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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Pine Needles, by Susan Bogert Warner
+
+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: Pine Needles
+
+Author: Susan Bogert Warner
+
+Release Date: February 18, 2012 [EBook #38922]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PINE NEEDLES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Lindy Walsh, Julia Neufeld and
+the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
+
+Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals.
+
+Punctuation has been normalized and obvious printer errors have been
+corrected.
+
+
+
+
+PINE NEEDLES.
+
+
+
+
+  Warne's Star Series.
+
+  PINE NEEDLES.
+
+  BY THE AUTHOR OF
+  "_THE WIDE, WIDE WORLD_."
+
+  "They that say such things declare plainly that they seek a
+      country."--_Heb._ xi. 14.
+
+  [Illustration: Publisher's Mark]
+
+  New Edition.
+
+  LONDON:
+  FREDERICK WARNE AND CO.
+  BEDFORD STREET, STRAND.
+
+
+
+
+_NOTICE TO THE READER OF "PINE NEEDLES."_
+
+
+This little book might have been entitled "Christian Heroes," for its
+contents would have justified the name. The stories reported in the
+"Missionsblatt" of the late Pastor Louis Harms of Hermannsburg, of
+lovely memory, will surely delight all who love either heroism or
+Christianity, and are not able to enjoy the narrations in their original
+German dress. The author has framed them in a light frame of her own,
+but the stories are left in their integrity and simplicity, with
+omission of scarcely a dozen words.
+
+_February 1, 1877._
+
+
+
+
+PINE NEEDLES AND OLD YARNS.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+The Franklins were coming to Mosswood.
+
+This might have happened, Maggie thought, a good while ago; but,
+however, the view had not been shared by Mrs. Candlish; and a whole year
+had passed away since the joyful coming home of the family to their old
+possessions. The winter was spent at Mosswood in quiet gladness and
+gradual strength-gaining; the spring brought a return to all the
+favourite out-door amusements and occupations of the family. Summer was
+the proper time for company, and the house had been filled till the end
+of September. Then Mrs. Candlish declared she was tired and must run
+away, or she would be obliged to entertain people till November; and she
+joined her husband in a trip to California, which, half for business and
+half for pleasure, Mr. Candlish had resolved upon taking. At that
+juncture the children begged for the Franklins; and their mother was
+willing. "As I cannot be here," she said, "it will not be necessary to
+extend the invitation to Mrs. Franklin. You may have the others, and do
+what you will with them."
+
+"I should think," remarked Maggie, "if Meredith and Flora heard what
+mamma said, they wouldn't like it much."
+
+However, they did not hear it, and if they guessed at the substance of
+it I don't know; but Flora had too much curiosity, and Meredith too much
+affection engaged, to be over scrupulous. So they came, and were
+welcomed, I was going to say, uproariously. It just fell short of that.
+For even Esther privately declared to her sister that "nobody was so
+nice as Meredith Franklin."
+
+Now, after seeing them, the next thing was to make them see Mosswood;
+and many were the consultations Maggie and Esther had already held over
+plans and means. Nothing could be settled after all till the guests
+came. And when they came, the whole first evening was spent in joyous
+talk and recollections. But the next morning before breakfast Maggie and
+Meredith met at the house door. Meredith had been out walking.
+
+"How do you like it?" she asked daringly, clasping his hand, while her
+eyes looked love and pleasure hard into his face.
+
+"It is the most beautiful place I ever saw in my life!"
+
+"And it is such a nice day," said Maggie gleefully. "What shall we do
+to-day?"
+
+"Let us be out of doors!"
+
+"Oh yes, we'll be out of doors," said Maggie; "but where shall we go?"
+
+"Nowhere out of Mosswood--if you ask me. I don't want anything else."
+
+"Well, Mosswood is pretty good," said Maggie, "because, when you are at
+Mosswood you have the hills and the river and all, _besides_ Mosswood,
+you know--O Meredith! I have thought of something!"
+
+"I dare say," Meredith answered smiling. "That is quite in your way."
+
+"This is something nice. Suppose we go out and have dinner in the
+woods?"
+
+"I should say it was a capital plan."
+
+"We used to do that in old times, before ever we went away. And we have
+got a nice little cart, Meredith, to carry our dinner, and whatever we
+want; and--Oh, it's nice! it's nice!" exclaimed Maggie, jumping on her
+toes for delight. "I'm _so_ glad you're here! and I'm _so_ glad to go
+into the woods again to dinner."
+
+"We want only one thing," said Meredith.
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"Mr. Murray."
+
+"Uncle Eden! I'll write to him."
+
+"Let us all write to him. Every one put in something. That will bring
+him, maybe."
+
+"Yes, that will bring him!" Maggie echoed; and I do not believe that for
+the rest of the morning she took another flat step. On her toes, was the
+only way that her spirits could go. The first thing after breakfast was
+the Round Robin to Uncle Eden. Maggie began it, as the youngest.
+
+     "DEAR UNCLE EDEN,--Flora and Meredith are here while mamma and papa
+     are gone to California. We are going out in the woods to dinner;
+     and we all want you. Do please come, if you can get away from Bay
+     House. We want you as much as anybody can be wanted.
+
+                                                        "MAGGIE."
+
+Then Esther wrote--
+
+     "DEAR UNCLE EDEN,--It is quite true. We do all want you very much.
+     Fenton is coming, and I am afraid nobody will keep him in order, if
+     you are not here.
+
+                                                        "ESTHER."
+
+Then Flora--
+
+     "I think we would all be very glad to see Mr. Murray. I am sure one
+     sincerely glad would be
+
+                                                "FLORA FRANKLIN."
+
+Last, Meredith--
+
+     "DEAR MR. MURRAY,--You know how true is all the foregoing. And yet,
+     though I cannot suppose I should be gladder to see you than
+     everybody else, it does seem to me that I _want_ to see you more
+     than any of the rest can--because I have so many questions to ask,
+     and feel that I need so much advice. I hope you may find that you
+     can comply with our joint earnest desire.
+
+                                             "MEREDITH FRANKLIN."
+
+After all were done, Maggie begged for the paper, to add a word that
+nobody else must see. This was what she said--
+
+     "DEAR UNCLE EDEN,--I want to say a _private_ word to you. I feel
+     somehow as if it was not just exactly respectful to Meredith and
+     Flora that they should be here with nobody but just us. Don't you
+     think so? But if you could come, it would be all right. We are
+     going in the woods to dinner to-day--Oh, I wish you were here!
+
+                                                        "MAGGIE."
+
+This joint epistle finished and sealed, and some other despatches for
+Leeds got ready, it was time to see about making preparations for the
+woods. Where should they go? Question the first.
+
+"To the old Fort."
+
+"To the Happy Valley."
+
+"No, to the Lookout rock."
+
+"Not to-day, Esther. Let's keep that for Uncle Eden.
+Suppose--suppose"----
+
+"The Plateau."
+
+"It seems to be an _embarras de richesses_," said Meredith laughing,
+"and I do not wonder. Let me help you. Suppose we go up on this height
+just east of us; isn't the view pretty from there?"
+
+"The South Pitch! Oh, it's _lovely_ up there!" cried Maggie. "You look
+down on the house, and you look down the river, and it's shady and nice.
+It's just lovely! That is best for to-day. Then, other days, we'll take
+the other places. Now, we must get ready."
+
+"What?" said Flora.
+
+"Oh, you must get your work, or books if you like; whatever you like;
+and Meredith must find a book, too, I suppose; we always take books and
+work, and then we talk; but once when we took nothing, then we didn't do
+anything. Esther and I must prepare the waggon; cart, I mean."
+
+"What is to go in the cart? Cannot we help you?" said Meredith. "And,
+where is the cart, in the first place?"
+
+"Oh, it's up in the wood-house loft; we haven't had it out this year
+yet, you know. Ditto, maybe you'll tell Fairbairn to get it down, will
+you?"
+
+"Who is Mr. Fairbairn?"
+
+"Oh, the gardener. He's out there somewhere. Esther and I must go to
+Betsey for things."
+
+"I suppose I shall know Fairbairn when I see him," said Meredith
+smiling, as he put on his hat.
+
+In a quarter of an hour the cart stood at the door, and Esther and
+Maggie and Flora were busily packing "things" in baskets. Meredith came
+to put his hand to the work.
+
+"It is so hard to remember everything," said Esther. "We always forget
+something or other, and then somebody has to go back for it. Now, here
+is all the china, I think. Oh, stop! have we put the teapot in?"
+
+"Who wants tea?" said Meredith.
+
+"In the woods? Oh, we always have tea in the woods, and sometimes
+coffee."
+
+"Make a fire to boil the kettle?"
+
+"Why, _of course_!"
+
+"How should I know it was of course? Well, tea is very good in the
+woods, I have no doubt. Don't forget the tea."
+
+"But I should have forgotten the sugar, if you hadn't spoken."
+
+"And the salt! don't forget the salt; we always do."
+
+"We don't want salt to-day; we have nothing to eat it with."
+
+"Yes, we have."
+
+"No, we haven't; there is cold ham, and bread, and butter, and
+apple-sauce."
+
+"Take the salt," said Meredith, "and give me a few eggs, and I'll make
+you a friar's omelet."
+
+"A friar's omelet! What is that?"
+
+"You'll see. Only I shall want a dish to mix it in, you know."
+
+Delightful! The dish was fetched from the kitchen, and the omelet pan.
+Ham and apple-sauce Betty had packed for the party already; rolls and
+butter, spoons and knives and forks, a pitcher of cream, napkins--I do
+not know what all--went into the other baskets, and were finally stowed
+in the cart. A light porter's cart, it was; roomy enough; and yet it
+grew pretty full. The tea-kettle must find a place; then books and
+knitting and paper. Then thick shawls to spread upon the rocks, to make
+softer seats for the more ease-loving. Fairbairn carried a tin pail with
+water. All these arrangements took up time; so the morning was well on
+its way and the dew long off the grass, when at last the procession set
+forth. Meredith drew the cart, which he was informed he must do
+carefully, or the cream would slop over, and, possibly, other damage be
+done.
+
+It was not a long way they had to go this morning. Bordering upon the
+lawn and shrubbery, to the east, rose a little rocky height, which, in
+fact, prevented the dwellers at Mosswood from ever seeing the sun rise.
+But the hill was so pretty, they forgave it. Towards the house it
+presented a smooth wall of grey granite; on the top it also showed
+granite in quantity, there, however, alternating with moss and thin
+grass, and overshadowed by cedars, oaks, and pines, with now and then a
+young hemlock. The soil was thin; the growth of trees in consequence not
+lofty; nevertheless, very graceful. No cultivation, hardly any dressing,
+had been attempted; the purple asters sprung up at the edge of the
+rocks, and huckleberry bushes stood where they found footing; here and
+there a bramble, here and there a bunch of ferns. Now the oak leaves
+were turned yellow and brown; the huckleberry bushes in duller hues of
+the same; moss was dry and crisp, and ferns odorous in the warm air.
+
+To reach the top of the height a circuit must be made. There was no path
+leading straight from the house. Through the grounds at the back of the
+house the way wound along between beds of acheranthus and cineraria
+which made warm strips of bordering, with scarlet pelargoniums lighting
+up the beds beyond in a blaze of brilliance. Turning then into a
+carriage road, the party followed it to the north of the height which
+Maggie had called the South Pitch, and struck off then southwards into
+a little, mossy, rocky, hardly-traced path under the trees.
+
+"This is easy enough," said Meredith, guiding his cart somewhat
+carefully, however, to avoid severe jolts which would have endangered
+the cream. "I do not see where the pitch is yet."
+
+"Ah, but you will when you get to the south end," said Maggie. "Look
+out, Ditto, here's a rock in your way. And these huckleberry bushes are
+very thick."
+
+Following on over rocks and bushes, they soon came to the place Maggie
+meant, and Meredith rested his cart and stood still to look. From the
+southern brow of the little hill, the ground fell steeply away; so
+steeply that the eye had unhindered range over the river which lay
+below, and the hills bordering it, and the point of Gee's Point which
+there pushes the river to the eastward. Not a tree-branch even was in
+the way; river and hills lay in the October light, still, glowing, fair,
+as only October can be.
+
+"Do you like it, Meredith?" asked Maggie wistfully. _Her_ opinion of
+Mosswood had been long a fixed one.
+
+"I have never seen such a place!"
+
+"Uncle Eden had his tent up here one summer, and he cut away all the
+branches and trees that were in the way of the view; for he wanted to
+lie in his tent at night and be able to look out and see the river and
+the hills in the moonlight."
+
+"And did he have this wall built too?" asked Meredith, seeing that the
+platform where he stood was held up on the side towards the river by a
+regularly laid, though unmortared, wall.
+
+"Oh," said Esther laughing, "that wall was laid a hundred years ago,
+Meredith. Soldiers laid it; our soldiers; all Mosswood was fortified;
+this is a breastwork."
+
+"Whom do you mean by 'our soldiers'?"
+
+"Why, the Americans," said Esther. "When they were fighting that war, a
+hundred years ago. You'll find bits of breastwork all over Mosswood."
+
+"Well, that is delightful," said Meredith. "We are historical. Now,
+what are we to do first? I move, we make our camp just here. We cannot
+have a better place."
+
+So there a rock under a tree, here a bit of mossy bank, was taken
+possession of; places were carpeted with shawls, and luxurious loungers
+were at rest upon them. Fairbairn set down the pail of water and
+departed; Flora got her worsted embroidery out of the cart, and Esther a
+strip of afghan which she was ambitiously making. Maggie nestled up to
+Meredith's side on the moss and laid her little hand in his, and for a
+little while they were all quiet; these last two enjoying October. But
+Meredith did not long sit still; he must go exploring, up and down and
+all round the South Pitch. Maggie followed him, as ready to go as he,
+and talking all the while. It was nothing but rocks and moss and trees
+and brambles and ferns; with the delicious river glittering below the
+rocks, and the glow of the hills coming to them through the trees, and
+golden hickory leaves falling at their feet, and now and then a chestnut
+burr or a hickory schale to be hammered open. Warm and tired at last
+they came back to their place. And then the girls declared it was time
+for dinner.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+A fire was the first thing. Meredith and Maggie gathered dry pine
+branches and dead leaves, and Meredith built a nice place for the kettle
+with some stones. Then they found they had no matches.
+
+"We _always_ forget something," cried Maggie. "Now, I'll run home and
+fetch a box."
+
+Meredith went too. It was only a little more walk. Then the fire was set
+agoing, and the kettle filled and put over. Maggie sat by to keep up the
+flame, which being fed with light material needed constant supply.
+Meredith threw himself down on the mossy bank and opened his book. For a
+little while there was silence.
+
+"What are you reading, Ditto?" Maggie asked at length. She kept as good
+watch of Meredith as of the fire.
+
+"You would not understand if I told you. It is a German book."
+
+"Is it very interesting?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I knew it was. I could see by your face; when you pull your brows
+together in that way, I always know you are ever so much interested."
+
+"Well, I am," said Meredith smiling.
+
+"Would it interest me?"
+
+"I think, perhaps, it would."
+
+"Ah, Ditto, don't you want to try? Read us some of it. What is it
+about?"
+
+"It is a Mission Magazine."
+
+"Missionary! Oh, then, we _shouldn't_ like it," said Esther. "I don't
+believe we should."
+
+"And in it are stories," Meredith continued.
+
+"What sort of stories? about heathen?"
+
+"I like stories about heathen," said Maggie.
+
+"Stories about heathen and Christian, which a certain Pastor Harms used
+to tell to his people, and which he put in the magazine."
+
+"Did he write the magazine?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Who was Pastor Harms?"
+
+"A wonderful, beautiful man, who loved God with all his heart, and
+served Him with all his strength."
+
+"Why, there are a great many people, Ditto, who do that," said his
+sister.
+
+"Most people that I have seen keep a little of their strength for
+something else," remarked Meredith dryly.
+
+"Was he a German?" Maggie asked.
+
+"He was a German; and he was the minister of a poor country parish in
+Hanover; and the minister and the people together were so full of the
+love of Christ that they did what rich churches elsewhere don't do."
+
+"And does that book tell what they did?"
+
+"Partly; what they did, and what other people have done."
+
+"_I_ should like to hear some of it," was Maggie's conclusion.
+
+"Well, you shall. We'll try, after dinner. Flora and Esther may shut
+their ears, if they will."
+
+"If you won't read something else," said Flora, "I suppose I would
+rather hear that than nothing. I can get on with my work better."
+
+"And worsted work is the chief end of woman, everybody knows," remarked
+her brother. "The kettle is boiling, Maggie!"
+
+All was lively activity at once. Even the afghan and the worsted
+embroidery were laid on the moss, and the two elder girls bestirred
+themselves to get out the plates and dishes from the baskets and arrange
+them; while Maggie made the tea, and Meredith set about his omelet.
+Maggie watched him with intense satisfaction, as he broke and beat his
+eggs and put them over the fire; watched till the cookery was
+accomplished and the omelet was turned out hot and brown and savoury.
+The girls declared it was the best thing they had ever tasted, and Flora
+thought the tea was the best tea, and Meredith that the bread and butter
+was the best bread and butter. Maggie privately thought it was the best
+dinner altogether that ever she had eaten in the woods; but I think she
+judged most by the company. It was a long dinner! Why should they use
+haste? The October sun was not hot; the sweet air gave an appetite; the
+thousand things they had to talk about gave zest to the food. They were
+not in a hurry with their tea, and they lingered over their apple-pie.
+
+When at last they were of a mind to seek a change of diversion, and
+really the dinner was done--for talk as much as you will you yet must
+stop eating some time--the plates and remnants were quickly put back in
+the baskets and set again in the cart, tea-kettle and napkins cleared
+away, and the mossy dining-room looked as if no company had been there.
+
+"This is first rate," exclaimed Meredith, stretching himself on the warm
+moss.
+
+"And now, Ditto, you are going to read to us."
+
+"Am I?"
+
+"Yes, for you said so."
+
+"An honourable man always keeps his promises," said Meredith. But he lay
+still.
+
+The two elder girls got out their work again. Maggie sat by and silently
+stroked the hair on Meredith's temples.
+
+"This is good enough, without reading," he presently went on. "The moss
+is spicy, the sky is blue, I see it through a lace-work of pine needles;
+the air is like satin. I cannot imagine anything much better than to lie
+here and look up."
+
+"But you can feel the air, and see the sky, and smell the moss, too,
+while you are reading, Ditto."
+
+"Can I? Well! your ten fingers are so many persuaders that I cannot
+withstand. Let's go in for Pastor Harms!"
+
+So he raised himself on one elbow, no further, and laid his book open on
+the moss before him.
+
+"But it is in German!" cried Maggie, looking over to see.
+
+"Never mind, I will give it to you in English--I told you it was
+German."
+
+"What is the first story about?"
+
+"You will find that out as I go on. Now, you understand it is Pastor
+Harms who is speaking, only he was a famous hand at story-telling, and
+to hear him would have been quite a different thing from hearing me."
+And Meredith began to read.
+
+"'I will go back now a thousand years, and tell you a mission story that
+I am very fond of. I found it partly in the parish archives of
+Hermannsburg, and partly in some old Lueneburg chronicles. I say I am
+very fond of it; for after the fact that I am a Christian, comes the
+fact that I am a Lueneburger, body and soul; and there is not a country
+in the whole world, for me, that is better than the Lueneburg heath'"----
+
+"Oh, stop, Ditto, please," cried Maggie, "what is a 'heath'? and where
+is Lueneburg?"
+
+"Ah! there we come with our questions. Lueneburg heath isn't like
+anything in America, that I know, Maggie. It is a strange place. There
+you'll see acres and miles of level land covered with heather, which
+turns purple and beautiful in the latter part of the season; but in the
+midst of this level country you come suddenly here and there to a lovely
+little valley with houses and grain-fields and fruit and running water;
+or to a piece of woods; or to a hill with a farmhouse perched up on its
+side, and as much land cultivated as the peasant can manage. So the
+people of the parishes are scattered about over a wide track, except
+where the villages happen to be. And for _where_ it is--Lueneburg is in
+Hanover, and Hanover is in Germany. You must look on the map when you go
+home. Now I will go on--
+
+"'And next to the fact that I am a Lueneburger, comes the fact that I am
+a Hermannsburger; and for me Hermannsburg is the dearest and prettiest
+village on the heath. My mission story touches this very beloved
+Hermannsburg. From my youth up I have been a sort of a bookworm; and
+whenever I could find something about Germany, still more something
+about the Lueneburg heath, and yet more anything about Hermannsburg, then
+I was delighted. Even as a boy, when I could just understand the book of
+the Roman writer Tacitus about old Germany, I knew no greater pleasure
+than with my Tacitus in my pocket to wander through the heaths and moors
+and woodlands, and then in the still solitude to sit down under a pine
+tree or an oak and read the account of the manners and customs of our
+old heathen forefathers. And then I read how our old forefathers were so
+brave and strong that merely their tall forms and their fiery blue eyes
+struck terror into the Romans; and that they were so unshakably true to
+their word, once it was given, that a simple promise from one of them
+was worth more than the strongest oath from a Roman. I read how they
+were so chaste and modest that breaking of the marriage vow was almost
+an unknown crime; so noble and hospitable, that even a deadly enemy, if
+he came to one of their houses, found himself in perfect security, and
+might stay until the last morsel had been shared with him; and then his
+host would go with him to the next house to prepare him a reception
+there.
+
+"'But my heart bled too, when I read of their crimes and misdeeds, their
+inhuman worship of idols, when even human beings were slaughtered on
+bloody altars of stone, or drowned in deep, hidden, inland lakes; when I
+read how insatiable the thirst for war and plunder among our forefathers
+was, how fearful their anger, how brutish their rage for drink and play;
+and when I read further, how the whole of heathen Germany was an almost
+unbroken wood and moorland, without cities or villages, where men ran
+about in the forests almost naked, at the most, clothed with the skin of
+a beast, like wild animals themselves; and got their living only by the
+chase, or from wild roots, with acorns and beechmast; then, even as a
+boy, I marvelled at the wonderful workings of Christianity. Only one
+thing I could not understand; how there should be nowadays in Christian
+Germany so much lying, unfaithfulness, and marriage-breaking, while our
+heathenish ancestors were such true, honest, chaste, and loyal men; it
+always seemed to me as if a German Christian must stand abashed before
+his heathen forefathers. And when I observed further, how many Germans
+nowadays are cowardly-hearted, while among our heathen ancestors such a
+reproach was reckoned the fearfullest of insults, it was past my
+comprehension how a Christian German, who believes in everlasting life,
+can be a coward, and his heathenish ancestors, who yet knew nothing
+about the blessed heaven, have been so valiant and brave.'"
+
+"Ditto," said Maggie, interrupting him, "do you think that is all true?"
+
+"Pastor Harms would not have lied to save his right hand."
+
+"And--but--Ditto, do you think people in America are so bad as that?"
+
+Meredith smiled and hesitated.
+
+"Yes, Ditto," said Flora; "you know they are not."
+
+"I don't know anything about it," said Meredith. "There are not any
+better soldiers, I suppose, in the world than the Germans, nor anywhere
+such a band of army officers, for knowledge of their business and
+ability to do it. But there are some cowards in every nation, I reckon;
+and as there, so here. But among those old Saxons, it appears, there
+were none. As to truth"--Meredith hesitated--"There are not a great many
+people I know whose word I would take through and through, if they were
+pinched."
+
+There was a chorus of exclamations and reproaches.
+
+"And as to marriage-breaking," he went on, "it is not at all an uncommon
+thing here for people to separate from their wives or their husbands, or
+get themselves divorced."
+
+"Why do they do that, Ditto?" Maggie asked.
+
+"Because they are not true, and do not love each other."
+
+"So you make it out that the heathen are better than the Christians!"
+said Esther.
+
+"I do not make out anything. I am only stating facts. What is called a
+'Christian nation' has but comparatively a few Christians in it, you
+must please to remember. But I do think those old Saxons were
+extraordinary people. I like to think that I am descended from them."
+
+"You, Ditto!" exclaimed Maggie in the utmost astonishment.
+
+"Why, yes, certainly. Don't you know so much history as that? Don't you
+remember that the Saxons went over and conquered England, and England
+was peopled by them, and ruled by them, until the Norman Invasion?"
+
+"Oh!" said Maggie with a long-drawn note of surprise and intelligence.
+"But I didn't know those Saxons were like these."
+
+"No, nor did I. It interests me very much. Shall I go on with Pastor
+Harms?
+
+"'The older I grew, the more eager I was to learn about Germany, and
+especially about my dear Lueneburg country, with its most beautiful
+heaths, moors, and woodlands. I cannot express the joy I took in the
+great fights and battles which the German Prince Herman fought with the
+mighty Romans. Herman was prince of the Cheruski; so the dwellers
+between the Elbe and the Weser at that time were called. In his time the
+never-satisfied Romans were bent upon subjugating all Germany, and sent
+their most powerful armies into the country, clad in iron mail, armed
+with helmets, bucklers, lances, and swords, and led by their bravest
+generals. But Herman, with his almost naked Germans, fell upon them,
+fighting whole days at a stretch, and beat them out of the land. See
+now, thought I to myself, there were Lueneburg people along with him, for
+_they_ live between the Elbe and the Weser. Or, when others of our
+forefathers, who were in general called Saxons, boldly sailed over the
+sea in their ships, and chased the proud Romans, together with the Picts
+and Scots, out of England, and took the beautiful land in possession and
+ruled it; then I was glad again and thought with secret delight--"our
+Lueneburg people were there too, for those ships sailed from the mouths
+of the Elbe and the Weser."
+
+"'But what adoration moved my heart, when I read that these very Saxons,
+who conquered England, there came to the knowledge of Christianity and
+received it into their hearts; and now from England, from the converted
+Saxons, came numbers of Gospel messengers back to the German country, to
+turn it also to the Lord Jesus. Among them was Winfried, the strong in
+faith, who baptized more than 300,000 Germans, and was called the
+apostle of Germany; there were the two brothers Ewald, who both
+heroically died a martyr's death, being sacrificed by our forefathers to
+their idols. After them others carried on the work, especially Willehad
+and Liudgar, and the good emperor Charles the Great helped them, until
+at last all Germany was Christianised, and became through the Gospel
+what it is now. And I have often thought, how stupid are the unbelievers
+who follow the new fashion of despising Christianity. We have to thank
+Christianity for everything we are or have. Science, art, agriculture,
+handicrafts, cities, villages, houses, all have come to us in the first
+place through Christianity; for before that, as I said, our forefathers
+ran about naked in the woods like wild beasts, and fed on roots and
+acorns; and I used to think the best thing would be, to drive the
+infidels and the scornful contemners of Christianity into the woods and
+forests, draw a hedge about them, and let them eat acorns and roots in
+the woods till they come to their senses. In young people's heads a
+great many queer fancies spring up, which yet are not entirely unworthy
+of regard; and I still believe that would be the best medicine for
+infidels.'"
+
+"But, Meredith," said Flora, "the Greeks and Romans had cities and
+villages, and sciences, too, and arts, without Christianity."
+
+"Quite true, but the Saxons didn't."
+
+"Perhaps, they would."
+
+"Perhaps, they wouldn't. The Greeks and Romans were wonderful people,
+and so were the ancient Egyptians; but though they had arts, and built
+cities, they had very little science. And science and Christianity have
+changed the face of the Christian world. Well, let us have Pastor
+Harms.
+
+"'But I must go back to my story. Whenever I happened upon an old
+library, I searched it through to see if I could find something about
+Germany, and especially about Lueneburg. And I do not regret the
+quantities of dust I have swallowed in my way; although I did often
+lament aloud to see so many fine old manuscripts almost eaten up with
+dust and mice, about which nobody had troubled himself for who knows how
+many years? But also I found many a one that repaid the trouble of the
+search. From the sound MSS. I made extracts diligently. But I had a good
+many vexations, too. For example, I have come to cities and villages, in
+which last there were baronial manors. There I sought to come at the
+books and MSS. of the olden time. And would one believe it? Old
+collections of books had been sold entire, by the hamperful, to
+trades-people for wrapping their cheese in. I was baffled. So much the
+more precious became my extracts. From them I will tell you something
+now, which I found about my beloved Hermannsburg.
+
+"'I may say in the first place to our dear country people, that the
+whole of Northern Germany in early times was called the country of the
+Saxons. How wide that was, may best be seen by the language. So far as
+low German is spoken, so far extends the land of the Saxons; for low
+German is their proper mother-tongue. So I am never ashamed of the low
+German in our country; it is the true mother-tongue of our land and
+people; my heart always swells when I hear low German spoken. This
+entire Saxon nation was divided into three tribes. One tribe, which
+dwelt for the most part towards the west, that is, in the Osnabrueck
+region and further west as far as the Rhine, was called the
+Westphalians. The second tribe, which dwelt mostly at the east, as far
+as the Elbe and further, was called the Eastphalians. Between the two
+lived the third tribe, called the Enger or the Angles; for Enger and
+Angle are all one. We here in Lueneburg belong to the Eastphalians. The
+name is said to have come from the bright or pale yellow hair of our
+forefathers. For clear yellow or pale yellow was called "fal." Our
+ancestors wore this bright yellow hair long and hanging down, something
+like a lion's mane; what so many young people nowadays would esteem a
+splendid adornment. These forefathers of ours in the time of Charlemagne
+were yet mere heathen and held to their heathen idol worship with
+extraordinary tenacity and devotion. They were further a wild, bold,
+stiffnecked people, with an unbending spirit, holding fast to everything
+old, and with that, loving freedom above all else. They had no rulers,
+properly speaking; each house-father was a despotic prince in his own
+house, and lived alone upon his territory, just that he might be free
+and rule his realm independently. Their common name, Saxon, came from a
+peculiar weapon, the sachs; a stone war-mallet or battle-axe, which was
+made fast to a longer or shorter wooden handle. In the strong hands of
+the Saxons this was a fearful weapon, with which they rushed fearlessly
+upon the foe, hastening to come to a hand-to-hand fight; for they liked
+to be at close quarters with their enemies.
+
+"'Wild and terrible as their other customs were, was also their idol
+worship. Their principal deity was called Woden, in whose honour men
+were slaughtered upon great blocks of stone; their throats being cut
+with stone knives. Not far off, some two or three hours from
+Hermannsburg, are still what are called the seven _stone-houses_; in
+other words, blocks of granite set up in a square, upon which a great
+granite block lies like a cover. The men to be sacrificed were slain
+upon these blocks of granite. Quite near our village too, there stood
+formerly some such sacrificial altars. How fearful and bloody these
+sacrifices were, appears from what an old writer relates; that it was
+the custom of the Saxons, when they returned home from their warlike
+expeditions, to sacrifice to their idols every tenth man among the
+captives; the rest they shared among themselves for slaves. And upon
+special occasions, for instance, if they had suffered severe losses in
+the war, the whole of the captives would be consecrated to Woden and
+sacrificed. That's the Woden we call one day of the week after.'"
+
+"We? One day of the week!" exclaimed Maggie; while Flora looked up and
+said, "Oh yes! Wednesday."
+
+"Wednesday?" repeated Maggie.
+
+"Woden's-day," said Meredith.
+
+"Is it Woden's-day? Wednesday? But how come we to call it so, Ditto?"
+
+"Because our fathers did."
+
+"But that is very strange. I don't think we ought to call it
+Woden's-day."
+
+"The Germans do not call it so, who live at this time round those old
+stone altars; they say Mittwoche, or Mid-week. But the English Saxons
+seem to have kept up the title."
+
+"Are those stone altars standing now, Ditto?"
+
+"Some of them, Pastor Harms says; and what is very odd, it seems they
+call them stone _houses_; and don't you recollect Jacob called his stone
+that he set up at Bethel, 'God's house'?"
+
+"Well, Ditto, go on please," said Maggie.
+
+"You don't care for archaeology. Well--'The German emperor Charlemagne,
+who reigned from 768 to 814, was a good Christian. He governed the
+kingdom of the Franks; and that means the whole of central and southern
+Germany, together with France and Italy; and all these, his subjects,
+had been already Christian a long time. On the north his empire was
+bordered by our heathen ancestors, the Saxons, and they were the sworn
+foes of Christianity. Whenever they could, they made a rush upon
+Charlemagne's dominions, plundered and killed, destroyed the churches
+and put to death the Christian priests; and were never quiet. So
+Charlemagne determined to make war upon the Saxons, partly to protect
+his kingdom against their inroads, and partly with the intent to convert
+them with a strong hand to the Christian religion. Then arose a fearful
+war of thirty-three years' length, which by both sides was carried on
+with great bitterness. The Saxons had, in especial, two valiant,
+heroic-hearted leaders, called "dukes" because they led the armies. The
+word "duke," therefore, means the same as army-leader. The one of them
+in Westphalia was named Wittekind; the other in Eastphalia was named
+Albion, also called Alboin. Charlemagne was in a difficult position. If
+he beat the Saxons, and thought, now they would surely keep the peace,
+and he went off then to some more distant part of his great empire,
+immediately the Saxons broke loose again, and the war began anew.
+Charlemagne was made so bitter by this, that once when he had beaten the
+Saxons at Verden on the Aller, and surrounded their army, he ordered
+4500 captive Saxons to be cut to pieces, hoping so to give a
+disheartening example. But just the contrary befell. Wittekind and
+Albion now gathered together an imposing army to avenge the cruel deed;
+and fought two bloody battles, at Osnabrueck and Detmold, with such
+furious valour that they thrust Charlemagne back, and took 4000
+prisoners; and these prisoners, as a Lueneburg chronicle says, they
+slaughtered--part on the Blocksberg, part in the Osnabrueck country, and
+part on the "stone-houses;" where the same chronicle relates that
+Wittekind, on his black war-horse, in furious joy, would have galloped
+over the bleeding corpses which lay around the stone-houses: but his
+horse shied from treading on the human bodies, and making a tremendous
+leap, struck his hoof so violently against one of the stone-houses that
+the mark of the hoof remained. Wittekind elsewhere in the chronicle is
+described as a noble, magnanimous hero; and this madness of war in him
+is explained on the ground of his hatred of Christians, and revenge for
+the death of the Saxons at Verden.
+
+"'At last, in the year 785, Wittekind and Albion were baptized, and
+embraced the Christian religion. Thereupon came peace among that part of
+the Saxons which held them in consideration, for the most distinguished
+men by degrees followed their example; and it was only in the other
+portions of the country that the war lasted until the year 805; when at
+last the whole country of the Saxons submitted to Charlemagne, renounced
+heathenism, and accepted Christianity. So hard did it go with our
+forefathers before they could become Christians; but once Christians,
+they became so zealous for the Christian faith that their land
+afterwards was called "Good Saxony" as before it had been known as "Wild
+Saxony." Charlemagne, however, was not merely at the pains to subdue the
+Saxons, and to compel them into the Christian faith, but as a truly
+pious emperor, he also took care that they should be instructed; and
+wherever he could he established bishoprics and churches. For example,
+the sees of Minden, Osnabrueck, Verden, Bremen, Muenster, Paderhorn,
+Halberstadt, and Hildesheim, all situated in the Saxon country, owe
+their origin to him. At all these places there were mission
+establishments, from which preachers went out into the whole land, to
+preach the Gospel to the heathen Saxons.
+
+"'Among those Willehad and Liudgar were distinguished for their zeal.
+With untiring faithfulness, with steadfast faith, and great
+self-sacrifice, they laboured, and their works were greatly blessed of
+the Lord. Willehad finally became bishop in Bremen and Liudgar bishop of
+Muenster. They may with justice be called the apostles of the Saxons. In
+a remarkable manner the conversion of our own parts hereabouts proceeded
+from the mission establishment in Minden. Liudgar had lived there a long
+while, and his piety and his ardour had infected the young monks
+assembled there with a live zeal for missions. One of these monks, who
+the chronicle tells came from Eastphalia, and had been converted to
+Christianity through Liudgar's means, was called Landolf. Now when
+Wittekind and Albion had received holy baptism, and so a door was opened
+in the Saxon land to the messengers of salvation, Landolf could stand it
+no longer in Muenden, but determined to go back to his native Eastphalia
+and carry the sweet Gospel to his beloved countrymen. He had no rest day
+nor night; the heathen Eastphalians were always standing before him and
+calling to him, "Come here and help us!"'"
+
+"There!" said Meredith pausing, "that's how I feel."
+
+Every one of the three heads around him was lifted up.
+
+"You, Ditto?" exclaimed Maggie, but the others only looked.
+
+"Yes," said Meredith, "I feel just so."
+
+"About whom?" said his sister abruptly.
+
+"All the heathen. Nobody in particular, Everybody who doesn't know the
+Lord Jesus."
+
+"You had better begin at home!" said Flora with an accent of scorn.
+
+"I do," said her brother gravely; and Flora was silent, for she knew he
+did.
+
+"But why, dear Ditto?" said Maggie, with a mixture of anxiety and
+curiosity.
+
+"I am so sorry for them, Maggie." And watching, she could see that
+Meredith's downcast eyes were swimming. "Think--_they do not know
+Jesus_; and what is life worth without that?"
+
+"But it isn't everybody's place to go preaching," said Flora after a
+minute.
+
+"Can you prove it? I think it is."
+
+"Mine, for instance, and Maggie's?"
+
+"What is preaching, in the first place? It is just telling other people
+the truth you know yourself. But you must know it first. I don't think
+it is your place to tell what you do not know. But the Bible says, 'Let
+him that heareth say, Come!' and I think we, who have heard, ought to
+say it. And I think," added Meredith slowly, "if anybody is as glad of
+it himself as he ought to be, he cannot help saying it. It will burn in
+his heart if he don't say it."
+
+"But what do you want to do, Ditto?" Maggie asked again.
+
+"I don't know, Maggie. Not preach in churches; I am not fit for that.
+But I want to tell all I can. People seem to me so miserable that do not
+know Christ. So miserable!"
+
+"But, Ditto," said Maggie again, "you can give money to send
+missionaries."
+
+"Pay somebody else to do my work?"
+
+"You can tell people here at home."
+
+"Well--" said Meredith with a long breath, "let us see what Landolf the
+Saxon did."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+"'What did this man do in the daring of faith? He first got permission
+of his superiors; then he went aboard of a little boat, took nothing
+else with him but his Bible and his Prayer-book, his few tools, a
+fishing net, and food for several days, and then dropped down the Weser,
+all alone, intending by that way to get to the Eastphalians. But his
+chief strength was prayer, in which he lived day and night. When he came
+to the place where the Aller flows into the Weser, he quitted the Weser
+and went up the Aller, that he might look at the spot where those 4500
+Saxons were cut to pieces by Charlemagne, and on the ground pray for the
+murdered men. For at that time it was believed that even the dead could
+be helped by prayer, as is still the erroneous teaching of the
+Catholics. Leaving that place, he wished to visit the "stone-houses,"
+that he might pray there too, where the captive Franks had been
+slaughtered by the Saxons; and so he went on up the Aller and from the
+Aller into the Oerze, all the while living upon the fish which he
+caught.'"
+
+"Had he no bread?" said Maggie.
+
+"How should he?--going through wild woods and countries lone in his
+boat? He would come to no bakers' shops, Maggie."
+
+"Just living on fish! Well, go on, Ditto."
+
+"'But all along on this journey he had not only caught fish, but also
+everywhere preached the Gospel. And then must have been the first time
+that the sweet name of Jesus was ever heard in our region. Perhaps when
+you look at the map you will ask, why Landolf went this difficult way by
+water, which was a very roundabout way besides, to get to the
+"stone-houses," when he could have come across from Verden by a much
+nearer and straighter route? Our chronicle gives two reasons: first, the
+whole interior of the country at that time was almost nothing but thick
+forest and deep morasses, through which there was no going on foot; and
+secondly, he had been told in Verden, that if he wanted to visit the
+"stone-houses," he must first go to the Billing of the long-legged
+Horz-Saxons, who lived on the river Horz in Harm's "_ouden dorp_." Now
+this river Horz is the Oerze; and the name, the chronicle announces,
+comes from the fact that this river runs and leaps like a _Horz_--that
+is, a horse; and because a great many horses were pastured on its banks.
+For the chief wealth of our Saxon ancestors consisted in cattle,
+especially in horses, which they used not only for riding and in war
+expeditions, but reckoned their flesh a favourite food. And were a horse
+but entirely spotless and white, it was even held to be sacred. Such
+white horses were kept in the sacred forests of oak, where they were
+used for nothing but soothsaying; for by the neighing of these white
+horses the heathen priests prophesied whether a business, or a campaign,
+that was in hand, would turn out happily or unhappily. For this reason
+also our Lueneburg country since the earliest times has borne the free,
+bounding horse in its escutcheon; and for the same reason most of the
+houses in the country of Lueneburg down to the present times have their
+gables adorned with two wooden horses' heads; and it is only lately that
+this custom has somewhat fallen off.
+
+"'The Saxons, or as the chronicle writes, _Sahzen_, were called
+"Horzsahzen," either because they lived on the Horz, or Oerze; or
+because they were almost all of them horsemen and owned a great many
+horses. They bore besides the honorary title of the "long-legged," for
+our forefathers were distinguished by their unusual stature. It is
+remarkable that the name "Lange" is still the widest spread family name
+of any in our region, so that there are villages that are almost
+exclusively inhabited by "Langen," among whom a goodly number might yet
+be called "long-legged;" though many also have grown something shorter,
+while they nevertheless bear the name of _Lange_. Well, that is all
+one, so they only keep the old, tried faithfulness and honesty, and the
+manly holding to their word, and the beautiful pureness of morals, for
+which our forefathers were renowned.
+
+"'But now, what sort of a man is the _Billing_? Our chronicle translates
+the word into Latin; _curatos legum_, that is, the "guardian of the
+laws." _Bill_, you see, in old low German or Saxon, was a "law" which
+had been confirmed by the whole assembly of the people; and the man who
+proposed these laws, and when they were confirmed had the charge of
+seeing that they were not transgressed, was called the _Billing_. The
+Billing of the Horzsahzen was at this time a man named Harm, that is
+Hermann; and he lived in Harm's _ouden dorp_--or Hermann's old village.
+The spot where this old village of Hermann stood is now a cultivated
+field, about ten minutes away from the present Hermannsburg; and this
+field is still called at the present day _up'n Ollendorp_, and lies
+right on the Oerze. To this place accordingly the brave Landolf
+repaired, and was received kindly and with the customary Saxon
+hospitality by Hermann the Billing.
+
+"'Hermann's dwelling was a large cottage, surrounded with pens for
+cattle, especially for horses, which were pastured on the river meadows.
+There were no stables; the animals remained day and night under the open
+sky, and even in winter time had no shelter beyond that of the thick
+forest with which the land was covered. The pens themselves were merely
+enclosures without a roof. Landolf was entertained with roasted horses'
+flesh, which to the astonishment of his hosts he left untouched. For by
+the rules of the Christian Church at that time it was not permitted to
+eat horse-flesh; they reckoned it a heathen practice.
+
+"'When Landolf had made his abode with the Billing for a while, he found
+out that his host was in fact the principal person in all that district
+of country, and as guardian of the laws enjoyed a patriarchal and
+wide-reaching consideration. He was indeed no _edeling_ (or nobleman),
+only a _freiling_--a free man; but he possessed seven large manors; on
+which account later writers, as for instance Adam of Bremen, give the
+Billing family the name of _Siebenmeyer_.' (_Sieben_ means seven,
+Maggie.) 'The oldest son, who regularly bore the name of Hermann, was
+the family head; and after the death of his father the dignity of
+Billing descended to him. The younger brothers were settled in some of
+the other manors, remaining nevertheless always dependent upon the
+oldest.
+
+"'Now Landolf preached the Gospel zealously to the family whose guest he
+was, and they listened to him with willing ears. But when he would have
+declared his message also to the Saxons who lived in their
+neighbourhood, Hermann explained to him that by law and usage he must
+not do that, until permission had first been given him by the regular
+assembly of the people. As the house-father he himself could indeed in
+his own family allow the proclamation of the Christian faith; but a
+public proclamation must have the decision of the people upon it, that
+is, of the assembly of all the free men. Landolf had arrived in the
+autumn--the stated gathering of the commons would not be till spring,
+and indeed not till May; in the meanwhile he must be contented. Hard as
+it was for Landolf to wait so long, for his heart was burning to convert
+the poor heathen to Christ, he yet knew the people and their customs too
+well to contend against them. So all winter he abode with Hermann. And a
+blessed winter that was. It was the habit of the family, when at evening
+a fire was kindled in the middle of the hut, that the whole household,
+men, women, and children, even the servants and maids, should assemble
+around it--the master of the house having the place of honour in the
+midst of them. The house-father then generally told stories about the
+heroic deeds of their forefathers; about the ancient laws and usages,
+the knowledge of which was handed down from father to son; and Landolf
+sat among them and listened with the rest, but soon got permission to
+tell on his part of the wonderful things of the Christian faith. So then
+he profited by the long winter evenings to tell over the whole Bible
+story of the Old and New Testaments. And with such simplicity, and with
+such joy of faith and confidence he told it, that the hearts of his
+hearers were stirred. In addition to that, he often sang the songs of
+the Christian Church, in a clear, fine-toned voice; and presently some
+among them, the younger especially, began to join in the singing. His
+Bible stories were in all their mouths; and the people had such capital
+memories that, he says himself, he needed usually to tell a thing but
+once or twice, and all of them, even the children, could repeat it
+almost word for word. This is a common experience among people who have
+no written literature; they are apt to be uncommonly strong in power of
+memory. And when he prayed too, and he did it daily upon his knees, he
+was never disturbed, although he prayed in the cottage, which had only
+one room for all; instead, he soon had the joy of seeing that many
+kneeled down with him and with him called upon Christ, "the God of the
+Christians," as they phrased it. So the winter passed, May came, ice and
+snow melted away, and everybody got ready to attend the great assembly
+of the people. It was to be held at the stone-houses. Landolf travelled
+thither as Hermann's guest, under his protection--Hermann even letting
+him ride his best horse, by way of doing him honour before all the
+people. With a noble train of _freilings_--that is, of free men--they set
+forth.
+
+"'The first day, however, they went no further than about a quarter of
+an hour from Harm's _ouden dorp_, to a sacrificial altar which was
+placed close by what was called the Deep Moor (Deepenbroock, the
+chronicle says). There Landolf was to be spectator of a terrible scene,
+which shows as well the frightful savageness and cruelty of the Saxons
+as their noble purity of manners. By about noon of the abovenamed day,
+all the free men of that whole region had gathered together at the altar
+of sacrifice. This altar consisted, as may still be seen by the
+so-called _stone-houses_ now standing, of eight slabs of granite, set up
+in a quadrangle; with four openings, or doors, towards the four quarters
+of the heaven, broad enough to let a man go through; and covered over
+on the top with another great granite block. The young warriors brought
+up two prisoners, who had been taken in a late campaign and fetched
+along. One of them was made to go under the sacrifice altar through the
+north and south doors, the other through the east and west doors. Then
+stepped forth two priests, having their long flowing hair bound with a
+mistletoe branch, and a sharp knife of flint in the hand. You must know
+that the mistletoe, which is still to be found in plenty in our woods,
+growing especially on birch trees, was held among our forefathers to be
+sacred. For since it does not grow upon the ground like other plants,
+but upon trees, birches particularly, it was believed that the seed of
+this plant fell down from heaven; and this belief was strengthened by
+the remarkable manner of its growth, so unlike other plants, with its
+forking opposite branches and shining white berries. After solemn
+prayers, which were half sung half said, to the two gods Woden and Thor,
+and the two goddesses Hela and Hertha, the captive men were one after
+the other laid each upon his back on the altar, so that his head hung
+down over the edge of the altar.'"
+
+"Oh, stop, Ditto!" cried Maggie.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"It is too horrible."
+
+"It is pretty horrible. But men did it, and men suffered it. Can't you
+hear it?"
+
+"Men were dreadful!"
+
+"Men _are_ dreadful where the light of the Gospel has not come. 'The
+dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.'"
+
+"Tell me about those gods and goddesses."
+
+"Were those Saxon Druids?" Flora asked.
+
+"It sounds so. But I don't know the gods of the Teutons as well as I do
+those of the Greeks; I can't tell you much about Woden and Thor, Maggie.
+We'll look when we go home. Now, am I to go on?"
+
+"I suppose so. Oh yes, I want you to go on. But it is dreadful."
+
+"Well, the captives were laid on the altar, as I read, 'and the priests
+cut their throats with their knives of flint. When the quivering victim
+had ceased to bleed, the body was taken up by the young warriors and
+cast into the Deep Moor, where it immediately sunk in the bog. Landolf
+had not recovered from the shock--for he had never seen a human
+sacrifice before, having gone while yet a boy into the country of the
+Christians--when his attention was fettered by another dreadful drama.
+
+"'Some of the young men fetched a long and broad hurdle, woven of fir
+branches, laid it down before the altar, and went away; but came back
+again presently with a man and a woman, who had been accused and
+convicted of breaking the marriage vow. An accuser stepped forth, and
+repeated the charge before the Billing. The Billing then asked the
+accused whether the charge was true? and admonished them to confess the
+truth, since never yet had a free Saxon told a lie. And when the guilty
+people had owned their guilt, first their relations came forward and
+spat in their faces; then the man's weapons were taken from him, his
+hands and feet and the woman's were tied together: and so tied they were
+thrown into the Deep Moor, the hurdle covered over them, and this and
+the underlying bodies, by their nearest relations first of all, were
+trodden down into the deep morass. So came the marriage-breakers to a
+shameful end and received the reward of their sin.
+
+"'Hermann told Landolf afterwards that there were three crimes which
+they punished on this disgraceful wise--marriage-breaking, lying, and
+cowardice; because such people were not held worthy to die the
+honourable death of a warrior, and be slain with weapons. Landolf
+answered "O Billing! you are terrible people! yet even as heathen you
+hate the sins that you know. What would you be, if you were once
+Christians, and the Lord Jesus gave you His light!"
