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diff --git a/21471.txt b/21471.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5d07c2f --- /dev/null +++ b/21471.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2572 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mountain Moggy, by William H. G. Kingston + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Mountain Moggy + The Stoning of the Witch + +Author: William H. G. Kingston + +Release Date: May 15, 2007 [EBook #21471] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOUNTAIN MOGGY *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +Mountain Moggy; The Stoning of the Witch, by William H G Kingston. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +This is quite a short book, taking only 2.5 hours to read, yet it packs +quite a punch. + +It is devoted to the theme of Forgiveness. On a remote mountainside in +Wales there dwells a broken-down old woman, whom the local children +believe to be a witch. As such she will live for ever, and cannot be +hurt, so they amuse themselves by going to her hut, taunting her, and +throwing stones at the hut. One evening one of these stones knocks a +burning stick from the fire, and sets fire to the old woman, but by +chance a young midshipman who has lost his way, is nearby, helps her, +and takes word to the village that she is badly hurt. + +The local clergyman had previously been a medical doctor, and rushes up +to the hut to see what can be done. One of the local women helps with +Old Mountain Moggy as well. Old Moggy shows true forgiveness to +William, one of the Doctor's sons, even though he had been one of the +ringleaders in taunting her. William is very much moved by this. + +Time goes on, and on his next leave the young midshipman brings one of +his shipmates, Tom, to share his holiday with him. Tom tells the story +of how he had been brought up, and Mountain Moggy tells her story, as +well. + +The story has a happy ending, after a fashion, literally on the very +last page of the book. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +MOUNTAIN MOGGY; THE STONING OF THE WITCH, BY WILLIAM H G KINGSTON. + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +The succession of mountain ranges, precipitous and rugged, which extend +from the shores of the Irish Sea to the boundaries of England, rising +tier above tier, and culminating, at different points, in the heights of +Snowdon, Cader Idris, and Plinlimmon, gives to wild Wales that romantic +beauty for which it is so justly celebrated. That mountain region, too, +guarded by the strong arms and undaunted hearts of its heroic sons, +formed an impassable bulwark against the advance of barbarian invaders, +and remained for many years, while Saxon England was yet pagan, the main +refuge of that Christian religion to which Britain owes its present +greatness. Yet subsequently, on account of the inaccessible nature of +the country, the inhabitants, separated from their more enlightened +fellow-subjects, remained for a long period almost as ignorant as their +ancestors in the dark ages; and, till of late years, retained many of +the grosser superstitions and customs of those times. + +A young traveller was climbing the side of one of these mountain ranges +facing the ocean, the silvery waters of which could be discerned in the +distance, when he observed, far up, a hut. Solitary and cheerless it +looked, scarcely to be distinguished from the sombre colouring of the +surrounding ground and the rocks and bushes amid which it stood. It was +weather-worn and dilapidated, and appeared altogether unfit to be the +abode of a human being; indeed, a thin wreath of peat smoke ascending +from an aperture in the roof alone made it likely that it was inhabited. +Its appearance offered no temptation to the young stranger to turn +aside from the path he was pursuing, and he continued his ascent till he +gained a rocky pinnacle, from whence he could watch the sun dipping into +the ocean; and hence he could look down, on one side, over a confused +mass of barren hills and fertile valleys, rocks, and precipices, heights +crowned with trees, peaks bare and rugged, and glens with sparkling +torrents dashing and foaming amid them; while on the other side, towards +the ocean, he saw before him a wide and smiling valley, with a stream +meandering through it, and green meadows and groves of trees, from among +which a church spire reared its pointed summit; and near it a cheerful +village of white-washed cottages and other dwellings of more pretension; +and there were sheep feeding, and cattle wending their way slowly +homeward, all speaking of peace and security. + +"I could not have selected a more lovely spot to spend an evening in, +had I been allowed a choice," said the young traveller to himself, as he +took his seat on the highest point he could find. "As I cannot find my +home, I could not be better off. I thought that I knew perfectly well +the place my family have got to, but I am fairly puzzled with the Welsh +names. I ought to have kept my brother's letters in which he had +clearly written it down. Whether it is Twrog-y-Bwlch, or +Llwyd-y-Cynfael, or Dwyryd-y-Ffetiog, I am sure I don't know. I hit the +right post-town, of that I am nearly certain. There's a village in the +bottom. I might go down and inquire, but then I probably should not +find my way back again over the mountain to the inn where I left my +traps. I hope that I may hit it off to-morrow. It's very tantalising, +and provoking too, to be so near home, and yet not able to find it. It +was very stupid to lose the letter. They do say midshipmen are very +careless chaps, and that I am no exception to the rule. Well, I have no +reason to grumble. I haven't enjoyed such a sight as this for many a +day, though it's something like being mast-headed, except with the +difference that I may go down when I like. I should enjoy it more if I +had a messmate to talk to about it. The air is wonderfully fine up +here. It makes me feel inclined to shout out at the top of my voice, +`Rule, Britannia, Britannia rules the waves, And Britons never, never, +never will be slaves,' Hurra! That's it. Hurra, boys! `We'll fight +and we'll conquer again and again.'" + +Thus the happy young midshipman gave full scope to the exuberance of his +spirits, feeling very sure that no one was listening to him. As he +ceased, a curiously wild, mournful strain struck his ear, ascending from +below him on the west, and forming a strange contrast to the merry notes +he had been singing. It was like the noonday song of the joyous lark, +as he soars into the blue sky, answered by the midnight croak of the +raven as he sits on the old abbey's ivy-covered wall. He listened. It +seemed rather like a continued shriek than a song, or the fearful cry of +the fabled Banshee as she flits by the family mansion in Ireland, to +warn the inmates, as is ignorantly supposed, that one of their number +must prepare to quit the world, its pleasures and its sorrows. The +young midshipman's mind was, however, too well trained to indulge even +for a moment in any such fancies, for he owed his education to a wise, +religious, and loving father. Yet he was sorely puzzled at first to +account for the wild strains which floated through the air, till he +caught sight of the ruined hut he had observed on his way up, and +discerned a large rent in the roof, through which he supposed the sounds +uttered by its inmate must be ascending. He was too far off to +distinguish the words; but that there were words uttered, and probably +as strange as the music itself, if music he could call it, he was very +certain. Now the strains rose to a high pitch, now they swelled, now +decreased into a low moan scarcely audible. + +"Some poor mad creature," said the midshipman to himself. "I should +think nobody but a mad person would live in such a place as that; in +truth, if anybody had to live there, its solitude and its forlorn +condition would be enough to drive them out of their senses; it would +me, I know; only I should forthwith set to work to make it habitable. +To be sure, I shouldn't be worse off than Tom and I were when we were +cast away on that coral island in the Pacific, except that there we had +summer all the year round and abundance of food of one sort or another. +Here it must be terribly cold in winter, and as for food, a person would +soon starve if he were compelled to live only on what the hillside +produces." The young midshipman had got into the habit of talking to +himself, either during his night watches, or, it is just possible, while +at the mast-head, at which post of honour, in some ships, the young +gentlemen of his rank used to spend a considerable portion of their +existence. + +The strange singing continued for some time. As he looked down from his +rocky height he saw a number of persons coming up the hill, apparently +from the village towards the hut. They appeared from their movements to +be children. They got close to the hut, and were hid from his sight. +Now they seemed to be running away--now they returned, leaping and +shouting, so that their shrill young voices reached to where he sat. +Suddenly he saw them all running down the hill, just as children run, +jumping and pushing against each other, and evidently in high glee. The +midshipman was considering that it was time for him to return to his inn +for the night, when a loud shriek, which came from the direction of the +hut, struck his ear, and he saw a bright light streaming through the +aperture in the roof. "Something is the matter," he exclaimed, as +jumping from his seat he ran down the mountain towards the hut: "the +cottage or its inmate is on fire; I must do my best to put out the +flame, at all events." + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +An old woman was the sole occupant of that cheerless hut on the bleak +hillside just described. She sat, on that evening, on a low stool +before the hearth, on which a few clods of peat, smouldering slowly with +some scarcely dry sticks on the top of them, served as an apology for a +fire, and threw out the smallest possible heat to warm the shrivelled +palms held up ever and anon before it. As she sat, occasionally rocking +herself backwards and forwards, she sang, in a voice which sometimes +sounded high and shrill, till it rose into almost a shriek, and then +again sank down into a long-continued moan. She uttered words often +with great rapidity, though even the poor creature herself might +scarcely have been able to explain the burden of her song. The gentle +breeze, pleasant in the cheerful sunshine, sighed through the rents in +the tottering walls, and amid the branches of the solitary, crooked +pine-tree, which bent its riven head over the building, its distorted +limbs creaking and groaning as they swayed to and fro; while an owl +shrieked his twit-to-hoo to the departing sun, as he prepared to go +abroad with other creatures of the night in search of prey; and cold +grey twilight covered the mountain-side. There still sat the lone old +woman, crouching over the mocking fire. Dark and drear was the hovel-- +floor it had none, save the damp, cold earth--nor was there a chimney or +other outlet for the smoke, except a hole which a branch of the +ill-favoured pine-tree had made in the roof, in one of his most restless +moods. More light came through this hole than through the window, the +broken panes of which were stuffed with rags, dry grass, and heather, +though not tight enough to prevent the wind from whistling, and the +rain, snow, and sleet from driving in upon the wretched inmate. Except +where the solitary gleam of cold evening light fell upon the crouching +figure of poor Mountain Moggy, all else in the hovel was gloom and +obscurity. Little, however, did Moggy heed the weather. Winter or +summer, chilling blasts or warm sunshine, the changeful seasons brought +no change to her. Her brain was on fire, her heart cold and forlorn, +"icy cold, utterly forlorn and deserted," so she says, and all feeling +for outward things has long since departed. + +Why does Moggy start, clasp her bony hands, open wide her almost +sightless eyes, and mutter, "Yes, yes--that's it. Forgive us our +trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us. But it's hard, +very hard to forgive our foes. Does God find it so hard to forgive me?" +Then again she starts off in her wild song. + +Once more she is silent, and listens to some noises outside. She seems +sorely distressed. Again and again she starts. The noises increase, +children's feet and voices are heard around the hut, and--is it +possible?--a stone comes whizzing through the glassless window across +the darkened space, and a heavy thump announces that it has found a +destination; another, and another follows--some come in sideways, and +one striking the window bar glances off and reaches the hearth, whence +it drives before it a lighted stick which sends out sparks on every side +and causes a faint gleam of light in the hitherto gloomy room. Shouts +of laughter accompany each stone; but the sun has set, the sonorous bell +of the distant church gives notice, too, that evening has arrived. The +children's ears catch the sound. "Away, away! Home, home!" they shout, +as they run off from the solitary hut. Out of its window at that moment +a bright light shone forth, but they did not heed it as they chased each +other down the steep mountain-side, crying out, "Good-night, old witch. +We'll stone you again, old Polly Forty Rags. If we hear any more of +your witcheries we'll make you wish you'd kept out of this country. +Good-night, and bad luck to you, Old Mog." Notwithstanding the words +they used, there was terror in the voices of most of the children. Some +of them shouted, "She's coming after us! The witch is coming after us! +She's mounting her broom, and out she'll ride. Run--run--run!" On this +the urchins shrieked louder, and ran faster and faster down the slope. +One boy, more daring than the rest, and superior in appearance to most +of them, lingered behind, and finding a stone remaining in his pocket of +those with which he had, like his companions, provided himself to attack +the old woman, he turned round once more, and flung it in the direction +of the hut, saying, as he did so, "That's my parting gift, old Moggy. +Ha, ha! I see the old lady is going to have a feast tonight, for she +has lighted up her banqueting-hall. But I would rather not be one of +the guests, though." Pleased with what he considered his own wit, he +shouted out again, and ran after his idle companions, a prolonged cry +which came from the hut hastening his steps, for he was in no degree +free from the ignorant superstition of the rest of the urchin troop. + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +A good log was burning brightly on the hearth, and filling with its +glowing, cheerful light the dining-room of Dr Morgan, the new rector of +the parish, where he with his wife and the younger members of his family +were collected. The rector sat in his easy-chair, his book had fallen +from his hand, for he was dozing after a hard day's work of physical and +mental labour in the abodes of the sick and afflicted of his +widely-scattered parish. His wife had a cradle by her side, but she +held its usual occupant in her arms, putting it to sleep with a low +lullaby, while a group of older children, boys and girls, sat at the +table variously occupied. Charles and Anna having some fresh foreign +postage-stamps, arranged them in a book according to the different +countries from whence they came, and were preparing a short account of +each--a plan their father had recommended, so as to give an interest to +this otherwise very useless pursuit. + +"This must surely be American," said Anna, holding up a stamp. "How +like a well-done photograph is the head. Can it be that of Washington?" + +On this William, who was engaged professedly in learning his lessons for +the next day, looked up. The rest decided that although the stamp was +American, as it was the head of a somewhat sour-looking old gentleman it +could not be that of the great Washington, but of one of the later +Presidents of the United States. The children were talking in an +undertone, so as not to disturb their father. + +"Old Polly Forty Rags, the witch, came from America," said William. +"But it was from some place which the English don't know about; a wild, +barren sea-coast, just like the mountain-side up there, where they say +that she used to practise her witch tricks on the vessels which came +near, and many and many's the one she has sent to the bottom or driven +on the rocks." + +"How did she practise her witch tricks?" asked Arthur, who did not very +clearly understand his brother's meaning. + +"How!" exclaimed William. "That's more than I can tell. I'm only +repeating what those who know all about the matter say." + +"Isn't she a very wicked old woman then?" asked Mabel, with simplicity. + +"Wicked? I should think so! as wicked an old hag as you ever heard of," +answered William. "It would be a good thing to rid the world of such a +monster; but they say she can't be killed; not if she was soused over +head and ears in the river or thrown into the fire. That's the nature +of witches." + +Anna, who was giving the finishing rub to a stamp just put in, heard the +last words, and, looking up, inquired with a slight tone of irony in her +voice, "What did you say about witches, Willie? Who has been telling +you those remarkably wise things about them?" + +"Oh, the people about here, and the other fellows at school," answered +Willie in a low tone and somewhat hesitating manner, for he was not fond +of having to reply to his sister's pointed questions. + +"Oh, the people about here," said Anna, repeating his words. "Is it +possible they can believe such nonsense?" + +Willie did not reply. "Anna wouldn't think it nonsense if she was to +see Old Polly Forty Rags," he muttered. After being silent for some +time he added, "If ever there was an old witch she is one." + +"You said she came from America, Willie. Why, that's where Frank's ship +has been to, isn't it?" said Arthur. + +"Of course it is," cried Willie, as if a bright thought had occurred to +him. "I wonder whether he heard anything of her there? He'll soon be +at home, and then he'll tell us." + +"If she didn't send his ship on the rocks," remarked Arthur. + +"She'd better not have tried to do it, or we'd pay her off for it," said +Willie, as if speaking of some heroic purpose. + +"But I thought you said that she couldn't be killed; and if she couldn't +be killed, she couldn't be hurt, I should think," observed Arthur, who +was called the philosopher of the family. + +"Well, I don't know: they say witches can't be killed, and that Old +Polly Forty Rags has lived hundreds and hundreds of years," said Willie, +justly considered the most thoughtless of the family. "Nothing does +hurt her either. You can't think what fun it is to hear the stones +bounce against her, just as if she was made of straw. If anything could +hurt her, I know a big stone I sent in at her window this evening would +have given her a cracker she wouldn't forget in a hurry. It's my belief +that she didn't care for it more than she would if it had been a pea out +of a pea-shooter." + +Anna's attention was again drawn to her brother's whispered +conversation. "What are you saying about throwing stones?" she asked. +"At whom have you been throwing stones?" + +"Why at old Mountain Moggy, of course, or Polly Forty Rags as they call +her. Who else should I throw at? She's as hard as she is wicked; and +they say she has a whole suit of elephant's skin under her rags, and +that's one of the reasons the stones don't hurt her." + +Anna had been so busy examining some little three-cornered Cape of Good +Hope stamps, that she had not till now clearly comprehended what Willie +was speaking about. + +"You throw stones at Mountain Moggy!" she said in an incredulous tone. + +"Of course we do, and awful fun we had this very evening," answered +William, boldly. "We heard them go in at the window and thump against +the old witch. The clock struck, and we had to run away, or we should +have given her more of it. But it was just as well that we were off, +for some of the fellows saw her lighting up her house for her +witcheries, and there's no doubt but that she'd have sent down some of +her imps after us if we hadn't made good use of our legs to get off." + +"What do you really mean, Willie?" said Anna, now quite interested. +"You cannot tell me that you have been stoning that poor miserable old +woman on the mountain?" + +"Haven't we though," said Willie, carelessly, crossing his arms on the +table and beginning to pore over his book. + +"Willie says that she's a wicked black witch, with red eyes and a blue +tongue," remarked little Mabel. + +"Don't stuff the little ones' heads with such abominable nonsense, +Will," said Charles, looking up from his book. "There's nothing I hate +to hear so much; it's wrong, and you have no business to do it." + +"No, indeed; it's very wrong to tell stories about her, even in fun," +remarked Anna. + +"Nonsense and stories, indeed!" cried Willie, indignantly. "They are +neither one nor the other. If she isn't black she's near it; and I +never said she had red eyes and a blue tongue; but if you two were to +hear her screech and howl, as I have, you'd confess fast enough that she +was a witch." And Willie turned back to his book with the air of an +injured person. + +Poor boy, he had not had the advantages of his brothers and sisters, +though worldly people would have said that his prospects were far better +than theirs. They had been carefully trained in the way they should +walk from their earliest days by their parents, who, though not +possessed of worldly wealth, felt that they might yet give them the +richest of heritages. William had not, like the others, been brought up +entirely by his parents. His godmother, Miss Ap Reece, had offered to +leave him her property, provided she might have entire charge of him, +and his parents somewhat hastily consented. By her he had been well fed +and well clothed, but not well educated. She was capricious, fond of +gossip, and self-indulgent; and continually she would, in order to be +rid of him, send him down amongst the servants, who, as her country +residence was in a remote village, were more than usually ignorant. +There he imbibed many of their prejudices, and learned to believe in +many of their superstitions. Meanwhile, happily, the good seed sown in +his earlier days was not entirely eradicated, though he and his brothers +and sisters always exhibited in their subsequent lives the different +systems of cultivation to which they had been subjected. The residence +of William with Miss Ap Reece was brought to an abrupt termination by +the failure of the County Bank, in which most of her money was placed. +Her means were in consequence so straitened that she was obliged to ask +Dr Morgan to take William home. + +It was soon after this that the conversation took place which we have +already recorded. + +Mrs Morgan had been too much absorbed with her infant, and a book she +occasionally read, to listen to the undertone conversation carried on by +the rest of her children. Her husband continued dozing in his chair, +but his sleep was soon interrupted, as was the conversation of the young +people, by the violent ringing of the hall-door bell. A servant came in +directly afterwards to say that the doctor was wanted immediately. Dr +Morgan at once left the room, and when William, sent by Mrs Morgan, +went out to inquire why he was summoned, it was found that he had +quitted the house without leaving any message to say where he had gone. +So startled were the younger ones by the sudden noise, that Arthur upset +the gum-bottle over the beautiful new stamp-book. The little fellow +looked very much alarmed at what he had done, and possibly in some +families angry words and blows would have warned him to be more careful +for the future; but Charles and Anna had learned that "he that ruleth +his spirit is greater than he that taketh a city"; and the constant +practice of this principle made it now easy for them to say to their +brother, who sat crying and looking very sorrowful, "Never mind, little +fellow; we shall soon make it clean." Then warm water had to be +procured, and the injured book cleansed, and a few more stamps stuck in, +and the rest put away, and scraps and writing materials cleared off the +table. Books were then got out, and lessons looked over for the next +day. Mrs Morgan left the room for some time to hear the younger +children say their prayers, and to see them put to bed. When she +re-entered the room, Dr Morgan had not returned. Dr Morgan's +prolonged absence did not create any alarm. He was a Doctor of +Divinity, but he had also, in his younger days, devoted much time to the +study of medicine and surgery, so that he was qualified to become a +regular practitioner. However, he had taken orders in the Church of +England, but he never regretted the time he had spent in walking the +hospitals, for, biding his time, he had now a means of access, which he +otherwise might have lacked, to even the most hardened and profligate. +Those who would not have called him in as a Christian minister to advise +them regarding their souls, were thankful to get him to attend to the +ailments of their bodies. Once in a house he never left it without +making himself beloved and respected by its inmates, and insuring for +himself, and for his glad tidings, a favourable reception. Although he +was not looked upon as a popular preacher, it was observed that wherever +he went there was a marked change in the religious conduct of the +people. + +Such was Dr Morgan. His great difficulty was to give that +superintendence to the education of his children which he felt they +required, without at the same time neglecting the multifarious duties of +his position. His parishioners gained what his family lost. But the +strict discipline by which he endeavoured to make amends for the want of +that constant watchfulness so important in training the youthful mind +did not answer the same purpose. Yet after all he could do, he knew +that he must fail altogether, had he not gone daily, constantly, to the +Throne of Grace for strength and wisdom for himself, and for protection +and guidance for those committed to his charge. + +Mrs Morgan had returned to the sitting-room; the elder children had put +down their books. It was bed-time. They always waited for family +prayers. When the Doctor was absent Mrs Morgan or Charles read them, +but as he was momentarily expected, his wife and son were unwilling to +usurp his office. At length the hall-door bell rang. It was the +Doctor. He appeared unusually sad and serious. The family assembled. +His voice, generally so firm, trembled as he prayed. + +When he rose from his knees, shading his eyes with his hand, he said, +after he had given them his blessing-- + +"Go to bed immediately, and be up betimes, for I wish you to breakfast +an hour earlier than usual, and to accompany me directly afterwards to +visit a sick, and I fear a dying person." + +The younger children would all have been well pleased at this +invitation, had it not been for their father's very grave manner; yet no +one ventured to ask him the cause of this, and it was, perhaps, not +without a slight misgiving that some of the party laid their heads on +their pillows that night. + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +Dr Morgan gave no explanation of what had occurred till Charles and +Anna had left the room. He then called his anxious and ever helpful +wife to his side. "I much want your assistance, dearest Maria," he said +in a tone which showed the depressed state of his feelings; "I was +summoned just now to visit a person in a most melancholy condition. You +have heard of the forlorn old creature--Moggy, she is called by the +country people--who lives in that wretched hovel we can see high up on +the side of the mountain. She has been dreadfully burnt." + +The Doctor's wife, ever ready with help and sympathy, in spite of the +numerous maternal cares to which she had to attend, immediately +exclaimed, "Poor old creature! I am sure that she much wants comforts. +Shall I not at once send up some sheets and cotton wool? and is there +anything else you can think of?" + +"The comfort that is wanted, dear Maria, is nearer home," answered the +Doctor, taking his wife's hand. "I have a sad story to tell you. On +reaching Old Moggy's hovel I found her with her hands and feet horribly +burnt; so much so, that, should she survive, which I think it possible +she may not, she will, I fear, never recover their use. I found that +sturdy old Welshwoman, Jenny Davis, watching by her, and tending her +with the care of a daughter. After I had dressed the poor creature's +burnt limbs, and done all I could to alleviate her sufferings, Jenny +told me that when crossing the mountain that evening on her way home, +and having nearly reached the bottom, she observed an unusual light +streaming out of the window of Old Mountain Moggy's hovel. Believing +that the hut must be on fire, she hurried up towards it, though she +feared that she should be too late to render any effectual assistance to +its half-witted inmate. So indeed she would, had not another person +most providentially arrived before her. On looking in at the window as +she passed she saw a young gentleman--a tourist, she supposed--kneeling +down by the side of the poor creature; his great-coat was off, he having +with it extinguished the flames with which he said that he had found her +almost surrounded. Happily, from the great number of under-garments she +wore, only the outer rags had caught. He had been sitting on a rock +above the hovel, and hearing a scream, and seeing a light break forth +through a hole in the roof, he ran down, on the chance of something +being wrong, and was undoubtedly the means of saving the poor creature +from instant destruction. He and Jenny together lifted Moggy on to her +straw bed, and in so doing a piece of burnt stick still smouldering fell +out from among her clothes. This was evidently what had set her on +fire, but how it had come there, was the question. Jenny was loud in +her praise of the young gentleman. He was so gentle, and kind, and +didn't mind touching the dirty old creature, and helping to place her in +an easy position. He took out his purse, and observing that he hadn't +much money, he gave her a handful of shillings, as he said, to help to +pay the doctor and to buy her some proper food and clothing. +Fortunately he saw a boy crossing the mountain, and running after him he +gave him a shilling to go and call a doctor. The lad naturally came to +me. The young gentleman would not tell Jenny his name, saying, `names +don't signify.' He had to get back to his inn on the other side of the +mountain, and as it was growing dark he could wait no longer; but, as +Jenny said, ran off as fast as a deer up the steep, singing and jumping +as merry as a lark. He told Jenny that, if he could, he would come back +to learn how the poor old creature might be getting on, but that he +feared he should be living too far off to reach her on foot. This +account was, I own, like a gleam of sunshine, though it threw into a yet +darker shade the sad account of an act of which I am compelled to tell +you. Having dressed Old Moggy's hurts, I observed several stones, some +lying on the bed, and others scattered about the floor of the hut. A +large one I especially remarked on the hearth, and which I had no doubt +had struck the embers of the fire, and been the immediate cause of its +bursting into a flame, and igniting the poor creature's clothes. I +asked Jenny if she could account for the stones being, as they were, +scattered about in every direction; and she then gave me a history of a +piece of barbarous cruelty, the result of a thoughtlessness and an +amount of ignorance I should scarcely have expected in the actors. +Jenny, though in most respects a true Welshwoman, is free from the +ignorant superstition which forms so sad an ingredient in the character +of the uneducated peasants of these mountain districts, and was grieved +when she found