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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Quiver, 11/1899, by Anonymous
-
-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: The Quiver, 11/1899
-
-Author: Anonymous
-
-Release Date: September 15, 2013 [EBook #43738]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUIVER, 11/1899 ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Delphine Lettau, Julia Neufeld and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
-
-
-
-
-
-Transcriber's note:
-
-Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
-
-Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=).
-
-Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals.
-
-The carat character (^) indicates that the following letter is
-superscripted (example: y^e).
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-
-
-
-The Quiver 11/1899
-
-
-[Illustration: MOTHERHOOD.
-
-_After the Picture by_ MISS IDA LOVERING.]
-
-
-
-
-LADY DOCTORS IN HEATHEN LANDS
-
-By the Author of "The Child Wives and Widows of India," Etc.
-
-
-A garrison of snow-capped mountains; a valley smiling in Oriental
-luxuriance; the gorgeous, romantic loveliness described in
-"Lalla Rookh"--such are the general impressions of the land of
-Kashmir. Dirt, disease, and degradation summed up its prevailing
-characteristics in the eyes of an Englishman, who, in October, 1872,
-toiled wearily over the Pir Panjal, 11,900 feet above the level of
-the sea.
-
-This was Dr. Elmslie's last journey. He hardly realised, as he
-dragged his weary limbs over rough but familiar paths, that one
-object for which he had struggled for years was practically
-accomplished. He sank from exhaustion on the way, and the day
-after his death Government granted permission for missionaries to
-spend the winter in the Valley of Kashmir. Still farther was he
-from knowing of another result of his labours. He had appealed to
-Englishwomen to bring the gifts of healing to suffering and secluded
-inmates of zenanas. Dr. Elmslie had found a direct way to the hearts
-of prejudiced heathen men. The sick came to him for healing, and
-learnt the meaning of his self-denying life.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Elliott and Fry._)
-
-THE LATE DR. FANNY BUTLER.
-
-(_At the time she went to India._)]
-
-"Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life,"
-are ancient words of wisdom; but this rule has exceptions. To Hindu
-women, at least, caste is dearer than life. It would be as easy
-to restore the down to a bruised butterfly's wing as to give back
-self-respect, and with it all that makes life worth living, to a
-zenana lady who has been exposed to the gaze or touch of a man other
-than a near relation. Custom of the country debars a respectable
-woman from receiving ministry to body, soul, or mind, unless it
-comes from one of her own sex. Dr. Elmslie's appeal resulted in Miss
-Fanny Butler's offer of service to the Indian Female Normal School
-and Instruction Society. She was the first enrolled student of the
-London School of Medicine, which had just been transferred from
-Edinburgh, and passed second out of one hundred and twenty-three
-candidates, one hundred and nineteen of whom were men, in the
-Preliminary Arts Examination. She went to India in October, 1880,
-the first fully qualified medical missionary to women.
-
-Seventeen years after Dr. Elmslie's death Dr. Fanny Butler obtained
-another concession for Kashmir, the permission for missionaries to
-live within the city of Srinagar. She saw the foundations of a new
-hospital for women begun within the city, and fourteen days after
-she also laid down what, an hour before her death, she described
-as a "good long life," in the service of Kashmiri people. The age
-of thirty-nine, she said to the friends who surrounded her, and
-who felt that she of all others could not be spared, was "not so
-very young to die," and she sent an earnest plea to the Church of
-England Zenana Society, the division of the old society to which
-she belonged, to send someone quickly to take her place. The new
-hospital was the gift of Mrs. Bishop (Miss Isabella Bird) in memory
-of her husband. She had seen the dirty crowd of suffering women at
-the dispensary door overpower two men, and the earliest arrivals
-precipitated head foremost by the rush from behind, whilst numbers
-were turned away in misery and disappointment.
-
-Hospitals and dispensaries have rapidly increased since the day
-of pioneers. Absolute necessity has forced medical work on many
-missionaries in the field. The most elementary knowledge of nursing
-and hygiene appears miraculous to women sunk in utter ignorance. A
-white woman too modest to give them remedies for every ailment is
-usually regarded as unkind. A neglected missionary dispensary is
-practically unknown.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Church of England Zenana
-Missionary Society._)
-
-OUTSIDE THE VERANDAH OF THE WOMEN'S HOSPITAL AT TARN TARAN.
-
-(_Showing some of the patients placed out to spend the hot night in
-the open._)]
-
-At the time when the Countess Dufferin started her admirable
-scheme for providing medical aid for Indian women a well-known
-Anglo-Indian surgeon stated publicly that, whatever other
-qualification was required in a candidate, two were absolutely
-necessary: she must be a lady in the highest sense of the word,
-and she must be a Christian, and he proceeded to give good reasons
-for what he said. The experience of every woman who has taken up
-this work would bear out his sentiments. Without courtesy and
-ready intuition of the feelings of others it would be hard to
-get an entrance into zenanas, and nothing but love and devotion
-to her Master would enable a woman to persevere in spending her
-life amongst sick heathen women, in spite of sights, scenes, and
-vexations beyond conception in England.
-
-[Illustration: (_From a Photograph._)
-
-THE DUCHESS OF CONNAUGHT'S HOSPITAL, PESHAWUR.]
-
-The greatest difficulties are probably met in high-caste zenanas.
-There, in the midst of unhealthy surroundings, the friends and
-neighbours have grand opportunities of undoing any good that may
-have been accomplished. It is grievous to a medical missionary to
-find her fever patient dying from a douche of cold water, because
-the white woman has defiled her high caste by feeling her pulse.
-It is enough to make her give up a case in despair if, after she
-has explained that quiet is absolutely necessary, the friends and
-neighbours decide that the evil spirit supposed to be in possession
-must be driven out by the music of tom-toms. A Hindu man is said
-to "sin religiously," and a Hindu woman excels him in devotion to
-her creed. A fever patient in the Punjab refused to drink milk--the
-one thing of all others that her medical woman ordered her--because
-she said, if it were the last thing she swallowed, her soul would
-pass into the body of a cobra. One medical missionary found a
-woman, who was in a critical state, lying on a mat, whilst an old
-woman, supposed to be learned in sickness, stood on her body, or
-patrolled up and down like a sentinel, as far as the length would
-admit. This was kindly meant. Another found one suffering seriously
-from the effect of a linseed poultice. She had carefully explained
-the mysteries of making and applying it, but in her absence the
-patient's friends had spread dry linseed over her chest and poured
-boiling water over it.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Baness Bros._)
-
-WAITING THEIR TURN.
-
-(_Patients outside the Tarn Taran Hospital Dispensary._)]
-
-Happily, all the women in India are not secluded in zenanas. By
-far the largest proportion live in the villages, but their notions
-of propriety are very strict. The hard-working field-women will hide
-themselves on the suspicion of a _sahib_ being within reach. When
-once they are satisfied that the visitor belongs to their own sex
-and is harmless, crowds beset the missionary encampments. Many tales
-of suffering are poured into sympathising ears.
-
-"I am blind from crying for my only son" is not an infrequent
-complaint. Nothing can be done in this case.
-
-"There is no god or goddess to love a Hindu woman. Whatever
-offerings we make her, the goddess of small-pox smites us, and then
-the men say the women have not offered enough, and are angry." This
-was the reply of a Punjabi woman, who spoke for her friends and
-neighbours.
-
-One Bengali woman told a missionary of the death of a precious baby
-boy. There did not seem much the matter, but the _hakim_ (a native
-quack) first gave him something burning to swallow, and then applied
-a red-hot iron to each side in turn; and the child only drew one or
-two breaths after this treatment. This also, one hopes, was kindly
-meant. The Hindus are by no means wanting in humanity, but ignorance
-is often as fatal as cruelty.
-
-Many patients find an excuse for coming again and again to the
-dispensaries. There they hear of blessings in this world and the
-next which they say seem too good to be true. They see love shining
-in the earnest faces, and feel it in the touch of hands that will
-not shrink from dressing repulsive sores.
-
-The majority of cases in dispensaries are ordinary fevers or skin
-diseases resulting from dirt, and other scourges that follow
-defiance of elementary rules of health.
-
-Patients discharged as cured often return. "Tell me again that Name
-that I can say when I pray," one of them asked, to explain the
-reappearance of her shrivelled old face; "I forget so soon." And she
-went on her way repeating the Name that even some of the heathen
-realise must be exalted above all others.
-
-"I know that your Jesus must reign over our land," a Punjabi woman
-said to a lady who had opened a dispensary at Tarn Taran, a sacred
-city of the Sikhs; "I know it, because your religion is full of
-love and ours has none at all."
-
-The mission hospital at this city, with the name which literally
-means "The Place of Salvation," and the dispensary seen in the
-illustration, came mainly into being through the determination
-of the inhabitants. A suffering baby might claim a share in its
-existence. This infant's mother brought it to a missionary whose
-training as a nurse had made her a friend in sickness. The child's
-sight was hopelessly gone. The mother said that the _hakim_ had told
-her alum was good for sore eyes, so she had put it under the lids.
-
-"You have used it in such a way as to blind your baby," the
-missionary said; "and I could have told you what to do."
-
-"How should I know?" the woman replied, using a common phrase to
-express helplessness or lethargy; but she told the story to her
-friends, and other mothers, whose babies' eyes were suffering, soon
-proved that the white woman had made no empty boast. Ophthalmia
-is terribly common in India, and its marvellous cures began to be
-famous.
-
-One day a family party carried an invalid into the verandah of the
-Tarn Taran mission house. The missionary looked inside the _doolie_;
-she was not a doctor, and declined to undertake such a serious case,
-and told the men to take their invalid to the Amritsar Hospital.
-They were determined to take no such trouble. To show that she was
-equally determined to make them, she went inside the house and shut
-the doors and blinds. Who would hold out the longest? The result was
-a foregone conclusion. The Punjabis, armed with a greater disregard
-for a woman's life, gained the victory by the simple method of
-beating a retreat, leaving the helpless woman behind them. In common
-humanity she could not be left to die. In a few days her family
-returned to inquire, and were gratified to find her progressing
-towards recovery. The white woman's celebrity was now secured, and
-to her consternation and embarrassment she found her verandah full
-of patients, and, from overwork, was soon herself added to the
-number. The people of Tarn Taran afterwards gave the building for a
-Women's Mission Hospital, and a new one is now in the charge of a
-fully qualified lady doctor.
-
-Hospitals are by far the most satisfactory part of medical
-missions. In zenanas and dispensaries it is one thing to prescribe
-and give advice, and another for orders to be obeyed, especially
-if they are contrary to rules of caste or custom. It is well known
-that a Hindu soldier, who will follow his British officer into the
-fiercest _mêlée_, and, if necessary, die for him, if true to his own
-creed, will not receive a cup of water at his hands. When wounded
-his parched lips will close tightly, lest his caste should suffer.
-The same principle debars his womenfolk from accepting physic in
-a liquid form from Englishwomen. They may, however, take powders.
-Written directions are generally useless, and verbal ones often
-misunderstood. It is little wonder if dispensary patients make slow
-progress.
-
-"Are you sure you took the medicine I gave you?" inquired a medical
-missionary of one who made no advance at all.
-
-"Quite sure, Miss Sahiba."
-
-"How did you take it?"
-
-"I ate the paper and threw away the dust."
-
-This mistake was not astonishing under the circumstances. One
-Mohammedan specific is to swallow a paper pellet with the name of
-God written in Arabic; another, for the _mullah_ to write an Arabic
-inscription on a plate, and for the water that washes it off to be
-the dose.
-
-[Illustration: A GROUP OF WORKERS AT THE DUCHESS OF CONNAUGHT'S
-HOSPITAL.
-
-(_Dr. Wheeler stands at the left-hand side of group._)]
-
-It is well when superstition and misconception stop short at
-swallowing paper and inky water. A woman, seriously injured from
-an accident, was carried into the Duchess of Connaught Hospital,
-Peshawur. Her husband accompanied her, and saw the medical
-missionary in charge carefully attend to fractures and bruises. Rest
-and sleep and quiet were doing their work, and the man was left to
-watch. A sudden crash startled the ward. The husband had turned
-the bedstead over on its side, and flung his wife down. He fancied
-she was dying, and said it would imperil her soul if it departed
-whilst she lay on anything but the floor. He had the satisfaction
-of knowing that she died where he placed her. This was a case
-of a Hindu "sinning religiously." It would be harder to forgive
-the frequent sacrifice of life to superstition, if there were no
-ennobling element underlying it of honest desire for some vague
-spiritual good.
-
-The Duchess of Connaught Hospital is a permanent memorial of her
-Royal Highness's kind interest in the women of India. Whilst on the
-North-Western Frontier she went through the Dispensary and Nursing
-Home which represented the first effort to bring medical aid to the
-Afghan women, and allowed it to be called after her name. A new and
-much larger building, of which a drawing has been reproduced, has
-taken the place of the native quarters, where Mohammedan bigotry
-was by slow degrees overcome. For years the ladies of the Church of
-England Zenana Missionary Society, who had charge of this hospital,
-were the only Europeans living within the walls of Peshawur.
-Every night the great city gates closed them in, and separated
-them from other missionaries and from Government servants. They
-chose to be in the midst of their work, and though outbreaks of
-Mohammedan fanaticism repeatedly checked teaching in schools and
-zenanas, ministry to the sick continued, and never lost the friendly
-confidence of Peshawuris.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Church of England Zenana
-Missionary Society._)
-
-STAFF AND PATIENTS OF ST. CATHERINE'S HOSPITAL, AMRITSAR.]
-
-In its early and humbler days, the fame of this hospital reached
-far-away Khorassan. A lady of that country who was suffering
-terribly, caused herself to be carried the fifteen days' journey to
-Peshawur. Miss Mitcheson, who opened the first dispensary, and is
-now the head of the hospital, saw that her case was critical and
-required an operation of a far more serious kind than she had ever
-attempted, and begged her to allow the civil surgeon to see her.
-
-"I would rather die," the patient answered. The combined forces of
-suffering, fear of death, and persuasion, were powerless to move
-her. The Englishwoman, of whose powers she had heard in her own
-country, might do what she liked with her, but no man should come
-near her. Happily Miss Mitcheson successfully accomplished what was
-necessary, and the Khorassan lady made a good recovery. When the
-time came for parting from her new friends, she promised to use in
-her own country the knowledge she had gained in Peshawur. She kept
-her word, as more visitors from Khorassan testified, and they said
-she had not forgotten the benefits she had received in the mission
-hospital.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Church Missionary Society._)
-
-BACK VIEW OF NEW WOMEN'S HOSPITAL, HANGCHOW.]
-
-During Miss Mitcheson's absence in England Dr. Charlotte Wheeler,
-who with her fellow-workers, in the illustration on p. 102, stands
-in the verandah of the old building, superintended the medical work.
-On Miss Mitcheson's return, Miss Wheeler opened a medical mission
-amongst the women in Quetta. This work extended rapidly on and
-beyond the frontier, so that in November, 1896, when it was a year
-old, eight different languages were spoken on the same day in the
-dispensary waiting room.
-
-Institutions for training Christian girls of India as doctors or
-nurses have come into existence as the number of candidates has
-increased and the necessity has arisen. The North India School
-of Medicine has been established at Ludhiana with this object.
-Many of the mission hospitals also have training classes. St.
-Catherine's Hospital, Amritsar, under the superintendence of Miss
-Hewlett, who has had nineteen years' experience, has provided very
-valuable assistant medical missionaries for stations in the Punjab
-and Bengal. At the last census a hundred Christian women--counting
-missionaries, assistants, patients, nurses and students--were within
-its walls. An illustration shows the inmates mustering before going
-to church.
-
-One student in St. Catherine's Hospital, who had gained a
-scholarship, gave promise of a brilliant career. Before the time
-of study in which she delighted was over, the lady superintendent
-became suspicious of what this young girl described as broken
-chilblains on her fingers. A doctor was called in, and confirmed
-her impression that it was leprosy. An Eastern girl knows, what in
-Europe is only faintly imagined, of the horrors of this loathsome
-disease. One cry of anguish only escaped her when she was told
-the verdict. Then she rose above the trial, and resigned herself
-cheerfully to the will of God. She was prepared to start the next
-day for the Leper Settlement near Calcutta without meeting her
-friends or fellow-students for a word of farewell.
-
-"What comforts me," she said to the Clerical Secretary of the Church
-of England Zenana Missionary Society, who was in Amritsar at the
-time, "is that I may go as a missionary rather than as a patient."
-
-She went to that place of death and banishment, to live out the rest
-of her days in ministry for others. In her case the days lingered
-into years, and the disease took a severe form, but her devotion
-and courage never failed. When death came to her as a friend, and
-her work was done, the memory of the "superior girl," who had lived
-among the afflicted people as a missionary rather than a patient,
-remained. Perhaps her fellowship in suffering gave her the final
-qualification to be a missionary to lepers.
-
-India is the land which above all others cries out for lady medical
-missionaries; but other Eastern countries have also a claim.
-Wherever Islam has planted its iron heel, women are jealously
-guarded in harems, and it is very unusual for a man to be allowed
-entrance on any pretext. In China, also, women of superior class are
-hidden within the high walls that surround their houses. Those free
-to go out gain little but suffering from the barbarous attentions of
-native surgeons. In the East the knowledge which brings relief from
-pain is a power to overcome obstacles to Christianity that resist
-every other force.
-
-The Church of England Zenana Missionary Society has sent out a
-qualified lady doctor to Foochow, and in 1894 the Church Missionary
-Society opened a hospital for women in Hangchow with one large
-and six smaller wards. One patient who was brought into this
-building--of which two views are given--suffering from diseased
-bones, has gone out to devote her recovered health and new knowledge
-to the service of God and her own countrywomen.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Church Missionary Society._)
-
-INTERIOR OF NEW WOMEN'S HOSPITAL, HANGCHOW]
-
-There is scarcely a mission hospital or dispensary that cannot
-tell of similar results of the double ministry to body and soul.
-Each year justifies the increased number of women with medical
-qualifications sent into the mission field. Some, like Mrs.
-Russell Watson, of the Baptist Mission at Chefu, are the wives of
-missionaries, others have been sent out by various missions, such
-as the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission, or by the women's branches
-(added during the close of the present century), to the more
-venerable societies.
-
-Dr. Henry Martyn Clark, of Amritsar, once asked a friendly Hindu
-what department of foreign missions his people considered most
-dangerous.
-
-"Why should I reveal our secrets to the enemy?" the Hindu responded.
-But he yielded to persuasion. "We do not very much fear your
-preaching," he said, "for we need not listen; nor your schools, for
-we need not send our children; nor your books, for we need not read
-them. But we do fear your women, for they are gaining our homes; and
-we very much fear your medical missions, for they are gaining our
-hearts. Hearts and homes gone, what shall we have left?"
-
-What may be expected when medical and women's missions are combined?
-According to the friendly Hindu, the very citadels of idolatry and
-superstition might tremble at the advance of this double force to
-rescue the captives.
-
-  D. L. WOOLMER.
-
-[Illustration: OUR ROLL OF HEROIC DEEDS]
-
-This month we devote our space to a pictorial representation of an
-heroic act by James Williamson, a fisherman of Whalsay, Shetland.
-During a heavy storm he waded out to the succour of two companions,
-who had been pinned on the rocks by their capsized boat and were
-in imminent danger of drowning. Williamson was at first carried
-away by a heavy sea, but was returned by the next. Then with an
-extraordinary effort he lifted the side of the boat, seized the men,
-and, with one under each arm, fought his way through the boiling
-surf to dry land. For this conspicuous act of bravery Williamson was
-awarded the Silver Medal of THE QUIVER Heroes Fund.]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: PLEDGED]
-
-PLEDGED
-
-By Katharine Tynan, Author of "A Daughter of Erin," Etc.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-YOUTH AT THE PROW.
-
-
-"And then, old fellow," went on Sir Anthony's letter to Jack Leslie,
-of the Blues, his particular chum, "I stood staring, with my eyes
-watering and a little scratch on my nose bleeding where the old
-rooster--for a rooster it was--struck me with his spurs as he flew.
-He might have knocked out my eye, the brute! The second missile (an
-invention they call a sun-bonnet, I believe, made of pink calico and
-horribly stiffened) lay crumpled at my feet. And there in front of
-me stood the culprit herself, looking half-ashamed and half-inclined
-to follow the example of the other sun-bonnet which had buried
-itself in a big chair at the end of the room, and made scarcely a
-pretence of stifling its peals of laughter. I felt no end of a ninny
-I can tell you, especially as the owner of the first sun-bonnet was
-by long chalks the most beautiful creature I'd ever seen.
-
-"I'm no good at describing a girl's charms, but even at the first
-glance her beautiful violet eyes struck me. Blue eyes and black
-lashes and eyebrows--it is a thing happens over here sometimes,
-they tell me. Then, though she'd been rushing about after the
-ancient barnyard fowl who was to have graced the table in my honour,
-she had no more colour than a white rose; and yet she looked the
-picture of health and life--so different from fine ladies. This was
-Miss Pamela--Pam for short--as I discovered later. To finish her
-description, her charming head is covered with a mass of short black
-curls. She had a very shabby frock on, which didn't take a bit from
-her loveliness. I couldn't help wondering what the mater would have
-thought if she could have seen her. She would surely have called her
-'a young woman,' with that superb contempt of hers.
-
-"However, the breeding tells. Nothing could have been finer than the
-little air with which she pulled herself together, and said, as if
-it were an every-day thing to blind and maim your visitors:
-
-"'You must be Sir Anthony Trevithick. I am so sorry. That wretched
-fowl flew in through the open window, and we've been three-quarters
-of an hour chasing him round. It was so unfortunate his flying out
-just at that moment, and still more unfortunate that I should have
-flung my bonnet after him. But you've no idea how he had aggravated
-us.'
-
-"I assure you the mater couldn't have done it better, if one could
-conceivably imagine the mater under such circumstances.
-
-"I could think of nothing to do but to pick up the bonnet and hand
-it to her, muttering some idiocy about it not mattering a bit. While
-this was going on the laughter in the chair was dying off in sobs of
-enjoyment.
-
-"But before we could get any further Mr. Graydon himself made his
-appearance. I suppose something about my looks struck him--for a
-cucumber wasn't in it for coolness with Miss Pam--because he said,
-'Why, bless me, Sir Anthony! what's the matter? What's the matter,
-Pam? Why, Sir Anthony, your nose is bleeding!'
-
-[Illustration: "The old rooster struck me with his spurs."--_p._
-107.]
-
-"'Why, so it is!' said Miss Pam, calmly. 'Sir Anthony was trying
-to catch the red cock, papa, with a view to his dinner, but he's
-escaped, I'm sorry to say, and the dinner with him. It will be
-days before he comes home after the alarm we've given him. I'm
-so sorry you're wounded, Sir Anthony. Can I get you a little
-sticking-plaster?'
-
-"'I never know where I shall find the fowls in this house,' said
-Mr. Graydon, a little irascibly, I thought; 'but the drawing-room
-at least ought to be kept free from them. Why, Sylvia, what are you
-doing there, child? Come here, and speak to Sir Anthony.'
-
-"I expected a small child to come out of the big chair in answer to
-the summons; but, lo and behold! out of the sun-bonnet there looked
-another satin-cheeked damsel, almost as beautiful as the first. She
-made her bow demurely, and, I assure you, there wasn't a feather out
-of her after her fits of laughter at my expense. She had rather an
-ecstatic look, and her eyes were a bit moist--that was all. I can
-tell you I never felt so small in my life as when I stood up before
-those impudent girls, for I could see that the pair of them were
-hugely delighted at the whole affair.
-
-"'Get some tea for Sir Anthony, girls,' said the father, 'and see
-that he has hot water taken to his room; he's had a long journey.
-Sit down, my lad--that is, if there's a chair in the room without a
-dog on it. Here, Mark Antony, you lazy animal, come off that sofa.'
-This to the fattest bulldog I ever saw--with such a jowl. He's Miss
-Sylvia's, and an amiable dog, despite his looks.
-
-"Then the eldest daughter came in--not a patch on the others for
-beauty, but a Madonna of a creature, with a beautiful voice and a
-rather sad expression. She was greatly concerned about my scratched
-nose. But all the time she was talking I noticed that she looked at
-her father steadily reproachful. At last he noticed it too, for he
-suddenly blurted out:
-
-"'Why, bless my soul! Molly, I forgot all about it,' and then he
-stopped and laughed. Miss Pamela has told me since that they had
-instructed their father to keep me on the way as long as possible.
-
-"You'll gather that it is a rather rummy place. It is. The windows
-in my bedroom are mended with brown paper, and there are holes in
-the floor you could put your foot through. Not that my father's son
-need mind little hardships. But I am amused to think of what the
-mater would say, with her notions of things.
-
-"By the way, if you're in Brook Street any time, don't repeat
-what I've told you. The mater hated my coming here. She has some
-extraordinary prejudice against Graydon, though he scarcely seems
-to remember her. But as I've given up my desire for soldiering to
-please her, it's my turn now to please myself by reading for this
-Foreign Office grind with my father's old friend.
-
-"A word more and I am done. You'll think me as long-winded as
-some of those old women at the clubs. But their ways here are too
-delicious. The establishment is managed by one old woman--Bridget,
-who seems mistress, maid, and man rolled, in one. Well, the morning
-after I came, when I rang for my shaving water there was no
-response. At last I heard a foot go by my door, and I looked out
-cautiously. It was Bridget, and to her I made my request. 'Why,
-bless the boy!' she said, staring at me, 'You haven't been pullin'
-that old bell that's never rung in the memory of man?' I assured her
-I had. 'Well, then,' she said, 'goodness help your little wit! An'
-so ye want shavin' water, do ye? Sure, I thought ye wor a bit of a
-boy, that never wanted shavin' at all, at all!' However, she brought
-me the water obligingly, in an extraordinary piece of kitchen
-crockery. 'I suppose you're used to valetin',' she said. ''Twas
-Misther Mick spoiled me entirely for other young gentlemen. He'd
-dart down for his shavin' water--aye, many a time before I had the
-kitchen fire lit.' Mr. Mick was apparently a former pupil; I often
-hear of him.
-
-"There's any amount of sport here, but I won't tantalise you. I like
-Graydon better every day; he's a dear old boy, and though he's in
-the clouds half the time when he's supposed to be coaching me, I can
-see that he knows more than half the tutors in London put together.
-He's a delightful companion out of doors, a good sportsman, and as
-young as the youngest.
-
-"It's a mystery his being buried here. But I've no time to try to
-unriddle it now, and you'll never get as far as this, I expect.
-Good-bye, old fellow--I'm extremely well satisfied with my present
-quarters, and pity you in Knightsbridge. I suppose town is getting
-empty."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-When this enormous epistle was finished and sealed, the young
-gentleman put it in his pocket and went downstairs. His pace was
-hastened by the fact that he could hear the joyful yelping of dogs
-in the hall, from which he gathered that someone besides himself was
-bent on outdoor exercise. Indeed, as he reached the hall and caught
-his hat from one of the dusty antlers, he saw the two younger Miss
-Graydons setting out amid their leaping and yelping escorts. He
-hurried after and overtook them.
-
-"May I come with you?" he asked eagerly. "I've a very important
-letter to post, and if you're going to the village you might perhaps
-point out the post-office. I'm such a duffer at finding out things
-for myself."
-
-"But we're turning our backs on the village," said Miss Sylvia,
-"going in exactly the opposite direction."
-
-"Oh, well, then, it doesn't matter; the letter can wait till another
-time."
-
-"Though it is so important. Oh, but you must post it. We'll put you
-on the way for the village. You turn to the right and we to the left
-when we reach the gate; then you'll walk straight into the arms of
-the post-office."
-
-Pamela, who had not yet spoken, turned her heavenly-coloured eyes
-on her sister, but without speaking. Something in the look made the
-young fellow's heart throb suddenly.
-
-"Ah, Miss Sylvia," he said imploringly, "don't put difficulties in
-my way. I want to come for a walk, if you will have me, and the
-letter can wait. I'm not contemplative enough to enjoy a country
-walk alone; and it will be a pleasure to walk with you and your
-sister."
-
-"And the dogs?"
-
-"And the dogs. The joys of a country walk are doubled in the society
-of dogs."
-
-"I hope you'll think so when you have the felicity of fishing them
-out of a bog-hole. They will chase every beast they see; and our
-neighbour, Jack Malone's black cow, Polly, always leads them such a
-dance, ending up deservedly in a bog-hole."
-
-"I'll try to endure even that, Miss Sylvia."
-
-"Then if Mark Antony gets a thorn in his paw, as he almost
-invariably does, you'll have to carry him home."
-
-"He must weigh three stone, Miss Sylvia."
-
-"About that, Sir Anthony."
-
-"Then it is better I should carry him than you."
-
-"Oh, if you're bent on it, Sir Anthony."
-
-"If you're not bent against it, Miss Sylvia."
-
-"Well, come along then, for this is the parting of the ways."
-
-They had arrived at the gate by this time.
-
-"Sylvia should have told you, Sir Anthony, that though we turn our
-backs on the village, yet we pass a wall letter-box, which the
-postman empties on his way to Lettergort."
-
-It was Pamela speaking for the first time, and in this less
-hoydenish mood of hers she had a likeness to her gentle elder sister.
-
-"I'm not surprised to hear it, Miss Pamela. I guessed Miss Sylvia
-was only piling up the difficulties to tease me. But I was not to be
-put off."
-
-"You are really a most persistent person, Sir Anthony."
-
-"I know when I want a thing and mean to get it, Miss Sylvia."
-
-"Did you ever see anything more beautiful than the rose-light on
-that mountain, Sir Anthony?"
-
-"I have seen more beautiful things, Miss Pamela."
-
-He spoke with the utmost simplicity, but the girl blushed
-nevertheless, and was furious with herself for blushing.
-
-"See how rosy the peak is," she went on in some confusion, "but the
-woods are purple at the base. If we were over there where the road
-winds round the hill-foot, we should hear nothing but the singing of
-little streams. They are chattering through the bracken everywhere,
-and spilling into the road, where they make little channels for
-themselves, clear as amber."
-
-"They make your boots very wet and your skirt draggle-tailed,"
-remarked Sylvia.
-
-"I see chimneys rising above the wood," said Sir Anthony. "Is there
-a house there, then?"
-
-"There is, but it is empty at present. It belongs to Lord Glengall,
-who is away just now. It has a queer story attached to it."
-
-"Indeed?"
-
-"Yes. Lord Glengall went to Australia as a boy, and was unheard
-of for years. His mother lived there, with one old servant, in
-the bitterest poverty. She was so proud no one dared to interfere,
-until, it having been noticed that the chimneys were smokeless
-for days, the house was entered by force, and mistress and maid
-were found dying of starvation side by side. The house was full of
-valuables--lace and plate, and all kinds of lovely things--but they
-were heirlooms, and the old lady would rather starve than sell them,
-and the old servant was quite of the same mind."
-
-"What happened then?"
-
-"They were taken off to the Rectory by old Mr. Rogers, who died last
-year. And in the nick of time Lord Glengall, whom everyone said was
-dead, turned up safe and sound to nurse his old mother. 'I kept the
-things together for you, my boy,' she said as soon as she recognised
-him.
-
-"And the next thing she said," went on Sylvia, taking up the tale,
-"was, 'Where's that cat?' The faithfulness of animals, Sir Anthony!
-Old Tib, with whom they had shared all their short-commons, had, it
-seems, stolen the very last drop of milk that stood between them and
-starvation, and had then escaped through a window into the woods. 'I
-should like to give him a good hiding before I die.' That was the
-second speech of the indomitable old lady."
-
-"What a chance for the novelist this country of yours presents!"
-said Sir Anthony.
-
-"But that fortunately he never comes our way," replied Pamela.
-
-"Your father promised me you would take me fishing one day." He
-spoke to Sylvia, but his eyes turned from her to Pamela.
-
-"So we shall," said Sylvia readily.
-
-"The river runs quite close to the house?"
-
-"Yes, but if you want the pleasantest fishing, you must climb for
-it. Up there in the hills are little golden-brown trout-streams
-running through the valleys under the shadow of woods, and they are
-full of trout spoiling to be caught."
-
-"You know the best places, Miss Sylvia."
-
-"Don't let her guide you, Sir Anthony. I'll tell you a story about
-her. She was always tantalising Mick St. Leger, an old pupil of
-papa's, who is in India now, with stories of a wonderful pike which
-inhabited one of the big holes in the Moyle. Well, poor Mick used
-to sit and fish for hours, now and then catching a little fish by
-accident, for his heart wasn't in it for thinking of Sylvia's big
-pike. And Sylvia used to sit by watching him, apparently full of
-sympathy. One day he was fishing the big hole as usual, when he
-gave a long whistle. 'What is it, Mick?' Sylvia cried, running to
-him. 'It feels like a twenty-pounder,' said poor Mick, very red in
-the face. 'Oh, Mick, do let me help!' cried Sylvia. And then, with
-an immense deal of carefulness, and poor Mick holding on like grim
-death, they reeled up an old tin can full of stones, in the handle
-of which Mick's line was caught."
-
-"Mick would never have known," said Sylvia dispassionately, "if
-little Patsy Murray hadn't come running after me a week later,
-calling out, 'Where's that apple ye promised me for sinkin' me
-mother's ould can in the river?' Mick never believed in me as an
-honest angler afterwards."
-
-"No wonder! But to think your father should have suggested you as my
-guide, Miss Sylvia!"
-
-"Pam's just as bad, Sir Anthony. I generally do the things, but Pam
-encourages me."
-
-Pamela again turned those eyes of heaven's own colour in mute
-reproach upon her sister.
-
-"I'll have faith in you, Miss Pam," said Sir Anthony impulsively,
-"no matter what your sister says to the contrary."
-
-And he meant his rash promise.
-
-[Illustration: "The letter can wait till another time."--_p._ 109.]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-THE WISHING WELL.
-
-
-"My friends generally call me Tony," said a voice, the youthful
-growl of which was subdued to all possible softness.
-
-"We have known each other such a little while," replied Pamela,
-looking down at the ground, which had begun to cover itself in the
-flying gold of the autumn woods.
-
-"As the calendar counts; but we--'we count time by
-heart-throbs'--doesn't somebody say that?"
-
-A colour, like a pink rose-leaf, warmed in Pamela's clear cheek.
-
-"We have become very good friends," she said, "seeing that it is
-only six--or is it seven?--weeks ago since we met."
-
-"It is eight," said the youth. "I came in mid-July, and now it is
-mid-September. But it sometimes seems to me that I have always been
-here, and that my life elsewhere was but a dream."
-
-[Illustration: "Tell me what you wished for?"]
-
-"If that were so," she said demurely--and for a moment the violet
-eyes looked up at him under their shadow of night--"if that were so,
-then I might really call you by your name, Sir Anthony. But it is
-too soon."
-
-"Then you will one day, Miss Pamela? How many days must go by first?
-You called that other man--St. Leger--by his name. It is 'Mick' with
-all of you."
-
-"Ah," said Pamela, again with the bewildering glance; "but Mick was
-Mick, you see."
-
-A sudden irrational anger kindled in the young man's eye, and his
-expression stiffened.
-
-"Oh, I see," he said. "This paragon had special privileges which no
-one else may hope to share."
-
-"He certainly had," said Pamela. "For no one else would endure them,
-poor dear!"
-
-"Now, what do you mean by that?" he said doubtfully. "Do you mean
-the privilege of being called by his name?"
-
-"No, but the privilege of my society and Sylvia's."
-
-"He must have been jolly hard to please."
-
-"He wasn't, then. He was as easily pleased as a child. I should
-like to have seen you in some of the situations in which Mick
-distinguished himself."
-
-"I daresay I'd be very undistinguished. I make no pretence of being
-a paragon."
-
-"It would be useless to, Sir Anthony."
-
-"I don't dispute it, Miss Pamela. I suppose we'd better be making
-for home?"
-
-He turned and walked sulkily along the forest path with the girl by
-his side. For a second there was silence; then Pamela broke it by
-saying softly:
-
-"I often have thought that one reason why Molly fell in love with
-Mick was because she pitied him so much. He came to the wall in all
-our escapades. Of course, he was always in love with Molly, but I
-believe it was in protecting him from us that she became so fond of
-him."
-
-"He is your sister's lover, then?" incredulously.
-
-"Why, _of course_ he is. Whose did you suppose he was?"
-
-"Yours, Miss Pamela."
-
-"Mine! why, he'd never look at me when Molly was by. Besides, you
-don't know how horribly we ill-used the poor dear fellow."
-
-"Miss Pam, I wish you'd ill-use me."
-
-"You wouldn't like it at all, Sir Anthony."
-
-"Yes, I should, Miss Pamela. So Mick is engaged to your sister. What
-an ass I have been!"
-
-"Yes, poor dears, they are engaged, without the remotest prospect
-of ever being married that I can see. Mick's a subaltern in a line
-regiment, with just his pay--he got in through the Militia--and
-Molly, needless to say, hasn't a penny."
-
-"He's a lucky fellow, all the same. And now, Miss Pamela, what have
-we been quarrelling about?"
-
-"I'm sure I don't know, Sir Anthony. Have we been quarrelling?"
-
-"_I_ have."
-
-"But I haven't. I did think you were a little cross about something.
-But here is the Wishing Well that I told you about."
-
-They had come on a little glade of the forest, in the midst of which
-was a brier heavy with blackberries. The bush hooded a little space,
-and, looking underneath, one saw, as in a cup, a still depth of
-water over pebbles of gold and silver.
-
-"You are to drink, Sir Anthony, without spilling a drop, and think
-on your wish at the same time."
-
-"Drink from what, Miss Pamela?"
-
-"Why, from your hands, of course."
-
-"I couldn't; the water would all run away."
-
-"No, it wouldn't. See how I manage it."
-
-The girl scooped the water into her rosy palms and drank it slowly.
-Then she looked at him, and again the wave of rose flowed in her
-cheek.
-
-"I never could manage it; I'm such a duffer at things. Miss Pamela,
-would you let me drink from your hands? _Do!_"
-
-Without a word she stooped and lifted the water and held it to him.
-He drank from the rosy cup to the last drop. Then he suddenly caught
-the hands that had served him, and pressed them to his lips. For a
-moment they were yielded to him, and then the girl drew back. He
-thought she trembled a little, and the ardour in his gaze grew.
-
-"I am sorry," he said, "but I couldn't help it. You are not angry,
-Miss Pamela?"
-
-"I am going home, Sir Anthony," she said.
-
-"Not till you tell me one thing----"
-
-He barred her way, putting himself in front of her. "Tell me what
-you wished for."
-
-Her eyes fell before his, and as she stood with her hands clasped,
-and her head bent, she was a different creature from the wild Pamela
-of a few short weeks ago. The sunlight through the thinned branches
-fell on her short curls, for her hat--which she had been swinging by
-a ribbon--had fallen to her feet.
-
-"Look at me," he said; "I want to see what is in your eyes."
-
-She lifted them obediently, and then let them fall again.
-
-"Ah, that is enough," he said, with exultation in his voice. "You
-have answered me, Pam. That is enough just for the present. Some day
-I shall tell you what I wished for, and we shall see if our wishes
-come true. A double wish should have double force to induce its
-fulfilment. Isn't it so, Pam?"
-
-She said nothing, and he looked at her with triumph shining in his
-eyes. Blent with it was the tenderness of a lover when he knows he
-is loved, and just a shade of shamefacedness as well.
-
-"We must be wise, little beautiful Pamela," he said presently, in a
-low voice. "We must be wise and wait. I mustn't ask yet all I would
-ask, but I will one day--one good day, Pamela. You will trust me,
-won't you?"
-
-"Yes," said Pamela, hardly knowing what she was asked.
-
-"It will not be for long. Indeed, I could not endure it for long.
-Shall we be friends for a little while longer, Pamela darling?"
-
-"Yes," said Pamela, forgetting to rebuke him.
-
-"After to-day I will not call you darling till I have the right
-before all the world. After to-day. I meant to have held my tongue,
-but you bewildered me, Pamela. You are not angry with me?"
-
-"No," came almost in a whisper.
-
-"Lift up your eyes to me and say it. That is right. How beautiful
-your eyes are, Pamela! Say 'Tony,' now."
-
-"Tony!"
-
-"Dear Tony."
-
-"Dear Tony!"
-
-"How sweetly you say it! It is like silver in your voice. But, come
-now, we will go home. I have to be wise, you know. Ah, Pamela,
-Pamela! why did you bring me to the Wishing Well?"
-
-"You wanted to go."
-
-"Yes, I know; but it was an accident that we were alone, or it was
-Fate--yes, it was surely Fate that sent Miss Spencer's carriage for
-your sister at the last moment, so that we had to take our walk
-without her. Shall we go now, and talk no more about love to-day?"
-
-Pamela hesitated, and then said:
-
-"Poor Sylvia! She has spent this lovely afternoon shut up with an
-old lady and a dog."
-
-"She wouldn't mind the dog, I fancy, Pam."
-
-"Nor the old lady. Sylvia is fond of Miss Spencer, strange as it may
-seem."
-
-"Why is it strange, Pam? I can't help using the sweet little name."
-
-He had taken her hand by this time, and they were walking like
-children down the aisle of golden trees.
-
-"You haven't seen Miss Spencer. She is a little mad and a little
-grotesque to most people. But she is devoted to Sylvia, and Sylvia
-to her. She is not mad to Sylvia."
-
-"How does it come that I haven't seen Miss Spencer?"
-
-"She has been abroad. You'll see her one of these days, I expect.
-She was crossed in love in her youth, and it seems to have made her
-strange in ways. She's immensely wealthy, and gives a good deal in
-charity, but mostly among single women. She seems to think that
-those who have husbands and children don't need pity."
-
-"She's quite safe for your sister to be with?"
-
-"Oh, quite. She has all her senses, only that she's a trifle
-peculiar. She's a splendid business woman, everyone says."
-
-"It is a curious friendship. I should never have supposed it of Miss
-Sylvia."
-
-"No. One funny thing is that Miss Spencer's full of sentiment--wait
-till you hear her sing 'She wore a Wreath of Roses'--whereas
-Sylvia's quite without sentiment, and laughs at everything
-sentimental."
-
-"I feel sorry for the poor old thing," said Sir Anthony, with a
-half-ashamed laugh, "because she was crossed in love. I shouldn't
-like to be crossed in love myself, Pamela."
-
-"It was cruel," said Pamela simply. "The man made her love him, and
-then went away and never came back. She was poor then. She inherited
-Dovercourt quite unexpectedly."
-
-"What a sweep he must have been!"
-
-[Illustration: "Come along, Trevithick," he cried, rushing away.]
-
-"Poor Miss Spencer always thinks he will come back, though people
-say he married abroad and died there. I tell you all this so that
-you won't be the least bit in the world inclined to laugh when you
-see her. I daresay it's funny enough to see a pink silk coal-scuttle
-bonnet on top of a grey head; but then, you know, you don't feel
-like laughing."
-
-"No, indeed, darling."
-
-"Sylvia says it's made a man-hater of her. That's how she excuses
-herself for treating her admirers so outrageously."
-
-"I'd have fallen in love with Sylvia myself, only for you, Pamela."
-
-"It's lucky you didn't, Tony." The name came with soft hesitation.
-
-"Why, Pam?"
-
-"She'd have laughed in your face."
-
-"I'd rather have your way, Pam."
-
-"My way?"
-
-"Though it made me behave worse than I intended. But never mind. A
-little time will unravel the tangled skein. Now we are nearly out of
-the wood. Ah, Pamela! kiss me once--I shall not ask you again till I
-have the full right."
-
-Without a word the girl lifted her face to meet his kiss. To her it
-was the kiss of betrothal.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-"I WILL COME AGAIN, MY DEAR."
-
-
-"I wish my friend, Glengall, were at home," said Mr. Graydon,
-leaning back in the chair by the study fire. "He'd give you a mount
-while you were waiting for Johnny Maher's little mare. The hounds
-meet at Lettergort to-day."
-
-He looked wistfully through the bare trees on the lawn, as though
-he saw in imagination the scarlet horsemen pounding away after the
-streaming line of hounds.
-
-His pupil thrust into a book a sketch of Pamela which he had been
-making absent-mindedly.
-
-"Why don't you hunt, sir?" he asked, with sympathy.
-
-"So I do, my lad, when I can. But I can't afford to keep a horse,
-and there aren't many mounts to be had here. Glengall is going to
-set up stables when he comes back, and I'll have the run of them, I
-suppose. He's a good fellow--one wouldn't mind being obliged to him."
-
-"The mare'll be a good one when she's broken," said the young man.
-
-"The best in the world for Irish fences, if she does look a bit
-roughish."
-
-"You'll ride her for me, when I am away at Christmas, to get her
-mouth in?"
-
-"Thank you, my lad; I should like to." Mr. Graydon's eye kindled
-with pleasure. "But I didn't know you were going. It seems a longish
-way to go home for Christmas."
-
-"My mother would like to see me."
-
-"To be sure, to be sure. I quite understand, and, of course, there
-are friends in London you naturally want to see."
-
-"No one very particularly, sir."
-
-"Ah, well! it will be a holiday from this dull place."
-
-"No, I assure you, sir. It is partly because I have some--some
-business I want to settle. It is really true that there is no one
-I go to see whom I regard more than the friends I shall be leaving
-behind."
-
-Sir Anthony blushed hotly over this avowal, but his unsuspicious
-host only saw in it the shamefacedness with which a man, and
-especially a young man, makes a display of his feelings.
-
-"Now, that is kind of you," he said, looking at his pupil
-benignantly. "I am sure our Christmas will be dull without you. Do
-the girls know you are going? They won't like it, eh? And they will
-be disappointed that you will not be here for the Vandaleur affair."
-
-"I am coming back for that, sir."
-
-"I am glad. It is really the children's first outing. It is a dull
-enough affair for young people, but then they will wear their pretty
-frocks and see strange faces. We are such quiet people, Trevithick,
-that even Vandaleur's big dinner and reception, which comes off
-regularly whenever there is a general election in sight"--Mr.
-Graydon broke off to laugh and rub his hands--"is an event for us.
-But we are forgetting our Tacitus, my boy. Let us get back to the
-old fellow."
-
-At that moment there was the sound of a horn, and, with the shout of
-a boy, Mr. Graydon was up.
-
-"Come along, Trevithick," he cried, rushing away, hatless and
-coatless. "We shall get a glimpse of them. What a day for a scent!
-They are sure to find at Larry's Spinney."
-
-His words came back to his pupil, who was getting under weigh more
-leisurely.
-
-"Dear old boy!" he muttered to himself. "It's not surprising my
-father never forgot him. I wonder why the mater regards him with so
-deadly a hatred, though?"
-
-At lunch Mr. Graydon announced that Sir Anthony was going home for
-Christmas. There was a shrill expostulation from Sylvia, and even a
-mild protest from Mary, but Pamela said nothing. Perhaps it was not
-news to Pamela.
-
-"You will not be here for the skating," said Sylvia aggrievedly;
-"that is, if there's going to be any. And I've promised them at
-the Rectory that you'd recite at their penny reading and give away
-the presents at the Christmas-tree, besides managing the magic
-lantern. And, oh!"--the magnitude of the misfortune coming full upon
-her--"you're not surely going to miss the Vandaleur dinner?"
-
-"No, Miss Sylvia, I shall be here for it certainly. I wouldn't
-miss it for anything; but I object to your engagements for me with
-the Rectory people. I'd rather be shot than recite, and--the other
-things are beyond me," laughing.
-
-"Never mind, then," said the young lady airily. "Lord Glengall will
-do just as well. I shall like to see him distributing the articles.
-Besides, he will please the people better than a 'baronite,' and be
-of the rale ould blood, too."
-
-"Sylvia!" said her father, with a rebuke in his voice.
-
-"Never mind, papa dear. Sir Anthony understands all about his being
-only a 'baronite.' Bridget told him the other day that if the master
-had his rights 'tisn't teaching a 'Sir' he'd be."
-
-"So she did," said Sir Anthony.
-
-Mr. Graydon laughed.
-
-"Ah, well, my boy! you mustn't tell your mother what odd people
-you've found among the wild Irish--will you?"
-
-"She wouldn't understand a bit, but I'll tell her what dear friends
-I have found and made at Carrickmoyle."
-
-He blushed again, and Mr. Graydon thought how well his modesty
-became him.
-
-"Ah, well!" he said, "I suppose we must make up our minds to spend
-Christmas without you. What are you going to do this afternoon?"
-
-"I'm going to Maher's to see the mare, and put her through her
-paces. I'd like to have her stabled here as soon as possible. If
-she's ready, she can come at once."
-
-"To be sure. There's stabling for twenty horses here, though the
-stalls are bare--worse luck! But we won't let Sheila starve. Shall
-we, girls? I'll go bail these children will make a fine pet of her,
-Trevithick."
-
-"I shall be all the fonder of her, sir, though I'm well pleased with
-her at present."
-
-"She's a sweet little bit of horseflesh," assented Mr. Graydon. "I
-think I shall come with you, if you don't object to my company. I've
-a bit of business with Johnny myself."
-
-When they returned in time for the afternoon cup of tea, they found
-an old yellow barouche standing before the door.
-
-"Ah, Miss Spencer is here," said Mr. Graydon. "She's rather an
-oddity, my boy, so prepare to meet one."
-
-"I heard her story from Miss Pamela. It is very sad."
-
-"When I was a boy of thirteen or fourteen I remember her a
-brilliantly lovely young woman. That was before that scoundrel came
-in her way."
-
-When they entered the drawing-room Miss Spencer was sitting with her
-back to them, almost hidden in a deep armchair. The three girls were
-sitting or standing about her, all evidently much interested.
-
-"Here is papa, and our guest with him, Miss Spencer," said Mary.
-
-The little old woman came out of her chair with a sudden darting
-movement like that of a bird. Her gaze went from Mr. Graydon to the
-younger man.
-
-"Oh!" she cried. "Whom did you say?"
-
-She looked at the stranger for a moment with an agony of expectation
-in her yet bright eyes, while she fumbled nervously for the
-long-handled glasses at her side. When she had found them she peered
-at him through them; then dropped them, the expression of her face
-changing to indifference.
-
-"I beg your pardon, sir," she said. "I am expecting a friend, and
-for a moment I thought you were he."
-
-"How do you do, Miss Spencer?" broke in Mr. Graydon. "I see you have
-Stella under the barouche again. I'm glad she has recovered from her
-lameness."
-
-"The foot has come all right, thank you," said Miss Spencer,
-assuming quite an ordinary manner. "You weren't hunting to-day?"
-
-"No; I must wait till Glengall sets up his stables."
-
-"Ah, Glengall is coming home soon?"
-
-"He expects to reach Plymouth on the eighteenth. He will be at home
-for Christmas."
-
-"There'll be nothing in order for him in that old barrack of his."
-
-"He'll stay here while he's getting things straight. He is going
-to make a grand place of Glengall. He has plenty of money, and the
-heart to spend it, and the practical wit to direct it."
-
-"What will he do with it then? He has neither chick nor child."
-
-"There is always time, Miss Spencer."
-
-The slightly mad, brooding look came back to the little wizened
-white face.
-
-"Yes, of course, there is time," she said, dreamily. "I remember
-someone--who was it?--who knew Glengall when she was a young woman
-and he was a little boy. Glengall can't be old, of course, and any
-day people may return--mayn't they?"
-
-"Why, to be sure they may. Glengall did, though he was twenty years
-out of the reach of civilisation."
-
-"Oh, I wasn't thinking of Glengall. It was of someone much younger,
-someone about the age of that young gentleman there."
-
-Trevithick stood in the background and watched her with honest eyes
-of wonder and pity. She was smoothing the pink silk of her gown,
-while her eyes watched the fire as if she saw something very happy
-in it. Her skin was waxen white, and her features sharpened, but the
-brilliant eyes kept their beauty, and her little old hands, covered
-with rings, were delicately shaped. Her hair was half-white through
-the original black, and very oddly her pink bonnet, with its wreath
-of roses inside, sat on the streaked hair and over the white face.
-She had thrown off a large sable cloak on to the back of her chair.
-
-[Illustration: Trevithick watched her with wonder and pity.]
-
-Sylvia now broke in on Miss Spencer's half-mad mood. She touched one
-of the hands tenderly. Trevithick, as he noticed it, thought that
-it was the first time he had seen Sylvia's face really soft; and
-wonderfully the new expression completed the girl's beauty. So she
-will look, he thought, some day, when she is in love, like--like
-Pamela. But Pamela's serious face was hidden from him now with a
-fire-screen she held in her hand. He had noticed of late that she
-seldom looked at him, nor was he displeased. He knew the secret she
-was afraid to reveal.
-
-"We are all going to the Vandaleur affair, Miss Spencer," Sylvia
-was saying. "It will be on the thirtieth. There are to be great
-doings--acres of marquees for the diners, and the winter garden lit
-by electricity, and I don't know what besides."
-
-Miss Spencer came back to every-day life with a start.
-
-"To the Vandaleur affair, child! Why, who is going to take you?"
-
-"Papa, of course. He loves a little outing, though he won't admit
-it. He says he'd rather stay at home and have a quiet night's work
-at his book, and get some hot tea ready for us by the time we come
-home."
-
-"Why shouldn't I take you?" said the old lady. "I'm hardly old
-enough for a chaperon, of course, still I've the carriage, and
-I'd enjoy the function. I haven't been at one since the time Tom
-Charteris was master of the hounds. How long ago is that?"
-
-Mr. Graydon, to whom she spoke, answered her without looking at her.
-
-"A goodish few years ago."
-
-"It can't be," said the old lady; "not more than four or five at the
-outside. I wore white satin and pearls. That reminds me: what are
-you going to wear, minx?"
-
-This to Sylvia, at the same time softly pulling her ear.
-
-"We've got pattern-books of silk stuffs from Dublin. They're
-dirt-cheap; but the dressmaking will be the bother. However, I
-daresay we'll manage. Mrs. Collins' Nancy, who is a lady's-maid, is
-expected home for Christmas. She'll cut the frocks out, and we'll
-sew them ourselves. She'll know the fashions."
-
-[Illustration: "I must go, to unravel a tangled skein."]
-
-"Stuff and nonsense, child! Your first public appearance, too."
-
-"It's Pam's also. But you'll see we'll look very nice. I shouldn't
-be surprised if the prince fell in love with me."
-
-"What prince? Oh, I see, Cinderella's. But Cinderella went
-magnificently to her evening party--not in cheap and nasty stuffs
-cobbled up anyhow."
-
-"The prince wouldn't see that. He'd be disconsolate when I
-disappeared at twelve o'clock, and he'd send all over the country to
-find the fit of my glass slipper, and Molly and Pam would cry tears
-of rage because it wouldn't even fit on their toes."
-
-"You're not ball-going, minx."
-
-"It will be just as good. There'll be a beautiful dinner, and
-everyone in the county there, and afterwards there will be acres of
-beautiful things to see. It is a thousand pities Mr. Vandaleur is an
-absentee."
-
-"If he wasn't, he wouldn't have to remind you of his existence now,"
-said the old lady cynically. "But am I to be chaperon?"
-
-"Well, I'll tell you what, Miss Spencer," said Mr. Graydon. "If
-you'd take charge of these children, I'd be greatly obliged to
-you. The fact is that I've to attend a sort of unofficial meeting
-of Vandaleur's supporters in the afternoon, and he has hospitably
-offered me a bed. So I thought I'd take my bag over and dress there
-after the meeting."
-
-"And stay all night? I knew it," cried Sylvia. "Papa pretended it
-was such a bother, and all the time he was longing to be in for
-every bit of it. Only he didn't know what to do with us."
-
-Mr. Graydon laughed.
-
-"Maybe you wouldn't like it yourself. I shall be button-holed by
-Musgrave and Frost and Clitheroe, and every man in the county who
-thinks he has a head for politics and wants a patient listener."
-
-"And you will go at it hammer and tongs with the best of them, and
-forget you have daughters. I don't suppose you'll even remember at
-dinner-time to see whether anyone is asking us if we've an appetite."
-
-"The young fellows will do that. Every boy in the county will be
-there, including the 300th from Dangan Barracks."
-
-"I daresay," said Sylvia: "you're always ready to shift your
-responsibilities. Never mind, Miss Spencer; I daresay we shall be
-able to find someone who will look after us, if it's only a waiter."
-
-"Oh, indeed, you'll find someone to befriend you, never fear. And so
-will Pam. And so shall I. But what about Molly?"
-
-"Never mind me, Miss Spencer," said Mary. "It would never do to have
-you chaperoning three girls, and I shouldn't enjoy it a bit. I shall
-stay up and have tea for you after your cold drive."
-
-"I don't know what girls are coming to," said Miss Spencer; "I
-shouldn't like to have to stay at home myself."
-
-"We don't mind Molly," cried her sisters; "she really likes to stay
-at home and write her perpetual letters."
-
-"I shouldn't mind having the three of you," went on Miss Spencer;
-"we'd pass for four sisters."
-
-"We should never look as lovely as you in that white satin and
-pearls," said Sylvia, fondly.
-
-"I was much admired," said Miss Spencer, complacently. "But now I
-must be going. I've letters to write before dinner: I don't want to
-lose my beauty-sleep sitting up to write them."
-
-When Sir Anthony came into the drawing-room before dinner, he found
-only Pamela stretching her hands to the wood fire in the low grate.
-
-The lover stooped down and kissed them.
-
-"Have you been out?" he asked in a whisper.
-
-"Only to the stables with Sylvia. Your Sheila has come. She is a
-dear thing."
-
-"You like her, Pam?"
-
-"Who could help it? She looks so wild and shy, and she is so gentle
-at the same time."
-
-"Do you like her because she is mine, Pam? Do you, just a little
-because of that? Say you do, Pam."
-
-"Just a little," whispered Pam.
-
-"Why, if you like, she shall be yours, when--when everything has
-come right. I think she would carry a lady beautifully. What do you
-say, Pam? Would you like her, _then_?"
-
-"Yes," said Pamela, with her eyes very bright.
-
-"You didn't seem to mind my going away at Christmas, Pam. You were
-the only one who didn't protest."
-
-"I know you wouldn't go if you could help it."
-
-"Wise little woman. I must go, darling--to unravel a tangled skein.
-Afterwards it will be paradise, Pam. I will come back as soon--as
-soon as ever I can. I shall be in a fury of impatience till I come
-back."
-
-"And I," said Pam, lifting her eyes to her lover, and flooding him
-with their light.
-
-"Sweetheart! you were a coquette when I knew you first, Pam. Now you
-don't try me as many girls try their lovers."
-
-"I have only love for you now. Ah! what should I do if you did not
-come back?"
-
-"I will come back, 'though 'twere ten thousand mile.' I shall be
-here for your great function. Do you think I would have you go
-without me?"
-
-"I shouldn't care for it without you."
-
-"There will be other men there, Pamela, to see how beautiful you
-are. I must be there to guard my own."
-
-"There is no need for that."
-
-"I believe you, my love, you are as much mine as if you were my
-wife. And I am as much yours."
-
-"Love can only mean that."
-
-"Ah, my darling! how sweet you are! You wouldn't care for the
-admiration of other men, Pam?"
-
-"Only for one."
-
-"It is hard to be wise, Pam, when I am with you. You are too sweet.
-It is fortunate I am going."
-
-"When you come back it will be different."
-
-"Yes; you will have to make up to me for my prudence all these
-months. I have been good, Pam; I have never asked you for a kiss."
-
-"Yes, you have been good."
-
-"And you, you are a girl in ten thousand. You have never asked me
-what stood between us--a shadowy barrier, Pam, but even that must go
-before I claim you, my queen. When I come back, Pam! Ah, when I come
-back!"
-
-"Here is Molly," said Pam, in a low voice, as her sister entered the
-room.
-
-  END OF CHAPTER SIX.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: GREAT ANNIVERSARIES]
-
-GREAT ANNIVERSARIES
-
-_IN DECEMBER._
-
-By the Rev. A. R. Buckland, M.A., Morning Preacher at the Foundling
-Hospital.
-
-
-December is a month of great names. On December 21st, 1117,
-according to some authorities, there was born, in a house that stood
-on the site of the Mercers' Chapel in Cheapside, Thomas à Becket.
-Whether men side with Church or State, and are for or against
-Becket, they will hardly deny him the right to be remembered as an
-outstanding figure in our history. On the last day of the month died
-another great Englishman; like Becket, an Oxford man, and a potent
-factor in the religious development of our nation. On December 31st
-there passed away at Lutterworth John Wycliffe. His bones, thirteen
-years after burial, were dragged from their resting-place and cast
-into the River Swift. Thomas Fuller turns that shameful act of
-ecclesiastical malice to good use. "Thus," he says, "this brook did
-convey his ashes into the Avon, the Avon into the Severn, the Severn
-into the narrow sea, and this into the wide ocean. And so the ashes
-of Wycliffe are the emblem of his doctrine, which is now dispersed
-all the world over." On the 13th of the month, many generations
-later, there came into the world Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, an
-ecclesiastic of still another type. No modern dean ever identified
-himself with his cathedral as Stanley did with Westminster Abbey.
-Its national character was always present to his mind. His simple
-piety, his good works, his sympathy with Nonconformists, all helped
-to make the Dean himself rather a national possession than merely an
-ecclesiastic. He died in 1881.
-
-[Illustration: JOHN WYCLIFFE.
-
-(_From the Portrait at King's College._)]
-
-We have had the Church, let us come to the State. It is a rich
-month that claims the birth both of William Ewart Gladstone
-(December 29th) and of his great rival, Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of
-Beaconsfield (December 20th). They began their careers under very
-different auspices. Eton and Oxford prepared the one for immediate
-entry, under favouring circumstances, into Parliamentary life. The
-other was educated privately, designed for the law, and first caught
-the public eye as an author when he burst upon the world with the
-novel, "Vivian Grey." Mr. Gladstone survived his rival seventeen
-years.
-
-[Illustration: DEAN STANLEY.
-
-(_Photo: The London Stereoscopic Co._)]
-
-There died on December 14th one whom the British nation can only
-number amongst its own worthies by adoption. The death of the Prince
-Consort in the prime of life, and just when his very considerable
-powers and great devotion were beginning to be understood by those
-who at first regarded him with doubt because he was a foreigner,
-plunged our Queen into sorrow which long darkened the life of the
-Court and was felt by the whole nation. The pure, unblemished life
-of the Prince Consort, his sincere desire to advance the welfare of
-the people, his ready promotion of the arts and sciences, as well
-as his tender devotion to the Queen, have long been understood and
-valued by the nation which he served.
-
-[Illustration: JOHN MILTON.
-
-(_From the Miniature by Samuel Cooper._)]
-
-To come to other fields: there was born in London on December 9th,
-1608, John Milton. Educated at Cambridge, he early gave free play to
-the powers which in their issue have made his name familiar wherever
-the English language is spoken. Few remember him as a writer of
-polemical treatises on affairs of the State and the Church, or even
-as Latin Secretary to Cromwell; but he was an old man and blind when
-he gave the world "Paradise Lost."
-
-On the 12th there died Robert Browning, a poet who spoke to his
-age as few men have ever done, and spoke of God and the soul, of
-the here and the hereafter, with a clearness of faith which was as
-distinct as the robust manliness of his character.
-
-[Illustration: SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN
-
-(_From the Portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller._)]
-
-December 28th is given as the date upon which Westminster Abbey was
-consecrated in 1065; and on December 2nd that other minster, St.
-Paul's Cathedral, was opened in 1697. Legend says that the same
-King Sebert who founded the original St. Paul's also founded the
-Abbey at Westminster, whilst another story invokes the aid of King
-Offa. There is, however, clear testimony to the establishment of
-a Benedictine abbey at Westminster in the time of Edgar; that is
-antiquity respectable enough to satisfy most of us. A cathedral
-on this site is mentioned by the Venerable Bede as early as 604;
-but the actual fabric of St. Paul's has, according to Mr. Loftie,
-undergone greater vicissitudes than that of any other cathedral in
-England. The present St. Paul's was begun in 1675 and finished in
-1710. Its cost was £736,752. Sir Christopher Wren, its architect,
-received for his services £200 a year. What were then called "the
-new ball and cross" on the cathedral were completed in this same
-month in 1821.
-
-[Illustration: ROBERT BROWNING.
-
-(_Photo: Cameron and Smith, Mortimer Street, W._)]
-
-An old calendar assures me that on the 15th of this month, in the
-year 1802, "societies for abolishing the common method of sweeping
-chimneys" were instituted.
-
-On the 20th of this month, in the year 1814, Samuel Marsden landed
-in New Zealand--a missionary anniversary worth recalling.
-
-[Illustration: W. E. GLADSTONE
-
-Photo: Samuel Walker.
-
-THE EARL of BEACONSFIELD.
-
-Photo: Hughes-Mullins, Ryde. I.W.
-
-TWO EMINENT STATESMEN BORN IN DECEMBER.]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: The Limits of Human Genius]
-
-The Limits of Human Genius
-
-_Pulpit at Gloucester Cathedral._
-
-A Sermon Preached by the Very Rev. H. Donald M. Spence, D.D., Dean
-of Gloucester, at the Opening Service of the September (1898)
-Meeting of the Three-Choirs Festival in Gloucester Cathedral.
-
-     "As for Wisdom, what she is, and how she came up, I will tell
-       you, and will not hide mysteries from you, but will seek her
-       out from the beginning of her nativity, and bring the knowledge
-       of her into Light, and will not pass over Truth."
-
-
-The surroundings of a custodian of a mediæval cathedral, beautiful
-though they are, at the same time are unutterably pathetic. They
-tell him, do the pages of the old solemn Book of Stone he is never
-weary of turning over and of pondering upon, that the genius of
-man has its limits, which it may never pass; that the story of
-human progress to higher and ever higher levels is often a delusive
-one; that in past ages his forefathers were perhaps as noble and
-chivalrous--aye, nobler, more chivalrous than the men of his own
-generation--that their imagination was more brilliant and their
-hands more cunning; that if in some respects progress is visible, in
-others the movement is retrograde.
-
-Again, a great mediæval cathedral like our own glorious Gloucester,
-inimitable in its fadeless beauty and matchless strength, surely
-deals a very heavy blow to human pride, and it teaches humility to
-the most competent and ablest of our number, for it is a conception
-belonging to a past age. A great gathering, however, like the
-present, numbering some six or seven thousand persons, is for varied
-reasons an inspiring one and bids us be trustful--even hopeful.
-
-Dwell we a brief while first on our surroundings. Of all works
-devised by human ingenuity and carried on by human skill, the
-triumphs of architecture are among the most enduring, afford the
-most genuine and purest delight to the greater number of men and
-women, are confessedly the most attractive, perhaps the most
-instructive, as they are among the most enduring of human creations.
-The glories of Luxor and Karnak, which for several thousand years
-have been mirrored in the grey-green Nile; the white and gleaming
-shrines of Athens the bright and happy, the mighty ruins of Eternal
-Rome, are splendid instances.
-
-But perhaps the conspicuous examples of this architecture, the
-most loved of human arts and crafts, are, after all, the mediæval
-cathedrals. The first object of interest for the modern traveller in
-search of health or rest is a cathedral. All sorts and conditions
-of men find delight in its contemplation. The delight, of course,
-is varied, but the strange and witching beauty appeals to them all.
-This appeal to the higher and devotional side of our nature speaks
-to every soul, to the unlearned as to the learned, to the mill-hand
-as to the scholar. The wanderer from the New World beyond the seas
-at once seeks them out, conscious that in them he will find a
-beauty and a joy such as he will never see or feel outside their
-charmed walls.
-
-I have said that to the custodian of such a cathedral the
-surroundings are, if not sad, at least pathetic, for these
-magnificent and loved creations of human genius belong to a somewhat
-remote past, and, as far as these exquisite buildings are concerned,
-save for purposes of necessary repair--repair simply to arrest the
-ravages of time--for nearly four hundred years the clink of trowel
-and pickaxe has been hushed.
-
-It is scarcely an exaggerated statement which speaks of
-architecture, in its noblest sense, as a lost art. Very significant
-are the words of one of the greatest of modern architects, who,
-after dwelling on the decadence of his loved art, tells us how "It
-is a somewhat saddening reflection--but there is no escaping from
-the conclusion--that the art which created the glorious abbeys and
-minsters, the beautiful parish churches so plentifully dotted over
-our country--abbeys, minsters, and churches which the churchmen of
-the second half of the nineteenth century so reverently and wisely
-restore and seek to copy stone by stone, arch by arch, window by
-window, down to the smallest bit of ornament--is a lost art! Men
-have come sorrowfully to see that mediæval architecture is the
-last link--perhaps the most beautiful as well as the last link--of
-that long chain of architectural styles, 'commencing in far-back
-ages in Egypt and passing on in continuous course through Assyria,
-Persia, Greece, Rome, and Byzantium, and thence taken up by the
-infant nations of modern Europe, and by them prolonged through
-successive ages of continuous progress till it terminated in the
-beautiful thirteenth-and fourteenth-century Gothic, and has never
-since produced a link of its own.... Alas! it is the last link
-of that mighty chain which had stretched unbroken through nearly
-four thousand years--the glorious termination of the history of
-original and genuine architecture.'" Well may men love it and seek
-to preserve the examples they possess of it, and aim at copying it
-as well as they can. These remarkable and melancholy words above
-quoted were deliberately spoken by Sir Gilbert Scott, R.A., LL.D.,
-in his first lecture on Mediæval Architecture delivered at the Royal
-Academy some years ago.
-
-So much for my note of sadness. Now let me strike a different chord.
-
-Such a gathering as the present, I repeat, is an inspiring one, for
-it tells me that if one great art dies, He who loves us and has
-redeemed us at so great a price, gives His children something in its
-place. Now it is strange that amidst all the gorgeous and striking
-ceremonial of the mediæval services, with their wealth of colour
-and ornament, with all their touching and elaborate symbolism,
-music, as it is now understood, was unknown and comparatively
-neglected. In the noblest cathedral of the Middle Ages, in the
-stateliest Benedictine or Cistercian abbey, while the eye was filled
-with sights of solemnity and beauty, each sight containing its
-special and peculiar teaching, the ear was comparatively uncared
-for. Strangely monotonous and even harsh would chaunt and psalm
-and hymn, as rendered in the mighty abbeys of Westminster, Durham,
-or Gloucester in the days of the great Plantagenets, of the White
-Rose or Red Rose kings, sound to the musically trained ears of the
-worshippers of the second half of the nineteenth century. Indeed,
-music as a great science was unknown in pre-Reformation times. The
-most complete anthem-book may be searched through by the curious
-scholar, but scarcely a musical composer of any note will be found
-in these collections of a date earlier than the reign of Queen
-Elizabeth. It would seem as though, when architecture ceased in the
-sixteenth century to be a living craft, a new art was discovered and
-worked at by men.
-
-A new art! I say these words, strange to some, with emphasis.
-One who has indeed a right to speak of music[1] thus voices my
-assertion. While telling us that certain grand forms of music loom
-out of the darkness of the earlier centuries of our era, the famous
-musician to whom I refer adds that little of what we understand of
-music existed before the later years of the fifteenth century. It
-was no mere renaissance, for that which had never been born could
-not be born again.
-
-[1] Professor Hullah, in his "Lectures on the History of Modern
-Music," delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain,
-published 1884. See, too, Professor Hullah's Royal Institution
-Lecture on the Transition Period of Musical History (1876).
-
-In case some should think that too strong expressions are here
-used, it may be well to quote some of Professor Hullah's own
-words, which he used in the above-mentioned lecture at the Royal
-Institution:--"Music is a new art.... What we now call music ...
-what answers to our definition of music, has come into being only
-within comparatively few years; almost within the memory of men
-living." "I should say that in the scholastic music there was no
-art, and in the popular music no science; whence it is that the
-former has ceased to please, and the latter has for the most part
-perished utterly."
-
-It was a new art which charmed and delighted men as they listened to
-the magic of the sounds evoked by the majesty of the compositions
-of Palestrina, or by the sweetness of the music of Marenzio. It is
-true, as I said, that certain grand forms of music loom out of the
-darkness of the remote past--shadowy forms--and the rare composers
-and writers of the music of the past are, as far as music is
-concerned, but the shadow of names now. I allude, as famous examples
-of these shadows of names, to names such as Gregory and Isidore,
-Hucbald and the eleventh-century _maestro_, Guido Aretino.
-
-With extraordinary rapidity developed the new craft. To give here
-some familiar landmarks--
-
-Henry VIII. was reigning before Josquin Deprès, whom all musicians
-revere as one of the earliest, certainly the most renowned, of the
-pioneers of modern music, became generally known in Europe. Josquin
-Deprès was born somewhere about the year 1466, dying about 1515,
-some ten or fifteen years before Palestrina was born. Luther said of
-him, "Other musicians do what they can with notes; Josquin does what
-he likes with them." The Abbate Baini alludes to him as "the idol of
-Europe"; and again writes, "Nothing is beautiful unless it be the
-work of Josquin."
-
-The famous Roman School of music only dates from 1540. The oratorio,
-even in its more simple forms, made its appearance some seventy
-years later.
-
-Not until the last years of our Queen Elizabeth were the names of
-Palestrina and Marenzio, those great early composers, conspicuous,
-and the Queen so loved of Englishmen had long fallen asleep before
-Carissimi, the earliest master of the sacred cantata in its many
-forms, gave his mighty impulse to the new-born art; while the works
-of his world-famed pupil Scarlatti, and of our own English Purcell,
-belong to the art-records of the days of William and Mary and Queen
-Anne. See how the whole of the marvellous story of music--as we
-understand music--belongs to quite recent days!
-
-All through the eighteenth century, when the Georges reigned,
-architecture slept its well-nigh dreamless sleep. But the new art of
-music grew with each succeeding year, while the men whose names will
-never die lived and wrote.
-
-It was this eighteenth century which saw a Beethoven, a Handel, a
-Bach, a Haydn, and a Mozart. As masters of the new-born craft none
-can be conceived greater.
-
-The century now closing boasts, however, a long line of true
-followers and worthy disciples of those great ones, men whose names
-are household words in every European city.
-
-But my brief record, necessarily dry and bald, of a momentous
-change in the teaching of the world would be incomplete without one
-word on the glorious instrument--the voice, so to speak--of these
-masters of a new art, the organ. The first organ known in Western
-Europe traditionally was sent to Pepin in France by the Emperor of
-Constantinople in 759, but Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne, in his poem
-on Virginity, some half a century earlier, apparently describes
-what appears to have been the organ. Elphege, Abbot of Winchester
-in the tenth century, is said to have caused a very large organ to
-be constructed; but, with this solitary exception, all the mediæval
-organs seem to have been small and comparatively unimportant
-instruments. The oldest organ-cases preserved do not date back
-further than the last years of the fifteenth century, and these by
-the side of modern organs are insignificant in size. Viollet le Duc,
-in his great work, gives us a picture of the Perpignan organ, one of
-the earliest (early in the sixteenth century). From this date the
-size rapidly increased.
-
-In the "Rites of Durham," where a great mediæval church is described
-at the period of the Dissolution (1530-40), there were three organs
-in use in the abbey church, the principal one being only used at
-"principall Feasts," the pipes being "very faire and partly gilded."
-"Only two organs in England," says the "Rites," "of the same
-makinge, one in Yorke and another in Paules."
-
-[Illustration: LISTENERS AT THE THREE-CHOIR FESTIVAL.]
-
-The most magnificent organ-case in Europe is the one in St.
-Janskirk at Bois le Duc, and, like the vast majority of the great
-organ-cases, is Renaissance in style. Viollet le Duc sums up the
-question in the following sentence:--
-
-"It does not appear that great organs were in use before the
-fifteenth century, and it was only towards the close of the
-fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries that the idea of
-building organs of dimensions hitherto unknown was first conceived."
-
-The organ, as we now know it, was born among us at the same date
-when architecture died. Like the music of the Middle Ages, in the
-days when these vast and peerless buildings arose, it is true the
-organ was not unknown; but, like mediæval music, it was a small,
-poor thing compared with the stupendous instrument we know and love.
-There was no great organ before the last years of the fifteenth
-century, when the Tudors reigned. The sixteenth and seventeenth
-centuries witnessed its development, and acknowledged its surpassing
-grandeur, and recognised its fitness as one of the chief handmaids
-of the new great art.
-
-Now the secret of the men who built this lordly abbey is lost; never
-again will such a triumph of, alas! a dead art arise to charm and
-to delight, to instruct and inspire the children of men. But we
-may still preserve and reverently use this rare and noble legacy
-of a vanished age as a shrine and a peerless teaching-home--a
-prayer-home, in which are taught the great evangelical truths
-by which Christian men live and breathe and have their being,
-the saving knowledge of the work of the Precious Blood, the glad
-Redemption-story, the story loved of men; the story which never
-ages, never palls, but which, like dew, descends on each succeeding
-generation of believers, and gives them new stores of faith and hope
-and love. This--these things--we try to do, and not without success,
-for as God's bright glory-cloud once brooded over the sacred
-desert-tent and the holy Jerusalem Temple, so now upon our beloved
-and ancient cathedral, with its almost countless services of praise
-and prayer and teaching, God's blessing surely rests.
-
-"It sleeps," does our cathedral, as one has lately said in words
-beautiful as true--"it sleeps with its splendid dreams upon its
-lifted face." But it has, too, its many wakeful working hours. Not
-the least memorable of these will strike this week, when the charmed
-strains of Handel and Haydn, Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Beethoven, and
-of the great Englishmen, Gibbons and Boyce and Walmisley and Wesley,
-and last, but not least, of Hubert Parry, peal through these fretted
-vaults, "lingering and wandering on" among these wondrous chambers
-of inspired imagery; while the almost prophetic words of that truest
-English song-man Wordsworth become history:--
-
-    "Give all thou canst; high heaven rejects the lore
-     Of nicely calculated less or more;
-     So deem'd the man who fashion'd for the sense
-     These lofty pillars, spread that branching roof
-     Self-poised, and scoop'd into ten thousand cells,
-     Where light and shade repose, where music dwells
-     Lingering and wandering on as loth to die--
-     Like thoughts whose very sweetness yieldeth proof
-     That they were born for immortality."
-
-[Illustration: Decorative]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: A Hero in Disguise]
-
-A HERO IN DISGUISE
-
-A Complete Story. By M. Westrup.
-
-
-The girl was little, slender, insignificant--only her love made her
-heroic. The man was big, broad, one to be noticed in a crowd, and
-his love made him as helpless as a little child.
-
-They stood opposite each other in the poor, shabby little room. His
-eyes devoured her face wildly, incredulously, but her eyes were
-fixed on a great hole in the faded carpet.
-
-Her mind was chaotic, for with his eager words of love rang others,
-bewildering her. Side by side with his passionate outpouring of his
-love for her, his longing to have her for his own, to live for her
-and work for her, were other words--words of ambition and great
-aspirations, words of intending travel into far-away countries, of
-hardships and discomforts to be borne for the sake of the book that
-was to be written--the book that was to bring fame and satisfaction
-to the writer of it.
-
-And these words rang with a deep note of earnestness and strength,
-and overpowered those eager, present tones that were pleading to her
-so wildly.
-
-"I called you Kathleen Mavourneen last night, you remember, and you
-smiled and blushed!" he protested, roughly. "Why did you do it?
-Kathleen, you _do_ love me, you do! Why don't you speak to me? I
-tell you, I have seen it in your eyes. Why do you deny it now?"
-
-She shook her head, and her heart cried in agony, "How long? How
-long?"
-
-"Won't you try, then?" with a humbleness that was not natural to
-him. "Oh, Kitty, little Kitty, I cannot live without you!"
-
-He held out his arms to her despairingly.
-
-"I have a singing lesson to give at one o'clock," she said.
-
-His arms fell to his sides. The sun streamed in on to the pretty,
-pale, downbent face of the girl, and on to the white, haggard face
-of the man who stood opposite.
-
-There were no shadows in the little room--it was all glare and
-shabbiness.
-
-"I will go," he said, and then his eyes caught fire; "but you are
-a flirt! Do you hear, a paltry, heartless flirt! You have led me
-on--played with me. You have made your eyes soft, your lips sweet,
-to amuse yourself at my expense! How do you do it?" with a little
-cynical laugh. "It's really clever--of its kind--you know----"
-
-He moved towards the door.
-
-"I beg your pardon," he said icily. "I should not have spoken so to
-a woman. Good-bye."
-
-"You will begin your travels now?" she said.
-
-He laughed.
-
-"Why keep up the pretence?" he said; "it's rather late now to
-pretend any interest in my life."
-
-She was silent.
-
-At the door he paused.
-
-He was a proud man, and he had an iron will.
-
-But his love made him helpless and weak as a little child.
-
-"Kathleen," he breathed, "you are sure?"
-
-A moment she stood still and rigid as a statue.
-
-"Little one, I love you so----" His voice was soft and caressing;
-but her love made her heroic. She raised her head. "I am sure," she
-said steadily.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The girl sat in a corner of the warm, gorgeous drawing-room, and
-wished vaguely that people would not nod and stare at her so
-energetically. She was used to it now, and tired of it.
-
-She had never liked it, but fame brings notoriety in its train, and
-notoriety brings nods and whispers and stares.
-
-She was dressed beautifully. She had always liked pretty things, and
-now she could have as many as she wanted.
-
-The man stood over in a doorway and watched her with cynical eyes.
-
-He had not seen her for five years, and as he stood there another
-man lounged up and spoke to him.
-
-"Looking at _la belle Philomèle_?" he said; "she's quite the rage,
-you know. Ever heard her sing? You're only just back from the wilds,
-aren't you? Oh, well, of course you'll go to St. James's Hall
-to-morrow? She's going to sing, you know. Her voice is splendid. I
-never go to hear her myself--makes me feel I'm a miserable sinner
-somehow--does, 'pon my word. I've heard her twice, and then I
-dropped it. Don't like feeling small, you know."
-
-He lounged away again, and the man with the cynical eyes still
-watched her.
-
-Her head was turned away from him--only a soft, fair cheek and
-little ear nestling in a soft mass of hair, a white throat, and a
-lot of pale chiffon and silk, could he see. And suddenly the cheek
-and even neck were flooded with a red blush, and then they looked
-whiter than before. He wondered, and smiled bitterly as he did so.
-
-And the girl's eyes remained fixed, eager, fascinated, on the long
-looking-glass before her.
-
-But she was not looking at herself.
-
-Afterwards he sought her.
-
-"You were wise," he said mockingly, and her eyes grew dark with pain.
-
-He took the seat beside her and played with the costly fan he had
-picked up.
-
-[Illustration: "You were wise," he said, mockingly.]
-
-"I must congratulate you," he said indifferently. "This"--with
-a comprehensive wave towards her dress and the diamonds at her
-throat--"is better than the old days."
-
-"Yes."
-
-"But perhaps you have forgotten so long as--what is it?--ten--no,
-five years ago?"
-
-"No."
-
-He furled and unfurled the fan in silence, and wondered who had
-given her the Parma violets in her hair.
-
-"Your--book?" she said timidly.
-
-He stared at her blankly.
-
-She reddened slowly.
-
-"You--you--were going to--to travel, and write about it--strange
-places----" she faltered.
-
-"Oh, ah! yes, I believe I was--five years ago."
-
-Her face was white again now.
-
-"You _have_ travelled?" she ventured at last.
-
-"Oh, yes! I've done nothing else for five years. I've shot tigers,
-bears--I've lived with Chinamen and negroes--chummed with cannibals
-once--oh!"--with a laugh--"I've had a fine time!"
-
-Her eyes were wistful.
-
-Her hostess brought up a man to be introduced, and when she turned
-again, the chair was empty.
-
-She did not see him again for two weeks.
-
-There was an added pathos in the beautiful voice.
-
-_La belle Philomèle_ brought tears to many thousands of eyes, but
-her own were dry and restless. It was dawning on her that she had
-made a mistake--five years ago.
-
-"Seen Hugh Hawksleigh?" she heard one man say to another. "Never
-been so disappointed in a chap in my life. Years ago he promised
-great things. Those articles of his on 'Foreign Ways and Doings'
-made quite a sensation, you know. And there was some talk of wild
-travels and a book that was going to be _the_ book of the day. The
-travels are all right, but where's the book?"
-
-"The usual thing--a woman," drawled the other. "Didn't you know?
-Some pretty coquette--the usual game--but the cost was heavier than
-usual--to him. It knocked it out of him, you know. I never saw a
-fellow so hard hit. That was five years ago, and he's never written
-a line since. Poor fellow!"
-
-The knowledge that she had made a mistake five years ago was growing
-plainer to her.
-
-At the end of the fortnight she met him and asked him to come and
-see her.
-
-He smiled, and did not come.
-
-Her eyes grew too big for the small, sad face.
-
-She met him again, and asked him why he had not come.
-
-He looked down into the sweet, true eyes, and his love weakened his
-will again.
-
-He promised he would come. He came, and stayed five minutes. He
-looked at her sternly as he greeted her.
-
-"Why do you want me?" he said, and watched the colour come and go in
-her cheeks with pitiless eyes.
-
-"We--used--to be--friends," she whispered.
-
-He laughed.
-
-"Never! I never felt friendship for you," he said, "nor you for
-me. You forget. Five years is a long time, but I have a retentive
-memory. I forget nothing."
-
-"Nor I," she murmured.
-
-"No? Then why do you ask me to come and see you?"
-
-She did not answer.
-
-He looked round the pretty shaded room.
-
-He laughed again.
-
-"There is a difference," he said, "in you too."
-
-She looked up quickly.
-
-"I am the same," she said, knowing her own heart.
-
-"Are you?" His eyes grew stormy. "Listen," he said, in a low, tense
-voice: "I am five years wiser than I was--then. I will not be a tool
-again. You have ruined my life--doesn't that content you? I would
-have staked my life on your goodness and purity--once. I dare not
-believe in any woman since you, with your angel's eyes, are false.
-I was full of ambition and hope once; you killed both. I tried to
-write--after. I could not. I shall never do anything now--never be
-anything. I despise myself, and it's not a nice feeling to live
-with. It makes men desperate. I love you still. Do you understand? I
-have loved you all the time, and I loathe myself for it." His voice
-changed. "You may triumph," he said, "but now you understand--I will
-not come again."
-
-She stretched out her arms after him, but he was gone. And she knew
-now quite clearly that she had made a mistake five years ago.
-
-For three weeks and a half she did not see him.
-
-Then she saw him when he thought he was alone.
-
-She studied his face with eyes that ached at what they saw. Then she
-went forward and touched him gently on his arm.
-
-"Well?" he said.
-
-"Will you come," she said in a low voice, "to see me----"
-
-"Thanks, no."
-
-His eyes rested bitterly on her rich gown.
-
-It came across him again how wise she had been. Tied to him, she
-could not have been as she was now.
-
-"I have something I must say to you," she said tremulously; "will
-you come--just this once?"
-
-He looked down into the soft eyes with the beautiful light in them.
-
-"I would rather not," he said gently.
-
-The weariness in his eyes brought a sob to her throat.
-
-"Ah, do!" she entreated; "I will never ask you again."
-
-He looked at her with searching incredulity.
-
-Then he turned away.
-
-Just so had she looked five years ago.
-
-She laid a small, despairing hand on his.
-
-The iciness of it went to his heart.
-
-"I will come," he said gently, and went away.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-When he came, he wondered at the agitation in her small white face.
-
-Her eyes were burning.
-
-He waited silently.
-
-She twisted her hands restlessly together, and he saw that she was
-trembling.
-
-He drew a chair forward.
-
-"Won't you sit down?" he said.
-
-She sat down in a nest of softest cushions.
-
-"I--I----" she began, and put up her hand to her throat, "I want
-to--to--to explain."
-
-His face darkened.
-
-She got up restlessly and faced him.
-
-He thought of that time when they had faced each other before--in
-the shabby, glaring little room--and his face hardened.
-
-"When you----" she began; "I thought it was for you--I had heard you
-say----"
-
-"Are you going back five years?" he asked.
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Then would you mind _not_?" he said. "There can be no good in it,
-and to me at least it is not a pleasant subject."
-
-"I must!" she burst out. "Oh! cannot you help me? It is so hard!"
-
-She held out her hands pathetically.
-
-A deep colour came into his tanned face, and he stood still, looking
-at her strangely.
-
-"I think I will go," he said; "there is no use in prolonging this."
-
-"Do you--love--me still?" she cried suddenly.
-
-He turned on her in a white passion of anger.
-
-"Not content yet?" he breathed. "What are you made of? Do you
-want me to show you all my degradation? Why? Oh, Kitty, Kitty, be
-merciful! Be true to those eyes of yours----"
-
-He stopped abruptly and moved over to the door.
-
-"Hugh, I love you!"
-
-It was the veriest whisper, but it stayed his steps, and brought a
-great light leaping to his eyes.
-
-The light died down.
-
-"It is too late!" he said, and turned away.
-
-"Hugh, listen--I loved you always--five years ago. It was for your
-sake----"
-
-He turned again.
-
-"Kitty?" he said uncertainly.
-
-She went on bravely, always heroic through her love.
-
-"I was poor--insignificant; you were ambitious--clever. I had heard
-your longings after greatness. Hugh, how could you travel into those
-wild countries with me? I knew you would give it up, and how could I
-bear that? To be a drag, a hindrance to you! And in the coming years
-I thought you would regret---- Hugh, you were poor, too, though not
-so poor as I. I did it for you--it nearly killed me, Hugh. I was ill
-after, but it was for you!"
-
-Her voice died away into silence.
-
-He stood very still, and his face was white and bloodless.
-
-But in his eyes there was a great reverence.
-
-"Forgive me!" he said.
-
-She smiled softly.
-
-"Oh, yes," she said.
-
-The cynicism had gone from his face, and the hardness and bitterness
-too.
-
-[Illustration: "Oh, cannot you help me? It is so hard!"]
-
-She looked at him wistfully. He turned away from her eyes and hid
-his face in his hands.
-
-"It was a mistake," he said, slowly, dully.
-
-"Yes."
-
-Still she waited.
-
-He looked up, and she strove to read his face in vain.
-
-Sad it was, and set, and yet there was a light there too.
-
-He took her hands gently in his.
-
-"Kathleen," he said earnestly, "God knows what I think of you. I can
-work now. Good-bye, dear."
-
-She raised her eyes to his--mystified and anxious.
-
-He answered them, very gently, but with a firmness there was no
-gainsaying.
-
-"You are famous," he said; "when I have made a name I will come to
-you. Will you wait, Kitty?"
-
-"For ever, Hugh," she answered, understanding him so well that that
-was all she said.
-
-He bent and kissed her hands.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-She knelt at the side of his bed, heedless of the presence of the
-nurse at the other end of the room, and her tears wetted his hand.
-The right hand and arm were swathed in bandages.
-
-He smiled sadly as he looked at her.
-
-"I am a failure," he said.
-
-"Ah, no, no! All England is ringing with your name. Hugh"--she
-raised a face all alight with a proud joy--"you are famous now!"
-
-A little flush rose to his white face.
-
-"Pshaw!" he said, "rescuing a woman and a few children from being
-burnt to death. Anyone would have done it."
-
-"Ah, no, Hugh! Brave men shrank from that awful sea and burning
-ship!"
-
-He was silent, looking at his bandaged hand.
-
-"I must learn to write with my left hand," he said.
-
-She bent nearer.
-
-"Let me write for you," she whispered; "let me finish your book,
-Hugh, while you dictate it to me. I do not sing now in public, you
-know."
-
-"Yes, I know."
-
-He drew her closer to him and rested his cheek against her soft hair.
-
-"I said I would not come to you till I had made a name," he said. "I
-am a wreck now! I shall be a wreck for a long while----"
-
-"Ah, dear, but you are famous!" she interposed lovingly.
-
-He sighed.
-
-"I cannot do without you any longer, Kitty. I am beaten at last.
-Will you take a wreck?"
-
-"I will take _you_, Hugh, a famous----"
-
-"A famous wreck," he finished with a smile.
-
-[Illustration: "Let me write for you," she whispered.]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: THE PULPIT MANNER]
-
-THE PULPIT MANNER
-
-CHARACTERISTIC GESTURES OF GREAT PREACHERS.
-
-=By F. M. Holmes.=
-
-
-First let us look at Dr. Joseph Parker. His sermons are constantly
-attended by ministers of all denominations, including clergymen of
-the Church of England; and no stronger testimony, we take it, could
-be given to a man's extraordinary preaching power than that year
-after year he continually attracts other preachers.
-
-Dr. Parker, it is almost needless to explain, is the eminent
-Congregational minister of the City Temple in London, and he
-occupies the unique position of having maintained for thirty years
-a noonday service every Thursday in addition to his usual Sunday
-services. To this Thursday service come persons from the ends of the
-earth, and ministers and laymen of various religious persuasions. On
-one occasion the sittings of a conference belonging to one of the
-minor Methodist bodies seemed seriously imperilled because so many
-of the delegates desired to go and hear Dr. Parker.
-
-What is the secret of his widely attractive power? The answer comes
-in a word--he is intensely dramatic. We do not mean theatrical.
-He chooses a clear message to deliver, and that message--that
-paramount thought--is driven home to his hearers in a manner that
-forces itself upon every mind, no matter how reluctant. He uses
-short, pithy sentences, and heightens and emphasises their effect by
-suitable modulations of voice, by deliberate or rapid utterance as
-the words may require, and by vigorous and appropriate gesture. He
-speaks only the very pith and point of what he has to say, and then
-says it in the clearest and most suitably effective manner that he
-can possibly command. It is the thing itself we hear, rather than
-talk or argument all round and about it.
-
-[Illustration: DR. PARKER.]
-
-Thus, on one occasion, his theme was found in the text, "Jesus in
-the midst." "Where is the midst?" he asked in a clear and striking,
-sonorous voice that commanded attention at once. These were his
-opening words, and after a pause he proceeded in the same manner and
-in similar short, striking sentences to point to different ideas of
-"the midst," and to declare that Christ was, or should be, in the
-midst of the literature, science, philosophy, and business of the
-day. Unless ministers preached Christ, said he, they had better be
-silent.
-
-[ILLUSTRATION: BISHOP OF RIPON. ARCHDEACON SINCLAIR.
-DEAN LEFROY. BISHOP OF STEPNEY.]
-
-There is nothing new in this, you will say. No doubt Dr. Parker
-would tell you that he does not wish to preach anything new; but no
-one can watch him critically without concluding that he constantly
-studies not only what he shall say, but how he shall say it in the
-most striking and effective manner.
-
-As a dramatic preacher, we might also instance the Rev. J. H.
-Jowett, who has succeeded the late Dr. Dale at Carr's Lane
-Congregational Church, Birmingham. To his Oxford scholarship Mr.
-Jowett has united an assiduous cultivation of a fine voice and
-vigorous yet graceful and suitable gesture, which render him a most
-striking and fascinating preacher.
-
-But turning now to other styles, if Dr. Parker is one of the most
-dramatic, Dr. Boyd Carpenter, the learned Bishop of Ripon, is one of
-the most eloquent of preachers. He is also one of the most rapid.
-He seems so fully charged with his subject that the words pour from
-his lips like a torrent; his body turns first to one side and then
-to the other, and anon leans forward in front, as though propelled
-by the energy of the thought within. His hand is often held up
-before him with the index finger pointing, as though to lead his
-audience on to the next thought, and to prevent their interest or
-attention from flagging. But, rapid and fluent as he is, it must
-not be thought that he is superficial; on the contrary, there is
-every evidence that the discourse is well thought out, and based
-on a solid framework of reason, while the language is eloquent and
-rhetorical. And it is, as it were, to mark the network of logical
-deduction within the words that the index finger is brought so fully
-into play. We judge that his voice is naturally somewhat thin and
-poor, but by careful use and perhaps assiduous cultivation, and by
-the most beautifully clear articulation, Dr. Boyd Carpenter can make
-himself heard in St. Paul's with what appears to be perfect ease.
-There is no straining of the voice and no shouting; but in a quiet
-though forcible manner he sends his voice round the huge building.
-Further, it has been pointed out to me that he will not commence his
-discourse until the congregation have settled themselves down into
-absolute quietness, and all the rustling of dresses, and coughing,
-and fidgeting are stilled. Under these circumstances his voice
-would, of course, carry far better in a large church.
-
-Somewhat similar in manner is Canon Barker, of Marylebone,
-who, in the energetic expression of the thought with which he
-seems surcharged, bends forward sometimes so deeply towards the
-congregation as to give, the impression that he is about to dive out
-of the pulpit. But his style is that of the special pleader, the
-advocate and the debater; it is as though he desires to argue out
-everything to its logical conclusion, rather than to sway or move
-his audience by eloquence and emotional appeals.
-
-[Illustration: PREBENDARY WEBB-PEPLOE.]
-
-Dean Lefroy of Norwich is also a debater; perhaps, a more keen
-debater than Canon Barker, and he is also a rhetorician. He delights
-to preach a strongly evangelical "Gospel" sermon, and to embellish
-it with rhetoric and declaim it with passionate earnestness. It is
-evident he thoroughly believes in his theme, he seeks to impress it
-on his audience by vigorous, earnest, passionate utterance, in which
-his energetic gestures are often of the most decided character.
-A curious characteristic of his preaching has been related to me
-by a friend. "You cannot listen to Lefroy for five minutes," said
-he, "without violently taking sides either for or against him. You
-are either intensely in favour of him or find yourself becoming
-almost vehemently opposed"--a testimony, we take it that the Dean
-is a decided, downright, assertive and aggressive preacher rather
-than persuasive and emotional. He has instituted a Nave service at
-Norwich Cathedral, at which he often preaches himself, and attracts
-enormous congregations.
-
-[Illustration: JOHN MCNEIL.]
-
-Still continuing to glance at those whom we may call rapid and
-fluent preachers, Prebendary Webb-Peploe comes to mind. He is not
-so energetic as some others, but the rapidity of his utterance, the
-fluency of his expression, and his great command of language, would
-rival that of almost any speaker. He and many others would probably
-utter three times as many words in a given time as Dr. Parker or
-Archdeacon Sinclair.
-
-[Illustration: IAN MACLAREN
-
-(_Dr. John Watson._)]
-
-The latter is slow, deliberate, and dignified in his utterances,
-rarely using gesture and affecting a grave and somewhat sonorous
-voice; but the Archdeacon's sermons are always most carefully
-prepared, and indicate considerable study and research.
-
-Among the grave and sedate preachers we might also place Dr. John
-Watson ("Ian Maclaren"), of Sefton Park Presbyterian Church,
-Liverpool; his sermons are full of thought, and, as might be
-expected, exhibit an excellent literary finish.
-
-Now, if we take Archdeacon Sinclair and Dr. John Watson as examples
-of more deliberate and sedate preachers, we may regard the Rev. John
-McNeil, the well-known Presbyterian minister, as an instance of the
-colloquial preacher.
-
-Not that his voice is low-pitched, as used in conversation. Mr.
-McNeil has done what few preachers could physically undertake: he
-has preached twice a day for a fortnight in the Albert Hall at
-Kensington, the largest hall in London, and capable of holding
-about ten thousand persons; and he has repeatedly filled the huge
-Agricultural Hall at Islington, numbers being turned away from
-lack of room. His voice, indeed, seems capable of filling the
-largest hall without effort. But his style is easy, unaffected,
-conversational, though sometimes, with both arms outstretched, he
-bursts forth into loud and impassioned appeals. There is no doubt a
-large section of the public who like this easy and colloquial style,
-especially if it come quite naturally to the speaker.
-
-[Illustration: DR. MCLAREN.]
-
-And now another celebrated figure rises on the scene, the
-eminent Baptist minister, Dr. McLaren of Manchester. Refined,
-scholarly, brimming over with knowledge, and a master of beautiful
-illustration, there is no doubt that he takes rank as one of the
-very greatest preachers of the day. Like other great speakers, he
-has evidently studied the art of preaching.
-
-[Illustration: DR. HORTON. HUGH PRICE HUGHES. J. R. JOWETT.
-SILVESTER HORNE.]
-
-At a meeting at the Holborn Restaurant to celebrate his ministerial
-jubilee in April, 1896, he said he had determined, at the outset of
-his career, to concentrate his mind on the work of the ministry and
-not fritter away his energies over many minor engagements. He had
-always endeavoured to make his ministry one of Gospel exposition; he
-had preached Christ because he believed that men needed redemption,
-and he had preached without doubts and hesitations. It was Thomas
-Binney who had taught him how to preach.
-
-Undoubtedly Dr. McLaren has succeeded in his aim as an expositor
-of the Scriptures, for that is regarded as one of his chief
-characteristics. A favourite gesture of Dr. McLaren's--at all events
-in his earlier days--was to squeeze up a handkerchief, no doubt
-quite unconsciously, in his right hand by the nervous energy he was
-putting forth in his discourse, and then suddenly his hand would
-dart out to mark some emphatic passage as though he were about to
-throw the handkerchief at the congregation; but needless to add the
-handkerchief was never thrown.
-
-Like Dr. McLaren, Dr. Whyte, of Free St. George's, Edinburgh, has
-a great command of beautiful and striking illustrations. "He is
-the most wonderful preacher in Scotland," declared an enthusiastic
-Scot to me on one occasion. "Mr. Gladstone used often to hear him,
-and Lord Rosebery does now." Dr. Whyte makes great use of the
-imagination in his discourses and employs frequent gestures, but
-graceful, emphatic and always to suit the action to the word and
-the word to the action. "One illustration," said a gentleman, "I
-remember some time ago. Dr. Whyte was preaching about tribulation,
-and he showed that the word came from _tribulum_, which is a Latin
-name for a roller or sledge for thrashing out corn, and in the same
-way tribulation sifted men as wheat." How like a platitude this may
-sound when summarised down to a line; but the point is that the idea
-of the beneficial purpose of tribulation had been so firmly fixed in
-the hearer's mind that he remembered it, and perchance in some dark
-hour it had been to him a "cup of strength in some great agony."
-Is not that, after all, one of the great aims and one of the great
-tests of good speaking--to fix some idea, some truth firmly in the
-hearer's mind so that it is never forgotten?
-
-As a robust, manly preacher few, if any, we suspect, can surpass
-Dean Hole of Rochester. He has a tall, commanding presence--he is
-over six feet high--a bright, animated countenance, and a most
-genial manner. When some years ago he held the living of Caunton,
-Notts, he used to journey periodically to Liverpool, where his
-midday addresses to commercial men were most successful and
-exercised great influence. He does not employ much gesture, but his
-fine voice, sparkling eye and manly, straightforward utterances,
-based on reason and logic, always command deep attention.
-
-[Illustration: DR. WHYTE.]
-
-His appeal is rather to reason than to the emotions, and by way
-of contrast we may glance at Canon Wilberforce, who is fluent and
-fervent, and affords one of the best examples of the emotional
-preacher. It would seem as though he set himself to arouse and stir
-up all the feelings of his congregation and lead them into what
-he conceives to be the right channel. Often choosing most unusual
-texts, he can yet make direct and pointed appeals from the pulpit,
-touching the greatest hopes and deepest trusts of human nature,
-and yet can employ as illustrations the greatest events and the
-newest discoveries of the day. He uses but little gesture, in this
-respect being somewhat different from the eminent Wesleyan, the Rev.
-Hugh Price Hughes, who might also be classed as an emotional--we
-had almost said passionate--preacher. In fluency and fervour he
-is probably surpassed by none. Possessed of a remarkably clear,
-vibrating, and penetrating voice, which seems as though it could
-thrill through any building, however large, there is no chance of
-anyone dozing when he is in the pulpit. When pleading some cause or
-denouncing some wrong, his feelings seem to get the better of him,
-and he slashes away with his voice in a perfect hurricane of verbal
-blows.
-
-[Illustration: DR. CLIFFORD.]
-
-Quite as emotional and quite as fluent is Dr. Clifford of Westbourne
-Park Baptist Church. His command of language is extraordinary,
-and with a mind less clear and well-regulated this great fluency
-might prove a snare; but his discourses are always remarkably
-well-arranged, his "points" are clear, and his meanings driven home
-with remarkable emphasis. His congregations are immense, and his
-hearers are devoted to him. His gestures often follow his words,
-and one--probably quite unconscious--is, it must be confessed, not
-graceful, even if forcible: it is a drawing back of his arms, and
-then shooting them out both together as if appealing to the people.
-His voice is exceptionally clear, penetrating, and resonant; and in
-all very popular preachers much is due to the voice.
-
-[Illustration: DEAN HOLE.]
-
-The Bishop of Stepney, who may be described as bearing all the
-characteristics of the highly cultured Oxford man, has in addition
-a deeply sympathetic musical voice. He does not use much gesture,
-but such as he does employ is well suited to the words, while his
-illustrations are often drawn from his social and religious work in
-the East End. He used frequently to preach in Victoria Park, where
-he has readily acknowledged his best supporters were Nonconformists.
-
-[Illustration: CANON BARKER. CANON WILBERFORCE.]
-
-Another eminent preacher whom we may also describe as exhibiting all
-the characteristics of Oxford culture is Dr. Horton of Lyndhurst
-Road Congregational Church, Hampstead. Possessed, like the Bishop
-of Stepney, of a remarkably sympathetic voice, he modulates and
-varies it to suit the subject and the words, and his gesture,
-never redundant, has lately been reduced almost to extinction. At
-the sermon which he preached before the Congregational Union at
-its autumnal assembly at Birmingham in 1897, his style was almost
-severely quiet, but the effect of his thrilling voice and sometimes
-awesome whispered tones, his polished literary language, and his
-intense earnestness--as he declared that the ideal Christian must be
-in constant touch with God, and yet in constant touch with men--was
-very great, and appealed both to reason and emotion. Indeed, both
-of these find their place in his sermons. Dr. Horton has mastered
-the art of always being interesting, no matter what his theme; and
-it would seem as though in his discourses he makes an effort to
-really interest and to reach all sorts and conditions of men.
-
-Another Congregational minister who exhibits much of the Oxford
-manner is the Rev. Silvester Horne, of Kensington; but, in addition,
-he seems possessed of a fiery zeal and fervent enthusiasm that will,
-it is feared, wear him out physically before his day is fully spent,
-unless he carefully husbands his nervous energy. Already, although
-a young man, he has had to take rest for a whole year because of
-ill-health. That inner fire, that mental energy, that disciplined
-enthusiasm, which light up his face so brilliantly and animate his
-suitable and graceful gesture, are far too precious a possession to
-be quenched too quickly; but there are few or none of the younger
-preachers of the day who have promise of a more brilliant future.
-
-And now a word in conclusion for one who is perhaps the greatest
-philosophical preacher of the time--Dr. Fairbairn of Mansfield
-College at Oxford. His memory is marvellous, his power of choice
-and accurate verbal expression is wonderful; he can speak for hours
-without a note, and though sometimes a sentence should appear
-involved and complicated, it will finish admirably, and, if read
-in a verbatim report afterwards, will have all the finish of a
-literary production wrought out in the quiet of the study. He uses
-but little gesture, an occasional opening out of hands and arms, as
-though to present and lay before the audience the thought which he
-is uttering, seems nearly all. In fact, it would appear that he is
-so absorbed in the abstract thought, the argument, the philosophy he
-is working out before you, that he thinks nothing of the manner in
-which he utters it.
-
-We do not pretend to have exhausted the list of famous preachers, or
-even to have glanced at all the different types; but these will be
-sufficient to indicate the variety that prevails, and to show that
-there is an art of preaching which, like other arts, needs to be
-assiduously cultivated, and well repays those who intelligently do
-so.
-
-
-
-
-A MOTHER'S BIBLE.
-
-  A pathetic incident occurred some years ago in connection with one
-    of our wars abroad. A youth who had been wounded, and who died in
-    the field hospital, clutched in his last hours an old worn copy of
-    the Bible, on the flyleaf of which were inscribed these touching
-    lines:--
-
-TO MY BOY.
-
-
-    Remember, love, who gave you this,
-      When other days shall come,
-    When she who had thy earliest kiss
-      Sleeps in her narrow home.
-    Remember! 'twas a mother gave
-    The gift to one she'd die to save.
-
-    A mother sought a pledge of love,
-      The holiest, for her son;
-    And from the gift of God above
-      She chose a godly one--
-    She chose for her beloved boy
-    The source of light and life and joy.
-
-    And bade him keep the gift, that when
-      The parting hour should come
-    They might have hope, and meet again
-      In an eternal home:
-    She said his faith in that should be
-    Sweet incense to her memory.
-
-    And should the scoffer in his pride
-      Laugh his fond faith to scorn,
-    And bid him cast the pledge aside
-      Which he from youth had borne--
-    She bade him pause and ask his breast
-    If he or she had loved him best.
-
-    A mother's blessing on her son
-      Goes with this holy thing,
-    The love that would retain the one
-      Must to the other cling.
-    Remember! 'tis no idle toy,
-    Thy mother's gift! Remember, boy!
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: ROGER PETTINGDALE]
-
-ROGER PETTINGDALE
-
-_A RUSTIC LOVE-STORY._
-
-By H. A. Davies.
-
-
-Across the fields from the church--through the clover meadow first,
-into the broad wheat-field next, and thence over the pasture lands,
-all yellow with the glint of buttercups--you will come to the
-Pettingdale farm. A thrill and a song and an aching went through
-my blood all together when I looked on the block of buildings the
-other day. How sweet-and-bitter is remembrance; how musical to the
-heart, and yet how sad with yearning! For the sight of that rugged
-old chimney standing square and grim and familiar upon the grey
-roof of the house; the red-tiled barns clustering behind, plain and
-prosperous; the sweep of the waving corn-fields towards the setting
-sun; caused my heart to surge with swift memories, long since buried
-and forgotten beneath the stress of life. How peaceful were the old
-days amidst these very fields! When the heart is young, ah! then's
-the time for music; and what echoes of far-off melodies--songs
-of old summers past and gone--does the scene awaken! There's the
-orchard where I spent such rare hours. Here are the hedges where we
-went a-nutting. Yonder is the oak-tree which we used to climb, Frank
-Pettingdale and I. It is still the same sturdy tree, keeping gnarled
-and knotted guard over the same creaking gateway, just as in the old
-days!
-
-Wherever my eyes fell there were thorns and roses for the heart all
-in one moment. It was in the old upland field that Clara Pettingdale
-and I as children used to wander, hand in hand, amongst the
-buttercups. She has long slept, poor Clara, in that corner of the
-churchyard where lie generations of Pettingdales past and gone--a
-long line of sturdy yeomen.
-
-The full light of the sun falls upon the courtyard of the farmhouse.
-It has a broad frontage, long and low and quaint, with irregular
-gables and overhanging eaves and deep, mullioned windows. The
-house runs queerly on two sides of the courtyard, one wing being
-at right angles to the other. It is beautifully clean and prim,
-with its whitewashed walls, its freshly painted woodwork, and
-its geraniums growing in green boxes on every window-sill. On
-the third side of the yard run the granary and the cider-house;
-while the fourth, save for an ivy-covered wall, which gives way to
-the entrance gates in one corner, is open to the gentle vista of
-countryside which stretches away before the house. What a pleasant
-old courtyard it is--so cool in the summer that the panting dogs
-love to throw themselves upon its stones; so sheltered in winter
-that the blustering nor'-easters touch it not; so prosperous-looking
-always, with its well-kept flags laid from end to end, as level and
-smooth as a billiard-table, and as spotless as the floor of the
-farm kitchen. How the polished milk-cans glisten and blink upon
-the wall! How the white sills of the old-fashioned windows gleam
-in the sunlight! The whole place seems to breathe of scouring and
-buckets, and scrubbing brushes and vigorous arms. Every morning the
-yard is washed down by the house-boy (it used to be Elijah in my
-day, but he is now a bearded man, and labours outside, and a young
-Ezra is the present knight of the bucket); every morning the cans
-are scoured and the tubs are scrubbed, and the step before the door
-is free-stoned, and the flowers are watered, and the house seems to
-smile a glistening, watery smile, as though it had just lifted its
-head from its morning dip to bid you the time of day. There was ever
-a charm to me about Pettingdale and its paved courtyard. I mind me
-well what a brave and romantic sound to my young ears was that of
-the horse's hoofs ringing and clamping upon the stones as he was
-brought up to the door on market days with the high yellow dogcart
-behind him; or the clatter of the wheels across the yard as Roger
-Pettingdale drove out through the broad gateway, a fine old figure
-with his white hair, and his aquiline nose, and his broad, well-set
-shoulders.
-
-[Illustration: His hair went snow-white early in life.]
-
-He is still outwardly the same. One could hardly detect a single
-point of change in him, save that his face is more furrowed and his
-eyes deeper set. His hair went snow-white early in life. Generations
-of Pettingdales have been subject to the same peculiarity. Thus it
-is that the long step from forty to sixty-five has wrought little
-difference in Roger Pettingdale. His body is as erect, his step as
-firm, his voice as sonorous as ever. He was ever a well-known figure
-at all the county markets and agricultural meetings, and it might be
-twenty-five years agone for all the change that one can see in him.
-Among other men he was always noticeable, with his tall figure, his
-white hair, his clean-shaven, well-cut face, and that wide-rimmed
-silk hat which he always affected. As he moved amongst the crowd I
-have heard men say, "Who is that?" and others answer, "Don't you
-know him? Why, surely everybody knows _him_? He's Roger Pettingdale."
-
-He is elected on all the local bodies. Thus he is a guardian of the
-poor, a member of the School Board, vice-chairman of the County
-Council, and the people's churchwarden at the parish church. There
-is no man amongst all those he meets in these capacities whose words
-are listened to with more respect. That solid weight, that hallmark
-of sound judgment which always attends upon sheer common-sense, is
-apparent in every opinion he utters. He forms his judgments first,
-and speaks afterwards. While other men are impulsively throwing
-themselves into useless controversy on this or that vexed question,
-Roger Pettingdale is silently weighing the _pros_ and _cons_ of
-the matter in his own mind; and when he speaks there is usually
-nothing more to be said. He chops no logic; he simply argues
-with the sledge-hammer of common-sense, backed up by the blunt,
-uncompromising sincerity of an honest and fair-dealing mind. His
-tolerance, his breadth of vision, his power of seeing the other side
-of the question, his scorn of all shams and pretences, have made his
-name a password for integrity and sound judgment. "You will always
-get a fair hearing from Roger Pettingdale," people say. "Does Roger
-Pettingdale think so? Oh, then, there must be something in it."
-
-In his home life, in the control of his farm, in his own daily
-affairs, there is the same straightforwardness, the same sincerity,
-the same well-balanced judgment and acumen. "There never was a
-year, as I remember, when we didn't have plenty of hay to begin
-conditioning on," said one of his labourers the other day. "Now,
-at the next farm they've never got enough." That is only a small
-instance of the perfection of method which marks every department of
-the prosperous farm.
-
-At home he is essentially a plain man, this sturdy farmer. There
-is no nonsense about him, although he can claim blood with one of
-the oldest families in the county. Yet he has a proper pride, in
-a manly, direct kind of way, as you shall see. He has had four
-children, two boys and two girls, in giving birth to the youngest
-of whom his wife died. James, the eldest, is his right hand in the
-farm management, and will some day be head of the family, as the
-Pettingdales have succeeded, son to father, for generations out of
-mind. Mary, the second, you shall hear more of anon. Frank, the
-third, my old playmate, early in life took the fancy that he would
-like to be a soldier. Roger Pettingdale has ever been a wise and a
-tolerant father, studying well the nature of each of his children.
-He unerringly knew Frank's proud and stubborn character.
-
-"You want to be a soldier?" he said. "Well, I could have wished it
-otherwise, Frank. It would have been a pleasure to me to see you
-settle down on the farm. But we will not argue the point. Let it
-stand for twelve months, and then talk to me about it."
-
-Twelve months did not change Frank's resolve. When he mentioned
-it again, a drawn look passed over Roger Pettingdale's face for a
-moment--a look of keen pain--for he loved his children. Then he drew
-himself up to his full height.
-
-"You are still of the same mind, Frank! Then I have nothing more to
-say. I am not going to attempt to dictate to you what your calling
-should be. You have to live your own life, and as you make your bed
-you must lie on it. Remember that, my lad. If you decide to go as a
-soldier, you shall go in a proper fashion, lad. You shall have your
-commission. No son of mine shall enter the ranks."
-
-And have his commission Frank did. I looked at the tablet in the old
-church the other day with a surging heart. It is a brass tablet, the
-lettering of which has been recently renovated.
-
-       TO THE MEMORY OF
-  LIEUTENANT FRANK PETTINGDALE,
-    WHO FELL IN ACTION IN THE
-     BATTLE OF TEL-EL-KEBIR.
-
-That was all. There was no vainglorious recounting of the brave
-deed in the performance of which Frank was cut down. He fell "in
-action." That was all. It was Roger Pettingdale all over--simple and
-direct and manly. And were not the laconic words far more eloquent
-than all the ornate elegiacs that poets might have written, just as
-Roger Pettingdale's silent grief when the news reached him was far
-more eloquent than all the passionate outbursts of frenzied sorrow
-that one could conceive?
-
-The fourth child, Clara, as I have already said, sleeps in the
-churchyard. She died when she was a fair-haired girl of ten--as
-bright and promising a maiden as one could wish to see. But she was
-ever fragile, like her mother, and suddenly she faded away, leaving
-a great gap in the home life at the Pettingdale farm.
-
-As to Mary, the second child, she was nineteen years of age, and
-newly returned from school, when Edward Leigh, the son of old Squire
-Leigh, of the Hall, came home from his travels round the world.
-These two, who had only distantly known each other as children,
-met for the first time after many years--she a sweet-looking,
-fresh-coloured girl, in the first blush of womanhood; and he a
-manly, well-set young fellow with a pleasant, sincere face and
-straightforward blue eyes. It was the old story! Twang goes the
-bow of the roguish little archer, and to some heart or another the
-world all at once becomes rose-colour. The old story! They saw each
-other on a Sunday morning across the church. She, sitting in the
-Pettingdale pew, mentally noted that there was a young man at the
-Squire's side who could be no other than his newly returned son; and
-he, from his corner underneath the dingy, ponderous coat-of-arms
-of the Leigh family, looked upon her in her simple dress of white.
-The sun, striking through the window to her right, glinted upon her
-brown hair, which always curled so prettily about her forehead. He
-thought, as he looked, that she was the sweetest, daintiest maiden
-he had ever seen, and he fell in love with her.
-
-He made no secret of his passion. Beating about the bush was
-entirely foreign to Edward Leigh. The choleric old Squire went
-off into a fit of apoplectic rage when he heard how things stood.
-The veins swelled in his forehead, and that pugnacious under-lip
-of his stood out and drew itself over the upper lip and the teeth
-with a tight grip. But Edward had all the old Leigh blood in him.
-"I love her, father," he said quietly, looking the Squire straight
-in the face, and the old man's heart sank within him as he met the
-steady glance of those blue eyes. Fits of passion, threats, fiery
-denunciations--they were all of no avail. Edward was never once
-other than respectful. He would stand with shoulders squared and
-head uplifted, bearing the storm in perfect calm and silence, and
-then would look his father in the face and say--"Father, I love
-her"; and the Squire would clench his fist and march to and fro,
-furiously stamping his feet upon the floor.
-
-[Illustration: "Father, I love her."]
-
-In one culminating fit of choleric rage the Squire rode over to the
-farm. He found Roger Pettingdale in the corn-field, looking at the
-growing wheat.
-
-[Illustration: "Forgive me!"]
-
-"Look here, Pettingdale," he burst forth fiercely. "This nonsense
-must be stopped. Are you an idiot, that you cannot see what is going
-on, or are you in the scheme to entrap my----"
-
-Roger Pettingdale turned round upon him.
-
-"I beg your pardon, Squire Leigh?" he said quietly, as one who had
-not heard aright.
-
-"Tut! Nonsense!" retorted the Squire. "Don't 'beg-your-pardon' me!
-You know full well what I mean. Are you blind? I say it must be
-stopped! You know full well that that precious son of mine has gone
-stark mad over that chit of a girl of yours!"
-
-"And what of that, Squire Leigh?" replied Roger Pettingdale, drawing
-himself to his full height and looking at the Squire from underneath
-his heavy eyebrows. "If that precious son of yours has gone stark
-mad over my daughter, what of that?"
-
-"Why, this," thundered the Squire: "that it must be stopped!"
-
-"Very well, why don't you stop it?" replied Roger Pettingdale.
-
-The retort, perfectly cool and natural, laid bare all the Squire's
-impotence at one stroke, and drove him well-nigh to frenzy. His eyes
-shot fire, and those veins in his forehead swelled as though they
-would burst.
-
-"It is not my daughter who is coming to the Hall after your son,"
-Roger Pettingdale went on. "It is your son who is coming here after
-my daughter. You seem to forget that point. You say it must be
-stopped. And I repeat--Why don't you stop it?"
-
-"It is as I thought," shouted the enraged Squire. "You are all in
-it--all of you. All in the scheme to entrap him! A pretty plot,
-don't you call it, for a man who poses as a Christian?"
-
-In a blind access of fury he took a step forward and raised his
-riding-whip. And then his shaking arm fell to his side, for Roger
-Pettingdale had laid a hand upon his shoulder, and was confronting
-him with grave, kindly, pitying eyes.
-
-"You are in anger, Squire Leigh," he said, with simple dignity,
-"else I should take your words as an insult. Be sure that the
-Pettingdales have not fallen so low, nor their womenkind either,
-that they need to trap the son of Squire Leigh. But I tell you this,
-as man to man: if your son truly loves my daughter, and if she
-loves him in return, I will put no bar before my child's happiness;
-no, not for you, nor for all the Leighs in the world. We come of
-as good a stock as you, Squire! Remember that! More money and more
-land maybe you have--but not more pride of family. I care naught
-for your money or your land. Thank God! I have prospered beyond all
-expectation. And I tell you again, straight to your face, if your
-son comes to me and asks for my daughter's hand, and I find it is
-for her happiness, I shall say 'Yes.'"
-
-"I shall disinherit him!" burst forth the Squire; "he shall not have
-a penny--not a brass farthing!"
-
-"I shall tell him," continued Roger Pettingdale, "that if he would
-win my daughter, he must first make a position for himself in the
-world, independently of aught you can do for or against him; and
-that shall be the test of his sincerity."
-
-Then he turned away, and the Squire, his face livid with passion,
-marched off, savagely cutting at the wheat-ears with his
-riding-whip. And when he mounted his horse at the corner of the
-field, he dug his spurs so viciously into her that she bounded and
-reared, and almost threw him.
-
-Well, the long and short of it was that Edward Leigh was not found
-wanting in the test which was imposed upon him.
-
-"You are quite right, sir," he said to Roger Pettingdale; "the
-condition is a reasonable one. I ask for nothing more than the
-chance of proving that I am in earnest."
-
-He went to London, studied under his father's old college friend,
-John Wetherell, the well-known Queen's Counsel, and in five years
-was making fair headway in the courts as a barrister. And the
-strange part of it was that the choleric old Squire--who has a good
-heart underneath his rough exterior--seeing his son's name in the
-papers from time to time, felt his paternal pride rising within him
-despite his stubborn resentment. Perhaps, too, he felt lonely in his
-old age. At all events, he went over to the farm one day, and asked
-to see Mary.
-
-"I shall fight against it no longer, my dear," he said, holding
-out his hand. "The lad has proved his grit, and the woman who
-can call forth such steady love in a man is more than worthy of
-being mistress of the Hall. I am an old man, and have no time left
-for bitternesses. Forgive me, and you will find me as staunch in
-friendship as you have found me frank in enmity."
-
-Mary is now Mary Leigh, of Leigh Hall, and a sweeter, gentler, more
-winsome mistress you could not find in the whole land. You may often
-see the old Squire leaning upon her shoulder--a bent, white-haired
-figure--as they walk in the grounds.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Among all the seasons of the year, I think there is none that Roger
-Pettingdale loves so well as the time of harvest. You may see him
-standing at the gateway, looking in meditation down the long shimmer
-and sheen of the golden wheat-field as the wind ripples over it.
-
-"I love to gaze at fields white with corn," he said to me once.
-"They seem to breathe rich promises of that full fruition to which
-our own lives shall come if we live them well and uprightly."
-
-At the last harvest thanksgiving service in the village church I was
-present for the sake of old times, and from my place behind Roger
-Pettingdale I saw him lost in meditation, with eyes fixed upon the
-chancel window. And when he stood up to sing he was still rapt in
-thought; but suddenly he joined in the sweet old hymn so lustily and
-with such a full heart that it did me good to hear him.
-
-    "The valleys stand so thick with corn
-     That even they are singing."
-
-
-
-
-THE ART OF READING.
-
-By the Ven. Archdeacon Diggle, M.A.
-
-
-Reading aloud is more commonly regarded as an accomplishment than
-an art. In truth, it is both. It is an art in that it cannot be
-left to its own guidance, but requires both an acquaintance with
-rules and familiarity with their practice to bring it to perfection.
-It is an accomplishment in that it is a means of completing our
-equipment for happy social life. Good reading yields not only profit
-but pleasure to others. It is one means of throwing brightness into
-home-life to gather the children together and read really well to
-them. And what a sweet delight it is in the ward of a hospital, or
-among the inmates of a workhouse, or by the bedside of some dearly
-loved invalid, to be able, by reading in soft, gentle, refreshing
-tones, to charm away the monotony and the weariness, perhaps for
-awhile to relieve even the pain, of the lonely and the suffering! We
-might shed sunshine into the darkness of many a life if, instead of
-spending our leisure hours in _ennui_ on ourselves, we devoted them
-to reading aloud to others.
-
-Reading aloud is good for ourselves both physically and morally. It
-is good morally, for if we never read anything unfit for reading
-aloud we shall not be likely to read anything morally deteriorating.
-And physically, reading aloud is a benignant exercise. It widens
-the chest, opens the lungs, strengthens the throat, and does good
-to all the breathing organs. It is a mistake to suppose that using
-the voice weakens it. Abuse or misuse of the vocal organs, as of any
-other organs, injures them; but by proper use and exercise they are
-strengthened and improved. Speakers and preachers have bad throats
-not because they use their throat too much, but because they use it
-badly. They force and torment it, instead of training it to natural
-action and giving it free, full play. And who shall blame them? At
-school they were taught to spell and mind their stops; but how to
-breathe and manage the voice when reading, they probably were not
-taught a single rule. In many instances teachers themselves are
-wholly ignorant of the art and therefore incapable of teaching it.
-And so it comes to pass that, unless either outward circumstance
-or innate common-sense turn our attention in later life to the
-management of the vocal organs, we never learn to read aloud without
-weariness and with pleasure. It is mainly through lack of early
-training that, of all useful and delightful accomplishments, the art
-of reading aloud is one of the least practised and most rare.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Russell and Sons, Baker Street, W._)
-ARCHDEACON DIGGLE.]
-
-Yet it is an art which, in some degree, may be acquired by the
-majority of people; very many could, by a little training and
-perseverance, even excel in it. Of course, the art admits of many
-degrees of excellence. But without reaching the splendid summits of
-the art, attainable only by the highly gifted few, ordinary persons
-may learn to read sufficiently well to gratify both themselves and
-others, if they will take pains to learn and practise a few simple
-rules.
-
-The first requirement is to master the physics of the art: to learn
-to breathe in through the nostrils and out through the mouth,
-never to speak on an inflowing breath, quickly to fill the lungs
-and slowly to empty them, never to gasp or strain after sound, not
-to attempt the higher notes until the lower have been completely
-mastered, to rely more on the lower than the higher notes, to teach
-the lips and front portion of the mouth to do their fair share of
-work equally with the larynx and the vocal cords. A moustache is an
-impediment to easy and distinct reading. It hinders the air from
-passing in free, full flow up the nostrils, and it troubles the
-waves of sound as they issue from the mouth; causing indistinctness,
-more or less flat and thick, in enunciation.
-
-Clearness of enunciation ranks next in importance after easy,
-natural, flexible production of voice, and largely depends on it,
-for there can be no clear, crisp, distinct enunciation of words,
-unless the tools by which words are made, viz. the organs of voice,
-are kept sharp and well burnished. Moreover, for the attainment
-of limpid and finely articulated enunciation careful training is
-required both in the melody and modulation of sounds.
-
-Precision and beauty of enunciation are much assisted by habitual
-practice of the graduated series of all the tones from the keynote
-to its octave. Do not sing when you are reading, but, in order to
-read well, first learn to sing; otherwise your reading will be flat
-and monotonous, without light and shade, instead of being fresh,
-richly modulated, and melodious.
-
-The next requirement of good reading is to learn the relative value
-of the letters, and the right handling of the syllables, of which
-words are composed.
-
-This study is both interesting and attractive, for, as Plato
-observes, letters themselves have a clear significance. The letter
-_r_ is expressive of motion, the letters _d_ and _t_ of binding and
-rest, the letter _l_ of smoothness, _n_ of inwardness, the letter
-_e_ of length and the letter _o_ of roundness.[2] Letters run in
-families, and each family has its own characteristic significance of
-sound. Some letters belong to the lips, others to the throat, others
-employ the whole mouth. Vowels and final consonants are the letters
-which demand most care and support in good reading. For the most
-part, vowels should be rich and full, and the final consonant well
-sustained.
-
-[2] _Cf._ Jowett's Plato, I. 311.
-
-If letters in themselves are expressive and significant,
-collocations of letters in syllables and words are clearly more
-significant still. "By various degrees of strength or weakness,
-emphasis or pitch, length or shortness, they become the natural
-expressions both of the stronger and the finer parts of human
-feeling and thought." To read well, therefore, it is necessary to
-give intelligent and ready heed to the relative weight of words,
-to notice whether consonants are massed together to increase their
-density, or vowels are freely interspersed to leaven and make
-them light. True enunciation largely depends on a careful study
-of the natural formation of words and a right appreciation of the
-proportionate value of their several syllables.
-
-Reading, however, is frequently spoiled by pedantry and exaggerated
-minuteness. In seeking to avoid slovenliness readers often fall into
-foppery. Good reading goes at an easy pace, it is neither too fast
-nor too slow; it neither counts the letters nor omits them, neither
-jumbles syllables together nor anatomises words. The good reader
-reads so that intelligent listeners can spell his words, but he does
-not read as if spelling them himself. He avoids the extremes both
-of negligence and nicety, and constantly remembers that whatever is
-overdone is badly done. Avoid ostentation. No rule in reading is
-more fundamental than this.
-
-Near akin to ostentation is the taint of false and histrionic
-emphasis. Colourless reading, bad though it be, is better than
-tawdry reading. Especially in all reading of a religious or sacred
-character should affectation and dramatic artifices be reverently
-avoided.
-
-To read the Bible in church as if playing a part on the stage is as
-inappropriate and irreligious as to read like one in haste to catch
-a train.
-
-Each kind of subject demands its own proper style in reading. Prose
-should not be read like poetry; nor all kinds either of prose or
-poetry alike. As in writing, each species should be dressed in
-language from its own wardrobe; so in reading, each several kind
-should receive its own appropriate tone, and travel at its own
-appropriate speed. To read everything alike is to read nothing--or
-at most only one thing--well.
-
-[Illustration: Charming away the monotony and the weariness.]
-
-Great authors are by no means invariably good readers, even of
-their own productions. Lord Tennyson read some of his own glorious
-poems beautifully; but others he read either droningly or with too
-much singsong. Dickens read his own works with wonderful power and
-realisation. Wordsworth read his own verse admirably; but we are
-told that neither Coleridge nor Southey could read verse well: "They
-read as if crying or wailing lugubriously."
-
-Reading, therefore, is an art which doubtless requires, for
-the attainment of excellence, some degree of histrionic
-gifts--imagination, imitation, fervour, and passion.
-
-Similarly with oratory and authorship. Both these arts are distinct
-from that of reading; as each of these again is distinct from the
-other.
-
-It is curious, indeed, how few among great authors are great
-orators; or, among great orators, great authors. The gifts which
-tell in writing--condensation, terseness, finish--are not the
-gifts which tell most in speaking. In speaking, the essentials are
-clearness of enunciation, sympathy with the audience, copiousness
-of illustration, directness of statement, uninvolved reasoning. The
-merits which impart value to a book--wealth of fact, niceness in
-balancing opposing considerations, delicacy of assertion, depth and
-sweep of argument--may easily become ineffective in the delivery of
-a speech. Hence, therefore, whereas a good speaker is occasionally
-a good writer, owing to his rare combination of different orders
-of talent, it more frequently happens that the one set of talents
-is given to one man to enrich them in seclusion, and the other to
-another man to use them with publicity.
-
-In like manner with reading; it is an art by itself. It is natural
-to suppose that no one could possibly read an author's works so
-well as the author's self, because no one can understand them so
-intimately as their own creator. Yet experience proves this to be
-not the case; and for a reason which at first sight is not wholly
-apparent. It is just because they are his own that, as a rule, he
-cannot read them well. He may have a richly cultivated voice, clear
-enunciation, a varied power of modulation; he may even be able to
-read the works of others well, yet be a failure in reading what he
-himself has written. Why is this? Partly, perhaps, it is due to
-an unavoidable self-consciousness in reading his own works; and
-self-consciousness is the ruin of good reading. "Forget thyself"
-is a necessary condition of good reading. Partly, perhaps, it is
-due to over-absorption in the memory of sensations and sentiments
-which overpowered him when he wrote in the solitude of his chamber,
-but which are somewhat unnatural and overstrained for exhibition
-before a concourse of auditors. But probably the principal reason
-is that one of the greatest charms of good reading arises from the
-co-operation of two spirits toward one end--the spirit of the author
-and the spirit of the reader. The reader of another's works seeks
-actively to express the spirit of his author, yet unintentionally
-he is expressing his own spirit also. The author enters into him
-and he throws himself into the author; his reading, therefore, is
-the union, the marriage, the interpenetration and expression of two
-spirits--the author's and his own. However interesting, therefore,
-and delightful it may be to hear an author read his own works,
-yet is there always lacking the dash and force and suggestiveness
-produced when a great author is interpreted by a great reader. The
-author merely reproduces his original meaning in what he wrote;
-the reader, through the agency of his own independent personality,
-idealises and diversifies that meaning.
-
-Idealisation is one of the most beautiful effects of the fine art of
-reading. The most ordinary poem or piece of prose, when idealised
-by an accomplished artist in reading, grows lovely and sweet. And
-one way of learning to read well ourselves is to sit at the feet of
-some of these great masters of reading. Until we have heard a great
-reader read it is next to impossible to conceive what a fine and
-noble art true reading is. On the other hand, we can never become
-good readers by merely listening to others, any more than we can
-become good musicians by hearing others play.
-
-In the art of reading, others may be our models; none but ourselves
-can be our makers. Listening to others may show us how the thing
-can best be done, but without doing the thing ourselves the thing
-can never be truly learned by us. Sometimes, indeed, listening to
-others has an effect quite the opposite of a model for imitation.
-"Pausanias tells us of an ancient player on the harp who was wont to
-make his scholars go to hear one who played badly that they might
-learn to hate his discords and false measures." In like manner, one
-way of learning to read well is to hear others read badly.
-
-The art of reading aloud culminates in the expression of the
-spiritual through the medium of the physical. As sculpture aspires
-to express its ideals in stone, and painting in colour, and music
-in sound, so reading embodies its ideals in uttered words. A
-well-trained voice, clearness of enunciation, rhythm and flexibility
-of articulation--these are the physical framework of the art of
-reading aloud. Without first acquiring these the reader is as
-impotent as the painter without colour or the sculptor without
-stone. But the physics of reading are nothing more than its material
-framework. Unless the reader is inspired with ideals, reading will
-never rise to the dignity and glory of an art with him. He may be
-as a house-painter with his brush, or a mason with his stone--an
-industrious and useful artificer, but not an artist in his work.
