their dark shadows lay motionless on the +green sward: perfect silence and stillness reigned around. But the holy +quietness of nature was rudely disturbed by the voices of the revellers. + +With the conversation that passed I shall not soil my pages. The window +opened into a broad stone balcony, and seating themselves upon its +parapet, the young men exchanged stories and jests. After many sallies +of so-called wit, Wildrake rallied Philip on the quantity of wine which +he had taken, and betted that he could not walk steadily from the one +end of the balcony to the other. Philip, with that insane pride which +can plume itself on being _mighty to mingle strong drink_, maintained +that his head was as clear and his faculties as perfect as though he had +tasted nothing but water; and declared that he could walk round the edge +of the parapet with as steady a step as he would tread the gravel-path +in the morning! + +Wildrake laughed, and dared him to do it: Jones betted ten to one that +he could not. + +"Done!" cried Philip, and sprang up on the parapet in a moment. + +"Come down again!" called out Wildrake, who had enough of sense left to +perceive the folly and danger of the wager. + +Philip did not appear to hear him. Attempting to balance himself by his +arms, with a slow and unsteady step he began to make his way along the +lofty and narrow edge. + +The two young men held their breath. To one who with unsteady feet walks +the slippery margin of temptation, the higher his position, the greater +his danger; the loftier his elevation, the more perilous a fall! + +"He will never get to the end!" said Jones, watching with some anxiety +the movements of his companion. + +The words had scarcely escaped his lips when they received a startling +fulfilment. Philip had not proceeded half way along the parapet when a +slight sound in the garden below him attracted his attention. He glanced +down for a moment; and there, in the cold, clear moonlight, gazing +sternly upon him, he beheld his father! The sudden start of surprise +which he gave threw the youth off his balance,--he staggered back, lost +his footing, stretched out his hands wildly to save himself, and fell +with a loud cry to the ground! + +All was now confusion and terror. There were the rushing of footsteps +hither and thither, voices calling, bells loudly ringing, and, above +all, the voice of a mother's anguish, piercing to the soul! Jones and +Wildrake hurried off to the stables, saddled their horses themselves, +and dashed off at full speed to summon a surgeon, glad of any excuse +to make their escape from the place. + +The unfortunate Philip was raised from the ground, and carried into the +house. His groans showed the severity of his sufferings. The slightest +motion was to him torture, and an hour of intense suspense ensued before +the arrival of the surgeon. Lady Grange made a painful effort to be +calm. She thought of everything, did all that she could do for the +relief of her son, and even strove to speak words of comfort and hope +to her husband, who appeared almost stupified by his sorrow. Prayer was +still her support--prayer, silent, but almost unceasing. + +The surgeon arrived,--the injuries received by the sufferer were +examined, though it was long before Philip, unaccustomed to pain and +incapable of self-control, would permit necessary measures to be taken. +His resistance greatly added to his sufferings. He had sustained a +compound fracture of his leg, besides numerous bruises and contusions. +The broken bone had to be set, and the pale mother stood by, longing, in +the fervour of her unselfish love, that she could endure the agony in +the place of her son. The pampered child of luxury shrank sensitively +from pain, and the thought that he had brought all his misery upon +himself by his folly and disobedience rendered it yet more intolerable. +When the surgeon had at length done his work, Lady Grange retired with +him to another apartment, and, struggling to command her choking voice, +asked him the question on the reply to which all her earthly happiness +seemed to hang,--whether he had hope that the life of her boy might be +spared. + +"I have every hope", said the surgeon, cheerfully, "if we can keep down +the fever." Then, for the first time since she had seen her son lie +bleeding before her, the mother found the relief of tears. + +Through the long night she quitted not the sufferer's pillow, bathing +his fevered brow, relieving his thirst, whispering comfort to his +troubled spirit. Soon after daybreak Philip sank into a quiet, +refreshing sleep; and Lady Grange, feeling as if a mountain's weight had +been lifted from her heart, hurried to carry the good news to her husband. + +She found him in the spacious saloon, pacing restlessly to and fro. His +brow was knit, his lips compressed; his disordered dress and haggard +countenance showed that he, too, had watched the live-long night. + +"He sleeps at last, Gilbert, thank God!" Her face brightened as she +spoke; but there was no corresponding look of joy on that of her husband. + +"Gilbert, the doctor assures me that there is every prospect of our +dear boy's restoration!" + +"And to what is he to be restored?" said the father gloomily; "to +poverty--misery--ruin!" + +Lady Grange stood mute with surprise scarcely believing the evidence of +her senses almost deeming that the words must have been uttered in a +dream. But it was no dream, but one of those strange, stern realities +which we meet with in life. Her husband indeed stood before her a ruined +man! A commercial crash, like those which have so often reduced the rich +to poverty, coming almost as suddenly as the earthquake which shakes the +natural world, had overthrown all his fortune! The riches in which he +had trusted had taken to themselves wings and flown away. + +Here was another startling shock, but Lady Grange felt it far less than +the first. It seemed to her that if her son were only spared to her, she +could bear cheerfully any other trial. When riches had increased, she +had not set her heart upon them; she had endeavoured to spend them as a +good steward of God and to lay up treasure in that blessed place where +there is no danger of its ever being lost. Sir Gilbert was far more +crushed than his wife was by this misfortune. He saw his idol broken +before his eyes, and where was he to turn for comfort? Everything upon +which his eye rested was a source of pain to him; for must he not part +with all, leave all in which his heart had delighted, all in which his +soul had taken pride? He forgot that poverty was only forestalling by a +few years the inevitable work of death! + +The day passed wearily away. Philip suffered much pain, was weak and +low, and bitterly conscious how well he had earned the misery which he +was called on to endure. It was a mercy that he was experiencing, before +it was too late, that _thorns and snares are in the way of the froward_. +He liked his mother to read the Bible to him, just a few verses at a +time, as he had strength to bear it; and in this occupation she herself +found the comfort which she needed. Sir Gilbert, full of his own +troubles, scarcely ever entered the apartment of his son. + +Towards evening a servant came softly into the sick-room, bringing +a sealed letter for her lady. There was no post-mark upon it, and +the girl informed her mistress that the gentleman who had brought +it was waiting in the garden for a reply. The first glance at the +hand-writing, at the well-known seal, brought colour to the cheek of +the lady. But it was a hand-writing which she had been forbidden to +read; it was a seal which she must not break! She motioned to the maid +to take her place beside the invalid who happened at that moment to be +sleeping and with a quick step and a throbbing heart she hurried away +to find her husband. + +He was in his study, his arms resting on his open desk, and his head +bowed down upon them. Bills and papers, scattered in profusion on the +table, showed what had been the nature of the occupation which he had +not had the courage to finish. He started from his posture of despair +as his wife laid a gentle touch on his shoulder; and, without uttering +a word, she placed the unopened letter in his hand. + +My reader shall have the privilege of looking over Sir Gilbert's +shoulder, and perusing the contents of that letter:-- + + "Dearest Sister,--We have heard of your trials, and warmly + sympathize in your sorrow. Let Sir Gilbert know that we have placed + at his banker's, after having settled it upon you, double the sum + which caused our unhappy differences. Let the past be forgotten; + let us again meet as those should meet who have gathered together + round the same hearth, mourned over the same grave, and shared joys + and sorrows together, as it is our anxious desire to do now. I + shall be my own messenger, and shall wait in person to receive your + reply.