that poor Old Moggy had become the victim of the gross +superstition of her neighbours, by whom she is reputed to be a witch who +has flown across the sea from distant parts for the purpose of taking +possession of the wretched hovel on the mountain. `I do think, sir,' +said Jenny, `if the poor creature had had the power of flying, she'd +have flown to a better sort of a place than this poor shed, scarcely fit +to shelter a gipsy's donkey from a snow-storm. When once the mind +strays away from the truth, it's impossible to say what follies it won't +believe. People don't seem to see the foolishness and nonsense of their +own stones. If they'd seen her, as I have, in her right mind, they'd +know that a friend of the Evil One couldn't talk as she talks; and as +for flying, poor old creature! she can scarcely drag one foot after the +other,' Jenny Davis is a thoughtful and sensible woman, though her +exterior is somewhat rough," observed the Doctor, who was evidently +unwilling, sooner than he could, to repeat the story he had heard. He +continued, however: "Jenny gave little heed to these foolish stories, +till one day one of her boys came from playing on the mountain-side, +with a scared look, and almost breathless, saying that the witch had run +after him, shrieking out, and uttering the most dreadful threats. On +cross-questioning the child, she found that he did not actually see +Moggy running after him, but that his companions said she was, while the +shrieks and cries were the result of his imagination. She determined, +however, to go and see the old woman herself. Being a woman of action, +she immediately set off. When she got near the hovel she found a number +of boys yelling, hooting, and throwing stones at it. On her demanding +why they did so, they said that the old witch was within, and had done +them all some mischief. She had stolen the ducks of the mother of one +of them, had milked the cows of a second, and a third declared that she +had prevented the butter from coming in his mother's churn. One urchin +asserted that his father's horse had died in consequence of her +incantations, and another, that she had given his younger brother the +croup; indeed, every one had some sort of complaint to make, and +vehemently declared that they would pay her out. Whilst she was arguing +with them the door opened, and Old Moggy appeared, an unattractive +figure, bent with age, covered with rags, and her countenance +weather-beaten and scared, and expressive of a melancholy, wild, and +restless spirit. The boys, on catching a momentary glimpse of her (for +she instantly again closed the door), turned round, and scampered down +the mountain. Jenny confessed that she at first felt inclined to follow +them, but once more the door slowly opened, and the poor creature looked +out to ascertain if her tormentors had gone off. Not seeing them she +came out, and Jenny heard her in a plaintive voice thanking God for +having delivered her from her enemies; then she broke into a low wail, +the words she uttered being disconnected and incoherent. She was on her +knees, with her hands clasped and her countenance upturned towards +heaven. Jenny's heart was more touched than she had expected. Going up +to the old woman, she said, `These bad boys have been teasing you sadly, +I fear, Moggy.' A vacant stare was at first the only reply she +received, but on repeating her words Moggy seemed to gather their +meaning, and answered, `Ay, sadly, sadly; but ye knows what we have been +taught to say by One who loved us, and died for us. "Forgive us our +trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us." So ye see +that I forgive them, and I pray for them. I pray that they may never be +poor and helpless as I am, that they may never be so afflicted in mind +and body, and that no evil may fall on their heads; and God will hear my +prayers just as much as He will the prayers of the great, and wealthy, +and learned, and young, and strong, and happy,' Then she suddenly +stopped, and began to shriek wildly and wring her hands, moaning out, +`No father, no husband, no child--all, all gone. Oh, my child, my boy, +my hope, my pride!' Jenny tried to soothe and comfort her, and after a +long time succeeded in leading her back into the hut, where she became +more tranquil, but still apparently was unable to give any connected +account of herself. Jenny then, from the basket she was carrying to +market, gave her some food, for which she looked grateful, but said +nothing. After this, by little acts of kindness, Jenny gradually +obtained the helpless creature's confidence; and daily, whenever able, +went at the same hour to disperse the boys, who after school hours have, +it sterns, been in the habit of assembling, for their amusement, to +torment her. Jenny had often threatened to complain to the parents of +the boys, and, should they not attend to her complaints, to place the +whole case before the magistrates. She had complained to several whose +children she recognised, but they either took no notice of what she +said, or were very angry with her; and she had therefore resolved, the +next time she found any boys ill-treating the old woman, to put her +threat into execution. `Yes, sir, and that I must do, even though some +be gentlefolks' sons; one be your son, sir, and sorry I have to speak +it. It's that young Master William of yours, and he is the most daring +and outrageous of the lot,' she added. `It's a shame, sir, I'm sure +you'll allow, that they should go on so; for a more harmless +sorrow-stricken soul I have never met in my life than poor Old Moggy +here. All she's gone through would make a book, and it's not to be +wondered at that with all her trials, and care, and the cruelty she +meets, she is often crazy like. Maybe she's listening now, and knows +what I say, for at times she has got as much sense as any one; and it's +then that she feels her loneliness, and poverty, and wretchedness, and +that makes her go off again as bad as ever, so it seems to me, sir.' I +would not at first believe the truth of the accusation brought against +William, but on closely questioning Jenny, I found that, without doubt, +it is unfortunately the fact that one of our children is capable of thus +cruelly ill-treating one of his fellow-creatures; and that he is so +ignorant as not to be aware of his crime; indeed he has a vague idea +that he was rather performing a meritorious act." + +After sitting silent for some time, and grieving over the delinquencies +of her son, Mrs Morgan, like a tender mother, endeavoured to find some +excuse for his conduct; for one of the hardest trials which parents--who +have learned to look upon sin in its true light--have to bear, is to +discover that any one of their children is guilty of a crime. The +Doctor, however, upright himself, and having a clear and distinct view +of right and wrong, would not allow himself to find any excuses for the +crime, though anxious as his wife for the good of the criminal; nor did +he fail to blame himself, as Mrs Morgan blamed herself, for allowing +their child, during the most impressible years of his life, to go from +under their charge. + +"Still," argued the Doctor, "William has been told what is right and +wrong; he has read the Scriptures. He has infringed one of the chief +commandments in a most cruel and cowardly manner. I must not be +indulgent towards a crime which, if his victim dies, the legal authority +of his country will pronounce to be manslaughter. I will endeavour, +however, first to ascertain how far he is sensible of his fault by +showing him its consequence. Should he give no proof of penitence I +must resort to severer measures. I purpose to take all the children +with me to-morrow morning to Old Moggy's hut, and I trust that the sight +William will there witness will prove, as it must if his heart is not +hardened, a sufficient punishment for his act." + +"I hope and pray it may," said Mrs Morgan. "I fear, though, that Miss +Ap Reece was most injudicious in her management of him, and that he has +now been allowed a long course of self-indulgence; and I believe that +nothing more effectually hardens the heart and makes it indifferent to +the feelings of others, to their sorrows and physical sufferings, than +such a mode of treatment." + +Long did the Doctor and his wife talk over the subject, and then +kneeling, they earnestly placed the matter before the Throne of Grace, +seeking from thence guidance and strength. How little, in many +instances, are prosperous, healthy, happy children aware that the chief +cause of their prosperity, health, and happiness, is to be found in the +earnest, trustful prayers of God-fearing parents. Unhappy the children +who have not praying parents! thrice blessed those who have, and who, at +the same time, set high value on their parents' prayers, and learn +betimes to pray aright, and to pray for them as well as for themselves. + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +The sky was bright and blue; a fresh breeze, invigorating and pure, came +from the distant sea; the sun, just risen above the mountain tops, shone +down with undiminished lustre on the smiling valley, and all nature +sparkled with life and light, as the young Morgans, having finished +breakfast, assembled at the hall-door to accompany their father on his +proposed walk. The elder ones remarked that he looked graver than +usual, but hoped that the fresh air and exercise would soon restore his +spirits. They all enjoyed a walk with him, for he generally took care +to make it interesting, by giving them information on one or more of the +various natural objects they met with. There was not a tree, a flower, +or a stone, about which he had not something to say which was well worth +hearing. Charles called them "Father's peripatetic lectures." This +morning, however, the Doctor was unusually silent. His daughter Anna +walked by his side, affectionately waiting, in the hopes of an +opportunity to bring forward some subject to enliven him. Charles also +accompanied him. The rest of the children kept behind, wondering where +he was going; Willie especially sauntering at some distance, and +thinking that he would rather have been out by himself or with some of +the boys with whom he had lately associated. Charles, finding that his +father was not inclined to give one of his lectures, bethought him of a +subject likely to interest him. + +"I say, father, I wonder when Frank will be here. His ship was expected +at Plymouth every day. I sent a letter for him to Fox, giving him full +directions how he was to find his way here, so that if he could get +leave he might come up at once. My only fear is that he may not have +any cash for his journey. I begged Fox to advance it, but Frank may not +think of asking him. He'll have a great deal to tell us about the +Pacific and the coral islands, the Sandwich Islanders, and the other +natives, once horrible savages, now mostly Christians. And those people +of Fiji--the Black Cannibals of the Pacific as they were called--I want +to know if they are as bad as has been represented." + +"Yes, your brother Frank will have much to say," remarked the Doctor, +and again relapsed into silence. + +"I hope he may bring Tom Holman with him. I should like to see the man +who saved his life, that I might thank him as he deserves for his +bravery," said Anna. "Dear Frank, if it had not been for Holman we +might never have seen him again." + +"Yes, indeed, I should like to see Holman, the fine and gallant fellow," +exclaimed Charles. "The puzzle will be how to get him here. I know +that seamen have difficulty in obtaining leave till their ship is paid +off, and then there is the expense of the journey. However, I will do +my best to manage that." + +"And I will help you," said Anna. "I will sell some of my fowls, and +the egg money of last year, which I have never spent, and old Mrs +Taffety's present, which mamma says I have a right to do just what I +like with. Oh, there will be no difficulty about money matters if Frank +can get leave for Tom Holman. It will be very nice to see him and to +thank him, though it will be difficult to thank him enough." + +Dr Morgan had not joined in the conversation of his elder children. He +appeared to be absorbed in his own thoughts. Once or twice he glanced +round to ascertain if William was following. He continued for some time +along the road leading to the village, and then suddenly turned into a +path leading up the mountain. William began to feel not very +comfortable when he saw this. Still his father might possibly intend to +cross over the mountain. He lingered still farther behind, and when he +saw him turn off again up the uneven path which led to poor Old Moggy's +hut he was strongly inclined to run away. + +Surely his father would not wish to go inside the hut. What could he +have to say to the old woman? However, go on he must. Fortunately, +Charles dropped behind the Doctor, and Anna and William hurried up to +him. + +"Charley, is papa really going into the witch's den?" he exclaimed in a +tone of alarm. "She will be doing him some harm, I am sure." + +"Nonsense, Willie," answered Charles. "I did not fancy that a fellow +with a head on his shoulders could be such a goose." + +"Goose or no goose, I don't wish to fall into the old witch's clutches, +nor papa, nor any of us either," muttered William, as Charles walked on +again rapidly to catch up their father, and to give a helping hand to +the two younger ones. Willie's foolish fears increased when he saw his +father walk up to the door of the hut, and still more alarmed did he +become when the Doctor, lifting the latch, went in, and then turned +round and beckoned to him to enter, though Arthur and Mabel were allowed +to remain outside. Most unwillingly he obeyed; but when he got inside +the door, not a step farther could he bring himself to advance, and from +the furtive glances which he ever and anon cast through the doorway, it +was very evident that he would make his escape if he dared. Even +Charles and Anna drew back from the pitiable object which met their +sight. The light streaming through the window fell on a low pallet, on +which, covered with a sheet, lay the form of Mountain Moggy. By her +side sat Jenny Davis, whom William recognised as her champion who had +threatened him and his companions with condign punishment if they ever +again attacked the old woman. Something dreadful was going to happen-- +William scarcely knew what. A glance his father cast at him made him +understand that he must not move. Of course Jenny Davis had told +everything. After exchanging a few words with Jenny, the Doctor lifted +the sheet from off Moggy's feet. + +"William, come here and witness the effects of your cruelty," he said in +a stern voice, very unlike that in which he was accustomed to address +his children. "Now look at those poor burnt hands. You, and those with +you, I have no doubt, caused all the pain this poor woman is now +suffering; and should she die, at whose door, think you, will the guilt +lie?" + +William could not answer. The Doctor, taking out some salves he had +brought with him, began to dress the poor creature's limbs. Anna could +not refrain from tears, while she went forward to assist her father and +kind Jenny. William stood by without uttering a word, and feeling as he +had never felt before. + +When the sufferer's hands and feet were once more covered up, the Doctor +directed Charles to call in the younger children. + +"Listen to what Jenny Davis will tell you," he said, when they were all +assembled round the bed. + +"Ah, sir, I have a tale to tell which would soften a heart of stone; but +I hope none of these young people have hearts of that sort," remarked +Jenny, fixing her eyes on William. "She has told me how it all +happened, and it may be a warning to that young gentleman never to throw +stones at any human being, even though they may be deserted; or, for +that matter, at any living creature. They cannot tell where the stone +may strike, and what harm it may do. Well, sir, Old Moggy was sitting +at her poor fire when those cruel boys came up here again to play off +their cowardly