-
-
-
-
-MIDGET CHURCHES
-
-By J. A. Reid.
-
-
-The subject of church architecture is ever a fascinating one.
-Millions of money and an immense amount of time and labour have been
-spent in erecting places of worship, some of which are magnificent
-structures capable of seating several thousands. On the other hand,
-small, humble edifices sometimes suffice to meet the requirements of
-the worshippers; and it is with these that we here propose to deal.
-
-Which of the midget churches is the smallest it is somewhat
-difficult to say; but it is believed that the smallest church in
-England is the truly miniature church of Lullington, in Sussex.
-It is a primitive and quaint building, constructed of flint with
-stone quoins, with a roof of red tiles. It can boast of a little
-weather-boarded turret at its west end; but its bell does not toll
-now, and the birds of the air have long since found the turret a
-convenient nesting-place. The church is but sixteen feet square. The
-pulpit is a pew, with panelled sides and door, and the furniture is
-of the plainest. Five, narrow, diamond-paned windows throw a scanty
-light upon the interior, in which there is accommodation for thirty
-persons--quite sufficient for the population of the village.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: H. J. Unwin, Hailsham._)
-
-LULLINGTON CHURCH.
-
-(_Sixteen feet square._)]
-
-A somewhat larger edifice is the very interesting church of
-Wythburn, in Cumberland, the dimensions of which are--nave (length),
-thirty-nine feet; height of walls, ten feet; and width, fifteen
-feet. This was the original church, erected about one hundred and
-sixty years ago, and is of the simplest description. The roof is
-constructed of old ships' timber, and the windows are square holes
-with wooden frames. The chancel is eighteen feet long by fifteen
-feet by ten feet. The beautiful little east window is by Henry
-Holiday, and was put in to the memory of the late vicar. What
-a magnificent site for a church! The poets have thus expressed
-themselves with regard to this humble but beautifully situated
-church:--
-
-Canon H. D. Rawnsley wrote:
-
-    "We cannot stay--for life is but an Inn,
-     A halfway house--and, lo! the graves how near!
-     Yet mighty minds have hither come for cheer
-     Before the upward path they dared begin.
-     Here Gray the pilgrim rested pale and thin,
-     Here Wilson laughed, and Wordsworth murmured here.
-     Here Coleridge mused, and ere he crossed the mere
-     Hence Arnold viewed the Goal he hoped to win.
-     And we who would Helvellyn's height essay,
-     Or climb towards the gateway of the mound
-     Where Dunmail died because his realm was fair,
-     May join their gracious company who found
-     Earth's beauty made Life's Inn a House of Prayer,
-     And speed, refreshed of soul, upon our way."
-
-[Illustration: _Wythburn Church as compared with St. Paul's
-Cathedral._
-
-(_Photo: T. Dumble, Keswick._)
-
-WYTHBURN CHURCH.
-
-(_Thirteen yards long, five yards wide._)]
-
-Wordsworth, too, said:
-
-    "If Wythburn's modest House of Prayer,
-     As lowly as the lowliest dwelling,
-     Had, with its belfry's humble stock,
-     A little pair that hang in air,
-     Been mistress also of a clock
-     (And one, too, not hung in crazy plight),
-     Twelve strokes that clock would have been telling
-     Under the brow of old Helvellyn."
-
-And H. Coleridge:
-
-    "Humble it is, and meek, and very low,
-     And speaks its purpose by a single bell:
-     But God Himself, and He alone, can know
-     If spiry temples please Him half so well."
-
-We have given two instances of very small churches: let us now refer
-to a midget chapel. At Crawshawbooth, a village near Burnley, there
-is an extremely interesting diminutive place of worship known as
-the Friends' Meeting-House, an old-fashioned building covered with
-ivy, and environed by a well-cared-for burial ground. It contains
-half a dozen oak benches, on which the worshippers sit. Though these
-benches are sufficient to provide seating accommodation for about
-sixty, the attendance is rarely more than six. John Bright once
-worshipped here, walking from Rochdale, a distance of twelve miles.
-This quaint little place is naturally regarded with much interest by
-visitors.
-
-It is interesting to point out that there is another Quaker
-meeting-house in the hamlet of Jordans, in Buckinghamshire, which
-is, if anything, smaller than that already referred to. It has been
-called the Shrine of Quakerism, for early in June every year a
-gathering of Quakers takes place. Here lie the remains of William
-Penn, one of the greatest of Quakers. At a cottage in the vicinity
-Milton wrote his "Paradise Lost."
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: R. W. Lord, Little Lever, near Bolton._)
-
-THE FRIENDS' MEETING-HOUSE, CRAWSHAWBOOTH.
-
-(_Containing six oak benches to accommodate sixty worshippers._)]
-
-To revert to churches, Kilpeck Church is well worth referring to as
-being a lovely little place of worship. The nave is thirty-six feet
-by twenty, and the chancel seventeen by sixteen feet ten inches,
-the total length being sixty-eight feet and the average breadth
-about sixteen feet. It is built upon a Saxon foundation, and Saxon
-remains are still to be seen--notably, a "holy-water" stoup that
-must be one thousand or eleven hundred years old. It is not possible
-to do justice to this beautiful church in a few words, but the
-accompanying photograph will give an idea of the quaintness and
-beauty of the structure. The sculpture is remarkably interesting.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Poulton and Sons, Lee._)
-
-KILPECK CHURCH.
-
-(_Nave thirty-six feet by twenty._)]
-
-An article on midget places of worship would be incomplete without a
-reference to the little lath-and-plaster church of Essex, consisting
-of nave, chancel, and a small turret. Hazeleigh Church, as it is
-named, stands in the near vicinity of Hazeleigh Hall--once the
-home of the Essex family of the Alleynes, one of whom founded the
-College of God's Gift at Dulwich. This little church has thus been
-described by the Rev. H. R. Wadmore, sometime curate:--
-
-    "... A little church beside a wood
-     Securely sheltered from the sweeping blast;
-     So quiet, so secure, it seems to be
-     A very type of rest and all that's still."
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: R. D. Barrett._)
-
-CHILCOMBE CHURCH.
-
-(_Twelve yards long._)]
-
-This little church of Hazeleigh, owing to its simple character,
-differs but slightly from the roadside cottages. It has been styled
-"the meanest church in Essex," owing to its unpretentious character.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd._)
-
-THE CAVE CHURCH AT LEDAIG, NEAR OBAN.
-
-(_The most primitive church in the kingdom._)]
-
-A pleasing little church is that of Chilcombe, near Bridport,
-Dorsetshire. Chilcombe is mentioned in the Doomsday Book, and at one
-time was the property of the Knight Hospitallers of St. John. The
-existing church dates from the thirteenth century. It is in the
-Roman style, and possesses a good Norman font. The length of the
-nave is twenty-two by fourteen feet, the chancel being thirteen by
-eleven feet. The owner of the parish and the patron of the living is
-Admiral the Hon. M. H. Nelson.
-
-[Illustration: GROVE CHURCH, NEAR LEIGHTON BUZZARD.
-
-(_Capable of seating fifty people._)]
-
-Another remarkably small church is that of St. Peter, on the Castle
-Rise, at Cambridge, its dimensions being twenty-five by sixteen
-feet. It is of Norman architecture.
-
-England by no means possesses all the diminutive churches and
-chapels, and a very quaint and interesting church is that of Ledaig,
-near Oban. It is unsectarian, and its congregation numbers, on the
-average, twenty-five. It was founded by John Campbell, who was more
-familiarly known as "The Bard of Benderlock." He converted a natural
-cavern in the cliffs of Ledaig into a place of worship. A portion
-of a trunk of a tree, on which Robert Bruce is said to have rested,
-serves as a table and reading-desk. Trunks of trees around the sides
-of the cavern serve as seats for the worshippers. Mr. Campbell
-officiated as minister for many years to a band of faithful Highland
-worshippers in this curious church. Mr. Campbell was a remarkable
-personality. He was postmaster of Ledaig, and he also gained a
-considerable reputation as a poet. He was a much respected man, and
-his memory is dear to many.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: A. A. Inglis, Edinburgh._)
-
-ST. MARGARET'S CHAPEL, EDINBURGH CASTLE.
-
-(_For some time used as a powder magazine._)]
-
-I would like to refer to a very interesting midget church at
-Grove, near Leighton Buzzard, which I had the pleasure of visiting
-recently. It is the smallest in the county, and is a gable-roofed,
-barn-like fabric, with a door on the north side. In 1883 the little
-church was restored throughout, the fine old-fashioned square
-pews being replaced by open wooden seats, and it is now capable
-of seating about fifty people. Formerly the edifice contained a
-"three-decker"--clerk's desk, reading-desk, and pulpit combined. The
-churchyard contains many graves, but only one tombstone (eighteenth
-century). The dimensions of the church are--length, twenty-nine and
-a half feet; width, eighteen feet; height, about forty feet; in
-all probability, the church was formerly larger than at present.
-Grove is generally considered to be one of the smallest parishes in
-England, and one could hardly conceive of a smaller. It consists
-practically of a farmhouse and a lock-keeper's cottage.
-
-[Illustration: ST. ROBERT'S CHAPEL, KNARESBOROUGH.
-
-(_Showing figure of a Knight Templar cut in the rock._)
-
-(_Photo: G. E. Arnold, Knaresborough._)]
-
-We must not forget that at the top of Edinburgh Castle is the
-historical diminutive chapel of St. Margaret's, which was the
-private chapel of the pious Margaret, Queen of Malcolm III., during
-her residence in the castle. Until very recently it had been quite
-lost sight of, having been converted into a powder magazine and
-fallen into disrepair. In 1853, however, it was "discovered" and
-put into an efficient state of repair. It is considered to be
-the oldest and smallest chapel in Scotland, its dimensions being
-sixteen feet six inches by ten feet sixteen inches. The semicircular
-chancel is separated from the nave by a well-carved double-round
-arch, decorated with Norman zigzag mouldings. It is too small to be
-made available for divine service for the troops quartered in the
-castle, and the only use that it is now put to is for occasional
-baptisms and morning Communion.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd._)
-
-SMALL CHURCH AT ST. ANDREW, GREENSTED, NEAR ONGAR.
-
-(_Believed to include the only remaining portion of a Saxon wooden
-church._)]
-
-There are several very small places of worship which are now, alas!
-in ruins. At Iona, for instance, on the west coast of Scotland,
-are the remains of an extremely small chapel, known as St. Oran's
-Chapel. It is very near Iona Cathedral. It is constructed of red
-granite, and its external measurements are sixty feet by twenty-two
-feet. It is now roofless, and is very old. This little chapel
-is believed to have been built by Queen Margaret in 1080. Its
-architecture is Romanesque, and it has one low entrance. This humble
-edifice is interesting inasmuch as within its walls is the tomb of
-Sir Walter Scott's "Lord of the Isles," the friend of Bruce.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd._)
-
-DIMINUTIVE CHAPEL AT POINT IN VIEW, NEAR EXMOUTH.
-
-(_Containing an organ made by the pastor._)]
-
-There is another tiny barn-like edifice at Greenloaning, near
-Dunblane. The little church is situated adjacent to a farmhouse, and
-seems to have been erected for the benefit of the farm-workers. It
-is remarkably small. The scenery in the vicinity is magnificent, and
-the church is regarded with much interest by tourists.
-
-St. Anthony's Chapel is another small building also in ruins. It is
-interesting owing to its historic surroundings, being in the near
-vicinity of Holyrood Palace. It comprises a hermitage, sixteen feet
-long, twelve feet wide, and eight feet high, and a Gothic chapel
-forty-three feet long, eighteen feet broad, and eighteen feet high.
-
-One of the most remarkable of these little churches is that at
-Knaresborough, in Yorkshire, which is a very queer little chapel
-elegantly hewn out of the solid rock, the roof being beautifully
-ribbed and groined in the Gothic style. At the back of the altar is
-a large niche, where an image used to stand, and on one side of it
-is a place for the "holy-water" basin. There are also figures of
-three heads--designed, it is believed, for an emblematical allusion
-to the order of the monks at the once neighbouring priory. Possibly
-they were cut by some of the monks. The order was known as Sanctæ
-Trinitatis. A few yards away there is another head. It has been
-surmised that this is a representation of St. John the Baptist, to
-whom the chapel is supposed to be dedicated. There is a cavity in
-the floor, in which some ancient relic was rested. The chapel is
-ten feet six inches long, nine feet wide, and seven and a half feet
-high. Near the entrance is the following inscription:--
-
-    "Beneath yon ivy's spreading shade,
-     For lonely contemplation made,
-     An ancient chapel stands complete,
-     Once the hermit's calm retreat
-     From worldly pomp and sordid care,
-     To humble penitence and prayer;
-     The sight is pleasing, all agree--
-     Do, gentle stranger, turn and see."
-
-The chapel is known as St. Robert's Chapel. St. Robert, the hermit
-who used it for devotions, was born about 1160, and was the son
-of Sir Toke Flouris, who was mayor of the city of York. In his
-youth he was noted for his piety, and he entered the Cistercian
-Abbey of Newminster in Northumberland. He was only there eighteen
-weeks, however, removing to York, and then to Knaresborough, where
-he retired from the world to live a life of contemplation in this
-restful spot. He died in the September of 1218. On one side of the
-entrance to the chapel, under the ivy, is the figure of a Knight
-Templar, cut in the rock, in the act of drawing his sword to defend
-the place from the violence of intruders. This is a queer and
-remarkable building, and, though not now used as a place of worship,
-the reference here made to it may prove interesting.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd._)
-
-INTERIOR VIEW OF PERIVALE CHURCH.]
-
-The cathedral of St. Asaph, in Flintshire, might be mentioned in
-this category as being the smallest cathedral in the country. It
-is in the shape of a simple cross in plan, consisting of a choir
-transept, nave, with five bays with aisles, and a central tower
-forty feet square and one hundred feet high. The choir was built in
-1867-68 from the designs of the late Sir Gilbert Scott, R.A., and is
-of Early English architecture.
-
-Passing references might also be made to the diminutive church of
-Warlingham, in Surrey, which runs the midget church of Wotton in
-that county very close; and to Grosmont Church, Monmouth, erected
-by Eleanor of Provence, a quaint little structure with an octagonal
-tower. There used to be a church known as St. Mildred in the
-Poultry, which was removed to Lincolnshire. It formerly occupied a
-position in the eastern end of Cheapside, and in 1872 it was taken
-to pieces and re-erected at Louth. It is generally considered to be
-the smallest church designed by Wren.
-
-At St. Andrew, Greensted, near Ongar, there is a very small church,
-and it is a curiosity, inasmuch as it is believed to be a relic of
-the only church of Saxon origin built of wood remaining.
-
-There is a small chapel at Point in View, near Exmouth. It is
-Congregational, and it provides seating accommodation for eighty
-persons, and forms one side of a block, the other three sides being
-taken up by four little almshouses, each consisting of two rooms
-occupied by four elderly maiden ladies. Over the chapel door is this
-motto:--
-
-    "One Point in View
-     We all pursue."
-
-The chapel contains a diminutive organ made by the pastor. In the
-vicinity there is a peculiar round house, the property of the
-Reichel family. It was a member of this family who founded the
-chapel and almshouses.
-
-The little church of St. Nicholas at Hulcote should be mentioned.
-It is near Woburn, the seat of the Duke of Bedford. It is rather
-difficult to find, at any rate when the foliage is on the trees,
-so surrounded is it by them. It was built about the year 1610 by
-Richard Chernocke. Its measurements are: length, from the tower to
-the chancel step, thirty-nine and a half feet; chancel, eight and a
-half feet from step to east; width, sixteen feet three inches. There
-are carved oaken panels to many of the seats, and on the north wall,
-inside the chancel rails, are some valuable old monuments in memory
-of the Chernocke family. It is now between fifteen and twenty years
-since the church was used for divine service, but it is still used
-for funerals.
-
-There is a little church, near London, known as Perivale. Although
-so near to the great metropolis, it is situated in a peculiarly
-lonely district. It lies in the valley of the Brent amid expansive
-meadows and hay farms. In 1871 there were only seven houses and
-thirty-three inhabitants in the parish. The midget church is
-situated at the end of a field near a low, semi-Gothic half-timber
-parsonage and a farmhouse. Although somewhat desolate, the spot is
-a restful one, and the hill and spire of Harrow in the distance
-make the scene pleasing to the eye. The little church is in the
-Early Perpendicular style, and consists of a nave, a narrow chancel,
-a rough wooden tower with short, pyramidal spire at the west,
-and porch on the south-west. The interior presents a well-kept
-appearance. The church was restored in 1875. In the windows is some
-late fifteenth-century glass containing figures of St. John the
-Baptist and St. Matthew, in fairly good condition, and of Mary and
-Joseph, which are not so well preserved.
-
-The prettily situated ivy-clad church of St. Lawrence, Ventnor,
-Isle of Wight, is another edifice which might well be described as
-a midget church, although some years ago it was found necessary to
-enlarge it. The church originally was thirty feet eight and a half
-inches long, it is now forty feet eight and a half inches; and its
-breadth was formerly eleven feet, whereas it is now twenty feet.
-The height to the eaves is about six feet. The architecture is Old
-English, but not at all striking. The church dates back to about the
-year 1190.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: F. N. Broderick Hyde._)
-
-THE OLD CHURCH AT ST. LAWRENCE.]
-
-We have now exhausted our space, but not our subject. There are
-other examples of diminutive churches throughout the country, but we
-have made a selection of the more interesting ones. However small
-the church, the worshippers have this assurance from the Founder of
-the Christian religion: "Where two or three are gathered together in
-My name, there am I in the midst of them"; and with that quotation
-this little article may fittingly be concluded.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: Canon's Daughter]
-
-THE MINOR CANON'S DAUGHTER
-
-_THE STORY OF A CATHEDRAL TOWN._
-
-By E. S. Curry, Author of "One of the Greatest," "Closely Veiled,"
-Etc.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-A PREMATURE PROPOSAL.
-
-
-In the Canons' Court, between Mr. Bethune's and the Deanery, lived
-Mr. Warde. He was a pleasant man, well off, artistic, musical--and
-happy in a life of little work, which left him leisure for his
-artistic pursuits. He had a rosy, kind face and plump figure; the
-Bethune children, Marjorie included, went to him before anyone else
-in times of need. He had often shielded them from offended law.
-
-It was he who set on foot the literary and drawing guilds,
-arranged concerts, and was the universal handy man for games and
-social festivities to all the county round Norham. He was about
-thirty-five, and had a chivalric devotion to Mrs. Bethune and her
-children, since, as a young man, he had first come to Norham.
-
-Marjorie was so accustomed to this that she did not see what was
-manifest to other eyes, on her return from school in Munich. She
-took all his kindness as a matter of course, having no more relation
-to herself individually than the Bishop's or the Dean's. Since her
-return, he had been sedulously pursuing his courtship in every way
-that occurred to him.
-
-This gentleman was standing beside her under the lime-tree at the
-top of the garden, where Marjorie could superintend the pursuits of
-her two youngest brothers. They were now busily engaged underground.
-For a whole week every minute of David's and Sandy's leisure had
-been spent in digging a deep hole in the corner of the garden
-devoted to their use. Thence, with infinite patience, passages had
-been scooped, and the mound of earth thrown up against the wall had
-come in useful as a toboggan ground.
-
-The little boys had received strict orders that morning that all
-the earth in the passages of the "cave," which, in a frenzy of
-labour, the two schoolboys had burrowed out before breakfast, was
-to be removed before their return in the afternoon. As it got
-deeper, steps had been conveyed from the house for the descent of
-the hole. The utility of division of labour had been impressed upon
-the children. Orme was to fill the baskets; Ross, being surer of
-his equilibrium, was to carry them up and empty them. If the work
-was not done, and done properly, the babies would have to play
-elsewhere; no longer would their presence be tolerated by their
-elders.
-
-Marjorie was enjoying a new book, whose alluring cover was fit index
-to its contents. Now and then, between the pages, dark eyes looked
-at her in a strange and wonderful fashion. When this occurred, she
-would lift her own, and gaze dreamily over the currant bushes, her
-breath coming quickly, the colour fluctuating in her cheeks. Upon
-one such moment Mr. Warde had intruded.
-
-"I thought I would come in and talk to you about your sonnet,
-Marjorie," he said, looking about for a seat. There was nothing
-handy except a cleft log--used by the boys as a block for chopping
-sticks. On this uncomfortable seat Mr. Warde poised himself.
-
-[Illustration: The man, looking at her, thought he might take hope.]
-
-"But that wouldn't be fair, would it?" asked Marjorie.
-
-"Oh! we judged the poems yesterday. I didn't propose to alter
-anything. Mrs. Adeane's is the best, and Lady Esther's next.
-But--your usual imagination was wanting this time," he said gently.
-
-"I thought it was bad--it seemed so prosaic," Marjorie said humbly.
-"You see, father's advice always is, not to let imagination go
-further than it knows."
-
-"Have you never imagined, never thought about love?" he asked softly.
-
-"Often, lately," frankly. "I thought it was a very silly subject to
-choose."
-
-"Not silly, Marjorie. The loveliest poetry has been written about
-it, as it is the loveliest subject. Why 'lately'?" he asked.
-
-"To get ideas. They don't come, if you don't think--not to me, at
-least."
-
-"That way of putting it is new," he said, considering. "Well,
-Marjorie, I want you to think of it, to imagine all you can of what
-it means--the new brightness, the new beauty it gives to life;
-how it transforms all things, even the commonest, so that----" He
-paused. Marjorie was looking at him in wonder.
-
-Was it something in his glance that brought irresistibly back to her
-remembrance that look in Mr. Pelham's dark eyes, of which more than
-once that afternoon she had been thinking? She coloured brightly,
-and her beautiful eyes grew soft.
-
-"Ah! I see you know what I mean," Mr. Warde said gently.
-
-"Oh! I don't," said Marjorie confusedly. But the man, looking at
-her, thought he might take hope. He went on:
-
-"It is expressed in all beautiful music, as well as in the best
-literature and art. It appeals to everyone, because it is natural to
-all, and answers to something in the heart of every one of us. So
-you see, Marjorie, knowing you and your gift of imagination, I am
-disappointed at this bald little verse."
-
-"Father says it is dangerous imagining on nothing," Marjorie
-replied, plucking up her spirit. "First get facts, absolutely
-accurate. Then build on them."
-
-"Well, Marjorie, don't you realise that the facts are all about
-you, that I----Whatever's the matter?"
-
-A yell broke across the summer air, and Marjorie, springing up, bent
-over the edge of the crater-like hole. At the bottom lay Orme, his
-basket beside him, its contents upon him. In a second Marjorie had
-descended underground, and Mr. Warde was left gazing into space.
-
-When she emerged, Orme was in her arms, muddy tears bedewing his
-cherubic cheeks. "Fall'd," he announced, in a self-pitying tone, to
-the visitor.
-
-Marjorie reseated herself, her little brother's head upon her
-breast. As she comforted him, the man observing her grew more in
-love than ever. Marjorie, soft and gentle, unconsciously rehearsing
-Madonna attitudes, gave him a thrill of delight. Presently the boy,
-his conscience uneasy over neglected work, slipped from her knee,
-and, with muttered remarks on "er, nasty ground," descended again
-into its bosom.
-
-He had learnt the imprudence of engaging in another man's labour.
-Resenting the meaner part of filling the baskets for the more stolid
-and surefooted Ross to ascend and empty, he had been promptly
-punished for his ambition. His little soul was now sore with the
-injustice of things.
-
-"Er, nasty steps slipped poor Orme," he said to Ross, watching his
-careful ascent.
-
-"You not big anuff," Ross answered importantly. "Go and fill er
-basket. Do what David bidded you."
-
-Meanwhile Mr. Warde had glanced at his watch. Soon, all too soon,
-this semi-solitude in which he had been fortunate enough to find
-Marjorie would be invaded by the schoolboys. He was no nearer the
-end for which he had come, and he could not again drag in Marjorie's
-little verse for criticism. She glanced at him, as she drew the
-alluring book towards her, and said, not too politely:
-
-"If you are going to stay, I'll just fetch my work," rising as she
-spoke.
-
-"No, Marjorie, don't go. There's something I specially wished to
-say, to talk to you about," he said, becoming a little confused
-under her unconscious gaze. Could he, after all, disturb this
-serenity by the suggestion of love and marriage? He felt somehow
-that the time was not ripe--that they would seem incongruous to her
-in connection with himself. And yet, if he did not speak, and be
-quick about it, another man might step in.
-
-"I have had a letter to-day," he said, "offering me a college
-living."
-
-"Have you?" said Marjorie in a not altogether flattering manner, and
-looking at him rather as though she were much surprised. She stood
-poised, ready to fetch the threatened work; her attitude altogether
-an unflattering one to a lover who has just made an important
-communication.
-
-"You won't go, shall you?" she went on, her glance going past him
-to the wall which divided the gardens. Over the top big clusters
-of the roses in which Mr. Warde delighted nodded gaily, whilst
-further on the square face of his house was gay with bloom, amid
-which the two lines of windows stared a little baldly. The blind in
-each was arranged symmetrically, and in spite of its prim tidiness,
-even its outside showed that no loved woman ruled within. From her
-neighbour's house Marjorie's eyes jumped to her own home.
-
-Here there was no symmetry, but its character as a home stood out
-plain. The nursery windows, distinguished by their guarding bars,
-were wide open, and the blinds drawn to the top, whilst in the three
-open windows of her mother's room adjoining the curtains flopped
-lazily, and the blinds had been adjusted to the sun. Somehow the
-sight and the difference brought a feeling into Marjorie's heart
-which had not yet stirred it in connection with Mr. Warde. Hitherto
-he had not seemed to her to need pity. But now, when he went
-back into his house--away from her and the homely garden, where
-vegetables, and currant bushes, and the untidy quarter of the boys,
-were of more account than flowers, where little feet pattered, and
-boys' voices were never silent--what would he go back to? The blank
-windows lit up empty rooms, where no foot but his own stirred. He
-would find no companionship but that of his music and his books.
-Marjorie never guessed of the visions that peopled his fireside.
-
-"Shall you go?" she asked, looking at him--then speaking out
-suddenly the pity her thoughts had called up: "Won't it be very
-lonely?"
-
-"Very. Sit down please, Marjorie, and listen to me."
-
-Then, as she complied: "When first I came here, ten years ago, your
-father and mother were very kind to me, and I grew so attached to
-them and theirs, that I wanted nothing more. I felt no need of the
-ties other men have or make, because I had--you." Then his tone
-grew tender. "Do you remember how you used to come round and climb
-into my study window for your lessons, when the boys began to go to
-school? You were a bit forsaken then, Marjorie. And then, when you
-were good--as you weren't always--how a little pony accompanied me
-on my rides, and then when the pony and the child who rode it had
-each grown bigger, one day they both disappeared. The child went
-to school, to come back, nearly grown up, with music oozing out of
-her fingers' ends. Well, Marjorie" (he had risen, and his face was
-paling, his self-control vanishing, as he stood looking down on
-her), "I have waited a long time for that little girl--who has yet
-seemed always mine--I want her for my wife. Will you go with me,
-dear, if I go?"
-
-Marjorie gazed blankly into his face. "I? Of course, it is
-me," she said slowly. "I don't know--I didn't think--how can I
-leave--everybody?" her voice faltered.
-
-She rose suddenly, putting aside the hand that would have stayed
-her. There is nothing so cruel as a young thing who has no notion of
-her power and of the devotion she has stirred.
-
-"I didn't think," she said, cuttingly, "that you wanted payment. I
-thought--I thought----" And then, not trusting her voice further,
-she sprang away from his detaining hand, and fled.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-MARJORIE'S TROUBLE.
-
-
-"Dear Marjorie,--You gave me no answer yesterday, and I am afraid I
-took you by surprise, and perhaps shocked you. A girl is a tender
-thing, I know. Will you send me just a little line of hope and
-forgiveness? I love you--how dearly you cannot guess--and I want you
-to be my wife. But I will press nothing against your will, and I
-have written 'No' to the offer of that living. I think you will like
-to stay near home. Whatever you decide, whether you say 'Yes' or
-'No,' believe always that my love is too great to change, and that I
-am ever your attached friend,--W. ST. J. WARDE."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Marjorie was reading this letter with an expression which certainly
-did not augur well for its writer. She had been seeing to household
-matters for her mother, and had sat down with an armful of boys'
-clothes to mend, when the note had been handed to her.
-
-"I do not know what to say to him, mother. I wish--oh, I do so wish
-he hadn't done it."
-
-"He is a good man, Margie," her mother said simply. "A man, I think,
-to make you happy."
-
-[Illustration: "He is a good man, Margie."]
-
-"Happy, mother? I am happy now. What should I do next door? I should
-always be running in to see you. And how could you get on without
-me?"
-
-"We shall manage. And next door with Mr. Warde would be so much
-nicer than a long way off with someone else. It would scarcely be
-losing you."
-
-"Do you want me to go, mother?" asked Marjorie, struck by her
-mother's tone.
-
-"Not in one sense, dear; but you will go. It is natural for girls to
-marry. You will marry, I hope; it is the happiest life, with a good
-man you can look up to."
-
-[Illustration: "You have been very good to my boys," Mrs. Bethune
-said.]
-
-"But do I look up to him? I think we--Charity and I--often laugh at
-him."
-
-"But you can laugh, and yet look up, or life would be very dull. Who
-do you go to when you want to know anything that father can't teach
-you?"
-
-"To Mr. Warde," acknowledged Marjorie.
-
-"And when you want to go anywhere?"
-
-"Yes; but only because he has a carriage--and we haven't."
-
-"And when you want to see the picture galleries?"
-
-"He can go; he always has time. But all that doesn't mean that I
-want to marry him," she added.
-
-"But it is just that. You already look to him for most of your
-pleasures. That is a long way towards loving him. You would find him
-a very kind husband and friend."
-
-"Oh! mother, what must I do?" entreated Marjorie, the tears
-coming into her eyes. "He has spoilt everything. It is Charity's
-garden-party this afternoon, and I shall be so uncomfortable.
-Couldn't you go, mother, in your chair?"
-
-Mrs. Bethune's face changed.
-
-"I could, dear. Yes, I will go; perhaps it will be difficult for
-you." She sighed softly; she was hardly as yet reconciled to her
-helplessness in public, in spite of the cheery spirit which enabled
-her to bear suffering with such courage.
-
-Mrs. Bethune's spirit made her the idol and confidante of her boys.
-Her fun was unquenched, even when the fire of life would seem to
-have gone out for ever; after the terrible fall, when, to save the
-infant in her arms, she had laid herself upon her back for life. The
-baby--Orme--was found unhurt, folded round, so it seemed, by the
-broken body of his mother. Ross, the most thoughtful, she averred,
-of her six sons, once said to her:
-
-"Mummie, you do laugh mor'n anybody. Is it 'cos you can't walk?"
-
-"Yes, little son, perhaps it is; to make up, you know."
-
-And Sandy, butting his bright head into her knees one day,
-inconsolable about something, was won to laughter by, "Sandy, laugh!
-Look at me!"--and he had looked. And the irresistible witchery
-of the beautiful dark eyes had cured his woe. She was always the
-sunshiny centre of the house, and only her husband, or Marjorie in
-rare moments, guessed how sometimes the bright spirit quailed.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The Dean was popular in the county. When Mr. Pelham came into the
-Deanery garden somewhat late, he found Mrs. Bethune's chair under
-the chestnut trees, a centre of laughter and conversation. Marjorie
-was standing by her mother, with a wistful look on her face, he
-thought at first sight, wondering at its expression. Love, when
-presented first to a girl brought up as Marjorie had been, comes
-as a great shock. That it should be Mr. Warde of all men who
-should cause her this disquiet filled Marjorie with a sense of the
-unsatisfactoriness of the world. It disturbed things that had seemed
-to her as settled as the hills round Norham that this old friend
-should want to be her lover.
-
-Before going to the Deanery she had sent a little note in answer to
-his letter, in which she had said--
-
-"There is nothing to forgive. But you must not think of me like this
-any more. You have always been so kind to all of us that it grieves
-me to say 'No' to anything you want. Still, it must be 'No.'"
-
-She hoped he would not be present at the Deanery. It was his turn of
-duty at the cathedral. She would bring her mother away early, before
-he arrived. The afternoon was quite spoilt for her.
-
-And then Mr. Pelham had come up, and she had introduced him to her
-mother with a tremulousness and agitation quite unlike her usual
-serenity.
-
-"You have been very good to my boys," Mrs. Bethune said gratefully.
-
-"Your boys have been very good to my little girl," he answered,
-admiring the delicate beauty of the face, scarcely looking older
-than the unquiet one of the tall daughter beside her.
-
-"They're very enterprising," their mother said. "I hope she will not
-come to any harm with them. They're apt to give us surprises."
-
-"I wonder if you will give me some advice about her," he went on,
-drawn by some magic in the dark eyes to appeal to their owner for
-sympathy, "if I may consult you. It is about clothes," he said,
-smiling. "My nurse is kind and careful, but surely a baby in the
-country does not really need expensive dresses from a Regent Street
-outfitter. I should be so grateful if you would tell me where you
-get those pretty things your little boys always look so nice in."
-
-"Even when they are grubby?" laughed the mother. "I do not know
-where they could be bought. My nurse, and Marjorie, and I make them."
-
-"Then, if you do, surely my nurse ought to have time. I do not like
-my baby's over-dressed look; at least, white satin seems to be out
-of keeping with mud-pies and digging. She is great on digging just
-now."
-
-"Quite so," said Mrs. Bethune. "If you will send your nurse down to
-see me, I will have a talk with her."
-
-The Duchess of Norham, a very great person indeed now came up to
-greet Mrs. Bethune. She was not one who troubled about dress.
-To-day, in her grey silk, and round hat, she was the most plainly
-dressed woman on the Deanery lawn. Charity, by her side, was an
-effective contrast, in soft, shimmering pink.
-
-"Glad to see you out again, my dear," she said to Mrs. Bethune. "And
-this is your girl come back to you--grown past all knowledge. I hear
-wonders about her music," kindly. "Charity, may I take her away for
-a few minutes, presently? I want to hear this music Mr. Warde extols
-so. Where is he?" looking round.
-
-Marjorie's cheeks, in spite of her usual self-control, turned
-scarlet. But the Duchess's gaze was arrested by the look on Mr.
-Pelham's face. He, still standing with a hand on Mrs. Bethune's
-chair, was looking at Marjorie with a surprised appeal in his
-expression, as if he, too, was wondering at her sudden flush.
-
-"Oh!" thought the Duchess, "I imagined it was Charity. Was I
-mistaken then? Not about the girl, if those rosy cheeks are to be
-trusted."
-
-"Why isn't Mr. Warde here?" she asked of Marjorie, who, in obedience
-to her gesture, turned with her towards the house.
-
-"He is at the cathedral. It is his week."
-
-And the Duchess thought she guessed rightly the reason of the
-agitation she detected in Marjorie's voice.
-
-"The Blackton man will be unsuccessful," she settled. "But Charity
-is pretty enough to console him, and it will be a good marriage for
-them both."
-
-This great lady was never more happy than when arranging marriages
-amongst her friends.
-
-Marjorie did not dream how her sudden flush had betrayed her, and
-forgot lovers and the difficulties they caused when she sat down
-to the piano. But perhaps it was the perplexity in her mind that
-conveyed itself to the listener, through the plaintive melody ending
-in a staccato phrase which fell from her fingers.
-
-The Duchess sat at a little distance, viewing with approval the
-delicate face, framed in its bright hair.
-
-[Illustration: "Hush! Barbe, don't call!" entreated Sandy.--_p.
-168_.]
-
-"Good, pure, true, and strong," she settled; "and," as a sudden
-conviction struck her, "she is beautiful, like her mother was ten
-years ago. Dressed"--her thoughts following along the same way as
-Charity's--"well, she would be a success. She is wasted on Mr.
-Warde. Shall I interfere?"
-
-She was so deep in thought, working out a sudden plan, that she did
-not notice when Marjorie ceased playing.
-
-Marjorie, glancing at her, asked softly--
-
-"Was that too sad? Shall I try something else?"
-
-But in a moment the Duchess rose briskly, and put her hand kindly on
-Marjorie's shoulder.
-
-"No, my dear. I shouldn't like that spoiled by anything else. Mr.
-Warde is right. You have a gift. But a girl like you should not be
-sad or--or perplexed. Forgive an old woman. Is something troubling
-you?"
-
-Marjorie looked up into the keen eyes above her.
-
-"Not troubling," she hesitated, "only things are sometimes
-perplexing."
-
-As she spoke her eyes travelled to the window, through which came
-the sound of low-voiced chatter and delicate laughter. The older
-woman, looking at the girl, saw a sudden arrested look come into her
-eyes and, following their direction, was again puzzled. Charity,
-standing by Mrs. Bethune's chair, was smiling up into Mr. Pelham's
-face. She had the manner of one who is pleased, and who wishes
-to please, and her pretty daintiness of pose and dress was very
-attractive. Mr. Pelham's whole attention, as he conversed, was given
-to her. In his courteous attitude were expressed, in the eyes of the
-two lookers-on, both deference and admiration.
-
-"That girl has grown very pretty," the Duchess said, "and Mr. Pelham
-seems to think so. He is quite an acquisition here, though I am
-amused to hear you sniffed at him at first."
-
-"Yes," agreed Marjorie, a little pang at her heart.
-
-The keen eyes travelled back again to Marjorie's face.
-
-"But your mother was prettier than any of you. The sweetest,
-merriest creature ever seen, with you babies at her feet. I am glad
-to see her so much better, able to do even this little, poor soul,
-poor soul!"
-
-The sudden tears welled up into Marjorie's eyes at the appreciation
-and tenderness of the tone.
-
-"And, my dear--forgive an old woman again--but I think I have
-guessed Mr. Warde's hopes for a long time, and he is a good man.
-There, there"--as Marjorie's face grew agitated--"nothing could have
-happened better. Your mother will have you at hand, and though she
-is so unselfish and brave, she has missed you sadly; and there is
-plenty of money."
-
-Marjorie listened in silence, with a feeling as though chains were
-being bound round her. As she walked back by the Duchess's side to
-her mother's chair she strove in vain to recall her courage. In the
-eyes of the man who watched her, as she came towards him, the shadow
-on her face had deepened with that little excursion into the house.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-A MIDNIGHT VISIT.
-
-
-The boys had seized the opportunity of the attention of their elders
-being engaged elsewhere to get into mischief. Although they had
-made so much fuss about their right of way to school, it was not
-the only way they used. They had, in fact, several ways. One was
-by train to Baskerton, a village on the river five miles away, and
-thence, by lanes and the parks, home. This, however, required time
-and the absence of authorities. Another way was through Easton and
-the parks, up the course of the little stream, which at one point
-nearly touched the Court gardens. In this stream, its shallow waters
-splashing up against their ankles, the boys were walking, and the
-baby was prancing between them.
-
-"Should we take Barbe with us?" David had asked, pausing on the
-Green.
-
-"If we can get her," Sandy had replied.
-
-The boys reconnoitred, and the piercing whistle, which set the baby
-all a-quiver with expectation, sounded through the garden.
-
-"There then, go!" said nurse somewhat crossly, as Barbe began to
-stamp; and she went. Her education was proceeding apace. Her father
-sometimes listened aghast at the things which, in her baby prattle,
-she reported herself to have done.
-
-"See, Barbe, there's a rat!" Sandy said eagerly, as a flop and a
-splash made them jump. "See, it's swimmin' away."
-
-"'Wimmin' away," said the baby, stooping to look, her two hands
-on her two knees, and the front of her frock sailing on the water
-before her.
-
-"Oh, Barbe, you're all wet!" David said, as they landed, and
-strolled up the field.
-
-"Wet!" she echoed delightedly. "Foots--f'ock!"
-
-"You'll have to be dried."
-
-"I know," said Sandy cheerfully; "we'll dry you by the Bishop's
-fire--almost sure to be a fire."
-
-But the study window, to which they crept warily by sheltered ways,
-was shut. The Bishop was absent.
-
-"Now what's to be done?" said David.
-
-"I know where there's a fire," Sandy said. "Was this morning, 'cos
-of that lead. Let's take her to the little room."
-
-Again they slipped by leafy ways out of the Palace garden into the
-cathedral yard. The baby's wet skirts flopped round her, and David
-lifted her into his arms.
-
-The approach of Mrs. Lytchett, returning from the Deanery in
-unwonted bravery of attire, prompted them to seek refuge behind a
-tomb. Here it took the boys' whole attention to prevent Barbe's
-chatter drawing unwished-for notice upon them.
-
-"Hush! Barbe, don't call!" entreated Sandy.
-
-"Barbedie good girl," announced the baby in a loud voice, lifting
-herself on tip-toe to see the passer-by.
-
-Mrs. Lytchett's ears were good, and, besides, she felt certain at
-this point that her eyes had seen something fluttering. She stepped
-off the pathway, and examined a tomb near.
-
-"Hush!--sh--sh!" cautioned David, holding up his finger to his
-mouth--a movement which so pleased Barbe that she proceeded to copy
-it.
-
-Mrs. Lytchett passed on; the danger was over. David lifted up the
-baby and carried her into a little octagon room near by, built in
-the wall of the cathedral, and used frequently as a workroom or
-office.
-
-Here the boys were at home. It was the head-quarters of their
-greatest friends--the masons engaged on the renovations always in
-progress at the cathedral.
-
-In the grate were the slowly dying embers of a fire, and the room
-was empty.
-
-"Mr. Galton ain't locked up yet, knowed he wouldn't," said Sandy.
-"He likes his tea punctual--'spects it's time. Now, Barbe, come an'
-get done."
-
-Whilst David was holding the baby to the fire, Sandy disappeared,
-presently returning with an excited face.
-
-"They've nearly done," he said. "It's prime up there. Seems to me,
-we'd best settle as soon as possible."
-
-"This baby won't get dry," said David, gloomily. "Just look at her!"
-
-"I know," said Sandy, regarding the bedraggled Barbe. "We'll take
-it off an' leave it here. An' I'll fetch her somefink. Sure to be
-somefink stored in Margie's basket--know Orme made holes in himself
-last week."
-
-So it happened that it was a little blue girl--clad in one of Orme's
-shabbiest overalls--who met Mrs. Bethune's returning chair, and was
-lifted to her knee for a "yide."
-
-"But what has happened? where are her own clothes?" Mrs. Bethune
-asked, recognising the substitute.
-
-"We thought they were just a little damp," said Sandy in
-explanation, climbing up the back of the chair to kiss his mother.
-
-"Good boy, Sandy!" said his mother, "to take care of her."
-
-"But how did they get damp?" asked Marjorie suspiciously.
-
-"Just a little water p'raps got on them," he replied, feeling the
-tone unkind after his mother's praise.
-
-"Then you have been in mischief?" asked Marjorie.
-
-"Barbedie walked in er water," the baby replied, as if she had been
-doing a good work.
-
-"You shouldn't have let her," Mrs. Bethune said caressingly.
-
-"Barbe don't want lettin'," answered Sandy philosophically. "She
-does wivout."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The sweets of mischief whetted the boys' appetites for more. They
-applied themselves with zeal to a work they had in hand, and for the
-next few days little was seen of them.
-
-One evening they were standing in a disused corner of the Palace
-grounds, under the ruined window of the old banqueting hall, which
-formed part of the wall enclosing the gardens of the modern wing of
-the house. The corner where they stood was immediately adjoining the
-wall of their own garden, and was part of an overgrown shrubbery
-between the ruins and the parks.
-
-Both boys were exceedingly dirty. Faces, capless heads, fingers,
-clothes, all bore traces of the underground work from which they had
-just emerged. They had burrowed from their cave, and were mightily
-pleased at their point of exit. No place could be more secluded,
-nor less likely to be discovered. And from the ruined wall close
-by, under the shelter of a spreading elder, they were able to drop
-easily either into the cathedral yard or the Bishop's garden.
-
-"Now the game begins. We've got a base of operations," said David
-grandly.
-
-"How much?" asked Sandy.
-
-"What you work from, and what you fall back upon, if you get
-besieged. And it's a good base too," he added, looking round. "We've
-got to make this passage hard and firm, and then hide it from that
-prying gardener."
-
-"An' we can pay back Mrs. Lytchett," said Sandy with joy.
-
-"How?"
-
-"Oh, I know! She just hates us going to the Bishop's window. He told
-me he'd just got a new tin of gingerbread, an' now we can get in
-wivout goin' through the gate. She's made that gate so it clicks."
-
-"But you mustn't let her see."
-
-"Not me! If she comes, we'll just run round the house, and she'll
-fink we've come back way. And then she'll run round to catch us, an'
-we shan't be there."
-
-Sandy spoke with the certainty of much experience, as, indeed, he
-had a right to do.
-
-"Our character is all gone," David said thoughtfully, "so it don't
-much matter how bad we are."
-
-"No, s'long as it ain't wicked bad. We'll be highwaymen, but we
-won't be thieves and robbers."
-
-"We can get into the cathedral, too," suggested David.
-
-And then, with minds full of revolution and anarchy, the boys bent
-earnestly to the preliminary work of making their passage secure.
-
-"Ross and Orme, you're never to go along there without us," David
-said to his young brothers, when he had wriggled back to the cave
-whence his passage started. Now their services were no longer
-needed, they were felt to be rather nuisances.
-
-"If you do, you'll get smacked right hard," said Sandy.
-
-Both children fixed round eyes on their elders, unable to understand
-this sudden change. They were dismayed at its injustice. For some
-days they had been treated with indulgent kindness, all their faults
-overlooked, so long as they did diligent work. They were cleaned
-when possible, and consoled when their dirty appearance awoke wrath
-in the powers responsible for them. Now, it seemed, all was changed.
-There was no mistaking Sandy's attitude, as he stood ready to
-administer the smacks alluded to. Nor were David's frowning brows
-more encouraging.
-
-Ross tried argument. "We'se scooped, too," he said. "We'se got
-dirty, ever so," he added.
-
-"Ever so," echoed Orme.
-
-"No matter! You kids must do as you're bid, and if ever you go a
-step along there you'll catch it. See?" said David. And the infants,
-with moody brows, averred that they saw.
-
-By this time the hole which formed the entrance to the cave was much
-improved. The wooden steps had been replaced by a flight of mud
-steps, the making of which had been a joy, not only to the boys,
-but to the baby. They had required water as well as mud in their
-making--endless paddlings and pattings and treadings down of little
-feet before the staircase was complete. David had engineered the
-proceedings, and Mr. Warde, now and then hovering about the top, had
-conferred advice. He was not encouraged to descend. The boys wanted
-no prying grown-ups to mar their schemes. Marjorie, now and then,
-had suspicions that some extra mischief was afloat. Never before had
-she known them to stick to anything for so long. But she recollected
-the fascination of caves and holes, and was, besides, much engaged
-with her own concerns.
-
-[Illustration: =The Bishop and the boy.=--_p. 170._]
-
-One evening the Bishop, on leaving the drawing-room, had gone to
-his study. It had been a wet day, and the rain had finished in
-a thunderstorm an hour or so before, leaving the sky washed and
-pellucid under the summer moon.
-
-The shutters had been closed and a little fire lighted; but
-presently, finding the room warm, the Bishop opened the window, and
-stood gazing over the wide lawn which occupied the space between the
-house and the ruins.
-
-The delicate tracery of the ruined window of the banqueting hall,
-and the many unevennesses of the walls, stood out black against the
-sky. Every object on the lawn--every bush and tree and flower--was
-sharply distinct.
-
-As he looked, his eye caught a movement among the distant shrubs.
-Some small object was advancing along the gravelled walk surrounding
-the lawn. Presently, as if attracted by the light, it turned off the
-pathway on to the lawn, in a bee-line for the window.
-
-The Bishop stood watching, wondering a little, when the object
-resolved itself first into a small boy, and then into Sandy Bethune.
-
-"Why, Sandy!" he exclaimed, "how did you get here?"
-
-"Is it the middle of the night?" asked Sandy in his usual cheerful
-way.
-
-"Nearly. It's half-past eleven. Good gracious! What have you been
-doing?"
-
-For, on approaching the light, Sandy was seen to be covered with mud
-and otherwise much disarrayed.
-
-Sandy considered. He was in a deep fix--so deep a one as to threaten
-the upheaval and overthrow of some well-laid plans, just on the
-point of being carried out. The Bishop was an understanding man.
-Sandy had confided in him before, and knew his worth. If only
-Mrs. Lytchett did not live at the Palace, and spoil everything,
-Sandy would have been quite willing to share that residence with
-the Bishop. He had once told the Bishop so, artlessly asking when
-Mrs. Lytchett was going away to live elsewhere. The Bishop, on his
-side, found the children of his friend very charming, specially
-so irrepressible Sandy; and was ready to be lenient when their
-peccadilloes were in question. He now invited Sandy in, despite the
-muddy covering which encased him from head to foot. Sitting down, he
-began to question him gravely.
-
-"What is it, Sandy? Why are you in such a mess?"
-
-Sandy sat down on a little stool, as if glad to present his small
-person to the fire, and said, "It's the bovering funderstorm. We'd
-never thought of that. An' we got caught, an' had to take shelter,
-an' when we got back our way was bunged up--all squashy with mud.
-An' we hadn't got no spades nor fings out with us. So at last I said
-I would go and scout--you know--an' then I saw you."
-
-"Who's 'we'?" asked the Bishop.
-
-"Me an' David."
-
-"And how did you get into my garden?"
-
-"Oh, over the wall. We're highwaymen, and we've got a way of our
-own."
-
-"Indeed. And where's David now?"
-
-"Oh, he's over there, all muddy, tryin' to clean himself. He's a
-deal worse than me," said Sandy cheerfully.
-
-"He must indeed be bad, then. What do you propose to do?"
-
-"That's it. We can't get back to the pantry window now our way's
-gone," said artless Sandy. "Not in at all, not wivout knockin' at
-the door. I did think p'raps"--persuasively--"you cud come and
-knock."
-
-"I see. And then?"
-
-"Then, when you was talkin' to father, we cud slip in. Don't fink
-father would see--not to notice."
-
-"How long have you been highwaymen?" the Bishop asked.
-
-"On'y about a week--and this is a sickener," said Sandy disgustedly.
-"We was ghosts for a bit at first--till a woman screeched so we
-nearly got caught, stupid fing!"
-
-And the Bishop, remembering certain reports that had been made to
-him, was pleased with his acumen in refusing to call in the police.
-
-"If I were you, I should try a better line of business," he
-said. "Ghosts frighten silly women, and highwaymen are not very
-creditable, on the whole."
-
-"Yes," agreed Sandy. "We're goin' to. Next we're goin' to be
-pioneers and settlers."
-
-"Ah, I see. And where are you going to settle?"
-
-Sandy's bright eyes were turned suspiciously to the kind ones
-looking down upon him. He fidgeted uneasily, and a smile came across
-the Bishop's face.
-
-"I see," he said. "Perhaps you have not yet made up your minds."
-
-Sandy looked uncomfortable. "Not 'zactly," he confessed. "Truth is,
-it depends--I don't fink Dave would like me to tell. It's such a
-grand plan," he went on enthusiastically, "it 'ud be such a pity----"
-
-"To have it spoilt. Well, don't get into more mischief than you can
-help," the Bishop cautioned, "and don't do anything to make your
-mother uneasy."
-
-"Mother? Oh, mother'll laugh--she always does. You see, the bother
-is," confided Sandy, "there ain't no places to pioneer--every bit's
-taken. An' we've on'y just thought on it; an' it's splendid. We
-want a girl badly, though. Margie? No, Margie's no good. Settlers
-has wives an' squaws," went on Sandy pensively, "and we've on'y got
-Barbe lately, an' she's aw'fly little. 'Sides, you have to take such
-care on her--she's the on'y one Mr. Pelham's got. There's a lot of
-us, but mother says she cudn't spare not the littlest bit of one. So
-much less him his one, an' such a little one. It's a 'sponsibility,"
-sighed Sandy, "when you want to do fings."
-
-Through the open window came the musical sound of the chimes from
-the cathedral. The Bishop, with a quick sigh, rose.
-
-"There is a quarter to twelve. Your father will be going to bed.
-Fetch David quickly."
-
-"Should fink he's cleaned by now," said Sandy hopefully. "He was
-rubbin' himself wiv the leaves off the trees--drippin' wet."
-
-Mr. Bethune opened his front door in response to a low knocking,
-which at first he did not hear. His eyes had the unseeing, far-away
-look in them of a man disturbed in a possessing line of thought. The
-red light in the hall shone on the face of the Bishop, who entered
-and stood on the doormat for a minute, in such a position as to
-shield the entrance of the two muddy boys.
-
-"Here is the _Guardian_ for you," he said, "with a very appreciative
-notice of your paper." Then he went on, "And tell Marjorie to-morrow
-morning not to be too cross with the state of the boys' clothes.
-They've been in mischief, but it won't happen again--not the same
-sort."
-
-[Illustration: The father pretended not to hear the scuffling of
-small feet.]
-
-The two men looked at one another and laughed, and the father
-pretended not to hear the scuffling of small feet upon the stairs.
-The Bishop went home with no weight on his conscience--only a little
-pathetic envy of the man he had just left. Somehow those stifled
-scufflings up the stairs had gone straight to the depths of his very
-tender and lonely heart.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"The Bishop knows all 'bout it," excused Sandy sturdily, when
-confronted by Marjorie the next morning.
-
-"The Bishop knows that all your clothes are in the bath, with both
-taps running!"
-
-"Well, he does," Sandy repeated, "proberly. He said we were the
-out-an'-outest dirtiest little grubs he'd ever seen."
-
-"That you are--no one will contradict him. But he couldn't know that
-your clothes were in the bath."
-
-"Yes, he would. If they were so dirty, where else could they be?
-It's all that 'gustin' funderstorm."
-
-"Thunderstorm!" echoed Marjorie suspiciously. "That was at ten
-o'clock. What has that got to do with your clothes and the Bishop?"
-
-"Tell you it has. You'd best ask him, if you don't b'lieve me," said
-Sandy, hurt at her unbelief. "Anyhow, he does know that they was
-dirty. An' just cos we want to save trouble an' wash 'em ourselves,
-you're cross an' spiteful. Girls are no good--'cept little uns.
-What's there to put on? Best be somefink old, cos there's a deal of
-diggin' to be done."
-
-"I shall stop that digging if you make such a mess of yourselves."
-
-"You'd best not," said David meaningly, from his bed in the further
-corner. "If you do, you'll be sorry," he said darkly.
-
-  END OF CHAPTER SIX.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: Three Songs of Birth]
-
-Three
-
-Songs of Birth
-
-A
-
-_Christmas_
-
-_Sermon_
-
-By the Rev. Hugh Miller, M.A.
-
-  "Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host
-   praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
-          peace, good will toward men."--ST. LUKE ii. 13, 14.
-
-
-Three times are we told in Scripture that the angels sang. At the
-birth of the world, when the foundations of the earth were laid, the
-morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.
-When Jesus was born into the world a multitude of the heavenly host
-praised God and said, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
-peace, good will toward men." And when anyone is born again there is
-joy among the angels in heaven over the sinner that repenteth. The
-subject of the song in each case is the same: the leading _motif_ of
-them all is man.
-
-Man, to begin with, was God's chief end in creation, and the angels
-sang not so much because a new world had been made, but rather
-because a new being akin to themselves was put into it, to whom
-they might minister and with whom they might co-operate in the
-doing of God's most holy will; and this season comes to remind us
-of our inherent dignity in God's sight, of the noble ideal He has
-formed for us, of the value He sets on those whom He sent His Son
-to seek and to save. As God made us and as He intends us to be, we
-are not a little higher only than the animals, we are rather only
-"a little lower than the angels." He has crowned us with glory and
-honour and set us over the work of His hands. He has put all things
-under our feet. The material universe was made for man, to be his
-home, to develop his powers, to be a test and discipline of his
-moral character. I refuse to be reduced to the same rank, or to be
-placed in the same order, as the beasts that perish. Remembering the
-angels' first song, I assert my supremacy.
-
-And man is most of all supreme because God has given him the freedom
-to choose the objects of his life, and the means by which he can
-secure them. Sun, moon and stars are bound by laws which they cannot
-transgress. The movements of the animals are guided by impulses
-and instincts over which they have no moral control. To man alone
-belongs the power of refusing to bow before God's greatness and of
-disobeying God's commands. Man only has this sovereignty; but his
-sovereignty led to his servitude, and the chains that bound him were
-forged by an angel who fell before man's fall.
-
-If, then, all the angels worshipped and adored when man was made
-with the great gift of free choice, how must the holy ones that
-remained after the first and great apostasy have grieved when the
-fallen angels took man along with them in their fall! For because of
-man's disobedience God's idea in making man seemed to be thwarted
-and the peace and good will to which he was called appeared no
-longer possible. Instead of being the master of creation, he was now
-to a large extent its unhappy victim.
-
-We know from hints thrown out here and there in Scripture with what
-absorbing interest the angels followed the plans of God to bring
-order once more out of the chaos caused by sin, and the effort He
-put forth to create a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
-righteousness. No wonder, then, that when the fulness of the time
-was come, and God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the
-law to redeem man, the angels should have sung a second time, and
-anticipated for man at last a happy time of peace and good will.
-
-The angels had a clear perception of the purpose of Christ's coming.
-One of the chief of them said to Joseph, "Thou shalt call His name
-JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins." And they all
-sang when He came, because they knew that God was now dealing in a
-special and most effective way with that dark thing which cast its
-shadow on heaven as well as on earth. And it becomes us to remember
-that it is the sin of man which in the mind of God and His holy
-angels is associated with the coming of Jesus Christ. To this end
-was He born, and for this cause came He into the world.
-
-The sin of our first parents had passed on from generation to
-generation, and each one of the millions of mankind had to say,
-"Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive
-me"; and each fulfilled in his own life all too truly the sad
-promise of his birth. How was the tradition to be broken, and yet
-broken by one who really belonged to the race? The instincts of man
-himself foreshadowed the truth. Stories of a virgin birth here and
-there discernible in paganism show the deep intuition which was
-realised in Jesus Christ. He came into the world to fight with sin,
-to redeem a race steeped in a terrible heritage of evil, and that He
-might redeem it He Himself was born, and yet was free from evil.
-
-He fought sin and He conquered it. Why, then, has the angels' song
-not been fulfilled? Why does sin still cast its shadow on earth and
-heaven alike? Why does God's loving purpose in sending His Son seem
-still to suffer so wide defeat? Because in his recovery as in his
-fall, man's will must play its part. I can only be saved from sin
-when I _will_ to be saved; I only become a partaker of the benefits
-which Christ brought from heaven to earth when, yielding to the
-inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I turn with full accord to Jesus
-Christ as my Saviour. Marvel not, therefore, that we say to you with
-peculiar emphasis on the day in which Christ was born, "Ye must be
-born again." Otherwise, His birth is of no avail to you and me. We
-are not honouring Him, we are putting Him rather to an open shame,
-if we keep out of our thoughts at this time the supreme purpose of
-His coming, if we are not personally dealing with Him even now as to
-the burden and guilt of our sin.
-
-But we can set the angels a-singing in the sky, and the melody of
-their music can be felt in our own hearts, if we turn in lowly
-penitence to Him who came to save His people from their sins, and to
-quicken them to a new life of righteousness and peace and joy. Only
-when a man comes to himself in lowly penitence, and then goes to his
-Father with a lofty faith, does he enter into the full purpose of
-his manhood; and only then, also, is there not only joy among the
-angels in heaven over the sinner that thus repenteth, but there is
-music and dancing on the earth as well, and the old life ends in
-which sin reigned, and the new begins in which Christ reigns; and
-His reign means "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
-good will to men."
-
-"There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked."
-
-
-
-
-O Wondrous Night!
-
-A NEW CHRISTMAS CAROL.
-
-
-  _Words by_ ARTHUR BRYANT. _Music by_ CHARLES BASSETT.
-
-    1.  O wondrous night! O wondrous night! we fain would tell
-          The news the Angel told;
-        The holy vision which befel
-          The Shepherds by their fold.
-        With fear they saw, with gladness heard
-          The heav'nly minstrelsy,
-        With hope each trembling heart was stirred
-          At that sweet harmony: ...
-        "We bring good news Which ne'er shall cease;
-          To God be praise, to God be praise,
-            On earth be peace."
-
-    2.  O wondrous sight! O wondrous sight for simple swains,
-          With hasty steps who sped;
-        The music of those joyous strains
-          To that poor manger led.
-        With awe they gazed on Christ the Lord
-          Amid that happy throng,
-        And Israel at His feet adored,
-          Taught by the Angels' song: ...
-        "We bring good news,
-          Which ne'er shall cease;
-        To God be praise, to God be praise,
-            On earth be peace."
-
-    3.  O wondrous night! they homeward turned
-          To where their flocks did lay,
-        And sang the song they late had learned
-          To cheer them on their way.
-        The timid dawn began to peer
-          Across the dewy wold;
-        Their lips in accents loud and clear
-          The gladsome tidings told:
-            "We bring good news," &c.
-
-    4.  O wondrous sight, that God should live
-          In robe of flesh for man!
-        O wondrous Love, Himself to give
-          When closed His mortal span!
-        Sing, O ye skies! be joyful, earth!
-          Ye winds, bear o'er the seas
-        The news of blessèd Jesu's birth,
-          And those sweet harmonies:
-            "We bring good news," &c.
-
-
-
-
-THE HOUSE COMFORTABLE.
-
-By Lina Orman Cooper, Author of "The House Beautiful," Etc.
-
-
-The House Beautiful must needs be also the House Comfortable, if
-we take true loveliness to consist of perfect fitness for service.
-Thoroughness is the keynote of each. In order to strike it we
-must have entered heart and soul into Ruskin's translation of St.
-Ursula's Room. Carpaccio himself painted the useful in the beautiful
-in this famous picture. From the princess's book, set up at a slope
-fittest for reading, to the shelf which runs under the window,
-providing a place to put things on--from a silver lamp on the white
-wall to the little blue slippers beside her bed, each detail ensures
-comfort of the first quality.
-
-Comfort is a thing quite apart from fashion. So it is easier to
-indicate the road which leads to the House Comfortable than it
-was to point out details in the House Beautiful. We most of us
-agree about the essentials required for real comfort: chairs upon
-which you can sit fearlessly; beds which rest and do not bruise;
-arms that support without cramping; pokers that bend not; strong
-tables and sharp knives, these are a sample of the things I mean.
-But true comfort depends on more than surface surroundings. It is
-indissolubly linked with attention to detail. The houses to which
-guests return time after time is the one in which soap is never
-absent from its tray, and where pillows are not only covered with
-frilled slips, but also stuffed with down and interlined with soft
-covering in place of waxed ticking.
-
-I would say, first of all, that the House Comfortable must stand
-in a sunny situation. This ensures warmth and light, without which
-our bodies are ill-nourished and miserable. "Where the sun never
-comes the doctor does" is a much-to-be-quoted proverb. We cannot all
-live exactly where we like. Circumstances of business, and means,
-generally determine locality. But common-sense must guide us in the
-selection of our houses. If we would be really comfortable, we must
-live in light, dry, airy, and clean homes. Never take a house on
-the sole recommendation of its pretty appearance. To have a really
-beautiful house we must first see that it is essentially built for
-comfort. The really useful and good is generally ornamental, for
-it possesses the realistic beauty of _fitness_. A north and south
-aspect for the chief sitting rooms, with east and west windows,
-secures both sunshine and shade. We want afternoon coolness as well
-as morning light. If our apartment looks towards the sun rising,
-heavy curtains should be ready to draw when east wind rages. A stick
-to effect this noiselessly is a small boon much appreciated. If our
-casement faces the golden gates of the west, no such protection
-is called for. But all windows should have double blinds--white
-outside, to absorb heat, and dark inside, to veil the sun when
-necessary. The comfort of lying in bed, facing a dark green blind
-can only be estimated by those who have reluctantly been disturbed
-by the too early shafts of the god Phoebus.
-
-There should be a triple water supply in the House Comfortable;
-ewers always filled from the soft-water pump. Every well and tank
-should be tested ere we take up residence. Pure water, and plenty
-of it, is essential to the health (and therefore comfort) of every
-household. It should be perfectly clear and bright, and free from
-taste or smell. Yet impurity may lurk even in the most sparkling
-water. Therefore science must decide as to its desirability. If
-only iron or lime water is procurable, jars of lump ammonia, or a
-bottle of cloudy liquid ammonia, a bag of oatmeal or a bundle of
-bran should lie on every washstand. The hot-water boiler not only
-supplies unlimited baths, but may be devised to heat the house. In
-every Canadian home a stove in the cellar warms the rooms above
-by means of drums and fans. We might do much the same in England
-with our hot-water pipes. These should certainly run through the
-linen-press and clothes cupboards, and terminate in bathroom
-spirals. On these, towels and rough sheets could be dried and
-aired. A face cloth always warm is one of the luxuries in our House
-Comfortable.
-
-After sanitation, ventilation takes its place in the home.
-How to secure a constant supply of fresh air is a question
-which demands most serious consideration. In ages past, houses
-were unintentionally ventilated by the ill-fitting doors and
-window-frames, wide chimneys, and open fire-places. But in our
-modern buildings comfort is secured by almost air-tight doors and
-windows. Ventilators at the top of such are delightful and necessary
-for real comfort, or a Queen Anne casement may have a swing in its
-upper frame. It is not always easy, however, to secure exemption
-from draught in our modern mansions. When the brick-and-mortar fiend
-has placed door, window, and fireplace exactly opposite each other,
-screens must be judiciously used. A brass rod from which hangs a
-curtain, screwed into the door jamb and suspended by a tiny chain
-from the ceiling, is a good thing, or an ordinary _portière_ may be
-allowed. The former plan, however, enables us to keep the door open
-without feeling a wind.
-
-Padded stair-carpets secure noiseless ascent in the House
-Comfortable. Cork mats by the big bath are welcome to bare feet.
-Many cupboards are a necessity. A place for everything and
-everything in its place is one of the initial rules for everyone's
-comfort. It is also Divine law. Hanging presses, medicine cupboards,
-butler's pantry, housemaid's closets, keep dresses from dust,
-poisons from the unwary, silver and glass intact, and brushes unworn.
-
-The House Comfortable must not be over-servanted. Neither must it
-be undermanned. Of the two evils, the latter is preferable, as the
-mistress herself then looks after the minutiæ of her house. With all
-deference to Matthew Prior, comfort does not flow on a line with
-ignorance. It requires a cultivated intelligence to provide such in
-our homes.
-
-Education has done much for us on this point. How not to do it
-in the House Comfortable is exemplified by the abodes of our
-forefathers. Going over Beaumaris Castle the other day, I noted
-the small apertures for exit; the high caverns of chimneys; the
-windows of horn; the crooked stairs. Nowadays we find stoves and
-slow combustion grates quite a necessity for comfort--whilst lofty
-ceilings, broad staircases, and wide windows can be quite as
-picturesque, and are far more to be desired.
-
-The dictionary definition of the word "comfort" implies enlivenment
-and capability for dispensing bodily ease. For this, moral qualities
-are as necessary as well-planned, well-equipped houses.
-
-Punctuality, for instance, is an ingredient required to secure a
-comfortable home.
-
-When breakfast and dinner are movable feasts, served up at the whim
-of a lie-a-bed or a gad-about, they can only be make-believes,
-after all. Cold coffee is unpalatable even when partaken of in a
-sunny room. Whitey-brown sausages are unappetising unless piping
-from the pot. Yet this--like all other virtues--may be strained
-too far. Nothing is more uncomfortable than to feel no latitude is
-allowed to a weary guest, or to find one's host at marmalade three
-minutes after the time appointed for the disappearance of a savoury.
-Courtesy in this must be our rule. Neatness is another necessity.
-No house can be really comfortable that is littered with papers,
-or in which boots lie in the drawing-room--yet finickiness in
-arrangement makes the home unbearable. The most uncomfortable visit
-I ever paid was to the most scientifically correct house. Chairs
-were not allowed to touch the wall-paper; footstools never shifted.
-A towel for wiping down the varnish of the bath was provided, and--I
-was made miserable! By all means keep paint and paper in as much
-primitive purity as possible, but let unobtrusive service guard
-these points.
-
-Much more could I discourse of the House Comfortable, but space
-forbids. Let me only remind you that the veriest cottage--plenished
-with wisdom and lovingly provided--may fulfil all its conditions
-just as well as the most luxurious castle.
-
-Told in Sunshine Room.]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: DONKEY BOY]
-
-DONKEY BOY TO THE QUEEN
-
-_A TRUE INCIDENT._
-
-By Alfred T. Story
-
-Part II.
-
-
-A week passed before anything further was heard. Then a summons came
-for Tam to appear before her Majesty on the following afternoon. He
-was duly in attendance, and had not long to wait before a man in
-Highland costume came into the room where he was seated and said--
-
-"Noo, my braw laddie, her Most Gracious Majesty and his Royal
-Highness the Prince Consort will come in through that door in twa
-seconds. When they enter all you hae to dy is ta stan' up an' mak'
-yer obeisance. An' when they ax ye a question jist ye say yes or
-nae, your Majesty, or your Royal Highness, as the case may be. An'
-if they ax ye naething--weel, jist ye say naething in return."
-
-With these words the wise servitor withdrew. Barely had he gone out
-of one door ere the other opened, and the same lady he had seen
-before, leaning on the arm of the gentleman he likewise remembered,
-appeared before friend Tam. They were both dressed much more richly
-than when he had previously seen them, the lady having a brilliant
-star on her breast, and the gentleman wearing a silken sash over his
-shoulder.
-
-For a moment the boy was confused, but he recovered himself
-sufficiently to recollect that he had to make an "obeisance." He had
-omitted to ask the Highland gentleman what that was, but he thought
-it must be something like the soldier's salute, and so he stood
-perfectly upright and saluted.
-
-"So you have come, my lad, to see her Majesty about the position of
-donkey-boy?" said the gentleman.
-
-"Yes, sir--your Royal Highness," replied Tam. Only when he had got
-out the word "sir" did it flash upon him that he was standing before
-the Queen and her Royal Consort.
-
-"Well, her Majesty has caused inquiries to be made about you, and
-she finds that, although you are a little wayward and sometimes
-disobedient to your grandparents, you are not on the whole a bad
-boy."
-
-"No, your Royal Highness," said Tam.
-
-"Does that mean that you are not a bad boy, or that you do not
-sometimes disobey your grandparents?"
-
-This question, though backed by a genial smile, somewhat
-disconcerted the would-be donkey-boy. He was silent for a moment,
-then he answered, looking first at one and then at the other, with
-that straight glance of his, "I hae sometimes been disobedient to
-my grandparents, but I think I have learned better now."
-
-"I am glad to hear that," said the Prince.
-
-Then, speaking for the first time, the Queen said, "Well, Tam, if I
-make you my donkey-boy, will you promise to be obedient to all my
-slightest wishes and commands? Do not answer lightly. I am a severe
-mistress in that I expect the strictest obedience and attention
-to duty. But I, in return, am strict in doing my duty to those I
-employ."
-
-"And if you prove a worthy and trustworthy servant," added the
-Prince, "your position is secure for life."
-
-"Not, however, as a mere donkey-boy all your days," put in the Queen
-with a smile.
-
-Said Tam with a faltering tongue: "If ye'll try me, your Majesty,
-I'll do my best, and," he added, as though struck with a sudden
-thought, "I'll no need to lick the donkeys, 'cos I ken hoo ta mek
-'em run 'thout the stick."
-
-[Illustration: Yetta threw up her hands in amaze.]
-
-"And how do you do that?" asked the Prince with a smile.
-
-"I meks 'em carry a bunch o' thistles afore 'em."
-
-"Well, we will see," replied her Majesty, smiling. "Now you may run
-home and tell your grandparents you are to be ready to begin duty
-this day week. But before you go you will see the gentleman who
-spoke to you a minute or two ago."
-
-With these words and a kindly smile the Sovereign and her Royal
-Consort withdrew.
-
-The one door closed, the other immediately opened, and again entered
-the Highland gentleman. "Sae ye hae been engagit ta look after ta
-cuddies, eh?" he questioned.
-
-Tam said he had.
-
-"Aweel, it's a verra guid step in life for a young callant to
-begin wi', an' if ye tek heed there's nae telling whereto it may
-lead--ablins even to the primiership, if ye ken what that is. For ye
-mun know, the gift o' the heaven-made Prime Minister is just to ken
-hoo ta manage a' th' human cuddies that are sent to Parliament to
-bother 'em. But mebbe a' that's a wee bit abune yer understanding as
-yet, and sae we'll just leave it an' speer aboot yer claes."
-
-Needless to say how surprised Donal and Yetta were to hear Tam's
-story, how thankful to reflect that their boy was to have such a
-start in life. He reported to them what had been said, and the
-promise he had given, and they believed that, like the Jamison he
-was, he would be true to his word. All the same, they did not omit
-to pray for that guidance and support for him without which his own
-efforts would be vain.
-
-The evening before Tam's week was up a parcel was delivered at
-Jamison's door, addressed to his grandson. It contained a complete
-new suit, as the Highland gentleman had said, "from the skin
-outwards." Never was seen such a brave outfit, to Tam's thinking. He
-turned it over and admired it, article by article, for at least a
-couple of hours, but would not try it on, or any part of it, until
-he had had a good wash. The tub was never a thing he was shy of, but
-on this occasion it was used as though he intended to wash out his
-every fault, as well as all the merely superficial smuts and stains
-that had accumulated, so as to appear before his Queen a spotlessly
-clean cuddy-tender.
-
-When the operation was completed, Tam indued himself in his new
-garments and went on parade, so to speak, before his grandmother.
-Yetta was busy stirring the matutinal porridge when he walked into
-the ben and said:
-
-"How do I look, granny?"
-
-Yetta, turning round, threw up her hands in amaze. She hardly knew
-him, so great was the transformation effected by the new clothes and
-the scrubbing he had given himself. Donal was no less surprised when
-he came in from his morning milking. Tam looked two inches taller
-and a lot sprucer.
-
-"Ye mind me of yer puir father," said the old man as he sat down to
-breakfast.
-
-That was a note of sad recollection which brought tears to Yetta's
-eyes; but a smile was soon gleaming through them when Tam, getting
-sight of Meg, who was eyeing him as it were askance, said drily,
-"Meg looks as if she hardly kenned what ta mek of her handiwark; for
-the beginning o't was a' her doing."
-
-Just then the noise of wheels was heard on the road, and as the
-messenger who brought the clothes left word that one of the Queen's
-carriages would pick him up on the morrow, Tam thought surely this
-was the one. But it was not. Indeed, he ran to the door at least
-twenty times ere, towards eleven o'clock, his vehicle arrived. It
-was a quaint affair, half carriage, half wash-basket, drawn by two
-asses, creatures as beautiful of their kind as could be found. It
-was driven by her whom he knew, and by her side were several bright
-little faces, while the Highland gentleman, riding behind on one
-pony, as sturdy and Hielan' as himself, led another by the bridle.
-
-Donal and Yetta came out and with bowed heads thanked the august
-though simple-hearted lady for the great kindness she had shown to
-their boy. She replied with a kindly smile:
-
-"There appears to be the making of a good man in him, and, with
-God's help, we will do our best to make him one."
-
-Little more was said, and, mounting the led pony, Tam rode off by
-the side of the faithful retainer, who never got further away from
-the carriage than the dust raised by its wheels.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Thus commenced Tam's career in life. Though he served the noblest
-lady in the land, he did not find his way one altogether of buttered
-parsnips and cream. The one thing abhorrent to his royal mistress
-was idleness and indifference. The motto of her establishment--of
-all her establishments--was "The diligent eye." In this principle
-she found not only the best interests of her own house, but the best
-interests also of those who served her.
-
-Tam could not be called idle, nor could he be called exactly
-indifferent; but during the years of his tending of cattle and
-sheep on the brae-side he had got into the habit of liking to loll
-about, to saunter and dream, and then to make up, or try to make
-up, the leeway of work or duty by a spurt of energy. Another fault
-he had was to leave things about--for others to "side" or put in
-order. This arose, no doubt, from the narrow dimensions of his home,
-where there was hardly room for everything to have its particular
-place. It was, however, neither a very grievous nor a deeply rooted
-fault; and a little sharp drilling, not unfrequently at the hands
-of the Highland gentleman--a sort of major of the household, who
-possessed "the diligent eye" _par excellence_--soon corrected Tam's
-delinquency in this regard.
-
-But the other fault was more deeply rooted and cost the young
-donkey-boy many a bad quarter of an hour. Indeed, on one occasion it
-nearly cost him his place. He had been given a task to do, and in
-place of doing it with all diligence he had been found with his feet
-growing to the ground, as it were. The consequence was an interview
-with the Highland gentleman, who told him, "Tam, ye have either ta
-pe punisht or to leave her Majesty's service: which shall it pe?"
-
-"I'll tek the punishment, sir, if you please," he answered.
-
-"Tam, ye are a wise poy, an' we'll mebby mek a man o' ye yet," said
-the major-domo.
-
-Tam took his punishment, and was the better for it; but he still
-failed to come up to his royal mistress's ideal of a servant. Like
-his fellow-servitors, he had plenty of time for rest and recreation:
-hours of labour were by no means long. So much time had he, indeed,
-for himself, that the Highland gentleman put suitable books before
-him, and counselled him to improve his mind by reading and study.
-He failed, however, to profit by the advice, and was presently made
-aware of his error by a violent thunder-clap.
-
-He was in attendance on his royal mistress one day, when she and
-the children were out for a drive. A poor body was met, in apparent
-distress, by the wayside. Inquiry was made as to her condition,
-present help was extended, and a promise of future beneficence given
-if further investigation should warrant its bestowal. Hence the
-necessity arose for an address to be written down, and Tam, who was
-that day the only person in attendance, was requested to do it.
-
-When Tam entered the royal service he could read a bit and write
-very imperfectly; but there had been time, had he followed the
-counsel given him, to have greatly improved himself in both those
-accomplishments. Not having done so, he fumbled egregiously over the
-task set him, and, in short, made such a hash of it that an eye of
-wrath was turned upon him.
-
-Tam had seen that eye in all its moods--of laughter and smiles, of
-grief, of earnestness, of affection, even of solemnity and awe, but
-he had never as yet beheld it flash in indignant wrath. He felt as
-though the muscles of his knees had been cut away and the ground
-was sinking from under his feet. What would he not have given to be
-miles away! But he had to face the storm, and it came in this way:
-
-"Were not books and paper and ink put before you? And were you not
-advised to improve your reading and writing?"
-
-Tam falteringly admitted that such was the case.
-
-"Why did you not attend to the advice?"
-
-"I--I----" stammered the ease-loving Tam.
-
-"Had you not the time?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Then why did you not do as you were wished?"
-
-Tam hung his head in shame.
-
-"Tam Jamison, listen to me. I will have those in my employ attend
-to my wishes, and attend to them with all their might. Do you wish
-to be ignorant all your life, when the time and the means for
-improvement are placed at your command? In three months' time I
-shall expect you to read and write in such a way that you will be
-able to fulfil in a creditable manner a simple duty like that you
-have to-day so grievously failed in. Now we'll go on."
-
-Tam Jamison wanted no more speaking to. He was now thoroughly awake:
-and he went to work with all his might to do the behest of his
-mistress and Sovereign, and, in truth, he made prodigious progress;
-so that when it happened one day--he being then in attendance on her
-Majesty in another part of the country--that she required the names
-of several rare plants to be written down for her future use, he did
-it so cleverly that he was rewarded with a pleased smile.
-
-Tam felt that he had acquired wings that afternoon, and the
-strangest part of the affair was, that when he came to reckon up
-precisely, he discovered that it was three months to a day since his
-"royal earwigging," as the Highland gentleman called it.
-
-To that worthy man Jamison communicated his delight. "Ah," said he,
-"ye thocht, like many anither, that ye were doing a great service to
-her gracious Majesty by your few hours of daily labour; but, guid
-faith, she does a mighty deal mair for ye than ye, or ony the likes
-o' ye, can do for her. Serve 'maist onybody else in the kintra, an'
-they'll take yer service an' gie ye yer wage, an' there's an end.
-But when her Majesty teks ye intil her household she teks ye to mek
-a man o' ye--if it's in ye, ye ken. An' weel she knows hoo ta do
-it--nane better. Sae ye just go on as ye've begun, Tam Jamison, an'
-ye'll mebbe no bide a feckless cuddy-callant till ye're auld an'
-blind."
-
-Jamison did not need to be taught his lesson a second time. He made
-diligent use of his opportunities, and improved so much and so
-visibly that when he was fifteen he was raised to the position of
-page. A greater mark of appreciation could hardly be given to one
-in the royal employ; for her Majesty's pages are amongst the most
-trusted of her servants.
-
-At first the humbler duties of a page fell to his lot; but as he
-improved in thoughtfulness and intelligence, and in his knowledge
-of the manifold and delicate duties which fell to his care--in which
-he had the aid and instruction of one of her Majesty's oldest and
-most experienced pages, a man who had been in her service ever since
-she ascended the throne--he rose higher and higher in the royal
-service and the royal consideration, until at last his services were
-rarely required except on State and exceptional occasions only.
-
-[Illustration: Tam hung his head in shame.]
-
-Scarcely a week passed that he did not recall the words of him we
-have called the Highland gentleman, when he said that the Queen
-did more for those in her service than they could ever do for her,
-in that she not only made men and women of them, but treated them
-more as gentlemen and ladies than as mere domestics. There were no
-servants in her employ, no matter how humble their sphere, but she
-knew them by name and had their welfare at heart; and if they served
-her well, she never lost sight of them, or forgot them--no, not even
-when the grave took them into its transitional embrace.
-
-Jamison had had abundant opportunities to note and set these
-things down in his heart, but he was never so much impressed by
-her Majesty's deep regard for those who served her faithfully and
-well as when, one dripping autumn day, he was required to accompany
-her to the churchyard of a rural village, halfway betwixt London
-and Windsor--in which, a day or two before, the aged servant above
-referred to had been buried--in order that she might lay a wreath
-upon his grave. It bore the words, "In grateful remembrance of a
-devoted and faithful servant, V.R.," and as she bent down to place
-it with her own hand upon the grave a tear fell upon the flowers
-that outshone the brightest jewel of her crown.
-
-
-
-
-TEMPERANCE NOTES AND NEWS.
-
-By a Leading Temperance Advocate.
-
-
-THE TEMPERANCE HOSPITAL.
-
-[Illustration: DR. J. J. RIDGE.
-
-(_Photo: J. Bacon, Newcastle-on-Tyne._)]
-
-The story of the Temperance Hospital in Hampstead Road forms one
-of the most interesting chapters in temperance history. When
-the experiment of treating accidents and disease without the
-administration of alcohol was first mooted, the idea was assailed
-with a storm of criticism in which the medical profession found a
-most active ally in the public Press. A quarter of a century has
-now elapsed since the first patient was received in the temporary
-premises in Gower Street, and although the medical staff have full
-permission, under certain regulations, to administer alcohol if
-deemed expedient, the last Report states that out of a total of
-13,984 in-patients, alcohol has only been resorted to in twenty-five
-cases. The percentage of recoveries compares most favourably with
-the ordinary hospitals, and the cases include every variety of
-disease and accident. The present head of the medical staff is Dr.
-J. J. Ridge, who has been connected with the institution from the
-first. For many years it has been the custom of the United Kingdom
-Band of Hope Union to organise a Christmas collection in aid of
-the Temperance Hospital. The amount thus realised has reached many
-thousand pounds, and it is hoped that this year's collection will
-prove the best of the series. The body of evidence in favour of
-total abstinence which the Temperance Hospital has accumulated
-certainly entitles the institution to the cordial support of the
-temperance public.
-
-[Illustration: THE TEMPERANCE HOSPITAL, HAMPSTEAD ROAD, LONDON.
-
-(_Photo supplied by the Press Studio._)]
-
-
-COMING EVENTS.
-
-Among the fixtures worth noting may be named the New Year's Meeting
-of the United Kingdom Band of Hope Union on Saturday, January 7th;
-the Annual Meeting of the London United Temperance Council, to be
-addressed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, on February 13th, in the
-Queen's Hall; a great Industrial Exhibition, promoted by the Hackney
-and East Middlesex Band of Hope Union, on April 10-13; Temperance
-Sunday for London Diocese April 23rd (St. George's Day, a grand
-opportunity for the clergy to strike a national note); and, as it is
-well to look ahead, a World's Temperance Convention to be held under
-the auspices of the National Temperance League in 1900.
-
-
-THE NEW ENGLISH DICTIONARY.
-
-It may be news to some of our readers that Dr. James A. H. Murray,
-the editor-in-chief of the monumental literary work which has been
-in progress for so many years, is an earnest total abstainer and a
-Vice-President of the National Temperance League. Dictionary-making
-and total abstinence seem to run together. In William Ball's "Slight
-Memorials of Hannah More" is this remark: "I dined last week at
-the Bishop of Chester's. Dr. Johnson was there. In the middle of
-dinner I urged Dr. Johnson to take a _little_ wine. He replied:
-'I can't drink a _little_, child, therefore I never touch it.
-Abstinence is as easy to me as temperance would be difficult.'" It
-is rather curious to note that it is only within recent years that
-our dictionaries have taken any cognisance of the meaning which
-temperance people give to the word "pledge." More than this, in
-the early dictionaries the word was almost exclusively given up to
-the other side of the drink question. For instance, in Bailey's
-Dictionary (1736) we have the following definition of the word
-"pledged":--"Having drank by the recommendation of another."...
-"The custom of pledging in drinking was occasioned by the Danes,
-who, while they had the superiority in England, used to stab the
-English or cut their throats while they were drinking; and thereupon
-they requested of some sitter-by to be their pledge and security
-while they drank; so that 'I will pledge you' signifies 'I will be
-your security that you shall drink in safety.'"
-
-[Illustration: "DICTIONARY" MURRAY.]
-
-Contrast this with the definition given in the last edition of
-Webster's Dictionary:--
-
-"A promise or agreement by which one binds one's self to do, or to
-refrain from doing something; especially a solemn promise in writing
-to refrain from using intoxicating liquors or other liquor; as to
-sign the pledge."
-
-No doubt, when Dr. Murray reaches the letter "P," we shall have a
-definition even still more illuminating. The New English Dictionary
-viewed from a temperance standpoint would make a delightful study.
-Take, for instance, volume one, in which "Alcohol" has more than
-a column to itself, while "Ale" has two columns, "Beer" two and
-a half columns, and "Abstain," "Abstainer," and "Abstaining" are
-treated with a wealth of illustration and meaning derived from such
-authorities as Wyclif in 1382 down to J. W. Bardsley (the present
-Bishop of Carlisle) in 1867, who is pressed into the service in this
-form:--
-
-"ABSTAINING.--Practising abstinence (from alcoholic beverages) 1867.
-J. W. BARDSLEY in 'Clerical Testimony to Total Abstinence' 30: 'The
-bride was the daughter of an abstaining clergyman.'"
-
-[Illustration: MADAME ANTOINETTE STERLING.
-
-(_Photo: Walery, Ltd., Regent Street, W._)]
-
-Now we will leave it to our fair readers to puzzle over until next
-month as to who the blushing bride was who is thus assured of
-immortality in the greatest Dictionary the world has ever seen.
-
-
-"TWO QUEENS OF SONG."
-
-"Example is better than precept," says the old adage, and there
-can be no doubt that the example of Madame Antoinette Sterling and
-Mrs. Mary Davies in the matter of total abstinence has been of the
-utmost value. It was at a reception given by Mr. and Mrs. Frederick
-Sherlock at Hackney, in 1892, to the Archbishop of Canterbury
-(then Bishop of London), that Madame Sterling, to the surprise of
-a delighted audience, volunteered "a few words." The gifted singer
-remarked that "she had been nearly all her life a total abstainer.
-When on long tours with members of her profession, it had been
-rather an aggravation to them to see, when they were pretty well
-prostrated, that she was almost or quite as fresh at the end of the
-journey as at the beginning. They also complained of the quality of
-the wine furnished to them, as well as of water. She took milk and
-cocoa, and also water, of which she did not complain, and scarcely
-missed one engagement in the seventeen years during which she had
-been before the public. She had never had a day's bad health, and
-had not suffered from those aches and pains of which she had heard
-other people complaining continually." Like Madame Sterling, Mrs.
-Mary Davies has upon many occasions shown a deep and practical
-interest in philanthropic work.
-
-[Illustration: MRS. MARY DAVIES.
-
-(_Photo: H. S. Mendelssohn, Pembridge Crescent, W._)]
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Press Studio._)
-
-MUSCULAR TRAINING AT THE NAVAL SCHOOL, GREENWICH.]
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Press Studio._)
-
-BUCKET-OF-WATER RACE AT THE NAVAL SCHOOL.]
-
-
-A FAMOUS BAND OF HOPE.
-
-Possibly the most unique Band of Hope in the world is that which is
-held in the Royal Naval School, Greenwich. It was founded so far
-back as 1871, by Samuel Sims, an honoured agent of the National
-Temperance League, and upon his death, in 1892, was taken over by
-Mr. W. S. Campbell, as the League's representative. No pressure at
-all is put upon the lads to induce them to join the Band of Hope,
-but, as a matter of fact, most of the lads in the school readily do
-so, and the present membership is fully a thousand strong. Regular
-weekly meetings are held, and the annual gathering, which is held
-in the great gymnasium, is a most inspiriting spectacle. A visit
-to the Royal Naval School, if it should happen to be in recreation
-time, cannot fail to afford considerable satisfaction to those who
-like to see Young England at play. Every type of healthy pastime is
-encouraged in its turn, and these young abstainers have frequently
-shown that they are well able to hold their own. It is encouraging
-to know that the principles of total abstinence are not discarded
-when the lads pass out into the Royal Navy or Mercantile Marine,
-for every year large numbers of them are drafted into Miss Weston's
-well-known temperance society.
-
-
-TEMPERANCE SUNDAY.
-
-The appointment of a special Sunday for the preaching of sermons on
-temperance originated with the Church of England Temperance Society
-many years ago. Owing to various circumstances, it is not possible
-for the Church of England clergy to take one Sunday simultaneously
-for the whole country, but each diocesan Bishop makes choice of
-a day and issues a pastoral letter to his clergy, so that at one
-period of the year or another the whole country is covered, so far
-as the Church of England is concerned. The Nonconformist bodies
-have, however, for some years past, fixed upon the last Sunday in
-November for Temperance Sunday, and as we go to press we learn that
-this year special reference will be made to the importance of Sunday
-Closing.
-
-
-
-
-SCRIPTURE LESSONS FOR SCHOOL & HOME INTERNATIONAL SERIES
-
-With Illustrative Anecdotes and References.
-
-
-DECEMBER 18TH.--=The Captivity of Judah.=
-
-_To read--Jer. lii. 1-11. Golden Text--Jer. xxix. 13._
-
-This chapter describes the fate of Judah. Later kings were all
-wicked. Warnings of Jeremiah and other prophets all been in vain.
-Time has come for judgment. Captivity in Babylon, long foretold,
-now about to commence. Came about in reign of Zedekiah. The eleven
-verses of this lesson almost identical with Jer. xxxix. 1-10.
-
-I. =The King= (1-3). _His name._ Originally Mattaniah, was son of
-good King Josiah and uncle of late King Jehoiachin. Jeremiah had
-prophesied of a future king (Jer. xxiii. 5-7) as the "Lord our
-righteousness." The king assumed that name, and was called Zedekiah.
-
-_His acts._ "Did evil," but had not always been altogether evil.
-Had made covenant with nobles and priests to abolish slavery
-(xxxiv. 8-10). But his great wrong was breaking his solemn oath of
-allegiance to king of Babylon (2 Chron. xxxvi. 13). This looked upon
-as his crowning vice (Ezek. xvii. 8), for which God's anger was upon
-him (ver. 3).
-
-=Lesson.= When thou vowest a vow defer not to pay it.
-
-II. =The Siege= (4-7). City besieged for last time. Jews never
-forgot day it began. Was January--tenth day of their tenth month.
-Great mounds or (earth-works) outside walls to shoot burning arrows,
-etc.; houses outside thrown down (Jer. xxxiii. 4). Famine and
-pestilence soon ravaged crowded population inside.
-
-_The assault._ City, after eighteen months, taken by assault at
-northern gate (B.C. 587). King and his family and royal guard
-escaped by passage between two walls (Jer. xxxix. 4), by royal
-gardens, down steep descent towards Jericho. There he was overtaken
-and made prisoner. His broken oath caused his destruction (Ezek.
-xvii. 20).
-
-=Lesson.= Evil shall hunt the wicked to overtake him.
-
-III. =Babylon.= He was taken to Babylon. His sons killed in his
-sight, then his eyes put out, bound with chains, kept in prison till
-death. Feeble in will, faithless in promise, judgment came upon him.
-
-=Lesson.= 1. The word of the Lord standeth sure.
-
-
-Bargains.
-
-He who buys the truth makes a good bargain. Zedekiah dealt in
-falsehood and lost his throne. Esau sold his birthright for a basin
-of soup. Judas made a bad bargain when he sold his Lord for the
-price of a slave. Take heed to the thing that is right, for that
-alone shall bring peace at the last.
-
-
-DECEMBER 25TH.--=A Christmas Lesson.=
-
-_To read--Hebrews i. 1-9. Golden Text--St. Luke ii. 11._
-
-This letter written to the Hebrews, i.e. Christians of Jewish birth
-who clung to the priesthood and services of the Temple as well as
-to Christianity. St. Paul shows how far the Christian system was
-superior to and superseded the Jewish. The types and ceremonies of
-the Law fulfilled in Christ, whose birthday is kept at Christmas.
-
-I. =God's Revelation= (1-2). _Past._ God revealed or unveiled
-Himself of old. This revelation inferior in three ways, viz. (1) It
-was given gradually, in portions, a part at a time. (2) Given in
-divers manners, under many figures and types. (3) Given by prophets,
-only human.
-
-_Present._ Final revelation of God's truth--once for all given to
-the saints (Jude 3). Given by His Son--the Word of God (St. John i.
-1, 2); heir of all things--God's agent in creation of the universe.
-
-II. =God's Son= (3-9). _Great in Himself._ Has Divine glory--the
-outshining of the Father's glory. He is God's image, the counterpart
-of the Father. To see Christ is to see God (St. John xiv. 9).
-
-_Great in His work._ (1) _Upholder_ of the universe as well as its
-Creator. (2) _Saviour._ Came not only as prophet to reveal God's
-will, but to purge man's sin. This He did by Himself with His own
-blood (ix. 12, 14).
-
-_Greater than angels._ In His person, His work. His exaltation to
-glory; testified by Scripture, _e.g._ Psalm ii. 3 tells of Christ's
-eternal Sonship--also referred to by St. Paul as fulfilled in His
-resurrection (Acts xiii. 33).
-
-_King over all._ Christ also a King. Rules in righteousness (Psalm
-xlv. 6, 7); received throne as victor over His enemies--sin, death,
-and the devil (xii. 2). Raised high above all.
-
-=Lesson.= Christ is King--honour Him; He is Saviour--love Him; He
-is God--fear Him. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and so ye perish.
-Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.
-
-
-Christ in the Old and New Testaments.
-
-A weaver, who had made an elaborate piece of tapestry, hung it
-upon the tenterhooks in his yard. That night it was stolen. A
-piece of tapestry was found by the police, which seemed to answer
-the description; but, as the pattern was not unlike that of other
-pieces, they wanted more definite proof. It was brought to the
-weaver's yard, and there the perforations in the fabric were found
-to correspond exactly to the tenterhooks. This was proof positive.
-In like manner, if we place the life and character of Christ against
-all the prophecies of Him in Scripture, they will be found to
-correspond exactly.
-
-
-1899.
-
-_New Series. The Gospel according to St. John._
-
-
-JANUARY 1ST.--=Christ the True Light.=
-
-_To read--St. John i. 1-14. Golden Text--Ver. 4._
-
-New Year--new course of lessons. This Gospel records the deeper
-spiritual truths of Christ's teaching, especially about His own
-Nature and Person. It sets Christ forth as God. St. John tells his
-object in writing a fourth Gospel in chap. xx. 31, which the class
-should read.
-
-I. =The Nature of Christ= (1-3). _Eternal._ In the beginning, not of
-the world, but before all creation, from everlasting. _Divine Word._
-Christ is the expression of the mind of God. Came to reveal God to
-man (xv. 15). _Living Person._ The Word not a mere attribute or
-power of God but a distinct Person. "With God" from everlasting. Not
-inferior to the Father, but very God Himself. _Creator._ As well as
-Saviour and Governor of the world (read Col. i. 16, 17; Heb. i. 2).
-
-II. =The Office of Christ= (4-13). _Source of Life._ As very God He
-had life in Himself, which He poured forth on His creation (vv. 25,
-26; xvii. 2). _Source of light._ The life from Son of God is cause
-of man's inward spiritual light by which he is saved. _Himself the
-light._ World was in spiritual darkness at Christ's coming. _Giver
-of light._ No man has light in himself, however great his natural
-powers. All true light is from Christ.
-
-_Rejected._ By His own. The world He made knew not its Creator (1
-Cor. i. 21). The nation He chose to be His own special people (Deut.
-vii. 6) received Him not.
-
-_Received._ By a few--both Jews and Gentiles; such as Nicodemus the
-ruler (iii. 1, 2), the disciples from Galilee (ii. 11), and others.
-How did they receive Him? By believing in Him. This faith, itself
-the gift of God, rewarded by further privilege of becoming God's
-sons--born into God's family by a new and spiritual birth (iii. 3).
-
-III. =The Glory of Christ= (14). Word was made flesh by taking to
-Himself man's human nature. He dwelt (_literally_ "pitched His
-tent") with men, full of mercy to heal bodies and souls, full of
-God's truth to teach.
-
-=Lessons.= 1. _Hold fast the Christian faith._ Jesus Christ one for
-ever with the Father. _God_--eternal, glorious, Creator, Giver of
-light and life to the soul--yet _Man_, like one of us.
-
-2. _Live the Christian life._ Jesus is our example, that we should
-follow His steps.
-
-
-Christians walking in the Light.
-
-A little girl in a London slum won a prize at a flower-show. Her
-flower was grown in a broken teapot in a back attic. When asked how
-she managed to grow the beautiful flower, she said her success came
-from always keeping the plant in the only corner of the room ever
-favoured by a sunbeam. Only by walking in the light and sight of God
-can Christians truly grow and bear fruit.
-
-
-JANUARY 8TH.--=Christ's first Disciples.=
-
-_To read--St. John i. 35-46. Golden Text--Ver. 36._
-
-Christ now thirty years old; has been baptised and received special
-outpouring of Holy Ghost (ver. 33), and also been tempted in the
-wilderness (St. Matt. iv. 1). Is now ready for His public work and
-ministry. Now begins to win disciples.
-
-I. =The first two Disciples= (35-40). _Heard of Him._ Picture Christ
-walking near the Jordan. St. John, who had baptised Him, points Him
-out to his followers. Describes Him: this the Lamb of God to Whom
-all the sacrifices pointed; the innocent lamb slain told of the
-death of the spotless Son of God for man's sin. His words went home.
-
-_Followed Him._ Who were they? Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, and
-probably St. John, writer of the Gospel, brother of James. Why did
-they follow? To learn more of Him. Had been baptised with baptism of
-repentance. Sense of sin led them to seek the Saviour. Christ knew
-their thoughts, encouraged them to learn more of Him (St. Matt. xi.
-28, 29).
-
-II. =The third Disciple= (41, 42). The two friends separate the next
-day, each in search of his brother. Andrew soon finds his--eagerly
-tells the news. They have found the long-expected Messiah, the
-Anointed of God. Brings Simon to Christ. No greater proof possible
-of having really found Christ than bringing another to Him. Christ
-looks with eager and searching eye at Simon--reads his very heart,
-sees his longing after truth; gives him a new name, Cephas (Hebrew)
-or Peter (Greek), meaning "a rock" or "stone." What did this
-signify? His bold and determined character, strong in the faith (St.
-Matt. xvi. 16), eager in defence of Christ (xviii. 10), and, after
-his fall and forgiveness, strong in love (xxi. 15).
-
-III. =The fourth Disciple= (43, 44). Philip of Bethsaida. Must have
-heard his friends talking of Christ. Probably stirred in his heart.
-Christ found him, as He afterwards found Zacchæus St. (Luke xix. 5).
-His mission to seek as well as to save. Happy they who obey Christ's
-call and follow Him.
-
-IV. =The fifth Disciple= (45, 46). Philip soon shows marks of
-discipleship. He finds Nathanael. Tells him how Christ fulfilled
-prophecies, such as of a "prophet" like unto Moses, a "king" whose
-name should be "the Lord our righteousness" (Jer. xxiii. 5, 6).
-Nathanael asks in honest doubt if it can be possible for the Messiah
-to come from despised Nazareth. Philip did not argue, but bade him
-"Come and see"--the best cure for all doubts.
-
-=Lessons.= From the Baptist: The dying Saviour the greatest magnet
-for drawing souls.
-
-From Andrew: Show religion first at home.
-
-From Simon: Taste and see how gracious the Lord is.
-
-From Philip: Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
-
-From Nathanael: Hearken unto me, and I will teach you the fear of
-the Lord.
-
-
-"There's Another."
-
-A traveller lost in the snow on the Alps was rescued by one of the
-famous dogs of St. Bernard. When restored to consciousness his first
-words were, "There's another." The monks to whom the dogs belonged
-continued their search, and "the other" was found and saved. "Are
-you saved?" Is there not another whom you can rescue from sin and
-bring to the life of God?
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: Short Arrows]
-
-Short Arrows
-
-NOTES OF CHRISTIAN LIFE AND WORK.
-
-
-The Quiver Santa Claus.
-
-Last month we published full particulars of our scheme to provide
-Christmas Stockings for the many poor and friendless little ones who
-are not on Santa Claus's visiting list, and we appeal to our readers
-for their hearty practical co-operation in this work. Each stocking
-will contain wholesome goodies, in the shape of cake and sweets, in
-addition to an unbreakable toy and a Christmas card. The Proprietors
-of THE QUIVER have headed the subscription list with a donation of
-£25, which is sufficient to provide the contents of
-
-  FIVE HUNDRED CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS FOR
-  POOR AND FRIENDLESS CHILDREN,
-
-a sum of =one shilling= being sufficient to furnish a stocking and
-pay the postage. But, as we can profitably distribute _thousands_ of
-such presents, we confidently look to all lovers of the children to
-lend their generous aid, in order that as many as possible of the
-destitute little mites may have their Christmas brightened by such a
-welcome gift. We shall also be glad to receive recommendations from
-our readers of suitable cases for the receipt of the stockings, and
-for this purpose the special application form to be found in our
-Extra Christmas Number ("Christmas Arrows") should be used. As the
-time is short, contributions for the Christmas Stocking Fund should
-be sent =at once= to the Editor of THE QUIVER, La Belle Sauvage,
-London, E.C., and all amounts of one shilling and upwards will be
-thankfully acknowledged in our pages.
-
-[Illustration: CURIOUS ALMS-BOX IN PINHOE CHURCH.]
-
-
-A Curious Alms-box.
-
-In the interesting parish church of Pinhoe, near Exeter, appears a
-very curious alms-box surmounted by the figure of a man who seems,
-from his costume and general character, to date from the period of
-James I. He holds two books in his hand--representing most probably
-Bible and Prayer Book--one of which bears the inscription, "Y^e Poor
-Man of Pinhoo, 1700," but from information with which the vicar of
-the parish, the Rev. Frederick W. Pulling, has kindly supplied us,
-it appears that the books were added in 1879-80, when the church was
-restored. Previously the figure held a small flimsy box in front of
-him. He was, however, placed on the present handsome oak box bearing
-the inscription, "Remember y^e Poor," and the old flimsy box was
-removed. The present box was constructed from some very ancient
-timber from the roof of Salisbury Cathedral, when under repair.
-What the figure was originally intended to represent--whether a
-beadle, the dispenser of charities, or a relieving officer--is not
-known. Curiously enough, the parish records are quite silent as to
-the figure, and when, some time since, it was repaired it was sent
-to the eminent antiquary and ecclesiologist, the Rev. Mackenzie
-Walcott, who said he had seen only two such figures before. The
-wooden backing is of Jacobean style, and was designed by the
-architect in 1879 to strengthen the whole structure.
-
-
-"God Bless the Kernel."
-
-After the marvellous achievements in his two Chinese campaigns,
-which were sufficient to have made the reputations of a dozen
-ordinary colonels, Gordon came back to England in 1865 as poor as
-when he left home. During the next six years, which he spent in
-Gravesend as an engineer, the future keeper of Khartoum devoted a
-large portion of his leisure to visiting the sick and to teaching
-and training many of the ragged and neglected boys of the rough
-neighbourhood. So truly did these poor lads love their colonel that
-it was not uncommon to see chalked up on the walls the singular
-inscription, "God bless the Kernel." Their gratitude was apparently
-stronger than their orthography. When Englishmen reflect how Gordon
-placed his Divine Master first in every enterprise of his life, they
-must feel that no institution intended to honour the dead hero at
-Khartoum can be a worthy memorial which is not grounded on the rock
-of Christianity.
-
-
-Christmas Cards and Gift-Books.
-
-Christmas is pre-eminently the season of universal good-will,
-and the custom of conveying seasonable greetings by means of the
-attractive Christmas card is every year becoming more general.
-Amongst the publishers of these mementoes Messrs. Raphael Tuck and
-Sons take front rank, and the specimen box of cards, calendars,
-story-books, and illustrated texts, recently received from them,
-affords ample proof that the variety and artistic excellence which
-have always characterised their productions are well maintained this
-year. Some of the cards are veritable works of art, and deserve more
-than the temporary appreciation usually accorded to such; but the
-palm for novelty, both in design and treatment, must be accorded
-to the calendars, many of which are most original in conception,
-and all are daintily and tastefully produced.--For years past we
-have been accustomed to look for a Christmas book from Mr. Andrew
-Lang, and this season he has edited an edition of "The Arabian
-Nights Entertainments," which Messrs. Longmans have published in a
-charming cover, and with a number of clever illustrations by Mr.
-H. J. Ford.--Another suitable gift-book for children is "His Big
-Opportunity" (Hodder and Stoughton), a brightly written story by
-Amy Le Feuvre; whilst for young people what more inspiriting and
-interesting work could be presented to them than the life-story of
-the pioneer missionary, "Mackay of Uganda," of whose biography a new
-illustrated edition has just been issued by the same publishers.--We
-have also received the current yearly volumes of our contemporaries,
-_Good Words_ and _The Sunday Magazine_ (Isbister & Co.). These would
-both form valuable additions to any Sunday-school library, and are
-also admirably adapted for use as prizes or presents.
-
-[Illustration: (_From a Photograph._)
-
-THE LAUGHING GOD OF CHINA.]
-
-
-Compensation.
-
-An Irishman being bound over to keep the peace against all the
-Queen's subjects, said, "Then Heaven help the first foreigner I
-meet!" We are reminded of this when we see people civility itself to
-a good servant they are afraid of losing, or to the strongest-willed
-person in their home, and then relieving their pent-up feelings by
-being rude to the rest of the family.
-
-
-Laughter and War.
-
-"Have you any gods around here?" inquired an English traveller in
-rural China. "Oh, yes," replied a venerable Celestial; "the three
-Pure Ones, the God of the Fields, and the Goddess of Mercy." "My old
-friend, I am afraid your gods are not a few." "Foreign teacher,"
-said the old man, "verily, verily, our gods are ten thousand and
-thousands of thousands." Some are of stone, others of wood, clay,
-or bronze. One may be purchased for a farthing, another will cost
-£200. The Laughing God in our illustration is a representation in
-coarse pottery of Quantecong, supposed to be the first emperor.
-There are laughing Buddhas for sale, and some few images of
-beneficent mien; but the great horde are intended to inspire awe
-or terror. The second illustration is a well-executed terra-cotta
-figure of a deified warrior. The drawn sword and beard are similar
-to those of Kwante, the God of War, regarded as the head of the
-military department in China. In 1,600 state temples dedicated
-to him the mandarins worship once a month, and in thousands of
-smaller temples he is honoured with sacrifices of sheep and oxen.
-His worshippers believe that he was a general, who just about the
-time that the Prince of Peace came to this world in great humility
-made the enemies of China to tremble. The elevation or manufacture
-of gods is a simple affair. The keeper of an idol shop collects
-the heads, limbs, and trunk that he has moulded out of mud, unites
-them in one ill-proportioned figure, slips a frog, snake, lizard,
-or centipede into the hole in the back, and the idol is ready for
-dedication and worship! The calm, colossal Buddha at Peking is
-seventy feet high, but it can only witness to a blind feeling after
-God.
-
-
-An Ancient Manuscript of St Matthew.
-
-The romance of New Testament manuscripts is again enlarged; this
-time by the discovery of a papyrus fragment containing a part of
-the Gospel according to St. Matthew. The precious sheet was found
-in the Libyan desert, about one hundred and twenty miles south of
-Cairo, by Messrs. Grenfell and Hunt, the discoverers of the _Logia_.
-It is thought that this fragment may be older by a hundred years
-than any other manuscript of the New Testament hitherto available.
-Its value, had it been a whole book instead of two leaves, would
-have been priceless. Even so, it is of singular interest. Its
-actual history, of course, is beyond discovery, but its appearance
-amongst the world of scholars reminds us of the strangely varied
-channels through which Greek manuscripts of the New Testament have
-come down to us. There is the romantic story of the discovery,
-in a monastery on Mount Sinai, of the priceless manuscript known
-as the _Codex Sinaiticus_. There is the scarcely less valuable
-_Codex Alexandrinus_ which the British Museum now guards; that
-came to England as a gift to King Charles I. from a Patriarch of
-Constantinople. There is the great manuscript which is one of the
-glories of the Vatican Library at Rome, where it is believed to
-have been ever since that library was founded. There is the _Codex
-Ephraemi_ at Paris, its ancient writing partly legible beneath a
-much later work written over it--a manuscript which once belonged
-to Catherine de Medicis. There is another palimpsest brought to
-England from a convent in the Nubian desert. There is the manuscript
-presented by Laud to the Bodleian, and supposed to have been used
-by the Venerable Bede. In truth, the history of these treasures is
-full of romance, and it is but fitting that new discoveries should
-furnish other examples of the strange ways in which the text of the
-Holy Scriptures in various parts and forms has been preserved for us.
-
-[Illustration: (_From a Photograph._)
-
-A GOD OF WAR.]
-
-
-Humours of Hymen.
-
-While nothing can be so distressing to a clergyman, whose duty it
-is to solemnise marriages, as irreverence or flippancy, he can
-hardly fail to be amused, if many of his people are poor and his
-area is wide, at the occasional results of a genuine ignorance, or
-a legitimate nervousness. A well-known church in Central London
-can furnish several singular and recent experiences. It is not
-often that either of the contracting parties comes furnished with
-a prayer-book, but on a certain occasion the bride, a rather
-strong-minded-looking lady, did so, and insisted on holding it
-sternly and steadily under the nose of her future spouse. In
-repeating the passage in which "cherish" occurs, a bridegroom,
-in a faltering voice, expressed his willingness "to love and to
-'_perish_.'" "Oh, sir, I do feel _that_ nervous!" once pleaded
-another embarrassed swain in the middle of the service. A widower,
-who was extremely awkward and stupid in making the responses
-after the minister, apologised by saying, "Really, sir, it is so
-long since I was married last that I forget"! Another bridegroom,
-though middle-aged, seemed somewhat diffident with regard to his
-responsibilities, and answered to the inquiry, "Wilt thou love,
-comfort, honour, etc.?" "To the best of my abilities I will." A
-year or two ago, the roof of the particular church of which we
-are thinking was being renovated, and the interior was a maze of
-ladders. Under these a superstitious bride earnestly begged not
-to be compelled to go, so she was considerately conducted to the
-chancel by a circuitous route. There was a wedding last year at
-which a tiny bridesmaid made her appearance. As he had married her
-parents about six summers previously, the clergyman thought he
-might venture to take her by the arm and to place her in her proper
-position behind the bride. Considerably to his surprise, the small
-damsel hit out at him in a most workmanlike manner straight from
-the shoulder, and the edifice resounded with a terrific yell of
-defiance, "Me _won't_! Me WON'T!"
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Church Missionary Society._)
-
-INDIAN ORPHANS AT A BREAKFAST SUPPLIED BY MISSIONARIES.
-
-(_A scene during the recent famine._)]
-
-
-Some New Books.
-
-One of the most interesting biographies of the season is that of
-Bishop Walsham How, which has just been issued by Messrs. Isbister,
-prefaced by an excellent portrait of the late prelate. The Bishop
-was principally known by his work in the East of London, where
-he was greatly loved by clergy and parishioners alike, and many
-excellent stories are related _apropos_ of his cheeriness and
-tolerant good nature in dealing with the mixed elements of his
-crowded diocese. The memoir seems full and complete, as, indeed,
-it should be, the biographer being Mr. Frederick How (a son of
-the late Bishop), who had access to all the private memoranda of
-his father, and was naturally acquainted with every incident of
-interest concerning him. From the same publishers comes an excellent
-work by our contributor, Dean Farrar, on "Great Books," in which
-he critically reviews the life and works of Bunyan, Shakespeare,
-Dante, Milton, and other "master-spirits." Though admittedly written
-for young people, the volume contains much that is valuable and
-interesting to older readers. Messrs. Isbister have also recently
-issued a volume of sermons by the Rev. Stopford A. Brooke, under
-the title "The Gospel of Joy." Whilst we do not endorse all the
-views expressed by the author, yet at the same time we are bound to
-confess that Mr. Brooke's eloquent addresses teem with happy and
-suggestive thoughts.--A daintily produced volume reaches us from
-the Scientific Press in the form of Mr. J. T. Woolrych Perowne's
-account of his recent journey in Russian Central Asia, published
-under the comprehensive title "Russian Hosts and English Guests in
-Central Asia." In many respects the journey described was quite
-unique, and the interest is considerably increased by the number
-and variety of the excellent illustrations which are scattered
-throughout the book.--"Table-talk with Young Men" (Hodder and
-Stoughton) is the title which the Rev. W. J. Dawson gives to his
-recently published series of "pen-conversations" with young men.
-Mr. Dawson's practical, straightforward and cultured "talk" on
-such diverse subjects as "The Art of Living," "Christianity and
-Progress," "Civic Responsibility," etc., is not only brilliant but
-highly instructive, and the book is one which should find a place
-on every young man's bookshelf, for it will richly repay careful
-and constant perusal.--We have also to acknowledge the receipt of
-"Comfort and Counsel" (Hodder and Stoughton), containing quotations
-from the writings of Elizabeth Rundle Charles for every day in the
-year; "The Children's Year-Book of Prayer and Praise" (Longmans),
-compiled by C. M. Whishaw; a useful and informing little volume on
-"Diet and Food" (J. and A. Churchill), by Dr. Alexander Haig; "A
-Cluster of Camphire" (Passmore and Alabaster), containing short,
-sympathetic addresses by Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon to those who are sick
-and sorrowful; and "The Daily Homily" (Morgan and Scott), a series
-of brief, pregnant discourses on the books of the Bible from 1
-Samuel to Job, by the Rev. F. B. Meyer.
-
-
-"Out of the Eater came forth Meat."
-
-Samson's riddle is an everlasting proverb. Out of the devouring
-famine that last year devastated India blessings have already come
-to many provinces. A conquered race find it hard to love and trust
-their rulers, but in their trouble dwellers in the famine districts
-saw the practical side of Christianity. In the midst of universal
-rejoicing England was moved with compassion, and provided food for
-the starving. Government, in many instances, entrusted missionaries
-with the distribution of grain. The Indian people are slow to act
-and strong to endure. Thousands perished because they could not or
-would not realise that relief was within reach. Parents gave their
-last morsels to their children, and then lay down to die. Orphanages
-overflowed, and new ones had to be erected. Where an open shed and
-light meals of milk, rice, and curry meet the ideas of home and
-housekeeping, this is easier than it sounds. After a famine the
-number of Christian adherents to missions is always multiplied, and
-the supply of pupils creates new demand for teachers. It must be
-acknowledged that the taunt of being "rice-Christians" is sometimes
-justified, though there is little doubt that genuine gratitude to
-God, who moved His servants to help them, has caused numbers to turn
-to Him.
-
-
-Abraham's Vineyard.
-
-This piece of land is close to the Holy City, and now belongs to
-the Society for the Relief of Persecuted Jews. When the necessary
-excavation for building was begun, Abraham's Vineyard revealed
-signs of former glory and prosperity. Tesselated pavement, vats,
-baths, and a columbarium hewn out of the rock, showed that it had
-once belonged to a householder with taste for luxury as well as an
-eye for exquisite scenery. The baths and vats have been converted
-into cisterns for rain-water, and the place has become the scene
-of industry. The earth, in past years again and again reddened by
-battles, now yields peaceful harvests of grain. All the Jewish
-refugees are not, however, cultivators. Soap-making from olive oil
-and alkali grown on the Jordan Plain, glue-making, stone-dressing,
-quarrying, are industries which offer many of them an honest living.
-The idea of the founders of this society was "to give relief and
-employment to the Jews, especially in Jerusalem, until they are able
-to found colonies on their own account." The experiment of Abraham's
-Vineyard has succeeded, and the Jews have carried the work farther,
-as the trade in Jaffa oranges and olive-wood ware testify.
-
-
-OUR CHRISTMAS NUMBER.
-
-"CHRISTMAS ARROWS" (the Extra Christmas Number of THE QUIVER) is
-published simultaneously with this part, and contains a complete
-one-volume story by M. H. Cornwall Legh, entitled "=The Steep
-Ascent=," copiously illustrated by Frank Craig. In addition
-will be found a seasonable article by the Rev. Dr. Preston, on
-"=Christmas Chimes from Jerusalem=" (illustrated by Mark Zangwill);
-a contribution by the Rev. Canon McCormick entitled "=Christian
-Hospitality="; and a long fairy-parable by E. H. Strain which bears
-the title "=The Star Ruby=," and is illustrated by H. R. Millar.
-"Christmas Arrows" also contains full particulars and conditions
-of our scheme for providing =Christmas Stockings= for poor and
-friendless children, as well as the =Voting Form= which any reader
-is at liberty to use to recommend suitable cases for the receipt of
-our Christmas gift.
-
-
-ROLL OF HONOUR FOR SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORKERS.
-
-The =Special Silver Medal= and =Presentation Bible= offered for the
-longest known Sunday-school service in the county of =Leicester=
-(for which applications were invited up to October 31st) have been
-gained by
-
-  MISS ANNE HARRISON,
-         42, Humberstone Gate,
-                Leicester.
-
-who has distinguished herself by =fifty-eight= years' service in
-Harvey Lane Baptist Chapel, Leicester.
-
-As already announced, the next territorial county for which claims
-are invited for the =Silver Medal= is
-
-  SUSSEX,
-
-and applications, on the special form, must be received on or before
-November 30th, 1898. We may add that =Wiltshire= is the following
-county selected, the date-limit for claims in that case being
-December 31st, 1898. This county, in its turn, will be followed by
-=Durham=, for which the date will be one month later--viz. January
-31st, 1899.
-
-The names of members recently enrolled will be found in our
-advertisement pages.
-
-
-
-
-NEW QUIVER WAIFS.
-
-To be Selected by our Readers.
-
-
-For many years past our readers have generously taken the
-responsibility of maintaining a waif at Dr. Barnardo's Homes, and
-another at Miss Sharman's Orphanage in Southwark; but, as the
-present waifs are now growing up, and will soon be out in the world,
-the time has come for another selection. For this purpose, we have
-obtained particulars of eligible cases, which we submit to our
-readers, and, as we look to them for a continuance of their kindly
-help in supporting THE QUIVER Waifs, we feel that they would prefer
-to choose the new little ones who are to be so known. We would,
-therefore, request our readers to send a post-card (addressed to
-The Editor of THE QUIVER, La Belle Sauvage, London, E.C.), stating
-for which waif in each of the two sets they desire to vote, and
-the children with the highest number of votes will be elected. The
-post-cards should reach the Editor not later than December 31st,
-1898. It should be particularly understood that this course will
-imply no pecuniary obligation whatever on the part of the voters, as
-we shall rely solely upon the voluntary contributions of our readers
-to furnish the total requisite sum for the maintenance of the waifs,
-which amounts to £31 per year. All donations will be acknowledged in
-THE QUIVER month by month.
-
-
-Particulars of Cases.
-
-I. _For Dr. Barnardo's Homes_ (one vote):--
-
-ALBERT LE VASSEUR.--Eight years of age--mother left a widow with ten
-children--totally unable to support them all--when discovered there
-was no food or money in the house.
-
-CHARLES SALT.--Seven years of age--mother a "drunken and
-disreputable tramp"--father little better--parents without a home
-and constantly ill-treating the child.
-
-JOHN HARRISON.--Seven years of age--found in streets begging in
-ragged condition--father dead--mother disreputable--John somewhat
-lame in walk, owing to injury to the right knee in infancy.
-
-II. _For Miss Sharman's Orphanage_ (one vote):--
-
-ROSE HEELIS.--Aged two years--was born shortly after her father's
-death--mother has died of consumption--promises to grow into a very
-nice child, and is full of life and spirits.
-
-ETHEL ROBINSON.--Aged six years--father killed by an
-accident--mother in lunatic asylum--relatives too poor to help.
-
-LILY PAVITT.--Aged ten years--mother dead--father deserted
-children--an aunt took the child, but was unable to support her.
-
-
-THE QUIVER FUNDS.
-
-The following is a list of contributions received from October 1st
-up to and including October 31st, 1898. Subscriptions received after
-this date will be acknowledged next month:--
-
-For "_The Quiver_" _Waifs' Fund_: A Glasgow Mother (101st donation),
-1s.; J. J. E. (131st donation), 5s.; R. S., Crouch End (7th
-donation), 5s.; E. M. B., Jedburgh, 3s.; R. Dendy, Eastbourne, 3s.;
-Anon., Alford, 1s.
-
-For "_The Quiver_" _Christmas Stocking Fund_: Jessie, Agnes, and
-Cyril, 2s. 6d.; M. T., 5s.
-
-For _The Ragged School Union_: R. H. B., 2s. 6d.
-
-For _The Indian Leper Mission Fund_: A Thank-Offering, 1s.
-
-For _Dr. Barnardo's Homes_: An Irish Girl, 13s. Also 7s. 6d. from
-Diomedes sent direct.
-
-For _St. Giles Christian Mission_: Thank-Offering, 1s.
-
-
-
-
-THE QUIVER BIBLE CLASS.
-
-(BASED ON THE INTERNATIONAL SCRIPTURE LESSONS.)
-
-
-QUESTIONS.
-
-13. What was the great sin of which Zedekiah, king of Judah, was
-guilty and for which he was punished?
-
-14. In what way was Zedekiah punished?
-
-15. What prophecy was thereby fulfilled?
-
-16. In what way does the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews
-contrast the revelation of God to mankind under the old dispensation
-with that of the new?
-
-17. Quote a text which shows the relationship of the angels to the
-human race.
-
-18. What is the special characteristic of the Gospel of St. John?
-
-19. Quote text in which St. John asserts the truth of the
-Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
-
-20. What reference to St. John the Baptist was made by the last of
-the Old Testament prophets?
-
-21. It is said of our Lord, "He came unto His own, and His own
-received Him not." Quote passage from the Old Testament which shows
-that this passage refers to the Jewish people.
-
-22. From what circumstance should we gather that Nathanael was a
-diligent student of the Old Testament?
-
-23. In what words did our Lord show forth His divinity in speaking
-to Nathanael?
-
-24. In what way did St. John the Baptist point out to his disciples
-that Jesus was the Messiah?
-
-
-ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ON PAGE 96.
-
-1. Manasseh defiled the Temple at Jerusalem by setting up an idol
-therein (2 Chron. xxxiii. 7).
-
-2. 2 Chron. xxxiii. 14.
-
-3. Manasseh, having been reinstated in his kingdom by the Assyrians,
-gave up his idolatry and did all he could to restore the worship of
-God in the land (2 Chron. xxxiii. 14-17).
-
-4. Prov. iv. 14, 17.
-
-5. Prov. iv. 18.
-
-6. In the reign of Josiah the king sent to Huldah the prophetess to
-inquire as to God's will concerning the people (2 Kings xxii. 14-20).
-
-7. The copy of the Law which Moses had written was found (2 Kings
-xxii. 8; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 14).
-
-8. In the reign of Amon, king of Judah, we are told the people
-worshipped the "sun, moon, and stars, and all the host of heaven" (2
-Kings xxiii. 5).
-
-9. In the reign of Josiah, who burnt men's bones on the altar at
-Bethel (2 Kings xxiii. 15, 16; 1 Kings xiii. 2).
-
-10. Jehoiakim threw on the fire the roll on which Jeremiah had
-written at God's command a warning to the king and his people (Jer.
-xxxvi. 23).
-
-11. Jer. xxii. 13, 14; 2 Kings xxiv. 4.
-
-12. Jehoiakim was bound in fetters to carry him to Babylon, but was
-slain at Jerusalem and his dead body cast outside the city (2 Chron.
-xxxvi. 6; Jer. xxii. 19).
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Transcriber's note:
-
-Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
-Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as
-printed.
-
-Missing page numbers are page numbers that were not shown in the
-original text.
-
-The illustrations have been moved so that they do not break up
-paragraphs.
-
-Mismatched quotes are not fixed if it's not sufficiently clear where
-the missing quote should be placed.
-
-The cover for the eBook version of this book was created by the
-transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Quiver, 11/1899, by Anonymous
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Quiver, 11/1899, by Anonymous
-
-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: The Quiver, 11/1899
-
-Author: Anonymous
-
-Release Date: September 15, 2013 [EBook #43738]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ASCII
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUIVER, 11/1899 ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Delphine Lettau, Julia Neufeld and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
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-
-Transcriber's note:
-
-Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
-
-Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=).
-
-Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals.
-
-The carat character (^) indicates that the following letter is
-superscripted (example: y^e).
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-
-
-
-The Quiver 11/1899
-
-
-[Illustration: MOTHERHOOD.
-
-_After the Picture by_ MISS IDA LOVERING.]
-
-
-
-
-LADY DOCTORS IN HEATHEN LANDS
-
-By the Author of "The Child Wives and Widows of India," Etc.
-
-
-A garrison of snow-capped mountains; a valley smiling in Oriental
-luxuriance; the gorgeous, romantic loveliness described in
-"Lalla Rookh"--such are the general impressions of the land of
-Kashmir. Dirt, disease, and degradation summed up its prevailing
-characteristics in the eyes of an Englishman, who, in October, 1872,
-toiled wearily over the Pir Panjal, 11,900 feet above the level of
-the sea.
-
-This was Dr. Elmslie's last journey. He hardly realised, as he
-dragged his weary limbs over rough but familiar paths, that one
-object for which he had struggled for years was practically
-accomplished. He sank from exhaustion on the way, and the day
-after his death Government granted permission for missionaries to
-spend the winter in the Valley of Kashmir. Still farther was he
-from knowing of another result of his labours. He had appealed to
-Englishwomen to bring the gifts of healing to suffering and secluded
-inmates of zenanas. Dr. Elmslie had found a direct way to the hearts
-of prejudiced heathen men. The sick came to him for healing, and
-learnt the meaning of his self-denying life.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Elliott and Fry._)
-
-THE LATE DR. FANNY BUTLER.
-
-(_At the time she went to India._)]
-
-"Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life,"
-are ancient words of wisdom; but this rule has exceptions. To Hindu
-women, at least, caste is dearer than life. It would be as easy
-to restore the down to a bruised butterfly's wing as to give back
-self-respect, and with it all that makes life worth living, to a
-zenana lady who has been exposed to the gaze or touch of a man other
-than a near relation. Custom of the country debars a respectable
-woman from receiving ministry to body, soul, or mind, unless it
-comes from one of her own sex. Dr. Elmslie's appeal resulted in Miss
-Fanny Butler's offer of service to the Indian Female Normal School
-and Instruction Society. She was the first enrolled student of the
-London School of Medicine, which had just been transferred from
-Edinburgh, and passed second out of one hundred and twenty-three
-candidates, one hundred and nineteen of whom were men, in the
-Preliminary Arts Examination. She went to India in October, 1880,
-the first fully qualified medical missionary to women.
-
-Seventeen years after Dr. Elmslie's death Dr. Fanny Butler obtained
-another concession for Kashmir, the permission for missionaries to
-live within the city of Srinagar. She saw the foundations of a new
-hospital for women begun within the city, and fourteen days after
-she also laid down what, an hour before her death, she described
-as a "good long life," in the service of Kashmiri people. The age
-of thirty-nine, she said to the friends who surrounded her, and
-who felt that she of all others could not be spared, was "not so
-very young to die," and she sent an earnest plea to the Church of
-England Zenana Society, the division of the old society to which
-she belonged, to send someone quickly to take her place. The new
-hospital was the gift of Mrs. Bishop (Miss Isabella Bird) in memory
-of her husband. She had seen the dirty crowd of suffering women at
-the dispensary door overpower two men, and the earliest arrivals
-precipitated head foremost by the rush from behind, whilst numbers
-were turned away in misery and disappointment.
-
-Hospitals and dispensaries have rapidly increased since the day
-of pioneers. Absolute necessity has forced medical work on many
-missionaries in the field. The most elementary knowledge of nursing
-and hygiene appears miraculous to women sunk in utter ignorance. A
-white woman too modest to give them remedies for every ailment is
-usually regarded as unkind. A neglected missionary dispensary is
-practically unknown.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Church of England Zenana
-Missionary Society._)
-
-OUTSIDE THE VERANDAH OF THE WOMEN'S HOSPITAL AT TARN TARAN.
-
-(_Showing some of the patients placed out to spend the hot night in
-the open._)]
-
-At the time when the Countess Dufferin started her admirable
-scheme for providing medical aid for Indian women a well-known
-Anglo-Indian surgeon stated publicly that, whatever other
-qualification was required in a candidate, two were absolutely
-necessary: she must be a lady in the highest sense of the word,
-and she must be a Christian, and he proceeded to give good reasons
-for what he said. The experience of every woman who has taken up
-this work would bear out his sentiments. Without courtesy and
-ready intuition of the feelings of others it would be hard to
-get an entrance into zenanas, and nothing but love and devotion
-to her Master would enable a woman to persevere in spending her
-life amongst sick heathen women, in spite of sights, scenes, and
-vexations beyond conception in England.
-
-[Illustration: (_From a Photograph._)
-
-THE DUCHESS OF CONNAUGHT'S HOSPITAL, PESHAWUR.]
-
-The greatest difficulties are probably met in high-caste zenanas.
-There, in the midst of unhealthy surroundings, the friends and
-neighbours have grand opportunities of undoing any good that may
-have been accomplished. It is grievous to a medical missionary to
-find her fever patient dying from a douche of cold water, because
-the white woman has defiled her high caste by feeling her pulse.
-It is enough to make her give up a case in despair if, after she
-has explained that quiet is absolutely necessary, the friends and
-neighbours decide that the evil spirit supposed to be in possession
-must be driven out by the music of tom-toms. A Hindu man is said
-to "sin religiously," and a Hindu woman excels him in devotion to
-her creed. A fever patient in the Punjab refused to drink milk--the
-one thing of all others that her medical woman ordered her--because
-she said, if it were the last thing she swallowed, her soul would
-pass into the body of a cobra. One medical missionary found a
-woman, who was in a critical state, lying on a mat, whilst an old
-woman, supposed to be learned in sickness, stood on her body, or
-patrolled up and down like a sentinel, as far as the length would
-admit. This was kindly meant. Another found one suffering seriously
-from the effect of a linseed poultice. She had carefully explained
-the mysteries of making and applying it, but in her absence the
-patient's friends had spread dry linseed over her chest and poured
-boiling water over it.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Baness Bros._)
-
-WAITING THEIR TURN.
-
-(_Patients outside the Tarn Taran Hospital Dispensary._)]
-
-Happily, all the women in India are not secluded in zenanas. By
-far the largest proportion live in the villages, but their notions
-of propriety are very strict. The hard-working field-women will hide
-themselves on the suspicion of a _sahib_ being within reach. When
-once they are satisfied that the visitor belongs to their own sex
-and is harmless, crowds beset the missionary encampments. Many tales
-of suffering are poured into sympathising ears.
-
-"I am blind from crying for my only son" is not an infrequent
-complaint. Nothing can be done in this case.
-
-"There is no god or goddess to love a Hindu woman. Whatever
-offerings we make her, the goddess of small-pox smites us, and then
-the men say the women have not offered enough, and are angry." This
-was the reply of a Punjabi woman, who spoke for her friends and
-neighbours.
-
-One Bengali woman told a missionary of the death of a precious baby
-boy. There did not seem much the matter, but the _hakim_ (a native
-quack) first gave him something burning to swallow, and then applied
-a red-hot iron to each side in turn; and the child only drew one or
-two breaths after this treatment. This also, one hopes, was kindly
-meant. The Hindus are by no means wanting in humanity, but ignorance
-is often as fatal as cruelty.
-
-Many patients find an excuse for coming again and again to the
-dispensaries. There they hear of blessings in this world and the
-next which they say seem too good to be true. They see love shining
-in the earnest faces, and feel it in the touch of hands that will
-not shrink from dressing repulsive sores.
-
-The majority of cases in dispensaries are ordinary fevers or skin
-diseases resulting from dirt, and other scourges that follow
-defiance of elementary rules of health.
-
-Patients discharged as cured often return. "Tell me again that Name
-that I can say when I pray," one of them asked, to explain the
-reappearance of her shrivelled old face; "I forget so soon." And she
-went on her way repeating the Name that even some of the heathen
-realise must be exalted above all others.
-
-"I know that your Jesus must reign over our land," a Punjabi woman
-said to a lady who had opened a dispensary at Tarn Taran, a sacred
-city of the Sikhs; "I know it, because your religion is full of
-love and ours has none at all."
-
-The mission hospital at this city, with the name which literally
-means "The Place of Salvation," and the dispensary seen in the
-illustration, came mainly into being through the determination
-of the inhabitants. A suffering baby might claim a share in its
-existence. This infant's mother brought it to a missionary whose
-training as a nurse had made her a friend in sickness. The child's
-sight was hopelessly gone. The mother said that the _hakim_ had told
-her alum was good for sore eyes, so she had put it under the lids.
-
-"You have used it in such a way as to blind your baby," the
-missionary said; "and I could have told you what to do."
-
-"How should I know?" the woman replied, using a common phrase to
-express helplessness or lethargy; but she told the story to her
-friends, and other mothers, whose babies' eyes were suffering, soon
-proved that the white woman had made no empty boast. Ophthalmia
-is terribly common in India, and its marvellous cures began to be
-famous.
-
-One day a family party carried an invalid into the verandah of the
-Tarn Taran mission house. The missionary looked inside the _doolie_;
-she was not a doctor, and declined to undertake such a serious case,
-and told the men to take their invalid to the Amritsar Hospital.