--Your ever attached brother, + + "HENRY LATOUR." + +A few minutes more and Lady Grange was in the arms of her brother; while +Sir Gilbert was silently grasping the hand of one whom, but for +misfortune, he would never have known as a friend. + +All the neighbourhood pitied the gentle lady, the benefactress of the +poor, when she dismissed her servants, sold her jewels, and quitted +her beautiful home to seek a humbler shelter. Amongst the hundreds who +crowded to the public auction of the magnificent furniture and plate, +which had been the admiration of all who had seen them, many thought +with compassion of the late owners, reduced to such sudden poverty, +though the generosity of the lady's family had saved them from want +or dependence. + +And yet truly, never since her marriage had Lady Grange been less an +object of compassion. + +Her son was slowly but surely recovering, and his preservation from +meeting sudden death unprepared was to her a source of unutterable +thankfulness. Her own family appeared to regard her with even more +tender affection than if no coldness had ever arisen between them; and +their love was to her beyond price. Even Sir Gilbert's harsh, worldly +character, was somewhat softened by trials, and by the unmerited +kindness which he met with from those whom, in his prosperity, he +had slighted and shunned. Lady Grange felt that her prayers had been +answered indeed, though in a way very different from what she had hoped +or expected. The chain by which her son had been gradually drawn down +towards rum, by those who sought his company for the sake of his money, +had been suddenly snapped by the loss of his fortune. The weak youth +was left to the guidance of those to whom his welfare was really dear. +Philip, obliged to rouse himself from his indolence, and exert himself +to earn his living, became a far wiser and more estimable man than he +would ever have been as the heir to a fortune; and he never forgot the +lesson which pain, weakness, and shame had taught him,--that the way of +evil is also the way of sorrow. _Thorns and snares are in the way of +the froward._ + + Who Wisdom's path forsakes, + Leaves all true joy behind: + He who the peace of others breaks, + No peace himself shall find. + Flowers above and thorns below, + Little pleasure, lasting woe,-- + Such is the fate that sinners know! + + The drunkard gaily sings + Above his foaming glass; + But shame and pain the revel brings, + Ere many hours can pass. + Flowers above and thorns below, + Little pleasure, lasting woe,-- + Such is the fate that sinners know! + + The thief may count his gains;-- + If he the sum could see + Of future punishment and pains, + Sad would his reckoning be! + Flowers above and thorns below, + Little pleasure, lasting woe,-- + Such is the fate that sinners know! + + The Sabbath-breaker spurns + What Wisdom did ordain: + God's rest to Satan's use he turns,-- + A blessing to a bane. + Flowers above and thorns below, + Little pleasure, lasting woe,-- + Such is the fate which sinners know! + + O Lord, to thee we pray; + Do thou our faith increase; + Help us to walk in Wisdom's way,-- + The only way of peace: + For flowers above and thorns below, + Little pleasure, lasting woe,-- + Such is the fate which sinners know! + + + + + + + + +THE SAILOR'S RESOLVE. + + "An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in + transgression."--PROV. xxix. 22. + +The old sailor Jonas sat before the fire with his pipe in his mouth, +looking steadfastly into the glowing coals. Not that, following a +favourite practice of his little niece, he was making out red-hot +castles and flaming buildings in the grate, or that his thoughts were in +any way connected with the embers: he was doing what it would be well if +we all sometimes did,--looking into himself, and reflecting on what had +happened in relation to his own conduct. + +"So," thought he, "here am I, an honest old fellow,--I may say it, with +all my faults; and one who shrinks from falsehood more than from fire; +and I find that I, with my bearish temper, am actually driving those +about me into it--teaching them to be crafty, tricky, and cowardly! I +knew well enough that my gruffness plagued others, but I never saw how +it _tempted_ others until now; tempted them to meanness, I would say, +for I have found a thousand times that _an angry man stirreth up +strife_, and that a short word may begin a long quarrel. I am afraid +that I have not thought enough on this matter. I've looked on bad temper +as a very little sin, and I begin to suspect that it is a great