tricks. They talk of her imps doing mischief, though +they were the imps, and they were doing the mischief, I'm thinking. +Stone after stone was thrown in on her. At last one struck the hearth +and sent a burning stick under her feet. While she stooped down to +remove it, another large one gave her a blow on the head which must have +stunned her, for she fell to the ground and her clothes began to burn. +The agony she was suffering brought her in some degree to her senses +again, when she found herself surrounded by flames, and believed that +she was going to be burnt to death. There was nobody near that she knew +of to help her, and she couldn't help herself; she knew that, so she +prayed for the help of God. Just then the door burst open, and the +young gentleman I told you of ran in, and throwing his coat over her, +put out the fire. I came in soon after, and helped to put her on the +bed. I think that the young gentleman burnt his own hands not a little +in tearing off the burning clothes which his coat couldn't cover, but he +said it was just nothing, and wouldn't let me look at them even before +he went away." + +"What a brave, noble fellow!" exclaimed Charles. "I should like to have +made his acquaintance." + +"So indeed should I," cried Anna. "Do not you know his name, Jenny?" + +"No, my sweet miss, I don't," answered the Welshwoman. "But I think I +know where it's written, and that's where the names of the cruel, and +selfish, and heartless will never be found." + +"God bless him! God bless him!" said a deep voice from the bed. + +The children started; it was the voice of Old Moggy. They had not +supposed she was listening, much less that she was capable of speaking. +The rest of the children remembered William's remarks on the previous +evening, and all eyes were turned on him. He stood white as ashes, and +trembling in every limb. While they had before been speaking, the +window had been darkened by a person passing before it. William had +remarked it, and he had taken it into his head that it was that of a +person come to carry him off to prison for his misdeeds. The rest had +been so interested in what they were hearing that they had not observed +that a stranger was near them. + +"Ye said that she knows the truth; ay, that she does, and practises what +the Word of Truth tells us; for instead of railing she blesses, and from +her heart forgives them who have ill-treated her," said Jenny. "Poor, +harmless, weary soul that she is! Those young ones who stand there can +know little of the sorrows and trials she has been called on to endure. +She has seen loss of parents, and property, and husband, and child, and +her good name, and all that we think makes life pleasant; and now that +she has found her way to this lone place, to die in peace, the Evil One +has made these lads come up here to mock and torment her. I mind +reading of a good prophet going to a certain village in a foreign land, +and the lads came out and mocked him, and called him old bald-head, and +what do ye think happened? Why, two she-bears came out of a wood and +destroyed forty and two of them. I don't mean to say that Old Moggy is +like the old prophet, but yet she is aged and friendless; and those who +abuse and ill-treat her are, in the eyes of the Almighty, doing a great +wickedness; that they are, I'm sure." + +While Jenny was speaking, the lips of the sufferer were seen to move; +and in the same deep tones which had before been heard, the words came +forth, "but forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass +against us. Yes, yes: oh, I forgive them; they didn't know any better; +they thought I was a witch; they thought I could work charms, and had +bad power. Oh! they would not have done as they did if they had known +of my weary, weary, aching heart; my poor boy underneath the sea--my +husband drowned before my eyes--my sad, sad days, my sleepless nights-- +my wandering brain--my hunger and thirst--my wretched, wretched life for +long, long lonesome years. All these things you did not know of, young +gentleman, when you and your companions threw stones at me. Don't think +I would curse you for it. No, no. Come near, my children. I bless +you, ay! from my heart, all of you. You who ill-treated me and you who +never did me harm." + +Slowly and reluctantly, with awe in their countenances, the children +drew still nearer to the bed. The old woman's voice had dropped through +weakness and exhaustion, yet she continued-- + +"My lot has been very hard, very hard; yet I have had a Friend above who +has upheld and comforted me. And yet I have had many trials, many +trials, many trials. My brain reels and wanders. I think of my husband +and my boy, my only boy, many fathoms deep beneath the cold, cold waves, +and then my head turns and my heart changes into stone, and I forget +where I am and what has happened." + +The old woman began to ramble, and suddenly burst forth in the wild song +which she had been singing on the previous evening. + +Jenny Davis shook her head, observing, "She'll not be right after this +for some time. When the fit comes on her there's no more sense to be +looked for till she has had some rest." + +"I will send her up a quieting draught and some wholesome food, which +will probably do her more good than any medicine," said the Doctor, +taking Anna's hand, and motioning the others to move towards the door. + +William had hitherto not spoken a word. "Papa, may I take her up the +medicine and food?" he said, and big tears rolled down his cheeks. + +"Yes, William, you may," was the answer. + +Dr Morgan and his children had got outside the hut, and were on their +way down the steep side of the mountain, when they heard a cheery shout +behind them. Turning round, Anna instantly sprang up the hill, and in +another moment was in the arms of a young gentleman who was running down +to meet them. + +"It is Frank! It is Frank!" burst from the lips of the rest. + +"Why, father! Charley! who would have thought it?" cried the young +stranger, warmly greeting them; "and Willie, and Mabel, and Arthur! +What big people they have become! I little expected to have found you +so soon; and you were in that poor old woman's hut, too! Well, that is +curious! The truth is, I am lost, or rather I couldn't find you. I +mislaid Charley's letter, and though I thought I knew the name of the +place, I found, when I got into the country, that I hadn't the slightest +notion of what it was; and after wandering about for a couple of days, I +determined to write to old Evans, at Bangor, and to await his answer at +the inn on the other side of the mountain." + +"Then, Frank, you are the young gentleman who saved Old Moggy's life," +said Anna. "How delightful!" + +"Oh, did I? I merely threw my jacket over the poor creature's legs, and +put out the fire which had caught her clothes and would have burnt her," +answered the midshipman. "I am very glad I was of use, though it's not +a thing to be proud of. It was very fortunate, however, for me, for I +don't know how otherwise I should have found you. There is one thing I +should like to do, and that is to thrash the heartless young monkeys who +threw stones at the poor woman. If I can find them I will." + +William looked down, overwhelmed with shame, and almost wished that +Frank _would_ thrash him. + +"Then what brought you back to the hut, my boy?" asked the Doctor. + +"Oh, to look after the poor old woman," said Frank, "I understood from +the nurse--Jenny Davis she told me was her name--that she has no +friends, and so I thought it was but right and proper to come back and +see how she was getting on. I dropped a bundle with some old shirts and +other things in at the window; but seeing some people there, not +dreaming that they were all of you, I of course wouldn't go in. I +waited, expecting you soon to go away, and fortunately I made you out, +or I should have gone back to my inn, and not known that I had been +close to you." + +"Bless you, my boy, bless you! may you ever act in the same way from +principle, and not merely from the impulse of the heart, good as that +may be," said the Doctor, warmly, pressing Frank's hand, and undoubtedly +feeling the contrast between his conduct and that of William. "And now +let us hear something about yourself," he continued, in a more cheerful +tone than he had hitherto been speaking in. + +The young sailor had plenty to talk about, though, as he remarked, he +found his words apt to block up the hatchway, he was in such a hurry to +get them out of the hold. + +Charles and Anna were eager to hear about Tom Holman, and William would +have liked to hear what his brother was saying, but, in shame, he hung +back some way behind the rest, and when they reached the house his +father told him to go to his room, and wait there till summoned Frank +saw that there was something wrong, but forbore to inquire, hoping soon +to have an opportunity of pleading for the culprit. + +"Ah, that comes, whatever it is, of his being brought up by old Becky Ap +Reece," he thought to himself. "I am heartily glad he is free of her, +though he may never get a farthing of her money. He was a plucky little +chap, and with good training something might be made of him; but she +treated him like one of her poodles, and would soon have made him of no +more use in the world than a puppy dog." + +Though Frank Morgan was thoughtful, he was one of the merriest fellows +under the sun, and among the lightest of heart though not of head. +Frank's return brought life and spirit into the house; for Charles, +though highly esteemed, was grave and somewhat reserved; Anna was sedate +and quiet; and William, since his return home, had been very +troublesome, and was looked upon generally as an arrant pickle; while +the Doctor and Mrs Morgan were so much occupied that they were unable +to think of amusements for their children. Everything, however, was to +give way in order to make Frank enjoy his short visit at home; and +picnics and several pleasant excursions were planned that he might find +the time as pleasant as possible. + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +Dr Morgan loved William fully as much as he did the rest of his +children, but he saw that correction was necessary to cure him. Instead +of being allowed to welcome Frank with the rest of the family, William +was sent to his room, where he remained by himself, not knowing what was +next to happen. He was very sorry for what he had done; he had seen the +fearful consequences of his cruelty, by which he might have deprived a +fellow-creature of life; indeed, he knew not even now whether Old Moggy +might not die; and he also saw his own folly in believing that a poor +weak old creature, who could not preserve herself from injury, could +injure others in the way she was accused of doing, and he wished that he +had not thrown stones at her. These thoughts made him very +uncomfortable, and he would have been glad to go anywhere, or do +anything which would enable him to cast them away from him. It was a +great relief when his father came with the medicine and other things for +Old Moggy, and told him that he might take them to her, but must return +immediately to his room, without stopping to talk to any one. + +"Solitude is good for our spiritual welfare, to allow of reflection, but +we must not permit it to hinder us in the performance of the active +duties of life," observed the Doctor to his wife, when he told her how +he purposed treating William. "He wished to take the things to her, and +he is the fittest person to do so. It is well that he should feel that +he is useful and doing his duty; but at the same time it is necessary +that he should understand that the so doing cannot exonerate him from +the consequences of his transgressions." + +William hastened out of the house with his basket. He knew that if he +met any of his school companions they would ask him how long he had +turned apothecary's boy, what wages he got, and whether he made the +pills as well. He determined not to mind. Still he anxiously looked +about, fearing some might appear. He ran on, therefore, till he reached +the steep part of the path up the mountain. As he climbed up his heart +again failed him, for he began to fear that Jenny Davis would at all +events scold him, and that perhaps Moggy, seeing him alone, would say +something disagreeable. Still, as he had volunteered to go, it would be +arrant cowardice if he turned back. He reached the hut and looked in at +the window. Jenny saw him, and saw that he had a basket in his hand. + +"Come in, come in, my good young sir," she exclaimed. + +The words encouraged William, and he entered. + +"It's like your father's son to come and visit the poor and the +afflicted," she added. "I'm sure I thank ye, and so does she who lies +there, though she's ill able to speak now." + +Moggy, whose senses had by this time returned, heard her. + +"Ay--bless you, young gentleman! bless you!" she muttered. "I forgive +you, and thank you, and am your debtor; and there's One above who'll +forgive you if you go to Him." + +It surprised and puzzled him that Moggy bore him no ill-will, after all +the injury he had inflicted on her. He did not stop to inquire how this +was, but, having left the contents of his basket, bent his steps +homeward. As he wound his way by the path down the mountain-side, at a +far more sedate pace than was his wont, he thought over the matter. +Suddenly the words of the Lord's Prayer occurred to him--"Forgive us our +trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us." + +"That's it; she has been very wicked, and so she forgives me that she +may be forgiven," he said to himself. "But then I have been very wicked +too, and I have nobody to forgive. I don't know anybody who has done me +harm; I wish that somebody would, and then I might forgive them." He +reached home, and made his way to his room again. No one came near him +all day. At dinner-time Anna stole up with a plate of meat and +vegetables. She placed it before him, but he felt very little +inclination to eat. Anna was about to quit the room; Willie stopped +her. + +"I know I am very wicked, but I don't know what to do!" he exclaimed, +sobbing. "I wish that papa would come and tell me." + +Anna reported these words to their father. The Doctor might have +hastened at once to Willie, but he judged it wiser to allow the good +impression that had been formed to take root. He therefore sent him up +the Bible, by Anna, and begged him to read the answer of Paul to the +gaoler at Philippi. Anna showed him other texts of Scripture--"Blessed +are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy"; and then pointed out +warnings against those who wrong and oppress the poor and the afflicted. + +"I know, I know that I have done very wrong, and am very wicked," sobbed +William. "Do you think God will pardon me? I do not feel as if I could +do anything to make God forgive me, or love me, or be kind to me again." + +Anna stopped to collect her thoughts before she spoke; she then said-- + +"I am very sure that you never can do anything to make God forgive you, +dear Willie; and yet I am sure that God _will_ forgive you if you seek +Him through the Mediator He has given us. God loves to be gracious. If +you really are sorry for what you have done, if you repent, not because +your fault has brought you into trouble and disgrace, but because you +have offended God, then God will assuredly pardon you, for He has +promised in His Holy Word to do so. He says `Knock and it shall be +opened to you, seek and ye shall find'; so you see, dear Willie, you may +be pardoned if you seek it in the right way." + +And she spoke of God's love in sending His blessed Son to save us from +our sins, and of the Holy Spirit that He gives us to soften our hard +hearts and make them tender, as well as to teach us always what we ought +to do. + +When she ceased speaking he was sobbing, but not bitterly. + +"Pray for me, Anna," said he; "I am not able to pray for myself." + +"Oh, be sure all those who love you will pray for you," she answered, +kissing him. "Papa and mamma pray for us night and morning, I am +certain of that; and it makes me very