-They were determined to take no such trouble. To show that she was
-equally determined to make them, she went inside the house and shut
-the doors and blinds. Who would hold out the longest? The result was
-a foregone conclusion. The Punjabis, armed with a greater disregard
-for a woman's life, gained the victory by the simple method of
-beating a retreat, leaving the helpless woman behind them. In common
-humanity she could not be left to die. In a few days her family
-returned to inquire, and were gratified to find her progressing
-towards recovery. The white woman's celebrity was now secured, and
-to her consternation and embarrassment she found her verandah full
-of patients, and, from overwork, was soon herself added to the
-number. The people of Tarn Taran afterwards gave the building for a
-Women's Mission Hospital, and a new one is now in the charge of a
-fully qualified lady doctor.
-
-Hospitals are by far the most satisfactory part of medical
-missions. In zenanas and dispensaries it is one thing to prescribe
-and give advice, and another for orders to be obeyed, especially
-if they are contrary to rules of caste or custom. It is well known
-that a Hindu soldier, who will follow his British officer into the
-fiercest _melee_, and, if necessary, die for him, if true to his own
-creed, will not receive a cup of water at his hands. When wounded
-his parched lips will close tightly, lest his caste should suffer.
-The same principle debars his womenfolk from accepting physic in
-a liquid form from Englishwomen. They may, however, take powders.
-Written directions are generally useless, and verbal ones often
-misunderstood. It is little wonder if dispensary patients make slow
-progress.
-
-"Are you sure you took the medicine I gave you?" inquired a medical
-missionary of one who made no advance at all.
-
-"Quite sure, Miss Sahiba."
-
-"How did you take it?"
-
-"I ate the paper and threw away the dust."
-
-This mistake was not astonishing under the circumstances. One
-Mohammedan specific is to swallow a paper pellet with the name of
-God written in Arabic; another, for the _mullah_ to write an Arabic
-inscription on a plate, and for the water that washes it off to be
-the dose.
-
-[Illustration: A GROUP OF WORKERS AT THE DUCHESS OF CONNAUGHT'S
-HOSPITAL.
-
-(_Dr. Wheeler stands at the left-hand side of group._)]
-
-It is well when superstition and misconception stop short at
-swallowing paper and inky water. A woman, seriously injured from
-an accident, was carried into the Duchess of Connaught Hospital,
-Peshawur. Her husband accompanied her, and saw the medical
-missionary in charge carefully attend to fractures and bruises. Rest
-and sleep and quiet were doing their work, and the man was left to
-watch. A sudden crash startled the ward. The husband had turned
-the bedstead over on its side, and flung his wife down. He fancied
-she was dying, and said it would imperil her soul if it departed
-whilst she lay on anything but the floor. He had the satisfaction
-of knowing that she died where he placed her. This was a case
-of a Hindu "sinning religiously." It would be harder to forgive
-the frequent sacrifice of life to superstition, if there were no
-ennobling element underlying it of honest desire for some vague
-spiritual good.
-
-The Duchess of Connaught Hospital is a permanent memorial of her
-Royal Highness's kind interest in the women of India. Whilst on the
-North-Western Frontier she went through the Dispensary and Nursing
-Home which represented the first effort to bring medical aid to the
-Afghan women, and allowed it to be called after her name. A new and
-much larger building, of which a drawing has been reproduced, has
-taken the place of the native quarters, where Mohammedan bigotry
-was by slow degrees overcome. For years the ladies of the Church of
-England Zenana Missionary Society, who had charge of this hospital,
-were the only Europeans living within the walls of Peshawur.
-Every night the great city gates closed them in, and separated
-them from other missionaries and from Government servants. They
-chose to be in the midst of their work, and though outbreaks of
-Mohammedan fanaticism repeatedly checked teaching in schools and
-zenanas, ministry to the sick continued, and never lost the friendly
-confidence of Peshawuris.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Church of England Zenana
-Missionary Society._)
-
-STAFF AND PATIENTS OF ST. CATHERINE'S HOSPITAL, AMRITSAR.]
-
-In its early and humbler days, the fame of this hospital reached
-far-away Khorassan. A lady of that country who was suffering
-terribly, caused herself to be carried the fifteen days' journey to
-Peshawur. Miss Mitcheson, who opened the first dispensary, and is
-now the head of the hospital, saw that her case was critical and
-required an operation of a far more serious kind than she had ever
-attempted, and begged her to allow the civil surgeon to see her.
-
-"I would rather die," the patient answered. The combined forces of
-suffering, fear of death, and persuasion, were powerless to move
-her. The Englishwoman, of whose powers she had heard in her own
-country, might do what she liked with her, but no man should come
-near her. Happily Miss Mitcheson successfully accomplished what was
-necessary, and the Khorassan lady made a good recovery. When the
-time came for parting from her new friends, she promised to use in
-her own country the knowledge she had gained in Peshawur. She kept
-her word, as more visitors from Khorassan testified, and they said
-she had not forgotten the benefits she had received in the mission
-hospital.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Church Missionary Society._)
-
-BACK VIEW OF NEW WOMEN'S HOSPITAL, HANGCHOW.]
-
-During Miss Mitcheson's absence in England Dr. Charlotte Wheeler,
-who with her fellow-workers, in the illustration on p. 102, stands
-in the verandah of the old building, superintended the medical work.
-On Miss Mitcheson's return, Miss Wheeler opened a medical mission
-amongst the women in Quetta. This work extended rapidly on and
-beyond the frontier, so that in November, 1896, when it was a year
-old, eight different languages were spoken on the same day in the
-dispensary waiting room.
-
-Institutions for training Christian girls of India as doctors or
-nurses have come into existence as the number of candidates has
-increased and the necessity has arisen. The North India School
-of Medicine has been established at Ludhiana with this object.
-Many of the mission hospitals also have training classes. St.
-Catherine's Hospital, Amritsar, under the superintendence of Miss
-Hewlett, who has had nineteen years' experience, has provided very
-valuable assistant medical missionaries for stations in the Punjab
-and Bengal. At the last census a hundred Christian women--counting
-missionaries, assistants, patients, nurses and students--were within
-its walls. An illustration shows the inmates mustering before going
-to church.
-
-One student in St. Catherine's Hospital, who had gained a
-scholarship, gave promise of a brilliant career. Before the time
-of study in which she delighted was over, the lady superintendent
-became suspicious of what this young girl described as broken
-chilblains on her fingers. A doctor was called in, and confirmed
-her impression that it was leprosy. An Eastern girl knows, what in
-Europe is only faintly imagined, of the horrors of this loathsome
-disease. One cry of anguish only escaped her when she was told
-the verdict. Then she rose above the trial, and resigned herself
-cheerfully to the will of God. She was prepared to start the next
-day for the Leper Settlement near Calcutta without meeting her
-friends or fellow-students for a word of farewell.
-
-"What comforts me," she said to the Clerical Secretary of the Church
-of England Zenana Missionary Society, who was in Amritsar at the
-time, "is that I may go as a missionary rather than as a patient."
-
-She went to that place of death and banishment, to live out the rest
-of her days in ministry for others. In her case the days lingered
-into years, and the disease took a severe form, but her devotion
-and courage never failed. When death came to her as a friend, and
-her work was done, the memory of the "superior girl," who had lived
-among the afflicted people as a missionary rather than a patient,
-remained. Perhaps her fellowship in suffering gave her the final
-qualification to be a missionary to lepers.
-
-India is the land which above all others cries out for lady medical
-missionaries; but other Eastern countries have also a claim.
-Wherever Islam has planted its iron heel, women are jealously
-guarded in harems, and it is very unusual for a man to be allowed
-entrance on any pretext. In China, also, women of superior class are
-hidden within the high walls that surround their houses. Those free
-to go out gain little but suffering from the barbarous attentions of
-native surgeons. In the East the knowledge which brings relief from
-pain is a power to overcome obstacles to Christianity that resist
-every other force.
-
-The Church of England Zenana Missionary Society has sent out a
-qualified lady doctor to Foochow, and in 1894 the Church Missionary
-Society opened a hospital for women in Hangchow with one large
-and six smaller wards. One patient who was brought into this
-building--of which two views are given--suffering from diseased
-bones, has gone out to devote her recovered health and new knowledge
-to the service of God and her own countrywomen.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Church Missionary Society._)
-
-INTERIOR OF NEW WOMEN'S HOSPITAL, HANGCHOW]
-
-There is scarcely a mission hospital or dispensary that cannot
-tell of similar results of the double ministry to body and soul.
-Each year justifies the increased number of women with medical
-qualifications sent into the mission field. Some, like Mrs.
-Russell Watson, of the Baptist Mission at Chefu, are the wives of
-missionaries, others have been sent out by various missions, such
-as the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission, or by the women's branches
-(added during the close of the present century), to the more
-venerable societies.
-
-Dr. Henry Martyn Clark, of Amritsar, once asked a friendly Hindu
-what department of foreign missions his people considered most
-dangerous.
-
-"Why should I reveal our secrets to the enemy?" the Hindu responded.
-But he yielded to persuasion. "We do not very much fear your
-preaching," he said, "for we need not listen; nor your schools, for
-we need not send our children; nor your books, for we need not read
-them. But we do fear your women, for they are gaining our homes; and
-we very much fear your medical missions, for they are gaining our
-hearts. Hearts and homes gone, what shall we have left?"
-
-What may be expected when medical and women's missions are combined?
-According to the friendly Hindu, the very citadels of idolatry and
-superstition might tremble at the advance of this double force to
-rescue the captives.
-
-  D. L. WOOLMER.
-
-[Illustration: OUR ROLL OF HEROIC DEEDS]
-
-This month we devote our space to a pictorial representation of an
-heroic act by James Williamson, a fisherman of Whalsay, Shetland.
-During a heavy storm he waded out to the succour of two companions,
-who had been pinned on the rocks by their capsized boat and were
-in imminent danger of drowning. Williamson was at first carried
-away by a heavy sea, but was returned by the next. Then with an
-extraordinary effort he lifted the side of the boat, seized the men,
-and, with one under each arm, fought his way through the boiling
-surf to dry land. For this conspicuous act of bravery Williamson was
-awarded the Silver Medal of THE QUIVER Heroes Fund.]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: PLEDGED]
-
-PLEDGED
-
-By Katharine Tynan, Author of "A Daughter of Erin," Etc.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-YOUTH AT THE PROW.
-
-
-"And then, old fellow," went on Sir Anthony's letter to Jack Leslie,
-of the Blues, his particular chum, "I stood staring, with my eyes
-watering and a little scratch on my nose bleeding where the old
-rooster--for a rooster it was--struck me with his spurs as he flew.
-He might have knocked out my eye, the brute! The second missile (an
-invention they call a sun-bonnet, I believe, made of pink calico and
-horribly stiffened) lay crumpled at my feet. And there in front of
-me stood the culprit herself, looking half-ashamed and half-inclined
-to follow the example of the other sun-bonnet which had buried
-itself in a big chair at the end of the room, and made scarcely a
-pretence of stifling its peals of laughter. I felt no end of a ninny
-I can tell you, especially as the owner of the first sun-bonnet was
-by long chalks the most beautiful creature I'd ever seen.
-
-"I'm no good at describing a girl's charms, but even at the first
-glance her beautiful violet eyes struck me. Blue eyes and black
-lashes and eyebrows--it is a thing happens over here sometimes,
-they tell me. Then, though she'd been rushing about after the
-ancient barnyard fowl who was to have graced the table in my honour,
-she had no more colour than a white rose; and yet she looked the
-picture of health and life--so different from fine ladies. This was
-Miss Pamela--Pam for short--as I discovered later. To finish her
-description, her charming head is covered with a mass of short black
-curls. She had a very shabby frock on, which didn't take a bit from
-her loveliness. I couldn't help wondering what the mater would have
-thought if she could have seen her. She would surely have called her
-'a young woman,' with that superb contempt of hers.
-
-"However, the breeding tells. Nothing could have been finer than the
-little air with which she pulled herself together, and said, as if
-it were an every-day thing to blind and maim your visitors:
-
-"'You must be Sir Anthony Trevithick. I am so sorry. That wretched
-fowl flew in through the open window, and we've been three-quarters
-of an hour chasing him round. It was so unfortunate his flying out
-just at that moment, and still more unfortunate that I should have
-flung my bonnet after him. But you've no idea how he had aggravated
-us.'
-
-"I assure you the mater couldn't have done it better, if one could
-conceivably imagine the mater under such circumstances.
-
-"I could think of nothing to do but to pick up the bonnet and hand
-it to her, muttering some idiocy about it not mattering a bit. While
-this was going on the laughter in the chair was dying off in sobs of
-enjoyment.
-
-"But before we could get any further Mr. Graydon himself made his
-appearance. I suppose something about my looks struck him--for a
-cucumber wasn't in it for coolness with Miss Pam--because he said,
-'Why, bless me, Sir Anthony! what's the matter? What's the matter,
-Pam? Why, Sir Anthony, your nose is bleeding!'
-
-[Illustration: "The old rooster struck me with his spurs."--_p._
-107.]
-
-"'Why, so it is!' said Miss Pam, calmly. 'Sir Anthony was trying
-to catch the red cock, papa, with a view to his dinner, but he's
-escaped, I'm sorry to say, and the dinner with him. It will be
-days before he comes home after the alarm we've given him. I'm
-so sorry you're wounded, Sir Anthony. Can I get you a little
-sticking-plaster?'
-
-"'I never know where I shall find the fowls in this house,' said
-Mr. Graydon, a little irascibly, I thought; 'but the drawing-room
-at least ought to be kept free from them. Why, Sylvia, what are you
-doing there, child? Come here, and speak to Sir Anthony.'
-
-"I expected a small child to come out of the big chair in answer to
-the summons; but, lo and behold! out of the sun-bonnet there looked
-another satin-cheeked damsel, almost as beautiful as the first. She
-made her bow demurely, and, I assure you, there wasn't a feather out
-of her after her fits of laughter at my expense. She had rather an
-ecstatic look, and her eyes were a bit moist--that was all. I can
-tell you I never felt so small in my life as when I stood up before
-those impudent girls, for I could see that the pair of them were
-hugely delighted at the whole affair.
-
-"'Get some tea for Sir Anthony, girls,' said the father, 'and see
-that he has hot water taken to his room; he's had a long journey.
-Sit down, my lad--that is, if there's a chair in the room without a
-dog on it. Here, Mark Antony, you lazy animal, come off that sofa.'
-This to the fattest bulldog I ever saw--with such a jowl. He's Miss
-Sylvia's, and an amiable dog, despite his looks.
-
-"Then the eldest daughter came in--not a patch on the others for
-beauty, but a Madonna of a creature, with a beautiful voice and a
-rather sad expression. She was greatly concerned about my scratched
-nose. But all the time she was talking I noticed that she looked at
-her father steadily reproachful. At last he noticed it too, for he
-suddenly blurted out:
-
-"'Why, bless my soul! Molly, I forgot all about it,' and then he
-stopped and laughed. Miss Pamela has told me since that they had
-instructed their father to keep me on the way as long as possible.
-
-"You'll gather that it is a rather rummy place. It is. The windows
-in my bedroom are mended with brown paper, and there are holes in
-the floor you could put your foot through. Not that my father's son
-need mind little hardships. But I am amused to think of what the
-mater would say, with her notions of things.
-
-"By the way, if you're in Brook Street any time, don't repeat
-what I've told you. The mater hated my coming here. She has some
-extraordinary prejudice against Graydon, though he scarcely seems
-to remember her. But as I've given up my desire for soldiering to
-please her, it's my turn now to please myself by reading for this
-Foreign Office grind with my father's old friend.
-
-"A word more and I am done. You'll think me as long-winded as
-some of those old women at the clubs. But their ways here are too
-delicious. The establishment is managed by one old woman--Bridget,
-who seems mistress, maid, and man rolled, in one. Well, the morning
-after I came, when I rang for my shaving water there was no
-response. At last I heard a foot go by my door, and I looked out
-cautiously. It was Bridget, and to her I made my request. 'Why,
-bless the boy!' she said, staring at me, 'You haven't been pullin'
-that old bell that's never rung in the memory of man?' I assured her
-I had. 'Well, then,' she said, 'goodness help your little wit! An'
-so ye want shavin' water, do ye? Sure, I thought ye wor a bit of a
-boy, that never wanted shavin' at all, at all!' However, she brought
-me the water obligingly, in an extraordinary piece of kitchen
-crockery. 'I suppose you're used to valetin',' she said. ''Twas
-Misther Mick spoiled me entirely for other young gentlemen. He'd
-dart down for his shavin' water--aye, many a time before I had the
-kitchen fire lit.' Mr. Mick was apparently a former pupil; I often
-hear of him.
-
-"There's any amount of sport here, but I won't tantalise you. I like
-Graydon better every day; he's a dear old boy, and though he's in
-the clouds half the time when he's supposed to be coaching me, I can
-see that he knows more than half the tutors in London put together.
-He's a delightful companion out of doors, a good sportsman, and as
-young as the youngest.
-
-"It's a mystery his being buried here. But I've no time to try to
-unriddle it now, and you'll never get as far as this, I expect.
-Good-bye, old fellow--I'm extremely well satisfied with my present
-quarters, and pity you in Knightsbridge. I suppose town is getting
-empty."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-When this enormous epistle was finished and sealed, the young
-gentleman put it in his pocket and went downstairs. His pace was
-hastened by the fact that he could hear the joyful yelping of dogs
-in the hall, from which he gathered that someone besides himself was
-bent on outdoor exercise. Indeed, as he reached the hall and caught
-his hat from one of the dusty antlers, he saw the two younger Miss
-Graydons setting out amid their leaping and yelping escorts. He
-hurried after and overtook them.
-
-"May I come with you?" he asked eagerly. "I've a very important
-letter to post, and if you're going to the village you might perhaps
-point out the post-office. I'm such a duffer at finding out things
-for myself."
-
-"But we're turning our backs on the village," said Miss Sylvia,
-"going in exactly the opposite direction."
-
-"Oh, well, then, it doesn't matter; the letter can wait till another
-time."
-
-"Though it is so important. Oh, but you must post it. We'll put you
-on the way for the village. You turn to the right and we to the left
-when we reach the gate; then you'll walk straight into the arms of
-the post-office."
-
-Pamela, who had not yet spoken, turned her heavenly-coloured eyes
-on her sister, but without speaking. Something in the look made the
-young fellow's heart throb suddenly.
-
-"Ah, Miss Sylvia," he said imploringly, "don't put difficulties in
-my way. I want to come for a walk, if you will have me, and the
-letter can wait. I'm not contemplative enough to enjoy a country
-walk alone; and it will be a pleasure to walk with you and your
-sister."
-
-"And the dogs?"
-
-"And the dogs. The joys of a country walk are doubled in the society
-of dogs."
-
-"I hope you'll think so when you have the felicity of fishing them
-out of a bog-hole. They will chase every beast they see; and our
-neighbour, Jack Malone's black cow, Polly, always leads them such a
-dance, ending up deservedly in a bog-hole."
-
-"I'll try to endure even that, Miss Sylvia."
-
-"Then if Mark Antony gets a thorn in his paw, as he almost
-invariably does, you'll have to carry him home."
-
-"He must weigh three stone, Miss Sylvia."
-
-"About that, Sir Anthony."
-
-"Then it is better I should carry him than you."
-
-"Oh, if you're bent on it, Sir Anthony."
-
-"If you're not bent against it, Miss Sylvia."
-
-"Well, come along then, for this is the parting of the ways."
-
-They had arrived at the gate by this time.
-
-"Sylvia should have told you, Sir Anthony, that though we turn our
-backs on the village, yet we pass a wall letter-box, which the
-postman empties on his way to Lettergort."
-
-It was Pamela speaking for the first time, and in this less
-hoydenish mood of hers she had a likeness to her gentle elder sister.
-
-"I'm not surprised to hear it, Miss Pamela. I guessed Miss Sylvia
-was only piling up the difficulties to tease me. But I was not to be
-put off."
-
-"You are really a most persistent person, Sir Anthony."
-
-"I know when I want a thing and mean to get it, Miss Sylvia."
-
-"Did you ever see anything more beautiful than the rose-light on
-that mountain, Sir Anthony?"
-
-"I have seen more beautiful things, Miss Pamela."
-
-He spoke with the utmost simplicity, but the girl blushed
-nevertheless, and was furious with herself for blushing.
-
-"See how rosy the peak is," she went on in some confusion, "but the
-woods are purple at the base. If we were over there where the road
-winds round the hill-foot, we should hear nothing but the singing of
-little streams. They are chattering through the bracken everywhere,
-and spilling into the road, where they make little channels for
-themselves, clear as amber."
-
-"They make your boots very wet and your skirt draggle-tailed,"
-remarked Sylvia.
-
-"I see chimneys rising above the wood," said Sir Anthony. "Is there
-a house there, then?"
-
-"There is, but it is empty at present. It belongs to Lord Glengall,
-who is away just now. It has a queer story attached to it."
-
-"Indeed?"
-
-"Yes. Lord Glengall went to Australia as a boy, and was unheard
-of for years. His mother lived there, with one old servant, in
-the bitterest poverty. She was so proud no one dared to interfere,
-until, it having been noticed that the chimneys were smokeless
-for days, the house was entered by force, and mistress and maid
-were found dying of starvation side by side. The house was full of
-valuables--lace and plate, and all kinds of lovely things--but they
-were heirlooms, and the old lady would rather starve than sell them,
-and the old servant was quite of the same mind."
-
-"What happened then?"
-
-"They were taken off to the Rectory by old Mr. Rogers, who died last
-year. And in the nick of time Lord Glengall, whom everyone said was
-dead, turned up safe and sound to nurse his old mother. 'I kept the
-things together for you, my boy,' she said as soon as she recognised
-him.
-
-"And the next thing she said," went on Sylvia, taking up the tale,
-"was, 'Where's that cat?' The faithfulness of animals, Sir Anthony!
-Old Tib, with whom they had shared all their short-commons, had, it
-seems, stolen the very last drop of milk that stood between them and
-starvation, and had then escaped through a window into the woods. 'I
-should like to give him a good hiding before I die.' That was the
-second speech of the indomitable old lady."
-
-"What a chance for the novelist this country of yours presents!"
-said Sir Anthony.
-
-"But that fortunately he never comes our way," replied Pamela.
-
-"Your father promised me you would take me fishing one day." He
-spoke to Sylvia, but his eyes turned from her to Pamela.
-
-"So we shall," said Sylvia readily.
-
-"The river runs quite close to the house?"
-
-"Yes, but if you want the pleasantest fishing, you must climb for
-it. Up there in the hills are little golden-brown trout-streams
-running through the valleys under the shadow of woods, and they are
-full of trout spoiling to be caught."
-
-"You know the best places, Miss Sylvia."
-
-"Don't let her guide you, Sir Anthony. I'll tell you a story about
-her. She was always tantalising Mick St. Leger, an old pupil of
-papa's, who is in India now, with stories of a wonderful pike which
-inhabited one of the big holes in the Moyle. Well, poor Mick used
-to sit and fish for hours, now and then catching a little fish by
-accident, for his heart wasn't in it for thinking of Sylvia's big
-pike. And Sylvia used to sit by watching him, apparently full of
-sympathy. One day he was fishing the big hole as usual, when he
-gave a long whistle. 'What is it, Mick?' Sylvia cried, running to
-him. 'It feels like a twenty-pounder,' said poor Mick, very red in
-the face. 'Oh, Mick, do let me help!' cried Sylvia. And then, with
-an immense deal of carefulness, and poor Mick holding on like grim
-death, they reeled up an old tin can full of stones, in the handle
-of which Mick's line was caught."
-
-"Mick would never have known," said Sylvia dispassionately, "if
-little Patsy Murray hadn't come running after me a week later,
-calling out, 'Where's that apple ye promised me for sinkin' me
-mother's ould can in the river?' Mick never believed in me as an
-honest angler afterwards."
-
-"No wonder! But to think your father should have suggested you as my
-guide, Miss Sylvia!"
-
-"Pam's just as bad, Sir Anthony. I generally do the things, but Pam
-encourages me."
-
-Pamela again turned those eyes of heaven's own colour in mute
-reproach upon her sister.
-
-"I'll have faith in you, Miss Pam," said Sir Anthony impulsively,
-"no matter what your sister says to the contrary."
-
-And he meant his rash promise.
-
-[Illustration: "The letter can wait till another time."--_p._ 109.]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-THE WISHING WELL.
-
-
-"My friends generally call me Tony," said a voice, the youthful
-growl of which was subdued to all possible softness.
-
-"We have known each other such a little while," replied Pamela,
-looking down at the ground, which had begun to cover itself in the
-flying gold of the autumn woods.
-
-"As the calendar counts; but we--'we count time by
-heart-throbs'--doesn't somebody say that?"
-
-A colour, like a pink rose-leaf, warmed in Pamela's clear cheek.
-
-"We have become very good friends," she said, "seeing that it is
-only six--or is it seven?--weeks ago since we met."
-
-"It is eight," said the youth. "I came in mid-July, and now it is
-mid-September. But it sometimes seems to me that I have always been
-here, and that my life elsewhere was but a dream."
-
-[Illustration: "Tell me what you wished for?"]
-
-"If that were so," she said demurely--and for a moment the violet
-eyes looked up at him under their shadow of night--"if that were so,
-then I might really call you by your name, Sir Anthony. But it is
-too soon."
-
-"Then you will one day, Miss Pamela? How many days must go by first?
-You called that other man--St. Leger--by his name. It is 'Mick' with
-all of you."
-
-"Ah," said Pamela, again with the bewildering glance; "but Mick was
-Mick, you see."
-
-A sudden irrational anger kindled in the young man's eye, and his
-expression stiffened.
-
-"Oh, I see," he said. "This paragon had special privileges which no
-one else may hope to share."
-
-"He certainly had," said Pamela. "For no one else would endure them,
-poor dear!"
-
-"Now, what do you mean by that?" he said doubtfully. "Do you mean
-the privilege of being called by his name?"
-
-"No, but the privilege of my society and Sylvia's."
-
-"He must have been jolly hard to please."
-
-"He wasn't, then. He was as easily pleased as a child. I should
-like to have seen you in some of the situations in which Mick
-distinguished himself."
-
-"I daresay I'd be very undistinguished. I make no pretence of being
-a paragon."
-
-"It would be useless to, Sir Anthony."
-
-"I don't dispute it, Miss Pamela. I suppose we'd better be making
-for home?"
-
-He turned and walked sulkily along the forest path with the girl by
-his side. For a second there was silence; then Pamela broke it by
-saying softly:
-
-"I often have thought that one reason why Molly fell in love with
-Mick was because she pitied him so much. He came to the wall in all
-our escapades. Of course, he was always in love with Molly, but I
-believe it was in protecting him from us that she became so fond of
-him."
-
-"He is your sister's lover, then?" incredulously.
-
-"Why, _of course_ he is. Whose did you suppose he was?"
-
-"Yours, Miss Pamela."
-
-"Mine! why, he'd never look at me when Molly was by. Besides, you
-don't know how horribly we ill-used the poor dear fellow."
-
-"Miss Pam, I wish you'd ill-use me."
-
-"You wouldn't like it at all, Sir Anthony."
-
-"Yes, I should, Miss Pamela. So Mick is engaged to your sister. What
-an ass I have been!"
-
-"Yes, poor dears, they are engaged, without the remotest prospect
-of ever being married that I can see. Mick's a subaltern in a line
-regiment, with just his pay--he got in through the Militia--and
-Molly, needless to say, hasn't a penny."
-
-"He's a lucky fellow, all the same. And now, Miss Pamela, what have
-we been quarrelling about?"
-
-"I'm sure I don't know, Sir Anthony. Have we been quarrelling?"
-
-"_I_ have."
-
-"But I haven't. I did think you were a little cross about something.
-But here is the Wishing Well that I told you about."
-
-They had come on a little glade of the forest, in the midst of which
-was a brier heavy with blackberries. The bush hooded a little space,
-and, looking underneath, one saw, as in a cup, a still depth of
-water over pebbles of gold and silver.
-
-"You are to drink, Sir Anthony, without spilling a drop, and think
-on your wish at the same time."
-
-"Drink from what, Miss Pamela?"
-
-"Why, from your hands, of course."
-
-"I couldn't; the water would all run away."
-
-"No, it wouldn't. See how I manage it."
-
-The girl scooped the water into her rosy palms and drank it slowly.
-Then she looked at him, and again the wave of rose flowed in her
-cheek.
-
-"I never could manage it; I'm such a duffer at things. Miss Pamela,
-would you let me drink from your hands? _Do!_"
-
-Without a word she stooped and lifted the water and held it to him.
-He drank from the rosy cup to the last drop. Then he suddenly caught
-the hands that had served him, and pressed them to his lips. For a
-moment they were yielded to him, and then the girl drew back. He
-thought she trembled a little, and the ardour in his gaze grew.
-
-"I am sorry," he said, "but I couldn't help it. You are not angry,
-Miss Pamela?"
-
-"I am going home, Sir Anthony," she said.
-
-"Not till you tell me one thing----"
-
-He barred her way, putting himself in front of her. "Tell me what
-you wished for."
-
-Her eyes fell before his, and as she stood with her hands clasped,
-and her head bent, she was a different creature from the wild Pamela
-of a few short weeks ago. The sunlight through the thinned branches
-fell on her short curls, for her hat--which she had been swinging by
-a ribbon--had fallen to her feet.
-
-"Look at me," he said; "I want to see what is in your eyes."
-
-She lifted them obediently, and then let them fall again.
-
-"Ah, that is enough," he said, with exultation in his voice. "You
-have answered me, Pam. That is enough just for the present. Some day
-I shall tell you what I wished for, and we shall see if our wishes
-come true. A double wish should have double force to induce its
-fulfilment. Isn't it so, Pam?"
-
-She said nothing, and he looked at her with triumph shining in his
-eyes. Blent with it was the tenderness of a lover when he knows he
-is loved, and just a shade of shamefacedness as well.
-
-"We must be wise, little beautiful Pamela," he said presently, in a
-low voice. "We must be wise and wait. I mustn't ask yet all I would
-ask, but I will one day--one good day, Pamela. You will trust me,
-won't you?"
-
-"Yes," said Pamela, hardly knowing what she was asked.
-
-"It will not be for long. Indeed, I could not endure it for long.
-Shall we be friends for a little while longer, Pamela darling?"
-
-"Yes," said Pamela, forgetting to rebuke him.
-
-"After to-day I will not call you darling till I have the right
-before all the world. After to-day. I meant to have held my tongue,
-but you bewildered me, Pamela. You are not angry with me?"
-
-"No," came almost in a whisper.
-
-"Lift up your eyes to me and say it. That is right. How beautiful
-your eyes are, Pamela! Say 'Tony,' now."
-
-"Tony!"
-
-"Dear Tony."
-
-"Dear Tony!"
-
-"How sweetly you say it! It is like silver in your voice. But, come
-now, we will go home. I have to be wise, you know. Ah, Pamela,
-Pamela! why did you bring me to the Wishing Well?"
-
-"You wanted to go."
-
-"Yes, I know; but it was an accident that we were alone, or it was
-Fate--yes, it was surely Fate that sent Miss Spencer's carriage for
-your sister at the last moment, so that we had to take our walk
-without her. Shall we go now, and talk no more about love to-day?"
-
-Pamela hesitated, and then said:
-
-"Poor Sylvia! She has spent this lovely afternoon shut up with an
-old lady and a dog."
-
-"She wouldn't mind the dog, I fancy, Pam."
-
-"Nor the old lady. Sylvia is fond of Miss Spencer, strange as it may
-seem."
-
-"Why is it strange, Pam? I can't help using the sweet little name."
-
-He had taken her hand by this time, and they were walking like
-children down the aisle of golden trees.
-
-"You haven't seen Miss Spencer. She is a little mad and a little
-grotesque to most people. But she is devoted to Sylvia, and Sylvia
-to her. She is not mad to Sylvia."
-
-"How does it come that I haven't seen Miss Spencer?"
-
-"She has been abroad. You'll see her one of these days, I expect.
-She was crossed in love in her youth, and it seems to have made her
-strange in ways. She's immensely wealthy, and gives a good deal in
-charity, but mostly among single women. She seems to think that
-those who have husbands and children don't need pity."
-
-"She's quite safe for your sister to be with?"
-
-"Oh, quite. She has all her senses, only that she's a trifle
-peculiar. She's a splendid business woman, everyone says."
-
-"It is a curious friendship. I should never have supposed it of Miss
-Sylvia."
-
-"No. One funny thing is that Miss Spencer's full of sentiment--wait
-till you hear her sing 'She wore a Wreath of Roses'--whereas
-Sylvia's quite without sentiment, and laughs at everything
-sentimental."
-
-"I feel sorry for the poor old thing," said Sir Anthony, with a
-half-ashamed laugh, "because she was crossed in love. I shouldn't
-like to be crossed in love myself, Pamela."
-
-"It was cruel," said Pamela simply. "The man made her love him, and
-then went away and never came back. She was poor then. She inherited
-Dovercourt quite unexpectedly."
-
-"What a sweep he must have been!"
-
-[Illustration: "Come along, Trevithick," he cried, rushing away.]
-
-"Poor Miss Spencer always thinks he will come back, though people
-say he married abroad and died there. I tell you all this so that
-you won't be the least bit in the world inclined to laugh when you
-see her. I daresay it's funny enough to see a pink silk coal-scuttle
-bonnet on top of a grey head; but then, you know, you don't feel
-like laughing."
-
-"No, indeed, darling."
-
-"Sylvia says it's made a man-hater of her. That's how she excuses
-herself for treating her admirers so outrageously."
-
-"I'd have fallen in love with Sylvia myself, only for you, Pamela."
-
-"It's lucky you didn't, Tony." The name came with soft hesitation.
-
-"Why, Pam?"
-
-"She'd have laughed in your face."
-
-"I'd rather have your way, Pam."
-
-"My way?"
-
-"Though it made me behave worse than I intended. But never mind. A
-little time will unravel the tangled skein. Now we are nearly out of
-the wood. Ah, Pamela! kiss me once--I shall not ask you again till I
-have the full right."
-
-Without a word the girl lifted her face to meet his kiss. To her it
-was the kiss of betrothal.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-"I WILL COME AGAIN, MY DEAR."
-
-
-"I wish my friend, Glengall, were at home," said Mr. Graydon,
-leaning back in the chair by the study fire. "He'd give you a mount
-while you were waiting for Johnny Maher's little mare. The hounds
-meet at Lettergort to-day."
-
-He looked wistfully through the bare trees on the lawn, as though
-he saw in imagination the scarlet horsemen pounding away after the
-streaming line of hounds.
-
-His pupil thrust into a book a sketch of Pamela which he had been
-making absent-mindedly.
-
-"Why don't you hunt, sir?" he asked, with sympathy.
-
-"So I do, my lad, when I can. But I can't afford to keep a horse,
-and there aren't many mounts to be had here. Glengall is going to
-set up stables when he comes back, and I'll have the run of them, I
-suppose. He's a good fellow--one wouldn't mind being obliged to him."
-
-"The mare'll be a good one when she's broken," said the young man.
-
-"The best in the world for Irish fences, if she does look a bit
-roughish."
-
-"You'll ride her for me, when I am away at Christmas, to get her
-mouth in?"
-
-"Thank you, my lad; I should like to." Mr. Graydon's eye kindled
-with pleasure. "But I didn't know you were going. It seems a longish
-way to go home for Christmas."
-
-"My mother would like to see me."
-
-"To be sure, to be sure. I quite understand, and, of course, there
-are friends in London you naturally want to see."
-
-"No one very particularly, sir."
-
-"Ah, well! it will be a holiday from this dull place."
-
-"No, I assure you, sir. It is partly because I have some--some
-business I want to settle. It is really true that there is no one
-I go to see whom I regard more than the friends I shall be leaving
-behind."
-
-Sir Anthony blushed hotly over this avowal, but his unsuspicious
-host only saw in it the shamefacedness with which a man, and
-especially a young man, makes a display of his feelings.
-
-"Now, that is kind of you," he said, looking at his pupil
-benignantly. "I am sure our Christmas will be dull without you. Do
-the girls know you are going? They won't like it, eh? And they will
-be disappointed that you will not be here for the Vandaleur affair."
-
-"I am coming back for that, sir."
-
-"I am glad. It is really the children's first outing. It is a dull
-enough affair for young people, but then they will wear their pretty
-frocks and see strange faces. We are such quiet people, Trevithick,
-that even Vandaleur's big dinner and reception, which comes off
-regularly whenever there is a general election in sight"--Mr.
-Graydon broke off to laugh and rub his hands--"is an event for us.
-But we are forgetting our Tacitus, my boy. Let us get back to the
-old fellow."
-
-At that moment there was the sound of a horn, and, with the shout of
-a boy, Mr. Graydon was up.
-
-"Come along, Trevithick," he cried, rushing away, hatless and
-coatless. "We shall get a glimpse of them. What a day for a scent!
-They are sure to find at Larry's Spinney."
-
-His words came back to his pupil, who was getting under weigh more
-leisurely.
-
-"Dear old boy!" he muttered to himself. "It's not surprising my
-father never forgot him. I wonder why the mater regards him with so
-deadly a hatred, though?"
-
-At lunch Mr. Graydon announced that Sir Anthony was going home for
-Christmas. There was a shrill expostulation from Sylvia, and even a
-mild protest from Mary, but Pamela said nothing. Perhaps it was not
-news to Pamela.
-
-"You will not be here for the skating," said Sylvia aggrievedly;
-"that is, if there's going to be any. And I've promised them at
-the Rectory that you'd recite at their penny reading and give away
-the presents at the Christmas-tree, besides managing the magic
-lantern. And, oh!"--the magnitude of the misfortune coming full upon
-her--"you're not surely going to miss the Vandaleur dinner?"
-
-"No, Miss Sylvia, I shall be here for it certainly. I wouldn't
-miss it for anything; but I object to your engagements for me with
-the Rectory people. I'd rather be shot than recite, and--the other
-things are beyond me," laughing.
-
-"Never mind, then," said the young lady airily. "Lord Glengall will
-do just as well. I shall like to see him distributing the articles.
-Besides, he will please the people better than a 'baronite,' and be
-of the rale ould blood, too."
-
-"Sylvia!" said her father, with a rebuke in his voice.
-
-"Never mind, papa dear. Sir Anthony understands all about his being
-only a 'baronite.' Bridget told him the other day that if the master
-had his rights 'tisn't teaching a 'Sir' he'd be."
-
-"So she did," said Sir Anthony.
-
-Mr. Graydon laughed.
-
-"Ah, well, my boy! you mustn't tell your mother what odd people
-you've found among the wild Irish--will you?"
-
-"She wouldn't understand a bit, but I'll tell her what dear friends
-I have found and made at Carrickmoyle."
-
-He blushed again, and Mr. Graydon thought how well his modesty
-became him.
-
-"Ah, well!" he said, "I suppose we must make up our minds to spend
-Christmas without you. What are you going to do this afternoon?"
-
-"I'm going to Maher's to see the mare, and put her through her
-paces. I'd like to have her stabled here as soon as possible. If
-she's ready, she can come at once."
-
-"To be sure. There's stabling for twenty horses here, though the
-stalls are bare--worse luck! But we won't let Sheila starve. Shall
-we, girls? I'll go bail these children will make a fine pet of her,
-Trevithick."
-
-"I shall be all the fonder of her, sir, though I'm well pleased with
-her at present."
-
-"She's a sweet little bit of horseflesh," assented Mr. Graydon. "I
-think I shall come with you, if you don't object to my company. I've
-a bit of business with Johnny myself."
-
-When they returned in time for the afternoon cup of tea, they found
-an old yellow barouche standing before the door.
-
-"Ah, Miss Spencer is here," said Mr. Graydon. "She's rather an
-oddity, my boy, so prepare to meet one."
-
-"I heard her story from Miss Pamela. It is very sad."
-
-"When I was a boy of thirteen or fourteen I remember her a
-brilliantly lovely young woman. That was before that scoundrel came
-in her way."
-
-When they entered the drawing-room Miss Spencer was sitting with her
-back to them, almost hidden in a deep armchair. The three girls were
-sitting or standing about her, all evidently much interested.
-
-"Here is papa, and our guest with him, Miss Spencer," said Mary.
-
-The little old woman came out of her chair with a sudden darting
-movement like that of a bird. Her gaze went from Mr. Graydon to the
-younger man.
-
-"Oh!" she cried. "Whom did you say?"
-
-She looked at the stranger for a moment with an agony of expectation
-in her yet bright eyes, while she fumbled nervously for the
-long-handled glasses at her side. When she had found them she peered
-at him through them; then dropped them, the expression of her face
-changing to indifference.
-
-"I beg your pardon, sir," she said. "I am expecting a friend, and
-for a moment I thought you were he."
-
-"How do you do, Miss Spencer?" broke in Mr. Graydon. "I see you have
-Stella under the barouche again. I'm glad she has recovered from her
-lameness."
-
-"The foot has come all right, thank you," said Miss Spencer,
-assuming quite an ordinary manner. "You weren't hunting to-day?"
-
-"No; I must wait till Glengall sets up his stables."
-
-"Ah, Glengall is coming home soon?"
-
-"He expects to reach Plymouth on the eighteenth. He will be at home
-for Christmas."
-
-"There'll be nothing in order for him in that old barrack of his."
-
-"He'll stay here while he's getting things straight. He is going
-to make a grand place of Glengall. He has plenty of money, and the
-heart to spend it, and the practical wit to direct it."
-
-"What will he do with it then? He has neither chick nor child."
-
-"There is always time, Miss Spencer."
-
-The slightly mad, brooding look came back to the little wizened
-white face.
-
-"Yes, of course, there is time," she said, dreamily. "I remember
-someone--who was it?--who knew Glengall when she was a young woman
-and he was a little boy. Glengall can't be old, of course, and any
-day people may return--mayn't they?"
-
-"Why, to be sure they may. Glengall did, though he was twenty years
-out of the reach of civilisation."
-
-"Oh, I wasn't thinking of Glengall. It was of someone much younger,
-someone about the age of that young gentleman there."
-
-Trevithick stood in the background and watched her with honest eyes
-of wonder and pity. She was smoothing the pink silk of her gown,
-while her eyes watched the fire as if she saw something very happy
-in it. Her skin was waxen white, and her features sharpened, but the
-brilliant eyes kept their beauty, and her little old hands, covered
-with rings, were delicately shaped. Her hair was half-white through
-the original black, and very oddly her pink bonnet, with its wreath
-of roses inside, sat on the streaked hair and over the white face.
-She had thrown off a large sable cloak on to the back of her chair.
-
-[Illustration: Trevithick watched her with wonder and pity.]
-
-Sylvia now broke in on Miss Spencer's half-mad mood. She touched one
-of the hands tenderly. Trevithick, as he noticed it, thought that
-it was the first time he had seen Sylvia's face really soft; and
-wonderfully the new expression completed the girl's beauty. So she
-will look, he thought, some day, when she is in love, like--like
-Pamela. But Pamela's serious face was hidden from him now with a
-fire-screen she held in her hand. He had noticed of late that she
-seldom looked at him, nor was he displeased. He knew the secret she
-was afraid to reveal.
-
-"We are all going to the Vandaleur affair, Miss Spencer," Sylvia
-was saying. "It will be on the thirtieth. There are to be great
-doings--acres of marquees for the diners, and the winter garden lit
-by electricity, and I don't know what besides."
-
-Miss Spencer came back to every-day life with a start.
-
-"To the Vandaleur affair, child! Why, who is going to take you?"
-
-"Papa, of course. He loves a little outing, though he won't admit
-it. He says he'd rather stay at home and have a quiet night's work
-at his book, and get some hot tea ready for us by the time we come
-home."
-
-"Why shouldn't I take you?" said the old lady. "I'm hardly old
-enough for a chaperon, of course, still I've the carriage, and
-I'd enjoy the function. I haven't been at one since the time Tom
-Charteris was master of the hounds. How long ago is that?"
-
-Mr. Graydon, to whom she spoke, answered her without looking at her.
-
-"A goodish few years ago."
-
-"It can't be," said the old lady; "not more than four or five at the
-outside. I wore white satin and pearls. That reminds me: what are
-you going to wear, minx?"
-
-This to Sylvia, at the same time softly pulling her ear.
-
-"We've got pattern-books of silk stuffs from Dublin. They're
-dirt-cheap; but the dressmaking will be the bother. However, I
-daresay we'll manage. Mrs. Collins' Nancy, who is a lady's-maid, is
-expected home for Christmas. She'll cut the frocks out, and we'll
-sew them ourselves. She'll know the fashions."
-
-[Illustration: "I must go, to unravel a tangled skein."]
-
-"Stuff and nonsense, child! Your first public appearance, too."
-
-"It's Pam's also. But you'll see we'll look very nice. I shouldn't
-be surprised if the prince fell in love with me."
-
-"What prince? Oh, I see, Cinderella's. But Cinderella went
-magnificently to her evening party--not in cheap and nasty stuffs
-cobbled up anyhow."
-
-"The prince wouldn't see that. He'd be disconsolate when I
-disappeared at twelve o'clock, and he'd send all over the country to
-find the fit of my glass slipper, and Molly and Pam would cry tears
-of rage because it wouldn't even fit on their toes."
-
-"You're not ball-going, minx."
-
-"It will be just as good. There'll be a beautiful dinner, and
-everyone in the county there, and afterwards there will be acres of
-beautiful things to see. It is a thousand pities Mr. Vandaleur is an
-absentee."
-
-"If he wasn't, he wouldn't have to remind you of his existence now,"
-said the old lady cynically. "But am I to be chaperon?"
-
-"Well, I'll tell you what, Miss Spencer," said Mr. Graydon. "If
-you'd take charge of these children, I'd be greatly obliged to
-you. The fact is that I've to attend a sort of unofficial meeting
-of Vandaleur's supporters in the afternoon, and he has hospitably
-offered me a bed. So I thought I'd take my bag over and dress there
-after the meeting."
-
-"And stay all night? I knew it," cried Sylvia. "Papa pretended it
-was such a bother, and all the time he was longing to be in for
-every bit of it. Only he didn't know what to do with us."
-
-Mr. Graydon laughed.
-
-"Maybe you wouldn't like it yourself. I shall be button-holed by
-Musgrave and Frost and Clitheroe, and every man in the county who
-thinks he has a head for politics and wants a patient listener."
-
-"And you will go at it hammer and tongs with the best of them, and
-forget you have daughters. I don't suppose you'll even remember at
-dinner-time to see whether anyone is asking us if we've an appetite."
-
-"The young fellows will do that. Every boy in the county will be
-there, including the 300th from Dangan Barracks."
-
-"I daresay," said Sylvia: "you're always ready to shift your
-responsibilities. Never mind, Miss Spencer; I daresay we shall be
-able to find someone who will look after us, if it's only a waiter."
-
-"Oh, indeed, you'll find someone to befriend you, never fear. And so
-will Pam. And so shall I. But what about Molly?"
-
-"Never mind me, Miss Spencer," said Mary. "It would never do to have
-you chaperoning three girls, and I shouldn't enjoy it a bit. I shall
-stay up and have tea for you after your cold drive."
-
-"I don't know what girls are coming to," said Miss Spencer; "I
-shouldn't like to have to stay at home myself."
-
-"We don't mind Molly," cried her sisters; "she really likes to stay
-at home and write her perpetual letters."
-
-"I shouldn't mind having the three of you," went on Miss Spencer;
-"we'd pass for four sisters."
-
-"We should never look as lovely as you in that white satin and
-pearls," said Sylvia, fondly.
-
-"I was much admired," said Miss Spencer, complacently. "But now I
-must be going. I've letters to write before dinner: I don't want to
-lose my beauty-sleep sitting up to write them."
-
-When Sir Anthony came into the drawing-room before dinner, he found
-only Pamela stretching her hands to the wood fire in the low grate.
-
-The lover stooped down and kissed them.
-
-"Have you been out?" he asked in a whisper.
-
-"Only to the stables with Sylvia. Your Sheila has come. She is a
-dear thing."
-
-"You like her, Pam?"
-
-"Who could help it? She looks so wild and shy, and she is so gentle
-at the same time."
-
-"Do you like her because she is mine, Pam? Do you, just a little
-because of that? Say you do, Pam."
-
-"Just a little," whispered Pam.
-
-"Why, if you like, she shall be yours, when--when everything has
-come right. I think she would carry a lady beautifully. What do you
-say, Pam? Would you like her, _then_?"
-
-"Yes," said Pamela, with her eyes very bright.
-
-"You didn't seem to mind my going away at Christmas, Pam. You were
-the only one who didn't protest."
-
-"I know you wouldn't go if you could help it."
-
-"Wise little woman. I must go, darling--to unravel a tangled skein.
-Afterwards it will be paradise, Pam. I will come back as soon--as
-soon as ever I can. I shall be in a fury of impatience till I come
-back."
-
-"And I," said Pam, lifting her eyes to her lover, and flooding him
-with their light.
-
-"Sweetheart! you were a coquette when I knew you first, Pam. Now you
-don't try me as many girls try their lovers."
-
-"I have only love for you now. Ah! what should I do if you did not
-come back?"
-
-"I will come back, 'though 'twere ten thousand mile.' I shall be
-here for your great function. Do you think I would have you go
-without me?"
-
-"I shouldn't care for it without you."
-
-"There will be other men there, Pamela, to see how beautiful you
-are. I must be there to guard my own."
-
-"There is no need for that."
-
-"I believe you, my love, you are as much mine as if you were my
-wife. And I am as much yours."
-
-"Love can only mean that."
-
-"Ah, my darling! how sweet you are! You wouldn't care for the
-admiration of other men, Pam?"
-
-"Only for one."
-
-"It is hard to be wise, Pam, when I am with you. You are too sweet.
-It is fortunate I am going."
-
-"When you come back it will be different."
-
-"Yes; you will have to make up to me for my prudence all these
-months. I have been good, Pam; I have never asked you for a kiss."
-
-"Yes, you have been good."
-
-"And you, you are a girl in ten thousand. You have never asked me
-what stood between us--a shadowy barrier, Pam, but even that must go
-before I claim you, my queen. When I come back, Pam! Ah, when I come
-back!"
-
-"Here is Molly," said Pam, in a low voice, as her sister entered the
-room.
-
-  END OF CHAPTER SIX.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: GREAT ANNIVERSARIES]
-
-GREAT ANNIVERSARIES
-
-_IN DECEMBER._
-
-By the Rev. A. R. Buckland, M.A., Morning Preacher at the Foundling
-Hospital.
-
-
-December is a month of great names. On December 21st, 1117,
-according to some authorities, there was born, in a house that stood
-on the site of the Mercers' Chapel in Cheapside, Thomas a Becket.
-Whether men side with Church or State, and are for or against
-Becket, they will hardly deny him the right to be remembered as an
-outstanding figure in our history. On the last day of the month died
-another great Englishman; like Becket, an Oxford man, and a potent
-factor in the religious development of our nation. On December 31st
-there passed away at Lutterworth John Wycliffe. His bones, thirteen
-years after burial, were dragged from their resting-place and cast
-into the River Swift. Thomas Fuller turns that shameful act of
-ecclesiastical malice to good use. "Thus," he says, "this brook did
-convey his ashes into the Avon, the Avon into the Severn, the Severn
-into the narrow sea, and this into the wide ocean. And so the ashes
-of Wycliffe are the emblem of his doctrine, which is now dispersed
-all the world over." On the 13th of the month, many generations
-later, there came into the world Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, an
-ecclesiastic of still another type. No modern dean ever identified
-himself with his cathedral as Stanley did with Westminster Abbey.
-Its national character was always present to his mind. His simple
-piety, his good works, his sympathy with Nonconformists, all helped
-to make the Dean himself rather a national possession than merely an
-ecclesiastic. He died in 1881.
-
-[Illustration: JOHN WYCLIFFE.
-
-(_From the Portrait at King's College._)]
-
-We have had the Church, let us come to the State. It is a rich
-month that claims the birth both of William Ewart Gladstone
-(December 29th) and of his great rival, Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of
-Beaconsfield (December 20th). They began their careers under very
-different auspices. Eton and Oxford prepared the one for immediate
-entry, under favouring circumstances, into Parliamentary life. The
-other was educated privately, designed for the law, and first caught
-the public eye as an author when he burst upon the world with the
-novel, "Vivian Grey." Mr. Gladstone survived his rival seventeen
-years.
-
-[Illustration: DEAN STANLEY.
-
-(_Photo: The London Stereoscopic Co._)]
-
-There died on December 14th one whom the British nation can only
-number amongst its own worthies by adoption. The death of the Prince
-Consort in the prime of life, and just when his very considerable
-powers and great devotion were beginning to be understood by those
-who at first regarded him with doubt because he was a foreigner,
-plunged our Queen into sorrow which long darkened the life of the
-Court and was felt by the whole nation. The pure, unblemished life
-of the Prince Consort, his sincere desire to advance the welfare of
-the people, his ready promotion of the arts and sciences, as well
-as his tender devotion to the Queen, have long been understood and
-valued by the nation which he served.
-
-[Illustration: JOHN MILTON.
-
-(_From the Miniature by Samuel Cooper._)]
-
-To come to other fields: there was born in London on December 9th,
-1608, John Milton. Educated at Cambridge, he early gave free play to
-the powers which in their issue have made his name familiar wherever
-the English language is spoken. Few remember him as a writer of
-polemical treatises on affairs of the State and the Church, or even
-as Latin Secretary to Cromwell; but he was an old man and blind when
-he gave the world "Paradise Lost."
-
-On the 12th there died Robert Browning, a poet who spoke to his
-age as few men have ever done, and spoke of God and the soul, of
-the here and the hereafter, with a clearness of faith which was as
-distinct as the robust manliness of his character.
-
-[Illustration: SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN
-
-(_From the Portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller._)]
-
-December 28th is given as the date upon which Westminster Abbey was
-consecrated in 1065; and on December 2nd that other minster, St.
-Paul's Cathedral, was opened in 1697. Legend says that the same
-King Sebert who founded the original St. Paul's also founded the
-Abbey at Westminster, whilst another story invokes the aid of King
-Offa. There is, however, clear testimony to the establishment of
-a Benedictine abbey at Westminster in the time of Edgar; that is
-antiquity respectable enough to satisfy most of us. A cathedral
-on this site is mentioned by the Venerable Bede as early as 604;
-but the actual fabric of St. Paul's has, according to Mr. Loftie,
-undergone greater vicissitudes than that of any other cathedral in
-England. The present St. Paul's was begun in 1675 and finished in
-1710. Its cost was L736,752. Sir Christopher Wren, its architect,
-received for his services L200 a year. What were then called "the
-new ball and cross" on the cathedral were completed in this same
-month in 1821.
-
-[Illustration: ROBERT BROWNING.
-
-(_Photo: Cameron and Smith, Mortimer Street, W._)]
-
-An old calendar assures me that on the 15th of this month, in the
-year 1802, "societies for abolishing the common method of sweeping
-chimneys" were instituted.
-
-On the 20th of this month, in the year 1814, Samuel Marsden landed
-in New Zealand--a missionary anniversary worth recalling.
-
-[Illustration: W. E. GLADSTONE
-
-Photo: Samuel Walker.
-
-THE EARL of BEACONSFIELD.
-
-Photo: Hughes-Mullins, Ryde. I.W.
-
-TWO EMINENT STATESMEN BORN IN DECEMBER.]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: The Limits of Human Genius]
-
-The Limits of Human Genius
-
-_Pulpit at Gloucester Cathedral._
-
-A Sermon Preached by the Very Rev. H. Donald M. Spence, D.D., Dean
-of Gloucester, at the Opening Service of the September (1898)
-Meeting of the Three-Choirs Festival in Gloucester Cathedral.
-
-     "As for Wisdom, what she is, and how she came up, I will tell
-       you, and will not hide mysteries from you, but will seek her
-       out from the beginning of her nativity, and bring the knowledge
-       of her into Light, and will not pass over Truth."
-
-
-The surroundings of a custodian of a mediaeval cathedral, beautiful
-though they are, at the same time are unutterably pathetic. They
-tell him, do the pages of the old solemn Book of Stone he is never
-weary of turning over and of pondering upon, that the genius of
-man has its limits, which it may never pass; that the story of
-human progress to higher and ever higher levels is often a delusive
-one; that in past ages his forefathers were perhaps as noble and
-chivalrous--aye, nobler, more chivalrous than the men of his own
-generation--that their imagination was more brilliant and their
-hands more cunning; that if in some respects progress is visible, in
-others the movement is retrograde.
-
-Again, a great mediaeval cathedral like our own glorious Gloucester,
-inimitable in its fadeless beauty and matchless strength, surely
-deals a very heavy blow to human pride, and it teaches humility to
-the most competent and ablest of our number, for it is a conception
-belonging to a past age. A great gathering, however, like the
-present, numbering some six or seven thousand persons, is for varied
-reasons an inspiring one and bids us be trustful--even hopeful.
-
-Dwell we a brief while first on our surroundings. Of all works
-devised by human ingenuity and carried on by human skill, the
-triumphs of architecture are among the most enduring, afford the
-most genuine and purest delight to the greater number of men and
-women, are confessedly the most attractive, perhaps the most
-instructive, as they are among the most enduring of human creations.
-The glories of Luxor and Karnak, which for several thousand years
-have been mirrored in the grey-green Nile; the white and gleaming
-shrines of Athens the bright and happy, the mighty ruins of Eternal
-Rome, are splendid instances.
-
-But perhaps the conspicuous examples of this architecture, the
-most loved of human arts and crafts, are, after all, the mediaeval
-cathedrals. The first object of interest for the modern traveller in
-search of health or rest is a cathedral. All sorts and conditions
-of men find delight in its contemplation. The delight, of course,
-is varied, but the strange and witching beauty appeals to them all.
-This appeal to the higher and devotional side of our nature speaks
-to every soul, to the unlearned as to the learned, to the mill-hand
-as to the scholar. The wanderer from the New World beyond the seas
-at once seeks them out, conscious that in them he will find a
-beauty and a joy such as he will never see or feel outside their
-charmed walls.
-
-I have said that to the custodian of such a cathedral the
-surroundings are, if not sad, at least pathetic, for these
-magnificent and loved creations of human genius belong to a somewhat
-remote past, and, as far as these exquisite buildings are concerned,
-save for purposes of necessary repair--repair simply to arrest the
-ravages of time--for nearly four hundred years the clink of trowel
-and pickaxe has been hushed.
-
-It is scarcely an exaggerated statement which speaks of
-architecture, in its noblest sense, as a lost art. Very significant
-are the words of one of the greatest of modern architects, who,
-after dwelling on the decadence of his loved art, tells us how "It
-is a somewhat saddening reflection--but there is no escaping from
-the conclusion--that the art which created the glorious abbeys and
-minsters, the beautiful parish churches so plentifully dotted over
-our country--abbeys, minsters, and churches which the churchmen of
-the second half of the nineteenth century so reverently and wisely
-restore and seek to copy stone by stone, arch by arch, window by
-window, down to the smallest bit of ornament--is a lost art! Men
-have come sorrowfully to see that mediaeval architecture is the
-last link--perhaps the most beautiful as well as the last link--of
-that long chain of architectural styles, 'commencing in far-back
-ages in Egypt and passing on in continuous course through Assyria,
-Persia, Greece, Rome, and Byzantium, and thence taken up by the
-infant nations of modern Europe, and by them prolonged through
-successive ages of continuous progress till it terminated in the
-beautiful thirteenth-and fourteenth-century Gothic, and has never
-since produced a link of its own.... Alas! it is the last link
-of that mighty chain which had stretched unbroken through nearly
-four thousand years--the glorious termination of the history of
-original and genuine architecture.'" Well may men love it and seek
-to preserve the examples they possess of it, and aim at copying it
-as well as they can. These remarkable and melancholy words above
-quoted were deliberately spoken by Sir Gilbert Scott, R.A., LL.D.,
-in his first lecture on Mediaeval Architecture delivered at the Royal
-Academy some years ago.
-
-So much for my note of sadness. Now let me strike a different chord.
-
-Such a gathering as the present, I repeat, is an inspiring one, for
-it tells me that if one great art dies, He who loves us and has
-redeemed us at so great a price, gives His children something in its
-place. Now it is strange that amidst all the gorgeous and striking
-ceremonial of the mediaeval services, with their wealth of colour
-and ornament, with all their touching and elaborate symbolism,
-music, as it is now understood, was unknown and comparatively
-neglected. In the noblest cathedral of the Middle Ages, in the
-stateliest Benedictine or Cistercian abbey, while the eye was filled
-with sights of solemnity and beauty, each sight containing its
-special and peculiar teaching, the ear was comparatively uncared
-for. Strangely monotonous and even harsh would chaunt and psalm
-and hymn, as rendered in the mighty abbeys of Westminster, Durham,
-or Gloucester in the days of the great Plantagenets, of the White
-Rose or Red Rose kings, sound to the musically trained ears of the
-worshippers of the second half of the nineteenth century. Indeed,
-music as a great science was unknown in pre-Reformation times. The
-most complete anthem-book may be searched through by the curious
-scholar, but scarcely a musical composer of any note will be found
-in these collections of a date earlier than the reign of Queen
-Elizabeth. It would seem as though, when architecture ceased in the
-sixteenth century to be a living craft, a new art was discovered and
-worked at by men.
-
-A new art! I say these words, strange to some, with emphasis.
-One who has indeed a right to speak of music[1] thus voices my
-assertion. While telling us that certain grand forms of music loom
-out of the darkness of the earlier centuries of our era, the famous
-musician to whom I refer adds that little of what we understand of
-music existed before the later years of the fifteenth century. It
-was no mere renaissance, for that which had never been born could
-not be born again.
-
-[1] Professor Hullah, in his "Lectures on the History of Modern
-Music," delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain,
-published 1884. See, too, Professor Hullah's Royal Institution
-Lecture on the Transition Period of Musical History (1876).
-
-In case some should think that too strong expressions are here
-used, it may be well to quote some of Professor Hullah's own
-words, which he used in the above-mentioned lecture at the Royal
-Institution:--"Music is a new art.... What we now call music ...
-what answers to our definition of music, has come into being only
-within comparatively few years; almost within the memory of men
-living." "I should say that in the scholastic music there was no
-art, and in the popular music no science; whence it is that the
-former has ceased to please, and the latter has for the most part
-perished utterly."
-
-It was a new art which charmed and delighted men as they listened to
-the magic of the sounds evoked by the majesty of the compositions
-of Palestrina, or by the sweetness of the music of Marenzio. It is
-true, as I said, that certain grand forms of music loom out of the
-darkness of the remote past--shadowy forms--and the rare composers
-and writers of the music of the past are, as far as music is
-concerned, but the shadow of names now. I allude, as famous examples
-of these shadows of names, to names such as Gregory and Isidore,
-Hucbald and the eleventh-century _maestro_, Guido Aretino.
-
-With extraordinary rapidity developed the new craft. To give here
-some familiar landmarks--
-
-Henry VIII. was reigning before Josquin Depres, whom all musicians
-revere as one of the earliest, certainly the most renowned, of the
-pioneers of modern music, became generally known in Europe. Josquin
-Depres was born somewhere about the year 1466, dying about 1515,
-some ten or fifteen years before Palestrina was born. Luther said of
-him, "Other musicians do what they can with notes; Josquin does what
-he likes with them." The Abbate Baini alludes to him as "the idol of
-Europe"; and again writes, "Nothing is beautiful unless it be the
-work of Josquin."
-
-The famous Roman School of music only dates from 1540. The oratorio,
-even in its more simple forms, made its appearance some seventy
-years later.
-
-Not until the last years of our Queen Elizabeth were the names of
-Palestrina and Marenzio, those great early composers, conspicuous,
-and the Queen so loved of Englishmen had long fallen asleep before
-Carissimi, the earliest master of the sacred cantata in its many
-forms, gave his mighty impulse to the new-born art; while the works
-of his world-famed pupil Scarlatti, and of our own English Purcell,
-belong to the art-records of the days of William and Mary and Queen
-Anne. See how the whole of the marvellous story of music--as we
-understand music--belongs to quite recent days!
-
-All through the eighteenth century, when the Georges reigned,
-architecture slept its well-nigh dreamless sleep. But the new art of
-music grew with each succeeding year, while the men whose names will
-never die lived and wrote.
-
-It was this eighteenth century which saw a Beethoven, a Handel, a
-Bach, a Haydn, and a Mozart. As masters of the new-born craft none
-can be conceived greater.
-
-The century now closing boasts, however, a long line of true
-followers and worthy disciples of those great ones, men whose names
-are household words in every European city.
-
-But my brief record, necessarily dry and bald, of a momentous
-change in the teaching of the world would be incomplete without one
-word on the glorious instrument--the voice, so to speak--of these
-masters of a new art, the organ. The first organ known in Western
-Europe traditionally was sent to Pepin in France by the Emperor of
-Constantinople in 759, but Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne, in his poem
-on Virginity, some half a century earlier, apparently describes
-what appears to have been the organ. Elphege, Abbot of Winchester
-in the tenth century, is said to have caused a very large organ to
-be constructed; but, with this solitary exception, all the mediaeval
-organs seem to have been small and comparatively unimportant
-instruments. The oldest organ-cases preserved do not date back
-further than the last years of the fifteenth century, and these by
-the side of modern organs are insignificant in size. Viollet le Duc,
-in his great work, gives us a picture of the Perpignan organ, one of
-the earliest (early in the sixteenth century). From this date the
-size rapidly increased.
-
-In the "Rites of Durham," where a great mediaeval church is described
-at the period of the Dissolution (1530-40), there were three organs
-in use in the abbey church, the principal one being only used at
-"principall Feasts," the pipes being "very faire and partly gilded."
-"Only two organs in England," says the "Rites," "of the same
-makinge, one in Yorke and another in Paules."
-
-[Illustration: LISTENERS AT THE THREE-CHOIR FESTIVAL.]
-
-The most magnificent organ-case in Europe is the one in St.
-Janskirk at Bois le Duc, and, like the vast majority of the great
-organ-cases, is Renaissance in style. Viollet le Duc sums up the
-question in the following sentence:--
-
-"It does not appear that great organs were in use before the
-fifteenth century, and it was only towards the close of the
-fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries that the idea of
-building organs of dimensions hitherto unknown was first conceived."
-
-The organ, as we now know it, was born among us at the same date
-when architecture died. Like the music of the Middle Ages, in the
-days when these vast and peerless buildings arose, it is true the
-organ was not unknown; but, like mediaeval music, it was a small,
-poor thing compared with the stupendous instrument we know and love.
-There was no great organ before the last years of the fifteenth
-century, when the Tudors reigned. The sixteenth and seventeenth
-centuries witnessed its development, and acknowledged its surpassing
-grandeur, and recognised its fitness as one of the chief handmaids
-of the new great art.
-
-Now the secret of the men who built this lordly abbey is lost; never
-again will such a triumph of, alas! a dead art arise to charm and
-to delight, to instruct and inspire the children of men. But we
-may still preserve and reverently use this rare and noble legacy
-of a vanished age as a shrine and a peerless teaching-home--a
-prayer-home, in which are taught the great evangelical truths
-by which Christian men live and breathe and have their being,
-the saving knowledge of the work of the Precious Blood, the glad
-Redemption-story, the story loved of men; the story which never
-ages, never palls, but which, like dew, descends on each succeeding
-generation of believers, and gives them new stores of faith and hope
-and love. This--these things--we try to do, and not without success,
-for as God's bright glory-cloud once brooded over the sacred
-desert-tent and the holy Jerusalem Temple, so now upon our beloved
-and ancient cathedral, with its almost countless services of praise
-and prayer and teaching, God's blessing surely rests.
-
-"It sleeps," does our cathedral, as one has lately said in words
-beautiful as true--"it sleeps with its splendid dreams upon its
-lifted face." But it has, too, its many wakeful working hours. Not
-the least memorable of these will strike this week, when the charmed
-strains of Handel and Haydn, Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Beethoven, and
-of the great Englishmen, Gibbons and Boyce and Walmisley and Wesley,
-and last, but not least, of Hubert Parry, peal through these fretted
-vaults, "lingering and wandering on" among these wondrous chambers
-of inspired imagery; while the almost prophetic words of that truest
-English song-man Wordsworth become history:--
-
-    "Give all thou canst; high heaven rejects the lore
-     Of nicely calculated less or more;
-     So deem'd the man who fashion'd for the sense
-     These lofty pillars, spread that branching roof
-     Self-poised, and scoop'd into ten thousand cells,
-     Where light and shade repose, where music dwells
-     Lingering and wandering on as loth to die--
-     Like thoughts whose very sweetness yieldeth proof
-     That they were born for immortality."
-
-[Illustration: Decorative]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: A Hero in Disguise]
-
-A HERO IN DISGUISE
-
-A Complete Story. By M. Westrup.
-
-
-The girl was little, slender, insignificant--only her love made her
-heroic. The man was big, broad, one to be noticed in a crowd, and
-his love made him as helpless as a little child.
-
-They stood opposite each other in the poor, shabby little room. His
-eyes devoured her face wildly, incredulously, but her eyes were
-fixed on a great hole in the faded carpet.
-
-Her mind was chaotic, for with his eager words of love rang others,
-bewildering her. Side by side with his passionate outpouring of his
-love for her, his longing to have her for his own, to live for her
-and work for her, were other words--words of ambition and great
-aspirations, words of intending travel into far-away countries, of
-hardships and discomforts to be borne for the sake of the book that
-was to be written--the book that was to bring fame and satisfaction
-to the writer of it.
-
-And these words rang with a deep note of earnestness and strength,
-and overpowered those eager, present tones that were pleading to her
-so wildly.
-
-"I called you Kathleen Mavourneen last night, you remember, and you
-smiled and blushed!" he protested, roughly. "Why did you do it?
-Kathleen, you _do_ love me, you do! Why don't you speak to me? I
-tell you, I have seen it in your eyes. Why do you deny it now?"
-
-She shook her head, and her heart cried in agony, "How long? How
-long?"
-
-"Won't you try, then?" with a humbleness that was not natural to
-him. "Oh, Kitty, little Kitty, I cannot live without you!"
-
-He held out his arms to her despairingly.
-
-"I have a singing lesson to give at one o'clock," she said.
-
-His arms fell to his sides. The sun streamed in on to the pretty,
-pale, downbent face of the girl, and on to the white, haggard face
-of the man who stood opposite.
-
-There were no shadows in the little room--it was all glare and
-shabbiness.
-
-"I will go," he said, and then his eyes caught fire; "but you are
-a flirt! Do you hear, a paltry, heartless flirt! You have led me
-on--played with me. You have made your eyes soft, your lips sweet,
-to amuse yourself at my expense! How do you do it?" with a little
-cynical laugh. "It's really clever--of its kind--you know----"
-
-He moved towards the door.
-
-"I beg your pardon," he said icily. "I should not have spoken so to
-a woman. Good-bye."
-
-"You will begin your travels now?" she said.
-
-He laughed.
-
-"Why keep up the pretence?" he said; "it's rather late now to
-pretend any interest in my life."
-
-She was silent.
-
-At the door he paused.
-
-He was a proud man, and he had an iron will.
-
-But his love made him helpless and weak as a little child.
-
-"Kathleen," he breathed, "you are sure?"
-
-A moment she stood still and rigid as a statue.
-
-"Little one, I love you so----" His voice was soft and caressing;
-but her love made her heroic. She raised her head. "I am sure," she
-said steadily.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The girl sat in a corner of the warm, gorgeous drawing-room, and
-wished vaguely that people would not nod and stare at her so
-energetically. She was used to it now, and tired of it.
-
-She had never liked it, but fame brings notoriety in its train, and
-notoriety brings nods and whispers and stares.
-
-She was dressed beautifully. She had always liked pretty things, and
-now she could have as many as she wanted.
-
-The man stood over in a doorway and watched her with cynical eyes.
-
-He had not seen her for five years, and as he stood there another
-man lounged up and spoke to him.
-
-"Looking at _la belle Philomele_?" he said; "she's quite the rage,
-you know. Ever heard her sing? You're only just back from the wilds,
-aren't you? Oh, well, of course you'll go to St. James's Hall
-to-morrow? She's going to sing, you know. Her voice is splendid. I
-never go to hear her myself--makes me feel I'm a miserable sinner
-somehow--does, 'pon my word. I've heard her twice, and then I
-dropped it. Don't like feeling small, you know."
-
-He lounged away again, and the man with the cynical eyes still
-watched her.
-
-Her head was turned away from him--only a soft, fair cheek and
-little ear nestling in a soft mass of hair, a white throat, and a
-lot of pale chiffon and silk, could he see. And suddenly the cheek
-and even neck were flooded with a red blush, and then they looked
-whiter than before. He wondered, and smiled bitterly as he did so.
-
-And the girl's eyes remained fixed, eager, fascinated, on the long
-looking-glass before her.
-
-But she was not looking at herself.
-
-Afterwards he sought her.
-
-"You were wise," he said mockingly, and her eyes grew dark with pain.
-
-He took the seat beside her and played with the costly fan he had
-picked up.
-
-[Illustration: "You were wise," he said, mockingly.]
-
-"I must congratulate you," he said indifferently. "This"--with
-a comprehensive wave towards her dress and the diamonds at her
-throat--"is better than the old days."
-
-"Yes."
-
-"But perhaps you have forgotten so long as--what is it?--ten--no,
-five years ago?"
-
-"No."
-
-He furled and unfurled the fan in silence, and wondered who had
-given her the Parma violets in her hair.
-
-"Your--book?" she said timidly.
-
-He stared at her blankly.
-
-She reddened slowly.
-
-"You--you--were going to--to travel, and write about it--strange
-places----" she faltered.
-
-"Oh, ah! yes, I believe I was--five years ago."
-
-Her face was white again now.
-
-"You _have_ travelled?" she ventured at last.
-
-"Oh, yes! I've done nothing else for five years. I've shot tigers,
-bears--I've lived with Chinamen and negroes--chummed with cannibals
-once--oh!"--with a laugh--"I've had a fine time!"
-
-Her eyes were wistful.
-
-Her hostess brought up a man to be introduced, and when she turned
-again, the chair was empty.
-
-She did not see him again for two weeks.
-
-There was an added pathos in the beautiful voice.
-
-_La belle Philomele_ brought tears to many thousands of eyes, but
-her own were dry and restless. It was dawning on her that she had
-made a mistake--five years ago.
-
-"Seen Hugh Hawksleigh?" she heard one man say to another. "Never
-been so disappointed in a chap in my life. Years ago he promised
-great things. Those articles of his on 'Foreign Ways and Doings'
-made quite a sensation, you know. And there was some talk of wild
-travels and a book that was going to be _the_ book of the day. The
-travels are all right, but where's the book?"
-
-"The usual thing--a woman," drawled the other. "Didn't you know?
-Some pretty coquette--the usual game--but the cost was heavier than
-usual--to him. It knocked it out of him, you know. I never saw a
-fellow so hard hit. That was five years ago, and he's never written
-a line since. Poor fellow!"
-
-The knowledge that she had made a mistake five years ago was growing
-plainer to her.
-
-At the end of the fortnight she met him and asked him to come and
-see her.
-
-He smiled, and did not come.
-
-Her eyes grew too big for the small, sad face.
-
-She met him again, and asked him why he had not come.
-
-He looked down into the sweet, true eyes, and his love weakened his
-will again.
-
-He promised he would come. He came, and stayed five minutes. He
-looked at her sternly as he greeted her.
-
-"Why do you want me?" he said, and watched the colour come and go in
-her cheeks with pitiless eyes.
-
-"We--used--to be--friends," she whispered.
-
-He laughed.
-
-"Never! I never felt friendship for you," he said, "nor you for
-me. You forget. Five years is a long time, but I have a retentive
-memory. I forget nothing."
-
-"Nor I," she murmured.
-
-"No? Then why do you ask me to come and see you?"
-
-She did not answer.
-
-He looked round the pretty shaded room.
-
-He laughed again.
-
-"There is a difference," he said, "in you too."
-
-She looked up quickly.
-
-"I am the same," she said, knowing her own heart.
-
-"Are you?" His eyes grew stormy. "Listen," he said, in a low, tense
-voice: "I am five years wiser than I was--then. I will not be a tool
-again. You have ruined my life--doesn't that content you? I would
-have staked my life on your goodness and purity--once. I dare not
-believe in any woman since you, with your angel's eyes, are false.
-I was full of ambition and hope once; you killed both. I tried to
-write--after. I could not. I shall never do anything now--never be
-anything. I despise myself, and it's not a nice feeling to live
-with. It makes men desperate. I love you still. Do you understand? I
-have loved you all the time, and I loathe myself for it." His voice
-changed. "You may triumph," he said, "but now you understand--I will
-not come again."
-
-She stretched out her arms after him, but he was gone. And she knew
-now quite clearly that she had made a mistake five years ago.
-
-For three weeks and a half she did not see him.
-
-Then she saw him when he thought he was alone.
-
-She studied his face with eyes that ached at what they saw. Then she
-went forward and touched him gently on his arm.
-
-"Well?" he said.
-
-"Will you come," she said in a low voice, "to see me----"
-
-"Thanks, no."
-
-His eyes rested bitterly on her rich gown.
-
-It came across him again how wise she had been. Tied to him, she
-could not have been as she was now.
-
-"I have something I must say to you," she said tremulously; "will
-you come--just this once?"
-
-He looked down into the soft eyes with the beautiful light in them.
-
-"I would rather not," he said gently.
-
-The weariness in his eyes brought a sob to her throat.
-
-"Ah, do!" she entreated; "I will never ask you again."
-
-He looked at her with searching incredulity.
-
-Then he turned away.
-
-Just so had she looked five years ago.
-
-She laid a small, despairing hand on his.
-
-The iciness of it went to his heart.
-
-"I will come," he said gently, and went away.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-When he came, he wondered at the agitation in her small white face.
-
-Her eyes were burning.
-
-He waited silently.
-
-She twisted her hands restlessly together, and he saw that she was
-trembling.
-
-He drew a chair forward.
-
-"Won't you sit down?" he said.
-
-She sat down in a nest of softest cushions.
-
-"I--I----" she began, and put up her hand to her throat, "I want
-to--to--to explain."
-
-His face darkened.
-
-She got up restlessly and faced him.
-
-He thought of that time when they had faced each other before--in
-the shabby, glaring little room--and his face hardened.
-
-"When you----" she began; "I thought it was for you--I had heard you
-say----"
-
-"Are you going back five years?" he asked.
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Then would you mind _not_?" he said. "There can be no good in it,
-and to me at least it is not a pleasant subject."
-
-"I must!" she burst out. "Oh! cannot you help me? It is so hard!"
-
-She held out her hands pathetically.
-
-A deep colour came into his tanned face, and he stood still, looking
-at her strangely.
-
-"I think I will go," he said; "there is no use in prolonging this."
-
-"Do you--love--me still?" she cried suddenly.
-
-He turned on her in a white passion of anger.
-
-"Not content yet?" he breathed. "What are you made of? Do you
-want me to show you all my degradation? Why? Oh, Kitty, Kitty, be
-merciful! Be true to those eyes of yours----"
-
-He stopped abruptly and moved over to the door.
-
-"Hugh, I love you!"
-
-It was the veriest whisper, but it stayed his steps, and brought a
-great light leaping to his eyes.
-
-The light died down.
-
-"It is too late!" he said, and turned away.
-
-"Hugh, listen--I loved you always--five years ago. It was for your
-sake----"
-
-He turned again.
-
-"Kitty?" he said uncertainly.
-
-She went on bravely, always heroic through her love.
-
-"I was poor--insignificant; you were ambitious--clever. I had heard
-your longings after greatness. Hugh, how could you travel into those
-wild countries with me? I knew you would give it up, and how could I
-bear that? To be a drag, a hindrance to you! And in the coming years
-I thought you would regret---- Hugh, you were poor, too, though not
-so poor as I. I did it for you--it nearly killed me, Hugh. I was ill
-after, but it was for you!"
-
-Her voice died away into silence.
-
-He stood very still, and his face was white and bloodless.
-
-But in his eyes there was a great reverence.
-
-"Forgive me!" he said.
-
-She smiled softly.
-
-"Oh, yes," she said.
-
-The cynicism had gone from his face, and the hardness and bitterness
-too.
-
-[Illustration: "Oh, cannot you help me? It is so hard!"]
-
-She looked at him wistfully. He turned away from her eyes and hid
-his face in his hands.
-
-"It was a mistake," he said, slowly, dully.
-
-"Yes."
-
-Still she waited.
-
-He looked up, and she strove to read his face in vain.
-
-Sad it was, and set, and yet there was a light there too.
-
-He took her hands gently in his.
-
-"Kathleen," he said earnestly, "God knows what I think of you. I can
-work now. Good-bye, dear."
-
-She raised her eyes to his--mystified and anxious.
-
-He answered them, very gently, but with a firmness there was no
-gainsaying.
-
-"You are famous," he said; "when I have made a name I will come to
-you. Will you wait, Kitty?"
-
-"For ever, Hugh," she answered, understanding him so well that that
-was all she said.
-
-He bent and kissed her hands.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-She knelt at the side of his bed, heedless of the presence of the
-nurse at the other end of the room, and her tears wetted his hand.
-The right hand and arm were swathed in bandages.
-
-He smiled sadly as he looked at her.
-
-"I am a failure," he said.
-
-"Ah, no, no! All England is ringing with your name. Hugh"--she
-raised a face all alight with a proud joy--"you are famous now!"
-
-A little flush rose to his white face.
-
-"Pshaw!" he said, "rescuing a woman and a few children from being
-burnt to death. Anyone would have done it."
-
-"Ah, no, Hugh! Brave men shrank from that awful sea and burning
-ship!"
-
-He was silent, looking at his bandaged hand.
-
-"I must learn to write with my left hand," he said.
-
-She bent nearer.
-
-"Let me write for you," she whispered; "let me finish your book,
-Hugh, while you dictate it to me. I do not sing now in public, you
-know."
-
-"Yes, I know."
-
-He drew her closer to him and rested his cheek against her soft hair.
-
-"I said I would not come to you till I had made a name," he said. "I
-am a wreck now! I shall be a wreck for a long while----"
-
-"Ah, dear, but you are famous!" she interposed lovingly.
-
-He sighed.
-
-"I cannot do without you any longer, Kitty. I am beaten at last.
-Will you take a wreck?"
-
-"I will take _you_, Hugh, a famous----"
-
-"A famous wreck," he finished with a smile.
-
-[Illustration: "Let me write for you," she whispered.]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: THE PULPIT MANNER]
-
-THE PULPIT MANNER
-
-CHARACTERISTIC GESTURES OF GREAT PREACHERS.
-
-=By F. M. Holmes.=
-
-
-First let us look at Dr. Joseph Parker. His sermons are constantly
-attended by ministers of all denominations, including clergymen of
-the Church of England; and no stronger testimony, we take it, could
-be given to a man's extraordinary preaching power than that year
-after year he continually attracts other preachers.
-
-Dr. Parker, it is almost needless to explain, is the eminent
-Congregational minister of the City Temple in London, and he
-occupies the unique position of having maintained for thirty years
-a noonday service every Thursday in addition to his usual Sunday
-services. To this Thursday service come persons from the ends of the
-earth, and ministers and laymen of various religious persuasions. On
-one occasion the sittings of a conference belonging to one of the
-minor Methodist bodies seemed seriously imperilled because so many
-of the delegates desired to go and hear Dr. Parker.
-
-What is the secret of his widely attractive power? The answer comes
-in a word--he is intensely dramatic. We do not mean theatrical.
-He chooses a clear message to deliver, and that message--that
-paramount thought--is driven home to his hearers in a manner that
-forces itself upon every mind, no matter how reluctant. He uses
-short, pithy sentences, and heightens and emphasises their effect by
-suitable modulations of voice, by deliberate or rapid utterance as
-the words may require, and by vigorous and appropriate gesture. He
-speaks only the very pith and point of what he has to say, and then
-says it in the clearest and most suitably effective manner that he
-can possibly command. It is the thing itself we hear, rather than
-talk or argument all round and about it.
-
-[Illustration: DR. PARKER.]
-
-Thus, on one occasion, his theme was found in the text, "Jesus in
-the midst." "Where is the midst?" he asked in a clear and striking,
-sonorous voice that commanded attention at once. These were his
-opening words, and after a pause he proceeded in the same manner and
-in similar short, striking sentences to point to different ideas of
-"the midst," and to declare that Christ was, or should be, in the
-midst of the literature, science, philosophy, and business of the
-day. Unless ministers preached Christ, said he, they had better be
-silent.
-
-[ILLUSTRATION: BISHOP OF RIPON. ARCHDEACON SINCLAIR.
-DEAN LEFROY. BISHOP OF STEPNEY.]
-
-There is nothing new in this, you will say. No doubt Dr. Parker
-would tell you that he does not wish to preach anything new; but no
-one can watch him critically without concluding that he constantly
-studies not only what he shall say, but how he shall say it in the
-most striking and effective manner.
-
-As a dramatic preacher, we might also instance the Rev. J. H.
-Jowett, who has succeeded the late Dr. Dale at Carr's Lane
-Congregational Church, Birmingham. To his Oxford scholarship Mr.
-Jowett has united an assiduous cultivation of a fine voice and
-vigorous yet graceful and suitable gesture, which render him a most
-striking and fascinating preacher.
-
-But turning now to other styles, if Dr. Parker is one of the most
-dramatic, Dr. Boyd Carpenter, the learned Bishop of Ripon, is one of
-the most eloquent of preachers. He is also one of the most rapid.
-He seems so fully charged with his subject that the words pour from
-his lips like a torrent; his body turns first to one side and then
-to the other, and anon leans forward in front, as though propelled
-by the energy of the thought within. His hand is often held up
-before him with the index finger pointing, as though to lead his
-audience on to the next thought, and to prevent their interest or
-attention from flagging. But, rapid and fluent as he is, it must
-not be thought that he is superficial; on the contrary, there is
-every evidence that the discourse is well thought out, and based
-on a solid framework of reason, while the language is eloquent and
-rhetorical. And it is, as it were, to mark the network of logical
-deduction within the words that the index finger is brought so fully
-into play. We judge that his voice is naturally somewhat thin and
-poor, but by careful use and perhaps assiduous cultivation, and by
-the most beautifully clear articulation, Dr. Boyd Carpenter can make
-himself heard in St. Paul's with what appears to be perfect ease.
-There is no straining of the voice and no shouting; but in a quiet
-though forcible manner he sends his voice round the huge building.
-Further, it has been pointed out to me that he will not commence his
-discourse until the congregation have settled themselves down into
-absolute quietness, and all the rustling of dresses, and coughing,
-and fidgeting are stilled. Under these circumstances his voice
-would, of course, carry far better in a large church.
-
-Somewhat similar in manner is Canon Barker, of Marylebone,
-who, in the energetic expression of the thought with which he
-seems surcharged, bends forward sometimes so deeply towards the
-congregation as to give, the impression that he is about to dive out
-of the pulpit. But his style is that of the special pleader, the
-advocate and the debater; it is as though he desires to argue out
-everything to its logical conclusion, rather than to sway or move
-his audience by eloquence and emotional appeals.
-
-[Illustration: PREBENDARY WEBB-PEPLOE.]
-
-Dean Lefroy of Norwich is also a debater; perhaps, a more keen
-debater than Canon Barker, and he is also a rhetorician. He delights
-to preach a strongly evangelical "Gospel" sermon, and to embellish
-it with rhetoric and declaim it with passionate earnestness. It is
-evident he thoroughly believes in his theme, he seeks to impress it
-on his audience by vigorous, earnest, passionate utterance, in which
-his energetic gestures are often of the most decided character.
-A curious characteristic of his preaching has been related to me
-by a friend. "You cannot listen to Lefroy for five minutes," said
-he, "without violently taking sides either for or against him. You
-are either intensely in favour of him or find yourself becoming
-almost vehemently opposed"--a testimony, we take it that the Dean
-is a decided, downright, assertive and aggressive preacher rather
-than persuasive and emotional. He has instituted a Nave service at
-Norwich Cathedral, at which he often preaches himself, and attracts
-enormous congregations.
-
-[Illustration: JOHN MCNEIL.]
-
-Still continuing to glance at those whom we may call rapid and
-fluent preachers, Prebendary Webb-Peploe comes to mind. He is not
-so energetic as some others, but the rapidity of his utterance, the
-fluency of his expression, and his great command of language, would
-rival that of almost any speaker. He and many others would probably
-utter three times as many words in a given time as Dr. Parker or
-Archdeacon Sinclair.
-
-[Illustration: IAN MACLAREN
-
-(_Dr. John Watson._)]
-
-The latter is slow, deliberate, and dignified in his utterances,
-rarely using gesture and affecting a grave and somewhat sonorous
-voice; but the Archdeacon's sermons are always most carefully
-prepared, and indicate considerable study and research.
-
-Among the grave and sedate preachers we might also place Dr. John
-Watson ("Ian Maclaren"), of Sefton Park Presbyterian Church,
-Liverpool; his sermons are full of thought, and, as might be
-expected, exhibit an excellent literary finish.
-
-Now, if we take Archdeacon Sinclair and Dr. John Watson as examples
-of more deliberate and sedate preachers, we may regard the Rev. John
-McNeil, the well-known Presbyterian minister, as an instance of the
-colloquial preacher.
-
-Not that his voice is low-pitched, as used in conversation. Mr.
-McNeil has done what few preachers could physically undertake: he
-has preached twice a day for a fortnight in the Albert Hall at
-Kensington, the largest hall in London, and capable of holding
-about ten thousand persons; and he has repeatedly filled the huge
-Agricultural Hall at Islington, numbers being turned away from
-lack of room. His voice, indeed, seems capable of filling the
-largest hall without effort. But his style is easy, unaffected,
-conversational, though sometimes, with both arms outstretched, he
-bursts forth into loud and impassioned appeals. There is no doubt a
-large section of the public who like this easy and colloquial style,
-especially if it come quite naturally to the speaker.
-
-[Illustration: DR. MCLAREN.]
-
-And now another celebrated figure rises on the scene, the
-eminent Baptist minister, Dr. McLaren of Manchester. Refined,
-scholarly, brimming over with knowledge, and a master of beautiful
-illustration, there is no doubt that he takes rank as one of the
-very greatest preachers of the day. Like other great speakers, he
-has evidently studied the art of preaching.
-
-[Illustration: DR. HORTON. HUGH PRICE HUGHES. J. R. JOWETT.
-SILVESTER HORNE.]
-
-At a meeting at the Holborn Restaurant to celebrate his ministerial
-jubilee in April, 1896, he said he had determined, at the outset of
-his career, to concentrate his mind on the work of the ministry and
-not fritter away his energies over many minor engagements. He had
-always endeavoured to make his ministry one of Gospel exposition; he
-had preached Christ because he believed that men needed redemption,
-and he had preached without doubts and hesitations. It was Thomas
-Binney who had taught him how to preach.
-
-Undoubtedly Dr. McLaren has succeeded in his aim as an expositor
-of the Scriptures, for that is regarded as one of his chief
-characteristics. A favourite gesture of Dr. McLaren's--at all events
-in his earlier days--was to squeeze up a handkerchief, no doubt
-quite unconsciously, in his right hand by the nervous energy he was
-putting forth in his discourse, and then suddenly his hand would
-dart out to mark some emphatic passage as though he were about to
-throw the handkerchief at the congregation; but needless to add the
-handkerchief was never thrown.
-
-Like Dr. McLaren, Dr. Whyte, of Free St. George's, Edinburgh, has
-a great command of beautiful and striking illustrations. "He is
-the most wonderful preacher in Scotland," declared an enthusiastic
-Scot to me on one occasion. "Mr. Gladstone used often to hear him,
-and Lord Rosebery does now." Dr. Whyte makes great use of the
-imagination in his discourses and employs frequent gestures, but
-graceful, emphatic and always to suit the action to the word and
-the word to the action. "One illustration," said a gentleman, "I
-remember some time ago. Dr. Whyte was preaching about tribulation,
-and he showed that the word came from _tribulum_, which is a Latin
-name for a roller or sledge for thrashing out corn, and in the same
-way tribulation sifted men as wheat." How like a platitude this may
-sound when summarised down to a line; but the point is that the idea
-of the beneficial purpose of tribulation had been so firmly fixed in
-the hearer's mind that he remembered it, and perchance in some dark
-hour it had been to him a "cup of strength in some great agony."
-Is not that, after all, one of the great aims and one of the great
-tests of good speaking--to fix some idea, some truth firmly in the
-hearer's mind so that it is never forgotten?
-
-As a robust, manly preacher few, if any, we suspect, can surpass
-Dean Hole of Rochester. He has a tall, commanding presence--he is
-over six feet high--a bright, animated countenance, and a most
-genial manner. When some years ago he held the living of Caunton,
-Notts, he used to journey periodically to Liverpool, where his
-midday addresses to commercial men were most successful and
-exercised great influence. He does not employ much gesture, but his
-fine voice, sparkling eye and manly, straightforward utterances,
-based on reason and logic, always command deep attention.
-
-[Illustration: DR. WHYTE.]
-
-His appeal is rather to reason than to the emotions, and by way
-of contrast we may glance at Canon Wilberforce, who is fluent and
-fervent, and affords one of the best examples of the emotional
-preacher. It would seem as though he set himself to arouse and stir
-up all the feelings of his congregation and lead them into what
-he conceives to be the right channel. Often choosing most unusual
-texts, he can yet make direct and pointed appeals from the pulpit,
-touching the greatest hopes and deepest trusts of human nature,
-and yet can employ as illustrations the greatest events and the
-newest discoveries of the day. He uses but little gesture, in this
-respect being somewhat different from the eminent Wesleyan, the Rev.
-Hugh Price Hughes, who might also be classed as an emotional--we
-had almost said passionate--preacher. In fluency and fervour he
-is probably surpassed by none. Possessed of a remarkably clear,
-vibrating, and penetrating voice, which seems as though it could
-thrill through any building, however large, there is no chance of
-anyone dozing when he is in the pulpit. When pleading some cause or
-denouncing some wrong, his feelings seem to get the better of him,
-and he slashes away with his voice in a perfect hurricane of verbal
-blows.
-
-[Illustration: DR. CLIFFORD.]
-
-Quite as emotional and quite as fluent is Dr. Clifford of Westbourne
-Park Baptist Church. His command of language is extraordinary,
-and with a mind less clear and well-regulated this great fluency
-might prove a snare; but his discourses are always remarkably
-well-arranged, his "points" are clear, and his meanings driven home
-with remarkable emphasis. His congregations are immense, and his
-hearers are devoted to him. His gestures often follow his words,
-and one--probably quite unconscious--is, it must be confessed, not
-graceful, even if forcible: it is a drawing back of his arms, and
-then shooting them out both together as if appealing to the people.
-His voice is exceptionally clear, penetrating, and resonant; and in
-all very popular preachers much is due to the voice.
-
-[Illustration: DEAN HOLE.]
-
-The Bishop of Stepney, who may be described as bearing all the
-characteristics of the highly cultured Oxford man, has in addition
-a deeply sympathetic musical voice. He does not use much gesture,
-but such as he does employ is well suited to the words, while his
-illustrations are often drawn from his social and religious work in
-the East End. He used frequently to preach in Victoria Park, where
-he has readily acknowledged his best supporters were Nonconformists.
-
-[Illustration: CANON BARKER. CANON WILBERFORCE.]
-
-Another eminent preacher whom we may also describe as exhibiting all
-the characteristics of Oxford culture is Dr. Horton of Lyndhurst
-Road Congregational Church, Hampstead. Possessed, like the Bishop
-of Stepney, of a remarkably sympathetic voice, he modulates and
-varies it to suit the subject and the words, and his gesture,
-never redundant, has lately been reduced almost to extinction. At
-the sermon which he preached before the Congregational Union at
-its autumnal assembly at Birmingham in 1897, his style was almost
-severely quiet, but the effect of his thrilling voice and sometimes
-awesome whispered tones, his polished literary language, and his
-intense earnestness--as he declared that the ideal Christian must be
-in constant touch with God, and yet in constant touch with men--was
-very great, and appealed both to reason and emotion. Indeed, both
-of these find their place in his sermons. Dr. Horton has mastered
-the art of always being interesting, no matter what his theme; and
-it would seem as though in his discourses he makes an effort to
-really interest and to reach all sorts and conditions of men.
-
-Another Congregational minister who exhibits much of the Oxford
-manner is the Rev. Silvester Horne, of Kensington; but, in addition,
-he seems possessed of a fiery zeal and fervent enthusiasm that will,
-it is feared, wear him out physically before his day is fully spent,
-unless he carefully husbands his nervous energy. Already, although
-a young man, he has had to take rest for a whole year because of
-ill-health. That inner fire, that mental energy, that disciplined
-enthusiasm, which light up his face so brilliantly and animate his
-suitable and graceful gesture, are far too precious a possession to
-be quenched too quickly; but there are few or none of the younger
-preachers of the day who have promise of a more brilliant future.
-
-And now a word in conclusion for one who is perhaps the greatest
-philosophical preacher of the time--Dr. Fairbairn of Mansfield
-College at Oxford. His memory is marvellous, his power of choice
-and accurate verbal expression is wonderful; he can speak for hours
-without a note, and though sometimes a sentence should appear
-involved and complicated, it will finish admirably, and, if read
-in a verbatim report afterwards, will have all the finish of a
-literary production wrought out in the quiet of the study. He uses
-but little gesture, an occasional opening out of hands and arms, as
-though to present and lay before the audience the thought which he
-is uttering, seems nearly all. In fact, it would appear that he is
-so absorbed in the abstract thought, the argument, the philosophy he
-is working out before you, that he thinks nothing of the manner in
-which he utters it.
-
-We do not pretend to have exhausted the list of famous preachers, or
-even to have glanced at all the different types; but these will be
-sufficient to indicate the variety that prevails, and to show that
-there is an art of preaching which, like other arts, needs to be
-assiduously cultivated, and well repays those who intelligently do
-so.
-
-
-
-
-A MOTHER'S BIBLE.
-
-  A pathetic incident occurred some years ago in connection with one
-    of our wars abroad. A youth who had been wounded, and who died in
-    the field hospital, clutched in his last hours an old worn copy of
-    the Bible, on the flyleaf of which were inscribed these touching
-    lines:--
-
-TO MY BOY.
-
-
-    Remember, love, who gave you this,
-      When other days shall come,
-    When she who had thy earliest kiss
-      Sleeps in her narrow home.
-    Remember! 'twas a mother gave
-    The gift to one she'd die to save.
-
-    A mother sought a pledge of love,
-      The holiest, for her son;
-    And from the gift of God above
-      She chose a godly one--
-    She chose for her beloved boy
-    The source of light and life and joy.
-
-    And bade him keep the gift, that when
-      The parting hour should come
-    They might have hope, and meet again
-      In an eternal home:
-    She said his faith in that should be
-    Sweet incense to her memory.
-
-    And should the scoffer in his pride
-      Laugh his fond faith to scorn,
-    And bid him cast the pledge aside
-      Which he from youth had borne--
-    She bade him pause and ask his breast
-    If he or she had loved him best.
-
-    A mother's blessing on her son
-      Goes with this holy thing,
-    The love that would retain the one
-      Must to the other cling.
-    Remember! 'tis no idle toy,
-    Thy mother's gift! Remember, boy!
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: ROGER PETTINGDALE]
-
-ROGER PETTINGDALE
-
-_A RUSTIC LOVE-STORY._
-
-By H. A. Davies.
-
-
-Across the fields from the church--through the clover meadow first,
-into the broad wheat-field next, and thence over the pasture lands,
-all yellow with the glint of buttercups--you will come to the
-Pettingdale farm. A thrill and a song and an aching went through
-my blood all together when I looked on the block of buildings the
-other day. How sweet-and-bitter is remembrance; how musical to the
-heart, and yet how sad with yearning! For the sight of that rugged
-old chimney standing square and grim and familiar upon the grey
-roof of the house; the red-tiled barns clustering behind, plain and
-prosperous; the sweep of the waving corn-fields towards the setting
-sun; caused my heart to surge with swift memories, long since buried
-and forgotten beneath the stress of life. How peaceful were the old
-days amidst these very fields! When the heart is young, ah! then's
-the time for music; and what echoes of far-off melodies--songs
-of old summers past and gone--does the scene awaken! There's the
-orchard where I spent such rare hours. Here are the hedges where we
-went a-nutting. Yonder is the oak-tree which we used to climb, Frank
-Pettingdale and I. It is still the same sturdy tree, keeping gnarled
-and knotted guard over the same creaking gateway, just as in the old
-days!
-
-Wherever my eyes fell there were thorns and roses for the heart all
-in one moment. It was in the old upland field that Clara Pettingdale
-and I as children used to wander, hand in hand, amongst the
-buttercups. She has long slept, poor Clara, in that corner of the
-churchyard where lie generations of Pettingdales past and gone--a
-long line of sturdy yeomen.
-
-The full light of the sun falls upon the courtyard of the farmhouse.
-It has a broad frontage, long and low and quaint, with irregular
-gables and overhanging eaves and deep, mullioned windows. The
-house runs queerly on two sides of the courtyard, one wing being
-at right angles to the other. It is beautifully clean and prim,
-with its whitewashed walls, its freshly painted woodwork, and
-its geraniums growing in green boxes on every window-sill. On
-the third side of the yard run the granary and the cider-house;
-while the fourth, save for an ivy-covered wall, which gives way to
-the entrance gates in one corner, is open to the gentle vista of
-countryside which stretches away before the house. What a pleasant
-old courtyard it is--so cool in the summer that the panting dogs
-love to throw themselves upon its stones; so sheltered in winter
-that the blustering nor'-easters touch it not; so prosperous-looking
-always, with its well-kept flags laid from end to end, as level and
-smooth as a billiard-table, and as spotless as the floor of the
-farm kitchen. How the polished milk-cans glisten and blink upon
-the wall! How the white sills of the old-fashioned windows gleam
-in the sunlight! The whole place seems to breathe of scouring and
-buckets, and scrubbing brushes and vigorous arms. Every morning the
-yard is washed down by the house-boy (it used to be Elijah in my
-day, but he is now a bearded man, and labours outside, and a young
-Ezra is the present knight of the bucket); every morning the cans
-are scoured and the tubs are scrubbed, and the step before the door
-is free-stoned, and the flowers are watered, and the house seems to
-smile a glistening, watery smile, as though it had just lifted its
-head from its morning dip to bid you the time of day. There was ever
-a charm to me about Pettingdale and its paved courtyard. I mind me
-well what a brave and romantic sound to my young ears was that of
-the horse's hoofs ringing and clamping upon the stones as he was
-brought up to the door on market days with the high yellow dogcart
-behind him; or the clatter of the wheels across the yard as Roger
-Pettingdale drove out through the broad gateway, a fine old figure
-with his white hair, and his aquiline nose, and his broad, well-set
-shoulders.
-
-[Illustration: His hair went snow-white early in life.]
-
-He is still outwardly the same. One could hardly detect a single
-point of change in him, save that his face is more furrowed and his
-eyes deeper set. His hair went snow-white early in life. Generations
-of Pettingdales have been subject to the same peculiarity. Thus it
-is that the long step from forty to sixty-five has wrought little
-difference in Roger Pettingdale. His body is as erect, his step as
-firm, his voice as sonorous as ever. He was ever a well-known figure
-at all the county markets and agricultural meetings, and it might be
-twenty-five years agone for all the change that one can see in him.
-Among other men he was always noticeable, with his tall figure, his
-white hair, his clean-shaven, well-cut face, and that wide-rimmed
-silk hat which he always affected. As he moved amongst the crowd I
-have heard men say, "Who is that?" and others answer, "Don't you
-know him? Why, surely everybody knows _him_? He's Roger Pettingdale."
-
-He is elected on all the local bodies. Thus he is a guardian of the
-poor, a member of the School Board, vice-chairman of the County
-Council, and the people's churchwarden at the parish church. There
-is no man amongst all those he meets in these capacities whose words
-are listened to with more respect. That solid weight, that hallmark
-of sound judgment which always attends upon sheer common-sense, is
-apparent in every opinion he utters. He forms his judgments first,
-and speaks afterwards. While other men are impulsively throwing
-themselves into useless controversy on this or that vexed question,
-Roger Pettingdale is silently weighing the _pros_ and _cons_ of
-the matter in his own mind; and when he speaks there is usually
-nothing more to be said. He chops no logic; he simply argues
-with the sledge-hammer of common-sense, backed up by the blunt,
-uncompromising sincerity of an honest and fair-dealing mind. His
-tolerance, his breadth of vision, his power of seeing the other side
-of the question, his scorn of all shams and pretences, have made his
-name a password for integrity and sound judgment. "You will always
-get a fair hearing from Roger Pettingdale," people say. "Does Roger
-Pettingdale think so? Oh, then, there must be something in it."
-
-In his home life, in the control of his farm, in his own daily
-affairs, there is the same straightforwardness, the same sincerity,
-the same well-balanced judgment and acumen. "There never was a
-year, as I remember, when we didn't have plenty of hay to begin
-conditioning on," said one of his labourers the other day. "Now,
-at the next farm they've never got enough." That is only a small
-instance of the perfection of method which marks every department of
-the prosperous farm.
-
-At home he is essentially a plain man, this sturdy farmer. There
-is no nonsense about him, although he can claim blood with one of
-the oldest families in the county. Yet he has a proper pride, in
-a manly, direct kind of way, as you shall see. He has had four
-children, two boys and two girls, in giving birth to the youngest
-of whom his wife died. James, the eldest, is his right hand in the
-farm management, and will some day be head of the family, as the
-Pettingdales have succeeded, son to father, for generations out of
-mind. Mary, the second, you shall hear more of anon. Frank, the
-third, my old playmate, early in life took the fancy that he would
-like to be a soldier. Roger Pettingdale has ever been a wise and a
-tolerant father, studying well the nature of each of his children.
-He unerringly knew Frank's proud and stubborn character.
-
-"You want to be a soldier?" he said. "Well, I could have wished it
-otherwise, Frank. It would have been a pleasure to me to see you
-settle down on the farm. But we will not argue the point. Let it
-stand for twelve months, and then talk to me about it."
-
-Twelve months did not change Frank's resolve. When he mentioned
-it again, a drawn look passed over Roger Pettingdale's face for a
-moment--a look of keen pain--for he loved his children. Then he drew
-himself up to his full height.
-
-"You are still of the same mind, Frank! Then I have nothing more to
-say. I am not going to attempt to dictate to you what your calling
-should be. You have to live your own life, and as you make your bed
-you must lie on it. Remember that, my lad. If you decide to go as a
-soldier, you shall go in a proper fashion, lad. You shall have your
-commission. No son of mine shall enter the ranks."
-
-And have his commission Frank did. I looked at the tablet in the old
-church the other day with a surging heart. It is a brass tablet, the
-lettering of which has been recently renovated.
-
-       TO THE MEMORY OF
-  LIEUTENANT FRANK PETTINGDALE,
-    WHO FELL IN ACTION IN THE
-     BATTLE OF TEL-EL-KEBIR.
-
-That was all. There was no vainglorious recounting of the brave
-deed in the performance of which Frank was cut down. He fell "in
-action." That was all. It was Roger Pettingdale all over--simple and
-direct and manly. And were not the laconic words far more eloquent
-than all the ornate elegiacs that poets might have written, just as
-Roger Pettingdale's silent grief when the news reached him was far
-more eloquent than all the passionate outbursts of frenzied sorrow
-that one could conceive?
-
-The fourth child, Clara, as I have already said, sleeps in the
-churchyard. She died when she was a fair-haired girl of ten--as
-bright and promising a maiden as one could wish to see. But she was
-ever fragile, like her mother, and suddenly she faded away, leaving
-a great gap in the home life at the Pettingdale farm.
-
-As to Mary, the second child, she was nineteen years of age, and
-newly returned from school, when Edward Leigh, the son of old Squire
-Leigh, of the Hall, came home from his travels round the world.
-These two, who had only distantly known each other as children,
-met for the first time after many years--she a sweet-looking,
-fresh-coloured girl, in the first blush of womanhood; and he a
-manly, well-set young fellow with a pleasant, sincere face and
-straightforward blue eyes. It was the old story! Twang goes the
-bow of the roguish little archer, and to some heart or another the
-world all at once becomes rose-colour. The old story! They saw each
-other on a Sunday morning across the church. She, sitting in the
-Pettingdale pew, mentally noted that there was a young man at the
-Squire's side who could be no other than his newly returned son; and
-he, from his corner underneath the dingy, ponderous coat-of-arms
-of the Leigh family, looked upon her in her simple dress of white.
-The sun, striking through the window to her right, glinted upon her
-brown hair, which always curled so prettily about her forehead. He
-thought, as he looked, that she was the sweetest, daintiest maiden
-he had ever seen, and he fell in love with her.
-
-He made no secret of his passion. Beating about the bush was
-entirely foreign to Edward Leigh. The choleric old Squire went
-off into a fit of apoplectic rage when he heard how things stood.
-The veins swelled in his forehead, and that pugnacious under-lip
-of his stood out and drew itself over the upper lip and the teeth
-with a tight grip. But Edward had all the old Leigh blood in him.
-"I love her, father," he said quietly, looking the Squire straight
-in the face, and the old man's heart sank within him as he met the
-steady glance of those blue eyes. Fits of passion, threats, fiery
-denunciations--they were all of no avail. Edward was never once
-other than respectful. He would stand with shoulders squared and
-head uplifted, bearing the storm in perfect calm and silence, and
-then would look his father in the face and say--"Father, I love
-her"; and the Squire would clench his fist and march to and fro,
-furiously stamping his feet upon the floor.
-
-[Illustration: "Father, I love her."]
-
-In one culminating fit of choleric rage the Squire rode over to the
-farm. He found Roger Pettingdale in the corn-field, looking at the
-growing wheat.
-
-[Illustration: "Forgive me!"]
-
-"Look here, Pettingdale," he burst forth fiercely. "This nonsense
-must be stopped. Are you an idiot, that you cannot see what is going
-on, or are you in the scheme to entrap my----"
-
-Roger Pettingdale turned round upon him.
-
-"I beg your pardon, Squire Leigh?" he said quietly, as one who had
-not heard aright.
-
-"Tut! Nonsense!" retorted the Squire. "Don't 'beg-your-pardon' me!
-You know full well what I mean. Are you blind? I say it must be
-stopped! You know full well that that precious son of mine has gone
-stark mad over that chit of a girl of yours!"
-
-"And what of that, Squire Leigh?" replied Roger Pettingdale, drawing
-himself to his full height and looking at the Squire from underneath
-his heavy eyebrows. "If that precious son of yours has gone stark
-mad over my daughter, what of that?"
-
-"Why, this," thundered the Squire: "that it must be stopped!"
-
-"Very well, why don't you stop it?" replied Roger Pettingdale.
-
-The retort, perfectly cool and natural, laid bare all the Squire's
-impotence at one stroke, and drove him well-nigh to frenzy. His eyes
-shot fire, and those veins in his forehead swelled as though they
-would burst.
-
-"It is not my daughter who is coming to the Hall after your son,"
-Roger Pettingdale went on. "It is your son who is coming here after
-my daughter. You seem to forget that point. You say it must be
-stopped. And I repeat--Why don't you stop it?"
-
-"It is as I thought," shouted the enraged Squire. "You are all in
-it--all of you. All in the scheme to entrap him! A pretty plot,
-don't you call it, for a man who poses as a Christian?"
-
-In a blind access of fury he took a step forward and raised his
-riding-whip. And then his shaking arm fell to his side, for Roger
-Pettingdale had laid a hand upon his shoulder, and was confronting
-him with grave, kindly, pitying eyes.
-
-"You are in anger, Squire Leigh," he said, with simple dignity,
-"else I should take your words as an insult. Be sure that the
-Pettingdales have not fallen so low, nor their womenkind either,
-that they need to trap the son of Squire Leigh. But I tell you this,
-as man to man: if your son truly loves my daughter, and if she
-loves him in return, I will put no bar before my child's happiness;
-no, not for you, nor for all the Leighs in the world. We come of
-as good a stock as you, Squire! Remember that! More money and more
-land maybe you have--but not more pride of family. I care naught
-for your money or your land. Thank God! I have prospered beyond all
-expectation. And I tell you again, straight to your face, if your
-son comes to me and asks for my daughter's hand, and I find it is
-for her happiness, I shall say 'Yes.'"
-
-"I shall disinherit him!" burst forth the Squire; "he shall not have
-a penny--not a brass farthing!"
-
-"I shall tell him," continued Roger Pettingdale, "that if he would
-win my daughter, he must first make a position for himself in the
-world, independently of aught you can do for or against him; and
-that shall be the test of his sincerity."
-
-Then he turned away, and the Squire, his face livid with passion,
-marched off, savagely cutting at the wheat-ears with his
-riding-whip. And when he mounted his horse at the corner of the
-field, he dug his spurs so viciously into her that she bounded and
-reared, and almost threw him.
-
-Well, the long and short of it was that Edward Leigh was not found
-wanting in the test which was imposed upon him.
-
-"You are quite right, sir," he said to Roger Pettingdale; "the
-condition is a reasonable one. I ask for nothing more than the
-chance of proving that I am in earnest."
-
-He went to London, studied under his father's old college friend,
-John Wetherell, the well-known Queen's Counsel, and in five years
-was making fair headway in the courts as a barrister. And the
-strange part of it was that the choleric old Squire--who has a good
-heart underneath his rough exterior--seeing his son's name in the
-papers from time to time, felt his paternal pride rising within him
-despite his stubborn resentment. Perhaps, too, he felt lonely in his
-old age. At all events, he went over to the farm one day, and asked
-to see Mary.
-
-"I shall fight against it no longer, my dear," he said, holding
-out his hand. "The lad has proved his grit, and the woman who
-can call forth such steady love in a man is more than worthy of
-being mistress of the Hall. I am an old man, and have no time left
-for bitternesses. Forgive me, and you will find me as staunch in
-friendship as you have found me frank in enmity."
-
-Mary is now Mary Leigh, of Leigh Hall, and a sweeter, gentler, more
-winsome mistress you could not find in the whole land. You may often
-see the old Squire leaning upon her shoulder--a bent, white-haired
-figure--as they walk in the grounds.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Among all the seasons of the year, I think there is none that Roger
-Pettingdale loves so well as the time of harvest. You may see him
-standing at the gateway, looking in meditation down the long shimmer
-and sheen of the golden wheat-field as the wind ripples over it.
-
-"I love to gaze at fields white with corn," he said to me once.
-"They seem to breathe rich promises of that full fruition to which
-our own lives shall come if we live them well and uprightly."
-
-At the last harvest thanksgiving service in the village church I was
-present for the sake of old times, and from my place behind Roger
-Pettingdale I saw him lost in meditation, with eyes fixed upon the
-chancel window. And when he stood up to sing he was still rapt in
-thought; but suddenly he joined in the sweet old hymn so lustily and
-with such a full heart that it did me good to hear him.
-
-    "The valleys stand so thick with corn
-     That even they are singing."
-
-
-
-
-THE ART OF READING.
-
-By the Ven. Archdeacon Diggle, M.A.
-
-
-Reading aloud is more commonly regarded as an accomplishment than
-an art. In truth, it is both. It is an art in that it cannot be
-left to its own guidance, but requires both an acquaintance with
-rules and familiarity with their practice to bring it to perfection.
-It is an accomplishment in that it is a means of completing our
-equipment for happy social life. Good reading yields not only profit
-but pleasure to others. It is one means of throwing brightness into
-home-life to gather the children together and read really well to
-them. And what a sweet delight it is in the ward of a hospital, or
-among the inmates of a workhouse, or by the bedside of some dearly
-loved invalid, to be able, by reading in soft, gentle, refreshing
-tones, to charm away the monotony and the weariness, perhaps for
-awhile to relieve even the pain, of the lonely and the suffering! We
-might shed sunshine into the darkness of many a life if, instead of
-spending our leisure hours in _ennui_ on ourselves, we devoted them
-to reading aloud to others.
-
-Reading aloud is good for ourselves both physically and morally. It
-is good morally, for if we never read anything unfit for reading
-aloud we shall not be likely to read anything morally deteriorating.
-And physically, reading aloud is a benignant exercise. It widens
-the chest, opens the lungs, strengthens the throat, and does good
-to all the breathing organs. It is a mistake to suppose that using
-the voice weakens it. Abuse or misuse of the vocal organs, as of any
-other organs, injures them; but by proper use and exercise they are
-strengthened and improved. Speakers and preachers have bad throats
-not because they use their throat too much, but because they use it
-badly. They force and torment it, instead of training it to natural
-action and giving it free, full play. And who shall blame them? At
-school they were taught to spell and mind their stops; but how to
-breathe and manage the voice when reading, they probably were not
-taught a single rule. In many instances teachers themselves are
-wholly ignorant of the art and therefore incapable of teaching it.
-And so it comes to pass that, unless either outward circumstance
-or innate common-sense turn our attention in later life to the
-management of the vocal organs, we never learn to read aloud without
-weariness and with pleasure. It is mainly through lack of early
-training that, of all useful and delightful accomplishments, the art
-of reading aloud is one of the least practised and most rare.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Russell and Sons, Baker Street, W._)
-ARCHDEACON DIGGLE.]
-
-Yet it is an art which, in some degree, may be acquired by the
-majority of people; very many could, by a little training and
-perseverance, even excel in it. Of course, the art admits of many
-degrees of excellence. But without reaching the splendid summits of
-the art, attainable only by the highly gifted few, ordinary persons
-may learn to read sufficiently well to gratify both themselves and
-others, if they will take pains to learn and practise a few simple
-rules.
-
-The first requirement is to master the physics of the art: to learn
-to breathe in through the nostrils and out through the mouth,
-never to speak on an inflowing breath, quickly to fill the lungs
-and slowly to empty them, never to gasp or strain after sound, not
-to attempt the higher notes until the lower have been completely
-mastered, to rely more on the lower than the higher notes, to teach
-the lips and front portion of the mouth to do their fair share of
-work equally with the larynx and the vocal cords. A moustache is an
-impediment to easy and distinct reading. It hinders the air from
-passing in free, full flow up the nostrils, and it troubles the
-waves of sound as they issue from the mouth; causing indistinctness,
-more or less flat and thick, in enunciation.
-
-Clearness of enunciation ranks next in importance after easy,
-natural, flexible production of voice, and largely depends on it,
-for there can be no clear, crisp, distinct enunciation of words,
-unless the tools by which words are made, viz. the organs of voice,
-are kept sharp and well burnished. Moreover, for the attainment
-of limpid and finely articulated enunciation careful training is
-required both in the melody and modulation of sounds.
-
-Precision and beauty of enunciation are much assisted by habitual
-practice of the graduated series of all the tones from the keynote
-to its octave. Do not sing when you are reading, but, in order to
-read well, first learn to sing; otherwise your reading will be flat
-and monotonous, without light and shade, instead of being fresh,
-richly modulated, and melodious.
-
-The next requirement of good reading is to learn the relative value
-of the letters, and the right handling of the syllables, of which
-words are composed.
-
-This study is both interesting and attractive, for, as Plato
-observes, letters themselves have a clear significance. The letter
-_r_ is expressive of motion, the letters _d_ and _t_ of binding and
-rest, the letter _l_ of smoothness, _n_ of inwardness, the letter
-_e_ of length and the letter _o_ of roundness.[2] Letters run in
-families, and each family has its own characteristic significance of
-sound. Some letters belong to the lips, others to the throat, others
-employ the whole mouth. Vowels and final consonants are the letters
-which demand most care and support in good reading. For the most
-part, vowels should be rich and full, and the final consonant well
-sustained.
-
-[2] _Cf._ Jowett's Plato, I. 311.
-
-If letters in themselves are expressive and significant,
-collocations of letters in syllables and words are clearly more
-significant still. "By various degrees of strength or weakness,
-emphasis or pitch, length or shortness, they become the natural
-expressions both of the stronger and the finer parts of human
-feeling and thought." To read well, therefore, it is necessary to
-give intelligent and ready heed to the relative weight of words,
-to notice whether consonants are massed together to increase their
-density, or vowels are freely interspersed to leaven and make
-them light. True enunciation largely depends on a careful study
-of the natural formation of words and a right appreciation of the
-proportionate value of their several syllables.
-
-Reading, however, is frequently spoiled by pedantry and exaggerated
-minuteness. In seeking to avoid slovenliness readers often fall into
-foppery. Good reading goes at an easy pace, it is neither too fast
-nor too slow; it neither counts the letters nor omits them, neither
-jumbles syllables together nor anatomises words. The good reader
-reads so that intelligent listeners can spell his words, but he does
-not read as if spelling them himself. He avoids the extremes both
-of negligence and nicety, and constantly remembers that whatever is
-overdone is badly done. Avoid ostentation. No rule in reading is
-more fundamental than this.
-
-Near akin to ostentation is the taint of false and histrionic
-emphasis. Colourless reading, bad though it be, is better than
-tawdry reading. Especially in all reading of a religious or sacred
-character should affectation and dramatic artifices be reverently
-avoided.
-
-To read the Bible in church as if playing a part on the stage is as
-inappropriate and irreligious as to read like one in haste to catch
-a train.
-
-Each kind of subject demands its own proper style in reading. Prose
-should not be read like poetry; nor all kinds either of prose or
-poetry alike. As in writing, each species should be dressed in
-language from its own wardrobe; so in reading, each several kind
-should receive its own appropriate tone, and travel at its own
-appropriate speed. To read everything alike is to read nothing--or
-at most only one thing--well.
-
-[Illustration: Charming away the monotony and the weariness.]
-
-Great authors are by no means invariably good readers, even of
-their own productions. Lord Tennyson read some of his own glorious
-poems beautifully; but others he read either droningly or with too
-much singsong. Dickens read his own works with wonderful power and
-realisation. Wordsworth read his own verse admirably; but we are
-told that neither Coleridge nor Southey could read verse well: "They
-read as if crying or wailing lugubriously."
-
-Reading, therefore, is an art which doubtless requires, for
-the attainment of excellence, some degree of histrionic
-gifts--imagination, imitation, fervour, and passion.
-
-Similarly with oratory and authorship. Both these arts are distinct
-from that of reading; as each of these again is distinct from the
-other.
-
-It is curious, indeed, how few among great authors are great
-orators; or, among great orators, great authors. The gifts which
-tell in writing--condensation, terseness, finish--are not the
-gifts which tell most in speaking. In speaking, the essentials are
-clearness of enunciation, sympathy with the audience, copiousness
-of illustration, directness of statement, uninvolved reasoning. The
-merits which impart value to a book--wealth of fact, niceness in
-balancing opposing considerations, delicacy of assertion, depth and
-sweep of argument--may easily become ineffective in the delivery of
-a speech. Hence, therefore, whereas a good speaker is occasionally
-a good writer, owing to his rare combination of different orders
-of talent, it more frequently happens that the one set of talents
-is given to one man to enrich them in seclusion, and the other to
-another man to use them with publicity.
-
-In like manner with reading; it is an art by itself. It is natural
-to suppose that no one could possibly read an author's works so
-well as the author's self, because no one can understand them so
-intimately as their own creator. Yet experience proves this to be
-not the case; and for a reason which at first sight is not wholly
-apparent. It is just because they are his own that, as a rule, he
-cannot read them well. He may have a richly cultivated voice, clear
-enunciation, a varied power of modulation; he may even be able to
-read the works of others well, yet be a failure in reading what he
-himself has written. Why is this? Partly, perhaps, it is due to
-an unavoidable self-consciousness in reading his own works; and
-self-consciousness is the ruin of good reading. "Forget thyself"
-is a necessary condition of good reading. Partly, perhaps, it is
-due to over-absorption in the memory of sensations and sentiments
-which overpowered him when he wrote in the solitude of his chamber,
-but which are somewhat unnatural and overstrained for exhibition
-before a concourse of auditors. But probably the principal reason
-is that one of the greatest charms of good reading arises from the
-co-operation of two spirits toward one end--the spirit of the author
-and the spirit of the reader. The reader of another's works seeks
-actively to express the spirit of his author, yet unintentionally
-he is expressing his own spirit also. The author enters into him
-and he throws himself into the author; his reading, therefore, is
-the union, the marriage, the interpenetration and expression of two
-spirits--the author's and his own. However interesting, therefore,
-and delightful it may be to hear an author read his own works,
-yet is there always lacking the dash and force and suggestiveness
-produced when a great author is interpreted by a great reader. The
-author merely reproduces his original meaning in what he wrote;
-the reader, through the agency of his own independent personality,
-idealises and diversifies that meaning.
-
-Idealisation is one of the most beautiful effects of the fine art of
-reading. The most ordinary poem or piece of prose, when idealised
-by an accomplished artist in reading, grows lovely and sweet. And
-one way of learning to read well ourselves is to sit at the feet of
-some of these great masters of reading. Until we have heard a great
-reader read it is next to impossible to conceive what a fine and
-noble art true reading is. On the other hand, we can never become
-good readers by merely listening to others, any more than we can
-become good musicians by hearing others play.
-
-In the art of reading, others may be our models; none but ourselves
-can be our makers. Listening to others may show us how the thing
-can best be done, but without doing the thing ourselves the thing
-can never be truly learned by us. Sometimes, indeed, listening to
-others has an effect quite the opposite of a model for imitation.
-"Pausanias tells us of an ancient player on the harp who was wont to
-make his scholars go to hear one who played badly that they might
-learn to hate his discords and false measures." In like manner, one
-way of learning to read well is to hear others read badly.
-
-The art of reading aloud culminates in the expression of the
-spiritual through the medium of the physical. As sculpture aspires
-to express its ideals in stone, and painting in colour, and music
-in sound, so reading embodies its ideals in uttered words. A
-well-trained voice, clearness of enunciation, rhythm and flexibility
-of articulation--these are the physical framework of the art of
-reading aloud. Without first acquiring these the reader is as
-impotent as the painter without colour or the sculptor without
-stone. But the physics of reading are nothing more than its material
-framework. Unless the reader is inspired with ideals, reading will
-never rise to the dignity and glory of an art with him. He may be
-as a house-painter with his brush, or a mason with his stone--an
-industrious and useful artificer, but not an artist in his work.
-
-
-
-
-MIDGET CHURCHES
-
-By J. A. Reid.
-
-
-The subject of church architecture is ever a fascinating one.
-Millions of money and an immense amount of time and labour have been
-spent in erecting places of worship, some of which are magnificent
-structures capable of seating several thousands. On the other hand,
-small, humble edifices sometimes suffice to meet the requirements of
-the worshippers; and it is with these that we here propose to deal.
-
-Which of the midget churches is the smallest it is somewhat
-difficult to say; but it is believed that the smallest church in
-England is the truly miniature church of Lullington, in Sussex.
-It is a primitive and quaint building, constructed of flint with
-stone quoins, with a roof of red tiles. It can boast of a little
-weather-boarded turret at its west end; but its bell does not toll
-now, and the birds of the air have long since found the turret a
-convenient nesting-place. The church is but sixteen feet square. The
-pulpit is a pew, with panelled sides and door, and the furniture is
-of the plainest. Five, narrow, diamond-paned windows throw a scanty
-light upon the interior, in which there is accommodation for thirty
-persons--quite sufficient for the population of the village.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: H. J. Unwin, Hailsham._)
-
-LULLINGTON CHURCH.
-
-(_Sixteen feet square._)]
-
-A somewhat larger edifice is the very interesting church of
-Wythburn, in Cumberland, the dimensions of which are--nave (length),
-thirty-nine feet; height of walls, ten feet; and width, fifteen
-feet. This was the original church, erected about one hundred and
-sixty years ago, and is of the simplest description. The roof is
-constructed of old ships' timber, and the windows are square holes
-with wooden frames. The chancel is eighteen feet long by fifteen
-feet by ten feet. The beautiful little east window is by Henry
-Holiday, and was put in to the memory of the late vicar. What
-a magnificent site for a church! The poets have thus expressed
-themselves with regard to this humble but beautifully situated
-church:--
-
-Canon H. D. Rawnsley wrote:
-
-    "We cannot stay--for life is but an Inn,
-     A halfway house--and, lo! the graves how near!
-     Yet mighty minds have hither come for cheer
-     Before the upward path they dared begin.
-     Here Gray the pilgrim rested pale and thin,
-     Here Wilson laughed, and Wordsworth murmured here.
-     Here Coleridge mused, and ere he crossed the mere
-     Hence Arnold viewed the Goal he hoped to win.
-     And we who would Helvellyn's height essay,
-     Or climb towards the gateway of the mound
-     Where Dunmail died because his realm was fair,
-     May join their gracious company who found
-     Earth's beauty made Life's Inn a House of Prayer,
-     And speed, refreshed of soul, upon our way."
-
-[Illustration: _Wythburn Church as compared with St. Paul's
-Cathedral._
-
-(_Photo: T. Dumble, Keswick._)
-
-WYTHBURN CHURCH.
-
-(_Thirteen yards long, five yards wide._)]
-
-Wordsworth, too, said:
-
-    "If Wythburn's modest House of Prayer,
-     As lowly as the lowliest dwelling,
-     Had, with its belfry's humble stock,
-     A little pair that hang in air,
-     Been mistress also of a clock
-     (And one, too, not hung in crazy plight),
-     Twelve strokes that clock would have been telling
-     Under the brow of old Helvellyn."
-
-And H. Coleridge:
-
-    "Humble it is, and meek, and very low,
-     And speaks its purpose by a single bell:
-     But God Himself, and He alone, can know
-     If spiry temples please Him half so well."
-
-We have given two instances of very small churches: let us now refer
-to a midget chapel. At Crawshawbooth, a village near Burnley, there
-is an extremely interesting diminutive place of worship known as
-the Friends' Meeting-House, an old-fashioned building covered with
-ivy, and environed by a well-cared-for burial ground. It contains
-half a dozen oak benches, on which the worshippers sit. Though these
-benches are sufficient to provide seating accommodation for about
-sixty, the attendance is rarely more than six. John Bright once
-worshipped here, walking from Rochdale, a distance of twelve miles.
-This quaint little place is naturally regarded with much interest by
-visitors.
-
-It is interesting to point out that there is another Quaker
-meeting-house in the hamlet of Jordans, in Buckinghamshire, which
-is, if anything, smaller than that already referred to. It has been
-called the Shrine of Quakerism, for early in June every year a
-gathering of Quakers takes place. Here lie the remains of William
-Penn, one of the greatest of Quakers. At a cottage in the vicinity
-Milton wrote his "Paradise Lost."
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: R. W. Lord, Little Lever, near Bolton._)
-
-THE FRIENDS' MEETING-HOUSE, CRAWSHAWBOOTH.
-
-(_Containing six oak benches to accommodate sixty worshippers._)]
-
-To revert to churches, Kilpeck Church is well worth referring to as
-being a lovely little place of worship. The nave is thirty-six feet
-by twenty, and the chancel seventeen by sixteen feet ten inches,
-the total length being sixty-eight feet and the average breadth
-about sixteen feet. It is built upon a Saxon foundation, and Saxon
-remains are still to be seen--notably, a "holy-water" stoup that
-must be one thousand or eleven hundred years old. It is not possible
-to do justice to this beautiful church in a few words, but the
-accompanying photograph will give an idea of the quaintness and
-beauty of the structure. The sculpture is remarkably interesting.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Poulton and Sons, Lee._)
-
-KILPECK CHURCH.
-
-(_Nave thirty-six feet by twenty._)]
-
-An article on midget places of worship would be incomplete without a
-reference to the little lath-and-plaster church of Essex, consisting
-of nave, chancel, and a small turret. Hazeleigh Church, as it is
-named, stands in the near vicinity of Hazeleigh Hall--once the
-home of the Essex family of the Alleynes, one of whom founded the
-College of God's Gift at Dulwich. This little church has thus been
-described by the Rev. H. R. Wadmore, sometime curate:--
-
-    "... A little church beside a wood
-     Securely sheltered from the sweeping blast;
-     So quiet, so secure, it seems to be
-     A very type of rest and all that's still."
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: R. D. Barrett._)
-
-CHILCOMBE CHURCH.
-
-(_Twelve yards long._)]
-
-This little church of Hazeleigh, owing to its simple character,
-differs but slightly from the roadside cottages. It has been styled
-"the meanest church in Essex," owing to its unpretentious character.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd._)
-
-THE CAVE CHURCH AT LEDAIG, NEAR OBAN.
-
-(_The most primitive church in the kingdom._)]
-
-A pleasing little church is that of Chilcombe, near Bridport,
-Dorsetshire. Chilcombe is mentioned in the Doomsday Book, and at one
-time was the property of the Knight Hospitallers of St. John. The
-existing church dates from the thirteenth century. It is in the
-Roman style, and possesses a good Norman font. The length of the
-nave is twenty-two by fourteen feet, the chancel being thirteen by
-eleven feet. The owner of the parish and the patron of the living is
-Admiral the Hon. M. H. Nelson.
-
-[Illustration: GROVE CHURCH, NEAR LEIGHTON BUZZARD.
-
-(_Capable of seating fifty people._)]
-
-Another remarkably small church is that of St. Peter, on the Castle
-Rise, at Cambridge, its dimensions being twenty-five by sixteen
-feet. It is of Norman architecture.
-
-England by no means possesses all the diminutive churches and
-chapels, and a very quaint and interesting church is that of Ledaig,
-near Oban. It is unsectarian, and its congregation numbers, on the
-average, twenty-five. It was founded by John Campbell, who was more
-familiarly known as "The Bard of Benderlock." He converted a natural
-cavern in the cliffs of Ledaig into a place of worship. A portion
-of a trunk of a tree, on which Robert Bruce is said to have rested,
-serves as a table and reading-desk. Trunks of trees around the sides
-of the cavern serve as seats for the worshippers. Mr. Campbell
-officiated as minister for many years to a band of faithful Highland
-worshippers in this curious church. Mr. Campbell was a remarkable
-personality. He was postmaster of Ledaig, and he also gained a
-considerable reputation as a poet. He was a much respected man, and
-his memory is dear to many.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: A. A. Inglis, Edinburgh._)
-
-ST. MARGARET'S CHAPEL, EDINBURGH CASTLE.
-
-(_For some time used as a powder magazine._)]
-
-I would like to refer to a very interesting midget church at
-Grove, near Leighton Buzzard, which I had the pleasure of visiting
-recently. It is the smallest in the county, and is a gable-roofed,
-barn-like fabric, with a door on the north side. In 1883 the little
-church was restored throughout, the fine old-fashioned square
-pews being replaced by open wooden seats, and it is now capable
-of seating about fifty people. Formerly the edifice contained a
-"three-decker"--clerk's desk, reading-desk, and pulpit combined. The
-churchyard contains many graves, but only one tombstone (eighteenth
-century). The dimensions of the church are--length, twenty-nine and
-a half feet; width, eighteen feet; height, about forty feet; in
-all probability, the church was formerly larger than at present.
-Grove is generally considered to be one of the smallest parishes in
-England, and one could hardly conceive of a smaller. It consists
-practically of a farmhouse and a lock-keeper's cottage.
-
-[Illustration: ST. ROBERT'S CHAPEL, KNARESBOROUGH.