+
+"'And as I write down these words from the old chronicle, I could cast
+my eyes to the ground for shame and weep tears of blood over the deep,
+shameful apostasy of the German Christianity of the present day. Christ
+gives us His light now; we are Christians now; but where have purity,
+truth, and courage hid themselves? Are there ten in a hundred German
+Christians that keep a pure life, true lips, and a brave heart? I do not
+think it. Open and secret impurity, coarse and polished falsehood,
+disgraceful cowardliness, fear of men and men-pleasing, have infested
+the whole German Christian nation, and will soon bring down the judgment
+of God; for "the bruise is incurable, and the wound is grievous." Great
+and small, men and women, old and young, all are tainted with the
+plague. Our heathen forefathers were better and cleaner in these things
+than we Christians--they will condemn us at the last judgment, and we
+shall have to stand abashed before them. And you that read this, if you
+prize the name of a German--if, as you should, you prize a thousand
+times more the name of a Christian--ask your conscience whether it has
+not been uneasy under the foregoing narration; and if it has, then
+repent, you degenerate German, you hypocritical Christian; repent in
+sackcloth and ashes, and on your knees implore your God, the living
+Saviour: "Jesus, my Lord, thou holy God, give me a pure nature, a lip of
+faithfulness, and a bold heart, through the faith that is in Thee."
+
+"'And now I must go on to tell what more befell that same day, in which
+the devilish nature of heathenism among our forefathers was shown as
+frightfully as in their murderous sacrifices. Far behindhand as our
+ancestors at that time were in all civilisation, they nevertheless
+already understood the art of preparing intoxicating drinks. For this
+purpose they used especially the wild oats which grew all over, and the
+darnel grass, of which a strong, intoxicating beer was brewed; and to
+make it yet more stupefying, they added a certain marsh plant. And
+scarce ever was there a sacrifice that was not concluded with a
+drinking-bout. So it fell out at this time. Many writers tell, how among
+the old Germans it was even made a boast to spend eight or even fourteen
+days, one after another, in such carousals. On the occasion of which we
+are speaking, indeed, they lasted only over the rest of that day and
+through the night; for the next day the intent was to go on to the
+stone-houses. But what horror must Landolf have felt even in that short
+time! When all of them had got drunk, a quarrel sprang up; and as each
+man had his weapons with him, his war-axe especially, the quarrel came
+to duels between man and man; and soon blood was flowing from most of
+the people, and several corpses lay here and there. The bodies were
+burned, their ashes buried, and a round hillock of earth thrown up over
+them; for, as it was thought, they had fallen in honourable fight, as it
+became men to do. And when Landolf, full of astonishment, asked the
+Billing, who of all the crowd was the only one that had remained sober,
+whether they did not then punish people for murder? the Billing in
+wonder retorted by the question, where the murderers were? There had
+been nothing but an open, honest fight, which was to the honour of those
+concerned in it.
+
+"'Yet another abomination Landolf saw on this occasion, which, however,
+was in a remarkable manner mixed up with truth and noblemindedness. I
+mean that while this drinking-bout was going on, a number of men, young
+and old, amused themselves with gaming, of which they were passionately
+fond. To be sure they had no cards, neither dice. But they had little
+longish, square cornered, wooden sticks, shaved white, and with certain
+marks painted on the upper side. Each man took a certain number of these
+in both hands, shook them, and threw them up in the air. When they fell
+on the ground, they were carefully looked at to see how many of them lay
+with the painted side up, and how many with the unpainted; and whoever
+then had the most sticks with the painted side up, he had won. Upon each
+throw they set some of their cattle, a hog, a cow, or an ox, or a horse;
+perhaps at last a specially prized drinking vessel, made out of a ure-ox
+horn; even finally, what they held to be most valuable of all, their
+weapons; and at last Landolf saw a young man, who had lost all he had,
+cast his freedom upon the last throw; and when this too was lost, he saw
+how frankly and without grumbling he gave himself up to be the slave of
+his fellow-player; so fast the German, even amid the bewilderments of
+sin, held to truth and the inviolable keeping of his word once given.
+Liberty was truly his most valuable and precious possession, for which
+at any other time he was ready to die, arms in hand. And yet he yielded
+this treasure quietly up, when he had lost it at play, rather than break
+his word and his faith; if he were the stronger, he did not defend
+himself; he did not take to flight, though he might have a hundred
+opportunities--the free man who gloried in his freedom, became a slave,
+that he might keep faith. This was how Landolf found things among the
+heathen; he wept bitter tears over it; but he never desponded: so much
+the firmer grew his resolution to preach the Gospel to this people, and
+make the true God known to them. For the thought always rose in him,
+what might come of a people whom God had so nobly endowed, among whom
+even in the abominations of idolatry there shone forth such traits of
+pureness of manners and nobleness of thought, were they but once renewed
+and born again by the glorious Christian faith.
+
+"'But if Landolf were to come to light again in these days, when we
+_are_ Christians, what would he say of us? Outward culture truly he
+would find--the face of the earth would indeed have changed. But if he
+came into the inns, where drinking and gaming are going on, into the
+so-called _Maybeers_, into the assemblies for eating and drinking, and
+playing at weddings, and housewarmings, and christenings; or into the
+private drinking and gaming parties in people's houses, the gaming hells
+at the watering-places, the drinking carousals of students, the
+companies of the noble, the so-called entertainments with which
+everything must be celebrated in Germany--how confounded would he be, to
+find that the drinking and gaming devil is still the ruling devil in
+Germany! but, on the other hand, faith and truth are extinguished. It is
+true what the old song says--"Most are Christians only in name. God's
+true seed are thinly scattered, those who love and honour Christ and do
+His pleasure!" Well, God mend it!'"
+
+Meredith shut up his book.
+
+"Ditto," said Maggie thoughtfully, "is it so bad here?"
+
+"How do I know, Maggie?"
+
+"But what do you _think_?"
+
+Flora lifted up her head. "Now, Meredith, don't go and say something
+absurd."
+
+"What do you want me to say?"
+
+"Why, the truth! that there are a great many nice people in America."
+
+"I have no doubt, so there are in Germany."
+
+"Then that talk is all stuff."
+
+"Pastor Harms never talked stuff."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"I have read enough of him to know. He was one of those he calls God's
+true seed."
+
+"Then what did he mean? Or what do you mean?"
+
+"Well, Flora, I will ask you a question: How many people do you know who
+live to do Christ's will?"
+
+Flora did not answer immediately. Maggie on her part went to
+calculating.
+
+"I know--I know--three!" she said slowly.
+
+"_Three!_" said Flora. "Who are they?"
+
+"That's not the question, Flo," said her brother. "How many do _you_
+know?"
+
+"Well," said Flora, "Mr. Murray is one, and you are another, I believe;
+but there are other nice people in the world."
+
+"I know people drink," said Maggie, so gravely and sagely that the
+others laughed. "I do know. I have seen them at our house. You needn't
+say anything, Esther; I have once or twice when I have been at dinner,
+when you were not at home. Not papa, of course, and they don't do it
+now. Papa won't have wine on the table at all, but I saw how they did.
+Some of the gentlemen began with whisky and water, and one took brandy
+and water, before dinner began."
+
+"Oh stop, Maggie!" Esther exclaimed.
+
+"No, but I want to tell you. Then they took Greek wine or Sauterne with
+their soup. Then they took champagne with the dinner. Then they had
+port wine with the cheese--oh, I recollect, Esther--and then they had
+Madeira and sherry with dessert, and claret and Madeira and sherry with
+the fruit. And some of them drank every one. I am glad papa won't have
+wine at all now. Uncle Eden wouldn't, a good while ago."
+
+"People used in England, not very long ago, to drink a bottle or two of
+wine after dinner each man," said Meredith; "but it is not quite so bad
+as that nowadays."
+
+Flora was vexed, but silent; she too remembered bowls of punch and
+baskets of champagne in _her_ father's time.
+
+"And gaming--" said Maggie, and stopped.
+
+"What?" said Meredith.
+
+"I was thinking how fond Fenton was of it."
+
+"Oh hush, Maggie! he wasn't!" Esther exclaimed.
+
+"It was just the same thing, Uncle Eden said."
+
+"Where is Fenton?" said Meredith.
+
+"He's coming to-morrow. He likes champagne too, and other wine when he
+can get it. And Bolivar--Bolivar put something in his lemonade!"
+
+"Why, Maggie," said Meredith, smiling and passing his hand gently over
+the little girl's head, "you are taking gloomy views of life!"
+
+"I was only thinking, Ditto. But it seems to me so very strange that
+people should be worse now than when they were heathen Saxons."
+
+"People are a mixture now, you must remember. The good part are a great
+deal better, and I suppose the bad part are a great deal worse."
+
+"Worse than the heathen!" cried Flora.
+
+"Well, judge for yourself. But darkness in the midst of light is always
+the blackest, and not only by contrast either."
+
+"If you think people are so awful, I should think you would go to work
+and preach to them," said Esther.
+
+"I will," said Meredith calmly.
+
+"Then what will you do with Meadow Park?"
+
+"Oh, he proposes to turn that into an hospital."
+
+"An hospital!"----
+
+"Flora is romancing a little," said her brother. "There are no
+infirmaries put up yet. How sweet this place is! Do you smell the fir
+trees and pines? The air is a spice-box."
+
+"The air a box!" cried Maggie laughing.
+
+"I mean it is full of perfumes, like a spice-box. And these old stones,
+laid up here by the soldiers' hands of a hundred years ago, just make a
+dining place for us now. But it's pretty! And the air is nectar."
+
+"You can choose whether you will smell it, or swallow it," remarked his
+sister.
+
+"By your leave, I will do both. Well, shall I go on?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+"'The morning after the sacrificial feast at the Deep Moor, Landolf with
+the Billing and the free men travelled on to the May diet, which was to
+be held at the seven stone-houses, and before noon came to the place.
+There were an enormous crowd of free men assembled, priests, nobles, and
+commons. The place lies in the middle of a vast, level heath, on the
+soft declivity of a rising ground, which on the other side falls away
+sharply down to a boggy dell. I have already described the stone-houses.
+There are seven of them, a number which must have been held sacred among
+the Saxons. At least in our country the so-called "Huhnen" graves, in
+which our forefathers lie buried, are always found either alone, or
+constantly by sevens together in a wide circle. The spot on which the
+stone-houses stand must have been sacred to Woden, for in the chronicle
+it is called "Wuotanswohrt," and _wohrt_ in Saxon always means a
+secluded, enclosed, sacred place, especially devoted to the
+administration of justice; for courts of justice were held under the
+open sky and always by day, as though to denote that justice is of
+heavenly origin, courts the light of sunshine and shuns the darkness.
+The word _wohrt_ is connected with _wehren_' (which means, to keep off,
+Maggie), 'because everything unholy must be kept off from it, on which
+account also such places were hedged in. Of the transactions at this May
+diet, it is only told that a great sacrifice was offered, this time
+consisting of fourteen men, two of whom were slaughtered upon each of
+the stone-houses in the manner already described; that then cases of law
+were decided according to the ancient usage; then the state of things
+between the Saxons and the Franks was considered; and at this
+opportunity Landolf, who as guest of the Billing had been present at all
+the discussions, begged to be permitted to speak, and asked for leave to
+preach Christianity in the country. Scarcely had he preferred his
+request, when threatening and distrustful looks were directed upon him
+from almost all present, and many a hand grasped to the war-axe; for at
+the word _Christianity_, men's thoughts at once flew to the Franks,
+those hitherto enemies of the Saxons, by whom after three and thirty
+years of fighting they had at last been subdued. The Billing immediately
+observed the excitement, and before any of it could get open expression
+he himself was upon his feet. He related that Landolf was no Frank, but
+an Eastphalian, and so of their own people and race; that when a boy he
+had been taken prisoner by the Franks in the war and carried to the
+Franks' country, where he had been converted to Christianity, and had
+been a pupil of the good Liudgar, who himself was a Saxon and known by
+report to all Saxons. That afterwards he had lived with this Liudgar in
+the country of their brethren the Westphalians, and half a year before
+this time had come to him quite alone and become his guest; and as his
+guest he would protect the man, since he had done nothing contrary to
+the customs and usages of the Saxon people. In his own home he had
+permitted him to preach Christianity; and now here, in the assembly of
+the people, according to ancient law and usage, Landolf desired to ask
+whether he might be allowed to proclaim openly in the country the Gospel
+of the God of the Christians. This must now be regularly debated in the
+assembly of the people; and he gave permission to Landolf that free and
+unmolested he might say out his wishes and tell exactly what the
+Christian belief was. Then every one might give his opinion.
+
+"'Now Landolf rose up. His tall figure, his noble presence, and the
+fearless, frank, spirited glance of his eye round the circle, made a
+deep impression; and in noiseless silence the assembly listened to his
+speech, the first preaching that ever was held in our country. This
+short, simple discourse has so grown into my heart and I like it so
+much, that I shall give it here.' Flora, are you listening?"
+
+"Of course."
+
+"I didn't know but you were too busy counting your stitches. I want you
+to hear this speech of Landolf's. It is very fine.
+
+"'"In the name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the only
+true God. Amen. Men and brethren, hear my words. One hundred years ago"
+(A.D. 960, according to the chronicle), "came two pious Christian
+priests to you, to make known to your fathers the Gospel of Christ, the
+true God; they were the dark and the fair Ewald. They were your own
+relations, they came from England; they were your friends, they had left
+England and come over the sea for the love of you; they were your
+guests, they had been sheltered in your houses. They wanted to let you
+know that God has become your Brother, that He might deliver you from
+your sins. You would not let them preach in your land--you were free not
+to do that; but you murdered them; here on these stones you slew them in
+honour of Woden; your brothers, your friends, your guests, you murdered,
+who had done you no evil. Since that time the true God, the God of the
+Christians, has been angry with you. You number as many as the Franks
+do; you are just as brave as they. Yet Charlemagne, the Frank, has
+conquered and subdued you. How is that? God fought with Charlemagne; He
+loved him--he is a Christian. God fought against you, for you have
+killed his priests; you are murderers. You can kill me too. Do it; I am
+not afraid of death; I am the servant of God; if you kill me, God will
+take me up to heaven. God's anger will not depart from you, unless you
+become Christians. Why will you not become Christians? Your gods are
+good for nothing; they cannot help you; they have not been able to stand
+before the Christian's God. Where is your _Irmensul_? Charlemagne has
+broken it to pieces." (Irmensul was an idol image that stood at
+Hildesheim). "Where is your _Wodensaak_? Charlemagne has cut it down."
+(This Woden's oak stood at Verden on the Aller.) "Where is your
+_Helawohrt_? Charlemagne has destroyed it." (The sacred place of the
+goddess Hela was on the Aller, in what is now the suburb Heelen at
+Celle.) "Where are your brave leaders, Wittekind and Albion? They have
+become Charlemagne's friends and vassals; they are Christians. Do you
+think it was Charlemagne that subdued them? No, a greater One, the God
+of the Christians has subdued them. Charlemagne indeed often overthrew
+them; but the Christian's God has conquered them. Do you know how that
+came about? I have heard in Muenster, and I will tell you.
+
+"'"After the last battle they lost--you know about that, your young men
+bled there too--before peace was concluded, the brave Wittekind said to
+his brother in arms, Albion, 'Come, let us go! we will pay a visit to
+Charlemagne in his fortress, and take a look at his power; for he is the
+greatest in the land.' So the bold heroes set forth; hiding their strong
+frames under the dress of beggars; for they wished to remain unknown,
+and to see and prove for themselves. Fear was not in their brave hearts.
+They travelled and travelled for days and days; and wherever they came,
+Christians gave them food. Then they questioned with one another--'Is
+_this_ what Christians are?' They were many nights on their journeyings,
+and wherever they came the Christians took them in, although they were
+beggars. Then they asked one another, 'Is this what Christians are?'
+Many a time they lost their way, in cities, villages, and fields; the
+Christians set them right, and they said to each other in astonishment,
+'Is _this_ what the Christians are?' At last they came to Ingelheim."
+(The chronicle names Ingelheim, and not Aix-la-Chapelle.) "They went
+through the city, admiring the handsome houses and magnificent streets,
+till they came to a large house, the largest of all they had hitherto
+seen. 'This must be Charlemagne's dwelling,' said they; 'for certainly
+he is the greatest man among his people!' They went in--they heard
+singing, that sounded as if it came down from heaven. They went further
+in; there stood up in the chancel a man in a white dress (it was a
+priest in white church robes) who was speaking: 'Hear, you who believe
+the glad message; the great God in heaven loves you. He loves you so
+much that He sent His dear Son Jesus Christ to you. Jesus Christ came
+down from heaven; God's Son became your brother, so little and poor that
+He lay in a manger in the stall for cattle. When He was grown up, He
+preached everywhere and said, Sinners, turn, and I will save you. He
+made the lame to go and the blind to see, and healed the sick, and
+raised up the dead that lay in their graves. He shed His blood for
+sinners; sinners put Him to death. He was still kind to them in His
+death, and prayed for His murderers, Father, forgive them! for they know
+not what they do. They buried Him. But can God stay in the grave? Lo!
+after three days the earth quaked and the rocks rent; Jesus rose up out
+of the grave, Jesus went up to heaven, and sits now again upon the
+throne of His Father, God. He reigns; He commands: Repent, and I will
+save you, you shall come into my heaven and reign with me.
+
+"'"So preached the priest. There stood the two heroes in astonishment,
+but they were to be yet more astonished. Lo! a tall man steps forward
+through the church up to the altar, where the priest was standing; and a
+crown was upon his head. It was the King Charlemagne. The two heroes
+knew him, and yet they did not know him. Was this the mighty hero, whose
+flashing sword in battle struck and slew? Was this the man whose eyes
+blazed with the fire of battle? He wears no sword here; his eyes sparkle
+peacefully; as he stands before the altar, he humbly takes his crown off
+and sets it on the ground; then he bows his knee upon the steps of the
+altar and prays to Jesus Christ, the God of the Christians, and all the
+people fall upon their knees, and the heavenly music of them who are
+singing praises swells out again--'Glory to God in the highest, and on
+earth peace, good-will to men.' Then Charlemagne rises and sits down in
+a chair, and the man in white clothing preaches of Jesus, who came to
+save sinners, and Charlemagne bows his high head so often as the name
+of Jesus is named. Then the priest blesses the congregation--the service
+is over.
+
+"'"It was not Charlemagne's house in which they were; it was God's
+house, in which Charlemagne had been praying. God is greater than
+Charlemagne, and so must God's house be the biggest in the city. The
+brothers in arms went forth of the church. Before the church door there
+was a great crowd of beggars, in garments like their own. Gentle and
+kind, Charlemagne goes to the poor people, giving each one a piece of
+money and saying, 'God bless it to you, my children; pray for me too.'
+'Is that King Charlemagne?' the heroes asked each other by their
+astonished looks. Then the king steps up to them, looks at them
+graciously, and says--'You have never been here before, my friends; come
+into my house, and I will give you your portion.' He goes on and they
+follow him. They come into his house, which was smaller than God's
+house. They go into his apartment; there he dismisses the attendants,
+goes up to Wittekind and Albion, offers them his hand like a brother and
+says: 'Welcome to my citadel, you brave Saxon heroes! God has heard my
+prayer; my foes are becoming my friends. Put off your rags. I will dress
+you as princes should be dressed!' And he had princely robes put upon
+them, and said further--'Now you are my guests; and soon, I hope, the
+guests of the Lord my God also.' The two heroes had not expected this,
+that Charlemagne should know them in their disguise; much less that he
+would treat them so nobly and brotherly. Fourteen days later, the priest
+in white garments baptized them in the name of God the Father, the Son,
+and the Holy Ghost; and they swore allegiance to the Saviour, Jesus
+Christ.
+
+"'"You men, this is the way that your heroes have led the way for you.
+Saxons, will you forsake your dukes? The curse of sin has been cleared
+away from them. Now I have come to you; I too am a priest of Jesus
+Christ; I would gladly teach you and clear the curse of sin away from
+you, that you may be saved and come to heaven. Say, shall I preach among
+you? or will you kill me too, as you killed the two Ewalds? Here I am;
+but in the midst of you I am also in God's hand."
+
+"'Landolf ceased. The whole assembly had heard him in silence; even the
+heathen priests had listened. Then the Billing lifted up his voice and
+spoke: "Landolf, my guest and friend, thou hast spoken well, and thou
+hast been a good man in my house; I will hear thee further. Brothers,
+let us decide that Landolf shall be free to go about in our country and
+preach. It is no dishonour to bow the knee before that God who is
+Charlemagne's God and the God of the Christians; it is no shame to pray
+to that God who has conquered our brave heroes. Decide!"
+
+"'Then stepped forth an old man with white hair, who was the oldest man
+in the assembly, and spoke: "Cast the lot!"
+
+"'The young men made ready seven little sticks, square-cornered, of oak
+wood, marked on the upper side with sacred signs. One of the heathen
+priests, the chronicle calls him Walo, shook them in his hands and then
+threw them up in the air. During this time, Landolf was upon his knees,
+crying, "Lord, Lord, give the victory, that this noble people may come
+to know Thee!" Then the sticks fall to earth, and behold! six of them
+lie with the signs up, and only one with the signs down. This is
+announced, and then the whole assembly cries out--"The Christian's God
+has won!" and the Billing shakes Landolf by the hand and says, "Now go
+in and out through the whole land; nobody will hinder you from preaching
+the name of your God. But do not pass my house by; come back with me; I
+will become a Christian." And now the assembly broke up; everybody went
+home to his house, Landolf accompanying the Billing. When they were
+again passing the stone of sacrifice at the Deep Moor, Landolf
+said--"Billing, that is your altar-stone; is it not?" "It belongs to me
+and my house." "There my first church shall stand," said Landolf, glad
+and strong in faith. "May I build it?" "Build it my brother," answered
+the Billing; "and when it is ready I will be the first to be baptized in
+it. But the stone of sacrifice we will throw into the moor, that the
+remembrance of it may be lost."
+
+"'Now did Landolf go to work joyfully; by day he wrought, and at night
+he preached, and taught in the Billing's house, and in all the country
+round. No longer than three months after, the little wooden church was
+done--the first in this whole region; and the same day that Landolf
+consecrated it, Harm the Billing with five sons and three daughters, and
+the greater part of the friends of his family and of his farm servants,
+received holy baptism, the water for which was fetched out of the
+neighbouring Oerze. Now, of course, that church is no longer standing;
+it was burnt down afterwards by the heathen Wends, and in its place the
+large stone church in Hermannsburg was built. But to this day the field
+where that first church stood belongs to the Hermannsburg parsonage, and
+is still called _the cold church_.
+
+"'This was the foundation of the Christian Church in our valley of the
+Oerze; and as Landolf had come from Minden, the whole Oerze valley was
+attached to the see of Minden, while the rest of the Lueneburg country
+came to belong to the see of Verden.
+
+"'Now the faithful Landolf laboured on indefatigably. He sent one of his
+new converts to Minden and Muenster, to get more helpers from thence for
+his work. Twelve came, who were put under Landolf; and now for the first
+time the work could be taken hold of vigorously. Landolf must have lived
+and laboured until 830 or 840, and so blessed was his agency that the
+whole country of the Horzsahzen was converted to Christianity. It is
+brought forward as a proof of this, that at the great May diets held at
+the stone-houses the following laws were unanimously enacted: no more
+horse's flesh to be eaten; no more human sacrifices to be brought; no
+more dead to be burned; and all Woden's oaks to be hewn down. And in
+truth these laws do show the dominance of Christianity, for precisely
+these things named were the peculiar marks of heathenism. Of the
+interior condition of Christianity, little is told; only it is remarked
+that the entire change in the country was so great and manifest, that
+the bishops Willerich of Bremen and Helingud of Verden sent priests to
+convince themselves with their own eyes whether what they had heard with
+their ears was true; and these messengers had found not a single heathen
+left in the whole region. As a good general, Landolf moreover understood
+how everywhere to seize the right points where with the most effect
+heathenism might be grappled with and overthrown. He always went
+straight to the heart of the old religion. We have already seen how his
+first church was built by the Billing's sacrifice stone. Westward from
+Hermannsburg is what is called the Winkelberg, upon which was the
+burying-place of the heathen priests, for the most part cultivated land
+now, but the twice seven so-called Huehnen graves are still to be seen
+there. At the foot of this hill he established what was called the
+_Pfarrwohrt_, where the spiritual courts should be holden; and close by
+this place he laid the foundation-stone of the Quaenenburg, a house
+surrounded with a moat, in which the young girls of the country might be
+taught and educated (Quaene or Kwaene meant a young girl). Both places,
+Pfarrwohrt and Quaenenburg, are arable fields now, still belonging to the
+parsonage.
+
+"'An hour above Hermannsburg the two rivers Oerze and Wieze flow into
+each other. At that place, in an oak wood, the idol Thor was worshipped.
+There Landolf was equally prompt to build a chapel, that the idol
+worship might be banished. As he had consecrated the church in
+Hermannsburg to Peter and Paul, so he consecrated this chapel to
+Lawrence. Around this chapel the village Mueden sprang up, so called
+because the two rivers there flow into one another, or Muenden. Then he
+went further up the Oerze and erected a cloister and a chapel at a place
+which was sacred to the goddess Freija. At that time a cloister was
+called a munster. The village of Munster grew up around this cloister.
+In the same way he went further up the Weize, where there was a wood
+sacred to Hertha. In its neighbourhood he built a chapel which was
+consecrated to Bartholomew. Around this chapel Wiezendorf arose. About
+an hour and a half distant from Hermannsburg, there was a very large,
+magnificent wood of oaks and beeches; such a forest was then called a
+wohld. In this forest the heathen priests, the so-called Druids, were
+specially at home; there, too, they kept the white horses which were
+used in soothsaying. The wood extended for hours in length and breadth.
+He could not give that the go-by; and that he might dash right into the
+midst of it, he built at the spot where it was narrowest a chapel on the
+one side to Mary _in valle_, and on the other side a chapel to Mary _in
+monte_. The first means Mary in the valley, the second, Mary on the
+hill. The villages Wohlde and Bergen have thence arisen. So he grappled
+with heathenism just there where its strongest points were, and always,
+by God's grace, got the victory; for the Lord indeed says: "My glory
+will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." And as
+once the Philistine's idol Dagon fell speechless upon the ground before
+the ark of the covenant of God, so in our Oerze valley everywhere fell
+the altars of the idols before the sign of the Cross.
+
+"'Besides all this, Landolf and his companions were skilled husbandmen,
+who themselves shunned no manual labour nor painstaking, and who knew
+right well how to eat their bread in the sweat of their brow. So they
+introduced agriculture universally, of which our forefathers at that
+time knew little or nothing; and thus they were not only the spiritual
+but also the material benefactors of the whole district. How much a
+single man can do, who is wholly given to the Lord, and who is moved by
+burning love to the Lord and to his fellows! God give all preachers and
+teachers, and especially all messengers to the heathen, such a mind,
+such a brave heart, such a single eye, such will to work! that some good
+may be done.
+
+"'About the next hundred years I have found nothing said in the
+chronicle. Probably things went on in such a quiet way that there was
+nothing particular to say concerning them. But then comes the relation
+of a noteworthy occurrence.'"
+
+Meredith shut up his book.
+
+"Well, aren't you going on?" said Maggie.
+
+"Presently. I want a run down to the shore and see how the water looks."
+
+"Why, it always looks just the same way," said Esther.
+
+"Does it? I am afraid something must be the matter with your eyes."
+
+"Oh, of course sometimes it blows, and sometimes it is smooth; but what
+is that?"
+
+"Just according to your eyes."
+
+"Aren't all eyes alike?"
+
+"Not exactly. Some see."
+
+"What do you see in the water?"
+
+"There is one peculiarity of eyes," said Meredith. "You cannot see
+through another person's. Come, Maggie, let us stretch ourselves a bit."
+
+Taking hold of hands, the two ran and scrambled down the steep, rocky
+pitch of the hill, to the edge of the river. The wind was not blowing
+to-day; soft and still the water lay, with a mild gleam under the
+October sun, sending up not even a ripple to the shore. There was a
+warm, spicy smell in the woods; there was a golden glow here and there
+from a hickory; the hills were variegated and rich-hued in the distance
+and near by. Meredith sat down on a stone by the water and looked out on
+the view. But he was graver than Maggie liked.
+
+"Ditto," she said after a while, "you are thinking of something."
+
+"Of a good many things, Maggie. How good the world is! and men are not!"
+
+"What then, Ditto?"
+
+"One ought to do something to make them better."
+
+"What can you do?"
+
+"What could Landolf the Saxon? I do not know, Maggie; but one ought to
+be as ready as Landolf was to do anything. And I think I am."
+
+"Then God will show you what to do, Ditto."
+
+Meredith bent down and kissed the earnest little face, "You are the only
+friend I have got, Maggie, that thinks and feels as I do."
+
+"O Ditto! Uncle Eden?"
+
+"Well, I suppose Mr. Murray would do me the honour to let me call him my
+friend," said Meredith.
+
+"And papa?"
+
+"Mr. Candlish is very good to me; but you see, I do not know him so
+well, Maggie."
+
+"Well, he thinks just as you do. And papa goes and preaches in the
+streets when he is in New York; in those dreadful places where the
+people live that never go to church."
+
+"_That's_ like Landolf," said Meredith. "I almost envy men like that old
+monk."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"All his strength laid out for something worth while--all his life. And
+think how much he did! And I fret to be doing nothing, and yet I don't
+know what to do."
+
+"You can ask Uncle Eden when he comes."
+
+"I hope he'll come! Now don't think any more about it, Maggie. This is
+the prettiest place I ever saw in my life. I want to get out on that
+water."
+
+"Now?"
+
+"Not now. Some time."
+
+"Oh, we'll all go," said Maggie joyfully. "We might go in the boat
+somewhere and take our book and our dinner, and have a grand time,
+Ditto!"
+
+Meredith laughed and said it was all "grand times;" and then he got up
+and strolled along by the water, picking up flat stones and making ducks
+and drakes on the smooth, river surface. This was a new pastime to
+Maggie, and so pleasant to both that they forgot the book and the girls
+left on the height, and delighted their eye with the dimpling water and
+ricochetting stones time after time, and could not have enough. At last
+flat stones began to grow scarce, and Maggie and Meredith remounted to
+the rest of the party.
+
+"Well!" said Flora, "you've come in good time. We are going home."
+
+"Home!" echoed Maggie.
+
+"To be sure. Don't you think we want dinner some time?" said Esther;
+"and we are tired sitting here. And it is growing late besides. Just
+look where the sun is."
+
+There was nothing to be said to the sun; and the books and work being
+stowed again in the cart, Meredith took his place as porter, and the
+little company returned to the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+A little tired, and not a little hungry, it was very good now to have a
+change, and be at home. The girls went to dress for dinner, while
+Meredith, whose toilet was sooner made, sat on the terrace in the mellow
+October light and dreamed. Dinner went off merrily. After dinner, when
+it began to be dark, they all repaired to the library. A little fire was
+kindled here, for the pleasure of it rather than from the need. The
+afghan and worsted embroidery came out again under the bright lamplight;
+but Meredith sat idly tending the fire.
+
+"Ditto," said Maggie, "can't we see about all those Saxon gods now?--or
+don't you want to?"
+
+"Of course, I want to see about them," said Meredith, springing up and
+going to the bookcases. "I want to know myself, Maggie."
+
+"Were they different from the Roman and Grecian gods?" Flora asked.
+
+"It is safe for people who cannot keep their ears open, to refrain from
+questions," Meredith answered.
+
+"Why, I heard all you read," said Flora, pouting a little; "but how
+should I know but those were the same as the Roman gods, only under
+different names?"
+
+"If you please to recollect, you will remember that the two nations had
+nothing to do with one another except at the spear's point. But if I can
+find what I want, I will enlighten you and myself too," said Meredith,
+rummaging among the bookshelves. "Here it is, I believe!" And with a
+volume in his hand he came back to the table and the lamp; but then
+became absorbed in study. Worsted needles flew in and out. Maggie
+watched Meredith's face and the leaves of his book as they were turned
+over.
+
+"Well, Ditto?" she said after a while.
+
+"What?"
+
+"Yes, _what_?" said Maggie, laughing. "Have you found anything?"
+
+"To be sure!" said Meredith, straightening himself up. "Yes, Maggie,
+it's all here--in a somewhat brief fashion."
+
+"Well, who was Woden?"
+
+"Woden was the principal deity. He was the god of the moving air, and of
+the light."
+
+"Like Apollo," said Flora.
+
+"Yes--more like Zeus or Jupiter. He was the all-father--the universally
+present spirit: above all the other gods. He was the god of the sky.
+They represented him with two ravens that sat on his shoulders, which
+every morning brought him news of whatever was going on in _Midgard_."
+
+"What's Midgard?"
+
+"Our lower earth. And the abode of the gods was called _Asgard_."
+
+"We did not read anything about Midgard and Asgard to-day."
+
+"No, but I thought you might like to know. And then _Walhalla_ was the
+place where Odin put half of the brave men who were slain in battle."
+
+"What became of the other half?" said Flora.
+
+"The goddess Freija took care of them. What she did with them, this book
+does not say. I have read before of the 'halls of Walhalla,' I am glad
+to know what it means."
+
+"Who was Freija?"
+
+"Wait a bit; I have not got through with Woden, or Odin. His two ravens
+were called _Hunin_ and _Munin_--which means, Thought and Memory. That's
+pretty! Woden is painted also as attended by two dogs. He was the chief
+and head of the gods, you understand. Now Freija was one of his wives.
+Naturally, she was the goddess of good weather and harvests--a fair kind
+of goddess generally. Also the dead were in her care; the other half of
+the heroes slain in battle came into her hands. She is painted riding
+in a chariot drawn by two cats."
+
+"But, Ditto, if Woden was the sky god, I don't see why those old Saxons
+should have fancied he would like such cruel sacrifices. Sunlight looks
+bright and cheerful."
+
+Meredith mused.
+
+"Yes," he said, "it does look bright and cheerful--but, it hates
+darkness."
+
+"What then, Ditto?"
+
+"Darkness means sin."
+
+"Oh, do you think that?" cried Maggie. "To be sure, I know darkness
+means sin. But do you think those old Saxons"----
+
+"They felt the difference between darkness and light, undoubtedly, and
+they feared the sun-god."
+
+"But I don't see how they could think he was so cruel, though."
+
+"I suppose that is all quite natural," said Meredith musingly. "How
+afraid we should be of God, if we did not know Jesus Christ!"
+
+"Were the old Hebrews so afraid of Him?" Flora asked.
+
+"Terribly. Don't you remember? they always thought they must die when
+the Angel of Jehovah appeared to them? And how should people who never
+heard of Christ guess that God is so good as He is? They feel that they
+are sinners--how should they know that He will forgive?"
+
+"But to think to please Him by such awful sacrifices!" said Flora.
+
+"I suppose the idea was, to give him the most precious thing there was."
+
+"I shall ask Mr. Murray," said Flora. "It is all a puzzle to me. In the
+first place, I do not believe such heathen people know they are
+sinners."
+
+"Yes, they do. Certainly they do, all the world over, and this is one of
+the ways they show it. 'How beautiful' among them must be 'the feet of
+him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace!--that bringeth
+good tidings of good; that publisheth salvation!'"
+
+"What a pity you hadn't lived in Landolf's time!" said Flora.
+
+"There are enough heathen left," said her brother, "and worse than those
+old Saxons. Theirs was not a bad specimen of heathen mythology, by any
+means. And yet, think of believing one's self given over to the tender
+mercies of Woden and Thor!"
+
+"And yet by your account people were better than they are now!"
+
+"Some people--and some people," answered Meredith. "I must ask Mr.
+Murray about that. I do not understand it."
+
+"We shall get work enough ready for him by the time he comes. Well, go
+on with your Saxon mythology and be done with it. I do not think it is
+very interesting."
+
+"Maggie and I are of a different opinion. But it was rather Norse
+mythology. Sweden and Norway and Denmark were all of one race and one
+faith. Norsemen carried it to Iceland, and it is odd enough that from
+Iceland we get our best accounts of it."
+
+Maggie had mounted up with her knees in a chair and her elbows on the
+table, leaning over towards Meredith, and now begged he would tell about
+Thor.
+
+"Thor was the thunderer."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"The god of thunder and lightning. He was the son of Odin, or Woden. He
+is represented driving in a car drawn by two goats and with a great
+hammer in his hand. This hammer was forged by the dwarfs, Kobolds, I
+suppose, who dwelt in the centre of the earth."
+
+"What did he want a hammer for?"
+
+"To strike withal. And when Thor's hammer came down, that made the
+thunder, don't you see? and his stroke was the thunderbolt."
+
+"I should think they would have been frightened to death in a
+thunder-storm."
+
+"Not an expression those old Saxons knew anything about."
+
+"Well, I should think they would have feared Thor."
+
+"There is no doubt but they did. Those poor captives at the stone-houses
+were slaughtered in honour of Woden and Thor, don't you remember? But he
+was also the god of fire, and the god of the domestic hearth. Listen to
+this: 'Among the pagan Norsemen, Thor's hammer was held in as much
+reverence as Christ's cross among Christians. It was carved on their
+gravestones; and wrought of wood or iron, it was suspended in their
+temples.'"
+
+"Thor's hammer!" repeated Maggie. "Poor people!"
+
+"Nobody worships Thor now," observed Esther scornfully.
+
+"We call one of our days after him yet," said Meredith. "There is a
+relic of the old Thor worship. Indeed all our days are heathenish in
+name."
+
+"All?" said Flora, looking up. "What is Monday?"
+
+"Just the Moon's day, don't you see? Sunday is the Sun's day. Woden's
+day and Thor's day, you know. Then Friday is of course Freija's day--or
+Freyr's day--I don't know which. Freyr was the god of weather and
+fruits--another impersonation of Odin. He rode through the air on a wild
+boar, faster than any horse could catch him. An odd steed! And Tuesday
+is Tyr's day, or Zin's day--it comes to much the same thing. He was
+especially the 'god of war and of athletic sports.'"
+
+"Then there is Saturday left," said Maggie. "What is Saturday?"
+
+"I think it must have been Saturn's day--and so not Saxon, Maggie, but
+Roman. The names of our months are all Roman, you know?"
+
+"Are they?"
+
+"Yes, but wait. Here is something curious. The Saxon devil was called
+Loki. Now Loki had three children. Listen to this. 'One was the huge
+wolf Fenris, who at the last day shall hurry gaping to the scene of
+battle, with his lower jaw scraping the earth and his nose scraping the
+sky.'"
+
+"What is curious in that?" asked Flora. "It is just like a children's
+fairy tale."
+
+"But these are not children's fairy tales; and they mean something. How
+did these old Norsemen know there would be a scene of battle at the last
+day, and great destruction?"
+
+"How do you know it?"
+
+"The Bible."
+
+"Does the Bible say so, Ditto?" said Maggie. "Where does it say so?"
+
+"Many places."
+
+"Tell us one, Ditto."
+
+Meredith rose up and fetched a Bible and pushed his book of Norse
+mythology on one side. Then he opened at the nineteenth chapter of the
+Revelation.
+
+"'And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat
+upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth
+judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head
+were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he
+himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; and his name
+is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed
+him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out
+of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the
+nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the
+wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on
+his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF
+LORDS.
+
+"'And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud
+voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and
+gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may
+eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of
+mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and
+the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
+
+"'And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies,
+gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and
+against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false
+prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them
+that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his
+image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with
+brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat
+upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the
+fowls were filled with their flesh.'"
+
+"I do not understand all that, the least bit," said Flora.
+
+"You understand there will be a war, and a battle?"
+
+"But that's a figure."
+
+"No, it's a fact. How should it be a figure?"
+
+"What do you understand by a 'sword proceeding out of His mouth?'"
+
+"That is in the description of Christ in the first chapter: 'And he had
+in his right hand seven stars; and out of his mouth went a sharp
+two-edged sword.'"
+
+"Well, isn't that a figure? What does it mean?"
+
+"Listen to the description of Christ that Isaiah gives: 'With
+righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the
+meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his
+mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.'"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"And in Thessalonians: 'Then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the
+Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with
+the brightness of his coming.' And in Ephesians: 'The sword of the
+Spirit, which is the word of God.'"
+
+"Well," said Flora, "that is not a real sword, with a handle and an
+edge."
+
+"The Bible says it has two edges."
+
+"Nonsense! you know what I mean."
+
+"I know. Certainly, Flora, the weapons of that battle may not be weapons
+of flesh and blood, or for flesh and blood; but the _battle_ is real,
+don't you see? and the awful overthrow and destruction, and what I am
+wondering about is, how those old Saxons knew there would be such a
+battle at the end? and how they knew that the mischief would in some
+sense come from the devil."
+
+"_Did_ they know it?"
+
+"The wolf Fenris was one of the devil's children, as they made it out.
+And another was the serpent which Odin cast into the sea, where it grew
+and grew till it had wound up the whole earth in its folds. That is very
+curious!"
+
+"What, Ditto?"
+
+"How did they know _that_?"
+
+"Know what?"
+
+"Why, don't you see? The serpent is one of the Bible words for the
+devil; here, it is a child of the devil who, coming to the earth, has
+enveloped the whole world in his toils. The Bible says, I know,
+somewhere, that those who are not saved by Christ are '_in_ the Wicked
+one.' How did they know so much, and so little, those old people?"
+
+"Where did you find all those Bible verses just now about the sword,
+Ditto?"
+
+"References here, Maggie."
+
+"Well, go on, Ditto. There were three children of the devil."
+
+"The third was the goddess Hel or Hela. She was the goddess of the lower
+world, and was half black and half blue. I wonder! that must be where
+our word 'hell' comes from. What dreadful old times! And times now are
+just as bad, for a great part of the world. The goddess Hel was very
+like the horrible Hindoo goddess Kali, they say here."
+
+"I don't believe those times were so much worse than these times," said
+Flora.
+
+"You think human sacrifices are a pleasant religious feature?"
+
+"Not to the victims; but I suppose the rest were all accustomed to it,
+and didn't feel so shocked as you do."
+
+"Landolf seems to have been a good deal shocked."
+
+"Are you going to read us anything more, Ditto, about those queer old
+gods?"
+
+"There isn't much more that I need read, Maggie. I have told you about
+the principal deities. They believed in quantities of lesser
+ones--really, personifications of the good and evil powers of nature.
+The elves and their king, and the dwarfs living inside the hills. The
+dwarfs owned the treasures of the mines, and worked in metals and
+precious stones."
+
+"I should like to believe in elves and fairies," said Flora.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Oh, it's pretty and poetical. Fairy rings, and all that."
+
+"Would you like to think there were hidden powers in every piece of
+water, and rock, and hill, which might feel kindly disposed towards you
+and might not? which might suddenly play you an ill trick and make you
+most mischievous trouble, for nothing but mischief."
+
+"Did people believe so, Ditto?"
+
+"Certainly. A great many people, in various parts of the world."
+
+"I would rather believe that God has it all in His hand," said Maggie
+contentedly.
+
+"So would I, Maggie. And that Jesus has the keys of hell and of death."
+
+"I wonder when Fenton will be here," remarked Esther.
+
+"I hope--he won't come--till--Uncle Eden gets here," said Maggie very
+deliberately.
+
+"Why not?" said Esther sharply.
+
+"He is uneasy," said Maggie, with a corresponding shrug of her
+shoulders; "I never know what Fenton will take it into his head to do."
+
+"That is a nice way to speak of your brother."
+
+Maggie considered that. "I can't find any nicer," she said at length.
+
+"Then I wouldn't speak at all."
+
+"Never mind," said Flora. "One's brothers are always a mixture of
+comfort and plague. And that is true of the best of them, Esther; you
+never know what they will take into their heads to do."
+
+"Oh, Flora!"----Maggie began, and stopped.
+
+"You think there is a difference between brothers and brothers," said
+Flora laughing. "Well, my experience is what I tell you."
+
+"Ditto," said Maggie suddenly, "are there any such stones as those queer
+stone-houses in this country?"
+
+"Not that ever I heard of, Maggie. But in the old world, as it is
+called, there are a great many, scattered over a great many countries.
+Not all just like the stone-houses. Some are just single stones set up
+on end. Some are two laid together, one resting on the other slantwise;
+the stone-houses in Lueneburg seem to have been made of nine stones, one
+lying on eight."
+
+"Did people offer human sacrifices on all of them?"
+
+"I fancy not. But I believe it is tolerably uncertain. Did you never see
+a picture of Stonehenge?"
+
+Maggie knew nothing about Stonehenge. Meredith went to the bookcases
+again and got another volume. This contained many illustrations of old
+stone monuments of various kinds, and he and Maggie were soon absorbed
+in studying them.
+
+"There!" cried Maggie, as he opened at one of the earliest
+illustrations, "there, Ditto! that is very like--_very_ like--what you
+read of the stone-houses. Isn't it?"
+
+"Fearfully like," said Meredith. "This is in Ireland. I dare say some of
+those old Druids sacrificed men on it."
+
+"How could they set it up so? Look, Ditto--the top stone rests just on
+one point at the lowest end. I should think it would topple down."
+
+"It has stood hundreds of years, Maggie, and will stand for all
+time--unless an earthquake shakes it down. This dolmen is made of four
+stones."
+
+"What is a dolmen?"
+
+"This is one. It says here in a note, that the name comes 'from the
+Celtic word _Daul_, a table, and _Chen_ or _Chaen_, a stone.' A stone
+table. And it says here that there are probably a hundred of such
+dolmens in Great Britain and Ireland. How ever did the builders get
+that enormous block poised on the tips of the other three?"
+
+Slowly and absorbedly the two went on exploring the pages of the book;
+stopping to read, stopping to talk and discuss the questions of tumuli
+and stone circles, dolmens and menhirs. The opinion of the author, that
+the great circles commemorated great battles, and were raised in honour
+of the dead buried within them, and that many dolmens had a sepulchral
+character, was somewhat confusing to the Druidical and tragical
+impressions left from the Saxon chronicle; which, however, at last got
+an undeniable support. In the stones of Stennis, over which Maggie and
+Meredith pondered with intense interest, one of the enormous up-standing
+masses has a hole through it. And this stone, there is no doubt, was
+dedicated to Woden. And so long had the superstition of Woden's worship
+clung to it, that until very lately an oath sworn by persons joining
+their hands through this hole, was reckoned especially sacred; even the
+courts of law so recognising it. After that, Woden seemed to Maggie to
+have strong claim to all the upright stones and altar-looking dolmens
+that are found where the worship of Woden has once prevailed. Leaving
+Stennis they went on to Runic crosses, German dolmens, and French
+dolmens, and on and on, from country to country. When at last they
+lifted up their heads and looked around them, they were alone. The girls
+had gone off to bed; the worsted work lay, left on the table; the fire
+was out; the minute-hand pointed to ten o'clock. Meredith and Maggie
+glanced at each other and smiled.
+
+"We have forgotten ourselves," said he.
+
+"You see, Ditto," said Maggie, "we've been travelling. Oh, I wish I
+could _see_ the Stones of Stennis, don't you? and the Stone of Woden?"
+
+"Well, now, you had better travel to bed, little one, and forget it all.
+Don't see it in your dreams."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+One expects steady weather in October; so it was really not
+extraordinary that the next morning should break fair and quiet, with a
+sunny haze lying over the river. Nevertheless, Maggie rejoiced.
+
+"What a pleasant day we had yesterday!" she exclaimed, as the party sat
+at breakfast.
+
+"Are not all your days pleasant?" said Meredith.
+
+"Yes, but yesterday was uncommon. O Ditto! we didn't look at the map
+last night!"
+
+"We were looking at stones."
+
+"Yes, but we must look at the map after breakfast. I want to find all
+those places."
+
+"Take time," said Meredith, "and eat your breakfast. Lueneburg heath will
+not run away."
+
+But, after breakfast, indeed, the great atlas was fetched out to the
+sunny terrace in front of the house and laid on a settee, and Maggie and
+Meredith sat down before the map of Germany with business faces.
+
+"Now, here is the Elbe," said Maggie, "it is big enough to be seen; here
+is the mouth of it, just in a corner under Denmark, where those ships
+went from."
+
+"What ships?"
+
+"Why, the ships in which the Saxons went over to England--the Saxons
+that conquered England, Meredith."
+
+"You do remember," said Meredith smiling. "It is worth while reading to
+you."
+
+"They sailed from the mouths of the Elbe and the Weser--and here is the
+Weser. The mouths are pretty near together. Now, between the Elbe and
+the Weser were--which Saxons, Ditto?"
+
+"Towards the Elbe and beyond it were the Eastphalians; those our story
+belongs to, among whom Landolf went."
+
+"Well, here is the Aller, Ditto! they lived _there_, you know; that is
+pretty far west. And here is Hermannsburg! Oh, I am glad we have found
+that. And here is Lueneburg--all over here, I suppose. I suppose we
+couldn't find the stone-houses, Ditto?"
+
+"I suppose not. But here is Verden on the Aller, Maggie, where
+Charlemagne had those 4500 Saxons hewed to pieces. And here are
+Osnabrueck and Detmold, where the Saxons beat him again, and took the
+4000 captives that they slew at the stone-houses."
+
+"Horrid Charlemagne!"
+
+"It was all horrid, what concerned the fighting. But here is Minden,
+Maggie, from which good Landolf set out in his little boat, and dropped
+down the Weser to go to the East Saxons."
+
+"And, then, when he got to the Aller he went up _that_; then he had to
+row hard, I guess."
+
+"I guess he did a good deal of hard rowing, first and last, Maggie."
+
+"Then to get to the stone-houses he went further up the Aller and turned
+into the Oerze. Here is the Oerze! Then the stone-houses must be
+somewhere hereabouts, Ditto; for they are not very far from
+Hermannsburg."
+
+"There is the little river Wieze, Maggie; and here, where it flows into
+the Oerze, was that oak wood, sacred to Thor, where the village of Mueden
+now is. And here is the village of Munster where Freija was honoured.
+All over the land, then, it was wild country, woods and morasses. And
+now--think what Germany is!"
+
+"What is it, Ditto?"
+
+"It is the land of Thought, and Art, and Learning, and Criticism."