happy and confident to think so. +But still, dear Willie, remember always that we must pray for +ourselves." + +"Yes, I know, and I will try," said William, as his sister left the +room. + +The evening approached. Charles brought him up some tea and +bread-and-butter, but said nothing. No one else came near him, not even +Frank. He thought that Frank might have come, but still he could not +complain. How different had been his brother's conduct and his own +towards poor Old Moggy! He had thought her a witch, and thrown stones +at her, and called her all sorts of bad names; while brave Frank had +risked burning himself to save her, and had kindly treated her, and +given her money, and come back to see how she was faring. + +"And they say that there are no such things as witches, or ugly ghosts +wandering about, or such-like creatures," he thought to himself. "I +always fancied there were, but papa must be right, and I am sure I hope +that there are not. And as God loves us I don't think He would let such +things be, to come and frighten us, certainly not to harm or frighten +those who love Him. How very, very foolish I have been, to believe all +the nonsense I have heard." + +With these thoughts, repentant Willie fell asleep. He did not see that +his parents entered, when the rest of the family were gone to bed, and +bending over him observed how placidly he slept. Then they knelt down +together and earnestly prayed for his spiritual welfare. He had sorely +felt their absence all day, and was inclined to believe that their love +was estranged from him. How far was this from the truth! Thus it is +that our Heavenly Father deals with His erring children. He shuts +Himself out from them. He allows evil to overtake them, but not the +less does He love them. He thus afflicts them that they may more fully +feel their dependence on Him, and return like the prodigal to His arms. + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +Frank had to return to his ship, but after a short cruise he wrote word +that he had again got leave to go home; and this time he hoped to be +accompanied by his shipmate, the preserver of his life, Tom Holman. The +family at the rectory were as eager to see Tom as they were before. +Some changes had taken place among them. Willie was very different to +what he had been. His masters remarked that he was much improved. From +being the most idle, he was now one of the most attentive and obedient +of their scholars. His parents, too, believed that they had discovered +a real change of heart. His godmother, Miss Becky Ap Reece, had died +and left him her heir, her property realising a far larger sum than had +been expected; indeed, it was surmised that the poor lady must have lost +a considerable portion of her income at cards, or she would have been +able to live in better style, or have done more good with it than she +had done. + +As soon as William heard that cousin Becky's property had been left to +him, though of course he was ignorant of its value, he entreated that he +might give it to Old Moggy to make her comfortable. + +"What, all, Willie? all your fortune?" asked his father, with a feeling +of pleasure about his heart. + +"O yes, papa, I do not think that I have a right to spend any of it on +myself, while she is suffering in consequence of my wickedness," +answered Willie, with perfect sincerity. + +"I rejoice to hear you say so, my dear boy, but the matter is not left +in your power, nor indeed in mine. Until you are of age, the interest +of the capital can alone be spent; and I, as your guardian, have +authority only to expend it on your proper maintenance and education. +It is only, therefore, by denying yourself all luxuries and amusements, +and by saving pocket-money, with which I am directed to supply you, that +you can help poor Moggy as you desire." + +"Oh then, that is what I will do," exclaimed Willie. "Don't give me any +pocket-money, or let me have any amusements which cost money. That's +almost what I wanted to do; though I should like to set her up as a +lady, or in a comfortable house, with a servant to attend on her." + +"That would not be wise, Willie," remarked Dr Morgan. "You would +expend all your means on one person, giving her more than she requires; +and though it would save you trouble, you would be prevented from +benefiting others; whereas you should calculate the means at your +disposal, and take trouble to ascertain how much good you can possibly +do with it. I am also bound to give you your pocket-money, provided I +do not find that you make a bad use of it. You must decide how it is to +be spent, and of course you are at liberty to return it to me to spend +for you." + +"Oh, that will do, that will do!" exclaimed Willie, with pleasure in his +tone. "But you will help me, papa, in doing what is best with it?" + +"I have already anticipated some of your wishes with respect to poor +Moggy, and we will see what more can be done to make her comfortable. +She says that she prefers Windyside to any other spot on earth, and has +no wish to move from it." + +On a fine day, when the sun was shining brightly over mountain and moor, +and his beams were lighting up the pine-trees and the once dark, ruinous +hovel on the hillside, Dr Morgan with most of his children took their +way towards Old Moggy's abode. It was greatly changed for the better. +A chimney was now to be seen rising above the roof, which had been fresh +tiled; there was glass in the window, a latch on the door, which had +been repaired, and the lichen-covered walls had been scraped, fresh +pointed, and white-washed. When the party got inside they discovered an +equally agreeable change. A thick curtain divided the room; a screen +kept off the draught when the door was opened; the walls were whitened, +and there was a cupboard, and a table and chairs, and several shelves, +on which rested some neat crockery. On the inside of the curtain there +was a comfortable bed, and some thick matting on the floor. Old Moggy +was seated in a large easy-chair, with her feet on the old stool, which +before was one of her sole articles of furniture, and good Jenny Davis +was making up a nice fire of coals, on which to cook some wholesome meat +and vegetables which she had just brought from the market. + +"She's getting quite strong and hearty, with the good food and +kindness," answered Jenny to the Doctor's question, "How is Moggy +to-day?" + +"She can talk to ye as clear and sensibly as any one; ay, and there are +some glorious things she has been saying to me, which have done my soul +a world of good." + +"Ay, Doctor Morgan, in one thing Jenny speaks truth. I don't feel the +poor demented creature I was a few short months ago," said Moggy; "and +it's your tender kindness, and that of your dear boy, Master Willie, and +the rest of your children, has brought about the change which ye see in +me. I am clothed, and in my right mind; and yet, through the mercy of +God, I never, even when my mind was wrong, was cast out from Him. I +still sought Him, and found Him. He watched over me and protected me." + +"Be assured, Moggy," said the Doctor, "that we are well repaid for what +we have done for you. But I must not stay. I came up with my children +to-day to see how you were. You require no doctoring, and so I must +away. Anna, however, will remain with the rest, as she has brought up a +book to read, which may interest you." + +When the Doctor had gone Anna took a seat by Moggy's side, and Willie +begged Jenny to give him some employment which might be of use. + +"There's little enough, my sweet young master, that is fit for you to +do," answered Jenny. "There are those few pots and pans to clean, and +some cups and saucers, and plates and spoons, and knives and forks, but +sure that's not work fit for a young gentleman's hands." + +"Oh, any work is fit for me, if it is to serve Moggy," said William, +rubbing away at the articles which were placed by his side. + +Anna read on in her sweet, low voice. The book contained a true history +of one who bore suffering and affliction with patience and perfect +resignation to the Divine will for long, long years, till health came +back and she enjoyed peace and happiness in this world, and departed +full of joy and hope. Moggy, who seemed deeply interested, instantly +applied the history to herself. + +"That's me, that's me," she muttered. "I have got peace and comfort, +and it's a happiness to have all these loving, dear children round me." +She paused and sighed deeply, as if a recollection of the past had come +suddenly on her, for she added, "But ah, who can bring back the dead-- +those who lie far, far away in their ocean grave? No joy for me here +till I know that I am departing to meet them." + +"Dear Moggy," said Anna, interrupting her gently, and fearing that she +might give way to her feelings too much, "you have more than once +promised that you would give us some of your past history. We should +very much like to hear it, provided you do not dwell too long on the +more painful portions." + +Moggy looked up at her with a sad expression in her eyes. + +"Ah, sweet Miss Anna, you do not know what you ask," she answered. "If +I were to tell you my history without the sad portions there truly would +be little to tell; but I will not therefore deny you. It will do me +good, maybe, to know that those I love are acquainted with my griefs, +and can pity me, and as it were share them with me." + +"We know that you have had sore troubles, and we pity you for them, and +we have all learned to love you because you bear them so patiently," +said Anna; "therefore if it gives you pain do not talk of your past +history." + +"Ay, that is kind in you, Miss Anna, to say, but I have the wish now to +tell you all; what I have been, and how I came to be as I am," said +Moggy. "Master Willie, ask Master Charles to come in (Charles had +returned outside the cottage to botanise), then I'll tell ye all, yes, +all. Often and often I've thought of the past, so it does not seem +strange to me as it will to you, dear Miss Anna, but ye will not weep +for me, for it's long, long since I wept for myself." + +A shout from William made Anna run to the door, and from thence she saw +Charley shaking hands with their brother Frank, and Willie running down +the hill towards them. Another person stood by, who must be, she was +certain, Tom Holman. Looking into the cottage again, and crying out, +"Frank has come! Frank has come!" she also ran down the hill towards +her brothers. There were warm greetings, and smiles, and laughter; and +then Frank sang out, "Hillo, Tom, come up here. My brothers and sister +want to thank you for enabling me to get back and see them; and tell +them how you picked me out of the water and saved my life, and have +taken such good care of me ever since." + +Tom had, with true politeness, gone some way off out of ear-shot of the +brothers and sister when they met. The latter words were addressed to +him, and with the activity of a seaman he sprang up the hill towards +them. He did not quite come up to the idea Anna had formed of him. +Though dressed as a seaman, he was somewhat different to the +commonly-received notions of what a British tar is like; still less +could he be compared to a refined pirate or dashing rover of romance. +He was an ordinary sized, sunburnt, darkish man of middle age, with a +somewhat grave expression of countenance. When he spoke, however, a +pleasant smile lit up his firm mouth, and his eyes beamed with +intelligence. Anna, Charles, and Willie went forward, and putting out +their hands one after the other, shook his cordially, and thanked him, +in a few simple words, for the manly services he had rendered Frank; +each hoping to find means of proving their gratitude in a more +substantial way than by words alone. Tom answered them in a pleasant +voice, evidently gratified by the way they had treated him. + +"Why you see, Miss Morgan and young gentlemen, it was your brother first +did me a service, and a very great one too, and so I felt very grateful, +and a liking to him, and that made me have my eye oftener on him when +there was any danger abroad, and be oftener talking to him; and so, do +ye see, all the rest followed in course." + +"We never heard of Frank doing anything for you," answered Anna. "We +thought that the obligation was all on his side." + +"Come, Tom, don't talk about that just now," cried Frank. "I say, Anna, +how's Old Moggy? I'm glad to see that you have painted up her abode. I +must go up and see her at once, and introduce Tom to her; she'll like to +hear about the foreign parts he has been to." + +Saying this, he ran up the hill towards the hut. The rest of the party +followed more slowly. Tom remained outside; the young Morgans entered. +They found Frank seated opposite to Moggy, talking away to her, and +telling her how happy he was to see her so comfortable. The poor old +woman was much gratified with the attention paid her. + +"But where is Tom?" cried Frank. "Willie, tell him to come in. I want +to introduce him to Moggy. He will be interested in her, for a kinder +heart than his does not beat in the bosom of any man, woman, or child +that I know of." + +Tom soon made his appearance, doffing his tarpauling as he entered, and +taking a seat to which Frank pointed, nearly opposite Moggy. + +For a minute or more after Tom had taken his seat Moggy was silent, when +bending forward, and shrouding her grey eyebrows with her withered hand, +with unexpected suddenness she said, in a deep, low voice, and a strange +inquiring expression in her countenance-- + +"Who are you, and where do you come from?" + +"A seaman, mother," answered Tom, "and shipmate for many a year with +young Mister Morgan here." + +The old woman scarcely seemed to understand what was said, but kept +muttering to herself, and intently gazing at Tom. + +"Come, Moggy, you'll stare my shipmate out of countenance, for he's a +bashful man, though a brave one," cried Frank, who fancied that his +friend did not like the scrutiny he was undergoing. Frank produced the +effect he wished, and Moggy at once resumed the placid manner she had of +late exhibited. + +"Your pardon, sir; strange fancies come over me at times, though it's +seldom now I get as bad as I used to be," said Moggy. "I forgot how +time passes, ay, and what changes time works, but I will not trouble you +with my wild fancies. Your honoured father has shown me how I may put +them to flight by prayer, by looking to Him who died for us, and then +all becomes peace, and joy, and contentment." + +"Moggy was just going to give me an account of her early days when you +arrived," said Anna. + +"I shall like very much to hear all about her, if Moggy will put off her +history till another day," remarked Frank. "I promised to return home +again without delay, so we must not remain any longer." + +"Remember, children dear, time is in God's hand, not ours. We propose, +but He disposes as He knows best. He may think fit to let me live, to +enjoy the comforts you have provided for me in my old age, or He may +think fit to call me home; but while I live my wish will be to please +you if I can benefit you, and my last prayers will be for your welfare." + +"Oh, you must live on for many a day, and we must hear your story over +and over again, till we know it by heart," cried Frank, about to go. + +"Once for me to tell and once for you to hear would be enough, my dear +lad," said Moggy, shaking her head. + +"Good-bye, mother, good-bye," said Tom, his heart evidently touched by +the poor old woman's condition. + +"Fare thee well, my son, fare thee well. May Heaven prosper thee and +guard thee on the perilous waters," answered Moggy, gazing intently at +him as before. "So like thy countenance, and thy manners." + +The rest of the party uttered their farewells, and leaving the hut, took +their way down the mountain. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +Frank was the life of the family in the drawing-room, and Tom interested +and astonished the inmates of the kitchen with the accounts he gave them +of his own adventures and his young officer's exploits and gallant +deeds. It is possible that some of his companions might have preferred +hearing him sing a rollicking sea song, and seeing him dance a hornpipe, +as most seamen are represented as doing on all possible occasions; but +they soon found out that such was not Tom Holman's way. He could talk, +though, and laugh, and be very merry at times, and never seemed unhappy; +and Mary Jones, Mrs Morgan's old nurse, declared that he was the +pleasantest, and nicest, and quietest, ay, and more than that, the best +young man she had seen for many a day. Not that he was very young, for +he was certainly over forty. Tom Holman was more than pleasant--he was +an earnest, Christian seaman. Happily there are many such now-a-days, +both in the Royal Navy and in the merchant service--men who are not +ashamed of the Cross of Christ. Tom and Mrs Jones soon became fast +friends, and it was through her that the way in which he and Frank first +became intimate was known to Mrs Morgan and the rest of the family. + +"You see, Mrs Jones," said Tom, as he sat with her in the housekeeper's +room, "I was pretty well a castaway, without friends, without home, +without any one to care for me, or show me the right course to sail on. +I had got hold of some books, all about the rights of man, sneering at +religion, and everything that was right, and noble, and holy; and in my +ignorance I thought it all very fine, and had become a perfect infidel. +All that sort of books writ by the devil's devices have brought +countless beings to destruction--of body as well as of soul. Our ship +was on the coast of Africa, employed in looking after slavers, to try +and put a stop to the slave trade. I entered warmly into the work, for +I thought that it was a cruel shame that men, because they had white +skins, more power, and maybe, more sense, should be allowed to carry off +their fellow-men and hold them in bondage. I was appointed as coxswain +of the boat commanded by Mr Morgan. Often we used to be sent away in +her for days together from the ship, to lie in wait for slavers. The +officers on such occasions used to allow us to talk pretty freely to one +another and to express our minds. One day I said something which showed +Mr Morgan what was in my mind--how dark and ignorant it was. He +questioned me further, and found that I was an infidel, that I had no +belief in God or in goodness, and that I was unhappy. Some officers +would have cared nothing for this, or just abused me, called me a fool, +and let me alone; others, who called themselves religious, would have +cast me off as a reprobate. But Mr Morgan, whom I always thought only +a good-natured, merry young gentleman, did neither; but he stuck to me +like a friend. Day after day, and night after night, he talked to me, +and reasoned with me, and read to me out of the blessed Gospel, for he +never was without the Book of Life in all our expedition. [See Note 1.] +Whenever he could get me alone he pleaded earnestly with me, as a +friend, nay, as affectionately as a brother. In spite of myself, he +made me listen to him, and I learned to love and respect him, even when +I thought myself far wiser than he was. He persevered. I began to see +how vile I was, how unlike a pure and holy God; and then he showed me +the only way by which I could become fit to dwell with God. It seemed +so plain, so simple, so beautiful, so unlike any idea man could +conceive, that I, as it were, sprang to it, just as a drowning man +springs to a rock, and clutching it, lifts himself up clear of the +tangled weeds which are dragging him to destruction. From that moment I +became a changed man, and gained a peace and happiness of which I knew +nothing before." + +"Dr Morgan's regards, and he hopes you'll step into the dining-room, +Mr Holman," said the parlour-maid, opening the door. + +Tom was soon seated among the family circle, his manner showing that he +was perfectly at his ease without the slightest show of presumption. + +"Tom, they want to hear about our adventures, and I've told them that I +must have you present to confirm my account, lest they should suppose I +am romancing," said Frank, as Tom entered. + +"They wouldn't think that, Mr Morgan," answered Tom. "But, however, +I'll take the helm for a spell if you get out of your right course." + +"I don't doubt you, old shipmate," said Frank. "But before I get under +weigh with my yarn I want you to give them a few pages out of your log +before you and I sailed together." + +Tom guessed what this request meant. "Well, sir, if your honourable +father and mother and you wish it, I'll tell you all I know about +myself. For what I know to the contrary, I was born at sea. My first +recollections were of a fearful storm on the ocean. We were tossing +about in a boat. One of them, whom I for a long time afterwards thought +was my father, had charge of me. He was a kind-hearted man, and looked +after me most carefully. He went by the name of Jack Johnson, but +sailors often change their names, especially if they have deserted, or +have done anything for which they think that they may be punished. He +always called me Tom, and I didn't know that I had any other name till +he told me that my name was Holman, that he had known my father, who was +a very respectable man, who, with my mother, and many other people, had +been lost at sea. He said that he had saved me, and that we, with a few +others, were the only people who had escaped from the wreck. We had +been picked up by a ship outward bound round the Horn. Two of the men +died, the rest entered on board the whaler, and as the captain could not +well pitch me overboard he was obliged to take me; for indeed Jack, who +was the best seaman of the lot, refused to do duty unless I was put on +the ship's books for rations. It was a rough school for a child, but I +throve in it, and learned many things, though some of them I had better +not have learned. The captain seemed a stern and morose man, and for +many months he took no notice of me; but one day as I was trying to +climb up the rattlins of the lower shrouds I fell to the deck. He ran +to me, lifted me up, and carrying me to his cabin, placed me on his own +bed, and with an anxious countenance examined me all over to find where +I was hurt. He rubbed my temples and hands, and Jack, who followed him +into the cabin, said he looked quite pleased when I came to again. I +was some weeks recovering, and he watched over me all the time with as +much care as if I had been his own child. + +"`Ah! the man's heart is in the right place, and I'd sooner sail with +him than with many another softer-spoken gentleman I've fallen in with,' +remarked Jack one day after I had recovered. + +"We heard from one of the crew, who had before sailed with the captain, +that he had a little son of his own killed from falling on deck, and +this it was which made him take to me." + +"Yes, God has implanted right and good feelings in the bosoms of all His +creatures," observed the Doctor. "But when they are neglected, and sin +is allowed to get the better of them, they are destroyed. None of our +hearts are in their right place, as the saying is. They are all by +nature prone to ill. The same man who was doing you the kindness might +in other ways have been grievously offending God." + +"Ay, sir, it might have been; but it would not become me to find fault +with one who had rendered me so great a service," said Tom. "After I +was well, he used to have me into his cabin every day to teach me to +read and write, and the little learning I ever had I gained from him. +We had been out four years, and the ship had at last got a full cargo, +and was on the point of returning home, when we fell in with another +ship belonging to the same owners. The captain of her had died, and the +first mate had been washed overboard, and so the supercargo invited our +captain to take charge of her. As he had no wife nor children living at +home, this he consented to do, and thus it happened that I remained out +in the Pacific another four years. Tom for my sake went with him to the +other ship. We were nearly full. + +"`One more fish, and then hurrah for old England, lads,' sung out the +captain, as three sperm whales were seen spouting from the mast-head. + +"All the boats were immediately lowered. Jack was in the captain's +boat. Away they pulled from the ship in chase. Those sperm whales are +sometimes dangerous creatures to hunt. We saw that the captain's boat +was fast, that is to say, he had struck the whale. Away went the boat, +towed at a great rate. Suddenly she stopped--the whale rose. The +captain pulled in to strike another harpoon into her. The monster +reared her powerful tail and struck the boat a blow which split her +clean in two. We had not a boat left to go to our shipmates' +assistance; the other boats were far away in other directions. The wind +was light, but we were able to lay up towards the spot where the +accident had occurred. We could at length see the wreck of the boat and +two men clinging to her. I hoped that one might be Jack and the other +the captain; for they were, I may well say, the only two people I cared +for in the world, or who cared for me. Eagerly I looked out. `It's Jem +Rawlins and Peter Garvin,' I heard some one say. My heart sank within +me. Jem and Peter were got on board. They were, of all the crew, those +I had the least reason to like. They told us that the poor captain had +got the line entangled round his leg, and had been drawn down when the +whale sounded, and that Jack had been killed by a blow from her tail. +It seemed wonderful that they themselves should have escaped, +considering the fury with which the whale attacked the boat. Thus was +the last link broken which, as it were, connected me with my lost +relations, and I might say that I had not a friend in the world. All I +knew about myself was that Jack had saved me from the wreck of a ship +called the `Dove,' which, with my name, `Tom Holman,' he had tattooed on +my arm. He had also put into a tin case the belt I had on and one or +two other little articles, which tin case was in his chest. It was +unanimously agreed on board that I should be his heir, so I succeeded to +the chest, the chief article of value in which was the tin case. I took +it out, and have ever since preserved it carefully, though with little +hope of finding it of use. I had become very fond of reading, and had +read all the books in the captain's cabin. There were not many of them, +and there was not one which had religion in it, and I am very certain +that there was not a Bible on board. I only knew that there was such a +book from the captain, who had read it at home, and I heard him only a +few days before his death regretting that he had not got one. I believe +our ship was not worse than others, and to the best of my belief not one +of the South Sea whalers we fell in with had a Bible on board. The +crews, as a rule, were lawless reprobates, and the masters petty +tyrants, who cared nothing for the men, provided they would work to get +their ships full. We sailed for England by the way of Cape Horn. I +wished to go there because I wished to see what sort of a country it +was, and to enjoy the amusements of which I heard the men talking. We +had a prosperous passage till we were in the latitude of the Falkland +Islands, when we were caught in a heavy gale, and after knocking about +for some time in thick weather, when no observation could be obtained, +we found ourselves with breakers under our lee, and a rocky shore +beyond. The masts were cut away and anchors let go, but to no purpose; +the ship parting from her anchors was driven on the rocks. Nearly half +the crew were washed away, and the rest of us succeeded in gaining the +shore, soon after which the ship went to pieces, and all the cargo which +we had toiled so hard to collect was returned to the sea from whence it +was obtained. Very few provisions came on shore, but there was a fair +supply of canvas and plenty of ropes. We at once therefore put up a +tent for ourselves, and placed all our more valuable possessions under +cover. With some spars which came on shore we formed a lofty flagstaff, +on which we hoisted a flag, in the hope that it might be seen by some +passing vessel. There were springs of good water near the shore, and as +long as our provisions lasted we got on pretty well, but when they began +to fail the men looked at each other and asked, `What next?' + +"`Oh, some ship must be passing soon, and will take us off,' cried out +two or three, who were unwilling to be placed on reduced rations. + +"`But suppose no ship does pass, lads, what will you do? I have to tell +you that, with the greatest economy, our provisions will not last +another ten days,' said the first mate, who was now captain. `It is +barren and sandy here, but maybe, if we push our way across the island, +we may find a richer country, and some animals on which we may live.' + +"Some agreed to the mate's proposal, others determined to remain on the +sea-shore. I accompanied the mate. The provisions were equally +divided, and those who remained said they would try and catch some fish, +in case theirs ran short. + +"`Try and catch them at once, then,' said the mate; `don't wait till you +are starving.' + +"In our party was a man who had been in South America, and could use the +lasso with dexterity. He and another man fitted two lines for the +purpose, in the hope of finding some wild animals. The rest laughed at +them, declaring that in an island where there was not a tree to be seen, +and only some long tufts of grass, it was not likely that we should find +anything but snakes and lizards. We had made good some ten miles or so, +when we came upon a scene of desolation such as I have seldom elsewhere +met with. Far as the eye could reach the surface of the ground was one +black mass of cinders. The men looked at each other. + +"`Little prospect of finding any animals hereabouts,' observed one of +the men. + +"`Not so sure of that,' said the mate, kicking up the ashes with his +foot. Under them appeared some blades of green grass just springing up. + +"`To my mind the fire has run across the island at this part, which +seems to be somewhat narrow, for from the top of that rock I climbed I +could make out the sea on either hand; and thus, you understand, it may +have driven the animals, if there are any, over to the other parts +beyond, where I hope we may find them.' + +"`But how is it that the animals didn't run our way?' asked one of the +men. + +"`Because the country where we have been is barren and sandy, and they +have gone to the opposite side, which is very different. To the best of +my belief we shall find herds of wild cattle feeding on the other side +if we bravely push on. Here goes, who'll follow?' + +"Saying this, the mate walked on quickly into the sea of cinders. I ran +after him, and the rest followed. The mate supposed that the fire had +occurred only a short time before we reached the island, and had been +put out by the storm which had driven us on shore, or rather by the rain +which accompanied it. We had to sleep that night in the middle of the +cinders, without a drop of water to drink. Some of the men grumbled, +but the mate told them that they ought to be thankful, because there was +no chance of our being burned, which there might be if we were sleeping +in the long grass. + +"`Ah, lads, every situation has its advantages, if we will but look for +them,' he remarked; and I have often since thought of that saying of +his. + +"On we went, the mate leading, the men often unwilling to proceed till +he uttered a few words of encouragement. At last the sun's rays, +bursting out from between the clouds, fell on some green grass which +clothed the side of a hill before us. It was a welcome sight; and still +more welcome was the sight of a herd of cattle which appeared before us +as we got clear of the burnt district. It was important not to frighten +them. We advanced carefully, the two men with lassoes leading, hiding +ourselves among rocks and bushes, and keeping to leeward of the herd. +To our great satisfaction, the animals as they fed moved on towards us. +Suddenly the men with the lassoes threw