-
-(_Showing figure of a Knight Templar cut in the rock._)
-
-(_Photo: G. E. Arnold, Knaresborough._)]
-
-We must not forget that at the top of Edinburgh Castle is the
-historical diminutive chapel of St. Margaret's, which was the
-private chapel of the pious Margaret, Queen of Malcolm III., during
-her residence in the castle. Until very recently it had been quite
-lost sight of, having been converted into a powder magazine and
-fallen into disrepair. In 1853, however, it was "discovered" and
-put into an efficient state of repair. It is considered to be
-the oldest and smallest chapel in Scotland, its dimensions being
-sixteen feet six inches by ten feet sixteen inches. The semicircular
-chancel is separated from the nave by a well-carved double-round
-arch, decorated with Norman zigzag mouldings. It is too small to be
-made available for divine service for the troops quartered in the
-castle, and the only use that it is now put to is for occasional
-baptisms and morning Communion.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd._)
-
-SMALL CHURCH AT ST. ANDREW, GREENSTED, NEAR ONGAR.
-
-(_Believed to include the only remaining portion of a Saxon wooden
-church._)]
-
-There are several very small places of worship which are now, alas!
-in ruins. At Iona, for instance, on the west coast of Scotland,
-are the remains of an extremely small chapel, known as St. Oran's
-Chapel. It is very near Iona Cathedral. It is constructed of red
-granite, and its external measurements are sixty feet by twenty-two
-feet. It is now roofless, and is very old. This little chapel
-is believed to have been built by Queen Margaret in 1080. Its
-architecture is Romanesque, and it has one low entrance. This humble
-edifice is interesting inasmuch as within its walls is the tomb of
-Sir Walter Scott's "Lord of the Isles," the friend of Bruce.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd._)
-
-DIMINUTIVE CHAPEL AT POINT IN VIEW, NEAR EXMOUTH.
-
-(_Containing an organ made by the pastor._)]
-
-There is another tiny barn-like edifice at Greenloaning, near
-Dunblane. The little church is situated adjacent to a farmhouse, and
-seems to have been erected for the benefit of the farm-workers. It
-is remarkably small. The scenery in the vicinity is magnificent, and
-the church is regarded with much interest by tourists.
-
-St. Anthony's Chapel is another small building also in ruins. It is
-interesting owing to its historic surroundings, being in the near
-vicinity of Holyrood Palace. It comprises a hermitage, sixteen feet
-long, twelve feet wide, and eight feet high, and a Gothic chapel
-forty-three feet long, eighteen feet broad, and eighteen feet high.
-
-One of the most remarkable of these little churches is that at
-Knaresborough, in Yorkshire, which is a very queer little chapel
-elegantly hewn out of the solid rock, the roof being beautifully
-ribbed and groined in the Gothic style. At the back of the altar is
-a large niche, where an image used to stand, and on one side of it
-is a place for the "holy-water" basin. There are also figures of
-three heads--designed, it is believed, for an emblematical allusion
-to the order of the monks at the once neighbouring priory. Possibly
-they were cut by some of the monks. The order was known as Sanctae
-Trinitatis. A few yards away there is another head. It has been
-surmised that this is a representation of St. John the Baptist, to
-whom the chapel is supposed to be dedicated. There is a cavity in
-the floor, in which some ancient relic was rested. The chapel is
-ten feet six inches long, nine feet wide, and seven and a half feet
-high. Near the entrance is the following inscription:--
-
-    "Beneath yon ivy's spreading shade,
-     For lonely contemplation made,
-     An ancient chapel stands complete,
-     Once the hermit's calm retreat
-     From worldly pomp and sordid care,
-     To humble penitence and prayer;
-     The sight is pleasing, all agree--
-     Do, gentle stranger, turn and see."
-
-The chapel is known as St. Robert's Chapel. St. Robert, the hermit
-who used it for devotions, was born about 1160, and was the son
-of Sir Toke Flouris, who was mayor of the city of York. In his
-youth he was noted for his piety, and he entered the Cistercian
-Abbey of Newminster in Northumberland. He was only there eighteen
-weeks, however, removing to York, and then to Knaresborough, where
-he retired from the world to live a life of contemplation in this
-restful spot. He died in the September of 1218. On one side of the
-entrance to the chapel, under the ivy, is the figure of a Knight
-Templar, cut in the rock, in the act of drawing his sword to defend
-the place from the violence of intruders. This is a queer and
-remarkable building, and, though not now used as a place of worship,
-the reference here made to it may prove interesting.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd._)
-
-INTERIOR VIEW OF PERIVALE CHURCH.]
-
-The cathedral of St. Asaph, in Flintshire, might be mentioned in
-this category as being the smallest cathedral in the country. It
-is in the shape of a simple cross in plan, consisting of a choir
-transept, nave, with five bays with aisles, and a central tower
-forty feet square and one hundred feet high. The choir was built in
-1867-68 from the designs of the late Sir Gilbert Scott, R.A., and is
-of Early English architecture.
-
-Passing references might also be made to the diminutive church of
-Warlingham, in Surrey, which runs the midget church of Wotton in
-that county very close; and to Grosmont Church, Monmouth, erected
-by Eleanor of Provence, a quaint little structure with an octagonal
-tower. There used to be a church known as St. Mildred in the
-Poultry, which was removed to Lincolnshire. It formerly occupied a
-position in the eastern end of Cheapside, and in 1872 it was taken
-to pieces and re-erected at Louth. It is generally considered to be
-the smallest church designed by Wren.
-
-At St. Andrew, Greensted, near Ongar, there is a very small church,
-and it is a curiosity, inasmuch as it is believed to be a relic of
-the only church of Saxon origin built of wood remaining.
-
-There is a small chapel at Point in View, near Exmouth. It is
-Congregational, and it provides seating accommodation for eighty
-persons, and forms one side of a block, the other three sides being
-taken up by four little almshouses, each consisting of two rooms
-occupied by four elderly maiden ladies. Over the chapel door is this
-motto:--
-
-    "One Point in View
-     We all pursue."
-
-The chapel contains a diminutive organ made by the pastor. In the
-vicinity there is a peculiar round house, the property of the
-Reichel family. It was a member of this family who founded the
-chapel and almshouses.
-
-The little church of St. Nicholas at Hulcote should be mentioned.
-It is near Woburn, the seat of the Duke of Bedford. It is rather
-difficult to find, at any rate when the foliage is on the trees,
-so surrounded is it by them. It was built about the year 1610 by
-Richard Chernocke. Its measurements are: length, from the tower to
-the chancel step, thirty-nine and a half feet; chancel, eight and a
-half feet from step to east; width, sixteen feet three inches. There
-are carved oaken panels to many of the seats, and on the north wall,
-inside the chancel rails, are some valuable old monuments in memory
-of the Chernocke family. It is now between fifteen and twenty years
-since the church was used for divine service, but it is still used
-for funerals.
-
-There is a little church, near London, known as Perivale. Although
-so near to the great metropolis, it is situated in a peculiarly
-lonely district. It lies in the valley of the Brent amid expansive
-meadows and hay farms. In 1871 there were only seven houses and
-thirty-three inhabitants in the parish. The midget church is
-situated at the end of a field near a low, semi-Gothic half-timber
-parsonage and a farmhouse. Although somewhat desolate, the spot is
-a restful one, and the hill and spire of Harrow in the distance
-make the scene pleasing to the eye. The little church is in the
-Early Perpendicular style, and consists of a nave, a narrow chancel,
-a rough wooden tower with short, pyramidal spire at the west,
-and porch on the south-west. The interior presents a well-kept
-appearance. The church was restored in 1875. In the windows is some
-late fifteenth-century glass containing figures of St. John the
-Baptist and St. Matthew, in fairly good condition, and of Mary and
-Joseph, which are not so well preserved.
-
-The prettily situated ivy-clad church of St. Lawrence, Ventnor,
-Isle of Wight, is another edifice which might well be described as
-a midget church, although some years ago it was found necessary to
-enlarge it. The church originally was thirty feet eight and a half
-inches long, it is now forty feet eight and a half inches; and its
-breadth was formerly eleven feet, whereas it is now twenty feet.
-The height to the eaves is about six feet. The architecture is Old
-English, but not at all striking. The church dates back to about the
-year 1190.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: F. N. Broderick Hyde._)
-
-THE OLD CHURCH AT ST. LAWRENCE.]
-
-We have now exhausted our space, but not our subject. There are
-other examples of diminutive churches throughout the country, but we
-have made a selection of the more interesting ones. However small
-the church, the worshippers have this assurance from the Founder of
-the Christian religion: "Where two or three are gathered together in
-My name, there am I in the midst of them"; and with that quotation
-this little article may fittingly be concluded.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: Canon's Daughter]
-
-THE MINOR CANON'S DAUGHTER
-
-_THE STORY OF A CATHEDRAL TOWN._
-
-By E. S. Curry, Author of "One of the Greatest," "Closely Veiled,"
-Etc.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-A PREMATURE PROPOSAL.
-
-
-In the Canons' Court, between Mr. Bethune's and the Deanery, lived
-Mr. Warde. He was a pleasant man, well off, artistic, musical--and
-happy in a life of little work, which left him leisure for his
-artistic pursuits. He had a rosy, kind face and plump figure; the
-Bethune children, Marjorie included, went to him before anyone else
-in times of need. He had often shielded them from offended law.
-
-It was he who set on foot the literary and drawing guilds,
-arranged concerts, and was the universal handy man for games and
-social festivities to all the county round Norham. He was about
-thirty-five, and had a chivalric devotion to Mrs. Bethune and her
-children, since, as a young man, he had first come to Norham.
-
-Marjorie was so accustomed to this that she did not see what was
-manifest to other eyes, on her return from school in Munich. She
-took all his kindness as a matter of course, having no more relation
-to herself individually than the Bishop's or the Dean's. Since her
-return, he had been sedulously pursuing his courtship in every way
-that occurred to him.
-
-This gentleman was standing beside her under the lime-tree at the
-top of the garden, where Marjorie could superintend the pursuits of
-her two youngest brothers. They were now busily engaged underground.
-For a whole week every minute of David's and Sandy's leisure had
-been spent in digging a deep hole in the corner of the garden
-devoted to their use. Thence, with infinite patience, passages had
-been scooped, and the mound of earth thrown up against the wall had
-come in useful as a toboggan ground.
-
-The little boys had received strict orders that morning that all
-the earth in the passages of the "cave," which, in a frenzy of
-labour, the two schoolboys had burrowed out before breakfast, was
-to be removed before their return in the afternoon. As it got
-deeper, steps had been conveyed from the house for the descent of
-the hole. The utility of division of labour had been impressed upon
-the children. Orme was to fill the baskets; Ross, being surer of
-his equilibrium, was to carry them up and empty them. If the work
-was not done, and done properly, the babies would have to play
-elsewhere; no longer would their presence be tolerated by their
-elders.
-
-Marjorie was enjoying a new book, whose alluring cover was fit index
-to its contents. Now and then, between the pages, dark eyes looked
-at her in a strange and wonderful fashion. When this occurred, she
-would lift her own, and gaze dreamily over the currant bushes, her
-breath coming quickly, the colour fluctuating in her cheeks. Upon
-one such moment Mr. Warde had intruded.
-
-"I thought I would come in and talk to you about your sonnet,
-Marjorie," he said, looking about for a seat. There was nothing
-handy except a cleft log--used by the boys as a block for chopping
-sticks. On this uncomfortable seat Mr. Warde poised himself.
-
-[Illustration: The man, looking at her, thought he might take hope.]
-
-"But that wouldn't be fair, would it?" asked Marjorie.
-
-"Oh! we judged the poems yesterday. I didn't propose to alter
-anything. Mrs. Adeane's is the best, and Lady Esther's next.
-But--your usual imagination was wanting this time," he said gently.
-
-"I thought it was bad--it seemed so prosaic," Marjorie said humbly.
-"You see, father's advice always is, not to let imagination go
-further than it knows."
-
-"Have you never imagined, never thought about love?" he asked softly.
-
-"Often, lately," frankly. "I thought it was a very silly subject to
-choose."
-
-"Not silly, Marjorie. The loveliest poetry has been written about
-it, as it is the loveliest subject. Why 'lately'?" he asked.
-
-"To get ideas. They don't come, if you don't think--not to me, at
-least."
-
-"That way of putting it is new," he said, considering. "Well,
-Marjorie, I want you to think of it, to imagine all you can of what
-it means--the new brightness, the new beauty it gives to life;
-how it transforms all things, even the commonest, so that----" He
-paused. Marjorie was looking at him in wonder.
-
-Was it something in his glance that brought irresistibly back to her
-remembrance that look in Mr. Pelham's dark eyes, of which more than
-once that afternoon she had been thinking? She coloured brightly,
-and her beautiful eyes grew soft.
-
-"Ah! I see you know what I mean," Mr. Warde said gently.
-
-"Oh! I don't," said Marjorie confusedly. But the man, looking at
-her, thought he might take hope. He went on:
-
-"It is expressed in all beautiful music, as well as in the best
-literature and art. It appeals to everyone, because it is natural to
-all, and answers to something in the heart of every one of us. So
-you see, Marjorie, knowing you and your gift of imagination, I am
-disappointed at this bald little verse."
-
-"Father says it is dangerous imagining on nothing," Marjorie
-replied, plucking up her spirit. "First get facts, absolutely
-accurate. Then build on them."
-
-"Well, Marjorie, don't you realise that the facts are all about
-you, that I----Whatever's the matter?"
-
-A yell broke across the summer air, and Marjorie, springing up, bent
-over the edge of the crater-like hole. At the bottom lay Orme, his
-basket beside him, its contents upon him. In a second Marjorie had
-descended underground, and Mr. Warde was left gazing into space.
-
-When she emerged, Orme was in her arms, muddy tears bedewing his
-cherubic cheeks. "Fall'd," he announced, in a self-pitying tone, to
-the visitor.
-
-Marjorie reseated herself, her little brother's head upon her
-breast. As she comforted him, the man observing her grew more in
-love than ever. Marjorie, soft and gentle, unconsciously rehearsing
-Madonna attitudes, gave him a thrill of delight. Presently the boy,
-his conscience uneasy over neglected work, slipped from her knee,
-and, with muttered remarks on "er, nasty ground," descended again
-into its bosom.
-
-He had learnt the imprudence of engaging in another man's labour.
-Resenting the meaner part of filling the baskets for the more stolid
-and surefooted Ross to ascend and empty, he had been promptly
-punished for his ambition. His little soul was now sore with the
-injustice of things.
-
-"Er, nasty steps slipped poor Orme," he said to Ross, watching his
-careful ascent.
-
-"You not big anuff," Ross answered importantly. "Go and fill er
-basket. Do what David bidded you."
-
-Meanwhile Mr. Warde had glanced at his watch. Soon, all too soon,
-this semi-solitude in which he had been fortunate enough to find
-Marjorie would be invaded by the schoolboys. He was no nearer the
-end for which he had come, and he could not again drag in Marjorie's
-little verse for criticism. She glanced at him, as she drew the
-alluring book towards her, and said, not too politely:
-
-"If you are going to stay, I'll just fetch my work," rising as she
-spoke.
-
-"No, Marjorie, don't go. There's something I specially wished to
-say, to talk to you about," he said, becoming a little confused
-under her unconscious gaze. Could he, after all, disturb this
-serenity by the suggestion of love and marriage? He felt somehow
-that the time was not ripe--that they would seem incongruous to her
-in connection with himself. And yet, if he did not speak, and be
-quick about it, another man might step in.
-
-"I have had a letter to-day," he said, "offering me a college
-living."
-
-"Have you?" said Marjorie in a not altogether flattering manner, and
-looking at him rather as though she were much surprised. She stood
-poised, ready to fetch the threatened work; her attitude altogether
-an unflattering one to a lover who has just made an important
-communication.
-
-"You won't go, shall you?" she went on, her glance going past him
-to the wall which divided the gardens. Over the top big clusters
-of the roses in which Mr. Warde delighted nodded gaily, whilst
-further on the square face of his house was gay with bloom, amid
-which the two lines of windows stared a little baldly. The blind in
-each was arranged symmetrically, and in spite of its prim tidiness,
-even its outside showed that no loved woman ruled within. From her
-neighbour's house Marjorie's eyes jumped to her own home.
-
-Here there was no symmetry, but its character as a home stood out
-plain. The nursery windows, distinguished by their guarding bars,
-were wide open, and the blinds drawn to the top, whilst in the three
-open windows of her mother's room adjoining the curtains flopped
-lazily, and the blinds had been adjusted to the sun. Somehow the
-sight and the difference brought a feeling into Marjorie's heart
-which had not yet stirred it in connection with Mr. Warde. Hitherto
-he had not seemed to her to need pity. But now, when he went
-back into his house--away from her and the homely garden, where
-vegetables, and currant bushes, and the untidy quarter of the boys,
-were of more account than flowers, where little feet pattered, and
-boys' voices were never silent--what would he go back to? The blank
-windows lit up empty rooms, where no foot but his own stirred. He
-would find no companionship but that of his music and his books.
-Marjorie never guessed of the visions that peopled his fireside.
-
-"Shall you go?" she asked, looking at him--then speaking out
-suddenly the pity her thoughts had called up: "Won't it be very
-lonely?"
-
-"Very. Sit down please, Marjorie, and listen to me."
-
-Then, as she complied: "When first I came here, ten years ago, your
-father and mother were very kind to me, and I grew so attached to
-them and theirs, that I wanted nothing more. I felt no need of the
-ties other men have or make, because I had--you." Then his tone
-grew tender. "Do you remember how you used to come round and climb
-into my study window for your lessons, when the boys began to go to
-school? You were a bit forsaken then, Marjorie. And then, when you
-were good--as you weren't always--how a little pony accompanied me
-on my rides, and then when the pony and the child who rode it had
-each grown bigger, one day they both disappeared. The child went
-to school, to come back, nearly grown up, with music oozing out of
-her fingers' ends. Well, Marjorie" (he had risen, and his face was
-paling, his self-control vanishing, as he stood looking down on
-her), "I have waited a long time for that little girl--who has yet
-seemed always mine--I want her for my wife. Will you go with me,
-dear, if I go?"
-
-Marjorie gazed blankly into his face. "I? Of course, it is
-me," she said slowly. "I don't know--I didn't think--how can I
-leave--everybody?" her voice faltered.
-
-She rose suddenly, putting aside the hand that would have stayed
-her. There is nothing so cruel as a young thing who has no notion of
-her power and of the devotion she has stirred.
-
-"I didn't think," she said, cuttingly, "that you wanted payment. I
-thought--I thought----" And then, not trusting her voice further,
-she sprang away from his detaining hand, and fled.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-MARJORIE'S TROUBLE.
-
-
-"Dear Marjorie,--You gave me no answer yesterday, and I am afraid I
-took you by surprise, and perhaps shocked you. A girl is a tender
-thing, I know. Will you send me just a little line of hope and
-forgiveness? I love you--how dearly you cannot guess--and I want you
-to be my wife. But I will press nothing against your will, and I
-have written 'No' to the offer of that living. I think you will like
-to stay near home. Whatever you decide, whether you say 'Yes' or
-'No,' believe always that my love is too great to change, and that I
-am ever your attached friend,--W. ST. J. WARDE."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Marjorie was reading this letter with an expression which certainly
-did not augur well for its writer. She had been seeing to household
-matters for her mother, and had sat down with an armful of boys'
-clothes to mend, when the note had been handed to her.
-
-"I do not know what to say to him, mother. I wish--oh, I do so wish
-he hadn't done it."
-
-"He is a good man, Margie," her mother said simply. "A man, I think,
-to make you happy."
-
-[Illustration: "He is a good man, Margie."]
-
-"Happy, mother? I am happy now. What should I do next door? I should
-always be running in to see you. And how could you get on without
-me?"
-
-"We shall manage. And next door with Mr. Warde would be so much
-nicer than a long way off with someone else. It would scarcely be
-losing you."
-
-"Do you want me to go, mother?" asked Marjorie, struck by her
-mother's tone.
-
-"Not in one sense, dear; but you will go. It is natural for girls to
-marry. You will marry, I hope; it is the happiest life, with a good
-man you can look up to."
-
-[Illustration: "You have been very good to my boys," Mrs. Bethune
-said.]
-
-"But do I look up to him? I think we--Charity and I--often laugh at
-him."
-
-"But you can laugh, and yet look up, or life would be very dull. Who
-do you go to when you want to know anything that father can't teach
-you?"
-
-"To Mr. Warde," acknowledged Marjorie.
-
-"And when you want to go anywhere?"
-
-"Yes; but only because he has a carriage--and we haven't."
-
-"And when you want to see the picture galleries?"
-
-"He can go; he always has time. But all that doesn't mean that I
-want to marry him," she added.
-
-"But it is just that. You already look to him for most of your
-pleasures. That is a long way towards loving him. You would find him
-a very kind husband and friend."
-
-"Oh! mother, what must I do?" entreated Marjorie, the tears
-coming into her eyes. "He has spoilt everything. It is Charity's
-garden-party this afternoon, and I shall be so uncomfortable.
-Couldn't you go, mother, in your chair?"
-
-Mrs. Bethune's face changed.
-
-"I could, dear. Yes, I will go; perhaps it will be difficult for
-you." She sighed softly; she was hardly as yet reconciled to her
-helplessness in public, in spite of the cheery spirit which enabled
-her to bear suffering with such courage.
-
-Mrs. Bethune's spirit made her the idol and confidante of her boys.
-Her fun was unquenched, even when the fire of life would seem to
-have gone out for ever; after the terrible fall, when, to save the
-infant in her arms, she had laid herself upon her back for life. The
-baby--Orme--was found unhurt, folded round, so it seemed, by the
-broken body of his mother. Ross, the most thoughtful, she averred,
-of her six sons, once said to her:
-
-"Mummie, you do laugh mor'n anybody. Is it 'cos you can't walk?"
-
-"Yes, little son, perhaps it is; to make up, you know."
-
-And Sandy, butting his bright head into her knees one day,
-inconsolable about something, was won to laughter by, "Sandy, laugh!
-Look at me!"--and he had looked. And the irresistible witchery
-of the beautiful dark eyes had cured his woe. She was always the
-sunshiny centre of the house, and only her husband, or Marjorie in
-rare moments, guessed how sometimes the bright spirit quailed.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The Dean was popular in the county. When Mr. Pelham came into the
-Deanery garden somewhat late, he found Mrs. Bethune's chair under
-the chestnut trees, a centre of laughter and conversation. Marjorie
-was standing by her mother, with a wistful look on her face, he
-thought at first sight, wondering at its expression. Love, when
-presented first to a girl brought up as Marjorie had been, comes
-as a great shock. That it should be Mr. Warde of all men who
-should cause her this disquiet filled Marjorie with a sense of the
-unsatisfactoriness of the world. It disturbed things that had seemed
-to her as settled as the hills round Norham that this old friend
-should want to be her lover.
-
-Before going to the Deanery she had sent a little note in answer to
-his letter, in which she had said--
-
-"There is nothing to forgive. But you must not think of me like this
-any more. You have always been so kind to all of us that it grieves
-me to say 'No' to anything you want. Still, it must be 'No.'"
-
-She hoped he would not be present at the Deanery. It was his turn of
-duty at the cathedral. She would bring her mother away early, before
-he arrived. The afternoon was quite spoilt for her.
-
-And then Mr. Pelham had come up, and she had introduced him to her
-mother with a tremulousness and agitation quite unlike her usual
-serenity.
-
-"You have been very good to my boys," Mrs. Bethune said gratefully.
-
-"Your boys have been very good to my little girl," he answered,
-admiring the delicate beauty of the face, scarcely looking older
-than the unquiet one of the tall daughter beside her.
-
-"They're very enterprising," their mother said. "I hope she will not
-come to any harm with them. They're apt to give us surprises."
-
-"I wonder if you will give me some advice about her," he went on,
-drawn by some magic in the dark eyes to appeal to their owner for
-sympathy, "if I may consult you. It is about clothes," he said,
-smiling. "My nurse is kind and careful, but surely a baby in the
-country does not really need expensive dresses from a Regent Street
-outfitter. I should be so grateful if you would tell me where you
-get those pretty things your little boys always look so nice in."
-
-"Even when they are grubby?" laughed the mother. "I do not know
-where they could be bought. My nurse, and Marjorie, and I make them."
-
-"Then, if you do, surely my nurse ought to have time. I do not like
-my baby's over-dressed look; at least, white satin seems to be out
-of keeping with mud-pies and digging. She is great on digging just
-now."
-
-"Quite so," said Mrs. Bethune. "If you will send your nurse down to
-see me, I will have a talk with her."
-
-The Duchess of Norham, a very great person indeed now came up to
-greet Mrs. Bethune. She was not one who troubled about dress.
-To-day, in her grey silk, and round hat, she was the most plainly
-dressed woman on the Deanery lawn. Charity, by her side, was an
-effective contrast, in soft, shimmering pink.
-
-"Glad to see you out again, my dear," she said to Mrs. Bethune. "And
-this is your girl come back to you--grown past all knowledge. I hear
-wonders about her music," kindly. "Charity, may I take her away for
-a few minutes, presently? I want to hear this music Mr. Warde extols
-so. Where is he?" looking round.
-
-Marjorie's cheeks, in spite of her usual self-control, turned
-scarlet. But the Duchess's gaze was arrested by the look on Mr.
-Pelham's face. He, still standing with a hand on Mrs. Bethune's
-chair, was looking at Marjorie with a surprised appeal in his
-expression, as if he, too, was wondering at her sudden flush.
-
-"Oh!" thought the Duchess, "I imagined it was Charity. Was I
-mistaken then? Not about the girl, if those rosy cheeks are to be
-trusted."
-
-"Why isn't Mr. Warde here?" she asked of Marjorie, who, in obedience
-to her gesture, turned with her towards the house.
-
-"He is at the cathedral. It is his week."
-
-And the Duchess thought she guessed rightly the reason of the
-agitation she detected in Marjorie's voice.
-
-"The Blackton man will be unsuccessful," she settled. "But Charity
-is pretty enough to console him, and it will be a good marriage for
-them both."
-
-This great lady was never more happy than when arranging marriages
-amongst her friends.
-
-Marjorie did not dream how her sudden flush had betrayed her, and
-forgot lovers and the difficulties they caused when she sat down
-to the piano. But perhaps it was the perplexity in her mind that
-conveyed itself to the listener, through the plaintive melody ending
-in a staccato phrase which fell from her fingers.
-
-The Duchess sat at a little distance, viewing with approval the
-delicate face, framed in its bright hair.
-
-[Illustration: "Hush! Barbe, don't call!" entreated Sandy.--_p.
-168_.]
-
-"Good, pure, true, and strong," she settled; "and," as a sudden
-conviction struck her, "she is beautiful, like her mother was ten
-years ago. Dressed"--her thoughts following along the same way as
-Charity's--"well, she would be a success. She is wasted on Mr.
-Warde. Shall I interfere?"
-
-She was so deep in thought, working out a sudden plan, that she did
-not notice when Marjorie ceased playing.
-
-Marjorie, glancing at her, asked softly--
-
-"Was that too sad? Shall I try something else?"
-
-But in a moment the Duchess rose briskly, and put her hand kindly on
-Marjorie's shoulder.
-
-"No, my dear. I shouldn't like that spoiled by anything else. Mr.
-Warde is right. You have a gift. But a girl like you should not be
-sad or--or perplexed. Forgive an old woman. Is something troubling
-you?"
-
-Marjorie looked up into the keen eyes above her.
-
-"Not troubling," she hesitated, "only things are sometimes
-perplexing."
-
-As she spoke her eyes travelled to the window, through which came
-the sound of low-voiced chatter and delicate laughter. The older
-woman, looking at the girl, saw a sudden arrested look come into her
-eyes and, following their direction, was again puzzled. Charity,
-standing by Mrs. Bethune's chair, was smiling up into Mr. Pelham's
-face. She had the manner of one who is pleased, and who wishes
-to please, and her pretty daintiness of pose and dress was very
-attractive. Mr. Pelham's whole attention, as he conversed, was given
-to her. In his courteous attitude were expressed, in the eyes of the
-two lookers-on, both deference and admiration.
-
-"That girl has grown very pretty," the Duchess said, "and Mr. Pelham
-seems to think so. He is quite an acquisition here, though I am
-amused to hear you sniffed at him at first."
-
-"Yes," agreed Marjorie, a little pang at her heart.
-
-The keen eyes travelled back again to Marjorie's face.
-
-"But your mother was prettier than any of you. The sweetest,
-merriest creature ever seen, with you babies at her feet. I am glad
-to see her so much better, able to do even this little, poor soul,
-poor soul!"
-
-The sudden tears welled up into Marjorie's eyes at the appreciation
-and tenderness of the tone.
-
-"And, my dear--forgive an old woman again--but I think I have
-guessed Mr. Warde's hopes for a long time, and he is a good man.
-There, there"--as Marjorie's face grew agitated--"nothing could have
-happened better. Your mother will have you at hand, and though she
-is so unselfish and brave, she has missed you sadly; and there is
-plenty of money."
-
-Marjorie listened in silence, with a feeling as though chains were
-being bound round her. As she walked back by the Duchess's side to
-her mother's chair she strove in vain to recall her courage. In the
-eyes of the man who watched her, as she came towards him, the shadow
-on her face had deepened with that little excursion into the house.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-A MIDNIGHT VISIT.
-
-
-The boys had seized the opportunity of the attention of their elders
-being engaged elsewhere to get into mischief. Although they had
-made so much fuss about their right of way to school, it was not
-the only way they used. They had, in fact, several ways. One was
-by train to Baskerton, a village on the river five miles away, and
-thence, by lanes and the parks, home. This, however, required time
-and the absence of authorities. Another way was through Easton and
-the parks, up the course of the little stream, which at one point
-nearly touched the Court gardens. In this stream, its shallow waters
-splashing up against their ankles, the boys were walking, and the
-baby was prancing between them.
-
-"Should we take Barbe with us?" David had asked, pausing on the
-Green.
-
-"If we can get her," Sandy had replied.
-
-The boys reconnoitred, and the piercing whistle, which set the baby
-all a-quiver with expectation, sounded through the garden.
-
-"There then, go!" said nurse somewhat crossly, as Barbe began to
-stamp; and she went. Her education was proceeding apace. Her father
-sometimes listened aghast at the things which, in her baby prattle,
-she reported herself to have done.
-
-"See, Barbe, there's a rat!" Sandy said eagerly, as a flop and a
-splash made them jump. "See, it's swimmin' away."
-
-"'Wimmin' away," said the baby, stooping to look, her two hands
-on her two knees, and the front of her frock sailing on the water
-before her.
-
-"Oh, Barbe, you're all wet!" David said, as they landed, and
-strolled up the field.
-
-"Wet!" she echoed delightedly. "Foots--f'ock!"
-
-"You'll have to be dried."
-
-"I know," said Sandy cheerfully; "we'll dry you by the Bishop's
-fire--almost sure to be a fire."
-
-But the study window, to which they crept warily by sheltered ways,
-was shut. The Bishop was absent.
-
-"Now what's to be done?" said David.
-
-"I know where there's a fire," Sandy said. "Was this morning, 'cos
-of that lead. Let's take her to the little room."
-
-Again they slipped by leafy ways out of the Palace garden into the
-cathedral yard. The baby's wet skirts flopped round her, and David
-lifted her into his arms.
-
-The approach of Mrs. Lytchett, returning from the Deanery in
-unwonted bravery of attire, prompted them to seek refuge behind a
-tomb. Here it took the boys' whole attention to prevent Barbe's
-chatter drawing unwished-for notice upon them.
-
-"Hush! Barbe, don't call!" entreated Sandy.
-
-"Barbedie good girl," announced the baby in a loud voice, lifting
-herself on tip-toe to see the passer-by.
-
-Mrs. Lytchett's ears were good, and, besides, she felt certain at
-this point that her eyes had seen something fluttering. She stepped
-off the pathway, and examined a tomb near.
-
-"Hush!--sh--sh!" cautioned David, holding up his finger to his
-mouth--a movement which so pleased Barbe that she proceeded to copy
-it.
-
-Mrs. Lytchett passed on; the danger was over. David lifted up the
-baby and carried her into a little octagon room near by, built in
-the wall of the cathedral, and used frequently as a workroom or
-office.
-
-Here the boys were at home. It was the head-quarters of their
-greatest friends--the masons engaged on the renovations always in
-progress at the cathedral.
-
-In the grate were the slowly dying embers of a fire, and the room
-was empty.
-
-"Mr. Galton ain't locked up yet, knowed he wouldn't," said Sandy.
-"He likes his tea punctual--'spects it's time. Now, Barbe, come an'
-get done."
-
-Whilst David was holding the baby to the fire, Sandy disappeared,
-presently returning with an excited face.
-
-"They've nearly done," he said. "It's prime up there. Seems to me,
-we'd best settle as soon as possible."
-
-"This baby won't get dry," said David, gloomily. "Just look at her!"
-
-"I know," said Sandy, regarding the bedraggled Barbe. "We'll take
-it off an' leave it here. An' I'll fetch her somefink. Sure to be
-somefink stored in Margie's basket--know Orme made holes in himself
-last week."
-
-So it happened that it was a little blue girl--clad in one of Orme's
-shabbiest overalls--who met Mrs. Bethune's returning chair, and was
-lifted to her knee for a "yide."
-
-"But what has happened? where are her own clothes?" Mrs. Bethune
-asked, recognising the substitute.
-
-"We thought they were just a little damp," said Sandy in
-explanation, climbing up the back of the chair to kiss his mother.
-
-"Good boy, Sandy!" said his mother, "to take care of her."
-
-"But how did they get damp?" asked Marjorie suspiciously.
-
-"Just a little water p'raps got on them," he replied, feeling the
-tone unkind after his mother's praise.
-
-"Then you have been in mischief?" asked Marjorie.
-
-"Barbedie walked in er water," the baby replied, as if she had been
-doing a good work.
-
-"You shouldn't have let her," Mrs. Bethune said caressingly.
-
-"Barbe don't want lettin'," answered Sandy philosophically. "She
-does wivout."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The sweets of mischief whetted the boys' appetites for more. They
-applied themselves with zeal to a work they had in hand, and for the
-next few days little was seen of them.
-
-One evening they were standing in a disused corner of the Palace
-grounds, under the ruined window of the old banqueting hall, which
-formed part of the wall enclosing the gardens of the modern wing of
-the house. The corner where they stood was immediately adjoining the
-wall of their own garden, and was part of an overgrown shrubbery
-between the ruins and the parks.
-
-Both boys were exceedingly dirty. Faces, capless heads, fingers,
-clothes, all bore traces of the underground work from which they had
-just emerged. They had burrowed from their cave, and were mightily
-pleased at their point of exit. No place could be more secluded,
-nor less likely to be discovered. And from the ruined wall close
-by, under the shelter of a spreading elder, they were able to drop
-easily either into the cathedral yard or the Bishop's garden.
-
-"Now the game begins. We've got a base of operations," said David
-grandly.
-
-"How much?" asked Sandy.
-
-"What you work from, and what you fall back upon, if you get
-besieged. And it's a good base too," he added, looking round. "We've
-got to make this passage hard and firm, and then hide it from that
-prying gardener."
-
-"An' we can pay back Mrs. Lytchett," said Sandy with joy.
-
-"How?"
-
-"Oh, I know! She just hates us going to the Bishop's window. He told
-me he'd just got a new tin of gingerbread, an' now we can get in
-wivout goin' through the gate. She's made that gate so it clicks."
-
-"But you mustn't let her see."
-
-"Not me! If she comes, we'll just run round the house, and she'll
-fink we've come back way. And then she'll run round to catch us, an'
-we shan't be there."
-
-Sandy spoke with the certainty of much experience, as, indeed, he
-had a right to do.
-
-"Our character is all gone," David said thoughtfully, "so it don't
-much matter how bad we are."
-
-"No, s'long as it ain't wicked bad. We'll be highwaymen, but we
-won't be thieves and robbers."
-
-"We can get into the cathedral, too," suggested David.
-
-And then, with minds full of revolution and anarchy, the boys bent
-earnestly to the preliminary work of making their passage secure.
-
-"Ross and Orme, you're never to go along there without us," David
-said to his young brothers, when he had wriggled back to the cave
-whence his passage started. Now their services were no longer
-needed, they were felt to be rather nuisances.
-
-"If you do, you'll get smacked right hard," said Sandy.
-
-Both children fixed round eyes on their elders, unable to understand
-this sudden change. They were dismayed at its injustice. For some
-days they had been treated with indulgent kindness, all their faults
-overlooked, so long as they did diligent work. They were cleaned
-when possible, and consoled when their dirty appearance awoke wrath
-in the powers responsible for them. Now, it seemed, all was changed.
-There was no mistaking Sandy's attitude, as he stood ready to
-administer the smacks alluded to. Nor were David's frowning brows
-more encouraging.
-
-Ross tried argument. "We'se scooped, too," he said. "We'se got
-dirty, ever so," he added.
-
-"Ever so," echoed Orme.
-
-"No matter! You kids must do as you're bid, and if ever you go a
-step along there you'll catch it. See?" said David. And the infants,
-with moody brows, averred that they saw.
-
-By this time the hole which formed the entrance to the cave was much
-improved. The wooden steps had been replaced by a flight of mud
-steps, the making of which had been a joy, not only to the boys,
-but to the baby. They had required water as well as mud in their
-making--endless paddlings and pattings and treadings down of little
-feet before the staircase was complete. David had engineered the
-proceedings, and Mr. Warde, now and then hovering about the top, had
-conferred advice. He was not encouraged to descend. The boys wanted
-no prying grown-ups to mar their schemes. Marjorie, now and then,
-had suspicions that some extra mischief was afloat. Never before had
-she known them to stick to anything for so long. But she recollected
-the fascination of caves and holes, and was, besides, much engaged
-with her own concerns.
-
-[Illustration: =The Bishop and the boy.=--_p. 170._]
-
-One evening the Bishop, on leaving the drawing-room, had gone to
-his study. It had been a wet day, and the rain had finished in
-a thunderstorm an hour or so before, leaving the sky washed and
-pellucid under the summer moon.
-
-The shutters had been closed and a little fire lighted; but
-presently, finding the room warm, the Bishop opened the window, and
-stood gazing over the wide lawn which occupied the space between the
-house and the ruins.
-
-The delicate tracery of the ruined window of the banqueting hall,
-and the many unevennesses of the walls, stood out black against the
-sky. Every object on the lawn--every bush and tree and flower--was
-sharply distinct.
-
-As he looked, his eye caught a movement among the distant shrubs.
-Some small object was advancing along the gravelled walk surrounding
-the lawn. Presently, as if attracted by the light, it turned off the
-pathway on to the lawn, in a bee-line for the window.
-
-The Bishop stood watching, wondering a little, when the object
-resolved itself first into a small boy, and then into Sandy Bethune.
-
-"Why, Sandy!" he exclaimed, "how did you get here?"
-
-"Is it the middle of the night?" asked Sandy in his usual cheerful
-way.
-
-"Nearly. It's half-past eleven. Good gracious! What have you been
-doing?"
-
-For, on approaching the light, Sandy was seen to be covered with mud
-and otherwise much disarrayed.
-
-Sandy considered. He was in a deep fix--so deep a one as to threaten
-the upheaval and overthrow of some well-laid plans, just on the
-point of being carried out. The Bishop was an understanding man.
-Sandy had confided in him before, and knew his worth. If only
-Mrs. Lytchett did not live at the Palace, and spoil everything,
-Sandy would have been quite willing to share that residence with
-the Bishop. He had once told the Bishop so, artlessly asking when
-Mrs. Lytchett was going away to live elsewhere. The Bishop, on his
-side, found the children of his friend very charming, specially
-so irrepressible Sandy; and was ready to be lenient when their
-peccadilloes were in question. He now invited Sandy in, despite the
-muddy covering which encased him from head to foot. Sitting down, he
-began to question him gravely.
-
-"What is it, Sandy? Why are you in such a mess?"
-
-Sandy sat down on a little stool, as if glad to present his small
-person to the fire, and said, "It's the bovering funderstorm. We'd
-never thought of that. An' we got caught, an' had to take shelter,
-an' when we got back our way was bunged up--all squashy with mud.
-An' we hadn't got no spades nor fings out with us. So at last I said
-I would go and scout--you know--an' then I saw you."
-
-"Who's 'we'?" asked the Bishop.
-
-"Me an' David."
-
-"And how did you get into my garden?"
-
-"Oh, over the wall. We're highwaymen, and we've got a way of our
-own."
-
-"Indeed. And where's David now?"
-
-"Oh, he's over there, all muddy, tryin' to clean himself. He's a
-deal worse than me," said Sandy cheerfully.
-
-"He must indeed be bad, then. What do you propose to do?"
-
-"That's it. We can't get back to the pantry window now our way's
-gone," said artless Sandy. "Not in at all, not wivout knockin' at
-the door. I did think p'raps"--persuasively--"you cud come and
-knock."
-
-"I see. And then?"
-
-"Then, when you was talkin' to father, we cud slip in. Don't fink
-father would see--not to notice."
-
-"How long have you been highwaymen?" the Bishop asked.
-
-"On'y about a week--and this is a sickener," said Sandy disgustedly.
-"We was ghosts for a bit at first--till a woman screeched so we
-nearly got caught, stupid fing!"
-
-And the Bishop, remembering certain reports that had been made to
-him, was pleased with his acumen in refusing to call in the police.
-
-"If I were you, I should try a better line of business," he
-said. "Ghosts frighten silly women, and highwaymen are not very
-creditable, on the whole."
-
-"Yes," agreed Sandy. "We're goin' to. Next we're goin' to be
-pioneers and settlers."
-
-"Ah, I see. And where are you going to settle?"
-
-Sandy's bright eyes were turned suspiciously to the kind ones
-looking down upon him. He fidgeted uneasily, and a smile came across
-the Bishop's face.
-
-"I see," he said. "Perhaps you have not yet made up your minds."
-
-Sandy looked uncomfortable. "Not 'zactly," he confessed. "Truth is,
-it depends--I don't fink Dave would like me to tell. It's such a
-grand plan," he went on enthusiastically, "it 'ud be such a pity----"
-
-"To have it spoilt. Well, don't get into more mischief than you can
-help," the Bishop cautioned, "and don't do anything to make your
-mother uneasy."
-
-"Mother? Oh, mother'll laugh--she always does. You see, the bother
-is," confided Sandy, "there ain't no places to pioneer--every bit's
-taken. An' we've on'y just thought on it; an' it's splendid. We
-want a girl badly, though. Margie? No, Margie's no good. Settlers
-has wives an' squaws," went on Sandy pensively, "and we've on'y got
-Barbe lately, an' she's aw'fly little. 'Sides, you have to take such
-care on her--she's the on'y one Mr. Pelham's got. There's a lot of
-us, but mother says she cudn't spare not the littlest bit of one. So
-much less him his one, an' such a little one. It's a 'sponsibility,"
-sighed Sandy, "when you want to do fings."
-
-Through the open window came the musical sound of the chimes from
-the cathedral. The Bishop, with a quick sigh, rose.
-
-"There is a quarter to twelve. Your father will be going to bed.
-Fetch David quickly."
-
-"Should fink he's cleaned by now," said Sandy hopefully. "He was
-rubbin' himself wiv the leaves off the trees--drippin' wet."
-
-Mr. Bethune opened his front door in response to a low knocking,
-which at first he did not hear. His eyes had the unseeing, far-away
-look in them of a man disturbed in a possessing line of thought. The
-red light in the hall shone on the face of the Bishop, who entered
-and stood on the doormat for a minute, in such a position as to
-shield the entrance of the two muddy boys.
-
-"Here is the _Guardian_ for you," he said, "with a very appreciative
-notice of your paper." Then he went on, "And tell Marjorie to-morrow
-morning not to be too cross with the state of the boys' clothes.
-They've been in mischief, but it won't happen again--not the same
-sort."
-
-[Illustration: The father pretended not to hear the scuffling of
-small feet.]
-
-The two men looked at one another and laughed, and the father
-pretended not to hear the scuffling of small feet upon the stairs.
-The Bishop went home with no weight on his conscience--only a little
-pathetic envy of the man he had just left. Somehow those stifled
-scufflings up the stairs had gone straight to the depths of his very
-tender and lonely heart.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"The Bishop knows all 'bout it," excused Sandy sturdily, when
-confronted by Marjorie the next morning.
-
-"The Bishop knows that all your clothes are in the bath, with both
-taps running!"
-
-"Well, he does," Sandy repeated, "proberly. He said we were the
-out-an'-outest dirtiest little grubs he'd ever seen."
-
-"That you are--no one will contradict him. But he couldn't know that
-your clothes were in the bath."
-
-"Yes, he would. If they were so dirty, where else could they be?
-It's all that 'gustin' funderstorm."
-
-"Thunderstorm!" echoed Marjorie suspiciously. "That was at ten
-o'clock. What has that got to do with your clothes and the Bishop?"
-
-"Tell you it has. You'd best ask him, if you don't b'lieve me," said
-Sandy, hurt at her unbelief. "Anyhow, he does know that they was
-dirty. An' just cos we want to save trouble an' wash 'em ourselves,
-you're cross an' spiteful. Girls are no good--'cept little uns.
-What's there to put on? Best be somefink old, cos there's a deal of
-diggin' to be done."
-
-"I shall stop that digging if you make such a mess of yourselves."
-
-"You'd best not," said David meaningly, from his bed in the further
-corner. "If you do, you'll be sorry," he said darkly.
-
-  END OF CHAPTER SIX.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: Three Songs of Birth]
-
-Three
-
-Songs of Birth
-
-A
-
-_Christmas_
-
-_Sermon_
-
-By the Rev. Hugh Miller, M.A.
-
-  "Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host
-   praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
-          peace, good will toward men."--ST. LUKE ii. 13, 14.
-
-
-Three times are we told in Scripture that the angels sang. At the
-birth of the world, when the foundations of the earth were laid, the
-morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.
-When Jesus was born into the world a multitude of the heavenly host
-praised God and said, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
-peace, good will toward men." And when anyone is born again there is
-joy among the angels in heaven over the sinner that repenteth. The
-subject of the song in each case is the same: the leading _motif_ of
-them all is man.
-
-Man, to begin with, was God's chief end in creation, and the angels
-sang not so much because a new world had been made, but rather
-because a new being akin to themselves was put into it, to whom
-they might minister and with whom they might co-operate in the
-doing of God's most holy will; and this season comes to remind us
-of our inherent dignity in God's sight, of the noble ideal He has
-formed for us, of the value He sets on those whom He sent His Son
-to seek and to save. As God made us and as He intends us to be, we
-are not a little higher only than the animals, we are rather only
-"a little lower than the angels." He has crowned us with glory and
-honour and set us over the work of His hands. He has put all things
-under our feet. The material universe was made for man, to be his
-home, to develop his powers, to be a test and discipline of his
-moral character. I refuse to be reduced to the same rank, or to be
-placed in the same order, as the beasts that perish. Remembering the
-angels' first song, I assert my supremacy.
-
-And man is most of all supreme because God has given him the freedom
-to choose the objects of his life, and the means by which he can
-secure them. Sun, moon and stars are bound by laws which they cannot
-transgress. The movements of the animals are guided by impulses
-and instincts over which they have no moral control. To man alone
-belongs the power of refusing to bow before God's greatness and of
-disobeying God's commands. Man only has this sovereignty; but his
-sovereignty led to his servitude, and the chains that bound him were
-forged by an angel who fell before man's fall.
-
-If, then, all the angels worshipped and adored when man was made
-with the great gift of free choice, how must the holy ones that
-remained after the first and great apostasy have grieved when the
-fallen angels took man along with them in their fall! For because of
-man's disobedience God's idea in making man seemed to be thwarted
-and the peace and good will to which he was called appeared no
-longer possible. Instead of being the master of creation, he was now
-to a large extent its unhappy victim.
-
-We know from hints thrown out here and there in Scripture with what
-absorbing interest the angels followed the plans of God to bring
-order once more out of the chaos caused by sin, and the effort He
-put forth to create a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
-righteousness. No wonder, then, that when the fulness of the time
-was come, and God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the
-law to redeem man, the angels should have sung a second time, and
-anticipated for man at last a happy time of peace and good will.
-
-The angels had a clear perception of the purpose of Christ's coming.
-One of the chief of them said to Joseph, "Thou shalt call His name
-JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins." And they all
-sang when He came, because they knew that God was now dealing in a
-special and most effective way with that dark thing which cast its
-shadow on heaven as well as on earth. And it becomes us to remember
-that it is the sin of man which in the mind of God and His holy
-angels is associated with the coming of Jesus Christ. To this end
-was He born, and for this cause came He into the world.
-
-The sin of our first parents had passed on from generation to
-generation, and each one of the millions of mankind had to say,
-"Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive
-me"; and each fulfilled in his own life all too truly the sad
-promise of his birth. How was the tradition to be broken, and yet
-broken by one who really belonged to the race? The instincts of man
-himself foreshadowed the truth. Stories of a virgin birth here and
-there discernible in paganism show the deep intuition which was
-realised in Jesus Christ. He came into the world to fight with sin,
-to redeem a race steeped in a terrible heritage of evil, and that He
-might redeem it He Himself was born, and yet was free from evil.
-
-He fought sin and He conquered it. Why, then, has the angels' song
-not been fulfilled? Why does sin still cast its shadow on earth and
-heaven alike? Why does God's loving purpose in sending His Son seem
-still to suffer so wide defeat? Because in his recovery as in his
-fall, man's will must play its part. I can only be saved from sin
-when I _will_ to be saved; I only become a partaker of the benefits
-which Christ brought from heaven to earth when, yielding to the
-inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I turn with full accord to Jesus
-Christ as my Saviour. Marvel not, therefore, that we say to you with
-peculiar emphasis on the day in which Christ was born, "Ye must be
-born again." Otherwise, His birth is of no avail to you and me. We
-are not honouring Him, we are putting Him rather to an open shame,
-if we keep out of our thoughts at this time the supreme purpose of
-His coming, if we are not personally dealing with Him even now as to
-the burden and guilt of our sin.
-
-But we can set the angels a-singing in the sky, and the melody of
-their music can be felt in our own hearts, if we turn in lowly
-penitence to Him who came to save His people from their sins, and to
-quicken them to a new life of righteousness and peace and joy. Only
-when a man comes to himself in lowly penitence, and then goes to his
-Father with a lofty faith, does he enter into the full purpose of
-his manhood; and only then, also, is there not only joy among the
-angels in heaven over the sinner that thus repenteth, but there is
-music and dancing on the earth as well, and the old life ends in
-which sin reigned, and the new begins in which Christ reigns; and
-His reign means "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
-good will to men."
-
-"There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked."
-
-
-
-
-O Wondrous Night!
-
-A NEW CHRISTMAS CAROL.
-
-
-  _Words by_ ARTHUR BRYANT. _Music by_ CHARLES BASSETT.
-
-    1.  O wondrous night! O wondrous night! we fain would tell
-          The news the Angel told;
-        The holy vision which befel
-          The Shepherds by their fold.
-        With fear they saw, with gladness heard
-          The heav'nly minstrelsy,
-        With hope each trembling heart was stirred
-          At that sweet harmony: ...
-        "We bring good news Which ne'er shall cease;
-          To God be praise, to God be praise,
-            On earth be peace."
-
-    2.  O wondrous sight! O wondrous sight for simple swains,
-          With hasty steps who sped;
-        The music of those joyous strains
-          To that poor manger led.
-        With awe they gazed on Christ the Lord
-          Amid that happy throng,
-        And Israel at His feet adored,
-          Taught by the Angels' song: ...
-        "We bring good news,
-          Which ne'er shall cease;
-        To God be praise, to God be praise,
-            On earth be peace."
-
-    3.  O wondrous night! they homeward turned
-          To where their flocks did lay,
-        And sang the song they late had learned
-          To cheer them on their way.
-        The timid dawn began to peer
-          Across the dewy wold;
-        Their lips in accents loud and clear
-          The gladsome tidings told:
-            "We bring good news," &c.
-
-    4.  O wondrous sight, that God should live
-          In robe of flesh for man!
-        O wondrous Love, Himself to give
-          When closed His mortal span!
-        Sing, O ye skies! be joyful, earth!
-          Ye winds, bear o'er the seas
-        The news of blessed Jesu's birth,
-          And those sweet harmonies:
-            "We bring good news," &c.
-
-
-
-
-THE HOUSE COMFORTABLE.
-
-By Lina Orman Cooper, Author of "The House Beautiful," Etc.
-
-
-The House Beautiful must needs be also the House Comfortable, if
-we take true loveliness to consist of perfect fitness for service.
-Thoroughness is the keynote of each. In order to strike it we
-must have entered heart and soul into Ruskin's translation of St.
-Ursula's Room. Carpaccio himself painted the useful in the beautiful
-in this famous picture. From the princess's book, set up at a slope
-fittest for reading, to the shelf which runs under the window,
-providing a place to put things on--from a silver lamp on the white
-wall to the little blue slippers beside her bed, each detail ensures
-comfort of the first quality.
-
-Comfort is a thing quite apart from fashion. So it is easier to
-indicate the road which leads to the House Comfortable than it
-was to point out details in the House Beautiful. We most of us
-agree about the essentials required for real comfort: chairs upon
-which you can sit fearlessly; beds which rest and do not bruise;
-arms that support without cramping; pokers that bend not; strong
-tables and sharp knives, these are a sample of the things I mean.
-But true comfort depends on more than surface surroundings. It is
-indissolubly linked with attention to detail. The houses to which
-guests return time after time is the one in which soap is never
-absent from its tray, and where pillows are not only covered with
-frilled slips, but also stuffed with down and interlined with soft
-covering in place of waxed ticking.
-
-I would say, first of all, that the House Comfortable must stand
-in a sunny situation. This ensures warmth and light, without which
-our bodies are ill-nourished and miserable. "Where the sun never
-comes the doctor does" is a much-to-be-quoted proverb. We cannot all
-live exactly where we like. Circumstances of business, and means,
-generally determine locality. But common-sense must guide us in the
-selection of our houses. If we would be really comfortable, we must
-live in light, dry, airy, and clean homes. Never take a house on
-the sole recommendation of its pretty appearance. To have a really
-beautiful house we must first see that it is essentially built for
-comfort. The really useful and good is generally ornamental, for
-it possesses the realistic beauty of _fitness_. A north and south
-aspect for the chief sitting rooms, with east and west windows,
-secures both sunshine and shade. We want afternoon coolness as well
-as morning light. If our apartment looks towards the sun rising,
-heavy curtains should be ready to draw when east wind rages. A stick
-to effect this noiselessly is a small boon much appreciated. If our
-casement faces the golden gates of the west, no such protection
-is called for. But all windows should have double blinds--white
-outside, to absorb heat, and dark inside, to veil the sun when
-necessary. The comfort of lying in bed, facing a dark green blind
-can only be estimated by those who have reluctantly been disturbed
-by the too early shafts of the god Phoebus.
-
-There should be a triple water supply in the House Comfortable;
-ewers always filled from the soft-water pump. Every well and tank
-should be tested ere we take up residence. Pure water, and plenty
-of it, is essential to the health (and therefore comfort) of every
-household. It should be perfectly clear and bright, and free from
-taste or smell. Yet impurity may lurk even in the most sparkling
-water. Therefore science must decide as to its desirability. If
-only iron or lime water is procurable, jars of lump ammonia, or a
-bottle of cloudy liquid ammonia, a bag of oatmeal or a bundle of
-bran should lie on every washstand. The hot-water boiler not only
-supplies unlimited baths, but may be devised to heat the house. In
-every Canadian home a stove in the cellar warms the rooms above
-by means of drums and fans. We might do much the same in England
-with our hot-water pipes. These should certainly run through the
-linen-press and clothes cupboards, and terminate in bathroom
-spirals. On these, towels and rough sheets could be dried and
-aired. A face cloth always warm is one of the luxuries in our House
-Comfortable.
-
-After sanitation, ventilation takes its place in the home.
-How to secure a constant supply of fresh air is a question
-which demands most serious consideration. In ages past, houses
-were unintentionally ventilated by the ill-fitting doors and
-window-frames, wide chimneys, and open fire-places. But in our
-modern buildings comfort is secured by almost air-tight doors and
-windows. Ventilators at the top of such are delightful and necessary
-for real comfort, or a Queen Anne casement may have a swing in its
-upper frame. It is not always easy, however, to secure exemption
-from draught in our modern mansions. When the brick-and-mortar fiend
-has placed door, window, and fireplace exactly opposite each other,
-screens must be judiciously used. A brass rod from which hangs a
-curtain, screwed into the door jamb and suspended by a tiny chain
-from the ceiling, is a good thing, or an ordinary _portiere_ may be
-allowed. The former plan, however, enables us to keep the door open
-without feeling a wind.
-
-Padded stair-carpets secure noiseless ascent in the House
-Comfortable. Cork mats by the big bath are welcome to bare feet.
-Many cupboards are a necessity. A place for everything and
-everything in its place is one of the initial rules for everyone's
-comfort. It is also Divine law. Hanging presses, medicine cupboards,
-butler's pantry, housemaid's closets, keep dresses from dust,
-poisons from the unwary, silver and glass intact, and brushes unworn.
-
-The House Comfortable must not be over-servanted. Neither must it
-be undermanned. Of the two evils, the latter is preferable, as the
-mistress herself then looks after the minutiae of her house. With all
-deference to Matthew Prior, comfort does not flow on a line with
-ignorance. It requires a cultivated intelligence to provide such in
-our homes.
-
-Education has done much for us on this point. How not to do it
-in the House Comfortable is exemplified by the abodes of our
-forefathers. Going over Beaumaris Castle the other day, I noted
-the small apertures for exit; the high caverns of chimneys; the
-windows of horn; the crooked stairs. Nowadays we find stoves and
-slow combustion grates quite a necessity for comfort--whilst lofty
-ceilings, broad staircases, and wide windows can be quite as
-picturesque, and are far more to be desired.
-
-The dictionary definition of the word "comfort" implies enlivenment
-and capability for dispensing bodily ease. For this, moral qualities
-are as necessary as well-planned, well-equipped houses.
-
-Punctuality, for instance, is an ingredient required to secure a
-comfortable home.
-
-When breakfast and dinner are movable feasts, served up at the whim
-of a lie-a-bed or a gad-about, they can only be make-believes,
-after all. Cold coffee is unpalatable even when partaken of in a
-sunny room. Whitey-brown sausages are unappetising unless piping
-from the pot. Yet this--like all other virtues--may be strained
-too far. Nothing is more uncomfortable than to feel no latitude is
-allowed to a weary guest, or to find one's host at marmalade three
-minutes after the time appointed for the disappearance of a savoury.
-Courtesy in this must be our rule. Neatness is another necessity.
-No house can be really comfortable that is littered with papers,
-or in which boots lie in the drawing-room--yet finickiness in
-arrangement makes the home unbearable. The most uncomfortable visit
-I ever paid was to the most scientifically correct house. Chairs
-were not allowed to touch the wall-paper; footstools never shifted.
-A towel for wiping down the varnish of the bath was provided, and--I
-was made miserable! By all means keep paint and paper in as much
-primitive purity as possible, but let unobtrusive service guard
-these points.
-
-Much more could I discourse of the House Comfortable, but space
-forbids. Let me only remind you that the veriest cottage--plenished
-with wisdom and lovingly provided--may fulfil all its conditions
-just as well as the most luxurious castle.
-
-Told in Sunshine Room.]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: DONKEY BOY]
-
-DONKEY BOY TO THE QUEEN
-
-_A TRUE INCIDENT._
-
-By Alfred T. Story
-
-Part II.
-
-
-A week passed before anything further was heard. Then a summons came
-for Tam to appear before her Majesty on the following afternoon. He
-was duly in attendance, and had not long to wait before a man in
-Highland costume came into the room where he was seated and said--
-
-"Noo, my braw laddie, her Most Gracious Majesty and his Royal
-Highness the Prince Consort will come in through that door in twa
-seconds. When they enter all you hae to dy is ta stan' up an' mak'
-yer obeisance. An' when they ax ye a question jist ye say yes or
-nae, your Majesty, or your Royal Highness, as the case may be. An'
-if they ax ye naething--weel, jist ye say naething in return."
-
-With these words the wise servitor withdrew. Barely had he gone out
-of one door ere the other opened, and the same lady he had seen
-before, leaning on the arm of the gentleman he likewise remembered,
-appeared before friend Tam. They were both dressed much more richly
-than when he had previously seen them, the lady having a brilliant
-star on her breast, and the gentleman wearing a silken sash over his
-shoulder.
-
-For a moment the boy was confused, but he recovered himself
-sufficiently to recollect that he had to make an "obeisance." He had
-omitted to ask the Highland gentleman what that was, but he thought
-it must be something like the soldier's salute, and so he stood
-perfectly upright and saluted.
-
-"So you have come, my lad, to see her Majesty about the position of
-donkey-boy?" said the gentleman.
-
-"Yes, sir--your Royal Highness," replied Tam. Only when he had got
-out the word "sir" did it flash upon him that he was standing before
-the Queen and her Royal Consort.
-
-"Well, her Majesty has caused inquiries to be made about you, and
-she finds that, although you are a little wayward and sometimes
-disobedient to your grandparents, you are not on the whole a bad
-boy."
-
-"No, your Royal Highness," said Tam.
-
-"Does that mean that you are not a bad boy, or that you do not
-sometimes disobey your grandparents?"
-
-This question, though backed by a genial smile, somewhat
-disconcerted the would-be donkey-boy. He was silent for a moment,
-then he answered, looking first at one and then at the other, with
-that straight glance of his, "I hae sometimes been disobedient to
-my grandparents, but I think I have learned better now."
-
-"I am glad to hear that," said the Prince.
-
-Then, speaking for the first time, the Queen said, "Well, Tam, if I
-make you my donkey-boy, will you promise to be obedient to all my
-slightest wishes and commands? Do not answer lightly. I am a severe
-mistress in that I expect the strictest obedience and attention
-to duty. But I, in return, am strict in doing my duty to those I
-employ."
-
-"And if you prove a worthy and trustworthy servant," added the
-Prince, "your position is secure for life."
-
-"Not, however, as a mere donkey-boy all your days," put in the Queen
-with a smile.
-
-Said Tam with a faltering tongue: "If ye'll try me, your Majesty,
-I'll do my best, and," he added, as though struck with a sudden
-thought, "I'll no need to lick the donkeys, 'cos I ken hoo ta mek
-'em run 'thout the stick."
-
-[Illustration: Yetta threw up her hands in amaze.]
-
-"And how do you do that?" asked the Prince with a smile.
-
-"I meks 'em carry a bunch o' thistles afore 'em."
-
-"Well, we will see," replied her Majesty, smiling. "Now you may run
-home and tell your grandparents you are to be ready to begin duty
-this day week. But before you go you will see the gentleman who
-spoke to you a minute or two ago."
-
-With these words and a kindly smile the Sovereign and her Royal
-Consort withdrew.
-
-The one door closed, the other immediately opened, and again entered
-the Highland gentleman. "Sae ye hae been engagit ta look after ta
-cuddies, eh?" he questioned.
-
-Tam said he had.
-
-"Aweel, it's a verra guid step in life for a young callant to
-begin wi', an' if ye tek heed there's nae telling whereto it may
-lead--ablins even to the primiership, if ye ken what that is. For ye
-mun know, the gift o' the heaven-made Prime Minister is just to ken
-hoo ta manage a' th' human cuddies that are sent to Parliament to
-bother 'em. But mebbe a' that's a wee bit abune yer understanding as
-yet, and sae we'll just leave it an' speer aboot yer claes."
-
-Needless to say how surprised Donal and Yetta were to hear Tam's
-story, how thankful to reflect that their boy was to have such a
-start in life. He reported to them what had been said, and the
-promise he had given, and they believed that, like the Jamison he
-was, he would be true to his word. All the same, they did not omit
-to pray for that guidance and support for him without which his own
-efforts would be vain.
-
-The evening before Tam's week was up a parcel was delivered at
-Jamison's door, addressed to his grandson. It contained a complete
-new suit, as the Highland gentleman had said, "from the skin
-outwards." Never was seen such a brave outfit, to Tam's thinking. He
-turned it over and admired it, article by article, for at least a
-couple of hours, but would not try it on, or any part of it, until
-he had had a good wash. The tub was never a thing he was shy of, but
-on this occasion it was used as though he intended to wash out his
-every fault, as well as all the merely superficial smuts and stains
-that had accumulated, so as to appear before his Queen a spotlessly
-clean cuddy-tender.
-
-When the operation was completed, Tam indued himself in his new
-garments and went on parade, so to speak, before his grandmother.
-Yetta was busy stirring the matutinal porridge when he walked into
-the ben and said:
-
-"How do I look, granny?"
-
-Yetta, turning round, threw up her hands in amaze. She hardly knew
-him, so great was the transformation effected by the new clothes and
-the scrubbing he had given himself. Donal was no less surprised when
-he came in from his morning milking. Tam looked two inches taller
-and a lot sprucer.
-
-"Ye mind me of yer puir father," said the old man as he sat down to
-breakfast.
-
-That was a note of sad recollection which brought tears to Yetta's
-eyes; but a smile was soon gleaming through them when Tam, getting
-sight of Meg, who was eyeing him as it were askance, said drily,
-"Meg looks as if she hardly kenned what ta mek of her handiwark; for
-the beginning o't was a' her doing."
-
-Just then the noise of wheels was heard on the road, and as the
-messenger who brought the clothes left word that one of the Queen's
-carriages would pick him up on the morrow, Tam thought surely this
-was the one. But it was not. Indeed, he ran to the door at least
-twenty times ere, towards eleven o'clock, his vehicle arrived. It
-was a quaint affair, half carriage, half wash-basket, drawn by two
-asses, creatures as beautiful of their kind as could be found. It
-was driven by her whom he knew, and by her side were several bright
-little faces, while the Highland gentleman, riding behind on one
-pony, as sturdy and Hielan' as himself, led another by the bridle.
-
-Donal and Yetta came out and with bowed heads thanked the august
-though simple-hearted lady for the great kindness she had shown to
-their boy. She replied with a kindly smile:
-
-"There appears to be the making of a good man in him, and, with
-God's help, we will do our best to make him one."
-
-Little more was said, and, mounting the led pony, Tam rode off by
-the side of the faithful retainer, who never got further away from
-the carriage than the dust raised by its wheels.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Thus commenced Tam's career in life. Though he served the noblest
-lady in the land, he did not find his way one altogether of buttered
-parsnips and cream. The one thing abhorrent to his royal mistress
-was idleness and indifference. The motto of her establishment--of
-all her establishments--was "The diligent eye." In this principle
-she found not only the best interests of her own house, but the best
-interests also of those who served her.
-
-Tam could not be called idle, nor could he be called exactly
-indifferent; but during the years of his tending of cattle and
-sheep on the brae-side he had got into the habit of liking to loll
-about, to saunter and dream, and then to make up, or try to make
-up, the leeway of work or duty by a spurt of energy. Another fault
-he had was to leave things about--for others to "side" or put in
-order. This arose, no doubt, from the narrow dimensions of his home,
-where there was hardly room for everything to have its particular
-place. It was, however, neither a very grievous nor a deeply rooted
-fault; and a little sharp drilling, not unfrequently at the hands
-of the Highland gentleman--a sort of major of the household, who
-possessed "the diligent eye" _par excellence_--soon corrected Tam's
-delinquency in this regard.
-
-But the other fault was more deeply rooted and cost the young
-donkey-boy many a bad quarter of an hour. Indeed, on one occasion it
-nearly cost him his place. He had been given a task to do, and in
-place of doing it with all diligence he had been found with his feet
-growing to the ground, as it were. The consequence was an interview
-with the Highland gentleman, who told him, "Tam, ye have either ta
-pe punisht or to leave her Majesty's service: which shall it pe?"
-
-"I'll tek the punishment, sir, if you please," he answered.
-
-"Tam, ye are a wise poy, an' we'll mebby mek a man o' ye yet," said
-the major-domo.
-
-Tam took his punishment, and was the better for it; but he still
-failed to come up to his royal mistress's ideal of a servant. Like
-his fellow-servitors, he had plenty of time for rest and recreation:
-hours of labour were by no means long. So much time had he, indeed,
-for himself, that the Highland gentleman put suitable books before
-him, and counselled him to improve his mind by reading and study.
-He failed, however, to profit by the advice, and was presently made
-aware of his error by a violent thunder-clap.
-
-He was in attendance on his royal mistress one day, when she and
-the children were out for a drive. A poor body was met, in apparent
-distress, by the wayside. Inquiry was made as to her condition,
-present help was extended, and a promise of future beneficence given
-if further investigation should warrant its bestowal. Hence the
-necessity arose for an address to be written down, and Tam, who was
-that day the only person in attendance, was requested to do it.
-
-When Tam entered the royal service he could read a bit and write
-very imperfectly; but there had been time, had he followed the
-counsel given him, to have greatly improved himself in both those
-accomplishments. Not having done so, he fumbled egregiously over the
-task set him, and, in short, made such a hash of it that an eye of
-wrath was turned upon him.
-
-Tam had seen that eye in all its moods--of laughter and smiles, of
-grief, of earnestness, of affection, even of solemnity and awe, but
-he had never as yet beheld it flash in indignant wrath. He felt as
-though the muscles of his knees had been cut away and the ground
-was sinking from under his feet. What would he not have given to be
-miles away! But he had to face the storm, and it came in this way:
-
-"Were not books and paper and ink put before you? And were you not
-advised to improve your reading and writing?"
-
-Tam falteringly admitted that such was the case.
-
-"Why did you not attend to the advice?"
-
-"I--I----" stammered the ease-loving Tam.
-
-"Had you not the time?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Then why did you not do as you were wished?"
-
-Tam hung his head in shame.
-
-"Tam Jamison, listen to me. I will have those in my employ attend
-to my wishes, and attend to them with all their might. Do you wish
-to be ignorant all your life, when the time and the means for
-improvement are placed at your command? In three months' time I
-shall expect you to read and write in such a way that you will be
-able to fulfil in a creditable manner a simple duty like that you
-have to-day so grievously failed in. Now we'll go on."
-
-Tam Jamison wanted no more speaking to. He was now thoroughly awake:
-and he went to work with all his might to do the behest of his
-mistress and Sovereign, and, in truth, he made prodigious progress;
-so that when it happened one day--he being then in attendance on her
-Majesty in another part of the country--that she required the names
-of several rare plants to be written down for her future use, he did
-it so cleverly that he was rewarded with a pleased smile.
-
-Tam felt that he had acquired wings that afternoon, and the
-strangest part of the affair was, that when he came to reckon up
-precisely, he discovered that it was three months to a day since his
-"royal earwigging," as the Highland gentleman called it.
-
-To that worthy man Jamison communicated his delight. "Ah," said he,
-"ye thocht, like many anither, that ye were doing a great service to
-her gracious Majesty by your few hours of daily labour; but, guid
-faith, she does a mighty deal mair for ye than ye, or ony the likes
-o' ye, can do for her. Serve 'maist onybody else in the kintra, an'
-they'll take yer service an' gie ye yer wage, an' there's an end.
-But when her Majesty teks ye intil her household she teks ye to mek
-a man o' ye--if it's in ye, ye ken. An' weel she knows hoo ta do
-it--nane better. Sae ye just go on as ye've begun, Tam Jamison, an'
-ye'll mebbe no bide a feckless cuddy-callant till ye're auld an'
-blind."
-
-Jamison did not need to be taught his lesson a second time. He made
-diligent use of his opportunities, and improved so much and so
-visibly that when he was fifteen he was raised to the position of
-page. A greater mark of appreciation could hardly be given to one
-in the royal employ; for her Majesty's pages are amongst the most
-trusted of her servants.
-
-At first the humbler duties of a page fell to his lot; but as he
-improved in thoughtfulness and intelligence, and in his knowledge
-of the manifold and delicate duties which fell to his care--in which
-he had the aid and instruction of one of her Majesty's oldest and
-most experienced pages, a man who had been in her service ever since
-she ascended the throne--he rose higher and higher in the royal
-service and the royal consideration, until at last his services were
-rarely required except on State and exceptional occasions only.
-
-[Illustration: Tam hung his head in shame.]
-
-Scarcely a week passed that he did not recall the words of him we
-have called the Highland gentleman, when he said that the Queen
-did more for those in her service than they could ever do for her,
-in that she not only made men and women of them, but treated them
-more as gentlemen and ladies than as mere domestics. There were no
-servants in her employ, no matter how humble their sphere, but she
-knew them by name and had their welfare at heart; and if they served
-her well, she never lost sight of them, or forgot them--no, not even
-when the grave took them into its transitional embrace.
-
-Jamison had had abundant opportunities to note and set these
-things down in his heart, but he was never so much impressed by
-her Majesty's deep regard for those who served her faithfully and
-well as when, one dripping autumn day, he was required to accompany
-her to the churchyard of a rural village, halfway betwixt London
-and Windsor--in which, a day or two before, the aged servant above
-referred to had been buried--in order that she might lay a wreath
-upon his grave. It bore the words, "In grateful remembrance of a
-devoted and faithful servant, V.R.," and as she bent down to place
-it with her own hand upon the grave a tear fell upon the flowers
-that outshone the brightest jewel of her crown.
-
-
-
-
-TEMPERANCE NOTES AND NEWS.
-
-By a Leading Temperance Advocate.
-
-
-THE TEMPERANCE HOSPITAL.
-
-[Illustration: DR. J. J. RIDGE.
-
-(_Photo: J. Bacon, Newcastle-on-Tyne._)]
-
-The story of the Temperance Hospital in Hampstead Road forms one
-of the most interesting chapters in temperance history. When
-the experiment of treating accidents and disease without the
-administration of alcohol was first mooted, the idea was assailed
-with a storm of criticism in which the medical profession found a
-most active ally in the public Press. A quarter of a century has
-now elapsed since the first patient was received in the temporary
-premises in Gower Street, and although the medical staff have full
-permission, under certain regulations, to administer alcohol if
-deemed expedient, the last Report states that out of a total of
-13,984 in-patients, alcohol has only been resorted to in twenty-five
-cases. The percentage of recoveries compares most favourably with
-the ordinary hospitals, and the cases include every variety of
-disease and accident. The present head of the medical staff is Dr.
-J. J. Ridge, who has been connected with the institution from the
-first. For many years it has been the custom of the United Kingdom
-Band of Hope Union to organise a Christmas collection in aid of
-the Temperance Hospital. The amount thus realised has reached many
-thousand pounds, and it is hoped that this year's collection will
-prove the best of the series. The body of evidence in favour of
-total abstinence which the Temperance Hospital has accumulated
-certainly entitles the institution to the cordial support of the
-temperance public.
-
-[Illustration: THE TEMPERANCE HOSPITAL, HAMPSTEAD ROAD, LONDON.
-
-(_Photo supplied by the Press Studio._)]
-
-
-COMING EVENTS.
-
-Among the fixtures worth noting may be named the New Year's Meeting
-of the United Kingdom Band of Hope Union on Saturday, January 7th;
-the Annual Meeting of the London United Temperance Council, to be
-addressed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, on February 13th, in the
-Queen's Hall; a great Industrial Exhibition, promoted by the Hackney
-and East Middlesex Band of Hope Union, on April 10-13; Temperance
-Sunday for London Diocese April 23rd (St. George's Day, a grand
-opportunity for the clergy to strike a national note); and, as it is
-well to look ahead, a World's Temperance Convention to be held under
-the auspices of the National Temperance League in 1900.
-
-
-THE NEW ENGLISH DICTIONARY.
-
-It may be news to some of our readers that Dr. James A. H. Murray,
-the editor-in-chief of the monumental literary work which has been
-in progress for so many years, is an earnest total abstainer and a
-Vice-President of the National Temperance League. Dictionary-making
-and total abstinence seem to run together. In William Ball's "Slight
-Memorials of Hannah More" is this remark: "I dined last week at
-the Bishop of Chester's. Dr. Johnson was there. In the middle of
-dinner I urged Dr. Johnson to take a _little_ wine. He replied:
-'I can't drink a _little_, child, therefore I never touch it.
-Abstinence is as easy to me as temperance would be difficult.'" It
-is rather curious to note that it is only within recent years that
-our dictionaries have taken any cognisance of the meaning which
-temperance people give to the word "pledge." More than this, in
-the early dictionaries the word was almost exclusively given up to
-the other side of the drink question. For instance, in Bailey's
-Dictionary (1736) we have the following definition of the word
-"pledged":--"Having drank by the recommendation of another."...
-"The custom of pledging in drinking was occasioned by the Danes,
-who, while they had the superiority in England, used to stab the
-English or cut their throats while they were drinking; and thereupon
-they requested of some sitter-by to be their pledge and security
-while they drank; so that 'I will pledge you' signifies 'I will be
-your security that you shall drink in safety.'"
-
-[Illustration: "DICTIONARY" MURRAY.]
-
-Contrast this with the definition given in the last edition of
-Webster's Dictionary:--
-
-"A promise or agreement by which one binds one's self to do, or to
-refrain from doing something; especially a solemn promise in writing
-to refrain from using intoxicating liquors or other liquor; as to
-sign the pledge."
-
-No doubt, when Dr. Murray reaches the letter "P," we shall have a
-definition even still more illuminating. The New English Dictionary
-viewed from a temperance standpoint would make a delightful study.
-Take, for instance, volume one, in which "Alcohol" has more than
-a column to itself, while "Ale" has two columns, "Beer" two and
-a half columns, and "Abstain," "Abstainer," and "Abstaining" are
-treated with a wealth of illustration and meaning derived from such
-authorities as Wyclif in 1382 down to J. W. Bardsley (the present
-Bishop of Carlisle) in 1867, who is pressed into the service in this
-form:--
-
-"ABSTAINING.--Practising abstinence (from alcoholic beverages) 1867.
-J. W. BARDSLEY in 'Clerical Testimony to Total Abstinence' 30: 'The
-bride was the daughter of an abstaining clergyman.'"
-
-[Illustration: MADAME ANTOINETTE STERLING.
-
-(_Photo: Walery, Ltd., Regent Street, W._)]
-
-Now we will leave it to our fair readers to puzzle over until next
-month as to who the blushing bride was who is thus assured of
-immortality in the greatest Dictionary the world has ever seen.
-
-
-"TWO QUEENS OF SONG."
-
-"Example is better than precept," says the old adage, and there
-can be no doubt that the example of Madame Antoinette Sterling and
-Mrs. Mary Davies in the matter of total abstinence has been of the
-utmost value. It was at a reception given by Mr. and Mrs. Frederick
-Sherlock at Hackney, in 1892, to the Archbishop of Canterbury
-(then Bishop of London), that Madame Sterling, to the surprise of
-a delighted audience, volunteered "a few words." The gifted singer
-remarked that "she had been nearly all her life a total abstainer.
-When on long tours with members of her profession, it had been
-rather an aggravation to them to see, when they were pretty well
-prostrated, that she was almost or quite as fresh at the end of the
-journey as at the beginning. They also complained of the quality of
-the wine furnished to them, as well as of water. She took milk and
-cocoa, and also water, of which she did not complain, and scarcely
-missed one engagement in the seventeen years during which she had
-been before the public. She had never had a day's bad health, and
-had not suffered from those aches and pains of which she had heard
-other people complaining continually." Like Madame Sterling, Mrs.
-Mary Davies has upon many occasions shown a deep and practical
-interest in philanthropic work.
-
-[Illustration: MRS. MARY DAVIES.
-
-(_Photo: H. S. Mendelssohn, Pembridge Crescent, W._)]
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Press Studio._)
-
-MUSCULAR TRAINING AT THE NAVAL SCHOOL, GREENWICH.]
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Press Studio._)
-
-BUCKET-OF-WATER RACE AT THE NAVAL SCHOOL.]
-
-
-A FAMOUS BAND OF HOPE.
-
-Possibly the most unique Band of Hope in the world is that which is
-held in the Royal Naval School, Greenwich. It was founded so far
-back as 1871, by Samuel Sims, an honoured agent of the National
-Temperance League, and upon his death, in 1892, was taken over by
-Mr. W. S. Campbell, as the League's representative. No pressure at
-all is put upon the lads to induce them to join the Band of Hope,
-but, as a matter of fact, most of the lads in the school readily do
-so, and the present membership is fully a thousand strong. Regular
-weekly meetings are held, and the annual gathering, which is held
-in the great gymnasium, is a most inspiriting spectacle. A visit
-to the Royal Naval School, if it should happen to be in recreation
-time, cannot fail to afford considerable satisfaction to those who
-like to see Young England at play. Every type of healthy pastime is
-encouraged in its turn, and these young abstainers have frequently
-shown that they are well able to hold their own. It is encouraging
-to know that the principles of total abstinence are not discarded
-when the lads pass out into the Royal Navy or Mercantile Marine,
-for every year large numbers of them are drafted into Miss Weston's
-well-known temperance society.
-
-
-TEMPERANCE SUNDAY.
-
-The appointment of a special Sunday for the preaching of sermons on
-temperance originated with the Church of England Temperance Society
-many years ago. Owing to various circumstances, it is not possible
-for the Church of England clergy to take one Sunday simultaneously
-for the whole country, but each diocesan Bishop makes choice of
-a day and issues a pastoral letter to his clergy, so that at one
-period of the year or another the whole country is covered, so far
-as the Church of England is concerned. The Nonconformist bodies
-have, however, for some years past, fixed upon the last Sunday in
-November for Temperance Sunday, and as we go to press we learn that
-this year special reference will be made to the importance of Sunday
-Closing.
-
-
-
-
-SCRIPTURE LESSONS FOR SCHOOL & HOME INTERNATIONAL SERIES
-
-With Illustrative Anecdotes and References.
-
-
-DECEMBER 18TH.--=The Captivity of Judah.=
-
-_To read--Jer. lii. 1-11. Golden Text--Jer. xxix. 13._
-
-This chapter describes the fate of Judah. Later kings were all
-wicked. Warnings of Jeremiah and other prophets all been in vain.
-Time has come for judgment. Captivity in Babylon, long foretold,
-now about to commence. Came about in reign of Zedekiah. The eleven
-verses of this lesson almost identical with Jer. xxxix. 1-10.
-
-I. =The King= (1-3). _His name._ Originally Mattaniah, was son of
-good King Josiah and uncle of late King Jehoiachin. Jeremiah had
-prophesied of a future king (Jer. xxiii. 5-7) as the "Lord our
-righteousness." The king assumed that name, and was called Zedekiah.
-
-_His acts._ "Did evil," but had not always been altogether evil.
-Had made covenant with nobles and priests to abolish slavery
-(xxxiv. 8-10). But his great wrong was breaking his solemn oath of
-allegiance to king of Babylon (2 Chron. xxxvi. 13). This looked upon
-as his crowning vice (Ezek. xvii. 8), for which God's anger was upon
-him (ver. 3).
-
-=Lesson.= When thou vowest a vow defer not to pay it.
-
-II. =The Siege= (4-7). City besieged for last time. Jews never
-forgot day it began. Was January--tenth day of their tenth month.
-Great mounds or (earth-works) outside walls to shoot burning arrows,
-etc.; houses outside thrown down (Jer. xxxiii. 4). Famine and
-pestilence soon ravaged crowded population inside.
-
-_The assault._ City, after eighteen months, taken by assault at
-northern gate (B.C. 587). King and his family and royal guard
-escaped by passage between two walls (Jer. xxxix. 4), by royal
-gardens, down steep descent towards Jericho. There he was overtaken
-and made prisoner. His broken oath caused his destruction (Ezek.
-xvii. 20).
-
-=Lesson.= Evil shall hunt the wicked to overtake him.
-
-III. =Babylon.= He was taken to Babylon. His sons killed in his
-sight, then his eyes put out, bound with chains, kept in prison till
-death. Feeble in will, faithless in promise, judgment came upon him.
-
-=Lesson.= 1. The word of the Lord standeth sure.
-
-
-Bargains.
-
-He who buys the truth makes a good bargain. Zedekiah dealt in
-falsehood and lost his throne. Esau sold his birthright for a basin
-of soup. Judas made a bad bargain when he sold his Lord for the
-price of a slave. Take heed to the thing that is right, for that
-alone shall bring peace at the last.
-
-
-DECEMBER 25TH.--=A Christmas Lesson.=
-
-_To read--Hebrews i. 1-9. Golden Text--St. Luke ii. 11._
-
-This letter written to the Hebrews, i.e. Christians of Jewish birth
-who clung to the priesthood and services of the Temple as well as
-to Christianity. St. Paul shows how far the Christian system was
-superior to and superseded the Jewish. The types and ceremonies of
-the Law fulfilled in Christ, whose birthday is kept at Christmas.
-
-I. =God's Revelation= (1-2). _Past._ God revealed or unveiled
-Himself of old. This revelation inferior in three ways, viz. (1) It
-was given gradually, in portions, a part at a time. (2) Given in
-divers manners, under many figures and types. (3) Given by prophets,
-only human.
-
-_Present._ Final revelation of God's truth--once for all given to
-the saints (Jude 3). Given by His Son--the Word of God (St. John i.
-1, 2); heir of all things--God's agent in creation of the universe.
-
-II. =God's Son= (3-9). _Great in Himself._ Has Divine glory--the
-outshining of the Father's glory. He is God's image, the counterpart
-of the Father. To see Christ is to see God (St. John xiv. 9).
-
-_Great in His work._ (1) _Upholder_ of the universe as well as its
-Creator. (2) _Saviour._ Came not only as prophet to reveal God's
-will, but to purge man's sin. This He did by Himself with His own
-blood (ix. 12, 14).
-
-_Greater than angels._ In His person, His work. His exaltation to
-glory; testified by Scripture, _e.g._ Psalm ii. 3 tells of Christ's
-eternal Sonship--also referred to by St. Paul as fulfilled in His
-resurrection (Acts xiii. 33).
-
-_King over all._ Christ also a King. Rules in righteousness (Psalm
-xlv. 6, 7); received throne as victor over His enemies--sin, death,
-and the devil (xii. 2). Raised high above all.
-
-=Lesson.= Christ is King--honour Him; He is Saviour--love Him; He
-is God--fear Him. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and so ye perish.
-Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.
-
-
-Christ in the Old and New Testaments.
-
-A weaver, who had made an elaborate piece of tapestry, hung it
-upon the tenterhooks in his yard. That night it was stolen. A
-piece of tapestry was found by the police, which seemed to answer
-the description; but, as the pattern was not unlike that of other
-pieces, they wanted more definite proof. It was brought to the
-weaver's yard, and there the perforations in the fabric were found
-to correspond exactly to the tenterhooks. This was proof positive.
-In like manner, if we place the life and character of Christ against
-all the prophecies of Him in Scripture, they will be found to
-correspond exactly.
-
-
-1899.
-
-_New Series. The Gospel according to St. John._
-
-
-JANUARY 1ST.--=Christ the True Light.=
-
-_To read--St. John i. 1-14. Golden Text--Ver. 4._
-
-New Year--new course of lessons. This Gospel records the deeper
-spiritual truths of Christ's teaching, especially about His own
-Nature and Person. It sets Christ forth as God. St. John tells his
-object in writing a fourth Gospel in chap. xx. 31, which the class
-should read.
-
-I. =The Nature of Christ= (1-3). _Eternal._ In the beginning, not of
-the world, but before all creation, from everlasting. _Divine Word._
-Christ is the expression of the mind of God. Came to reveal God to
-man (xv. 15). _Living Person._ The Word not a mere attribute or
-power of God but a distinct Person. "With God" from everlasting. Not
-inferior to the Father, but very God Himself. _Creator._ As well as
-Saviour and Governor of the world (read Col. i. 16, 17; Heb. i. 2).
-
-II. =The Office of Christ= (4-13). _Source of Life._ As very God He
-had life in Himself, which He poured forth on His creation (vv. 25,
-26; xvii. 2). _Source of light._ The life from Son of God is cause
-of man's inward spiritual light by which he is saved. _Himself the
-light._ World was in spiritual darkness at Christ's coming. _Giver
-of light._ No man has light in himself, however great his natural
-powers. All true light is from Christ.
-
-_Rejected._ By His own. The world He made knew not its Creator (1
-Cor. i. 21). The nation He chose to be His own special people (Deut.
-vii. 6) received Him not.
-
-_Received._ By a few--both Jews and Gentiles; such as Nicodemus the
-ruler (iii. 1, 2), the disciples from Galilee (ii. 11), and others.
-How did they receive Him? By believing in Him. This faith, itself
-the gift of God, rewarded by further privilege of becoming God's
-sons--born into God's family by a new and spiritual birth (iii. 3).
-
-III. =The Glory of Christ= (14). Word was made flesh by taking to
-Himself man's human nature. He dwelt (_literally_ "pitched His
-tent") with men, full of mercy to heal bodies and souls, full of
-God's truth to teach.
-
-=Lessons.= 1. _Hold fast the Christian faith._ Jesus Christ one for
-ever with the Father. _God_--eternal, glorious, Creator, Giver of
-light and life to the soul--yet _Man_, like one of us.
-
-2. _Live the Christian life._ Jesus is our example, that we should
-follow His steps.
-
-
-Christians walking in the Light.
-
-A little girl in a London slum won a prize at a flower-show. Her
-flower was grown in a broken teapot in a back attic. When asked how
-she managed to grow the beautiful flower, she said her success came
-from always keeping the plant in the only corner of the room ever
-favoured by a sunbeam. Only by walking in the light and sight of God
-can Christians truly grow and bear fruit.
-
-
-JANUARY 8TH.--=Christ's first Disciples.=
-
-_To read--St. John i. 35-46. Golden Text--Ver. 36._
-
-Christ now thirty years old; has been baptised and received special
-outpouring of Holy Ghost (ver. 33), and also been tempted in the
-wilderness (St. Matt. iv. 1). Is now ready for His public work and
-ministry. Now begins to win disciples.
-
-I. =The first two Disciples= (35-40). _Heard of Him._ Picture Christ
-walking near the Jordan. St. John, who had baptised Him, points Him
-out to his followers. Describes Him: this the Lamb of God to Whom
-all the sacrifices pointed; the innocent lamb slain told of the
-death of the spotless Son of God for man's sin. His words went home.
-
-_Followed Him._ Who were they? Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, and
-probably St. John, writer of the Gospel, brother of James. Why did
-they follow? To learn more of Him. Had been baptised with baptism of
-repentance. Sense of sin led them to seek the Saviour. Christ knew
-their thoughts, encouraged them to learn more of Him (St. Matt. xi.
-28, 29).
-
-II. =The third Disciple= (41, 42). The two friends separate the next
-day, each in search of his brother. Andrew soon finds his--eagerly
-tells the news. They have found the long-expected Messiah, the
-Anointed of God. Brings Simon to Christ. No greater proof possible
-of having really found Christ than bringing another to Him. Christ
-looks with eager and searching eye at Simon--reads his very heart,
-sees his longing after truth; gives him a new name, Cephas (Hebrew)
-or Peter (Greek), meaning "a rock" or "stone." What did this
-signify? His bold and determined character, strong in the faith (St.
-Matt. xvi. 16), eager in defence of Christ (xviii. 10), and, after
-his fall and forgiveness, strong in love (xxi. 15).
-
-III. =The fourth Disciple= (43, 44). Philip of Bethsaida. Must have
-heard his friends talking of Christ. Probably stirred in his heart.
-Christ found him, as He afterwards found Zacchaeus St. (Luke xix. 5).
-His mission to seek as well as to save. Happy they who obey Christ's
-call and follow Him.
-
-IV. =The fifth Disciple= (45, 46). Philip soon shows marks of
-discipleship. He finds Nathanael. Tells him how Christ fulfilled
-prophecies, such as of a "prophet" like unto Moses, a "king" whose
-name should be "the Lord our righteousness" (Jer. xxiii. 5, 6).
-Nathanael asks in honest doubt if it can be possible for the Messiah
-to come from despised Nazareth. Philip did not argue, but bade him
-"Come and see"--the best cure for all doubts.
-
-=Lessons.= From the Baptist: The dying Saviour the greatest magnet
-for drawing souls.
-
-From Andrew: Show religion first at home.
-
-From Simon: Taste and see how gracious the Lord is.
-
-From Philip: Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
-
-From Nathanael: Hearken unto me, and I will teach you the fear of
-the Lord.
-
-
-"There's Another."
-
-A traveller lost in the snow on the Alps was rescued by one of the
-famous dogs of St. Bernard. When restored to consciousness his first
-words were, "There's another." The monks to whom the dogs belonged
-continued their search, and "the other" was found and saved. "Are
-you saved?" Is there not another whom you can rescue from sin and
-bring to the life of God?
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: Short Arrows]
-
-Short Arrows
-
-NOTES OF CHRISTIAN LIFE AND WORK.
-
-
-The Quiver Santa Claus.
-
-Last month we published full particulars of our scheme to provide
-Christmas Stockings for the many poor and friendless little ones who
-are not on Santa Claus's visiting list, and we appeal to our readers
-for their hearty practical co-operation in this work. Each stocking
-will contain wholesome goodies, in the shape of cake and sweets, in
-addition to an unbreakable toy and a Christmas card. The Proprietors
-of THE QUIVER have headed the subscription list with a donation of
-L25, which is sufficient to provide the contents of
-
-  FIVE HUNDRED CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS FOR
-  POOR AND FRIENDLESS CHILDREN,
-
-a sum of =one shilling= being sufficient to furnish a stocking and
-pay the postage. But, as we can profitably distribute _thousands_ of
-such presents, we confidently look to all lovers of the children to
-lend their generous aid, in order that as many as possible of the
-destitute little mites may have their Christmas brightened by such a
-welcome gift. We shall also be glad to receive recommendations from
-our readers of suitable cases for the receipt of the stockings, and
-for this purpose the special application form to be found in our
-Extra Christmas Number ("Christmas Arrows") should be used. As the
-time is short, contributions for the Christmas Stocking Fund should
-be sent =at once= to the Editor of THE QUIVER, La Belle Sauvage,
-London, E.C., and all amounts of one shilling and upwards will be
-thankfully acknowledged in our pages.
-
-[Illustration: CURIOUS ALMS-BOX IN PINHOE CHURCH.]
-
-
-A Curious Alms-box.
-
-In the interesting parish church of Pinhoe, near Exeter, appears a
-very curious alms-box surmounted by the figure of a man who seems,
-from his costume and general character, to date from the period of
-James I. He holds two books in his hand--representing most probably
-Bible and Prayer Book--one of which bears the inscription, "Y^e Poor
-Man of Pinhoo, 1700," but from information with which the vicar of
-the parish, the Rev. Frederick W. Pulling, has kindly supplied us,
-it appears that the books were added in 1879-80, when the church was
-restored. Previously the figure held a small flimsy box in front of
-him. He was, however, placed on the present handsome oak box bearing
-the inscription, "Remember y^e Poor," and the old flimsy box was
-removed. The present box was constructed from some very ancient
-timber from the roof of Salisbury Cathedral, when under repair.
-What the figure was originally intended to represent--whether a
-beadle, the dispenser of charities, or a relieving officer--is not
-known. Curiously enough, the parish records are quite silent as to
-the figure, and when, some time since, it was repaired it was sent
-to the eminent antiquary and ecclesiologist, the Rev. Mackenzie
-Walcott, who said he had seen only two such figures before. The
-wooden backing is of Jacobean style, and was designed by the
-architect in 1879 to strengthen the whole structure.
-
-
-"God Bless the Kernel."
-
-After the marvellous achievements in his two Chinese campaigns,
-which were sufficient to have made the reputations of a dozen
-ordinary colonels, Gordon came back to England in 1865 as poor as
-when he left home. During the next six years, which he spent in
-Gravesend as an engineer, the future keeper of Khartoum devoted a
-large portion of his leisure to visiting the sick and to teaching
-and training many of the ragged and neglected boys of the rough
-neighbourhood. So truly did these poor lads love their colonel that
-it was not uncommon to see chalked up on the walls the singular
-inscription, "God bless the Kernel." Their gratitude was apparently
-stronger than their orthography. When Englishmen reflect how Gordon
-placed his Divine Master first in every enterprise of his life, they
-must feel that no institution intended to honour the dead hero at
-Khartoum can be a worthy memorial which is not grounded on the rock
-of Christianity.
-
-
-Christmas Cards and Gift-Books.
-
-Christmas is pre-eminently the season of universal good-will,
-and the custom of conveying seasonable greetings by means of the
-attractive Christmas card is every year becoming more general.
-Amongst the publishers of these mementoes Messrs. Raphael Tuck and
-Sons take front rank, and the specimen box of cards, calendars,
-story-books, and illustrated texts, recently received from them,
-affords ample proof that the variety and artistic excellence which
-have always characterised their productions are well maintained this
-year. Some of the cards are veritable works of art, and deserve more
-than the temporary appreciation usually accorded to such; but the
-palm for novelty, both in design and treatment, must be accorded
-to the calendars, many of which are most original in conception,
-and all are daintily and tastefully produced.--For years past we
-have been accustomed to look for a Christmas book from Mr. Andrew
-Lang, and this season he has edited an edition of "The Arabian
-Nights Entertainments," which Messrs. Longmans have published in a
-charming cover, and with a number of clever illustrations by Mr.
-H. J. Ford.--Another suitable gift-book for children is "His Big
-Opportunity" (Hodder and Stoughton), a brightly written story by
-Amy Le Feuvre; whilst for young people what more inspiriting and
-interesting work could be presented to them than the life-story of
-the pioneer missionary, "Mackay of Uganda," of whose biography a new
-illustrated edition has just been issued by the same publishers.--We
-have also received the current yearly volumes of our contemporaries,
-_Good Words_ and _The Sunday Magazine_ (Isbister & Co.). These would
-both form valuable additions to any Sunday-school library, and are
-also admirably adapted for use as prizes or presents.
-
-[Illustration: (_From a Photograph._)
-
-THE LAUGHING GOD OF CHINA.]
-
-
-Compensation.
-
-An Irishman being bound over to keep the peace against all the
-Queen's subjects, said, "Then Heaven help the first foreigner I
-meet!" We are reminded of this when we see people civility itself to
-a good servant they are afraid of losing, or to the strongest-willed
-person in their home, and then relieving their pent-up feelings by
-being rude to the rest of the family.
-
-
-Laughter and War.
-
-"Have you any gods around here?" inquired an English traveller in
-rural China. "Oh, yes," replied a venerable Celestial; "the three
-Pure Ones, the God of the Fields, and the Goddess of Mercy." "My old
-friend, I am afraid your gods are not a few." "Foreign teacher,"
-said the old man, "verily, verily, our gods are ten thousand and
-thousands of thousands." Some are of stone, others of wood, clay,
-or bronze. One may be purchased for a farthing, another will cost
-L200. The Laughing God in our illustration is a representation in
-coarse pottery of Quantecong, supposed to be the first emperor.
-There are laughing Buddhas for sale, and some few images of
-beneficent mien; but the great horde are intended to inspire awe
-or terror. The second illustration is a well-executed terra-cotta
-figure of a deified warrior. The drawn sword and beard are similar
-to those of Kwante, the God of War, regarded as the head of the
-military department in China. In 1,600 state temples dedicated
-to him the mandarins worship once a month, and in thousands of
-smaller temples he is honoured with sacrifices of sheep and oxen.
-His worshippers believe that he was a general, who just about the
-time that the Prince of Peace came to this world in great humility
-made the enemies of China to tremble. The elevation or manufacture
-of gods is a simple affair. The keeper of an idol shop collects
-the heads, limbs, and trunk that he has moulded out of mud, unites
-them in one ill-proportioned figure, slips a frog, snake, lizard,
-or centipede into the hole in the back, and the idol is ready for
-dedication and worship! The calm, colossal Buddha at Peking is
-seventy feet high, but it can only witness to a blind feeling after
-God.
-
-
-An Ancient Manuscript of St Matthew.
-
-The romance of New Testament manuscripts is again enlarged; this
-time by the discovery of a papyrus fragment containing a part of
-the Gospel according to St. Matthew. The precious sheet was found
-in the Libyan desert, about one hundred and twenty miles south of
-Cairo, by Messrs. Grenfell and Hunt, the discoverers of the _Logia_.
-It is thought that this fragment may be older by a hundred years
-than any other manuscript of the New Testament hitherto available.
-Its value, had it been a whole book instead of two leaves, would
-have been priceless. Even so, it is of singular interest. Its
-actual history, of course, is beyond discovery, but its appearance
-amongst the world of scholars reminds us of the strangely varied
-channels through which Greek manuscripts of the New Testament have
-come down to us. There is the romantic story of the discovery,
-in a monastery on Mount Sinai, of the priceless manuscript known
-as the _Codex Sinaiticus_. There is the scarcely less valuable
-_Codex Alexandrinus_ which the British Museum now guards; that
-came to England as a gift to King Charles I. from a Patriarch of
-Constantinople. There is the great manuscript which is one of the
-glories of the Vatican Library at Rome, where it is believed to
-have been ever since that library was founded. There is the _Codex
-Ephraemi_ at Paris, its ancient writing partly legible beneath a
-much later work written over it--a manuscript which once belonged
-to Catherine de Medicis. There is another palimpsest brought to
-England from a convent in the Nubian desert. There is the manuscript
-presented by Laud to the Bodleian, and supposed to have been used
-by the Venerable Bede. In truth, the history of these treasures is
-full of romance, and it is but fitting that new discoveries should
-furnish other examples of the strange ways in which the text of the
-Holy Scriptures in various parts and forms has been preserved for us.
-
-[Illustration: (_From a Photograph._)
-
-A GOD OF WAR.]
-
-
-Humours of Hymen.
-
-While nothing can be so distressing to a clergyman, whose duty it
-is to solemnise marriages, as irreverence or flippancy, he can
-hardly fail to be amused, if many of his people are poor and his
-area is wide, at the occasional results of a genuine ignorance, or
-a legitimate nervousness. A well-known church in Central London
-can furnish several singular and recent experiences. It is not
-often that either of the contracting parties comes furnished with
-a prayer-book, but on a certain occasion the bride, a rather
-strong-minded-looking lady, did so, and insisted on holding it
-sternly and steadily under the nose of her future spouse. In
-repeating the passage in which "cherish" occurs, a bridegroom,
-in a faltering voice, expressed his willingness "to love and to
-'_perish_.'" "Oh, sir, I do feel _that_ nervous!" once pleaded
-another embarrassed swain in the middle of the service. A widower,
-who was extremely awkward and stupid in making the responses
-after the minister, apologised by saying, "Really, sir, it is so
-long since I was married last that I forget"! Another bridegroom,
-though middle-aged, seemed somewhat diffident with regard to his
-responsibilities, and answered to the inquiry, "Wilt thou love,
-comfort, honour, etc.?" "To the best of my abilities I will." A
-year or two ago, the roof of the particular church of which we
-are thinking was being renovated, and the interior was a maze of
-ladders. Under these a superstitious bride earnestly begged not
-to be compelled to go, so she was considerately conducted to the
-chancel by a circuitous route. There was a wedding last year at
-which a tiny bridesmaid made her appearance. As he had married her
-parents about six summers previously, the clergyman thought he
-might venture to take her by the arm and to place her in her proper
-position behind the bride. Considerably to his surprise, the small
-damsel hit out at him in a most workmanlike manner straight from
-the shoulder, and the edifice resounded with a terrific yell of
-defiance, "Me _won't_! Me WON'T!"
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Church Missionary Society._)
-
-INDIAN ORPHANS AT A BREAKFAST SUPPLIED BY MISSIONARIES.
-
-(_A scene during the recent famine._)]
-
-
-Some New Books.
-
-One of the most interesting biographies of the season is that of
-Bishop Walsham How, which has just been issued by Messrs. Isbister,
-prefaced by an excellent portrait of the late prelate. The Bishop
-was principally known by his work in the East of London, where
-he was greatly loved by clergy and parishioners alike, and many
-excellent stories are related _apropos_ of his cheeriness and
-tolerant good nature in dealing with the mixed elements of his
-crowded diocese. The memoir seems full and complete, as, indeed,
-it should be, the biographer being Mr. Frederick How (a son of
-the late Bishop), who had access to all the private memoranda of
-his father, and was naturally acquainted with every incident of
-interest concerning him. From the same publishers comes an excellent
-work by our contributor, Dean Farrar, on "Great Books," in which
-he critically reviews the life and works of Bunyan, Shakespeare,
-Dante, Milton, and other "master-spirits." Though admittedly written
-for young people, the volume contains much that is valuable and
-interesting to older readers. Messrs. Isbister have also recently
-issued a volume of sermons by the Rev. Stopford A. Brooke, under
-the title "The Gospel of Joy." Whilst we do not endorse all the
-views expressed by the author, yet at the same time we are bound to
-confess that Mr. Brooke's eloquent addresses teem with happy and
-suggestive thoughts.--A daintily produced volume reaches us from
-the Scientific Press in the form of Mr. J. T. Woolrych Perowne's
-account of his recent journey in Russian Central Asia, published
-under the comprehensive title "Russian Hosts and English Guests in
-Central Asia." In many respects the journey described was quite
-unique, and the interest is considerably increased by the number
-and variety of the excellent illustrations which are scattered
-throughout the book.--"Table-talk with Young Men" (Hodder and
-Stoughton) is the title which the Rev. W. J. Dawson gives to his
-recently published series of "pen-conversations" with young men.
-Mr. Dawson's practical, straightforward and cultured "talk" on
-such diverse subjects as "The Art of Living," "Christianity and
-Progress," "Civic Responsibility," etc., is not only brilliant but
-highly instructive, and the book is one which should find a place
-on every young man's bookshelf, for it will richly repay careful
-and constant perusal.--We have also to acknowledge the receipt of
-"Comfort and Counsel" (Hodder and Stoughton), containing quotations
-from the writings of Elizabeth Rundle Charles for every day in the
-year; "The Children's Year-Book of Prayer and Praise" (Longmans),
-compiled by C. M. Whishaw; a useful and informing little volume on
-"Diet and Food" (J. and A. Churchill), by Dr. Alexander Haig; "A
-Cluster of Camphire" (Passmore and Alabaster), containing short,
-sympathetic addresses by Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon to those who are sick
-and sorrowful; and "The Daily Homily" (Morgan and Scott), a series
-of brief, pregnant discourses on the books of the Bible from 1
-Samuel to Job, by the Rev. F. B. Meyer.
-
-
-"Out of the Eater came forth Meat."
-
-Samson's riddle is an everlasting proverb. Out of the devouring
-famine that last year devastated India blessings have already come
-to many provinces. A conquered race find it hard to love and trust
-their rulers, but in their trouble dwellers in the famine districts
-saw the practical side of Christianity. In the midst of universal
-rejoicing England was moved with compassion, and provided food for
-the starving. Government, in many instances, entrusted missionaries
-with the distribution of grain. The Indian people are slow to act
-and strong to endure. Thousands perished because they could not or
-would not realise that relief was within reach. Parents gave their
-last morsels to their children, and then lay down to die. Orphanages
-overflowed, and new ones had to be erected. Where an open shed and
-light meals of milk, rice, and curry meet the ideas of home and
-housekeeping, this is easier than it sounds. After a famine the
-number of Christian adherents to missions is always multiplied, and
-the supply of pupils creates new demand for teachers. It must be
-acknowledged that the taunt of being "rice-Christians" is sometimes
-justified, though there is little doubt that genuine gratitude to
-God, who moved His servants to help them, has caused numbers to turn
-to Him.
-
-
-Abraham's Vineyard.
-
-This piece of land is close to the Holy City, and now belongs to
-the Society for the Relief of Persecuted Jews. When the necessary
-excavation for building was begun, Abraham's Vineyard revealed
-signs of former glory and prosperity. Tesselated pavement, vats,
-baths, and a columbarium hewn out of the rock, showed that it had
-once belonged to a householder with taste for luxury as well as an
-eye for exquisite scenery. The baths and vats have been converted
-into cisterns for rain-water, and the place has become the scene
-of industry. The earth, in past years again and again reddened by
-battles, now yields peaceful harvests of grain. All the Jewish
-refugees are not, however, cultivators. Soap-making from olive oil
-and alkali grown on the Jordan Plain, glue-making, stone-dressing,
-quarrying, are industries which offer many of them an honest living.
-The idea of the founders of this society was "to give relief and
-employment to the Jews, especially in Jerusalem, until they are able
-to found colonies on their own account." The experiment of Abraham's
-Vineyard has succeeded, and the Jews have carried the work farther,
-as the trade in Jaffa oranges and olive-wood ware testify.
-
-
-OUR CHRISTMAS NUMBER.
-
-"CHRISTMAS ARROWS" (the Extra Christmas Number of THE QUIVER) is
-published simultaneously with this part, and contains a complete
-one-volume story by M. H. Cornwall Legh, entitled "=The Steep
-Ascent=," copiously illustrated by Frank Craig. In addition
-will be found a seasonable article by the Rev. Dr. Preston, on
-"=Christmas Chimes from Jerusalem=" (illustrated by Mark Zangwill);
-a contribution by the Rev. Canon McCormick entitled "=Christian
-Hospitality="; and a long fairy-parable by E. H. Strain which bears
-the title "=The Star Ruby=," and is illustrated by H. R. Millar.
-"Christmas Arrows" also contains full particulars and conditions
-of our scheme for providing =Christmas Stockings= for poor and
-friendless children, as well as the =Voting Form= which any reader
-is at liberty to use to recommend suitable cases for the receipt of
-our Christmas gift.
-
-
-ROLL OF HONOUR FOR SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORKERS.
-
-The =Special Silver Medal= and =Presentation Bible= offered for the
-longest known Sunday-school service in the county of =Leicester=
-(for which applications were invited up to October 31st) have been
-gained by
-
-  MISS ANNE HARRISON,
-         42, Humberstone Gate,
-                Leicester.
-
-who has distinguished herself by =fifty-eight= years' service in
-Harvey Lane Baptist Chapel, Leicester.
-
-As already announced, the next territorial county for which claims
-are invited for the =Silver Medal= is
-
-  SUSSEX,
-
-and applications, on the special form, must be received on or before
-November 30th, 1898. We may add that =Wiltshire= is the following
-county selected, the date-limit for claims in that case being
-December 31st, 1898. This county, in its turn, will be followed by
-=Durham=, for which the date will be one month later--viz. January
-31st, 1899.
-
-The names of members recently enrolled will be found in our
-advertisement pages.
-
-
-
-
-NEW QUIVER WAIFS.
-
-To be Selected by our Readers.
-
-
-For many years past our readers have generously taken the
-responsibility of maintaining a waif at Dr. Barnardo's Homes, and
-another at Miss Sharman's Orphanage in Southwark; but, as the
-present waifs are now growing up, and will soon be out in the world,
-the time has come for another selection. For this purpose, we have
-obtained particulars of eligible cases, which we submit to our
-readers, and, as we look to them for a continuance of their kindly
-help in supporting THE QUIVER Waifs, we feel that they would prefer
-to choose the new little ones who are to be so known. We would,
-therefore, request our readers to send a post-card (addressed to
-The Editor of THE QUIVER, La Belle Sauvage, London, E.C.), stating
-for which waif in each of the two sets they desire to vote, and
-the children with the highest number of votes will be elected. The
-post-cards should reach the Editor not later than December 31st,
-1898. It should be particularly understood that this course will
-imply no pecuniary obligation whatever on the part of the voters, as
-we shall rely solely upon the voluntary contributions of our readers
-to furnish the total requisite sum for the maintenance of the waifs,
-which amounts to L31 per year. All donations will be acknowledged in
-THE QUIVER month by month.
-
-
-Particulars of Cases.
-
-I. _For Dr. Barnardo's Homes_ (one vote):--
-
-ALBERT LE VASSEUR.--Eight years of age--mother left a widow with ten
-children--totally unable to support them all--when discovered there
-was no food or money in the house.
-
-CHARLES SALT.--Seven years of age--mother a "drunken and
-disreputable tramp"--father little better--parents without a home
-and constantly ill-treating the child.
-
-JOHN HARRISON.--Seven years of age--found in streets begging in
-ragged condition--father dead--mother disreputable--John somewhat
-lame in walk, owing to injury to the right knee in infancy.
-
-II. _For Miss Sharman's Orphanage_ (one vote):--
-
-ROSE HEELIS.--Aged two years--was born shortly after her father's
-death--mother has died of consumption--promises to grow into a very
-nice child, and is full of life and spirits.
-
-ETHEL ROBINSON.--Aged six years--father killed by an
-accident--mother in lunatic asylum--relatives too poor to help.
-
-LILY PAVITT.--Aged ten years--mother dead--father deserted
-children--an aunt took the child, but was unable to support her.
-
-
-THE QUIVER FUNDS.
-
-The following is a list of contributions received from October 1st
-up to and including October 31st, 1898. Subscriptions received after
-this date will be acknowledged next month:--
-
-For "_The Quiver_" _Waifs' Fund_: A Glasgow Mother (101st donation),
-1s.; J. J. E. (131st donation), 5s.; R. S., Crouch End (7th
-donation), 5s.; E. M. B., Jedburgh, 3s.; R. Dendy, Eastbourne, 3s.;
-Anon., Alford, 1s.
-
-For "_The Quiver_" _Christmas Stocking Fund_: Jessie, Agnes, and
-Cyril, 2s. 6d.; M. T., 5s.
-
-For _The Ragged School Union_: R. H. B., 2s. 6d.
-
-For _The Indian Leper Mission Fund_: A Thank-Offering, 1s.
-
-For _Dr. Barnardo's Homes_: An Irish Girl, 13s. Also 7s. 6d. from
-Diomedes sent direct.
-
-For _St. Giles Christian Mission_: Thank-Offering, 1s.
-
-
-
-
-THE QUIVER BIBLE CLASS.
-
-(BASED ON THE INTERNATIONAL SCRIPTURE LESSONS.)
-
-
-QUESTIONS.
-
-13. What was the great sin of which Zedekiah, king of Judah, was
-guilty and for which he was punished?
-
-14. In what way was Zedekiah punished?
-
-15. What prophecy was thereby fulfilled?
-
-16. In what way does the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews
-contrast the revelation of God to mankind under the old dispensation
-with that of the new?
-
-17. Quote a text which shows the relationship of the angels to the
-human race.
-
-18. What is the special characteristic of the Gospel of St. John?
-
-19. Quote text in which St. John asserts the truth of the
-Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
-
-20. What reference to St. John the Baptist was made by the last of
-the Old Testament prophets?
-
-21. It is said of our Lord, "He came unto His own, and His own
-received Him not." Quote passage from the Old Testament which shows
-that this passage refers to the Jewish people.
-
-22. From what circumstance should we gather that Nathanael was a
-diligent student of the Old Testament?
-
-23. In what words did our Lord show forth His divinity in speaking
-to Nathanael?
-
-24. In what way did St. John the Baptist point out to his disciples
-that Jesus was the Messiah?
-
-
-ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ON PAGE 96.
-
-1. Manasseh defiled the Temple at Jerusalem by setting up an idol
-therein (2 Chron. xxxiii. 7).
-
-2. 2 Chron. xxxiii. 14.
-
-3. Manasseh, having been reinstated in his kingdom by the Assyrians,
-gave up his idolatry and did all he could to restore the worship of
-God in the land (2 Chron. xxxiii. 14-17).
-
-4. Prov. iv. 14, 17.
-
-5. Prov. iv. 18.
-
-6. In the reign of Josiah the king sent to Huldah the prophetess to
-inquire as to God's will concerning the people (2 Kings xxii. 14-20).
-
-7. The copy of the Law which Moses had written was found (2 Kings
-xxii. 8; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 14).
-
-8. In the reign of Amon, king of Judah, we are told the people
-worshipped the "sun, moon, and stars, and all the host of heaven" (2
-Kings xxiii. 5).
-
-9. In the reign of Josiah, who burnt men's bones on the altar at
-Bethel (2 Kings xxiii. 15, 16; 1 Kings xiii. 2).
-
-10. Jehoiakim threw on the fire the roll on which Jeremiah had
-written at God's command a warning to the king and his people (Jer.
-xxxvi. 23).
-
-11. Jer. xxii. 13, 14; 2 Kings xxiv. 4.
-
-12. Jehoiakim was bound in fetters to carry him to Babylon, but was
-slain at Jerusalem and his dead body cast outside the city (2 Chron.
-xxxvi. 6; Jer. xxii. 19).
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
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-The cover for the eBook version of this book was created by the
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Quiver, 11/1899, by Anonymous
-
-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: The Quiver, 11/1899
-
-Author: Anonymous
-
-Release Date: September 15, 2013 [EBook #43738]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUIVER, 11/1899 ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Delphine Lettau, Julia Neufeld and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
-
-
-
-
-
-Transcriber's note:
-
-Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
-
-Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=).
-
-Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals.
-
-The carat character (^) indicates that the following letter is
-superscripted (example: y^e).
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-
-
-
-The Quiver 11/1899
-
-
-[Illustration: MOTHERHOOD.
-
-_After the Picture by_ MISS IDA LOVERING.]
-
-
-
-
-LADY DOCTORS IN HEATHEN LANDS
-
-By the Author of "The Child Wives and Widows of India," Etc.
-
-
-A garrison of snow-capped mountains; a valley smiling in Oriental
-luxuriance; the gorgeous, romantic loveliness described in
-"Lalla Rookh"--such are the general impressions of the land of
-Kashmir. Dirt, disease, and degradation summed up its prevailing
-characteristics in the eyes of an Englishman, who, in October, 1872,
-toiled wearily over the Pir Panjal, 11,900 feet above the level of
-the sea.
-
-This was Dr. Elmslie's last journey. He hardly realised, as he
-dragged his weary limbs over rough but familiar paths, that one
-object for which he had struggled for years was practically
-accomplished. He sank from exhaustion on the way, and the day
-after his death Government granted permission for missionaries to
-spend the winter in the Valley of Kashmir. Still farther was he
-from knowing of another result of his labours. He had appealed to
-Englishwomen to bring the gifts of healing to suffering and secluded
-inmates of zenanas. Dr. Elmslie had found a direct way to the hearts
-of prejudiced heathen men. The sick came to him for healing, and
-learnt the meaning of his self-denying life.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Elliott and Fry._)
-
-THE LATE DR. FANNY BUTLER.
-
-(_At the time she went to India._)]
-
-"Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life,"
-are ancient words of wisdom; but this rule has exceptions. To Hindu
-women, at least, caste is dearer than life. It would be as easy
-to restore the down to a bruised butterfly's wing as to give back
-self-respect, and with it all that makes life worth living, to a
-zenana lady who has been exposed to the gaze or touch of a man other
-than a near relation. Custom of the country debars a respectable
-woman from receiving ministry to body, soul, or mind, unless it
-comes from one of her own sex. Dr. Elmslie's appeal resulted in Miss
-Fanny Butler's offer of service to the Indian Female Normal School
-and Instruction Society. She was the first enrolled student of the
-London School of Medicine, which had just been transferred from
-Edinburgh, and passed second out of one hundred and twenty-three
-candidates, one hundred and nineteen of whom were men, in the
-Preliminary Arts Examination. She went to India in October, 1880,
-the first fully qualified medical missionary to women.
-
-Seventeen years after Dr. Elmslie's death Dr. Fanny Butler obtained
-another concession for Kashmir, the permission for missionaries to
-live within the city of Srinagar. She saw the foundations of a new
-hospital for women begun within the city, and fourteen days after
-she also laid down what, an hour before her death, she described
-as a "good long life," in the service of Kashmiri people. The age
-of thirty-nine, she said to the friends who surrounded her, and
-who felt that she of all others could not be spared, was "not so
-very young to die," and she sent an earnest plea to the Church of
-England Zenana Society, the division of the old society to which
-she belonged, to send someone quickly to take her place. The new
-hospital was the gift of Mrs. Bishop (Miss Isabella Bird) in memory
-of her husband. She had seen the dirty crowd of suffering women at
-the dispensary door overpower two men, and the earliest arrivals
-precipitated head foremost by the rush from behind, whilst numbers
-were turned away in misery and disappointment.
-
-Hospitals and dispensaries have rapidly increased since the day
-of pioneers. Absolute necessity has forced medical work on many
-missionaries in the field. The most elementary knowledge of nursing
-and hygiene appears miraculous to women sunk in utter ignorance. A
-white woman too modest to give them remedies for every ailment is
-usually regarded as unkind. A neglected missionary dispensary is
-practically unknown.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Church of England Zenana
-Missionary Society._)
-
-OUTSIDE THE VERANDAH OF THE WOMEN'S HOSPITAL AT TARN TARAN.
-
-(_Showing some of the patients placed out to spend the hot night in
-the open._)]
-
-At the time when the Countess Dufferin started her admirable
-scheme for providing medical aid for Indian women a well-known
-Anglo-Indian surgeon stated publicly that, whatever other
-qualification was required in a candidate, two were absolutely
-necessary: she must be a lady in the highest sense of the word,
-and she must be a Christian, and he proceeded to give good reasons
-for what he said. The experience of every woman who has taken up
-this work would bear out his sentiments. Without courtesy and
-ready intuition of the feelings of others it would be hard to
-get an entrance into zenanas, and nothing but love and devotion
-to her Master would enable a woman to persevere in spending her
-life amongst sick heathen women, in spite of sights, scenes, and
-vexations beyond conception in England.
-
-[Illustration: (_From a Photograph._)
-
-THE DUCHESS OF CONNAUGHT'S HOSPITAL, PESHAWUR.]
-
-The greatest difficulties are probably met in high-caste zenanas.
-There, in the midst of unhealthy surroundings, the friends and
-neighbours have grand opportunities of undoing any good that may
-have been accomplished. It is grievous to a medical missionary to
-find her fever patient dying from a douche of cold water, because
-the white woman has defiled her high caste by feeling her pulse.
-It is enough to make her give up a case in despair if, after she
-has explained that quiet is absolutely necessary, the friends and
-neighbours decide that the evil spirit supposed to be in possession
-must be driven out by the music of tom-toms. A Hindu man is said
-to "sin religiously," and a Hindu woman excels him in devotion to
-her creed. A fever patient in the Punjab refused to drink milk--the
-one thing of all others that her medical woman ordered her--because
-she said, if it were the last thing she swallowed, her soul would
-pass into the body of a cobra. One medical missionary found a
-woman, who was in a critical state, lying on a mat, whilst an old
-woman, supposed to be learned in sickness, stood on her body, or
-patrolled up and down like a sentinel, as far as the length would
-admit. This was kindly meant. Another found one suffering seriously
-from the effect of a linseed poultice. She had carefully explained
-the mysteries of making and applying it, but in her absence the
-patient's friends had spread dry linseed over her chest and poured
-boiling water over it.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Baness Bros._)
-
-WAITING THEIR TURN.
-
-(_Patients outside the Tarn Taran Hospital Dispensary._)]
-
-Happily, all the women in India are not secluded in zenanas. By
-far the largest proportion live in the villages, but their notions
-of propriety are very strict. The hard-working field-women will hide
-themselves on the suspicion of a _sahib_ being within reach. When
-once they are satisfied that the visitor belongs to their own sex
-and is harmless, crowds beset the missionary encampments. Many tales
-of suffering are poured into sympathising ears.
-
-"I am blind from crying for my only son" is not an infrequent
-complaint. Nothing can be done in this case.
-
-"There is no god or goddess to love a Hindu woman. Whatever
-offerings we make her, the goddess of small-pox smites us, and then
-the men say the women have not offered enough, and are angry." This
-was the reply of a Punjabi woman, who spoke for her friends and
-neighbours.
-
-One Bengali woman told a missionary of the death of a precious baby
-boy. There did not seem much the matter, but the _hakim_ (a native
-quack) first gave him something burning to swallow, and then applied
-a red-hot iron to each side in turn; and the child only drew one or
-two breaths after this treatment. This also, one hopes, was kindly
-meant. The Hindus are by no means wanting in humanity, but ignorance
-is often as fatal as cruelty.
-
-Many patients find an excuse for coming again and again to the
-dispensaries. There they hear of blessings in this world and the
-next which they say seem too good to be true. They see love shining
-in the earnest faces, and feel it in the touch of hands that will
-not shrink from dressing repulsive sores.
-
-The majority of cases in dispensaries are ordinary fevers or skin
-diseases resulting from dirt, and other scourges that follow
-defiance of elementary rules of health.
-
-Patients discharged as cured often return. "Tell me again that Name
-that I can say when I pray," one of them asked, to explain the
-reappearance of her shrivelled old face; "I forget so soon." And she
-went on her way repeating the Name that even some of the heathen
-realise must be exalted above all others.
-
-"I know that your Jesus must reign over our land," a Punjabi woman
-said to a lady who had opened a dispensary at Tarn Taran, a sacred
-city of the Sikhs; "I know it, because your religion is full of
-love and ours has none at all."
-
-The mission hospital at this city, with the name which literally
-means "The Place of Salvation," and the dispensary seen in the
-illustration, came mainly into being through the determination
-of the inhabitants. A suffering baby might claim a share in its
-existence. This infant's mother brought it to a missionary whose
-training as a nurse had made her a friend in sickness. The child's
-sight was hopelessly gone. The mother said that the _hakim_ had told
-her alum was good for sore eyes, so she had put it under the lids.
-
-"You have used it in such a way as to blind your baby," the
-missionary said; "and I could have told you what to do."
-
-"How should I know?" the woman replied, using a common phrase to
-express helplessness or lethargy; but she told the story to her
-friends, and other mothers, whose babies' eyes were suffering, soon
-proved that the white woman had made no empty boast. Ophthalmia
-is terribly common in India, and its marvellous cures began to be
-famous.
-
-One day a family party carried an invalid into the verandah of the
-Tarn Taran mission house. The missionary looked inside the _doolie_;
-she was not a doctor, and declined to undertake such a serious case,
-and told the men to take their invalid to the Amritsar Hospital.
-They were determined to take no such trouble. To show that she was
-equally determined to make them, she went inside the house and shut
-the doors and blinds. Who would hold out the longest? The result was
-a foregone conclusion. The Punjabis, armed with a greater disregard
-for a woman's life, gained the victory by the simple method of
-beating a retreat, leaving the helpless woman behind them. In common
-humanity she could not be left to die. In a few days her family
-returned to inquire, and were gratified to find her progressing
-towards recovery. The white woman's celebrity was now secured, and
-to her consternation and embarrassment she found her verandah full
-of patients, and, from overwork, was soon herself added to the
-number. The people of Tarn Taran afterwards gave the building for a
-Women's Mission Hospital, and a new one is now in the charge of a
-fully qualified lady doctor.
-
-Hospitals are by far the most satisfactory part of medical
-missions. In zenanas and dispensaries it is one thing to prescribe
-and give advice, and another for orders to be obeyed, especially
-if they are contrary to rules of caste or custom. It is well known
-that a Hindu soldier, who will follow his British officer into the
-fiercest _mêlée_, and, if necessary, die for him, if true to his own
-creed, will not receive a cup of water at his hands. When wounded
-his parched lips will close tightly, lest his caste should suffer.
-The same principle debars his womenfolk from accepting physic in
-a liquid form from Englishwomen. They may, however, take powders.
-Written directions are generally useless, and verbal ones often
-misunderstood. It is little wonder if dispensary patients make slow
-progress.
-
-"Are you sure you took the medicine I gave you?" inquired a medical
-missionary of one who made no advance at all.
-
-"Quite sure, Miss Sahiba."
-
-"How did you take it?"
-
-"I ate the paper and threw away the dust."
-
-This mistake was not astonishing under the circumstances. One
-Mohammedan specific is to swallow a paper pellet with the name of
-God written in Arabic; another, for the _mullah_ to write an Arabic
-inscription on a plate, and for the water that washes it off to be
-the dose.
-
-[Illustration: A GROUP OF WORKERS AT THE DUCHESS OF CONNAUGHT'S
-HOSPITAL.
-
-(_Dr. Wheeler stands at the left-hand side of group._)]
-
-It is well when superstition and misconception stop short at
-swallowing paper and inky water. A woman, seriously injured from
-an accident, was carried into the Duchess of Connaught Hospital,
-Peshawur. Her husband accompanied her, and saw the medical
-missionary in charge carefully attend to fractures and bruises. Rest
-and sleep and quiet were doing their work, and the man was left to
-watch. A sudden crash startled the ward. The husband had turned
-the bedstead over on its side, and flung his wife down. He fancied
-she was dying, and said it would imperil her soul if it departed
-whilst she lay on anything but the floor. He had the satisfaction
-of knowing that she died where he placed her. This was a case
-of a Hindu "sinning religiously." It would be harder to forgive
-the frequent sacrifice of life to superstition, if there were no
-ennobling element underlying it of honest desire for some vague
-spiritual good.
-
-The Duchess of Connaught Hospital is a permanent memorial of her
-Royal Highness's kind interest in the women of India. Whilst on the
-North-Western Frontier she went through the Dispensary and Nursing
-Home which represented the first effort to bring medical aid to the
-Afghan women, and allowed it to be called after her name. A new and
-much larger building, of which a drawing has been reproduced, has
-taken the place of the native quarters, where Mohammedan bigotry
-was by slow degrees overcome. For years the ladies of the Church of
-England Zenana Missionary Society, who had charge of this hospital,
-were the only Europeans living within the walls of Peshawur.
-Every night the great city gates closed them in, and separated
-them from other missionaries and from Government servants. They
-chose to be in the midst of their work, and though outbreaks of
-Mohammedan fanaticism repeatedly checked teaching in schools and
-zenanas, ministry to the sick continued, and never lost the friendly
-confidence of Peshawuris.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Church of England Zenana
-Missionary Society._)
-
-STAFF AND PATIENTS OF ST. CATHERINE'S HOSPITAL, AMRITSAR.]
-
-In its early and humbler days, the fame of this hospital reached
-far-away Khorassan. A lady of that country who was suffering
-terribly, caused herself to be carried the fifteen days' journey to
-Peshawur. Miss Mitcheson, who opened the first dispensary, and is
-now the head of the hospital, saw that her case was critical and
-required an operation of a far more serious kind than she had ever
-attempted, and begged her to allow the civil surgeon to see her.
-
-"I would rather die," the patient answered. The combined forces of
-suffering, fear of death, and persuasion, were powerless to move
-her. The Englishwoman, of whose powers she had heard in her own
-country, might do what she liked with her, but no man should come
-near her. Happily Miss Mitcheson successfully accomplished what was
-necessary, and the Khorassan lady made a good recovery. When the
-time came for parting from her new friends, she promised to use in
-her own country the knowledge she had gained in Peshawur. She kept
-her word, as more visitors from Khorassan testified, and they said
-she had not forgotten the benefits she had received in the mission
-hospital.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Church Missionary Society._)
-
-BACK VIEW OF NEW WOMEN'S HOSPITAL, HANGCHOW.]
-
-During Miss Mitcheson's absence in England Dr. Charlotte Wheeler,
-who with her fellow-workers, in the illustration on p. 102, stands
-in the verandah of the old building, superintended the medical work.
-On Miss Mitcheson's return, Miss Wheeler opened a medical mission
-amongst the women in Quetta. This work extended rapidly on and
-beyond the frontier, so that in November, 1896, when it was a year
-old, eight different languages were spoken on the same day in the
-dispensary waiting room.
-
-Institutions for training Christian girls of India as doctors or
-nurses have come into existence as the number of candidates has
-increased and the necessity has arisen. The North India School
-of Medicine has been established at Ludhiana with this object.
-Many of the mission hospitals also have training classes. St.
-Catherine's Hospital, Amritsar, under the superintendence of Miss
-Hewlett, who has had nineteen years' experience, has provided very
-valuable assistant medical missionaries for stations in the Punjab
-and Bengal. At the last census a hundred Christian women--counting
-missionaries, assistants, patients, nurses and students--were within
-its walls. An illustration shows the inmates mustering before going
-to church.
-
-One student in St. Catherine's Hospital, who had gained a
-scholarship, gave promise of a brilliant career. Before the time
-of study in which she delighted was over, the lady superintendent
-became suspicious of what this young girl described as broken
-chilblains on her fingers. A doctor was called in, and confirmed
-her impression that it was leprosy. An Eastern girl knows, what in
-Europe is only faintly imagined, of the horrors of this loathsome
-disease. One cry of anguish only escaped her when she was told
-the verdict. Then she rose above the trial, and resigned herself
-cheerfully to the will of God. She was prepared to start the next
-day for the Leper Settlement near Calcutta without meeting her
-friends or fellow-students for a word of farewell.
-
-"What comforts me," she said to the Clerical Secretary of the Church
-of England Zenana Missionary Society, who was in Amritsar at the
-time, "is that I may go as a missionary rather than as a patient."
-
-She went to that place of death and banishment, to live out the rest
-of her days in ministry for others. In her case the days lingered
-into years, and the disease took a severe form, but her devotion
-and courage never failed. When death came to her as a friend, and
-her work was done, the memory of the "superior girl," who had lived
-among the afflicted people as a missionary rather than a patient,
-remained. Perhaps her fellowship in suffering gave her the final
-qualification to be a missionary to lepers.
-
-India is the land which above all others cries out for lady medical
-missionaries; but other Eastern countries have also a claim.
-Wherever Islam has planted its iron heel, women are jealously
-guarded in harems, and it is very unusual for a man to be allowed
-entrance on any pretext. In China, also, women of superior class are
-hidden within the high walls that surround their houses. Those free
-to go out gain little but suffering from the barbarous attentions of
-native surgeons. In the East the knowledge which brings relief from
-pain is a power to overcome obstacles to Christianity that resist
-every other force.
-
-The Church of England Zenana Missionary Society has sent out a
-qualified lady doctor to Foochow, and in 1894 the Church Missionary
-Society opened a hospital for women in Hangchow with one large
-and six smaller wards. One patient who was brought into this
-building--of which two views are given--suffering from diseased
-bones, has gone out to devote her recovered health and new knowledge
-to the service of God and her own countrywomen.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Church Missionary Society._)
-
-INTERIOR OF NEW WOMEN'S HOSPITAL, HANGCHOW]
-
-There is scarcely a mission hospital or dispensary that cannot
-tell of similar results of the double ministry to body and soul.
-Each year justifies the increased number of women with medical
-qualifications sent into the mission field. Some, like Mrs.
-Russell Watson, of the Baptist Mission at Chefu, are the wives of
-missionaries, others have been sent out by various missions, such
-as the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission, or by the women's branches
-(added during the close of the present century), to the more
-venerable societies.
-
-Dr. Henry Martyn Clark, of Amritsar, once asked a friendly Hindu
-what department of foreign missions his people considered most
-dangerous.
-
-"Why should I reveal our secrets to the enemy?" the Hindu responded.
-But he yielded to persuasion. "We do not very much fear your
-preaching," he said, "for we need not listen; nor your schools, for
-we need not send our children; nor your books, for we need not read
-them. But we do fear your women, for they are gaining our homes; and
-we very much fear your medical missions, for they are gaining our
-hearts. Hearts and homes gone, what shall we have left?"
-
-What may be expected when medical and women's missions are combined?
-According to the friendly Hindu, the very citadels of idolatry and
-superstition might tremble at the advance of this double force to
-rescue the captives.
-
-  D. L. WOOLMER.
-
-[Illustration: OUR ROLL OF HEROIC DEEDS]
-
-This month we devote our space to a pictorial representation of an
-heroic act by James Williamson, a fisherman of Whalsay, Shetland.
-During a heavy storm he waded out to the succour of two companions,
-who had been pinned on the rocks by their capsized boat and were
-in imminent danger of drowning. Williamson was at first carried
-away by a heavy sea, but was returned by the next. Then with an
-extraordinary effort he lifted the side of the boat, seized the men,
-and, with one under each arm, fought his way through the boiling
-surf to dry land. For this conspicuous act of bravery Williamson was
-awarded the Silver Medal of THE QUIVER Heroes Fund.]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: PLEDGED]
-
-PLEDGED
-
-By Katharine Tynan, Author of "A Daughter of Erin," Etc.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-YOUTH AT THE PROW.