+
+"Look here!" broke in a lively voice behind them. "Do you know the sun
+is getting up in the sky? and we have settled nothing. And here are two
+heads over a map!"
+
+"It would not hurt a third head," said Meredith. "And Maggie and I have
+settled a good deal, thank you."
+
+"But where are we going to-day?"
+
+"Yes," added Esther behind, "where are we going? I think it is time to
+be getting ready, because it takes us a good while."
+
+"Esther," said Maggie, "Fairbairn and the men are going over to the pine
+terrace to cut down some trees papa wants cut; let us go there and have
+a big bonfire, and then Ditto will have plenty of coals for his friar's
+omelet."
+
+"Betsey is making us a chicken pie."
+
+"Well, the omelet will do no harm besides."
+
+"No. It is a good way over to the pine terrace."
+
+"I don't care how far it is. So much the better. It is nice walking. Do
+you care, Flora?"
+
+"She don't care," said Meredith. "Come, let us load up. If we have a
+journey before us, best be about it."
+
+"And then, Esther," Maggie went on, "we can go to the Lookout rock to
+read."
+
+"It will be sunny there."
+
+"Well, it's all nice on the pine terrace, and we can find plenty of
+shade. Now, then, Ditto--if you'll bring up the waggon."
+
+The business of loading-up began. There were always some varieties every
+time. To-day a basket of sweet potatoes formed one item, going to be
+roasted in the great fire-heap which would be left from the bonfire. A
+great chicken pie, fresh and hot, was carefully wrapped up and put in.
+Meredith provided a hatchet to trim branches with. Worsted work and
+afghan, of course; but the only book was in Meredith's pocket. The cart
+was quite loaded when all was done; for you know, cups and saucers and
+plates weigh heavy, if you put enough of them together, and the chicken
+pie in the dish was a matter of a good many pounds, and potatoes are
+heavy, too. Somebody had to carry the bottle of cream, and Fairbairn
+went laden with a pail of water.
+
+The day was just another like the day before, but the direction of the
+walk was different. The party turned to the left instead of to the
+right, and leaving the flower-beds and shrubbery, entered a pretty
+winding road which curled about through a grove of red cedars. The air
+was spicy, dry and warm. A soft, rather thick, haze filled the air,
+turning the whole world into a sort of fairy land. The hills looked
+misty, the river still and dreamy; outlines were softened, colours were
+grown tender. The happy little party, it is true, gave not much heed to
+this bewitchment of nature, with the one exception of Meredith; Flora
+and Esther were in a contented state of practical well-being which had
+no sentiment in it; Maggie and her dog were a pair for jocund spirits
+and thoughtless delight-taking. They both went bounding about, very much
+taken up with each other; while Meredith pulled the cart steadily on and
+feasted mentally on every step of the way. The road brought them soon to
+the neighbourhood of the river again, and ran along a grassy bank which
+sloped gently down to the edge of the water. The green sward was dotted
+with columnar red cedars, growing to a height of thirty feet, with a
+diameter of two or two and a half all the way, straight as a pillar. On
+the other hand a low, rocky height grown with oaks and hemlocks overhung
+the valley, and the rocky ridge seemed to sweep round to the front of
+them in a wide amphitheatre, giving a sky-line of variegated colour,
+soft and glowing under the haze. Travelling on, they got next into a
+wood and lost the river. Here all was wild; the ground strewn with rock
+and encumbered with low growth of huckleberry bushes, brambles, and
+ferns. The road, however, was good; and Meredith drew the cart without
+any difficulty. After a time the ground began to rise, for, in fact,
+they were approaching the further end of the rocky ridge before
+mentioned, where it swept round to the river. Midway of the height the
+hill shelved into a wide plateau or terrace; at the back of it the
+sharp, rocky hillside, in front of it a green slope leading down to the
+river. The ground on the plateau was gravelly and poor; it gave foothold
+to little beside white and yellow pines, which in places stood thick, in
+other places parted and opened for spaces of mossy turf, where the too
+shallow soil would not nourish them. Here, there was a wild wilderness
+of natural beauty. Now and then a lovely low-growing white pine
+spreading abroad its bluish-green branches; in other parts scraggy,
+tall-shooting specimens of the yellow variety; at the hill-foot and on
+the rocky hillside golden hickories and brown oaks and flaunting maples.
+The turf was dry and warm, being in fact half moss; the openings and
+glades allured the party from one sweet resting spot into another.
+
+"We may as well stop here," said Flora at last. "We might go round and
+round all day, it is all so pretty. We must stop somewhere, if we are to
+have any reading."
+
+"Let us go over yonder to the edge of the bank," said Meredith, "where
+we can have a view of the river."
+
+At the edge of the bank the cedars began to occupy the ground, and
+indeed hindered the view, but a few strokes of Fairbairn's axe set that
+right, and the party sat down in the shade of some taller trees with a
+lookout over the pretty conical cedars (not columnar here) down to the
+water, and across to the green and gold promontory which on the other
+side of the river closed the view. The girls got out their work. Maggie
+sat down panting after a race with Rob Roy. Meredith lounged upon the
+mossy bank and looked lazy. Presently the strokes of a couple of axes
+began to break the silence. One, two; one, two; one, two----
+
+"It only wanted that!" he exclaimed.
+
+"What!" said Esther.
+
+"That chopping. That ring of the axes. It completes the charm. This is
+elysium!"
+
+"We have got to make our bonfire!" said Maggie starting.
+
+"Wait,--not yet; they have not cut down a single tree yet. Hark! there
+it goes, crashing down. They have got to trim it yet, Maggie, before
+there will be anything to burn."
+
+"And they must cut and trim a good many trees before there will be
+enough to begin," said Esther. "It is more fun to have plenty to pile on
+at once."
+
+"Then we shall wait a good while for our dinner," said Maggie.
+
+"Are you hungry? It is only half-past eleven."
+
+"No, I am not hungry yet, but a bonfire takes a good while, you know,
+and I want to get to the reading."
+
+"Come! we might read an hour," said Meredith rousing himself up.
+
+"No, Ditto, that would bring it to half-past twelve, and that would
+never do."
+
+"Well, then, I will go trim, and we'll have the bonfire going in a few
+minutes. Where will you have it?"
+
+Maggie sought out a good spot, while Meredith took his hatchet and went
+to work, clearing the lopped branches of their smaller leafy twigs which
+were for the fire, and cutting in two the branches which were not worth
+trimming. There was a nice piece of work then to drag them to the
+bonfire place, for it was needful to choose an open, free space for
+making the fire, where the flames would not mount or be blown into the
+tops of trees that were to be left standing, and so scorch and injure
+them. No such open space was at command in the close neighbourhood of
+the cutting, so the stuff for the fire had to be transported some
+distance. Maggie and Meredith worked away at it, and Maggie called
+Esther and Meredith summoned Flora to help; and soon they were all
+heartily engaged, and running to and fro with armfuls, or dragging
+behind them on the ground the heavy umbrageous branches they might not
+carry. Presently Meredith stopped and collected a little bunch of dry
+sticks and leaves which he heaped together, tucked paper under, and laid
+crisp hemlock and cedar cuttings on top. Then a match was kindled and
+fire applied. They all watched to see it, lighting, crackling,
+smoking,--then the slender upshoot of flame--and Meredith began to pile
+on pine branches thick and fast. At first rose a thick column of smoke,
+for the fuel was fat and resinous and the fire had not got under way.
+Redoubling, soft, black and brown reeking curls, through which the sun
+shot his beams here and there lighting them up to golden amber. "What
+tints and what forms!" Meredith exclaimed. And then another light and
+another colour began to come into the others; tiny up-darting shoots of
+fire, another illumination rivalling and contrasting with the sunlight
+which struck the column higher up. Meredith stood still to watch it,
+while even Flora and Esther were dragging more branches of yellow pine
+to the fire and throwing them on emulously, till the pile grew and grew,
+and Maggie was working her cheeks into a purple state with her
+exertions. Half-a-dozen thick pine branches flung on, and the fire would
+be stifled and the smoke rise thicker and blacker, with the sunlight
+always catching the upper curls; then crackling and snapping and
+breathing, the fire would get hold, get the better, mount through the
+thick, encumbering piney foliage, and dart its slender living spires up
+into the column of smoke again.
+
+"Do see how he stands!" cried Flora. "Ditto, why don't you work?"
+
+"I am looking."
+
+"Did you never see a bonfire before?"
+
+"Never such a beauty of a one."
+
+"Beauty!" said Flora, coming to his side to look--"where is the beauty?
+It is just a good fire. You are a ridiculous boy, Meredith. Go to work."
+
+"Oh, don't you think it is pretty?" cried Maggie, throwing down her last
+burden and panting. "I think it is _lovely_! And do you smell how sweet
+it is, Flora?"
+
+"She is a poor girl without nose or eyes," said Meredith. "Well, here
+goes!"
+
+Taking hold of the work again, his powerful arms flung the branches and
+tops of pine on the burning heap, while the girls ran for more. It took
+a strong arm now, for the fire was so large and so fierce that one could
+not come nigh it. Meredith kept the girls all at a distance and himself
+fed the flames, till all the present stock of fuel was laid on, and the
+wood-choppers went off to their dinner. There was no more to be done
+then but to watch the show, and as the fire began to lessen and die
+down, find a spot where the tea-kettle might be set, at the edge of the
+glowing heap. It was no use to begin to read, they all agreed, till
+they had their dinner. And soon the coffee could be made; and the four
+enjoyed their meal as only those can who have worked for it. They had
+their chicken pie and their roasted sweet potatoes, the omelet they for
+to-day dispensed with, being all tired. They took their dinner on the
+bank, there where they could look away down to the river and see the
+hilly shores beyond on the other side; and Meredith averred that sweet
+potatoes never were so sweet before.
+
+"Such air!" said he; "and such colouring!"
+
+"And it is just warm enough," added Maggie.
+
+"Well, I have got cooled off now," said Flora, "but I consider feeding
+bonfires to be hot work."
+
+Then, when dinner was over, and the things packed into the cart, they
+arranged themselves on the moss in a delicious feeling of resting and
+refreshed langour; the girls took out their fancy work, and Meredith
+opened his book. Maggie, who did not trouble herself about fancy work,
+crept close to his side and looked with fascinated eyes at the strange
+characters out of which he brought such delightful things to her ears.
+
+"'It was about the year 940, according to the chronicle, that a boy of
+thirteen or fourteen years old was herding his father's cattle on the
+waste land not far from Hermannsburg, when there came along a splendid
+train of armed cavaliers riding their horses proudly. The boy looks with
+delight on the shining helmets and coats of mail, the glittering spears
+and the stately horsemen, and the thought rises in his heart--"Now that
+looks something like!" All of a sudden the horsemen quit the road, which
+here wound about crookedly, and come riding across country, over the
+open land where he is keeping his cattle. That seems to him too bad, for
+the field is no highway, and the ground belongs to his father. He
+considers a moment, then goes forward to meet the riders, plants himself
+in their course, and calls out to them--"Turn back! the road is yours,
+the field is mine." There is a tall man riding at the head of the troop,
+on whose brow a grave majesty is enthroned, he looks wonderingly at the
+boy who has dared to put himself in his way. He checks his horse, taking
+a certain pleasure in the spirited little fellow, who returns his look
+so boldly and fearlessly and never budges from his place.
+
+"'"Who are you, boy?"
+
+"'"I am Hermann Billing's oldest son, and my name is Hermann too, and
+this field is my father's, and you must not ride over it."
+
+"'"But I will, boy," answered the rider with threatening sternness. "Get
+out of the way, or I throw you down"--and with that he lifts his spear.
+The boy, however, stands fearlessly still, looks up at the horseman with
+eyes of fire and says--
+
+"'"Right is right; and you have no business to ride over this field, you
+shall ride over me if you do."
+
+"'"What do you know about the right, boy?"
+
+"'"My father is the Billing, and I shall be Billing after him," answered
+the boy, "and nobody may do a wrong before a Billing."
+
+"'Then still more threateningly the rider called out--"Is _this_ right
+then, boy, to refuse obedience to your king? I am your king, Otto."
+
+"'"You Otto? our king? the shield of Germany and the flower of the
+Saxons, that my father tells us so much about? Otto the son of Heinrich
+the Saxon? No, that you are not. Otto the king guards the right, and you
+are doing the wrong. Otto don't do that, my father says."
+
+"'"Take me to your father, my good boy," answered the king, and an
+unwonted gentleness and kindliness beamed upon his stern face.
+
+"'"Yonder is my father's dwelling-house, you can see it," said Hermann,
+"but my father has trusted the cattle here to me and I cannot leave
+them, so I cannot bring you there. But if you are King Otto, turn off
+out of the field into the road, for the king guards the law."
+
+"'And King Otto the first, surnamed the Great, obeyed the boy's voice,
+for the boy was in the right, and rode back to the road. Presently
+Hermann was fetched from the field. The king had gone into his father's
+house and had said to him, "Billing, give me your oldest son and let him
+go with me, I will have him brought up at court, he is going to be a
+true man, and I have need of true men." And what true Saxon could refuse
+anything to a king like Otto?
+
+"'So the brave boy was to journey forward with his king, and when Otto
+asked him, "Hermann, will you go with me?" the boy answered gladly, "I
+will go with you; you are the king, for you protect the right."
+
+"'So King Otto took the boy along with him, that he might have him
+brought up to be a faithful and capable servant of the crown. Otto was
+allied in the bonds of warmest friendship with Adaldag, the archbishop
+of Bremen, a man who was distinguished for his learning, his piety, and
+a lively zeal for the spread of Christianity among the then heathen
+Danes and Norsemen. Otto could not confide the boy who had become so
+dear to him to a better teacher; and so he sent him to Adaldag at
+Bremen. Adaldag, too, recognised the great gifts which God had bestowed
+on the boy, and had him instructed under his own eye by the most able
+ecclesiastics; among whom a certain _Raginbrand_ is especially named,
+who later was appointed to be bishop and preacher to the heathen in
+Denmark, and laboured there with great faithfulness and a great
+blessing. In Bremen Hermann grew up to be a good young man, loving his
+Saviour from his heart; but also he was instructed in the use of arms
+and in the business of the state, for Adaldag was at that time one of
+King Otto's most confidential advisers. And now Otto took the young
+Hermann into his court; and soon could perceive that he had not deceived
+himself when his acuteness discerned the boy's lofty nature. Spirit,
+daring, and keen intelligence shot in fire from the young man's blue
+eyes; his uncommonly fine figure had been grandly developed by knightly
+exercises; and, with all that, he was so humble-hearted, and attached to
+his benefactor with such grateful, touching devotion, that Otto's eyes
+rested on him with pleasure, and he often called Hermann his truest
+friend, even called him "his son." But the loveliest thing in Hermann
+was, that he never forgot his origin: he showed the most charming
+kindness to those who were poor and mean; so that high and low at the
+king's court respected as much as they loved him. So he mounted from
+step to step, was dubbed a knight, attended the king on his journeys and
+campaigns, and the king even intrusted to him the education of his two
+sons Wilhelm and Ludolf. Still later he administered the most important
+offices of state to the satisfaction of the king; and often travelled
+through the country of the Saxons as _Graf_, _i.e._, a judge.
+
+"'That is: The judgment of criminal cases, or the tribunal of life and
+death, in the whole German fatherland was vested in the king alone.
+Therefore at certain times the royal judges made a progress through the
+entire German country. They were called _Grawen_, from the word _graw_
+or _grau_' (that means, 'grey,' Maggie,) 'because ordinarily old,
+experienced, eminent men were chosen for the office. These courts for
+cases of life and death were holden by the Grafs under the open sky, in
+public, and in full daylight, so that the judgment pronounced could be
+at once carried into execution. Our chronicle takes this occasion to
+relate a story about our Hermann Billing, which sets in a clear light
+the pure character of this admirable man. In his journeyings as Graf, he
+came also to his native place, to Harm's _ouden dorp_. It was then long
+after his father's death; and as head of the family he had distributed
+his seven manor-farms, as fiefs, partly to his brothers, partly to other
+near relations. The great honours to which Hermann had been elevated had
+become the ruin of these men; they behaved themselves proudly towards
+their neighbours, and even took unrighteous ways to enlarge their
+boundaries, secure in the belief that no one would dare to call them in
+question about it, whilst they had such a powerful brother and kinsman.
+Now, when Hermann, after the accustomed fashion, was holding the
+criminal court on the _Grawenberg_ (where now the _grauen_ farm lies,
+half an hour from Hermannsburg) there presented himself a certain
+Conrad, a freiling, that is, a free man, and accused the holders of
+Hermann's fiefs, that they had by violent and unjust means taken from
+him half his farm and joined it to their own estates.
+
+"'Hermann's face, at other times so gentle and kind, grew dark, and with
+deep sadness but with a lofty severity he ordered his brothers and
+kinsmen to be brought before him. Conrad's charge was proved to be true,
+for the Billings could not lie, even if they had done injustice. And
+what did Hermann? When the acts of violence that his brothers and
+relations had done were proved, great tears flowed down the cheeks of
+the tall strong man, and he cried out with a voice which his tears half
+choked, "Could you do that, and bear the name of Billing!" He said no
+more, but was seen to fold his hands and pray with the greatest
+earnestness. Then he spoke: "My brothers and kinsmen, make your peace
+now with God; we look upon each other for the last time. You are guilty
+of death; you must die; you have doubly deserved death, because you are
+of the race of Billing."
+
+"'The priests, who were always in attendance on the tribunal of life and
+death where Hermann was the judge, came forward; in the grounds of the
+court they received the criminals' confession, and upon their penitent
+acknowledgment of their sin, gave them assurance of forgiveness and then
+the bread that represents the Lord's body. So, reconciled with God, the
+seven men came back to the place of judgment; and after Hermann had
+again prayed with them and commended the penitents to the Lord, he had
+their heads struck off before his eyes.'"
+
+Meredith stopped perforce, for a storm of exclamations burst upon him.
+"Horrible!" "Frightful!" "I never heard of such an awful man!"
+
+"I think he was rather an awful man," said Meredith. "I have no doubt
+all ill-doers would have held him in a good deal of awe."
+
+"But his own brothers!" said Esther.
+
+"They were convicted criminals, all the same."
+
+"But don't you think a man ought to spare his own!"
+
+"A man--yes. A judge--no."
+
+"But a judge is a man."
+
+"I should think it was very disagreeable for a man to be a judge," said
+Meredith.
+
+"But why?" asked Flora. "I should think it was nice, just for that
+reason, that a man could spare people he wanted to spare."
+
+"Flora Franklin!" exclaimed her brother. "Is that your idea of a judge?"
+
+"It is my idea of a man."
+
+"But don't you know better? A judge has no business to spare anybody,
+except the innocent; his duty is to see justice done--he has nothing to
+do with mercy."
+
+"Nothing to do with mercy! O Meredith!"
+
+"Not as a judge. He is put in his place to see the laws executed."
+
+"Then you think that dreadful old heathen you are reading about did
+_right_ to have his friends' heads struck off?"
+
+"I think he did just his duty."
+
+"Oh, _do_ you, Ditto?" cried Maggie.
+
+"He did not make the law, Maggie; he had only to see it obeyed. The law
+was terribly severe; but I think the judge was very tender."
+
+"O Ditto!"
+
+"He was what you call a true man. He was no heathen, Flora. But nothing
+would make him budge from the right. I think he was magnificent. I
+wonder how many men could be found nowadays who would be faithful to
+duty at such a cost."
+
+"You have strange notions of duty!" said his sister.
+
+"I am afraid you have imperfect notions of faithfulness."
+
+"Well, go on. I have no opinion of religion that is not kind."
+
+"The religion that is from above 'is _first_ pure, then peaceable,'"
+said Meredith.
+
+"Go on," said Flora. "I suppose you would cut my head off, if you were
+judge, and I had done something you thought deserved it."
+
+"If the law said you deserved it. But I think I would give my head in
+that case for yours, Flora. It would be easier."
+
+"What good would that do?"
+
+"Keep the law unbroken and save you. Well, I will go on with my story--
+
+"'When the sitting of the court was ended he sent his retinue to find
+quarters in the other six of his manors, but he himself passed the night
+at the principal manor-house on the Oerze, which he had himself built,
+called the _Bondenhof_, that is, the "peasant's manor;" for in old Saxon
+_Bond_ meant a free peasant. But what a night that was! Sleep never came
+to his eyes; he passed that night and also the following day in praying
+and fasting. When at last, by the Word of God and the talk of a faithful
+priest he had got some comfort, at least a little, he vowed to the Lord
+that he would build a church on this manor, the "Bondenhof," which
+should be dedicated to the apostles Peter and Paul, like the first one
+built by his forefathers at the Deep Moor, which in the course of time
+had become far too small. And as with him to resolve and to do were
+always the same thing, he did not quit the manor till he had laid the
+foundation-stone of the new church and given order to have the building
+vigorously carried forward. That was in the year 958.
+
+"'By this deed of rigid, impartial justice, which nevertheless was found
+in beautiful harmony with a tender and good heart, the honour in which
+people held him was raised to such a point, that everywhere they carried
+him on their hands, and at his return to the royal court he was received
+with wondering admiration. The great Otto folded him in his arms and
+called him his most faithful knight, who served his God and his king
+with equal fidelity.
+
+"'Soon thereafter followed Hermann's greatest elevation. Otto had
+determined, you must know, in the year 960, to take a journey into
+Italy, in order to compose certain troubles which had arisen through
+the godless Pope John. But now his beloved Saxon country, out of which
+Otto himself drew his origin, lay just in the north of Germany; and was
+bordered on the north and north-east by the Danes and Sclaves, but
+recently conquered, who indeed were in part nominally Christian, but in
+part were still heathen, and the whole of them haters of Christianity.
+Who would take care of Christian Saxony in the king's absence, which it
+was possible might last for years? Then Otto's eye fell upon the
+faithful Hermann, and he had found his man. Hermann was appointed to the
+dukedom of Saxony, so that he might thus supply the king's place and
+govern in his stead. When this was made known to the good Archbishop
+Adaldag, who was to accompany the king in his journey to Rome, he
+rejoiced aloud, and said to the king, "Now we can travel in peace and
+have no care; for, O king, you can trust him with the land, and I can
+trust him with my church; Hermann with God's help will protect church
+and land both." And that is what the faithful man truly did. In the
+following year the king really set out on his journey to Rome, and
+Adaldag went with him. Otto set up a stern tribunal in Rome, deposed the
+godless Pope John, and made good Leo Pope. Five years Otto spent in
+Italy, and wherever he came he wrought righteousness and judgment,
+punished the wicked and relieved the innocent and oppressed; being such
+a prince as Germany has had few. In the year 962 Otto was solemnly
+crowned kaiser by Leo at Rome, and thus acknowledged as the earthly head
+of the whole Christian world. During all this time, the Saxons might
+count themselves happy that they had such a true and valiant duke in
+Hermann. The Sclaves ventured again to make a marauding incursion,
+probably to try whether in Otto's absence they could not accomplish
+something. One tribe of the great Sclavic race, namely, the Wends, dwelt
+not on the other side of Elbe only, but also on this side, as far as the
+neighbourhood of Melzen. These Wends, on the hither side of the Elbe,
+reinforced by a strong party of their brethren from beyond the river,
+undertook a campaign against Saxony; for they themselves were still
+heathen and therefore had a hatred against the Christians. This hatred
+was all the stronger because the Saxons under Otto had vanquished them.
+In this campaign, so far as they went, they burnt and laid waste
+everything, and in especial their aim was directed against the churches
+and chapels and Christian priests; the former were burned and levelled
+with the ground, the latter were put to death in tortures. So it befell
+with that first church which Landolf had built at the Deep Moor; it was
+burned down and entirely destroyed. Eight priests, who served this
+church and the chapels lying in the neighbourhood, were slain, part of
+them at once, part of them were dragged to the Wendish idol altar in
+Radegast, not far from the Elbe, and there slaughtered in honour of the
+heathen god; those chapels were likewise destroyed. Hermann was just
+come to Bremen when this news reached him. He rapidly gathered his
+warriors, came suddenly upon the robbing and plundering Wends at the
+so-called Huehnenburg, obliged them to flee with great loss, and pursued
+them without stay or respite into their own country; whereupon they sued
+for peace, and promised they would keep quiet and accept the Christian
+religion. He granted them peace, but went on to destroy their idol
+temple in Radegast, and then returned in triumph home. He next applied
+his whole energy to repair the destruction which had been wrought, to
+rebuild the churches and chapels, and establish priests in them. And the
+better to secure the land, and especially his own beloved inheritance,
+against the like predatory incursions, he built strong fortresses, as,
+for instance, the Hermannsburg' (_burg_ means a castle or fortress,
+Maggie), 'the Hermannsburg, around which now the people began to build
+again, who had fled away before the Wends; the Oerzenburg, the
+Wiezenburg, &c.'"
+
+"Then _that_ is how so many names have come to end with 'burg,'" said
+Esther.
+
+"Hermann did not build all the castles," said Meredith, "But yes--that
+is very much how it has come. In those old Middle Ages, when the right
+of the strongest was the only prevailing one, naturally there were a
+great many castles built. Indeed all the nobles lived in castles, and
+must. Just look at the pictures of the Rhine to see what the Middle Ages
+were; see how the people had to perch their fortresses up on almost
+inaccessible peaks of rock, where it must have been terribly
+inconvenient to live, one would think. I suppose people knew little of
+what we call _conveniences_ in these days."
+
+"Then round the principal fortresses, naturally, the villages grew up,"
+said Flora. "They would cluster round the castles for protection."
+
+"Well, I never thought before that one could see the Middle Ages through
+the stereoscope," said Maggie.
+
+"Pretty fair," said Meredith. "Well, let us go on with Hermann. 'Through
+his unintermitting activity all was soon in blooming condition again,
+and no enemy dared to show himself any more. Before his end in the year
+972, he had the joy of seeing the church, the foundation-stone of which
+he had laid at the Bondenhof, consecrated on Peter and Paul's day. That
+is this same church which is still standing in Hermannsburg, and in
+which we hold divine service.'"
+
+"O Ditto! is _that_ church standing yet that Hermann built?"
+
+"And the very foundation-stone that Hermann laid is there to this day.
+I'd like to see it! We have nothing old in this country. Imagine
+attending a church that has stood for nine hundred years! He endowed
+this church with a tenth, and gave almost the half of the fields and
+meadows of the above-named manor to the Hermannsburger pastor.
+
+"'Of his remaining great deeds our chronicle says little; which is
+natural, as it is and proposes to be only a Hermannsburg chronicle. In
+the year 973, the same year that his great friend and benefactor Otto
+died, died also Hermann Billing, the freeman's son who had come to be
+Duke of Saxony. About his end the chronicle relates only that he was
+sick but a few days; that he wished for and received the Holy Supper
+before his death; admonished his son Benno, or Bernhard, who was his
+heir: "My son, be true to your God and your kaiser, a protector to the
+Church, and a father to your vassals;" laid his hands upon his head and
+blessed him; and then extended his hand to all his weeping servants who
+were assembled, commended them to the grace of God; and at last
+prayed--"Into Thy hands I commend my spirit; Thou hast redeemed me, Lord
+God of hosts." Then he softly fell asleep, and the same wonderful
+sweetness which in life had given such a charm to his face, in death put
+a very glory around his brow.
+
+"'King Otto the second honoured the true man's memory by confirming his
+son Bernhard, or Benno, as Duke of Saxony.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+"Is that all?" said Maggie.
+
+"All in this place, about Hermann Billing."
+
+"I like him very much!" said Maggie drawing a deep sigh.
+
+"Notwithstanding he was such an incorruptible judge!"
+
+"Notwithstanding he was such a hard, cruel man, you should say," said
+Flora. "Ditto, you are ridiculous!"
+
+"It is a great mistake, you must remember, to judge a man of one time by
+the lights or laws of another."
+
+"There's a law of nature," said Flora, "in _some_ people, which makes
+them dislike to kill their relations."
+
+"There is a higher law than the law of nature. Nature did not prevent
+Abraham from making preparations to offer up Isaac. It did not hinder
+Moses"----
+
+"I do not know what unnatural thing Moses did," said Flora; "but I
+confess to you, I think Abraham acted much more like a heathen than like
+a Christian in that event of his life."
+
+"Which only shows, that if you had been in his place you would have
+failed to manifest Abraham's faith, and so would have entirely missed
+Abraham's blessing. 'Because thou hast done this thing, saith the Lord,
+and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son;' then the Lord went on to
+heap blessing upon him."
+
+"I don't see how Abraham could do it."
+
+"Because he trusted God. It is not _trust_, Flo, that will not go any
+further than it sees why."
+
+"Ditto, what are you going to read next?" said Maggie.
+
+"We'll see. Next thing, I think, will be the description Pastor Harms
+gives of that old church which Hermann Billing built; Hermann the duke,
+I mean. Don't you want to hear it?"
+
+"Oh, yes. The description of it as it is now?"
+
+"As it is now. But what a wonderful sort of a church is this we are in!"
+said Meredith looking up.
+
+"Here, this bank, do you mean?"
+
+"This bank; and these pillars of tree-stems; and these wonderful Gothic
+windows of tree-branches, through which the light comes broken by
+transom and mullion. And the incense which fills nature's cathedral. And
+the stillness. And the preaching."
+
+"Don't get highfaluten, Meredith," said his sister.
+
+"No; that would be a pity, here."
+
+"I never heard of silent preaching before."
+
+"The strongest of all."
+
+"Is it? Well, go on and read. My work gets on best then."
+
+"It is too lovely to do anything but look and breathe. The air is most
+delicious. And nature seems so wide and free. I have an odd feeling that
+I am floating with those clouds yonder, and flowing softly with the
+river, and hovering about generally, like those eagles. Do you see those
+eagles?"
+
+"Highfaluten again, Meredith," said his sister.
+
+"Well, one good poet has been highfaluten then before me. Don't you
+remember, Maggie, something your uncle was repeating one day? I have
+never forgotten it--
+
+    "'My soul into the boughs does glide.'
+
+"It is an odd feeling--but it makes me very rich for the present. This
+is the loveliest place! And now you shall have the Hermannsburg church.
+So Pastor Harms writes:
+
+"'It is a great thing indeed, and a beautiful thing, to know somewhat of
+the origin and of the history of the church in which one worships and
+serves God. When I step into our church, whether it be for holding
+divine service or that I may pray there alone, every time, I feel my
+whole inmost soul stirred. The very walk to the church through the
+churchyard is edifying to me. The church at the beginning was situated
+upon a little eminence, so that it was needful to mount several steps to
+get to the church doors. Now one must go _down_ several steps from the
+churchyard to reach the entrance of the church. How comes that! Since
+the year 972 the churchyard has been the place of burial. The dust of
+those laid within it has raised the ground-level, till now the church
+lies lower than the churchyard. A hill has grown out of the dust of the
+dead, and over this hill I go into the church. Does not this walk of
+itself preach in the most impressive way: "Put thine house in order, O
+man, for thou must die!" Then, when I step inside the church, what a new
+sermon I get! Since 972 years after Christ, therefore since 880 years
+ago, men have worshipped there the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost;
+have sung in his honour the church's songs of praise; have thither
+brought their children to be baptized; have heard the preaching of the
+Divine Word there, have eaten and drunk the emblems of the Body and
+Blood of the Lord there, have bowed their knees there, where now I bow
+mine! It always seems to me, then, as if the veil were parted which
+divides the church up yonder from the church down below. Where I am,
+here have those who are fallen asleep once been and worshipped; and
+where they are now, thither shall I go also. So in blessed faith I can
+cry out, "A holy Christian church!" Not a place in the world is so dear
+to me as the church, my beloved church. I have no paternal mansion; for
+I am the son of a pastor, and pastors leave no inheritance for their
+children; and yet I have a Father's house, the best there is in the
+world, my beloved church; truly that is God's house, and God is my
+Father, and so it is justly and truly my home.
+
+"'And how wonderfully God has guarded this house of His. What wars have
+raged since this house has been standing, and it has remained uninjured.
+Since the Thirty Years' War, Hermannsburg has been four times burned
+down; this house has remained standing. Twice lightning has struck the
+tower, and so shattered the foundations that only a little turret
+stands now upon the riven walls instead of the slender one hundred and
+eighty feet high spire which was there before; but the church remained
+untouched. The interior has been altered; the many-coloured paintings on
+the arched vault of the ceiling are gone; the many-coloured galleries
+have disappeared; in the body of the church itself gallery over gallery
+mounts up to the vaulted ceiling, to give accommodation for the hearers,
+but the church itself has remained unchanged. And when I think of the
+blessings that have gone forth from this house, what churches, chapels,
+and cloisters have sprung from here, in Bergen, in Wiezendorf, in
+Munster, in Mueden, and the chronicle mentions many more; yes, when I
+remember how from the castles founded by Hermann on the Oerze and Wieze,
+the castellans of Oerze and Wiezendorf marched out so early as with Duke
+Bernhard, to help bring the heathen people of Lauenburg and Mechlenburg
+to Christianity; must not then the zeal of my forefathers kindle my own
+zeal to bring the Lord's blessing, His Word and His sacraments, to the
+heathen, to the very ends of the earth? And now that seems no longer
+strange to me which seems strange to so many, that we from this place
+should have undertaken to send out a peasant mission. It has not been
+our own doing; it has come from our church and our history. Did the
+peasant's son Hermann become Duke of Saxony? Was the blessing of
+Christianity carried from here into all the region round about, even
+into the countries on the other side of the Elbe? Why should not
+Hermann's peasant church preach among the heathen the Saviour who has
+been their own so long? May such a primeval blessing only make us right
+thankful, right humble, right kind and loving, only zealous and fervent
+in spirit. We see well enough that the Lord can use little things;
+therefore let nobody despise us because we are small, and let us have
+the joy of serving the Lord with our insignificant gifts and strength,
+as well as we can. It is written in the Scriptures, "Destroy it not, for
+a blessing is in it!"'"
+
+Meredith ceased reading, and there was a silent pause of a few minutes.
+Crochet needles worked busily, Maggie sat pondering, Meredith lay back
+on his elbow on the moss and looked down at the river. Here and there
+the soft-pointed top of a young cedar rose up between, not hindering,
+only as it were embellishing the view. In the silence, when the strokes
+of the woodcutters halted, little sweet sounds broke in, every one of
+them coming like a caress or a murmur of rest; two crows slowly flying
+over and calling to each other, some crickets chirruping nearer by, a
+little gentle rustle and lapping of the water, then a bugle-call from
+the post opposite. Clouds hardly moved, winds were asleep, the air,
+fragrant with the breath of the evergreens, scarcely stirred,
+luxuriously warm and still. The colouring, too, in which all nature had
+dressed herself, gave another touch of delight through every object
+which the eye rested on.
+
+"What a sky!" said Meredith. "And what air! It's wonderful."
+
+"Ditto," began Maggie, "have they a _mission_ in Hermannsburg?"
+
+"Yes. They have a mission in Africa."
+
+"Why is it a 'peasant mission,' and what does that mean?"
+
+"Why, you see, Maggie, the whole people of Hermannsburg are just a
+parcel of peasants, part in the village, and part, I believe, farming it
+here and there on the Lueneburg heath. They are poor people; small
+farmers, and the like. They have not much money to give; but when Pastor
+Harms had been with them a while and proposed to them to set about
+mission work, a dozen men offered themselves to go. They were already so
+filled with his own spirit."
+
+"And did they go?"
+
+"They had to be put to school first. They were too ignorant to instruct
+the heathen or anybody. So they were set to study under Pastor Harms'
+brother for three years. While they were studying Pastor Harms undertook
+building a ship which should carry them to Africa. The ship and the men
+were ready together about the same time."
+
+"They could not have been a very poor people, I should think," said
+Flora.
+
+"They were, though; but you see, they began by giving themselves to the
+Lord; and when people do that, I guess they generally find that there is
+a good deal else to give. Oh, they were poor enough; but it would cost a
+great deal, you know, to pay their passage in a ship belonging to other
+people, and the freight on all the goods they must carry, for they were
+going out not merely to preach, but to establish a colony and live among
+the heathen. And then, whenever new recruits for the mission were sent
+out, the expense would have to be incurred over again, so they thought
+the cheapest way in the end would be to build their own ship."
+
+"And they did build it?" said Maggie.
+
+"Certainly. The good ship 'Candace.' And everybody helped in some way.
+The shoemakers made shoes, and the tailors made clothes, to go out with
+the mission; the women knitted and sewed. Do you want to hear what
+Pastor Harms says about it?"
+
+"Oh, yes, Ditto, please!"
+
+"Yes, read on--anything," said Flora.
+
+"Two men of the first twelve had died, and two others had proved false.
+Eight left, to whom another eight joined themselves, who would go out as
+colonists. Now I will read:--
+
+"'So by God's grace, everything was ready. And now one should have seen
+the busy industry, the lively expectation, the gleesome bustle, as the
+last hand, I may say, was put to everything. In the Mission-house, what
+learning and counselling and arranging; in the workshops belonging to
+it, what smithwork and cabinetwork and tailoring; how our women and
+girls sewed! Our village shoemaker worked with his might at the
+foot-gear to be taken along; our village cooper did the same at the
+great water casks for the ship; my brother went out with the Mission
+pupils in leisure hours and picked berries which were to be taken along.
+Here people brought dried apples, pears and plums; there buckwheat and
+buckwheat groats; here rye, flour, peas, wheat; there sides of bacon,
+hams, and sausages. Then again house-furnishing articles, tools, heather
+brooms, trumpets and horns, even live hogs and poultry, and even
+potatoes were hauled along--and all was to go. Even a fir-tree with its
+roots was planted in a large pot filled with earth, in order that on the
+ocean the travellers might light up a Christmas-tree. Then again came
+packages of linen made up, and of stuff. And there was a great deal that
+never came to Hermannsburg. Whatever was prepared on the other side of
+the Elbe, in Hamburg, Luebeck, Haide, &c., was kept in Hamburg, and we
+never saw it at all. In Hamburg alone there were handed over from female
+friends of the Mission, one hundred and twenty-eight cotton shirts, all
+finished and ready; from Haide forty striped shirts for the natives;
+from Luebeck and Mechlenburg, besides beautiful under-linen, all sorts of
+pictures and little things for the heathen; from some children here came
+writing boxes, pens, and writing books for the heathen children. Also
+from here, from Osnabrueck, Schaumburg, Lueneburg, Bremen, and
+neighbourhood, whole rolls of linen cloth. There was a stir and spring
+of love that moved people's hearts. Every one of the emigrants was to
+take a gun with him, for in East Africa there are a great many wild
+beasts, lions, elephants, serpents, &c. Scarcely had this become known,
+when guns, rifles, double-barrelled rifles, pistols, and daggers came
+in, till we had enough to leave some for a future party that might be
+sent out. Then would come our harbourmaster, or our captain, from
+Harburg, to arrange this or that; then our pupils journeyed to Harburg
+to bring money for the ship. One hardly knew where his head was.'"
+
+"Well, did they go to Africa, Ditto?"
+
+"The colonists and missionaries; yes, sixteen of them."
+
+"Whereabouts in Africa?"
+
+"The east coast, about Natal."
+
+"I haven't the least idea where Natal is."
+
+"You would do well to look it out on the map."
+
+"And are they there yet, Ditto?"
+
+"They went in the year 1853. It is not likely they are all there now.
+But others followed them, Maggie, year after year, till now there are, I
+believe, between twenty and thirty stations where they are settled."
+
+"All from Hermannsburg! Ditto, it is very curious! So many years ago,
+Hermann's castles sent out soldiers to bring heathen Mechlenburg to the
+Christian religion; and now Mechlenburg gives shirts and pictures for
+Hermannsburg to send to other heathen in Africa."
+
+"What sort of heathen people are those they went to?" Esther asked.
+
+"Quite a good sort. Here is a description of them, written by one of the
+brethren who sailed in that first trip of the 'Candace':--
+
+"'I cannot make it out how the heathen can be as they are, although they
+are day and night before my eyes. They are powerful, muscular men, with
+open faces and sparkling eyes; they all go either quite naked or with a
+very slight covering. A late law obliges them, however, to put a shirt
+on when they are going into a city. They live in houses which resemble
+beehives, into which you must creep. The whole stock of valuables which
+you find in these huts is an assaghai (javelin), a club, a mat, a bit of
+wood for a pillow, and a great horn for smoking. I have seen nothing
+else in them. The people have almost no wants. So many wives as a man
+has, so many huts has he also, one for each wife, and then one besides
+for himself. The women are bought; paid for with cows and oxen; ten and
+twenty oxen for a wife. These become then the man's slaves, and the man,
+when he has got a good many wives, hardly does any more work himself.
+The women must cultivate the maize and sweet potatoes, which is almost
+all the people live upon. Once in a while they kill an ox; and then so
+many come together to eat it that it is all disposed of at one meal. Our
+German brethren aver that ten Caffres in twenty-four hours will eat up a
+whole ox, skin and entrails and all, which they roast at the fire; that
+afterwards, however, they can go fasting four days at hard labour. They
+are fond of adorning themselves with coral and rings, and snuff-boxes
+are to be seen in the hands of both men and women. They cork up the
+snuff in their nostrils with a hollowed-out bit of wood, till the tears
+run down their cheeks. The women are so hardly used that a mother with a
+little five-days-old baby must go out to work in the hot sun with the
+baby on her back, and the father does not concern himself at all about
+the child. Of twins, one is almost always killed at once. In short, they
+are not much above the beasts in their way of life; and the worst of all
+is, they are almost inaccessible to the truth, and laugh at everything
+sacred.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+"Well," said Maggie, as Meredith paused, "I should think somebody ought
+to go to those people!"
+
+"Hopeless work," said Flora, stitching away at her worsted.
+
+"No, it is not hopeless work," answered her brother. "As you would soon
+see, if all the Churches had the matter at heart like Pastor Harms and
+his Hermannsburg."
+
+"Everybody cannot give himself up to such business," said Flora glancing
+at him.
+
+"Everybody ought."
+
+"O Ditto!" cried Maggie, "do you think _everybody_ ought to go to
+Africa?"
+
+"Yes," said Flora; "that is just about what he thinks."
+
+"No, Maggie," said Meredith, "neither to Africa nor to other heathen
+parts; not everybody. But everybody can give himself up to the work of
+the kingdom, even if he stays at home. Most people must stay at home."
+
+"I don't understand," said Maggie with a shrug of her shoulders.
+
+"Don't you remember--'Seek ye _first_ the kingdom of God;'--that's all I
+mean."
+
+"'First!'" Flora echoed.
+
+"_How_ 'first,' Ditto?"
+
+"Before everything else. The words mean that, if they mean anything."
+
+"How before everything else?"
+
+"See, Maggie. Suppose you and I have"----
+
+"Now, Ditto, stop!" said his sister. "I do not want to hear any of that
+stuff. What is it to Maggie? And Essie and I do not care about it."
+
+"And there comes Fenton," added Esther, springing up to go and meet him.
+For Fenton it was, bounding up the bank at their left.
+
+Fenton was grown a good deal since our last sight of him; otherwise not
+much changed. A handsome boy, with a good figure and a bright eye, and
+also the old, somewhat supercilious upper lip. But he was glad to get
+home, and greeted the party cordially enough; then, however, began to
+criticise.
+
+"What are you all doing loafing here?" He had sat down on the bank with
+the rest, and looked from one to another.
+
+"We do not use your elegant expression," said Flora; "partly perhaps
+because we are not wont to indulge ourselves in that particular
+amusement."
+
+"What _are_ you doing?"
+
+"You do not see anything to engage our attention in what at present
+offers itself to yours," Meredith remarked.
+
+"Nothing offers itself to my attention," replied Fenton. "I don't see
+anything except our old cart. Anything to eat in it?"
+
+"There is no pie left," said Esther, "for I gave the last of it to
+Fairbairn; and Flora drank up all the cream. There's some sugar in the
+sugar-bowl."
+
+Fenton went to get some lumps of sugar, and then stood looking down at
+the party.
+
+"Aren't you going home to dinner?" said he. "I tell you, I'm raging."
+
+"Four o'clock," said Meredith, looking at his watch. "Just the pretty
+time of day coming now."
+
+"It'll be dinner-time by the time you get the cart home and the girls
+get dressed. What did you come out here so far for? I haven't had a
+respectable dinner for six months. I am going to have some wine to-day,
+if the governor _is_ away."
+
+"Governor!" cried Esther. "What a vulgar expression for Fenton Candlish
+to use!"
+
+"Wine!" exclaimed Maggie. "You can't have any wine, Fenton; we don't
+drink wine any more in _this_ house."
+
+"What's the matter!"
+
+"The matter is, papa has emptied his wine-cellar," said Esther in a
+rather aggrieved tone.
+
+"Drunk it all up?"
+
+"No, no; sent it off and sold it."
+
+"What was the matter with it!"
+
+"Why, I tell you," said Esther, "it is thought improper for good people
+to drink wine."
+
+Fenton's face was rather funny to see, there was such a blank dismay in
+it.
+
+"And did mamma give in to that?"
+
+"I don't know what mamma thought," said Esther; "but papa sold the wine;
+and our dinner-table does not have its pretty coloured glasses any
+more."
+
+Fenton uttered a smothered exclamation which I am afraid would have
+shocked his sisters.
+
+"I don't see what _you_ want with wine, Fenton," said Maggie; "papa
+never let you have it."
+
+"Mamma did though," said Fenton. "That's the good of having two parents.
+If one is crochety perhaps the other will be straight. Well, _I'm_ not
+going to live if I can't live like a gentleman. I shall send to Forbes
+to send me some wine."
+
+His sisters burst out into horrified exclamations and expostulations.
+
+"Papa'll see it in the bill," said Esther, "and he'll be very angry."
+
+"Uncle Eden is coming," said Maggie, "and it will be no use. He'd throw
+it into the river."
+
+"Uncle Eden coming?"
+
+The girls nodded.
+
+"If I had known that _I_ wouldn't have come!" said Fenton looking very
+dark.
+
+"I'd think better of it if I were you," remarked Meredith quietly.
+"There goes more to the making of a gentleman than the drinking of
+wine."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Just that. As for instance--self-control, noble thoughts, care for
+others above himself, indifference to low pleasures."
+
+"Low pleasures!" repeated Fenton. "Do you call wine a low pleasure?"
+
+"Well, it brings people into the gutter."
+
+"Pshaw! not gentlemen."
+
+"I grant you they are not gentlemen after they get there."
+
+"What do you know about it?" said the boy not very politely. "Did you
+ever drink it yourself?"
+
+"I never will again. A gentleman should be a free man; and wine makes
+men slaves. I don't choose to be in bondage. And if it would not enslave
+me, it does other people; and I would not give it the help of my
+example."
+
+Fenton dropped the subject, but renewed his proposal that they should
+return home. So shawls and worsted work were stored in the cart, and the
+little book in Meredith's pocket; and the line of march was taken up. It
+was indeed coming now to the lovely time of the day. Shadows long,
+lights glowing in warm level reflections, all objects getting a sunny
+side and a shady side, and standing forth in new beauty in consequence;
+the day gathering in its train, as it were, to prepare for a stately
+leave-taking by and by. Meredith and Maggie, loath to go, lingered the
+last of the party; indeed he had the cart to draw, which was heavy, and
+needed careful guiding in places over and between the rocks; and he
+could not run on with the heads of the party. And Maggie walked beside
+him, and put her little hand upon the handle of the cart which she could
+not help to draw. How sweet it was! The light every moment growing
+softer, not cooler; the colours more contrasted, as the shadows
+lengthened; the bugle notes coming over the water now and then. Meredith
+looked, and drew deep breaths of the delicious air; but Maggie walked
+along pondering.
+
+"Ditto," she began, "do you think _everybody_ ought to do mission work?"
+
+"The dear Lord did not give the charge to _some_ of His people, did He?"
+
+"But how can they do it? Everybody cannot go to the heathen?"
+
+"He said, 'in all the world'--so that means at home as well as abroad,
+doesn't it?"
+
+"Preach the gospel in all the world?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"How can _I_, Ditto?"
+
+"You and I, let us say. Well, Maggie, suppose we ask Mr. Murray? But one
+thing is certain; those who stay at home must furnish the money for
+those that go."
+
+"Does it take a great deal?"
+
+"Not to send a few. But how long would a _few_ people be about telling
+the gospel to all the world? Suppose one man had as much as the whole
+State of New York for his parish?"
+
+"He'd never get through."
+
+"Exactly. And so it is nearly nineteen hundred years since the Lord gave
+the command; and the heathen world is the heathen world still--pretty
+much."
+
+"But, then, Ditto--to send a great many people, it would want a great
+deal of money."
+
+"It does. What then?"
+
+"Maybe people cannot afford it."
+
+"Let us ask Mr. Murray about that."
+
+"But, Ditto, what do _you_ think? I know you think something."
+
+"Maggie, I think we should seek _first_ the kingdom."
+
+They were turning into the shrubbery grounds near the house, and Maggie
+left the discussion. They were all ready for dinner, as far as appetite
+went, and in a little while the five young people sat down at the board.
+
+"This is jolly," said Fenton, who took the head of the table.
+
+"Roast-beef, to wit?" said Meredith.
+
+"Roast-beef is a good thing if you are hungry, as I am; but I did not
+mean that. It is uncommonly jolly to be out of the way of the
+governors."
+
+Maggie looked up astonished.
+
+"'Rulers are not a terror to good works,'" said Meredith.
+
+"They're a nuisance, though."
+
+"Only to one portion of society. I hope you do not class yourself with
+them."
+
+"Do you mean," said Maggie, making big eyes, "do you mean, Fenton, that
+you are glad papa and mamma are in California?"
+
+"No. Only one of 'em. Mamma never interferes with me."
+
+"She leaves it to papa to do," said Maggie, with dignity and sageness.
+
+"I am glad she does. Shows her wisdom. I can tell what is good for me as
+well as anybody else."
+
+"Always do it, I suppose?"
+
+"That's just my affair," said Fenton. "There is no use in putting chains
+round a fellow--all the good of it is, he must just break the chains."
+
+"Do you call papa's commands, _chains_?" said Maggie.
+
+"Don't stare, Maggie; nothing is so vulgar."