one, +both in God's eyes and in the consequences that it brings. Let me see +if I can reckon up its evils! It makes those miserable whom one would +wish to make happy; it often, like an adverse gale, forces them to +back, instead of steering straight for the port. It dishonours one's +profession, lowers one's flag, makes the world mock at the religion +which can leave a man as rough and rugged as a heathen savage. It's +directly contrary to the Word of God,--it's wide as east from west of +the example set before us! Yes, a furious temper is a very evil thing; +I'd give my other leg to be rid of mine!" and in the warmth of his +self-reproach the sailor struck his wooden one against the hearth with +such violence as to make Alie start in terror that some fierce explosion +was about to follow. + +"Well, I've made up my mind as to its being an evil--a great evil," +continued Jonas, in his quiet meditation; "the next question is, how +is the evil to be got rid of? There's the pinch! It clings to one like +one's skin. It's one's nature,--how can one fight against nature? And +yet, I take it, it's the very business of faith to conquer our evil +nature. As I read somewhere, any dead dog can float with the stream; +it's the living dog that swims against it. I mind the trouble I had +about the wicked habit of swearing, when first I took to trying to serve +God and leave off my evil courses. Bad words came to my mouth as natural +as the very air that I breathed. What did I do to cure myself of that +evil? Why, I resolved again and again, and found that my resolutions +were always snapping like a rotten cable in a storm; and I was driven +from my anchorage so often, that I almost began to despair. Then I +prayed hard to be helped; and I said to myself, 'God helps those who +help themselves, and maybe if I determine to do something that I should +be sorry to do every time that an oath comes from my mouth, it would +assist me to remember my duty.' I resolved to break my pipe the first +time that I swore; and I've never uttered an oath from that day to this, +not even in my most towering passions! Now I'll try the same cure again; +not to punish a sin, but to prevent it. If I fly into a fury, I'll break +my pipe! There Jonas Colter, I give you fair warning!" and the old +sailor smiled grimly to himself, and stirred the fire with an air of +satisfaction. + +Not one rough word did Jonas utter that evening; indeed he was +remarkably silent, for the simplest way of saying nothing evil, he +thought, was to say nothing at all. Jonas looked with much pleasure +at his pipe when he put it on the mantle-piece for the night. "You've +weathered this day, old friend," said he; "we'll be on the look out +against squalls to-morrow." + +The next morning Jonas occupied himself in his own room with his phials, +and his nephew and niece were engaged in the kitchen in preparing for +the Sunday school, which their mother made, them regularly attend. The +door was open between the two rooms and as the place was not large, +Jonas heard every word that passed between Johnny and Alie almost as +well as if he had been close beside them. + +_Johnny_. I say, Alie-- + +_Alie_. Please, Johnny, let me learn this quietly. If I do not know it +my teacher will be vexed. My work being behind-hand yesterday has put me +quite back with my tasks. You know that I cannot learn so fast as you do. + +_Johnny_. Oh! you've plenty of time. I want you to do something for me. +Do you know that I have lost my new ball? + +_Alie_. Why, I saw you take it out of your pocket yesterday, just after +we crossed the stile on our way back from the farm. + +_Johnny_. That's it! I took it out of my pocket, and I never put it in +again. I want you to go directly and look for the ball. That stile is +only three fields off, you know. You must look carefully along the path +all the way; and lose no time, or some one else may pick it up. + +_Alie_. Pray, Johnny, don't ask me to go into the fields. + +_Johnny_. I tell you, you have plenty of time for your lessons. + +_Alie_. It is not that, but-- + +_Johnny_. Speak out, will you? + +_Alie_. You know--there are--cows! + +Johnny burst into a loud, coarse laugh of derision. "You miserable +little coward!" he cried; "I'd like to see one chasing you round the +meadow! How you'd scamper! how you'd scream! rare fun it would be,--ha! +ha! ha!" + +"Rare fun would it be, sir!" exclaimed an indignant voice, as Jonas +stumped from the next room, and, seizing his nephew by the collar of his +jacket, gave him a hearty shake; "rare fun would it be,--and what do you +call this? You dare twit your sister with cowardice!