-
-
-"And then, old fellow," went on Sir Anthony's letter to Jack Leslie,
-of the Blues, his particular chum, "I stood staring, with my eyes
-watering and a little scratch on my nose bleeding where the old
-rooster--for a rooster it was--struck me with his spurs as he flew.
-He might have knocked out my eye, the brute! The second missile (an
-invention they call a sun-bonnet, I believe, made of pink calico and
-horribly stiffened) lay crumpled at my feet. And there in front of
-me stood the culprit herself, looking half-ashamed and half-inclined
-to follow the example of the other sun-bonnet which had buried
-itself in a big chair at the end of the room, and made scarcely a
-pretence of stifling its peals of laughter. I felt no end of a ninny
-I can tell you, especially as the owner of the first sun-bonnet was
-by long chalks the most beautiful creature I'd ever seen.
-
-"I'm no good at describing a girl's charms, but even at the first
-glance her beautiful violet eyes struck me. Blue eyes and black
-lashes and eyebrows--it is a thing happens over here sometimes,
-they tell me. Then, though she'd been rushing about after the
-ancient barnyard fowl who was to have graced the table in my honour,
-she had no more colour than a white rose; and yet she looked the
-picture of health and life--so different from fine ladies. This was
-Miss Pamela--Pam for short--as I discovered later. To finish her
-description, her charming head is covered with a mass of short black
-curls. She had a very shabby frock on, which didn't take a bit from
-her loveliness. I couldn't help wondering what the mater would have
-thought if she could have seen her. She would surely have called her
-'a young woman,' with that superb contempt of hers.
-
-"However, the breeding tells. Nothing could have been finer than the
-little air with which she pulled herself together, and said, as if
-it were an every-day thing to blind and maim your visitors:
-
-"'You must be Sir Anthony Trevithick. I am so sorry. That wretched
-fowl flew in through the open window, and we've been three-quarters
-of an hour chasing him round. It was so unfortunate his flying out
-just at that moment, and still more unfortunate that I should have
-flung my bonnet after him. But you've no idea how he had aggravated
-us.'
-
-"I assure you the mater couldn't have done it better, if one could
-conceivably imagine the mater under such circumstances.
-
-"I could think of nothing to do but to pick up the bonnet and hand
-it to her, muttering some idiocy about it not mattering a bit. While
-this was going on the laughter in the chair was dying off in sobs of
-enjoyment.
-
-"But before we could get any further Mr. Graydon himself made his
-appearance. I suppose something about my looks struck him--for a
-cucumber wasn't in it for coolness with Miss Pam--because he said,
-'Why, bless me, Sir Anthony! what's the matter? What's the matter,
-Pam? Why, Sir Anthony, your nose is bleeding!'
-
-[Illustration: "The old rooster struck me with his spurs."--_p._
-107.]
-
-"'Why, so it is!' said Miss Pam, calmly. 'Sir Anthony was trying
-to catch the red cock, papa, with a view to his dinner, but he's
-escaped, I'm sorry to say, and the dinner with him. It will be
-days before he comes home after the alarm we've given him. I'm
-so sorry you're wounded, Sir Anthony. Can I get you a little
-sticking-plaster?'
-
-"'I never know where I shall find the fowls in this house,' said
-Mr. Graydon, a little irascibly, I thought; 'but the drawing-room
-at least ought to be kept free from them. Why, Sylvia, what are you
-doing there, child? Come here, and speak to Sir Anthony.'
-
-"I expected a small child to come out of the big chair in answer to
-the summons; but, lo and behold! out of the sun-bonnet there looked
-another satin-cheeked damsel, almost as beautiful as the first. She
-made her bow demurely, and, I assure you, there wasn't a feather out
-of her after her fits of laughter at my expense. She had rather an
-ecstatic look, and her eyes were a bit moist--that was all. I can
-tell you I never felt so small in my life as when I stood up before
-those impudent girls, for I could see that the pair of them were
-hugely delighted at the whole affair.
-
-"'Get some tea for Sir Anthony, girls,' said the father, 'and see
-that he has hot water taken to his room; he's had a long journey.
-Sit down, my lad--that is, if there's a chair in the room without a
-dog on it. Here, Mark Antony, you lazy animal, come off that sofa.'
-This to the fattest bulldog I ever saw--with such a jowl. He's Miss
-Sylvia's, and an amiable dog, despite his looks.
-
-"Then the eldest daughter came in--not a patch on the others for
-beauty, but a Madonna of a creature, with a beautiful voice and a
-rather sad expression. She was greatly concerned about my scratched
-nose. But all the time she was talking I noticed that she looked at
-her father steadily reproachful. At last he noticed it too, for he
-suddenly blurted out:
-
-"'Why, bless my soul! Molly, I forgot all about it,' and then he
-stopped and laughed. Miss Pamela has told me since that they had
-instructed their father to keep me on the way as long as possible.
-
-"You'll gather that it is a rather rummy place. It is. The windows
-in my bedroom are mended with brown paper, and there are holes in
-the floor you could put your foot through. Not that my father's son
-need mind little hardships. But I am amused to think of what the
-mater would say, with her notions of things.
-
-"By the way, if you're in Brook Street any time, don't repeat
-what I've told you. The mater hated my coming here. She has some
-extraordinary prejudice against Graydon, though he scarcely seems
-to remember her. But as I've given up my desire for soldiering to
-please her, it's my turn now to please myself by reading for this
-Foreign Office grind with my father's old friend.
-
-"A word more and I am done. You'll think me as long-winded as
-some of those old women at the clubs. But their ways here are too
-delicious. The establishment is managed by one old woman--Bridget,
-who seems mistress, maid, and man rolled, in one. Well, the morning
-after I came, when I rang for my shaving water there was no
-response. At last I heard a foot go by my door, and I looked out
-cautiously. It was Bridget, and to her I made my request. 'Why,
-bless the boy!' she said, staring at me, 'You haven't been pullin'
-that old bell that's never rung in the memory of man?' I assured her
-I had. 'Well, then,' she said, 'goodness help your little wit! An'
-so ye want shavin' water, do ye? Sure, I thought ye wor a bit of a
-boy, that never wanted shavin' at all, at all!' However, she brought
-me the water obligingly, in an extraordinary piece of kitchen
-crockery. 'I suppose you're used to valetin',' she said. ''Twas
-Misther Mick spoiled me entirely for other young gentlemen. He'd
-dart down for his shavin' water--aye, many a time before I had the
-kitchen fire lit.' Mr. Mick was apparently a former pupil; I often
-hear of him.
-
-"There's any amount of sport here, but I won't tantalise you. I like
-Graydon better every day; he's a dear old boy, and though he's in
-the clouds half the time when he's supposed to be coaching me, I can
-see that he knows more than half the tutors in London put together.
-He's a delightful companion out of doors, a good sportsman, and as
-young as the youngest.
-
-"It's a mystery his being buried here. But I've no time to try to
-unriddle it now, and you'll never get as far as this, I expect.
-Good-bye, old fellow--I'm extremely well satisfied with my present
-quarters, and pity you in Knightsbridge. I suppose town is getting
-empty."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-When this enormous epistle was finished and sealed, the young
-gentleman put it in his pocket and went downstairs. His pace was
-hastened by the fact that he could hear the joyful yelping of dogs
-in the hall, from which he gathered that someone besides himself was
-bent on outdoor exercise. Indeed, as he reached the hall and caught
-his hat from one of the dusty antlers, he saw the two younger Miss
-Graydons setting out amid their leaping and yelping escorts. He
-hurried after and overtook them.
-
-"May I come with you?" he asked eagerly. "I've a very important
-letter to post, and if you're going to the village you might perhaps
-point out the post-office. I'm such a duffer at finding out things
-for myself."
-
-"But we're turning our backs on the village," said Miss Sylvia,
-"going in exactly the opposite direction."
-
-"Oh, well, then, it doesn't matter; the letter can wait till another
-time."
-
-"Though it is so important. Oh, but you must post it. We'll put you
-on the way for the village. You turn to the right and we to the left
-when we reach the gate; then you'll walk straight into the arms of
-the post-office."
-
-Pamela, who had not yet spoken, turned her heavenly-coloured eyes
-on her sister, but without speaking. Something in the look made the
-young fellow's heart throb suddenly.
-
-"Ah, Miss Sylvia," he said imploringly, "don't put difficulties in
-my way. I want to come for a walk, if you will have me, and the
-letter can wait. I'm not contemplative enough to enjoy a country
-walk alone; and it will be a pleasure to walk with you and your
-sister."
-
-"And the dogs?"
-
-"And the dogs. The joys of a country walk are doubled in the society
-of dogs."
-
-"I hope you'll think so when you have the felicity of fishing them
-out of a bog-hole. They will chase every beast they see; and our
-neighbour, Jack Malone's black cow, Polly, always leads them such a
-dance, ending up deservedly in a bog-hole."
-
-"I'll try to endure even that, Miss Sylvia."
-
-"Then if Mark Antony gets a thorn in his paw, as he almost
-invariably does, you'll have to carry him home."
-
-"He must weigh three stone, Miss Sylvia."
-
-"About that, Sir Anthony."
-
-"Then it is better I should carry him than you."
-
-"Oh, if you're bent on it, Sir Anthony."
-
-"If you're not bent against it, Miss Sylvia."
-
-"Well, come along then, for this is the parting of the ways."
-
-They had arrived at the gate by this time.
-
-"Sylvia should have told you, Sir Anthony, that though we turn our
-backs on the village, yet we pass a wall letter-box, which the
-postman empties on his way to Lettergort."
-
-It was Pamela speaking for the first time, and in this less
-hoydenish mood of hers she had a likeness to her gentle elder sister.
-
-"I'm not surprised to hear it, Miss Pamela. I guessed Miss Sylvia
-was only piling up the difficulties to tease me. But I was not to be
-put off."
-
-"You are really a most persistent person, Sir Anthony."
-
-"I know when I want a thing and mean to get it, Miss Sylvia."
-
-"Did you ever see anything more beautiful than the rose-light on
-that mountain, Sir Anthony?"
-
-"I have seen more beautiful things, Miss Pamela."
-
-He spoke with the utmost simplicity, but the girl blushed
-nevertheless, and was furious with herself for blushing.
-
-"See how rosy the peak is," she went on in some confusion, "but the
-woods are purple at the base. If we were over there where the road
-winds round the hill-foot, we should hear nothing but the singing of
-little streams. They are chattering through the bracken everywhere,
-and spilling into the road, where they make little channels for
-themselves, clear as amber."
-
-"They make your boots very wet and your skirt draggle-tailed,"
-remarked Sylvia.
-
-"I see chimneys rising above the wood," said Sir Anthony. "Is there
-a house there, then?"
-
-"There is, but it is empty at present. It belongs to Lord Glengall,
-who is away just now. It has a queer story attached to it."
-
-"Indeed?"
-
-"Yes. Lord Glengall went to Australia as a boy, and was unheard
-of for years. His mother lived there, with one old servant, in
-the bitterest poverty. She was so proud no one dared to interfere,
-until, it having been noticed that the chimneys were smokeless
-for days, the house was entered by force, and mistress and maid
-were found dying of starvation side by side. The house was full of
-valuables--lace and plate, and all kinds of lovely things--but they
-were heirlooms, and the old lady would rather starve than sell them,
-and the old servant was quite of the same mind."
-
-"What happened then?"
-
-"They were taken off to the Rectory by old Mr. Rogers, who died last
-year. And in the nick of time Lord Glengall, whom everyone said was
-dead, turned up safe and sound to nurse his old mother. 'I kept the
-things together for you, my boy,' she said as soon as she recognised
-him.
-
-"And the next thing she said," went on Sylvia, taking up the tale,
-"was, 'Where's that cat?' The faithfulness of animals, Sir Anthony!
-Old Tib, with whom they had shared all their short-commons, had, it
-seems, stolen the very last drop of milk that stood between them and
-starvation, and had then escaped through a window into the woods. 'I
-should like to give him a good hiding before I die.' That was the
-second speech of the indomitable old lady."
-
-"What a chance for the novelist this country of yours presents!"
-said Sir Anthony.
-
-"But that fortunately he never comes our way," replied Pamela.
-
-"Your father promised me you would take me fishing one day." He
-spoke to Sylvia, but his eyes turned from her to Pamela.
-
-"So we shall," said Sylvia readily.
-
-"The river runs quite close to the house?"
-
-"Yes, but if you want the pleasantest fishing, you must climb for
-it. Up there in the hills are little golden-brown trout-streams
-running through the valleys under the shadow of woods, and they are
-full of trout spoiling to be caught."
-
-"You know the best places, Miss Sylvia."
-
-"Don't let her guide you, Sir Anthony. I'll tell you a story about
-her. She was always tantalising Mick St. Leger, an old pupil of
-papa's, who is in India now, with stories of a wonderful pike which
-inhabited one of the big holes in the Moyle. Well, poor Mick used
-to sit and fish for hours, now and then catching a little fish by
-accident, for his heart wasn't in it for thinking of Sylvia's big
-pike. And Sylvia used to sit by watching him, apparently full of
-sympathy. One day he was fishing the big hole as usual, when he
-gave a long whistle. 'What is it, Mick?' Sylvia cried, running to
-him. 'It feels like a twenty-pounder,' said poor Mick, very red in
-the face. 'Oh, Mick, do let me help!' cried Sylvia. And then, with
-an immense deal of carefulness, and poor Mick holding on like grim
-death, they reeled up an old tin can full of stones, in the handle
-of which Mick's line was caught."
-
-"Mick would never have known," said Sylvia dispassionately, "if
-little Patsy Murray hadn't come running after me a week later,
-calling out, 'Where's that apple ye promised me for sinkin' me
-mother's ould can in the river?' Mick never believed in me as an
-honest angler afterwards."
-
-"No wonder! But to think your father should have suggested you as my
-guide, Miss Sylvia!"
-
-"Pam's just as bad, Sir Anthony. I generally do the things, but Pam
-encourages me."
-
-Pamela again turned those eyes of heaven's own colour in mute
-reproach upon her sister.
-
-"I'll have faith in you, Miss Pam," said Sir Anthony impulsively,
-"no matter what your sister says to the contrary."
-
-And he meant his rash promise.
-
-[Illustration: "The letter can wait till another time."--_p._ 109.]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-THE WISHING WELL.
-
-
-"My friends generally call me Tony," said a voice, the youthful
-growl of which was subdued to all possible softness.
-
-"We have known each other such a little while," replied Pamela,
-looking down at the ground, which had begun to cover itself in the
-flying gold of the autumn woods.
-
-"As the calendar counts; but we--'we count time by
-heart-throbs'--doesn't somebody say that?"
-
-A colour, like a pink rose-leaf, warmed in Pamela's clear cheek.
-
-"We have become very good friends," she said, "seeing that it is
-only six--or is it seven?--weeks ago since we met."
-
-"It is eight," said the youth. "I came in mid-July, and now it is
-mid-September. But it sometimes seems to me that I have always been
-here, and that my life elsewhere was but a dream."
-
-[Illustration: "Tell me what you wished for?"]
-
-"If that were so," she said demurely--and for a moment the violet
-eyes looked up at him under their shadow of night--"if that were so,
-then I might really call you by your name, Sir Anthony. But it is
-too soon."
-
-"Then you will one day, Miss Pamela? How many days must go by first?
-You called that other man--St. Leger--by his name. It is 'Mick' with
-all of you."
-
-"Ah," said Pamela, again with the bewildering glance; "but Mick was
-Mick, you see."
-
-A sudden irrational anger kindled in the young man's eye, and his
-expression stiffened.
-
-"Oh, I see," he said. "This paragon had special privileges which no
-one else may hope to share."
-
-"He certainly had," said Pamela. "For no one else would endure them,
-poor dear!"
-
-"Now, what do you mean by that?" he said doubtfully. "Do you mean
-the privilege of being called by his name?"
-
-"No, but the privilege of my society and Sylvia's."
-
-"He must have been jolly hard to please."
-
-"He wasn't, then. He was as easily pleased as a child. I should
-like to have seen you in some of the situations in which Mick
-distinguished himself."
-
-"I daresay I'd be very undistinguished. I make no pretence of being
-a paragon."
-
-"It would be useless to, Sir Anthony."
-
-"I don't dispute it, Miss Pamela. I suppose we'd better be making
-for home?"
-
-He turned and walked sulkily along the forest path with the girl by
-his side. For a second there was silence; then Pamela broke it by
-saying softly:
-
-"I often have thought that one reason why Molly fell in love with
-Mick was because she pitied him so much. He came to the wall in all
-our escapades. Of course, he was always in love with Molly, but I
-believe it was in protecting him from us that she became so fond of
-him."
-
-"He is your sister's lover, then?" incredulously.
-
-"Why, _of course_ he is. Whose did you suppose he was?"
-
-"Yours, Miss Pamela."
-
-"Mine! why, he'd never look at me when Molly was by. Besides, you
-don't know how horribly we ill-used the poor dear fellow."
-
-"Miss Pam, I wish you'd ill-use me."
-
-"You wouldn't like it at all, Sir Anthony."
-
-"Yes, I should, Miss Pamela. So Mick is engaged to your sister. What
-an ass I have been!"
-
-"Yes, poor dears, they are engaged, without the remotest prospect
-of ever being married that I can see. Mick's a subaltern in a line
-regiment, with just his pay--he got in through the Militia--and
-Molly, needless to say, hasn't a penny."
-
-"He's a lucky fellow, all the same. And now, Miss Pamela, what have
-we been quarrelling about?"
-
-"I'm sure I don't know, Sir Anthony. Have we been quarrelling?"
-
-"_I_ have."
-
-"But I haven't. I did think you were a little cross about something.
-But here is the Wishing Well that I told you about."
-
-They had come on a little glade of the forest, in the midst of which
-was a brier heavy with blackberries. The bush hooded a little space,
-and, looking underneath, one saw, as in a cup, a still depth of
-water over pebbles of gold and silver.
-
-"You are to drink, Sir Anthony, without spilling a drop, and think
-on your wish at the same time."
-
-"Drink from what, Miss Pamela?"
-
-"Why, from your hands, of course."
-
-"I couldn't; the water would all run away."
-
-"No, it wouldn't. See how I manage it."
-
-The girl scooped the water into her rosy palms and drank it slowly.
-Then she looked at him, and again the wave of rose flowed in her
-cheek.
-
-"I never could manage it; I'm such a duffer at things. Miss Pamela,
-would you let me drink from your hands? _Do!_"
-
-Without a word she stooped and lifted the water and held it to him.
-He drank from the rosy cup to the last drop. Then he suddenly caught
-the hands that had served him, and pressed them to his lips. For a
-moment they were yielded to him, and then the girl drew back. He
-thought she trembled a little, and the ardour in his gaze grew.
-
-"I am sorry," he said, "but I couldn't help it. You are not angry,
-Miss Pamela?"
-
-"I am going home, Sir Anthony," she said.
-
-"Not till you tell me one thing----"
-
-He barred her way, putting himself in front of her. "Tell me what
-you wished for."
-
-Her eyes fell before his, and as she stood with her hands clasped,
-and her head bent, she was a different creature from the wild Pamela
-of a few short weeks ago. The sunlight through the thinned branches
-fell on her short curls, for her hat--which she had been swinging by
-a ribbon--had fallen to her feet.
-
-"Look at me," he said; "I want to see what is in your eyes."
-
-She lifted them obediently, and then let them fall again.
-
-"Ah, that is enough," he said, with exultation in his voice. "You
-have answered me, Pam. That is enough just for the present. Some day
-I shall tell you what I wished for, and we shall see if our wishes
-come true. A double wish should have double force to induce its
-fulfilment. Isn't it so, Pam?"
-
-She said nothing, and he looked at her with triumph shining in his
-eyes. Blent with it was the tenderness of a lover when he knows he
-is loved, and just a shade of shamefacedness as well.
-
-"We must be wise, little beautiful Pamela," he said presently, in a
-low voice. "We must be wise and wait. I mustn't ask yet all I would
-ask, but I will one day--one good day, Pamela. You will trust me,
-won't you?"
-
-"Yes," said Pamela, hardly knowing what she was asked.
-
-"It will not be for long. Indeed, I could not endure it for long.
-Shall we be friends for a little while longer, Pamela darling?"
-
-"Yes," said Pamela, forgetting to rebuke him.
-
-"After to-day I will not call you darling till I have the right
-before all the world. After to-day. I meant to have held my tongue,
-but you bewildered me, Pamela. You are not angry with me?"
-
-"No," came almost in a whisper.
-
-"Lift up your eyes to me and say it. That is right. How beautiful
-your eyes are, Pamela! Say 'Tony,' now."
-
-"Tony!"
-
-"Dear Tony."
-
-"Dear Tony!"
-
-"How sweetly you say it! It is like silver in your voice. But, come
-now, we will go home. I have to be wise, you know. Ah, Pamela,
-Pamela! why did you bring me to the Wishing Well?"
-
-"You wanted to go."
-
-"Yes, I know; but it was an accident that we were alone, or it was
-Fate--yes, it was surely Fate that sent Miss Spencer's carriage for
-your sister at the last moment, so that we had to take our walk
-without her. Shall we go now, and talk no more about love to-day?"
-
-Pamela hesitated, and then said:
-
-"Poor Sylvia! She has spent this lovely afternoon shut up with an
-old lady and a dog."
-
-"She wouldn't mind the dog, I fancy, Pam."
-
-"Nor the old lady. Sylvia is fond of Miss Spencer, strange as it may
-seem."
-
-"Why is it strange, Pam? I can't help using the sweet little name."
-
-He had taken her hand by this time, and they were walking like
-children down the aisle of golden trees.
-
-"You haven't seen Miss Spencer. She is a little mad and a little
-grotesque to most people. But she is devoted to Sylvia, and Sylvia
-to her. She is not mad to Sylvia."
-
-"How does it come that I haven't seen Miss Spencer?"
-
-"She has been abroad. You'll see her one of these days, I expect.
-She was crossed in love in her youth, and it seems to have made her
-strange in ways. She's immensely wealthy, and gives a good deal in
-charity, but mostly among single women. She seems to think that
-those who have husbands and children don't need pity."
-
-"She's quite safe for your sister to be with?"
-
-"Oh, quite. She has all her senses, only that she's a trifle
-peculiar. She's a splendid business woman, everyone says."
-
-"It is a curious friendship. I should never have supposed it of Miss
-Sylvia."
-
-"No. One funny thing is that Miss Spencer's full of sentiment--wait
-till you hear her sing 'She wore a Wreath of Roses'--whereas
-Sylvia's quite without sentiment, and laughs at everything
-sentimental."
-
-"I feel sorry for the poor old thing," said Sir Anthony, with a
-half-ashamed laugh, "because she was crossed in love. I shouldn't
-like to be crossed in love myself, Pamela."
-
-"It was cruel," said Pamela simply. "The man made her love him, and
-then went away and never came back. She was poor then. She inherited
-Dovercourt quite unexpectedly."
-
-"What a sweep he must have been!"
-
-[Illustration: "Come along, Trevithick," he cried, rushing away.]
-
-"Poor Miss Spencer always thinks he will come back, though people
-say he married abroad and died there. I tell you all this so that
-you won't be the least bit in the world inclined to laugh when you
-see her. I daresay it's funny enough to see a pink silk coal-scuttle
-bonnet on top of a grey head; but then, you know, you don't feel
-like laughing."
-
-"No, indeed, darling."
-
-"Sylvia says it's made a man-hater of her. That's how she excuses
-herself for treating her admirers so outrageously."
-
-"I'd have fallen in love with Sylvia myself, only for you, Pamela."
-
-"It's lucky you didn't, Tony." The name came with soft hesitation.
-
-"Why, Pam?"
-
-"She'd have laughed in your face."
-
-"I'd rather have your way, Pam."
-
-"My way?"
-
-"Though it made me behave worse than I intended. But never mind. A
-little time will unravel the tangled skein. Now we are nearly out of
-the wood. Ah, Pamela! kiss me once--I shall not ask you again till I
-have the full right."
-
-Without a word the girl lifted her face to meet his kiss. To her it
-was the kiss of betrothal.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-"I WILL COME AGAIN, MY DEAR."
-
-
-"I wish my friend, Glengall, were at home," said Mr. Graydon,
-leaning back in the chair by the study fire. "He'd give you a mount
-while you were waiting for Johnny Maher's little mare. The hounds
-meet at Lettergort to-day."
-
-He looked wistfully through the bare trees on the lawn, as though
-he saw in imagination the scarlet horsemen pounding away after the
-streaming line of hounds.
-
-His pupil thrust into a book a sketch of Pamela which he had been
-making absent-mindedly.
-
-"Why don't you hunt, sir?" he asked, with sympathy.
-
-"So I do, my lad, when I can. But I can't afford to keep a horse,
-and there aren't many mounts to be had here. Glengall is going to
-set up stables when he comes back, and I'll have the run of them, I
-suppose. He's a good fellow--one wouldn't mind being obliged to him."
-
-"The mare'll be a good one when she's broken," said the young man.
-
-"The best in the world for Irish fences, if she does look a bit
-roughish."
-
-"You'll ride her for me, when I am away at Christmas, to get her
-mouth in?"
-
-"Thank you, my lad; I should like to." Mr. Graydon's eye kindled
-with pleasure. "But I didn't know you were going. It seems a longish
-way to go home for Christmas."
-
-"My mother would like to see me."
-
-"To be sure, to be sure. I quite understand, and, of course, there
-are friends in London you naturally want to see."
-
-"No one very particularly, sir."
-
-"Ah, well! it will be a holiday from this dull place."
-
-"No, I assure you, sir. It is partly because I have some--some
-business I want to settle. It is really true that there is no one
-I go to see whom I regard more than the friends I shall be leaving
-behind."
-
-Sir Anthony blushed hotly over this avowal, but his unsuspicious
-host only saw in it the shamefacedness with which a man, and
-especially a young man, makes a display of his feelings.
-
-"Now, that is kind of you," he said, looking at his pupil
-benignantly. "I am sure our Christmas will be dull without you. Do
-the girls know you are going? They won't like it, eh? And they will
-be disappointed that you will not be here for the Vandaleur affair."
-
-"I am coming back for that, sir."
-
-"I am glad. It is really the children's first outing. It is a dull
-enough affair for young people, but then they will wear their pretty
-frocks and see strange faces. We are such quiet people, Trevithick,
-that even Vandaleur's big dinner and reception, which comes off
-regularly whenever there is a general election in sight"--Mr.
-Graydon broke off to laugh and rub his hands--"is an event for us.
-But we are forgetting our Tacitus, my boy. Let us get back to the
-old fellow."
-
-At that moment there was the sound of a horn, and, with the shout of
-a boy, Mr. Graydon was up.
-
-"Come along, Trevithick," he cried, rushing away, hatless and
-coatless. "We shall get a glimpse of them. What a day for a scent!
-They are sure to find at Larry's Spinney."
-
-His words came back to his pupil, who was getting under weigh more
-leisurely.
-
-"Dear old boy!" he muttered to himself. "It's not surprising my
-father never forgot him. I wonder why the mater regards him with so
-deadly a hatred, though?"
-
-At lunch Mr. Graydon announced that Sir Anthony was going home for
-Christmas. There was a shrill expostulation from Sylvia, and even a
-mild protest from Mary, but Pamela said nothing. Perhaps it was not
-news to Pamela.
-
-"You will not be here for the skating," said Sylvia aggrievedly;
-"that is, if there's going to be any. And I've promised them at
-the Rectory that you'd recite at their penny reading and give away
-the presents at the Christmas-tree, besides managing the magic
-lantern. And, oh!"--the magnitude of the misfortune coming full upon
-her--"you're not surely going to miss the Vandaleur dinner?"
-
-"No, Miss Sylvia, I shall be here for it certainly. I wouldn't
-miss it for anything; but I object to your engagements for me with
-the Rectory people. I'd rather be shot than recite, and--the other
-things are beyond me," laughing.
-
-"Never mind, then," said the young lady airily. "Lord Glengall will
-do just as well. I shall like to see him distributing the articles.
-Besides, he will please the people better than a 'baronite,' and be
-of the rale ould blood, too."
-
-"Sylvia!" said her father, with a rebuke in his voice.
-
-"Never mind, papa dear. Sir Anthony understands all about his being
-only a 'baronite.' Bridget told him the other day that if the master
-had his rights 'tisn't teaching a 'Sir' he'd be."
-
-"So she did," said Sir Anthony.
-
-Mr. Graydon laughed.
-
-"Ah, well, my boy! you mustn't tell your mother what odd people
-you've found among the wild Irish--will you?"
-
-"She wouldn't understand a bit, but I'll tell her what dear friends
-I have found and made at Carrickmoyle."
-
-He blushed again, and Mr. Graydon thought how well his modesty
-became him.
-
-"Ah, well!" he said, "I suppose we must make up our minds to spend
-Christmas without you. What are you going to do this afternoon?"
-
-"I'm going to Maher's to see the mare, and put her through her
-paces. I'd like to have her stabled here as soon as possible. If
-she's ready, she can come at once."
-
-"To be sure. There's stabling for twenty horses here, though the
-stalls are bare--worse luck! But we won't let Sheila starve. Shall
-we, girls? I'll go bail these children will make a fine pet of her,
-Trevithick."
-
-"I shall be all the fonder of her, sir, though I'm well pleased with
-her at present."
-
-"She's a sweet little bit of horseflesh," assented Mr. Graydon. "I
-think I shall come with you, if you don't object to my company. I've
-a bit of business with Johnny myself."
-
-When they returned in time for the afternoon cup of tea, they found
-an old yellow barouche standing before the door.
-
-"Ah, Miss Spencer is here," said Mr. Graydon. "She's rather an
-oddity, my boy, so prepare to meet one."
-
-"I heard her story from Miss Pamela. It is very sad."
-
-"When I was a boy of thirteen or fourteen I remember her a
-brilliantly lovely young woman. That was before that scoundrel came
-in her way."
-
-When they entered the drawing-room Miss Spencer was sitting with her
-back to them, almost hidden in a deep armchair. The three girls were
-sitting or standing about her, all evidently much interested.
-
-"Here is papa, and our guest with him, Miss Spencer," said Mary.
-
-The little old woman came out of her chair with a sudden darting
-movement like that of a bird. Her gaze went from Mr. Graydon to the
-younger man.
-
-"Oh!" she cried. "Whom did you say?"
-
-She looked at the stranger for a moment with an agony of expectation
-in her yet bright eyes, while she fumbled nervously for the
-long-handled glasses at her side. When she had found them she peered
-at him through them; then dropped them, the expression of her face
-changing to indifference.
-
-"I beg your pardon, sir," she said. "I am expecting a friend, and
-for a moment I thought you were he."
-
-"How do you do, Miss Spencer?" broke in Mr. Graydon. "I see you have
-Stella under the barouche again. I'm glad she has recovered from her
-lameness."
-
-"The foot has come all right, thank you," said Miss Spencer,
-assuming quite an ordinary manner. "You weren't hunting to-day?"
-
-"No; I must wait till Glengall sets up his stables."
-
-"Ah, Glengall is coming home soon?"
-
-"He expects to reach Plymouth on the eighteenth. He will be at home
-for Christmas."
-
-"There'll be nothing in order for him in that old barrack of his."
-
-"He'll stay here while he's getting things straight. He is going
-to make a grand place of Glengall. He has plenty of money, and the
-heart to spend it, and the practical wit to direct it."
-
-"What will he do with it then? He has neither chick nor child."
-
-"There is always time, Miss Spencer."
-
-The slightly mad, brooding look came back to the little wizened
-white face.
-
-"Yes, of course, there is time," she said, dreamily. "I remember
-someone--who was it?--who knew Glengall when she was a young woman
-and he was a little boy. Glengall can't be old, of course, and any
-day people may return--mayn't they?"
-
-"Why, to be sure they may. Glengall did, though he was twenty years
-out of the reach of civilisation."
-
-"Oh, I wasn't thinking of Glengall. It was of someone much younger,
-someone about the age of that young gentleman there."
-
-Trevithick stood in the background and watched her with honest eyes
-of wonder and pity. She was smoothing the pink silk of her gown,
-while her eyes watched the fire as if she saw something very happy
-in it. Her skin was waxen white, and her features sharpened, but the
-brilliant eyes kept their beauty, and her little old hands, covered
-with rings, were delicately shaped. Her hair was half-white through
-the original black, and very oddly her pink bonnet, with its wreath
-of roses inside, sat on the streaked hair and over the white face.
-She had thrown off a large sable cloak on to the back of her chair.
-
-[Illustration: Trevithick watched her with wonder and pity.]
-
-Sylvia now broke in on Miss Spencer's half-mad mood. She touched one
-of the hands tenderly. Trevithick, as he noticed it, thought that
-it was the first time he had seen Sylvia's face really soft; and
-wonderfully the new expression completed the girl's beauty. So she
-will look, he thought, some day, when she is in love, like--like
-Pamela. But Pamela's serious face was hidden from him now with a
-fire-screen she held in her hand. He had noticed of late that she
-seldom looked at him, nor was he displeased. He knew the secret she
-was afraid to reveal.
-
-"We are all going to the Vandaleur affair, Miss Spencer," Sylvia
-was saying. "It will be on the thirtieth. There are to be great
-doings--acres of marquees for the diners, and the winter garden lit
-by electricity, and I don't know what besides."
-
-Miss Spencer came back to every-day life with a start.
-
-"To the Vandaleur affair, child! Why, who is going to take you?"
-
-"Papa, of course. He loves a little outing, though he won't admit
-it. He says he'd rather stay at home and have a quiet night's work
-at his book, and get some hot tea ready for us by the time we come
-home."
-
-"Why shouldn't I take you?" said the old lady. "I'm hardly old
-enough for a chaperon, of course, still I've the carriage, and
-I'd enjoy the function. I haven't been at one since the time Tom
-Charteris was master of the hounds. How long ago is that?"
-
-Mr. Graydon, to whom she spoke, answered her without looking at her.
-
-"A goodish few years ago."
-
-"It can't be," said the old lady; "not more than four or five at the
-outside. I wore white satin and pearls. That reminds me: what are
-you going to wear, minx?"
-
-This to Sylvia, at the same time softly pulling her ear.
-
-"We've got pattern-books of silk stuffs from Dublin. They're
-dirt-cheap; but the dressmaking will be the bother. However, I
-daresay we'll manage. Mrs. Collins' Nancy, who is a lady's-maid, is
-expected home for Christmas. She'll cut the frocks out, and we'll
-sew them ourselves. She'll know the fashions."
-
-[Illustration: "I must go, to unravel a tangled skein."]
-
-"Stuff and nonsense, child! Your first public appearance, too."
-
-"It's Pam's also. But you'll see we'll look very nice. I shouldn't
-be surprised if the prince fell in love with me."
-
-"What prince? Oh, I see, Cinderella's. But Cinderella went
-magnificently to her evening party--not in cheap and nasty stuffs
-cobbled up anyhow."
-
-"The prince wouldn't see that. He'd be disconsolate when I
-disappeared at twelve o'clock, and he'd send all over the country to
-find the fit of my glass slipper, and Molly and Pam would cry tears
-of rage because it wouldn't even fit on their toes."
-
-"You're not ball-going, minx."
-
-"It will be just as good. There'll be a beautiful dinner, and
-everyone in the county there, and afterwards there will be acres of
-beautiful things to see. It is a thousand pities Mr. Vandaleur is an
-absentee."
-
-"If he wasn't, he wouldn't have to remind you of his existence now,"
-said the old lady cynically. "But am I to be chaperon?"
-
-"Well, I'll tell you what, Miss Spencer," said Mr. Graydon. "If
-you'd take charge of these children, I'd be greatly obliged to
-you. The fact is that I've to attend a sort of unofficial meeting
-of Vandaleur's supporters in the afternoon, and he has hospitably
-offered me a bed. So I thought I'd take my bag over and dress there
-after the meeting."
-
-"And stay all night? I knew it," cried Sylvia. "Papa pretended it
-was such a bother, and all the time he was longing to be in for
-every bit of it. Only he didn't know what to do with us."
-
-Mr. Graydon laughed.
-
-"Maybe you wouldn't like it yourself. I shall be button-holed by
-Musgrave and Frost and Clitheroe, and every man in the county who
-thinks he has a head for politics and wants a patient listener."
-
-"And you will go at it hammer and tongs with the best of them, and
-forget you have daughters. I don't suppose you'll even remember at
-dinner-time to see whether anyone is asking us if we've an appetite."
-
-"The young fellows will do that. Every boy in the county will be
-there, including the 300th from Dangan Barracks."
-
-"I daresay," said Sylvia: "you're always ready to shift your
-responsibilities. Never mind, Miss Spencer; I daresay we shall be
-able to find someone who will look after us, if it's only a waiter."
-
-"Oh, indeed, you'll find someone to befriend you, never fear. And so
-will Pam. And so shall I. But what about Molly?"
-
-"Never mind me, Miss Spencer," said Mary. "It would never do to have
-you chaperoning three girls, and I shouldn't enjoy it a bit. I shall
-stay up and have tea for you after your cold drive."
-
-"I don't know what girls are coming to," said Miss Spencer; "I
-shouldn't like to have to stay at home myself."
-
-"We don't mind Molly," cried her sisters; "she really likes to stay
-at home and write her perpetual letters."
-
-"I shouldn't mind having the three of you," went on Miss Spencer;
-"we'd pass for four sisters."
-
-"We should never look as lovely as you in that white satin and
-pearls," said Sylvia, fondly.
-
-"I was much admired," said Miss Spencer, complacently. "But now I
-must be going. I've letters to write before dinner: I don't want to
-lose my beauty-sleep sitting up to write them."
-
-When Sir Anthony came into the drawing-room before dinner, he found
-only Pamela stretching her hands to the wood fire in the low grate.
-
-The lover stooped down and kissed them.
-
-"Have you been out?" he asked in a whisper.
-
-"Only to the stables with Sylvia. Your Sheila has come. She is a
-dear thing."
-
-"You like her, Pam?"
-
-"Who could help it? She looks so wild and shy, and she is so gentle
-at the same time."
-
-"Do you like her because she is mine, Pam? Do you, just a little
-because of that? Say you do, Pam."
-
-"Just a little," whispered Pam.
-
-"Why, if you like, she shall be yours, when--when everything has
-come right. I think she would carry a lady beautifully. What do you
-say, Pam? Would you like her, _then_?"
-
-"Yes," said Pamela, with her eyes very bright.
-
-"You didn't seem to mind my going away at Christmas, Pam. You were
-the only one who didn't protest."
-
-"I know you wouldn't go if you could help it."
-
-"Wise little woman. I must go, darling--to unravel a tangled skein.
-Afterwards it will be paradise, Pam. I will come back as soon--as
-soon as ever I can. I shall be in a fury of impatience till I come
-back."
-
-"And I," said Pam, lifting her eyes to her lover, and flooding him
-with their light.
-
-"Sweetheart! you were a coquette when I knew you first, Pam. Now you
-don't try me as many girls try their lovers."
-
-"I have only love for you now. Ah! what should I do if you did not
-come back?"
-
-"I will come back, 'though 'twere ten thousand mile.' I shall be
-here for your great function. Do you think I would have you go
-without me?"
-
-"I shouldn't care for it without you."
-
-"There will be other men there, Pamela, to see how beautiful you
-are. I must be there to guard my own."
-
-"There is no need for that."
-
-"I believe you, my love, you are as much mine as if you were my
-wife. And I am as much yours."
-
-"Love can only mean that."
-
-"Ah, my darling! how sweet you are! You wouldn't care for the
-admiration of other men, Pam?"
-
-"Only for one."
-
-"It is hard to be wise, Pam, when I am with you. You are too sweet.
-It is fortunate I am going."
-
-"When you come back it will be different."
-
-"Yes; you will have to make up to me for my prudence all these
-months. I have been good, Pam; I have never asked you for a kiss."
-
-"Yes, you have been good."
-
-"And you, you are a girl in ten thousand. You have never asked me
-what stood between us--a shadowy barrier, Pam, but even that must go
-before I claim you, my queen. When I come back, Pam! Ah, when I come
-back!"
-
-"Here is Molly," said Pam, in a low voice, as her sister entered the
-room.
-
-  END OF CHAPTER SIX.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: GREAT ANNIVERSARIES]
-
-GREAT ANNIVERSARIES
-
-_IN DECEMBER._
-
-By the Rev. A. R. Buckland, M.A., Morning Preacher at the Foundling
-Hospital.
-
-
-December is a month of great names. On December 21st, 1117,
-according to some authorities, there was born, in a house that stood
-on the site of the Mercers' Chapel in Cheapside, Thomas à Becket.
-Whether men side with Church or State, and are for or against
-Becket, they will hardly deny him the right to be remembered as an
-outstanding figure in our history. On the last day of the month died
-another great Englishman; like Becket, an Oxford man, and a potent
-factor in the religious development of our nation. On December 31st
-there passed away at Lutterworth John Wycliffe. His bones, thirteen
-years after burial, were dragged from their resting-place and cast
-into the River Swift. Thomas Fuller turns that shameful act of
-ecclesiastical malice to good use. "Thus," he says, "this brook did
-convey his ashes into the Avon, the Avon into the Severn, the Severn
-into the narrow sea, and this into the wide ocean. And so the ashes
-of Wycliffe are the emblem of his doctrine, which is now dispersed
-all the world over." On the 13th of the month, many generations
-later, there came into the world Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, an
-ecclesiastic of still another type. No modern dean ever identified
-himself with his cathedral as Stanley did with Westminster Abbey.
-Its national character was always present to his mind. His simple
-piety, his good works, his sympathy with Nonconformists, all helped
-to make the Dean himself rather a national possession than merely an
-ecclesiastic. He died in 1881.
-
-[Illustration: JOHN WYCLIFFE.
-
-(_From the Portrait at King's College._)]
-
-We have had the Church, let us come to the State. It is a rich
-month that claims the birth both of William Ewart Gladstone
-(December 29th) and of his great rival, Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of
-Beaconsfield (December 20th). They began their careers under very
-different auspices. Eton and Oxford prepared the one for immediate
-entry, under favouring circumstances, into Parliamentary life. The
-other was educated privately, designed for the law, and first caught
-the public eye as an author when he burst upon the world with the
-novel, "Vivian Grey." Mr. Gladstone survived his rival seventeen
-years.
-
-[Illustration: DEAN STANLEY.
-
-(_Photo: The London Stereoscopic Co._)]
-
-There died on December 14th one whom the British nation can only
-number amongst its own worthies by adoption. The death of the Prince
-Consort in the prime of life, and just when his very considerable
-powers and great devotion were beginning to be understood by those
-who at first regarded him with doubt because he was a foreigner,
-plunged our Queen into sorrow which long darkened the life of the
-Court and was felt by the whole nation. The pure, unblemished life
-of the Prince Consort, his sincere desire to advance the welfare of
-the people, his ready promotion of the arts and sciences, as well
-as his tender devotion to the Queen, have long been understood and
-valued by the nation which he served.
-
-[Illustration: JOHN MILTON.
-
-(_From the Miniature by Samuel Cooper._)]
-
-To come to other fields: there was born in London on December 9th,
-1608, John Milton. Educated at Cambridge, he early gave free play to
-the powers which in their issue have made his name familiar wherever
-the English language is spoken. Few remember him as a writer of
-polemical treatises on affairs of the State and the Church, or even
-as Latin Secretary to Cromwell; but he was an old man and blind when
-he gave the world "Paradise Lost."
-
-On the 12th there died Robert Browning, a poet who spoke to his
-age as few men have ever done, and spoke of God and the soul, of
-the here and the hereafter, with a clearness of faith which was as
-distinct as the robust manliness of his character.
-
-[Illustration: SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN
-
-(_From the Portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller._)]
-
-December 28th is given as the date upon which Westminster Abbey was
-consecrated in 1065; and on December 2nd that other minster, St.
-Paul's Cathedral, was opened in 1697. Legend says that the same
-King Sebert who founded the original St. Paul's also founded the
-Abbey at Westminster, whilst another story invokes the aid of King
-Offa. There is, however, clear testimony to the establishment of
-a Benedictine abbey at Westminster in the time of Edgar; that is
-antiquity respectable enough to satisfy most of us. A cathedral
-on this site is mentioned by the Venerable Bede as early as 604;
-but the actual fabric of St. Paul's has, according to Mr. Loftie,
-undergone greater vicissitudes than that of any other cathedral in
-England. The present St. Paul's was begun in 1675 and finished in
-1710. Its cost was £736,752. Sir Christopher Wren, its architect,
-received for his services £200 a year. What were then called "the
-new ball and cross" on the cathedral were completed in this same
-month in 1821.
-
-[Illustration: ROBERT BROWNING.
-
-(_Photo: Cameron and Smith, Mortimer Street, W._)]
-
-An old calendar assures me that on the 15th of this month, in the
-year 1802, "societies for abolishing the common method of sweeping
-chimneys" were instituted.
-
-On the 20th of this month, in the year 1814, Samuel Marsden landed
-in New Zealand--a missionary anniversary worth recalling.
-
-[Illustration: W. E. GLADSTONE
-
-Photo: Samuel Walker.
-
-THE EARL of BEACONSFIELD.
-
-Photo: Hughes-Mullins, Ryde. I.W.
-
-TWO EMINENT STATESMEN BORN IN DECEMBER.]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: The Limits of Human Genius]
-
-The Limits of Human Genius
-
-_Pulpit at Gloucester Cathedral._
-
-A Sermon Preached by the Very Rev. H. Donald M. Spence, D.D., Dean
-of Gloucester, at the Opening Service of the September (1898)
-Meeting of the Three-Choirs Festival in Gloucester Cathedral.
-
-     "As for Wisdom, what she is, and how she came up, I will tell
-       you, and will not hide mysteries from you, but will seek her
-       out from the beginning of her nativity, and bring the knowledge
-       of her into Light, and will not pass over Truth."
-
-
-The surroundings of a custodian of a mediæval cathedral, beautiful
-though they are, at the same time are unutterably pathetic. They
-tell him, do the pages of the old solemn Book of Stone he is never
-weary of turning over and of pondering upon, that the genius of
-man has its limits, which it may never pass; that the story of
-human progress to higher and ever higher levels is often a delusive
-one; that in past ages his forefathers were perhaps as noble and
-chivalrous--aye, nobler, more chivalrous than the men of his own
-generation--that their imagination was more brilliant and their
-hands more cunning; that if in some respects progress is visible, in
-others the movement is retrograde.
-
-Again, a great mediæval cathedral like our own glorious Gloucester,
-inimitable in its fadeless beauty and matchless strength, surely
-deals a very heavy blow to human pride, and it teaches humility to
-the most competent and ablest of our number, for it is a conception
-belonging to a past age. A great gathering, however, like the
-present, numbering some six or seven thousand persons, is for varied
-reasons an inspiring one and bids us be trustful--even hopeful.
-
-Dwell we a brief while first on our surroundings. Of all works
-devised by human ingenuity and carried on by human skill, the
-triumphs of architecture are among the most enduring, afford the
-most genuine and purest delight to the greater number of men and
-women, are confessedly the most attractive, perhaps the most
-instructive, as they are among the most enduring of human creations.
-The glories of Luxor and Karnak, which for several thousand years
-have been mirrored in the grey-green Nile; the white and gleaming
-shrines of Athens the bright and happy, the mighty ruins of Eternal
-Rome, are splendid instances.
-
-But perhaps the conspicuous examples of this architecture, the
-most loved of human arts and crafts, are, after all, the mediæval
-cathedrals. The first object of interest for the modern traveller in
-search of health or rest is a cathedral. All sorts and conditions
-of men find delight in its contemplation. The delight, of course,
-is varied, but the strange and witching beauty appeals to them all.
-This appeal to the higher and devotional side of our nature speaks
-to every soul, to the unlearned as to the learned, to the mill-hand
-as to the scholar. The wanderer from the New World beyond the seas
-at once seeks them out, conscious that in them he will find a
-beauty and a joy such as he will never see or feel outside their
-charmed walls.
-
-I have said that to the custodian of such a cathedral the
-surroundings are, if not sad, at least pathetic, for these
-magnificent and loved creations of human genius belong to a somewhat
-remote past, and, as far as these exquisite buildings are concerned,
-save for purposes of necessary repair--repair simply to arrest the
-ravages of time--for nearly four hundred years the clink of trowel
-and pickaxe has been hushed.
-
-It is scarcely an exaggerated statement which speaks of
-architecture, in its noblest sense, as a lost art. Very significant
-are the words of one of the greatest of modern architects, who,
-after dwelling on the decadence of his loved art, tells us how "It
-is a somewhat saddening reflection--but there is no escaping from
-the conclusion--that the art which created the glorious abbeys and
-minsters, the beautiful parish churches so plentifully dotted over
-our country--abbeys, minsters, and churches which the churchmen of
-the second half of the nineteenth century so reverently and wisely
-restore and seek to copy stone by stone, arch by arch, window by
-window, down to the smallest bit of ornament--is a lost art! Men
-have come sorrowfully to see that mediæval architecture is the
-last link--perhaps the most beautiful as well as the last link--of
-that long chain of architectural styles, 'commencing in far-back
-ages in Egypt and passing on in continuous course through Assyria,
-Persia, Greece, Rome, and Byzantium, and thence taken up by the
-infant nations of modern Europe, and by them prolonged through
-successive ages of continuous progress till it terminated in the
-beautiful thirteenth-and fourteenth-century Gothic, and has never
-since produced a link of its own.... Alas! it is the last link
-of that mighty chain which had stretched unbroken through nearly
-four thousand years--the glorious termination of the history of
-original and genuine architecture.'" Well may men love it and seek
-to preserve the examples they possess of it, and aim at copying it
-as well as they can. These remarkable and melancholy words above
-quoted were deliberately spoken by Sir Gilbert Scott, R.A., LL.D.,
-in his first lecture on Mediæval Architecture delivered at the Royal
-Academy some years ago.
-
-So much for my note of sadness. Now let me strike a different chord.
-
-Such a gathering as the present, I repeat, is an inspiring one, for
-it tells me that if one great art dies, He who loves us and has
-redeemed us at so great a price, gives His children something in its
-place. Now it is strange that amidst all the gorgeous and striking
-ceremonial of the mediæval services, with their wealth of colour
-and ornament, with all their touching and elaborate symbolism,
-music, as it is now understood, was unknown and comparatively
-neglected. In the noblest cathedral of the Middle Ages, in the
-stateliest Benedictine or Cistercian abbey, while the eye was filled
-with sights of solemnity and beauty, each sight containing its
-special and peculiar teaching, the ear was comparatively uncared
-for. Strangely monotonous and even harsh would chaunt and psalm
-and hymn, as rendered in the mighty abbeys of Westminster, Durham,
-or Gloucester in the days of the great Plantagenets, of the White
-Rose or Red Rose kings, sound to the musically trained ears of the
-worshippers of the second half of the nineteenth century. Indeed,
-music as a great science was unknown in pre-Reformation times. The
-most complete anthem-book may be searched through by the curious
-scholar, but scarcely a musical composer of any note will be found
-in these collections of a date earlier than the reign of Queen
-Elizabeth. It would seem as though, when architecture ceased in the
-sixteenth century to be a living craft, a new art was discovered and
-worked at by men.
-
-A new art! I say these words, strange to some, with emphasis.
-One who has indeed a right to speak of music[1] thus voices my
-assertion. While telling us that certain grand forms of music loom
-out of the darkness of the earlier centuries of our era, the famous
-musician to whom I refer adds that little of what we understand of
-music existed before the later years of the fifteenth century. It
-was no mere renaissance, for that which had never been born could
-not be born again.
-
-[1] Professor Hullah, in his "Lectures on the History of Modern
-Music," delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain,
-published 1884. See, too, Professor Hullah's Royal Institution
-Lecture on the Transition Period of Musical History (1876).
-
-In case some should think that too strong expressions are here
-used, it may be well to quote some of Professor Hullah's own
-words, which he used in the above-mentioned lecture at the Royal
-Institution:--"Music is a new art.... What we now call music ...
-what answers to our definition of music, has come into being only
-within comparatively few years; almost within the memory of men
-living." "I should say that in the scholastic music there was no
-art, and in the popular music no science; whence it is that the
-former has ceased to please, and the latter has for the most part
-perished utterly."
-
-It was a new art which charmed and delighted men as they listened to
-the magic of the sounds evoked by the majesty of the compositions
-of Palestrina, or by the sweetness of the music of Marenzio. It is
-true, as I said, that certain grand forms of music loom out of the
-darkness of the remote past--shadowy forms--and the rare composers
-and writers of the music of the past are, as far as music is
-concerned, but the shadow of names now. I allude, as famous examples
-of these shadows of names, to names such as Gregory and Isidore,
-Hucbald and the eleventh-century _maestro_, Guido Aretino.
-
-With extraordinary rapidity developed the new craft. To give here
-some familiar landmarks--
-
-Henry VIII. was reigning before Josquin Deprès, whom all musicians
-revere as one of the earliest, certainly the most renowned, of the
-pioneers of modern music, became generally known in Europe. Josquin
-Deprès was born somewhere about the year 1466, dying about 1515,
-some ten or fifteen years before Palestrina was born. Luther said of
-him, "Other musicians do what they can with notes; Josquin does what
-he likes with them." The Abbate Baini alludes to him as "the idol of
-Europe"; and again writes, "Nothing is beautiful unless it be the
-work of Josquin."
-
-The famous Roman School of music only dates from 1540. The oratorio,
-even in its more simple forms, made its appearance some seventy
-years later.
-
-Not until the last years of our Queen Elizabeth were the names of
-Palestrina and Marenzio, those great early composers, conspicuous,
-and the Queen so loved of Englishmen had long fallen asleep before
-Carissimi, the earliest master of the sacred cantata in its many
-forms, gave his mighty impulse to the new-born art; while the works
-of his world-famed pupil Scarlatti, and of our own English Purcell,
-belong to the art-records of the days of William and Mary and Queen
-Anne. See how the whole of the marvellous story of music--as we
-understand music--belongs to quite recent days!
-
-All through the eighteenth century, when the Georges reigned,
-architecture slept its well-nigh dreamless sleep. But the new art of
-music grew with each succeeding year, while the men whose names will
-never die lived and wrote.
-
-It was this eighteenth century which saw a Beethoven, a Handel, a
-Bach, a Haydn, and a Mozart. As masters of the new-born craft none
-can be conceived greater.
-
-The century now closing boasts, however, a long line of true
-followers and worthy disciples of those great ones, men whose names
-are household words in every European city.
-
-But my brief record, necessarily dry and bald, of a momentous
-change in the teaching of the world would be incomplete without one
-word on the glorious instrument--the voice, so to speak--of these
-masters of a new art, the organ. The first organ known in Western
-Europe traditionally was sent to Pepin in France by the Emperor of
-Constantinople in 759, but Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne, in his poem
-on Virginity, some half a century earlier, apparently describes
-what appears to have been the organ. Elphege, Abbot of Winchester
-in the tenth century, is said to have caused a very large organ to
-be constructed; but, with this solitary exception, all the mediæval
-organs seem to have been small and comparatively unimportant
-instruments. The oldest organ-cases preserved do not date back
-further than the last years of the fifteenth century, and these by
-the side of modern organs are insignificant in size. Viollet le Duc,
-in his great work, gives us a picture of the Perpignan organ, one of
-the earliest (early in the sixteenth century). From this date the
-size rapidly increased.
-
-In the "Rites of Durham," where a great mediæval church is described
-at the period of the Dissolution (1530-40), there were three organs
-in use in the abbey church, the principal one being only used at
-"principall Feasts," the pipes being "very faire and partly gilded."
-"Only two organs in England," says the "Rites," "of the same
-makinge, one in Yorke and another in Paules."
-
-[Illustration: LISTENERS AT THE THREE-CHOIR FESTIVAL.]
-
-The most magnificent organ-case in Europe is the one in St.
-Janskirk at Bois le Duc, and, like the vast majority of the great
-organ-cases, is Renaissance in style. Viollet le Duc sums up the
-question in the following sentence:--
-
-"It does not appear that great organs were in use before the
-fifteenth century, and it was only towards the close of the
-fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries that the idea of
-building organs of dimensions hitherto unknown was first conceived."
-
-The organ, as we now know it, was born among us at the same date
-when architecture died. Like the music of the Middle Ages, in the
-days when these vast and peerless buildings arose, it is true the
-organ was not unknown; but, like mediæval music, it was a small,
-poor thing compared with the stupendous instrument we know and love.
-There was no great organ before the last years of the fifteenth
-century, when the Tudors reigned. The sixteenth and seventeenth
-centuries witnessed its development, and acknowledged its surpassing
-grandeur, and recognised its fitness as one of the chief handmaids
-of the new great art.
-
-Now the secret of the men who built this lordly abbey is lost; never
-again will such a triumph of, alas! a dead art arise to charm and
-to delight, to instruct and inspire the children of men. But we
-may still preserve and reverently use this rare and noble legacy
-of a vanished age as a shrine and a peerless teaching-home--a
-prayer-home, in which are taught the great evangelical truths
-by which Christian men live and breathe and have their being,
-the saving knowledge of the work of the Precious Blood, the glad
-Redemption-story, the story loved of men; the story which never
-ages, never palls, but which, like dew, descends on each succeeding
-generation of believers, and gives them new stores of faith and hope
-and love. This--these things--we try to do, and not without success,
-for as God's bright glory-cloud once brooded over the sacred
-desert-tent and the holy Jerusalem Temple, so now upon our beloved
-and ancient cathedral, with its almost countless services of praise
-and prayer and teaching, God's blessing surely rests.
-
-"It sleeps," does our cathedral, as one has lately said in words
-beautiful as true--"it sleeps with its splendid dreams upon its
-lifted face." But it has, too, its many wakeful working hours. Not
-the least memorable of these will strike this week, when the charmed
-strains of Handel and Haydn, Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Beethoven, and
-of the great Englishmen, Gibbons and Boyce and Walmisley and Wesley,
-and last, but not least, of Hubert Parry, peal through these fretted
-vaults, "lingering and wandering on" among these wondrous chambers
-of inspired imagery; while the almost prophetic words of that truest
-English song-man Wordsworth become history:--
-
-    "Give all thou canst; high heaven rejects the lore
-     Of nicely calculated less or more;
-     So deem'd the man who fashion'd for the sense
-     These lofty pillars, spread that branching roof
-     Self-poised, and scoop'd into ten thousand cells,
-     Where light and shade repose, where music dwells
-     Lingering and wandering on as loth to die--
-     Like thoughts whose very sweetness yieldeth proof
-     That they were born for immortality."
-
-[Illustration: Decorative]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: A Hero in Disguise]
-
-A HERO IN DISGUISE
-
-A Complete Story. By M. Westrup.
-
-
-The girl was little, slender, insignificant--only her love made her
-heroic. The man was big, broad, one to be noticed in a crowd, and
-his love made him as helpless as a little child.
-
-They stood opposite each other in the poor, shabby little room. His
-eyes devoured her face wildly, incredulously, but her eyes were
-fixed on a great hole in the faded carpet.
-
-Her mind was chaotic, for with his eager words of love rang others,
-bewildering her. Side by side with his passionate outpouring of his
-love for her, his longing to have her for his own, to live for her
-and work for her, were other words--words of ambition and great
-aspirations, words of intending travel into far-away countries, of
-hardships and discomforts to be borne for the sake of the book that
-was to be written--the book that was to bring fame and satisfaction
-to the writer of it.
-
-And these words rang with a deep note of earnestness and strength,
-and overpowered those eager, present tones that were pleading to her
-so wildly.
-
-"I called you Kathleen Mavourneen last night, you remember, and you
-smiled and blushed!" he protested, roughly. "Why did you do it?
-Kathleen, you _do_ love me, you do! Why don't you speak to me? I
-tell you, I have seen it in your eyes. Why do you deny it now?"
-
-She shook her head, and her heart cried in agony, "How long? How
-long?"
-
-"Won't you try, then?" with a humbleness that was not natural to
-him. "Oh, Kitty, little Kitty, I cannot live without you!"
-
-He held out his arms to her despairingly.
-
-"I have a singing lesson to give at one o'clock," she said.
-
-His arms fell to his sides. The sun streamed in on to the pretty,
-pale, downbent face of the girl, and on to the white, haggard face
-of the man who stood opposite.
-
-There were no shadows in the little room--it was all glare and
-shabbiness.
-
-"I will go," he said, and then his eyes caught fire; "but you are
-a flirt! Do you hear, a paltry, heartless flirt! You have led me
-on--played with me. You have made your eyes soft, your lips sweet,
-to amuse yourself at my expense! How do you do it?" with a little
-cynical laugh. "It's really clever--of its kind--you know----"
-
-He moved towards the door.
-
-"I beg your pardon," he said icily. "I should not have spoken so to
-a woman. Good-bye."
-
-"You will begin your travels now?" she said.
-
-He laughed.
-
-"Why keep up the pretence?" he said; "it's rather late now to
-pretend any interest in my life."
-
-She was silent.
-
-At the door he paused.
-
-He was a proud man, and he had an iron will.
-
-But his love made him helpless and weak as a little child.
-
-"Kathleen," he breathed, "you are sure?"
-
-A moment she stood still and rigid as a statue.
-
-"Little one, I love you so----" His voice was soft and caressing;
-but her love made her heroic. She raised her head. "I am sure," she
-said steadily.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The girl sat in a corner of the warm, gorgeous drawing-room, and
-wished vaguely that people would not nod and stare at her so
-energetically. She was used to it now, and tired of it.
-
-She had never liked it, but fame brings notoriety in its train, and
-notoriety brings nods and whispers and stares.
-
-She was dressed beautifully. She had always liked pretty things, and
-now she could have as many as she wanted.
-
-The man stood over in a doorway and watched her with cynical eyes.
-
-He had not seen her for five years, and as he stood there another
-man lounged up and spoke to him.
-
-"Looking at _la belle Philomèle_?" he said; "she's quite the rage,
-you know. Ever heard her sing? You're only just back from the wilds,
-aren't you? Oh, well, of course you'll go to St. James's Hall
-to-morrow? She's going to sing, you know. Her voice is splendid. I
-never go to hear her myself--makes me feel I'm a miserable sinner
-somehow--does, 'pon my word. I've heard her twice, and then I
-dropped it. Don't like feeling small, you know."
-
-He lounged away again, and the man with the cynical eyes still
-watched her.
-
-Her head was turned away from him--only a soft, fair cheek and
-little ear nestling in a soft mass of hair, a white throat, and a
-lot of pale chiffon and silk, could he see. And suddenly the cheek
-and even neck were flooded with a red blush, and then they looked
-whiter than before. He wondered, and smiled bitterly as he did so.
-
-And the girl's eyes remained fixed, eager, fascinated, on the long
-looking-glass before her.
-
-But she was not looking at herself.
-
-Afterwards he sought her.
-
-"You were wise," he said mockingly, and her eyes grew dark with pain.
-
-He took the seat beside her and played with the costly fan he had
-picked up.
-
-[Illustration: "You were wise," he said, mockingly.]
-
-"I must congratulate you," he said indifferently. "This"--with
-a comprehensive wave towards her dress and the diamonds at her
-throat--"is better than the old days."
-
-"Yes."
-
-"But perhaps you have forgotten so long as--what is it?--ten--no,
-five years ago?"
-
-"No."
-
-He furled and unfurled the fan in silence, and wondered who had
-given her the Parma violets in her hair.
-
-"Your--book?" she said timidly.
-
-He stared at her blankly.
-
-She reddened slowly.
-
-"You--you--were going to--to travel, and write about it--strange
-places----" she faltered.
-
-"Oh, ah! yes, I believe I was--five years ago."
-
-Her face was white again now.
-
-"You _have_ travelled?" she ventured at last.
-
-"Oh, yes! I've done nothing else for five years. I've shot tigers,
-bears--I've lived with Chinamen and negroes--chummed with cannibals
-once--oh!"--with a laugh--"I've had a fine time!"
-
-Her eyes were wistful.
-
-Her hostess brought up a man to be introduced, and when she turned
-again, the chair was empty.
-
-She did not see him again for two weeks.
-
-There was an added pathos in the beautiful voice.
-
-_La belle Philomèle_ brought tears to many thousands of eyes, but
-her own were dry and restless. It was dawning on her that she had
-made a mistake--five years ago.
-
-"Seen Hugh Hawksleigh?" she heard one man say to another. "Never
-been so disappointed in a chap in my life. Years ago he promised
-great things. Those articles of his on 'Foreign Ways and Doings'
-made quite a sensation, you know. And there was some talk of wild
-travels and a book that was going to be _the_ book of the day. The
-travels are all right, but where's the book?"
-
-"The usual thing--a woman," drawled the other. "Didn't you know?
-Some pretty coquette--the usual game--but the cost was heavier than
-usual--to him. It knocked it out of him, you know. I never saw a
-fellow so hard hit. That was five years ago, and he's never written
-a line since. Poor fellow!"
-
-The knowledge that she had made a mistake five years ago was growing
-plainer to her.
-
-At the end of the fortnight she met him and asked him to come and
-see her.
-
-He smiled, and did not come.
-
-Her eyes grew too big for the small, sad face.
-
-She met him again, and asked him why he had not come.
-
-He looked down into the sweet, true eyes, and his love weakened his
-will again.
-
-He promised he would come. He came, and stayed five minutes. He
-looked at her sternly as he greeted her.
-
-"Why do you want me?" he said, and watched the colour come and go in
-her cheeks with pitiless eyes.
-
-"We--used--to be--friends," she whispered.
-
-He laughed.
-
-"Never! I never felt friendship for you," he said, "nor you for
-me. You forget. Five years is a long time, but I have a retentive
-memory. I forget nothing."
-
-"Nor I," she murmured.
-
-"No? Then why do you ask me to come and see you?"
-
-She did not answer.
-
-He looked round the pretty shaded room.
-
-He laughed again.
-
-"There is a difference," he said, "in you too."
-
-She looked up quickly.
-
-"I am the same," she said, knowing her own heart.
-
-"Are you?" His eyes grew stormy. "Listen," he said, in a low, tense
-voice: "I am five years wiser than I was--then. I will not be a tool
-again. You have ruined my life--doesn't that content you? I would
-have staked my life on your goodness and purity--once. I dare not
-believe in any woman since you, with your angel's eyes, are false.
-I was full of ambition and hope once; you killed both. I tried to
-write--after. I could not. I shall never do anything now--never be
-anything. I despise myself, and it's not a nice feeling to live
-with. It makes men desperate. I love you still. Do you understand? I
-have loved you all the time, and I loathe myself for it." His voice
-changed. "You may triumph," he said, "but now you understand--I will
-not come again."
-
-She stretched out her arms after him, but he was gone. And she knew
-now quite clearly that she had made a mistake five years ago.
-
-For three weeks and a half she did not see him.
-
-Then she saw him when he thought he was alone.
-
-She studied his face with eyes that ached at what they saw. Then she
-went forward and touched him gently on his arm.
-
-"Well?" he said.
-
-"Will you come," she said in a low voice, "to see me----"
-
-"Thanks, no."
-
-His eyes rested bitterly on her rich gown.
-
-It came across him again how wise she had been. Tied to him, she
-could not have been as she was now.
-
-"I have something I must say to you," she said tremulously; "will
-you come--just this once?"
-
-He looked down into the soft eyes with the beautiful light in them.
-
-"I would rather not," he said gently.
-
-The weariness in his eyes brought a sob to her throat.
-
-"Ah, do!" she entreated; "I will never ask you again."
-
-He looked at her with searching incredulity.
-
-Then he turned away.
-
-Just so had she looked five years ago.
-
-She laid a small, despairing hand on his.
-
-The iciness of it went to his heart.
-
-"I will come," he said gently, and went away.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-When he came, he wondered at the agitation in her small white face.
-
-Her eyes were burning.
-
-He waited silently.
-
-She twisted her hands restlessly together, and he saw that she was
-trembling.
-
-He drew a chair forward.
-
-"Won't you sit down?" he said.
-
-She sat down in a nest of softest cushions.
-
-"I--I----" she began, and put up her hand to her throat, "I want
-to--to--to explain."
-
-His face darkened.
-
-She got up restlessly and faced him.
-
-He thought of that time when they had faced each other before--in
-the shabby, glaring little room--and his face hardened.
-
-"When you----" she began; "I thought it was for you--I had heard you
-say----"
-
-"Are you going back five years?" he asked.
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Then would you mind _not_?" he said. "There can be no good in it,
-and to me at least it is not a pleasant subject."
-
-"I must!" she burst out. "Oh! cannot you help me? It is so hard!"
-
-She held out her hands pathetically.
-
-A deep colour came into his tanned face, and he stood still, looking
-at her strangely.
-
-"I think I will go," he said; "there is no use in prolonging this."
-
-"Do you--love--me still?" she cried suddenly.
-
-He turned on her in a white passion of anger.
-
-"Not content yet?" he breathed. "What are you made of? Do you
-want me to show you all my degradation? Why? Oh, Kitty, Kitty, be
-merciful! Be true to those eyes of yours----"
-
-He stopped abruptly and moved over to the door.
-
-"Hugh, I love you!"
-
-It was the veriest whisper, but it stayed his steps, and brought a
-great light leaping to his eyes.
-
-The light died down.
-
-"It is too late!" he said, and turned away.
-
-"Hugh, listen--I loved you always--five years ago. It was for your
-sake----"
-
-He turned again.
-
-"Kitty?" he said uncertainly.
-
-She went on bravely, always heroic through her love.
-
-"I was poor--insignificant; you were ambitious--clever. I had heard
-your longings after greatness. Hugh, how could you travel into those
-wild countries with me? I knew you would give it up, and how could I
-bear that? To be a drag, a hindrance to you! And in the coming years
-I thought you would regret---- Hugh, you were poor, too, though not
-so poor as I. I did it for you--it nearly killed me, Hugh. I was ill
-after, but it was for you!"
-
-Her voice died away into silence.
-
-He stood very still, and his face was white and bloodless.
-
-But in his eyes there was a great reverence.
-
-"Forgive me!" he said.
-
-She smiled softly.
-
-"Oh, yes," she said.
-
-The cynicism had gone from his face, and the hardness and bitterness
-too.
-
-[Illustration: "Oh, cannot you help me? It is so hard!"]
-
-She looked at him wistfully. He turned away from her eyes and hid
-his face in his hands.
-
-"It was a mistake," he said, slowly, dully.
-
-"Yes."
-
-Still she waited.
-
-He looked up, and she strove to read his face in vain.
-
-Sad it was, and set, and yet there was a light there too.
-
-He took her hands gently in his.
-
-"Kathleen," he said earnestly, "God knows what I think of you. I can
-work now. Good-bye, dear."
-
-She raised her eyes to his--mystified and anxious.
-
-He answered them, very gently, but with a firmness there was no
-gainsaying.
-
-"You are famous," he said; "when I have made a name I will come to
-you. Will you wait, Kitty?"
-
-"For ever, Hugh," she answered, understanding him so well that that
-was all she said.
-
-He bent and kissed her hands.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-She knelt at the side of his bed, heedless of the presence of the
-nurse at the other end of the room, and her tears wetted his hand.
-The right hand and arm were swathed in bandages.
-
-He smiled sadly as he looked at her.
-
-"I am a failure," he said.
-
-"Ah, no, no! All England is ringing with your name. Hugh"--she
-raised a face all alight with a proud joy--"you are famous now!"
-
-A little flush rose to his white face.
-
-"Pshaw!" he said, "rescuing a woman and a few children from being
-burnt to death. Anyone would have done it."
-
-"Ah, no, Hugh! Brave men shrank from that awful sea and burning
-ship!"
-
-He was silent, looking at his bandaged hand.
-
-"I must learn to write with my left hand," he said.
-
-She bent nearer.
-
-"Let me write for you," she whispered; "let me finish your book,
-Hugh, while you dictate it to me. I do not sing now in public, you
-know."
-
-"Yes, I know."
-
-He drew her closer to him and rested his cheek against her soft hair.
-
-"I said I would not come to you till I had made a name," he said. "I
-am a wreck now! I shall be a wreck for a long while----"
-
-"Ah, dear, but you are famous!" she interposed lovingly.
-
-He sighed.
-
-"I cannot do without you any longer, Kitty. I am beaten at last.
-Will you take a wreck?"
-
-"I will take _you_, Hugh, a famous----"
-
-"A famous wreck," he finished with a smile.
-
-[Illustration: "Let me write for you," she whispered.]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: THE PULPIT MANNER]
-
-THE PULPIT MANNER
-
-CHARACTERISTIC GESTURES OF GREAT PREACHERS.
-
-=By F. M. Holmes.=
-
-
-First let us look at Dr. Joseph Parker. His sermons are constantly
-attended by ministers of all denominations, including clergymen of
-the Church of England; and no stronger testimony, we take it, could
-be given to a man's extraordinary preaching power than that year
-after year he continually attracts other preachers.
-
-Dr. Parker, it is almost needless to explain, is the eminent
-Congregational minister of the City Temple in London, and he
-occupies the unique position of having maintained for thirty years
-a noonday service every Thursday in addition to his usual Sunday
-services. To this Thursday service come persons from the ends of the
-earth, and ministers and laymen of various religious persuasions. On
-one occasion the sittings of a conference belonging to one of the
-minor Methodist bodies seemed seriously imperilled because so many
-of the delegates desired to go and hear Dr. Parker.
-
-What is the secret of his widely attractive power? The answer comes
-in a word--he is intensely dramatic. We do not mean theatrical.
-He chooses a clear message to deliver, and that message--that
-paramount thought--is driven home to his hearers in a manner that
-forces itself upon every mind, no matter how reluctant. He uses
-short, pithy sentences, and heightens and emphasises their effect by
-suitable modulations of voice, by deliberate or rapid utterance as
-the words may require, and by vigorous and appropriate gesture. He
-speaks only the very pith and point of what he has to say, and then
-says it in the clearest and most suitably effective manner that he
-can possibly command. It is the thing itself we hear, rather than
-talk or argument all round and about it.
-
-[Illustration: DR. PARKER.]
-
-Thus, on one occasion, his theme was found in the text, "Jesus in
-the midst." "Where is the midst?" he asked in a clear and striking,
-sonorous voice that commanded attention at once. These were his
-opening words, and after a pause he proceeded in the same manner and
-in similar short, striking sentences to point to different ideas of
-"the midst," and to declare that Christ was, or should be, in the
-midst of the literature, science, philosophy, and business of the
-day. Unless ministers preached Christ, said he, they had better be
-silent.
-
-[ILLUSTRATION: BISHOP OF RIPON. ARCHDEACON SINCLAIR.
-DEAN LEFROY. BISHOP OF STEPNEY.]
-
-There is nothing new in this, you will say. No doubt Dr. Parker
-would tell you that he does not wish to preach anything new; but no
-one can watch him critically without concluding that he constantly
-studies not only what he shall say, but how he shall say it in the
-most striking and effective manner.
-
-As a dramatic preacher, we might also instance the Rev. J. H.
-Jowett, who has succeeded the late Dr. Dale at Carr's Lane
-Congregational Church, Birmingham. To his Oxford scholarship Mr.
-Jowett has united an assiduous cultivation of a fine voice and
-vigorous yet graceful and suitable gesture, which render him a most
-striking and fascinating preacher.
-
-But turning now to other styles, if Dr. Parker is one of the most
-dramatic, Dr. Boyd Carpenter, the learned Bishop of Ripon, is one of
-the most eloquent of preachers. He is also one of the most rapid.
-He seems so fully charged with his subject that the words pour from
-his lips like a torrent; his body turns first to one side and then
-to the other, and anon leans forward in front, as though propelled
-by the energy of the thought within. His hand is often held up
-before him with the index finger pointing, as though to lead his
-audience on to the next thought, and to prevent their interest or
-attention from flagging. But, rapid and fluent as he is, it must
-not be thought that he is superficial; on the contrary, there is
-every evidence that the discourse is well thought out, and based
-on a solid framework of reason, while the language is eloquent and
-rhetorical. And it is, as it were, to mark the network of logical
-deduction within the words that the index finger is brought so fully
-into play. We judge that his voice is naturally somewhat thin and
-poor, but by careful use and perhaps assiduous cultivation, and by
-the most beautifully clear articulation, Dr. Boyd Carpenter can make
-himself heard in St. Paul's with what appears to be perfect ease.
-There is no straining of the voice and no shouting; but in a quiet
-though forcible manner he sends his voice round the huge building.
-Further, it has been pointed out to me that he will not commence his
-discourse until the congregation have settled themselves down into
-absolute quietness, and all the rustling of dresses, and coughing,
-and fidgeting are stilled. Under these circumstances his voice
-would, of course, carry far better in a large church.
-
-Somewhat similar in manner is Canon Barker, of Marylebone,
-who, in the energetic expression of the thought with which he
-seems surcharged, bends forward sometimes so deeply towards the
-congregation as to give, the impression that he is about to dive out
-of the pulpit. But his style is that of the special pleader, the
-advocate and the debater; it is as though he desires to argue out
-everything to its logical conclusion, rather than to sway or move
-his audience by eloquence and emotional appeals.
-
-[Illustration: PREBENDARY WEBB-PEPLOE.]
-
-Dean Lefroy of Norwich is also a debater; perhaps, a more keen
-debater than Canon Barker, and he is also a rhetorician. He delights
-to preach a strongly evangelical "Gospel" sermon, and to embellish
-it with rhetoric and declaim it with passionate earnestness. It is
-evident he thoroughly believes in his theme, he seeks to impress it
-on his audience by vigorous, earnest, passionate utterance, in which
-his energetic gestures are often of the most decided character.
-A curious characteristic of his preaching has been related to me
-by a friend. "You cannot listen to Lefroy for five minutes," said
-he, "without violently taking sides either for or against him. You
-are either intensely in favour of him or find yourself becoming
-almost vehemently opposed"--a testimony, we take it that the Dean
-is a decided, downright, assertive and aggressive preacher rather
-than persuasive and emotional. He has instituted a Nave service at
-Norwich Cathedral, at which he often preaches himself, and attracts
-enormous congregations.
-
-[Illustration: JOHN MCNEIL.]
-
-Still continuing to glance at those whom we may call rapid and
-fluent preachers, Prebendary Webb-Peploe comes to mind. He is not
-so energetic as some others, but the rapidity of his utterance, the
-fluency of his expression, and his great command of language, would
-rival that of almost any speaker. He and many others would probably
-utter three times as many words in a given time as Dr. Parker or
-Archdeacon Sinclair.
-
-[Illustration: IAN MACLAREN
-
-(_Dr. John Watson._)]
-
-The latter is slow, deliberate, and dignified in his utterances,
-rarely using gesture and affecting a grave and somewhat sonorous
-voice; but the Archdeacon's sermons are always most carefully
-prepared, and indicate considerable study and research.
-
-Among the grave and sedate preachers we might also place Dr. John
-Watson ("Ian Maclaren"), of Sefton Park Presbyterian Church,
-Liverpool; his sermons are full of thought, and, as might be
-expected, exhibit an excellent literary finish.
-
-Now, if we take Archdeacon Sinclair and Dr. John Watson as examples
-of more deliberate and sedate preachers, we may regard the Rev. John
-McNeil, the well-known Presbyterian minister, as an instance of the
-colloquial preacher.
-
-Not that his voice is low-pitched, as used in conversation. Mr.
-McNeil has done what few preachers could physically undertake: he
-has preached twice a day for a fortnight in the Albert Hall at
-Kensington, the largest hall in London, and capable of holding
-about ten thousand persons; and he has repeatedly filled the huge
-Agricultural Hall at Islington, numbers being turned away from
-lack of room. His voice, indeed, seems capable of filling the
-largest hall without effort. But his style is easy, unaffected,
-conversational, though sometimes, with both arms outstretched, he
-bursts forth into loud and impassioned appeals. There is no doubt a
-large section of the public who like this easy and colloquial style,
-especially if it come quite naturally to the speaker.
-
-[Illustration: DR. MCLAREN.]
-
-And now another celebrated figure rises on the scene, the
-eminent Baptist minister, Dr. McLaren of Manchester. Refined,
-scholarly, brimming over with knowledge, and a master of beautiful
-illustration, there is no doubt that he takes rank as one of the
-very greatest preachers of the day. Like other great speakers, he
-has evidently studied the art of preaching.
-
-[Illustration: DR. HORTON. HUGH PRICE HUGHES. J. R. JOWETT.
-SILVESTER HORNE.]
-
-At a meeting at the Holborn Restaurant to celebrate his ministerial
-jubilee in April, 1896, he said he had determined, at the outset of
-his career, to concentrate his mind on the work of the ministry and
-not fritter away his energies over many minor engagements. He had
-always endeavoured to make his ministry one of Gospel exposition; he
-had preached Christ because he believed that men needed redemption,
-and he had preached without doubts and hesitations. It was Thomas
-Binney who had taught him how to preach.
-
-Undoubtedly Dr. McLaren has succeeded in his aim as an expositor
-of the Scriptures, for that is regarded as one of his chief
-characteristics. A favourite gesture of Dr. McLaren's--at all events
-in his earlier days--was to squeeze up a handkerchief, no doubt
-quite unconsciously, in his right hand by the nervous energy he was
-putting forth in his discourse, and then suddenly his hand would
-dart out to mark some emphatic passage as though he were about to
-throw the handkerchief at the congregation; but needless to add the
-handkerchief was never thrown.
-
-Like Dr. McLaren, Dr. Whyte, of Free St. George's, Edinburgh, has
-a great command of beautiful and striking illustrations. "He is
-the most wonderful preacher in Scotland," declared an enthusiastic
-Scot to me on one occasion. "Mr. Gladstone used often to hear him,
-and Lord Rosebery does now." Dr. Whyte makes great use of the
-imagination in his discourses and employs frequent gestures, but
-graceful, emphatic and always to suit the action to the word and
-the word to the action. "One illustration," said a gentleman, "I
-remember some time ago. Dr. Whyte was preaching about tribulation,
-and he showed that the word came from _tribulum_, which is a Latin
-name for a roller or sledge for thrashing out corn, and in the same
-way tribulation sifted men as wheat." How like a platitude this may
-sound when summarised down to a line; but the point is that the idea
-of the beneficial purpose of tribulation had been so firmly fixed in
-the hearer's mind that he remembered it, and perchance in some dark
-hour it had been to him a "cup of strength in some great agony."
-Is not that, after all, one of the great aims and one of the great
-tests of good speaking--to fix some idea, some truth firmly in the
-hearer's mind so that it is never forgotten?
-
-As a robust, manly preacher few, if any, we suspect, can surpass
-Dean Hole of Rochester. He has a tall, commanding presence--he is
-over six feet high--a bright, animated countenance, and a most
-genial manner. When some years ago he held the living of Caunton,
-Notts, he used to journey periodically to Liverpool, where his
-midday addresses to commercial men were most successful and
-exercised great influence. He does not employ much gesture, but his
-fine voice, sparkling eye and manly, straightforward utterances,
-based on reason and logic, always command deep attention.
-
-[Illustration: DR. WHYTE.]
-
-His appeal is rather to reason than to the emotions, and by way
-of contrast we may glance at Canon Wilberforce, who is fluent and
-fervent, and affords one of the best examples of the emotional
-preacher. It would seem as though he set himself to arouse and stir
-up all the feelings of his congregation and lead them into what
-he conceives to be the right channel. Often choosing most unusual
-texts, he can yet make direct and pointed appeals from the pulpit,
-touching the greatest hopes and deepest trusts of human nature,
-and yet can employ as illustrations the greatest events and the
-newest discoveries of the day. He uses but little gesture, in this
-respect being somewhat different from the eminent Wesleyan, the Rev.
-Hugh Price Hughes, who might also be classed as an emotional--we
-had almost said passionate--preacher. In fluency and fervour he
-is probably surpassed by none. Possessed of a remarkably clear,
-vibrating, and penetrating voice, which seems as though it could
-thrill through any building, however large, there is no chance of
-anyone dozing when he is in the pulpit. When pleading some cause or
-denouncing some wrong, his feelings seem to get the better of him,
-and he slashes away with his voice in a perfect hurricane of verbal
-blows.
-
-[Illustration: DR. CLIFFORD.]
-
-Quite as emotional and quite as fluent is Dr. Clifford of Westbourne
-Park Baptist Church. His command of language is extraordinary,
-and with a mind less clear and well-regulated this great fluency
-might prove a snare; but his discourses are always remarkably
-well-arranged, his "points" are clear, and his meanings driven home
-with remarkable emphasis. His congregations are immense, and his
-hearers are devoted to him. His gestures often follow his words,
-and one--probably quite unconscious--is, it must be confessed, not
-graceful, even if forcible: it is a drawing back of his arms, and
-then shooting them out both together as if appealing to the people.
-His voice is exceptionally clear, penetrating, and resonant; and in
-all very popular preachers much is due to the voice.
-
-[Illustration: DEAN HOLE.]
-
-The Bishop of Stepney, who may be described as bearing all the
-characteristics of the highly cultured Oxford man, has in addition
-a deeply sympathetic musical voice. He does not use much gesture,
-but such as he does employ is well suited to the words, while his
-illustrations are often drawn from his social and religious work in
-the East End. He used frequently to preach in Victoria Park, where
-he has readily acknowledged his best supporters were Nonconformists.
-
-[Illustration: CANON BARKER. CANON WILBERFORCE.]
-
-Another eminent preacher whom we may also describe as exhibiting all
-the characteristics of Oxford culture is Dr. Horton of Lyndhurst
-Road Congregational Church, Hampstead. Possessed, like the Bishop
-of Stepney, of a remarkably sympathetic voice, he modulates and
-varies it to suit the subject and the words, and his gesture,
-never redundant, has lately been reduced almost to extinction. At
-the sermon which he preached before the Congregational Union at
-its autumnal assembly at Birmingham in 1897, his style was almost
-severely quiet, but the effect of his thrilling voice and sometimes
-awesome whispered tones, his polished literary language, and his
-intense earnestness--as he declared that the ideal Christian must be
-in constant touch with God, and yet in constant touch with men--was
-very great, and appealed both to reason and emotion. Indeed, both
-of these find their place in his sermons. Dr. Horton has mastered
-the art of always being interesting, no matter what his theme; and
-it would seem as though in his discourses he makes an effort to
-really interest and to reach all sorts and conditions of men.
-
-Another Congregational minister who exhibits much of the Oxford
-manner is the Rev. Silvester Horne, of Kensington; but, in addition,
-he seems possessed of a fiery zeal and fervent enthusiasm that will,
-it is feared, wear him out physically before his day is fully spent,
-unless he carefully husbands his nervous energy. Already, although
-a young man, he has had to take rest for a whole year because of
-ill-health. That inner fire, that mental energy, that disciplined
-enthusiasm, which light up his face so brilliantly and animate his
-suitable and graceful gesture, are far too precious a possession to
-be quenched too quickly; but there are few or none of the younger
-preachers of the day who have promise of a more brilliant future.
-
-And now a word in conclusion for one who is perhaps the greatest
-philosophical preacher of the time--Dr. Fairbairn of Mansfield
-College at Oxford. His memory is marvellous, his power of choice
-and accurate verbal expression is wonderful; he can speak for hours
-without a note, and though sometimes a sentence should appear
-involved and complicated, it will finish admirably, and, if read
-in a verbatim report afterwards, will have all the finish of a
-literary production wrought out in the quiet of the study. He uses
-but little gesture, an occasional opening out of hands and arms, as
-though to present and lay before the audience the thought which he
-is uttering, seems nearly all. In fact, it would appear that he is
-so absorbed in the abstract thought, the argument, the philosophy he
-is working out before you, that he thinks nothing of the manner in
-which he utters it.
-
-We do not pretend to have exhausted the list of famous preachers, or
-even to have glanced at all the different types; but these will be
-sufficient to indicate the variety that prevails, and to show that
-there is an art of preaching which, like other arts, needs to be
-assiduously cultivated, and well repays those who intelligently do
-so.
-
-
-
-
-A MOTHER'S BIBLE.
-
-  A pathetic incident occurred some years ago in connection with one
-    of our wars abroad. A youth who had been wounded, and who died in
-    the field hospital, clutched in his last hours an old worn copy of
-    the Bible, on the flyleaf of which were inscribed these touching
-    lines:--
-
-TO MY BOY.
-
-
-    Remember, love, who gave you this,
-      When other days shall come,
-    When she who had thy earliest kiss
-      Sleeps in her narrow home.
-    Remember! 'twas a mother gave
-    The gift to one she'd die to save.
-
-    A mother sought a pledge of love,
-      The holiest, for her son;
-    And from the gift of God above
-      She chose a godly one--
-    She chose for her beloved boy
-    The source of light and life and joy.
-
-    And bade him keep the gift, that when
-      The parting hour should come
-    They might have hope, and meet again
-      In an eternal home:
-    She said his faith in that should be
-    Sweet incense to her memory.
-
-    And should the scoffer in his pride
-      Laugh his fond faith to scorn,
-    And bid him cast the pledge aside
-      Which he from youth had borne--
-    She bade him pause and ask his breast
-    If he or she had loved him best.
-
-    A mother's blessing on her son
-      Goes with this holy thing,
-    The love that would retain the one
-      Must to the other cling.
-    Remember! 'tis no idle toy,
-    Thy mother's gift! Remember, boy!
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: ROGER PETTINGDALE]
-
-ROGER PETTINGDALE
-
-_A RUSTIC LOVE-STORY._
-
-By H. A. Davies.
-
-
-Across the fields from the church--through the clover meadow first,
-into the broad wheat-field next, and thence over the pasture lands,
-all yellow with the glint of buttercups--you will come to the
-Pettingdale farm. A thrill and a song and an aching went through
-my blood all together when I looked on the block of buildings the
-other day. How sweet-and-bitter is remembrance; how musical to the
-heart, and yet how sad with yearning! For the sight of that rugged
-old chimney standing square and grim and familiar upon the grey
-roof of the house; the red-tiled barns clustering behind, plain and
-prosperous; the sweep of the waving corn-fields towards the setting
-sun; caused my heart to surge with swift memories, long since buried
-and forgotten beneath the stress of life. How peaceful were the old
-days amidst these very fields! When the heart is young, ah! then's
-the time for music; and what echoes of far-off melodies--songs
-of old summers past and gone--does the scene awaken! There's the
-orchard where I spent such rare hours. Here are the hedges where we
-went a-nutting. Yonder is the oak-tree which we used to climb, Frank
-Pettingdale and I. It is still the same sturdy tree, keeping gnarled
-and knotted guard over the same creaking gateway, just as in the old
-days!
-
-Wherever my eyes fell there were thorns and roses for the heart all
-in one moment. It was in the old upland field that Clara Pettingdale
-and I as children used to wander, hand in hand, amongst the
-buttercups. She has long slept, poor Clara, in that corner of the
-churchyard where lie generations of Pettingdales past and gone--a
-long line of sturdy yeomen.
-
-The full light of the sun falls upon the courtyard of the farmhouse.
-It has a broad frontage, long and low and quaint, with irregular
-gables and overhanging eaves and deep, mullioned windows. The
-house runs queerly on two sides of the courtyard, one wing being
-at right angles to the other. It is beautifully clean and prim,
-with its whitewashed walls, its freshly painted woodwork, and
-its geraniums growing in green boxes on every window-sill. On
-the third side of the yard run the granary and the cider-house;
-while the fourth, save for an ivy-covered wall, which gives way to
-the entrance gates in one corner, is open to the gentle vista of
-countryside which stretches away before the house. What a pleasant
-old courtyard it is--so cool in the summer that the panting dogs
-love to throw themselves upon its stones; so sheltered in winter
-that the blustering nor'-easters touch it not; so prosperous-looking
-always, with its well-kept flags laid from end to end, as level and
-smooth as a billiard-table, and as spotless as the floor of the
-farm kitchen. How the polished milk-cans glisten and blink upon
-the wall! How the white sills of the old-fashioned windows gleam
-in the sunlight! The whole place seems to breathe of scouring and
-buckets, and scrubbing brushes and vigorous arms. Every morning the
-yard is washed down by the house-boy (it used to be Elijah in my
-day, but he is now a bearded man, and labours outside, and a young
-Ezra is the present knight of the bucket); every morning the cans
-are scoured and the tubs are scrubbed, and the step before the door
-is free-stoned, and the flowers are watered, and the house seems to
-smile a glistening, watery smile, as though it had just lifted its
-head from its morning dip to bid you the time of day. There was ever
-a charm to me about Pettingdale and its paved courtyard. I mind me
-well what a brave and romantic sound to my young ears was that of
-the horse's hoofs ringing and clamping upon the stones as he was
-brought up to the door on market days with the high yellow dogcart
-behind him; or the clatter of the wheels across the yard as Roger
-Pettingdale drove out through the broad gateway, a fine old figure
-with his white hair, and his aquiline nose, and his broad, well-set
-shoulders.
-
-[Illustration: His hair went snow-white early in life.]
-
-He is still outwardly the same. One could hardly detect a single
-point of change in him, save that his face is more furrowed and his
-eyes deeper set. His hair went snow-white early in life. Generations
-of Pettingdales have been subject to the same peculiarity. Thus it
-is that the long step from forty to sixty-five has wrought little
-difference in Roger Pettingdale. His body is as erect, his step as
-firm, his voice as sonorous as ever. He was ever a well-known figure
-at all the county markets and agricultural meetings, and it might be
-twenty-five years agone for all the change that one can see in him.
-Among other men he was always noticeable, with his tall figure, his
-white hair, his clean-shaven, well-cut face, and that wide-rimmed
-silk hat which he always affected. As he moved amongst the crowd I
-have heard men say, "Who is that?" and others answer, "Don't you
-know him? Why, surely everybody knows _him_? He's Roger Pettingdale."
-
-He is elected on all the local bodies. Thus he is a guardian of the
-poor, a member of the School Board, vice-chairman of the County
-Council, and the people's churchwarden at the parish church. There
-is no man amongst all those he meets in these capacities whose words
-are listened to with more respect. That solid weight, that hallmark
-of sound judgment which always attends upon sheer common-sense, is
-apparent in every opinion he utters. He forms his judgments first,
-and speaks afterwards. While other men are impulsively throwing
-themselves into useless controversy on this or that vexed question,
-Roger Pettingdale is silently weighing the _pros_ and _cons_ of
-the matter in his own mind; and when he speaks there is usually
-nothing more to be said. He chops no logic; he simply argues
-with the sledge-hammer of common-sense, backed up by the blunt,
-uncompromising sincerity of an honest and fair-dealing mind. His
-tolerance, his breadth of vision, his power of seeing the other side
-of the question, his scorn of all shams and pretences, have made his
-name a password for integrity and sound judgment. "You will always
-get a fair hearing from Roger Pettingdale," people say. "Does Roger
-Pettingdale think so? Oh, then, there must be something in it."
-
-In his home life, in the control of his farm, in his own daily
-affairs, there is the same straightforwardness, the same sincerity,
-the same well-balanced judgment and acumen. "There never was a
-year, as I remember, when we didn't have plenty of hay to begin
-conditioning on," said one of his labourers the other day. "Now,
-at the next farm they've never got enough." That is only a small
-instance of the perfection of method which marks every department of
-the prosperous farm.
-
-At home he is essentially a plain man, this sturdy farmer. There
-is no nonsense about him, although he can claim blood with one of
-the oldest families in the county. Yet he has a proper pride, in
-a manly, direct kind of way, as you shall see. He has had four
-children, two boys and two girls, in giving birth to the youngest
-of whom his wife died. James, the eldest, is his right hand in the
-farm management, and will some day be head of the family, as the
-Pettingdales have succeeded, son to father, for generations out of
-mind. Mary, the second, you shall hear more of anon. Frank, the
-third, my old playmate, early in life took the fancy that he would
-like to be a soldier. Roger Pettingdale has ever been a wise and a
-tolerant father, studying well the nature of each of his children.
-He unerringly knew Frank's proud and stubborn character.
-
-"You want to be a soldier?" he said. "Well, I could have wished it
-otherwise, Frank. It would have been a pleasure to me to see you
-settle down on the farm. But we will not argue the point. Let it
-stand for twelve months, and then talk to me about it."
-
-Twelve months did not change Frank's resolve. When he mentioned
-it again, a drawn look passed over Roger Pettingdale's face for a
-moment--a look of keen pain--for he loved his children. Then he drew
-himself up to his full height.
-
-"You are still of the same mind, Frank! Then I have nothing more to
-say. I am not going to attempt to dictate to you what your calling
-should be. You have to live your own life, and as you make your bed
-you must lie on it. Remember that, my lad. If you decide to go as a
-soldier, you shall go in a proper fashion, lad. You shall have your
-commission. No son of mine shall enter the ranks."
-
-And have his commission Frank did. I looked at the tablet in the old
-church the other day with a surging heart. It is a brass tablet, the
-lettering of which has been recently renovated.
-
-       TO THE MEMORY OF
-  LIEUTENANT FRANK PETTINGDALE,
-    WHO FELL IN ACTION IN THE
-     BATTLE OF TEL-EL-KEBIR.
-
-That was all. There was no vainglorious recounting of the brave
-deed in the performance of which Frank was cut down. He fell "in
-action." That was all. It was Roger Pettingdale all over--simple and
-direct and manly. And were not the laconic words far more eloquent
-than all the ornate elegiacs that poets might have written, just as
-Roger Pettingdale's silent grief when the news reached him was far
-more eloquent than all the passionate outbursts of frenzied sorrow
-that one could conceive?
-
-The fourth child, Clara, as I have already said, sleeps in the
-churchyard. She died when she was a fair-haired girl of ten--as
-bright and promising a maiden as one could wish to see. But she was
-ever fragile, like her mother, and suddenly she faded away, leaving
-a great gap in the home life at the Pettingdale farm.
-
-As to Mary, the second child, she was nineteen years of age, and
-newly returned from school, when Edward Leigh, the son of old Squire
-Leigh, of the Hall, came home from his travels round the world.
-These two, who had only distantly known each other as children,
-met for the first time after many years--she a sweet-looking,
-fresh-coloured girl, in the first blush of womanhood; and he a
-manly, well-set young fellow with a pleasant, sincere face and
-straightforward blue eyes. It was the old story! Twang goes the
-bow of the roguish little archer, and to some heart or another the
-world all at once becomes rose-colour. The old story! They saw each
-other on a Sunday morning across the church. She, sitting in the
-Pettingdale pew, mentally noted that there was a young man at the
-Squire's side who could be no other than his newly returned son; and
-he, from his corner underneath the dingy, ponderous coat-of-arms
-of the Leigh family, looked upon her in her simple dress of white.
-The sun, striking through the window to her right, glinted upon her
-brown hair, which always curled so prettily about her forehead. He
-thought, as he looked, that she was the sweetest, daintiest maiden
-he had ever seen, and he fell in love with her.
-
-He made no secret of his passion. Beating about the bush was
-entirely foreign to Edward Leigh. The choleric old Squire went
-off into a fit of apoplectic rage when he heard how things stood.
-The veins swelled in his forehead, and that pugnacious under-lip
-of his stood out and drew itself over the upper lip and the teeth
-with a tight grip. But Edward had all the old Leigh blood in him.
-"I love her, father," he said quietly, looking the Squire straight
-in the face, and the old man's heart sank within him as he met the
-steady glance of those blue eyes. Fits of passion, threats, fiery
-denunciations--they were all of no avail. Edward was never once
-other than respectful. He would stand with shoulders squared and
-head uplifted, bearing the storm in perfect calm and silence, and
-then would look his father in the face and say--"Father, I love
-her"; and the Squire would clench his fist and march to and fro,
-furiously stamping his feet upon the floor.
-
-[Illustration: "Father, I love her."]
-
-In one culminating fit of choleric rage the Squire rode over to the
-farm. He found Roger Pettingdale in the corn-field, looking at the
-growing wheat.
-
-[Illustration: "Forgive me!"]
-
-"Look here, Pettingdale," he burst forth fiercely. "This nonsense
-must be stopped. Are you an idiot, that you cannot see what is going
-on, or are you in the scheme to entrap my----"
-
-Roger Pettingdale turned round upon him.
-
-"I beg your pardon, Squire Leigh?" he said quietly, as one who had
-not heard aright.
-
-"Tut! Nonsense!" retorted the Squire. "Don't 'beg-your-pardon' me!
-You know full well what I mean. Are you blind? I say it must be
-stopped! You know full well that that precious son of mine has gone
-stark mad over that chit of a girl of yours!"
-
-"And what of that, Squire Leigh?" replied Roger Pettingdale, drawing
-himself to his full height and looking at the Squire from underneath
-his heavy eyebrows. "If that precious son of yours has gone stark
-mad over my daughter, what of that?"
-
-"Why, this," thundered the Squire: "that it must be stopped!"
-
-"Very well, why don't you stop it?" replied Roger Pettingdale.
-
-The retort, perfectly cool and natural, laid bare all the Squire's
-impotence at one stroke, and drove him well-nigh to frenzy. His eyes
-shot fire, and those veins in his forehead swelled as though they
-would burst.
-
-"It is not my daughter who is coming to the Hall after your son,"
-Roger Pettingdale went on. "It is your son who is coming here after
-my daughter. You seem to forget that point. You say it must be
-stopped. And I repeat--Why don't you stop it?"
-
-"It is as I thought," shouted the enraged Squire. "You are all in
-it--all of you. All in the scheme to entrap him! A pretty plot,
-don't you call it, for a man who poses as a Christian?"
-
-In a blind access of fury he took a step forward and raised his
-riding-whip. And then his shaking arm fell to his side, for Roger
-Pettingdale had laid a hand upon his shoulder, and was confronting
-him with grave, kindly, pitying eyes.
-
-"You are in anger, Squire Leigh," he said, with simple dignity,
-"else I should take your words as an insult. Be sure that the
-Pettingdales have not fallen so low, nor their womenkind either,
-that they need to trap the son of Squire Leigh. But I tell you this,
-as man to man: if your son truly loves my daughter, and if she
-loves him in return, I will put no bar before my child's happiness;
-no, not for you, nor for all the Leighs in the world. We come of
-as good a stock as you, Squire! Remember that! More money and more
-land maybe you have--but not more pride of family. I care naught
-for your money or your land. Thank God! I have prospered beyond all
-expectation. And I tell you again, straight to your face, if your
-son comes to me and asks for my daughter's hand, and I find it is
-for her happiness, I shall say 'Yes.'"
-
-"I shall disinherit him!" burst forth the Squire; "he shall not have
-a penny--not a brass farthing!"
-
-"I shall tell him," continued Roger Pettingdale, "that if he would
-win my daughter, he must first make a position for himself in the
-world, independently of aught you can do for or against him; and
-that shall be the test of his sincerity."
-
-Then he turned away, and the Squire, his face livid with passion,
-marched off, savagely cutting at the wheat-ears with his
-riding-whip. And when he mounted his horse at the corner of the
-field, he dug his spurs so viciously into her that she bounded and
-reared, and almost threw him.
-
-Well, the long and short of it was that Edward Leigh was not found
-wanting in the test which was imposed upon him.
-
-"You are quite right, sir," he said to Roger Pettingdale; "the
-condition is a reasonable one. I ask for nothing more than the
-chance of proving that I am in earnest."
-
-He went to London, studied under his father's old college friend,
-John Wetherell, the well-known Queen's Counsel, and in five years
-was making fair headway in the courts as a barrister. And the
-strange part of it was that the choleric old Squire--who has a good
-heart underneath his rough exterior--seeing his son's name in the
-papers from time to time, felt his paternal pride rising within him
-despite his stubborn resentment. Perhaps, too, he felt lonely in his
-old age. At all events, he went over to the farm one day, and asked
-to see Mary.
-
-"I shall fight against it no longer, my dear," he said, holding
-out his hand. "The lad has proved his grit, and the woman who
-can call forth such steady love in a man is more than worthy of
-being mistress of the Hall. I am an old man, and have no time left
-for bitternesses. Forgive me, and you will find me as staunch in
-friendship as you have found me frank in enmity."
-
-Mary is now Mary Leigh, of Leigh Hall, and a sweeter, gentler, more
-winsome mistress you could not find in the whole land. You may often
-see the old Squire leaning upon her shoulder--a bent, white-haired
-figure--as they walk in the grounds.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Among all the seasons of the year, I think there is none that Roger
-Pettingdale loves so well as the time of harvest. You may see him
-standing at the gateway, looking in meditation down the long shimmer
-and sheen of the golden wheat-field as the wind ripples over it.
-
-"I love to gaze at fields white with corn," he said to me once.
-"They seem to breathe rich promises of that full fruition to which
-our own lives shall come if we live them well and uprightly."
-
-At the last harvest thanksgiving service in the village church I was
-present for the sake of old times, and from my place behind Roger
-Pettingdale I saw him lost in meditation, with eyes fixed upon the
-chancel window. And when he stood up to sing he was still rapt in
-thought; but suddenly he joined in the sweet old hymn so lustily and
-with such a full heart that it did me good to hear him.
-
-    "The valleys stand so thick with corn
-     That even they are singing."
-
-
-
-
-THE ART OF READING.
-
-By the Ven. Archdeacon Diggle, M.A.
-
-
-Reading aloud is more commonly regarded as an accomplishment than
-an art. In truth, it is both. It is an art in that it cannot be
-left to its own guidance, but requires both an acquaintance with
-rules and familiarity with their practice to bring it to perfection.
-It is an accomplishment in that it is a means of completing our
-equipment for happy social life. Good reading yields not only profit
-but pleasure to others. It is one means of throwing brightness into
-home-life to gather the children together and read really well to
-them. And what a sweet delight it is in the ward of a hospital, or
-among the inmates of a workhouse, or by the bedside of some dearly
-loved invalid, to be able, by reading in soft, gentle, refreshing
-tones, to charm away the monotony and the weariness, perhaps for
-awhile to relieve even the pain, of the lonely and the suffering! We
-might shed sunshine into the darkness of many a life if, instead of
-spending our leisure hours in _ennui_ on ourselves, we devoted them
-to reading aloud to others.
-
-Reading aloud is good for ourselves both physically and morally. It
-is good morally, for if we never read anything unfit for reading
-aloud we shall not be likely to read anything morally deteriorating.
-And physically, reading aloud is a benignant exercise. It widens
-the chest, opens the lungs, strengthens the throat, and does good
-to all the breathing organs. It is a mistake to suppose that using
-the voice weakens it. Abuse or misuse of the vocal organs, as of any
-other organs, injures them; but by proper use and exercise they are
-strengthened and improved. Speakers and preachers have bad throats
-not because they use their throat too much, but because they use it
-badly. They force and torment it, instead of training it to natural
-action and giving it free, full play. And who shall blame them? At
-school they were taught to spell and mind their stops; but how to
-breathe and manage the voice when reading, they probably were not
-taught a single rule. In many instances teachers themselves are
-wholly ignorant of the art and therefore incapable of teaching it.
-And so it comes to pass that, unless either outward circumstance
-or innate common-sense turn our attention in later life to the
-management of the vocal organs, we never learn to read aloud without
-weariness and with pleasure. It is mainly through lack of early
-training that, of all useful and delightful accomplishments, the art
-of reading aloud is one of the least practised and most rare.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Russell and Sons, Baker Street, W._)
-ARCHDEACON DIGGLE.]
-
-Yet it is an art which, in some degree, may be acquired by the
-majority of people; very many could, by a little training and
-perseverance, even excel in it. Of course, the art admits of many
-degrees of excellence. But without reaching the splendid summits of
-the art, attainable only by the highly gifted few, ordinary persons
-may learn to read sufficiently well to gratify both themselves and
-others, if they will take pains to learn and practise a few simple
-rules.
-
-The first requirement is to master the physics of the art: to learn
-to breathe in through the nostrils and out through the mouth,
-never to speak on an inflowing breath, quickly to fill the lungs
-and slowly to empty them, never to gasp or strain after sound, not
-to attempt the higher notes until the lower have been completely
-mastered, to rely more on the lower than the higher notes, to teach
-the lips and front portion of the mouth to do their fair share of
-work equally with the larynx and the vocal cords. A moustache is an
-impediment to easy and distinct reading. It hinders the air from
-passing in free, full flow up the nostrils, and it troubles the
-waves of sound as they issue from the mouth; causing indistinctness,
-more or less flat and thick, in enunciation.
-
-Clearness of enunciation ranks next in importance after easy,
-natural, flexible production of voice, and largely depends on it,
-for there can be no clear, crisp, distinct enunciation of words,
-unless the tools by which words are made, viz. the organs of voice,
-are kept sharp and well burnished. Moreover, for the attainment
-of limpid and finely articulated enunciation careful training is
-required both in the melody and modulation of sounds.
-
-Precision and beauty of enunciation are much assisted by habitual
-practice of the graduated series of all the tones from the keynote
-to its octave. Do not sing when you are reading, but, in order to
-read well, first learn to sing; otherwise your reading will be flat
-and monotonous, without light and shade, instead of being fresh,
-richly modulated, and melodious.
-
-The next requirement of good reading is to learn the relative value
-of the letters, and the right handling of the syllables, of which
-words are composed.
-
-This study is both interesting and attractive, for, as Plato
-observes, letters themselves have a clear significance. The letter
-_r_ is expressive of motion, the letters _d_ and _t_ of binding and
-rest, the letter _l_ of smoothness, _n_ of inwardness, the letter
-_e_ of length and the letter _o_ of roundness.[2] Letters run in
-families, and each family has its own characteristic significance of
-sound. Some letters belong to the lips, others to the throat, others
-employ the whole mouth. Vowels and final consonants are the letters
-which demand most care and support in good reading. For the most
-part, vowels should be rich and full, and the final consonant well
-sustained.
-
-[2] _Cf._ Jowett's Plato, I. 311.
-
-If letters in themselves are expressive and significant,
-collocations of letters in syllables and words are clearly more
-significant still. "By various degrees of strength or weakness,
-emphasis or pitch, length or shortness, they become the natural
-expressions both of the stronger and the finer parts of human
-feeling and thought." To read well, therefore, it is necessary to
-give intelligent and ready heed to the relative weight of words,
-to notice whether consonants are massed together to increase their
-density, or vowels are freely interspersed to leaven and make
-them light. True enunciation largely depends on a careful study
-of the natural formation of words and a right appreciation of the
-proportionate value of their several syllables.
-
-Reading, however, is frequently spoiled by pedantry and exaggerated
-minuteness. In seeking to avoid slovenliness readers often fall into
-foppery. Good reading goes at an easy pace, it is neither too fast
-nor too slow; it neither counts the letters nor omits them, neither
-jumbles syllables together nor anatomises words. The good reader
-reads so that intelligent listeners can spell his words, but he does
-not read as if spelling them himself. He avoids the extremes both
-of negligence and nicety, and constantly remembers that whatever is
-overdone is badly done. Avoid ostentation. No rule in reading is
-more fundamental than this.
-
-Near akin to ostentation is the taint of false and histrionic
-emphasis. Colourless reading, bad though it be, is better than
-tawdry reading. Especially in all reading of a religious or sacred
-character should affectation and dramatic artifices be reverently
-avoided.
-
-To read the Bible in church as if playing a part on the stage is as
-inappropriate and irreligious as to read like one in haste to catch
-a train.
-
-Each kind of subject demands its own proper style in reading. Prose
-should not be read like poetry; nor all kinds either of prose or
-poetry alike. As in writing, each species should be dressed in
-language from its own wardrobe; so in reading, each several kind
-should receive its own appropriate tone, and travel at its own
-appropriate speed. To read everything alike is to read nothing--or
-at most only one thing--well.
-
-[Illustration: Charming away the monotony and the weariness.]
-
-Great authors are by no means invariably good readers, even of
-their own productions. Lord Tennyson read some of his own glorious
-poems beautifully; but others he read either droningly or with too
-much singsong. Dickens read his own works with wonderful power and
-realisation. Wordsworth read his own verse admirably; but we are
-told that neither Coleridge nor Southey could read verse well: "They
-read as if crying or wailing lugubriously."
-
-Reading, therefore, is an art which doubtless requires, for
-the attainment of excellence, some degree of histrionic
-gifts--imagination, imitation, fervour, and passion.
-
-Similarly with oratory and authorship. Both these arts are distinct
-from that of reading; as each of these again is distinct from the
-other.
-
-It is curious, indeed, how few among great authors are great
-orators; or, among great orators, great authors. The gifts which
-tell in writing--condensation, terseness, finish--are not the
-gifts which tell most in speaking. In speaking, the essentials are
-clearness of enunciation, sympathy with the audience, copiousness
-of illustration, directness of statement, uninvolved reasoning. The
-merits which impart value to a book--wealth of fact, niceness in
-balancing opposing considerations, delicacy of assertion, depth and
-sweep of argument--may easily become ineffective in the delivery of
-a speech. Hence, therefore, whereas a good speaker is occasionally
-a good writer, owing to his rare combination of different orders
-of talent, it more frequently happens that the one set of talents
-is given to one man to enrich them in seclusion, and the other to
-another man to use them with publicity.
-
-In like manner with reading; it is an art by itself. It is natural
-to suppose that no one could possibly read an author's works so
-well as the author's self, because no one can understand them so
-intimately as their own creator. Yet experience proves this to be
-not the case; and for a reason which at first sight is not wholly
-apparent. It is just because they are his own that, as a rule, he
-cannot read them well. He may have a richly cultivated voice, clear
-enunciation, a varied power of modulation; he may even be able to
-read the works of others well, yet be a failure in reading what he
-himself has written. Why is this? Partly, perhaps, it is due to
-an unavoidable self-consciousness in reading his own works; and
-self-consciousness is the ruin of good reading. "Forget thyself"
-is a necessary condition of good reading. Partly, perhaps, it is
-due to over-absorption in the memory of sensations and sentiments
-which overpowered him when he wrote in the solitude of his chamber,
-but which are somewhat unnatural and overstrained for exhibition
-before a concourse of auditors. But probably the principal reason
-is that one of the greatest charms of good reading arises from the
-co-operation of two spirits toward one end--the spirit of the author
-and the spirit of the reader. The reader of another's works seeks
-actively to express the spirit of his author, yet unintentionally
-he is expressing his own spirit also. The author enters into him
-and he throws himself into the author; his reading, therefore, is
-the union, the marriage, the interpenetration and expression of two
-spirits--the author's and his own. However interesting, therefore,
-and delightful it may be to hear an author read his own works,
-yet is there always lacking the dash and force and suggestiveness
-produced when a great author is interpreted by a great reader. The
-author merely reproduces his original meaning in what he wrote;
-the reader, through the agency of his own independent personality,
-idealises and diversifies that meaning.
-
-Idealisation is one of the most beautiful effects of the fine art of
-reading. The most ordinary poem or piece of prose, when idealised
-by an accomplished artist in reading, grows lovely and sweet. And
-one way of learning to read well ourselves is to sit at the feet of
-some of these great masters of reading. Until we have heard a great
-reader read it is next to impossible to conceive what a fine and
-noble art true reading is. On the other hand, we can never become
-good readers by merely listening to others, any more than we can
-become good musicians by hearing others play.
-
-In the art of reading, others may be our models; none but ourselves
-can be our makers. Listening to others may show us how the thing
-can best be done, but without doing the thing ourselves the thing
-can never be truly learned by us. Sometimes, indeed, listening to
-others has an effect quite the opposite of a model for imitation.
-"Pausanias tells us of an ancient player on the harp who was wont to
-make his scholars go to hear one who played badly that they might
-learn to hate his discords and false measures." In like manner, one
-way of learning to read well is to hear others read badly.
-
-The art of reading aloud culminates in the expression of the
-spiritual through the medium of the physical. As sculpture aspires
-to express its ideals in stone, and painting in colour, and music
-in sound, so reading embodies its ideals in uttered words. A
-well-trained voice, clearness of enunciation, rhythm and flexibility
-of articulation--these are the physical framework of the art of
-reading aloud. Without first acquiring these the reader is as
-impotent as the painter without colour or the sculptor without
-stone. But the physics of reading are nothing more than its material
-framework. Unless the reader is inspired with ideals, reading will
-never rise to the dignity and glory of an art with him. He may be
-as a house-painter with his brush, or a mason with his stone--an
-industrious and useful artificer, but not an artist in his work.
-
-
-
-
-MIDGET CHURCHES
-
-By J. A. Reid.
-
-
-The subject of church architecture is ever a fascinating one.
-Millions of money and an immense amount of time and labour have been
-spent in erecting places of worship, some of which are magnificent
-structures capable of seating several thousands. On the other hand,
-small, humble edifices sometimes suffice to meet the requirements of
-the worshippers; and it is with these that we here propose to deal.
-
-Which of the midget churches is the smallest it is somewhat
-difficult to say; but it is believed that the smallest church in
-England is the truly miniature church of Lullington, in Sussex.
-It is a primitive and quaint building, constructed of flint with
-stone quoins, with a roof of red tiles. It can boast of a little
-weather-boarded turret at its west end; but its bell does not toll
-now, and the birds of the air have long since found the turret a
-convenient nesting-place. The church is but sixteen feet square. The
-pulpit is a pew, with panelled sides and door, and the furniture is
-of the plainest. Five, narrow, diamond-paned windows throw a scanty
-light upon the interior, in which there is accommodation for thirty
-persons--quite sufficient for the population of the village.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: H. J. Unwin, Hailsham._)
-
-LULLINGTON CHURCH.
-
-(_Sixteen feet square._)]
-
-A somewhat larger edifice is the very interesting church of
-Wythburn, in Cumberland, the dimensions of which are--nave (length),
-thirty-nine feet; height of walls, ten feet; and width, fifteen
-feet. This was the original church, erected about one hundred and
-sixty years ago, and is of the simplest description. The roof is
-constructed of old ships' timber, and the windows are square holes
-with wooden frames. The chancel is eighteen feet long by fifteen
-feet by ten feet. The beautiful little east window is by Henry
-Holiday, and was put in to the memory of the late vicar. What
-a magnificent site for a church! The poets have thus expressed
-themselves with regard to this humble but beautifully situated
-church:--
-
-Canon H. D. Rawnsley wrote:
-
-    "We cannot stay--for life is but an Inn,
-     A halfway house--and, lo! the graves how near!
-     Yet mighty minds have hither come for cheer
-     Before the upward path they dared begin.
-     Here Gray the pilgrim rested pale and thin,
-     Here Wilson laughed, and Wordsworth murmured here.
-     Here Coleridge mused, and ere he crossed the mere
-     Hence Arnold viewed the Goal he hoped to win.
-     And we who would Helvellyn's height essay,
-     Or climb towards the gateway of the mound
-     Where Dunmail died because his realm was fair,
-     May join their gracious company who found
-     Earth's beauty made Life's Inn a House of Prayer,
-     And speed, refreshed of soul, upon our way."
-
-[Illustration: _Wythburn Church as compared with St. Paul's
-Cathedral._
-
-(_Photo: T. Dumble, Keswick._)
-
-WYTHBURN CHURCH.
-
-(_Thirteen yards long, five yards wide._)]
-
-Wordsworth, too, said:
-
-    "If Wythburn's modest House of Prayer,
-     As lowly as the lowliest dwelling,
-     Had, with its belfry's humble stock,
-     A little pair that hang in air,
-     Been mistress also of a clock
-     (And one, too, not hung in crazy plight),
-     Twelve strokes that clock would have been telling
-     Under the brow of old Helvellyn."
-
-And H. Coleridge:
-
-    "Humble it is, and meek, and very low,
-     And speaks its purpose by a single bell:
-     But God Himself, and He alone, can know
-     If spiry temples please Him half so well."
-
-We have given two instances of very small churches: let us now refer
-to a midget chapel. At Crawshawbooth, a village near Burnley, there
-is an extremely interesting diminutive place of worship known as
-the Friends' Meeting-House, an old-fashioned building covered with
-ivy, and environed by a well-cared-for burial ground. It contains
-half a dozen oak benches, on which the worshippers sit. Though these
-benches are sufficient to provide seating accommodation for about
-sixty, the attendance is rarely more than six. John Bright once
-worshipped here, walking from Rochdale, a distance of twelve miles.
-This quaint little place is naturally regarded with much interest by
-visitors.
-
-It is interesting to point out that there is another Quaker
-meeting-house in the hamlet of Jordans, in Buckinghamshire, which
-is, if anything, smaller than that already referred to. It has been
-called the Shrine of Quakerism, for early in June every year a
-gathering of Quakers takes place. Here lie the remains of William
-Penn, one of the greatest of Quakers. At a cottage in the vicinity
-Milton wrote his "Paradise Lost."
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: R. W. Lord, Little Lever, near Bolton._)
-
-THE FRIENDS' MEETING-HOUSE, CRAWSHAWBOOTH.
-
-(_Containing six oak benches to accommodate sixty worshippers._)]
-
-To revert to churches, Kilpeck Church is well worth referring to as
-being a lovely little place of worship. The nave is thirty-six feet
-by twenty, and the chancel seventeen by sixteen feet ten inches,
-the total length being sixty-eight feet and the average breadth
-about sixteen feet. It is built upon a Saxon foundation, and Saxon
-remains are still to be seen--notably, a "holy-water" stoup that
-must be one thousand or eleven hundred years old. It is not possible
-to do justice to this beautiful church in a few words, but the
-accompanying photograph will give an idea of the quaintness and
-beauty of the structure. The sculpture is remarkably interesting.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Poulton and Sons, Lee._)
-
-KILPECK CHURCH.
-
-(_Nave thirty-six feet by twenty._)]
-
-An article on midget places of worship would be incomplete without a
-reference to the little lath-and-plaster church of Essex, consisting
-of nave, chancel, and a small turret. Hazeleigh Church, as it is
-named, stands in the near vicinity of Hazeleigh Hall--once the
-home of the Essex family of the Alleynes, one of whom founded the
-College of God's Gift at Dulwich. This little church has thus been
-described by the Rev. H. R. Wadmore, sometime curate:--
-
-    "... A little church beside a wood
-     Securely sheltered from the sweeping blast;
-     So quiet, so secure, it seems to be
-     A very type of rest and all that's still."
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: R. D. Barrett._)
-
-CHILCOMBE CHURCH.
-
-(_Twelve yards long._)]
-
-This little church of Hazeleigh, owing to its simple character,
-differs but slightly from the roadside cottages. It has been styled
-"the meanest church in Essex," owing to its unpretentious character.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd._)
-
-THE CAVE CHURCH AT LEDAIG, NEAR OBAN.
-
-(_The most primitive church in the kingdom._)]
-
-A pleasing little church is that of Chilcombe, near Bridport,
-Dorsetshire. Chilcombe is mentioned in the Doomsday Book, and at one
-time was the property of the Knight Hospitallers of St. John. The
-existing church dates from the thirteenth century. It is in the
-Roman style, and possesses a good Norman font. The length of the
-nave is twenty-two by fourteen feet, the chancel being thirteen by
-eleven feet. The owner of the parish and the patron of the living is
-Admiral the Hon. M. H. Nelson.
-
-[Illustration: GROVE CHURCH, NEAR LEIGHTON BUZZARD.
-
-(_Capable of seating fifty people._)]
-
-Another remarkably small church is that of St. Peter, on the Castle
-Rise, at Cambridge, its dimensions being twenty-five by sixteen
-feet. It is of Norman architecture.
-
-England by no means possesses all the diminutive churches and
-chapels, and a very quaint and interesting church is that of Ledaig,
-near Oban. It is unsectarian, and its congregation numbers, on the
-average, twenty-five. It was founded by John Campbell, who was more
-familiarly known as "The Bard of Benderlock." He converted a natural
-cavern in the cliffs of Ledaig into a place of worship. A portion
-of a trunk of a tree, on which Robert Bruce is said to have rested,
-serves as a table and reading-desk. Trunks of trees around the sides
-of the cavern serve as seats for the worshippers. Mr. Campbell
-officiated as minister for many years to a band of faithful Highland
-worshippers in this curious church. Mr. Campbell was a remarkable
-personality. He was postmaster of Ledaig, and he also gained a
-considerable reputation as a poet. He was a much respected man, and
-his memory is dear to many.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: A. A. Inglis, Edinburgh._)
-
-ST. MARGARET'S CHAPEL, EDINBURGH CASTLE.
-
-(_For some time used as a powder magazine._)]
-
-I would like to refer to a very interesting midget church at
-Grove, near Leighton Buzzard, which I had the pleasure of visiting
-recently. It is the smallest in the county, and is a gable-roofed,
-barn-like fabric, with a door on the north side. In 1883 the little
-church was restored throughout, the fine old-fashioned square
-pews being replaced by open wooden seats, and it is now capable
-of seating about fifty people. Formerly the edifice contained a
-"three-decker"--clerk's desk, reading-desk, and pulpit combined. The
-churchyard contains many graves, but only one tombstone (eighteenth
-century). The dimensions of the church are--length, twenty-nine and
-a half feet; width, eighteen feet; height, about forty feet; in
-all probability, the church was formerly larger than at present.
-Grove is generally considered to be one of the smallest parishes in
-England, and one could hardly conceive of a smaller. It consists
-practically of a farmhouse and a lock-keeper's cottage.
-
-[Illustration: ST. ROBERT'S CHAPEL, KNARESBOROUGH.
-
-(_Showing figure of a Knight Templar cut in the rock._)
-
-(_Photo: G. E. Arnold, Knaresborough._)]
-
-We must not forget that at the top of Edinburgh Castle is the
-historical diminutive chapel of St. Margaret's, which was the
-private chapel of the pious Margaret, Queen of Malcolm III., during
-her residence in the castle. Until very recently it had been quite
-lost sight of, having been converted into a powder magazine and
-fallen into disrepair. In 1853, however, it was "discovered" and
-put into an efficient state of repair. It is considered to be
-the oldest and smallest chapel in Scotland, its dimensions being
-sixteen feet six inches by ten feet sixteen inches. The semicircular
-chancel is separated from the nave by a well-carved double-round
-arch, decorated with Norman zigzag mouldings. It is too small to be
-made available for divine service for the troops quartered in the
-castle, and the only use that it is now put to is for occasional
-baptisms and morning Communion.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd._)
-
-SMALL CHURCH AT ST. ANDREW, GREENSTED, NEAR ONGAR.
-
-(_Believed to include the only remaining portion of a Saxon wooden
-church._)]
-
-There are several very small places of worship which are now, alas!
-in ruins. At Iona, for instance, on the west coast of Scotland,
-are the remains of an extremely small chapel, known as St. Oran's
-Chapel. It is very near Iona Cathedral. It is constructed of red
-granite, and its external measurements are sixty feet by twenty-two
-feet. It is now roofless, and is very old. This little chapel
-is believed to have been built by Queen Margaret in 1080. Its
-architecture is Romanesque, and it has one low entrance. This humble
-edifice is interesting inasmuch as within its walls is the tomb of
-Sir Walter Scott's "Lord of the Isles," the friend of Bruce.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd._)
-
-DIMINUTIVE CHAPEL AT POINT IN VIEW, NEAR EXMOUTH.
-
-(_Containing an organ made by the pastor._)]
-
-There is another tiny barn-like edifice at Greenloaning, near
-Dunblane. The little church is situated adjacent to a farmhouse, and
-seems to have been erected for the benefit of the farm-workers. It
-is remarkably small. The scenery in the vicinity is magnificent, and
-the church is regarded with much interest by tourists.
-
-St. Anthony's Chapel is another small building also in ruins. It is
-interesting owing to its historic surroundings, being in the near
-vicinity of Holyrood Palace. It comprises a hermitage, sixteen feet
-long, twelve feet wide, and eight feet high, and a Gothic chapel
-forty-three feet long, eighteen feet broad, and eighteen feet high.
-
-One of the most remarkable of these little churches is that at
-Knaresborough, in Yorkshire, which is a very queer little chapel
-elegantly hewn out of the solid rock, the roof being beautifully
-ribbed and groined in the Gothic style. At the back of the altar is
-a large niche, where an image used to stand, and on one side of it
-is a place for the "holy-water" basin. There are also figures of
-three heads--designed, it is believed, for an emblematical allusion
-to the order of the monks at the once neighbouring priory. Possibly
-they were cut by some of the monks. The order was known as Sanctæ
-Trinitatis. A few yards away there is another head. It has been
-surmised that this is a representation of St. John the Baptist, to
-whom the chapel is supposed to be dedicated. There is a cavity in
-the floor, in which some ancient relic was rested. The chapel is
-ten feet six inches long, nine feet wide, and seven and a half feet
-high. Near the entrance is the following inscription:--
-
-    "Beneath yon ivy's spreading shade,
-     For lonely contemplation made,
-     An ancient chapel stands complete,
-     Once the hermit's calm retreat
-     From worldly pomp and sordid care,
-     To humble penitence and prayer;
-     The sight is pleasing, all agree--
-     Do, gentle stranger, turn and see."
-
-The chapel is known as St. Robert's Chapel. St. Robert, the hermit
-who used it for devotions, was born about 1160, and was the son
-of Sir Toke Flouris, who was mayor of the city of York. In his
-youth he was noted for his piety, and he entered the Cistercian
-Abbey of Newminster in Northumberland. He was only there eighteen
-weeks, however, removing to York, and then to Knaresborough, where
-he retired from the world to live a life of contemplation in this
-restful spot. He died in the September of 1218. On one side of the
-entrance to the chapel, under the ivy, is the figure of a Knight
-Templar, cut in the rock, in the act of drawing his sword to defend
-the place from the violence of intruders. This is a queer and
-remarkable building, and, though not now used as a place of worship,
-the reference here made to it may prove interesting.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd._)
-
-INTERIOR VIEW OF PERIVALE CHURCH.]
-
-The cathedral of St. Asaph, in Flintshire, might be mentioned in
-this category as being the smallest cathedral in the country. It
-is in the shape of a simple cross in plan, consisting of a choir
-transept, nave, with five bays with aisles, and a central tower
-forty feet square and one hundred feet high. The choir was built in
-1867-68 from the designs of the late Sir Gilbert Scott, R.A., and is
-of Early English architecture.
-
-Passing references might also be made to the diminutive church of
-Warlingham, in Surrey, which runs the midget church of Wotton in
-that county very close; and to Grosmont Church, Monmouth, erected
-by Eleanor of Provence, a quaint little structure with an octagonal
-tower. There used to be a church known as St. Mildred in the
-Poultry, which was removed to Lincolnshire. It formerly occupied a
-position in the eastern end of Cheapside, and in 1872 it was taken
-to pieces and re-erected at Louth. It is generally considered to be
-the smallest church designed by Wren.
-
-At St. Andrew, Greensted, near Ongar, there is a very small church,
-and it is a curiosity, inasmuch as it is believed to be a relic of
-the only church of Saxon origin built of wood remaining.
-
-There is a small chapel at Point in View, near Exmouth. It is
-Congregational, and it provides seating accommodation for eighty
-persons, and forms one side of a block, the other three sides being
-taken up by four little almshouses, each consisting of two rooms
-occupied by four elderly maiden ladies. Over the chapel door is this
-motto:--
-
-    "One Point in View
-     We all pursue."
-
-The chapel contains a diminutive organ made by the pastor. In the
-vicinity there is a peculiar round house, the property of the
-Reichel family. It was a member of this family who founded the
-chapel and almshouses.
-
-The little church of St. Nicholas at Hulcote should be mentioned.
-It is near Woburn, the seat of the Duke of Bedford. It is rather
-difficult to find, at any rate when the foliage is on the trees,
-so surrounded is it by them. It was built about the year 1610 by
-Richard Chernocke. Its measurements are: length, from the tower to
-the chancel step, thirty-nine and a half feet; chancel, eight and a
-half feet from step to east; width, sixteen feet three inches. There
-are carved oaken panels to many of the seats, and on the north wall,
-inside the chancel rails, are some valuable old monuments in memory
-of the Chernocke family. It is now between fifteen and twenty years
-since the church was used for divine service, but it is still used
-for funerals.
-
-There is a little church, near London, known as Perivale. Although
-so near to the great metropolis, it is situated in a peculiarly
-lonely district. It lies in the valley of the Brent amid expansive
-meadows and hay farms. In 1871 there were only seven houses and
-thirty-three inhabitants in the parish. The midget church is
-situated at the end of a field near a low, semi-Gothic half-timber
-parsonage and a farmhouse. Although somewhat desolate, the spot is
-a restful one, and the hill and spire of Harrow in the distance
-make the scene pleasing to the eye. The little church is in the
-Early Perpendicular style, and consists of a nave, a narrow chancel,
-a rough wooden tower with short, pyramidal spire at the west,
-and porch on the south-west. The interior presents a well-kept
-appearance. The church was restored in 1875. In the windows is some
-late fifteenth-century glass containing figures of St. John the
-Baptist and St. Matthew, in fairly good condition, and of Mary and
-Joseph, which are not so well preserved.
-
-The prettily situated ivy-clad church of St. Lawrence, Ventnor,
-Isle of Wight, is another edifice which might well be described as
-a midget church, although some years ago it was found necessary to
-enlarge it. The church originally was thirty feet eight and a half
-inches long, it is now forty feet eight and a half inches; and its
-breadth was formerly eleven feet, whereas it is now twenty feet.
-The height to the eaves is about six feet. The architecture is Old
-English, but not at all striking. The church dates back to about the
-year 1190.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: F. N. Broderick Hyde._)
-
-THE OLD CHURCH AT ST. LAWRENCE.]
-
-We have now exhausted our space, but not our subject. There are
-other examples of diminutive churches throughout the country, but we
-have made a selection of the more interesting ones. However small
-the church, the worshippers have this assurance from the Founder of
-the Christian religion: "Where two or three are gathered together in
-My name, there am I in the midst of them"; and with that quotation
-this little article may fittingly be concluded.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: Canon's Daughter]
-
-THE MINOR CANON'S DAUGHTER
-
-_THE STORY OF A CATHEDRAL TOWN._
-
-By E. S. Curry, Author of "One of the Greatest," "Closely Veiled,"
-Etc.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-A PREMATURE PROPOSAL.
-
-
-In the Canons' Court, between Mr. Bethune's and the Deanery, lived
-Mr. Warde. He was a pleasant man, well off, artistic, musical--and
-happy in a life of little work, which left him leisure for his
-artistic pursuits. He had a rosy, kind face and plump figure; the
-Bethune children, Marjorie included, went to him before anyone else
-in times of need. He had often shielded them from offended law.
-
-It was he who set on foot the literary and drawing guilds,
-arranged concerts, and was the universal handy man for games and
-social festivities to all the county round Norham. He was about
-thirty-five, and had a chivalric devotion to Mrs. Bethune and her
-children, since, as a young man, he had first come to Norham.
-
-Marjorie was so accustomed to this that she did not see what was
-manifest to other eyes, on her return from school in Munich. She
-took all his kindness as a matter of course, having no more relation
-to herself individually than the Bishop's or the Dean's. Since her
-return, he had been sedulously pursuing his courtship in every way
-that occurred to him.
-
-This gentleman was standing beside her under the lime-tree at the
-top of the garden, where Marjorie could superintend the pursuits of
-her two youngest brothers. They were now busily engaged underground.
-For a whole week every minute of David's and Sandy's leisure had
-been spent in digging a deep hole in the corner of the garden
-devoted to their use. Thence, with infinite patience, passages had
-been scooped, and the mound of earth thrown up against the wall had
-come in useful as a toboggan ground.
-
-The little boys had received strict orders that morning that all
-the earth in the passages of the "cave," which, in a frenzy of
-labour, the two schoolboys had burrowed out before breakfast, was
-to be removed before their return in the afternoon. As it got
-deeper, steps had been conveyed from the house for the descent of
-the hole. The utility of division of labour had been impressed upon
-the children. Orme was to fill the baskets; Ross, being surer of
-his equilibrium, was to carry them up and empty them. If the work
-was not done, and done properly, the babies would have to play
-elsewhere; no longer would their presence be tolerated by their
-elders.