+
+"I am glad Uncle Eden is coming, to make you behave yourself."
+
+"If he tries it on, I shall bolt," said Fenton. "I am out for some fun;
+and if I can't get it at home I'll get it somewhere else."
+
+Meredith succeeded in turning the conversation to a pleasanter subject;
+nevertheless Fenton's deliverances shocked his little sister several
+times in the course of the dinner. Among other things, Fenton would go
+down to the wine-cellar, to see if a bottle or two might not by chance
+have been left; and though the key was not to be had and he came back
+discomfited, Maggie could not get over the audacity of his proposition.
+She was further and exceedingly shocked after dinner when Fenton
+proposed to Meredith to have a cigar. Meredith declining, Fenton went
+out to enjoy his cigar alone.
+
+"Fenton is grown very wild," said Maggie.
+
+"Boys can't be like girls," said Esther.
+
+"I don't see why they can't be as respectable as girls," said Maggie.
+
+"They never are, my dear," said Flora. "Comfort yourself. They will run
+into what they don't like just to have their own way; because what they
+do like is ordered or advised by some kind friend."
+
+"Not true without exception, Maggie," said Meredith; "but there is some
+truth in it. Don't worry about Fenton. I don't believe he means quite as
+bad as he says."
+
+"But smoking is so disgraceful--in a boy," said Maggie.
+
+"It is not disgraceful in a man," said Esther.
+
+"Well, it isn't nice," returned Maggie. "I always hate to come near that
+Professor Wilkins, who always talks to me when he is here. He is kind,
+but his breath is dreadful."
+
+Fenton was not so fond of the company of his cigar but that he soon
+forsook it. And then his company indoors was hardly an acquisition. He
+talked big of doings at the school where he was now placed, horrified
+Maggie by showing that he was quite as lawless as in old times, and put
+an effectual bar to any reading, or talk either, except of the sort that
+suited himself.
+
+"What's up?" he asked at last. "What shall we do to make the time go?"
+
+"Time does not need any whip with us," said Meredith. "He goes fast
+enough."
+
+"Oh, we are going out in the woods to dinner," said Maggie.
+
+"You were there to-day."
+
+"Well, we are going to-morrow--and every day. We have a bonfire, and a
+nice lunch, and the girls work, and Ditto reads to us."
+
+"Jolly slow!" said Fenton. "I can't stand much of that. I shall go
+a-fishing."
+
+"Very well," said Esther. "And come to us for lunch?"
+
+"Same place? It's too far off."
+
+"Then we'll go into the pine wood," said Maggie. "The pine wood is
+nice--and the pine needles make a beautiful carpet--and we want to go to
+a different place every day."
+
+So it was arranged.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+The same sweet weather continued again the next day; the air was even
+warmer still, the leaves of oaks and maples, turning more and more, were
+growing browner and ruddier, and the glow on the hills more deep. The
+pine wood, however, which lay behind, that is, north of the house, at no
+great distance, was uninvaded by this autumn glow. The soft, blue gleam
+of the pines alone stood against the heaven's mild blue overhead, and
+pine needles, brown and thick, carpeted the ground everywhere between
+the rocks. For rocks were almost everywhere at Mosswood. Only on the
+skirts of the wood one might see a flaming maple branch, or a golden
+cloud of hickory here and there, and here and there a cat-briar vine
+taking a tawny hue, or some low-growing cornus putting on lovely tints
+of madder at the edges of its leaves. Through the wood the little party
+wandered, not knowing where to choose to stop, and Meredith patiently
+drew the cart along waiting for orders. At last, on a little rising
+ground they found an open space, yet shadowed enough, from which there
+was a lookout to the house in the valley; truly no more than the
+chimneys could be seen; and a wider space of blue sky, and the hills
+towards the south. This would do. Here were pine needles enough for a
+carpet, and a felled pine log gave a convenient seat to those who liked
+it. For Meredith and Maggie preferred the ground and the pine needles.
+The cart was drawn up under the shade of a tree; afghan and worsted
+embroidery were taken out; shawls were spread; and the party settled
+themselves for a morning of comfort.
+
+"This _is_ good!" said Meredith delaying to open his book.
+
+"How perfectly delicious this warm smell of the pines is!" said Flora.
+
+"You use strong language, Flo, but for once not exaggerated. We have not
+got the sound of the wood-chopper's axe to-day."
+
+"I'll tell you what you may hear, though, if you listen," said
+Esther,--"the woodpecker--
+
+    'The woodpecker tapping the hollow beech-tree;'
+
+only there are no beech-trees on the place. You may hear him on an oak,
+though."
+
+"This hazy light under the pines--through the pines--is bewitching. O
+October! O Mosswood!" Meredith exclaimed. "What is so pretty as these
+autumn woods?"
+
+"What are you going to read us to-day?" said his sister. "Don't get
+poetical."
+
+"I will read you one or two little bits first, which touch something
+Maggie and I were talking of yesterday. We do not want a bonfire to-day;
+it's too warm."
+
+"No; we will make just a tiny little blaze by and by, to boil our
+kettle. It would be too warm for a bonfire; and there are no trees here
+to be cut."
+
+"I should think not!" said Meredith looking up at the blue-green pine
+needles over his head. "Well, here's a story for you."
+
+"Heathen?" asked Flora.
+
+"No, Christian. 'There was a man, once upon a time, whom God had richly
+blessed. He had received a year's income of seven hundred thalers. Four
+hundred of them he needed and used for his house and family wants, and
+three hundred were left over. So he thought at first he would put the
+money out at interest, and enjoy the comfort of receiving rents which
+were growing while he was sleeping. As he was just setting about this,
+he read in a mission paper about the wants of the heathen; and the
+Sunday next following he heard a preaching about how the dear Lord is
+the safest of all to trust money to, and gives the best interest. So he
+made a short piece of work of it, and sent his three hundred thalers to
+the dear Lord for the conversion of the heathen, and said, "Lord, take
+Thou them; I got them from Thee, and there is all this left." "Wife,"
+said he, when he came home at evening, "I have done a good bit of
+business to-day; I have got rid of my three hundred thalers, and am quit
+of any care of the money, over and above." "Then you may thank the dear
+Lord for that," said his wife. "And so I do," he answered.
+
+"'Do I not hear at this point, not merely many a child of the world, but
+also many a believer, secretly half saying, "No, but what is out of
+reason is out of reason!"--and so do I see a certain compassionate smile
+playing about mouth-corners. But wait a bit; there is something coming
+that is more crazy yet. The next year the man was overloaded with such a
+blessing, that instead of seven hundred thalers, he made fourteen
+hundred thalers, and he did not know where it all came from. Then what
+does he do but take the surplus, one thousand thalers, and send it to
+the mission. Is the story true? do you say. You can ask the Lord "in
+that day;" he knows the story.'"
+
+"I like that," said Maggie.
+
+"Why?" Flora asked.
+
+"I think it is nice," said Maggie with a shrug of her shoulders.
+
+"I don't see it. What good to the man to have twice as much as he had
+before, if he must give it all right away again?"
+
+"Why, he has the pleasure of giving it!" cried Maggie.
+
+"And it shows, at any rate, that he did not get poor by his first
+venture," said Meredith. "And the Lord will reckon it 'at that day' as
+all done for Him."
+
+"I don't think people are obliged to give away all they have got," said
+Flora.
+
+"Suppose they do not reckon anything they have their own? The Christians
+in the early times did not, if the Lord's work or the needs of others
+wanted it more."
+
+"Extravagance!" said Flora. "Just enthusiasm."
+
+"Come, I will read you another story. But the poor woman who gave all
+she had into the Lord's treasury was not rated as a fool by _Him_. I
+will read you now--
+
+
+"'A PROBLEM ABOUT STUTEN MONEY.
+
+"'Most of you know, it is true, right well what _stuten_ money is, but
+certainly all do not. Among us, when people go to church on Sunday, the
+children and younger serving people of the peasants get a groschen to
+take along, with which they can buy a stuten, that is, a white roll, at
+noon when they come out of church; by the help of which they can stay in
+the village and so go to church again in the afternoon. Now there are a
+boy, a girl, and an old woman known to me, who have no other money but
+the stuten money they get on Sundays. So each one of them falls to
+considering how he or she can do something for the heathen. And they
+arrange it on this wise. One of them every other Sunday eats no roll,
+and thinks within herself, "I ate as much as I wanted this morning at
+home, and I can do the same again this evening." The two others buy each
+a small roll for half a groschen, and lay up the other half-groschen
+every Sunday; and when the year comes round, they have all three of
+them, counting the festivals, thirty groschen saved up, and bring them
+with glad, smiling faces to go for the conversion of the heathen. And
+upon being afterwards asked whether hunger did not often trouble them on
+Sunday? they say, they have always felt as if they had had enough; and,
+with God's help, they will do the same way next year.'"
+
+"What sort of a story do you call that?" asked Flora when her brother
+paused.
+
+"I call it a story of what can be done."
+
+"And _I_ call it a story of what ought not to be done. Both the children
+and the old woman needed their bread for themselves; it was not good for
+them to go without it. And what is a groschen? or thirty groschen?"
+
+"What are 'two mites, which make a farthing?'"
+
+"Oh, that is in the Bible."
+
+"But it was in a poor woman's heart first, or we should never have had
+it in the Bible."
+
+"Well, look at our luncheon," said Flora.
+
+"I will look at it when I see it. What then?"
+
+"Do you mean that we shall do wrong to eat it?"
+
+"Not at all."
+
+"How can those people be right and we not wrong?"
+
+"Yes, Ditto," said Maggie. "I do not understand."
+
+"Those people must give their groschen or give nothing. It was all they
+could give."
+
+"But we might give more than we do, if we would live on bread and
+water," said Flora. "If we are to give all we _could_ give, our luncheon
+would come to a good many groschen, I can tell you."
+
+"We must ask Mr. Murray. I am not wise enough to talk to you," said
+Meredith. "I hope he will come; we are getting work ready for him.
+Meantime I will read you another little story. Maybe we shall find some
+light.
+
+
+"'AS POOR, YET MAKING MANY RICH.
+
+"'There was a poor day-labourer who lived by his work from hand to
+mouth. He heard it read out of the Old Testament, that under the old
+covenant every Israelite was bound to give to God the tenth of all his
+incomings. That went through and through the man's head, and he thought:
+Could the Israelites do that by the law, and should not we Christians be
+able to do it by the love of Christ? So, honestly and faithfully, he
+lays by the tenth of his daily wages; the Lord blesses him, so that many
+a time he earns sixteen groschen a day; and at the end of the year he
+comes with his hands full, bringing sixteen thaler twenty groschen for
+the conversion of the heathen, and with hearty pleasure; and he says,
+"The love of Christ constraineth me so, I have wanted for nothing."'"
+
+"Not much of a story," said Meredith, in concluding, "but a good deal of
+a suggestion."
+
+"Suggestion of what?" asked his sister.
+
+"Duty. Certainly a Christian ought to be able to do more for love than
+an old Hebrew did for law; and from this time I will imitate that old
+German fellow."
+
+"But, Ditto," exclaimed his sister, "a tenth of _your_ income, you must
+remember, is a great deal."
+
+"Not in proportion," said Meredith. "He would want every one of his
+remaining groschen for his necessities; I should not. It seems to me,
+the richer one is, the larger the proportion should be that should go to
+the Lord's uses."
+
+"I shall ask Mr. Murray to make you reasonable!" Flora exclaimed. "Stop
+talking, and go on with your reading."
+
+"The next story is about 'One Groschen and Two Pennies.'"
+
+"'It is true what the Bible says--"The Lord maketh sore, and bindeth up;
+He woundeth, and His hands make whole." My heart learnt the meaning of
+this word when a short time ago I had to expel two pupils from the
+Mission-house, who had been led astray by Satan. This gave me great
+pain, but it had to be done, for their sakes and for the sake of the
+house; and it was somewhat alleviated in that they came back sorry and
+penitent and were taken in again.
+
+"'To the honour of the Lord I will here speak good of the balm which
+shortly after my great hurt He laid upon the wounds. May it have
+somewhat of the sweetness of that ointment which filled the whole house.
+
+"'Soon after the departure of the pupils was made known, I had a visit
+from an eight-year-old boy. He had a groschen in his hand and a
+reading-book under his arm. He told me that he had found this groschen
+fourteen days before on the way to church; that he had asked his father
+to publish the discovery, and he himself had announced it in school. But
+nobody had been found to own the groschen. I said to him: "Well, what do
+you think, my child? does the groschen belong to you? will you buy
+something with it?" The boy answered, "No, the groschen is not mine, so
+I am not going to keep it. I will give it to the dear Saviour for the
+poor heathen children, to get a spelling-book for them." When I
+questioned him further, he said that once in the church, where his
+father takes him every Sunday, I had said "whoever keeps what does not
+belong to him is a thief; and"--he added with great seriousness, "you
+said, a Christian child must not be a thief!" I received the groschen
+now and thanked him. But the boy had not done yet. He asked me if it
+were true that two of the pupils had been expelled from the
+Mission-house. When with a sorrowful face I assented, he answered, "You
+need not be so troubled about it. You can send me instead. I can spell
+already, and I will soon learn to read." When the little fellow with
+great earnestness had said that, I could not help folding him to my
+breast in heartfelt gladness. Then I knelt down, and together with him
+prayed that the Lord would some time make a true missionary of him. He
+went away at last, but could not at first rightly understand how it was
+that I had as yet no use for him.
+
+"'Soon after this, I receive a letter from a dear friend who had been
+making a lively stir in the matter of the Mission among his school and
+the parish to which his school belonged. The Lord had granted him access
+to the hearts of great and small, and with cordial pleasure he had been
+collecting till he should have a full thaler made up, which then should
+be sent me. Now he wrote the thaler was made up, and he sent it, and
+this was how it had come about. In a hospital, where he is accustomed to
+hold devotional service for an hour, he had mentioned the conversion of
+the heathen. The next day came a widow, shoved four groschen under one
+of the books which lay on the table, and then, with a greeting from her
+children, laid two groschen on the table, saying, "Now the thaler will
+be made up!" To this Mission thaler, which indeed was made up now, a
+little girl of nine years old had every Sunday contributed two pennies,
+which she received from her mother to buy rolls with. Some time after,
+the mother brought the child's two pennies again, silently; but it
+struck our friend that she had great tears in her eyes. The thing was
+soon explained. The child had fallen ill. Sunday her mother said to her,
+"To-day you shall keep your roll for yourself." "No," the child
+answered, "I could not be easy if I did. I promised my dear Saviour
+once, that as long as you gave me two pennies to buy rolls with, I would
+give the money on Sunday for the heathen." How glad that true mother's
+heart must have been! She had reason to say, "But what a value these two
+pennies had for me! I could not let them out of my hands at first, for
+joy." God bless mother, child, and teacher! The Mission must indeed
+thrive when such gifts are offered. From another dear friend of
+missions, personally unknown to me, moreover, I received a contribution
+for the Mission, in the making up of which both men and beasts had given
+their help. The contributors were specially mentioned, the men at their
+head; then at the conclusion followed, "A hen, so much and so much."'"
+
+"Well, Ditto," said Flora, "I will say, you do read the most
+extraordinary stories."
+
+"Like them?"
+
+"No, I don't think I do much. Do you bring them forward as our examples,
+hen and all?"
+
+"You might do worse."
+
+"But, Ditto," Maggie said anxiously, "you do not think we ought to go
+without what we _want_, do you, for the sake of the heathen?"
+
+"Ask Mr. Murray that question, Maggie. Whose hat is that I see over the
+wall, coming up to the gate?"
+
+Maggie jumped up to look, and then, with a scream of "Uncle Eden! Uncle
+Eden!" sprang away down the path to meet him. The others dropped book
+and work and followed her. The pine wood was screened off from the
+shrubbery and pleasure grounds (but indeed all Mosswood pretty much was
+pleasure grounds) by a low stone wall, in which wall a little gate
+admitted to the entrance of the wood. By the time Mr. Murray, skirting
+the wall, had come to that point, the group of young people had reached
+it also, and there Mr. Murray received a welcome that might have
+satisfied any man. Maggie threw herself on his neck with cries of
+delight; Flora's bright, handsome face sparkled with undisguised
+pleasure; even Esther looked glad, and Meredith's wringing grasp of the
+hand was as expressive as anything else. Surrounded by them, almost
+hemmed in his steps, questioned and answered and welcomed, all in a
+breath, by the gay little group, Mr. Murray slowly made his progress
+along the pine walk towards the present camping place. He had got the
+round-robin, yes, and he had obeyed their summons as soon as he could
+after clearing away a few impediments of business; he had made an early
+start, and come all the way that morning from Bay House, and he was very
+glad to be with them. Now what were they going to do with him?
+
+Saying which last, Mr. Murray stretched himself on the soft carpet of
+pine needles and surveyed the tokens of work and play around the spot.
+
+"From Bay House this morning! And no lunch yet? That's good!" cried
+Maggie. "Now, dear Ditto, the first thing is to give him something to
+eat. He must be ravenous. If you'll build a fireplace, I'll make the
+fire, and then we can have the kettle boiled in a very little time."
+
+Mr. Murray lay on his elbow on the pine needles and watched them as
+Meredith built a few stones together to support the tea-kettle, and then
+he and Maggie ran about collecting bits of pine and pine cones and fuel
+generally. And then there was the careful laying of dry tinder together,
+and the match applied, and the blue, hospitable smoke began to curl up
+under and round the kettle, and an aromatic, odoriferous smell came
+floating in the air.
+
+"This is better than anything I have seen for some time, children," he
+said.
+
+"Ah, wait!" cried Maggie. "We have got stewed pigeons for lunch."
+
+Mr. Murray laughed. "What are you all doing out here, _besides_ eating
+pigeons?"
+
+"We have set out with the determination to live out of doors," said
+Flora; "and so we do it. This is the third day, and it is absolutely
+delightful."
+
+"What are you doing?"
+
+"I see you looking at our worsteds--aren't they pretty colours, Mr.
+Murray? Esther and I play with these, while Ditto reads to us. And we
+have laid up a great deal of work for you."
+
+"In what shape, pray?"
+
+"Questions. Somehow, as we read, we get up difficult questions, that
+nobody can answer, and that we are not all agreed upon; and then by
+general consent we refer them to you."
+
+Mr. Murray watched the tiny tongues of flame which were darting up round
+the tea-kettle, where Maggie sat supplying small sticks and resinous
+pine cones to feed the fire. The scene was as pretty as possible;
+Meredith roaming hither and thither collecting more fuel, and the shawls
+and even the worsted lying about, with the gay, young figures, touching
+up the gipsy view with bits of colour. He watched in silence.
+
+"Mosswood is the most delicious place we have ever seen," Flora went on.
+
+"Almost any place is good in October. How pleasant this veiled light is!
+What are you about, Maggie?"
+
+"This is the pot of pigeons, Uncle Eden; we are going to get them hot.
+The kettle boils; now would you like some coffee, Uncle Eden?"
+
+But Mr. Murray declared himself satisfied with tea. And in a little
+while the scene became more gipsy than ever; except that gipsys are not
+supposed to indulge in much refinement of china cups and silver spoons.
+Everybody was picking pigeon bones, however; and bread and butter, and
+cups of tea, and baked potatoes (which came out hot from the house,
+brought in a basket by Fairbairn), and peaches and pears to conclude
+with, were discussed with great enjoyment and amidst a great deal of
+talk. Fenton arrived from the fishing to take his share; but I do not
+think he was as glad to see his uncle as the others had been; and as
+soon as lunch was over he took himself away again. Then cups and plates
+and _debris_ were packed away into the cart; the little fire had burned
+itself out; fingers were washed in Eastern fashion, somebody pouring
+water over the others' hands; and at last worsted needles and knitting
+needles came into play again, and the circle was made up around Mr.
+Murray, who declared himself to be quite refreshed and rested.
+
+"Ready for questions, Uncle Eden?"
+
+"Are the questions very deep?"
+
+"Oh, yes, Uncle Eden; none of us can answer them."
+
+"They had need be profound! How did they come up?"
+
+"From Meredith's book. Ditto was reading to us some delicious stories
+about the old Saxons, and their ways and their gods; and we have ever so
+many questions to ask you, Uncle Eden."
+
+"Have you any more of those Saxon stories on hand, Meredith?"
+
+"Plenty, sir."
+
+"Then I wish you would go on and read another; and so I should perhaps
+get into the atmosphere of your questions. Besides, I feel like being
+luxurious and lazy in this warm, spicy air. Suppose we have a story now,
+and the questions by and by?"
+
+They were all agreed to that. Maggie settled herself to listen
+comfortably, and Mr. Murray lay on his elbow and looked thoughtfully
+into the reader's face, or into the blue-green pine wilderness around,
+or above to the quiet, clear blue which stretched over all; but if Mr.
+Murray's body was resting, I am inclined to think his mind was busy
+enough.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+"'The story that I am going to tell you now shall bear the heading, "The
+Hearts of the Children turned to the Fathers." I read it with a deal of
+trouble in an old, yellowed manuscript which the mice had gnawed at. But
+it bears so entirely the impress of truth that it may speak for itself,
+although the things happened more than a thousand years ago. I would
+rather, if I could, give it again exactly as it stood written in that
+manuscript; but I am unable to do so, because I only made extracts from
+it. I found the MS. in the library of the Town House at Lueneburg, where
+I was staying for a few days just then, and with the permission of both
+the burgomasters of the city, I searched the Town House library through.
+When later I came to live in Lueneburg for many years, these and other
+old MSS. were no longer to be found; and I heard that a Jew, to whom the
+burgomasters had sold a number of old suits of armour and weapons, had
+probably demanded to have these manuscripts into the bargain, thinking
+that he might in England dispose of them for a high price. The MS. was
+entitled: "Res gestae Landolfi, Apostoli Salzonum, qui Horzae ripas ad
+habitant;" _i.e._, "_Acts of Landolf, the apostle to the Saxons who
+lived on the Oerze_." I have told you already many things about this
+Landolf. It has been mentioned that he built the first wooden church in
+this whole region of country, there where the heathen god Woden's place
+of sacrifice had been; which place, under the name of the "cold church,"
+still belongs to the Hermannsburg glebe, ever since the church was
+burned down in a predatory inroad of the Wends, and Hermann Billing
+built the stone parish church in Hermannsburg. I have told you too of
+this Landolf, how he had gradually converted the whole region to
+Christianity, like a skilful general, consecrating to the Christian
+faith for the worship of the true God, precisely those places where the
+heathen had been wont to adore their false idols, so that the triumph of
+Christianity could in nothing have been more forcibly manifested than in
+this founding of Christian altars and chapels on the very places where
+previously the heathen abominations had been enacted.
+
+"'One hour from Hermannsburg above on the Oerze, two little rivers, the
+Oerze and Wieze, flow into one another. Such meetings of two rivers are
+called in High German Muenden, in Low German Mueden; so accordingly the
+village situated at the meeting of the two rivers above mentioned bears
+the name of Mueden. Just a little above the place where the Wieze flows
+into the Oerze, in the middle of the latter river, lay a wonderfully
+beautiful little island, almost like an egg in circumference, which had
+a circuit of perhaps from ninety to a hundred paces. How often when I
+was a child have I visited that little island, and stayed there for
+hours at a time! In the whole surrounding region I knew no lovelier
+place, and it was always a particular delight to me when I could wander
+that way. On both sides of the island the swift-flowing, clear waters of
+the Oerze went rushing past, transparent to the very bottom, over the
+glistening sands of which, and among the long, thick, green tufts of the
+water ranunculus hosts of nimble trout played and darted about. A little
+bridge on each side connected the island with the two shores. If you
+crossed the bridge which spanned the left arm of the Oerze, you came
+into green meadows and the parsonage garden, which extended along the
+left bank of the river, enclosed with a hedge as high as the trees. If
+you went from the island over the bridge of the right arm of the Oerze,
+you were in the courtyard of the parsonage, where the pastor's dwelling
+stood. This island was entirely framed in with high oaks and alders; and
+a number of mighty old oaks, with large trunks, and lifting their heads
+high in air, grew on the island and wholly overshadowed it with their
+green roof of leaves. So still it was, so cool, and so secluded, upon
+this island that even the fiercest summer had no power over it; it was
+green and fresh when everything around it was withered and dried up by
+the hot sunbeams. And now as I write this it stirs me with pain to be
+forced to say that this island has disappeared! How can that have come
+about? It has fallen a sacrifice to the idol of Utility. The fine oaks
+have been felled, and used for building timber; the alders have been cut
+down and turned to firewood; the island is no more, for the two arms of
+the Oerze have been dammed up, and a straight river bed carries the
+Oerze now through green meadows which stretch along both shores. Yes,
+these are beautiful too, these green meadows, and they are very
+profitable also at the same time; but the wonderful beauty of the island
+is departed, vanished with no trace of it left; and in the entire valley
+of the Oerze there is not a place that can be compared to it. See, my
+dear readers, this is what is done by the much bepraised "Enclosings,"
+which could have originated only in our earthly-minded age; and which
+spare nothing, neither right nor usage; respect no old legend, no old
+custom; have no eye at all for beauty, rate everything only according to
+its utility, and cannot endure anything round, but favour only straight
+lines and sharp corners. Even the very unreasoning beasts mourn over the
+way in which the "Enclosings" are carried on. The valley of the Oerze,
+once thickly peopled with nightingales on both shores of the river, now
+has not a single one to show; the poor creatures love the thicket, the
+dim light, the shade and solitude, where they sing their songs to God
+and men; but the new-fangled clearings drive the whole away together.
+That is no matter; to be sure their singing brings no money in.
+
+"'Well, on this old island in heathen times was the sanctuary of the god
+Thor, or Donner, as he was likewise called by our forefathers. Among
+these oaks and alders stood his altar, a big round stone of granite.
+Near this great stone lay a vast number of what are called
+thunderbolts; for every thunderbolt that a Saxon found he laid down at
+Thor's, or Donner's, altar. Now if you do not know what thunderbolts
+are, go to your pastors or to some other learned folk, and they will
+tell you, and perhaps show you one. The learned call them Belemnites.
+They are longish, round, wedge-shaped stones, pointed below, growing
+broader above; at the point they are quite solid, and have a so-called
+_Peddig_, that is, a fine, round core, as in the middle of a tree-stem,
+which, however, is entirely turned to stone; towards the other end this
+core grows thicker and more crumbly, and at last the stone becomes quite
+hollow. These are petrifactions of sea animals, which have remained
+since the time of the flood. In my childhood the people still called
+these stones "thunderbolts," and the belief was generally prevalent that
+in heavy thunder-showers such thunderbolts fall from the clouds upon the
+earth. That belief had its origin in the heathen time. It was the belief
+of our heathen ancestors, that Thor, or Donner, the son of their
+principal deity Woden, was the god of thunder; a man with a handsome,
+serious face and yellow beard, whose blast caused the thunder, and who
+in thunder-storms drove through the air in a chariot drawn by goats, and
+then in the lightning cast his thunderbolts on the earth, so that men
+might fear and honour him. And he was not only the god of thunder, in
+the belief of our forefathers, but the god of justice also. Whoever
+wished to confirm a contract with his neighbour, made it before the
+altar of Thor; and whatever had been promised "by Thor," could not be
+taken back. Also, as people believed, he watched over all laws and
+rights in the land; in the taking of oaths he was the witness appealed
+to. And woe to him who perverted law and justice, woe to him who swore a
+false oath; Thor's thunderbolt was sure to fall upon the audacious
+transgressor and dash him to pieces. And so, from this it came that
+every thunderbolt found was laid down at Thor's altar, as witnesses for
+the god who guarded laws and rights, and punished covenant-breakers and
+false swearers with his strong hand. He dwelt among oaks, elders, and
+alder-trees; for which reason these trees, which were sacred to him,
+were always found about the places where sacrifices were offered in his
+honour. Our forefathers were known for their inviolable truth. Even the
+heathen historian Tacitus says of them, that the word of a Saxon was
+worth more than the oath of a Roman, and that among them good customs
+were regarded with more reverence than good statutes among the Romans.
+From this you can easily imagine in what high honour the god Thor was
+held by our forefathers, and how sacred was Thor's place of sacrifice.
+But alas! the full ferocity of heathenism also came out in the worship
+of Thor; for human victims were slain in his honour whenever, through
+some failure of faith keeping or breaking of a covenant, a curse rested
+upon the community. And how often may not yonder little island as well
+have drunk the blood of slaughtered men!
+
+"'Now in Landolf's time, when he and the Christian doctrine had already
+been received at old Hermann Billing's, the priest of Thor's sacrificial
+altar on the island I have described was a silver-haired old man, whom
+the MS. calls Henricus, _i.e._, Heinrich, who also for long years had
+been a faithful friend of Hermann. However, since Hermann had become a
+Christian, Heinrich had proudly withdrawn from him; he held him to be a
+covenant-breaker, and threatened him with the judgment of Thor, which
+sooner or later would fall upon him because he had forsaken the faith of
+his fathers. Hermann sought an interview with his old friend, but the
+proud priest of Thor refused to give it. Now, when in the great assembly
+of the people at the stone-houses, of which I have formerly spoken,
+Landolf received permission to declare the Christian faith openly in the
+whole country, he did not fail to visit among other places also the
+sanctuary of Thor upon this island, and to preach the gospel to the
+people who gathered there for the offering of sacrifices. Heinrich had
+no liberty or power to hinder the preaching; but when it was done he
+came out as its most decided opponent, and declared in unmeasured terms
+that the Saxons who had turned or who should turn to Christianity were
+covenant-breakers, on whom Thor's vengeance would speedily fall. In
+flaming zeal, with these words he lifted one of the thunderbolt stones
+which lay beside Thor's altar, showed it to the people, and threatened
+that with such weapons Thor would punish the apostates. Then arose
+Landolf's commanding figure, and looking at old Heinrich with a gentle,
+happy, beaming smile, he spoke:--
+
+"'"Brother, the Christian's God is better than your heathen god. See!
+all this while He, the only true God, has borne patiently with your
+heathen ways, has seen how you slew human sacrifices and became
+murderers of your fellow-men; and instead of punishing you for your sins
+and transgressions, He has borne with you in great love and patience;
+and now still He is not lifting His arm of vengeance against you, but is
+saying: 'Children, I have overlooked the times of ignorance; but now the
+time of salvation has come, I open to you my arms of grace and pray you,
+be ye reconciled to your God.' But _your_ god knows no love. Hermann has
+not transgressed in anywise; he has only become a Christian; he simply
+abhors the transgressions which he used to commit. He proves his love
+towards you; he has kept his friendship for you; he has besought you;
+'Brother, come let us talk together about our beliefs, and see whose
+faith is the right one.' The God of the Christians has taught him to
+love like this. But you, you hate the brother whom once you held dear,
+who has done nothing to harm you; you refuse him so much as a friendly
+interview; your heathen God has taught you to hate like this. Men," he
+went on, turning to the people who stood around them,--"which is the
+right God? the God who loves and teaches to love, or the god that hates
+and teaches to hate?"
+
+"'The people maintained an agitated silence; it had become as still as
+death, so that one could hear the very breaths that were drawn.
+Thereupon Landolf raised his voice again, and told the people of the
+love of our God, who parted His only-begotten Son from His fatherly
+breast and sent Him down to poor sinners to take pity on them; and then
+he went on to tell of the love of the Son of God, who forsook the throne
+of His Father, came to men, took part with their flesh and blood, in the
+heroism of love went about among men, followed by His faithful apostles;
+everywhere as the Mighty One, God's champion, overcoming Satan, setting
+men free who were fast in his toils, opening the eyes of the blind and
+the ears of the deaf, making the lame to go and the sick to be well;
+even laying hold of mighty Death with His divine hand and forcing him to
+let go his prey; and how at last this true Hero of God, in order to save
+the whole captive world from its common oppression under the evil one,
+and that He might with justice and righteousness set them free, offered
+Himself up for sinners, for them suffered death, went down into the
+grave and Hades to overcome death, hell, and the grave; thence to rise
+victorious, and to go back to His Father, and to sit down again upon the
+throne of God, from which He had gone forth. And even there His love and
+pity never rest; from thence He is constantly sending out His apostles
+and prophets; and has sent me to you. Not to punish, not to condemn; no,
+but to pray you, Be ye reconciled to God; to show you His arms of grace
+spread to receive you; and to tell you, Come, for all things are ready;
+the courts of heaven where Jesus reigns stand open to you. His blood has
+redeemed also you; He will forgive your sins, and has prepared mansions
+for you to dwell in. Repent and be baptized, that your sins may be
+forgiven, and that you may be the children of God.
+
+"'After giving such testimony, Landolf kneeled down, as it was always
+his wont to do after preaching to the heathen, and prayed to the Lord
+Jesus that He would enlighten the minds of the heathen by His Holy
+Spirit to receive the word of divine teaching, and that He would open
+their hearts as once He opened Lydia's; he even had the boldness to ask
+the Lord to witness for Himself, as the living God, among the people
+there assembled.'"
+
+"What did he mean? a miracle?" Flora asked.
+
+"I suppose, something like the signs that used to be asked for among the
+Jews in old time. Not a miracle exactly; and yet they were miracles
+too."
+
+"What, Ditto? I don't remember," said Maggie.
+
+"Don't you remember how Samuel asked for a sign from heaven once, and
+the Lord sent thunder, though it was a time of year when storms never
+come. Then Elijah asked for a sign of fire, and the fire fell and burnt
+up his sacrifice with the wet pile of wood on which it lay, and licked
+up the water in the trench. Don't you recollect? It was that sort of
+sign the Jews used to ask Jesus to give them, and He never would."
+
+"I wonder why," said Flora.
+
+"We must ask Mr. Murray. I do not know. Any more remarks? or shall I go
+on?"
+
+"Oh, go on, dear Ditto."
+
+"'Landolf rose up, quiet and joyous. It seemed as if every man were
+pondering in his heart the preaching and the prayer; all were yet
+hanging upon his words, when up rose Heinrich's three sons, priests of
+Thor like himself, along with his only daughter, a priestess of Freija,
+whoso sanctuary was situated about three hours further up the Oerze.
+They cried in an open outburst of rage,--"Our general assembly at the
+stone-houses has led the people astray, in suffering the Christian
+preacher to proclaim his Christian faith. Come over to us here, whoever
+is true to the gods of his fathers! Death to apostates, and the
+vengeance of the gods!"
+
+"'The people went over to the side of Heinrich's children. Landolf stood
+alone.
+
+"'Landolf folded his hands in prayer, and looked up to heaven with
+sparkling eyes; his heart accepted joyfully the martyr's crown, with
+which he thought God would adorn him. Once more he fell upon his knees
+to pray, and cried out in a clear voice, "O Lord, my God, I see heaven
+opened. Lord, I come gladly, but bless this people. Bless these my
+countrymen; do not charge their sins upon them; bring them to the true,
+saving faith of the Christians; make them children of thy Church." Then
+he stepped up to the people and said, "Put me to death. I go gladly to
+my Jesus in heaven."
+
+"'Upon this, old Heinrich stepped out in front of this faithful witness
+of the Lord, and with emotion he had hard work to keep down, he spoke:
+"Thou hast a brave heart. Thou shalt not die a coward's death. I love
+thee; thou art a hero, and thy Christ is a hero too. He died for
+sinners, thou sayest, and has vanquished death and the grave and hell. I
+will see if I can love Him. I cannot yet."
+
+"'Scarcely had he finished speaking, when Hermann hastily came up. He
+had followed after his beloved Landolf, that he might see what turn
+things would take; for he knew that he was gone to the island. He
+stretched out his hand to Heinrich, and Heinrich did not turn away, but
+grasped it. And then the old man brought them both into his house. In
+the meanwhile the sky became overcast with dark clouds; before anybody
+was aware, the heavens had grown black, the thunder rolled and the
+lightnings darted. "Thor is driving in the clouds!" cried the young
+priests; "he is angry at the Christians!" "The God of glory thundereth;
+the Lord is upon many waters; the voice of the Lord divideth the flames
+of fire," cried Landolf; and with Heinrich and Hermann he went over to
+the island. The crowd stood there hushed; every eye was fixed intently
+upon the black clouds and the flashing lightning. Then there came a
+crash through the air, a blinding blaze darted out of the clouds, passed
+through the crowd, and shattered to pieces the sacrifice stone. Not a
+man was hurt. Then Landolf called out aloud: "'O Lord God, gracious and
+merciful, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, that
+forgiveth iniquity and will by no means clear the guilty!' Brothers, the
+Lord has spoken from heaven. It is not Thor that is God; surely else he
+would not have destroyed his own altar and borne witness against
+himself. The Lord, He is the God; He has shattered the altar and left
+you alive; give the glory to God."
+
+"'The people dispersed. But Heinrich repaired to Hermannsburg with
+Hermann and Landolf, to the dwelling of the former, and remained there
+eight days; during which time he was instructed by Landolf in the
+Christian faith. This teaching took deep hold of him; yet more did the
+utter revolution in Hermann's domestic life. After the eight days, he
+went back with the two to the little island, and was baptized in the
+Oerze. And on the spot where the round stone had been, there was a
+little chapel built, with an altar, and on the altar stood the image of
+the crucified Christ. This was the second great victory that Landolf
+fought for and gained. From that time forward Heinrich was his faithful
+helper. All the great influence which until then he had enjoyed as the
+much reverenced priest of Thor, he used now only for the glory of
+Christ. It seemed as if the old, grey-haired man had become young again.
+With all the zeal of a first love, with all a young convert's ardour, he
+witnessed for the Lord Jesus Christ, the mighty Hero, the Conqueror of
+Satan and of Thor, who had offered Himself a sacrifice for men and died
+a hero's death; and in crowds the Saxons came over to him, and by crowds
+they received baptism from Landolf. His own sons alone remained hard,
+and his daughter was unmoved. This last, Ikia the chronicle calls her,
+never entered her father's house again; and the three sons, Tyr, Freyr,
+and Schwerting, who had so tenderly loved their father and so deeply
+revered him, declared to him now that they were no longer sons of his,
+since he was no longer priest of Thor. So then the venerable old man,
+sometimes alone, sometimes with Landolf or Hermann for a companion,
+every week set out to pay a visit to his sons and his daughter and
+preach the Lord Jesus to them. In the winter he was not to be daunted by
+the snow, nor in summer by the burning sands; leaning on his staff he
+pressed on through it all. The love of Christ fired him, and love to his
+children urged him forward; he would so fain take them with him to
+heaven. He had brought them up in the idolatrous worship of Thor; if
+they were lost, it seemed to him it would be by his own fault. Therefore
+he made his weekly pilgrimages to them, since they avoided his house as
+though it were spotted with the plague. And then, when he had preached
+Christ to them, he went back to pray for them. Yes, he even made it a
+persistent petition that the Lord Christ would not let him die until he
+had seen his children walk in the Lord's way.
+
+"'A year and a half went by in this manner, and still the hearts of his
+children seemed unimpressible and hard as stone. But Heinrich walked,
+preached, and prayed indefatigably, until at last he gave way before the
+strain and the burden of years. Eight days he lay on his bed, and yet
+wrestled with God that he would not let him die before he had seen the
+conversion of his children. He sent messages to them, telling them that
+he was sick; they never came near him. He sent to entreat them to come
+and receive his fatherly blessing; they answered, they did not want it.
+And so all hope seemed to melt away. But the Scripture says with truth,
+that Love is stronger than Death. And if human love upon earth is so
+strong, how great and strong must not the love of Jesus be!
+
+"'One morning, Landolf was sitting beside his friend's couch, trying to
+comfort him, and, as he thought, to prepare him for death, when in came
+Schwerting, the youngest of Heinrich's sons, and spoke: "Father, Ikia
+wants you. She is sick unto death, and wishes to ask you to forgive her;
+she sent me to you. But you cannot come," he went on; "you are sick unto
+death yourself, and it may be will die now before Ikia, your child; and
+oh, she is so troubled, for she has never seen you again since that day
+on the island, and that is her fault!" At this, something like the glow
+of the sunlight swept over Heinrich's pale face, and leaning over to
+Landolf's ear, he whispered to him: "Pray to Christ with me, that I may
+go to Ikia, my daughter, and you will go along, that I may see her
+baptized." And Landolf kneels down by his friend's couch and prays, and
+Heinrich on his bed joins in the prayer, and they hold up to the Lord
+the word that He had given--"If two of you shall agree on earth as
+touching anything that ye shall ask, it shall be done for them of my
+Father which is in heaven;" and they doubt not that He is the Almighty
+and living God; therefore they ask that He will give strength and grace,
+that Heinrich may come to his daughter Ikia and see her baptism. And
+when they had finished praying, Heinrich rose up from his couch, bade
+them bring his horse, begged his friend and his son to help him to
+mount, and when he was seated on the beast's back he went forward, up
+the Oerze, towards the sanctuary of Freija, where Ikia was priestess.
+Landolf on one side, Schwerting on the other side, led the horse, and
+supported the tottering old man. Whoever met the procession joined it,
+for God's hand was plainly there, and after three hours of travelling
+Heinrich reached Ikia. He found her dying, but still in full possession
+of her senses. A happy smile flowed over her death-white features.
+"Father," said she, "the Christian's God is the true God. His hand has
+been too strong for me. I have been a godless child towards you; will
+you forgive me?" "My child," said her father, "I have forgiven you, and
+I have prayed to my God that He would not let me die till I have seen
+your conversion and that of your brothers--till I have seen you turn
+from false gods to the living God who has made heaven and earth, who has
+died for sinners and made intercession for the transgressors. I forgive
+thee, my daughter, and Christ also forgives thee, if thou wilt be
+baptized for the remission of sins. See here," pointing to Landolf,
+"here is the priest of the Lord. Let Landolf baptize my child before she
+dies. Ikia, wilt thou be baptized?" She said, "Father, will Christ take
+me?" "My child, I have received you and not been angry with you, and I
+am a sinful man. And Christ, my Lord, is the Son of God; He died for
+sinners, and now He lives, and has the keys of hell and of death. He
+will receive thee, only believe." She turned her eyes inquiringly upon
+Landolf, and he spoke; "Ikia, it is written in the Word of my God, 'This
+is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus
+came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.' So says the
+holy apostle Paul. And Jesus spoke to the thief on the cross, who had
+just been reviling him, but now had bethought himself, turned, and
+said, 'Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom'--He said to
+him, 'Verily, I say unto thee, this day shalt thou be with me in
+paradise!'" "Then baptize me, father, before I die. I believe that
+Christ is the Son of God." And Schwerting went out and fetched water in
+a bowl, and handed the bowl to Landolf. But when Landolf had spoken the
+prayer over the water, and was about to baptize Ikia in the name of the
+Triune God, then down kneeled Schwerting at the side of his sister's
+couch, and from the crowd of people collected before the open door
+hurriedly broke forth two tall men and kneeled down by Schwerting's
+side; and all three cried out, "Father, baptize us with our sister!" The
+baptism was performed. And when it was done, and over the four newly
+baptized had been spoken the Word--"The God of all grace, by whom you
+have been born again in the washing of regeneration and renewing of the
+Holy Ghost, strengthen you and uphold you firm in the faith unto the
+end. Peace be with you,"--then the voice of old Heinrich, who had sunk
+on his knees, came out in a shout of joy. "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy
+servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen the salvation which I
+prayed the Lord for, that He would not suffer me to die before I had
+seen the conversion of my children." And when he had said that, he bowed
+his head and departed, and Landolf caught the dying man in his faithful
+arms. Ikia however did not die; the Lord, who had quickened her
+spiritually, gave her also her bodily life again. She recovered, and her
+recovery was a new salvation. For soon after, Freija's altar was broken
+to pieces, and an altar was dedicated to Christ on the same spot by the
+staunch Landolf, who founded a cloister there, _monasterium_, as it was
+called, from which the place took the name of Munster. Heinrich's body
+was laid to rest in the churchyard at Hermannsburg. So were the hearts
+of the children turned to their fathers; and it was not long before
+heathenism had disappeared from the valley of the Oerze, and the Lord
+Jesus was become the King to whom every knee in the country was
+bowed.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+"Uncle Eden," said Maggie, "do you like Meredith's story?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Do you feel like talking now, Uncle Eden?"
+
+"What about?"
+
+"But I mean--do you feel like _talking_--about anything?"
+
+"Depends on the subject, Maggie. Hark to that woodpecker!"
+
+"Mr. Murray does _not_ feel like talking, I know," remarked Flora. "He
+feels--if he ever feels!--lazy."
+
+"No, Miss Flora, not exactly. And yet, how delicious this quiet is!"
+
+"And the smell of the pines!"
+
+"And the warm, luxurious air!"
+
+"And the light through the pine branches, and upon the coloured leaves
+yonder."
+
+"Yes, and the blue of the sky," said Mr. Murray, who lying upon his back
+had a good view. "Blue, through the pine needles. Such an ethereal,
+clear blue; not like summer's intensity."
+
+"I like summer best," said Flora.
+
+"I like this. But what did you want to talk about, children?"
+
+"O Uncle Eden! a great many things. You see, we do not all think alike."
+
+"Naturally."
+
+"And we want you to tell us how we ought to think."
+
+"_You_ do," said Mr. Murray laughing. "That will answer for ten years
+old. I am sure the others are more independent."
+
+"But we want to know what _you_ think, Uncle Eden--about ever so many
+things. We have been saving them up till you came. Ditto wants to know
+what Christians ought to do--about some things."
+
+"And I hope you will tell him, Mr. Murray," said Flora, "what Christians
+ought _not_ to do--about some things."
+
+Mr. Murray raised himself up on his elbows and looked at the young
+people around him. It was a very pretty picture. Fair young faces, that
+life had not clouded, intelligent and honest; bright young figures in
+all the freshness of neat attire and excellent personal care; the
+setting of the green wood, the brown carpet of pine needles, the hazy
+October air, here and there the crimson of a Virginia creeper, here and
+there the tawny hues of a cat-briar or a wild grape-vine; stillness and
+softness over all, the chirrup of a cricket, the cawing of two crows
+flying over, the interrupted tap of the woodpecker, just making you
+notice how still and soft it was; and then the bright, living young
+faces raised or turned, and waiting upon him. Mr. Murray looked and
+smiled, and did not at once speak; then he asked what subject came
+first. So many answers were begun at once that all had to stop; then
+Maggie, getting the field, said--
+
+"We want to know how much a Christian ought really to give, Uncle Eden."
+
+"Say, rather--how much he ought to do," put in Meredith.
+
+"Yes," added Flora; "we do want instruction on that point. Some of us
+are rather wild."
+
+"Too big a subject for the present time and place," responded the
+referee of the little company. "To-morrow is Sunday; let us keep it for
+to-morrow, and come out here, or to some other place, and discuss it."
+
+"That is delightful!" cried Maggie clapping her hands. "Now, what were
+some of the other things, Ditto?"
+
+"About the Saxons. But Mr. Murray did not hear our first story."
+
+"Oh, I know. I guess he knows. You do know about the old Saxons, don't
+you, Uncle Eden?"
+
+"I know there was such a people."
+
+"And you know they were very good and very bad--both at once; and we
+wanted to know _how_ they could be so much worse, and yet so much
+better, than people nowadays."
+
+"How 'so much better'?"
+
+"They told the truth, Uncle Eden."
+
+"There were no cowards and no marriage-breakers among them," Meredith
+added.
+
+"And then how 'so much worse'?"
+
+"Oh, they were cruel! they offered human sacrifices; they were
+frightfully cruel."
+
+"Yes," said Mr. Murray thoughtfully; "the contrast seems strange. They
+were a noble people in many ways."
+
+"But Pastor Harms says they are not half so good now that they are
+Christians," Maggie went on.
+
+"If that is true, there must be a reason for it."
+
+"Yes, Uncle Eden, of course."
+
+"And that reason cannot be found, in their Christianity."
+
+"But how is it, Uncle Eden?"
+
+"Human nature is very much alike at all times, my child."
+
+"But the old Saxons were not like the old Romans, Uncle Eden. The word
+of a Saxon was better than a Roman's oath."
+
+"And the modern Saxons are not like their forefathers," said Meredith;
+"at least, according to Pastor Harms."
+
+"I have no doubt he is right."
+
+"And Frenchmen are very different from Englishmen," added Flora.
+
+"And both from Americans. And the Dutch from all three. We might go on
+indefinitely."
+
+"Yet they are all descended from Noah's sons," Meredith remarked.
+
+"It is a very curious subject, and rather deep for some of the present
+company. Many things go to make the differences between one nation and
+another. In the first place, the several families of Shem, Ham and
+Japheth are all strongly marked."
+
+"Are they, sir?"
+
+"Then, among the tribes of any one family, differences grow up from many
+causes. From the sort of country they inhabit, the climate that
+prevails, the scenery their eyes rest on, the ease or difficulty of
+obtaining food, and the means necessary to that end; from the religion
+they believe in, their situation with respect to commerce and
+intercourse with other nations; their habits of life superinduced upon
+all these."
+
+"But the modern Saxons live where the old Saxons did, sir?"
+
+"Barely. The country was at that time all one wild tract of forest and
+moor, where life had need be of the simplest; and where it was sustained
+in great measure by the chase and by a rude husbandry. No cities, no
+churches, no libraries, no merchants, no lawyers, no fine furniture, no
+delicate living. Nobody therefore wanted money, and nobody tried to get
+it. That makes all the difference in the world, children."
+
+"Money, Uncle Eden?"
+
+"Look at the map of Germany now; run your eye over the cities. Remember
+the treasures of art in this and that gallery; the beautiful old
+buildings almost everywhere; the great trading houses; the life of
+complicated interests, political, literary, scientific, social,
+critical, artistic, mercantile; think of the books, the pictures, the
+statuary, the jewellery, the carvings and engravings, the luxurious and
+magnificent living. Everybody wants money now, and nearly everybody
+either has it, or is working hard for it."
+
+"Does money make so much odds in national character?" Meredith asked.
+
+"It is the root of all evil," Mr. Murray said smiling.
+
+"But, Mr. Murray, you do not seriously mean that?" said Flora.
+
+"The Bible says it, Miss Flora; not I."
+
+"But what can you have, or do, that is worth anything, without money?"