--you who sneaked +off yesterday like a fox because you had not the spirit to look an old +man in the face!--you who bully the weak and cringe to the strong!--you +who have the manners of a bear with the heart of a pigeon!" Every +sentence was accompanied by a violent shake, which almost took the +breath from the boy; and Jonas, red with passion, concluded his speech +by flinging Johnny from him with such force that, but for the wall +against which he staggered, he must have fallen to the ground. + +The next minute Jonas walked up to the mantle-piece, and exclaiming, in +a tone of vexation, "Run aground again!" took his pipe, snapped it in +two, and flung the pieces into the fire! He then stumped back to his +room, slamming the door behind him. + +"The old fury!" muttered the panting Johnny between his clenched teeth, +looking fiercely towards his uncle's room. + +"To break his own pipe!" exclaimed Alie. "I never knew him do anything +like that before, however angry he might be!" + +Johnny took down his cap from its peg, and, in as ill humour as can +well be imagined, went out to search for his ball. He took what revenge +he could on his formidable uncle, while amusing himself that afternoon +by looking over his "Robinson Crusoe." Johnny was fond of his pencil, +though he had never learned to draw; and the margins of his books were +often adorned with grim heads or odd figures by his hand. There was +a picture in "Robinson Crusoe" representing a party of cannibals, +as hideous as fancy could represent them, dancing around their fire. +Johnny diverted his mind and gratified his malice by doing his best so +to alter the foremost figure as to make him appear with a wooden leg, +while he drew on his head a straw hat, unmistakably like that of the old +sailor, and touched up the features so as to give a dim resemblance to +his face. To prevent a doubt as to the meaning of the sketch, Johnny +scribbled on the side of the picture,-- + + "In search of fierce savages no one need roam; + The fiercest and ugliest, you'll find him at home!" + +He secretly showed the picture to Alie. + +"O Johnny! how naughty! What would uncle say if he saw it?" + +"We might look out for squalls indeed! but uncle never by any chance +looks at a book of that sort." + +"I think that you had better rub out the pencilling as fast as you can," +said Alie. + +"Catch me rubbing it out!" cried Johnny; "it's the best sketch that ever +I drew, and as like the old savage as it can stare!" + +Late in the evening their mother returned from Brampton, where she had +been nursing a sick lady. Right glad were Johnny and Alie to see her +sooner than they had ventured to expect. She brought them a few oranges, +to show her remembrance of them. Nor was the old sailor forgotten; +carefully she drew from her bag and presented to him a new pipe. + +The children glanced at each other. Jonas took the pipe with a curious +expression on his face, which his sister was at a loss to understand. + +"Thank'ee kindly," he said; "I see it'll be a case of-- + + "'If ye try and don't succeed, + Try, try, try again.'" + +What he meant was a riddle to every one else present, although not to +the reader. + +The "try" was very successful on that evening and the following day. +Never had Johnny and Alie found their uncle so agreeable. His manner +almost approached to gentleness,--it was a calm after a storm. + +"Uncle is so very good and kind," said Alie to her brother, as they +walked home from afternoon service, "that I wonder how you can bear to +have that naughty picture still in your book. He is not in the least +like a cannibal, and it seems quite wrong to laugh at him so." + +"I'll rub it all out one of these days," replied Johnny; "but I must +show it first to Peter Crane. He says that I never hit on a likeness: if +he sees that, he'll never say so again!" + +The next morning Jonas occupied himself with gathering wild flowers and +herbs in the fields. He carried them into his little room, where Johnny +heard him whistling "Old Tom Bowling," like one at peace with himself +and all the world. + +Presently Jonas called to the boy to bring him a knife from the kitchen; +a request made in an unusually courteous tone of voice, and with which, +of course, Johnny immediately complied. + +He found Jonas busy drying his plants, by laying them neatly between the +pages of a book, preparatory to