-
-Marjorie was enjoying a new book, whose alluring cover was fit index
-to its contents. Now and then, between the pages, dark eyes looked
-at her in a strange and wonderful fashion. When this occurred, she
-would lift her own, and gaze dreamily over the currant bushes, her
-breath coming quickly, the colour fluctuating in her cheeks. Upon
-one such moment Mr. Warde had intruded.
-
-"I thought I would come in and talk to you about your sonnet,
-Marjorie," he said, looking about for a seat. There was nothing
-handy except a cleft log--used by the boys as a block for chopping
-sticks. On this uncomfortable seat Mr. Warde poised himself.
-
-[Illustration: The man, looking at her, thought he might take hope.]
-
-"But that wouldn't be fair, would it?" asked Marjorie.
-
-"Oh! we judged the poems yesterday. I didn't propose to alter
-anything. Mrs. Adeane's is the best, and Lady Esther's next.
-But--your usual imagination was wanting this time," he said gently.
-
-"I thought it was bad--it seemed so prosaic," Marjorie said humbly.
-"You see, father's advice always is, not to let imagination go
-further than it knows."
-
-"Have you never imagined, never thought about love?" he asked softly.
-
-"Often, lately," frankly. "I thought it was a very silly subject to
-choose."
-
-"Not silly, Marjorie. The loveliest poetry has been written about
-it, as it is the loveliest subject. Why 'lately'?" he asked.
-
-"To get ideas. They don't come, if you don't think--not to me, at
-least."
-
-"That way of putting it is new," he said, considering. "Well,
-Marjorie, I want you to think of it, to imagine all you can of what
-it means--the new brightness, the new beauty it gives to life;
-how it transforms all things, even the commonest, so that----" He
-paused. Marjorie was looking at him in wonder.
-
-Was it something in his glance that brought irresistibly back to her
-remembrance that look in Mr. Pelham's dark eyes, of which more than
-once that afternoon she had been thinking? She coloured brightly,
-and her beautiful eyes grew soft.
-
-"Ah! I see you know what I mean," Mr. Warde said gently.
-
-"Oh! I don't," said Marjorie confusedly. But the man, looking at
-her, thought he might take hope. He went on:
-
-"It is expressed in all beautiful music, as well as in the best
-literature and art. It appeals to everyone, because it is natural to
-all, and answers to something in the heart of every one of us. So
-you see, Marjorie, knowing you and your gift of imagination, I am
-disappointed at this bald little verse."
-
-"Father says it is dangerous imagining on nothing," Marjorie
-replied, plucking up her spirit. "First get facts, absolutely
-accurate. Then build on them."
-
-"Well, Marjorie, don't you realise that the facts are all about
-you, that I----Whatever's the matter?"
-
-A yell broke across the summer air, and Marjorie, springing up, bent
-over the edge of the crater-like hole. At the bottom lay Orme, his
-basket beside him, its contents upon him. In a second Marjorie had
-descended underground, and Mr. Warde was left gazing into space.
-
-When she emerged, Orme was in her arms, muddy tears bedewing his
-cherubic cheeks. "Fall'd," he announced, in a self-pitying tone, to
-the visitor.
-
-Marjorie reseated herself, her little brother's head upon her
-breast. As she comforted him, the man observing her grew more in
-love than ever. Marjorie, soft and gentle, unconsciously rehearsing
-Madonna attitudes, gave him a thrill of delight. Presently the boy,
-his conscience uneasy over neglected work, slipped from her knee,
-and, with muttered remarks on "er, nasty ground," descended again
-into its bosom.
-
-He had learnt the imprudence of engaging in another man's labour.
-Resenting the meaner part of filling the baskets for the more stolid
-and surefooted Ross to ascend and empty, he had been promptly
-punished for his ambition. His little soul was now sore with the
-injustice of things.
-
-"Er, nasty steps slipped poor Orme," he said to Ross, watching his
-careful ascent.
-
-"You not big anuff," Ross answered importantly. "Go and fill er
-basket. Do what David bidded you."
-
-Meanwhile Mr. Warde had glanced at his watch. Soon, all too soon,
-this semi-solitude in which he had been fortunate enough to find
-Marjorie would be invaded by the schoolboys. He was no nearer the
-end for which he had come, and he could not again drag in Marjorie's
-little verse for criticism. She glanced at him, as she drew the
-alluring book towards her, and said, not too politely:
-
-"If you are going to stay, I'll just fetch my work," rising as she
-spoke.
-
-"No, Marjorie, don't go. There's something I specially wished to
-say, to talk to you about," he said, becoming a little confused
-under her unconscious gaze. Could he, after all, disturb this
-serenity by the suggestion of love and marriage? He felt somehow
-that the time was not ripe--that they would seem incongruous to her
-in connection with himself. And yet, if he did not speak, and be
-quick about it, another man might step in.
-
-"I have had a letter to-day," he said, "offering me a college
-living."
-
-"Have you?" said Marjorie in a not altogether flattering manner, and
-looking at him rather as though she were much surprised. She stood
-poised, ready to fetch the threatened work; her attitude altogether
-an unflattering one to a lover who has just made an important
-communication.
-
-"You won't go, shall you?" she went on, her glance going past him
-to the wall which divided the gardens. Over the top big clusters
-of the roses in which Mr. Warde delighted nodded gaily, whilst
-further on the square face of his house was gay with bloom, amid
-which the two lines of windows stared a little baldly. The blind in
-each was arranged symmetrically, and in spite of its prim tidiness,
-even its outside showed that no loved woman ruled within. From her
-neighbour's house Marjorie's eyes jumped to her own home.
-
-Here there was no symmetry, but its character as a home stood out
-plain. The nursery windows, distinguished by their guarding bars,
-were wide open, and the blinds drawn to the top, whilst in the three
-open windows of her mother's room adjoining the curtains flopped
-lazily, and the blinds had been adjusted to the sun. Somehow the
-sight and the difference brought a feeling into Marjorie's heart
-which had not yet stirred it in connection with Mr. Warde. Hitherto
-he had not seemed to her to need pity. But now, when he went
-back into his house--away from her and the homely garden, where
-vegetables, and currant bushes, and the untidy quarter of the boys,
-were of more account than flowers, where little feet pattered, and
-boys' voices were never silent--what would he go back to? The blank
-windows lit up empty rooms, where no foot but his own stirred. He
-would find no companionship but that of his music and his books.
-Marjorie never guessed of the visions that peopled his fireside.
-
-"Shall you go?" she asked, looking at him--then speaking out
-suddenly the pity her thoughts had called up: "Won't it be very
-lonely?"
-
-"Very. Sit down please, Marjorie, and listen to me."
-
-Then, as she complied: "When first I came here, ten years ago, your
-father and mother were very kind to me, and I grew so attached to
-them and theirs, that I wanted nothing more. I felt no need of the
-ties other men have or make, because I had--you." Then his tone
-grew tender. "Do you remember how you used to come round and climb
-into my study window for your lessons, when the boys began to go to
-school? You were a bit forsaken then, Marjorie. And then, when you
-were good--as you weren't always--how a little pony accompanied me
-on my rides, and then when the pony and the child who rode it had
-each grown bigger, one day they both disappeared. The child went
-to school, to come back, nearly grown up, with music oozing out of
-her fingers' ends. Well, Marjorie" (he had risen, and his face was
-paling, his self-control vanishing, as he stood looking down on
-her), "I have waited a long time for that little girl--who has yet
-seemed always mine--I want her for my wife. Will you go with me,
-dear, if I go?"
-
-Marjorie gazed blankly into his face. "I? Of course, it is
-me," she said slowly. "I don't know--I didn't think--how can I
-leave--everybody?" her voice faltered.
-
-She rose suddenly, putting aside the hand that would have stayed
-her. There is nothing so cruel as a young thing who has no notion of
-her power and of the devotion she has stirred.
-
-"I didn't think," she said, cuttingly, "that you wanted payment. I
-thought--I thought----" And then, not trusting her voice further,
-she sprang away from his detaining hand, and fled.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-MARJORIE'S TROUBLE.
-
-
-"Dear Marjorie,--You gave me no answer yesterday, and I am afraid I
-took you by surprise, and perhaps shocked you. A girl is a tender
-thing, I know. Will you send me just a little line of hope and
-forgiveness? I love you--how dearly you cannot guess--and I want you
-to be my wife. But I will press nothing against your will, and I
-have written 'No' to the offer of that living. I think you will like
-to stay near home. Whatever you decide, whether you say 'Yes' or
-'No,' believe always that my love is too great to change, and that I
-am ever your attached friend,--W. ST. J. WARDE."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Marjorie was reading this letter with an expression which certainly
-did not augur well for its writer. She had been seeing to household
-matters for her mother, and had sat down with an armful of boys'
-clothes to mend, when the note had been handed to her.
-
-"I do not know what to say to him, mother. I wish--oh, I do so wish
-he hadn't done it."
-
-"He is a good man, Margie," her mother said simply. "A man, I think,
-to make you happy."
-
-[Illustration: "He is a good man, Margie."]
-
-"Happy, mother? I am happy now. What should I do next door? I should
-always be running in to see you. And how could you get on without
-me?"
-
-"We shall manage. And next door with Mr. Warde would be so much
-nicer than a long way off with someone else. It would scarcely be
-losing you."
-
-"Do you want me to go, mother?" asked Marjorie, struck by her
-mother's tone.
-
-"Not in one sense, dear; but you will go. It is natural for girls to
-marry. You will marry, I hope; it is the happiest life, with a good
-man you can look up to."
-
-[Illustration: "You have been very good to my boys," Mrs. Bethune
-said.]
-
-"But do I look up to him? I think we--Charity and I--often laugh at
-him."
-
-"But you can laugh, and yet look up, or life would be very dull. Who
-do you go to when you want to know anything that father can't teach
-you?"
-
-"To Mr. Warde," acknowledged Marjorie.
-
-"And when you want to go anywhere?"
-
-"Yes; but only because he has a carriage--and we haven't."
-
-"And when you want to see the picture galleries?"
-
-"He can go; he always has time. But all that doesn't mean that I
-want to marry him," she added.
-
-"But it is just that. You already look to him for most of your
-pleasures. That is a long way towards loving him. You would find him
-a very kind husband and friend."
-
-"Oh! mother, what must I do?" entreated Marjorie, the tears
-coming into her eyes. "He has spoilt everything. It is Charity's
-garden-party this afternoon, and I shall be so uncomfortable.
-Couldn't you go, mother, in your chair?"
-
-Mrs. Bethune's face changed.
-
-"I could, dear. Yes, I will go; perhaps it will be difficult for
-you." She sighed softly; she was hardly as yet reconciled to her
-helplessness in public, in spite of the cheery spirit which enabled
-her to bear suffering with such courage.
-
-Mrs. Bethune's spirit made her the idol and confidante of her boys.
-Her fun was unquenched, even when the fire of life would seem to
-have gone out for ever; after the terrible fall, when, to save the
-infant in her arms, she had laid herself upon her back for life. The
-baby--Orme--was found unhurt, folded round, so it seemed, by the
-broken body of his mother. Ross, the most thoughtful, she averred,
-of her six sons, once said to her:
-
-"Mummie, you do laugh mor'n anybody. Is it 'cos you can't walk?"
-
-"Yes, little son, perhaps it is; to make up, you know."
-
-And Sandy, butting his bright head into her knees one day,
-inconsolable about something, was won to laughter by, "Sandy, laugh!
-Look at me!"--and he had looked. And the irresistible witchery
-of the beautiful dark eyes had cured his woe. She was always the
-sunshiny centre of the house, and only her husband, or Marjorie in
-rare moments, guessed how sometimes the bright spirit quailed.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The Dean was popular in the county. When Mr. Pelham came into the
-Deanery garden somewhat late, he found Mrs. Bethune's chair under
-the chestnut trees, a centre of laughter and conversation. Marjorie
-was standing by her mother, with a wistful look on her face, he
-thought at first sight, wondering at its expression. Love, when
-presented first to a girl brought up as Marjorie had been, comes
-as a great shock. That it should be Mr. Warde of all men who
-should cause her this disquiet filled Marjorie with a sense of the
-unsatisfactoriness of the world. It disturbed things that had seemed
-to her as settled as the hills round Norham that this old friend
-should want to be her lover.
-
-Before going to the Deanery she had sent a little note in answer to
-his letter, in which she had said--
-
-"There is nothing to forgive. But you must not think of me like this
-any more. You have always been so kind to all of us that it grieves
-me to say 'No' to anything you want. Still, it must be 'No.'"
-
-She hoped he would not be present at the Deanery. It was his turn of
-duty at the cathedral. She would bring her mother away early, before
-he arrived. The afternoon was quite spoilt for her.
-
-And then Mr. Pelham had come up, and she had introduced him to her
-mother with a tremulousness and agitation quite unlike her usual
-serenity.
-
-"You have been very good to my boys," Mrs. Bethune said gratefully.
-
-"Your boys have been very good to my little girl," he answered,
-admiring the delicate beauty of the face, scarcely looking older
-than the unquiet one of the tall daughter beside her.
-
-"They're very enterprising," their mother said. "I hope she will not
-come to any harm with them. They're apt to give us surprises."
-
-"I wonder if you will give me some advice about her," he went on,
-drawn by some magic in the dark eyes to appeal to their owner for
-sympathy, "if I may consult you. It is about clothes," he said,
-smiling. "My nurse is kind and careful, but surely a baby in the
-country does not really need expensive dresses from a Regent Street
-outfitter. I should be so grateful if you would tell me where you
-get those pretty things your little boys always look so nice in."
-
-"Even when they are grubby?" laughed the mother. "I do not know
-where they could be bought. My nurse, and Marjorie, and I make them."
-
-"Then, if you do, surely my nurse ought to have time. I do not like
-my baby's over-dressed look; at least, white satin seems to be out
-of keeping with mud-pies and digging. She is great on digging just
-now."
-
-"Quite so," said Mrs. Bethune. "If you will send your nurse down to
-see me, I will have a talk with her."
-
-The Duchess of Norham, a very great person indeed now came up to
-greet Mrs. Bethune. She was not one who troubled about dress.
-To-day, in her grey silk, and round hat, she was the most plainly
-dressed woman on the Deanery lawn. Charity, by her side, was an
-effective contrast, in soft, shimmering pink.
-
-"Glad to see you out again, my dear," she said to Mrs. Bethune. "And
-this is your girl come back to you--grown past all knowledge. I hear
-wonders about her music," kindly. "Charity, may I take her away for
-a few minutes, presently? I want to hear this music Mr. Warde extols
-so. Where is he?" looking round.
-
-Marjorie's cheeks, in spite of her usual self-control, turned
-scarlet. But the Duchess's gaze was arrested by the look on Mr.
-Pelham's face. He, still standing with a hand on Mrs. Bethune's
-chair, was looking at Marjorie with a surprised appeal in his
-expression, as if he, too, was wondering at her sudden flush.
-
-"Oh!" thought the Duchess, "I imagined it was Charity. Was I
-mistaken then? Not about the girl, if those rosy cheeks are to be
-trusted."
-
-"Why isn't Mr. Warde here?" she asked of Marjorie, who, in obedience
-to her gesture, turned with her towards the house.
-
-"He is at the cathedral. It is his week."
-
-And the Duchess thought she guessed rightly the reason of the
-agitation she detected in Marjorie's voice.
-
-"The Blackton man will be unsuccessful," she settled. "But Charity
-is pretty enough to console him, and it will be a good marriage for
-them both."
-
-This great lady was never more happy than when arranging marriages
-amongst her friends.
-
-Marjorie did not dream how her sudden flush had betrayed her, and
-forgot lovers and the difficulties they caused when she sat down
-to the piano. But perhaps it was the perplexity in her mind that
-conveyed itself to the listener, through the plaintive melody ending
-in a staccato phrase which fell from her fingers.
-
-The Duchess sat at a little distance, viewing with approval the
-delicate face, framed in its bright hair.
-
-[Illustration: "Hush! Barbe, don't call!" entreated Sandy.--_p.
-168_.]
-
-"Good, pure, true, and strong," she settled; "and," as a sudden
-conviction struck her, "she is beautiful, like her mother was ten
-years ago. Dressed"--her thoughts following along the same way as
-Charity's--"well, she would be a success. She is wasted on Mr.
-Warde. Shall I interfere?"
-
-She was so deep in thought, working out a sudden plan, that she did
-not notice when Marjorie ceased playing.
-
-Marjorie, glancing at her, asked softly--
-
-"Was that too sad? Shall I try something else?"
-
-But in a moment the Duchess rose briskly, and put her hand kindly on
-Marjorie's shoulder.
-
-"No, my dear. I shouldn't like that spoiled by anything else. Mr.
-Warde is right. You have a gift. But a girl like you should not be
-sad or--or perplexed. Forgive an old woman. Is something troubling
-you?"
-
-Marjorie looked up into the keen eyes above her.
-
-"Not troubling," she hesitated, "only things are sometimes
-perplexing."
-
-As she spoke her eyes travelled to the window, through which came
-the sound of low-voiced chatter and delicate laughter. The older
-woman, looking at the girl, saw a sudden arrested look come into her
-eyes and, following their direction, was again puzzled. Charity,
-standing by Mrs. Bethune's chair, was smiling up into Mr. Pelham's
-face. She had the manner of one who is pleased, and who wishes
-to please, and her pretty daintiness of pose and dress was very
-attractive. Mr. Pelham's whole attention, as he conversed, was given
-to her. In his courteous attitude were expressed, in the eyes of the
-two lookers-on, both deference and admiration.
-
-"That girl has grown very pretty," the Duchess said, "and Mr. Pelham
-seems to think so. He is quite an acquisition here, though I am
-amused to hear you sniffed at him at first."
-
-"Yes," agreed Marjorie, a little pang at her heart.
-
-The keen eyes travelled back again to Marjorie's face.
-
-"But your mother was prettier than any of you. The sweetest,
-merriest creature ever seen, with you babies at her feet. I am glad
-to see her so much better, able to do even this little, poor soul,
-poor soul!"
-
-The sudden tears welled up into Marjorie's eyes at the appreciation
-and tenderness of the tone.
-
-"And, my dear--forgive an old woman again--but I think I have
-guessed Mr. Warde's hopes for a long time, and he is a good man.
-There, there"--as Marjorie's face grew agitated--"nothing could have
-happened better. Your mother will have you at hand, and though she
-is so unselfish and brave, she has missed you sadly; and there is
-plenty of money."
-
-Marjorie listened in silence, with a feeling as though chains were
-being bound round her. As she walked back by the Duchess's side to
-her mother's chair she strove in vain to recall her courage. In the
-eyes of the man who watched her, as she came towards him, the shadow
-on her face had deepened with that little excursion into the house.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-A MIDNIGHT VISIT.
-
-
-The boys had seized the opportunity of the attention of their elders
-being engaged elsewhere to get into mischief. Although they had
-made so much fuss about their right of way to school, it was not
-the only way they used. They had, in fact, several ways. One was
-by train to Baskerton, a village on the river five miles away, and
-thence, by lanes and the parks, home. This, however, required time
-and the absence of authorities. Another way was through Easton and
-the parks, up the course of the little stream, which at one point
-nearly touched the Court gardens. In this stream, its shallow waters
-splashing up against their ankles, the boys were walking, and the
-baby was prancing between them.
-
-"Should we take Barbe with us?" David had asked, pausing on the
-Green.
-
-"If we can get her," Sandy had replied.
-
-The boys reconnoitred, and the piercing whistle, which set the baby
-all a-quiver with expectation, sounded through the garden.
-
-"There then, go!" said nurse somewhat crossly, as Barbe began to
-stamp; and she went. Her education was proceeding apace. Her father
-sometimes listened aghast at the things which, in her baby prattle,
-she reported herself to have done.
-
-"See, Barbe, there's a rat!" Sandy said eagerly, as a flop and a
-splash made them jump. "See, it's swimmin' away."
-
-"'Wimmin' away," said the baby, stooping to look, her two hands
-on her two knees, and the front of her frock sailing on the water
-before her.
-
-"Oh, Barbe, you're all wet!" David said, as they landed, and
-strolled up the field.
-
-"Wet!" she echoed delightedly. "Foots--f'ock!"
-
-"You'll have to be dried."
-
-"I know," said Sandy cheerfully; "we'll dry you by the Bishop's
-fire--almost sure to be a fire."
-
-But the study window, to which they crept warily by sheltered ways,
-was shut. The Bishop was absent.
-
-"Now what's to be done?" said David.
-
-"I know where there's a fire," Sandy said. "Was this morning, 'cos
-of that lead. Let's take her to the little room."
-
-Again they slipped by leafy ways out of the Palace garden into the
-cathedral yard. The baby's wet skirts flopped round her, and David
-lifted her into his arms.
-
-The approach of Mrs. Lytchett, returning from the Deanery in
-unwonted bravery of attire, prompted them to seek refuge behind a
-tomb. Here it took the boys' whole attention to prevent Barbe's
-chatter drawing unwished-for notice upon them.
-
-"Hush! Barbe, don't call!" entreated Sandy.
-
-"Barbedie good girl," announced the baby in a loud voice, lifting
-herself on tip-toe to see the passer-by.
-
-Mrs. Lytchett's ears were good, and, besides, she felt certain at
-this point that her eyes had seen something fluttering. She stepped
-off the pathway, and examined a tomb near.
-
-"Hush!--sh--sh!" cautioned David, holding up his finger to his
-mouth--a movement which so pleased Barbe that she proceeded to copy
-it.
-
-Mrs. Lytchett passed on; the danger was over. David lifted up the
-baby and carried her into a little octagon room near by, built in
-the wall of the cathedral, and used frequently as a workroom or
-office.
-
-Here the boys were at home. It was the head-quarters of their
-greatest friends--the masons engaged on the renovations always in
-progress at the cathedral.
-
-In the grate were the slowly dying embers of a fire, and the room
-was empty.
-
-"Mr. Galton ain't locked up yet, knowed he wouldn't," said Sandy.
-"He likes his tea punctual--'spects it's time. Now, Barbe, come an'
-get done."
-
-Whilst David was holding the baby to the fire, Sandy disappeared,
-presently returning with an excited face.
-
-"They've nearly done," he said. "It's prime up there. Seems to me,
-we'd best settle as soon as possible."
-
-"This baby won't get dry," said David, gloomily. "Just look at her!"
-
-"I know," said Sandy, regarding the bedraggled Barbe. "We'll take
-it off an' leave it here. An' I'll fetch her somefink. Sure to be
-somefink stored in Margie's basket--know Orme made holes in himself
-last week."
-
-So it happened that it was a little blue girl--clad in one of Orme's
-shabbiest overalls--who met Mrs. Bethune's returning chair, and was
-lifted to her knee for a "yide."
-
-"But what has happened? where are her own clothes?" Mrs. Bethune
-asked, recognising the substitute.
-
-"We thought they were just a little damp," said Sandy in
-explanation, climbing up the back of the chair to kiss his mother.
-
-"Good boy, Sandy!" said his mother, "to take care of her."
-
-"But how did they get damp?" asked Marjorie suspiciously.
-
-"Just a little water p'raps got on them," he replied, feeling the
-tone unkind after his mother's praise.
-
-"Then you have been in mischief?" asked Marjorie.
-
-"Barbedie walked in er water," the baby replied, as if she had been
-doing a good work.
-
-"You shouldn't have let her," Mrs. Bethune said caressingly.
-
-"Barbe don't want lettin'," answered Sandy philosophically. "She
-does wivout."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The sweets of mischief whetted the boys' appetites for more. They
-applied themselves with zeal to a work they had in hand, and for the
-next few days little was seen of them.
-
-One evening they were standing in a disused corner of the Palace
-grounds, under the ruined window of the old banqueting hall, which
-formed part of the wall enclosing the gardens of the modern wing of
-the house. The corner where they stood was immediately adjoining the
-wall of their own garden, and was part of an overgrown shrubbery
-between the ruins and the parks.
-
-Both boys were exceedingly dirty. Faces, capless heads, fingers,
-clothes, all bore traces of the underground work from which they had
-just emerged. They had burrowed from their cave, and were mightily
-pleased at their point of exit. No place could be more secluded,
-nor less likely to be discovered. And from the ruined wall close
-by, under the shelter of a spreading elder, they were able to drop
-easily either into the cathedral yard or the Bishop's garden.
-
-"Now the game begins. We've got a base of operations," said David
-grandly.
-
-"How much?" asked Sandy.
-
-"What you work from, and what you fall back upon, if you get
-besieged. And it's a good base too," he added, looking round. "We've
-got to make this passage hard and firm, and then hide it from that
-prying gardener."
-
-"An' we can pay back Mrs. Lytchett," said Sandy with joy.
-
-"How?"
-
-"Oh, I know! She just hates us going to the Bishop's window. He told
-me he'd just got a new tin of gingerbread, an' now we can get in
-wivout goin' through the gate. She's made that gate so it clicks."
-
-"But you mustn't let her see."
-
-"Not me! If she comes, we'll just run round the house, and she'll
-fink we've come back way. And then she'll run round to catch us, an'
-we shan't be there."
-
-Sandy spoke with the certainty of much experience, as, indeed, he
-had a right to do.
-
-"Our character is all gone," David said thoughtfully, "so it don't
-much matter how bad we are."
-
-"No, s'long as it ain't wicked bad. We'll be highwaymen, but we
-won't be thieves and robbers."
-
-"We can get into the cathedral, too," suggested David.
-
-And then, with minds full of revolution and anarchy, the boys bent
-earnestly to the preliminary work of making their passage secure.
-
-"Ross and Orme, you're never to go along there without us," David
-said to his young brothers, when he had wriggled back to the cave
-whence his passage started. Now their services were no longer
-needed, they were felt to be rather nuisances.
-
-"If you do, you'll get smacked right hard," said Sandy.
-
-Both children fixed round eyes on their elders, unable to understand
-this sudden change. They were dismayed at its injustice. For some
-days they had been treated with indulgent kindness, all their faults
-overlooked, so long as they did diligent work. They were cleaned
-when possible, and consoled when their dirty appearance awoke wrath
-in the powers responsible for them. Now, it seemed, all was changed.
-There was no mistaking Sandy's attitude, as he stood ready to
-administer the smacks alluded to. Nor were David's frowning brows
-more encouraging.
-
-Ross tried argument. "We'se scooped, too," he said. "We'se got
-dirty, ever so," he added.
-
-"Ever so," echoed Orme.
-
-"No matter! You kids must do as you're bid, and if ever you go a
-step along there you'll catch it. See?" said David. And the infants,
-with moody brows, averred that they saw.
-
-By this time the hole which formed the entrance to the cave was much
-improved. The wooden steps had been replaced by a flight of mud
-steps, the making of which had been a joy, not only to the boys,
-but to the baby. They had required water as well as mud in their
-making--endless paddlings and pattings and treadings down of little
-feet before the staircase was complete. David had engineered the
-proceedings, and Mr. Warde, now and then hovering about the top, had
-conferred advice. He was not encouraged to descend. The boys wanted
-no prying grown-ups to mar their schemes. Marjorie, now and then,
-had suspicions that some extra mischief was afloat. Never before had
-she known them to stick to anything for so long. But she recollected
-the fascination of caves and holes, and was, besides, much engaged
-with her own concerns.
-
-[Illustration: =The Bishop and the boy.=--_p. 170._]
-
-One evening the Bishop, on leaving the drawing-room, had gone to
-his study. It had been a wet day, and the rain had finished in
-a thunderstorm an hour or so before, leaving the sky washed and
-pellucid under the summer moon.
-
-The shutters had been closed and a little fire lighted; but
-presently, finding the room warm, the Bishop opened the window, and
-stood gazing over the wide lawn which occupied the space between the
-house and the ruins.
-
-The delicate tracery of the ruined window of the banqueting hall,
-and the many unevennesses of the walls, stood out black against the
-sky. Every object on the lawn--every bush and tree and flower--was
-sharply distinct.
-
-As he looked, his eye caught a movement among the distant shrubs.
-Some small object was advancing along the gravelled walk surrounding
-the lawn. Presently, as if attracted by the light, it turned off the
-pathway on to the lawn, in a bee-line for the window.
-
-The Bishop stood watching, wondering a little, when the object
-resolved itself first into a small boy, and then into Sandy Bethune.
-
-"Why, Sandy!" he exclaimed, "how did you get here?"
-
-"Is it the middle of the night?" asked Sandy in his usual cheerful
-way.
-
-"Nearly. It's half-past eleven. Good gracious! What have you been
-doing?"
-
-For, on approaching the light, Sandy was seen to be covered with mud
-and otherwise much disarrayed.
-
-Sandy considered. He was in a deep fix--so deep a one as to threaten
-the upheaval and overthrow of some well-laid plans, just on the
-point of being carried out. The Bishop was an understanding man.
-Sandy had confided in him before, and knew his worth. If only
-Mrs. Lytchett did not live at the Palace, and spoil everything,
-Sandy would have been quite willing to share that residence with
-the Bishop. He had once told the Bishop so, artlessly asking when
-Mrs. Lytchett was going away to live elsewhere. The Bishop, on his
-side, found the children of his friend very charming, specially
-so irrepressible Sandy; and was ready to be lenient when their
-peccadilloes were in question. He now invited Sandy in, despite the
-muddy covering which encased him from head to foot. Sitting down, he
-began to question him gravely.
-
-"What is it, Sandy? Why are you in such a mess?"
-
-Sandy sat down on a little stool, as if glad to present his small
-person to the fire, and said, "It's the bovering funderstorm. We'd
-never thought of that. An' we got caught, an' had to take shelter,
-an' when we got back our way was bunged up--all squashy with mud.
-An' we hadn't got no spades nor fings out with us. So at last I said
-I would go and scout--you know--an' then I saw you."
-
-"Who's 'we'?" asked the Bishop.
-
-"Me an' David."
-
-"And how did you get into my garden?"
-
-"Oh, over the wall. We're highwaymen, and we've got a way of our
-own."
-
-"Indeed. And where's David now?"
-
-"Oh, he's over there, all muddy, tryin' to clean himself. He's a
-deal worse than me," said Sandy cheerfully.
-
-"He must indeed be bad, then. What do you propose to do?"
-
-"That's it. We can't get back to the pantry window now our way's
-gone," said artless Sandy. "Not in at all, not wivout knockin' at
-the door. I did think p'raps"--persuasively--"you cud come and
-knock."
-
-"I see. And then?"
-
-"Then, when you was talkin' to father, we cud slip in. Don't fink
-father would see--not to notice."
-
-"How long have you been highwaymen?" the Bishop asked.
-
-"On'y about a week--and this is a sickener," said Sandy disgustedly.
-"We was ghosts for a bit at first--till a woman screeched so we
-nearly got caught, stupid fing!"
-
-And the Bishop, remembering certain reports that had been made to
-him, was pleased with his acumen in refusing to call in the police.
-
-"If I were you, I should try a better line of business," he
-said. "Ghosts frighten silly women, and highwaymen are not very
-creditable, on the whole."
-
-"Yes," agreed Sandy. "We're goin' to. Next we're goin' to be
-pioneers and settlers."
-
-"Ah, I see. And where are you going to settle?"
-
-Sandy's bright eyes were turned suspiciously to the kind ones
-looking down upon him. He fidgeted uneasily, and a smile came across
-the Bishop's face.
-
-"I see," he said. "Perhaps you have not yet made up your minds."
-
-Sandy looked uncomfortable. "Not 'zactly," he confessed. "Truth is,
-it depends--I don't fink Dave would like me to tell. It's such a
-grand plan," he went on enthusiastically, "it 'ud be such a pity----"
-
-"To have it spoilt. Well, don't get into more mischief than you can
-help," the Bishop cautioned, "and don't do anything to make your
-mother uneasy."
-
-"Mother? Oh, mother'll laugh--she always does. You see, the bother
-is," confided Sandy, "there ain't no places to pioneer--every bit's
-taken. An' we've on'y just thought on it; an' it's splendid. We
-want a girl badly, though. Margie? No, Margie's no good. Settlers
-has wives an' squaws," went on Sandy pensively, "and we've on'y got
-Barbe lately, an' she's aw'fly little. 'Sides, you have to take such
-care on her--she's the on'y one Mr. Pelham's got. There's a lot of
-us, but mother says she cudn't spare not the littlest bit of one. So
-much less him his one, an' such a little one. It's a 'sponsibility,"
-sighed Sandy, "when you want to do fings."
-
-Through the open window came the musical sound of the chimes from
-the cathedral. The Bishop, with a quick sigh, rose.
-
-"There is a quarter to twelve. Your father will be going to bed.
-Fetch David quickly."
-
-"Should fink he's cleaned by now," said Sandy hopefully. "He was
-rubbin' himself wiv the leaves off the trees--drippin' wet."
-
-Mr. Bethune opened his front door in response to a low knocking,
-which at first he did not hear. His eyes had the unseeing, far-away
-look in them of a man disturbed in a possessing line of thought. The
-red light in the hall shone on the face of the Bishop, who entered
-and stood on the doormat for a minute, in such a position as to
-shield the entrance of the two muddy boys.
-
-"Here is the _Guardian_ for you," he said, "with a very appreciative
-notice of your paper." Then he went on, "And tell Marjorie to-morrow
-morning not to be too cross with the state of the boys' clothes.
-They've been in mischief, but it won't happen again--not the same
-sort."
-
-[Illustration: The father pretended not to hear the scuffling of
-small feet.]
-
-The two men looked at one another and laughed, and the father
-pretended not to hear the scuffling of small feet upon the stairs.
-The Bishop went home with no weight on his conscience--only a little
-pathetic envy of the man he had just left. Somehow those stifled
-scufflings up the stairs had gone straight to the depths of his very
-tender and lonely heart.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"The Bishop knows all 'bout it," excused Sandy sturdily, when
-confronted by Marjorie the next morning.
-
-"The Bishop knows that all your clothes are in the bath, with both
-taps running!"
-
-"Well, he does," Sandy repeated, "proberly. He said we were the
-out-an'-outest dirtiest little grubs he'd ever seen."
-
-"That you are--no one will contradict him. But he couldn't know that
-your clothes were in the bath."
-
-"Yes, he would. If they were so dirty, where else could they be?
-It's all that 'gustin' funderstorm."
-
-"Thunderstorm!" echoed Marjorie suspiciously. "That was at ten
-o'clock. What has that got to do with your clothes and the Bishop?"
-
-"Tell you it has. You'd best ask him, if you don't b'lieve me," said
-Sandy, hurt at her unbelief. "Anyhow, he does know that they was
-dirty. An' just cos we want to save trouble an' wash 'em ourselves,
-you're cross an' spiteful. Girls are no good--'cept little uns.
-What's there to put on? Best be somefink old, cos there's a deal of
-diggin' to be done."
-
-"I shall stop that digging if you make such a mess of yourselves."
-
-"You'd best not," said David meaningly, from his bed in the further
-corner. "If you do, you'll be sorry," he said darkly.
-
-  END OF CHAPTER SIX.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: Three Songs of Birth]
-
-Three
-
-Songs of Birth
-
-A
-
-_Christmas_
-
-_Sermon_
-
-By the Rev. Hugh Miller, M.A.
-
-  "Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host
-   praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
-          peace, good will toward men."--ST. LUKE ii. 13, 14.
-
-
-Three times are we told in Scripture that the angels sang. At the
-birth of the world, when the foundations of the earth were laid, the
-morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.
-When Jesus was born into the world a multitude of the heavenly host
-praised God and said, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
-peace, good will toward men." And when anyone is born again there is
-joy among the angels in heaven over the sinner that repenteth. The
-subject of the song in each case is the same: the leading _motif_ of
-them all is man.
-
-Man, to begin with, was God's chief end in creation, and the angels
-sang not so much because a new world had been made, but rather
-because a new being akin to themselves was put into it, to whom
-they might minister and with whom they might co-operate in the
-doing of God's most holy will; and this season comes to remind us
-of our inherent dignity in God's sight, of the noble ideal He has
-formed for us, of the value He sets on those whom He sent His Son
-to seek and to save. As God made us and as He intends us to be, we
-are not a little higher only than the animals, we are rather only
-"a little lower than the angels." He has crowned us with glory and
-honour and set us over the work of His hands. He has put all things
-under our feet. The material universe was made for man, to be his
-home, to develop his powers, to be a test and discipline of his
-moral character. I refuse to be reduced to the same rank, or to be
-placed in the same order, as the beasts that perish. Remembering the
-angels' first song, I assert my supremacy.
-
-And man is most of all supreme because God has given him the freedom
-to choose the objects of his life, and the means by which he can
-secure them. Sun, moon and stars are bound by laws which they cannot
-transgress. The movements of the animals are guided by impulses
-and instincts over which they have no moral control. To man alone
-belongs the power of refusing to bow before God's greatness and of
-disobeying God's commands. Man only has this sovereignty; but his
-sovereignty led to his servitude, and the chains that bound him were
-forged by an angel who fell before man's fall.
-
-If, then, all the angels worshipped and adored when man was made
-with the great gift of free choice, how must the holy ones that
-remained after the first and great apostasy have grieved when the
-fallen angels took man along with them in their fall! For because of
-man's disobedience God's idea in making man seemed to be thwarted
-and the peace and good will to which he was called appeared no
-longer possible. Instead of being the master of creation, he was now
-to a large extent its unhappy victim.
-
-We know from hints thrown out here and there in Scripture with what
-absorbing interest the angels followed the plans of God to bring
-order once more out of the chaos caused by sin, and the effort He
-put forth to create a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
-righteousness. No wonder, then, that when the fulness of the time
-was come, and God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the
-law to redeem man, the angels should have sung a second time, and
-anticipated for man at last a happy time of peace and good will.
-
-The angels had a clear perception of the purpose of Christ's coming.
-One of the chief of them said to Joseph, "Thou shalt call His name
-JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins." And they all
-sang when He came, because they knew that God was now dealing in a
-special and most effective way with that dark thing which cast its
-shadow on heaven as well as on earth. And it becomes us to remember
-that it is the sin of man which in the mind of God and His holy
-angels is associated with the coming of Jesus Christ. To this end
-was He born, and for this cause came He into the world.
-
-The sin of our first parents had passed on from generation to
-generation, and each one of the millions of mankind had to say,
-"Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive
-me"; and each fulfilled in his own life all too truly the sad
-promise of his birth. How was the tradition to be broken, and yet
-broken by one who really belonged to the race? The instincts of man
-himself foreshadowed the truth. Stories of a virgin birth here and
-there discernible in paganism show the deep intuition which was
-realised in Jesus Christ. He came into the world to fight with sin,
-to redeem a race steeped in a terrible heritage of evil, and that He
-might redeem it He Himself was born, and yet was free from evil.
-
-He fought sin and He conquered it. Why, then, has the angels' song
-not been fulfilled? Why does sin still cast its shadow on earth and
-heaven alike? Why does God's loving purpose in sending His Son seem
-still to suffer so wide defeat? Because in his recovery as in his
-fall, man's will must play its part. I can only be saved from sin
-when I _will_ to be saved; I only become a partaker of the benefits
-which Christ brought from heaven to earth when, yielding to the
-inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I turn with full accord to Jesus
-Christ as my Saviour. Marvel not, therefore, that we say to you with
-peculiar emphasis on the day in which Christ was born, "Ye must be
-born again." Otherwise, His birth is of no avail to you and me. We
-are not honouring Him, we are putting Him rather to an open shame,
-if we keep out of our thoughts at this time the supreme purpose of
-His coming, if we are not personally dealing with Him even now as to
-the burden and guilt of our sin.
-
-But we can set the angels a-singing in the sky, and the melody of
-their music can be felt in our own hearts, if we turn in lowly
-penitence to Him who came to save His people from their sins, and to
-quicken them to a new life of righteousness and peace and joy. Only
-when a man comes to himself in lowly penitence, and then goes to his
-Father with a lofty faith, does he enter into the full purpose of
-his manhood; and only then, also, is there not only joy among the
-angels in heaven over the sinner that thus repenteth, but there is
-music and dancing on the earth as well, and the old life ends in
-which sin reigned, and the new begins in which Christ reigns; and
-His reign means "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
-good will to men."
-
-"There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked."
-
-
-
-
-O Wondrous Night!
-
-A NEW CHRISTMAS CAROL.
-
-
-  _Words by_ ARTHUR BRYANT. _Music by_ CHARLES BASSETT.
-
-    1.  O wondrous night! O wondrous night! we fain would tell
-          The news the Angel told;
-        The holy vision which befel
-          The Shepherds by their fold.
-        With fear they saw, with gladness heard
-          The heav'nly minstrelsy,
-        With hope each trembling heart was stirred
-          At that sweet harmony: ...
-        "We bring good news Which ne'er shall cease;
-          To God be praise, to God be praise,
-            On earth be peace."
-
-    2.  O wondrous sight! O wondrous sight for simple swains,
-          With hasty steps who sped;
-        The music of those joyous strains
-          To that poor manger led.
-        With awe they gazed on Christ the Lord
-          Amid that happy throng,
-        And Israel at His feet adored,
-          Taught by the Angels' song: ...
-        "We bring good news,
-          Which ne'er shall cease;
-        To God be praise, to God be praise,
-            On earth be peace."
-
-    3.  O wondrous night! they homeward turned
-          To where their flocks did lay,
-        And sang the song they late had learned
-          To cheer them on their way.
-        The timid dawn began to peer
-          Across the dewy wold;
-        Their lips in accents loud and clear
-          The gladsome tidings told:
-            "We bring good news," &c.
-
-    4.  O wondrous sight, that God should live
-          In robe of flesh for man!
-        O wondrous Love, Himself to give
-          When closed His mortal span!
-        Sing, O ye skies! be joyful, earth!
-          Ye winds, bear o'er the seas
-        The news of blessèd Jesu's birth,
-          And those sweet harmonies:
-            "We bring good news," &c.
-
-
-
-
-THE HOUSE COMFORTABLE.
-
-By Lina Orman Cooper, Author of "The House Beautiful," Etc.
-
-
-The House Beautiful must needs be also the House Comfortable, if
-we take true loveliness to consist of perfect fitness for service.
-Thoroughness is the keynote of each. In order to strike it we
-must have entered heart and soul into Ruskin's translation of St.
-Ursula's Room. Carpaccio himself painted the useful in the beautiful
-in this famous picture. From the princess's book, set up at a slope
-fittest for reading, to the shelf which runs under the window,
-providing a place to put things on--from a silver lamp on the white
-wall to the little blue slippers beside her bed, each detail ensures
-comfort of the first quality.
-
-Comfort is a thing quite apart from fashion. So it is easier to
-indicate the road which leads to the House Comfortable than it
-was to point out details in the House Beautiful. We most of us
-agree about the essentials required for real comfort: chairs upon
-which you can sit fearlessly; beds which rest and do not bruise;
-arms that support without cramping; pokers that bend not; strong
-tables and sharp knives, these are a sample of the things I mean.
-But true comfort depends on more than surface surroundings. It is
-indissolubly linked with attention to detail. The houses to which
-guests return time after time is the one in which soap is never
-absent from its tray, and where pillows are not only covered with
-frilled slips, but also stuffed with down and interlined with soft
-covering in place of waxed ticking.
-
-I would say, first of all, that the House Comfortable must stand
-in a sunny situation. This ensures warmth and light, without which
-our bodies are ill-nourished and miserable. "Where the sun never
-comes the doctor does" is a much-to-be-quoted proverb. We cannot all
-live exactly where we like. Circumstances of business, and means,
-generally determine locality. But common-sense must guide us in the
-selection of our houses. If we would be really comfortable, we must
-live in light, dry, airy, and clean homes. Never take a house on
-the sole recommendation of its pretty appearance. To have a really
-beautiful house we must first see that it is essentially built for
-comfort. The really useful and good is generally ornamental, for
-it possesses the realistic beauty of _fitness_. A north and south
-aspect for the chief sitting rooms, with east and west windows,
-secures both sunshine and shade. We want afternoon coolness as well
-as morning light. If our apartment looks towards the sun rising,
-heavy curtains should be ready to draw when east wind rages. A stick
-to effect this noiselessly is a small boon much appreciated. If our
-casement faces the golden gates of the west, no such protection
-is called for. But all windows should have double blinds--white
-outside, to absorb heat, and dark inside, to veil the sun when
-necessary. The comfort of lying in bed, facing a dark green blind
-can only be estimated by those who have reluctantly been disturbed
-by the too early shafts of the god Phoebus.
-
-There should be a triple water supply in the House Comfortable;
-ewers always filled from the soft-water pump. Every well and tank
-should be tested ere we take up residence. Pure water, and plenty
-of it, is essential to the health (and therefore comfort) of every
-household. It should be perfectly clear and bright, and free from
-taste or smell. Yet impurity may lurk even in the most sparkling
-water. Therefore science must decide as to its desirability. If
-only iron or lime water is procurable, jars of lump ammonia, or a
-bottle of cloudy liquid ammonia, a bag of oatmeal or a bundle of
-bran should lie on every washstand. The hot-water boiler not only
-supplies unlimited baths, but may be devised to heat the house. In
-every Canadian home a stove in the cellar warms the rooms above
-by means of drums and fans. We might do much the same in England
-with our hot-water pipes. These should certainly run through the
-linen-press and clothes cupboards, and terminate in bathroom
-spirals. On these, towels and rough sheets could be dried and
-aired. A face cloth always warm is one of the luxuries in our House
-Comfortable.
-
-After sanitation, ventilation takes its place in the home.
-How to secure a constant supply of fresh air is a question
-which demands most serious consideration. In ages past, houses
-were unintentionally ventilated by the ill-fitting doors and
-window-frames, wide chimneys, and open fire-places. But in our
-modern buildings comfort is secured by almost air-tight doors and
-windows. Ventilators at the top of such are delightful and necessary
-for real comfort, or a Queen Anne casement may have a swing in its
-upper frame. It is not always easy, however, to secure exemption
-from draught in our modern mansions. When the brick-and-mortar fiend
-has placed door, window, and fireplace exactly opposite each other,
-screens must be judiciously used. A brass rod from which hangs a
-curtain, screwed into the door jamb and suspended by a tiny chain
-from the ceiling, is a good thing, or an ordinary _portière_ may be
-allowed. The former plan, however, enables us to keep the door open
-without feeling a wind.
-
-Padded stair-carpets secure noiseless ascent in the House
-Comfortable. Cork mats by the big bath are welcome to bare feet.
-Many cupboards are a necessity. A place for everything and
-everything in its place is one of the initial rules for everyone's
-comfort. It is also Divine law. Hanging presses, medicine cupboards,
-butler's pantry, housemaid's closets, keep dresses from dust,
-poisons from the unwary, silver and glass intact, and brushes unworn.
-
-The House Comfortable must not be over-servanted. Neither must it
-be undermanned. Of the two evils, the latter is preferable, as the
-mistress herself then looks after the minutiæ of her house. With all
-deference to Matthew Prior, comfort does not flow on a line with
-ignorance. It requires a cultivated intelligence to provide such in
-our homes.
-
-Education has done much for us on this point. How not to do it
-in the House Comfortable is exemplified by the abodes of our
-forefathers. Going over Beaumaris Castle the other day, I noted
-the small apertures for exit; the high caverns of chimneys; the
-windows of horn; the crooked stairs. Nowadays we find stoves and
-slow combustion grates quite a necessity for comfort--whilst lofty
-ceilings, broad staircases, and wide windows can be quite as
-picturesque, and are far more to be desired.
-
-The dictionary definition of the word "comfort" implies enlivenment
-and capability for dispensing bodily ease. For this, moral qualities
-are as necessary as well-planned, well-equipped houses.
-
-Punctuality, for instance, is an ingredient required to secure a
-comfortable home.
-
-When breakfast and dinner are movable feasts, served up at the whim
-of a lie-a-bed or a gad-about, they can only be make-believes,
-after all. Cold coffee is unpalatable even when partaken of in a
-sunny room. Whitey-brown sausages are unappetising unless piping
-from the pot. Yet this--like all other virtues--may be strained
-too far. Nothing is more uncomfortable than to feel no latitude is
-allowed to a weary guest, or to find one's host at marmalade three
-minutes after the time appointed for the disappearance of a savoury.
-Courtesy in this must be our rule. Neatness is another necessity.
-No house can be really comfortable that is littered with papers,
-or in which boots lie in the drawing-room--yet finickiness in
-arrangement makes the home unbearable. The most uncomfortable visit
-I ever paid was to the most scientifically correct house. Chairs
-were not allowed to touch the wall-paper; footstools never shifted.
-A towel for wiping down the varnish of the bath was provided, and--I
-was made miserable! By all means keep paint and paper in as much
-primitive purity as possible, but let unobtrusive service guard
-these points.
-
-Much more could I discourse of the House Comfortable, but space
-forbids. Let me only remind you that the veriest cottage--plenished
-with wisdom and lovingly provided--may fulfil all its conditions
-just as well as the most luxurious castle.
-
-Told in Sunshine Room.]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: DONKEY BOY]
-
-DONKEY BOY TO THE QUEEN
-
-_A TRUE INCIDENT._
-
-By Alfred T. Story
-
-Part II.
-
-
-A week passed before anything further was heard. Then a summons came
-for Tam to appear before her Majesty on the following afternoon. He
-was duly in attendance, and had not long to wait before a man in
-Highland costume came into the room where he was seated and said--
-
-"Noo, my braw laddie, her Most Gracious Majesty and his Royal
-Highness the Prince Consort will come in through that door in twa
-seconds. When they enter all you hae to dy is ta stan' up an' mak'
-yer obeisance. An' when they ax ye a question jist ye say yes or
-nae, your Majesty, or your Royal Highness, as the case may be. An'
-if they ax ye naething--weel, jist ye say naething in return."
-
-With these words the wise servitor withdrew. Barely had he gone out
-of one door ere the other opened, and the same lady he had seen
-before, leaning on the arm of the gentleman he likewise remembered,
-appeared before friend Tam. They were both dressed much more richly
-than when he had previously seen them, the lady having a brilliant
-star on her breast, and the gentleman wearing a silken sash over his
-shoulder.
-
-For a moment the boy was confused, but he recovered himself
-sufficiently to recollect that he had to make an "obeisance." He had
-omitted to ask the Highland gentleman what that was, but he thought
-it must be something like the soldier's salute, and so he stood
-perfectly upright and saluted.
-
-"So you have come, my lad, to see her Majesty about the position of
-donkey-boy?" said the gentleman.
-
-"Yes, sir--your Royal Highness," replied Tam. Only when he had got
-out the word "sir" did it flash upon him that he was standing before
-the Queen and her Royal Consort.
-
-"Well, her Majesty has caused inquiries to be made about you, and
-she finds that, although you are a little wayward and sometimes
-disobedient to your grandparents, you are not on the whole a bad
-boy."
-
-"No, your Royal Highness," said Tam.
-
-"Does that mean that you are not a bad boy, or that you do not
-sometimes disobey your grandparents?"
-
-This question, though backed by a genial smile, somewhat
-disconcerted the would-be donkey-boy. He was silent for a moment,
-then he answered, looking first at one and then at the other, with
-that straight glance of his, "I hae sometimes been disobedient to
-my grandparents, but I think I have learned better now."
-
-"I am glad to hear that," said the Prince.
-
-Then, speaking for the first time, the Queen said, "Well, Tam, if I
-make you my donkey-boy, will you promise to be obedient to all my
-slightest wishes and commands? Do not answer lightly. I am a severe
-mistress in that I expect the strictest obedience and attention
-to duty. But I, in return, am strict in doing my duty to those I
-employ."
-
-"And if you prove a worthy and trustworthy servant," added the
-Prince, "your position is secure for life."
-
-"Not, however, as a mere donkey-boy all your days," put in the Queen
-with a smile.
-
-Said Tam with a faltering tongue: "If ye'll try me, your Majesty,
-I'll do my best, and," he added, as though struck with a sudden
-thought, "I'll no need to lick the donkeys, 'cos I ken hoo ta mek
-'em run 'thout the stick."
-
-[Illustration: Yetta threw up her hands in amaze.]
-
-"And how do you do that?" asked the Prince with a smile.
-
-"I meks 'em carry a bunch o' thistles afore 'em."
-
-"Well, we will see," replied her Majesty, smiling. "Now you may run
-home and tell your grandparents you are to be ready to begin duty
-this day week. But before you go you will see the gentleman who
-spoke to you a minute or two ago."
-
-With these words and a kindly smile the Sovereign and her Royal
-Consort withdrew.
-
-The one door closed, the other immediately opened, and again entered
-the Highland gentleman. "Sae ye hae been engagit ta look after ta
-cuddies, eh?" he questioned.
-
-Tam said he had.
-
-"Aweel, it's a verra guid step in life for a young callant to
-begin wi', an' if ye tek heed there's nae telling whereto it may
-lead--ablins even to the primiership, if ye ken what that is. For ye
-mun know, the gift o' the heaven-made Prime Minister is just to ken
-hoo ta manage a' th' human cuddies that are sent to Parliament to
-bother 'em. But mebbe a' that's a wee bit abune yer understanding as
-yet, and sae we'll just leave it an' speer aboot yer claes."
-
-Needless to say how surprised Donal and Yetta were to hear Tam's
-story, how thankful to reflect that their boy was to have such a
-start in life. He reported to them what had been said, and the
-promise he had given, and they believed that, like the Jamison he
-was, he would be true to his word. All the same, they did not omit
-to pray for that guidance and support for him without which his own
-efforts would be vain.
-
-The evening before Tam's week was up a parcel was delivered at
-Jamison's door, addressed to his grandson. It contained a complete
-new suit, as the Highland gentleman had said, "from the skin
-outwards." Never was seen such a brave outfit, to Tam's thinking. He
-turned it over and admired it, article by article, for at least a
-couple of hours, but would not try it on, or any part of it, until
-he had had a good wash. The tub was never a thing he was shy of, but
-on this occasion it was used as though he intended to wash out his
-every fault, as well as all the merely superficial smuts and stains
-that had accumulated, so as to appear before his Queen a spotlessly
-clean cuddy-tender.
-
-When the operation was completed, Tam indued himself in his new
-garments and went on parade, so to speak, before his grandmother.
-Yetta was busy stirring the matutinal porridge when he walked into
-the ben and said:
-
-"How do I look, granny?"
-
-Yetta, turning round, threw up her hands in amaze. She hardly knew
-him, so great was the transformation effected by the new clothes and
-the scrubbing he had given himself. Donal was no less surprised when
-he came in from his morning milking. Tam looked two inches taller
-and a lot sprucer.
-
-"Ye mind me of yer puir father," said the old man as he sat down to
-breakfast.
-
-That was a note of sad recollection which brought tears to Yetta's
-eyes; but a smile was soon gleaming through them when Tam, getting
-sight of Meg, who was eyeing him as it were askance, said drily,
-"Meg looks as if she hardly kenned what ta mek of her handiwark; for
-the beginning o't was a' her doing."
-
-Just then the noise of wheels was heard on the road, and as the
-messenger who brought the clothes left word that one of the Queen's
-carriages would pick him up on the morrow, Tam thought surely this
-was the one. But it was not. Indeed, he ran to the door at least
-twenty times ere, towards eleven o'clock, his vehicle arrived. It
-was a quaint affair, half carriage, half wash-basket, drawn by two
-asses, creatures as beautiful of their kind as could be found. It
-was driven by her whom he knew, and by her side were several bright
-little faces, while the Highland gentleman, riding behind on one
-pony, as sturdy and Hielan' as himself, led another by the bridle.
-
-Donal and Yetta came out and with bowed heads thanked the august
-though simple-hearted lady for the great kindness she had shown to
-their boy. She replied with a kindly smile:
-
-"There appears to be the making of a good man in him, and, with
-God's help, we will do our best to make him one."
-
-Little more was said, and, mounting the led pony, Tam rode off by
-the side of the faithful retainer, who never got further away from
-the carriage than the dust raised by its wheels.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Thus commenced Tam's career in life. Though he served the noblest
-lady in the land, he did not find his way one altogether of buttered
-parsnips and cream. The one thing abhorrent to his royal mistress
-was idleness and indifference. The motto of her establishment--of
-all her establishments--was "The diligent eye." In this principle
-she found not only the best interests of her own house, but the best
-interests also of those who served her.
-
-Tam could not be called idle, nor could he be called exactly
-indifferent; but during the years of his tending of cattle and
-sheep on the brae-side he had got into the habit of liking to loll
-about, to saunter and dream, and then to make up, or try to make
-up, the leeway of work or duty by a spurt of energy. Another fault
-he had was to leave things about--for others to "side" or put in
-order. This arose, no doubt, from the narrow dimensions of his home,
-where there was hardly room for everything to have its particular
-place. It was, however, neither a very grievous nor a deeply rooted
-fault; and a little sharp drilling, not unfrequently at the hands
-of the Highland gentleman--a sort of major of the household, who
-possessed "the diligent eye" _par excellence_--soon corrected Tam's
-delinquency in this regard.
-
-But the other fault was more deeply rooted and cost the young
-donkey-boy many a bad quarter of an hour. Indeed, on one occasion it
-nearly cost him his place. He had been given a task to do, and in
-place of doing it with all diligence he had been found with his feet
-growing to the ground, as it were. The consequence was an interview
-with the Highland gentleman, who told him, "Tam, ye have either ta
-pe punisht or to leave her Majesty's service: which shall it pe?"
-
-"I'll tek the punishment, sir, if you please," he answered.
-
-"Tam, ye are a wise poy, an' we'll mebby mek a man o' ye yet," said
-the major-domo.
-
-Tam took his punishment, and was the better for it; but he still
-failed to come up to his royal mistress's ideal of a servant. Like
-his fellow-servitors, he had plenty of time for rest and recreation:
-hours of labour were by no means long. So much time had he, indeed,
-for himself, that the Highland gentleman put suitable books before
-him, and counselled him to improve his mind by reading and study.
-He failed, however, to profit by the advice, and was presently made
-aware of his error by a violent thunder-clap.
-
-He was in attendance on his royal mistress one day, when she and
-the children were out for a drive. A poor body was met, in apparent
-distress, by the wayside. Inquiry was made as to her condition,
-present help was extended, and a promise of future beneficence given
-if further investigation should warrant its bestowal. Hence the
-necessity arose for an address to be written down, and Tam, who was
-that day the only person in attendance, was requested to do it.
-
-When Tam entered the royal service he could read a bit and write
-very imperfectly; but there had been time, had he followed the
-counsel given him, to have greatly improved himself in both those
-accomplishments. Not having done so, he fumbled egregiously over the
-task set him, and, in short, made such a hash of it that an eye of
-wrath was turned upon him.
-
-Tam had seen that eye in all its moods--of laughter and smiles, of
-grief, of earnestness, of affection, even of solemnity and awe, but
-he had never as yet beheld it flash in indignant wrath. He felt as
-though the muscles of his knees had been cut away and the ground
-was sinking from under his feet. What would he not have given to be
-miles away! But he had to face the storm, and it came in this way:
-
-"Were not books and paper and ink put before you? And were you not
-advised to improve your reading and writing?"
-
-Tam falteringly admitted that such was the case.
-
-"Why did you not attend to the advice?"
-
-"I--I----" stammered the ease-loving Tam.
-
-"Had you not the time?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Then why did you not do as you were wished?"
-
-Tam hung his head in shame.
-
-"Tam Jamison, listen to me. I will have those in my employ attend
-to my wishes, and attend to them with all their might. Do you wish
-to be ignorant all your life, when the time and the means for
-improvement are placed at your command? In three months' time I
-shall expect you to read and write in such a way that you will be
-able to fulfil in a creditable manner a simple duty like that you
-have to-day so grievously failed in. Now we'll go on."
-
-Tam Jamison wanted no more speaking to. He was now thoroughly awake:
-and he went to work with all his might to do the behest of his
-mistress and Sovereign, and, in truth, he made prodigious progress;
-so that when it happened one day--he being then in attendance on her
-Majesty in another part of the country--that she required the names
-of several rare plants to be written down for her future use, he did
-it so cleverly that he was rewarded with a pleased smile.
-
-Tam felt that he had acquired wings that afternoon, and the
-strangest part of the affair was, that when he came to reckon up
-precisely, he discovered that it was three months to a day since his
-"royal earwigging," as the Highland gentleman called it.
-
-To that worthy man Jamison communicated his delight. "Ah," said he,
-"ye thocht, like many anither, that ye were doing a great service to
-her gracious Majesty by your few hours of daily labour; but, guid
-faith, she does a mighty deal mair for ye than ye, or ony the likes
-o' ye, can do for her. Serve 'maist onybody else in the kintra, an'
-they'll take yer service an' gie ye yer wage, an' there's an end.
-But when her Majesty teks ye intil her household she teks ye to mek
-a man o' ye--if it's in ye, ye ken. An' weel she knows hoo ta do
-it--nane better. Sae ye just go on as ye've begun, Tam Jamison, an'
-ye'll mebbe no bide a feckless cuddy-callant till ye're auld an'
-blind."
-
-Jamison did not need to be taught his lesson a second time. He made
-diligent use of his opportunities, and improved so much and so
-visibly that when he was fifteen he was raised to the position of
-page. A greater mark of appreciation could hardly be given to one
-in the royal employ; for her Majesty's pages are amongst the most
-trusted of her servants.
-
-At first the humbler duties of a page fell to his lot; but as he
-improved in thoughtfulness and intelligence, and in his knowledge
-of the manifold and delicate duties which fell to his care--in which
-he had the aid and instruction of one of her Majesty's oldest and
-most experienced pages, a man who had been in her service ever since
-she ascended the throne--he rose higher and higher in the royal
-service and the royal consideration, until at last his services were
-rarely required except on State and exceptional occasions only.
-
-[Illustration: Tam hung his head in shame.]
-
-Scarcely a week passed that he did not recall the words of him we
-have called the Highland gentleman, when he said that the Queen
-did more for those in her service than they could ever do for her,
-in that she not only made men and women of them, but treated them
-more as gentlemen and ladies than as mere domestics. There were no
-servants in her employ, no matter how humble their sphere, but she
-knew them by name and had their welfare at heart; and if they served
-her well, she never lost sight of them, or forgot them--no, not even
-when the grave took them into its transitional embrace.
-
-Jamison had had abundant opportunities to note and set these
-things down in his heart, but he was never so much impressed by
-her Majesty's deep regard for those who served her faithfully and
-well as when, one dripping autumn day, he was required to accompany
-her to the churchyard of a rural village, halfway betwixt London
-and Windsor--in which, a day or two before, the aged servant above
-referred to had been buried--in order that she might lay a wreath
-upon his grave. It bore the words, "In grateful remembrance of a
-devoted and faithful servant, V.R.," and as she bent down to place
-it with her own hand upon the grave a tear fell upon the flowers
-that outshone the brightest jewel of her crown.
-
-
-
-
-TEMPERANCE NOTES AND NEWS.
-
-By a Leading Temperance Advocate.
-
-
-THE TEMPERANCE HOSPITAL.
-
-[Illustration: DR. J. J. RIDGE.
-
-(_Photo: J. Bacon, Newcastle-on-Tyne._)]
-
-The story of the Temperance Hospital in Hampstead Road forms one
-of the most interesting chapters in temperance history. When
-the experiment of treating accidents and disease without the
-administration of alcohol was first mooted, the idea was assailed
-with a storm of criticism in which the medical profession found a
-most active ally in the public Press. A quarter of a century has
-now elapsed since the first patient was received in the temporary
-premises in Gower Street, and although the medical staff have full
-permission, under certain regulations, to administer alcohol if
-deemed expedient, the last Report states that out of a total of
-13,984 in-patients, alcohol has only been resorted to in twenty-five
-cases. The percentage of recoveries compares most favourably with
-the ordinary hospitals, and the cases include every variety of
-disease and accident. The present head of the medical staff is Dr.
-J. J. Ridge, who has been connected with the institution from the
-first. For many years it has been the custom of the United Kingdom
-Band of Hope Union to organise a Christmas collection in aid of
-the Temperance Hospital. The amount thus realised has reached many
-thousand pounds, and it is hoped that this year's collection will
-prove the best of the series. The body of evidence in favour of
-total abstinence which the Temperance Hospital has accumulated
-certainly entitles the institution to the cordial support of the
-temperance public.
-
-[Illustration: THE TEMPERANCE HOSPITAL, HAMPSTEAD ROAD, LONDON.
-
-(_Photo supplied by the Press Studio._)]
-
-
-COMING EVENTS.
-
-Among the fixtures worth noting may be named the New Year's Meeting
-of the United Kingdom Band of Hope Union on Saturday, January 7th;
-the Annual Meeting of the London United Temperance Council, to be
-addressed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, on February 13th, in the
-Queen's Hall; a great Industrial Exhibition, promoted by the Hackney
-and East Middlesex Band of Hope Union, on April 10-13; Temperance
-Sunday for London Diocese April 23rd (St. George's Day, a grand
-opportunity for the clergy to strike a national note); and, as it is
-well to look ahead, a World's Temperance Convention to be held under
-the auspices of the National Temperance League in 1900.
-
-
-THE NEW ENGLISH DICTIONARY.
-
-It may be news to some of our readers that Dr. James A. H. Murray,
-the editor-in-chief of the monumental literary work which has been
-in progress for so many years, is an earnest total abstainer and a
-Vice-President of the National Temperance League. Dictionary-making
-and total abstinence seem to run together. In William Ball's "Slight
-Memorials of Hannah More" is this remark: "I dined last week at
-the Bishop of Chester's. Dr. Johnson was there. In the middle of
-dinner I urged Dr. Johnson to take a _little_ wine. He replied:
-'I can't drink a _little_, child, therefore I never touch it.
-Abstinence is as easy to me as temperance would be difficult.'" It
-is rather curious to note that it is only within recent years that
-our dictionaries have taken any cognisance of the meaning which
-temperance people give to the word "pledge." More than this, in
-the early dictionaries the word was almost exclusively given up to
-the other side of the drink question. For instance, in Bailey's
-Dictionary (1736) we have the following definition of the word
-"pledged":--"Having drank by the recommendation of another."...
-"The custom of pledging in drinking was occasioned by the Danes,
-who, while they had the superiority in England, used to stab the
-English or cut their throats while they were drinking; and thereupon
-they requested of some sitter-by to be their pledge and security
-while they drank; so that 'I will pledge you' signifies 'I will be
-your security that you shall drink in safety.'"
-
-[Illustration: "DICTIONARY" MURRAY.]
-
-Contrast this with the definition given in the last edition of
-Webster's Dictionary:--
-
-"A promise or agreement by which one binds one's self to do, or to
-refrain from doing something; especially a solemn promise in writing
-to refrain from using intoxicating liquors or other liquor; as to
-sign the pledge."
-
-No doubt, when Dr. Murray reaches the letter "P," we shall have a
-definition even still more illuminating. The New English Dictionary
-viewed from a temperance standpoint would make a delightful study.
-Take, for instance, volume one, in which "Alcohol" has more than
-a column to itself, while "Ale" has two columns, "Beer" two and
-a half columns, and "Abstain," "Abstainer," and "Abstaining" are
-treated with a wealth of illustration and meaning derived from such
-authorities as Wyclif in 1382 down to J. W. Bardsley (the present
-Bishop of Carlisle) in 1867, who is pressed into the service in this
-form:--
-
-"ABSTAINING.--Practising abstinence (from alcoholic beverages) 1867.
-J. W. BARDSLEY in 'Clerical Testimony to Total Abstinence' 30: 'The
-bride was the daughter of an abstaining clergyman.'"
-
-[Illustration: MADAME ANTOINETTE STERLING.
-
-(_Photo: Walery, Ltd., Regent Street, W._)]
-
-Now we will leave it to our fair readers to puzzle over until next
-month as to who the blushing bride was who is thus assured of
-immortality in the greatest Dictionary the world has ever seen.
-
-
-"TWO QUEENS OF SONG."
-
-"Example is better than precept," says the old adage, and there
-can be no doubt that the example of Madame Antoinette Sterling and
-Mrs. Mary Davies in the matter of total abstinence has been of the
-utmost value. It was at a reception given by Mr. and Mrs. Frederick
-Sherlock at Hackney, in 1892, to the Archbishop of Canterbury
-(then Bishop of London), that Madame Sterling, to the surprise of
-a delighted audience, volunteered "a few words." The gifted singer
-remarked that "she had been nearly all her life a total abstainer.
-When on long tours with members of her profession, it had been
-rather an aggravation to them to see, when they were pretty well
-prostrated, that she was almost or quite as fresh at the end of the
-journey as at the beginning. They also complained of the quality of
-the wine furnished to them, as well as of water. She took milk and
-cocoa, and also water, of which she did not complain, and scarcely
-missed one engagement in the seventeen years during which she had
-been before the public. She had never had a day's bad health, and
-had not suffered from those aches and pains of which she had heard
-other people complaining continually." Like Madame Sterling, Mrs.
-Mary Davies has upon many occasions shown a deep and practical
-interest in philanthropic work.
-
-[Illustration: MRS. MARY DAVIES.
-
-(_Photo: H. S. Mendelssohn, Pembridge Crescent, W._)]
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Press Studio._)
-
-MUSCULAR TRAINING AT THE NAVAL SCHOOL, GREENWICH.]
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Press Studio._)
-
-BUCKET-OF-WATER RACE AT THE NAVAL SCHOOL.]
-
-
-A FAMOUS BAND OF HOPE.
-
-Possibly the most unique Band of Hope in the world is that which is
-held in the Royal Naval School, Greenwich. It was founded so far
-back as 1871, by Samuel Sims, an honoured agent of the National
-Temperance League, and upon his death, in 1892, was taken over by
-Mr. W. S. Campbell, as the League's representative. No pressure at
-all is put upon the lads to induce them to join the Band of Hope,
-but, as a matter of fact, most of the lads in the school readily do
-so, and the present membership is fully a thousand strong. Regular
-weekly meetings are held, and the annual gathering, which is held
-in the great gymnasium, is a most inspiriting spectacle. A visit
-to the Royal Naval School, if it should happen to be in recreation
-time, cannot fail to afford considerable satisfaction to those who
-like to see Young England at play. Every type of healthy pastime is
-encouraged in its turn, and these young abstainers have frequently
-shown that they are well able to hold their own. It is encouraging
-to know that the principles of total abstinence are not discarded
-when the lads pass out into the Royal Navy or Mercantile Marine,
-for every year large numbers of them are drafted into Miss Weston's
-well-known temperance society.
-
-
-TEMPERANCE SUNDAY.
-
-The appointment of a special Sunday for the preaching of sermons on
-temperance originated with the Church of England Temperance Society
-many years ago. Owing to various circumstances, it is not possible
-for the Church of England clergy to take one Sunday simultaneously
-for the whole country, but each diocesan Bishop makes choice of
-a day and issues a pastoral letter to his clergy, so that at one
-period of the year or another the whole country is covered, so far
-as the Church of England is concerned. The Nonconformist bodies
-have, however, for some years past, fixed upon the last Sunday in
-November for Temperance Sunday, and as we go to press we learn that
-this year special reference will be made to the importance of Sunday
-Closing.
-
-
-
-
-SCRIPTURE LESSONS FOR SCHOOL & HOME INTERNATIONAL SERIES
-
-With Illustrative Anecdotes and References.
-
-
-DECEMBER 18TH.--=The Captivity of Judah.=
-
-_To read--Jer. lii. 1-11. Golden Text--Jer. xxix. 13._
-
-This chapter describes the fate of Judah. Later kings were all
-wicked. Warnings of Jeremiah and other prophets all been in vain.
-Time has come for judgment. Captivity in Babylon, long foretold,
-now about to commence. Came about in reign of Zedekiah. The eleven
-verses of this lesson almost identical with Jer. xxxix. 1-10.
-
-I. =The King= (1-3). _His name._ Originally Mattaniah, was son of
-good King Josiah and uncle of late King Jehoiachin. Jeremiah had
-prophesied of a future king (Jer. xxiii. 5-7) as the "Lord our
-righteousness." The king assumed that name, and was called Zedekiah.
-
-_His acts._ "Did evil," but had not always been altogether evil.
-Had made covenant with nobles and priests to abolish slavery
-(xxxiv. 8-10). But his great wrong was breaking his solemn oath of
-allegiance to king of Babylon (2 Chron. xxxvi. 13). This looked upon
-as his crowning vice (Ezek. xvii. 8), for which God's anger was upon
-him (ver. 3).
-
-=Lesson.= When thou vowest a vow defer not to pay it.
-
-II. =The Siege= (4-7). City besieged for last time. Jews never
-forgot day it began. Was January--tenth day of their tenth month.
-Great mounds or (earth-works) outside walls to shoot burning arrows,
-etc.; houses outside thrown down (Jer. xxxiii. 4). Famine and
-pestilence soon ravaged crowded population inside.
-
-_The assault._ City, after eighteen months, taken by assault at
-northern gate (B.C. 587). King and his family and royal guard
-escaped by passage between two walls (Jer. xxxix. 4), by royal
-gardens, down steep descent towards Jericho. There he was overtaken
-and made prisoner. His broken oath caused his destruction (Ezek.
-xvii. 20).
-
-=Lesson.= Evil shall hunt the wicked to overtake him.
-
-III. =Babylon.= He was taken to Babylon. His sons killed in his
-sight, then his eyes put out, bound with chains, kept in prison till
-death. Feeble in will, faithless in promise, judgment came upon him.
-
-=Lesson.= 1. The word of the Lord standeth sure.
-
-
-Bargains.
-
-He who buys the truth makes a good bargain. Zedekiah dealt in
-falsehood and lost his throne. Esau sold his birthright for a basin
-of soup. Judas made a bad bargain when he sold his Lord for the
-price of a slave. Take heed to the thing that is right, for that
-alone shall bring peace at the last.
-
-
-DECEMBER 25TH.--=A Christmas Lesson.=
-
-_To read--Hebrews i. 1-9. Golden Text--St. Luke ii. 11._
-
-This letter written to the Hebrews, i.e. Christians of Jewish birth
-who clung to the priesthood and services of the Temple as well as
-to Christianity. St. Paul shows how far the Christian system was
-superior to and superseded the Jewish. The types and ceremonies of
-the Law fulfilled in Christ, whose birthday is kept at Christmas.
-
-I. =God's Revelation= (1-2). _Past._ God revealed or unveiled
-Himself of old. This revelation inferior in three ways, viz. (1) It
-was given gradually, in portions, a part at a time. (2) Given in
-divers manners, under many figures and types. (3) Given by prophets,
-only human.
-
-_Present._ Final revelation of God's truth--once for all given to
-the saints (Jude 3). Given by His Son--the Word of God (St. John i.
-1, 2); heir of all things--God's agent in creation of the universe.
-
-II. =God's Son= (3-9). _Great in Himself._ Has Divine glory--the
-outshining of the Father's glory. He is God's image, the counterpart
-of the Father. To see Christ is to see God (St. John xiv. 9).
-
-_Great in His work._ (1) _Upholder_ of the universe as well as its
-Creator. (2) _Saviour._ Came not only as prophet to reveal God's
-will, but to purge man's sin. This He did by Himself with His own
-blood (ix. 12, 14).
-
-_Greater than angels._ In His person, His work. His exaltation to
-glory; testified by Scripture, _e.g._ Psalm ii. 3 tells of Christ's
-eternal Sonship--also referred to by St. Paul as fulfilled in His
-resurrection (Acts xiii. 33).
-
-_King over all._ Christ also a King. Rules in righteousness (Psalm
-xlv. 6, 7); received throne as victor over His enemies--sin, death,
-and the devil (xii. 2). Raised high above all.
-
-=Lesson.= Christ is King--honour Him; He is Saviour--love Him; He
-is God--fear Him. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and so ye perish.
-Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.
-
-
-Christ in the Old and New Testaments.
-
-A weaver, who had made an elaborate piece of tapestry, hung it
-upon the tenterhooks in his yard. That night it was stolen. A
-piece of tapestry was found by the police, which seemed to answer
-the description; but, as the pattern was not unlike that of other
-pieces, they wanted more definite proof. It was brought to the
-weaver's yard, and there the perforations in the fabric were found
-to correspond exactly to the tenterhooks. This was proof positive.
-In like manner, if we place the life and character of Christ against
-all the prophecies of Him in Scripture, they will be found to
-correspond exactly.
-
-
-1899.
-
-_New Series. The Gospel according to St. John._
-
-
-JANUARY 1ST.--=Christ the True Light.=
-
-_To read--St. John i. 1-14. Golden Text--Ver. 4._
-
-New Year--new course of lessons. This Gospel records the deeper
-spiritual truths of Christ's teaching, especially about His own
-Nature and Person. It sets Christ forth as God. St. John tells his
-object in writing a fourth Gospel in chap. xx. 31, which the class
-should read.
-
-I. =The Nature of Christ= (1-3). _Eternal._ In the beginning, not of
-the world, but before all creation, from everlasting. _Divine Word._
-Christ is the expression of the mind of God. Came to reveal God to
-man (xv. 15). _Living Person._ The Word not a mere attribute or
-power of God but a distinct Person. "With God" from everlasting. Not
-inferior to the Father, but very God Himself. _Creator._ As well as
-Saviour and Governor of the world (read Col. i. 16, 17; Heb. i. 2).
-
-II. =The Office of Christ= (4-13). _Source of Life._ As very God He
-had life in Himself, which He poured forth on His creation (vv. 25,
-26; xvii. 2). _Source of light._ The life from Son of God is cause
-of man's inward spiritual light by which he is saved. _Himself the
-light._ World was in spiritual darkness at Christ's coming. _Giver
-of light._ No man has light in himself, however great his natural
-powers. All true light is from Christ.
-
-_Rejected._ By His own. The world He made knew not its Creator (1
-Cor. i. 21). The nation He chose to be His own special people (Deut.
-vii. 6) received Him not.
-
-_Received._ By a few--both Jews and Gentiles; such as Nicodemus the
-ruler (iii. 1, 2), the disciples from Galilee (ii. 11), and others.
-How did they receive Him? By believing in Him. This faith, itself
-the gift of God, rewarded by further privilege of becoming God's
-sons--born into God's family by a new and spiritual birth (iii. 3).
-
-III. =The Glory of Christ= (14). Word was made flesh by taking to
-Himself man's human nature. He dwelt (_literally_ "pitched His
-tent") with men, full of mercy to heal bodies and souls, full of
-God's truth to teach.
-
-=Lessons.= 1. _Hold fast the Christian faith._ Jesus Christ one for
-ever with the Father. _God_--eternal, glorious, Creator, Giver of
-light and life to the soul--yet _Man_, like one of us.
-
-2. _Live the Christian life._ Jesus is our example, that we should
-follow His steps.
-
-
-Christians walking in the Light.
-
-A little girl in a London slum won a prize at a flower-show. Her
-flower was grown in a broken teapot in a back attic. When asked how
-she managed to grow the beautiful flower, she said her success came
-from always keeping the plant in the only corner of the room ever
-favoured by a sunbeam. Only by walking in the light and sight of God
-can Christians truly grow and bear fruit.
-
-
-JANUARY 8TH.--=Christ's first Disciples.=
-
-_To read--St. John i. 35-46. Golden Text--Ver. 36._
-
-Christ now thirty years old; has been baptised and received special
-outpouring of Holy Ghost (ver. 33), and also been tempted in the
-wilderness (St. Matt. iv. 1). Is now ready for His public work and
-ministry. Now begins to win disciples.
-
-I. =The first two Disciples= (35-40). _Heard of Him._ Picture Christ
-walking near the Jordan. St. John, who had baptised Him, points Him
-out to his followers. Describes Him: this the Lamb of God to Whom
-all the sacrifices pointed; the innocent lamb slain told of the
-death of the spotless Son of God for man's sin. His words went home.
-
-_Followed Him._ Who were they? Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, and
-probably St. John, writer of the Gospel, brother of James. Why did
-they follow? To learn more of Him. Had been baptised with baptism of
-repentance. Sense of sin led them to seek the Saviour. Christ knew
-their thoughts, encouraged them to learn more of Him (St. Matt. xi.
-28, 29).
-
-II. =The third Disciple= (41, 42). The two friends separate the next
-day, each in search of his brother. Andrew soon finds his--eagerly
-tells the news. They have found the long-expected Messiah, the
-Anointed of God. Brings Simon to Christ. No greater proof possible
-of having really found Christ than bringing another to Him. Christ
-looks with eager and searching eye at Simon--reads his very heart,
-sees his longing after truth; gives him a new name, Cephas (Hebrew)
-or Peter (Greek), meaning "a rock" or "stone." What did this
-signify? His bold and determined character, strong in the faith (St.
-Matt. xvi. 16), eager in defence of Christ (xviii. 10), and, after
-his fall and forgiveness, strong in love (xxi. 15).
-
-III. =The fourth Disciple= (43, 44). Philip of Bethsaida. Must have
-heard his friends talking of Christ. Probably stirred in his heart.
-Christ found him, as He afterwards found Zacchæus St. (Luke xix. 5).
-His mission to seek as well as to save. Happy they who obey Christ's
-call and follow Him.
-
-IV. =The fifth Disciple= (45, 46). Philip soon shows marks of
-discipleship. He finds Nathanael. Tells him how Christ fulfilled
-prophecies, such as of a "prophet" like unto Moses, a "king" whose
-name should be "the Lord our righteousness" (Jer. xxiii. 5, 6).
-Nathanael asks in honest doubt if it can be possible for the Messiah
-to come from despised Nazareth. Philip did not argue, but bade him
-"Come and see"--the best cure for all doubts.
-
-=Lessons.= From the Baptist: The dying Saviour the greatest magnet
-for drawing souls.
-
-From Andrew: Show religion first at home.
-
-From Simon: Taste and see how gracious the Lord is.
-
-From Philip: Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
-
-From Nathanael: Hearken unto me, and I will teach you the fear of
-the Lord.
-
-
-"There's Another."
-
-A traveller lost in the snow on the Alps was rescued by one of the
-famous dogs of St. Bernard. When restored to consciousness his first
-words were, "There's another." The monks to whom the dogs belonged
-continued their search, and "the other" was found and saved. "Are
-you saved?" Is there not another whom you can rescue from sin and
-bring to the life of God?
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: Short Arrows]
-
-Short Arrows
-
-NOTES OF CHRISTIAN LIFE AND WORK.
-
-
-The Quiver Santa Claus.
-
-Last month we published full particulars of our scheme to provide
-Christmas Stockings for the many poor and friendless little ones who
-are not on Santa Claus's visiting list, and we appeal to our readers
-for their hearty practical co-operation in this work. Each stocking
-will contain wholesome goodies, in the shape of cake and sweets, in
-addition to an unbreakable toy and a Christmas card. The Proprietors
-of THE QUIVER have headed the subscription list with a donation of
-£25, which is sufficient to provide the contents of
-
-  FIVE HUNDRED CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS FOR
-  POOR AND FRIENDLESS CHILDREN,
-
-a sum of =one shilling= being sufficient to furnish a stocking and
-pay the postage. But, as we can profitably distribute _thousands_ of
-such presents, we confidently look to all lovers of the children to
-lend their generous aid, in order that as many as possible of the
-destitute little mites may have their Christmas brightened by such a
-welcome gift. We shall also be glad to receive recommendations from
-our readers of suitable cases for the receipt of the stockings, and
-for this purpose the special application form to be found in our
-Extra Christmas Number ("Christmas Arrows") should be used. As the
-time is short, contributions for the Christmas Stocking Fund should
-be sent =at once= to the Editor of THE QUIVER, La Belle Sauvage,
-London, E.C., and all amounts of one shilling and upwards will be
-thankfully acknowledged in our pages.
-
-[Illustration: CURIOUS ALMS-BOX IN PINHOE CHURCH.]
-
-
-A Curious Alms-box.
-
-In the interesting parish church of Pinhoe, near Exeter, appears a
-very curious alms-box surmounted by the figure of a man who seems,
-from his costume and general character, to date from the period of
-James I. He holds two books in his hand--representing most probably
-Bible and Prayer Book--one of which bears the inscription, "Y^e Poor
-Man of Pinhoo, 1700," but from information with which the vicar of
-the parish, the Rev. Frederick W. Pulling, has kindly supplied us,
-it appears that the books were added in 1879-80, when the church was
-restored. Previously the figure held a small flimsy box in front of
-him. He was, however, placed on the present handsome oak box bearing
-the inscription, "Remember y^e Poor," and the old flimsy box was
-removed. The present box was constructed from some very ancient
-timber from the roof of Salisbury Cathedral, when under repair.
-What the figure was originally intended to represent--whether a
-beadle, the dispenser of charities, or a relieving officer--is not
-known. Curiously enough, the parish records are quite silent as to
-the figure, and when, some time since, it was repaired it was sent
-to the eminent antiquary and ecclesiologist, the Rev. Mackenzie
-Walcott, who said he had seen only two such figures before. The
-wooden backing is of Jacobean style, and was designed by the
-architect in 1879 to strengthen the whole structure.
-
-
-"God Bless the Kernel."
-
-After the marvellous achievements in his two Chinese campaigns,
-which were sufficient to have made the reputations of a dozen
-ordinary colonels, Gordon came back to England in 1865 as poor as
-when he left home. During the next six years, which he spent in
-Gravesend as an engineer, the future keeper of Khartoum devoted a
-large portion of his leisure to visiting the sick and to teaching
-and training many of the ragged and neglected boys of the rough
-neighbourhood. So truly did these poor lads love their colonel that
-it was not uncommon to see chalked up on the walls the singular
-inscription, "God bless the Kernel." Their gratitude was apparently
-stronger than their orthography. When Englishmen reflect how Gordon
-placed his Divine Master first in every enterprise of his life, they
-must feel that no institution intended to honour the dead hero at
-Khartoum can be a worthy memorial which is not grounded on the rock
-of Christianity.
-
-
-Christmas Cards and Gift-Books.
-
-Christmas is pre-eminently the season of universal good-will,
-and the custom of conveying seasonable greetings by means of the
-attractive Christmas card is every year becoming more general.
-Amongst the publishers of these mementoes Messrs. Raphael Tuck and
-Sons take front rank, and the specimen box of cards, calendars,
-story-books, and illustrated texts, recently received from them,
-affords ample proof that the variety and artistic excellence which
-have always characterised their productions are well maintained this
-year. Some of the cards are veritable works of art, and deserve more
-than the temporary appreciation usually accorded to such; but the
-palm for novelty, both in design and treatment, must be accorded
-to the calendars, many of which are most original in conception,
-and all are daintily and tastefully produced.--For years past we
-have been accustomed to look for a Christmas book from Mr. Andrew
-Lang, and this season he has edited an edition of "The Arabian
-Nights Entertainments," which Messrs. Longmans have published in a
-charming cover, and with a number of clever illustrations by Mr.
-H. J. Ford.--Another suitable gift-book for children is "His Big
-Opportunity" (Hodder and Stoughton), a brightly written story by
-Amy Le Feuvre; whilst for young people what more inspiriting and
-interesting work could be presented to them than the life-story of
-the pioneer missionary, "Mackay of Uganda," of whose biography a new
-illustrated edition has just been issued by the same publishers.--We
-have also received the current yearly volumes of our contemporaries,
-_Good Words_ and _The Sunday Magazine_ (Isbister & Co.). These would
-both form valuable additions to any Sunday-school library, and are
-also admirably adapted for use as prizes or presents.
-
-[Illustration: (_From a Photograph._)
-
-THE LAUGHING GOD OF CHINA.]
-
-
-Compensation.
-
-An Irishman being bound over to keep the peace against all the
-Queen's subjects, said, "Then Heaven help the first foreigner I
-meet!" We are reminded of this when we see people civility itself to
-a good servant they are afraid of losing, or to the strongest-willed
-person in their home, and then relieving their pent-up feelings by
-being rude to the rest of the family.
-
-
-Laughter and War.
-
-"Have you any gods around here?" inquired an English traveller in
-rural China. "Oh, yes," replied a venerable Celestial; "the three
-Pure Ones, the God of the Fields, and the Goddess of Mercy." "My old
-friend, I am afraid your gods are not a few." "Foreign teacher,"
-said the old man, "verily, verily, our gods are ten thousand and
-thousands of thousands." Some are of stone, others of wood, clay,
-or bronze. One may be purchased for a farthing, another will cost
-£200. The Laughing God in our illustration is a representation in
-coarse pottery of Quantecong, supposed to be the first emperor.
-There are laughing Buddhas for sale, and some few images of
-beneficent mien; but the great horde are intended to inspire awe
-or terror. The second illustration is a well-executed terra-cotta
-figure of a deified warrior. The drawn sword and beard are similar
-to those of Kwante, the God of War, regarded as the head of the
-military department in China. In 1,600 state temples dedicated
-to him the mandarins worship once a month, and in thousands of
-smaller temples he is honoured with sacrifices of sheep and oxen.
-His worshippers believe that he was a general, who just about the
-time that the Prince of Peace came to this world in great humility
-made the enemies of China to tremble. The elevation or manufacture
-of gods is a simple affair. The keeper of an idol shop collects
-the heads, limbs, and trunk that he has moulded out of mud, unites
-them in one ill-proportioned figure, slips a frog, snake, lizard,
-or centipede into the hole in the back, and the idol is ready for
-dedication and worship! The calm, colossal Buddha at Peking is
-seventy feet high, but it can only witness to a blind feeling after
-God.
-
-
-An Ancient Manuscript of St Matthew.
-
-The romance of New Testament manuscripts is again enlarged; this
-time by the discovery of a papyrus fragment containing a part of
-the Gospel according to St. Matthew. The precious sheet was found
-in the Libyan desert, about one hundred and twenty miles south of
-Cairo, by Messrs. Grenfell and Hunt, the discoverers of the _Logia_.
-It is thought that this fragment may be older by a hundred years
-than any other manuscript of the New Testament hitherto available.
-Its value, had it been a whole book instead of two leaves, would
-have been priceless. Even so, it is of singular interest. Its
-actual history, of course, is beyond discovery, but its appearance
-amongst the world of scholars reminds us of the strangely varied
-channels through which Greek manuscripts of the New Testament have
-come down to us. There is the romantic story of the discovery,
-in a monastery on Mount Sinai, of the priceless manuscript known
-as the _Codex Sinaiticus_. There is the scarcely less valuable
-_Codex Alexandrinus_ which the British Museum now guards; that
-came to England as a gift to King Charles I. from a Patriarch of
-Constantinople. There is the great manuscript which is one of the
-glories of the Vatican Library at Rome, where it is believed to
-have been ever since that library was founded. There is the _Codex
-Ephraemi_ at Paris, its ancient writing partly legible beneath a
-much later work written over it--a manuscript which once belonged
-to Catherine de Medicis. There is another palimpsest brought to
-England from a convent in the Nubian desert. There is the manuscript
-presented by Laud to the Bodleian, and supposed to have been used
-by the Venerable Bede. In truth, the history of these treasures is
-full of romance, and it is but fitting that new discoveries should
-furnish other examples of the strange ways in which the text of the
-Holy Scriptures in various parts and forms has been preserved for us.
-
-[Illustration: (_From a Photograph._)
-
-A GOD OF WAR.]
-
-
-Humours of Hymen.
-
-While nothing can be so distressing to a clergyman, whose duty it
-is to solemnise marriages, as irreverence or flippancy, he can
-hardly fail to be amused, if many of his people are poor and his
-area is wide, at the occasional results of a genuine ignorance, or
-a legitimate nervousness. A well-known church in Central London
-can furnish several singular and recent experiences. It is not
-often that either of the contracting parties comes furnished with
-a prayer-book, but on a certain occasion the bride, a rather
-strong-minded-looking lady, did so, and insisted on holding it
-sternly and steadily under the nose of her future spouse. In
-repeating the passage in which "cherish" occurs, a bridegroom,
-in a faltering voice, expressed his willingness "to love and to
-'_perish_.'" "Oh, sir, I do feel _that_ nervous!" once pleaded
-another embarrassed swain in the middle of the service. A widower,
-who was extremely awkward and stupid in making the responses
-after the minister, apologised by saying, "Really, sir, it is so
-long since I was married last that I forget"! Another bridegroom,
-though middle-aged, seemed somewhat diffident with regard to his
-responsibilities, and answered to the inquiry, "Wilt thou love,
-comfort, honour, etc.?" "To the best of my abilities I will." A
-year or two ago, the roof of the particular church of which we
-are thinking was being renovated, and the interior was a maze of
-ladders. Under these a superstitious bride earnestly begged not
-to be compelled to go, so she was considerately conducted to the
-chancel by a circuitous route. There was a wedding last year at
-which a tiny bridesmaid made her appearance. As he had married her
-parents about six summers previously, the clergyman thought he
-might venture to take her by the arm and to place her in her proper
-position behind the bride. Considerably to his surprise, the small
-damsel hit out at him in a most workmanlike manner straight from
-the shoulder, and the edifice resounded with a terrific yell of
-defiance, "Me _won't_! Me WON'T!"
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Church Missionary Society._)
-
-INDIAN ORPHANS AT A BREAKFAST SUPPLIED BY MISSIONARIES.
-
-(_A scene during the recent famine._)]
-
-
-Some New Books.
-
-One of the most interesting biographies of the season is that of
-Bishop Walsham How, which has just been issued by Messrs. Isbister,
-prefaced by an excellent portrait of the late prelate. The Bishop
-was principally known by his work in the East of London, where
-he was greatly loved by clergy and parishioners alike, and many
-excellent stories are related _apropos_ of his cheeriness and
-tolerant good nature in dealing with the mixed elements of his
-crowded diocese. The memoir seems full and complete, as, indeed,
-it should be, the biographer being Mr. Frederick How (a son of
-the late Bishop), who had access to all the private memoranda of
-his father, and was naturally acquainted with every incident of
-interest concerning him. From the same publishers comes an excellent
-work by our contributor, Dean Farrar, on "Great Books," in which
-he critically reviews the life and works of Bunyan, Shakespeare,
-Dante, Milton, and other "master-spirits." Though admittedly written
-for young people, the volume contains much that is valuable and
-interesting to older readers. Messrs. Isbister have also recently
-issued a volume of sermons by the Rev. Stopford A. Brooke, under
-the title "The Gospel of Joy." Whilst we do not endorse all the
-views expressed by the author, yet at the same time we are bound to
-confess that Mr. Brooke's eloquent addresses teem with happy and
-suggestive thoughts.--A daintily produced volume reaches us from
-the Scientific Press in the form of Mr. J. T. Woolrych Perowne's
-account of his recent journey in Russian Central Asia, published
-under the comprehensive title "Russian Hosts and English Guests in
-Central Asia." In many respects the journey described was quite
-unique, and the interest is considerably increased by the number
-and variety of the excellent illustrations which are scattered
-throughout the book.--"Table-talk with Young Men" (Hodder and
-Stoughton) is the title which the Rev. W. J. Dawson gives to his
-recently published series of "pen-conversations" with young men.
-Mr. Dawson's practical, straightforward and cultured "talk" on
-such diverse subjects as "The Art of Living," "Christianity and
-Progress," "Civic Responsibility," etc., is not only brilliant but
-highly instructive, and the book is one which should find a place
-on every young man's bookshelf, for it will richly repay careful
-and constant perusal.--We have also to acknowledge the receipt of
-"Comfort and Counsel" (Hodder and Stoughton), containing quotations
-from the writings of Elizabeth Rundle Charles for every day in the
-year; "The Children's Year-Book of Prayer and Praise" (Longmans),
-compiled by C. M. Whishaw; a useful and informing little volume on
-"Diet and Food" (J. and A. Churchill), by Dr. Alexander Haig; "A
-Cluster of Camphire" (Passmore and Alabaster), containing short,
-sympathetic addresses by Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon to those who are sick
-and sorrowful; and "The Daily Homily" (Morgan and Scott), a series
-of brief, pregnant discourses on the books of the Bible from 1
-Samuel to Job, by the Rev. F. B. Meyer.
-
-
-"Out of the Eater came forth Meat."
-
-Samson's riddle is an everlasting proverb. Out of the devouring
-famine that last year devastated India blessings have already come
-to many provinces. A conquered race find it hard to love and trust
-their rulers, but in their trouble dwellers in the famine districts
-saw the practical side of Christianity. In the midst of universal
-rejoicing England was moved with compassion, and provided food for
-the starving. Government, in many instances, entrusted missionaries
-with the distribution of grain. The Indian people are slow to act
-and strong to endure. Thousands perished because they could not or
-would not realise that relief was within reach. Parents gave their
-last morsels to their children, and then lay down to die. Orphanages
-overflowed, and new ones had to be erected. Where an open shed and
-light meals of milk, rice, and curry meet the ideas of home and
-housekeeping, this is easier than it sounds. After a famine the
-number of Christian adherents to missions is always multiplied, and
-the supply of pupils creates new demand for teachers. It must be
-acknowledged that the taunt of being "rice-Christians" is sometimes
-justified, though there is little doubt that genuine gratitude to
-God, who moved His servants to help them, has caused numbers to turn
-to Him.
-
-
-Abraham's Vineyard.
-
-This piece of land is close to the Holy City, and now belongs to
-the Society for the Relief of Persecuted Jews. When the necessary
-excavation for building was begun, Abraham's Vineyard revealed
-signs of former glory and prosperity. Tesselated pavement, vats,
-baths, and a columbarium hewn out of the rock, showed that it had
-once belonged to a householder with taste for luxury as well as an
-eye for exquisite scenery. The baths and vats have been converted
-into cisterns for rain-water, and the place has become the scene
-of industry. The earth, in past years again and again reddened by
-battles, now yields peaceful harvests of grain. All the Jewish
-refugees are not, however, cultivators. Soap-making from olive oil
-and alkali grown on the Jordan Plain, glue-making, stone-dressing,
-quarrying, are industries which offer many of them an honest living.
-The idea of the founders of this society was "to give relief and
-employment to the Jews, especially in Jerusalem, until they are able
-to found colonies on their own account." The experiment of Abraham's
-Vineyard has succeeded, and the Jews have carried the work farther,
-as the trade in Jaffa oranges and olive-wood ware testify.
-
-
-OUR CHRISTMAS NUMBER.
-
-"CHRISTMAS ARROWS" (the Extra Christmas Number of THE QUIVER) is
-published simultaneously with this part, and contains a complete
-one-volume story by M. H. Cornwall Legh, entitled "=The Steep
-Ascent=," copiously illustrated by Frank Craig. In addition
-will be found a seasonable article by the Rev. Dr. Preston, on
-"=Christmas Chimes from Jerusalem=" (illustrated by Mark Zangwill);
-a contribution by the Rev. Canon McCormick entitled "=Christian
-Hospitality="; and a long fairy-parable by E. H. Strain which bears
-the title "=The Star Ruby=," and is illustrated by H. R. Millar.
-"Christmas Arrows" also contains full particulars and conditions
-of our scheme for providing =Christmas Stockings= for poor and
-friendless children, as well as the =Voting Form= which any reader
-is at liberty to use to recommend suitable cases for the receipt of
-our Christmas gift.
-
-
-ROLL OF HONOUR FOR SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORKERS.
-
-The =Special Silver Medal= and =Presentation Bible= offered for the
-longest known Sunday-school service in the county of =Leicester=
-(for which applications were invited up to October 31st) have been
-gained by
-
-  MISS ANNE HARRISON,
-         42, Humberstone Gate,
-                Leicester.
-
-who has distinguished herself by =fifty-eight= years' service in
-Harvey Lane Baptist Chapel, Leicester.
-
-As already announced, the next territorial county for which claims
-are invited for the =Silver Medal= is
-
-  SUSSEX,
-
-and applications, on the special form, must be received on or before
-November 30th, 1898. We may add that =Wiltshire= is the following
-county selected, the date-limit for claims in that case being
-December 31st, 1898. This county, in its turn, will be followed by
-=Durham=, for which the date will be one month later--viz. January
-31st, 1899.
-
-The names of members recently enrolled will be found in our
-advertisement pages.
-
-
-
-
-NEW QUIVER WAIFS.
-
-To be Selected by our Readers.
-
-
-For many years past our readers have generously taken the
-responsibility of maintaining a waif at Dr. Barnardo's Homes, and
-another at Miss Sharman's Orphanage in Southwark; but, as the
-present waifs are now growing up, and will soon be out in the world,
-the time has come for another selection. For this purpose, we have
-obtained particulars of eligible cases, which we submit to our
-readers, and, as we look to them for a continuance of their kindly
-help in supporting THE QUIVER Waifs, we feel that they would prefer
-to choose the new little ones who are to be so known. We would,
-therefore, request our readers to send a post-card (addressed to
-The Editor of THE QUIVER, La Belle Sauvage, London, E.C.), stating
-for which waif in each of the two sets they desire to vote, and
-the children with the highest number of votes will be elected. The
-post-cards should reach the Editor not later than December 31st,
-1898. It should be particularly understood that this course will
-imply no pecuniary obligation whatever on the part of the voters, as
-we shall rely solely upon the voluntary contributions of our readers
-to furnish the total requisite sum for the maintenance of the waifs,
-which amounts to £31 per year. All donations will be acknowledged in
-THE QUIVER month by month.
-
-
-Particulars of Cases.
-
-I. _For Dr. Barnardo's Homes_ (one vote):--
-
-ALBERT LE VASSEUR.--Eight years of age--mother left a widow with ten
-children--totally unable to support them all--when discovered there
-was no food or money in the house.
-
-CHARLES SALT.--Seven years of age--mother a "drunken and
-disreputable tramp"--father little better--parents without a home
-and constantly ill-treating the child.
-
-JOHN HARRISON.--Seven years of age--found in streets begging in
-ragged condition--father dead--mother disreputable--John somewhat
-lame in walk, owing to injury to the right knee in infancy.
-
-II. _For Miss Sharman's Orphanage_ (one vote):--
-
-ROSE HEELIS.--Aged two years--was born shortly after her father's
-death--mother has died of consumption--promises to grow into a very
-nice child, and is full of life and spirits.
-
-ETHEL ROBINSON.--Aged six years--father killed by an
-accident--mother in lunatic asylum--relatives too poor to help.
-
-LILY PAVITT.--Aged ten years--mother dead--father deserted
-children--an aunt took the child, but was unable to support her.
-
-
-THE QUIVER FUNDS.
-
-The following is a list of contributions received from October 1st
-up to and including October 31st, 1898. Subscriptions received after
-this date will be acknowledged next month:--
-
-For "_The Quiver_" _Waifs' Fund_: A Glasgow Mother (101st donation),
-1s.; J. J. E. (131st donation), 5s.; R. S., Crouch End (7th
-donation), 5s.; E. M. B., Jedburgh, 3s.; R. Dendy, Eastbourne, 3s.;
-Anon., Alford, 1s.
-
-For "_The Quiver_" _Christmas Stocking Fund_: Jessie, Agnes, and
-Cyril, 2s. 6d.; M. T., 5s.
-
-For _The Ragged School Union_: R. H. B., 2s. 6d.
-
-For _The Indian Leper Mission Fund_: A Thank-Offering, 1s.
-
-For _Dr. Barnardo's Homes_: An Irish Girl, 13s. Also 7s. 6d. from
-Diomedes sent direct.
-
-For _St. Giles Christian Mission_: Thank-Offering, 1s.
-
-
-
-
-THE QUIVER BIBLE CLASS.
-
-(BASED ON THE INTERNATIONAL SCRIPTURE LESSONS.)
-
-
-QUESTIONS.
-
-13. What was the great sin of which Zedekiah, king of Judah, was
-guilty and for which he was punished?
-
-14. In what way was Zedekiah punished?
-
-15. What prophecy was thereby fulfilled?
-
-16. In what way does the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews
-contrast the revelation of God to mankind under the old dispensation
-with that of the new?
-
-17. Quote a text which shows the relationship of the angels to the
-human race.
-
-18. What is the special characteristic of the Gospel of St. John?
-
-19. Quote text in which St. John asserts the truth of the
-Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
-
-20. What reference to St. John the Baptist was made by the last of
-the Old Testament prophets?
-
-21. It is said of our Lord, "He came unto His own, and His own
-received Him not." Quote passage from the Old Testament which shows
-that this passage refers to the Jewish people.
-
-22. From what circumstance should we gather that Nathanael was a
-diligent student of the Old Testament?
-
-23. In what words did our Lord show forth His divinity in speaking
-to Nathanael?
-
-24. In what way did St. John the Baptist point out to his disciples
-that Jesus was the Messiah?
-
-
-ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ON PAGE 96.
-
-1. Manasseh defiled the Temple at Jerusalem by setting up an idol
-therein (2 Chron. xxxiii. 7).
-
-2. 2 Chron. xxxiii. 14.
-
-3. Manasseh, having been reinstated in his kingdom by the Assyrians,
-gave up his idolatry and did all he could to restore the worship of
-God in the land (2 Chron. xxxiii. 14-17).
-
-4. Prov. iv. 14, 17.
-
-5. Prov. iv. 18.
-
-6. In the reign of Josiah the king sent to Huldah the prophetess to
-inquire as to God's will concerning the people (2 Kings xxii. 14-20).
-
-7. The copy of the Law which Moses had written was found (2 Kings
-xxii. 8; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 14).
-
-8. In the reign of Amon, king of Judah, we are told the people
-worshipped the "sun, moon, and stars, and all the host of heaven" (2
-Kings xxiii. 5).
-
-9. In the reign of Josiah, who burnt men's bones on the altar at
-Bethel (2 Kings xxiii. 15, 16; 1 Kings xiii. 2).
-
-10. Jehoiakim threw on the fire the roll on which Jeremiah had
-written at God's command a warning to the king and his people (Jer.
-xxxvi. 23).
-
-11. Jer. xxii. 13, 14; 2 Kings xxiv. 4.
-
-12. Jehoiakim was bound in fetters to carry him to Babylon, but was
-slain at Jerusalem and his dead body cast outside the city (2 Chron.
-xxxvi. 6; Jer. xxii. 19).
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Transcriber's note:
-
-Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
-Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as
-printed.
-
-Missing page numbers are page numbers that were not shown in the
-original text.
-
-The illustrations have been moved so that they do not break up
-paragraphs.
-
-Mismatched quotes are not fixed if it's not sufficiently clear where
-the missing quote should be placed.
-
-The cover for the eBook version of this book was created by the
-transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Quiver, 11/1899, by Anonymous
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Quiver, 11/1899, by Anonymous
-
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-Title: The Quiver, 11/1899
-
-Author: Anonymous
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-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<h1>The Quiver 11/1899</h1>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 472px;">
-<img src="images/img105.jpg" width="472" height="600" alt="motherhood" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">MOTHERHOOD.</p>
-<p class="center"><em>After the Picture by</em> <span class="smcap">Miss Ida Lovering</span>.]</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">&nbsp;</a></span></p>
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img106a.jpg" width="450" height="145" alt="lady" />
-</div>
-
-
-<h2>LADY DOCTORS
-IN HEATHEN LANDS</h2>
-
-<p class="center">By the Author of "The Child Wives and Widows of India," Etc.</p>
-
-
-<div class="drop">
- <img src="images/img106b.jpg" alt="A" width="100" height="104" class="cap" />
- <p class="cap_1">A garrison of snow-capped
-mountains;
-a valley smiling in
-Oriental luxuriance;
-the gorgeous,
-romantic loveliness
-described in "Lalla
-Rookh"&mdash;such are
-the general impressions
-of the land
-of Kashmir. Dirt, disease, and degradation
-summed up its prevailing characteristics
-in the eyes of an Englishman, who,
-in October, 1872, toiled wearily over the
-Pir Panjal, 11,900 feet above the level of
-the sea.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>This was Dr. Elmslie's last journey. He
-hardly realised, as he dragged his weary
-limbs over rough but familiar paths, that
-one object for which he had struggled for
-years was practically accomplished. He
-sank from exhaustion on the way, and the
-day after his death Government granted
-permission for missionaries to spend the
-winter in the Valley of Kashmir. Still
-farther was he from knowing of another
-result of his labours. He had appealed to
-Englishwomen to bring the gifts of healing
-to suffering and secluded inmates of
-zenanas. Dr. Elmslie had found a direct
-way to the hearts of prejudiced heathen
-men. The sick came to him for healing,
-and learnt the meaning of his self-denying
-life.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/img106c.jpg" width="250" height="323" alt="Doctor" />
-<div class="caption"><p>(<em>Photo: Elliott and Fry.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class="center">THE LATE DR. FANNY BUTLER.</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>At the time she went to India.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>"Skin for skin, yea, all that a man
-hath will he give for his life," are ancient
-words of wisdom; but this rule has exceptions.
-To Hindu women, at least, caste is
-dearer than life. It would be as easy to
-restore the down to a bruised butterfly's
-wing as to give back self-respect, and with
-it all that makes life worth living, to a
-zenana lady who has been exposed to the
-gaze or touch of a man other than a near
-relation. Custom of the country debars a
-respectable woman from receiving ministry
-to body, soul, or mind, unless it comes from
-one of her own sex. Dr. Elmslie's appeal
-resulted in Miss Fanny Butler's offer of
-service to the Indian Female Normal
-School and Instruction Society. She was
-the first enrolled student of the London
-School of Medicine, which had just been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
-transferred from Edinburgh, and passed
-second out of one hundred and twenty-three
-candidates, one hundred and nineteen
-of whom were men, in the Preliminary
-Arts Examination. She went to India
-in October, 1880, the first fully qualified
-medical missionary to women.</p>
-
-<p>Seventeen years after Dr. Elmslie's
-death Dr. Fanny Butler obtained another
-concession for Kashmir, the permission for
-missionaries to live within the city of
-Srinagar. She saw the foundations of a
-new hospital for women begun within the
-city, and fourteen days after she also
-laid down what, an hour before her death,
-she described as a "good long life," in the
-service of Kashmiri people. The age of
-thirty-nine, she said to the friends who
-surrounded her, and who felt that she
-of all others could not be spared, was
-"not so very young to die," and she
-sent an earnest plea to the Church of
-England Zenana Society, the division of
-the old society to which she belonged,
-to send someone quickly to take her
-place. The new hospital was the gift of
-Mrs. Bishop (Miss Isabella Bird) in memory
-of her husband. She had seen the dirty
-crowd of suffering women at the dispensary
-door overpower two men, and
-the earliest arrivals precipitated head
-foremost by the rush from behind, whilst
-numbers were turned away in misery
-and disappointment.</p>
-
-<p>Hospitals and dispensaries have rapidly
-increased since the day of pioneers. Absolute
-necessity has forced medical work
-on many missionaries in the field. The
-most elementary knowledge of nursing
-and hygiene appears miraculous to women
-sunk in utter ignorance. A white woman
-too modest to give them remedies for every
-ailment is usually regarded as unkind.
-A neglected missionary dispensary is
-practically unknown.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img107.jpg" width="450" height="312" alt="verandah" />
-<div class="caption"><p>(<em>Photo supplied by the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class="center">OUTSIDE THE VERANDAH OF THE WOMEN'S HOSPITAL AT TARN TARAN.</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>Showing some of the patients placed out to spend the hot night in the open.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>At the time when the Countess Dufferin
-started her admirable scheme for providing
-medical aid for Indian women a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>
-well-known Anglo-Indian surgeon stated
-publicly that, whatever other qualification
-was required in a candidate, two were
-absolutely necessary: she must be a lady
-in the highest sense of the word, and
-she must be a Christian, and he proceeded
-to give good reasons for what
-he said. The experience of every woman
-who has taken up this work would bear
-out his sentiments. Without courtesy
-and ready intuition of the feelings of
-others it would be hard to get an entrance
-into zenanas, and nothing but
-love and devotion to her Master would
-enable a woman to persevere in spending
-her life amongst sick heathen women, in
-spite of sights, scenes, and vexations
-beyond conception in England.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img108.jpg" width="450" height="335" alt="Duchess" />
-<div class="caption"><p>(<em>From a Photograph.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class="center">THE DUCHESS OF CONNAUGHT'S HOSPITAL, PESHAWUR.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The greatest difficulties are probably
-met in high-caste zenanas. There, in the
-midst of unhealthy surroundings, the
-friends and neighbours have grand opportunities
-of undoing any good that may
-have been accomplished. It is grievous
-to a medical missionary to find her fever
-patient dying from a douche of cold water,
-because the white woman has defiled her
-high caste by feeling her pulse. It is
-enough to make her give up a case in
-despair if, after she has explained that
-quiet is absolutely necessary, the friends
-and neighbours decide that the evil spirit
-supposed to be in possession must be driven
-out by the music of tom-toms. A Hindu man
-is said to "sin religiously," and a Hindu
-woman excels him in devotion to her
-creed. A fever patient in the Punjab
-refused to drink milk&mdash;the one thing of all
-others that her medical woman ordered
-her&mdash;because she said, if it were the last
-thing she swallowed, her soul would pass
-into the body of a cobra. One medical
-missionary found a woman, who was in
-a critical state, lying on a mat, whilst
-an old woman, supposed to be learned
-in sickness, stood on her body, or patrolled
-up and down like a sentinel, as far as
-the length would admit. This was kindly
-meant. Another found one suffering
-seriously from the effect of a linseed
-poultice. She had carefully explained
-the mysteries of making and applying
-it, but in her absence the patient's
-friends had spread dry linseed over her
-chest and poured boiling water over it.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 600px;">
-<img src="images/img109.jpg" width="600" height="433" alt="waiting" />
-<div class="caption"><p>(<em>Photo: Baness Bros.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class="center">WAITING THEIR TURN.</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>Patients outside the Tarn Taran Hospital Dispensary.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Happily, all the women in India are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">&nbsp;</a><br /><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>
-not secluded in zenanas. By far the
-largest proportion live in the villages,
-but their notions of propriety are very
-strict. The hard-working field-women
-will hide themselves on the suspicion
-of a <em>sahib</em> being within reach. When
-once they are satisfied that the visitor
-belongs to their own sex and is harmless,
-crowds beset the missionary encampments.
-Many tales of suffering are
-poured into sympathising ears.</p>
-
-<p>"I am blind from crying for my only
-son" is not an infrequent complaint.
-Nothing can be done in this case.</p>
-
-<p>"There is no god or goddess to love
-a Hindu woman. Whatever offerings we
-make her, the goddess of small-pox smites
-us, and then the men say the women have
-not offered enough, and are angry."
-This was the reply of a Punjabi woman,
-who spoke for her friends and neighbours.</p>
-
-<p>One Bengali woman told a missionary
-of the death of a precious baby boy.
-There did not seem much the matter, but
-the <em>hakim</em> (a native quack) first gave
-him something burning to swallow,
-and then applied a red-hot iron to each
-side in turn; and the child only drew
-one or two breaths after this treatment.
-This also, one hopes, was kindly meant.
-The Hindus are by no means wanting
-in humanity, but ignorance is often as
-fatal as cruelty.</p>
-
-<p>Many patients find an excuse for coming
-again and again to the dispensaries.
-There they hear of blessings in this
-world and the next which they say
-seem too good to be true. They see
-love shining in the earnest faces, and
-feel it in the touch of hands that will
-not shrink from dressing repulsive sores.</p>
-
-<p>The majority of cases in dispensaries
-are ordinary fevers or skin diseases resulting
-from dirt, and other scourges
-that follow defiance of elementary rules
-of health.</p>
-
-<p>Patients discharged as cured often return.
-"Tell me again that Name that I
-can say when I pray," one of them
-asked, to explain the reappearance of
-her shrivelled old face; "I forget so
-soon." And she went on her way repeating
-the Name that even some of the
-heathen realise must be exalted above
-all others.</p>
-
-<p>"I know that your Jesus must reign
-over our land," a Punjabi woman said
-to a lady who had opened a dispensary
-at Tarn Taran, a sacred city of the Sikhs;
-"I know it, because your religion is full
-of love and ours has none at all."</p>
-
-<p>The mission hospital at this city, with
-the name which literally means "The Place
-of Salvation," and the dispensary seen in
-the illustration, came mainly into being
-through the determination of the inhabitants.
-A suffering baby might claim a
-share in its existence. This infant's
-mother brought it to a missionary whose
-training as a nurse had made her a
-friend in sickness. The child's sight was
-hopelessly gone. The mother said that
-the <em>hakim</em> had told her alum was good
-for sore eyes, so she had put it under
-the lids.</p>
-
-<p>"You have used it in such a way as
-to blind your baby," the missionary said;
-"and I could have told you what to do."</p>
-
-<p>"How should I know?" the woman replied,
-using a common phrase to express
-helplessness or lethargy; but she told the
-story to her friends, and other mothers,
-whose babies' eyes were suffering, soon
-proved that the white woman had made
-no empty boast. Ophthalmia is terribly
-common in India, and its marvellous
-cures began to be famous.</p>
-
-<p>One day a family party carried an invalid
-into the verandah of the Tarn Taran mission
-house. The missionary looked inside
-the <em>doolie</em>; she was not a doctor, and
-declined to undertake such a serious
-case, and told the men to take their
-invalid to the Amritsar Hospital. They
-were determined to take no such trouble.
-To show that she was equally determined
-to make them, she went inside the house
-and shut the doors and blinds. Who
-would hold out the longest? The result
-was a foregone conclusion. The Punjabis,
-armed with a greater disregard for a
-woman's life, gained the victory by the
-simple method of beating a retreat,
-leaving the helpless woman behind them.
-In common humanity she could not be
-left to die. In a few days her family
-returned to inquire, and were gratified
-to find her progressing towards recovery.
-The white woman's celebrity was now
-secured, and to her consternation and
-embarrassment she found her verandah
-full of patients, and, from overwork, was
-soon herself added to the number. The
-people of Tarn Taran afterwards gave the
-building for a Women's Mission Hospital,
-and a new one is now in the charge of
-a fully qualified lady doctor.</p>
-
-<p>Hospitals are by far the most satisfactory<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>
-part of medical missions. In zenanas
-and dispensaries it is one thing to prescribe
-and give advice, and another for
-orders to be obeyed, especially if they
-are contrary to rules of caste or custom.
-It is well known that a Hindu soldier,
-who will follow his British officer into the
-fiercest <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mêlée</i>, and, if necessary, die for
-him, if true to his own creed, will not
-receive a cup of water at his hands.
-When wounded his parched lips will close
-tightly, lest his caste should suffer. The
-same principle debars his womenfolk
-from accepting physic in a liquid form
-from Englishwomen. They may, however,
-take powders. Written directions are
-generally useless, and verbal ones often
-misunderstood. It is little wonder if dispensary
-patients make slow progress.</p>
-
-<p>"Are you sure you took the medicine I
-gave you?" inquired a medical missionary
-of one who made no advance at all.</p>
-
-<p>"Quite sure, Miss Sahiba."</p>
-
-<p>"How did you take it?"</p>
-
-<p>"I ate the paper and threw away the
-dust."</p>
-
-<p>This mistake was not astonishing under
-the circumstances. One Mohammedan
-specific is to swallow a paper pellet with
-the name of God written in Arabic;
-another, for the <em>mullah</em> to write an Arabic
-inscription on a plate, and for the water
-that washes it off to be the dose.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img111.jpg" width="450" height="335" alt="workers" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">A GROUP OF WORKERS AT THE DUCHESS OF CONNAUGHT'S HOSPITAL.</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>Dr. Wheeler stands at the left-hand side of group.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>It is well when superstition and misconception
-stop short at swallowing
-paper and inky water. A woman,
-seriously injured from an accident, was
-carried into the Duchess of Connaught
-Hospital, Peshawur. Her husband accompanied
-her, and saw the medical
-missionary in charge carefully attend
-to fractures and bruises. Rest and
-sleep and quiet were doing their work,
-and the man was left to watch. A
-sudden crash startled the ward. The
-husband had turned the bedstead over
-on its side, and flung his wife down. He
-fancied she was dying, and said it would
-imperil her soul if it departed whilst she
-lay on anything but the floor. He had
-the satisfaction of knowing that she died
-where he placed her. This was a case of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
-a Hindu "sinning religiously." It would
-be harder to forgive the frequent sacrifice
-of life to superstition, if there were no
-ennobling element underlying it of honest
-desire for some vague spiritual good.</p>
-
-<p>The Duchess of Connaught Hospital is
-a permanent memorial of her Royal
-Highness's kind interest in the women of
-India. Whilst on the North-Western
-Frontier she went through the Dispensary
-and Nursing Home which represented the
-first effort to bring medical aid to the
-Afghan women, and allowed it to be
-called after her name. A new and much
-larger building, of which a drawing has
-been reproduced, has taken the place of
-the native quarters, where Mohammedan
-bigotry was by slow degrees overcome.
-For years the ladies of the Church of
-England Zenana Missionary Society, who
-had charge of this hospital, were the
-only Europeans living within the walls
-of Peshawur. Every night the great
-city gates closed them in, and separated
-them from other missionaries and from
-Government servants. They chose to be
-in the midst of their work, and though
-outbreaks of Mohammedan fanaticism
-repeatedly checked teaching in schools and
-zenanas, ministry to the sick continued,
-and never lost the friendly confidence of
-Peshawuris.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img112.jpg" width="450" height="296" alt="staff" />
-<div class="caption"><p>(<em>Photo supplied by the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class="center">STAFF AND PATIENTS OF ST. CATHERINE'S HOSPITAL, AMRITSAR.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>In its early and humbler days, the fame
-of this hospital reached far-away Khorassan.
-A lady of that country who was
-suffering terribly, caused herself to be
-carried the fifteen days' journey to Peshawur.
-Miss Mitcheson, who opened the first
-dispensary, and is now the head of the
-hospital, saw that her case was critical
-and required an operation of a far more
-serious kind than she had ever attempted,
-and begged her to allow the civil surgeon
-to see her.</p>
-
-<p>"I would rather die," the patient answered.
-The combined forces of suffering,
-fear of death, and persuasion, were powerless
-to move her. The Englishwoman, of
-whose powers she had heard in her own
-country, might do what she liked with
-her, but no man should come near her.
-Happily Miss Mitcheson successfully accomplished
-what was necessary, and the
-Khorassan lady made a good recovery.
-When the time came for parting from her
-new friends, she promised to use in her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
-own country the knowledge she had
-gained in Peshawur. She kept her word,
-as more visitors from Khorassan testified,
-and they said she had not forgotten the
-benefits she had received in the mission
-hospital.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/img113.jpg" width="250" height="375" alt="back" />
-<div class="caption"><p>(<em>Photo supplied by the Church Missionary Society.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class="center">BACK VIEW OF NEW WOMEN'S HOSPITAL,
-HANGCHOW.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>During Miss Mitcheson's absence in
-England Dr. Charlotte Wheeler, who
-with her fellow-workers, in the illustration
-on p. 102, stands in the
-verandah of the old building, superintended
-the medical work. On Miss
-Mitcheson's return, Miss Wheeler opened
-a medical mission amongst the women
-in Quetta. This work extended rapidly
-on and beyond the frontier, so that in
-November, 1896, when it was a year old,
-eight different languages were spoken
-on the same day in the dispensary waiting
-room.</p>
-
-<p>Institutions for training Christian girls
-of India as doctors or nurses have come
-into existence as the number of candidates
-has increased and the necessity has arisen.
-The North India School of Medicine has
-been established at Ludhiana with this
-object. Many of the mission hospitals
-also have training classes. St. Catherine's
-Hospital, Amritsar, under the superintendence
-of Miss Hewlett, who has had
-nineteen years' experience, has provided
-very valuable assistant medical missionaries
-for stations in the Punjab and Bengal.
-At the last census a hundred Christian
-women&mdash;counting missionaries, assistants,
-patients, nurses and students&mdash;were within
-its walls. An illustration shows the inmates
-mustering before going to church.</p>
-
-<p>One student in St. Catherine's Hospital,
-who had gained a scholarship, gave promise
-of a brilliant career. Before the time
-of study in which she delighted was over,
-the lady superintendent became suspicious
-of what this young girl described as
-broken chilblains on her fingers. A doctor
-was called in, and confirmed her impression
-that it was leprosy. An Eastern girl
-knows, what in Europe is only faintly
-imagined, of the horrors of this loathsome
-disease. One cry of anguish only escaped
-her when she was told the verdict. Then
-she rose above the trial, and resigned
-herself cheerfully to the will of God. She
-was prepared to start the next day for
-the Leper Settlement near Calcutta without
-meeting her friends or fellow-students
-for a word of farewell.</p>
-
-<p>"What comforts me," she said to the
-Clerical Secretary of the Church of
-England Zenana Missionary Society, who
-was in Amritsar at the time, "is that I
-may go as a missionary rather than as a
-patient."</p>
-
-<p>She went to that place of death and
-banishment, to live out the rest of her
-days in ministry for others. In her case
-the days lingered into years, and the
-disease took a severe form, but her devotion
-and courage never failed. When
-death came to her as a friend, and her
-work was done, the memory of the
-"superior girl," who had lived among
-the afflicted people as a missionary rather
-than a patient, remained. Perhaps her
-fellowship in suffering gave her the final
-qualification to be a missionary to lepers.</p>
-
-<p>India is the land which above all others
-cries out for lady medical missionaries;
-but other Eastern countries have also a
-claim. Wherever Islam has planted its
-iron heel, women are jealously guarded in
-harems, and it is very unusual for a man
-to be allowed entrance on any pretext.
-In China, also, women of superior class
-are hidden within the high walls that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>
-surround their houses. Those free to go
-out gain little but suffering from the
-barbarous attentions of native surgeons.
-In the East the knowledge which brings
-relief from pain is a power to overcome
-obstacles to Christianity that resist
-every other force.</p>
-
-<p>The Church of England Zenana Missionary
-Society has sent out a qualified lady
-doctor to Foochow, and in 1894 the Church
-Missionary Society opened a hospital for
-women in Hangchow with one large and
-six smaller wards. One patient who was
-brought into this building&mdash;of which
-two views are given&mdash;suffering from
-diseased bones, has gone out to devote
-her recovered health and new knowledge
-to the service of God and her own
-countrywomen.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img114.jpg" width="450" height="323" alt="interior" />
-<div class="caption"><p>(<em>Photo supplied by the Church Missionary Society.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class="center">INTERIOR OF NEW WOMEN'S HOSPITAL, HANGCHOW</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>There is scarcely a mission hospital or
-dispensary that cannot tell of similar
-results of the double ministry to body
-and soul. Each year justifies the increased
-number of women with medical
-qualifications sent into the mission field.
-Some, like Mrs. Russell Watson, of the
-Baptist Mission at Chefu, are the wives
-of missionaries, others have been sent
-out by various missions, such as the
-Zenana Bible and Medical Mission, or
-by the women's branches (added during
-the close of the present century), to the
-more venerable societies.</p>
-
-<p>Dr. Henry Martyn Clark, of Amritsar,
-once asked a friendly Hindu what department
-of foreign missions his people
-considered most dangerous.</p>
-
-<p>"Why should I reveal our secrets to the
-enemy?" the Hindu responded. But he
-yielded to persuasion. "We do not very
-much fear your preaching," he said, "for
-we need not listen; nor your schools,
-for we need not send our children; nor
-your books, for we need not read them.
-But we do fear your women, for they
-are gaining our homes; and we very much
-fear your medical missions, for they are
-gaining our hearts. Hearts and homes
-gone, what shall we have left?"</p>
-
-<p>What may be expected when medical
-and women's missions are combined?
-According to the friendly Hindu, the
-very citadels of idolatry and superstition
-might tremble at the advance of this
-double force to rescue the captives.</p>
-
-<p class="sig">
-<span class="smcap">D. L. Woolmer.</span>
-</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">&nbsp;</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 423px;">
-<img src="images/img115.jpg" width="423" height="600" alt="roll" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">OUR ROLL OF HEROIC DEEDS</p>
-
-<p>This month we devote our space to a pictorial representation of an heroic act by James Williamson, a fisherman
-of Whalsay, Shetland. During a heavy storm he waded out to the succour of two companions,
-who had been pinned on the rocks by their capsized boat and were in imminent danger of drowning.
-Williamson was at first carried away by a heavy sea, but was returned by the next. Then with an
-extraordinary effort he lifted the side of the boat, seized the men, and, with one under each arm, fought his
-way through the boiling surf to dry land. For this conspicuous act of bravery Williamson was awarded the
-Silver Medal of <span class="smcap">The Quiver</span> Heroes Fund.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">&nbsp;</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img116a.jpg" width="450" height="191" alt="pleged" />
-</div>
-
-<h2>PLEDGED</h2>
-
-<p class="center">By Katharine Tynan, Author of "A Daughter of Erin," Etc.</p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
-
-<h3>YOUTH AT THE PROW.</h3>
-
-
-<div class="drop">
-<img src="images/img116b.jpg" alt="A" width="100" height="120" class="cap" />
-<p class="cap_1">"And then, old fellow,"
-went on Sir
-Anthony's letter
-to Jack Leslie,
-of the Blues, his
-particular chum,
-"I stood staring,
-with my eyes
-watering and a
-little scratch on
-my nose bleeding
-where the old
-rooster&mdash;for a
-rooster it was&mdash;struck
-me with his spurs as he flew. He
-might have knocked out my eye, the brute!
-The second missile (an invention they
-call a sun-bonnet, I believe, made of pink
-calico and horribly stiffened) lay crumpled
-at my feet. And there in front of me
-stood the culprit herself, looking half-ashamed
-and half-inclined to follow the
-example of the other sun-bonnet which had
-buried itself in a big chair at the end of
-the room, and made scarcely a pretence of
-stifling its peals of laughter. I felt no end
-of a ninny I can tell you, especially as the
-owner of the first sun-bonnet was by long
-chalks the most beautiful creature I'd ever
-seen.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>"I'm no good at describing a girl's charms,
-but even at the first glance her beautiful
-violet eyes struck me. Blue eyes and black
-lashes and eyebrows&mdash;it is a thing happens
-over here sometimes, they tell me. Then,
-though she'd been rushing about after the
-ancient barnyard fowl who was to have
-graced the table in my honour, she had no
-more colour than a white rose; and yet
-she looked the picture of health and life&mdash;so
-different from fine ladies. This was Miss
-Pamela&mdash;Pam for short&mdash;as I discovered later.
-To finish her description, her charming head
-is covered with a mass of short black curls.
-She had a very shabby frock on, which
-didn't take a bit from her loveliness. I
-couldn't help wondering what the mater
-would have thought if she could have seen
-her. She would surely have called her 'a
-young woman,' with that superb contempt of
-hers.</p>
-
-<p>"However, the breeding tells. Nothing
-could have been finer than the little air with
-which she pulled herself together, and said, as
-if it were an every-day thing to blind and
-maim your visitors:</p>
-
-<p>"'You must be Sir Anthony Trevithick. I
-am so sorry. That wretched fowl flew in
-through the open window, and we've been
-three-quarters of an hour chasing him round.
-It was so unfortunate his flying out just at
-that moment, and still more unfortunate
-that I should have flung my bonnet after
-him. But you've no idea how he had
-aggravated us.'</p>
-
-<p>"I assure you the mater couldn't have
-done it better, if one could conceivably
-imagine the mater under such circumstances.</p>
-
-<p>"I could think of nothing to do but to
-pick up the bonnet and hand it to her,
-muttering some idiocy about it not mattering
-a bit. While this was going on the laughter in
-the chair was dying off in sobs of enjoyment.</p>
-
-<p>"But before we could get any further Mr.
-Graydon himself made his appearance. I
-suppose something about my looks struck
-him&mdash;for a cucumber wasn't in it for coolness
-with Miss Pam&mdash;because he said, 'Why, bless
-me, Sir Anthony! what's the matter? What's
-the matter, Pam? Why, Sir Anthony, your
-nose is bleeding!'</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img117.jpg" width="450" height="575" alt="rooster" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">"The old rooster struck me with his spurs."&mdash;<em>p.</em> 107.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>"'Why, so it is!' said Miss Pam, calmly.
-'Sir Anthony was trying to catch the red
-cock, papa, with a view to his dinner, but
-he's escaped, I'm sorry to say, and the dinner
-with him. It will be days before he comes
-home after the alarm we've given him. I'm
-so sorry you're wounded, Sir Anthony. Can
-I get you a little sticking-plaster?'</p>
-
-<p>"'I never know where I shall find the fowls
-in this house,' said Mr. Graydon, a little
-irascibly, I thought; 'but the drawing-room
-at least ought to be kept free from them. Why,
-Sylvia, what are you doing there, child?
-Come here, and speak to Sir Anthony.'</p>
-
-<p>"I expected a small child to come out of
-the big chair in answer to the summons;
-but, lo and behold! out of the sun-bonnet
-there looked another satin-cheeked damsel,
-almost as beautiful as the first. She made
-her bow demurely, and, I assure you, there
-wasn't a feather out of her after her fits of
-laughter at my expense. She had rather an
-ecstatic look, and her eyes were a bit moist&mdash;that
-was all. I can tell you I never felt so
-small in my life as when I stood up before
-those impudent girls, for I could see that
-the pair of them were hugely delighted at
-the whole affair.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"'Get some tea for Sir Anthony, girls,'
-said the father, 'and see that he has hot
-water taken to his room; he's had a long
-journey. Sit down, my lad&mdash;that is, if there's
-a chair in the room without a dog on it.
-Here, Mark Antony, you lazy animal, come
-off that sofa.' This to the fattest bulldog
-I ever saw&mdash;with such a jowl. He's Miss
-Sylvia's, and an amiable dog, despite his
-looks.</p>
-
-<p>"Then the eldest daughter came in&mdash;not a
-patch on the others for beauty, but a
-Madonna of a creature, with a beautiful
-voice and a rather sad expression. She was
-greatly concerned about my scratched nose.
-But all the time she was talking I noticed
-that she looked at her father steadily reproachful.
-At last he noticed it too, for he
-suddenly blurted out:</p>
-
-<p>"'Why, bless my soul! Molly, I forgot all
-about it,' and then he stopped and laughed.
-Miss Pamela has told me since that they had
-instructed their father to keep me on the way
-as long as possible.</p>
-
-<p>"You'll gather that it is a rather rummy
-place. It is. The windows in my bedroom
-are mended with brown paper, and there are
-holes in the floor you could put your foot
-through. Not that my father's son need mind
-little hardships. But I am amused to think
-of what the mater would say, with her notions
-of things.</p>
-
-<p>"By the way, if you're in Brook Street any
-time, don't repeat what I've told you. The
-mater hated my coming here. She has some
-extraordinary prejudice against Graydon,
-though he scarcely seems to remember her.
-But as I've given up my desire for soldiering
-to please her, it's my turn now to please
-myself by reading for this Foreign Office grind
-with my father's old friend.</p>
-
-<p>"A word more and I am done. You'll
-think me as long-winded as some of those
-old women at the clubs. But their ways
-here are too delicious. The establishment is
-managed by one old woman&mdash;Bridget, who
-seems mistress, maid, and man rolled, in one.
-Well, the morning after I came, when I rang
-for my shaving water there was no response.
-At last I heard a foot go by my door, and
-I looked out cautiously. It was Bridget, and
-to her I made my request. 'Why, bless the
-boy!' she said, staring at me, 'You haven't
-been pullin' that old bell that's never rung
-in the memory of man?' I assured her I had.
-'Well, then,' she said, 'goodness help your
-little wit! An' so ye want shavin' water, do
-ye? Sure, I thought ye wor a bit of a boy,
-that never wanted shavin' at all, at all!' However,
-she brought me the water obligingly, in
-an extraordinary piece of kitchen crockery.
-'I suppose you're used to valetin',' she said.