+
+"Exactly! That is the general opinion. So everybody is striving to get
+money."
+
+"Well, people would stagnate if they did not strive for something."
+
+"Quite true. Nevertheless, the Bible award proves itself. If you examine
+facts, you will find that the love of money is at the bottom of nearly
+all the crimes that are committed; and at the root of all the
+meannesses, speaking generally."
+
+"Then you would make out money to be a bad thing, Mr. Murray!"
+
+"Not money necessarily. But 'if any man _will be rich_, he shall fall
+into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts,
+which drown men in destruction and perdition.'"
+
+"Then was that the reason, Uncle Eden, why those old Saxons were so
+noble, because they had no money?"
+
+"One reason, I fancy. Along with trade and riches, don't you see, comes
+the temptation to underhand and false dealings, that money may be got
+faster; and so comes cringing for the sake of advantage, and flattery
+for the same. And then, with luxury comes dislike of hardships, and
+neglect of manly living, and people's moral sense gets weak along with
+their bodily powers. Self-indulgence drives out the noble uprightness
+that was maintained when people feared nothing."
+
+"But religion--Christianity?" said Meredith. "That ought to have made
+more difference the other way."
+
+"So it would if it prevailed. But a name is not Christianity; and the
+real thing is only here and there. The wheat in the midst of tares, as
+the Lord said it would be."
+
+Maggie drew a long sigh.
+
+"The wheat must show itself for what it is," said her uncle smiling at
+her, "and bear a fine head of fruit, to rebuke the tares. Your old
+Saxons, however, were a fine stock to begin with."
+
+"I think I understand this question," said Meredith.
+
+"I do, too," said Maggie.
+
+"I am sorry Mr. Murray thinks so ill of money," remarked Flora.
+
+"Of the love of it, say."
+
+"But how can one have it--or not have it, for that matter--and help
+loving it?"
+
+"So the danger comes in. And the difficulty of giving it all to Christ."
+
+"O Uncle Eden! you are getting upon another of our questions now."
+
+"And we have had enough serious talk for one time. Leave it till
+to-morrow, Maggie."
+
+"Shall I read some more?" said Meredith. "Or have you heard enough?"
+
+"By all means, read. This is luxury."
+
+And Mr. Murray stretched himself comfortably on the pine needles and
+clasped his hands under his head, repeating, "This is luxury!" while
+Meredith opened his book again.
+
+"Another Saxon story, Ditto?" Flora asked.
+
+"Out of the Saxon chronicles. Yes. 'The story that I am going to tell
+you now, happened in ancient times and at a place called Dagefoerde.
+
+"'Our forefathers, the old Saxons, were then divided into ediling or
+nobles, freiling or free peasants, and serfs. A freiling, by name
+Henning, lived on this farm, in the days when Hermann Billing was Duke
+of Saxony. At that time--it is 900 years ago--our country was already a
+Christian country, but still had hard fights to go through with the
+heathenish Wends, who made inroads almost yearly into our Eastphalian
+land, plundering and killing, and showing a special rage against the
+churches and the priests. The strong arm of the two excellent emperors,
+Heinrich and Otto, it is true, kept back these heathen and held them in
+awe; but, notwithstanding, they availed themselves of every opportunity
+to renew their murderous onslaughts.
+
+"'Now when once Kaiser Otto was gone to Italy, and staying a long while
+away, they were minded to profit by his absence; for they supposed that
+now they could burn and lay waste to their heart's desire, and with no
+hindrance. So they came with a great host, burned down the churches,
+killed the priests, dragged off men, women, and children, and treasures
+of booty, and came as far as to this part of the country. It is told of
+their frightful rage against Christianity, that on one occasion they
+took more than twenty Christian priests, stripped off their clothes, cut
+bloody crosses on their faces, breasts, bodies, and backs, and then tied
+them by their feet to the tails of their horses, which they drove round
+and round till their victims were dragged to death.'"
+
+"It cost something in those days to be a Christian," said Meredith with
+something of a shudder.
+
+"There have been many such days in the history of the Church," said Mr.
+Murray. "And yet, it pays to be a Christian. It did then."
+
+"I do not see, for my part, how people stood it, there and in other
+places," said Flora. "I should think they would not have dared to
+confess they were Christians."
+
+"They could not be Christians and not confess--neither in those days nor
+in these days."
+
+"Why, Uncle Eden?" said Esther, who seldom said anything.
+
+"You know the Lord's declaration--He will own those publicly who own Him
+publicly, _and nobody else_."
+
+"But why couldn't they own Him privately?"
+
+"Will you tell me how that is to be done, my dear?"
+
+"Why, by beautiful Christian living and acting," said Flora.
+
+"Don't you see, if such living could be found among those who are in
+name and profession not the Lord's, it would fight all _against_ His
+cause and Him? What sort of confessing of _Him_ is that?"
+
+Nobody answered, and Meredith went on.
+
+"'In the meanwhile the valiant Duke Hermann had gathered his faithful
+followers and moved forward to meet the enemy. All the ediling and
+freiling were called upon for such expeditions of war, none other having
+the right to bear arms. The ediling served on horseback and the freiling
+on foot, and each one brought his own weapons with him. And Henning, the
+freiling of Dagefoerde, was among the Christian warriors who accompanied
+the Duke. Not far from here is the Huenenburg, an extent of heath on
+which there are a number of burial mounds. There it came to a battle
+between the Christians and the heathen. The fight was long and bloody;
+Christ led the one host, Satan the other. The Christians fought for
+their faith, the heathen fought for their prey. Before the battle,
+Hermann with his warriors had cast himself upon his knees and besought
+the Lord Christ that He would be their leader. Therewith came the storm
+of the heathen upon them, already certain of victory, for they were many
+and the Christian number was small; Hermann, in his noble eagerness to
+protect his poor people, not having had patience to wait for further
+reinforcements. But the Christians stood immovable, like a wall, and the
+heathen fell in heaps under their swords and spears. In the Christian
+army there were twelve priests wearing white garments, who bore a white
+banner with a red cross; and wherever the fight raged most madly,
+thither they carried their banner, singing, "Kyrie Eleison, Christe
+Eleison, Kyrie Eleison;" the Christian warriors dashing after them,
+joining in the holy song, wielding their hacked swords, and with
+irresistible force driving the heathen back. In vain the heathen sought
+to slay the priests and to seize their white banner; every Christian
+presented his breast as its bulwark against the foe. Whichever way the
+banner turned, victory went with it. Louder and louder sounded the
+"Kyrie Eleison," with more and more valour and joy of victory the
+Christians pressed forward. Then one of the Wendish leaders, Zwentibold
+by name, gathered once more the bravest of his people to make a stormy
+effort for the banner of the cross. His rage of onset broke through some
+ranks of the Christians; already he had penetrated to the near
+neighbourhood of the priests; when a foot-soldier from among the
+Christians manfully planted himself in his way and thrust his sharp
+spear against the heathen's broad breast, so that the coat of chain
+armour he had on was broken, and the spear pierced through his heart.
+Now there was no stand made any longer; the heathen fled, and in terror
+they cried out, "Christ has conquered! Christ has conquered!"
+
+"'Duke Hermann looked about him to see the brave freiling who had done
+such a deed of heroism; it was Henning, the freiling of Dagefoerde. For
+his reward, Hermann dubbed the brave man knight upon the field of
+battle, and Henning returned to his house as an ediling. Though but for
+a little while. For Hermann was minded to profit by his victory and
+compel his stubborn enemies to keep the peace in future. So he pushed on
+with his army, now greatly reinforced, into the country of the Wends,
+and Henning went with his Duke.
+
+"'Not far from the Elbe there was a temple of the heathenish idol
+Radegast; this temple stood within a strong fortress, called the
+fortress of Radegast, where now the village of Radegast lies. The
+heathen had collected and carried to this place all the treasures of the
+prey they had seized in their plundering incursions. Hermann resolved to
+storm this fortress, and therewith to destroy the bulwark of heathenism
+on this side the Elbe. The heathen defended themselves with the bravery
+of despair; many assaults were beaten back, and many a Christian fell in
+death before the ramparts of the fortress. The tenth day of the siege,
+the Christians held divine service and on their knees prayed the Lord of
+hosts to give them victory. Then they rushed upon the place to take it
+by storm; and among the foremost of those who clambered up the ramparts
+of the fortress was Henning of Dagefoerde, who in order to inspirit the
+Christians and terrify the heathen set up the field-song of the
+Huenenburg--"Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison, Kyrie Eleison!" Just as he
+had sung it through, an arrow from one of the enemy pierced his bold
+heart; he fell to the ground in death, but as a dying conqueror, who has
+gained the battle for Christ and with Christ. The fortress was won;
+those of the heathen who would not yield were put to death. Hermann
+dashed away a tear from his manly eye as he buried the brave Henning,
+and he said to Hilmer, Henning's oldest son, a boy of sixteen, who had
+come along to the war, "My son, you are early fledged. Your father was a
+true Christian and a true Saxon; follow in his steps, and so long as I
+live, I will be your father." Of all the enormous booty which Hermann
+found in the Wendenburg Radegast, this noble man kept nothing for
+himself. One half of the treasures he set apart, to rebuild with them
+all the churches which the Wends had burned down; the other half he
+distributed among his knights and warriors. Hilmer of Dagefoerde got his
+share too, and indeed a double portion, one for himself and one for his
+father. When he returned home, he took counsel with his mother what they
+should do with it; and they agreed together that it should be used for
+the glory of God. They erected a chapel in their own house, with an
+altar and all the fittings of a church. Part of the money was applied to
+this use, and with the remainder a chaplaincy was founded in the church
+at Hermannsburg, which at that time was the only church in the whole
+Oerze valley, with the stipulation that the chaplain should come every
+Sunday to Dagefoerde and hold divine service in the chapel there. A
+servant, with a led horse, must go to fetch him every time from
+Hermannsburg, and bring him back thither again. This service at
+Dagefoerde lasted till the Reformation. But when the evangelical faith
+was preached in Hermannsburg by the valiant Pastor Gruenhagen, who, as I
+told you awhile ago in Tiefenthal, was converted to the pure Lutheran
+doctrine by an artisan fellow who read him the little Lutheran
+catechism, then this service at Dagefoerde ceased, because the possessors
+of Dagefoerde held stiffly and firmly by the Catholic faith, and
+obstinately rejected the pure doctrine. But now for a long time there
+have been lords of Dagefoerde no more. The race died out; and when one
+only of the family was left, he entered a Catholic cloister, where, in
+the year 1616, he died. Then the reigning Duke gave the manor of
+Dagefoerde to the lords of Lueneburg, and they again sold it to some
+peasants, after they had divided the farm into two. So these farms have
+again become what they were originally--peasant farms. God grant to the
+present owners that they may stand firm and true to the pure faith of
+our beloved church, that they may earnestly strive to be genuine
+Christians and genuine Saxon peasants; then will it go well with them
+and with those that come after them.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+Meredith paused, half closed his book, was evidently pondering for a
+minute, and then exclaimed, "I have learned something!"
+
+"Why, so have we all," said his sister. "What now particularly?"
+
+"I have got a hint."
+
+"What about? There is no fortress for you to storm, and you do not want
+the treasure."
+
+"I think I should like to have lived in those times," Meredith went on.
+"People were in earnest, Mr. Murray."
+
+"Yes. So are some people in these times."
+
+"But not the world generally; or only about making money. _Then_ people
+were in earnest about things worth the while."
+
+"It does seem so from these stories," said Mr. Murray; "but, dear
+Meredith, you may be equally in earnest about the same things now, and
+with as good reason."
+
+"Isn't it more difficult, sir, when nobody else, or only a few here and
+there, think and feel with you?"
+
+"Yes, more difficult; or rather, more easy to go to sleep; but so much
+the greater need of men who are not asleep. What is your hint? I am
+curious, with Miss Flora."
+
+"The way that fellow spent his treasure, sir. I was thinking, wouldn't a
+chapel--that is, a little church--a little free church, at Meadow Park
+be a good thing? The nearest church is two miles off; we can drive to
+it, but the people who have no horses cannot, and the poor people"----
+
+Meredith got a variety of answers to this suggestion. His sister opened
+her mouth for an outcry of dismay. Maggie clapped her hands with a burst
+of joy. Esther stared; and a smile, very sweet and wise, showed itself
+on Mr. Murray's lips.
+
+"Quixotic!--ridiculous!" said Flora. "Isn't it, Mr. Murray? Ditto has
+not money enough for everything, either. A church!--and then, I suppose,
+a minister!"
+
+"Is it a bad notion, Mr. Murray?" inquired Meredith.
+
+"I should think not very."
+
+"Is it extravagant?"
+
+"Miss Flora thinks so."
+
+"Well, Mr. Murray, think what it would cost!" cried the young lady.
+
+"Not so much as a large evening party--that is, it ought not. I suppose
+Meredith is not thinking of stone carvings and painted windows, but of a
+neat, pleasant, pretty, plain house, where people can worship God and
+hear the words of life."
+
+"That is it exactly," said Meredith.
+
+"Then I should say that one very fine evening entertainment would build
+two."
+
+"But the minister! he must be paid," said Flora.
+
+"Yes, and I am not for starving a minister, either," said Mr. Murray.
+"But what is Meredith to do with his income, Miss Flora?"
+
+"That's just what I want to know," remarked Meredith in an undertone;
+while Flora answered with some irritation--
+
+"He can let it accumulate till he has made up his mind."
+
+"'Riches kept for the owners of them, to their hurt,'" said Mr. Murray.
+"Better not, Miss Flora. Remember, Meredith is only a steward. 'The
+silver is mine, and the gold is mine,' saith the Lord of hosts."
+
+"Do you mean, Mr. Murray, that we cannot do what we like with our
+money?"
+
+"You can do what you like with it, certainly."
+
+"But I mean, isn't it _right_ for us to do what we like with it?"
+
+"I should like to do that," murmured Meredith.
+
+"Miss Flora, the question is, rightly stated,--May a steward use his
+lord's money for his own or his lord's pleasure?"
+
+Flora coloured and pouted. "But that makes religion----Why, I never
+thought religion was strict like _that_. Then it isn't right to buy
+jewels or dresses?"
+
+"Dresses--certainly."
+
+"But I mean, rich dresses--dresses for company. And pictures--and
+horses--and books--and"----
+
+"Stop, Miss Flora. The servant himself belongs to his lord; therefore he
+must make of himself the very best he can. For this, books will
+certainly be needed, and to some degree all the other things you have
+named, except jewels and what you call _rich_ dresses. The only question
+in each case is--'How can I do the Lord's work best? how can I spend
+this money to honour and please Him most?' That will not always be by
+the cheapest dress that can be bought, nor by checking the cultivation
+of taste and the acquiring of knowledge, nor even by the foregoing of
+arts and accomplishments. Only the question comes back at every step,
+and must at every step be answered--'What does the Lord want me to do
+_here_? Does He wish me to spend this money--or time--on myself, or on
+somebody else?'"
+
+"Why it would be _always_ on somebody else," said Flora looking ready to
+burst into tears; "and there would be no real living at all--no enjoying
+of life."
+
+"A mistake," said Mr. Murray quietly. "The Lord told us long ago--'He
+that will save his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for
+my sake, _the same shall find it_.'"
+
+Flora put up her hand over her eyes, but Meredith's eyes sparkled.
+
+"Then you think well of my plan, Mr. Murray?" he said.
+
+"As far as I understand it."
+
+"How would the Pavilion do, for a skeleton of the church?"
+
+"O Ditto! the dear old Pavilion!" exclaimed Maggie.
+
+"Why not? I do not want to shut myself off from everybody now; and I
+have the whole house--more than enough. And the Pavilion stands in a
+good place near the road."
+
+Mr. Murray and Meredith went into a discussion of the plan, and Maggie
+listened, while Flora after a while resumed her work and went moodily on
+with it. At last Mr. Murray remarked--
+
+"This is not so interesting to everybody, Meredith, and we have time
+enough to talk it over. Suppose you go on reading."
+
+"Do you like these Saxon stories?" said Meredith pleased.
+
+"Very much."
+
+"There is some more hero about--not Dagefoerde exactly; but that same
+fight, which I think you would like perhaps to hear."
+
+"And, Meredith, you did not read us about that minister who was
+converted by the catechism," said Maggie.
+
+"No, that is another story--Pastor Gruenhagen. I will read to you first
+about the fight at the Huenenburg.
+
+"'The Huenenburg is situated in a deep dell in the midst of the heath
+about an hour from Hermannsburg; and I will relate to you what I have
+found in the chronicle about it. It is nine hundred years now since a
+hard-fought and terrible battle took place here, which was fought
+between the Christians and the heathen. At that time the pious and
+Christian Kaiser, Otto the Great, ruled in Germany (A.D. 936-973), who
+loved the Lord his God with all his heart. He had gone away out of
+Germany into Italy, in order to free a captive queen who was kept in
+prison there by some godless folk. But he would not leave Germany
+without protection; therefore he made over this country to Duke Hermann,
+to govern it and to take care of it. In like manner Adaldag, Archbishop
+of Hamburg and Bremen, who went with the Kaiser, confided his dominions
+to the same guardianship. Now the Wends, who lived on the other side of
+the Elbe, especially in Mechlenburg, and had spread themselves abroad on
+this side the Elbe also, were at that time still heathen. And now when
+the Kaiser was absent, they thought the time was come for marauding and
+plundering, hunting the Christians out of their country, or utterly
+destroying them. So they summoned up all their warriors, and that so
+secretly that the Christians knew nothing of it until they came breaking
+into the country. As there was nowhere any preparation for defence
+against them, they robbed and plundered all that came in their way,
+burned down the churches, killed the priests, and dragged the rest into
+captivity for slaves. Duke Hermann was just then in the Bremen
+territory, from whence he had expelled the piratical Northmen (the
+Danes). There the terrible news found him. In the greatest haste he
+collected his warriors to come and save his country. For the Wends had
+already penetrated to Lueneburg, as far as this heath, and had laid
+everything waste with fire and sword; the Hermannsburg church was
+destroyed by them at that time. Here upon this ground they had made a
+strong encampment, and surrounded it with ditches and fortifications
+like a fortress; they were from fifty to sixty thousand men strong, in
+horsemen and footmen, and all of them alive with the same enraged hatred
+of the Christians, and determined that every trace of Christianity
+should be wiped away from the land. In August of the year 945 Duke
+Hermann marched hither out of the Bremen country, over the northern
+heights of Liddernhausen and Dohnsen. When he saw himself with his eight
+thousand men on foot and two thousand horsemen confronted by the great
+host of the Wends, he said to his faithful followers--"We must fight;
+whether God will give us the victory, we must leave with Him." Then
+stepped up one of his knights before him, who is called in the chronicle
+"the brave Conrad," of the now extinct race of them of Haselhorst, and
+spoke:--
+
+"'"Let us get a token from God. I will go forward and challenge one of
+the enemy to single combat; so will the Lord show us to whom He has
+allotted the victory."
+
+"'Duke Hermann gave permission. The knight, followed at some distance by
+a hundred men, who were to see that all was done in order, rode alone
+into the defile and challenged Mistewoi, the leader of the Wends, to
+send one of his people to meet him in single combat. Then stepped
+forward Zwentibold, a Wend of giant stature, clad in a dragon skin and
+with a shirt of link-mail over it, and on the head of his helmet the
+black image of his god Zernebok; behind him also a hundred men to look
+on. The Christian knight first called upon God to be his helper and
+protection: "Lord remember how Thou gavest strength to Thy servant David
+against the giant Goliath who had reviled Thy name; so now to-day
+establish Thy glory among the heathen, and show plainly that Thou art
+the true God."
+
+"'Upon that, with lances in rest, they charged upon each other; and when
+the spears were splintered in that first shock, then it came to a fight
+with swords, man against man. Suddenly comes a traitor's arrow from the
+Wends flying through the air and kills the Christian's horse. But their
+wickedness turns to their own knight's ruin. For as the Wend gallops up
+to the fallen Christian, and is about to cut him down with a stroke from
+above, up springs the Christian knight and thrusts his sword in under
+the other's shoulder, so that he falls dead from his horse. The victory
+is won! But hereupon comes new treachery. For now those hundred Wends
+charge straight down upon the German knight. As his own attendants
+perceive this, they hasten to his help, nothing loath; the armies on
+both sides close in, and the fight soon becomes general. It is fought
+with the utmost bitterness and bravery on both sides till evening fall.
+But the Christians all the while press steadily forward.
+
+"'While the men wielded the sword, the wives of the Christians came out
+to the field, drew away the wounded and sucked the blood from their
+wounds (because they believed that the arrows of the Wends were
+poisoned), bound them up, and encouraged their husbands and sons to make
+brave fight. A company of twelve priests carried a banner with a red
+cross on a white ground. The priests sang, "Kyrie Eleison!" ("Lord, have
+mercy upon us!") "Christe Eleison! Kyrie Eleison!" and the people chimed
+in. A terror of God went with them wherever they went and scattered the
+Wends from every place where the white banner came. As one of the
+heathen leaders with a company was making a determined rush upon the
+banner, the peasant of Dagefoerde drove his spear through the chieftain's
+coat of mail into his breast. Thereupon the heathen all fled. And all
+the Christians fell upon their knees, and all cried out, "Lord God, we
+praise Thee!" Then the priests spoke the benediction over the victorious
+host. And they left nothing remaining of the enemy's camp, but destroyed
+it entirely, because they would not suffer any heathen works upon their
+ground. But the name has remained; for Huehnen was the name our
+forefathers gave to all heathen; that came from the Huns in the first
+place, who fell upon the Christians with such heathenish rage. So that
+place is called Huehnenburg until this day.
+
+"'The church at Hermannsburg was rebuilt again after that time. And soon
+also Christianity came to the Wends, and the Lord Jesus was conqueror
+over them all.'"
+
+"You read part of that before," said Maggie.
+
+"Part of the story; but I thought you would like to have the whole."
+
+"Oh, I do. But I thought it was Zwentibold that Henning of Dagefoerde
+killed, when he was trying to get at the white banner."
+
+"Maybe there were two Zwentibolds; or the story got a little confused
+among the old chroniclers."
+
+"Then how is one to know which is true?"
+
+"It is difficult, very often, Maggie," her uncle said smiling. "Human
+testimony is a strange thing, and very susceptible of getting confused."
+
+"What will you read next, Ditto? About the minister who was converted?"
+
+"Oh, no," said Flora. "Let the catechism alone. Haven't you got some
+more Saxon stories, Meredith?"
+
+"Plenty. Which shall it be, Mr. Murray?"
+
+"Saxon, for this time."
+
+
+"'THE REMMIGA FARM.
+
+"'As in my former narrations I have told of the glorious victory which
+with God's help Landolf gained over the old priest Heinrich and his
+children, I will tell you now of a third victory which the Lord granted
+him. An hour from here was a farm which in the chronicle is called the
+Remmiga manor; it was inhabited by a free man named Walo. His wife's
+name was Odela, sometimes the chronicle calls her Adela. The name is
+one, for the word Adel is often written and spoken as Odel in the old
+manuscripts. The pair had a son, who bore his father's name.
+
+"'As owner of a head manor, Walo was at the same time priest of the
+community, which dignity always went along with the possession of a
+chief manor among the old Saxons. All the councils and courts of the
+community were held under his presidency; he brought the sacrifices
+thereto pertaining; and it is easy to imagine what consideration on all
+these accounts he enjoyed. This consideration was still further
+heightened by the fact of his knowledge of the old laws and customs, and
+by his incorruptible truth and uprightness. Like Heinrich, he too was at
+the beginning a determined enemy of the Christian religion. Landolf
+visited him frequently and told him about the Lord Jesus, but Walo's ear
+was deaf to the truth of the gospel. He knew from old legends that once
+upon a time two brothers, the white and the black Ewald, who had
+preached Christianity among the Saxons, had been by them sacrificed to
+their idols. And so, with Saxon tenacity holding fast to the old
+traditions, he told Landolf to his face that in justice he ought to
+suffer the same fate which had fallen upon the two Ewalds; and that it
+could not be carried out upon him, simply because the decision of the
+people, taken by the national assembly at the stone-houses, once taken
+became a law, according to which the free preaching of the gospel was
+permitted. Landolf did not allow himself to be daunted by this, but
+continued his visits and his teachings; for he observed that Walo, in
+spite of all that, always listened with attention when he told about the
+Lord Christ.
+
+"'One day Landolf came again to Remmiga. He found Walo sitting in front
+of his dwelling, by the place of sacrifice, where the assemblies of the
+district were wont to be held, still and sunk in his own thoughts. Near
+him stood his wife Odela and his little son, who was perhaps twelve
+years old. The boy ran joyously to meet Landolf and said--"It is nice
+that you have come. I have just been asking father to let me go away
+with you; I would like to hear a great deal about the Lord Jesus; I want
+to be His disciple. Mother is glad; and," he whispered softly, "she
+loves the Son of God too; but father feels very troubled, and don't like
+it; he says he has lost his wife and his son to-day!" Odela gave Landolf
+her hand and spoke aloud. "Yes, I love Jesus; I want to be His disciple;
+but Walo will have none of it; and so I too will go with you, that I may
+hear about Jesus and be baptized."
+
+"'Landolf hardly knew where he stood. Until this time Odela and her son
+had listened in silence when he talked about Jesus, but never a word had
+they spoken. Now they told him how, while he talked, the Lord Jesus had
+so grown in their hearts that they could not get loose from Him again;
+and they did not wish to get loose; for they wanted to be saved and to
+come into the Christian's heaven, where Jesus is and the holy angels.
+
+"'Then up rose Walo, turned a dark look upon Landolf, and said to him,
+"Thou hast led astray my wife and my son with thy words, and now I have
+no wife and no son any more. Go out of my grounds; take my wife and my
+son with thee; they have no love for me any longer; their love is for
+Jesus."
+
+"'"O Walo!" Landolf answered, "seest thou not yet that thy gods are dead
+idols? Dost thou not see that Jesus is the true, the living God? Jesus
+has won their hearts; thine idols cannot win hearts; thou mayest see
+that by thy wife and thy son. Let Jesus gain thy heart too. You shall
+all three be saved."
+
+"'Walo shook his head. "He wins not my heart!"
+
+"'"Then," cried the servant of the Lord joyfully, "then shall thy wife
+and thy son win thy heart for Jesus. Thy wife and thy son desire to be
+baptized. Thou canst not hinder them: they are free; they are noble
+born. I am going to baptize them now, this day, in thy presence; for
+they believe in Jesus that He is the Son of God. But I know that thy
+wife and thy son are dear to thee, and thou art very dear to them, only
+Jesus is dearer yet. Let them remain with thee after they are baptized;
+do not thrust them out from thy house. And if, when they are baptized,
+they love thee still better than formerly, if they are more dutiful to
+thee than formerly, wilt thou then believe that Jesus is mightier than
+thine idols? Thou hast often told me that Odela is proud and passionate,
+though in all else good and noble. Now if when she is baptized she
+becomes humble and gentle, wilt thou then believe that Jesus can give
+people new hearts?"
+
+"'Walo looked at the glad Landolf with an astonished face. "Odela humble
+and gentle!" said he. "Yes, then I will believe that Jesus can make the
+heart new; I will believe that He is God, and I will worship Him."
+
+"'"Give me thy right hand, Walo," said Landolf; "I know a Saxon keeps
+his word and never tells a lie, and Walo before all others."
+
+"'They shook hands. Landolf did not delay. He went immediately for
+Hermann and Heinrich, and fetched them to share in his joy and to act as
+the sponsors. And oh, how gladly they came! That same evening Adela and
+her son were baptized in the name of the Triune God; and Landolf
+joyously reminded them that he had promised Walo his wife and his son
+should win his heart for Christ.
+
+"'A year passed away, and on the very day on which Adela and her son had
+been baptized, Walo also received baptism; for the Christianised Adela
+had become humble and gentle, because Jesus dwelt in her heart; and
+after their baptism she and her son had loved the husband and father
+still more ardently, and had been more obedient to him than before. Walo
+confessed, "they are better than I." Oh, the Christian walk, the
+Christian walk! how mighty it is to convert! The walk of Christians is
+the living preaching of the living God.
+
+"'And now a Christian chapel was erected by Walo at Remmiga, on the
+place of sacrifice; and around the chapel there rose up a Christian
+village, which established itself upon his soil and territory; a brook
+ran through the new village, which was therefore called Bekedorf, and is
+called so at the present day; it lies in the parish of Hermannsburg. The
+chapel stood till the Thirty Years' War; it was burnt down then by
+Tilly's marauders, and has never been built up again. But there is more
+of the story. Walo died old and full of days, in the arms of his wife
+and son. Landolf had gone home long before, and so had old Hermann and
+Heinrich. But the young Walo had grown to be the most faithful friend of
+Hermann's son, who was also named Hermann, and who by Kaiser Otto the
+Great was made Duke of Saxony. So then, when Hermann Billing was made
+the Kaiser's lieutenant of the kingdom in Northern Germany, upon
+occasion of Otto's journey into Italy, Hermann made his faithful Walo a
+graf, that is, one of the chief judges of the country; and he travelled
+about and wrought justice and righteousness, and was, as the Scripture
+says of an upright judge, "for a terror to evil-doers and the praise of
+them that did well." He married Odelinde, a noble young lady, who also
+loved the Saviour, and had been brought up by the good cloister ladies
+at the Quaenenburg. They led a happy and God-fearing life, but they had
+no children. When now both of them were old and advanced in years,
+Odelinde one day was reminding her husband of the blessing she had
+received from the pious training of the cloister ladies; and she asked
+him whether, as they had no children, and were rich, they might not
+found another cloister with their money, in which noble young girls
+should be educated by good cloister sisters. Walo complied with her wish
+gladly; for he loved the kingdom of God, and at that time the cloisters
+were simply the abodes of piety; they were not yet places of idleness,
+but of diligence; not homes of lawlessness, but of modesty; not of
+superstition, but of faith.
+
+"'About four miles from his place on the river Boehme lay a wide tract of
+meadow land, bordered by a magnificent thick wood of oaks and beeches.
+When Walo travelled through the country as graf, he had often been
+greatly pleased with this spot; and it had occurred to him that such
+beauty ought not to remain any longer given up to wild beasts, but
+should become a dwelling-place for men. This thought recurred now
+vividly to his mind. His wife desired to see the place too. So they went
+to view it, and decided to build a cloister there, around which then
+other human dwellings would grow up, but the cloister itself should be
+the home of pious ladies whose special business should be the bringing
+up of nobly-born young girls. The wood was rooted up' (_roden_ is to
+root up); 'and on the _Rode_' (that is, the space cleared) 'the cloister
+was built, which thereupon was called _Walo's Rode_; about which later
+the village _Walsrode_ was settled, which still later spread itself out
+into a little city, having the cloister to thank for its origin. Walo
+not only built the cloister at his own expense, but also endowed it for
+its support with the tithes of the Bekedorf village, which belonged to
+the manor. It is but a little while since the Bekedorfers bought off
+these tithes.
+
+"'I must state, however, that in my extracts from the chronicle there
+occurs a divergence from the usual dates. That is, I have formerly read
+under a picture of Graf Walo in the cloister church at Walsrode the
+number of the year 986. In my extracts, on the other hand, it is said
+that the cloister was founded by Walo in the year of grace 974, and
+consecrated by Bishop Landward of Muenden. The last can be explained by
+the fact that the valley of the Oerze belonged to the see of Muenden and
+not to the nearer Verden, and therefore Walsrode also being founded from
+hence, must be consecrated by the Muenden bishop. But as to the
+difference of the two dates, I can do nothing further to clear that up,
+since I am no investigator of history, but have singly written down what
+I have found.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+"I like that," said Maggie sedately.
+
+"How curiously near it seems to bring the Middle Ages!" said Meredith.
+"The picture of Graf Walo!--and Pastor Harms has seen it."
+
+"Why couldn't Walo build a schoolhouse without making a cloister of it?"
+asked Maggie.
+
+"There were really reasons, apart from religious ones," Mr. Murray
+replied. "You remember your views of old castles on the Rhine, perched
+up on inaccessible heights?"
+
+"It must have been very inconvenient," said Flora. "Imagine it!"
+
+"It would have been worse than inconvenient to live below in the valley.
+A rich noble could not have been sure of keeping any precious thing his
+house held--unless his retainers were very numerous and always on duty;
+and in that case the lands would have come by the worst. The only really
+secure places, Maggie, were the religious houses."
+
+"What dreadful times!" said Flora.
+
+"So these stories show them."
+
+"Uncle Eden," said Esther, "it is time to go in and get ready for
+dinner."
+
+"Is it? Oh, this pine wood is better than dinner! Look how the light is
+coming red through the boles of the trees! Feel this air that is playing
+about my face! Smell the pines!"
+
+"But you will want dinner, Uncle Eden, all the same, and it will be
+ready."
+
+"Well," said Mr. Murray, rousing himself so far as to get up on one
+elbow.
+
+"Where shall we go for our reading to-morrow afternoon?" said Maggie.
+
+"The Lookout rock," suggested Meredith.
+
+"Do you like that, Uncle Eden?"
+
+"I like it all, Maggie. If to-morrow is like to-day, I think the Lookout
+rock will be very enjoyable."
+
+"And then you can look at the sky while you are talking to us," said
+Maggie comfortably.
+
+"Why precisely at the sky?" Meredith asked laughing.
+
+"Oh, it's so beautiful up there sometimes."
+
+They sauntered slowly back to the house, through the sweet pines, under
+the illuminating red rays which were coming level against the
+tree-stems. Then out of the wood and among the flower-beds and shrubbery
+surrounding the house; with the open view of sky and river, purple-brown
+and ruddy gold lights flowing upon the sides of the hills, reflecting
+the western brilliance, which yet was warm and rich rather than
+dazzling.
+
+"I never saw such a place as this!" exclaimed Meredith for the fourth or
+fifth time.
+
+"The world is a wonderful place generally," observed Mr. Murray
+thoughtfully. "Rich--rich! 'the riches of His grace,' and the riches of
+His wisdom."
+
+They were a very happy party at dinner. Fenton, it is true, came out
+singularly in the conversation, and gave a number of details respecting
+life at school and his views of life in the world. Mr. Murray's answers
+however were so humorous, and so wise and sweet at the same time, that
+it seemed Fenton only furnished a text for the most pleasant discourse.
+And after dinner Maggie got out stereoscopic views, and she and others
+delighted themselves with a new look at the Middle Ages.
+
+"What a strange thing it must be," said Meredith, "to live where every
+farm and every church has a history; of course every village."
+
+"Haven't farms and villages in our country a history?" Maggie inquired.
+
+"No," said Esther; "of course not."
+
+"A few," said Mr. Murray. "Such New England farms, for instance, as
+still bear the names 'Lonesome' and 'Scrabblehard.' But the histories
+are not very old, and refer to nothing more picturesque than the
+struggles of the early settlers."
+
+"What struggles?" Maggie wanted to know.
+
+"Struggles for life. With the hard soil, with the hard climate, and with
+the wild Indians. But such struggles, Maggie, left an inheritance of
+strength, patience, and daring to their children."
+
+"Why haven't we stories like those of the Saxons?"
+
+"Why!" exclaimed Fenton impatiently, "are you such a simple? There was
+nothing here but red Indians till a little while ago."
+
+"We have not been a nation for more than a hundred years, Maggie," said
+Meredith.
+
+"And before that, were the Indians here at Mosswood?"
+
+"No, no," said Fenton. "You had better study history."
+
+"As _you_ have," put in his uncle. "Won't you tell Maggie when the first
+settlements of the English were made in America?"
+
+However, Fenton could not.
+
+"In the beginning of the seventeenth century it was, Maggie, that the
+first colonies were established here. The Dutch came to New York, and
+the Puritans to New England, and a little earlier the English colonists
+to Virginia. We are a young country."
+
+"Is it better to be a young country, or to be an old one?"
+
+"The young country has its life before it," said Mr. Murray
+smiling;--"like a young girl."
+
+"How, Uncle Eden?"
+
+"She has the chance still to make it noble and beautiful."
+
+"We can't have these grand old castles, though," said Meredith, looking
+at the view of Sonneck.
+
+"Those are the picturesque scars remaining of a time which was not
+beautiful--except to the eye. I suppose it was that."
+
+The conversation took a turn too historical to be reported here.
+
+The next day was a worthy successor of the preceding. All the party went
+to church in the morning; on account of the distance, nobody went in the
+afternoon. Mr. Candlish would not have his horses and servants called
+out in the latter half of the day. The dinner was early; and so then
+after dinner the party set out upon a slow progress to the Lookout rock,
+carrying Bibles, and Meredith with his little German volume in his
+pocket.
+
+Another such afternoon as the yesterday's had been! Warm, still,
+fragrant, hazy; more hazy than ever. The outlines of the distant hills
+were partially veiled; the colours on the middle distance glowing,
+mellow and soft, all the sun's glitter being shielded off. Slowly and
+enjoyingly the little company wandered along, leaving the lawns and
+pleasure ground of flowers behind them; through the cedars, past the
+spot where a day or two ago they had sat and read and eaten their
+chicken pie. Past that, and then up a winding steep mountain road that
+led up to the height of the point above. Just before the top was reached
+they turned off from the way towards the left, whence glimpses of the
+river had been coming to them, and after a few steps over stones and
+under the trees which covered all the higher ground, emerged from both
+upon a broad, smooth, top of a great outlying mass of granite rock which
+overhung the river. Not literally; a stone dropped from the edge would
+have rolled, not fallen, into the water; a stone thrown from the hand
+easily might have done the latter. The precipice was too sheer to let
+any but those sitting on the very edge of the rock look down its rugged,
+tree-bedecked side. However, Mr. Murray and Meredith at once placed
+themselves on that precise edge of the platform, while the girls and
+Fenton sat down in what they considered a safer position. A hundred feet
+below, just below, rolled the broad river; Mosswood's projecting point
+to the right still shutting off all view of the upper stream, while the
+jutting forth of Gee's point below on the other side equally cut off the
+southern reach of the river. The trees at hand, right and left, above
+and below, standing in autumn's gay colours; the hillsides and curves of
+the opposite shore showing the same hues more mild under the veil of
+haze and the distance. Not a leaf fluttered on its stem in the deep
+stillness; but far down below one could hear the soft lapping of the
+water as it flowed past the rocks. The stillness and the light filled up
+the measure of each other's beauty.
+
+For a while everybody was silent. There was a spell of nature, which
+even the young people did not care to break. Flora drew a long breath,
+at last, and then Maggie spoke.
+
+"Uncle Eden, we came here to talk."
+
+"Did we?"
+
+"I thought we did--to talk and to read."
+
+"Nature is doing some talking, and we are listening."
+
+"What does Nature say?"
+
+"Do you hear nothing?"
+
+Maggie thought she _did_, and yet she could not have told what. "It is
+not very plain, Uncle Eden," she remarked.
+
+"It becomes plainer and plainer the older you grow, Maggie,--that is,
+supposing you keep your ears open."
+
+"But I would like to know what your ears hear, Uncle Eden."
+
+"It will be more profitable to go into the subjects you wanted to
+discuss. What are they?"
+
+"I made a list of them, Uncle Eden," said Maggie, foisting a crumpled
+bit of paper out of her pocket. "Uncle Eden, Ditto read to us some
+stories which you didn't hear,--it was just before you came,--about poor
+people who gave the only pennies they had to pay for sending
+missionaries, and went without their Sunday lunch to have a penny to
+give; and Flora said she thought it was wrong; and we couldn't decide
+how much it was right to do."
+
+"It is a delicate question."
+
+"Well, how much _ought_ one, Uncle Eden?"
+
+"You do not want to go without your lunch?"
+
+"No, sir. Ought I, Uncle Eden?"
+
+"My dear, the Lord's rule is, 'Every man according as he purposeth in
+his heart, so let him give. What you _want_ to give, that is what the
+Lord likes to receive."
+
+"Don't He like to receive anything but what we like to give?"
+
+"He says, 'The Lord loveth a cheerful giver.'"
+
+There was a pause.
+
+"But, Mr. Murray," said Flora, "isn't there such a thing as a duty of
+giving?"
+
+"There is such a thing."
+
+"That is what we want to know. What is it? What is the duty, I mean?"
+
+"What does the Bible say it is, you mean?"
+
+"Yes, sir, certainly."
+
+"I am afraid you will think the rule a sweeping one. The Lord said,
+'This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you.'"
+
+Another pause.
+
+"But we were talking of _giving_, Mr. Murray."
+
+"Love will give where it is needful."
+
+"But will nothing but love give?"
+
+"Not to the Lord."
+
+"To what, then?" said Flora hastily.
+
+"To custom--to public opinion--to entreaty--to conscience--to fear--to
+kindness of heart."
+
+"And isn't that right?"
+
+"It is not giving to the Lord."
+
+"Well, Mr. Murray, take it so; how much ought one to give, as you say,
+to the Lord?"
+
+"All."
+
+"And be a beggar!" said Flora quickly.
+
+"No; only the Lord's steward."
+
+"That is exactly what I thought Mr. Murray would say," said Meredith.
+
+"Then it comes back to the first question, Mr. Murray. Suppose I am a
+steward, how much must I give away out of my hand?"
+
+"If you are a good steward, your question will be different. It will
+rather run thus--'What does my Master want me to do with this money?'
+and if you are a loving servant, naturally the things which are dear to
+your Master's heart will be dear to yours."
+
+"You are speaking in generals, Mr. Murray," said Flora frettedly; "come
+to details, and then I shall know. What objects are dear to His heart?"
+
+"Don't you know that, Miss Flora?"
+
+"No, I don't think I do. Please to answer, Mr. Murray, what are the
+objects, as you say, dear to His heart?"
+
+"All the people He died for."
+
+Flora paused again.
+
+"I can't reach all those people," she said softly.
+
+"No. Do good to all those who come within your reach."
+
+"What sort of good?"
+
+"Every sort they need," said Mr. Murray smiling.
+
+"Do you think it is wrong to wear diamonds, Mr. Murray?"
+
+"Certainly not,--if you think the money will serve the Lord best in that
+way, and if your love to Him can express itself best so."
+
+A muttered growl from Fenton expressive of extreme disgust was just not
+distinct enough to call for rebuke.
+
+"Then I suppose, according to that, I am never to buy a silk dress that
+is at all expensive," said Flora, the colour mounting into her handsome
+face. "And costly furniture of course must be wrong, and everything else
+that is costly."
+
+"_Your_ conclusions--not mine, Miss Flora," remarked Mr. Murray
+good-humouredly. "It is a matter of loving stewardship; and love easily
+finds its way to its ends, always."
+
+"And Meredith wants to know what he shall do with Meadow Park," said
+Maggie.
+
+"Yes. Ah, Mr. Murray! do say something to stop him," added Flora. "Do
+not let him spoil Meadow Park."
+
+"To turn the Pavilion into a pretty little church would spoil nothing,
+Miss Flora, as it seems to me."
+
+"No, but that is not all. Meredith is persuaded that he must make the
+place a home for old women, and a refuge for sick people, and fill it
+with loafers generally. Mamma and I will have to run away and be without
+any home at all; and don't you think he owes something to us?"
+
+"I have not decided upon anything, Mr. Murray," said Meredith smiling,
+though he was very earnest. "I just wish I knew what I had best do."
+
+"Pray for direction, and then watch for the answer."
+
+"How would the answer come, Mr. Murray?" asked Flora.
+
+"He will know when he gets it. Come, Meredith--read."
+
+"About the man with the catechism?" said Maggie.
+
+"If you like. It will be a change from the Saxon times," said Meredith.
+And he wheeled about a little and reclined upon the rock, so as to turn
+his face towards his hearers. "But what a delicious place to read and
+talk, Mr. Murray!"
+
+"Nothing can be better."
+
+"This story begins with Pastor Harms's account of part of one of the
+Mission festivals that used to be held at Hermannsburg every year."
+
+"Will that be interesting?" said Flora.
+
+"Listen and see. I pass over the account of the first day."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+"'The first day's celebration of our Mission festival was at an end. It
+was then not early, but still on until late in the night the sounds of
+the songs of praise and thankfulness were to be heard in the houses,
+from the parsonage out to the furthest outlying houses of the peasants,
+and so it was also in the surrounding villages; for the parish village
+could by no means accommodate all the guests who had come to the
+festival, albeit not only the chambers and dwelling-rooms, but also the
+haylofts were made lodging-places for the sleepers. And that was a
+blessed evening, when so many brethren and sisters from far and near
+could refresh themselves with one another's company and pour out their
+hearts together. I thank God that so many pastors and teachers were
+come, too, and also our faithful superintendent was not wanting. It is
+right that the heads of the Church should not be missing at such a
+festival.
+
+"'The next day--and we had prayed the Lord to give us good weather for
+it--we were to go to a place in the midst of the lonely heath, called
+Tiefenthal."'
+
+"What does that mean?" Maggie interrupted.
+
+"_Tief_ means deep. _Thal_ means valley."
+
+"'Deep valley,'" said Maggie. "But I do not understand what a _heath_
+is."
+
+"Naturally. We do not have them in this country, that ever I heard of,"
+said Meredith.
+
+"Neither here nor in England," said Mr. Murray. "For miles and miles the
+Lueneburger heath is an ocean of purple bloom; that is, in the time when
+the heather is in blossom. But there are woods also in places, and in
+other places lovely valleys break the spread of the purple heather,
+where grass and trees and running water make lovely pictures. Sometimes
+one comes to a hill covered with trees; and here and there you find
+solitary houses and bits of farms, but scattered apart from each other,
+so that great tracts of the heath are perfectly lonely and still. You
+see nothing and hear nothing living, except perhaps some lapwings in the
+air, and a lizard now and then, and humming beetles, and maybe here and
+there some frogs where there happens to be a wet place, and perhaps a
+landrail; elsewhere a general, soft, confused humming and buzzing of
+creatures that you cannot see, and the purple waves of heather, only
+interrupted here and there by a group of firs or a growth of bushes
+along the edge of a ditch."
+
+"O Uncle Eden!" cried Maggie, "have you been there? And do you know the
+village, too?"
+
+"_The_ village? Pastor Harms's village--do you mean, Hermannsburg? Yes.
+It is like many others. Two long lines of cottages, the little river
+Oerze cutting it in two, beautiful old trees shading it,--that is the
+village. The cottages are not near each other; gardens and fields lie
+between; and at the gable of every house is a wooden horse or horse's
+head; from the old Saxon times, you know. No dirt and no squalor and no
+beggars nor misery to be seen in Hermannsburg. That, I suppose, is much
+owing to Pastor Harms's influence."
+
+"Thank you, Uncle Eden," said Maggie with a sigh of intense interest.
+"Now you can go on, Ditto. They were going out into the heath. All the
+people?"
+
+"I suppose so. 'To a place in the midst of the heath solitudes called
+Tiefenthal. Why? I had not told them that; I wanted to tell it to them
+first of all on the spot. I had another reason besides, though; I wanted
+to have the sun beat a little in African fashion on the heads of the
+guests at our festival, so that our brethren in Africa might not be the
+only ones hot. So at nine o'clock the next morning the great crowd of
+those who were to make the pilgrimage with us from Hermannsburg, were
+assembled at the Mission-house under the banner of the cross, which
+fluttered joyously from the high flagstaff. It was hard for me not to be
+able to walk with the rest, but I was only just recovered from a severe
+illness. A pilgrimage is the pleasantest going on earth to me. One can
+sing by the way so joyfully with the hosts that are moving along; one
+can talk so cordially and so familiarly about the kingdom of God in the
+crowd of the brethren; and now and then one gets a chance by a shallow
+ditch to tumble one of one's fellow pilgrims over, especially one of the
+children. I had to do without all that and get into a waggon. When I
+came to the Mission-house, the procession set itself in motion towards
+the high grounds of the heath. With sounding of trumpets and amid songs
+of praise the crowds travelled on, for nearly two hours long, all the
+while mounting higher and higher, and truly, for God had heard our
+prayer, under a burning sunshine. Many a one had to sweat for it
+soundly; even I in the waggon. It was a picturesque procession; a whole
+long row of carriages and these crowds of people; the solitary heath had
+become all alive. At last a not inconsiderable height was reached, where
+the ground fell off suddenly into a steep, precipitous dell. This was
+Tiefenthal. It is a very narrow valley, or rather a cut between two
+hills, one of which is bare, the other covered with a luxuriant growth
+of evergreens. Below stands an empty bee enclosure, called the Pastor's
+Beefield, because it as well as the wood-covered hill belongs to the
+pastor of Hermannsburg. From all the farms round about hosts of pilgrims
+were coming at the same time with us, travelling along; and like the
+brooks which after a thunder-shower plunge down from the hills to the
+lower ground, even so the waves of humanity rolled towards Tiefenthal.
+At last, then, I took my stand on the slope of the bare hill, surrounded
+by the brethren who bore the trumpets in their hands, the blast of which
+sounded mightily through the dell and broke in a quivering echo upon the
+opposite hill. Countless hosts lay upon the two slopes and in the bottom
+of the dell, and out of many thousand throats the song of praise to the
+Lord rose into the blue dome of the sky.
+
+"'First was sung, with and without accompaniment of the trumpets, the
+lovely hymn--
+
+    "Rejoice, ye Christians all,
+    His Son by God is given," &c.
+
+to the glorious melody, "Aus meines Herzens Grund!" Then, when the
+mighty sounds died away, followed the preaching, upon Hebrews xi.
+32-40.'"
+
+"Read that passage, Maggie," said her uncle.
+
+Maggie read:
+
+"'And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of
+Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah; of David also, and
+Samuel, and of the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought
+righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched
+the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness
+were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of
+the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others
+were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a
+better resurrection: and others had trial of cruel mockings and
+scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonments: they were stoned,
+they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they
+wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted,
+tormented; (of whom the world was not worthy;) they wandered in deserts,
+and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.'--Uncle Eden, that
+was a great while ago, wasn't it?"
+
+"_That_ was."
+
+"But I mean, people don't do so now, do they?"
+
+"Not here, just now, in America. But nothing is changed in human nature
+or the relations of the two parties, since the Lord said to the serpent,
+'I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and
+her seed.'"