them round the neck of a cow, +the nearest animal to us. We sprang forward, laying hold of the ends, +one party hauling one way, one the other. In spite of all her violent +struggles, we had her fast, and one of the men, rushing in, hamstrung +her, and she was in our power. This capture raised our spirits, for we +felt sure that we should never want food on the island, as we might +catch the oxen in pitfalls if not with lassoes. The mate was asked how +he came to suppose that there were cattle on the island. + +"`Just because a shipmate, in whose word I could trust, told me he had +seen them,' was the answer. `What better reason for believing a thing +would you require?' + +"We camped where we were, and the South American showed us how to cut up +the heifer and to dry the meat in the sun, so that we had as much pure +meat as each of us could carry. As our companions had enough food for +some days longer, the mate wished to see more of the island before +returning. We saw several large herds of cattle, which fed on the long +grass covering the face of the country, which was generally undulating. +We were several days away, and as we caught sight of the flagstaff, we +thought of the pleasure the supply of meat we had brought would afford +our companions. We saw the tents, but no one came to meet us. We +shouted, but there was no shout in return. We feared that they might be +ill, or even dead. We reached the tent, but no one was within; we +looked about, we could find no one. The mate was looking seaward. He +pointed to the offing, where, sinking below the horizon, the white sail +of a ship was seen. It was more than probable that our shipmates had +gone in her, but whether with their own will or carried off by force we +could not conjecture. Some of the men were very angry, but the mate +observed that was wrong. Our shipmates, probably, could not help +themselves. They might have supposed we should not return, and, if they +had gone with their own will, might have been unable to leave any +message for us. The mate was a truly charitable man, for he was anxious +to put the best construction on the conduct of our shipmates. There, +however, we were left, with a diminished party, with the possibility +that another ship might not approach the coast for many months to come. +The summer was drawing to a close. It had been somewhat damp and cold, +and we expected that the winter would be proportionally severe. + +"`We may get off, but we may possibly have to stay; and if we are wise, +lads, we shall prepare for the worst,' said the mate; and telling the +men what would be wanted, forthwith began the work he advised. + +"We were to build a couple of huts, to cut and dry turf for fuel, and to +kill some cattle and prepare the flesh; to hunt for vegetables or herbs, +which might keep off scurvy, and to do various other things. + +"`Example is better than precept, Tom, as you will find,' observed the +mate to me. `I never tell men to do what I am not ready to do myself. +That's the reason they obey me so willingly.' + +"I've ever since remembered the mate's words, and told them to Mr +Morgan; and I am sure he never orders men to do what he is not ready to +try and do himself if necessary. It was fortunate for all that the +mate's advice was followed. Some comfortable huts were got up, and a +store of provisions and fuel collected before the winter began. It set +in with unusual seventy, and I believe that we should all have perished +from cold, and damp, and snow, had we not been prepared, though I do not +remember that the frost was hard at any time. + +"Some of the men abused their companions for going away without them. + +"`Let be,' said the mate; `all's for the best. We don't know where they +are now, but we do know that we are not badly off, with a house, +clothing, food, and firing. These islands are not so much out of the +way, but what we are certain to get off some day or other, and in the +meantime we have no cause to complain. Let us rather be thankful, and +rejoice that we are so well off.' + +"I remembered those words of the mate afterwards. It is now my belief +that the mate was a God-fearing man, but religion had been so unpopular +among those with whom he had sailed, that he was afraid of declaring his +opinions, and just went and hid his light under a bushel. What a world +of good he might have done us all if he had spoken out manfully! As it +was, all that precious time was lost. The mate did speak to me +occasionally, but timidly, and I did not understand him. How should I? +It was not till long afterwards, as Mr Morgan knows, that I became +acquainted with Christianity. Before that I was as a heathen; I knew +nothing of Christ, nothing of God. The winter passed away, the spring +returned, and the summer drew on, and not a sail had been seen. All +hands became anxious to get off, and from early dawn till nightfall the +flag was kept flying, and one or more of the party were on the lookout +from Flagstaff Hill. At length a sail hove in sight. Nearer and nearer +she came. `Would our flag be seen?' was now the question. The wind was +off the shore, she tacked, she was beating up towards us. From her +white canvas and the length of her yards she was pronounced to be a +man-of-war corvette, and her ensign showed us that she was English. +Some of the men declared that they would rather live the rest of their +days on the island than go on board a man-of-war; but the mate told them +that they were very foolish, and that if they did their duty they would +be better treated than on board most merchantmen. I shared their fears, +for I had heard all sorts of stones about the treatment of men on board +men-of-war, which I have since found to be absurdly false. The end was +that we all stood ready to receive the boat when she reached the beach. +A lieutenant with a midshipman came in her. They were very much +surprised to hear that we had been a whole year on shore, observing that +we must have saved a good supply of provisions from the wreck. When the +mate told them of the wild cattle, and that we could catch some, they +begged us to do so, saying that the purser would purchase the meat from +us for the ship's company. They accordingly returned on board, but soon +came back with the butcher, and by the next day we had six or eight fine +animals ready for them. The officer kindly gave us permission to carry +off any of our property which could be stowed away on board. From the +considerate treatment the men received, they all volunteered into the +service, and I was rated as a ship's boy, and from that day to this have +belonged to the Royal Navy of England. The mate was promised promotion +if he would join. + +"`At all events I do not wish to eat the bread of idleness,' was his +answer. `I'll do duty in any station to which I am appointed.' + +"The corvette was bound round the Horn, so back again into the Pacific I +went. We touched at many places in Chili and Peru, and then stood to +the west to visit some of the many islands in those seas. I had been +about a year on board when one day an object was seen from the +mast-head, which was made out to be a boat. + +"There was one man sitting up in her, but three others lay dead under +the thwarts. The man was brought on board more dead than alive, and had +it not been for the watchful care of our surgeon he could not have long +survived. At first he was nothing but skin and bone, with sunken eyes +and hollow cheeks, but when he got some flesh on him I recognised him as +one of my shipmates who had deserted us on the Falkland Islands. He had +not, it seemed, discovered any of us, and of course in two years I was +so grown that he did not know me. So one day, sitting by him, I asked +him how it was he came into the plight in which we found him. He told +me many circumstances of which I was cognisant, and how the ship was +wrecked on the Falklands, and how part of the people had gone off into +the interior, and deserted those who wisely remained on the sea-shore. +`Never mind, they must have got their deserts, and perished,' he added; +and then he told me a ship appearing the day after we left, they had all +gone on board. They soon found that the crew had been guilty of some +foul deed; the captain and mate had been killed, with some others, and +the rest had determined to turn pirates. My shipmate was asked if he +would do so. They swore if he did not that he must die. To save his +life, he with the rest consented to join them. I will not repeat the +account he gave of all the crimes which he and his companions had +committed. He said that he had protested against them, and excused +himself. From bad they went on to worse, and frequently quarrelling, +murdered each other. The end was that this ship was cast away on a +reef, one boat only escaping, and of the people in her, after she had +been nearly a month drifting over the ocean, he alone survived. We who +had been left alone on the Falklands had reason to be thankful that we +had not gone off in the pirate ship. Had we done so, who among us could +have said that we should have escaped the terrible fate which overtook +our shipmates? From the time I learned the Lord's Prayer, there is no +part I have repeated more earnestly than `Lead us not into temptation.' +My poor shipmate never completely recovered from the hardships to which +he had been exposed; his mind, too, was always haunted with the dreadful +scenes he had witnessed, and he often told me that he never could show +his face in England, lest he should be recognised by those he had +wronged. He died the day before we made the coast of England. The ship +was paid off, but I found the naval service so much to my taste, and +there was so little on shore to attract me, that I the next day joined +another fitting out for the Indian station. After this, I visited in +one ship or another most parts of the world. But I think, Doctor +Morgan, you and your lady and the young gentlefolks will be getting +tired, so I'll put off an account of my adventures till another evening. +One thing I must say now, though. I looked upon it as a blessed day on +which I joined the `Rover,' where I met Mister Morgan, and yet there was +a day which I have reason to call still more blessed, when we were off +the coast of Africa." + +"Well, well, Tom. Don't talk of that now," said Frank. "I just did +what every Christian man should do. I put the truth before you, and you +believed it. I did not put myself to any inconvenience even to serve +Tom, while he risked his life to save mine. That was after the `Rover' +had come home and been paid off, and we belonged to the `Kestrel,' and +were sent out to the Pacific. I had an idea before we went there that +we were to find at all times calm seas and sunshine. I soon discovered +my mistake. We were caught in a terrific gale when in the neighbourhood +of coral islands and reefs. I had gone aloft to shorten sail, when the +ship gave an unexpected lurch, and I was sent clean overboard. I felt +that I must be lost, for the ship was driving away from me, and darkness +was not far off, when I saw that some one had thrown a grating into the +sea, and immediately afterwards a man leaped in after it. He was +swimming towards me. There seemed a prospect of my being saved. Still, +how the man who had thus nobly risked his life for my sake, and I could +ever regain the ship, I could not tell. I struck out with all my +strength to support myself, and prayed heartily. I soon recognised Tom +Holman's voice, cheering me up. He clutched me by the collar, and aided +by him I gained the grating. Two or three spars had been thrown in +after it, and, getting hold of them we formed a raft which supported us +both. By the time we were seated on it the ship was far away, and it +seemed impossible that in the dangerous neighbourhood in which I knew +that we were, the captain would venture to return on the mere chance of +finding us, should we indeed be alive. Our prospect outwardly was +gloomy indeed, though we kept up hope. I was sorry when I thought that +we should be lost; that Tom had, as I fancied, thrown away his life for +my sake. However, we will not talk of that now. We were drifting, that +was certain, and might drift on shore, or we might be driven against a +reef, when we must be lost. It was now night, though there was light +enough to distinguish the dark white-crested seas rising up around us, +and the inky sky overhead. Still we knew that there was the Eye of Love +looking down on us through that inky sky, and that though the rest of +the world was shut out from us, we were not shut out from Him, without +whose knowledge not a sparrow falls to the ground. I say this to you, +dear father and mother, because I wish to show my brothers and sisters +the effect of your teaching. I wished to live, but I was prepared to +die. The water was warm, and as we had had supper just before I fell +overboard we were not hungry, so that our physical sufferings were as +yet not great. Hour after hour passed by; the raft drove on before the +wind and sea. We supposed that it must be near dawn, for it seemed as +if we had been two whole nights on the raft, when we both heard the +sound of breakers. Our fate would soon thus be decided. As far as we +were able, we gazed around when we reached the summit of a sea. There +were the breakers; we could see the white foam flying up like a vast +waterspout against the leaden sky. We were passing it though, not +driving against it. A current was sweeping us on. The dawn broke. As +the light increased our eyes fell on a grove of cocoa-nut trees, rising +it seemed directly out of the water. The current was driving us near +them. We sat up and eagerly watched the shore; we had of ourselves no +means of forcing on the raft a point towards it, or in any degree faster +than we were going. Had we been driven directly towards it, on the +weather side, which, in our eagerness, we might have wished, we should +probably have been dashed to pieces; but the current took us round to +the lee side, and finally drifted us into a little bay where we safely +got on shore. You already know how we lived luxuriously on cocoa-nuts +and shell-fish, and about the clear fountain which rushed up out of the +rock in the centre of our island, and how our ship came back after some +weeks to water at that very fountain, and found us safe and well; and so +I will bring my yarn to an end." + +"We cannot be too thankful that you were preserved, my dear boy, when we +hear of the terrific dangers to which you and your brave friend were +exposed," exclaimed Dr Morgan. "I will not now speak of our debt to +him, never properly to be repaid, but I would point out to you all, my +children (what struck me as Frank was speaking), how like the way in +which he and Tom were preserved, is that in which God deals with His +people who put their trust in Him. We are in an ocean of troubles, with +darkness around us. We dimly discern breakers rising up on one side, +breakers ahead. We can do nothing to help ourselves, except pray on and +trust in Him. We see at length a haven of safety before us. Our +eagerness gets the better of our faith, but the current of His mercy +drifts round and away from what is really a peril, and we are carried on +into calm waters, and find shelter and rest from danger and trouble." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. The author has a dear friend, a naval officer, who was, as is +here described, the instrument of bringing some of his shipmates to a +knowledge and acceptance of the truth; one especially, from being an +infidel, became a faithful follower of Christ. His bones lie sepulchred +under the eternal snows of the Arctic pole. How consolatory to believe, +that amid the fearful sufferings that gallant band was called on to +endure, he, with many others--it may be all--were supported by faith and +hope to the last. We say all, for we cannot say what influence he and +other Christian men may have exerted over their companions during the +long, long years they passed in those Arctic regions ere they perished. + + + +CHAPTER NINE. + +Several circumstances had prevented the young Morgans from paying a +sufficiently long visit to Old Moggy to enable her to give them her +promised history. Jenny reported that she was better in mind and body +than she had ever known her, and as the time for Frank and Tom's +departure was drawing near, the whole party resolved to go up to hear +her tale. They did not fail to carry a few little luxuries which were +likely to please her. They found her as usual, seated before her fire, +for even in the summer she seemed to enjoy its warmth, on that bleak +hill's side. What with chairs, benches, and stools, a log of wood, a +pile of turf, and a boulder which Charley rolled in, all found seats. +Anna had to exercise a little diplomacy to induce Moggy to begin before +so formidable an audience. The poor creature was inclined to chide Tom +for not having come up oftener to see her, when she discovered that he +was going away. + +"I took a liking to your face and your manner my son, from the first +minute my eyes fell on you; and it would have been a slight thing for ye +to have come up and cheered the old woman's well-nigh withered heart," +she observed, in a more testy tone than she was accustomed to use. + +"Well, mother, don't blame me," answered Tom. "Many's the time I've +come round this way, but feared to intrude, or I would have come in, and +I'll not now miss the chance another time." + +This promise seemed to satisfy Moggy, and after a little hesitation she +began. + +"Once I was blithe and gay as any of you dear young people. I had a +home, and parents, and sisters. There were three of us, as pretty and +as merry as any to be found in the country around. We merrily grew up +into happy maidens, as merry as could be found, and the glass told us, +even if others had been silent, that we were as pretty too. We sang and +laughed from morn till night, and, alack, were somewhat thoughtless too; +but we were not idle. Our parents had a farm, and we helped our mother +in the dairy, and there was plenty of work for us. It was a pleasant +life. We were up with the lark and to bed in summer with the sun, and +in winter we sat by the fire when the cows were housed and the milk was +set in the pans, and all our out-door work was done, and knitted or +spun, or plied our needles, and chatted and sung; and guests came in, +and some of them came to woo; and we thought not of the morrow, and +taught ourselves to believe that the pleasant life we led would never +have an end. Ah! we were foolish--like the foolish virgins who had no +oil for their lamps, as all are foolish who think only of the present, +and prepare not for the future. Bad times were in store for us, such as +all farmers must be ready to encounter. Storms injured the crops, and +disease attacked our cattle; a fire broke out in the farm buildings; and +the end was that father had to throw up the farm, to sell his remaining +stock, and to go forth almost penniless into the world. Barely enough +remained to pay our passage to America. I was about to go with the rest +of my family, when one I had loved right well, an honest, steady youth, +entreated me to remain. He might soon have enough to wed. He had a +sick mother whom he could not leave, or he would have gone with us. If +I went we might never meet again. I consented to remain, so that I +could obtain service in which to support myself. A kind, good mistress +engaged me. She was more than kind, she was wise; not worldly wise, but +her wisdom was from above. She taught me that wisdom. By her means my +eyes were opened to things about which I before knew nothing. I saw +that God had dealt mercifully with me; that what I thought was a +misfortune was a blessing. I was thus led out of darkness into light. +I was happy, with a new happiness of which I before knew nothing. My +intended husband enjoyed it likewise; we both embraced the truth--my +only sorrow being that those who had gone away knew nothing of it. +Thomas lived at a distance, but whenever he could he came over to see +me. My kind, good mistress often spoke to him, and approved of my +choice. Time wore on. We waited to hear of those who had crossed the +sea. Sad tidings came at length. My mother had died on the voyage. My +father, heart-broken, and my sisters had landed and found a home, but +they missed her who had been their guide and their friend; and they +wanted me to go out and join them, and some cousins who lived a few +miles off from where I was at service, and Thomas also, if he would +marry me. I told my kind mistress. + +"`If Thomas loves you, and will take you to that foreign land, I will +not say you nay,' was her reply. + +"She gave me leave to go and deliver the message to my cousins, charging +me soon to return. My cousins were not averse to my sister's proposal, +and talked with pleasure of the many kindred who would meet in that +far-off settlement, for far off it seemed to them. On my return I found +the front door of my mistress's house closed. I went round and gained +an entrance through a window at the back. What was my horror to find +her bathed in blood, fallen from the arm-chair in which she sat before +the fire. I kneeled down to examine where she had been hurt, and was +about to raise her up when the door was burst open; some men rushed in; +I was seized. No one aided my dear mistress. A surgeon at length came. +He pronounced her dead. These cruel men had allowed her to die +unaided. I was accused of being her murderess. My horror, my +indignation, at the way she had been treated, my grief, my agitation, +impressed them with the conviction that I was guilty of the foul crime +which had been committed; for murdered she had been, of that there was +no doubt. Branded as a murderess I was borne off to prison. Many +thought me guilty. It was cruelly said that I was found red-handed by +the side of my victim. But even in prison I sought support, and +obtained it whence alone it was to be afforded. As King David, I could +say, `I have washed my hands in innocency. I cried unto the Lord and He +heard me.' Oh, my young friends, keep innocency. Do what is right in +the sight of the Lord, and never need you fear what man can do unto you. +There was one, however, on earth who knew me to be innocent--my Thomas. +He obtained leave to visit me in prison, obtained the best legal aid by +the sacrifice of his savings, and the evidence against me broke +completely down. I was acquitted. I scarcely knew how, or what +occurred. I entreated Thomas to let me become his wife, that I might +repay him by devoting my life to his service. We married; we were +happy; and by watchful care I was enabled to make his wages go farther +than before his marriage. More than a year had passed away; we had a +child born, a son. We believed that he would prove a blessing to us. +Some few more years had fled by. Again and again my sisters urged that +we would go out to join them. At length they were both about to marry, +and our father would be left alone. Thomas agreed to go. I thought +with delight of showing my young son to my father, of assisting and +supporting him in his old age, and more than all, of imparting to him +those blessed truths which I myself had found such a comfort to my soul. +We sailed in as fine a ship as ever put to sea, with many others about +to seek their fortunes in the New World; but scarcely had we left the +shores of England a hundred leagues astern than we encountered a fearful +gale, which washed away the bulwarks and some of our boats, strained the +hull, and shattered our masts and spars. It was but the beginning of +disasters. But, dear young people, I cannot dwell on that most grievous +period of my existence. The storm had injured our provisions. After +the storm came a calm, more dreadful than the storm; our water began to +run short. Did any of you ever feel the pangs of thirst? Day after day +our shattered bark lay rolling on the burning ocean. There was the +constant gush of water to tantalise us, for by undiscovered leaks the +sea had found an entrance, and in every watch the pumps were kept at +work. We were thankful when a breeze came, and once more the ship moved +across the ocean; but the breeze increased into a gale more fearful than +the first. On, on we drove; the leaks again increased. Day and night +the men were kept toiling at the pumps; my husband worked like the rest. +In vain, in vain; they could work no longer; the water was gaining on +us; the raging seas were washing over our decks. The strength of the +men was exhausted. Some of the women offered to try and work the pumps. +The night was coming on. I resolved to labour, that I might aid to +save my husband's life, our boy's, my own. + +"My boy had clung to me. I gave him, so I thought, to his father, to +watch over, while I laboured like the rest. Would you hear what +occurred? My heart has grown into stone, or I could not bear to tell +it. The raging seas broke more and more frequently over the ship. The +dreadful cry arose, `The ship is sinking, the ship is sinking!' I flew +towards my husband--my child was not with him. He had not received him +from me. Frantically I rushed along the deck; it was with no hope of +safety, but to die with my boy in my arms. Once more I was approaching +my husband; a flash of lightning revealed him to me at the moment that a +vast sea came sweeping down on the ship. It seized him in its cruel +embrace, and bore him far, far away, with many other helpless, shrieking +beings. Thankfully would I have followed, but I sought my boy. In +vain, in vain! I felt myself seized by a strong arm, and lifted into a +boat. I lost all consciousness for the next instant, it seemed. I +found the boat floating alone amid the tumultuous waves. My husband and +my boy were gone. They said there were other boats, and that some might +have been saved in them. I know not if any were saved. Neither my +husband nor our child did I ever again see; the cold, cruel waves had +claimed them. For many days we lay tossed about on the foaming waters. +We were more dead than alive when a sail appeared in sight. How I lived +I know not; it was, I believe, because all my feelings were dead. I +felt nothing, thought of nothing; I was in a dream, a cold, heavy weight +lay on my heart and brain. I knew not what was going on; the past was a +blank, the future was darkness. We were lifted on board--carefully +tended. The ship was bound, with settlers, to the same port to which I +was going. Those who had been saved with me told my story. Some of the +passengers were going to the far-off West, to the very spot where my +father and sisters had settled. Their hearts were touched with +compassion by my misfortunes, and they bore me with them. Truly they +were followers of the good Samaritan. Day after day we journeyed on +towards the setting sun. At length we reached my father's house; he and +my sisters scarcely knew me, so great was the havoc grief had wrought. +Kind and gentle treatment by degrees thawed my long frozen faculties, +and I began to take an interest in the affairs of the farm. In that +region the native tribes, the red men of the prairie, were fierce and +warlike, and often were engaged in deadly contests with the whites. +Years--many years, passed by, during which our people enjoyed peace. A +storm, however, was brewing, to burst with fury on our heads. It came; +in the dead of night the dreadful war-whoop of the red men was heard. +On every side arose those horrid cries. Our village was surrounded; +young and old, men and maidens, were ruthlessly murdered. My old father +and sisters were among the first slain. Some few bravely made a stand. +They fought their way out through the savages. I felt my arm seized by +some friendly hand, and was borne on amid them. Armed friends came to +our assistance, and the savages were driven back through the smoking +ruins of our home. All, all were gone; relatives, friends, and +property. Those who had accompanied me to the country, all, all were +gone. I was among strangers; they pitied me, but pity cannot last long +in the human breast. There is only One whose tender pity never wanes; +and it is only that human pity which arises from love of Him which can +stand all tests, and can endure for ever. I was left alone, alone in +that far-off land. My reason gave way. An idea had seized me--it was +to visit that mighty ocean beneath which slept my husband and my child. +I wandered on. I know not how I found my way, often through vast +solitudes where foot of man but rarely trod, till I reached the more +settled states. Food and shelter were rarely denied to the poor mad +woman, though of the roughest sort. At length I reached the eastern +cities; scant was the charity I found within them, I gained the +sea-coast; I gazed upon the ocean, with its majestic billows rolling up +from the far-off east. They seemed to me like mighty monuments raised +to the memory of those who slept beneath. For many years I had lived on +that wild sea waste, when I was seized and carried to a prison. I +demanded to know my crime. I heard myself branded as a pauper lunatic, +and was placed on board a ship to be returned to my native land. Sad, +sad was my heart. I had many companions in my misery--helpless beings +whom the strong new world would not receive. We were placed on shore to +starve, or live as best we could. I wandered on towards the spot where +long, long years before, I had lived a happy maiden. No one knew me; I +was branded as a witch, and fled away. Should I go to the relatives of +my husband? Thomas had spoken of them as kind and charitable. I +reached the village; every one looked at me with suspicion as a vagrant. +Well they might, for a vagrant I was, poor, wretched, and despised. I +had been there in my happy days with Thomas; but the place itself looked +strange. I inquired for his father, Farmer Holman. `Dead many a year +ago; all the rest gone away; never held up his head since his son went +off with that jade who murdered her mistress.' Such was the answer I +received. The words fell like molten lead upon my brain. I fled away. +I wandered on, not knowing whither I was going, till I reached these +sheltering walls on the mountain-side." + +Tom had been greatly agitated on hearing the name of Holman. Frank and +Anna had exchanged surprised glances with each other. + +"Dame, do you remember the name of Jack Johnson on board the ship which +foundered with so many on board?" asked Tom. + +"Ay, that I do. He was one who took a great fancy to my precious boy," +answered Moggy, gazing earnestly at Tom. + +"It is strange, mother, but such was the name of a kind seaman who for +many years acted as a second father to me; and still stranger, that he +always called me Tom Holman," exclaimed Tom, as he sat himself down on +the stool at her feet, and drawing a tin case from his pocket, took from +it a variety of small articles, which he placed in her lap. + +She gazed at them with a fixed, earnest look for some moments, and then, +stretching out her arms, she exclaimed, "Come to me, my son, my boy-- +long lost, now found! I cried unto the Lord, and He heard me out of my +deep distress. You bear your father's name, you have your father's +looks. Wonderful are the ways of the Lord. The Lord giveth and the +Lord taketh away. The Lord hath restored me tenfold into my bosom. +Blessed be the Name of the Lord!" + +Tom threw his arms round the old woman, and sobbed like a child. + +"Mother, mother, I have found you, I have found you!" he cried out, as +he kissed her withered cheek. + +What mattered it to him that she was aged and infirm, poor and despised? +She was his mother, of whom he had dreamed in his youth whom he had +always longed to find. He would now devote himself to cherish and +support her, and cheer her few remaining days on earth. + +"My dear children," said Dr Morgan, who had entered soon after Moggy +had begun her history, "let us learn, from what we have heard, never to +cease to put our whole trust and confidence in God. Whatever happens, +let us go on praying to God and trusting in God, for let us be assured +that He always careth for us." + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Mountain Moggy, by William H. G. 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