-''Twas Misther Mick spoiled me entirely for
-other young gentlemen. He'd dart down
-for his shavin' water&mdash;aye, many a time before
-I had the kitchen fire lit.' Mr. Mick was
-apparently a former pupil; I often hear of
-him.</p>
-
-<p>"There's any amount of sport here, but I
-won't tantalise you. I like Graydon better
-every day; he's a dear old boy, and though
-he's in the clouds half the time when he's
-supposed to be coaching me, I can see that he
-knows more than half the tutors in London
-put together. He's a delightful companion
-out of doors, a good sportsman, and as young
-as the youngest.</p>
-
-<p>"It's a mystery his being buried here. But
-I've no time to try to unriddle it now, and
-you'll never get as far as this, I expect. Good-bye,
-old fellow&mdash;I'm extremely well satisfied
-with my present quarters, and pity you in
-Knightsbridge. I suppose town is getting
-empty."</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>When this enormous epistle was finished
-and sealed, the young gentleman put it in
-his pocket and went downstairs. His pace
-was hastened by the fact that he could hear
-the joyful yelping of dogs in the hall, from
-which he gathered that someone besides himself
-was bent on outdoor exercise. Indeed,
-as he reached the hall and caught his hat
-from one of the dusty antlers, he saw the
-two younger Miss Graydons setting out amid
-their leaping and yelping escorts. He hurried
-after and overtook them.</p>
-
-<p>"May I come with you?" he asked eagerly.
-"I've a very important letter to post, and
-if you're going to the village you might perhaps
-point out the post-office. I'm such a
-duffer at finding out things for myself."</p>
-
-<p>"But we're turning our backs on the
-village," said Miss Sylvia, "going in exactly
-the opposite direction."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, well, then, it doesn't matter; the letter
-can wait till another time."</p>
-
-<p>"Though it is so important. Oh, but you
-must post it. We'll put you on the way for
-the village. You turn to the right and we
-to the left when we reach the gate; then
-you'll walk straight into the arms of the
-post-office."</p>
-
-<p>Pamela, who had not yet spoken, turned
-her heavenly-coloured eyes on her sister, but
-without speaking. Something in the look
-made the young fellow's heart throb suddenly.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, Miss Sylvia," he said imploringly,
-"don't put difficulties in my way. I want
-to come for a walk, if you will have me, and
-the letter can wait. I'm not contemplative
-enough to enjoy a country walk alone; and
-it will be a pleasure to walk with you and
-your sister."</p>
-
-<p>"And the dogs?"</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"And the dogs. The joys of a country walk
-are doubled in the society of dogs."</p>
-
-<p>"I hope you'll think so when you have the
-felicity of fishing them out of a bog-hole.
-They will chase every beast they see; and
-our neighbour, Jack Malone's black cow,
-Polly, always leads them such a dance, ending
-up deservedly in a bog-hole."</p>
-
-<p>"I'll try to endure even that, Miss Sylvia."</p>
-
-<p>"Then if Mark Antony gets a thorn in his
-paw, as he almost invariably does, you'll have
-to carry him home."</p>
-
-<p>"He must weigh three stone, Miss Sylvia."</p>
-
-<p>"About that, Sir Anthony."</p>
-
-<p>"Then it is better I should carry him than
-you."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, if you're bent on it, Sir Anthony."</p>
-
-<p>"If you're not bent against it, Miss Sylvia."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, come along then, for this is the
-parting of the ways."</p>
-
-<p>They had arrived at the gate by this time.</p>
-
-<p>"Sylvia should have told you, Sir Anthony,
-that though we turn our backs on the village,
-yet we pass a wall letter-box, which the
-postman empties on his way to Lettergort."</p>
-
-<p>It was Pamela speaking for the first time,
-and in this less hoydenish mood of hers she
-had a likeness to her gentle elder sister.</p>
-
-<p>"I'm not surprised to hear it, Miss Pamela.
-I guessed Miss Sylvia was only piling up the
-difficulties to tease me. But I was not to be
-put off."</p>
-
-<p>"You are really a most persistent person,
-Sir Anthony."</p>
-
-<p>"I know when I want a thing and mean
-to get it, Miss Sylvia."</p>
-
-<p>"Did you ever see anything more beautiful
-than the rose-light on that mountain, Sir
-Anthony?"</p>
-
-<p>"I have seen more beautiful things, Miss
-Pamela."</p>
-
-<p>He spoke with the utmost simplicity, but
-the girl blushed nevertheless, and was furious
-with herself for blushing.</p>
-
-<p>"See how rosy the peak is," she went on in
-some confusion, "but the woods are purple
-at the base. If we were over there where
-the road winds round the hill-foot, we should
-hear nothing but the singing of little streams.
-They are chattering through the bracken
-everywhere, and spilling into the road, where
-they make little channels for themselves,
-clear as amber."</p>
-
-<p>"They make your boots very wet and your
-skirt draggle-tailed," remarked Sylvia.</p>
-
-<p>"I see chimneys rising above the wood," said
-Sir Anthony. "Is there a house there, then?"</p>
-
-<p>"There is, but it is empty at present. It
-belongs to Lord Glengall, who is away just
-now. It has a queer story attached to it."</p>
-
-<p>"Indeed?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes. Lord Glengall went to Australia as
-a boy, and was unheard of for years. His
-mother lived there, with one old servant, in
-the bitterest poverty. She was so proud no
-one dared to interfere, until, it having been
-noticed that the chimneys were smokeless
-for days, the house was entered by force,
-and mistress and maid were found dying of
-starvation side by side. The house was full
-of valuables&mdash;lace and plate, and all kinds of
-lovely things&mdash;but they were heirlooms, and
-the old lady would rather starve than sell
-them, and the old servant was quite of the
-same mind."</p>
-
-<p>"What happened then?"</p>
-
-<p>"They were taken off to the Rectory by
-old Mr. Rogers, who died last year. And in
-the nick of time Lord Glengall, whom everyone
-said was dead, turned up safe and
-sound to nurse his old mother. 'I kept
-the things together for you, my boy,' she
-said as soon as she recognised him.</p>
-
-<p>"And the next thing she said," went on
-Sylvia, taking up the tale, "was, 'Where's
-that cat?' The faithfulness of animals, Sir
-Anthony! Old Tib, with whom they had
-shared all their short-commons, had, it seems,
-stolen the very last drop of milk that stood
-between them and starvation, and had then
-escaped through a window into the woods.
-'I should like to give him a good hiding
-before I die.' That was the second speech
-of the indomitable old lady."</p>
-
-<p>"What a chance for the novelist this
-country of yours presents!" said Sir Anthony.</p>
-
-<p>"But that fortunately he never comes our
-way," replied Pamela.</p>
-
-<p>"Your father promised me you would take
-me fishing one day." He spoke to Sylvia,
-but his eyes turned from her to Pamela.</p>
-
-<p>"So we shall," said Sylvia readily.</p>
-
-<p>"The river runs quite close to the house?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, but if you want the pleasantest
-fishing, you must climb for it. Up there
-in the hills are little golden-brown trout-streams
-running through the valleys under
-the shadow of woods, and they are full of
-trout spoiling to be caught."</p>
-
-<p>"You know the best places, Miss Sylvia."</p>
-
-<p>"Don't let her guide you, Sir Anthony.
-I'll tell you a story about her. She was always
-tantalising Mick St. Leger, an old pupil of
-papa's, who is in India now, with stories of
-a wonderful pike which inhabited one of the
-big holes in the Moyle. Well, poor Mick
-used to sit and fish for hours, now and
-then catching a little fish by accident, for
-his heart wasn't in it for thinking of Sylvia's
-big pike. And Sylvia used to sit by watching
-him, apparently full of sympathy. One
-day he was fishing the big hole as usual,
-when he gave a long whistle. 'What is it,
-Mick?' Sylvia cried, running to him. 'It
-feels like a twenty-pounder,' said poor Mick,
-very red in the face. 'Oh, Mick, do let me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>
-help!' cried Sylvia. And then, with an immense
-deal of carefulness, and poor Mick holding
-on like grim death, they reeled up an old
-tin can full of stones, in the handle of
-which Mick's line was caught."</p>
-
-<p>"Mick would never have known," said
-Sylvia dispassionately, "if little Patsy Murray
-hadn't come running after me a week later,
-calling out, 'Where's that apple ye promised
-me for sinkin' me mother's ould can
-in the river?' Mick never believed in me
-as an honest angler afterwards."</p>
-
-<p>"No wonder! But to think your father
-should have suggested you as my guide,
-Miss Sylvia!"</p>
-
-<p>"Pam's just as bad, Sir Anthony. I generally
-do the things, but Pam encourages me."</p>
-
-<p>Pamela again turned those eyes of heaven's
-own colour in mute reproach upon her sister.</p>
-
-<p>"I'll have faith in you, Miss Pam," said
-Sir Anthony impulsively, "no matter what
-your sister says to the contrary."</p>
-
-<p>And he meant his rash promise.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img120.jpg" width="450" height="507" alt="letter" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">"The letter can wait till another time."&mdash;<em>p.</em> 109.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-
-
-
-<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2>
-
-<h3>THE WISHING WELL.</h3>
-
-
-<p>"My friends generally call me Tony,"
-said a voice, the youthful growl
-of which was subdued to all
-possible softness.</p>
-
-<p>"We have known each other such a little
-while," replied Pamela, looking down at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>
-ground, which had begun to cover itself in
-the flying gold of the autumn woods.</p>
-
-<p>"As the calendar counts; but we&mdash;'we
-count time by heart-throbs'&mdash;doesn't somebody
-say that?"</p>
-
-<p>A colour, like a pink rose-leaf, warmed in
-Pamela's clear cheek.</p>
-
-<p>"We have become very good friends," she
-said, "seeing that it is only six&mdash;or is it
-seven?&mdash;weeks ago since we met."</p>
-
-<p>"It is eight," said the youth. "I came in
-mid-July, and now it is mid-September.
-But it sometimes seems to me that I have
-always been here, and that my life elsewhere
-was but a dream."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 350px;">
-<img src="images/img121.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt="wishes" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">"Tell me what you wished for?"</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>"If that were so," she said demurely&mdash;and
-for a moment the violet eyes looked up
-at him under their shadow of night&mdash;"if
-that were so, then I might really call you
-by your name, Sir Anthony. But it is too
-soon."</p>
-
-<p>"Then you will one day, Miss Pamela?
-How many days must go by first? You
-called that other man&mdash;St. Leger&mdash;by his
-name. It is 'Mick' with all of you."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah," said Pamela, again with the bewildering
-glance; "but Mick was Mick, you
-see."</p>
-
-<p>A sudden irrational anger kindled in the
-young man's eye, and his
-expression stiffened.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, I see," he said.
-"This paragon had special
-privileges which no one
-else may hope to share."</p>
-
-<p>"He certainly had,"
-said Pamela. "For no
-one else would endure
-them, poor dear!"</p>
-
-<p>"Now, what do you
-mean by that?" he said
-doubtfully. "Do you
-mean the privilege of
-being called by his
-name?"</p>
-
-<p>"No, but the privilege
-of my society and
-Sylvia's."</p>
-
-<p>"He must have been
-jolly hard to please."</p>
-
-<p>"He wasn't, then. He
-was as easily pleased as
-a child. I should like to
-have seen you in some of
-the situations in which
-Mick distinguished himself."</p>
-
-<p>"I daresay I'd be
-very undistinguished. I
-make no pretence of
-being a paragon."</p>
-
-<p>"It would be useless
-to, Sir Anthony."</p>
-
-<p>"I don't dispute it,
-Miss Pamela. I suppose
-we'd better be making
-for home?"</p>
-
-<p>He turned and walked
-sulkily along the forest
-path with the girl by
-his side. For a second
-there was silence; then
-Pamela broke it by saying
-softly:</p>
-
-<p>"I often have thought
-that one reason why Molly fell in love with
-Mick was because she pitied him so much.
-He came to the wall in all our escapades.
-Of course, he was always in love with
-Molly, but I believe it was in protecting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>
-him from us that she became so fond of
-him."</p>
-
-<p>"He is your sister's lover, then?" incredulously.</p>
-
-<p>"Why, <em>of course</em> he is. Whose did you
-suppose he was?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yours, Miss Pamela."</p>
-
-<p>"Mine! why, he'd never look at me when
-Molly was by. Besides, you don't know how
-horribly we ill-used the poor dear fellow."</p>
-
-<p>"Miss Pam, I wish you'd ill-use me."</p>
-
-<p>"You wouldn't like it at all, Sir Anthony."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, I should, Miss Pamela. So Mick is
-engaged to your sister. What an ass I have
-been!"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, poor dears, they are engaged, without
-the remotest prospect of ever being
-married that I can see. Mick's a subaltern in
-a line regiment, with just his pay&mdash;he got
-in through the Militia&mdash;and Molly, needless
-to say, hasn't a penny."</p>
-
-<p>"He's a lucky fellow, all the same. And
-now, Miss Pamela, what have we been quarrelling
-about?"</p>
-
-<p>"I'm sure I don't know, Sir Anthony.
-Have we been quarrelling?"</p>
-
-<p>"<em>I</em> have."</p>
-
-<p>"But I haven't. I did think you were a
-little cross about something. But here is
-the Wishing Well that I told you about."</p>
-
-<p>They had come on a little glade of the
-forest, in the midst of which was a brier
-heavy with blackberries. The bush hooded
-a little space, and, looking underneath, one
-saw, as in a cup, a still depth of water over
-pebbles of gold and silver.</p>
-
-<p>"You are to drink, Sir Anthony, without
-spilling a drop, and think on your wish at
-the same time."</p>
-
-<p>"Drink from what, Miss Pamela?"</p>
-
-<p>"Why, from your hands, of course."</p>
-
-<p>"I couldn't; the water would all run
-away."</p>
-
-<p>"No, it wouldn't. See how I manage it."</p>
-
-<p>The girl scooped the water into her rosy
-palms and drank it slowly. Then she looked
-at him, and again the wave of rose flowed
-in her cheek.</p>
-
-<p>"I never could manage it; I'm such a
-duffer at things. Miss Pamela, would you
-let me drink from your hands? <em>Do!</em>"</p>
-
-<p>Without a word she stooped and lifted
-the water and held it to him. He drank from
-the rosy cup to the last drop. Then he
-suddenly caught the hands that had served
-him, and pressed them to his lips. For a
-moment they were yielded to him, and then
-the girl drew back. He thought she trembled
-a little, and the ardour in his gaze grew.</p>
-
-<p>"I am sorry," he said, "but I couldn't
-help it. You are not angry, Miss Pamela?"</p>
-
-<p>"I am going home, Sir Anthony," she said.</p>
-
-<p>"Not till you tell me one thing&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>He barred her way, putting himself in front
-of her. "Tell me what you wished for."</p>
-
-<p>Her eyes fell before his, and as she stood
-with her hands clasped, and her head bent,
-she was a different creature from the wild
-Pamela of a few short weeks ago. The sunlight
-through the thinned branches fell on
-her short curls, for her hat&mdash;which she had
-been swinging by a ribbon&mdash;had fallen to
-her feet.</p>
-
-<p>"Look at me," he said; "I want to see
-what is in your eyes."</p>
-
-<p>She lifted them obediently, and then let
-them fall again.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, that is enough," he said, with exultation
-in his voice. "You have answered
-me, Pam. That is enough just for the present.
-Some day I shall tell you what I
-wished for, and we shall see if our wishes
-come true. A double wish should have double
-force to induce its fulfilment. Isn't it so,
-Pam?"</p>
-
-<p>She said nothing, and he looked at her
-with triumph shining in his eyes. Blent
-with it was the tenderness of a lover when
-he knows he is loved, and just a shade of
-shamefacedness as well.</p>
-
-<p>"We must be wise, little beautiful Pamela,"
-he said presently, in a low voice. "We
-must be wise and wait. I mustn't ask yet
-all I would ask, but I will one day&mdash;one
-good day, Pamela. You will trust me, won't
-you?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," said Pamela, hardly knowing what
-she was asked.</p>
-
-<p>"It will not be for long. Indeed, I could
-not endure it for long. Shall we be friends for
-a little while longer, Pamela darling?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," said Pamela, forgetting to rebuke
-him.</p>
-
-<p>"After to-day I will not call you darling
-till I have the right before all the world.
-After to-day. I meant to have held my
-tongue, but you bewildered me, Pamela. You
-are not angry with me?"</p>
-
-<p>"No," came almost in a whisper.</p>
-
-<p>"Lift up your eyes to me and say it. That
-is right. How beautiful your eyes are, Pamela!
-Say 'Tony,' now."</p>
-
-<p>"Tony!"</p>
-
-<p>"Dear Tony."</p>
-
-<p>"Dear Tony!"</p>
-
-<p>"How sweetly you say it! It is like silver
-in your voice. But, come now, we will go
-home. I have to be wise, you know. Ah,
-Pamela, Pamela! why did you bring me to
-the Wishing Well?"</p>
-
-<p>"You wanted to go."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, I know; but it was an accident that
-we were alone, or it was Fate&mdash;yes, it was
-surely Fate that sent Miss Spencer's carriage
-for your sister at the last moment, so that
-we had to take our walk without her. Shall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>
-we go now, and talk no more about love
-to-day?"</p>
-
-<p>Pamela hesitated, and then said:</p>
-
-<p>"Poor Sylvia! She has spent this lovely
-afternoon shut up with an old lady and a
-dog."</p>
-
-<p>"She wouldn't mind the dog, I fancy,
-Pam."</p>
-
-<p>"Nor the old lady. Sylvia is fond of Miss
-Spencer, strange as it may seem."</p>
-
-<p>"Why is it strange, Pam? I can't help
-using the sweet little name."</p>
-
-<p>He had taken her hand by this time, and
-they were walking like children down the
-aisle of golden trees.</p>
-
-<p>"You haven't seen Miss Spencer. She is a
-little mad and a little grotesque to most people.
-But she is devoted to Sylvia, and Sylvia to
-her. She is not mad to Sylvia."</p>
-
-<p>"How does it come that I haven't seen
-Miss Spencer?"</p>
-
-<p>"She has been abroad. You'll see her one
-of these days, I expect. She was crossed in
-love in her youth, and it seems to have made
-her strange in ways. She's immensely wealthy,
-and gives a good deal in charity, but mostly
-among single women. She seems to think
-that those who have husbands and children
-don't need pity."</p>
-
-<p>"She's quite safe for your sister to be
-with?"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, quite. She has all her senses, only
-that she's a trifle peculiar. She's a splendid
-business woman, everyone says."</p>
-
-<p>"It is a curious friendship. I should never
-have supposed it of Miss Sylvia."</p>
-
-<p>"No. One funny thing is that Miss Spencer's
-full of sentiment&mdash;wait till you hear
-her sing 'She wore a Wreath of Roses'&mdash;whereas
-Sylvia's quite without sentiment, and
-laughs at everything sentimental."</p>
-
-<p>"I feel sorry for the poor old thing," said
-Sir Anthony, with a half-ashamed laugh, "because
-she was crossed in love. I shouldn't
-like to be crossed in love myself, Pamela."</p>
-
-<p>"It was cruel," said Pamela simply. "The
-man made her love him, and then went away
-and never came back. She was poor then.
-She inherited Dovercourt quite unexpectedly."</p>
-
-<p>"What a sweep he must have been!"</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img123.jpg" width="450" height="467" alt="Trevithick" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">"Come along, Trevithick," he cried, rushing away.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Poor Miss Spencer always thinks he will
-come back, though people say he married
-abroad and died there. I tell you all this
-so that you won't be the least bit in the
-world inclined to laugh when you see her.
-I daresay it's funny enough to see a pink
-silk coal-scuttle bonnet on top of a grey
-head; but then, you know, you don't feel
-like laughing."</p>
-
-<p>"No, indeed, darling."</p>
-
-<p>"Sylvia says it's made a man-hater of her.
-That's how she excuses herself for treating
-her admirers so outrageously."</p>
-
-<p>"I'd have fallen in love with Sylvia myself,
-only for you, Pamela."</p>
-
-<p>"It's lucky you didn't, Tony." The name
-came with soft hesitation.</p>
-
-<p>"Why, Pam?"</p>
-
-<p>"She'd have laughed in your face."</p>
-
-<p>"I'd rather have your way, Pam."</p>
-
-<p>"My way?"</p>
-
-<p>"Though it made me behave worse than
-I intended. But never mind. A little time
-will unravel the tangled skein. Now we
-are nearly out of the wood. Ah, Pamela!
-kiss me once&mdash;I shall not ask you again till
-I have the full right."</p>
-
-<p>Without a word the girl lifted her face to meet
-his kiss. To her it was the kiss of betrothal.</p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
-
-<h3>"I WILL COME AGAIN, MY DEAR."</h3>
-
-
-<p>"I wish my friend, Glengall, were at
-home," said Mr. Graydon, leaning
-back in the chair by the study fire.
-"He'd give you a mount while you
-were waiting for Johnny Maher's little mare.
-The hounds meet at Lettergort to-day."</p>
-
-<p>He looked wistfully through the bare trees
-on the lawn, as though he saw in imagination
-the scarlet horsemen pounding away after
-the streaming line of hounds.</p>
-
-<p>His pupil thrust into a book a sketch of
-Pamela which he had been making absent-mindedly.</p>
-
-<p>"Why don't you hunt, sir?" he asked, with
-sympathy.</p>
-
-<p>"So I do, my lad, when I can. But I
-can't afford to keep a horse, and there aren't
-many mounts to be had here. Glengall is
-going to set up stables when he comes back,
-and I'll have the run of them, I suppose.
-He's a good fellow&mdash;one wouldn't mind
-being obliged to him."</p>
-
-<p>"The mare'll be a good one when she's
-broken," said the young man.</p>
-
-<p>"The best in the world for Irish fences, if
-she does look a bit roughish."</p>
-
-<p>"You'll ride her for me, when I am away
-at Christmas, to get her mouth in?"</p>
-
-<p>"Thank you, my lad; I should like to."
-Mr. Graydon's eye kindled with pleasure.
-"But I didn't know you were going. It
-seems a longish way to go home for Christmas."</p>
-
-<p>"My mother would like to see me."</p>
-
-<p>"To be sure, to be sure. I quite understand,
-and, of course, there are friends in London
-you naturally want to see."</p>
-
-<p>"No one very particularly, sir."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, well! it will be a holiday from this dull
-place."</p>
-
-<p>"No, I assure you, sir. It is partly because
-I have some&mdash;some business I want to settle.
-It is really true that there is no one I go to
-see whom I regard more than the friends I
-shall be leaving behind."</p>
-
-<p>Sir Anthony blushed hotly over this avowal,
-but his unsuspicious host only saw in it
-the shamefacedness with which a man, and
-especially a young man, makes a display of
-his feelings.</p>
-
-<p>"Now, that is kind of you," he said, looking
-at his pupil benignantly. "I am sure our
-Christmas will be dull without you. Do the
-girls know you are going? They won't like
-it, eh? And they will be disappointed that
-you will not be here for the Vandaleur
-affair."</p>
-
-<p>"I am coming back for that, sir."</p>
-
-<p>"I am glad. It is really the children's first
-outing. It is a dull enough affair for young
-people, but then they will wear their pretty
-frocks and see strange faces. We are such
-quiet people, Trevithick, that even Vandaleur's
-big dinner and reception, which comes off
-regularly whenever there is a general election
-in sight"&mdash;Mr. Graydon broke off to laugh
-and rub his hands&mdash;"is an event for us. But
-we are forgetting our Tacitus, my boy. Let us
-get back to the old fellow."</p>
-
-<p>At that moment there was the sound
-of a horn, and, with the shout of a boy, Mr.
-Graydon was up.</p>
-
-<p>"Come along, Trevithick," he cried, rushing
-away, hatless and coatless. "We shall
-get a glimpse of them. What a day for
-a scent! They are sure to find at Larry's
-Spinney."</p>
-
-<p>His words came back to his pupil, who was
-getting under weigh more leisurely.</p>
-
-<p>"Dear old boy!" he muttered to himself.
-"It's not surprising my father never forgot
-him. I wonder why the mater regards him
-with so deadly a hatred, though?"</p>
-
-<p>At lunch Mr. Graydon announced that Sir
-Anthony was going home for Christmas. There
-was a shrill expostulation from Sylvia, and
-even a mild protest from Mary, but Pamela
-said nothing. Perhaps it was not news to
-Pamela.</p>
-
-<p>"You will not be here for the skating," said
-Sylvia aggrievedly; "that is, if there's going<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>
-to be any. And I've promised them at the
-Rectory that you'd recite at their penny
-reading and give away the presents at the
-Christmas-tree, besides managing the magic
-lantern. And, oh!"&mdash;the magnitude of the
-misfortune coming full upon her&mdash;"you're not
-surely going to miss the Vandaleur dinner?"</p>
-
-<p>"No, Miss Sylvia, I shall be here for it
-certainly. I wouldn't miss it for anything;
-but I object to your engagements for me
-with the Rectory people. I'd rather be shot
-than recite, and&mdash;the other things are beyond
-me," laughing.</p>
-
-<p>"Never mind, then," said the young lady
-airily. "Lord Glengall will do just as well.
-I shall like to see him distributing the
-articles. Besides, he will please the people
-better than a 'baronite,' and be of the rale
-ould blood, too."</p>
-
-<p>"Sylvia!" said her father, with a rebuke in
-his voice.</p>
-
-<p>"Never mind, papa dear. Sir Anthony
-understands all about his being only a
-'baronite.' Bridget told him the other day
-that if the master had his rights 'tisn't
-teaching a 'Sir' he'd be."</p>
-
-<p>"So she did," said Sir Anthony.</p>
-
-<p>Mr. Graydon laughed.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, well, my boy! you mustn't tell your
-mother what odd people you've found among
-the wild Irish&mdash;will you?"</p>
-
-<p>"She wouldn't understand a bit, but I'll
-tell her what dear friends I have found
-and made at Carrickmoyle."</p>
-
-<p>He blushed again, and Mr. Graydon
-thought how well his modesty became him.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, well!" he said, "I suppose we must
-make up our minds to spend Christmas
-without you. What are you going to do
-this afternoon?"</p>
-
-<p>"I'm going to Maher's to see the mare,
-and put her through her paces. I'd like to
-have her stabled here as soon as possible.
-If she's ready, she can come at once."</p>
-
-<p>"To be sure. There's stabling for twenty
-horses here, though the stalls are bare&mdash;worse
-luck! But we won't let Sheila starve. Shall
-we, girls? I'll go bail these children will
-make a fine pet of her, Trevithick."</p>
-
-<p>"I shall be all the fonder of her, sir, though
-I'm well pleased with her at present."</p>
-
-<p>"She's a sweet little bit of horseflesh,"
-assented Mr. Graydon. "I think I shall come
-with you, if you don't object to my company.
-I've a bit of business with Johnny myself."</p>
-
-<p>When they returned in time for the afternoon
-cup of tea, they found an old yellow
-barouche standing before the door.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, Miss Spencer is here," said Mr.
-Graydon. "She's rather an oddity, my boy,
-so prepare to meet one."</p>
-
-<p>"I heard her story from Miss Pamela. It
-is very sad."</p>
-
-<p>"When I was a boy of thirteen or fourteen
-I remember her a brilliantly lovely young
-woman. That was before that scoundrel came
-in her way."</p>
-
-<p>When they entered the drawing-room Miss
-Spencer was sitting with her back to them,
-almost hidden in a deep armchair. The three
-girls were sitting or standing about her, all
-evidently much interested.</p>
-
-<p>"Here is papa, and our guest with him,
-Miss Spencer," said Mary.</p>
-
-<p>The little old woman came out of her chair
-with a sudden darting movement like that of
-a bird. Her gaze went from Mr. Graydon to
-the younger man.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh!" she cried. "Whom did you say?"</p>
-
-<p>She looked at the stranger for a moment
-with an agony of expectation in her yet
-bright eyes, while she fumbled nervously for
-the long-handled glasses at her side. When
-she had found them she peered at him
-through them; then dropped them, the expression
-of her face changing to indifference.</p>
-
-<p>"I beg your pardon, sir," she said. "I am
-expecting a friend, and for a moment I
-thought you were he."</p>
-
-<p>"How do you do, Miss Spencer?" broke
-in Mr. Graydon. "I see you have Stella
-under the barouche again. I'm glad she has
-recovered from her lameness."</p>
-
-<p>"The foot has come all right, thank you,"
-said Miss Spencer, assuming quite an ordinary
-manner. "You weren't hunting to-day?"</p>
-
-<p>"No; I must wait till Glengall sets up his
-stables."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, Glengall is coming home soon?"</p>
-
-<p>"He expects to reach Plymouth on the
-eighteenth. He will be at home for Christmas."</p>
-
-<p>"There'll be nothing in order for him in
-that old barrack of his."</p>
-
-<p>"He'll stay here while he's getting things
-straight. He is going to make a grand
-place of Glengall. He has plenty of money,
-and the heart to spend it, and the practical
-wit to direct it."</p>
-
-<p>"What will he do with it then? He has
-neither chick nor child."</p>
-
-<p>"There is always time, Miss Spencer."</p>
-
-<p>The slightly mad, brooding look came back
-to the little wizened white face.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, of course, there is time," she said,
-dreamily. "I remember someone&mdash;who was
-it?&mdash;who knew Glengall when she was a
-young woman and he was a little boy.
-Glengall can't be old, of course, and any
-day people may return&mdash;mayn't they?"</p>
-
-<p>"Why, to be sure they may. Glengall did,
-though he was twenty years out of the
-reach of civilisation."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, I wasn't thinking of Glengall. It
-was of someone much younger, someone about
-the age of that young gentleman there."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Trevithick stood in the background and
-watched her with honest eyes of wonder
-and pity. She was smoothing the pink silk
-of her gown, while her eyes watched the
-fire as if she saw something very happy in
-it. Her skin was waxen white, and her
-features sharpened, but the brilliant eyes
-kept their beauty, and her little old hands,
-covered with rings, were delicately shaped.
-Her hair was half-white through the original
-black, and very oddly her pink bonnet, with
-its wreath of roses inside, sat on the streaked
-hair and over the white face. She had thrown
-off a large sable cloak on to the back of her
-chair.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img126.jpg" width="450" height="439" alt="watched" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">Trevithick watched her with wonder and pity.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Sylvia now broke in on Miss Spencer's half-mad
-mood. She touched one of the hands
-tenderly. Trevithick, as he noticed it, thought
-that it was the first time he had seen Sylvia's
-face really soft; and wonderfully the new
-expression completed the girl's beauty. So
-she will look, he thought, some day, when
-she is in love, like&mdash;like Pamela. But Pamela's
-serious face was hidden from him now with
-a fire-screen she held in her hand. He had
-noticed of late that she seldom looked at
-him, nor was he displeased. He knew the
-secret she was afraid to reveal.</p>
-
-<p>"We are all going to the Vandaleur
-affair, Miss Spencer," Sylvia was saying. "It
-will be on the thirtieth. There are to be great
-doings&mdash;acres of marquees for the diners, and
-the winter garden lit by electricity, and I
-don't know what besides."</p>
-
-<p>Miss Spencer came back to every-day life
-with a start.</p>
-
-<p>"To the Vandaleur affair, child! Why,
-who is going to take you?"</p>
-
-<p>"Papa, of course. He loves a little outing,
-though he won't admit it. He says he'd
-rather stay at home and have a quiet night's
-work at his book, and get some hot tea
-ready for us by the time we come home."</p>
-
-<p>"Why shouldn't I take you?" said the old
-lady. "I'm hardly old enough for a chaperon,
-of course, still I've the carriage, and I'd
-enjoy the function. I haven't been at one
-since the time Tom Charteris was master of
-the hounds. How long ago is that?"</p>
-
-<p>Mr. Graydon, to whom she spoke, answered
-her without looking at her.</p>
-
-<p>"A goodish few years ago."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"It can't be," said the old lady; "not more
-than four or five at the outside. I wore
-white satin and pearls. That reminds me:
-what are you going to wear, minx?"</p>
-
-<p>This to Sylvia, at the same time softly
-pulling her ear.</p>
-
-<p>"We've got pattern-books of silk stuffs
-from Dublin. They're dirt-cheap; but the
-dressmaking will be the bother. However, I
-daresay we'll manage. Mrs. Collins' Nancy,
-who is a lady's-maid, is expected home for
-Christmas. She'll cut the frocks out, and
-we'll sew them ourselves. She'll know the
-fashions."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img127.jpg" width="450" height="450" alt="must go" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">"I must go, to unravel a tangled skein."</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>"Stuff and nonsense, child! Your first
-public appearance, too."</p>
-
-<p>"It's Pam's also. But you'll see we'll look
-very nice. I shouldn't be surprised if the
-prince fell in love with me."</p>
-
-<p>"What prince? Oh, I see, Cinderella's.
-But Cinderella went magnificently to her
-evening party&mdash;not in cheap and nasty
-stuffs cobbled up anyhow."</p>
-
-<p>"The prince wouldn't see that. He'd be
-disconsolate when I disappeared at twelve
-o'clock, and he'd send all over the country
-to find the fit of my glass slipper, and
-Molly and Pam would cry tears of rage because
-it wouldn't even fit on their toes."</p>
-
-<p>"You're not ball-going, minx."</p>
-
-<p>"It will be just as good. There'll be a
-beautiful dinner, and everyone in the
-county there, and afterwards there will be
-acres of beautiful things to see. It is a
-thousand pities Mr. Vandaleur is an absentee."</p>
-
-<p>"If he wasn't, he wouldn't have to remind
-you of his existence now," said the old
-lady cynically. "But am I to be chaperon?"</p>
-
-<p>"Well, I'll tell you what, Miss Spencer,"
-said Mr. Graydon. "If you'd take charge of
-these children, I'd be greatly obliged to you.
-The fact is that I've to attend a sort of
-unofficial meeting of Vandaleur's supporters
-in the afternoon, and he has hospitably
-offered me a bed. So I thought I'd take
-my bag over and dress there after the meeting."</p>
-
-<p>"And stay all night? I knew it," cried<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>
-Sylvia. "Papa pretended it was such a
-bother, and all the time he was longing to
-be in for every bit of it. Only he didn't
-know what to do with us."</p>
-
-<p>Mr. Graydon laughed.</p>
-
-<p>"Maybe you wouldn't like it yourself. I
-shall be button-holed by Musgrave and
-Frost and Clitheroe, and every man in the
-county who thinks he has a head for politics
-and wants a patient listener."</p>
-
-<p>"And you will go at it hammer and
-tongs with the best of them, and forget
-you have daughters. I don't suppose you'll
-even remember at dinner-time to see whether
-anyone is asking us if we've an appetite."</p>
-
-<p>"The young fellows will do that. Every
-boy in the county will be there, including the
-300th from Dangan Barracks."</p>
-
-<p>"I daresay," said Sylvia: "you're always
-ready to shift your responsibilities. Never
-mind, Miss Spencer; I daresay we shall be
-able to find someone who will look after us,
-if it's only a waiter."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, indeed, you'll find someone to befriend
-you, never fear. And so will Pam.
-And so shall I. But what about Molly?"</p>
-
-<p>"Never mind me, Miss Spencer," said Mary.
-"It would never do to have you chaperoning
-three girls, and I shouldn't enjoy it a bit. I
-shall stay up and have tea for you after your
-cold drive."</p>
-
-<p>"I don't know what girls are coming to,"
-said Miss Spencer; "I shouldn't like to have
-to stay at home myself."</p>
-
-<p>"We don't mind Molly," cried her sisters;
-"she really likes to stay at home and write
-her perpetual letters."</p>
-
-<p>"I shouldn't mind having the three of
-you," went on Miss Spencer; "we'd pass for
-four sisters."</p>
-
-<p>"We should never look as lovely as you
-in that white satin and pearls," said Sylvia,
-fondly.</p>
-
-<p>"I was much admired," said Miss Spencer,
-complacently. "But now I must be going.
-I've letters to write before dinner: I don't
-want to lose my beauty-sleep sitting up to
-write them."</p>
-
-<p>When Sir Anthony came into the drawing-room
-before dinner, he found only Pamela
-stretching her hands to the wood fire in the
-low grate.</p>
-
-<p>The lover stooped down and kissed them.</p>
-
-<p>"Have you been out?" he asked in a
-whisper.</p>
-
-<p>"Only to the stables with Sylvia. Your
-Sheila has come. She is a dear thing."</p>
-
-<p>"You like her, Pam?"</p>
-
-<p>"Who could help it? She looks so wild and
-shy, and she is so gentle at the same time."</p>
-
-<p>"Do you like her because she is mine, Pam?
-Do you, just a little because of that? Say you
-do, Pam."</p>
-
-<p>"Just a little," whispered Pam.</p>
-
-<p>"Why, if you like, she shall be yours, when&mdash;when
-everything has come right. I think
-she would carry a lady beautifully. What do
-you say, Pam? Would you like her, <em>then</em>?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," said Pamela, with her eyes very
-bright.</p>
-
-<p>"You didn't seem to mind my going away
-at Christmas, Pam. You were the only one
-who didn't protest."</p>
-
-<p>"I know you wouldn't go if you could
-help it."</p>
-
-<p>"Wise little woman. I must go, darling&mdash;to
-unravel a tangled skein. Afterwards it
-will be paradise, Pam. I will come back as
-soon&mdash;as soon as ever I can. I shall be in a
-fury of impatience till I come back."</p>
-
-<p>"And I," said Pam, lifting her eyes to her
-lover, and flooding him with their light.</p>
-
-<p>"Sweetheart! you were a coquette when
-I knew you first, Pam. Now you don't try
-me as many girls try their lovers."</p>
-
-<p>"I have only love for you now. Ah! what
-should I do if you did not come back?"</p>
-
-<p>"I will come back, 'though 'twere ten
-thousand mile.' I shall be here for your great
-function. Do you think I would have you
-go without me?"</p>
-
-<p>"I shouldn't care for it without you."</p>
-
-<p>"There will be other men there, Pamela,
-to see how beautiful you are. I must be there
-to guard my own."</p>
-
-<p>"There is no need for that."</p>
-
-<p>"I believe you, my love, you are as much
-mine as if you were my wife. And I am as
-much yours."</p>
-
-<p>"Love can only mean that."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, my darling! how sweet you are!
-You wouldn't care for the admiration of other
-men, Pam?"</p>
-
-<p>"Only for one."</p>
-
-<p>"It is hard to be wise, Pam, when I am
-with you. You are too sweet. It is fortunate
-I am going."</p>
-
-<p>"When you come back it will be different."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes; you will have to make up to me
-for my prudence all these months. I have
-been good, Pam; I have never asked you for
-a kiss."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, you have been good."</p>
-
-<p>"And you, you are a girl in ten thousand.
-You have never asked me what stood between
-us&mdash;a shadowy barrier, Pam, but even
-that must go before I claim you, my queen.
-When I come back, Pam! Ah, when I come
-back!"</p>
-
-<p>"Here is Molly," said Pam, in a low voice,
-as her sister entered the room.</p>
-
-<p class="center">
-END OF CHAPTER SIX.<br />
-</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">&nbsp;</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img129a.jpg" width="450" height="98" alt="Anniversaries" />
-</div>
-
-<h2>GREAT ANNIVERSARIES</h2>
-
-<h3><em>IN DECEMBER.</em></h3>
-
-<p class="center">By the Rev. A. R. Buckland, M.A., Morning Preacher at the Foundling Hospital.</p>
-
-
-<p>December
-is a
-month
-of great
-names. On December
-21st,
-1117, according
-to some authorities,
-there was
-born, in a house
-that stood on
-the site of the
-Mercers' Chapel
-in Cheapside,
-Thomas à
-Becket.
-Whether men
-side with
-Church or State,
-and are for or
-against Becket, they will hardly deny him the
-right to be remembered as an outstanding figure
-in our history. On the last day of the month
-died another great Englishman; like Becket,
-an Oxford man, and a potent factor in the
-religious development of our nation. On December
-31st there passed away at Lutterworth
-John Wycliffe. His bones, thirteen years after
-burial, were dragged from their resting-place
-and cast into the River Swift. Thomas Fuller
-turns that
-shameful act of
-ecclesiastical
-malice to good
-use. "Thus,"
-he says, "this
-brook did convey
-his ashes
-into the Avon,
-the Avon into
-the Severn, the
-Severn into the
-narrow sea, and
-this into the
-wide ocean. And
-so the ashes of
-Wycliffe are the
-emblem of his
-doctrine, which
-is now dispersed
-all the world over." On the 13th of the
-month, many generations later, there came
-into the world Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, an
-ecclesiastic of still another type. No modern
-dean ever identified himself with his
-cathedral as Stanley did with Westminster
-Abbey. Its national character was always
-present to his mind. His simple piety, his
-good works, his sympathy with Nonconformists,
-all helped to make the Dean
-himself rather a national possession than
-merely an ecclesiastic. He died in 1881.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/img129b.jpg" width="250" height="303" alt="Wycliffe" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">JOHN WYCLIFFE.</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>From the Portrait at King's College.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>We have had the Church, let us come to
-the State. It is a rich month that claims the
-birth both of
-William Ewart
-Gladstone (December
-29th)
-and of his
-great rival,
-Benjamin Disraeli,
-Earl of
-Beaconsfield
-(December
-20th). They
-began their
-careers under
-very different
-auspices. Eton
-and Oxford
-prepared the
-one for immediate
-entry,
-under favouring
-circumstances,
-into Parliamentary life.
-The other
-was educated privately, designed for the
-law, and first caught the public eye as
-an author when he burst upon the world
-with the novel, "Vivian Grey." Mr. Gladstone
-survived his rival seventeen years.</p>
-
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/img129d.jpg" width="250" height="307" alt="Stanley" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">DEAN STANLEY.</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>Photo: The London Stereoscopic Co.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>There died on December 14th one whom the
-British nation can only number amongst its
-own worthies by adoption. The death of the
-Prince Consort in the prime of life, and just
-when his very considerable powers and great
-devotion were beginning to be understood by
-those who at first regarded him with doubt
-because he was a foreigner, plunged our
-Queen into sorrow which long darkened the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>
-life of the Court and was felt by the whole
-nation. The pure, unblemished life of the
-Prince Consort, his sincere desire to advance
-the welfare of the people, his ready promotion
-of the arts and sciences, as well as
-his tender devotion to the Queen, have long
-been understood and valued by the nation
-which he served.</p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/img129c.jpg" width="250" height="306" alt="Milton" />
-
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">JOHN MILTON.</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>From the Miniature by Samuel Cooper.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>To come to other fields: there was born in
-London on December 9th, 1608, John Milton.
-Educated at Cambridge, he early gave free
-play to the powers which in their issue have
-made his name familiar wherever the English
-language is spoken. Few remember him as
-a writer of polemical treatises on affairs of
-the State and the Church, or even as Latin
-Secretary to
-Cromwell; but
-he was an old
-man and blind
-when he gave
-the world "Paradise
-Lost."</p>
-
-<p>On the 12th
-there died
-Robert Browning,
-a poet who
-spoke to his age
-as few men have
-ever done, and
-spoke of God
-and the soul,
-of the here and
-the hereafter,
-with a clearness
-of faith which
-was as distinct
-as the robust manliness of his character.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/img130b.jpg" width="250" height="315" alt="Wren" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>From the Portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>December 28th is given as the date upon
-which Westminster Abbey was consecrated
-in 1065; and on December 2nd that other
-minster, St. Paul's Cathedral, was opened in
-1697. Legend says that the same King Sebert
-who founded the
-original St. Paul's
-also founded the
-Abbey at Westminster,
-whilst
-another story invokes
-the aid of
-King Offa. There
-is, however, clear
-testimony to the
-establishment of
-a Benedictine
-abbey at Westminster
-in the
-time of Edgar;
-that is antiquity
-respectable
-enough to satisfy
-most of us. A
-cathedral on this
-site is mentioned
-by the Venerable Bede as early as 604; but
-the actual fabric of St. Paul's has, according
-to Mr. Loftie, undergone greater vicissitudes
-than that of any other cathedral in England.
-The present St. Paul's was begun in 1675 and
-finished in 1710. Its cost was £736,752. Sir
-Christopher Wren, its architect, received for
-his services £200 a year. What were then
-called "the new ball and cross" on the cathedral
-were completed in this same month
-in 1821.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/img130a.jpg" width="250" height="338" alt="Browning" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">ROBERT BROWNING.</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>Photo: Cameron and Smith, Mortimer
-Street, W.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>An old calendar assures me that on the
-15th of this month, in the year 1802, "societies
-for abolishing the common method of sweeping
-chimneys" were instituted.</p>
-
-<p>On the 20th of this month, in the year 1814,
-Samuel Marsden landed in New Zealand&mdash;a
-missionary anniversary worth recalling.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img130c.jpg" width="450" height="241" alt="Gladstone" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">W. E. GLADSTONE&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;THE EARL of BEACONSFIELD.</p>
-
-<p class="center">Photo: Samuel Walker.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Photo: Hughes-Mullins, Ryde. I.W.</p>
-
-
-<p class="center">TWO EMINENT STATESMEN BORN IN DECEMBER.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">&nbsp;</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img131a.jpg" width="450" height="241" alt="Genius" />
-</div>
-
-
-
-<p><em>Pulpit at Gloucester Cathedral.</em></p>
-
-<p>A Sermon Preached by the
-Very Rev. H. Donald M.
-Spence, D.D., Dean of
-Gloucester, at the Opening Service
-of the September (1898) Meeting of
-the Three-Choirs Festival in Gloucester
-Cathedral.</p>
-
-<h2>The Limits of Human Genius</h2>
-<blockquote>
-
-<p class="hanging">"As for Wisdom, what she is, and how she came up, I will tell you, and will not hide mysteries from you, but will
-seek her out from the beginning of her nativity, and bring the knowledge of her into Light, and will not
-pass over Truth."</p></blockquote>
-
-
-<div class="drop">
-<img src="images/img131b.jpg" alt="T" width="100" height="112" class="cap" />
-<p class="cap_1">The surroundings of a
-custodian of a mediæval
-cathedral, beautiful
-though they are,
-at the same time are
-unutterably pathetic.
-They tell him, do the
-pages of the old solemn
-Book of Stone he is
-never weary of turning over and of pondering
-upon, that the genius of man has its
-limits, which it may never pass; that the
-story of human progress to higher and ever
-higher levels is often a delusive one; that
-in past ages his forefathers were perhaps
-as noble and chivalrous&mdash;aye, nobler, more
-chivalrous than the men of his own generation&mdash;that
-their imagination was more
-brilliant and their hands more cunning;
-that if in some respects progress is visible,
-in others the movement is retrograde.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>Again, a great mediæval cathedral like
-our own glorious Gloucester, inimitable in
-its fadeless beauty and matchless strength,
-surely deals a very heavy blow to human
-pride, and it teaches humility to the most
-competent and ablest of our number, for it
-is a conception belonging to a past age. A
-great gathering, however, like the present,
-numbering some six or seven thousand
-persons, is for varied reasons an inspiring
-one and bids us be trustful&mdash;even hopeful.</p>
-
-<p>Dwell we a brief while first on our
-surroundings. Of all works devised by
-human ingenuity and carried on by human
-skill, the triumphs of architecture are
-among the most enduring, afford the most
-genuine and purest delight to the greater
-number of men and women, are confessedly
-the most attractive, perhaps the most
-instructive, as they are among the most
-enduring of human creations. The glories
-of Luxor and Karnak, which for several
-thousand years have been mirrored in the
-grey-green Nile; the white and gleaming
-shrines of Athens the bright and happy,
-the mighty ruins of Eternal Rome, are
-splendid instances.</p>
-
-<p>But perhaps the conspicuous examples
-of this architecture, the most loved of
-human arts and crafts, are, after all, the
-mediæval cathedrals. The first object of
-interest for the modern traveller in search
-of health or rest is a cathedral. All sorts
-and conditions of men find delight in its
-contemplation. The delight, of course, is
-varied, but the strange and witching
-beauty appeals to them all. This appeal to
-the higher and devotional side of our nature
-speaks to every soul, to the unlearned
-as to the learned, to the mill-hand as to
-the scholar. The wanderer from the New
-World beyond the seas at once seeks them
-out, conscious that in them he will find<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>
-a beauty and a joy such as he will never
-see or feel outside their charmed walls.</p>
-
-<p>I have said that to the custodian of
-such a cathedral the surroundings are,
-if not sad, at least pathetic, for these
-magnificent and loved creations of human
-genius belong to a somewhat remote past,
-and, as far as these exquisite buildings are
-concerned, save for purposes of necessary
-repair&mdash;repair simply to arrest the ravages
-of time&mdash;for nearly four hundred years the
-clink of trowel and pickaxe has been hushed.</p>
-
-<p>It is scarcely an exaggerated statement
-which speaks of architecture, in its noblest
-sense, as a lost art. Very significant are
-the words of one of the greatest of modern
-architects, who, after dwelling on the
-decadence of his loved art, tells us how
-"It is a somewhat saddening reflection&mdash;but
-there is no escaping from the
-conclusion&mdash;that the art which created
-the glorious abbeys and minsters, the
-beautiful parish churches so plentifully
-dotted over our country&mdash;abbeys, minsters,
-and churches which the churchmen of
-the second half of the nineteenth century
-so reverently and wisely restore and
-seek to copy stone by stone, arch by
-arch, window by window, down to the
-smallest bit of ornament&mdash;is a lost art!
-Men have come sorrowfully to see that
-mediæval architecture is the last link&mdash;perhaps
-the most beautiful as well as the
-last link&mdash;of that long chain of architectural
-styles, 'commencing in far-back ages in
-Egypt and passing on in continuous
-course through Assyria, Persia, Greece,
-Rome, and Byzantium, and thence taken
-up by the infant nations of modern
-Europe, and by them prolonged through
-successive ages of continuous progress till
-it terminated in the beautiful thirteenth-and
-fourteenth-century Gothic, and has
-never since produced a link of its own....
-Alas! it is the last link of that
-mighty chain which had stretched unbroken
-through nearly four thousand years&mdash;the
-glorious termination of the history of
-original and genuine architecture.'" Well
-may men love it and seek to preserve the
-examples they possess of it, and aim at
-copying it as well as they can. These
-remarkable and melancholy words above
-quoted were deliberately spoken by Sir
-Gilbert Scott, R.A., LL.D., in his first lecture
-on Mediæval Architecture delivered
-at the Royal Academy some years ago.</p>
-
-<p>So much for my note of sadness. Now
-let me strike a different chord.</p>
-
-<p>Such a gathering as the present, I repeat,
-is an inspiring one, for it tells me that
-if one great art dies, He who loves us
-and has redeemed us at so great a price,
-gives His children something in its place.
-Now it is strange that amidst all the
-gorgeous and striking ceremonial of the
-mediæval services, with their wealth of
-colour and ornament, with all their touching
-and elaborate symbolism, music, as
-it is now understood, was unknown and
-comparatively neglected. In the noblest
-cathedral of the Middle Ages, in the
-stateliest Benedictine or Cistercian abbey,
-while the eye was filled with sights of
-solemnity and beauty, each sight containing
-its special and peculiar teaching,
-the ear was comparatively uncared for.
-Strangely monotonous and even harsh
-would chaunt and psalm and hymn, as
-rendered in the mighty abbeys of Westminster,
-Durham, or Gloucester in the
-days of the great Plantagenets, of the
-White Rose or Red Rose kings, sound
-to the musically trained ears of the worshippers
-of the second half of the nineteenth
-century. Indeed, music as a great
-science was unknown in pre-Reformation
-times. The most complete anthem-book
-may be searched through by the curious
-scholar, but scarcely a musical composer
-of any note will be found in these
-collections of a date earlier than the reign
-of Queen Elizabeth. It would seem as
-though, when architecture ceased in the
-sixteenth century to be a living craft,
-a new art was discovered and worked at
-by men.</p>
-
-<p>A new art! I say these words, strange to
-some, with emphasis. One who has indeed
-a right to speak of music<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> thus voices my
-assertion. While telling us that certain
-grand forms of music loom out of the
-darkness of the earlier centuries of our
-era, the famous musician to whom I refer
-adds that little of what we understand of
-music existed before the later years of the
-fifteenth century. It was no mere renaissance,
-for that which had never been born
-could not be born again.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Professor Hullah, in his "Lectures on the History of Modern
-Music," delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain,
-published 1884. See, too, Professor Hullah's Royal Institution
-Lecture on the Transition Period of Musical History (1876).</p></div>
-
-<p>In case some should think that too
-strong expressions are here used, it may
-be well to quote some of Professor
-Hullah's own words, which he used in
-the above-mentioned lecture at the Royal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>
-Institution:&mdash;"Music is a new art....
-What we now call music ... what
-answers to our definition of music, has
-come into being only within comparatively
-few years; almost within the
-memory of men living." "I should say
-that in the scholastic music there was no
-art, and in the popular music no science;
-whence it is that the former has ceased to
-please, and the latter has for the most
-part perished utterly."</p>
-
-<p>It was a new art which charmed and
-delighted men as they listened to the
-magic of the sounds evoked by the majesty
-of the compositions of Palestrina, or by
-the sweetness of the music of Marenzio.
-It is true, as I said, that certain grand
-forms of music loom out of the darkness
-of the remote past&mdash;shadowy forms&mdash;and
-the rare composers and writers of the
-music of the past are, as far as music is
-concerned, but the shadow of names now.
-I allude, as famous examples of these
-shadows of names, to names such as
-Gregory and Isidore, Hucbald and the
-eleventh-century <em>maestro</em>, Guido Aretino.</p>
-
-<p>With extraordinary rapidity developed
-the new craft. To give here some familiar
-landmarks&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>Henry VIII. was reigning before Josquin
-Deprès, whom all musicians revere as one
-of the earliest, certainly the most renowned,
-of the pioneers of modern music,
-became generally known in Europe.
-Josquin Deprès was born somewhere
-about the year 1466, dying about 1515,
-some ten or fifteen years before Palestrina
-was born. Luther said of him, "Other
-musicians do what they can with notes;
-Josquin does what he likes with them."
-The Abbate Baini alludes to him as "the
-idol of Europe"; and again writes,
-"Nothing is beautiful unless it be the
-work of Josquin."</p>
-
-<p>The famous Roman School of music only
-dates from 1540. The oratorio, even in its
-more simple forms, made its appearance
-some seventy years later.</p>
-
-<p>Not until the last years of our Queen
-Elizabeth were the names of Palestrina
-and Marenzio, those great early composers,
-conspicuous, and the Queen so loved of
-Englishmen had long fallen asleep before
-Carissimi, the earliest master of the
-sacred cantata in its many forms, gave
-his mighty impulse to the new-born art;
-while the works of his world-famed pupil
-Scarlatti, and of our own English Purcell,
-belong to the art-records of the days of
-William and Mary and Queen Anne. See
-how the whole of the marvellous story of
-music&mdash;as we understand music&mdash;belongs
-to quite recent days!</p>
-
-<p>All through the eighteenth century,
-when the Georges reigned, architecture
-slept its well-nigh dreamless sleep. But
-the new art of music grew with each
-succeeding year, while the men whose
-names will never die lived and wrote.</p>
-
-<p>It was this eighteenth century which
-saw a Beethoven, a Handel, a Bach, a
-Haydn, and a Mozart. As masters of the
-new-born craft none can be conceived
-greater.</p>
-
-<p>The century now closing boasts, however,
-a long line of true followers and
-worthy disciples of those great ones, men
-whose names are household words in
-every European city.</p>
-
-<p>But my brief record, necessarily dry and
-bald, of a momentous change in the teaching
-of the world would be incomplete
-without one word on the glorious instrument&mdash;the
-voice, so to speak&mdash;of these
-masters of a new art, the organ. The
-first organ known in Western Europe
-traditionally was sent to Pepin in France
-by the Emperor of Constantinople in
-759, but Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne,
-in his poem on Virginity, some half a
-century earlier, apparently describes
-what appears to have been the organ.
-Elphege, Abbot of Winchester in the tenth
-century, is said to have caused a very
-large organ to be constructed; but, with
-this solitary exception, all the mediæval
-organs seem to have been small and comparatively
-unimportant instruments. The
-oldest organ-cases preserved do not date
-back further than the last years of the
-fifteenth century, and these by the side
-of modern organs are insignificant in size.
-Viollet le Duc, in his great work, gives
-us a picture of the Perpignan organ, one
-of the earliest (early in the sixteenth
-century). From this date the size rapidly
-increased.</p>
-
-<p>In the "Rites of Durham," where a
-great mediæval church is described at the
-period of the Dissolution (1530-40), there
-were three organs in use in the abbey
-church, the principal one being only used
-at "principall Feasts," the pipes being
-"very faire and partly gilded." "Only
-two organs in England," says the "Rites,"
-"of the same makinge, one in Yorke and
-another in Paules."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 420px;">
-<img src="images/img134.jpg" width="420" height="600" alt="listeners" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">LISTENERS AT THE THREE-CHOIR FESTIVAL.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The most magnificent organ-case in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">&nbsp;</a><br /><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>
-Europe is the one in St. Janskirk at Bois
-le Duc, and, like the vast majority of the
-great organ-cases, is Renaissance in style.
-Viollet le Duc sums up the question in the
-following sentence:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"It does not appear that great organs
-were in use before the fifteenth century,
-and it was only towards the close of the
-fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth
-centuries that the idea of building organs
-of dimensions hitherto unknown was first
-conceived."</p>
-
-<p>The organ, as we now know it, was born
-among us at the same date when architecture
-died. Like the music of the Middle
-Ages, in the days when these vast and
-peerless buildings arose, it is true the
-organ was not unknown; but, like
-mediæval music, it was a small, poor
-thing compared with the stupendous
-instrument we know and love. There
-was no great organ before the last
-years of the fifteenth century, when the
-Tudors reigned. The sixteenth and seventeenth
-centuries witnessed its development,
-and acknowledged its surpassing
-grandeur, and recognised its fitness as
-one of the chief handmaids of the new
-great art.</p>
-
-<p>Now the secret of the men who built
-this lordly abbey is lost; never again
-will such a triumph of, alas! a dead
-art arise to charm and to delight, to
-instruct and inspire the children of men.
-But we may still preserve and reverently
-use this rare and noble legacy of a
-vanished age as a shrine and a peerless
-teaching-home&mdash;a prayer-home, in which
-are taught the great evangelical truths
-by which Christian men live and breathe
-and have their being, the saving knowledge
-of the work of the Precious Blood,
-the glad Redemption-story, the story loved
-of men; the story which never ages, never
-palls, but which, like dew, descends on
-each succeeding generation of believers,
-and gives them new stores of faith and
-hope and love. This&mdash;these things&mdash;we try
-to do, and not without success, for as God's
-bright glory-cloud once brooded over the
-sacred desert-tent and the holy Jerusalem
-Temple, so now upon our beloved and
-ancient cathedral, with its almost countless
-services of praise and prayer and
-teaching, God's blessing surely rests.</p>
-
-<p>"It sleeps," does our cathedral, as one
-has lately said in words beautiful as true&mdash;"it
-sleeps with its splendid dreams upon
-its lifted face." But it has, too, its many
-wakeful working hours. Not the least
-memorable of these will strike this week,
-when the charmed strains of Handel and
-Haydn, Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Beethoven,
-and of the great Englishmen,
-Gibbons and Boyce and Walmisley and
-Wesley, and last, but not least, of Hubert
-Parry, peal through these fretted vaults,
-"lingering and wandering on" among these
-wondrous chambers of inspired imagery;
-while the almost prophetic words of that
-truest English song-man Wordsworth
-become history:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem">
-<span class="i0">"Give all thou canst; high heaven rejects the lore<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Of nicely calculated less or more;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">So deem'd the man who fashion'd for the sense<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">These lofty pillars, spread that branching roof<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Self-poised, and scoop'd into ten thousand cells,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Where light and shade repose, where music dwells<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Lingering and wandering on as loth to die&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Like thoughts whose very sweetness yieldeth proof<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">That they were born for immortality."<br /></span>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img135.jpg" width="450" height="244" alt="decorative" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">&nbsp;</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img136a.jpg" width="450" height="72" alt="" />
-</div>
-
-
-<h2><span class="smcap">A Hero in Disguise</span></h2>
-
-<h3>A Complete Story. By M. Westrup.</h3>
-
-
-<div class="drop">
-<img src="images/img136b.jpg" alt="The" width="100" height="99" class="cap" />
-<p class="cap_1">T girl was little,
-slender, insignificant&mdash;only
-her
-love made her
-heroic. The man
-was big, broad,
-one to be noticed
-in a crowd, and
-his love made
-him as helpless
-as a little child.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>They stood opposite each other in the
-poor, shabby little room. His eyes
-devoured her face wildly, incredulously,
-but her eyes were fixed on a great
-hole in the faded carpet.</p>
-
-<p>Her mind was chaotic, for with his
-eager words of love rang others, bewildering
-her. Side by side with his
-passionate outpouring of his love for her,
-his longing to have her for his own, to
-live for her and work for her, were
-other words&mdash;words of ambition and
-great aspirations, words of intending
-travel into far-away countries, of hardships
-and discomforts to be borne for the
-sake of the book that was to be written&mdash;the
-book that was to bring fame and
-satisfaction to the writer of it.</p>
-
-<p>And these words rang with a deep
-note of earnestness and strength, and
-overpowered those eager, present tones
-that were pleading to her so wildly.</p>
-
-<p>"I called you Kathleen Mavourneen
-last night, you remember, and you
-smiled and blushed!" he protested,
-roughly. "Why did you do it? Kathleen,
-you <em>do</em> love me, you do! Why
-don't you speak to me? I tell you, I
-have seen it in your eyes. Why do you
-deny it now?"</p>
-
-<p>She shook her head, and her heart
-cried in agony, "How long? How long?"</p>
-
-<p>"Won't you try, then?" with a
-humbleness that was not natural to
-him. "Oh, Kitty, little Kitty, I cannot
-live without you!"</p>
-
-<p>He held out his arms to her despairingly.</p>
-
-<p>"I have a singing lesson to give at one
-o'clock," she said.</p>
-
-<p>His arms fell to his sides. The sun
-streamed in on to the pretty, pale,
-downbent face of the girl, and on to
-the white, haggard face of the man
-who stood opposite.</p>
-
-<p>There were no shadows in the little
-room&mdash;it was all glare and shabbiness.</p>
-
-<p>"I will go," he said, and then his
-eyes caught fire; "but you are a flirt!
-Do you hear, a paltry, heartless flirt!
-You have led me on&mdash;played with me.
-You have made your eyes soft, your lips
-sweet, to amuse yourself at my expense!
-How do you do it?" with a little cynical
-laugh. "It's really clever&mdash;of its kind&mdash;you
-know&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>He moved towards the door.</p>
-
-<p>"I beg your pardon," he said icily.
-"I should not have spoken so to a
-woman. Good-bye."</p>
-
-<p>"You will begin your travels now?"
-she said.</p>
-
-<p>He laughed.</p>
-
-<p>"Why keep up the pretence?" he said;
-"it's rather late now to pretend any
-interest in my life."</p>
-
-<p>She was silent.</p>
-
-<p>At the door he paused.</p>
-
-<p>He was a proud man, and he had an
-iron will.</p>
-
-<p>But his love made him helpless and
-weak as a little child.</p>
-
-<p>"Kathleen," he breathed, "you are
-sure?"</p>
-
-<p>A moment she stood still and rigid
-as a statue.</p>
-
-<p>"Little one, I love you so&mdash;&mdash;" His
-voice was soft and caressing; but her
-love made her heroic. She raised her
-head. "I am sure," she said steadily.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>The girl sat in a corner of the warm,
-gorgeous drawing-room, and wished
-vaguely that people would not nod and
-stare at her so energetically. She was
-used to it now, and tired of it.</p>
-
-<p>She had never liked it, but fame
-brings notoriety in its train, and
-notoriety brings nods and whispers and
-stares.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>She was dressed beautifully. She had
-always liked pretty things, and now
-she could have as many as she wanted.</p>
-
-<p>The man stood over in a doorway
-and watched her with cynical eyes.</p>
-
-<p>He had not seen her for five years,
-and as he stood there another man
-lounged up and spoke to him.</p>
-
-<p>"Looking at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">la belle Philomèle</i>?" he
-said; "she's quite the rage, you know.
-Ever heard her sing? You're only just
-back from the wilds, aren't you? Oh,
-well, of course you'll go to St. James's
-Hall to-morrow? She's going to sing,
-you know. Her voice is splendid. I
-never go to hear her myself&mdash;makes me
-feel I'm a miserable sinner somehow&mdash;does,
-'pon my word. I've heard her
-twice, and then I dropped it. Don't like
-feeling small, you know."</p>
-
-<p>He lounged away again, and the man
-with the cynical eyes still watched her.</p>
-
-<p>Her head was turned away from him&mdash;only
-a soft, fair cheek and little ear
-nestling in a soft mass of hair, a white
-throat, and a lot of pale chiffon and silk,
-could he see. And suddenly the cheek
-and even neck were flooded with a red
-blush, and then they looked whiter than
-before. He wondered, and smiled bitterly
-as he did so.</p>
-
-<p>And the girl's eyes remained fixed,
-eager, fascinated, on the long looking-glass
-before her.</p>
-
-<p>But she was not looking at herself.</p>
-
-<p>Afterwards he sought her.</p>
-
-<p>"You were wise," he said mockingly,
-and her eyes grew dark with pain.</p>
-
-<p>He took the seat beside her and played
-with the costly fan he had picked up.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img137.jpg" width="450" height="443" alt="wise" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">"You were wise," he said, mockingly.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"I must congratulate you," he said
-indifferently. "This"&mdash;with a comprehensive
-wave towards her dress and the
-diamonds at her throat&mdash;"is better than
-the old days."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes."</p>
-
-<p>"But perhaps you have forgotten so
-long as&mdash;what is it?&mdash;ten&mdash;no, five years
-ago?"</p>
-
-<p>"No."</p>
-
-<p>He furled and unfurled the fan in
-silence, and wondered who had given
-her the Parma violets in her hair.</p>
-
-<p>"Your&mdash;book?" she said timidly.</p>
-
-<p>He stared at her blankly.</p>
-
-<p>She reddened slowly.</p>
-
-<p>"You&mdash;you&mdash;were going to&mdash;to travel,
-and write about it&mdash;strange places&mdash;&mdash;"
-she faltered.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, ah! yes, I believe I was&mdash;five
-years ago."</p>
-
-<p>Her face was white again now.</p>
-
-<p>"You <em>have</em> travelled?" she ventured
-at last.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, yes! I've done nothing else for
-five years. I've shot tigers, bears&mdash;I've
-lived with Chinamen and negroes&mdash;chummed
-with cannibals once&mdash;oh!"&mdash;with
-a laugh&mdash;"I've had a fine time!"</p>
-
-<p>Her eyes were wistful.</p>
-
-<p>Her hostess brought up a man to be
-introduced, and when she turned again,
-the chair was empty.</p>
-
-<p>She did not see him again for two weeks.</p>
-
-<p>There was an added pathos in the
-beautiful voice.</p>
-
-<p><i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La belle Philomèle</i> brought tears to
-many thousands of eyes, but her own
-were dry and restless. It was dawning
-on her that she had made a mistake&mdash;five
-years ago.</p>
-
-<p>"Seen Hugh Hawksleigh?" she heard
-one man say to another. "Never been
-so disappointed in a chap in my life.
-Years ago he promised great things.
-Those articles of his on 'Foreign Ways
-and Doings' made quite a sensation, you
-know. And there was some talk of wild
-travels and a book that was going to
-be <em>the</em> book of the day. The travels are
-all right, but where's the book?"</p>
-
-<p>"The usual thing&mdash;a woman," drawled
-the other. "Didn't you know? Some
-pretty coquette&mdash;the usual game&mdash;but the
-cost was heavier than usual&mdash;to him. It
-knocked it out of him, you know. I
-never saw a fellow so hard hit. That
-was five years ago, and he's never written
-a line since. Poor fellow!"</p>
-
-<p>The knowledge that she had made a
-mistake five years ago was growing
-plainer to her.</p>
-
-<p>At the end of the fortnight she met
-him and asked him to come and see her.</p>
-
-<p>He smiled, and did not come.</p>
-
-<p>Her eyes grew too big for the small,
-sad face.</p>
-
-<p>She met him again, and asked him
-why he had not come.</p>
-
-<p>He looked down into the sweet, true
-eyes, and his love weakened his will
-again.</p>
-
-<p>He promised he would come. He came,
-and stayed five minutes. He looked
-at her sternly as he greeted her.</p>
-
-<p>"Why do you want me?" he said, and
-watched the colour come and go in her
-cheeks with pitiless eyes.</p>
-
-<p>"We&mdash;used&mdash;to be&mdash;friends," she whispered.</p>
-
-<p>He laughed.</p>
-
-<p>"Never! I never felt friendship for
-you," he said, "nor you for me. You
-forget. Five years is a long time, but I
-have a retentive memory. I forget
-nothing."</p>
-
-<p>"Nor I," she murmured.</p>
-
-<p>"No? Then why do you ask me to
-come and see you?"</p>
-
-<p>She did not answer.</p>
-
-<p>He looked round the pretty shaded
-room.</p>
-
-<p>He laughed again.</p>
-
-<p>"There is a difference," he said, "in
-you too."</p>
-
-<p>She looked up quickly.</p>
-
-<p>"I am the same," she said, knowing
-her own heart.</p>
-
-<p>"Are you?" His eyes grew stormy.
-"Listen," he said, in a low, tense voice:
-"I am five years wiser than I was&mdash;then.
-I will not be a tool again. You
-have ruined my life&mdash;doesn't that content
-you? I would have staked my
-life on your goodness and purity&mdash;once.
-I dare not believe in any woman since
-you, with your angel's eyes, are false. I
-was full of ambition and hope once;
-you killed both. I tried to write&mdash;after.
-I could not. I shall never do anything
-now&mdash;never be anything. I despise myself,
-and it's not a nice feeling to live
-with. It makes men desperate. I love
-you still. Do you understand? I have
-loved you all the time, and I loathe myself
-for it." His voice changed. "You
-may triumph," he said, "but now you
-understand&mdash;I will not come again."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>She stretched out her arms after him,
-but he was gone. And she knew now
-quite clearly that she had made a mistake
-five years ago.</p>
-
-<p>For three weeks and a half she did
-not see him.</p>
-
-<p>Then she saw him when he thought
-he was alone.</p>
-
-<p>She studied his face with eyes that
-ached at what they saw. Then she
-went forward and touched him gently
-on his arm.</p>
-
-<p>"Well?" he said.</p>
-
-<p>"Will you come," she said in a low
-voice, "to see me&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Thanks, no."</p>
-
-<p>His eyes rested bitterly on her rich
-gown.</p>
-
-<p>It came across him again how wise
-she had been. Tied to him, she could
-not have been as she was now.</p>
-
-<p>"I have something I must say to
-you," she said tremulously; "will you
-come&mdash;just this once?"</p>
-
-<p>He looked down into the soft eyes
-with the beautiful light in them.</p>
-
-<p>"I would rather not," he said gently.</p>
-
-<p>The weariness in his eyes brought a
-sob to her throat.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, do!" she entreated; "I will never
-ask you again."</p>
-
-<p>He looked at her with searching
-incredulity.</p>
-
-<p>Then he turned away.</p>
-
-<p>Just so had she looked five years ago.</p>
-
-<p>She laid a small, despairing hand on
-his.</p>
-
-<p>The iciness of it went to his heart.</p>
-
-<p>"I will come," he said gently, and went
-away.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>When he came, he wondered at the
-agitation in her small white face.</p>
-
-<p>Her eyes were burning.</p>
-
-<p>He waited silently.</p>
-
-<p>She twisted her hands restlessly together,
-and he saw that she was trembling.</p>
-
-<p>He drew a chair forward.</p>
-
-<p>"Won't you sit down?" he said.</p>
-
-<p>She sat down in a nest of softest
-cushions.</p>
-
-<p>"I&mdash;I&mdash;&mdash;" she began, and put up her
-hand to her throat, "I want to&mdash;to&mdash;to
-explain."</p>
-
-<p>His face darkened.</p>
-
-<p>She got up restlessly and faced him.</p>
-
-<p>He thought of that time when they had
-faced each other before&mdash;in the shabby,
-glaring little room&mdash;and his face hardened.</p>
-
-<p>"When you&mdash;&mdash;" she began; "I thought
-it was for you&mdash;I had heard you say&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Are you going back five years?" he
-asked.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes."</p>
-
-<p>"Then would you mind <em>not</em>?" he said.
-"There can be no good in it, and to me
-at least it is not a pleasant subject."</p>
-
-<p>"I must!" she burst out. "Oh! cannot
-you help me? It is so hard!"</p>
-
-<p>She held out her hands pathetically.</p>
-
-<p>A deep colour came into his tanned
-face, and he stood still, looking at her
-strangely.</p>
-
-<p>"I think I will go," he said; "there is
-no use in prolonging this."</p>
-
-<p>"Do you&mdash;love&mdash;me still?" she cried
-suddenly.</p>
-
-<p>He turned on her in a white passion of
-anger.</p>
-
-<p>"Not content yet?" he breathed.
-"What are you made of? Do you want
-me to show you all my degradation?
-Why? Oh, Kitty, Kitty, be merciful!
-Be true to those eyes of yours&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>He stopped abruptly and moved over
-to the door.</p>
-
-<p>"Hugh, I love you!"</p>
-
-<p>It was the veriest whisper, but it stayed
-his steps, and brought a great light leaping
-to his eyes.</p>
-
-<p>The light died down.</p>
-
-<p>"It is too late!" he said, and turned
-away.</p>
-
-<p>"Hugh, listen&mdash;I loved you always&mdash;five
-years ago. It was for your sake&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>He turned again.</p>
-
-<p>"Kitty?" he said uncertainly.</p>
-
-<p>She went on bravely, always heroic
-through her love.</p>
-
-<p>"I was poor&mdash;insignificant; you were
-ambitious&mdash;clever. I had heard your
-longings after greatness. Hugh, how
-could you travel into those wild countries
-with me? I knew you would give
-it up, and how could I bear that? To
-be a drag, a hindrance to you! And
-in the coming years I thought you
-would regret&mdash;&mdash; Hugh, you were poor,
-too, though not so poor as I. I did it
-for you&mdash;it nearly killed me, Hugh. I
-was ill after, but it was for you!"</p>
-
-<p>Her voice died away into silence.</p>
-
-<p>He stood very still, and his face was
-white and bloodless.</p>
-
-<p>But in his eyes there was a great
-reverence.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Forgive me!" he said.</p>
-
-<p>She smiled softly.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, yes," she said.</p>
-
-<p>The cynicism had gone from his face,
-and the hardness and bitterness too.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img140.jpg" width="450" height="519" alt="help" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">"Oh, cannot you help me? It is so hard!"</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>She looked at him wistfully. He turned
-away from her eyes and hid his face in
-his hands.</p>
-
-<p>"It was a mistake," he said, slowly,
-dully.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes."</p>
-
-<p>Still she waited.</p>
-
-<p>He looked up, and she strove to read
-his face in vain.</p>
-
-<p>Sad it was, and set, and yet there was
-a light there too.</p>
-
-<p>He took her hands gently in his.</p>
-
-<p>"Kathleen," he said earnestly, "God
-knows what I think of you. I can work
-now. Good-bye, dear."</p>
-
-<p>She raised her eyes to his&mdash;mystified
-and anxious.</p>
-
-<p>He answered them, very gently, but
-with a firmness there was no gainsaying.</p>
-
-<p>"You are famous," he said; "when I
-have made a name I will come to you.
-Will you wait, Kitty?"</p>
-
-<p>"For ever, Hugh," she answered, understanding
-him so well that that was
-all she said.</p>
-
-<p>He bent and kissed her hands.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>She knelt at the side of his bed, heedless
-of the presence of the nurse at the
-other end of the room, and her tears<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>
-wetted his hand. The right hand and
-arm were swathed in bandages.</p>
-
-<p>He smiled sadly as he looked at her.</p>
-
-<p>"I am a failure," he said.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, no, no! All England is ringing
-with your name. Hugh"&mdash;she raised a
-face all alight with a proud joy&mdash;"you
-are famous now!"</p>
-
-<p>A little flush rose to his white face.</p>
-
-<p>"Pshaw!" he said, "rescuing a woman
-and a few children from being burnt to
-death. Anyone would have done it."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, no, Hugh! Brave men shrank
-from that awful sea and burning
-ship!"</p>
-
-<p>He was silent, looking at his bandaged
-hand.</p>
-
-<p>"I must learn to write with my left
-hand," he said.</p>
-
-<p>She bent nearer.</p>
-
-<p>"Let me write for you," she whispered;
-"let me finish your book, Hugh, while
-you dictate it to me. I do not sing now
-in public, you know."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, I know."</p>
-
-<p>He drew her closer to him and rested
-his cheek against her soft hair.</p>
-
-<p>"I said I would not come to you till I
-had made a name," he said. "I am a
-wreck now! I shall be a wreck for a
-long while&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, dear, but you are famous!" she
-interposed lovingly.</p>
-
-<p>He sighed.</p>
-
-<p>"I cannot do without you any longer,
-Kitty. I am beaten at last. Will you
-take a wreck?"</p>
-
-<p>"I will take <em>you</em>, Hugh, a famous&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"A famous wreck," he finished with a
-smile.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img141.jpg" width="450" height="356" alt="write" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">"Let me write for you," she whispered.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">&nbsp;</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img142a.jpg" width="450" height="181" alt="pulpit" />
-</div>
-
-<h2> THE PULPIT MANNER</h2>
-
-<h3>CHARACTERISTIC GESTURES OF GREAT PREACHERS.</h3>
-
-<p class="center">By F. M. Holmes.</p>
-
-
-<p>First let us look at Dr. Joseph
-Parker. His sermons are constantly
-attended by ministers
-of all denominations, including
-clergymen of the Church of
-England; and no stronger testimony, we
-take it, could be given to a man's extraordinary
-preaching power than that
-year after year he continually attracts
-other preachers.</p>
-
-<p>Dr. Parker, it is almost needless to
-explain, is the eminent Congregational
-minister of the City Temple in London,
-and he occupies the unique position of
-having maintained for thirty years a
-noonday service every Thursday in addition
-to his usual Sunday services. To this
-Thursday service come persons from the
-ends of the earth, and ministers and
-laymen of various religious
-persuasions. On one occasion
-the sittings of a conference
-belonging to one of the minor
-Methodist bodies seemed seriously
-imperilled because so many of the
-delegates desired to go and hear Dr.
-Parker.</p>
-
-<p>What is the secret of his widely attractive
-power? The answer comes in a word&mdash;he
-is intensely dramatic. We do not
-mean theatrical. He chooses a clear
-message to deliver, and that message&mdash;that
-paramount thought&mdash;is driven home
-to his hearers in a manner that forces
-itself upon every mind, no matter how
-reluctant. He uses short, pithy sentences,
-and heightens and emphasises their effect
-by suitable modulations of voice, by
-deliberate or rapid utterance as the words
-may require, and by vigorous and appropriate
-gesture. He speaks only the very
-pith and point of what he has to say,
-and then says it in the clearest and most
-suitably effective manner that he can
-possibly command. It is the thing itself
-we hear, rather than talk or argument all
-round and about it.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
-<img src="images/img142b.jpg" width="350" height="351" alt="Parker" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">DR. PARKER.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Thus, on one occasion, his theme was
-found in the text, "Jesus in the midst."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>
-"Where is the midst?" he asked in a
-clear and striking, sonorous voice that
-commanded attention at once. These
-were his opening words, and after a
-pause he proceeded
-in the same manner
-and in similar short,
-striking sentences to
-point to different
-ideas of "the midst,"
-and to declare that
-Christ was, or should
-be, in the midst of
-the literature, science,
-philosophy, and business
-of the day. Unless
-ministers
-preached Christ, said he, they had better
-be silent.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img143.jpg" width="450" height="545" alt="bishops" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">BISHOP OF RIPON. ARCHDEACON SINCLAIR.
-DEAN LEFROY.<br />
-BISHOP OF STEPNEY.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>There is nothing new in this, you will
-say. No doubt Dr. Parker would tell you
-that he does not wish to preach anything
-new; but no one can watch him critically
-without concluding that he constantly
-studies not only what he shall say, but
-how he shall say it in the most striking
-and effective manner.</p>
-
-
-
-<p>As a dramatic
-preacher, we might
-also instance the Rev.
-J. H. Jowett, who has
-succeeded the late Dr. Dale at Carr's
-Lane Congregational Church, Birmingham.
-To his Oxford scholarship Mr.
-Jowett has united an assiduous cultivation
-of a fine voice and vigorous yet
-graceful and suitable gesture, which render
-him a most striking and fascinating
-preacher.</p>
-
-<p>But turning now to other styles, if Dr.
-Parker is one of the most dramatic, Dr.
-Boyd Carpenter, the learned Bishop of
-Ripon, is one of the most eloquent of
-preachers. He is also one of the most
-rapid. He seems so fully charged with
-his subject that the words pour from
-his lips like a torrent; his body turns first
-to one side and then to the other, and
-anon leans forward in front, as though
-propelled by the energy of the thought
-within. His hand is often held up before
-him with the index finger pointing, as
-though to lead his audience on to the
-next thought, and to prevent their interest
-or attention from flagging. But,
-rapid and fluent as he is, it must not
-be thought that he is superficial; on
-the contrary, there is every evidence that
-the discourse is well thought out, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>
-based on a solid framework of reason,
-while the language is eloquent and rhetorical.
-And it is, as it were, to mark
-the network of logical deduction within
-the words that the index finger is brought
-so fully into play. We judge that his
-voice is naturally somewhat thin and poor,
-but by careful use and perhaps assiduous
-cultivation, and by the most beautifully
-clear articulation, Dr. Boyd Carpenter
-can make himself heard in St. Paul's with
-what appears to be perfect ease. There
-is no straining of the voice and no shouting;
-but in a quiet though forcible
-manner he sends his voice round the
-huge building. Further, it has been
-pointed out to me that he will not commence
-his discourse until the congregation
-have settled themselves down into absolute
-quietness, and all the rustling of
-dresses, and coughing, and fidgeting are
-stilled. Under these circumstances his
-voice would, of course, carry far better
-in a large church.</p>
-
-<p>Somewhat similar in manner is Canon
-Barker, of Marylebone, who, in the
-energetic expression of the thought with
-which he seems surcharged, bends forward
-sometimes so deeply towards the congregation
-as to give, the impression that he
-is about to dive out of the pulpit. But
-his style is that of the special pleader,
-the advocate and the debater; it is as
-though he desires to argue out everything
-to its logical conclusion, rather
-than to sway or move his audience by
-eloquence and emotional appeals.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 350px;">
-<img src="images/img144a.jpg" width="350" height="401" alt="Webb" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">PREBENDARY WEBB-PEPLOE.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Dean Lefroy of Norwich is also a
-debater; perhaps, a more keen debater
-than Canon Barker, and he is also a
-rhetorician. He delights to preach
-a strongly evangelical "Gospel" sermon,
-and to embellish it with
-rhetoric and declaim it with passionate
-earnestness. It is evident
-he thoroughly believes in his theme,
-he seeks to impress it on his audience
-by vigorous, earnest, passionate
-utterance, in which his energetic gestures
-are often of the most decided
-character. A curious characteristic of
-his preaching has been related to me
-by a friend. "You cannot listen to
-Lefroy for five minutes," said he, "without
-violently taking sides either for or
-against him. You are either intensely
-in favour of him or find yourself becoming
-almost vehemently opposed"&mdash;a
-testimony, we take it that the Dean<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>
-is a decided, downright, assertive and aggressive
-preacher rather than persuasive
-and emotional. He has instituted a Nave
-service at Norwich Cathedral, at which
-he often preaches himself, and attracts
-enormous congregations.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/img144b.jpg" width="250" height="348" alt="McNeil" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">JOHN MCNEIL.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Still continuing to glance at those whom
-we may call rapid and fluent preachers,
-Prebendary Webb-Peploe comes to mind.
-He is not so energetic as some others,
-but the rapidity of his utterance, the
-fluency of his expression, and his great
-command of language, would rival that
-of almost any speaker. He and many
-others would probably utter three times
-as many words in a given time as Dr.
-Parker or Archdeacon Sinclair.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
-<img src="images/img145a.jpg" width="350" height="267" alt="MACLAREN" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">IAN MACLAREN</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>Dr. John Watson.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The latter is slow, deliberate, and dignified
-in his utterances, rarely using gesture
-and affecting a grave and somewhat
-sonorous voice; but the Archdeacon's
-sermons are always most carefully prepared,
-and indicate considerable study
-and research.</p>
-
-<p>Among the grave and sedate preachers
-we might also place Dr. John Watson
-("Ian Maclaren"), of Sefton Park Presbyterian
-Church, Liverpool; his sermons
-are full of thought, and, as might be
-expected, exhibit an excellent literary
-finish.</p>
-
-<p>Now, if we take Archdeacon Sinclair
-and Dr. John Watson as examples of more
-deliberate and sedate preachers, we may
-regard the Rev. John McNeil, the well-known
-Presbyterian minister, as an
-instance of the colloquial preacher.</p>
-
-<p>Not that his voice is low-pitched, as used
-in conversation. Mr. McNeil has done
-what few preachers could physically undertake:
-he has preached twice
-a day for a fortnight in the
-Albert Hall at Kensington,
-the largest hall in London,
-and capable of holding about
-ten thousand persons; and
-he has repeatedly filled the
-huge Agricultural Hall at
-Islington, numbers being
-turned away from lack of room. His voice,
-indeed, seems capable of filling the largest
-hall without effort. But his style is easy,
-unaffected, conversational, though sometimes,
-with both arms outstretched, he
-bursts forth into loud and impassioned
-appeals. There is no doubt a large section
-of the public who like this easy and
-colloquial style, especially if it come quite
-naturally to the speaker.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/img145b.jpg" width="250" height="370" alt="Dr Mclaren" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">DR. MCLAREN.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>And now another celebrated figure rises
-on the scene, the eminent Baptist minister,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>
-Dr. McLaren of Manchester. Refined,
-scholarly, brimming over with knowledge,
-and a master of beautiful illustration,
-there is no doubt that he takes rank as
-one of the very greatest preachers of the
-day. Like other great speakers, he has
-evidently studied the art of preaching.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img146.jpg" width="450" height="449" alt="Horton and others" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">DR. HORTON. HUGH PRICE HUGHES. J. R. JOWETT.
-SILVESTER HORNE.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>At a meeting at
-the Holborn Restaurant
-to celebrate his
-ministerial jubilee in
-April, 1896, he said he had determined,
-at the outset of his
-career, to concentrate his mind
-on the work of the ministry
-and not fritter away his
-energies over many minor engagements.
-He had always
-endeavoured to make his ministry
-one of Gospel exposition;
-he had preached Christ
-because he believed that men
-needed redemption, and he
-had preached without doubts
-and hesitations. It was
-Thomas Binney who had taught him
-how to preach.</p>
-
-<p>Undoubtedly Dr. McLaren has succeeded
-in his aim as an expositor of the Scriptures,
-for that is regarded as one of his
-chief characteristics. A favourite gesture
-of Dr. McLaren's&mdash;at all events in his
-earlier days&mdash;was to squeeze up a handkerchief,
-no doubt quite unconsciously, in
-his right hand by the nervous energy he
-was putting forth in his discourse, and
-then suddenly his hand would dart out to
-mark some emphatic passage as though
-he were about to throw the handkerchief
-at the congregation; but needless to
-add the handkerchief was never thrown.</p>
-
-<p>Like Dr. McLaren, Dr. Whyte, of Free
-St. George's, Edinburgh, has a great command
-of beautiful and striking illustrations.
-"He is the most wonderful preacher
-in Scotland," declared an enthusiastic Scot
-to me on one occasion. "Mr. Gladstone
-used often to hear him, and Lord Rosebery
-does now." Dr. Whyte makes
-great use of the imagination in his discourses
-and employs frequent gestures,
-but graceful, emphatic
-and always
-to suit the action to
-the word and the
-word to the action.
-"One illustration,"
-said a gentleman,
-"I remember some
-time ago. Dr. Whyte
-was preaching
-about tribulation, and he showed that the
-word came from <em>tribulum</em>, which is a Latin
-name for a roller or sledge for thrashing
-out corn, and in the same way tribulation
-sifted men as wheat." How like a platitude
-this may sound when summarised
-down to a line; but the point is that the
-idea of the beneficial purpose of tribulation
-had been so firmly fixed in the
-hearer's mind that he remembered it,
-and perchance in some dark hour it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>
-had been to him a "cup of strength in
-some great agony." Is not that, after
-all, one of the great aims and one of the
-great tests of good speaking&mdash;to fix some
-idea, some truth firmly in the hearer's
-mind so that it is never forgotten?</p>
-
-<p>As a robust, manly preacher few, if any,
-we suspect, can surpass Dean Hole of
-Rochester. He has a tall, commanding presence&mdash;he
-is over six feet high&mdash;a bright,
-animated countenance, and a most genial
-manner. When some years ago he held
-the living of Caunton, Notts, he used to
-journey periodically to Liverpool, where
-his midday addresses to commercial men
-were most successful and exercised great
-influence. He does not employ much gesture,
-but his fine voice, sparkling eye
-and manly, straightforward utterances,
-based on reason and logic, always command
-deep attention.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/img147b.jpg" width="250" height="290" alt="Whyte" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">DR. WHYTE.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>His appeal is rather to reason than to
-the emotions, and by way of contrast
-we may glance at Canon Wilberforce,
-who is fluent and fervent, and affords
-one of the best examples of the emotional
-preacher. It would seem as though he
-set himself to arouse and stir up all the
-feelings of his congregation and lead
-them into what he conceives to be the
-right channel. Often choosing most unusual
-texts, he can yet make direct and
-pointed appeals from the pulpit, touching
-the greatest hopes and deepest trusts of
-human nature, and yet can employ as
-illustrations the greatest events and the
-newest discoveries of the day. He uses
-but little gesture, in this respect being
-somewhat different from the eminent
-Wesleyan, the Rev. Hugh Price Hughes,
-who might also be classed as an emotional&mdash;we
-had almost said passionate&mdash;preacher.
-In fluency and fervour he is probably
-surpassed by none. Possessed of a remarkably
-clear, vibrating, and penetrating
-voice, which seems as though it could
-thrill through any building, however
-large, there is no chance of anyone
-dozing when he is in the pulpit. When
-pleading some cause or denouncing some
-wrong, his feelings seem to get the
-better of him, and he slashes away
-with his voice in a perfect hurricane of
-verbal blows.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/img147a.jpg" width="250" height="340" alt="Clifford" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">DR. CLIFFORD.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Quite as emotional and quite as fluent
-is Dr. Clifford of Westbourne Park Baptist
-Church. His command of language is extraordinary,
-and with a mind less clear
-and well-regulated this great fluency
-might prove a snare; but his discourses<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>
-are always remarkably well-arranged, his
-"points" are clear, and his meanings
-driven home with remarkable emphasis.
-His congregations are immense, and his
-hearers are devoted to him. His gestures
-often follow his words, and one&mdash;probably
-quite unconscious&mdash;is, it must be
-confessed, not graceful, even if forcible:
-it is a drawing back of his arms, and
-then shooting them out both together
-as if appealing to the people. His voice
-is exceptionally clear, penetrating, and
-resonant; and in all
-very popular preachers
-much is due to
-the voice.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/img148a.jpg" width="250" height="298" alt="Hole" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">DEAN HOLE.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The Bishop of Stepney,
-who may be
-described as bearing
-all the characteristics
-of the highly cultured
-Oxford man, has in
-addition a deeply sympathetic
-musical voice.
-He does not use much
-gesture, but such as
-he does employ is well
-suited to the words,
-while his illustrations
-are often drawn from
-his social and religious
-work in the East End. He used frequently
-to preach in Victoria Park, where
-he has readily acknowledged his best
-supporters were Nonconformists.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 375px;">
-<img src="images/img148b.jpg" width="375" height="427" alt="Barker Wilberforce" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">CANON BARKER.<br />
-CANON WILBERFORCE.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Another eminent preacher whom we may
-also describe as exhibiting all the characteristics
-of Oxford culture is Dr. Horton
-of Lyndhurst Road Congregational Church,
-Hampstead. Possessed, like the Bishop
-of Stepney, of a remarkably sympathetic
-voice, he modulates and varies
-it to suit the subject and the words,
-and his gesture, never redundant, has
-lately been reduced almost to extinction.
-At the sermon which he preached before
-the Congregational Union at its autumnal
-assembly at Birmingham in 1897, his
-style was almost severely quiet, but the
-effect of his thrilling voice and sometimes
-awesome whispered tones, his
-polished literary language, and his
-intense earnestness&mdash;as he declared that
-the ideal Christian must be in constant
-touch with God, and yet in constant
-touch with men&mdash;was very great, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>
-appealed both to reason and emotion.
-Indeed, both of these find their place
-in his sermons. Dr. Horton has mastered
-the art of always being interesting,
-no matter what his theme; and it
-would seem as though in his discourses
-he makes an effort to really interest
-and to reach all sorts and conditions of
-men.</p>
-
-<p>Another Congregational minister who
-exhibits much of the Oxford manner is the
-Rev. Silvester Horne, of Kensington; but,
-in addition, he seems possessed of a fiery
-zeal and fervent enthusiasm that will,
-it is feared, wear him out physically before
-his day is fully spent, unless he carefully
-husbands his nervous energy. Already,
-although a young man, he has had to
-take rest for a whole year because of
-ill-health. That inner fire, that mental
-energy, that disciplined enthusiasm,
-which light up his face so brilliantly
-and animate his suitable and graceful
-gesture, are far too precious a possession
-to be quenched too quickly; but there
-are few or none of the younger preachers
-of the day who have promise of a more
-brilliant future.</p>
-
-<p>And now a word in conclusion for one
-who is perhaps the greatest philosophical
-preacher of the time&mdash;Dr. Fairbairn of
-Mansfield College at Oxford. His memory
-is marvellous, his power of choice and
-accurate verbal expression is wonderful;
-he can speak for hours without
-a note, and though sometimes a sentence
-should appear involved and complicated,
-it will finish admirably, and,
-if read in a verbatim report afterwards,
-will have all the finish of a
-literary production wrought out in the
-quiet of the study. He uses but little
-gesture, an occasional opening out of
-hands and arms, as though to present
-and lay before the audience the thought
-which he is uttering, seems nearly all.
-In fact, it would appear that he is so
-absorbed in the abstract thought, the
-argument, the philosophy he is working
-out before you, that he thinks nothing
-of the manner in which he utters it.</p>
-
-<p>We do not pretend to have exhausted
-the list of famous preachers, or even to
-have glanced at all the different types;
-but these will be sufficient to indicate
-the variety that prevails, and to show
-that there is an art of preaching which,
-like other arts, needs to be assiduously
-cultivated, and well repays those who
-intelligently do so.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-
-<h2>A MOTHER'S BIBLE.</h2>
-
-<p class="hanging">
-A pathetic incident occurred some years ago in connection with one of our<br />
-wars abroad. A youth who had been wounded, and who died in the field<br />
-hospital, clutched in his last hours an old worn copy of the Bible, on the flyleaf<br />
-of which were inscribed these touching lines:&mdash;<br />
-</p>
-
-<p class="center">TO MY BOY.</p>
-
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Remember, love, who gave you this,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">When other days shall come,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">When she who had thy earliest kiss<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Sleeps in her narrow home.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Remember! 'twas a mother gave<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The gift to one she'd die to save.<br /></span>
-</div>
-
-<div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">A mother sought a pledge of love,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">The holiest, for her son;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And from the gift of God above<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">She chose a godly one&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">She chose for her beloved boy<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The source of light and life and joy.<br /></span>
-</div>
-
-<div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">And bade him keep the gift, that when<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">The parting hour should come<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">They might have hope, and meet again<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">In an eternal home:<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">She said his faith in that should be<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Sweet incense to her memory.<br /></span>
-</div>
-
-<div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">And should the scoffer in his pride<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Laugh his fond faith to scorn,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And bid him cast the pledge aside<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Which he from youth had borne&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">She bade him pause and ask his breast<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">If he or she had loved him best.<br /></span>
-</div>
-
-<div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">A mother's blessing on her son<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Goes with this holy thing,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The love that would retain the one<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Must to the other cling.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Remember! 'tis no idle toy,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Thy mother's gift! Remember, boy!<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">&nbsp;</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img150.jpg" width="450" height="294" alt="Roger" />
-</div>
-
-<h2>ROGER PETTINGDALE</h2>
-
-<h3><em>A RUSTIC LOVE-STORY.</em></h3>
-
-<p class="center">By H. A. Davies.</p>
-
-
-<p>Across the fields from the church&mdash;through
-the clover
-meadow first, into the
-broad wheat-field next,
-and thence over the pasture
-lands, all yellow with
-the glint of buttercups&mdash;you will come
-to the Pettingdale farm. A thrill and
-a song and an aching went through my
-blood all together when I looked on the
-block of buildings the other day. How
-sweet-and-bitter is remembrance; how
-musical to the heart, and yet how sad
-with yearning! For the sight of that
-rugged old chimney standing square and
-grim and familiar upon the grey roof of
-the house; the red-tiled barns clustering
-behind, plain and prosperous; the sweep
-of the waving corn-fields towards the
-setting sun; caused my heart to surge
-with swift memories, long since buried
-and forgotten beneath the stress of
-life. How peaceful were the old days
-amidst these very fields! When the
-heart is young, ah! then's the time for
-music; and what echoes of far-off melodies&mdash;songs
-of old summers past and gone&mdash;does
-the scene awaken! There's the
-orchard where I spent such rare hours.
-Here are the hedges where we went
-a-nutting. Yonder is the oak-tree which
-we used to climb, Frank Pettingdale and
-I. It is still the same sturdy tree, keeping
-gnarled and knotted guard over the
-same creaking gateway, just as in the
-old days!</p>
-
-<p>Wherever my eyes fell there were
-thorns and roses for the heart all in one
-moment. It was in the old upland field
-that Clara Pettingdale and I as children
-used to wander, hand in hand, amongst
-the buttercups. She has long slept, poor
-Clara, in that corner of the churchyard
-where lie generations of Pettingdales
-past and gone&mdash;a long line of sturdy
-yeomen.</p>
-
-<p>The full light of the sun falls upon
-the courtyard of the farmhouse. It has
-a broad frontage, long and low and quaint,
-with irregular gables and overhanging
-eaves and deep, mullioned windows. The
-house runs queerly on two sides of the
-courtyard, one wing being at right angles
-to the other. It is beautifully clean and
-prim, with its whitewashed walls, its
-freshly painted woodwork, and its
-geraniums growing in green boxes on
-every window-sill. On the third side of
-the yard run the granary and the cider-house;
-while the fourth, save for an ivy-covered
-wall, which gives way to the
-entrance gates in one corner, is open to
-the gentle vista of countryside which
-stretches away before the house. What
-a pleasant old courtyard it is&mdash;so cool in
-the summer that the panting dogs love
-to throw themselves upon its stones; so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>
-sheltered in winter that the blustering
-nor'-easters touch it not; so prosperous-looking
-always, with its well-kept flags
-laid from end to end, as level and smooth
-as a billiard-table, and as spotless as the
-floor of the farm kitchen. How the
-polished milk-cans glisten and blink upon
-the wall! How the white sills of the
-old-fashioned windows gleam in the sunlight!
-The whole place seems to breathe
-of scouring and buckets, and scrubbing
-brushes and vigorous arms. Every morning
-the yard is washed down by the house-boy
-(it used to be Elijah in my day, but
-he is now a bearded man, and labours
-outside, and a young Ezra is the present
-knight of the bucket); every morning the
-cans are scoured and the tubs are
-scrubbed, and the step before the door
-is free-stoned, and the flowers are
-watered, and the house seems to smile
-a glistening, watery smile, as though it
-had just lifted its head from its morning
-dip to bid you the time of day. There
-was ever a charm to me about Pettingdale
-and its paved courtyard. I mind me
-well what a brave and romantic sound
-to my young ears was that of the horse's
-hoofs ringing and clamping upon the
-stones as he was brought up to the door
-on market days with the high yellow
-dogcart behind him; or the clatter of
-the wheels across the yard as Roger
-Pettingdale drove out through the broad
-gateway, a fine old figure with his white
-hair, and his aquiline nose, and his broad,
-well-set shoulders.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img151.jpg" width="450" height="328" alt="white hair" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">His hair went snow-white early in life.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>He is still outwardly the same. One
-could hardly detect a single point of
-change in him, save that his face is
-more furrowed and his eyes deeper set.
-His hair went snow-white early in life.
-Generations of Pettingdales have been
-subject to the same peculiarity. Thus it is
-that the long step from forty to sixty-five
-has wrought little difference in Roger
-Pettingdale. His body is as erect, his
-step as firm, his voice as sonorous as ever.
-He was ever a well-known figure at all
-the county markets and agricultural meetings,
-and it might be twenty-five years
-agone for all the change that one can<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>
-see in him. Among other men he was
-always noticeable, with his tall figure, his
-white hair, his clean-shaven, well-cut
-face, and that wide-rimmed silk hat
-which he always affected. As he moved
-amongst the crowd I have heard men
-say, "Who is that?" and others answer,
-"Don't you know him? Why, surely
-everybody knows <em>him</em>? He's Roger
-Pettingdale."</p>
-
-<p>He is elected on all the local bodies.
-Thus he is a guardian of the poor, a
-member of the School Board, vice-chairman
-of the County Council, and
-the people's churchwarden at the parish
-church. There is no man amongst all
-those he meets in these capacities
-whose words are listened to with more
-respect. That solid weight, that hallmark
-of sound judgment which always
-attends upon sheer common-sense, is
-apparent in every opinion he utters.
-He forms his judgments first, and speaks
-afterwards. While other men are impulsively
-throwing themselves into useless
-controversy on this or that vexed
-question, Roger Pettingdale is silently
-weighing the <em>pros</em> and <em>cons</em> of the
-matter in his own mind; and when he
-speaks there is usually nothing more
-to be said. He chops no logic; he
-simply argues with the sledge-hammer
-of common-sense, backed up by the
-blunt, uncompromising sincerity of an
-honest and fair-dealing mind. His
-tolerance, his breadth of vision, his
-power of seeing the other side of the
-question, his scorn of all shams and
-pretences, have made his name a password
-for integrity and sound judgment.
-"You will always get a fair hearing
-from Roger Pettingdale," people say.
-"Does Roger Pettingdale think so?
-Oh, then, there must be something in
-it."</p>
-
-<p>In his home life, in the control of his
-farm, in his own daily affairs, there is
-the same straightforwardness, the same
-sincerity, the same well-balanced judgment
-and acumen. "There never was
-a year, as I remember, when we didn't
-have plenty of hay to begin conditioning
-on," said one of his labourers the
-other day. "Now, at the next farm
-they've never got enough." That is
-only a small instance of the perfection
-of method which marks every department
-of the prosperous farm.</p>
-
-<p>At home he is essentially a plain
-man, this sturdy farmer. There is no
-nonsense about him, although he can
-claim blood with one of the oldest
-families in the county. Yet he has a
-proper pride, in a manly, direct kind
-of way, as you shall see. He has had
-four children, two boys and two girls,
-in giving birth to the youngest of
-whom his wife died. James, the eldest,
-is his right hand in the farm management,
-and will some day be head of
-the family, as the Pettingdales have
-succeeded, son to father, for generations
-out of mind. Mary, the second,
-you shall hear more of anon. Frank,
-the third, my old playmate, early in
-life took the fancy that he would like
-to be a soldier. Roger Pettingdale has
-ever been a wise and a tolerant father,
-studying well the nature of each of his
-children. He unerringly knew Frank's
-proud and stubborn character.</p>
-
-<p>"You want to be a soldier?" he said.
-"Well, I could have wished it otherwise,
-Frank. It would have been a
-pleasure to me to see you settle down
-on the farm. But we will not argue
-the point. Let it stand for twelve
-months, and then talk to me about it."</p>
-
-<p>Twelve months did not change Frank's
-resolve. When he mentioned it again, a
-drawn look passed over Roger Pettingdale's
-face for a moment&mdash;a look of keen
-pain&mdash;for he loved his children. Then he
-drew himself up to his full height.</p>
-
-<p>"You are still of the same mind,
-Frank! Then I have nothing more to
-say. I am not going to attempt to
-dictate to you what your calling should
-be. You have to live your own life,
-and as you make your bed you must
-lie on it. Remember that, my lad. If
-you decide to go as a soldier, you
-shall go in a proper fashion, lad. You
-shall have your commission. No son of
-mine shall enter the ranks."</p>
-
-<p>And have his commission Frank did.
-I looked at the tablet in the old
-church the other day with a surging
-heart. It is a brass tablet, the lettering
-of which has been recently renovated.</p>
-
-<p class="center">
-<small>TO THE MEMORY OF<br />
-LIEUTENANT FRANK PETTINGDALE,<br />
-WHO FELL IN ACTION IN THE<br />
-BATTLE OF TEL-EL-KEBIR.</small>
-</p>
-
-<p>That was all. There was no vainglorious
-recounting of the brave deed in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>
-performance of which Frank was cut
-down. He fell "in action." That was
-all. It was Roger Pettingdale all over&mdash;simple
-and direct and manly. And
-were not the laconic words far more
-eloquent than all the ornate elegiacs
-that poets might have written, just as
-Roger Pettingdale's silent grief when
-the news reached him was far more
-eloquent than all the passionate outbursts
-of frenzied sorrow that one
-could conceive?</p>
-
-<p>The fourth child, Clara, as I have already
-said, sleeps in the churchyard.
-She died when she was a fair-haired
-girl of ten&mdash;as bright and promising a
-maiden as one could wish to see. But
-she was ever fragile, like her mother,
-and suddenly she faded away, leaving a
-great gap in the home life at the Pettingdale
-farm.</p>
-
-<p>As to Mary, the second child, she was
-nineteen years of age, and newly returned
-from school, when Edward Leigh, the
-son of old Squire Leigh, of the Hall,
-came home from his travels round
-the world. These two, who had only
-distantly known each other as children,
-met for the first time after many years&mdash;she
-a sweet-looking, fresh-coloured
-girl, in the first blush of womanhood;
-and he a manly, well-set young
-fellow with a pleasant, sincere face and
-straightforward blue eyes. It was the
-old story! Twang goes the bow of the
-roguish little archer, and to some heart
-or another the world all at once becomes
-rose-colour. The old story! They saw
-each other on a Sunday morning across
-the church. She, sitting in the Pettingdale
-pew, mentally noted that there was
-a young man at the Squire's side who
-could be no other than his newly returned
-son; and he, from his corner underneath
-the dingy, ponderous coat-of-arms of the
-Leigh family, looked upon her in her
-simple dress of white. The sun, striking
-through the window to her right, glinted
-upon her brown hair, which always curled
-so prettily about her forehead. He
-thought, as he looked, that she was the
-sweetest, daintiest maiden he had ever
-seen, and he fell in love with her.</p>
-
-<p>He made no secret of his passion. Beating
-about the bush was entirely
-foreign to Edward Leigh. The
-choleric old Squire went off
-into a fit of apoplectic rage
-when he heard how things
-stood. The veins swelled in
-his forehead, and that pugnacious
-under-lip of his stood
-out and drew itself over the
-upper lip and the teeth with
-a tight grip. But Edward had
-all the old Leigh blood in him.
-"I love her, father," he said
-quietly, looking the Squire
-straight in the face, and the
-old man's heart sank within
-him as he met the steady
-glance of those blue eyes.
-Fits of passion, threats, fiery
-denunciations&mdash;they were all
-of no avail. Edward was
-never once other than respectful.
-He would stand with
-shoulders squared and head
-uplifted, bearing the storm in
-perfect calm and silence, and
-then would look his father in
-the face and say&mdash;"Father, I
-love her"; and the Squire
-would clench his fist and march
-to and fro, furiously stamping
-his feet upon the floor.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
-<img src="images/img153.jpg" width="350" height="409" alt="love" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">"Father, I love her."</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>In one culminating fit of choleric rage
-the Squire rode over to the farm. He
-found Roger Pettingdale in the corn-field,
-looking at the growing wheat.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img154.jpg" width="450" height="531" alt="forgive" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">"Forgive me!"</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>"Look here, Pettingdale," he burst
-forth fiercely. "This nonsense must be
-stopped. Are you an idiot, that you
-cannot see what is going on, or are you
-in the scheme to entrap my&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>Roger Pettingdale turned round upon
-him.</p>
-
-<p>"I beg your pardon, Squire Leigh?"
-he said quietly, as one who had not
-heard aright.</p>
-
-<p>"Tut! Nonsense!" retorted the Squire.
-"Don't 'beg-your-pardon' me! You
-know full well what I mean. Are you
-blind? I say it must be stopped! You
-know full well that that precious son of
-mine has gone stark mad over that chit
-of a girl of yours!"</p>
-
-<p>"And what of that, Squire Leigh?"
-replied Roger Pettingdale, drawing himself
-to his full height and looking at
-the Squire from underneath his heavy
-eyebrows. "If that precious son of yours
-has gone stark mad over my daughter,
-what of that?"</p>
-
-<p>"Why, this," thundered the Squire:
-"that it must be stopped!"</p>
-
-<p>"Very well, why don't you stop it?"
-replied Roger Pettingdale.</p>
-
-<p>The retort, perfectly cool and natural,
-laid bare all the Squire's impotence at
-one stroke, and drove him well-nigh to
-frenzy. His eyes shot fire, and those
-veins in his forehead swelled as though
-they would burst.</p>
-
-<p>"It is not my daughter who is coming
-to the Hall after your son," Roger Pettingdale
-went on. "It is your son who
-is coming here after my daughter. You
-seem to forget that point. You say it
-must be stopped. And I repeat&mdash;Why
-don't you stop it?"</p>
-
-<p>"It is as I thought," shouted the enraged
-Squire. "You are all in it&mdash;all of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>
-you. All in the scheme to entrap him!
-A pretty plot, don't you call it, for a
-man who poses as a Christian?"</p>
-
-<p>In a blind access of fury he took a step
-forward and raised his riding-whip.
-And then his shaking arm fell to his
-side, for Roger Pettingdale had laid a
-hand upon his shoulder, and was confronting
-him with grave, kindly, pitying
-eyes.</p>
-
-<p>"You are in anger, Squire Leigh," he
-said, with simple dignity, "else I should
-take your words as an insult. Be sure
-that the Pettingdales have not fallen
-so low, nor their womenkind either,
-that they need to trap the son of Squire
-Leigh. But I tell you this, as man to
-man: if your son truly loves my
-daughter, and if she loves him in return,
-I will put no bar before my child's
-happiness; no, not for you, nor for all
-the Leighs in the world. We come of
-as good a stock as you, Squire! Remember
-that! More money and more
-land maybe you have&mdash;but not more
-pride of family. I care naught for your
-money or your land. Thank God! I have
-prospered beyond all expectation. And
-I tell you again, straight to your face,
-if your son comes to me and asks for
-my daughter's hand, and I find it is for
-her happiness, I shall say 'Yes.'"</p>
-
-<p>"I shall disinherit him!" burst forth
-the Squire; "he shall not have a penny&mdash;not
-a brass farthing!"</p>
-
-<p>"I shall tell him," continued Roger Pettingdale,
-"that if he would win my
-daughter, he must first make a position
-for himself in the world, independently
-of aught you can do for or against him;
-and that shall be the test of his sincerity."</p>
-
-<p>Then he turned away, and the Squire,
-his face livid with passion, marched off,
-savagely cutting at the wheat-ears with
-his riding-whip. And when he mounted
-his horse at the corner of the field, he
-dug his spurs so viciously into her that
-she bounded and reared, and almost
-threw him.</p>
-
-<p>Well, the long and short of it was
-that Edward Leigh was not found
-wanting in the test which was imposed
-upon him.</p>
-
-<p>"You are quite right, sir," he said to
-Roger Pettingdale; "the condition is
-a reasonable one. I ask for nothing
-more than the chance of proving that
-I am in earnest."</p>
-
-<p>He went to London, studied under his
-father's old college friend, John
-Wetherell, the well-known Queen's
-Counsel, and in five years was making
-fair headway in the courts as a barrister.
-And the strange part of it was
-that the choleric old Squire&mdash;who has a
-good heart underneath his rough exterior&mdash;seeing
-his son's name in the
-papers from time to time, felt his
-paternal pride rising within him despite
-his stubborn resentment. Perhaps, too,
-he felt lonely in his old age. At all
-events, he went over to the farm one
-day, and asked to see Mary.</p>
-
-<p>"I shall fight against it no longer,
-my dear," he said, holding out his hand.
-"The lad has proved his grit, and the
-woman who can call forth such steady
-love in a man is more than worthy of
-being mistress of the Hall. I am an old
-man, and have no time left for bitternesses.
-Forgive me, and you will find me
-as staunch in friendship as you have
-found me frank in enmity."</p>
-
-<p>Mary is now Mary Leigh, of Leigh Hall,
-and a sweeter, gentler, more winsome
-mistress you could not find in the whole
-land. You may often see the old Squire
-leaning upon her shoulder&mdash;a bent, white-haired
-figure&mdash;as they walk in the
-grounds.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>Among all the seasons of the year, I
-think there is none that Roger Pettingdale
-loves so well as the time of harvest.
-You may see him standing at the gateway,
-looking in meditation down the
-long shimmer and sheen of the golden
-wheat-field as the wind ripples over it.</p>
-
-<p>"I love to gaze at fields white with
-corn," he said to me once. "They seem
-to breathe rich promises of that full
-fruition to which our own lives shall
-come if we live them well and uprightly."</p>
-
-<p>At the last harvest thanksgiving service
-in the village church I was present for
-the sake of old times, and from my
-place behind Roger Pettingdale I saw
-him lost in meditation, with eyes fixed
-upon the chancel window. And when he
-stood up to sing he was still rapt in
-thought; but suddenly he joined in the
-sweet old hymn so lustily and with
-such a full heart that it did me good
-to hear him.</p>
-
-<div class="poem">
-<span class="i0">"The valleys stand so thick with corn<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">That even they are singing."<br /></span>
-</div>
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">&nbsp;</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-<h2>THE ART OF READING.</h2>
-
-<p class="center">By the Ven. Archdeacon Diggle, M.A.</p>
-
-
-<div class="drop">
-<img src="images/img156a.jpg" alt="R" width="100" height="111" class="cap" />
-<p class="cap_1">Reading aloud is more
-commonly regarded as
-an accomplishment
-than an art. In truth,
-it is both. It is an
-art in that it cannot
-be left to its own
-guidance, but requires
-both an acquaintance with rules and
-familiarity with their practice to bring
-it to perfection. It is an accomplishment
-in that it is a means of completing
-our equipment for happy social life.
-Good reading yields not only profit but
-pleasure to others. It is one means of
-throwing brightness into home-life to
-gather the children together and read
-really well to them. And what a sweet
-delight it is in the ward of a hospital, or
-among the inmates of a workhouse, or
-by the bedside of some dearly loved
-invalid, to be able, by reading in soft,
-gentle, refreshing tones, to charm away
-the monotony and the weariness, perhaps
-for awhile to relieve even the pain, of
-the lonely and the suffering! We might
-shed sunshine into the darkness of many
-a life if, instead of spending our leisure
-hours in <em>ennui</em> on ourselves, we devoted
-them to reading aloud to others.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>Reading aloud is good for ourselves
-both physically and morally. It is good
-morally, for if we never read anything
-unfit for reading aloud we shall not
-be likely to read anything morally
-deteriorating. And physically, reading
-aloud is a benignant exercise. It widens
-the chest, opens the lungs, strengthens
-the throat, and does good to all the
-breathing organs. It is a mistake to
-suppose that using the voice weakens it.
-Abuse or misuse of the vocal organs, as
-of any other organs, injures them; but
-by proper use and exercise they are
-strengthened and improved. Speakers
-and preachers have bad throats not because
-they use their throat too much, but
-because they use it badly. They force
-and torment it, instead of training it to
-natural action and giving it free, full
-play. And who shall blame them? At
-school they were taught to spell and
-mind their stops; but how to breathe
-and manage the voice when reading, they
-probably were not taught a single rule.
-In many instances teachers themselves
-are wholly ignorant of the art and therefore
-incapable of teaching it. And so
-it comes to pass that, unless either outward
-circumstance or innate common-sense
-turn our attention in later life to
-the management of the vocal organs, we
-never learn to read aloud without weariness
-and with pleasure. It is mainly
-through lack of early training that, of
-all useful and delightful accomplishments,
-the art of reading aloud is one of the
-least practised and most rare.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/img156b.jpg" width="250" height="308" alt="Diggle" />
-<div class="caption"><p>(<em>Photo: Russell and Sons, Baker Street, W.</em>)</p>
-<p class="center">ARCHDEACON DIGGLE.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Yet it is an art which, in some degree,
-may be acquired by the majority of
-people; very many could, by a little
-training and perseverance, even excel
-in it. Of course, the art admits of many
-degrees of excellence. But without
-reaching the splendid summits of the
-art, attainable only by the highly gifted
-few, ordinary persons may learn to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>
-read sufficiently well to gratify both
-themselves and others, if they will take
-pains to learn and practise a few simple
-rules.</p>
-
-<p>The first requirement is to master the
-physics of the art: to learn to breathe
-in through the nostrils and out through
-the mouth, never to speak on an inflowing
-breath, quickly to fill the lungs
-and slowly to empty them, never to
-gasp or strain after sound, not to
-attempt the higher notes until the
-lower have been completely mastered,
-to rely more on the lower than the
-higher notes, to teach the lips and
-front portion of the mouth to do their
-fair share of work equally with the
-larynx and the vocal cords. A moustache
-is an impediment to easy and distinct
-reading. It hinders the air from passing
-in free, full flow up the nostrils,
-and it troubles the waves of sound as
-they issue from the mouth; causing indistinctness,
-more or less flat and thick,
-in enunciation.</p>
-
-<p>Clearness of enunciation ranks next in
-importance after easy, natural, flexible
-production of voice, and largely depends
-on it, for there can be no clear, crisp,
-distinct enunciation of words, unless the
-tools by which words are made, viz. the
-organs of voice, are kept sharp and well
-burnished. Moreover, for the attainment
-of limpid and finely articulated enunciation
-careful training is required both
-in the melody and modulation of sounds.</p>
-
-<p>Precision and beauty of enunciation
-are much assisted by habitual practice
-of the graduated series of all the tones
-from the keynote to its octave. Do not
-sing when you are reading, but, in
-order to read well, first learn to sing;
-otherwise your reading will be flat and
-monotonous, without light and shade,
-instead of being fresh, richly modulated,
-and melodious.</p>
-
-<p>The next requirement of good reading
-is to learn the relative value of the
-letters, and the right handling of the
-syllables, of which words are composed.</p>
-
-<p>This study is both interesting and
-attractive, for, as Plato observes, letters
-themselves have a clear significance.
-The letter <em>r</em> is expressive of motion,
-the letters <em>d</em> and <em>t</em> of binding and rest,
-the letter <em>l</em> of smoothness, <em>n</em> of inwardness,
-the letter <em>e</em> of length and the
-letter <em>o</em> of roundness.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Letters run in
-families, and each family has its own
-characteristic significance of sound.
-Some letters belong to the lips, others
-to the throat, others employ the whole
-mouth. Vowels and final consonants are
-the letters which demand most care and
-support in good reading. For the most
-part, vowels should be rich and full,
-and the final consonant well sustained.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <em>Cf.</em> Jowett's Plato, I. 311.</p></div>
-
-<p>If letters in themselves are expressive
-and significant, collocations of letters in
-syllables and words are clearly more
-significant still. "By various degrees of
-strength or weakness, emphasis or pitch,
-length or shortness, they become the
-natural expressions both of the stronger
-and the finer parts of human feeling
-and thought." To read well, therefore,
-it is necessary to give intelligent and
-ready heed to the relative weight of
-words, to notice whether consonants are
-massed together to increase their density,
-or vowels are freely interspersed to
-leaven and make them light. True
-enunciation largely depends on a careful
-study of the natural formation of
-words and a right appreciation of the
-proportionate value of their several
-syllables.</p>
-
-<p>Reading, however, is frequently spoiled
-by pedantry and exaggerated minuteness.
-In seeking to avoid slovenliness
-readers often fall into foppery. Good
-reading goes at an easy pace, it is
-neither too fast nor too slow; it neither
-counts the letters nor omits them,
-neither jumbles syllables together nor
-anatomises words. The good reader
-reads so that intelligent listeners can
-spell his words, but he does not read
-as if spelling them himself. He avoids
-the extremes both of negligence and
-nicety, and constantly remembers that
-whatever is overdone is badly done.
-Avoid ostentation. No rule in reading
-is more fundamental than this.</p>
-
-<p>Near akin to ostentation is the taint
-of false and histrionic emphasis. Colourless
-reading, bad though it be, is better
-than tawdry reading. Especially in all
-reading of a religious or sacred character
-should affectation and dramatic
-artifices be reverently avoided.</p>
-
-<p>To read the Bible in church as if
-playing a part on the stage is as inappropriate
-and irreligious as to read like
-one in haste to catch a train.</p>
-
-<p>Each kind of subject demands its own
-proper style in reading. Prose should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>
-not be read like poetry; nor all
-kinds either of prose or poetry alike.
-As in writing, each species should be
-dressed in language from its own wardrobe;
-so in reading, each several kind
-should receive its own appropriate tone,
-and travel at its own appropriate speed.
-To read everything alike is to read nothing&mdash;or
-at most only one thing&mdash;well.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img158.jpg" width="450" height="381" alt="charming" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">Charming away the monotony and the weariness.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Great authors are by no means invariably
-good readers, even of their own
-productions. Lord Tennyson read some
-of his own glorious poems beautifully;
-but others he read either droningly or
-with too much singsong. Dickens read
-his own works with wonderful power
-and realisation. Wordsworth read his
-own verse admirably; but we are told
-that neither Coleridge nor Southey
-could read verse well: "They read as
-if crying or wailing lugubriously."</p>
-
-<p>Reading, therefore, is an art which
-doubtless requires, for the attainment
-of excellence, some degree of histrionic
-gifts&mdash;imagination, imitation, fervour, and
-passion.</p>
-
-<p>Similarly with oratory and authorship.
-Both these arts are distinct from that
-of reading; as each of these again is
-distinct from the other.</p>
-
-<p>It is curious, indeed, how few among
-great authors are great orators; or,
-among great orators, great authors. The
-gifts which tell in writing&mdash;condensation,
-terseness, finish&mdash;are not the gifts which
-tell most in speaking. In speaking, the
-essentials are clearness of enunciation,
-sympathy with the audience, copiousness
-of illustration, directness of statement,
-uninvolved reasoning. The merits
-which impart value to a book&mdash;wealth
-of fact, niceness in balancing opposing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>
-considerations, delicacy of assertion,
-depth and sweep of argument&mdash;may
-easily become ineffective in the delivery
-of a speech. Hence, therefore, whereas
-a good speaker is occasionally a good
-writer, owing to his rare combination
-of different orders of talent, it more
-frequently happens that the one set of
-talents is given to one man to enrich
-them in seclusion, and the other to
-another man to use them with publicity.</p>
-
-<p>In like manner with reading; it is an
-art by itself. It is natural to suppose
-that no one could possibly read an
-author's works so well as the author's
-self, because no one can understand
-them so intimately as their own creator.
-Yet experience proves this to be not
-the case; and for a reason which at
-first sight is not wholly apparent. It
-is just because they are his own that,
-as a rule, he cannot read them well.
-He may have a richly cultivated voice,
-clear enunciation, a varied power of
-modulation; he may even be able to
-read the works of others well, yet be a
-failure in reading what he himself has
-written. Why is this? Partly, perhaps,
-it is due to an unavoidable self-consciousness
-in reading his own works;
-and self-consciousness is the ruin of
-good reading. "Forget thyself" is a
-necessary condition of good reading.
-Partly, perhaps, it is due to over-absorption
-in the memory of sensations
-and sentiments which overpowered him
-when he wrote in the solitude of his
-chamber, but which are somewhat unnatural
-and overstrained for exhibition
-before a concourse of auditors. But probably
-the principal reason is that one of
-the greatest charms of good reading
-arises from the co-operation of two
-spirits toward one end&mdash;the spirit of the
-author and the spirit of the reader. The
-reader of another's works seeks actively
-to express the spirit of his author, yet
-unintentionally he is expressing his own
-spirit also. The author enters into him
-and he throws himself into the author;
-his reading, therefore, is the union, the
-marriage, the interpenetration and expression
-of two spirits&mdash;the author's and
-his own. However interesting, therefore,
-and delightful it may be to hear an
-author read his own works, yet is there
-always lacking the dash and force and
-suggestiveness produced when a great
-author is interpreted by a great reader.
-The author merely reproduces his original
-meaning in what he wrote; the reader,
-through the agency of his own independent
-personality, idealises and diversifies
-that meaning.</p>
-
-<p>Idealisation is one of the most beautiful
-effects of the fine art of reading.
-The most ordinary poem or piece of
-prose, when idealised by an accomplished
-artist in reading, grows lovely
-and sweet. And one way of learning to
-read well ourselves is to sit at the feet
-of some of these great masters of reading.
-Until we have heard a great reader
-read it is next to impossible to conceive
-what a fine and noble art true
-reading is. On the other hand, we can
-never become good readers by merely
-listening to others, any more than we
-can become good musicians by hearing
-others play.</p>
-
-<p>In the art of reading, others may be
-our models; none but ourselves can be
-our makers. Listening to others may
-show us how the thing can best be
-done, but without doing the thing ourselves
-the thing can never be truly
-learned by us. Sometimes, indeed, listening
-to others has an effect quite the
-opposite of a model for imitation.
-"Pausanias tells us of an ancient player
-on the harp who was wont to make his
-scholars go to hear one who played
-badly that they might learn to hate
-his discords and false measures." In like
-manner, one way of learning to read well
-is to hear others read badly.</p>
-
-<p>The art of reading aloud culminates in
-the expression of the spiritual through
-the medium of the physical. As sculpture
-aspires to express its ideals in stone, and
-painting in colour, and music in sound,
-so reading embodies its ideals in uttered
-words. A well-trained voice, clearness of
-enunciation, rhythm and flexibility of
-articulation&mdash;these are the physical
-framework of the art of reading aloud.
-Without first acquiring these the reader
-is as impotent as the painter without
-colour or the sculptor without stone.
-But the physics of reading are nothing
-more than its material framework. Unless
-the reader is inspired with ideals,
-reading will never rise to the dignity
-and glory of an art with him. He may
-be as a house-painter with his brush, or
-a mason with his stone&mdash;an industrious
-and useful artificer, but not an artist in
-his work.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">&nbsp;</a></span></p>
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img160a.jpg" width="450" height="77" alt="miget" />
-</div>
-
-<h2>MIDGET CHURCHES</h2>
-
-<p class="center">By J. A. Reid.</p>
-
-
-<p>The subject of church architecture
-is ever a fascinating one. Millions
-of money and an immense
-amount of time and labour have
-been spent in erecting places of
-worship, some of which are magnificent
-structures capable of seating several
-thousands. On the other hand, small,
-humble edifices sometimes suffice to meet
-the requirements of the worshippers;
-and it is with these that we here propose
-to deal.</p>
-
-<p>Which of the midget churches is the
-smallest it is somewhat difficult
-to say; but it is believed that
-the smallest church in England
-is the truly miniature church of
-Lullington, in Sussex. It is a
-primitive and quaint building,
-constructed of flint with stone
-quoins, with a roof of red tiles.
-It can boast of a little weather-boarded
-turret at its west end;
-but its bell does not toll now,
-and the birds of the air have
-long since found the turret a
-convenient nesting-place. The
-church is but sixteen feet
-square. The pulpit is a pew,
-with panelled sides and door,
-and the furniture is of the
-plainest. Five, narrow, diamond-paned
-windows throw a
-scanty light upon the interior,
-in which there is accommodation
-for thirty persons&mdash;quite
-sufficient for the population of
-the village.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/img160b.jpg" width="250" height="335" alt="Lullington" />
-<div class="caption"><p>(<em>Photo: H. J. Unwin, Hailsham.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class="center">LULLINGTON CHURCH.</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>Sixteen feet square.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>A somewhat larger edifice is
-the very interesting church of
-Wythburn, in Cumberland, the
-dimensions of which are&mdash;nave
-(length), thirty-nine feet; height
-of walls, ten feet; and width,
-fifteen feet. This was the
-original church, erected about
-one hundred and sixty years ago,
-and is of the simplest description.
-The roof is constructed
-of old ships' timber, and the
-windows are square holes with
-wooden frames. The chancel is eighteen
-feet long by fifteen feet by ten feet. The
-beautiful little east window is by Henry
-Holiday, and was put in to the memory
-of the late vicar. What a magnificent
-site for a church! The poets have thus
-expressed themselves with regard to this
-humble but beautifully situated church:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>Canon H. D. Rawnsley wrote:</p>
-
-<div class="poem">
-<span class="i0">"We cannot stay&mdash;for life is but an Inn,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">A halfway house&mdash;and, lo! the graves how near!<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Yet mighty minds have hither come for cheer<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Before the upward path they dared begin.<br /></span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>
-<span class="i1">Here Gray the pilgrim rested pale and thin,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Here Wilson laughed, and Wordsworth murmured here.<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Here Coleridge mused, and ere he crossed the mere<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Hence Arnold viewed the Goal he hoped to win.<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And we who would Helvellyn's height essay,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Or climb towards the gateway of the mound<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Where Dunmail died because his realm was fair,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">May join their gracious company who found<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Earth's beauty made Life's Inn a House of Prayer,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And speed, refreshed of soul, upon our way."<br /></span>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img161.jpg" width="450" height="428" alt="2 churches" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center"><em>Wythburn Church
-as compared with
-St. Paul's Cathedral.</em></p>
-
-<p>(<em>Photo: T. Dumble, Keswick.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class="center">WYTHBURN CHURCH.</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>Thirteen yards long, five yards wide.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Wordsworth, too, said:</p>
-
-<div class="poem">
-<span class="i0">"If Wythburn's modest House of Prayer,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">As lowly as the lowliest dwelling,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Had, with its belfry's humble stock,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">A little pair that hang in air,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Been mistress also of a clock<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">(And one, too, not hung in crazy plight),<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Twelve strokes that clock would have been telling<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Under the brow of old Helvellyn."<br /></span>
-</div>
-
-<p>And H. Coleridge:</p>
-
-<div class="poem">
-<span class="i0">"Humble it is, and meek, and very low,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And speaks its purpose by a single bell:<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">But God Himself, and He alone, can know<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">If spiry temples please Him half so well."<br /></span>
-</div>
-
-<p>We have given two instances of very
-small churches: let us now refer to a
-midget chapel. At Crawshawbooth, a
-village near Burnley, there is an extremely
-interesting diminutive place of
-worship known as the Friends' Meeting-House,
-an old-fashioned building covered
-with ivy, and environed by a well-cared-for
-burial ground. It contains
-half a dozen oak benches, on
-which the worshippers sit.
-Though these benches are
-sufficient to provide seating
-accommodation for about
-sixty, the attendance is
-rarely more than six. John Bright once
-worshipped here, walking from Rochdale,
-a distance of twelve miles. This quaint
-little place is naturally regarded with
-much interest by visitors.</p>
-
-<p>It is interesting to point out that
-there is another Quaker meeting-house
-in the hamlet of Jordans, in
-Buckinghamshire, which is, if anything,
-smaller than that already referred to.
-It has been called the Shrine of
-Quakerism, for early in June every year<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>
-a gathering of Quakers takes place.
-Here lie the remains of William Penn,
-one of the greatest of Quakers. At
-a cottage in the vicinity Milton wrote
-his "Paradise Lost."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img162b.jpg" width="450" height="333" alt="friends" />
-<div class="caption"><p>(<em>Photo: R. W. Lord, Little Lever, near Bolton.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class="center">FRIENDS' MEETING-HOUSE, CRAWSHAWBOOTH.</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>Containing six oak benches to accommodate sixty worshippers.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>To revert to churches, Kilpeck Church
-is well worth referring to as being a
-lovely little place of worship. The nave
-is thirty-six feet by twenty, and the
-chancel seventeen by sixteen feet ten
-inches, the total length being sixty-eight
-feet and the average breadth about sixteen
-feet. It is built upon a Saxon
-foundation, and Saxon remains are still
-to be seen&mdash;notably, a "holy-water"
-stoup that must be one thousand or
-eleven hundred years old. It is not
-possible to do justice to this beautiful
-church in a few words, but the accompanying
-photograph will give an idea
-of the quaintness and beauty of the
-structure. The sculpture is remarkably
-interesting.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/img162a.jpg" width="250" height="308" alt="nave" />
-<div class="caption"><p>(<em>Photo: Poulton and Sons, Lee.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class="center">KILPECK CHURCH.</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>Nave thirty-six feet by twenty.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>An article on midget places of worship
-would be incomplete without a reference
-to the little lath-and-plaster church
-of Essex, consisting of nave, chancel, and
-a small turret. Hazeleigh Church, as it
-is named, stands in the near vicinity of
-Hazeleigh Hall&mdash;once the home of the
-Essex family of the Alleynes, one of
-whom founded the College of God's Gift<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>
-at Dulwich. This little church has thus
-been described by the Rev. H. R. Wadmore,
-sometime curate:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem">
-<span class="i0">"... A little church beside a wood<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Securely sheltered from the sweeping blast;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">So quiet, so secure, it seems to be<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">A very type of rest and all that's still."<br /></span>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img163a.jpg" width="450" height="289" alt="Chilcombe" />
-<div class="caption"><p>(<em>Photo: R. D. Barrett.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class="center">CHILCOMBE CHURCH.</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>Twelve yards long.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>This little church
-of Hazeleigh, owing
-to its simple character,
-differs but
-slightly from the
-roadside cottages.
-It has been styled
-"the meanest
-church in Essex,"
-owing to its unpretentious
-character.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 350px;">
-<img src="images/img163b.jpg" width="350" height="258" alt="cave" />
-<div class="caption"><p>(<em>Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class="center">THE CAVE CHURCH AT LEDAIG, NEAR OBAN.</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>The most primitive church in the kingdom.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>A pleasing little
-church is that of
-Chilcombe, near
-Bridport, Dorsetshire.
-Chilcombe is
-mentioned in the
-Doomsday Book,
-and at one time
-was the property
-of the Knight Hospitallers
-of St. John.
-The existing church
-dates from the thirteenth
-century. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>
-is in the Roman style, and possesses a
-good Norman font. The length of the
-nave is twenty-two by fourteen feet, the
-chancel being thirteen by
-eleven feet. The owner
-of the parish and the
-patron of the living is Admiral the Hon.
-M. H. Nelson.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
-<img src="images/img164a.jpg" width="350" height="301" alt="grove" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">GROVE CHURCH, NEAR LEIGHTON BUZZARD.</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>Capable of seating fifty people.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Another remarkably small church is
-that of St. Peter, on the Castle Rise,
-at Cambridge, its dimensions
-being twenty-five by sixteen
-feet. It is of Norman architecture.</p>
-
-<p>England by no means possesses
-all the diminutive
-churches and chapels, and a very quaint
-and interesting church is that of Ledaig,
-near Oban. It is unsectarian, and its
-congregation numbers, on the average,
-twenty-five. It was founded by John
-Campbell, who was more familiarly
-known as "The Bard of Benderlock." He
-converted a natural cavern in the cliffs
-of Ledaig into a place of worship. A
-portion of a trunk of a tree, on which
-Robert Bruce is said to have
-rested, serves as a table and
-reading-desk. Trunks of trees
-around the sides of the cavern
-serve as seats for the worshippers.