pressing them down. What was the terror +of Johnny when he perceived that the book whose pages Jonas was turning +over for this purpose was no other than his "Robinson Crusoe"! + +"Oh! if I could only get it out of his hands before he comes to that +horrid picture! Oh! what shall I do? what shall I do?" thought the +bewildered Johnny. "Uncle, I was reading that book," at last he mustered +courage to say aloud. + +"You may read it again to-morrow," was the quiet reply of Jonas. + +"Perhaps he will not look at that picture," reflected Johnny. "I wish +that I could see exactly which part of the book he is at! He looks too +quiet a great deal for any mischief to have been done yet! Dear! dear! +I would give anything to have that 'Robinson Crusoe' at the bottom of +the sea! I do think that my uncle's face is growing very red!--yes! the +veins on his forehead are swelling! Depend on't he's turned over to +those unlucky cannibals, and will be ready to eat me like one of them! +I'd better make off before the thunder-clap comes!" + +"Going to sheer off again, Master Johnny?" said the old sailor, in a +very peculiar tone of voice, looking up from the open book on which his +finger now rested. + +"I've a little business," stammered out Johnny. + +"Yes, a little business with me, which you'd better square before you +hoist sail. Why, when you made such a good figure of this savage, did +you not clap jacket and boots on this little cannibal beside him, and +make a pair of 'em 'at home'? I suspect you and I are both in the same +boat as far as regards our tempers, my lad!" + +Johnny felt it utterly impossible to utter a word in reply. + +"I'm afraid," pursued the seaman, closing the book, "that we've both had +a bit too much of the savage about us,--too much of the dancing round +the fire. But mark me, Jack,--we learn even in that book that a savage, +a cannibal _may_ be tamed; and we learn from something far better, that +principle,--the noblest principle which can govern either the young or +the old,--_may_, ay, and _must_, put out the fire of fierce anger in our +hearts, and change us from wild beasts to men! So I've said my say," +added Jonas with a smile; "and in token of my first victory over my old +foe, come here, my boy, and give us your hand!" + +"O uncle, I am so sorry!" exclaimed Johnny, with moistened eyes, as he +felt the kindly grasp of the old man. + +"Sorry are you? and what were you on Saturday when I shook you as a cat +shakes a rat?" + +"Why, uncle, I own that I was angry." + +"Sorry now, and angry then? So it's clear that the mild way has the best +effect, to say nothing of the example." And Jonas fell into a fit of +musing. + +All was fair weather and sunshine in the home on that day, and on many +days after. Jonas had, indeed, a hard struggle to subdue his temper, and +often felt fierce anger rising in his heart, and ready to boil over in +words of passion or acts of violence; but Jonas, as he had endeavoured +faithfully to serve his Queen, while he fought under her flag, brought +the same earnest and brave sense of duty to bear on the trials of daily +life. He never again forgot his resolution, and every day that passed +made the restraint which he laid upon himself less painful and irksome +to him. + +If the conscience of any of my readers should tell him that, by his +unruly temper, he is marring the peace of his family, oh! let him not +neglect the evil as a small one, but, like the poor old sailor in my +story, resolutely struggle against it. For _an angry man stirreth up +strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression._ + + There is sin in commencing strife; + Sin in the thoughtless jest + Or angry burst, + Which awakens first + The ire in a brother's breast! + + There is sin in stirring up strife, + In fanning the smouldering flame, + By scornful eye, + Or proud reply, + Or anger-stirring name. + + There is sin in keeping up strife, + Dark, soul-destroying sin. + Who cherishes hate + May seek heaven's gate, + But never can enter in. + + For peace is the Christian's joy, + And love is the Christian's life; + He's bound for a home + Where hate cannot come, + Nor the shadow of sin or strife! + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FALSE FRIENDS, AND THE SAILOR'S +RESOLVE*** + + +******* This file should be named 14543.txt or 14543.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/5/4/14543 + + + +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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