+
+"But does that mean _that_, Uncle Eden? I thought the seed of the woman
+was Christ?"
+
+"It is. But the devil fights against Christ in the persons of his
+people; and the 'seed of the serpent,' the children of the devil, hate
+the children of God, from Cain's time down. 'If they have persecuted me
+they will also persecute you,' the Lord said."
+
+"There is no persecution here, though, in this country, Mr. Murray?"
+said Flora.
+
+"Not persecution with fire and sword. But nothing is changed, Miss
+Flora. It will be fire and sword again, just so soon as the devil sees
+his opportunity. So all history assures us. Go on, Meredith; let us see
+what Pastor Harms made of his text--or doesn't he tell?"
+
+"I'll go on, sir, and you'll see. 'As you have just heard out of the
+Holy Scriptures, so it has been, my dear friends, with the faithful
+witnesses and martyrs of the truth; hacked to pieces, run through the
+body, slain with the sword, or left to wander in the deserts, on the
+mountains, in dens and caves of the earth, of whom the world was not
+worthy. Even in the New Testament we read how Peter and Paul had to
+suffer imprisonment, how Stephen was stoned, James beheaded with the
+sword; how the Jews persecuted all the confessors of the most blessed
+Saviour, dragged them out of their houses, threw them into prisons, and
+took joy in stoning them. And even as the Jews began it, the heathen
+have carried it on; and not hundreds or thousands, but many hundred
+thousands of Christians in the ten great Christian persecutions sealed
+their belief in the Lord Jesus and their faithful confession of His holy
+name with their blood. In our last year's Mission festival in Mueden, I
+told you how the holy apostles Peter and Paul met their death like
+heroes and martyrs; our beloved Hermannsburg church is named after them;
+and I told you about Saint Lawrence, after whom the church in Mueden is
+called. "And to-day," you are questioning, "to-day are you going to tell
+us about martyrs again? We conclude so, from the text you have chosen!
+But wherefore always about martyrs?" My beloved, I have a special love
+to the martyrs; and I do not know how it happens, at every Mission
+festival they come with special vividness before my mind. I believe it
+arises from this: that I am persuaded the ever-growing zeal for missions
+among all earnest Christians is a token that before long the Church of
+Christ will have to take her flight out of Europe; and so the
+unconscious efforts of Christians is towards preparing a place for the
+Church among the wilds of heathenism. And therefore I believe that the
+times of martyrdom will cease to be far-off times for us any longer;
+that the kingdom of Antichrist is drawing near with speedier and
+speedier steps, is becoming daily more powerful; the apostasy from
+Christ is becoming constantly greater and more decided; Christianity is
+growing more and more like a putrid carcass, and where the carcass is,
+there the eagles are gathered together. And therefore missions are
+becoming more evidently the banner around which all living Christians
+rally; for what is written in the Revelation xii. 14-17, will soon
+receive its fulfilment. And when I see such great crowds of Christians
+singing praise and keeping holy day, then the thought always comes to
+me, How would it be if persecution were to break loose now? would all
+these be true witnesses and martyrs, and rather bear suffering, and
+yield up the last drop of their blood and endure any torments, than fall
+away and deny Christ? Oh, and when I reflect how mightily in those times
+of bloody persecution the Christian Church gave her testimony and fought
+and suffered; what a power of Faith, Hope, and Love made itself known,
+that could shout for joy at the stake; and when I think how cold, how
+lukewarm, how loveless Christianity is now--I could almost wish for a
+mighty persecution to come, to break up the rotten peace of Christians,
+who have grown easy and luxurious and to arouse again the right heroism
+of the soldiers of God.
+
+"'It is not only in the times of the Jews and the Romans, at the first
+founding of the Christian Church, that such mighty battles of heroes
+have been fought; the dear and blessed time of the Reformation has had
+its martyrs, who for the pure Word and true sacrament of our beloved
+Lutheran Church staked their persons and lives. Who does not know those
+two faithful disciples, who amid songs of praise were burned at the
+stake at Cologne on the Rhine? that Heinrich von Zutphen who had to give
+up his life in Ditmarsh? those thousands who were murdered or burned by
+the Catholic Inquisition? those thousands who had to pine away in the
+prisons and cloisters of the Catholics? without reckoning the hundreds
+of thousands in the religious wars stirred up by the Catholics, who made
+the battle-fields fat with their blood, and have died for the faith of
+their Church? And now I will tell you why I have brought you here to-day
+to this Tiefenthal. We stand upon holy ground here, upon ground of the
+martyrs. Hear what your fathers suffered for the sake of the pure, true
+Word and sacrament.
+
+"'The story that I am going to tell you must have been acted out
+somewhere between 1521 and 1530. For in the chronicle where I have read
+the story mention is made of the Diet at Speier, but nothing is said of
+the Diet at Augsburg.'"
+
+"Stop, Ditto, please," said Maggie. "What's a _diet_?"
+
+"The supreme council of the German Empire, composed of princes and
+representatives of independent cities of the empire. The famous Diet of
+Augsburg was held in 1530."
+
+"What was it famous for?"
+
+"Famous for an open, bold confession and declaration of the Protestant
+faith by a few Protestant princes in the midst of the crowd of Catholics
+assembled at the Diet."
+
+"Well, Meredith!"
+
+"'Nothing is said of the Diet at Augsburg. And certainly some mention
+would have been made of it if it had already taken place, since our
+beloved princes the Dukes Ernst and Francis of Lueneburg had their share
+in the precious confession of faith. At that time there was in
+Hermannsburg a young Catholic pastor, descended from a noble patrician
+family; he was called Christopher Gruenhagen, and was a kind-hearted man.
+One day'"----
+
+"Stop a minute, Ditto. Some people were Catholics then, and some were
+Protestants?"
+
+"Why, that is how they are now, Maggie," said her sister.
+
+"But I mean, there--in Germany."
+
+"It is so still in Germany," said Meredith. "But then was just the
+beginning of the Reformation, Maggie. Luther was preaching, and the
+world was in a stir generally."
+
+"'One day there comes to Pastor Gruenhagen a sort of artisan fellow, who
+asked for a bit of bread. It was in winter time, and the poor man was
+quite benumbed with cold. Pastor Gruenhagen took pity on him, had him
+served with food and drink, and made him sit down in the _Flett_ (that
+is, the open hall of the house with its low fireplace) that he might
+also warm his cold limbs. After the man had eaten, not forgetting to
+pray either, he stretched his legs comfortably down by the warm hearth,
+and then drew a small MS. book out of his pocket, in which he began to
+read with eager and devout attention. Gruenhagen wondered that the man
+could read, and more especially that he could read writing. Now, indeed,
+an artisan would take it ill if anybody were surprised to find him able
+to read. But the fact that all of us, even the poorest and the smallest,
+can read now, is just one of the blessings of the Reformation, under
+which the first schools for the people were established. In those days
+only scholars and priests could read, and the laity, even the nobles,
+knew nothing about it. So Gruenhagen steps up curiously to the remarkable
+artisan who knows so much as to read, and asks him, "Pray what have you
+there?" For all answer, the man hands him the book. Gruenhagen takes it
+and reads and reads, and the more he reads the more eagerly and
+attentively he devours what he finds there. It was a copy of Luther's
+smaller catechism. Like a lightning flash darts through his soul the
+thought, "What stands in this book is THE TRUTH." He asks his guest now
+where he has come from? The answer is, "From Wittenberg; I have heard
+Luther preach there, and I brought away this catechism with me."
+
+"'Why he had a written copy of the catechism, and not a printed one, I
+cannot tell you; perhaps he had not been able to buy a printed copy, and
+had been at the pains of writing it out; but that is not said in the
+chronicle. And now, while I am speaking of the catechism, I will show
+you also that I am a scholar. Therefore know that Luther printed his
+smaller catechism in the year of grace 1529; because in the two years
+previous he had been travelling about all through Saxony, examining the
+churches; and had found that the pastors were so stupid that they did
+not know even the principal things. Therefore, and surely with the
+assistance of the Holy Spirit, he wrote the small catechism, which I
+hold to be the best of all human books. Before that, however, he had
+already written some similar works; for example, a short exposition on
+the ten commandments, the Creed, and the Paternoster; from which, on
+account of its remarkable quality, I will quote a little. So in it
+Luther says--"The first commandment is trangressed by every one who in
+his difficulties turns to sorcery, the black art of the devil's allies;
+every one who makes that use of letters, signs, words, herbs, charms and
+the like; whoever uses divining-rods, treasure-conjurings, clairvoyance,
+and the like; whoever orders his work and his life according to lucky
+days, sky tokens, and the sayings of soothsayers. The third commandment
+is trangressed by those who eat, drink, play, dance, and carry on unholy
+doings; by those who in indolence sleep away the time of divine service,
+or miss it, or spend it in pleasure drives or walks, or in useless
+chatter; by whoever works or does business without special need; by
+whoever does not pray, does not think on Christ's sufferings, does not
+repent of his sins and long for mercy; and who, therefore, only in
+outward things, as dressing, eating, and posture-taking, keeps the day
+holy."
+
+"'I have brought forward this proof of learning only to show you that
+good people are not quite so simple as perhaps they look; and now I will
+go on with my story.
+
+"'Gruenhagen was so delighted with the dear catechism that he says to the
+workman, "Friend, you must stay with me long enough to let me make a
+copy of your MS., for you won't get the book again before I have done
+that." The friend was very willing to have it so; and now they made an
+honest exchange one with the other. For the pastor ministered to the
+poor, starved and frozen body of the artisan, and the artisan ministered
+to the poor, starved and frozen soul of the pastor. Day by day his
+accounts grew more and more fiery and spirited about Luther's powerful
+preaching, about the many thousands who were streaming to Wittenberg to
+hear the man of God, about the German Bible which Luther had translated,
+about the glorious songs of praise which the Lutherans sung, about the
+pure Sacrament in both kinds; that is, that in Wittenberg both the bread
+and the wine were given to the communicants, and not the bread merely,
+as is done by the Papists against the Lord's commandment. He told how,
+amidst all the rage of his foes, Luther was so joyful and brave, that on
+one occasion he said to the electoral prince of Saxony, who he saw had
+become anxious, "I do not ask your princely grace to protect me, for I
+am under much higher protection, which will take good care of what
+concerns me." Gruenhagen's whole soul was moved by these narrations.
+
+"'After a good many days he let the workman go, laden with gifts, and
+with tears in his eyes dismissed him; for through him he had learned to
+know the truth. And now he goes to study. Soon the little catechism is
+fixed in his heart and his head; and now he procures Luther's other
+works, and first of all the New Testament. And then he can conceal it
+from himself no longer, that the Word of God and the sacrament are
+basely falsified in the Romish Church, and that he himself, without
+knowing it, has been all this while misleading the people; he who in his
+office as pastor should have been a servant of God. This thought burns
+into his inmost soul, so that he almost falls into despondency. But soon
+he finds grace through faith in the dear blood of Jesus Christ. And now
+in him also that word goes into fulfilment--"I believe, therefore have I
+spoken." He begins to preach the pure Word of God, in demonstration of
+the Spirit and of power; he begins to give to communicants the whole,
+entire supper, the emblems of Christ's body and blood; and he teaches
+the children the catechism. And how could he fail of fruit. The parish
+of Hermannsburg stirs with life, the whole region is waked up, and
+thousands come to hear God's Word. Oh, that must have been a blessed
+time, when the Holy Ghost breathed thus upon the dry bones, and the
+Light shined in the darkness. But then, too, the Cross could not fail;
+for on the baptism of the Spirit follows always the baptism of fire; and
+David in the very psalm quoted above says, "I believed, therefore have I
+spoken. _I was greatly afflicted._"
+
+"'There was at that time in Hermannsburg a warden--that is, a steward
+and judge in one person--who was called Andreas Ludwig von Feuershuetz
+(from whom the neighbouring property still keeps the name of
+Feuershuetzenbostel), a rash, determined man, and very zealous for the
+old Popish Church. Writing in those days did not amount to much; the
+warden's scribes were his soldiers. So he went to the pastor, and
+without any circumlocution forbade him to preach the Lutheran heresy,
+adding, "If you don't stop it, I'll shut the door before your nose."
+When Gruenhagen rejected this demand as an improper one, and told him to
+attend to his office, but leave the church to the pastor, the warden
+grew wrathful, and called Gruenhagen a renegade heretic; and the next
+Sunday he actually did set his soldiers to keep the church doors and
+closed the entrance to pastor and congregation both. The thousands who
+followed their pastor were not unwilling to use violence against the
+doer of violence; but Gruenhagen prevented that, and tried to hold divine
+service in his house, and, when that also was interfered with, in the
+houses of the peasants. But wherever they might be, the warden would
+come with his soldiers and break up the service.
+
+"'And this went on for many a week, and yet so great was the power of
+Gruenhagen's good influence over the believers, that no act of violence
+was attempted against their tyrants. At last one day the following
+peasants, Hans von Hiester, Michel Behrens, and Albrecht Lutterloh of
+Lutterloh, Karsten Lange of Ollendorf, and the great Meyer from Weesen,
+came to Gruenhagen and told him they knew a spot in the heath, still and
+solitary and remote, which neither highroad nor footpath came near; the
+warden could not easily find it out: "Let us go there on Sundays and
+hear God's Word from your mouth!" And so it was arranged. Quietly one
+tells it to another, and no one betrays it. The next Sunday, while it is
+still night, the house doors everywhere open, the indwellers come out
+one by one, and travel in mist and darkness, by distant paths, through
+moor, heather, and thicket, hither to Tiefenthal. Gruenhagen is there,
+and with him is his clerk, Gottlob, a believer, converted by his
+pastor's means; and he carries the sweet burden of the church service. O
+my beloved! here stood Gruenhagen; here were your fathers who renounced
+false idols and worshipped their Saviour according to the pure Word and
+ordinance He has given; their songs of praise echoed here, here they
+bent the knee; for a long while your fathers' house of God was here
+under the blue heaven; here were the new-born children baptized in the
+name of the triune God, and the grown men and women were fed with the
+bread and wine which mean the body and blood of the Lord, and so
+received new strength to mount up with wings of eagles. In this place
+your fathers grew to a strength of faith which would waver no more. But
+more trials were coming upon them. The warden was struck by the sudden
+quietness; he had expected that new attempts would be made to get into
+the church. He guessed that something was going on, and could not find
+out what it was. So he set his soldiers on to serve as sleuth-hounds,
+and they scented the game so well that they discovered the whole. Then
+one Sunday morning he got up early and watched with bitter rage to see
+how the people came out of all the houses, men, women, young men and
+girls, old men and children, all quiet and yet so joyous, dressed in
+their Sunday clothes, and hastening to Tiefenthal. Stealthily he
+followed after them, and at their place of refuge heard them preach and
+sing and pray. Suddenly he heard his own name spoken; it gave him a
+great shock; he heard the pastor praying for his conversion and the
+congregation saying Amen. Then a great surging and conflict of feelings
+arose in his brazen heart. But the time was not yet come. He dashed down
+the tears that would come into his eyes, and let his supposed duty get
+the victory. Resolved to suppress the hated heresy that had almost made
+him soft, but too weak to do it with the force at his command, he made
+known the affair to the justiciary of Zelle and asked for help. The
+Zelle justiciary, nothing loath, next Sunday dispatched two hundred of
+his soldiers, who lay hid in the wood till the congregation had
+assembled. Then they broke forth, surrounded our fathers, just as they
+were gathered around their beloved pastor for the holding of divine
+service, fell first of all upon Gruenhagen himself and the crowd which
+pressed round him, laid hold of him and dragged him off, and a hundred
+others with him, to Zelle, with brutal ill-treatment. There the captives
+were obliged to pass three days and three nights in the courtyard of the
+official's house, in snow and ice (it was in November), and it was only
+with difficulty that they could get a bit of bread to eat. Then they
+were thrown into prison; and there for a long time our fathers had to
+share the bonds and imprisonment of God's faithful servant; but no
+threats, no contumely, no distress could move them to apostasy, from the
+faith they had confessed.
+
+"'How long they lay there I do not know. At last, when the Dukes came
+back from Augsburg, the hour of their freedom struck; they were let go,
+and returned to their homes shedding thankful tears; the church was
+again opened to them too, and the heroic Gruenhagen preached the gospel
+to his people anew with fresh power. Then also struck the warden's hour
+of grace; he grew tender, and was overcome by the might of the blessed
+gospel; and whereas he had formerly been a zealot for the mistaken
+service of God, now he became one of the strongest friends of the pure
+Lutheran doctrine in all the community. Out of gratitude the parish gave
+to its beloved watcher for souls this Tiefenthal with the wooded hill
+here, to be for all time the property of the parsonage, which it still
+is to the present day. My beloved, we have come here to-day for
+pleasure; are we to come here again perhaps some day in distress? You
+answer possibly, "No, that is not to be apprehended; our times are too
+humane." Yes! they are humane towards all that is _human_; _i.e._,
+towards banqueting and drinking, dissolute living and deceit. But that
+our times are not too humane towards what is _godly_, is testified by
+the persecutions directed against the Lutherans in Baden and Nassau,
+where various Lutheran preachers have had to pay fine after fine, and
+lie in the common prison, because they preach and baptize and observe
+the communion in the Lutheran manner, and whereto the preaching must
+often be held in mountains and clefts of the rocks to be had in peace.
+And besides, the kingdom of Antichrist is advancing with constantly
+quicker and more decided steps. Even now it everywhere rains words of
+abuse upon the saints, the praying people, the hypocrites, the
+enthusiasts, the mad folk, and by whatever other names beside they may
+call them. And who knows how soon the time may come when the word will
+again be true,--"They will put you out of their synagogues," and
+"whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service." I could if
+I would read you letters that have come from many cities and villages,
+filled with such threatenings and cursings and coarse words against me
+that they would fill you with astonishment. Therefore ask yourselves
+again seriously the question, would you also be ready to give money and
+blood, body and life, for the Lord Jesus and for your faith? would you
+also be ready to suffer bonds and imprisonment for the Lord's sake? If
+it be so that you could not or would not do that, then you are not
+worthy to bear the name of Jesus Christ; for whoever hateth not father
+and mother, wife and child, farm and farm stock, and his own life also,
+for Jesus's sake, he is not worthy of me, the Lord says. To confess
+Christ in peace and in pleasant times, that is easy enough; but to do it
+through distress and death, to stand fast in the baptism of fire, that
+is another thing. Christians of nowadays are accustomed to easy living;
+how would the cup of suffering taste to them? They are drowned in
+delicate and luxurious habits; how would they bear privation? They have
+corrupted themselves in cowardice and indolence; how should they be
+strong and brave under persecution? And listen to me now, you who are
+gathered here together in such numbers; what do you think? If the
+soldiers all of a sudden came upon you, to run you through, or to carry
+you off somewhere where there are no feather beds, would you stand it?
+would you cheerfully give yourselves up to be dragged off? Or would you
+make long legs, keep a whole skin, and deny your Saviour? O God! grant
+that all of us may be able to cry with the Apostle Paul, "I count all
+things but loss that I may win Christ." "I am persuaded that neither
+death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things
+present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, shall be able to
+separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!"
+Let us now sing with the sound of the trumpets our Luther's hero song--
+
+    "Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott."'"
+
+"What does that mean?" said Maggie.
+
+"It means, 'The Lord is my strength and my fortress;' or, more
+literally, Maggie, 'Our God is a sure stronghold.'"
+
+"'When this hymn had been sung, it was time for our noonday meal. So
+after we had prayed the prayer before eating, the people arranged
+themselves everywhere, in larger and smaller groups, on the green grass
+or the brown heather, and with giving of thanks enjoyed the food they
+had brought along with them. Those who had nothing took gladly the spare
+bits of those who had too much. And all were filled; and beer, and
+water, and even sugar-water, were on hand too to quench the burning
+thirst. I had myself a further particular pleasure. A few of our
+festival companions had brought with them some mighty pieces of
+honeycake as a gift for me. That suited me exactly, and I had it packed
+in with other things in my basket of provisions. Now you should have
+seen the glee when I called the children to me and snapped off the sweet
+bits for them. There came even a pretty good number of larger people,
+who wanted to be children too, and have their bite after the children
+had had enough. When we had eaten we had the prayer of thanks, and then
+the beautiful song,
+
+    "Now let us thank God and praise Him," &c."
+
+"'A blast of the trumpets proclaimed the renewal of divine service; and
+again the people arranged themselves in their former places and order
+for a new and last refreshing of their spirits.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+"Is that all?" said Maggie.
+
+"All of that story," Meredith answered.
+
+There was a long silence. On hill and rock and river there was a
+stillness and peace as if nowhere in the world could blood ever have
+flowed, or wrangling been heard, or men been cruel one to another. So
+soft and warm the sunlight brooded, and the dry leaves hung still on the
+trees and not a breath moved them, and the liquid lap of the water
+against the rocks far down below just came to the ear with a murmur of
+content. There was nothing else to hear; and the silence was so
+exquisite that it laid a sort of spell on everybody's tongue, while the
+mild sunlight on the warm, hazy hills seemed to find out everybody's
+very heart and spread itself there. A spell of stillness and a spell of
+peace. All the party were hushed for a good while; and what broke the
+charm at last was a long-drawn breath of little Maggie, which came from
+somewhere much deeper then she knew. Mr. Murray looked up at her and
+smiled.
+
+"What is it, Maggie?"
+
+"I don't know, Uncle Eden. I think something makes me feel bad."
+
+"Feel bad!" echoed Esther.
+
+"I don't mean feel _bad_ exactly--I can't explain it."
+
+"I suppose she has been thinking, as I have been," said Meredith, "that
+it does not seem as if this day and my story could both belong to the
+same world."
+
+"Ah!" said Mr. Murray, "this is a little bit of God's part, and the
+other is a little bit of man's part in the world; that is all."
+
+"But, Uncle Eden, in those dreadful times it don't seem as if there
+could ever have been pleasant days."
+
+"I fancy there were. Don't you think the people of Hermannsburg must
+have enjoyed Tiefenthal, sometimes in the early starlight dawn and
+sometimes in the fresh sunrise?"
+
+"Uncle Eden, I should always have been afraid the soldiers were coming."
+
+"On the other hand, those people always knew that God was there. And
+there is a wonderful sweetness in living in His hands."
+
+"But yet, Uncle Eden, He did let the soldiers come."
+
+"_He_ did not go away, Maggie."
+
+"No; but those must have been dreadful times."
+
+"Well, yes. They were no doubt hard times. And yet, Maggie, it remains
+true--'When _He_ giveth quietness, then who can make trouble?' Think of
+Paul and Silas, beaten and bleeding, stiff and sore, stretched
+uncomfortably in the wooden framework which left them no power to rest
+themselves or change their position; in the noisome inner dungeon of a
+Roman prison, and yet singing for gladness. People cannot sing when they
+are faint-hearted, Maggie. The Lord keeps His promises."
+
+"I wonder how many people would stand Pastor Harms's test?" Meredith
+remarked.
+
+"They are not obliged to stand it," Flora rejoined. "There are no
+persecutions now; not here, at any rate. People are not called upon to
+be martyrs."
+
+"Do you think the terms of service have changed?" said Mr. Murray
+looking at her.
+
+"Why, sir, we are _not_ called upon to be martyrs."
+
+"No, but are you not called to have the same spirit the martyrs had?"
+
+"How can we?"
+
+"What is the martyr spirit?"
+
+"I don't know," said Flora. "I suppose it is a wonderful power of
+bearing pain, which is given people at such times."
+
+"Given to everybody?" said Meredith.
+
+"Of course, not given to everybody."
+
+"To whom, then?"
+
+"Why, to Christians."
+
+"And what is a Christian?" said Mr. Murray. "Are there two kinds, one
+for peace and the other for war?"
+
+"No, I suppose not," said Flora, somewhat mystified.
+
+"'Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before
+my Father which is in heaven.' So the Lord said. Now in times of
+persecution, you know what confessing Christ meant. What does it mean in
+these days?"
+
+"I do not think I understand the question, Mr. Murray."
+
+"In the Roman days, for instance, how did people confess Christ?"
+
+"I don't know. They owned that they were Christians."
+
+"How did they own that? They refused to do anything that could be
+constructed into paying honour to the gods of the people. They might
+have said in word that they were Christians--but nobody would have
+meddled with them if they would have hung garlands of flowers upon
+Jupiter's altar."
+
+"No," said Flora.
+
+"How is it in these days?"
+
+"What do you mean, sir?"
+
+"I mean, how is Christ to be confessed in these days?"
+
+"I don't know," said Flora; "except by making what is called a
+profession of religion,--joining some church, I suppose."
+
+"Does that do it?"
+
+"I do not know how else."
+
+"Why, Uncle Eden," said Maggie, "how can one do it any other way?"
+
+"One cannot do it in that way, my pet."
+
+"_Not?_" said Flora. "How then, Mr. Murray?"
+
+"What do people join the church for, then, Uncle Eden?" Esther inquired.
+
+"Those who enlist in Christ's army must certainly put on His uniform.
+But who shall say that the uniform does not cover a traitor?"
+
+"A traitor, Mr. Murray?" Flora looked puzzled.
+
+"Yes. There are many traitors. There were even in Paul's time."
+
+"Traitors among the Christians?"
+
+"So he wrote. 'Many walk, of whom I have told you often, and tell you
+now again even weeping, that they are _enemies of the cross of Christ_.'
+They were professors of His name, nevertheless, Miss Flora; but confess
+Him before men, except in word, they did not. So my question stands, you
+perceive."
+
+"How to confess Christ nowadays so that there shall be no mistake about
+it?" Meredith added. Flora and Esther and Maggie sat looking at Mr.
+Murray, as at the propounder of a riddle. Fenton pricked up his ears and
+stared at the whole group.
+
+"What did those people do, Mr. Murray?" Flora asked.
+
+"Paul tells. He says of them that their 'glory is in their shame;' they
+'mind earthly things.'"
+
+"How can one help minding earthly things, as long as one lives in this
+world?"
+
+"One cannot, Miss Flora. But the characteristic of a Christian is, that
+he seeks _first_ the kingdom of God."
+
+"How?"
+
+"First, to have the Lord's will done in his own heart; next, to have it
+done in other people's hearts."
+
+"But you were talking of doing something to show to the world that you
+are certainly a Christian, Mr. Murray?"
+
+"Yes, Miss Flora. Shall I tell you some of the ways in which this may be
+accomplished?"
+
+"Yes, if you please. I am completely in a fog."
+
+"I never like to leave anybody in a fog. Now listen, and I will give you
+some of the Bible marks of a real Christian.
+
+"'_Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot
+be my disciple._'"
+
+"But, Mr. Murray!"----
+
+"Yes, that is just it exactly!" said Meredith, delighted.
+
+"How can one forsake all he has? Be a beggar?"
+
+"Not at all. Give it all to Christ, and be His steward."
+
+"Not to please yourself in anything!" cried Flora.
+
+"I did not say so. And the Bible does not mean so. For another Bible
+mark of a Christian is, in the Lord's words--
+
+"'_My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me._'"
+
+"But can't one do anything that one wants to do?" cried Flora in dismay.
+
+"Many things. But a Christian has no pleasure in what does not please
+God."
+
+"How is one always to know?"
+
+"I am going on to tell you in part. '_Whatsoever ye do, do all to the
+glory of God._'"
+
+"That don't tell _me_," said Flora. "How can I tell what will do that?
+And how can one do _everything_ so? Little things--and life is very much
+made up of little things. Dressing, and studying, and reading, and
+playing, and amusing one's self."
+
+"O Flora?" Maggie cried; and "Why, Flora!" Meredith said, looking at
+her; but neither added anything more.
+
+"The Bible says, '_Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do_,'" Mr.
+Murray answered. "In another place, '_Whatsoever ye do, in word or
+deed_.'"
+
+"Well, Mr. Murray, I don't understand it; take eating and drinking--how
+can that be done to the glory of God?"
+
+"You can easily see how it can be done _not_ to His glory. Any way that
+is not becoming His servant is not to His glory. Therefore, in
+excess--of things that do not agree with you and therefore unfit you for
+duty--of costly dishes, which take the money that might feed starving
+people."
+
+"But I can't feed all the starving people!" said Flora.
+
+"It is something to feed one. But I will give you another Bible mark,
+Miss Flora, '_He that saith he abideth in Him_,' that is, in Christ,
+'_ought himself also to walk even as He walked.'_ Now remember how
+Christ walked. He was here, '_as one that serveth_.' He '_went about
+doing good_.' He '_pleased not Himself_.' He '_did always those things
+that please' God_."
+
+"But one can't be like _Him_," said Esther.
+
+"That depends entirely upon whether you choose to be like Him."
+
+"O Uncle Eden! He was"----
+
+"Yes, I know, and I know what you are, and I, and all of us. It remains
+true,--'God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of
+His Son Jesus Christ our Lord;'--'chosen, that we should be holy and
+without blame before Him in love.'"
+
+There was a pause of some length. Flora was silenced, but her eyes had
+filled, and her face wore a pained and bitter expression. Meredith had
+glanced at her and thought it better not to speak. Maggie was in a depth
+of meditation. Fenton had gone scrambling down the rocks. Esther looked
+somewhat bored.
+
+"Have you got your book there, Meredith?" Mr. Murray asked.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Read us something more. And after that you may all bring your
+questions. We came here on purpose to talk, as I understood."
+
+"There are different sort of things here, sir. Shall I give you a
+change?"
+
+"What you will--
+
+    "'O day most calm, most bright,
+      The fruit of this, the next world's bud--
+    Th' indorsement of supreme delight,
+      Writ by a friend, and with his blood;
+    The couch of time; cares balm and bay;
+      The week were dark but for thy light;
+      Thy torch doth show the way.'"
+
+"That's better than anything I have got, sir," said Meredith.
+
+"No. But it is good. And just here and to-day the Sabbath seems dressed
+in royal robes. I could not but think of those lines."
+
+"I confess, Mr. Murray, Sunday is nothing like that to me," said Flora.
+
+"You are honest, Miss Flora. That gives me some hope of you. No,
+naturally the Sabbath does not seem like that to you yet.--Well,
+Meredith?"
+
+"Is there more of it, sir?" Meredith's sister asked.
+
+"More than you would care for, Miss Flora.--
+
+    "'Sundays the pillars are
+      On which heav'n's palace arched lies;
+    The other days fill up the spare
+      And hollow room with vanities.--'"
+
+"And yet that need not be true, either. Go on, Meredith. What will you
+give us?"
+
+"Two stories, sir, on the words, 'Hold that fast which thou hast, that
+no man take thy crown.'"
+
+"'On the twenty-fifth of June 1530, therefore three hundred and forty
+years ago, as is well known, our Lutheran Confession of Faith was
+delivered before the diet at Augsburg. There was the powerful emperor
+Charles V., and his brother, King Ferdinand, besides a number of
+electoral princes, dukes and bishops. Before this crowd of some three or
+four hundred nobles, stood a little company of seven princes and two
+represented cities; that is, the Elector John the Constant and his son
+John Frederick of Saxony, Margrave George of Brandenburg, Duke Ernst the
+Confessor and his brother Francis of Lueneburg, Landgrave Philip of
+Hesse, Prince Wolfgang of Anhalt, and the two burgermasters of Nuernberg
+and Reutlingen. These nine stood forth with the spirit of heroes, and
+confessed, under signature of their names, that in this faith they would
+live and die, and that no power of earth or hell should make them turn
+from it. For the Lutherans were wickedly slandered, as men who no longer
+believed in anything, and who therefore deserved no other than to be
+rooted out from the earth. That was why the Lutheran princes had
+requested that it might be granted them to declare their faith publicly
+before the Diet; to the end that everybody might know how their belief
+rested upon the Scriptures and stood in harmony with the universal
+ancient Christian Church; and indeed had flung away only the false human
+teachings which had found their way into the Church. For this purpose
+the twenty-fifth of June was fixed. The electoral chancellor Beyer
+stepped into the middle of the hall with the written Confession of Faith
+in his hand. The evangelical princes rose and stood listening while it
+was read, and testified that this was the faith they held, to which by
+God's help they would stand unmoved. Then did all that were present hear
+what the faith of the Lutherans was; there stood the doctrine of the
+triune God, of original sin, of the eternal Godhead of Jesus Christ; of
+justification before God through grace alone by faith in Jesus Christ,
+&c., though I hope I do not need to tell you any more about it; I think
+you all know the Augsburg Confession and have read it, for surely you
+are all of you Lutheran Christians, and all Lutheran Christians know the
+Augsburg Confession. But if there be one among you who does not yet know
+this act of confession, let him be ashamed of himself, and get a copy
+with all speed, and read it, and read it again. When it was read aloud
+at Augsburg, the impression it made was very great; people saw that the
+Lutherans had been shamefully slandered. Duke William of Bavaria
+reproached De Eck with having represented the Lutheran doctrine to him
+in entirely false colours. The doctor answered, he would undertake to
+refute this writing from the Christian fathers, but not from the
+Scripture. Then the duke returned, "So, if I hear aright, the Lutherans
+are _in_ the Scriptures, and we near by!"
+
+"'There did the steadfast Lutherans keep that saying in their
+hearts--"Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown."
+Ay, when before the beginning of the Diet the Lutheran ministers
+earnestly besought the Elector of Saxony that he would not for their
+sakes run into danger, but graciously permit them to appear alone and
+give in their declaration before the emperor, the undaunted prince made
+them answer--"God forbid that I should be shut out from your company; I
+will confess my Lord Jesus Christ with you."
+
+"'This is one story about those words; now I will give you another--'"
+
+"Stop one minute, Ditto. Uncle Eden, I do not exactly understand all
+that?"
+
+"What do you not understand?"
+
+"Who were all those people?"
+
+"The Catholic nobles of the German empire, with Charles the Fifth, a
+very powerful emperor, at their head, and the chief Catholic church
+doctors and dignitaries,--all that on one side; representing the powers
+of this world. On the other side, a little handful of men whom Luther's
+teaching had awakened out of the darkness of the Middle Ages, confessing
+Christ before men; representing the feeble flock of His followers."
+
+"Yes," said Maggie thoughtfully. "Was there danger?"
+
+"There was great danger to whoever got into the power of the Catholic
+lords."
+
+"Do you think the world is always against the truth, Mr. Murray?" Flora
+asked.
+
+Mr. Murray answered in the words of the psalm--"'Why do the heathen
+rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set
+themselves, and their rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and
+against His Anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast
+away their cords from us.'"
+
+"But all times are not like those times of the Reformation?"
+
+"Not just. The world power strives against the Church in a variety of
+ways, sometimes with force and sometimes with guile. The beast in the
+vision, who has his power from the devil, sometimes makes war with the
+saints; and sometimes 'he causeth all, both small and great, rich and
+poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their
+foreheads; and that no man might buy or sell save he that has the
+mark.'--Miss Flora, I believe the war times are the less evil and
+dangerous. Well, Meredith, you bear interruptions philosophically. Go on
+with your new story."
+
+"This new story 'happened more than two hundred years ago, at a place
+called Galgenberg' (that is Gallowshill, Maggie), 'in the neighbourhood
+of Hermannsburg. In old times a gallows used to stand there, on which
+thieves and oath-breakers were hung.'"
+
+"Oath-breakers!" said Mr. Murray. "It seems the Saxons kept their hatred
+of untruth. But I beg your pardon, Meredith."
+
+"It's half the fun, to stop and talk, sir. 'At that time the criminal
+jurisdiction was located in Hermannsburg; and four times in the year, at
+quarter-day, court was held here and the judgment carried into effect as
+soon as delivered. To this end the justiciaries of Hermannsburg, Bergen,
+and Fallingbostel came together here and held the court, after they had
+first attended the weekly service in the church at Hermannsburg to
+prepare them for their vocation; for quarter-day always fell upon a
+Wednesday. However in those days perjury and theft were so rare, that
+once it happened that twenty years passed away, with court held every
+quarter-day, and nobody was sentenced. The justice of Hermannsburg had
+two staves, one all white, and one parti-coloured. If he found no one
+guilty, he broke the coloured staff; if, however, anybody was convicted,
+then he broke the white staff, with the words,
+
+    "The staff is broken,
+    The judgment is spoken,
+    Man, thou must hang."
+
+"'And then, after the pastor had prayed with the criminal, the sentence
+was executed.'"
+
+"Fearful times, sir," said Meredith pausing.
+
+"Horrible!" echoed Flora.
+
+"Two sides to the question," said Mr. Murray. "I am musing over the
+novelty of the combination. Twenty years without one man convicted of
+theft or a false oath! Think of that, and you will comprehend the horror
+of the crime which made such sudden work with the criminal."
+
+"I will go on," said Meredith.--"'Some old people are yet living who
+have seen the gallows which stood on the Galgenberg. Now I will tell you
+my story about the words, "Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man
+take thy crown." It was in the Thirty Years' War, which from 1618 to
+1648 raged between the Catholics and the Protestants. Through all this
+miserable time the parish of Hermannsburg enjoyed the rare good fortune
+of having a faithful shepherd over it; his name was Andreas Kruse; he
+became pastor in 1617, and died in 1652. His successor, Paulus
+Boccatius, gives him this testimony in the church register--"True as
+gold, pure as silver. Ah, thou faithful and good servant, thou hast been
+faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over many things."
+For years at a time the church at Hermannsburg was closed to him. At
+those times he went with his people into the wilds and held divine
+service there. Furthermore, the whole of the neighbouring pastors were
+either dead of the plague, or killed, or driven away; so that he took
+care of all their parishes beside his own; and this he did for
+twenty-five years. One good supporter he had in a bailiff called Andreas
+Schlueter, who died in the year 1643, and lies buried in the churchyard
+at Hermannsburg; a man after God's heart, who faithfully stood by his
+pastor and often hid him away in his house for weeks at a time. The
+pastor did not merely celebrate divine service; he had also preserved
+the silver church vessels from the plundering hands of the enemy. These
+silver vessels were used in the service of the Lord's supper; and after
+it was over, the sacristan or clerk set tin ones in their place upon the
+altar. They did not mean to act any lie by this means, however, for the
+tin vessels were not made for the purposes of deception, but had been
+there beforetime. Things went on in this way until the year 1633. At
+that time Duke George assembled an army and marched against the imperial
+forces His men were burning with an eagerness for the fight, which
+delighted the duke. The enemy were stationed at Nienburg and Hameln.
+Seeing that the duke was approaching them they drew back to Oldendorf in
+the Hesse country, and there the duke got hold of them in the month of
+June 1633. When his faithful followers asked him, "What shall the battle
+cry be?"--"God with us!" answered the duke; and therewith they went at
+the enemy bravely. And soon the foe were so fearfully beaten that they
+scattered and fled in every direction--fifty imperial standards and
+twenty cannon remaining in the duke's hands.
+
+"'Among the fugitives were the two imperial generals Merode and
+Gronsfeld. The former was wounded to death and died at Nienburg.
+Gronsfeld fled in such haste, that he lost his sword and plumed hat. The
+duke kept these for himself, to be his share of the spoils. In their
+flight the imperialists came through the Lueneburg country, with the most
+frightful outrages which they committed by the way. Among these, the
+record tells of a lieutenant captain, named Altringer, who came to the
+village of Hermannsburg and plundered the inhabitants; he pushed his way
+even into the parsonage, and asked the pastor "what he had to give him?"
+"I am a poor man," the latter replied; "you may open all my boxes." They
+did so, and--ten shillings was all they found. In a rage at this, they
+beat the doors and windows to pieces, and summoned him--"You must have
+some church furniture too--here, out with it!" The pastor answered,
+"Have you been in the church yet?" "Those are tin vessels," said the
+enemy; "you are bound to have silver ones as well. Where are they? give
+them up." "No," said the faithful pastor, "that is what I will not do."
+"Where have you hidden them?" "You are not going to find out."
+
+"'Upon this they condemned the brave man to the "Swedish drink." This
+frightful punishment consisted in the following: The victim was brought
+to the dung-pit, his mouth was forced open, a gag put between his teeth,
+and then dung water poured down his throat; after which men stamped
+with, their feet upon his bloated body, until either he confessed or
+gave up the ghost. Now they had already brought Pastor Kruse to the
+dung-pit. There, before they began, he prayed with a loud voice, "Lord
+Jesus, have mercy on me." The lieutenant captain was moved with pity.
+"No," he said, "this man shall not die by the 'Swedish drink.' To the
+gallows with him! he shall hang." Arrived at the gallows he was there
+asked again, "Where is the church service?" He answered, "I shall not
+tell you where." Thereupon order was given to execute the sentence. But
+in the first place he kneeled down and prayed for his enemies also, that
+God would not lay this sin to their charge, but give them grace to
+repent. Then he mounted the ladder, and the noose was already round his
+neck; meanwhile a tall man coming from Celle stepped up behind a tree,
+where, himself unseen, he could observe everything. At the same instant
+people were seen on the other side coming from Hermannsburg, and making
+signals with a white cloth to signify that they had got the church
+vessels. Where had they found them? They considered that surely the
+pastor would have buried them in the deepest part of his house, that is
+in the cellar. But in what spot? This they discovered in the following
+manner. They poured five or six pailfuls of water on the cellar floor.
+At first for a while, it stood there; then all of a sudden it began to
+run together towards one place and there sink in. "Ha, ha," said they;
+"here is a hole in the ground; the things must be buried there." So they
+dug it up and found the church vessels. When the pastor saw the
+communion service in the hands of the enemy, then the tears rose to his
+eyes. But as for the effect those people had hoped for, that is, that
+his life might be saved, they found it would not do; the hard lieutenant
+captain would not change his order; the man must hang.
+
+"'Then stepped out yonder tall man from behind the tree--it was General
+Gronsfeld; and he spoke. "Will you put to death this man who in dying
+prays for his enemies, and who weeps for his church service and not for
+his own life? Set him at liberty!" The pastor stretched out his hands
+to the general and implored, "Ah, my lord general, the church vessels!"
+But he answered, "I cannot give you those back--they are the booty of my
+soldiers; but your life is granted you."
+
+"'The parish people of Hermannsburg used the tin service for a long
+while after that, till towards the end of the war silver vessels were
+again provided. Kruse remained pastor here until 1652. He too kept that
+saying in his heart--"Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take
+thy crown."'"
+
+"What awful times!" was Flora's comment when Meredith stopped reading.
+
+"The world has moved a little since then," Mr. Murray observed. "Let us
+be thankful such barbarous cruelties are no longer practised by the
+civilised part of the world; and civilisation is spreading."
+
+"But I don't think much of that story," Esther went on. "The man made a
+great deal more fuss about the soldiers having his church service than
+was at all necessary. That wasn't a thing to die for."
+
+"By his lights, and his love for the sacred vessels, it was. You must
+take his point of view; and then you will find him, as I do, very
+noble."
+
+"But it is very difficult to take other people's point of view, Mr.
+Murray, especially when it is unreasonable."
+
+"Who shall judge?" said Mr. Murray smiling.
+
+"You mean, _I_ might be the one who was unreasonable."
+
+"Anybody might, occasionally. And it is of the very essence of charity,
+Miss Flora, to take other people's point of view. Only so can you
+possibly come to a right estimate of their action."
+
+"I don't like that story much, Ditto! I mean, not so much. I wish you
+would read another," said Maggie.
+
+"I will read you another," said Meredith; "and it shall be very
+different.
+
+"'The story that I am now about to tell you is such a one as certainly
+nobody expects to hear from me; it is namely, the story of a
+night-watchman. But there is no sort of reason why you should laugh at
+this word, for indeed the story is a pretty one; and I wish all the
+night-watchmen in city and country would take after this man and do as
+he did; that is, provided they could do it from the bottom of their
+hearts. A poor cottager in one of our country villages, some years ago,
+out of curiosity, came to one of our mission festivals. There to his
+astonishment he heard that the Lord Jesus will have all men to be saved,
+that are in the whole earth, even the poor heathen; and that accordingly
+He has commanded His servants, the Christians, to cast the net of the
+gospel into the sea of the heathen world. He heard how the heathen are
+to be saved, because Jesus died for all men; how they can nevertheless
+no otherwise be saved than through faith in Him; because there is
+salvation for sinners in no other but only in the name of Him who was
+crucified for sinners and is risen again. Meanwhile however, by means of
+this mission festival the dear man himself is taken in the net of the
+gospel; for he sees that he also is a sinner, and therefore for him also
+there is no salvation except in Him who forgives sins, because He has
+made reconciliation for sinners with God. And now, finding himself
+salvation in Christ, this experience of his convinces him that nobody
+but Jesus can really help the poor heathen. But then since Jesus can
+come to the poor heathen in no way but by his Word and sacrament, and
+his Word and sacrament the heathen have not, it becomes very clear to
+his mind that the Word and sacrament must be carried to them. This,
+moreover, can be done only by messengers to the heathen, who must be
+sent to them, because they have not got wings to fly thither. Then he
+begins to ponder the question, how he can do something to help. So he
+buys himself a mission-box, that he may always be putting something in
+there when he has anything to spare. As nevertheless what goes in is
+only the mites of poverty, it looks to him a great deal too little. He
+makes the resolve now that every quarter of a year he will go round the
+village with his box to collect for the mission. But this is a resolve
+he cannot perform; for inasmuch as the mission is not known to the
+people of his village, he reflects that where there is no heart for the
+mission, naturally there are no gifts for it. And there he was quite
+right, and did a wise thing to let his collecting project alone. So
+about that he gives in, and quietly hangs up his mission box in his
+room, on a nail opposite the door, so that every one who comes into the
+room can see it. And people do observe it, and many a one asks what sort
+of a thing that can be? He makes answer, it is for this purpose: that
+whatever goes into it will be applied to the converting of the heathen.
+And so in this way some few mites do actually get in; which, however, at
+the end of each year bring but a small sum. Now as this sum is still far
+too small to content him, he turns simply to the dear Lord Jesus, and
+says to Him--"Dear Lord, as for going to the heathen myself, that I
+cannot do: I am too old, and I have not learned enough. But because Thou
+hast done so much for me and in me, I would like greatly to do something
+for Thee, and truly a little more than I have done hitherto. So give me
+Thy Holy Spirit, that I may know how to manage it; for without Him man's
+knowledge is nought." Following upon such a prayer then, the Lord
+appointed him to be nightwatcher. For without his having in the least
+anticipated such a thing, the village community invited him to undertake
+the service of the night-watch in the village. He made answer, he must
+take the matter into consideration before God and with his wife. The
+latter was not at first disposed to be pleased that he should wake while
+others slept; and his own flesh also takes to it not kindly, to have to
+wander about in the village in snow and rain, when it is cold and when
+it is stormy, while everybody else is lying upon his ear. But his former
+prayer recurs to him, the Lord is certainly now giving him something to
+do; and so he says to the Lord Jesus--"My dear Saviour, if Thou canst
+use me in this way, keeping watch in the village with Thy holy angels,
+who are about us at all times, then give me strength and joy to do it!"
+And as the Lord grants him both, the thing is settled, and in the name
+of Jesus he accepts the office of night-watch. The custom in that place
+makes it a rule, that on New Year's night the night-watch should sing
+under people's windows a couple of pretty Christian verses, as it were a
+New Year's greeting; to one this verse, to the next the other verse, and
+so round at all the houses. New Year's day then, or the day after, he
+may go round again visiting house by house, and wish happy New Year; and
+the people give him according to their means and according to their
+inclination a gift, smaller or larger, and these gifts belong to his
+service earnings; it is no begging either, for the stipulation is made
+at the time he is put in office. With true gladness of heart now in the
+New Year's night he sings under all the windows in the village; and as
+he does this, he seems to himself just the same as a priest of God; his
+office seems to him a right holy one. And particularly where he knows
+that a sick person is lying in a house he sings the loveliest verses of
+faith and comfort, so that tears run down over his own cheeks in the
+doing of it. That night is verily a night of triumph in his work; and he
+begins to bear a cordial love to his calling, as one the Lord has given
+him and has sanctified. To go round on New Year's day, however, and wish
+the people joy, that is what he cannot make up his mind to; it is a
+festival and a holiday; it belongs to the Lord; and it must be spent in
+the church and with the Bible. But the next day he has time, and then he
+will go; and then his mission-box occurs to him, which is still hanging
+there on its nail. Now he knows what he is to do. He takes the box in
+his hand and goes the rounds, house after house, and gives his good
+wishes. Everywhere the people receive his hearty congratulations kindly,
+and every one puts his hand in his pocket with alacrity to fetch out a
+little present for him; the faithful man has indeed done his work so
+honestly, and but just now has sung for them so heartily and such
+beautiful verses! But he holds forth his box to his benefactors, and
+begs them to put whatever they design for him in there, for what they
+give is to go to the conversion of the heathen. So upon that one asks
+him a question, and another asks him a question, and he has opportunity
+to open his mouth with gladness and testify of the misery of the poor
+heathen, and of the sacred duty of helping them, that so they may be
+converted. And God gives His blessing both to deeds and word; and now
+the man finds himself able to send in not a little, but a good deal, for
+the conversion of the heathen, who lie so heavily on his heart.
+
+"'Do you ask where this happened and who did it? It happened in our
+country, and six nightwatchers have done it. Who are they? Go along and
+ask the Lord in the last day; He has got all their names written down. I
+shall not tell them to you, for I will not rob them of their blessing.
+It might happen, however, that one or the other of them may read these
+lines. If that be the case, then I say to him, "Keep still and do not
+betray thyself, that thou lose not thy humility."'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+"I must say, Ditto, you read us the most extraordinary variety of
+stories."
+
+That was Flora's utterance. Meredith, however, sat looking very gravely
+into the water, which was rolling its little waves along at his feet far
+below. The sun had got lower while he had been reading; the lights and
+colours were changing; shadows fell from the hill-tops and began to lie
+broad on the river, cast from the western shore; but all softened in the
+haze, which now was getting in a strange way transfused with light; and
+a few little flecks of cloud were taking on the most delicate hues.
+
+"Mr. Murray," Meredith broke out, "that story is not exaggerated? I
+mean, the doing of the people in the story is not, is it?"
+
+"Miss Flora thinks so."
+
+"Don't you, Mr. Murray?" said the young lady.
+
+"Let us hear your reasons, please."
+
+"Well, Mr. Murray, surely life is given to us for something besides bare
+work. We are meant to be happy and enjoy ourselves a little, aren't we?"
+
+"Most certainly."
+
+"Those good men,--I dare say they were good men,--seem to me to have
+been mistaken."
+
+"You think, for instance, they might have kept some of their New Year's
+money to buy their wives new dresses?"
+
+"Yes; or to get a good dinner, which I suppose they never had; or a
+carpet, suppose, for the bit of a room they lived in."
+
+"What do you say, Esther?"
+
+"Oh, I think just as Flora does, Uncle Eden. I think those people were
+very extravagant."
+
+"Maggie?"
+
+"Uncle Eden, I do not know if they were extravagant; but it seems to me
+they might have kept a _little_ for their own New Year."
+
+"You all overlook one thing."
+
+"What is that, sir?" several voices asked eagerly.
+
+"Those good men were not acting so very contrary to your principle. They
+were doing, every one of them, what gave him the most pleasure with his
+money. That is what I understand you to advocate. The only difference
+is, that they found their pleasure in one thing, and you would find
+yours in another."
+
+"But, Mr. Murray," Meredith began.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Murray," said Flora eagerly taking the words out of her
+brother's mouth, "you have really not said anything. The question comes
+round,--_ought_ we to find our pleasure in what they did, and in nothing
+else?"
+
+"That is not the right way of putting it. The Lord does not demand that,
+nor desire it; but that we should seek _first_ the kingdom of God. You
+may remember too that the spirit of our life, if we are Christians, must
+be the same as Christ's; for 'if any man have not the spirit of Christ,
+he is none of His.' Now the motto of His life was, 'My meat is to do the
+will of Him that sent me.' And that, Miss Flora, must make pleasing God
+the great pleasure of a child of God."
+
+"That is what I think," said Meredith.
+
+"Then are we to have no pleasure?" Flora repeated. "I mean, no pleasure
+of our own?"
+
+"I have been trying to explain that. I do not know any pleasure much
+sweeter than pleasing some one that we dearly love; do you?"
+
+Flora looked very gloomy.
+
+"Put out of your head any notion of bondage or hard lines of action. 'I
+_delight_ to do Thy will, O God!'--is the true way of stating it. And
+that is the only sort of service, I think, that the Lord really is
+pleased with."
+
+"Well, does He want us to do like those people, and give literally all
+we have got, for the heathen, or the poor?"
+
+"The Bible rule is, 'Every man _according as he purposeth in his heart_,
+so let him give.' If His heart will be satisfied with nothing less than
+all, you would not forbid Him?"
+
+Meredith's eyes sparkled, and he looked at Flora, but she would not meet
+him.
+
+"It may be and often is the case, that the Lord's best service requires
+some of a man's money to be spent on things that seem personal; still,
+if he loves God best, all will be really for God. Education,
+accomplishments, knowledge, arts, sciences, recreation, travel,
+books--provided only that in everything and everywhere the man is doing
+the very best he can for the service of his Master and the stewardship
+of his goods. That does not shut out but increases his delight in these
+things."
+
+"That is enough!" exclaimed Meredith. "You have answered all my
+questions, sir. I see my way now."
+
+"It will be a way apart from mamma and me, then, I suppose," said Flora,
+her eyes filling and her cheeks reddening.
+
+"No," said Mr. Murray gently, "perhaps not. Meredith, we have had a
+sufficient interval of talk; suppose you read again. I am selfish in
+saying so; for while my ears listen, my eyes can revel in this wealth of
+colour. What will you give us next?"
+
+"May I choose, sir? It touches what we have been talking about, another
+little story. It is a story by the bedside of a sick day-labourer."
+
+"I don't believe we shall like it, Ditto," said his sister.
+
+"It will not hold us long. Let me try.--
+
+"'It is a long while ago, that I was once standing by the bedside of a
+sick day-labourer, who had a wife and four children. The man had been
+ill for weeks, and the sickness had swallowed up all his money. Death
+was near, and he was glad of it; he had only one remaining wish, that he
+might receive the symbols of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus in the
+Holy Communion. I administered them to him.
+
+"'We sang with a number of friends and neighbours who were gathered
+together, the song,
+
+    "Who knows how near my end may be!"
+
+"'He sang the words correctly along with us, for he knew the hymn by
+heart. His wife and children sang too. As we stopped at the fifth verse,
+I saw great tears in his eyes; but I said nothing at the time. The sick
+man spoke his confession devoutly, and afterwards received the bread and
+the wine which are in figure the body and blood of our Lord Jesus
+Christ. His eye beamed with joy. Then after the blessing was said we
+sang the most glorious verse of the same hymn,--"I have fed on Jesus'
+blood," &c. The neighbours and friends went away, after they had
+cordially pressed his hand and said to him, "In the Lord's presence
+we'll be together again." I remained alone with the sick man and his
+family. Then I asked, why he had wept when we were singing, whether
+perhaps it was a trouble to him that he must go away from his wife and
+children? He looked at me with open eyes, almost reproachfully, when I
+said that, and answered, "Does not Jesus stay with them then? Has not
+the Lord said He would be 'the father of the fatherless and a judge of
+the widow'? No; they will be well looked after; I have prayed the Lord
+that He would be a guardian to them. Isn't it so, mother, that thou art
+not worried either, and thy heart is not anxious? Thou, too, hast faith
+in Jesus!" "Surely," said the woman, "I believe in Jesus; and I am glad
+thou art going to Jesus. In good time I will come after thee with the
+children. Jesus will help me by His Holy Spirit to bring them up."
+"Well--why did you shed tears then?" "For joy. I was thinking, if the
+singing goes so lovely even down here, how beautiful it will be when the
+angels sing with us. That was what made me weep, for joy, because such
+blessedness is so near before me." And now he made a sign to his wife.
+She understood the sign, went to the cupboard, and fetched out a little
+sort of a cup dish, which was her husband's money-box. Six groschen were
+in it, all that was left over of his possessions. He took them out with
+trembling fingers, laid them in my hand, and said, "The heathen are to
+have those, that they too may learn how to die happy." I looked at the
+wife; she nodded her head pleasantly and said, "We have agreed upon
+that. When all is paid that will be needed for the funeral, it will
+leave just these six groschen over." "And what will you keep?" "The Lord
+Jesus," said she. "And what are you going to leave to your wife and
+children?" I asked the man again. "The Lord Jesus," said he; and with
+that whispered me in the ear, "He is very good and very rich." So I took
+the six groschen for the heathen, and put them, as a great treasure, in
+the mission money-box; and it was hard for me to give them out again;
+only if I had not paid them out, I should not have fulfilled the dying
+man's wish. In the following night he fell asleep. We buried him as a
+Christian should be buried, that is, publicly, with the ringing of the
+bell, with preaching, singing and prayer; and there was no weeping done,
+neither by his wife nor by his three oldest children, neither in the
+church nor by the grave. But the youngest child, a boy of five years
+old, who followed the bier along with the rest, wept bitterly. I asked
+him afterwards, why he had wept so bitterly at his father's grave? The
+child answered me, "I was so troubled because father didn't take me with
+him to the Lord Jesus; I had begged him so hard to take me." "My child,"
+said I, "your father could not take you along with him; only the Saviour
+could do that; you ought to have asked _Him_." "Shall I ask Him now
+then?" he questioned. "No, my child. See--when the Saviour wants you, He
+will call you Himself. But if He chooses that you shall grow to be a man
+first, then you must help your mother and let her live with you. Will
+you?" He said, "I would like to go to Jesus; and I would like to be big
+too, so that mother can live with me." "Well, then, say to the Lord
+Jesus that He shall choose." "That is what I will do," said the boy; and
+was quite contented and pleased.
+
+"'The faithful Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ give us all a happy end.
+Amen.'"
+
+There was the usual pause after Meredith had done reading. Flora,
+however, could not keep back long her expression of opinion.
+
+"I protest!" she said. "Those people were utterly fanatical! Mr. Murray,
+isn't it true?"
+
+"O Uncle Eden, do you think so?" cried Maggie. "I think it is
+beautiful."
+
+"Maggie is too young to understand," remarked Esther. "Those people were
+very unnatural, I think."
+
+"How?" said Meredith.
+
+"Yes, how?" Mr. Murray echoed. "I should like to hear the arguments on
+both sides."
+
+"A man who is dying, and has a wife and four children," said Flora
+solemnly, "has no _right_ to give his last six groschen away. I don't
+know how much a groschen is, but that don't make any difference. He has
+no right to to do it!"
+
+"You emphasise, 'a man who is dying,'" said Meredith. "Would the case be
+different if he were a man living and going to live?"
+
+"Why, of course."
+
+"How?"
+
+"He would work then, and earn more. How stupid to ask, Meredith!"
+
+"But an accident might happen to him; or he might fail to get work; or
+he might miss his pay."
+
+"Yes, of course. I think it would be fanatical even then. But when he
+was dying, and couldn't do anything!"----
+
+"But if in any case he must trust for a day--what does it signify? God
+can send help in a day."
+
+"I should not think He would, when people throw away wantonly what they
+have got already."
+
+"What is given to Jesus isn't thrown away," said Maggie.
+
+"And He always pays it back with interest," said Mr. Murray. "And what
+is entrusted to Him is never neglected. I think that old German peasant
+was very safe in his proceeding."
+
+"But so unnatural!" cried Esther. "Not to be sorry to leave his wife and
+children!"
+
+"I have no doubt he was very sorry to leave them. The only thing is, he
+was more glad to go to Jesus."
+
+"I cannot understand that."
+
+"Not till you know the Lord yourself; and I do not deny that one must
+know Him well, to be so eager to go to Him. One does not easily leave
+the known for the unknown."
+
+"Let me read another bit of a story, or history," said Meredith. "We
+cannot come to an agreement by talking; these things must be _lived
+in_--must they not, Mr. Murray?"
+
+"Yes, read. But see the sky!" said Mr. Murray. "And the colours along
+the shore! Wonderful, wonderful! What a Sunday evening this is."
+
+Meredith sat silently looking for a few minutes. With every quarter of
+an hour of the descending sun, the world was growing now more like a
+fairy-tale world. The lights and the shadows and the colours were making
+such exquisite work, that the bit of earth the gazers were looking upon
+seemed not to belong to the earth of history or the life of experience,
+but to be something unearthly, and glorified. With all that, the Sabbath
+stillness! There was the lap of the water at the foot of the rocks; the
+rustle of the dry leaves down below where Fenton was prowling about; the
+call of the bugle sounding out some order for the dragoons on the other
+side at the post; between whiles the absolute repose of nature.
+
+"I wonder if the new heavens and the new earth will be anything like
+this!" said Mr. Murray with a long breath.
+
+"This is not like our common world. Well, Meredith--it is hard upon you,
+but it is better than too much talking."
+
+"It is not hard upon me, sir. I am getting all my ideas cleared up.
+
+"'Holy Scripture saith, that the hearts of the children shall be turned
+to the parents, and the hearts of the parents to the children. I will
+tell you a story about that, which, I hope, may be of use; so much the
+more, that in this regard one sees so much that is senseless.
+
+"'I knew a man once, who was the very ideal of a just living, upright,
+honourable man; but Jesus he knew not. Among his fellow-men he was held
+in general, well-deserved esteem; for he was pleasant and winning in
+intercourse with them, and in his whole character there was something
+naturally noble. No prayer was ever heard in his house, neither at
+table, nor mornings and evenings, nor was ever the morning and evening
+blessing read. But love and peace reigned in the house, between parents
+and children, and master and mistress and servants; and nothing
+dishonourable was tolerated. In other things, however, the way of the
+house was the way of the world; card-playing was had there, now and then
+dancing, and sometimes it might happen that an oath came out, when the
+angry vein was swollen; nevertheless, worldly gaiety was never permitted
+to go beyond bounds; the man would not suffer that. Nobody read the
+Bible; though the man had a Bible which he had inherited from his pious
+mother and held in high honour; it had the chief place on his
+book-shelf; but it was made no use of, only now and then taken down to
+have the dust brushed off it. This man had a whole flock of children;
+and a wife who clung to him with such inmost affection, that many a time
+when she heard his step on the floor she would call him into the room
+where she was, and when he came in and asked what she wanted, would
+answer him, "Oh, I only just wanted to see you, and now you may go off
+again." In outward things he was pretty comfortable; made a living, but
+also had a good deal of a burden to carry; was a diligent worker,
+however, and by little and little got on in the world. He was not often
+seen at church or the Lord's Supper; yet did not absolutely neglect
+them. Nevertheless, the man had a special spite against _pious people_,
+of whom in his life he had known a few. Those pious people of his
+acquaintance can indeed not have been of the right sort; for from their
+example he had come to the firm persuasion that pious people, all and
+sundry, were no better than hypocrites. He used often to tell of a pious
+man he had known, who used to read a great deal in the Bible and in
+religious books, and used also to hold meetings for prayer in his house,
+while at the same time he was a miser and put out his money to usury.
+Another one he had known, who in externals made as fair pretences; but
+with that was of such ungovernable temper and such unmeasured brutality
+that on more than one occasion he had beaten a man nearly to death.
+Therefore, as I said, he held all pious people to be a humbug.'"
+
+Meredith paused a moment, and Flora spoke up.
+
+"There!" she said, "_I_ know such people. Don't you think, Mr. Murray,
+that sort of good people do more harm than good?"
+
+"What sort of good people are they, Miss Flora?"
+
+"Why, sir, I mean, like these Meredith was reading about. I know such
+people. They are selfish, and envious, and get angry, care for nobody in
+the world but themselves, and are not at all particular about telling
+the truth."
+
+"Therefore _not_ good people."
+
+"But they are members of the Church, sir, and they go to the Communion."
+
+"Don't you know, the Lord forewarned His disciples that a large portion
+of His so-called Church would be none of His? You need not be surprised
+at it. It is just what He told us would be."
+
+"Then how are we to know?"
+
+"You can know with certainty about yourself," said Mr. Murray with a
+smile. "It is not difficult to find out in your own heart whether Christ
+or self comes first. For other people, you can afford to wait till the
+judge comes, cannot you?"
+
+"You are thinking, Flo, are you not, that this man and his family were
+just about the right pattern?" said her brother.
+
+"I think such people are pleasant," Flora confessed. "They make no
+pretences. That man seems to have been just and kind and nice."
+
+"Ah, you make a mistake," said Mr. Murray again. "We all make pretences,
+of one sort or another, true or false. Such people as you are speaking
+of pretend _not_ to be Christians; and no doubt with perfect truth."
+
+"But is not God pleased with justice and kindness and benevolence?"
+
+"_With_ disobedience?"
+
+"Surely He commands us to love one another?"
+
+"He commands first that we love _Him_."
+
+"Isn't that loving Him?"
+
+"Love always shows itself towards the beloved one; _afterwards_ towards
+the objects the beloved one cares for."
+
+"May I go on?" said Meredith as Flora paused. "I think my story will
+illustrate this."
+
+"Go on, by all means. Perhaps an illustration will make it clear to
+everybody."
+
+"'This man was a scholar in the law; and was already pretty well on in
+years, when one of his sons, a special favourite with him on account of
+his fine parts and who was just studying law at the time, at the
+University, learned to know his Saviour, and turned to Him with all his
+heart. The instrument of his conversion was a faithful minister, whose
+preaching he had attended diligently, and with whom he afterwards came
+into very intimate terms of intercourse. Now when this son's heart was
+filled with intense love to his Saviour, such as I have seen equalled in
+few men, nothing was more natural than that he should send longing
+wishes towards the parents and brothers and sisters whom he loved so
+tenderly; wishes that they too might learn to know the Saviour; and so,
+in his letters, he poured his whole heart out, told them without reserve
+what had gone on in his own heart, and how he was now rejoicing in the
+certainty that his sins were forgiven and in the sure hope of
+everlasting life. "Oh that all men were as happy as I!" he cried out in
+his letters. For a long time he was left without an answer. At last came
+a letter from his father, it ran thus: "My son, your letters were wont
+always formerly to be a refreshment and a delight to me; now, on the
+contrary, they are a vexation and a bitter grief. I see that you are
+exactly in the way to become like those hypocrites of whom you used to
+hear me tell. I beg that you will either write as you have been
+accustomed to do, or not write at all."
+
+"'The son answered, "Father, you have always enjoined it upon me to tell
+the truth; you always impressed it upon me that there is no more
+contemptible and cowardly being than a liar, for he has not even the
+spirit to be honest; and now do you want to compel me to be untrue?
+Either I must write you what is according to my heart; for lie I cannot
+and will not, neither will I make believe; or I must indeed do as you
+say and not write at all." This startled the father, for he had in
+former times said to his friends,--"The lad will not tell a falsehood;
+he would sooner let his head be taken off;"--and he was honest enough to
+write to his son, "Well, write what you like; if you are not a
+hypocrite, you are a fanatic; but you shall tell no lies; there you are
+right and I was wrong."
+
+"'Soon after this the time of the holidays came about, and the son took
+his journey to his parents, to spend the holidays with them as it was
+his wont to do; for it has been already remarked that love and peace
+reigned in that house. As he came in, his mother met him with tears, and
+looked at him in a very critical way, as if she feared he were not right
+in his head; but he caught her heartily round the neck and kissed her
+and hugged her, whispering at the same time, "Mother, don't look at me
+with such a doubtful face; I have got all my five senses yet." Then he
+went to his father in the sitting-room, and would have fallen on his
+neck too but the father at first kept him off with all his strength;
+till his son asked him, "Thou art my dear good father always, and always
+wilt be so; am I thy son no longer? and why not? what have I done that
+is wrong? is reading the Bible and praying anything wrong?" Then the
+father kissed his son and spoke--"I must honour the truth, thou hast
+done nothing wrong, my son!" For an hour or so they talked together
+about the professors at the University, and about the lectures the son
+had been attending there; and in the meantime the mother had got supper
+ready, and they went to table. The son stood up, folded his hands and
+prayed. With that the father thrust his chair back till it cracked, and
+ran out of the room, and the mother full of anxiety ran after him. The
+son, however, did not follow them, but after he had heartily prayed for
+his father and his mother, he sat down, and with tears ate his supper.
+When he found his parents did not come back, he sought his own room, and
+once more poured out his heart before his faithful God and Saviour; then
+he slept quietly until morning. Next morning naturally the first thing
+was to go at his prayers again; then he read a chapter in his beloved
+Bible; and went afterwards to the dwelling-room, as he was accustomed.
+His father was there, sitting in his arm-chair, and turned pale one
+minute and red the next. The son gave him his hand cordially and bade
+him good-morning, and to his mother as well. "My son," his father then
+asked him, "are you master in the house? or am I? The son answered, "Who
+but you, father?" "Why do you take upon you then to introduce prayer at
+meals, seeing you know that it is not our habit here?" "Father," the son
+answered, "did I then say that you and my mother were to pray? I asked
+expressly only, 'Come, Lord Jesus, be _my_ guest'--whereas elsewhere
+usually the prayer is, 'be _our_ guest.' I knew it was not your custom
+to pray; therefore it would have been an untruth to say, 'our guest,'
+and that would have been assuming, too, for it would have been trying to
+draw you in." "But why did you not let the whole thing entirely alone?
+you knew very well we have no such regulation here." "Not for you,
+father; for me, however, there is such a regulation; and if I had taken
+my supper without praying, I should have been false to my God; and it is
+certainly not your pleasure that I should be false towards God, since
+you cannot endure any falsehood towards men." "No," said his father,
+"you are not to be false; well, pray away, for all I care; but only when
+we are alone, not when strangers are by, else we should become a
+laughing-stock." "Father, I could not be untrue to God for my own dear
+father's sake; should I for the sake of strangers? I am not ashamed of
+my God and Saviour before any man, neither before strangers nor before
+the king himself; and I will be faithful and true to my God. If it is
+not your pleasure to have this thing done when strangers are present,
+then do not call me to table." The father said, "Boy, where did you get
+your pluck?" "I love the Lord," the son answered, "who has redeemed me;
+I would go into death a thousand times for Him." "You are no hypocrite,
+my boy," said the father; "well, for all I care, you may be pious, if
+you only will not be a hypocrite."
+
+"'From that time the ice was broken; and I have myself seen it with my
+own eyes, how father and mother and son used to read together in the
+Bible, pray and sing together, and how the brothers and sisters one
+after the other turned to the Lord. Rarely have I known a house in which
+the Lord Jesus was so fearlessly acknowledged as in that house. And do
+you know what of this history I would like to inscribe in your hearts,
+yea, would like to burn into your hearts with letters of fire? It is
+this. Let your Christianity be no lip work; let your religion not
+consist in words; lip-work Christianity is hypocritical Christianity.
+True religion is a fact. The genuine believer is upright and makes no
+pretence, neither to God nor man. The heartfelt conviction--"Boy, you
+are no hypocrite"--ought to be forced upon the beholder by the walk and
+behaviour of every real believer; if that had been the case, the world
+would present a different aspect from what it offers now. But most
+people's Christianity is a fashion of speech; and so it is lying and
+hypocrisy; therefore it can at one and the same time, like Pilate,
+chastise and set free, pray and neglect prayer, confess and not confess,
+just as happens to be convenient in the circumstances. It is not
+required that you should preach to everybody you fall in with, as if it
+were your vocation to set up lights for everybody's guidance; much more
+would often be spoiled than mended in that way. But to be a Christian,
+to walk as a Christian, and thus to confess one's Christianity honestly
+in action, just because it is so and you are not going to be false
+either towards God or towards men; that is the way in which the hearts
+of the parents are turned to the children, and the hearts of the
+children turned to the parents.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+The sun had got low, in fact, he was dipping behind the dark line of
+Eagle Hill; and everybody looked and watched. The bright ball of fiery
+gold disappeared, leaving a trail of glory; lights glowed against
+shadows on the hazy hill shore; little flecks of cloud in the west grew
+gorgeous, and a low-lying rack of vapour in the south-east took on the
+loveliest changes of warm browns and purples and greys. And as the sun
+got further below the horizon, the cloud scenery became but the more
+resplendent.
+
+"Mr. Murray," Flora began, "you will think I am always taking
+objections."
+
+"Well, Miss Flora--what now?"
+
+"Please to criticise this story Ditto has been reading. I would rather
+you did it than I."
+
+"By 'criticise' you mean, find fault?"
+
+"If you see reason."
+
+"Suppose I do not see reason?"
+
+"But do you not, really?"
+
+"Wherein?"
+
+"Mr. Murray, I like things kept to their proper places."
+
+"We are agreed there."
+
+"And I think it is a pity to make religious observances, or what are
+meant for them, repelling and disgusting to other people."
+
+"Certainly. As how, for instance, Miss Flora?"
+
+"Well, I never like to see people--I _have_ seen it--make a show of
+praying at table, where no general blessing has been asked by the person
+at the head of the table or a minister. It just makes them conspicuous,
+and as good as says that they are the only right people there."
+
+"That is not a pleasant impression to receive."
+
+"No, and I did not receive it. I thought it was a mistake. And quite
+ill-bred."
+
+"But perhaps those people felt that they wanted a particular blessing,
+where there was no general blessing asked as you say."
+
+"They might ask for it quietly, secretly."
+
+"Yes. Would they get it?"
+
+"Why, Mr. Murray! Doesn't the Lord always hear prayer?"
+
+"No. It is written--'He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law,
+even his prayer shall be abomination.'"
+
+"But what law is there about saying grace at meals, in public?"
+
+"There is this, Miss Flora. 'Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him
+will I also confess'"----
+
+"But everywhere, Mr. Murray? Must we be confessing _everywhere_?"
+
+"What places would you make the exception?"
+
+Flora was silent.
+
+"Public places in general?"
+
+Still Flora was silent.
+
+"Allow me to ask--Do you approve of the custom anywhere of asking a
+blessing upon our meat?"
+
+"Certainly--in one's own house. Papa did it always. Meredith does it."
+
+"Then, Miss Flora, if it is a right thing to do at home, how is it not a
+right thing to do abroad?"
+
+"Everywhere, Mr. Murray? Would you do it in a restaurant?"
+
+"If it is a right thing to do, Miss Flora?--why not in a restaurant?"
+
+"Or in somebody else's house perhaps, where it is not the custom?"
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Why it seems to me like a sort of preaching to people; like saying to
+them that you are better than they are; setting one's self up."
+
+"Pardon me--how can it be setting myself up, to thank my Father in
+heaven for what He has given me, and to ask Him to let me have also a
+blessing with it?"
+
+"Why couldn't you do it quietly?"
+
+"I should always in such places do it quietly; not aloud."
+
+"But I mean--without letting anybody know it?"
+
+"Why should not people know it?"
+
+"Excuse me, Mr. Murray; but I always think it is making a show--making a
+pretence."
+
+"If it is a pretence, the worse for me, whether at home or abroad. But a
+_show_ I want it to be, Miss Flora; a show that I am a child of God, and
+love to own my Father's hand everywhere."
+
+"You are very good to let me talk just what I think, without being
+offended," said Flora. "You will not think me rude, Mr. Murray? I really
+want to know your opinions. Don't you think that in such things there is
+a tacit implied reproof of the other persons present who do not as you
+do?"
+
+"How can I help that?"
+
+"But is that polite?"
+
+"That question sinks before the other--Is it duty?"
+
+"I cannot see it to be duty," said Flora.
+
+"I have always been a little confused about it," said Meredith; "in such
+cases and places, I mean."
+
+"It makes one very disagreeably singular," Flora added.
+
+"It is impossible to follow Christ fully, Miss Flora, and not be that
+more or less."
+
+"_Disagreeably_ singular, Mr. Murray?"
+
+"I agree with you, I am sure, in thinking that it is disagreeable to be
+singular."
+
+"But must one? I always thought it was such bad taste."
+
+"You perceive it is not a question of taste."
+
+"Why then of necessity?"
+
+"Because whoever follows the Lord fully will live in a way the very
+opposite of that which is followed by the world. He will be marked out
+from it--even as the Lord was Himself."
+
+"Still, one is not to make one's self unnecessarily odd," said Meredith;
+"and I have until now been in doubt whether people did not do it in
+this very matter of asking a blessing at tables where nobody else
+followed the practice."
+
+"I am sure it is not unnecessary," said Mr. Murray. "I am sure that
+thought is a temptation of the enemy. I am sure that the simple fact of
+having, though in so small a matter, shown one's colours and confessed
+Christ, is a help all through the day to go on confessing Him, as
+occasion may serve."
+
+Silence fell after this, and some of the party noticed how the sky and
+clouds were changing. The sun had sunk below the actual horizon now;
+long since he had dipped behind Eagle Hill; and the gold and the purple
+were fading from the racks of vapour which had caught and given the
+colours so brilliantly. Pale purple, pale fawn, ashes of roses, then
+soft greys succeeded one another. The eastern hills had lost their
+light; the shadows were gone, night was softly letting her mantle fall
+on the world. Still the little party sat on the rock, and looked, and
+felt the soft breath of the air, and watched the fading glory. Nobody
+wanted to move, and twilight would last long enough to let them get
+home; and so they waited. Fenton, I suppose, had gone home, for they
+heard the rustle of his footsteps no longer. By and by, as they watched
+the grey strips of vapour which had been so brilliant a little while
+ago, they began to change again. The greys took on a purplish warm hue,
+which brightened and brightened, and then pure carmine began to touch
+the soft under folds and edges of the clouds, increasing in vividness,
+until over all the sky every speck and mass of vapour was glowing in
+brilliant crimson. For a few minutes this; and then it too faded, and
+rapidly the crimson sank to purple and the purple back to grey, and all
+knew that the reign of night and shades would be broken no more till the
+sun rising. Slowly the little party got up from the rock; unwillingly
+they turned their backs upon it; lingeringly they left the place which
+had been so pleasant, and took their way down the hill through the
+gathering dusk. The walk was still very pretty; Maggie held her uncle's
+hand, the others clustered round, and they went running and skipping
+till the level land was reached, then slowly again, as if loath to have
+the evening quite come to an end.
+
+It was pleasure of another sort to gather round the tea-table, bright
+with lights and covered with good things.
+
+"I do not think," Meredith observed, "that I ever enjoyed more in one
+day."
+
+"Lucky for you!" said Fenton. "I don't see the use of having Sundays,
+for my part."
+
+"How can you help having them?" said Maggie. "They must come, just like
+Saturdays, or Mondays."
+
+"That's deep!" said Fenton. "But if they must come, as you have
+originally discovered, why can't one use them reasonably."
+
+"As how?" said Mr. Murray, preventing an eager outbreak of Maggie's.
+
+"Like other days. Why shouldn't I fish, for instance? or shoot
+partridges? The fish don't know the difference. Why should one mope on
+one particular day?"
+
+"I never do," said his uncle. "I am sorry you have such a bad taste."
+
+"As what, sir?" (fiercely).
+
+"As to mope."
+
+"How's a fellow to do anything else?"
+
+"Depends on himself."
+
+"Well, what's the use of my not fishing? Why shouldn't I fish on
+Sunday?"
+
+"Don't you know?"
+
+"No, I don't," said Fenton. "That's just it. If I knew any good reason,
+of course it would be different." And he sagely muttered something about
+"priestcraft."
+
+"There are two reasons," said Mr. Murray calmly, while Maggie flushed up
+and even Esther stared at her brother.
+
+"I never knew any," responded Fenton.
+
+"Do you care to know them?"
+
+"If they _are_ reasons," Fenton rejoined impudently, "it would be
+unreasonable not to care."
+
+"Very true," said Mr. Murray smiling. "I will begin with the lesser of
+the two. It is found in the nature of man, Fenton. Man is so
+constituted that he cannot, year in and year out, stand a seven days'
+strain. Neither brain nor muscle will bear it. That has been tested and
+proved. In the long run, man cannot do as much working seven days, as he
+can do working only six days."
+
+Fenton knew that what his uncle gave as a fact was likely to be a fact;
+he had no answer ready at first. Then he said, "I spoke of fishing, sir;
+that is play, not work."
+
+"As you do it, I suppose it is. But we are talking of the fact of one
+day in seven being set apart from the rest, and the reasons. You see one
+reason."
+
+"What's the other?"
+
+"The other is still more difficult to deal with. It consists in
+this--that God says the day is His. As Ruler and King of the world, He
+lays His hand upon that seventh day and says, This is mine."
+
+"I don't see any reason in that," said Fenton.
+
+"No. But you see the claim and the command. Those must be met, or
+disobeyed at our peril."
+
+"What's the use?"
+
+"One great use is, to remember and acknowledge that God _is_ Ruler and
+Owner of all. So when we cross the boundary between Saturday and Sunday,
+we step over on ground that is not ours."
+
+"There is no good in being stiff and pokey," said Fenton.
+
+"No. It is only a stranger on the ground who can be that. One who knows
+the Lord and loves Him is specially at home and free on the Lord's day."
+
+"But I thought the Jewish Sabbath was done away?" said Flora.
+
+"The formal Jewish Sabbath. But not the spiritual. If you study the
+matter, you will see that Christ made careful exceptions to the literal
+rule in only three cases--where mercy, or necessity, or God's service
+demand that it shall be broken."
+
+"Don't you think a farmer ought to get in his hay on Sunday, sir, if he
+saw a storm coming up?" Fenton asked.
+
+"I dare not make any other exceptions than the Lord made," his uncle
+answered.
+
+"Don't you think trains ought to run on Sunday, Mr. Murray?" said Flora.
+
+"I must say the same thing to you, Miss Flora."
+
+"But in cases of sickness and accident, sir?"
+
+"Have you the notion that Sunday trains are filled with persons who have
+been summoned somewhere by telegraph?"
+
+"No--but there are such cases."
+
+"Yes; well. Do you think, honestly, that thousands of people ought to
+break the Lord's rule every Sunday, in order to give relief here and
+there to the anxiety of one?"
+
+"I can tell you," Fenton broke out, "your doctrine is furiously
+unfashionable. There is not a fellow in our school that doesn't do as he
+has a mind to on Sunday."
+
+"Other days too, I suppose."
+
+"Of course."
+
+"That is just what, in your sense, a Christian gives up; not on Sunday
+more than on other days. That is the difference between a Christian and
+another man; one does his own will and the other the will of God, which
+is also his own."
+
+Fenton muttered something to Esther, who sat next him, about an "old
+foggy," but the subject of conversation was carried no further. Mr.
+Murray purposely changed it, and the evening passed in very pleasant
+talk, alternating with some Bible reading. Only, towards the close of
+the evening Fenton started the question, "where they would go the next
+day?"
+
+"Suppose we leave that for Monday to take care of," Mr. Murray answered.
+
+"But, sir, there might be some arrangements to make."
+
+"To-night?"
+
+"Perhaps; but at any rate I might want to give some orders in the
+morning."
+
+"I don't think we should have a good time, if we consulted about it
+now."
+
+"Why not, sir?"
+
+"You forget. It is the Lord's time. And if we want Him to give us His
+favour on our expedition, it seems to me we had better not offend Him
+about it beforehand."
+
+"But, sir!"----
+
+"But, Mr. Murray!" put in Flora. "Just to _speak_ about things?"
+
+"Time enough to-morrow, Miss Flora. And this is the Lord's time, you
+know."
+
+"But just _talking_--not doing anything?"
+
+"Doing a good deal in imagination. What's the difference? Study the
+fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah, the last two verses. Sir Matthew Hale
+gave it as his testimony, that he found business concocted on Sunday did
+not run off well in the week. No, we will leave the question till
+to-morrow at breakfast, if you please."
+
+"I can't understand it!" said Flora, as she went upstairs.
+
+"Study those verses in Isaiah," said Meredith, who overheard her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+A bright little party gathered round the breakfast table Monday morning.
+
+"Now, Uncle Eden," cried Maggie, "where shall we go to-day? It is Monday
+now."
+
+"What is proposed?"
+
+Several plans were ready.
+
+"Down in the cove of the bay," said Fenton, "where the lower brook comes
+in--then I can fish off Old Woman's rock till lunch is ready."
+
+"I propose the Indian falls," said Esther. "Flora and Meredith have
+never seen them."
+
+"_I_ say, Fort Montgomery," said Maggie.
+
+"Fort Montgomery!" There was a general exclamation.
+
+"Where is that?" Meredith asked.
+
+"Seven miles down the river. Oh it is just lovely!" Maggie explained.
+"We go down with the tide and come back with the tide, and spend the day
+down on the hill there, opposite Anthony's Nose. I showed you from the
+front door which Anthony's Nose is, Ditto."
+
+"That would be delightful. The day is going to be perfectly quiet and
+warm and sunny--just the thing."
+
+"Seven miles," Fenton grunted. "Who's going to do the rowing?"
+
+"I," said Meredith.
+
+"And I," said Mr. Murray.
+
+"And we can take Fairbairn," said Maggie; "and we had better, for there
+will be the baskets to carry."
+
+"Nonsense--I can carry baskets," said Meredith; "and get wood, and all
+that."
+
+"I think we can do without Fairbairn," said Mr. Murray. "I like the
+plan. It is just the day for it. If it only turn out to be just the time
+of tide also!"--
+
+"We'll soon see about that," cried the boys. There was a rush and a
+whoop and a race to the boat-house, and then a more leisurely return.
+
+"It's all right," said Meredith. "Couldn't be better. It is half-past
+eight now, and the tide just beginning to turn. It will be running down
+till two o'clock--and just give us a nice current home."
+
+"And a good pull, too," said Ponton.
+
+"_That's_ all right, old boy. Come! don't you pull backwards. Now, how
+soon can we be ready?"
+
+"Just as soon as we can get our lunch ready, and the things," said
+Maggie. "You might pack the things, Ditto, and get them into the boat,
+while we see about lunch."
+
+"What are 'things'?"
+
+"Why, cups and saucers, and tea-kettle, and matches and plates, and
+paper to light the fire, and everything, you know."
+
+"Go off," said Mr. Murray, "and see about victualling the ship. I can
+manage the cups and saucers."
+
+So Maggie and Esther ran to consult Betsey, who now held a nondescript
+position of usefulness in the family, and was acting cook while Mrs.
+Candlish was away--cook proper being absent on leave.
+
+"O Betsey! we are going out, to be gone all day; and now, what can we
+have for lunch?"
+
+"Lunch, Miss Maggie!"--
+
+"Yes, and you know we want a good deal. There are six of us."
+
+"You know, it's Monday."
+
+"Well, what of it?"
+
+"There h'aint so much as if t'was any other day. You see, yesterday it
+was Sunday."
+
+"Oh well! what have we got, Betsey? I know you have got something."
+
+"There's bread, Miss h'Esther."
+
+"We want more than bread. And butter, and tea and coffee and all that.
+We must have something more, Betsey. What _have_ you got?"
+
+"The chickens is nothing left of 'em; and that 'am bone h'aint got much
+on it. I do think, Miss Maggie, ye consume a great deal in the woods!"
+
+"Of course we do. And we want a good, hearty lunch to-day, because the
+boys and Uncle Eden will have a long way to row. Come, Betsey, make
+haste."
+
+"There h'aint a living thing in the 'ouse, but h'oysters, and h'eggs,
+and potatoes. That is, nothing cooked. And ye want dressed meat."
+
+"Oysters?" said Maggie doubtfully.
+
+"Capital," said Esther. "And sweet potatoes. We can bake them in the
+ashes. And eggs are good. Meredith will make us another friar's omelet."
+
+"There's nothing else for ye," said Betsey, summing up.
+
+So Fairbairn carried a great bag of oysters down to the boat, and a
+basket with the potatoes and eggs, and the kettle, and a pail to fetch
+water in. And into other baskets went everything else that everybody
+could think of as possibly wanting from the house. Affghan and worsted,
+finally, and the merry party themselves.
+
+Ten o'clock, and a soft, fair, mild day as could ever have been wished
+for. Not much haze to-day, yet a tempered sunlight, such as October
+rejoices in. No wind, and a blue sky far more tender in hue and less
+intense than that of summer. Little racks of cloud scattered along the
+horizon were, like everything else in nature, quiet and at rest; no
+hurry, no driving; no storms, no ripening sun-heat; earth's harvests
+gathered in and done for that year, and nature at rest and at play. And
+with slow, leisurely strokes of the oar, the little boat fell down with
+the tide; she was at play too. Sunshades were not opened; shawls were
+not unfolded; in the perfection of atmosphere and temperature there was
+nothing to do but to breathe and enjoy. At first even talking was
+checked by the calm beauty, the grand hush, of earth and sky. The boat
+crossed over to Gee's Point, and from there coasted down under the
+shore. There the colours of the woods showed plainly in their variety;
+dark red oaks, olive green cedars, dusky chestnut oaks and purple ashes;
+with now and then a hickory in clear gold, or a maple flaunting in red
+and yellow. They all succeeded one another in turn, with ever fresh
+combinations; on the opposite shore the same thing softened by distance;
+overhead that clear, pale blue of October.
+
+"I do not realise that I am living in the common world!" said Flora at
+last. "I seem to be floating somewhere in fairy-land."
+
+"It's October--that is all," said Mr. Murray.
+
+"Then I never saw October before."
+
+"Aren't you glad to make his acquaintance?" said her brother.
+
+"But how can one come down to November after it?"
+
+"Oh, November is _lovely_!" cried Maggie. "It is lovely here."
+
+"At Mosswood? Well, I can believe it. But at Leeds November comes with a
+scowl and a bluster and takes one by the shoulders and gives one a
+shake--to put one in order for winter, I suppose."
+
+"I don't think shaking puts anything in order," remarked Esther.
+
+"No. Now _this_--" said Flora, wistfully looking around her--"this comes
+as near making me feel good, as anything can."
+
+"Take a lesson--" said Mr. Murray.
+
+"But after all, the months must be according to their nature," said
+Flora.
+
+"Certainly. The difference is, that _you_ may choose what manner of
+nature you will be of. It all depends, you know," Mr. Murray went on
+smiling, "on how much of the sun the months get. And on how much of the
+sun you get."
+
+"How can I choose?" said Flora.
+
+"How? Why, you may be in the full sunshine all the time if you like."
+
+Again the boat dropped down the stream silently. The way was long;
+seven miles is a good deal in a row-boat; so they took it leisurely and
+enjoyed to the full the consciousness that it _was_ a long way, and they
+should have a great deal of it. By and by they came to a little rocky
+island or promontory, connected with the mainland by marsh meadows at
+least if by nothing more, to get round which they had to make quite a
+wide sweep. When they had passed it and drew into the shore again, they
+were already nearing the southern hills which from Mosswood looked so
+distant and seemed to lock into one another. They had the same seeming
+still, though standing out now in brighter tints and new and detailed
+beauty. On and on the little boat went, coasting along. No further break
+in the line of shore for a good while; only they were nearing and
+nearing that nest of hills. At last they came abreast of one or two
+houses, where a well-defined road came down to the river.
+
+"Do we land here?" asked Flora.
+
+"Not yet. Round on the other side of that bluff we shall come to a
+creek, with a mill; that is the place. Are you in a hurry?"
+
+"I should like to sail so all day!"
+
+They floated down with the tide and a little movement of the oars; there
+was absolutely no wind. The sloops and schooners in the river drifted or
+swung at anchor. Hardly a leaf moved on a stem. The tide ran fast,
+however, and the little boat slipped easily past the gay banks, with
+their kaleidoscope changes of colour. This piece of the way nevertheless
+seemed long, just because the inexperienced were constantly expecting it
+to come to an end; but on and on the boat glided, and there was never a
+creek or a mill to be seen.
+
+"Uncle Eden," said Maggie, "there _used_ to be a creek here somewhere."
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"There is none here now," said Flora.
+
+"That you see."
+
+"I can look along the shore for a good way, Mr. Murray. Are we going
+quite down to those mountains?"
+
+"No. You will see the creek presently."
+
+"The banks seem without the least break in them."
+
+"It will not do to trust to appearances. Have you not found that out
+yet?"
+
+"I tell you what, I'm getting hungry," said Fenton, who was taking his
+turn at the oars.
+
+"Eleven o'clock. You will have to control your impatience for some time
+yet," said Meredith.
+
+"I can tell you, this boat is awfully heavy," said Fenton. He had meant
+to use a stronger word, but changed it. "Can't we get lunch by twelve?"
+
+"Oh no! we shall have some reading first, I guess," said Maggie. "Lunch
+at twelve? Why, you never have it till one, Fenton."
+
+"Makes a difference whether you are pulling a dozen people and forty
+baskets along," rejoined her brother. "It's an awful bore, to have to do
+things."
+
+There was a general merry burst at that.
+
+"What sort of things, Fenton? Do you want to live like a South Sea
+Island savage?" his uncle asked.
+
+"Uncommonly jolly, _I_ should think," responded Fenton. "Dive into the
+surf and get a lobster, climb into a tree and fetch down a
+cocoanut--there's your dinner."
+
+"A very queer dinner," remarked Maggie, amid renewed merriment.
+
+"I never heard that lobsters were fished out of breakers, either," said
+Flora.
+
+"You seem to think it is no work to fight the breakers and climb the
+cocoanut trees," remarked Mr. Murray. "However, I grant you, it would
+not occupy a great deal of time. Is your idea of life, that it is useful
+only for eating purposes?"
+
+"It comes to that, pretty much," said the boy. "What do people work for,
+if it isn't to live! I don't care how they work."
+
+"Some people's aim is to get where they will do nothing," said Mr.
+Murray. "Do you see a bit of a break yonder in the lines of the shore,
+Miss Flora?"
+
+"Is it?--yes, it is the creek!" cried Maggie joyously. "It is the creek.
+Now you can see it, Flora."
+
+It opened fast upon them now as they came near, quite a wide-mouthed
+little creek, setting in among wooded banks which soon narrowed upon it.
+Just before they narrowed, an old mill stood by the side of the water,
+and there were some steps by which one could land. There the boat was
+made fast, and the little party disembarked, glad after all to feel
+their feet again; and baskets one after another were handed out.
+
+"What is all this cargo?" said Fenton, grumbling; "and who's going to
+carry it to the top of the hill? Suppose we stay down here?"
+
+"And lose all the view?" said Maggie.
+
+"And the walk? and the fun?" said Esther.
+
+"Fun!" echoed Fenton. "Just take that sack along with you, if you want
+fun. What ever have you got in it? cannon balls?"
+
+"Oysters."
+
+"Oysters! In the shell! Why didn't you have them taken out? What's in
+this basket? this is as bad."
+
+"Cups and saucers, and spoons and plates, and such things."
+
+"We could have done without them."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Eat with our fingers."
+
+"You had better go to the South Sea Islands, and done with it," said
+Esther. "Come--you take hold of one side of the basket and I of the
+other."
+
+"No, Essie," said her uncle; "that would be very unchivalrous. Do not
+ask Fenton such a thing. In the South Sea Islands men may make women do
+the work for them; but not here. Come, my boy, here are three of us and
+only a basket apiece; take up your burden and be thankful, and be
+brave."
+
+I am afraid Fenton was neither; but he shouldered his basket; and being
+an athletic fellow, managed to reach the top of the hill without more
+muscular distress than the others showed. Of the state of his mind I
+say nothing further; but the truth is, the way was rather long. Nobody
+knew the shortest cut to the place they desired to reach; so they wound
+about among thickets of low cedar, sprinkled here and there with taller
+pines, going up and down and round about for some time. At last they
+found their way to the top of the ridge, and wandering along in search
+of a suitable place for their rest and pleasure, came out upon an open
+bit of turf and moss on the highest ground, over which a group of white
+pines stretched their sheltering branches. The view was clear over a
+very long stretch of the river with its eastern shore; indeed they could
+look up quite to the turn of the river at Gee's point; Gee's Point
+itself hid Mosswood from them.
+
+With acclamations the party deposited their baskets and threw themselves
+down on the bank. The gentle warmth of the sun was not shorn of its
+effect by the least stir of wind; the moss and grass were perfectly dry;
+and the lookout over river and shores was lovely. Sugarloaf showed now
+true to its name, an elegant little cone. The sails of the two or three
+vessels the party had passed in coming down the river were so still that
+they served to emphasise the general stillness; they hung lazily waiting
+for a breeze and could not carry their hulls fast or far.
+
+For a while the pleasure party could do nothing but rest and look. But
+after a while Meredith roused himself to further action. He began
+wandering about; what he was searching for did not appear, until he came
+back with an armful of green, soft, pine branches.
+
+"Now if you will just get up for a few minutes," said he, "I will give
+you a couch to rest upon." And he went on to lay the branches thick
+together, so as to form a very yielding comfortable layer of cushions,
+on which the party stretched themselves with new pleasure and strong
+appreciation. Meredith had to bring a good many armfuls of pine branches
+to accommodate them all; at last he had done, and flung himself down
+like the rest.
+
+"When do you want your fire made?" said he.
+
+"Somebody else is hungry, I am afraid," said Flora.
+
+"I cannot deny it. But I can wait as long as you can!"
+
+"I am _very_ hungry," said Flora.
+
+"I believe I shall be," said Mr. Murray, "by the time our luncheon can
+be ready. Here's for a fire!"
+
+They all went about it. To find a place and to arrange stones for the
+kettle, and to collect fuel, and to build and kindle the fire. Stones
+for the chimney-place were not at hand in manageable size; so Mr. Murray
+planted three strong sticks on the ground with their bases a couple of
+feet or so apart and their heads tied together; and slung the kettle to
+them, over the fire. This was very pretty, and drew forth great
+expressions of admiration. Then while waiting for the kettle to boil,
+they all threw themselves on their pine branches again and called for a
+story; only Fenton sat by the fire to keep it up. Meredith took his book
+from his pocket and laid it on the pine branches, open before him.
+
+"You could not attend to anything very deep till you have had something
+to eat," he said. "I will give you something easy."
+
+"Most of your stories are so profound," added Flora.
+
+"Never mind; listen."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+
+"'The story that I am going to tell now happened here in Hermannsburg.'"
+
+"A great many things seem to have happened in Hermannsburg," Flora
+remarked.
+
+"Yes. Just think what it must be to live in a village with a history.
+
+"'It is, for one thing, a beautiful story for passion week; and then it
+gives a lovely picture of the relation in which princes and their
+vassals at that time stood to one another. The Thirty Years' War had
+brought frightful misery over our country. Havoc and devastation had
+come even into the churches. So, for example, in this place; the
+imperial troops had not only plundered the church and carried away
+everything that was of value; for to be sure the people here were
+Lutheran heretics; but they had even broken to pieces all the bells in
+the tower, and driven off no less than five baggage waggons full of
+brass metal, to be recast for cannon. And the last one, the big bell,
+was broken up and about to be carried away by the Croats; the horses
+were even put to the waggon; when suddenly the blast of trumpets and the
+battle-cry, "_God with us!_" announced the coming of Lutheran troops,
+and scared the Croats away. So the metal was left behind. After the
+Thirty Years' War, gradually the people gathered together again; but the
+number of them was very small, and many a farm had to lie waste for want
+of both farmer and farming stock. There are said to have been at first
+only ten families come back to our parish village, with four oxen and
+two cows. Besides all that, towards the end of the war epidemics were
+constantly prevailing, so that, for example, in this parish, in the
+thirty years from 1650 to 1680, three pastors died one after another of
+contagious epidemics; namely, Andreas Kruse'" (that was the fellow who
+stood out so for his church vessels), "Paulus Boccatius, Johannes
+Buchholz; and the fourth Justus Theodor Breyhan, who died in 1686, was
+three times at death's door. Those were troubled times!
+
+"'This Breyhan was a childlike good man, whom his parish held in great
+love and honour, for both in spiritual and in material things there was
+no better counsellor for them. Like a true father he stood by the
+bedside of the sick and the dying, to show them how to die happy, and
+like a good father he comforted the survivors, and by the live and
+powerful words of his preaching, poured new strength and fresh courage
+of faith into all hearts. With all that, this man was a singular lover
+of the _sound of the bell_. In his opinion it was a remarkable thing,
+that the heavenly King would allow his bells to be cast of the same
+metal in which earthly princes cast their guns; and his highest wish
+was, to get a great church bell again. The metal indeed was still on
+hand; but who would have it cast? There was only a little bell still
+hanging up in the tower, which was called the Bingel bell, and dated
+back to the year 1495 (it is there still) and had been too insignificant
+to tempt the Croats. With that on Sundays people must be rung to church,
+and with that the tolling for the dead must be done at funerals. It did,
+it is true, give out a fine, lovely, clear note; but the good dear
+Breyhan often wept great tears when he heard the sound of it; it seemed
+to him that it was too disrespectful to the great King in heaven, that
+he should have no better bell than that. He could hardly sleep at last
+for thinking of it. Especially at the high festival days and in Passion
+week, and on occasion of funerals, he was in great uneasiness. Then it
+was in the fast season of the year 1680, he was again sick unto death,
+and in his fevered fancies he was continually praying to the dear Lord
+that He would not let him die before he could have the bell properly
+tolled at his burying. He recovered, and on Good Friday was again able
+to preach. The congregation wept for joy at having their beloved pastor
+among them again, and never perhaps have more ardent thanks gone up to
+God from the parish than did that day. The time of the Easter festival
+passed by, and they rejoiced with one another over the glorious
+resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The third day of the Easter festival (at
+that time there were still always three feast days), he told the
+congregation that they must pray for him faithfully; for the next day he
+was going on a journey after a bell which in his illness he had promised
+to the Lord.
+
+"'The next morning his honest old parish farmer Ebel was at the door
+with a little farm waggon, and asked him where they were to go? and
+whether it was to be a long or a short journey? You must know the man
+was under obligation to take several long journeys for his pastor,
+lasting some days, and several short expeditions of a day only each. "It
+shall be a short one for to-day," the pastor answered. "I think with
+God's help to ride to Zelle." So after Ebel had attended morning worship
+in the parsonage, for he would not willingly have missed that, Breyhan
+mounted into the waggon, set himself down upon a spread of straw, took
+his hat off and said reverently--"In God's name!"--and then they went
+forward, step by step, as the manner was then; for in those days people
+were not in such a hurry as they are now. Before the city they stopped,
+and with prayer and thanksgiving ate the breakfast they had brought
+along with them. Then Breyhan took his vestments out of a clean linen
+cloth and put them on, and one could see by his lips that he was
+speaking to himself or praying. Good Ebel felt himself growing quite
+devotional at the sight, and he drove into the city with twice the
+spirit he had had before, because now everybody might see that he had a
+pastor in his waggon.'"
+
+Meredith paused a moment to glance up at the river and hills opposite,
+and Maggie broke forth,
+
+"The people in that country seem to be very unlike the people in this
+country?"
+
+"You mean, nobody here would care so much about carrying a minister in
+his waggon," said Meredith laughing.
+
+"Well--he wouldn't, would he?"
+
+"I am afraid not. More's the pity."
+
+"Why, Ditto?" said his sister. "What are ministers so much more than
+other people?"
+
+"They are the King's ambassadors," said Mr. Murray, taking the answer
+upon himself. "And you know, Miss Flora, the ambassador of a king is
+always treated as something more than other people."
+
+Flora looked at him. "Mr. Murray," she said, "ministers do not seem like
+that?"
+
+"When they are the true thing, they do."
+
+"But then besides," Maggie went on,--"how could anybody, how could that
+good man care so much about a _bell_? What difference did it make
+whether the bell was big or little?"
+
+"Superstition"--said Flora.
+
+"No, not exactly," responded Mr. Murray.
+
+"That other man cared so much about his silver service, and this one
+about his bell--they were both alike, but I don't understand it," said
+Maggie.
+
+"How would you like your father to have his table set with pewter
+instead of silver?"
+
+"O Uncle Eden! but that--"
+
+"Or to drive a lame horse in his carriage?"
+
+"But, Uncle Eden--"
+
+"Or to wear a fustian coat?"
+
+"But that's different, Uncle Eden."
+
+"Yes, it is different. This concerns our own things; those matters of
+the vessels and the bell concerned God's things."
+
+"Then you approve of building very costly churches, sir?" asked
+Meredith, whose head was running on churches lately.
+
+"No, I do not."
+
+"How then, Mr. Murray?" said Flora curiously.
+
+"Because _the_ temple of the Lord, the only one He cares much about, is
+not built yet. I hold it false stewardship to turn aside the Lord's
+money into brick and mortar and marble channels, while His poor have no
+comfortable shelter, His waifs want bread, and a community anywhere in
+the world are going without the light of life and the word of
+salvation."
+
+"What do you mean by _the_ temple of the Lord, Uncle Eden?" said Maggie.
+"I thought there was no temple of the Lord now?"
+
+Mr. Murray pulled out his Bible from his pocket, opened and found a
+place.
+
+"'Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but
+fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are
+built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ
+himself being the chief corner-stone; in whom all the building, fitly
+framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye
+also are builded together, for an habitation of God through the
+Spirit.'"
+
+"How lovely!"--said Meredith.
+
+"I didn't know that was in the Bible," said Flora.
+
+"The literal Jewish temple was in part a type of this spiritual one. And
+as in Solomon's building, 'the house was built of stone made ready
+before it was brought thither; so that there was neither hammer, nor
+axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was in building,'
+but the walls rose silently,--so it is in this temple. The stones are
+silently preparing, 'polished after the similitude of a palace;'
+silently put in place; 'lively stones built up a spiritual house;' so
+the Lord says, 'He that overcometh, will I make a pillar in the temple
+of my God.'"
+
+There was silence for a few moments, when Mr. Murray added, "_That_ is
+the temple, Meredith, that I think the Lord wants us to build and help
+build. I think any diversion of the money or strength needed for this, a
+sad, sad waste; and no honour to the Lord of the temple, though it may
+be meant so. Come, go on with Pastor Breyhan; I like him. His was a
+true-souled care for God's honour. I hope he got his bell."
+
+Meredith went on.
+
+"'To Ebel's question, "where he should drive to?" the answer was, "To
+the Stechbahn;" that was a road which lay opposite the ducal castle.
+Ebel's wonderment grew greater and greater, but Breyhan kept still,
+slowly dismounted, gave orders to Ebel that he should drive to the inn,
+but he himself went straight on to the ducal castle. As he had expected,
+for it was just eleven o'clock, he found the duke sitting in front of
+the entrance to the castle. For about this hour the duke was wont to sit
+there and allow everybody, even the lowest of his vassals, to have free
+access and speech of him. If there were no petitions, or complaints, or
+the like on hand, he would converse in the kindest and most affable way
+with everybody, and many a peasant could boast that in all
+simple-heartedness he had shaken hands with his liege lord. Breyhan
+found the duke (it was George William) surrounded by a number of people.
+However there can have been nothing of consequence going on, for when
+the duke saw the pastor approaching, he signed him immediately to come
+near. Breyhan presented himself; and related simply and in childlike
+wise how things stood in Hermannsburg, and how the people had not yet
+been able to get their affairs rightly under way since the terrible war.
+George William listened kindly, and many a tear came into his mild eyes
+as Breyhan told him of the sick beds and the dying beds.
+
+"'"You want to ask some help in your need?" demanded the duke.
+
+"'"No," was the answer; "we can manage as yet to get along with these
+earthly troubles. But we have a spiritual trouble, that we feel more
+keenly, and which we cannot deal with by ourselves, and in that you must
+help us, my lord duke; this is what I have come for to-day." He told him
+now all that he had on his heart respecting the bell; how that the
+beautiful metal was there yet, but no means to get it cast, and that
+that was for the duke to do. The duke was delighted with the childlike,
+honest nature of the man, and his hearty confidence that the duke's help
+was certain; and he could not help putting Breyhan's faith a little to
+the test.
+
+"'"Dear pastor," said he, "you are suffering in a small way from the
+after effects of the Thirty Years' War; on the other hand, I am
+suffering the same thing on a great scale. Your village treasury is
+empty, my castle treasury is empty, and the country's treasury to boot.
+So I cannot shake down the money for you out of my sleeves. If all the
+people in the land came to me to get their bells cast for them, what
+would be the end of it?"
+
+"'Breyhan was of opinion that the case was somewhat different with
+Hermannsburg. Since one of the duke's ancestors had founded the church
+there, one of the descendants might well have a bell cast for it. The
+duke, however, would not yet give in, but teased the petitioner with all
+sorts of objections, just to see what he would answer; he loved clever
+and witty speeches. Breyhan did what he could to satisfy the duke's
+objections. At last it got to be too much of a good thing, and he said,
+"My lord duke, I have now been a good while asking a boon of you, as a
+humble vassal may ask his prince; but as asking does no good, I will now
+_order_ you to have the bell cast. Perhaps you are not aware that I am
+lord of the manor to you, and that you are my liegeman. A liegeman must
+stand by his feudal lord with his goods and with his blood, with life
+and honour. The bell we must have; it is needful for our holding of
+divine service. You are not obliged to give us the whole bell; you are
+only to have it cast. Now it does not indeed stand in your title-deed
+that you must have a bell cast for us; therefore I cannot put you out of
+your farm for not doing it. But it does stand therein written that you
+must make hay for me three days in every year, and do a day's work for
+me in every week, for which service each time you are to get a half
+gallon of beer. Hitherto your bailiff has put a man to do it, and I have
+consented; but if you do not have the bell cast, then you must come
+yourself and make hay and cut wood."
+
+"'You should have seen the duke then. "My dear pastor," said he, "that
+is something I did not know before, that you are my lord of the manor;
+in that case, I must take shame to myself that I have let you stand here
+all this while. Come into the castle with me." He seized his hand and
+led him into the house, sent for his wife, and said in a solemn voice,
+"See here, my dear wife, until now I have supposed that I was the first
+man in the country; and now to-day I have come to know that the
+Hermannsburg pastor stands highest, for he is lord of the manor to me.
+Let preparation be made for his dining with us." While the servants made
+ready, the duke sought better information, and learned now that he
+actually held a farm in Hermannsburg from the Hermannsburg benefice, the
+contract for which on every occasion of the coming of a new pastor, or
+of a new duke's assuming the government, must be ratified over a cup of
+wine, and upon which, besides the yearly service money, the above
+obligations rested. The duke was so delighted at this, that he not only
+promised Breyhan to yield obedience and have the bell cast, but he
+begged him in the humblest manner that he would spare him in the matter
+of the hay-making and wood-cutting, for he was not exactly in practice
+in the matter of those two exercises; then jestingly he begged his wife
+to apply to the pastor herself for him, to let grace take the place of
+right. And as he was not slow to do this, all was soon settled. At table
+Breyhan was requested to make the prayer, and the conversation went on
+most charmingly about things of God's word.
+
+"'The faithful carter Ebel meanwhile did not know at all where his
+pastor could be staying so long; and as he certainly understood so much
+as that the duke had taken him into the castle, he got into such
+trouble, because he thought something evil had befallen him, that he ran
+into the castle and demanded to have his pastor back; not a little
+wondering when he found him sitting at table with the duke. Still more
+was he comforted, when from the duke's table itself a draught of beer
+was given him.
+
+"'After the meal was over, Breyhan drove joyfully back to Hermannsburg.
+The duke had not only granted his petition, but also declared that he
+would come to the consecration of the bell, and would be a guest with
+his lord of the manor. Breyhan promised him a friendly reception, but
+made the stipulation that he should bring only his lady duchess along
+with him, for his house was not prepared for entertaining guests. And
+now the business went forward according to his wish. The bell was cast
+in Hannover, and was, as Breyhan had desired that it might be, ready by
+the fast time of 1689. It was adorned with a threefold inscription. At
+the top stood:
+
+"'"PRAISE HIM UPON THE LOUD CYMBALS; PRAISE HIM UPON THE HIGH-SOUNDING
+CYMBALS. LET EVERYTHING THAT HATH BREATH PRAISE THE LORD. Ps. cl."
+
+"'In the middle of the side stood:
+
+"'"George William, by the grace of God duke of Brunswick and Lueneburg,
+patron of our churches."
+
+"'And below (this is a verse--I will translate it as well as I can):
+
+"'"_Through the grace of God I am alive again, and give you the call to
+church by my voice. Come willingly, be brisk and ready, then will I also
+speak out gloriously when you are going to the grave._"
+
+"'"_Anno 1681, Nicholas Greue in Hannover cast me._"
+
+"'Our ringing is still done with this bell, which has a very fine tone,
+and whoever likes can still at the present day read on it the above
+inscription.
+
+"'The Friday before Palm Sunday was fixed for the consecration of the
+bell; the duke arrived the day before with his wife; spent the night
+with his lord of the manor, attended the evening and morning worship and
+the preaching on Friday the fast day, and was present at the
+consecration of the bell, which took place immediately after divine
+service. When the bell was drawn up into the tower, and hung upon its
+scaffolding, ready for its first ringing, and when the first stroke
+softly sounded, then Breyhan and the duke and duchess beside him, the
+nobleman of Hermannsburg, who was called Von Haselhorst, and the
+bailiff, whose name was Pingeling, together with the whole congregation,
+fell upon their knees in the churchyard; and while the bell continued to
+be softly rung, the prayer of consecration was spoken. After the
+Paternoster, the full, sonorous notes of the bell pealed out, and there
+was not an eye but had tears in it as the long-missed tones floated off
+so gloriously through the air. The dear Breyhan's heart was bounding,
+and full of joy he spoke out--"Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart
+in peace." The afternoon they spent at home, only the duke could not
+refrain from making a trial at the wood-cutting, which however did not
+succeed very well; whereupon then the pastor magnanimously promised that
+he would content himself with the observance hitherto rendered, and
+never demand of the duke personally that he should make hay or do days'
+works. Then the duke requested that for his sake the evening worship
+might be held earlier to-day, for he wished to get back again to Zelle.
+
+"'From that time he came again once every year, either for Good Friday
+or for Easter; and in the year 1686 he followed to the grave the remains
+of Pastor Breyhan, who died in the thirty-fourth year of his age. The
+evening of Wednesday before the sixth Sunday after Trinity (the date is
+not given in the church book), when he felt his end drawing near, he had
+the great bell rung once more; and while it was ringing, at which time
+the greater portion of the parish, either in their homes or standing in
+front of the house, were in prayer, with a glad gesture he fell asleep.
+His dying lips prayed, "Christ, Thou Lamb of God, who takest away the
+sin of the world, have mercy on me, and give me Thy peace, O Jesus.
+Amen."
+
+"'The funeral was on Saturday. And as often as I hear the bell ring, I
+cannot help thinking of the dear, good Breyhan and the kindly duke
+George William, and the saying recurs to me--"The memory of the just is
+blessed."
+
+"'Finally, I remark once more, that from this story I have taken up a
+thorough disgust for the new-fashioned _law of redemptions_. By this law
+the above-mentioned farm has lately been detached from the benefice.
+Before that, I was the most distinguished man in the kingdom of
+Hannover, for the king was my parochial tenant and I was lord of the
+manor to him; _now_ I am an insignificant country pastor and such, it is
+well known, have neither form nor beauty.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+
+Fenton had been crying out that the kettle was boiling; and yet, when
+Meredith stopped reading nobody was in a hurry to move. The little group
+lying there upon the pine branches was as quiet as the day; and there is
+no describing the beauty of that rest in which nature for the moment
+seemed to be still. The delicate clear blue overhead; the still racks of
+white cloud here and there upon it, doing nothing and going nowhere,
+only lying fair on the blue; the breathless atmosphere in which an aspen
+leaf would have hung motionless; the broad river below moving its strong
+current so silently and so unobtrusively; there was no token of motion,
+unless in a vessel which was slowly drifting down while her sails hung
+windless by the mast; the profound quiet had something imposing. I
+cannot tell how, some grave, sweet influence seemed to press upon every
+heart in the company; and for a few minutes after the reader's voice
+ceased, the stillness was significant.
+
+"We seem to be out of the world!" Flora remarked at last in an
+undertone.
+
+"Why?" Mr. Murray asked.
+
+"I don't know. Confusions and disturbance are nowhere in sight. It is
+all peace."
+
+"And purity," added Meredith.
+
+"How nice if one could live so!" Flora went on.
+
+"You may, to a great degree, live so," said Mr. Murray. "It will not be
+always October, and your couch may not always be such a feathery one;
+and yet, Miss Flora--I fancy that Pastor Breyhan lived in very much such
+an atmosphere all his life."
+
+"The story is just in harmony with the day and the place; isn't it?"
+said Meredith.
+
+"It is odd that one can be interested in such a story," said Flora. "And
+yet I have been interested."
+
+"For that very reason, I suppose," said Mr. Murray. "There is something
+breathing out, both from the story and the day, which we all know we
+want,--unless we have got it already."
+
+"But, Mr. Murray, one cannot live in the world and be quiet," said
+Flora.
+
+"There is a promise or two, however, to that effect. 'When He giveth
+quietness, then who can make trouble?' And the Master said to His
+disciples, 'Peace I leave with you.' 'He that cometh to me shall never
+hunger.'"
+
+"I wish I knew what it means!" said Flora, furtively getting rid of a
+tear which had somehow found its way into her eye.
+
+"I'll tell you what," cried Fenton, "if you don't come, the water will
+all boil away. Don't you mean ever to have luncheon? I don't know what
+you are thinking of, with your old stories!"
+
+This brought the party to their feet. And now, some went at unpacking
+and arranging the things which had been brought along in bag and basket;
+Flora lit the spirit lamp and set the coffee a-going; while Meredith and
+Fenton put the potatoes in the ashes and took care of the process of
+roasting the oysters. It was not so warm to-day that the fire was
+disagreeable, which was lucky, as the oysters demanded a good bed of
+coals; the potatoes likewise. Finally, Meredith set about making a
+friar's omelet. When all was ready and the tea drawn, they sat round the
+fire on the grass, and made a most miscellaneous and most enjoyable
+meal.
+
+"Coffee! how good the coffee is!" said Meredith.
+
+"And did you _ever_ see such good roast oysters?" cried Maggie.
+
+"They ought to be good," Fenton growled; "they cost a precious sight of
+work to get 'em up here."
+
+"And Ditto's omelet is so nice!"--Maggie went on.
+
+"If one could live in the open air!" said Meredith, "how good it would
+be. I do not mean the omelet! but everything else. It's a great loss to
+live in houses."
+
+"Lots of convenience, though," said Fenton.
+
+"Look at the heap of oyster-shells Fenton is throwing behind him!" cried
+Maggie presently.
+
+"What's that to you?" said Fenton. "There are oysters enough. Don't
+meddle. If anything is a nuisance it is a meddling girl."
+
+"How about a meddling boy?" Mr. Murray asked.
+
+"Boys don't meddle," said Fenton. "It is girls."
+
+"I suppose that is because the boys do the things that have to be
+meddled with," said Maggie sagely.
+
+Fenton scowled, but the others laughed, and the meal went merrily
+forward.
+
+"How much time have we?" Flora asked.
+
+"For what?"
+
+"For staying here, and reading. How long before we must break up and go
+home?"
+
+"We can take our own time," said Meredith. "The tide will be good.
+Indeed it will be only getting better and better. It will turn about two
+o'clock."
+
+"We must get home in time for dinner," observed Fenton, however.
+
+"I really should think you might wait a while for that," said Esther.
+"Uncle Eden, if anybody else comes here this fall, they will see exactly
+what we had for lunch."
+
+"How so?"
+
+"There are the egg-shells, and potato-skins, and Fenton's heap of
+oyster-shells."
+
+"You do not think we will leave them here? Besides, there are several
+heaps of oyster-shells, I think; they are not all Fenton's."
+
+"Fenton's is the biggest. But what will you do with all these things,
+Uncle Eden?"
+
+"Carry them away."
+
+"Where to, sir?" asked Fenton.
+
+"Down the hill."
+
+"Why, sir?"
+
+"How would you like such a quantity of rubbish left in the woods at
+Mosswood, by some happy picnic party?"
+
+"This isn't Mosswood, sir."
+
+"No, it is some other wood."
+
+"But it is nobody's ground."
+
+"How can you venture to affirm that?"
+
+"Well, I mean, it is nobody's ground in particular."
+
+"That is more than you or I know, my boy, and is moreover highly
+improbable. We are certainly not intruding on anybody's privacy; but we
+have no right even here to leave things worse than we found them?"
+
+"And we have got to lug all this trash down to the river again?"
+
+"What do you think?"
+
+Fenton thought it was "no end of a bore;" nobody else, however, did
+anything but laugh at him. After the oysters were all disposed of, the
+oyster-shells went back into the bag, ready for transportation; Fenton
+remarking with great disgust that they were just as heavy and took up
+more room than before. Egg-shells and potato-skins were swept up; cups
+packed away; coffee and teapot restored to the basket; hands washed; and
+finally the group gathered again on their couch of pine branches to
+enjoy every minute. They had a good space of time left them still, and
+the day promised to finish its fair course without change, except change
+of beauty. Fenton joined the group now, having nothing to do, and
+hopeless of inducing them to break up before the last possible minute.
+
+"What are you going to give us this afternoon, Meredith?" Mr. Murray
+asked.
+
+"I have been keeping it, sir; one of my best; a story out of the Thirty
+Years' War. Shall I read?"
+
+"By all means."
+
+"'In the parish of Hermannsburg there is a forest-house, situated about
+an hour and a half from the church village; the place is called Queloh,
+and it lies in the midst of the forest. On the other side, about a
+quarter of an hour further on is a beautiful beech wood, which goes by
+the name of Buchhorst. In old times this place was inhabited by two
+peasants who belonged to the wide-spread peasant family of Weesen. The
+name of the one was Drewes, and of the other Hinz. They were both good
+and God-fearing men, and with their whole hearts devoted to the dear
+Lutheran church. Those were the times of the Thirty Years' War in which
+they lived, and they had to bear their share in all the distresses which
+that miserable war brought with it; they bore it also willingly, for the
+Lord's sake.
+
+"'Although they had been stripped of their goods a number of times by
+the Catholic soldiers, they had nevertheless preserved their most
+precious things, that is, their books; their Bibles, singing books and
+catechisms. These were, you must know, very necessary to them, for in
+those days there were as yet no village schools. In the entire parish of
+Hermannsburg there was but a single school, and that was in the church
+village; and this school was attended by the children only for one year,
+or it might be only half a year, previous to their confirmation. For all
+the rest, every house-father must himself play the schoolmaster. And in
+many respects, those must have been glorious times. Every evening when
+the fire was kindled on the hearth of the so-called Flett'" (a sort of
+hall or common room between the barn and the house), "'and the women
+were busy on the hearth with their cooking, the house-father with the
+whole of the household assembled around the fire--children, servants,
+and maids. Then the little ones were instructed in spelling and reading,
+in which business the servants and maids were faithful helpers of the
+house-father. After that, the catechism was taken in hand; some
+spiritual songs were sung; a portion was read aloud from the Bible and
+talked about, in the course of which very lovely and profitable words
+were often spoken; the old histories and legends and stories of the
+country, handed down from father to son, came in for their share of
+attention; the laws, manners, and usages which custom had made binding
+were discussed; and the "Flett" hour was one so full of enjoyment and
+so full of instruction that it was looked forward to during the whole
+day by both old and young. And this "Flett" hour was a strong fortress
+against the intrusion of innovations; and it can be shown, that the new
+ways, that is, the godless new ways, never came until the "Flett" hours
+were given up. This Flett'" (or great middle hall of the house) "'with
+its hearth was as it were the home sanctuary, in a certain degree the
+domestic altar. From there, too, the peasant could overlook his whole
+house and prevent any disorders. Usually there was only one
+dwelling-room in the house, called the "Doenz," which, however, was for
+the most part used merely for eating and spinning, and served for the
+whole, for grandparents and father and mother and children and men and
+maids; for the meals were also in common; and that old people should be
+portioned off and take what was called their part, was a thing unheard
+of; it would have brought unending disgrace upon the peasant's head. It
+was just as little thought possible that the peasant should take his
+meals separate from his men and maid-servants; they all formed one great
+family.
+
+"'I said awhile ago, that in the ravages of the war these people had
+saved what they held dearest, namely, their books. They had managed it
+in this way. In every "Doenz" the furniture consisted only of a large
+table, a table with folding leaves'" (a Klapptisch--I don't know whether
+that is a table that folds together, or a table shelf that folds up
+against the wall), "'a cupboard, and some wooden chairs and stools; but
+by the side of the stove there stood a "grandfather's chair" of more
+pretension, covered with leather, in which indeed the peasant himself,
+when he came home from the field in the evening, was wont to rest
+himself for a while. The seat, also covered with leather, they had made
+movable, so that it could be lifted up and shut down; and beneath this
+seat the books were placed in security; nothing was to be seen of them
+when the seat was shut down, and nobody would look for them there. And
+it was quite needful that they should preserve their books so
+carefully; for the Catholic soldiers in the Thirty Years' War waged a
+regular war of extermination against Lutheran books.
+
+"'One evening, Drewes the father, that is, the farmer, was sitting in
+his house, with his people around the hearth in the "Flett," and they
+were just speaking of the great victory which the Lutherans under
+General Torstensohn had fought for and gained at Leipzig; and the
+house-father was giving his opinion that soon now surely enough blood
+would have flowed, and that peace must be near. Upon that came his
+neighbour hastily in and said,--"Neighbour, hurry and loose your cattle,
+and let us flee to the wood; the emperor's forces are only half an hour
+off." Quick everybody sprang up; the cattle were muzzled to prevent
+their bellowing; the few bits of clothing and some victuals were caught
+up; and away they went plunging into the thickest part of the forest, as
+fast and as noiselessly as they could. Hinz closed the procession, and
+when the cattle were got out of sight he took post behind a tree, that
+he might see what the soldiers would do. He had not long to watch; for
+it was scarcely a quarter of an hour later that bright flames went
+crackling up into the sky; both houses together with the out-buildings
+were in a blaze. The soldiers were enraged that they had found no booty,
+and had set fire to everything. Hinz hastened now into the thick of the
+wood after the others, and when he caught up with them he told them of
+their misfortune. With that, they all fell upon their knees and thanked
+God that he had saved their lives and their cattle; and it never came
+into any one's head to weep so much as a single tear; they could build
+huts for themselves in the wood; and their hearts did not hang upon
+things of this world. But what is this? what could all of a sudden force
+such a deep sigh from Father Drewes that it absolutely startled them
+all? what could bring great tears into the eyes of that strong man, whom
+nobody had ever seen weep before? "Godfather Hinz," he said with his
+voice half stifled with pain,--"our books! our books! Ah, they are burnt
+up by now! our own and our children's only treasure and comfort!" And
+behold, they all then fell to weeping, men and women and children, men
+and maids, as if their hearts would break. At last spoke out the old
+Father Hinz, an eighty-years-old grey-headed man,--"Hush, children! if
+our books are burned, our God and Saviour is not gone with them; we have
+Him in our hearts; and His Word we have too, not only in the Bible but
+in our memories. I will say out a chapter for you every morning and
+every evening, out of my heart." Then they grew quiet, and he folded his
+hands and began at once, and prayed first the twenty-third psalm, and
+then the seventy-third psalm, and finally the eighth chapter of the
+Epistle to the Romans; all verse for verse from the beginning to the
+end.'"
+
+"The twenty-third and the seventy-third?" said Maggie interrupting.
+"Which are they?"
+
+"Don't you know? The twenty-third begins,--'The Lord is my Shepherd; I
+shall not want.'"
+
+"And it goes on,--" said Mr. Murray,--"'He prepareth a table before me
+in the presence of mine enemies; he anointeth my head with oil; my cup
+runneth over.'"
+
+"Not very appropriate," said Flora.
+
+"I thought very appropriate."
+
+"Why they were just in great want, sir; even of the most ordinary
+comforts."
+
+"A good time to remind themselves of their extraordinary comforts."
+
+"What had they to justify them in talking of their 'cup running over?'"
+
+"Something which they know who know, Miss Flora, and other people would
+try in vain to comprehend."
+
+"Well, the other word, 'I shall not want;'--they were in want already."
+
+"No," said Meredith, "excuse me. I have read what comes after."
+
+"They were in want, Ditto, certainly."
+
+"Only such want--never mind, I will not forestall my story."
+
+"What is the other psalm?" Flora asked.
+
+"Very beautiful in this connection," said Mr. Murray, who had got out
+his Bible. "It begins,--'Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as
+are of a clean heart.'"
+
+"There again!" said Flora, "what reason had they just then to think that
+He was good?"
+
+"That is faith, Miss Flora."
+
+"Faith?" the young lady repeated.
+
+"Yes. Faith takes on trust, when it cannot see."
+
+Flora looked at the speaker.
+
+"The psalm goes on to describe the temptations to doubt which had beset
+the psalmist on observing the prosperity of wicked people and the hard
+times the Lord's people often had; and then how he saw his mistake; and
+then he breaks out, 'Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none
+upon earth that I desire beside Thee. My flesh and my heart faileth, but
+God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.'"
+
+"That is beautiful, and appropriate," said Flora.
+
+"As soon as a man gets where he can say--'Thou shalt guide me with Thy
+counsel, and afterward receive me to glory,'--he can stand a few ups and
+downs in this life. The choice of passages made by that old man was
+beautiful in the extreme; and proved not only that he knew the Bible,
+but that it was part of his life."
+
+"And the chapter of Romans?"
+
+"A worthy third in the trio. That is a chapter of triumph in the
+Christian's privilege and hopes, ending--'Who shall separate us from the
+love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
+famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?... Nay, in all these things we
+are more than conquerors, through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded,
+that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
+nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any
+other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which
+is in Christ Jesus our Lord.'"
+
+Flora's eyes filled, and she said nothing; and Meredith took up his book
+again.
+
+"There is another word in that chapter that fits, sir--'All things shall
+work together for good to them that love God.'"
+
+"It would certainly take faith to believe _that_," said Flora. "I can
+imagine a little that other things and hopes might console people
+suffering trouble in their persons and goods; but now, for instance,
+what possible benefit could it be to those people to have their houses
+burned, and to be driven into the wild wood with no shelter and nothing
+or very little to eat, and likewise very little to put on?"
+
+"Well, I had better read," said Meredith. "Pastor Harms stops there,
+after telling how old Drewes recited Scripture, and asks, 'Could my dear
+readers all of them have done as much? just ask yourselves once quietly;
+and whoever is forced to say, "I could not do it," let him be ashamed
+from the bottom of his heart!
+
+"'A special impression was made by the words, "Though I walk through the
+valley of the shadow of death," &c., and those others, "My heart and my
+flesh faileth," &c., and again, "I am persuaded, that neither death nor
+life," &c., and after they had all sat still a while, they raised their
+heads up cheerfully, took each other's hands, and broke out with one
+voice in the words--
+
+"'"Dennoch bleibe ich stets an Dir," &c.'"
+
+"What does that mean, Ditto?"
+
+"'Nevertheless, I am continually with thee.' 'Then they went quietly to
+sleep in the wood, and lodged there beautifully, warm and safe under the
+wings of their God, and beneath the sheltering arms of the fir-trees; so
+that the sun was already shining through the branches when they waked
+up. Then they milked the cows, to get some breakfast for the children,
+and after that they all gathered round the old father to remind him of
+his promise. And the old man did not delay, but prayed first the
+twenty-seventh, and then the forty-second and forty-third psalms, and
+for the last, the twelfth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews; so
+devoutly and so confidingly and so unhesitatingly, that they all could
+not have supposed but that he was reading to them out of the big Bible
+that had been under the arm-chair; and in most of the parts they prayed
+with him word for word. Then they looked gratefully to the old man, and
+after they had first asked the blessing, then drunk the milk, and at
+last said grace, the others remained in the wood; but the two peasants,
+Drewes and Hinz, with their two servants, set out to go back to the
+place where their houses had stood. As they went off, the old Father
+Hinz called after them, as if he were in a dream,--"Children, see about
+the books too!" Slowly they drew near the place of the conflagration;
+carefully listening and looking around them; but nothing was to be seen
+or heard, all was as still as death, only the birds were hopping and
+singing in the branches. At last they came within view of the place
+where the fire had been; but just as they were about to run thither, a
+low moaning came to their ears from the corner of the wood, near the
+place of the fire. They were Christians, therefore they did not do like
+the priest and the Levite, but like the kind-hearted Samaritan; they
+went off towards the quarter from which the moans came; and what did
+they see? Two badly-wounded soldiers, sitting in the two grandfather's
+chairs at the corner of the wood. How came they there? The troops on
+their march through had had these wounded fellows with them; who for
+their weakness proved unable to go any further; so their comrades
+determined to leave them behind. But to let the houses stand for the
+sake of affording them shelter, was more than the inflamed rage of the
+soldiers, disappointed at finding everything empty, could see their way
+to. However to show some sort of humanity to their comrades, they had
+dragged the two old chairs out of the houses to the corner of the wood,
+placed the wounded men in them, and then completed their work of
+destruction; following which they had all marched off. And now, when the
+wounded soldiers saw standing before them the four men whose houses
+their comrades had laid in ashes, they looked for nothing else but
+death. But not anger nor revenge, but peace, yes, blessed joy, beamed
+from the faces of those four men; God had certainly saved their beloved
+books for them. Now they did not care that their houses were gone. The
+soldiers were treated, not as foes, but as benefactors. They carried
+them away into the wood where the rest of the people were; and when the
+chairs were seen, and the seats were lifted up, and the books found
+uninjured, then there was a thanksgiving and praising and glorifying so
+loud and so glad, that the angels in heaven must have joined in; the
+very little children ran to the books and kissed them devoutly and
+gleefully. The two soldiers were tended as if they had been blood
+kindred; milk was given them to drink; and now, also, since the host of
+incendiaries had marched away, the way was open to fetch food again out
+of the villages. It was proposed to bring the wounded men to the nearest
+hamlet; but they were too weak for it; and they begged that they might
+be kept in the huts in the wood. And now it came to pass that nothing
+refreshed those two soldiers more than old Father Hinz's talk from the
+Word of God, and his prayers. Even at the eleventh hour, they turned to
+the Lord Jesus; and the pastor in Hermannsburg gave them the Holy
+Communion after they had confessed their sins, had received the
+assurance of forgiveness, and had declared that they believed in Jesus
+Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, and were persuaded that His body
+and blood were truly represented to them in the bread and the wine. This
+communion was a right blessed day of joy for the inhabitants of the
+wood. But God was preparing for them yet another special rejoicing. For
+when the last hour of the two soldiers was drawing near, they summoned
+the old father and the two peasants to their dying bed, thanked them
+anew with tears in their eyes for the salvation which they had found for
+their souls, and made over to them the legacy of their military
+doublets; with the intimation, that after they were dead, they should
+rip out the seams of them. This was done, when the men had first been
+honourably buried; and now were discovered, sewed into the doublets,
+such a stock of gold pieces, that not only the burned-down houses and
+stables could be built again, but also the men and maids might receive a
+handsome reward, and a new altar cloth could be given to the church at
+Hermannsburg.
+
+"'The lord of the manor of Hermannsburg had assigned to the two soldiers
+a place in his portion of the churchyard, where, at the north-east
+corner of the churchyard wall, their graves were covered with a stone.
+This stone lay there until, after the male line of the lord of the manor
+had died out, the so-called Allodium was sold, and along with it this
+stone. It bore the following inscription:--
+
+"'"ANNO 1642 DOMINI NOSTRI JESU CHRISTI MORTEM OBIERUNT ET HOC LOCO
+SEPULTI SUNT FRIEDERICUS WENCESLAUS BOHEMUS ET MARTINUS JURISCHITZ
+LUSACIUS, QUI BIBLIA INSCII SERVAVERANT ET PER BIBLIA IN AETERNUM SERVATI
+SUNT:" that is,
+
+"'"In the year of our Lord Jesus Christ 1642 died and are here buried
+Friedrich Wenzel of Bohemia, and Martin Jurischitz of Lusatia; who
+without knowing it had saved the Bible, and through the Bible have been
+themselves saved unto everlasting life."
+
+"'On the other side of the stone stood the words--"Hinnerk Hinz and
+Peter his son and Drewes Johan have had this stone erected for two gold
+gulden out of the Landsknecht's doublet."
+
+"'Two years after the end of the Thirty Years' War, those two peasants,
+of their own free will, pulled down their houses in the Buchhorst and
+built them up again in the village of Wesen; for the reason, that after
+the devastations of those years the wolves had so got the upper hand
+that it was no longer possible to be secure from them. Twice, with great
+difficulty, they had recovered their children from the wolves, which
+already had them in their grip and were dragging them off; and then they
+thought, to stay there longer would be to tempt God. Those two farms
+are still in Wesen and are yet called Drewes' farm and Hinz's farm,
+although the possessors in these latter days have long borne other
+names. May God give us from this old story the blessing, that we may be
+ever more as strong in the Bible and as firm in faith as the men of old
+were.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+
+"That is one of your very prettiest stories, Ditto," cried Maggie when
+he stopped.
+
+"Yes," said Flora, "I think so."
+
+"It must be a good story that can be listened to here," said Mr.
+Murray,--"and I have been listening with great attention. I have been
+thinking, while I was looking out over all this beauty and receiving so
+much by my ears of another kind of beauty,--I have been thinking and
+rejoicing to myself over the fact, how good our God is. 'Mountains, and
+all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars; young men and maidens; old
+men and children: let them praise the name of the Lord.'"
+
+"Uncle Eden," said Maggie meditatively, "how _can_ hills praise the
+Lord?--or trees?"
+
+"Don't they?"
+
+"How, Uncle Eden?"
+
+"_Don't_ they, I ask?"
+
+"But they could not hear anybody tell them to praise."
+
+"You are a literalist. How can 'the trees of the field clap their
+hands'?"
+
+"Does the Bible say they do?"
+
+"It says they will. And it says 'Let the floods clap their hands; let
+the hills be joyful together before the Lord; for He cometh!'--"
+
+"But that is very strange too," said Flora. "'He cometh to judge the
+earth;' I know the chant; but it seems solemn and dreadful, and it is
+sung in the minor key."
+
+"I know," said Mr. Murray. "The composer did not understand the
+rejoicing either."
+
+"But how can any one, Mr. Murray?"
+
+"Those 'that love His appearing,' Miss Flora?"
+
+"I suppose I am very bad, Mr. Murray; but I tell you just how I feel.
+That seems to me the most awful of times, and nothing but awful."
+
+"Perfectly correct, Miss Flora, and just as it is described in the
+Bible. When the kings and the great men and the rich men will say to the
+mountains and to the rocks, 'Fall on us, and hide us!'--"
+
+"But you talk of being glad?" said Flora, looking a good deal troubled.
+
+"Ay, but I was thinking of the other party," said Mr. Murray
+gravely,--"from whom will go up a very different cry, a shout of
+gladness--'Lo, this is our God! we have waited for Him, and He will save
+us.'"
+
+"Save them from what?"
+
+"From all the oppressions and miseries inflicted upon them by the rulers
+of this world; and more, from all the evils under which humanity has
+been groaning ever since the fall. Then will strike the hour of the
+world's freedom. That will be the time when the bridegroom cometh, and
+they that are ready will go in with him to the marriage. Don't you think
+they will be glad, who have been waiting in darkness and weariness for
+so long? Then comes the marriage supper, and the everlasting union
+between Christ and His Church. Should not the Church be glad!"
+
+"You said, 'they that are ready.'"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Who are they?"
+
+"Do you remember the parable of the marriage supper? Don't you
+recollect, one man had not on a wedding garment?"
+
+"But what _is_ the wedding-garment?" said Flora, who looked as if she
+had some difficulty to keep her composure.
+
+"Shall I answer you in the words of one of old time?--'I will greatly
+rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath
+clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the
+robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments,
+and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.'"
+
+"Then it is something given," said Flora slowly.
+
+"Given, by the King to the guests; a free gift, Miss Flora, to all who
+accept the King's invitation."
+
+Flora asked no more, but lay still on her couch of pine branches,
+looking out on the calm and glorified hills. Nobody else broke the
+silence; I think Fenton was gone to sleep; and the others were quiet.
+
+"The shadows are going the wrong way," said Flora at last. "I wish this
+day would last longer!"
+
+"'A thing of beauty is a joy for ever,'" said Meredith.
+
+"Don't quote such a dreadfully hackneyed sentiment!" said his sister.
+"How comes it, Mr. Murray, that beautiful things in nature never grow
+hackneyed?"
+
+"They are always fresh. No two days in one's experience are just like
+each other."
+
+"There never was a day in my experience like this one," said Flora.
+"Ditto, aren't you going to read some more?"
+
+"It will be a variety, if I do."
+
+"We are made to like variety--as Mr. Murray has just reminded you."
+
+Meredith guessed that his sister cared more about putting off the hour
+of departure than about the reading in the abstract; and he opened his
+book again, for nobody else made any objection to Flora's proposal.
+
+"I shall read you," said he, "the story of a pastor and a farmer."
+
+"Those are the people your stories are generally about," said Flora. "I
+hope the variety will lie in the treatment. Go on. I don't care what you
+read."
+
+"'In a certain country, that I am not going to name, there is a parish
+village. In the parsonage lives a pastor; it is not I, however. This
+pastor faithfully serves our beloved church with the Word of God, which
+he preaches in truth, and with the holy sacraments, which he administers
+as he ought. And wherever this is done, the fruit will not be wanting;
+for God has promised it, and He keeps His word still, although among
+men there is little truth or faith any longer to be found.
+
+"'With temporal goods, however, this pastor is not specially well
+provided; and were it not that he has a living God in the heavens, he
+must many a time grow anxious and dispirited; which in truth he does not
+always escape, as he himself humbly confesses. For if you have a small
+benefice, a large family, and a couple of children at school to boot,
+sometimes that gives even a believer the headache; though indeed there
+is no need for that, were faith but strong and prayer simple enough. Now
+there are cultivated fields belonging to the living; but as the pastor
+cannot drive the plough spiritual and the plough agricultural both at
+once, he hires out his ground; that he may give himself the more
+diligently to the cultivation of hearts. From these hired-out acres
+comes not a small part of his scanty means, and therefore it becomes a
+very desirable thing that he should dispose of his ground suitably. With
+most of his fields, indeed, this is not difficult, for they are fruitful
+and favourably situated and easy to get a good tenant for them. But one
+of his pieces of ground, and a pretty large one, lies on the slope of a
+hill which is wooded at the top; this field nobody will take, because in
+great rains loose earth and stones come rolling down over the slope from
+the hill above, and in this way the whole crop may easily be destroyed.
+It comes to my mind that the fault probably lies at the door of the
+beloved Enclosings. In the course of them it might well happen that too
+much wood has been cleared from the hill and sold. By that means the
+soil has been laid bare and the rain floods can wash it off anywhere
+they come. At any rate, nobody wants the field; and it always gives the
+pastor a stab in the heart when he comes past it; and he does not
+content himself with thinking, but he prays too, and promises that he
+will give to the Lord Jesus, for the mission, a portion of the hire of
+the field, if only a tenant may be found for it.
+
+"'And He in the heavens has heard the pastor's prayer. Not long after,
+there comes a man of the parish, who is not in possession of ground
+enough to make his farming suffice for the wants of his family, and who
+therefore would willingly hire some more acres. He offers to take the
+neglected field off the pastor's hands. The upright pastor does not hide
+from him the reason why the field has hitherto found no tenant. But this
+man, who loves the Lord Jesus, and who therefore is a hearty friend of
+his pastor, declares that he has already quietly considered all that;
+and he has thought among other things that it must be very important to
+the pastor to let out this field, for to be sure the boys cost money;
+and it is very desirable for himself to hire a field, since he also has
+a great many mouths to feed. So both of them would be the better off.
+The Lord must have the care of the thing, and that He is well able for;
+he himself also would pray the Lord faithfully to this end, and he would
+make it the one stipulation with his beloved pastor, that he would stand
+by him and help him in faithful prayer. The two men gave each other the
+hand upon that. The man hiring the ground had also told the Lord that he
+would give Him a portion of the produce of the field for the conversion
+of the heathen, and that all the same whether the produce were much or
+little. But the man had said nothing about this to his pastor, and he
+again on the other side had said nothing to the man about his own
+contract with the Lord; so that each of them had thus kept in his heart
+a secret for himself, which was known to the Lord alone. But surely I
+know that the Lord thereupon looked kindly on both the men.
+
+"'Now in the autumn the farmer sets himself vigorously to work to get
+the field in order; and the Lord gives His blessing upon it; up comes
+the seed merrily, and the winter does it no hurt; the Lord has
+graciously sheltered it. With a wet summer the corn really shoots up,
+and stands so fine that it is magnificent to see. Both pastor and farmer
+are heartily glad at the sight, and both at the same time have a secret
+recollection of their vow, and are still more glad. But many of the
+peasants, who are not lovers of the Lord, and therefore also not lovers
+of their good pastor, and of the good farmer as little, feel no
+pleasure, but a regular hateful grudge in their hearts; for indeed there
+is everywhere a plenty of envy and spite to be found among unbelievers,
+because they make their god out of what is earthly, and that is all they
+care about. However they comfort themselves with the thought that when
+the thunder-showers once come with their violent rain-pours, then surely
+there will be stones and soil enough rolling down upon the field from
+off the hill in the end to destroy all that is standing upon it. Verily
+that is not a godly sort of satisfaction, but a true Satanic delight,
+for Satan rejoices when any evil happens to people.
+
+"'And at last, the wish of the peasants seems to be fulfilled. There
+comes up an uncommonly violent thunder-storm; the rain pours down from
+heaven in streams, as if the clouds had burst; so that regular brooks
+are flowing down the village streets. Then the envious people triumph;
+there is no mistake about it, the field lying so exposed on the slope of
+the hill must be thoroughly laid waste. Those two men, it may well be,
+tremble too, for the storm is too frightful; but lose heart they do not;
+on the contrary, the need drives them to more ardent prayer: "Lord,
+help, and do not let the field be spoiled. Thou art the strong, almighty
+God of Sabaoth, and Thy hand is not shortened, but Thine arm is
+stretched out still." So they prayed; and when the storm was past they
+went confidently up to the field, a good many accompanying them; and as
+they were going, and while the many who went along could hardly hide
+their delight, they were singing in their hearts the hymn--
+
+    "Was mein Gott will gescheh allzeit,
+      Sein Wille ist der beste;
+    Zu helfen ist Er dem bereit,
+      Der an Ihn glauebet feste."'"
+
+"Ditto, we don't understand that."
+
+"It means about this. 'The will of my God be done always. His will is
+the best. He is always ready to help them who rest on Him in firm
+faith.'"
+
+"'With that they are able to look up cheerfully and they are of good
+courage. And when they arrive at the field, what do they see? The entire
+field is unharmed. The stalks of grain lift their heads up bravely, as
+if they too would give thanks for the beautiful rain which has so
+refreshed them. But on both sides of the field a whole stream has poured
+down from the hill, and nothing is to be seen but a wild mass of rocks
+and stones. Whose is the strong hand which seized the rain flood, and
+parted it just before it came to the field, and so gently led it down on
+both sides of the field? Moved to the depth of their hearts, our two
+friends were constrained to cry out--"The Lord, He is the God! The Lord,
+He is the God! Give our God the glory." And it is to be hoped that many
+of the unbelievers, if not aloud, yet quietly joined in the prayer with
+them.
+
+"'And now, when the harvest was finished, and the farmer brought to the
+pastor what he had promised to give the Lord of the produce of the
+field, and then also the pastor's vow was made known to the farmer, the
+two fell upon their knees again and thanked the Lord for His goodness,
+because His mercy endureth for ever. Must not such gifts to the heathen
+go with God's special blessing resting upon them?'"
+
+"Is that all?" said Maggie.
+
+"That is all," said Meredith smiling.
+
+"I do not know what to make of that story," said Flora.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Storms come from natural causes."
+
+"Oh, do they?" said Meredith. "You do not believe then what the psalm
+says--'He commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind'"----
+
+"But that is poetry."
+
+"So is this," said Mr. Murray,--"'Who hath divided a watercourse for the
+overflowing of waters; or a way for the lightning of thunder; to cause
+it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein is
+no man; to satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud
+of the tender herb to spring forth?'"
+
+"Well," said Flora a little abashed, "isn't it poetry?"
+
+"I do think, Flo," said her brother, "you have forgotten all our talks
+around the breakfast table in Florida and elsewhere."
+
+"Here again," said Mr. Murray,--"'He saith to the snow, Be thou on the
+earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of His
+strength.' It won't do, Miss Flora, to resist the fact. And I would
+remark, that the highest poetry is the highest truth also."
+
+"But do you think, Mr. Murray, if it is so, that God will change His
+arrangements just for men's asking Him."
+
+"I don't _think_, I know it, Miss Flora. It is precisely the Lord's way.
+But we cannot stop to talk about that now. My friends, do you see where
+the sun is?"
+
+"Oh, must we go?" cried they all.
+
+"It is a pity, isn't it? But this would hardly do for a night's
+lodgings; and if we are to sleep at home, we must take the necessary
+steps."
+
+Slowly they gathered themselves up from their pine bushes, and shook
+themselves; literally and figuratively, I might say.
+
+"What are you going to do with your oyster shells, Fenton?" his uncle
+demanded.
+
+"I don't want to do anything with them," said the boy.
+
+"You always want to be a gentleman."
+
+"What has that to do with it?"
+
+"A gentleman never needlessly annoys anybody."
+
+"Nobody comes here," said Fenton grumblingly. But they all laughed so at
+him that he pocketed his ill-humour and took his share in carrying the
+wrecks of the feast down to the creek side.
+
+Then with the tide they swept up the river. I can never tell you how
+pretty it was. The day had kept its character of clear quiet beauty
+without change; and now as the sun began to get lower in the western
+sky, and shadows stretched along under the shore on the river and fell
+in lengthening patches or lines from hill-tops and trees, it did not
+grow cold. Quiet and sweet the air was, even on the water; and the
+rowers dipped and raised their oars in steady time, and in silence.
+Nobody wanted to talk. They passed the island or promontory a little
+above Fort Montgomery, passed on and on, keeping the mid-stream now,
+passed Gee's Point, saw the boat-house looming up before them,--and were
+at home.
+
+The very next day it rained.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO.
+
+EDINBURGH AND LONDON
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Pine Needles, by Susan Bogert Warner
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