-Mr. Campbell officiated as minister
-for many years to a band of
-faithful Highland worshippers in
-this curious church. Mr. Campbell
-was a remarkable personality.
-He was postmaster of Ledaig,
-and he also gained a considerable
-reputation as a poet. He was a
-much respected man, and his
-memory is dear to many.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img164b.jpg" width="450" height="272" alt="Margaret" />
-<div class="caption"><p>(<em>Photo: A. A. Inglis, Edinburgh.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class="center">ST. MARGARET'S CHAPEL, EDINBURGH CASTLE.</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>For some time used as a powder magazine.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>I would like to refer to a very
-interesting midget church at
-Grove, near Leighton Buzzard, which I
-had the pleasure of visiting recently. It
-is the smallest in the county, and is a
-gable-roofed, barn-like fabric, with a door<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>
-on the north side. In 1883 the little church
-was restored throughout, the fine old-fashioned
-square pews being replaced by
-open wooden seats, and it is now
-capable of seating about fifty people.
-Formerly the edifice contained a "three-decker"&mdash;clerk's
-desk, reading-desk, and
-pulpit combined. The churchyard contains
-many graves, but only one tombstone
-(eighteenth century). The dimensions of
-the church are&mdash;length, twenty-nine and
-a half feet; width, eighteen feet; height,
-about forty feet; in all probability, the
-church was formerly larger than at
-present. Grove is generally considered
-to be one of the smallest parishes in
-England, and one could hardly conceive
-of a smaller. It consists practically
-of a farmhouse and a lock-keeper's
-cottage.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/img165a.jpg" width="250" height="235" alt="templar" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">ST. ROBERT'S CHAPEL, KNARESBOROUGH.</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>Showing figure of a Knight Templar cut in the rock.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>Photo: G. E. Arnold, Knaresborough.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>We must not forget that at the top of
-Edinburgh Castle is the historical diminutive
-chapel of St. Margaret's, which was
-the private chapel of the pious Margaret,
-Queen of Malcolm III., during
-her residence in the castle. Until
-very recently it had been quite lost
-sight of, having been converted into
-a powder magazine and fallen into disrepair.
-In 1853, however, it was "discovered"
-and put into an efficient state
-of repair. It is considered to be the
-oldest and smallest chapel in Scotland,
-its dimensions being sixteen feet six
-inches by ten feet sixteen inches. The
-semicircular chancel is separated from the
-nave by a well-carved double-round arch,
-decorated with Norman zigzag mouldings.
-It is too small to be made available for
-divine service for the troops quartered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>
-in the castle, and the only use that it
-is now put to is for occasional baptisms
-and morning Communion.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img165b.jpg" width="450" height="315" alt="small" />
-<div class="caption"><p>(<em>Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class="center">SMALL CHURCH AT ST. ANDREW, GREENSTED, NEAR ONGAR.</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>Believed to include the only remaining portion of a Saxon wooden church.</em>)</p>
-
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>There are several very small places of
-worship which are now, alas! in ruins.
-At Iona, for instance, on the west coast
-of Scotland, are the remains of an
-extremely small chapel, known as St.
-Oran's Chapel. It is very near Iona
-Cathedral. It is constructed of red
-granite, and its external measurements
-are sixty feet by twenty-two feet. It is
-now roofless, and is very old. This
-little chapel is believed to have been
-built by Queen Margaret in 1080. Its
-architecture is Romanesque, and it has
-one low entrance. This humble edifice
-is interesting inasmuch as within its
-walls is the tomb of Sir Walter Scott's
-"Lord of the Isles," the friend of Bruce.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 400px;">
-<img src="images/img166.jpg" width="400" height="223" alt="diminutive" />
-<div class="caption"><p>(<em>Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class="center">DIMINUTIVE CHAPEL AT POINT IN VIEW, NEAR EXMOUTH.</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>Containing an organ made by the pastor.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>There is another tiny barn-like edifice
-at Greenloaning, near Dunblane. The
-little church is situated adjacent to a
-farmhouse, and seems to have been
-erected for the benefit of the farm-workers.
-It is remarkably small. The
-scenery in the vicinity is magnificent,
-and the church is regarded with much
-interest by tourists.</p>
-
-<p>St. Anthony's Chapel is another small
-building also in ruins. It is interesting
-owing to its historic surroundings, being
-in the near vicinity of Holyrood Palace.
-It comprises a hermitage, sixteen feet
-long, twelve feet wide, and eight feet high,
-and a Gothic chapel forty-three feet
-long, eighteen feet broad, and eighteen
-feet high.</p>
-
-<p>One of the most remarkable of
-these little churches is that at Knaresborough,
-in Yorkshire, which is a very
-queer little chapel elegantly hewn out
-of the solid rock, the roof being beautifully
-ribbed and groined in the Gothic
-style. At the back of the altar is a
-large niche, where an image used to
-stand, and on one side of it is a place
-for the "holy-water" basin. There are
-also figures of three heads&mdash;designed, it is
-believed, for an emblematical allusion to
-the order of the monks at the once neighbouring
-priory. Possibly they were cut
-by some of the monks. The order was
-known as Sanctæ Trinitatis. A few yards
-away there is another head. It has been
-surmised that this is a representation of
-St. John the Baptist, to whom the chapel
-is supposed to be dedicated. There is a
-cavity in the floor, in which some ancient
-relic was rested. The chapel is ten
-feet six inches long, nine feet wide, and
-seven and a half feet high. Near the entrance
-is the following inscription:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem">
-<span class="i0">"Beneath yon ivy's spreading shade,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">For lonely contemplation made,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">An ancient chapel stands complete,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Once the hermit's calm retreat<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">From worldly pomp and sordid care,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">To humble penitence and prayer;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The sight is pleasing, all agree&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Do, gentle stranger, turn and see."<br /></span>
-</div>
-
-<p>The chapel is known as St. Robert's
-Chapel. St. Robert, the hermit who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>
-used it for devotions, was born about
-1160, and was the son of Sir Toke Flouris,
-who was mayor of the city of York. In
-his youth he was noted for his piety, and
-he entered the Cistercian Abbey of Newminster
-in Northumberland. He was
-only there eighteen weeks, however,
-removing to York, and then to Knaresborough,
-where he retired from the
-world to live a life of contemplation in
-this restful spot. He died in the September
-of 1218. On one side of the entrance
-to the chapel, under the ivy, is the figure
-of a Knight Templar, cut in the rock, in
-the act of drawing his sword to defend
-the place from the violence of intruders.
-This is a queer and remarkable building,
-and, though not now used as a place of
-worship, the reference here made to it
-may prove interesting.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img167.jpg" width="450" height="328" alt="interior" />
-<div class="caption"><p>(<em>Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class="center">INTERIOR VIEW OF PERIVALE CHURCH.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The cathedral of St. Asaph, in Flintshire,
-might be mentioned in this category
-as being the smallest cathedral in
-the country. It is in the shape of a
-simple cross in plan, consisting of a choir
-transept, nave, with five bays with
-aisles, and a central tower forty feet
-square and one hundred feet high. The
-choir was built in 1867-68 from the designs
-of the late Sir Gilbert Scott, R.A.,
-and is of Early English architecture.</p>
-
-<p>Passing references might also be made
-to the diminutive church of Warlingham,
-in Surrey, which runs the midget church
-of Wotton in that county very close;
-and to Grosmont Church, Monmouth,
-erected by Eleanor of Provence, a quaint
-little structure with an octagonal tower.
-There used to be a church known as
-St. Mildred in the Poultry, which was
-removed to Lincolnshire. It formerly
-occupied a position in the eastern end of
-Cheapside, and in 1872 it was taken to
-pieces and re-erected at Louth. It is
-generally considered to be the smallest
-church designed by Wren.</p>
-
-<p>At St. Andrew, Greensted, near Ongar,
-there is a very small church, and it is
-a curiosity, inasmuch as it is believed
-to be a relic of the only church of Saxon
-origin built of wood remaining.</p>
-
-<p>There is a small chapel at Point in
-View, near Exmouth. It is Congregational,
-and it provides seating accommodation
-for eighty persons, and forms one side
-of a block, the other three sides being
-taken up by four little almshouses, each
-consisting of two rooms occupied by four
-elderly maiden ladies. Over the chapel
-door is this motto:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem">
-<span class="i0">"One Point in View<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">We all pursue."<br /></span>
-</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></p>
-<p>The chapel contains a diminutive organ
-made by the pastor. In the vicinity there
-is a peculiar round house, the property
-of the Reichel family. It was a member
-of this family who founded the chapel
-and almshouses.</p>
-
-<p>The little church of St. Nicholas at
-Hulcote should be mentioned. It is
-near Woburn, the seat of the Duke
-of Bedford. It is rather difficult to find,
-at any rate when the foliage is on the
-trees, so surrounded is it by them. It
-was built about the year 1610 by Richard
-Chernocke. Its measurements are: length,
-from the tower to the chancel step,
-thirty-nine and a half feet; chancel, eight
-and a half feet from step to east; width,
-sixteen feet three inches. There are carved
-oaken panels to many of the seats, and
-on the north wall, inside the chancel
-rails, are some valuable old monuments
-in memory of the Chernocke family. It
-is now between fifteen and twenty years
-since the church was used for divine
-service, but it is still used for funerals.</p>
-
-<p>There is a little church, near London,
-known as Perivale. Although so near to
-the great metropolis, it is situated in a
-peculiarly lonely district. It lies in the
-valley of the Brent amid expansive
-meadows and hay farms. In 1871 there
-were only seven houses and thirty-three
-inhabitants in the
-parish. The midget
-church is situated
-at the end of a
-field near a low,
-semi-Gothic half-timber
-parsonage
-and a farmhouse.
-Although somewhat
-desolate, the spot is
-a restful one, and
-the hill and spire of
-Harrow in the distance
-make the
-scene pleasing to
-the eye. The little
-church is in the
-Early Perpendicular
-style, and consists
-of a nave, a narrow
-chancel, a rough
-wooden tower with
-short, pyramidal
-spire at the west,
-and porch on the
-south-west. The
-interior presents a
-well-kept appearance. The church was restored
-in 1875. In the windows is some late
-fifteenth-century glass containing figures
-of St. John the Baptist and St. Matthew, in
-fairly good condition, and of Mary and
-Joseph, which are not so well preserved.</p>
-
-<p>The prettily situated ivy-clad church of
-St. Lawrence, Ventnor, Isle of Wight,
-is another edifice which might well be
-described as a midget church, although
-some years ago it was found necessary
-to enlarge it. The church originally
-was thirty feet eight and a half inches
-long, it is now forty feet eight and a
-half inches; and its breadth was formerly
-eleven feet, whereas it is now twenty
-feet. The height to the eaves is about
-six feet. The architecture is Old English,
-but not at all striking. The church
-dates back to about the year 1190.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
-<img src="images/img168.jpg" width="350" height="283" alt="old" />
-<div class="caption"><p>(<em>Photo: F. N. Broderick Hyde.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class="center">THE OLD CHURCH AT ST. LAWRENCE.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>We have now exhausted our space, but
-not our subject. There are other examples
-of diminutive churches throughout
-the country, but we have made a
-selection of the more interesting ones.
-However small the church, the worshippers
-have this assurance from the
-Founder of the Christian religion: "Where
-two or three are gathered together in
-My name, there am I in the midst of
-them"; and with that quotation this
-little article may fittingly be concluded.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">&nbsp;</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img169a.jpg" width="450" height="190" alt="canon" />
-</div>
-
-<h2><span class="smcap">The Minor Canon's Daughter</span></h2>
-
-<h3><em>THE STORY OF A CATHEDRAL TOWN.</em></h3>
-
-<p class="center">By E. S. Curry, Author of "One of the Greatest," "Closely Veiled," Etc.</p>
-
-
-
-<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
-
-<h3>A PREMATURE PROPOSAL.</h3>
-
-
-<div class="drop">
-<img src="images/img169b.jpg" alt="I" width="100" height="137" class="cap" />
-<p class="cap_1">I n the Canons' Court, between
-Mr. Bethune's
-and the Deanery, lived
-Mr. Warde. He was
-a pleasant man, well
-off, artistic, musical&mdash;and
-happy in a life of
-little work, which left
-him leisure for his
-artistic pursuits. He
-had a rosy, kind face
-and plump figure; the
-Bethune children, Marjorie
-included, went to him before anyone
-else in times of need. He had often shielded
-them from offended law.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>It was he who set on foot the literary
-and drawing guilds, arranged concerts, and
-was the universal handy man for games and
-social festivities to all the county round
-Norham. He was about thirty-five, and had
-a chivalric devotion to Mrs. Bethune and
-her children, since, as a young man, he had
-first come to Norham.</p>
-
-<p>Marjorie was so accustomed to this that
-she did not see what was manifest to other
-eyes, on her return from school in Munich.
-She took all his kindness as a matter of
-course, having no more relation to herself
-individually than the Bishop's or the Dean's.
-Since her return, he had been sedulously
-pursuing his courtship in every way that
-occurred to him.</p>
-
-<p>This gentleman was standing beside her
-under the lime-tree at the top of the garden,
-where Marjorie could superintend the
-pursuits of her two youngest brothers. They
-were now busily engaged underground. For
-a whole week every minute of David's and
-Sandy's leisure had been spent in digging
-a deep hole in the corner of the garden devoted
-to their use. Thence, with infinite
-patience, passages had been scooped, and the
-mound of earth thrown up against the wall
-had come in useful as a toboggan ground.</p>
-
-<p>The little boys had received strict orders
-that morning that all the earth in the passages
-of the "cave," which, in a frenzy of
-labour, the two schoolboys had burrowed
-out before breakfast, was to be removed
-before their return in the afternoon. As it
-got deeper, steps had been conveyed from
-the house for the descent of the hole. The
-utility of division of labour had been impressed
-upon the children. Orme was to
-fill the baskets; Ross, being surer of his
-equilibrium, was to carry them up and empty
-them. If the work was not done, and done
-properly, the babies would have to play
-elsewhere; no longer would their presence
-be tolerated by their elders.</p>
-
-<p>Marjorie was enjoying a new book, whose
-alluring cover was fit index to its contents.
-Now and then, between the pages, dark eyes
-looked at her in a strange and wonderful
-fashion. When this occurred, she would lift
-her own, and gaze dreamily over the currant
-bushes, her breath coming quickly, the
-colour fluctuating in her cheeks. Upon one
-such moment Mr. Warde had intruded.</p>
-
-<p>"I thought I would come in and talk to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>
-you about your sonnet, Marjorie," he said,
-looking about for a seat. There was nothing
-handy except a cleft log&mdash;used by the boys
-as a block for chopping sticks. On this
-uncomfortable seat Mr. Warde poised himself.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img170.jpg" width="450" height="341" alt="looking" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">The man, looking at her, thought he might take hope.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>"But that wouldn't be fair, would it?"
-asked Marjorie.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh! we judged the poems yesterday. I
-didn't propose to alter anything. Mrs.
-Adeane's is the best, and Lady Esther's next.
-But&mdash;your usual imagination was wanting
-this time," he said gently.</p>
-
-<p>"I thought it was bad&mdash;it seemed so
-prosaic," Marjorie said humbly. "You see,
-father's advice always is, not to let imagination
-go further than it knows."</p>
-
-<p>"Have you never imagined, never thought
-about love?" he asked softly.</p>
-
-<p>"Often, lately," frankly. "I thought it
-was a very silly subject to choose."</p>
-
-<p>"Not silly, Marjorie. The loveliest poetry
-has been written about it, as it is the loveliest
-subject. Why 'lately'?" he asked.</p>
-
-<p>"To get ideas. They don't come, if you
-don't think&mdash;not to me, at least."</p>
-
-<p>"That way of putting it is new," he said,
-considering. "Well, Marjorie, I want you
-to think of it, to imagine all you can of
-what it means&mdash;the new brightness, the new
-beauty it gives to life; how it transforms
-all things, even the commonest, so that&mdash;&mdash;"
-He paused. Marjorie was looking at him in
-wonder.</p>
-
-<p>Was it something in his glance that
-brought irresistibly back to her remembrance
-that look in Mr. Pelham's dark eyes, of
-which more than once that afternoon she
-had been thinking? She coloured brightly,
-and her beautiful eyes grew soft.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! I see you know what I mean," Mr.
-Warde said gently.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh! I don't," said Marjorie confusedly.
-But the man, looking at her, thought he
-might take hope. He went on:</p>
-
-<p>"It is expressed in all beautiful music, as
-well as in the best literature and art. It
-appeals to everyone, because it is natural
-to all, and answers to something in the
-heart of every one of us. So you see, Marjorie,
-knowing you and your gift of imagination,
-I am disappointed at this bald little
-verse."</p>
-
-<p>"Father says it is dangerous imagining on
-nothing," Marjorie replied, plucking up her
-spirit. "First get facts, absolutely accurate.
-Then build on them."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, Marjorie, don't you realise that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>
-the facts are all about you, that I&mdash;&mdash;Whatever's
-the matter?"</p>
-
-<p>A yell broke across the summer air, and
-Marjorie, springing up, bent over the edge
-of the crater-like hole. At the bottom lay
-Orme, his basket beside him, its contents
-upon him. In a second Marjorie had
-descended underground, and Mr. Warde was
-left gazing into space.</p>
-
-<p>When she emerged, Orme was in her arms,
-muddy tears bedewing his cherubic cheeks.
-"Fall'd," he announced, in a self-pitying tone,
-to the visitor.</p>
-
-<p>Marjorie reseated herself, her little brother's
-head upon her breast. As she comforted
-him, the man observing her grew more in
-love than ever. Marjorie, soft and gentle, unconsciously
-rehearsing Madonna attitudes, gave
-him a thrill of delight. Presently the boy,
-his conscience uneasy over neglected work,
-slipped from her knee, and, with muttered
-remarks on "er, nasty ground," descended
-again into its bosom.</p>
-
-<p>He had learnt the imprudence of engaging
-in another man's labour. Resenting the
-meaner part of filling the baskets for the
-more stolid and surefooted Ross to ascend
-and empty, he had been promptly punished
-for his ambition. His little soul was now
-sore with the injustice of things.</p>
-
-<p>"Er, nasty steps slipped poor Orme," he
-said to Ross, watching his careful ascent.</p>
-
-<p>"You not big anuff," Ross answered importantly.
-"Go and fill er basket. Do what
-David bidded you."</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile Mr. Warde had glanced at his
-watch. Soon, all too soon, this semi-solitude
-in which he had been fortunate enough to
-find Marjorie would be invaded by the schoolboys.
-He was no nearer the end for which
-he had come, and he could not again drag
-in Marjorie's little verse for criticism. She
-glanced at him, as she drew the alluring
-book towards her, and said, not too politely:</p>
-
-<p>"If you are going to stay, I'll just fetch
-my work," rising as she spoke.</p>
-
-<p>"No, Marjorie, don't go. There's something
-I specially wished to say, to talk to
-you about," he said, becoming a little confused
-under her unconscious gaze. Could he,
-after all, disturb this serenity by the suggestion
-of love and marriage? He felt
-somehow that the time was not ripe&mdash;that
-they would seem incongruous to her in
-connection with himself. And yet, if he did
-not speak, and be quick about it, another
-man might step in.</p>
-
-<p>"I have had a letter to-day," he said,
-"offering me a college living."</p>
-
-<p>"Have you?" said Marjorie in a not altogether
-flattering manner, and looking at him
-rather as though she were much surprised.
-She stood poised, ready to fetch the threatened
-work; her attitude altogether an unflattering
-one to a lover who has just made an
-important communication.</p>
-
-<p>"You won't go, shall you?" she went on,
-her glance going past him to the wall
-which divided the gardens. Over the top
-big clusters of the roses in which Mr. Warde
-delighted nodded gaily, whilst further on
-the square face of his house was gay
-with bloom, amid which the two lines of
-windows stared a little baldly. The blind in
-each was arranged symmetrically, and in
-spite of its prim tidiness, even its outside
-showed that no loved woman ruled within.
-From her neighbour's house Marjorie's eyes
-jumped to her own home.</p>
-
-<p>Here there was no symmetry, but its
-character as a home stood out plain. The
-nursery windows, distinguished by their
-guarding bars, were wide open, and the
-blinds drawn to the top, whilst in the three
-open windows of her mother's room adjoining
-the curtains flopped lazily, and the
-blinds had been adjusted to the sun. Somehow
-the sight and the difference brought a
-feeling into Marjorie's heart which had not
-yet stirred it in connection with Mr.
-Warde. Hitherto he had not seemed to her
-to need pity. But now, when he went back
-into his house&mdash;away from her and the
-homely garden, where vegetables, and currant
-bushes, and the untidy quarter of the boys,
-were of more account than flowers, where
-little feet pattered, and boys' voices were
-never silent&mdash;what would he go back to?
-The blank windows lit up empty rooms,
-where no foot but his own stirred. He
-would find no companionship but that of
-his music and his books. Marjorie never
-guessed of the visions that peopled his fireside.</p>
-
-<p>"Shall you go?" she asked, looking at
-him&mdash;then speaking out suddenly the pity her
-thoughts had called up: "Won't it be very
-lonely?"</p>
-
-<p>"Very. Sit down please, Marjorie, and
-listen to me."</p>
-
-<p>Then, as she complied: "When first I
-came here, ten years ago, your father and
-mother were very kind to me, and I grew
-so attached to them and theirs, that I
-wanted nothing more. I felt no need of
-the ties other men have or make, because I
-had&mdash;you." Then his tone grew tender.
-"Do you remember how you used to come
-round and climb into my study window for
-your lessons, when the boys began to go
-to school? You were a bit forsaken then,
-Marjorie. And then, when you were good&mdash;as
-you weren't always&mdash;how a little pony
-accompanied me on my rides, and then
-when the pony and the child who rode it
-had each grown bigger, one day they both<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>
-disappeared. The child went to school, to
-come back, nearly grown up, with music
-oozing out of her fingers' ends. Well,
-Marjorie" (he had risen, and his face was
-paling, his self-control vanishing, as he
-stood looking down on her), "I have waited
-a long time for that little girl&mdash;who has yet
-seemed always mine&mdash;I want her for my
-wife. Will you go with me, dear, if I go?"</p>
-
-<p>Marjorie gazed blankly into his face. "I?
-Of course, it is me," she said slowly. "I
-don't know&mdash;I didn't think&mdash;how can I
-leave&mdash;everybody?" her voice faltered.</p>
-
-<p>She rose suddenly, putting aside the hand
-that would have stayed her. There is
-nothing so cruel as a young thing who
-has no notion of her power and of the
-devotion she has stirred.</p>
-
-<p>"I didn't think," she said, cuttingly,
-"that you wanted payment. I thought&mdash;I
-thought&mdash;&mdash;" And then, not trusting her
-voice further, she sprang away from his
-detaining hand, and fled.</p>
-
-
-<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2>
-
-<h3>MARJORIE'S TROUBLE.</h3>
-
-
-<p>"Dear Marjorie,&mdash;You gave me no
-answer yesterday, and I am afraid
-I took you by surprise, and perhaps
-shocked you. A girl is a tender
-thing, I know. Will you send me just a
-little line of hope and forgiveness? I love
-you&mdash;how dearly you cannot guess&mdash;and I
-want you to be my wife. But I will press
-nothing against your will, and I have written
-'No' to the offer of that living. I think you
-will like to stay near home. Whatever you
-decide, whether you say 'Yes' or 'No,' believe
-always that my love is too great to change,
-and that I am ever your attached friend,&mdash;<span class="smcap">W.
-St. J. Warde.</span>"</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>Marjorie was reading this letter with an expression
-which certainly did not augur well for
-its writer. She had been seeing to household
-matters for her mother, and had sat down
-with an armful of boys' clothes to mend,
-when the note had been handed to her.</p>
-
-<p>"I do not know what to say to him,
-mother. I wish&mdash;oh, I do so wish he hadn't
-done it."</p>
-
-<p>"He is a good man, Margie," her mother
-said simply. "A man, I think, to make you
-happy."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img172.jpg" width="450" height="265" alt="good man" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">"He is a good man, Margie."</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>"Happy, mother? I am happy now. What
-should I do next door? I should always be
-running in to see you. And how could you
-get on without me?"</p>
-
-<p>"We shall manage. And next door with
-Mr. Warde would be so much nicer than a
-long way off with someone else. It would
-scarcely be losing you."</p>
-
-<p>"Do you want me to go, mother?" asked
-Marjorie, struck by her mother's tone.</p>
-
-<p>"Not in one sense, dear; but you will go. It
-is natural for girls to marry. You will marry,
-I hope; it is the happiest life, with a good
-man you can look up to."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">&nbsp;</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 421px;">
-<img src="images/img173.jpg" width="421" height="600" alt="boys" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">"You have been very good to my boys," Mrs. Bethune said.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"But do I look up to him? I think we&mdash;Charity
-and I&mdash;often laugh at him."</p>
-
-<p>"But you can laugh, and yet look up, or
-life would be very dull. Who do you go to
-when you want to know anything that father
-can't teach you?"</p>
-
-<p>"To Mr. Warde," acknowledged Marjorie.</p>
-
-<p>"And when you want to go anywhere?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes; but only because he has a carriage&mdash;and
-we haven't."</p>
-
-<p>"And when you want to see the picture
-galleries?"</p>
-
-<p>"He can go; he always has time. But
-all that doesn't mean that I want to marry
-him," she added.</p>
-
-<p>"But it is just that. You already look to
-him for most of your pleasures. That is a
-long way towards loving him. You would
-find him a very kind husband and friend."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh! mother, what must I do?" entreated
-Marjorie, the tears coming into her eyes. "He
-has spoilt everything. It is Charity's garden-party
-this afternoon, and I shall be so uncomfortable.
-Couldn't you go, mother, in your
-chair?"</p>
-
-<p>Mrs. Bethune's face changed.</p>
-
-<p>"I could, dear. Yes, I will go; perhaps it
-will be difficult for you." She sighed softly;
-she was hardly as yet reconciled to her
-helplessness in public, in spite of the cheery
-spirit which enabled her to bear suffering
-with such courage.</p>
-
-<p>Mrs. Bethune's spirit made her the idol and
-confidante of her boys. Her fun was unquenched,
-even when the fire of life would
-seem to have gone out for ever; after the
-terrible fall, when, to save the infant in her
-arms, she had laid herself upon her back for
-life. The baby&mdash;Orme&mdash;was found unhurt,
-folded round, so it seemed, by the broken
-body of his mother. Ross, the most thoughtful,
-she averred, of her six sons, once said to
-her:</p>
-
-<p>"Mummie, you do laugh mor'n anybody.
-Is it 'cos you can't walk?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, little son, perhaps it is; to make up,
-you know."</p>
-
-<p>And Sandy, butting his bright head into her
-knees one day, inconsolable about something,
-was won to laughter by, "Sandy, laugh!
-Look at me!"&mdash;and he had looked. And the
-irresistible witchery of the beautiful dark eyes
-had cured his woe. She was always the sunshiny
-centre of the house, and only her husband,
-or Marjorie in rare moments, guessed
-how sometimes the bright spirit quailed.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>The Dean was popular in the county. When
-Mr. Pelham came into the Deanery garden
-somewhat late, he found Mrs. Bethune's chair
-under the chestnut trees, a centre of laughter
-and conversation. Marjorie was standing by
-her mother, with a wistful look on her face,
-he thought at first sight, wondering at its
-expression. Love, when presented first to a
-girl brought up as Marjorie had been, comes
-as a great shock. That it should be Mr.
-Warde of all men who should cause her this
-disquiet filled Marjorie with a sense of the
-unsatisfactoriness of the world. It disturbed
-things that had seemed to her as settled as
-the hills round Norham that this old friend
-should want to be her lover.</p>
-
-<p>Before going to the Deanery she had sent
-a little note in answer to his letter, in
-which she had said&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"There is nothing to forgive. But you
-must not think of me like this any more.
-You have always been so kind to all of us
-that it grieves me to say 'No' to anything
-you want. Still, it must be 'No.'"</p>
-
-<p>She hoped he would not be present at the
-Deanery. It was his turn of duty at the
-cathedral. She would bring her mother away
-early, before he arrived. The afternoon was
-quite spoilt for her.</p>
-
-<p>And then Mr. Pelham had come up, and
-she had introduced him to her mother with
-a tremulousness and agitation quite unlike
-her usual serenity.</p>
-
-<p>"You have been very good to my boys,"
-Mrs. Bethune said gratefully.</p>
-
-<p>"Your boys have been very good to my
-little girl," he answered, admiring the delicate
-beauty of the face, scarcely looking older
-than the unquiet one of the tall daughter
-beside her.</p>
-
-<p>"They're very enterprising," their mother
-said. "I hope she will not come to any
-harm with them. They're apt to give us
-surprises."</p>
-
-<p>"I wonder if you will give me some advice
-about her," he went on, drawn by some
-magic in the dark eyes to appeal to their
-owner for sympathy, "if I may consult you.
-It is about clothes," he said, smiling. "My
-nurse is kind and careful, but surely a baby
-in the country does not really need expensive
-dresses from a Regent Street outfitter. I
-should be so grateful if you would tell me
-where you get those pretty things your
-little boys always look so nice in."</p>
-
-<p>"Even when they are grubby?" laughed
-the mother. "I do not know where they
-could be bought. My nurse, and Marjorie, and
-I make them."</p>
-
-<p>"Then, if you do, surely my nurse ought
-to have time. I do not like my baby's
-over-dressed look; at least, white satin seems
-to be out of keeping with mud-pies and
-digging. She is great on digging just now."</p>
-
-<p>"Quite so," said Mrs. Bethune. "If you
-will send your nurse down to see me, I will
-have a talk with her."</p>
-
-<p>The Duchess of Norham, a very great
-person indeed now came up to greet Mrs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>
-Bethune. She was not one who troubled
-about dress. To-day, in her grey silk,
-and round hat, she was the most plainly
-dressed woman on the Deanery lawn.
-Charity, by her side, was an effective contrast,
-in soft, shimmering pink.</p>
-
-<p>"Glad to see you out again, my dear,"
-she said to Mrs. Bethune. "And this is
-your girl come back to you&mdash;grown past all
-knowledge. I hear wonders about her
-music," kindly. "Charity, may I take her
-away for a few minutes, presently? I want
-to hear this music Mr. Warde extols so.
-Where is he?" looking round.</p>
-
-<p>Marjorie's cheeks, in spite of her usual self-control,
-turned scarlet. But the Duchess's
-gaze was arrested by the look on Mr.
-Pelham's face. He, still standing with a hand
-on Mrs. Bethune's chair, was looking at
-Marjorie with a surprised appeal in his
-expression, as if he, too, was wondering at
-her sudden flush.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh!" thought the Duchess, "I imagined
-it was Charity. Was I mistaken then? Not
-about the girl, if those rosy cheeks are to
-be trusted."</p>
-
-<p>"Why isn't Mr. Warde here?" she asked
-of Marjorie, who, in obedience to her
-gesture, turned with her towards the house.</p>
-
-<p>"He is at the cathedral. It is his week."</p>
-
-<p>And the Duchess thought she guessed
-rightly the reason of the agitation she
-detected in Marjorie's voice.</p>
-
-<p>"The Blackton man will be unsuccessful,"
-she settled. "But Charity is pretty enough to
-console him, and it will be a good marriage
-for them both."</p>
-
-<p>This great lady was never more happy
-than when arranging marriages amongst her
-friends.</p>
-
-<p>Marjorie did not dream how her sudden
-flush had betrayed her, and forgot lovers
-and the difficulties they caused when she
-sat down to the piano. But perhaps it was
-the perplexity in her mind that conveyed
-itself to the listener, through the plaintive
-melody ending in a staccato phrase which
-fell from her fingers.</p>
-
-<p>The Duchess sat at a little distance,
-viewing with approval the delicate face,
-framed in its bright hair.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img175.jpg" width="450" height="422" alt="hush" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">"Hush! Barbe, don't call!" entreated Sandy.&mdash;<em>p. 168</em>.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>"Good, pure, true, and strong," she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>
-settled; "and," as a sudden conviction struck
-her, "she is beautiful, like her mother was
-ten years ago. Dressed"&mdash;her thoughts following
-along the same way as Charity's&mdash;"well,
-she would be a success. She is wasted on
-Mr. Warde. Shall I interfere?"</p>
-
-<p>She was so deep in thought, working out
-a sudden plan, that she did not notice when
-Marjorie ceased playing.</p>
-
-<p>Marjorie, glancing at her, asked softly&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Was that too sad? Shall I try something
-else?"</p>
-
-<p>But in a moment the Duchess rose briskly,
-and put her hand kindly on Marjorie's
-shoulder.</p>
-
-<p>"No, my dear. I shouldn't like that
-spoiled by anything else. Mr. Warde is
-right. You have a gift. But a girl like you
-should not be sad or&mdash;or perplexed. Forgive
-an old woman. Is something troubling you?"</p>
-
-<p>Marjorie looked up into the keen eyes
-above her.</p>
-
-<p>"Not troubling," she hesitated, "only
-things are sometimes perplexing."</p>
-
-<p>As she spoke her eyes travelled to the
-window, through which came the sound of
-low-voiced chatter and delicate laughter.
-The older woman, looking at the girl, saw
-a sudden arrested look come into her eyes
-and, following their direction, was again
-puzzled. Charity, standing by Mrs. Bethune's
-chair, was smiling up into Mr. Pelham's face.
-She had the manner of one who is pleased,
-and who wishes to please, and her pretty
-daintiness of pose and dress was very attractive.
-Mr. Pelham's whole attention, as he conversed,
-was given to her. In his courteous attitude
-were expressed, in the eyes of the two lookers-on,
-both deference and admiration.</p>
-
-<p>"That girl has grown very pretty," the
-Duchess said, "and Mr. Pelham seems to
-think so. He is quite an acquisition here,
-though I am amused to hear you sniffed at
-him at first."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," agreed Marjorie, a little pang at her
-heart.</p>
-
-<p>The keen eyes travelled back again to
-Marjorie's face.</p>
-
-<p>"But your mother was prettier than any
-of you. The sweetest, merriest creature ever
-seen, with you babies at her feet. I am glad
-to see her so much better, able to do even
-this little, poor soul, poor soul!"</p>
-
-<p>The sudden tears welled up into Marjorie's
-eyes at the appreciation and tenderness of
-the tone.</p>
-
-<p>"And, my dear&mdash;forgive an old woman
-again&mdash;but I think I have guessed Mr. Warde's
-hopes for a long time, and he is a good man.
-There, there"&mdash;as Marjorie's face grew agitated&mdash;"nothing
-could have happened better.
-Your mother will have you at hand, and
-though she is so unselfish and brave, she
-has missed you sadly; and there is plenty of
-money."</p>
-
-<p>Marjorie listened in silence, with a feeling
-as though chains were being bound round
-her. As she walked back by the Duchess's
-side to her mother's chair she strove in vain
-to recall her courage. In the eyes of the
-man who watched her, as she came towards
-him, the shadow on her face had deepened
-with that little excursion into the house.</p>
-
-
-<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
-
-<h3>A MIDNIGHT VISIT.</h3>
-
-
-<p>The boys had seized the opportunity of
-the attention of their elders being
-engaged elsewhere to get into mischief.
-Although they had made so
-much fuss about their right of way to
-school, it was not the only way they used.
-They had, in fact, several ways. One was
-by train to Baskerton, a village on the
-river five miles away, and thence, by lanes
-and the parks, home. This, however, required
-time and the absence of authorities. Another
-way was through Easton and the parks, up
-the course of the little stream, which at one
-point nearly touched the Court gardens. In
-this stream, its shallow waters splashing up
-against their ankles, the boys were walking,
-and the baby was prancing between them.</p>
-
-<p>"Should we take Barbe with us?" David
-had asked, pausing on the Green.</p>
-
-<p>"If we can get her," Sandy had replied.</p>
-
-<p>The boys reconnoitred, and the piercing
-whistle, which set the baby all a-quiver with
-expectation, sounded through the garden.</p>
-
-<p>"There then, go!" said nurse somewhat
-crossly, as Barbe began to stamp; and she
-went. Her education was proceeding apace.
-Her father sometimes listened aghast at the
-things which, in her baby prattle, she reported
-herself to have done.</p>
-
-<p>"See, Barbe, there's a rat!" Sandy said
-eagerly, as a flop and a splash made them jump.
-"See, it's swimmin' away."</p>
-
-<p>"'Wimmin' away," said the baby, stooping
-to look, her two hands on her two knees, and
-the front of her frock sailing on the water
-before her.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, Barbe, you're all wet!" David said,
-as they landed, and strolled up the field.</p>
-
-<p>"Wet!" she echoed delightedly. "Foots&mdash;f'ock!"</p>
-
-<p>"You'll have to be dried."</p>
-
-<p>"I know," said Sandy cheerfully; "we'll
-dry you by the Bishop's fire&mdash;almost sure to
-be a fire."</p>
-
-<p>But the study window, to which they crept
-warily by sheltered ways, was shut. The
-Bishop was absent.</p>
-
-<p>"Now what's to be done?" said David.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"I know where there's a fire," Sandy said.
-"Was this morning, 'cos of that lead. Let's
-take her to the little room."</p>
-
-<p>Again they slipped by leafy ways out of
-the Palace garden into the cathedral yard.
-The baby's wet skirts flopped round her, and
-David lifted her into his arms.</p>
-
-<p>The approach of Mrs. Lytchett, returning
-from the Deanery in unwonted bravery of
-attire, prompted them to seek refuge behind
-a tomb. Here it took the boys' whole attention
-to prevent Barbe's chatter drawing unwished-for
-notice upon them.</p>
-
-<p>"Hush! Barbe, don't call!" entreated Sandy.</p>
-
-<p>"Barbedie good girl," announced the baby
-in a loud voice, lifting herself on tip-toe to see
-the passer-by.</p>
-
-<p>Mrs. Lytchett's ears were good, and, besides,
-she felt certain at this point that her eyes
-had seen something fluttering. She stepped
-off the pathway, and examined a tomb near.</p>
-
-<p>"Hush!&mdash;sh&mdash;sh!" cautioned David, holding
-up his finger to his mouth&mdash;a movement which
-so pleased Barbe that she proceeded to copy it.</p>
-
-<p>Mrs. Lytchett passed on; the danger was
-over. David lifted up the baby and carried
-her into a little octagon room near by, built
-in the wall of the cathedral, and used frequently
-as a workroom or office.</p>
-
-<p>Here the boys were at home. It was the
-head-quarters of their greatest friends&mdash;the
-masons engaged on the renovations always
-in progress at the cathedral.</p>
-
-<p>In the grate were the slowly dying embers
-of a fire, and the room was empty.</p>
-
-<p>"Mr. Galton ain't locked up yet, knowed
-he wouldn't," said Sandy. "He likes his tea
-punctual&mdash;'spects it's time. Now, Barbe, come
-an' get done."</p>
-
-<p>Whilst David was holding the baby to
-the fire, Sandy disappeared, presently returning
-with an excited face.</p>
-
-<p>"They've nearly done," he said. "It's prime
-up there. Seems to me, we'd best settle as
-soon as possible."</p>
-
-<p>"This baby won't get dry," said David,
-gloomily. "Just look at her!"</p>
-
-<p>"I know," said Sandy, regarding the
-bedraggled Barbe. "We'll take it off an'
-leave it here. An' I'll fetch her somefink.
-Sure to be somefink stored in Margie's basket&mdash;know
-Orme made holes in himself last
-week."</p>
-
-<p>So it happened that it was a little blue
-girl&mdash;clad in one of Orme's shabbiest overalls&mdash;who
-met Mrs. Bethune's returning chair,
-and was lifted to her knee for a "yide."</p>
-
-<p>"But what has happened? where are her own
-clothes?" Mrs. Bethune asked, recognising
-the substitute.</p>
-
-<p>"We thought they were just a little
-damp," said Sandy in explanation, climbing
-up the back of the chair to kiss his mother.</p>
-
-<p>"Good boy, Sandy!" said his mother, "to
-take care of her."</p>
-
-<p>"But how did they get damp?" asked
-Marjorie suspiciously.</p>
-
-<p>"Just a little water p'raps got on them,"
-he replied, feeling the tone unkind after his
-mother's praise.</p>
-
-<p>"Then you have been in mischief?" asked
-Marjorie.</p>
-
-<p>"Barbedie walked in er water," the baby replied,
-as if she had been doing a good work.</p>
-
-<p>"You shouldn't have let her," Mrs. Bethune
-said caressingly.</p>
-
-<p>"Barbe don't want lettin'," answered Sandy
-philosophically. "She does wivout."</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>The sweets of mischief whetted the boys'
-appetites for more. They applied themselves
-with zeal to a work they had in hand, and
-for the next few days little was seen of
-them.</p>
-
-<p>One evening they were standing in a
-disused corner of the Palace grounds, under
-the ruined window of the old banqueting
-hall, which formed part of the wall enclosing
-the gardens of the modern wing of the
-house. The corner where they stood was
-immediately adjoining the wall of their own
-garden, and was part of an overgrown
-shrubbery between the ruins and the parks.</p>
-
-<p>Both boys were exceedingly dirty. Faces,
-capless heads, fingers, clothes, all bore traces
-of the underground work from which they
-had just emerged. They had burrowed from
-their cave, and were mightily pleased at
-their point of exit. No place could be more
-secluded, nor less likely to be discovered.
-And from the ruined wall close by, under
-the shelter of a spreading elder, they were
-able to drop easily either into the cathedral
-yard or the Bishop's garden.</p>
-
-<p>"Now the game begins. We've got a
-base of operations," said David grandly.</p>
-
-<p>"How much?" asked Sandy.</p>
-
-<p>"What you work from, and what you fall
-back upon, if you get besieged. And it's a
-good base too," he added, looking round.
-"We've got to make this passage hard and
-firm, and then hide it from that prying
-gardener."</p>
-
-<p>"An' we can pay back Mrs. Lytchett," said
-Sandy with joy.</p>
-
-<p>"How?"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, I know! She just hates us going to
-the Bishop's window. He told me he'd just
-got a new tin of gingerbread, an' now we
-can get in wivout goin' through the gate.
-She's made that gate so it clicks."</p>
-
-<p>"But you mustn't let her see."</p>
-
-<p>"Not me! If she comes, we'll just run
-round the house, and she'll fink we've
-come back way. And then she'll run round
-to catch us, an' we shan't be there."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Sandy spoke with the certainty of much
-experience, as, indeed, he had a right to do.</p>
-
-<p>"Our character is all gone," David said
-thoughtfully, "so it don't much matter how
-bad we are."</p>
-
-<p>"No, s'long as it ain't wicked bad.
-We'll be highwaymen, but we won't
-be thieves and robbers."</p>
-
-<p>"We can get into the cathedral, too,"
-suggested David.</p>
-
-<p>And then, with minds full of revolution
-and anarchy, the boys bent earnestly to
-the preliminary work of making their
-passage secure.</p>
-
-<p>"Ross and Orme, you're never to go
-along there without us," David said to
-his young brothers, when he had wriggled
-back to the cave whence his passage
-started. Now their services were no
-longer needed, they were felt to be
-rather nuisances.</p>
-
-<p>"If you do, you'll get smacked right
-hard," said Sandy.</p>
-
-<p>Both children fixed round eyes on their
-elders, unable to understand this sudden
-change. They were dismayed at its injustice.
-For some days they had been
-treated with indulgent kindness, all their
-faults overlooked, so long as they did
-diligent work. They were cleaned when
-possible, and consoled when their dirty
-appearance awoke wrath in the powers
-responsible for them. Now, it seemed,
-all was changed. There was no mistaking
-Sandy's attitude, as he stood ready to administer
-the smacks alluded to. Nor were
-David's frowning brows more encouraging.</p>
-
-<p>Ross tried argument. "We'se scooped,
-too," he said. "We'se got dirty, ever
-so," he added.</p>
-
-<p>"Ever so," echoed Orme.</p>
-
-<p>"No matter! You kids must do as you're
-bid, and if ever you go a step along there
-you'll catch it. See?" said David. And the
-infants, with moody brows, averred that they
-saw.</p>
-
-<p>By this time the hole which formed the
-entrance to the cave was much improved.
-The wooden steps had been replaced by a
-flight of mud steps, the making of which had
-been a joy, not only to the boys, but to the baby.
-They had required water as well as mud in
-their making&mdash;endless paddlings and pattings
-and treadings down of little feet before the
-staircase was complete. David had engineered
-the proceedings, and Mr. Warde, now and
-then hovering about the top, had conferred
-advice. He was not encouraged to descend.
-The boys wanted no prying grown-ups to
-mar their schemes. Marjorie, now and then,
-had suspicions that some extra mischief was
-afloat. Never before had she known them
-to stick to anything for so long. But she
-recollected the fascination of caves and holes,
-and was, besides, much engaged with her own
-concerns.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/img178.jpg" width="250" height="354" alt="bishop" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">The Bishop and the boy.&mdash;<em>p. 170.</em></p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>One evening the Bishop, on leaving the
-drawing-room, had gone to his study. It
-had been a wet day, and the rain had finished
-in a thunderstorm an hour or so before,
-leaving the sky washed and pellucid
-under the summer moon.</p>
-
-<p>The shutters had been closed and a little
-fire lighted; but presently, finding the room
-warm, the Bishop opened the window, and
-stood gazing over the wide lawn which
-occupied the space between the house and
-the ruins.</p>
-
-<p>The delicate tracery of the ruined window of
-the banqueting hall, and the many unevennesses
-of the walls, stood out black against the
-sky. Every object on the lawn&mdash;every bush
-and tree and flower&mdash;was sharply distinct.</p>
-
-<p>As he looked, his eye caught a movement
-among the distant shrubs. Some small object
-was advancing along the gravelled walk surrounding
-the lawn. Presently, as if attracted
-by the light, it turned off the pathway on
-to the lawn, in a bee-line for the window.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The Bishop stood watching, wondering a
-little, when the object resolved itself first into
-a small boy, and then into Sandy Bethune.</p>
-
-<p>"Why, Sandy!" he exclaimed, "how did
-you get here?"</p>
-
-<p>"Is it the middle of the night?" asked
-Sandy in his usual cheerful way.</p>
-
-<p>"Nearly. It's half-past eleven. Good
-gracious! What have you been doing?"</p>
-
-<p>For, on approaching the light, Sandy was
-seen to be covered with mud and otherwise
-much disarrayed.</p>
-
-<p>Sandy considered. He was in a deep fix&mdash;so
-deep a one as to threaten the upheaval
-and overthrow of some well-laid plans, just
-on the point of being carried out. The
-Bishop was an understanding man. Sandy
-had confided in him before, and knew his
-worth. If only Mrs. Lytchett did not live at
-the Palace, and spoil everything, Sandy would
-have been quite willing to share that residence
-with the Bishop. He had once told the Bishop
-so, artlessly asking when Mrs. Lytchett was
-going away to live elsewhere. The Bishop, on
-his side, found the children of his friend very
-charming, specially so irrepressible Sandy;
-and was ready to be lenient when their peccadilloes
-were in question. He now invited
-Sandy in, despite the muddy covering which
-encased him from head to foot. Sitting down,
-he began to question him gravely.</p>
-
-<p>"What is it, Sandy? Why are you in
-such a mess?"</p>
-
-<p>Sandy sat down on a little stool, as if
-glad to present his small person to the fire,
-and said, "It's the bovering funderstorm.
-We'd never thought of that. An' we got
-caught, an' had to take shelter, an' when
-we got back our way was bunged up&mdash;all
-squashy with mud. An' we hadn't got no
-spades nor fings out with us. So at last I
-said I would go and scout&mdash;you know&mdash;an'
-then I saw you."</p>
-
-<p>"Who's 'we'?" asked the Bishop.</p>
-
-<p>"Me an' David."</p>
-
-<p>"And how did you get into my garden?"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, over the wall. We're highwaymen,
-and we've got a way of our own."</p>
-
-<p>"Indeed. And where's David now?"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, he's over there, all muddy, tryin'
-to clean himself. He's a deal worse than
-me," said Sandy cheerfully.</p>
-
-<p>"He must indeed be bad, then. What do
-you propose to do?"</p>
-
-<p>"That's it. We can't get back to the
-pantry window now our way's gone," said
-artless Sandy. "Not in at all, not wivout
-knockin' at the door. I did think p'raps"&mdash;persuasively&mdash;"you
-cud come and knock."</p>
-
-<p>"I see. And then?"</p>
-
-<p>"Then, when you was talkin' to father,
-we cud slip in. Don't fink father would
-see&mdash;not to notice."</p>
-
-<p>"How long have you been highwaymen?"
-the Bishop asked.</p>
-
-<p>"On'y about a week&mdash;and this is a sickener,"
-said Sandy disgustedly. "We was
-ghosts for a bit at first&mdash;till a woman
-screeched so we nearly got caught, stupid
-fing!"</p>
-
-<p>And the Bishop, remembering certain reports
-that had been made to him, was
-pleased with his acumen in refusing to call
-in the police.</p>
-
-<p>"If I were you, I should try a better
-line of business," he said. "Ghosts frighten
-silly women, and highwaymen are not very
-creditable, on the whole."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," agreed Sandy. "We're goin' to.
-Next we're goin' to be pioneers and settlers."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, I see. And where are you going to
-settle?"</p>
-
-<p>Sandy's bright eyes were turned suspiciously
-to the kind ones looking down upon him.
-He fidgeted uneasily, and a smile came
-across the Bishop's face.</p>
-
-<p>"I see," he said. "Perhaps you have not
-yet made up your minds."</p>
-
-<p>Sandy looked uncomfortable. "Not 'zactly,"
-he confessed. "Truth is, it depends&mdash;I don't
-fink Dave would like me to tell. It's such
-a grand plan," he went on enthusiastically,
-"it 'ud be such a pity&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"To have it spoilt. Well, don't get into
-more mischief than you can help," the Bishop
-cautioned, "and don't do anything to make
-your mother uneasy."</p>
-
-<p>"Mother? Oh, mother'll laugh&mdash;she always
-does. You see, the bother is," confided
-Sandy, "there ain't no places to pioneer&mdash;every
-bit's taken. An' we've on'y just
-thought on it; an' it's splendid. We want a
-girl badly, though. Margie? No, Margie's no
-good. Settlers has wives an' squaws," went
-on Sandy pensively, "and we've on'y got
-Barbe lately, an' she's aw'fly little. 'Sides,
-you have to take such care on her&mdash;she's
-the on'y one Mr. Pelham's got. There's a
-lot of us, but mother says she cudn't
-spare not the littlest bit of one. So much
-less him his one, an' such a little one. It's
-a 'sponsibility," sighed Sandy, "when you
-want to do fings."</p>
-
-<p>Through the open window came the musical
-sound of the chimes from the cathedral.
-The Bishop, with a quick sigh, rose.</p>
-
-<p>"There is a quarter to twelve. Your
-father will be going to bed. Fetch David
-quickly."</p>
-
-<p>"Should fink he's cleaned by now," said
-Sandy hopefully. "He was rubbin' himself
-wiv the leaves off the trees&mdash;drippin' wet."</p>
-
-<p>Mr. Bethune opened his front door in
-response to a low knocking, which at first
-he did not hear. His eyes had the unseeing,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>
-far-away look in them of a man disturbed
-in a possessing line of thought. The red
-light in the hall shone on the face of the
-Bishop, who entered and stood on the doormat
-for a minute, in such a position as to
-shield the entrance of the two muddy boys.</p>
-
-<p>"Here is the <cite>Guardian</cite> for you," he said,
-"with a very appreciative notice of your
-paper." Then he went on, "And tell Marjorie
-to-morrow morning not to be too cross with
-the state of the boys' clothes. They've been
-in mischief, but it won't happen again&mdash;not
-the same sort."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 350px;">
-<img src="images/img180.jpg" width="350" height="475" alt="pretending" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">The father pretended not to hear the scuffling of small feet.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The two men looked at one another and
-laughed, and the father pretended not to
-hear the scuffling of small feet upon the
-stairs. The Bishop
-went home with no
-weight on his conscience&mdash;only
-a little
-pathetic envy of the
-man he had just
-left. Somehow
-those stifled scufflings
-up the stairs
-had gone straight
-to the depths of
-his very tender and
-lonely heart.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>"The Bishop
-knows all 'bout it,"
-excused Sandy
-sturdily, when confronted
-by Marjorie
-the next morning.</p>
-
-<p>"The Bishop
-knows that all
-your clothes are in
-the bath, with both
-taps running!"</p>
-
-<p>"Well, he does,"
-Sandy repeated,
-"proberly. He said
-we were the out-an'-outest
-dirtiest
-little grubs he'd
-ever seen."</p>
-
-<p>"That you are&mdash;no
-one will contradict
-him. But he
-couldn't know that
-your clothes were
-in the bath."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, he would.
-If they were so
-dirty, where else
-could they be? It's
-all that 'gustin'
-funderstorm."</p>
-
-<p>"Thunderstorm!"
-echoed Marjorie
-suspiciously. "That
-was at ten o'clock. What has that got to
-do with your clothes and the Bishop?"</p>
-
-<p>"Tell you it has. You'd best ask him, if
-you don't b'lieve me," said Sandy, hurt at her
-unbelief. "Anyhow, he does know that they
-was dirty. An' just cos we want to save
-trouble an' wash 'em ourselves, you're cross
-an' spiteful. Girls are no good&mdash;'cept little uns.
-What's there to put on? Best be somefink
-old, cos there's a deal of diggin' to be done."</p>
-
-<p>"I shall stop that digging if you make
-such a mess of yourselves."</p>
-
-<p>"You'd best not," said David meaningly,
-from his bed in the further corner. "If you
-do, you'll be sorry," he said darkly.</p>
-
-<p class="center">
-<small>END OF CHAPTER SIX.</small>
-</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">&nbsp;</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img181a.jpg" width="450" height="257" alt="songs" />
-</div>
-
-<h2>Three Songs of Birth</h2>
-
-<h3>A <em>Christmas Sermon</em></h3>
-
-<p class="center">By the Rev. Hugh Miller, M.A.</p>
-
-<p class="hanging">
-"Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in<br />
-the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."&mdash;<span class="smcap">St. Luke</span> ii. 13, 14.<br />
-</p>
-
-
-<div class="drop">
-<img src="images/img181b.jpg" alt="T" width="100" height="86" class="cap" />
-<p class="cap_1">Three times
-are we
-told in
-Scripture
-that the
-angels sang.
-At the birth
-of the world,
-when the
-foundations
-of the earth
-were laid, the
-morning stars sang together and all the
-sons of God shouted for joy. When
-Jesus was born into the world a multitude
-of the heavenly host praised God
-and said, "Glory to God in the highest,
-and on earth peace, good will toward
-men." And when anyone is born again
-there is joy among the angels in heaven
-over the sinner that repenteth. The subject
-of the song in each case is the same:
-the leading <em>motif</em> of them all is man.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>Man, to begin with, was God's chief
-end in creation, and the angels sang not
-so much because a new world had been
-made, but rather because a new being
-akin to themselves was put into it, to
-whom they might minister and with
-whom they might co-operate in the doing
-of God's most holy will; and this season
-comes to remind us of our inherent dignity
-in God's sight, of the noble ideal He has
-formed for us, of the value He sets on
-those whom He sent His Son to seek and
-to save. As God made us and as He
-intends us to be, we are not a little higher
-only than the animals, we are rather
-only "a little lower than the angels." He
-has crowned us with glory and honour
-and set us over the work of His hands.
-He has put all things under our feet.
-The material universe was made for man,
-to be his home, to develop his powers, to
-be a test and discipline of his moral
-character. I refuse to be reduced to the
-same rank, or to be placed in the same
-order, as the beasts that perish. Remembering
-the angels' first song, I assert
-my supremacy.</p>
-
-<p>And man is most of all supreme because
-God has given him the freedom to choose
-the objects of his life, and the means by
-which he can secure them. Sun, moon
-and stars are bound by laws which they
-cannot transgress. The movements of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>
-animals are guided by impulses and instincts
-over which they have no moral
-control. To man alone belongs the power
-of refusing to bow before God's greatness
-and of disobeying God's commands. Man
-only has this sovereignty; but his sovereignty
-led to his servitude, and the
-chains that bound him were forged by
-an angel who fell before man's fall.</p>
-
-<p>If, then, all the angels worshipped and
-adored when man was made with the
-great gift of free choice, how must the
-holy ones that remained after the first
-and great apostasy have grieved when
-the fallen angels took man along with
-them in their fall! For because of man's
-disobedience God's idea in making man
-seemed to be thwarted and the peace
-and good will to which he was called
-appeared no longer possible. Instead of
-being the master of creation, he was
-now to a large extent its unhappy victim.</p>
-
-<p>We know from hints thrown out here
-and there in Scripture with what absorbing
-interest the angels followed the plans
-of God to bring order once more out of
-the chaos caused by sin, and the effort
-He put forth to create a new heaven
-and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
-No wonder, then, that when
-the fulness of the time was come, and
-God sent His Son, made of a woman,
-made under the law to redeem man,
-the angels should have sung a second
-time, and anticipated for man at last
-a happy time of peace and good will.</p>
-
-<p>The angels had a clear perception of
-the purpose of Christ's coming. One of
-the chief of them said to Joseph, "Thou
-shalt call His name <span class="smcap">Jesus</span>: for He shall
-save His people from their sins." And
-they all sang when He came, because
-they knew that God was now dealing
-in a special and most effective
-way with that dark thing which cast
-its shadow on heaven as well as on
-earth. And it becomes us to remember
-that it is the sin of man which in
-the mind of God and His holy angels is
-associated with the coming of Jesus
-Christ. To this end was He born, and
-for this cause came He into the world.</p>
-
-<p>The sin of our first parents had passed
-on from generation to generation, and
-each one of the millions of mankind had
-to say, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity;
-and in sin did my mother conceive me";
-and each fulfilled in his own life all too
-truly the sad promise of his birth. How
-was the tradition to be broken, and yet
-broken by one who really belonged to
-the race? The instincts of man himself
-foreshadowed the truth. Stories of a
-virgin birth here and there discernible in
-paganism show the deep intuition which
-was realised in Jesus Christ. He came
-into the world to fight with sin, to redeem
-a race steeped in a terrible heritage
-of evil, and that He might redeem it
-He Himself was born, and yet was free
-from evil.</p>
-
-<p>He fought sin and He conquered it.
-Why, then, has the angels' song not been
-fulfilled? Why does sin still cast its
-shadow on earth and heaven alike? Why
-does God's loving purpose in sending His
-Son seem still to suffer so wide defeat?
-Because in his recovery as in his fall,
-man's will must play its part. I can only
-be saved from sin when I <em>will</em> to be saved;
-I only become a partaker of the benefits
-which Christ brought from heaven to
-earth when, yielding to the inspiration
-of the Holy Spirit, I turn with full
-accord to Jesus Christ as my Saviour.
-Marvel not, therefore, that we say to you
-with peculiar emphasis on the day in
-which Christ was born, "Ye must be born
-again." Otherwise, His birth is of no avail
-to you and me. We are not honouring
-Him, we are putting Him rather to an
-open shame, if we keep out of our thoughts
-at this time the supreme purpose of His
-coming, if we are not personally dealing
-with Him even now as to the burden
-and guilt of our sin.</p>
-
-<p>But we can set the angels a-singing in
-the sky, and the melody of their music
-can be felt in our own hearts, if we
-turn in lowly penitence to Him who
-came to save His people from their sins,
-and to quicken them to a new life of
-righteousness and peace and joy. Only
-when a man comes to himself in lowly
-penitence, and then goes to his Father
-with a lofty faith, does he enter into the
-full purpose of his manhood; and only
-then, also, is there not only joy among
-the angels in heaven over the sinner
-that thus repenteth, but there is music
-and dancing on the earth as well, and
-the old life ends in which sin reigned,
-and the new begins in which Christ
-reigns; and His reign means "Glory to
-God in the highest, and on earth peace,
-good will to men."</p>
-
-<p>"There is no peace, saith my God, to
-the wicked."</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">&nbsp;</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2>O Wondrous Night!</h2>
-
-<h3>A NEW CHRISTMAS CAROL.</h3>
-
-
-<p>
-<em>Words by</em> <span class="smcap">Arthur Bryant.</span> <em>Music by</em> <span class="smcap">Charles Bassett.</span><br />
-</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">1.  O wondrous night! O wondrous night! we fain would tell<br /></span>
-<span class="i6">The news the Angel told;<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">The holy vision which befel<br /></span>
-<span class="i6">The Shepherds by their fold.<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">With fear they saw, with gladness heard<br /></span>
-<span class="i6">The heav'nly minstrelsy,<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">With hope each trembling heart was stirred<br /></span>
-<span class="i6">At that sweet harmony: ...<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">"We bring good news Which ne'er shall cease;<br /></span>
-<span class="i6">To God be praise, to God be praise,<br /></span>
-<span class="i8">On earth be peace."<br /></span>
-</div>
-
-<div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">2.  O wondrous sight! O wondrous sight for simple swains,<br /></span>
-<span class="i6">With hasty steps who sped;<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">The music of those joyous strains<br /></span>
-<span class="i6">To that poor manger led.<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">With awe they gazed on Christ the Lord<br /></span>
-<span class="i6">Amid that happy throng,<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">And Israel at His feet adored,<br /></span>
-<span class="i6">Taught by the Angels' song: ...<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">"We bring good news, Which ne'er shall cease;<br /></span>
-<span class="i6">To God be praise, to God be praise,<br /></span>
-<span class="i8">On earth be peace."<br /></span>
-</div>
-
-<div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">3.  O wondrous night! they homeward turned<br /></span>
-<span class="i6">To where their flocks did lay,<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">And sang the song they late had learned<br /></span>
-<span class="i6">To cheer them on their way.<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">The timid dawn began to peer<br /></span>
-<span class="i6">Across the dewy wold;<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">Their lips in accents loud and clear<br /></span>
-<span class="i6">The gladsome tidings told:<br /></span>
-<span class="i8">"We bring good news," &amp;c.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">4.  O wondrous sight, that God should live<br /></span>
-<span class="i6">In robe of flesh for man!<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">O wondrous Love, Himself to give<br /></span>
-<span class="i6">When closed His mortal span!<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">Sing, O ye skies! be joyful, earth!<br /></span>
-<span class="i6">Ye winds, bear o'er the seas<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">The news of blessèd Jesu's birth,<br /></span>
-<span class="i6">And those sweet harmonies:<br /></span>
-<span class="i8">"We bring good news," &amp;c.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">&nbsp;</a></span></p>
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img184a.jpg" width="450" height="96" alt="comfort" />
-</div>
-
-<h2>THE HOUSE COMFORTABLE.</h2>
-
-<p class="center">By Lina Orman Cooper, Author of "The House Beautiful," Etc.</p>
-
-
-<div class="drop">
-<img src="images/img184b.jpg" alt="T" width="100" height="112" class="cap" />
-<p class="cap_1">The House Beautiful must
-needs be also the
-House Comfortable, if
-we take true loveliness
-to consist of perfect
-fitness for service.
-Thoroughness is the
-keynote of each. In
-order to strike it we
-must have entered heart and soul into
-Ruskin's translation of St. Ursula's
-Room. Carpaccio himself painted the
-useful in the beautiful in this famous
-picture. From the princess's book, set
-up at a slope fittest for reading, to
-the shelf which runs under the window,
-providing a place to put things on&mdash;from
-a silver lamp on the white wall
-to the little blue slippers beside her
-bed, each detail ensures comfort of the
-first quality.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>Comfort is a thing quite apart from
-fashion. So it is easier to indicate the
-road which leads to the House Comfortable
-than it was to point out details
-in the House Beautiful. We most of us
-agree about the essentials required for
-real comfort: chairs upon which you
-can sit fearlessly; beds which rest and
-do not bruise; arms that support without
-cramping; pokers that bend not;
-strong tables and sharp knives, these
-are a sample of the things I mean. But
-true comfort depends on more than
-surface surroundings. It is indissolubly
-linked with attention to detail. The
-houses to which guests return time
-after time is the one in which soap is
-never absent from its tray, and where
-pillows are not only covered with
-frilled slips, but also stuffed with down
-and interlined with soft covering in
-place of waxed ticking.</p>
-
-<p>I would say, first of all, that the House
-Comfortable must stand in a sunny situation.
-This ensures warmth and light,
-without which our bodies are ill-nourished
-and miserable. "Where the
-sun never comes the doctor does" is a
-much-to-be-quoted proverb. We cannot all
-live exactly where we like. Circumstances
-of business, and means, generally determine
-locality. But common-sense must
-guide us in the selection of our houses. If
-we would be really comfortable, we must
-live in light, dry, airy, and clean homes.
-Never take a house on the sole recommendation
-of its pretty appearance. To
-have a really beautiful house we must
-first see that it is essentially built for
-comfort. The really useful and good is
-generally ornamental, for it possesses the
-realistic beauty of <em>fitness</em>. A north and
-south aspect for the chief sitting rooms,
-with east and west windows, secures both
-sunshine and shade. We want afternoon
-coolness as well as morning light. If our
-apartment looks towards the sun rising,
-heavy curtains should be ready to draw
-when east wind rages. A stick to effect
-this noiselessly is a small boon much
-appreciated. If our casement faces the
-golden gates of the west, no such protection
-is called for. But all windows
-should have double blinds&mdash;white outside,
-to absorb heat, and dark inside, to veil
-the sun when necessary. The comfort of
-lying in bed, facing a dark green blind
-can only be estimated by those who have
-reluctantly been disturbed by the too
-early shafts of the god Ph&oelig;bus.</p>
-
-<p>There should be a triple water supply in
-the House Comfortable; ewers always
-filled from the soft-water pump. Every
-well and tank should be tested ere we
-take up residence. Pure water, and
-plenty of it, is essential to the health (and
-therefore comfort) of every household.
-It should be perfectly clear and bright,
-and free from taste or smell. Yet impurity
-may lurk even in the most sparkling
-water. Therefore science must decide
-as to its desirability. If only iron or
-lime water is procurable, jars of lump
-ammonia, or a bottle of cloudy liquid
-ammonia, a bag of oatmeal or a bundle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>
-of bran should lie on every washstand.
-The hot-water boiler not only supplies
-unlimited baths, but may be devised to
-heat the house. In every Canadian home
-a stove in the cellar warms the rooms
-above by means of drums and fans. We
-might do much the same in England with
-our hot-water pipes. These should
-certainly run through the linen-press and
-clothes cupboards, and terminate in bathroom
-spirals. On these, towels and rough
-sheets could be dried and aired. A face
-cloth always warm is one of the luxuries
-in our House Comfortable.</p>
-
-<p>After sanitation, ventilation takes its
-place in the home. How to secure a constant
-supply of fresh air is a question
-which demands most serious consideration.
-In ages past, houses were unintentionally
-ventilated by the ill-fitting
-doors and window-frames, wide chimneys,
-and open fire-places. But in our modern
-buildings comfort is secured by almost
-air-tight doors and windows. Ventilators
-at the top of such are delightful and
-necessary for real comfort, or a Queen
-Anne casement may have a swing in its
-upper frame. It is not always easy, however,
-to secure exemption from draught
-in our modern mansions. When the
-brick-and-mortar fiend has placed door,
-window, and fireplace exactly opposite
-each other, screens must be judiciously
-used. A brass rod from which hangs a
-curtain, screwed into the door jamb and
-suspended by a tiny chain from the ceiling,
-is a good thing, or an ordinary <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">portière</i>
-may be allowed. The former plan, however,
-enables us to keep the door open
-without feeling a wind.</p>
-
-<p>Padded stair-carpets secure noiseless
-ascent in the House Comfortable. Cork
-mats by the big bath are welcome to bare
-feet. Many cupboards are a necessity.
-A place for everything and everything
-in its place is one of the initial rules for
-everyone's comfort. It is also Divine
-law. Hanging presses, medicine cupboards,
-butler's pantry, housemaid's
-closets, keep dresses from dust, poisons
-from the unwary, silver and glass
-intact, and brushes unworn.</p>
-
-<p>The House Comfortable must not be
-over-servanted. Neither must it be
-undermanned. Of the two evils, the
-latter is preferable, as the mistress herself
-then looks after the minutiæ of her
-house. With all deference to Matthew
-Prior, comfort does not flow on a line
-with ignorance. It requires a cultivated
-intelligence to provide such in our homes.</p>
-
-<p>Education has done much for us on
-this point. How not to do it in the
-House Comfortable is exemplified by the
-abodes of our forefathers. Going over
-Beaumaris Castle the other day, I noted
-the small apertures for exit; the high
-caverns of chimneys; the windows of
-horn; the crooked stairs. Nowadays we
-find stoves and slow combustion grates
-quite a necessity for comfort&mdash;whilst
-lofty ceilings, broad staircases, and wide
-windows can be quite as picturesque,
-and are far more to be desired.</p>
-
-<p>The dictionary definition of the word
-"comfort" implies enlivenment and capability
-for dispensing bodily ease. For
-this, moral qualities are as necessary as
-well-planned, well-equipped houses.</p>
-
-<p>Punctuality, for instance, is an ingredient
-required to secure a comfortable
-home.</p>
-
-<p>When breakfast and dinner are movable
-feasts, served up at the whim of a
-lie-a-bed or a gad-about, they can only be
-make-believes, after all. Cold coffee is
-unpalatable even when partaken of in a
-sunny room. Whitey-brown sausages are
-unappetising unless piping from the pot.
-Yet this&mdash;like all other virtues&mdash;may be
-strained too far. Nothing is more uncomfortable
-than to feel no latitude is
-allowed to a weary guest, or to find one's
-host at marmalade three minutes after
-the time appointed for the disappearance
-of a savoury. Courtesy in this must be
-our rule. Neatness is another necessity.
-No house can be really comfortable that
-is littered with papers, or in which boots
-lie in the drawing-room&mdash;yet finickiness
-in arrangement makes the home unbearable.
-The most uncomfortable visit I
-ever paid was to the most scientifically
-correct house. Chairs were not allowed
-to touch the wall-paper; footstools
-never shifted. A towel for wiping down
-the varnish of the bath was provided,
-and&mdash;I was made miserable! By all means
-keep paint and paper in as much primitive
-purity as possible, but let unobtrusive
-service guard these points.</p>
-
-<p>Much more could I discourse of the
-House Comfortable, but space forbids.
-Let me only remind you that the veriest
-cottage&mdash;plenished with wisdom and
-lovingly provided&mdash;may fulfil all its conditions
-just as well as the most luxurious
-castle.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">&nbsp;</a></span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p>Told in Sunshine Room.]</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img186a.jpg" width="450" height="279" alt="donkey" />
-</div>
-
-<h2>DONKEY BOY <span class="smcap">To The</span> QUEEN</h2>
-
-<h3><em>A TRUE INCIDENT.</em></h3>
-
-<p class="center">By Alfred T. Story</p>
-
-<h4>Part II.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="drop">
-<img src="images/img186b.jpg" alt="I" width="100" height="99" class="cap" />
-<p class="cap_1">A week passed before anything
-further was heard.
-Then a summons came
-for Tam to appear before
-her Majesty on the
-following afternoon. He
-was duly in attendance,
-and had not long to
-wait before a man in Highland costume
-came into the room where he was seated
-and said&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Noo, my braw laddie, her Most Gracious
-Majesty and his Royal Highness the
-Prince Consort will come in through
-that door in twa seconds. When they
-enter all you hae to dy is ta stan' up
-an' mak' yer obeisance. An' when they
-ax ye a question jist ye say yes or nae,
-your Majesty, or your Royal Highness,
-as the case may be. An' if they ax ye
-naething&mdash;weel, jist ye say naething in
-return."</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>With these words the wise servitor
-withdrew. Barely had he gone out of
-one door ere the other opened, and the
-same lady he had seen before, leaning
-on the arm of the gentleman he likewise
-remembered, appeared before friend Tam.
-They were both dressed much more
-richly than when he had previously seen
-them, the lady having a brilliant star
-on her breast, and the gentleman wearing
-a silken sash over his shoulder.</p>
-
-<p>For a moment the boy was confused,
-but he recovered himself sufficiently to
-recollect that he had to make an
-"obeisance." He had omitted to ask
-the Highland gentleman what that was,
-but he thought it must be something
-like the soldier's salute, and so he stood
-perfectly upright and saluted.</p>
-
-<p>"So you have come, my lad, to see her
-Majesty about the position of donkey-boy?"
-said the gentleman.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, sir&mdash;your Royal Highness," replied
-Tam. Only when he had got out
-the word "sir" did it flash upon him
-that he was standing before the Queen
-and her Royal Consort.</p>
-
-<p>"Well, her Majesty has caused inquiries
-to be made about you, and she finds
-that, although you are a little wayward
-and sometimes disobedient to your grandparents,
-you are not on the whole a bad
-boy."</p>
-
-<p>"No, your Royal Highness," said Tam.</p>
-
-<p>"Does that mean that you are not a
-bad boy, or that you do not sometimes
-disobey your grandparents?"</p>
-
-<p>This question, though backed by a
-genial smile, somewhat disconcerted the
-would-be donkey-boy. He was silent
-for a moment, then he answered, looking
-first at one and then at the other,
-with that straight glance of his, "I
-hae sometimes been disobedient to my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>
-grandparents, but I think I have learned
-better now."</p>
-
-<p>"I am glad to hear that," said the
-Prince.</p>
-
-<p>Then, speaking for the first time, the
-Queen said, "Well, Tam, if I make you
-my donkey-boy, will you promise to be
-obedient to all my slightest wishes and
-commands? Do not answer lightly. I am
-a severe mistress in that I expect the
-strictest obedience and attention to
-duty. But I, in return, am strict in
-doing my duty to those I employ."</p>
-
-<p>"And if you prove a worthy and
-trustworthy servant," added the Prince,
-"your position is secure for life."</p>
-
-<p>"Not, however, as a mere donkey-boy all
-your days," put in the Queen with a smile.</p>
-
-<p>Said Tam with a faltering tongue: "If
-ye'll try me, your Majesty, I'll do my
-best, and," he added, as though struck
-with a sudden thought, "I'll no need
-to lick the donkeys, 'cos I ken hoo ta
-mek 'em run 'thout the stick."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;">
-<img src="images/img187.jpg" width="300" height="429" alt="Yetta" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">Yetta threw up her hands in amaze.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>"And how do you do that?" asked the
-Prince with a smile.</p>
-
-<p>"I meks 'em carry a bunch o' thistles
-afore 'em."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, we will see," replied her Majesty,
-smiling. "Now you may run home and
-tell your grandparents you are to be ready
-to begin duty this day week. But before
-you go you will see the gentleman who
-spoke to you a minute or two ago."</p>
-
-<p>With these words and a kindly smile
-the Sovereign and her Royal Consort
-withdrew.</p>
-
-<p>The one door closed, the other immediately
-opened, and again entered the
-Highland gentleman. "Sae ye hae been
-engagit ta look after ta cuddies, eh?" he
-questioned.</p>
-
-<p>Tam said he had.</p>
-
-<p>"Aweel, it's a verra guid step in life
-for a young callant to begin wi', an' if ye
-tek heed there's nae telling whereto it
-may lead&mdash;ablins even to the primiership,
-if ye ken what that is. For ye mun know,
-the gift o' the heaven-made Prime Minister
-is just to ken hoo ta manage a' th' human
-cuddies that are sent to Parliament to
-bother 'em. But mebbe a' that's a wee bit
-abune yer understanding as yet, and sae
-we'll just leave it an' speer aboot yer
-claes."</p>
-
-<p>Needless to say how surprised Donal
-and Yetta were to hear Tam's story, how
-thankful to reflect that their boy
-was to have such a start in life.
-He reported to them what had
-been said, and the promise he
-had given, and they believed that,
-like the Jamison he was, he would
-be true to his word. All the same,
-they did not omit to pray for that
-guidance and support for him
-without which his own efforts
-would be vain.</p>
-
-<p>The evening before Tam's week
-was up a parcel was delivered at
-Jamison's door, addressed to his
-grandson. It contained a complete
-new suit, as the Highland
-gentleman had said, "from the
-skin outwards." Never was seen
-such a brave outfit, to Tam's
-thinking. He turned it over and
-admired it, article by article, for
-at least a couple of hours, but
-would not try it on, or any part
-of it, until he had had a good
-wash. The tub was never a thing
-he was shy of, but on this occasion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>
-it was used as though he intended to
-wash out his every fault, as well as all
-the merely superficial smuts and stains
-that had accumulated, so as to appear
-before his Queen a spotlessly clean cuddy-tender.</p>
-
-<p>When the operation was completed, Tam
-indued himself in his new garments and
-went on parade, so to speak, before his
-grandmother. Yetta was busy stirring
-the matutinal porridge when he walked
-into the ben and said:</p>
-
-<p>"How do I look, granny?"</p>
-
-<p>Yetta, turning round, threw up her
-hands in amaze. She hardly knew him, so
-great was the transformation effected
-by the new clothes and the scrubbing he
-had given himself. Donal was no less
-surprised when he came in from his
-morning milking. Tam looked two inches
-taller and a lot sprucer.</p>
-
-<p>"Ye mind me of yer puir father," said
-the old man as he sat down to breakfast.</p>
-
-<p>That was a note of sad recollection which
-brought tears to Yetta's eyes; but a smile
-was soon gleaming through them when
-Tam, getting sight of Meg, who was
-eyeing him as it were askance, said
-drily, "Meg looks as if she hardly kenned
-what ta mek of her handiwark; for the
-beginning o't was a' her doing."</p>
-
-<p>Just then the noise of wheels was heard
-on the road, and as the messenger who
-brought the clothes left word that one of
-the Queen's carriages would pick him up
-on the morrow, Tam thought surely this
-was the one. But it was not. Indeed, he
-ran to the door at least twenty times ere,
-towards eleven o'clock, his vehicle arrived.
-It was a quaint affair, half carriage, half
-wash-basket, drawn by two asses, creatures
-as beautiful of their kind as could
-be found. It was driven by her whom
-he knew, and by her side were several
-bright little faces, while the Highland
-gentleman, riding behind on one pony,
-as sturdy and Hielan' as himself, led
-another by the bridle.</p>
-
-<p>Donal and Yetta came out and with
-bowed heads thanked the august though
-simple-hearted lady for the great kindness
-she had shown to their boy. She
-replied with a kindly smile:</p>
-
-<p>"There appears to be the making of a
-good man in him, and, with God's help,
-we will do our best to make him one."</p>
-
-<p>Little more was said, and, mounting
-the led pony, Tam rode off by the side
-of the faithful retainer, who never got
-further away from the carriage than the
-dust raised by its wheels.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>Thus commenced Tam's career in life.
-Though he served the noblest lady in the
-land, he did not find his way one altogether
-of buttered parsnips and cream.
-The one thing abhorrent to his royal
-mistress was idleness and indifference.
-The motto of her establishment&mdash;of all her
-establishments&mdash;was "The diligent eye."
-In this principle she found not only the
-best interests of her own house, but the
-best interests also of those who served her.</p>
-
-<p>Tam could not be called idle, nor could
-he be called exactly indifferent; but
-during the years of his tending of cattle
-and sheep on the brae-side he had got
-into the habit of liking to loll about, to
-saunter and dream, and then to make
-up, or try to make up, the leeway of
-work or duty by a spurt of energy.
-Another fault he had was to leave things
-about&mdash;for others to "side" or put in order.
-This arose, no doubt, from the narrow
-dimensions of his home, where there was
-hardly room for everything to have its
-particular place. It was, however, neither
-a very grievous nor a deeply rooted
-fault; and a little sharp drilling, not
-unfrequently at the hands of the Highland
-gentleman&mdash;a sort of major of the
-household, who possessed "the diligent
-eye" <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">par excellence</i>&mdash;soon corrected Tam's
-delinquency in this regard.</p>
-
-<p>But the other fault was more deeply
-rooted and cost the young donkey-boy
-many a bad quarter of an hour. Indeed,
-on one occasion it nearly cost him his
-place. He had been given a task to do,
-and in place of doing it with all diligence
-he had been found with his feet growing
-to the ground, as it were. The consequence
-was an interview with the Highland
-gentleman, who told him, "Tam, ye have
-either ta pe punisht or to leave her
-Majesty's service: which shall it pe?"</p>
-
-<p>"I'll tek the punishment, sir, if you
-please," he answered.</p>
-
-<p>"Tam, ye are a wise poy, an' we'll
-mebby mek a man o' ye yet," said the
-major-domo.</p>
-
-<p>Tam took his punishment, and was the
-better for it; but he still failed to come
-up to his royal mistress's ideal of a
-servant. Like his fellow-servitors, he had
-plenty of time for rest and recreation:
-hours of labour were by no means long.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>
-So much time had he, indeed, for himself,
-that the Highland gentleman put suitable
-books before him, and counselled him to
-improve his mind by reading and study.
-He failed, however, to profit by the advice,
-and was presently made aware of
-his error by a violent thunder-clap.</p>
-
-<p>He was in attendance on his royal
-mistress one day, when she and the
-children were out for a drive. A poor
-body was met, in apparent distress, by
-the wayside. Inquiry was made as to
-her condition, present help was extended,
-and a promise of future beneficence given
-if further investigation should warrant
-its bestowal. Hence the necessity arose
-for an address to be written down, and
-Tam, who was that day the only person
-in attendance, was requested to do it.</p>
-
-<p>When Tam entered the royal service
-he could read a bit and write very imperfectly;
-but there had been time, had
-he followed the counsel given him, to
-have greatly improved himself in both
-those accomplishments. Not having done
-so, he fumbled egregiously over the task
-set him, and, in short, made such a hash
-of it that an eye of wrath was turned
-upon him.</p>
-
-<p>Tam had seen that eye in all its moods&mdash;of
-laughter and smiles, of grief, of earnestness,
-of affection, even of solemnity and
-awe, but he had never as yet beheld it
-flash in indignant wrath. He felt as
-though the muscles of his knees had been
-cut away and the ground was sinking
-from under his feet. What would he not
-have given to be miles away! But he had
-to face the storm, and it came in this
-way:</p>
-
-<p>"Were not books and paper and ink put
-before you? And were you not advised
-to improve your reading and writing?"</p>
-
-<p>Tam falteringly admitted that such
-was the case.</p>
-
-<p>"Why did you not attend to the
-advice?"</p>
-
-<p>"I&mdash;I&mdash;&mdash;" stammered the ease-loving
-Tam.</p>
-
-<p>"Had you not the time?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes."</p>
-
-<p>"Then why did you not do as you
-were wished?"</p>
-
-<p>Tam hung his head in shame.</p>
-
-<p>"Tam Jamison, listen to me. I will
-have those in my employ attend to
-my wishes, and attend to them with
-all their might. Do you wish to be
-ignorant all your life, when the time
-and the means for improvement are
-placed at your command? In three
-months' time I shall expect you to
-read and write in such a way that
-you will be able to fulfil in a creditable
-manner a simple duty like that you
-have to-day so grievously failed in. Now
-we'll go on."</p>
-
-<p>Tam Jamison wanted no more speaking
-to. He was now thoroughly awake: and
-he went to work with all his might to do
-the behest of his mistress and Sovereign,
-and, in truth, he made prodigious
-progress; so that when it happened
-one day&mdash;he being then in attendance
-on her Majesty in another part of the
-country&mdash;that she required the names
-of several rare plants to be written
-down for her future use, he did it so
-cleverly that he was rewarded with a
-pleased smile.</p>
-
-<p>Tam felt that he had acquired wings
-that afternoon, and the strangest part
-of the affair was, that when he came to
-reckon up precisely, he discovered that
-it was three months to a day since his
-"royal earwigging," as the Highland
-gentleman called it.</p>
-
-<p>To that worthy man Jamison communicated
-his delight. "Ah," said he,
-"ye thocht, like many anither, that ye
-were doing a great service to her
-gracious Majesty by your few hours of
-daily labour; but, guid faith, she does a
-mighty deal mair for ye than ye, or ony
-the likes o' ye, can do for her. Serve
-'maist onybody else in the kintra, an'
-they'll take yer service an' gie ye yer
-wage, an' there's an end. But when her
-Majesty teks ye intil her household she
-teks ye to mek a man o' ye&mdash;if it's in
-ye, ye ken. An' weel she knows hoo ta
-do it&mdash;nane better. Sae ye just go on
-as ye've begun, Tam Jamison, an' ye'll
-mebbe no bide a feckless cuddy-callant
-till ye're auld an' blind."</p>
-
-<p>Jamison did not need to be taught his
-lesson a second time. He made diligent
-use of his opportunities, and improved
-so much and so visibly that when he
-was fifteen he was raised to the position
-of page. A greater mark of appreciation
-could hardly be given to one in the
-royal employ; for her Majesty's pages
-are amongst the most trusted of her
-servants.</p>
-
-<p>At first the humbler duties of a page
-fell to his lot; but as he improved in
-thoughtfulness and intelligence, and in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>
-his knowledge of the manifold and delicate
-duties which fell to his care&mdash;in
-which he had the aid and instruction of
-one of her Majesty's oldest and most experienced
-pages, a man who had been in
-her service ever since she ascended the
-throne&mdash;he rose higher and higher in the
-royal service and the royal consideration,
-until at last his services were
-rarely required except on State and exceptional
-occasions only.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img190.jpg" width="450" height="364" alt="Tam" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">Tam hung his head in shame.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Scarcely a week passed that he did
-not recall the words of him we have
-called the Highland gentleman, when he
-said that the Queen did more for those in
-her service than they could ever do for
-her, in that she not only made men and
-women of them, but treated them more
-as gentlemen and ladies than as mere
-domestics. There were no servants in
-her employ, no matter how humble their
-sphere, but she knew them by name and
-had their welfare at heart; and if they
-served her well, she never lost sight of
-them, or forgot them&mdash;no, not even when
-the grave took them into its transitional
-embrace.</p>
-
-<p>Jamison had had abundant opportunities
-to note and set these things down
-in his heart, but he was never so much
-impressed by her Majesty's deep regard
-for those who served her faithfully and
-well as when, one dripping autumn day,
-he was required to accompany her to
-the churchyard of a rural village, halfway
-betwixt London and Windsor&mdash;in
-which, a day or two before, the aged
-servant above referred to had been
-buried&mdash;in order that she might lay
-a wreath upon his grave. It bore the
-words, "In grateful remembrance of a
-devoted and faithful servant, V.R.," and
-as she bent down to place it with her
-own hand upon the grave a tear fell
-upon the flowers that outshone the
-brightest jewel of her crown.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">&nbsp;</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2>TEMPERANCE NOTES AND NEWS.</h2>
-
-<p class="center">By a Leading Temperance Advocate.</p>
-
-
-<h3>THE TEMPERANCE HOSPITAL.</h3>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 240px;">
-<img src="images/img191a.jpg" width="240" height="314" alt="Ridge" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">DR. J. J. RIDGE.</p>
-
-<p>(<em>Photo: J. Bacon, Newcastle-on-Tyne.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The story of
-the Temperance
-Hospital in
-Hampstead Road
-forms one of the
-most interesting
-chapters in temperance
-history.
-When the experiment
-of
-treating accidents
-and disease
-without the administration
-of
-alcohol was first
-mooted, the idea
-was assailed with
-a storm of criticism
-in which the
-medical profession found a most active ally in
-the public Press. A quarter of a century has
-now elapsed since the first patient was received
-in the temporary premises in Gower Street,
-and although the medical staff have full permission,
-under certain regulations, to administer
-alcohol if deemed expedient, the last Report
-states that out of a total of 13,984 in-patients,
-alcohol has only been resorted to in twenty-five
-cases. The percentage of recoveries compares
-most favourably with the ordinary
-hospitals, and the
-cases include every
-variety of disease
-and accident. The
-present head of
-the medical staff is
-Dr. J. J. Ridge,
-who has been connected
-with the
-institution from
-the first. For
-many years it has
-been the custom
-of the United
-Kingdom Band of
-Hope Union to organise
-a Christmas
-collection in aid
-of the Temperance
-Hospital. The
-amount thus realised
-has reached
-many thousand
-pounds, and it is
-hoped that this
-year's collection will prove the best of the
-series. The body of evidence in favour of
-total abstinence which the Temperance Hospital
-has accumulated certainly entitles the
-institution to the cordial support of the temperance
-public.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 375px;">
-<img src="images/img191b.jpg" width="375" height="242" alt="hospital" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">THE TEMPERANCE HOSPITAL, HAMPSTEAD ROAD, LONDON.</p>
-
-<p>(<em>Photo supplied by the Press Studio.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-
-<h3>COMING EVENTS.</h3>
-
-<p>Among the fixtures worth noting may be
-named the New Year's Meeting of the
-United Kingdom Band of Hope Union on
-Saturday, January 7th; the Annual Meeting
-of the London United Temperance Council,
-to be addressed by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
-on February 13th, in the Queen's Hall;
-a great Industrial Exhibition, promoted by
-the Hackney and East Middlesex Band of
-Hope Union, on April 10-13; Temperance
-Sunday for London Diocese April 23rd (St.
-George's Day, a grand opportunity for the
-clergy to strike a national note); and, as it
-is well to look ahead, a World's Temperance
-Convention to be held under the auspices
-of the National Temperance League in 1900.</p>
-
-
-<h3>THE NEW ENGLISH DICTIONARY.</h3>
-
-<p>It may be news to some of our readers that
-Dr. James A. H. Murray, the editor-in-chief
-of the monumental literary work which has
-been in progress for so many years, is an
-earnest total abstainer and a Vice-President of
-the National Temperance League. Dictionary-making<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>
-and total abstinence seem to run together.
-In William Ball's "Slight Memorials
-of Hannah
-More" is this
-remark: "I
-dined last week
-at the Bishop
-of Chester's. Dr.
-Johnson was
-there. In the
-middle of dinner
-I urged Dr.
-Johnson to take
-a <em>little</em> wine. He
-replied: 'I can't
-drink a <em>little</em>,
-child, therefore I
-never touch it.
-Abstinence is as
-easy to me as
-temperance
-would be difficult.'" It is rather curious to
-note that it is only within recent years that
-our dictionaries have taken any cognisance
-of the meaning which temperance people
-give to the word "pledge." More than
-this, in the early dictionaries the word
-was almost exclusively given up to the
-other side of the drink question. For instance,
-in Bailey's Dictionary (1736) we have
-the following definition of the word
-"pledged":&mdash;"Having drank by the recommendation
-of another."... "The custom of
-pledging in drinking was occasioned by the
-Danes, who, while they had the superiority in
-England, used to stab the English or cut their
-throats while they were drinking; and thereupon
-they requested
-of some
-sitter-by to be
-their pledge and
-security while they
-drank; so that 'I
-will pledge you'
-signifies 'I will be
-your security that
-you shall drink in
-safety.'"</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/img192a.jpg" width="250" height="335" alt="dictionary" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">"DICTIONARY" MURRAY.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Contrast this
-with the definition
-given in the last
-edition of Webster's
-Dictionary:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"A promise or
-agreement by
-which one binds
-one's self to do, or
-to refrain from
-doing something;
-especially a solemn promise in writing to
-refrain from using intoxicating liquors or
-other liquor; as to sign the pledge."</p>
-
-<p>No doubt, when Dr. Murray reaches the letter
-"P," we shall have a definition even still more
-illuminating. The New English Dictionary
-viewed from a temperance standpoint would
-make a delightful study. Take, for instance,
-volume one, in which "Alcohol" has more
-than a column to itself, while "Ale" has two
-columns, "Beer" two and a half columns, and
-"Abstain," "Abstainer," and "Abstaining" are
-treated with a wealth of illustration and meaning
-derived from such authorities as Wyclif
-in 1382 down to J. W. Bardsley (the present
-Bishop of Carlisle) in 1867, who is pressed
-into the service in this form:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"<span class="smcap">Abstaining.</span>&mdash;Practising abstinence (from
-alcoholic beverages) 1867. <span class="smcap">J. W. Bardsley</span> in
-'Clerical Testimony to Total Abstinence' 30:
-'The bride was the daughter of an abstaining
-clergyman.'"</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/img192b.jpg" width="250" height="321" alt="sterling" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">MADAME ANTOINETTE
-STERLING.</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>Photo: Walery, Ltd., Regent Street, W.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Now we will leave it to our fair readers to
-puzzle over until
-next month as
-to who the
-blushing bride
-was who is thus
-assured of immortality
-in the
-greatest Dictionary
-the world
-has ever seen.</p>
-
-
-<h3>"TWO QUEENS
-OF SONG."</h3>
-
-<p>"Example is
-better than precept,"
-says the
-old adage, and
-there can be no
-doubt that the
-example of Madame
-Antoinette
-Sterling
-and Mrs. Mary Davies in the matter of total
-abstinence has been of the utmost value. It
-was at a reception given by Mr. and Mrs.
-Frederick Sherlock at Hackney, in 1892, to
-the Archbishop of Canterbury (then Bishop
-of London), that Madame Sterling, to the surprise
-of a delighted audience, volunteered "a
-few words." The gifted singer remarked that
-"she had been nearly all her life a total
-abstainer. When on long tours with members
-of her profession, it had been rather an
-aggravation to them to see, when they were
-pretty well prostrated, that she was almost
-or quite as fresh at the end of the journey
-as at the beginning. They also complained
-of the quality of the wine furnished to them,
-as well as of water. She took milk and cocoa,
-and also water, of which she did not complain,
-and scarcely missed one engagement in
-the seventeen years during which she had been
-before the public. She had never had a day's
-bad health, and had not suffered from those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>
-aches and pains of which she had heard other
-people complaining continually." Like Madame
-Sterling, Mrs. Mary Davies has upon many
-occasions shown a deep and practical interest
-in philanthropic work.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/img192c.jpg" width="250" height="356" alt="Davies" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">MRS. MARY DAVIES.</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>Photo: H. S. Mendelssohn, Pembridge
-Crescent, W.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img193.jpg" width="450" height="400" alt="bucket" />
-<div class="caption"><p>(<em>Photo supplied by the Press Studio.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class="center">MUSCULAR TRAINING AT
-THE NAVAL SCHOOL,
-GREENWICH.</p>
-
-<p>(<em>Photo supplied by the Press Studio.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class="center">BUCKET-OF-WATER RACE AT THE NAVAL SCHOOL.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-
-<h3>A FAMOUS BAND OF HOPE.</h3>
-
-<p>Possibly the most
-unique Band of Hope in
-the world is that which
-is held in the Royal
-Naval School, Greenwich.
-It was founded so far
-back as 1871, by Samuel
-Sims, an honoured agent
-of the National Temperance
-League, and upon
-his death, in 1892, was
-taken over by Mr. W. S.
-Campbell, as the League's
-representative. No pressure
-at all is put upon
-the lads to induce them
-to join the Band of Hope, but, as a matter of
-fact, most of the lads in the school readily do
-so, and the present membership is fully a
-thousand strong. Regular weekly meetings
-are held, and the annual gathering, which is
-held in the great gymnasium, is a most
-inspiriting spectacle. A visit to the Royal
-Naval School, if it should happen to be in
-recreation time, cannot fail to afford considerable
-satisfaction to those who like to
-see Young England at play. Every type of
-healthy pastime is encouraged in its turn,
-and these young abstainers have frequently
-shown that they are well able to hold their
-own. It is encouraging to know that the
-principles of total abstinence are not discarded
-when the lads pass out into the
-Royal Navy or Mercantile Marine, for every
-year large numbers of
-them are drafted into
-Miss Weston's well-known
-temperance society.</p>
-
-
-<h3>TEMPERANCE SUNDAY.</h3>
-
-<p>The appointment of a
-special Sunday for the
-preaching of sermons
-on temperance originated
-with the Church of England
-Temperance Society
-many years ago. Owing
-to various circumstances,
-it is not possible for the
-Church of England clergy to take one Sunday
-simultaneously for the whole country, but
-each diocesan Bishop makes choice of a day
-and issues a pastoral letter to his clergy, so
-that at one period of the year or another
-the whole country is covered, so far as the
-Church of England is concerned. The Nonconformist
-bodies have, however, for some
-years past, fixed upon the last Sunday in
-November for Temperance Sunday, and as we
-go to press we learn that this year special
-reference will be made to the importance of
-Sunday Closing.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">&nbsp;</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2>SCRIPTURE LESSONS FOR SCHOOL &amp; HOME
-INTERNATIONAL SERIES</h2>
-
-<h3>With Illustrative Anecdotes and References.</h3>
-
-
-<p class="center"><span class="smcap">December 18th.</span>&mdash;<strong>The Captivity of Judah.</strong></p>
-
-<p><em>To read&mdash;Jer. lii. 1-11. Golden Text&mdash;Jer. xxix. 13.</em></p>
-
-<p>This chapter describes the fate of Judah.
-Later kings were all wicked. Warnings
-of Jeremiah and other prophets all been
-in vain. Time has come for judgment.
-Captivity in Babylon, long foretold, now about to
-commence. Came about in reign of Zedekiah. The
-eleven verses of this lesson almost identical with
-Jer. xxxix. 1-10.</p>
-
-<p>I. <strong>The King</strong> (1-3). <em>His name.</em> Originally Mattaniah,
-was son of good King Josiah and uncle of
-late King Jehoiachin. Jeremiah had prophesied of
-a future king (Jer. xxiii. 5-7) as the "Lord our
-righteousness." The king assumed that name, and
-was called Zedekiah.</p>
-
-<p><em>His acts.</em> "Did evil," but had not always been
-altogether evil. Had made covenant with nobles
-and priests to abolish slavery (xxxiv. 8-10). But
-his great wrong was breaking his solemn oath of
-allegiance to king of Babylon (2 Chron. xxxvi. 13).
-This looked upon as his crowning vice (Ezek. xvii. 8),
-for which God's anger was upon him (ver. 3).</p>
-
-<p><strong>Lesson.</strong> When thou vowest a vow defer not to
-pay it.</p>
-
-<p>II. <strong>The Siege</strong> (4-7). City besieged for last time.
-Jews never forgot day it began. Was January&mdash;tenth
-day of their tenth month. Great mounds or (earth-works)
-outside walls to shoot burning arrows, etc.;
-houses outside thrown down (Jer. xxxiii. 4). Famine
-and pestilence soon ravaged crowded population
-inside.</p>
-
-<p><em>The assault.</em> City, after eighteen months, taken
-by assault at northern gate (B.C. 587). King and
-his family and royal guard escaped by passage between
-two walls (Jer. xxxix. 4), by royal gardens,
-down steep descent towards Jericho. There he was
-overtaken and made prisoner. His broken oath
-caused his destruction (Ezek. xvii. 20).</p>
-
-<p><strong>Lesson.</strong> Evil shall hunt the wicked to overtake
-him.</p>
-
-<p>III. <strong>Babylon.</strong> He was taken to Babylon. His
-sons killed in his sight, then his eyes put out,
-bound with chains, kept in prison till death.
-Feeble in will, faithless in promise, judgment came
-upon him.</p>
-
-<p><strong>Lesson.</strong> 1. The word of the Lord standeth sure.</p>
-
-
-<h4>Bargains.</h4>
-
-<p>He who buys the truth makes a good bargain. Zedekiah
-dealt in falsehood and lost his throne. Esau sold
-his birthright for a basin of soup. Judas made a bad
-bargain when he sold his Lord for the price of a slave.
-Take heed to the thing that is right, for that alone shall
-bring peace at the last.</p>
-
-
-<p class="center"><span class="smcap">December 25th.</span>&mdash;<strong>A Christmas Lesson.</strong></p>
-
-<p><em>To read&mdash;Hebrews i. 1-9. Golden Text&mdash;St. Luke ii. 11.</em></p>
-
-<p>This letter written to the Hebrews, i.e. Christians
-of Jewish birth who clung to the priesthood and
-services of the Temple as well as to Christianity.
-St. Paul shows how far the Christian system was
-superior to and superseded the Jewish. The types
-and ceremonies of the Law fulfilled in Christ,
-whose birthday is kept at Christmas.</p>
-
-<p>I. <strong>God's Revelation</strong> (1-2). <em>Past.</em> God revealed or
-unveiled Himself of old. This revelation inferior
-in three ways, viz. (1) It was given gradually,
-in portions, a part at a time. (2) Given in divers
-manners, under many figures and types. (3) Given
-by prophets, only human.</p>
-
-<p><em>Present.</em> Final revelation of God's truth&mdash;once
-for all given to the saints (Jude 3). Given by His
-Son&mdash;the Word of God (St. John i. 1, 2); heir of
-all things&mdash;God's agent in creation of the universe.</p>
-
-<p>II. <strong>God's Son</strong> (3-9). <em>Great in Himself.</em> Has
-Divine glory&mdash;the outshining of the Father's glory.
-He is God's image, the counterpart of the Father.
-To see Christ is to see God (St. John xiv. 9).</p>
-
-<p><em>Great in His work.</em> (1) <em>Upholder</em> of the universe
-as well as its Creator. (2) <em>Saviour.</em> Came not
-only as prophet to reveal God's will, but to
-purge man's sin. This He did by Himself with
-His own blood (ix. 12, 14).</p>
-
-<p><em>Greater than angels.</em> In His person, His work.
-His exaltation to glory; testified by Scripture, <em>e.g.</em>
-Psalm ii. 3 tells of Christ's eternal Sonship&mdash;also
-referred to by St. Paul as fulfilled in His resurrection
-(Acts xiii. 33).</p>
-
-<p><em>King over all.</em> Christ also a King. Rules in
-righteousness (Psalm xlv. 6, 7); received throne
-as victor over His enemies&mdash;sin, death, and the
-devil (xii. 2). Raised high above all.</p>
-
-<p><strong>Lesson.</strong> Christ is King&mdash;honour Him; He is
-Saviour&mdash;love Him; He is God&mdash;fear Him. Kiss
-the Son, lest He be angry, and so ye perish. Blessed
-are all they that put their trust in Him.</p>
-
-
-<h4>Christ in the Old and New Testaments.</h4>
-
-<p>A weaver, who had made an elaborate piece of
-tapestry, hung it upon the tenterhooks in his yard.
-That night it was stolen. A piece of tapestry was
-found by the police, which seemed to answer the description;
-but, as the pattern was not unlike that of
-other pieces, they wanted more definite proof. It was
-brought to the weaver's yard, and there the perforations
-in the fabric were found to correspond exactly
-to the tenterhooks. This was proof positive. In like
-manner, if we place the life and character of Christ
-against all the prophecies of Him in Scripture, they
-will be found to correspond exactly.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span></p>
-
-
-<h4>1899.</h4>
-
-<h5><em>New Series. The Gospel according to St. John.</em></h5>
-
-
-<p class="center"><span class="smcap">January 1st.</span>&mdash;<strong>Christ the True Light.</strong></p>
-
-<p><em>To read&mdash;St. John i. 1-14. Golden Text&mdash;Ver. 4.</em></p>
-
-<p>New Year&mdash;new course of lessons. This Gospel
-records the deeper spiritual truths of Christ's
-teaching, especially about His own Nature and
-Person. It sets Christ forth as God. St. John
-tells his object in writing a fourth Gospel in
-chap. xx. 31, which the class should read.</p>
-
-<p>I. <strong>The Nature of Christ</strong> (1-3). <em>Eternal.</em> In
-the beginning, not of the world, but before all
-creation, from everlasting. <em>Divine Word.</em> Christ is
-the expression of the mind of God. Came to reveal
-God to man (xv. 15). <em>Living Person.</em> The Word
-not a mere attribute or power of God but a distinct
-Person. "With God" from everlasting. Not inferior
-to the Father, but very God Himself. <em>Creator.</em> As
-well as Saviour and Governor of the world (read
-Col. i. 16, 17; Heb. i. 2).</p>
-
-<p>II. <strong>The Office of Christ</strong> (4-13). <em>Source of Life.</em>
-As very God He had life in Himself, which He
-poured forth on His creation (vv. 25, 26; xvii. 2).
-<em>Source of light.</em> The life from Son of God is cause
-of man's inward spiritual light by which he is saved.
-<em>Himself the light.</em> World was in spiritual darkness
-at Christ's coming. <em>Giver of light.</em> No man has
-light in himself, however great his natural powers.
-All true light is from Christ.</p>
-
-<p><em>Rejected.</em> By His own. The world He made knew
-not its Creator (1 Cor. i. 21). The nation He chose to be
-His own special people (Deut. vii. 6) received Him not.</p>
-
-<p><em>Received.</em> By a few&mdash;both Jews and Gentiles;
-such as Nicodemus the ruler (iii. 1, 2), the disciples
-from Galilee (ii. 11), and others. How did they
-receive Him? By believing in Him. This faith,
-itself the gift of God, rewarded by further privilege
-of becoming God's sons&mdash;born into God's family by
-a new and spiritual birth (iii. 3).</p>
-
-<p>III. <strong>The Glory of Christ</strong> (14). Word was made
-flesh by taking to Himself man's human nature.
-He dwelt (<em>literally</em> "pitched His tent") with men,
-full of mercy to heal bodies and souls, full of
-God's truth to teach.</p>
-
-<p><strong>Lessons.</strong> 1. <em>Hold fast the Christian faith.</em> Jesus
-Christ one for ever with the Father. <em>God</em>&mdash;eternal,
-glorious, Creator, Giver of light and life to the
-soul&mdash;yet <em>Man</em>, like one of us.</p>
-
-<p>2. <em>Live the Christian life.</em> Jesus is our example,
-that we should follow His steps.</p>
-
-
-<h4>Christians walking in the Light.</h4>
-
-<p>A little girl in a London slum won a prize at a
-flower-show. Her flower was grown in a broken teapot
-in a back attic. When asked how she managed to
-grow the beautiful flower, she said her success came
-from always keeping the plant in the only corner of the
-room ever favoured by a sunbeam. Only by walking in
-the light and sight of God can Christians truly grow
-and bear fruit.</p>
-
-
-<p class="center"><span class="smcap">January 8th.</span>&mdash;<strong>Christ's first Disciples.</strong></p>
-
-<p><em>To read&mdash;St. John i. 35-46. Golden Text&mdash;Ver. 36.</em></p>
-
-<p>Christ now thirty years old; has been baptised
-and received special outpouring of Holy Ghost (ver.
-33), and also been tempted in the wilderness (St.
-Matt. iv. 1). Is now ready for His public work
-and ministry. Now begins to win disciples.</p>
-
-<p>I. <strong>The first two Disciples</strong> (35-40). <em>Heard of
-Him.</em> Picture Christ walking near the Jordan. St.
-John, who had baptised Him, points Him out to
-his followers. Describes Him: this the Lamb of
-God to Whom all the sacrifices pointed; the innocent
-lamb slain told of the death of the spotless
-Son of God for man's sin. His words went home.</p>
-
-<p><em>Followed Him.</em> Who were they? Andrew, Simon
-Peter's brother, and probably St. John, writer of
-the Gospel, brother of James. Why did they
-follow? To learn more of Him. Had been baptised
-with baptism of repentance. Sense of sin
-led them to seek the Saviour. Christ knew their
-thoughts, encouraged them to learn more of Him
-(St. Matt. xi. 28, 29).</p>
-
-<p>II. <strong>The third Disciple</strong> (41, 42). The two friends
-separate the next day, each in search of his brother.
-Andrew soon finds his&mdash;eagerly tells the news.
-They have found the long-expected Messiah, the
-Anointed of God. Brings Simon to Christ. No
-greater proof possible of having really found Christ
-than bringing another to Him. Christ looks with
-eager and searching eye at Simon&mdash;reads his very
-heart, sees his longing after truth; gives him a
-new name, Cephas (Hebrew) or Peter (Greek),
-meaning "a rock" or "stone." What did this
-signify? His bold and determined character, strong
-in the faith (St. Matt. xvi. 16), eager in defence
-of Christ (xviii. 10), and, after his fall and
-forgiveness, strong in love (xxi. 15).</p>
-
-<p>III. <strong>The fourth Disciple</strong> (43, 44). Philip of Bethsaida.
-Must have heard his friends talking of
-Christ. Probably stirred in his heart. Christ found
-him, as He afterwards found Zacchæus St. (Luke
-xix. 5). His mission to seek as well as to save.
-Happy they who obey Christ's call and follow Him.</p>
-
-<p>IV. <strong>The fifth Disciple</strong> (45, 46). Philip soon shows
-marks of discipleship. He finds Nathanael. Tells
-him how Christ fulfilled prophecies, such as of a
-"prophet" like unto Moses, a "king" whose name
-should be "the Lord our righteousness" (Jer. xxiii.
-5, 6). Nathanael asks in honest doubt if it can
-be possible for the Messiah to come from despised
-Nazareth. Philip did not argue, but bade him
-"Come and see"&mdash;the best cure for all doubts.</p>
-
-<p><strong>Lessons.</strong> From the Baptist: The dying Saviour
-the greatest magnet for drawing souls.</p>
-
-<p>From Andrew: Show religion first at home.</p>
-
-<p>From Simon: Taste and see how gracious the Lord is.</p>
-
-<p>From Philip: Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing
-by the Word of God.</p>
-
-<p>From Nathanael: Hearken unto me, and I will
-teach you the fear of the Lord.</p>
-
-
-<h4>"There's Another."</h4>
-
-<p>A traveller lost in the snow on the Alps was rescued by
-one of the famous dogs of St. Bernard. When restored to
-consciousness his first words were, "There's another."
-The monks to whom the dogs belonged continued their
-search, and "the other" was found and saved. "Are you
-saved?" Is there not another whom you can rescue
-from sin and bring to the life of God?</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">&nbsp;</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img196a.jpg" width="450" height="146" alt="arrows" />
-</div>
-
-<h2>Short Arrows</h2>
-
-<h3>NOTES OF CHRISTIAN LIFE AND WORK.</h3>
-
-
-<h5>The Quiver Santa Claus.</h5>
-
-<div class="drop">
-<img src="images/img196b.jpg" alt="L" width="100" height="96" class="cap" />
-<p class="cap_1">Last month we published full
-particulars of our scheme to
-provide Christmas Stockings
-for the many poor and friendless
-little ones who are not
-on Santa Claus's visiting list,
-and we appeal to our readers
-for their hearty practical co-operation
-in this work. Each stocking will contain
-wholesome goodies, in the shape of cake and
-sweets, in addition to an unbreakable toy and a
-Christmas card. The Proprietors of <span class="smcap">The Quiver</span>
-have headed the subscription list with a donation
-of £25, which is sufficient to provide the contents
-of</p>
-</div>
-
-<p class="center"><strong>
-FIVE HUNDRED CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS FOR<br />
-POOR AND FRIENDLESS CHILDREN,</strong>
-</p>
-
-<p>a sum of <strong>one shilling</strong> being sufficient to furnish a
-stocking and pay the postage. But, as we can
-profitably distribute <em>thousands</em> of such presents,
-we confidently look to all lovers of the children
-to lend their generous aid, in order that as many
-as possible of the destitute little mites may have
-their Christmas brightened by such a welcome
-gift. We shall also be glad to receive recommendations
-from our readers of suitable cases for
-the receipt of the stockings, and for this purpose
-the special application form to be found in our
-Extra Christmas Number ("Christmas Arrows")
-should be used. As the time is short, contributions
-for the Christmas Stocking Fund should be
-sent <strong>at once</strong> to the Editor of <span class="smcap">The Quiver</span>,
-La Belle Sauvage, London, E.C., and all amounts
-of one shilling and upwards will be thankfully
-acknowledged in our pages.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/img196c.jpg" width="250" height="548" alt="alms" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="center">CURIOUS ALMS-BOX IN PINHOE CHURCH.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-
-<h5>A Curious Alms-box.</h5>
-
-<p>In the interesting parish church of Pinhoe, near
-Exeter, appears a very curious alms-box surmounted
-by the figure of a man who seems, from
-his costume and general character, to date from
-the period of James I. He holds two books in
-his hand&mdash;representing most probably Bible and
-Prayer Book&mdash;one of which bears the inscription,
-"Y<sup>e</sup> Poor Man of Pinhoo, 1700," but from
-information with which the vicar of the parish,
-the Rev. Frederick W. Pulling, has kindly supplied
-us, it appears that the books were added in
-1879-80, when the church was restored. Previously
-the figure held a small flimsy box in front of him.
-He was, however, placed on the present handsome
-oak box bearing the inscription, "Remember<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>
-y<sup>e</sup> Poor," and the old flimsy box was removed.
-The present box was constructed from some very
-ancient timber from the roof of Salisbury Cathedral,
-when under repair. What the figure was
-originally intended to represent&mdash;whether a beadle,
-the dispenser of charities, or a relieving officer&mdash;is
-not known. Curiously enough, the parish records
-are quite silent as to the figure, and when, some
-time since, it was repaired it was sent to the
-eminent antiquary and ecclesiologist, the Rev.
-Mackenzie Walcott, who said he had seen only
-two such figures before. The wooden backing is
-of Jacobean style, and was designed by the architect
-in 1879 to strengthen the whole structure.</p>
-
-
-<h5>"God Bless the Kernel."</h5>
-
-<p>After the marvellous achievements in his two
-Chinese campaigns, which were sufficient to have
-made the reputations of a dozen ordinary colonels,
-Gordon came back to England in 1865 as poor as
-when he left home. During the next six years,
-which he spent in Gravesend as an engineer, the
-future keeper of Khartoum devoted a large portion
-of his leisure to visiting the sick and to teaching
-and training many of the ragged and neglected boys
-of the rough neighbourhood. So truly did these
-poor lads love their colonel that it was not uncommon
-to see chalked up on the walls the singular
-inscription, "God bless the Kernel." Their
-gratitude was apparently stronger than their
-orthography. When Englishmen reflect how
-Gordon placed his Divine Master first in every
-enterprise of his life, they must feel that no institution
-intended to honour the dead hero at
-Khartoum can be a worthy memorial which is
-not grounded on the rock of Christianity.</p>
-
-
-<h5>Christmas Cards and Gift-Books.</h5>
-
-<p>Christmas is pre-eminently the season of universal
-good-will, and the custom of conveying
-seasonable greetings by means of the attractive
-Christmas card is every year becoming more
-general. Amongst the publishers of these mementoes
-Messrs. Raphael Tuck and Sons take front
-rank, and the specimen box of cards, calendars,
-story-books, and illustrated texts, recently received
-from them, affords ample proof that the variety
-and artistic excellence which have always characterised
-their productions are well maintained
-this year. Some of the cards are veritable works
-of art, and deserve more than the temporary
-appreciation usually accorded to such; but the
-palm for novelty, both in design and treatment,
-must be accorded to the calendars, many of
-which are most original in conception, and all
-are daintily and tastefully produced.&mdash;For years
-past we have been accustomed to look for a
-Christmas book from Mr. Andrew Lang, and
-this season he has edited an edition of "The
-Arabian Nights Entertainments," which Messrs.
-Longmans have published in a charming cover,
-and with a number of clever illustrations by
-Mr. H. J. Ford.&mdash;Another suitable gift-book for
-children is "His Big Opportunity" (Hodder and
-Stoughton), a brightly written story by Amy
-Le Feuvre; whilst for young people what more
-inspiriting and interesting work could be presented
-to them than the life-story of the pioneer
-missionary, "Mackay of Uganda," of whose
-biography a new illustrated edition has just been
-issued by the same publishers.&mdash;We have also
-received the current yearly volumes of our contemporaries,
-<em>Good Words</em> and <cite>The Sunday
-Magazine</cite> (Isbister &amp; Co.). These would both
-form valuable additions to any Sunday-school
-library, and are also admirably adapted for use
-as prizes or presents.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/img197.jpg" width="250" height="375" alt="laughing" />
-<div class="caption"><p>(<em>From a Photograph.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class="center">THE LAUGHING GOD OF CHINA.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-
-<h5>Compensation.</h5>
-
-<p>An Irishman being bound over to keep the
-peace against all the Queen's subjects, said,
-"Then Heaven help the first foreigner I meet!"
-We are reminded of this when we see people
-civility itself to a good servant they are afraid
-of losing, or to the strongest-willed person in their
-home, and then relieving their pent-up feelings
-by being rude to the rest of the family.</p>
-
-
-<h5>Laughter and War.</h5>
-
-<p>"Have you any gods around here?" inquired an
-English traveller in rural China. "Oh, yes," replied
-a venerable Celestial; "the three Pure Ones, the
-God of the Fields, and the Goddess of Mercy." "My
-old friend, I am afraid your gods are not a few."
-"Foreign teacher," said the old man, "verily,
-verily, our gods are ten thousand and thousands of
-thousands." Some are of stone, others of wood,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>
-clay, or bronze. One may be purchased for a
-farthing, another will cost £200. The Laughing
-God in our illustration is a representation in coarse
-pottery of Quantecong, supposed to be the first
-emperor. There are laughing Buddhas for sale,
-and some few images of beneficent mien; but the
-great horde are intended to inspire awe or terror.
-The second illustration is a well-executed terra-cotta
-figure of a deified warrior. The drawn
-sword and beard are similar to those of Kwante,
-the God of War, regarded as the head of the
-military department in China. In 1,600 state
-temples dedicated to him the mandarins worship
-once a month, and in thousands of smaller temples
-he is honoured with sacrifices of sheep and oxen.
-His worshippers believe that he was a general, who
-just about the time that the Prince of Peace came
-to this world in great humility made the enemies
-of China to tremble. The elevation or manufacture
-of gods is a simple affair. The keeper of an
-idol shop collects the heads, limbs, and trunk that
-he has moulded out of mud, unites them in one
-ill-proportioned figure, slips a frog, snake, lizard,
-or centipede into the hole in the back, and the
-idol is ready for dedication and worship! The
-calm, colossal Buddha at Peking is seventy feet
-high, but it can only witness to a blind feeling
-after God.</p>
-
-
-<h5>An Ancient Manuscript of St Matthew.</h5>
-
-<p>The romance of New Testament manuscripts
-is again enlarged; this time by the discovery of
-a papyrus fragment containing a part of the Gospel
-according to St. Matthew. The precious sheet was
-found in the Libyan desert, about one hundred and
-twenty miles south of Cairo, by Messrs. Grenfell and
-Hunt, the discoverers of the <em>Logia</em>. It is thought
-that this fragment may be older by a hundred
-years than any other manuscript of the New
-Testament hitherto available. Its value, had it
-been a whole book instead of two leaves, would
-have been priceless. Even so, it is of singular
-interest. Its actual history, of course, is beyond
-discovery, but its appearance amongst the world
-of scholars reminds us of the strangely varied
-channels through which Greek manuscripts of the
-New Testament have come down to us. There is
-the romantic story of the discovery, in a monastery
-on Mount Sinai, of the priceless manuscript
-known as the <cite>Codex Sinaiticus</cite>. There is the
-scarcely less valuable <cite>Codex Alexandrinus</cite> which
-the British Museum now guards; that came to
-England as a gift to King Charles I. from a
-Patriarch of Constantinople. There is the great
-manuscript which is one of the glories of the Vatican
-Library at Rome, where it is believed to have
-been ever since that library was founded. There
-is the <cite>Codex Ephraemi</cite> at Paris, its ancient
-writing partly legible beneath a much later work
-written over it&mdash;a manuscript which once belonged
-to Catherine de Medicis. There is another palimpsest
-brought to England from a convent in the
-Nubian desert. There is the manuscript presented
-by Laud to the Bodleian, and supposed to have
-been used by the Venerable Bede. In truth, the
-history of these treasures is full of romance, and
-it is but fitting that new discoveries should
-furnish other examples of the strange ways in
-which the text of the Holy Scriptures in various
-parts and forms has been preserved for us.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/img198.jpg" width="250" height="402" alt="war" />
-<div class="caption"><p>(<em>From a Photograph.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class="center">A GOD OF WAR.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-
-<h5>Humours of Hymen.</h5>
-
-<p>While nothing can be so distressing to a clergyman,
-whose duty it is to solemnise marriages, as
-irreverence or flippancy, he can hardly fail to
-be amused, if many of his people are poor and his
-area is wide, at the occasional results of a genuine
-ignorance, or a legitimate nervousness. A well-known
-church in Central London can furnish
-several singular and recent experiences. It is
-not often that either of the contracting parties
-comes furnished with a prayer-book, but on a
-certain occasion the bride, a rather strong-minded-looking
-lady, did so, and insisted on holding
-it sternly and steadily under the nose of her
-future spouse. In repeating the passage in which
-"cherish" occurs, a bridegroom, in a faltering
-voice, expressed his willingness "to love and to
-'<em>perish</em>.'" "Oh, sir, I do feel <em>that</em> nervous!" once
-pleaded another embarrassed swain in the middle
-of the service. A widower, who was extremely
-awkward and stupid in making the responses
-after the minister, apologised by saying, "Really,
-sir, it is so long since I was married last that I
-forget"! Another bridegroom, though middle-aged,
-seemed somewhat diffident with regard to his
-responsibilities, and answered to the inquiry,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>
-"Wilt thou love, comfort, honour, etc.?" "To the
-best of my abilities I will." A year or two ago,
-the roof of the particular church of which we are
-thinking was being renovated, and the interior
-was a maze of ladders. Under these a superstitious
-bride earnestly begged not to be compelled
-to go, so she was considerately conducted to the
-chancel by a circuitous route. There was a wedding
-last year at which a tiny bridesmaid made her
-appearance. As he had married her parents about
-six summers previously, the clergyman thought he
-might venture to take her by the arm and to place
-her in her proper position behind the bride. Considerably
-to his surprise, the small damsel hit out
-at him in a most workmanlike manner straight
-from the shoulder, and the edifice resounded with a
-terrific yell of defiance, "Me <em>won't</em>! Me <small>"WON'T</small>!"</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 450px;">
-<img src="images/img199.jpg" width="450" height="339" alt="famine" />
-<div class="caption"><p>(<em>Photo supplied by the Church Missionary Society.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class="center">INDIAN ORPHANS AT A BREAKFAST SUPPLIED BY MISSIONARIES.</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<em>A scene during the recent famine.</em>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-
-<h5>Some New Books.</h5>
-
-<p>One of the most interesting biographies of the
-season is that of Bishop Walsham How, which
-has just been issued by Messrs. Isbister, prefaced
-by an excellent portrait of the late prelate. The
-Bishop was principally known by his work in the
-East of London, where he was greatly loved by
-clergy and parishioners alike, and many excellent
-stories are related <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">apropos</i> of his cheeriness and
-tolerant good nature in dealing with the mixed
-elements of his crowded diocese. The memoir
-seems full and complete, as, indeed, it should be,
-the biographer being Mr. Frederick How (a son of
-the late Bishop), who had access to all the private
-memoranda of his father, and was naturally
-acquainted with every incident of interest concerning
-him. From the same publishers comes an
-excellent work by our contributor, Dean Farrar,
-on "Great Books," in which he critically reviews
-the life and works of Bunyan, Shakespeare, Dante,
-Milton, and other "master-spirits." Though admittedly
-written for young people, the volume
-contains much that is valuable and interesting to
-older readers. Messrs. Isbister have also recently
-issued a volume of sermons by the Rev. Stopford A.
-Brooke, under the title "The Gospel of Joy."
-Whilst we do not endorse all the views expressed
-by the author, yet at the same time we are bound
-to confess that Mr. Brooke's eloquent addresses
-teem with happy and suggestive thoughts.&mdash;A
-daintily produced volume reaches us from the
-Scientific Press in the form of Mr. J. T. Woolrych
-Perowne's account of his recent journey in Russian
-Central Asia, published under the comprehensive
-title "Russian Hosts and English Guests in Central<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>
-Asia." In many respects the journey described was
-quite unique, and the interest is considerably increased
-by the number and variety of the excellent
-illustrations which are scattered throughout the
-book.&mdash;"Table-talk with Young Men" (Hodder and
-Stoughton) is the title which the Rev. W. J.
-Dawson gives to his recently published series of
-"pen-conversations" with young men. Mr. Dawson's
-practical, straightforward and cultured
-"talk" on such diverse subjects as "The Art of
-Living," "Christianity and Progress," "Civic
-Responsibility," etc., is not only brilliant but
-highly instructive, and the book is one which
-should find a place on every young man's bookshelf,
-for it will richly repay careful and
-constant perusal.&mdash;We have also to acknowledge
-the receipt of "Comfort and Counsel" (Hodder and
-Stoughton), containing quotations from the writings
-of Elizabeth Rundle Charles for every day in the
-year; "The Children's Year-Book of Prayer and
-Praise" (Longmans), compiled by C. M. Whishaw;
-a useful and informing little volume on "Diet and
-Food" (J. and A. Churchill), by Dr. Alexander Haig;
-"A Cluster of Camphire" (Passmore and Alabaster),
-containing short, sympathetic addresses by Mrs.
-C. H. Spurgeon to those who are sick and sorrowful;
-and "The Daily Homily" (Morgan and Scott),
-a series of brief, pregnant discourses on the books
-of the Bible from 1 Samuel to Job, by the Rev.
-F. B. Meyer.</p>
-
-
-<h5>"Out of the Eater came forth Meat."</h5>
-
-<p>Samson's riddle is an everlasting proverb. Out
-of the devouring famine that last year devastated
-India blessings have already come to many provinces.
-A conquered race find it hard to love and
-trust their rulers, but in their trouble dwellers
-in the famine districts saw the practical side of
-Christianity. In the midst of universal rejoicing
-England was moved with compassion, and provided
-food for the starving. Government, in many instances,
-entrusted missionaries with the distribution
-of grain. The Indian people are slow to act and
-strong to endure. Thousands perished because they
-could not or would not realise that relief was
-within reach. Parents gave their last morsels to
-their children, and then lay down to die. Orphanages
-overflowed, and new ones had to be erected.
-Where an open shed and light meals of milk,
-rice, and curry meet the ideas of home and housekeeping,
-this is easier than it sounds. After a
-famine the number of Christian adherents to
-missions is always multiplied, and the supply
-of pupils creates new demand for teachers. It
-must be acknowledged that the taunt of being
-"rice-Christians" is sometimes justified, though
-there is little doubt that genuine gratitude to God,
-who moved His servants to help them, has caused
-numbers to turn to Him.</p>
-
-
-<h5>Abraham's Vineyard.</h5>
-
-<p>This piece of land is close to the Holy City, and
-now belongs to the Society for the Relief of Persecuted
-Jews. When the necessary excavation for
-building was begun, Abraham's Vineyard revealed
-signs of former glory and prosperity. Tesselated
-pavement, vats, baths, and a columbarium hewn
-out of the rock, showed that it had once belonged
-to a householder with taste for luxury
-as well as an eye for exquisite scenery. The
-baths and vats have been converted into cisterns for
-rain-water, and the place has become the scene of
-industry. The earth, in past years again and
-again reddened by battles, now yields peaceful
-harvests of grain. All the Jewish refugees are
-not, however, cultivators. Soap-making from olive
-oil and alkali grown on the Jordan Plain, glue-making,
-stone-dressing, quarrying, are industries
-which offer many of them an honest living. The
-idea of the founders of this society was "to give
-relief and employment to the Jews, especially in
-Jerusalem, until they are able to found colonies
-on their own account." The experiment of
-Abraham's Vineyard has succeeded, and the Jews
-have carried the work farther, as the trade in
-Jaffa oranges and olive-wood ware testify.</p>
-
-
-<h4>OUR CHRISTMAS NUMBER.</h4>
-
-<p>"<span class="smcap">Christmas Arrows</span>" (the Extra Christmas
-Number of <span class="smcap">The Quiver</span>) is published simultaneously
-with this part, and contains a complete one-volume
-story by M. H. Cornwall Legh, entitled "<strong>The
-Steep Ascent</strong>," copiously illustrated by Frank Craig.
-In addition will be found a seasonable article by
-the Rev. Dr. Preston, on "<strong>Christmas Chimes from
-Jerusalem</strong>" (illustrated by Mark Zangwill); a contribution
-by the Rev. Canon McCormick entitled
-"<strong>Christian Hospitality</strong>"; and a long fairy-parable
-by E. H. Strain which bears the title "<strong>The Star
-Ruby</strong>," and is illustrated by H. R. Millar. "Christmas
-Arrows" also contains full particulars and
-conditions of our scheme for providing <strong>Christmas
-Stockings</strong> for poor and friendless children, as well
-as the <strong>Voting Form</strong> which any reader is at liberty
-to use to recommend suitable cases for the receipt
-of our Christmas gift.</p>
-
-
-<h4>ROLL OF HONOUR FOR SUNDAY-SCHOOL
-WORKERS.</h4>
-
-<p>The <strong>Special Silver Medal</strong> and <strong>Presentation Bible</strong>
-offered for the longest known Sunday-school service
-in the county of <strong>Leicester</strong> (for which applications
-were invited up to October 31st) have
-been gained by</p>
-
-<p>
-<span class="smcap">Miss Anne Harrison</span>,<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">42, Humberstone Gate,</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 7em;">Leicester.</span><br />
-</p>
-
-<p>who has distinguished herself by <strong>fifty-eight</strong> years'
-service in Harvey Lane Baptist Chapel, Leicester.</p>
-
-<p>As already announced, the next territorial county
-for which claims are invited for the <strong>Silver Medal</strong> is</p>
-
-<h4>
-SUSSEX,
-</h4>
-
-<p>and applications, on the special form, must be
-received on or before November 30th, 1898. We
-may add that <strong>Wiltshire</strong> is the following county
-selected, the date-limit for claims in that case
-being December 31st, 1898. This county, in its
-turn, will be followed by <strong>Durham</strong>, for which the
-date will be one month later&mdash;viz. January 31st, 1899.</p>
-
-<p>The names of members recently enrolled will be
-found in our advertisement pages.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2>NEW QUIVER WAIFS.</h2>
-
-<h3>To be Selected by our Readers.</h3>
-
-
-<p>For many years past our readers have generously
-taken the responsibility of maintaining a
-waif at Dr. Barnardo's Homes, and another at
-Miss Sharman's Orphanage in Southwark; but, as
-the present waifs are now growing up, and will
-soon be out in the world, the time has come for
-another selection. For this purpose, we have
-obtained particulars of eligible cases, which we
-submit to our readers, and, as we look to them
-for a continuance of their kindly help in supporting
-<span class="smcap">The Quiver</span> Waifs, we feel that they would
-prefer to choose the new little ones who are to
-be so known. We would, therefore, request our
-readers to send a post-card (addressed to The
-Editor of <span class="smcap">The Quiver</span>, La Belle Sauvage, London,
-E.C.), stating for which waif in each of the two
-sets they desire to vote, and the children with
-the highest number of votes will be elected. The
-post-cards should reach the Editor not later
-than December 31st, 1898. It should be particularly
-understood that this course will imply
-no pecuniary obligation whatever on the part of
-the voters, as we shall rely solely upon the voluntary
-contributions of our readers to furnish the
-total requisite sum for the maintenance of the
-waifs, which amounts to £31 per year. All donations
-will be acknowledged in <span class="smcap">The Quiver</span> month
-by month.</p>
-
-
-<h3>Particulars of Cases.</h3>
-
-<p>I. <em>For Dr. Barnardo's Homes</em> (one vote):&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Albert Le Vasseur.</span>&mdash;Eight years of age&mdash;mother left
-a widow with ten children&mdash;totally unable to support
-them all&mdash;when discovered there was no food or money
-in the house.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Charles Salt.</span>&mdash;Seven years of age&mdash;mother a "drunken
-and disreputable tramp"&mdash;father little better&mdash;parents
-without a home and constantly ill-treating the child.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">John Harrison.</span>&mdash;Seven years of age&mdash;found in streets
-begging in ragged condition&mdash;father dead&mdash;mother disreputable&mdash;John
-somewhat lame in walk, owing to injury
-to the right knee in infancy.</p>
-
-<p>II. <em>For Miss Sharman's Orphanage</em> (one vote):&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Rose Heelis.</span>&mdash;Aged two years&mdash;was born shortly after
-her father's death&mdash;mother has died of consumption&mdash;promises
-to grow into a very nice child, and is full of
-life and spirits.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Ethel Robinson.</span>&mdash;Aged six years&mdash;father killed by an
-accident&mdash;mother in lunatic asylum&mdash;relatives too poor
-to help.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Lily Pavitt.</span>&mdash;Aged ten years&mdash;mother dead&mdash;father
-deserted children&mdash;an aunt took the child, but was unable
-to support her.</p>
-
-
-<h3>THE QUIVER FUNDS.</h3>
-
-<p>The following is a list of contributions received
-from October 1st up to and including October
-31st, 1898. Subscriptions received after this date
-will be acknowledged next month:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>For "<cite>The Quiver</cite>" <em>Waifs' Fund</em>: A Glasgow Mother
-(101st donation), 1s.; J. J. E. (131st donation), 5s.; R. S.,
-Crouch End (7th donation), 5s.; E. M. B., Jedburgh, 3s.;
-R. Dendy, Eastbourne, 3s.; Anon., Alford, 1s.</p>
-
-<p>For "<cite>The Quiver</cite>" <em>Christmas Stocking Fund</em>: Jessie,
-Agnes, and Cyril, 2s. 6d.; M. T., 5s.</p>
-
-<p>For <em>The Ragged School Union</em>: R. H. B., 2s. 6d.</p>
-
-<p>For <em>The Indian Leper Mission Fund</em>: A Thank-Offering,
-1s.</p>
-
-<p>For <em>Dr. Barnardo's Homes</em>: An Irish Girl, 13s. Also
-7s. 6d. from Diomedes sent direct.</p>
-
-<p>For <em>St. Giles Christian Mission</em>: Thank-Offering, 1s.</p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2>THE QUIVER BIBLE CLASS.</h2>
-
-<p class="center">(BASED ON THE INTERNATIONAL SCRIPTURE LESSONS.)</p>
-
-
-<h3>QUESTIONS.</h3>
-
-<p>13. What was the great sin of which Zedekiah, king of
-Judah, was guilty and for which he was punished?</p>
-
-<p>14. In what way was Zedekiah punished?</p>
-
-<p>15. What prophecy was thereby fulfilled?</p>
-
-<p>16. In what way does the writer of the Epistle to the
-Hebrews contrast the revelation of God to mankind
-under the old dispensation with that of the new?</p>
-
-<p>17. Quote a text which shows the relationship of the
-angels to the human race.</p>
-
-<p>18. What is the special characteristic of the Gospel of
-St. John?</p>
-
-<p>19. Quote text in which St. John asserts the truth of the
-Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.</p>
-
-<p>20. What reference to St. John the Baptist was made by
-the last of the Old Testament prophets?</p>
-
-<p>21. It is said of our Lord, "He came unto His own, and
-His own received Him not." Quote passage from the Old
-Testament which shows that this passage refers to the
-Jewish people.</p>
-
-<p>22. From what circumstance should we gather that
-Nathanael was a diligent student of the Old Testament?</p>
-
-<p>23. In what words did our Lord show forth His divinity
-in speaking to Nathanael?</p>
-
-<p>24. In what way did St. John the Baptist point out to
-his disciples that Jesus was the Messiah?</p>
-
-
-<h3>ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ON PAGE 96.</h3>
-
-<p>1. Manasseh defiled the Temple at Jerusalem by setting
-up an idol therein (2 Chron. xxxiii. 7).</p>
-
-<p>2. 2 Chron. xxxiii. 14.</p>
-
-<p>3. Manasseh, having been reinstated in his kingdom by
-the Assyrians, gave up his idolatry and did all he could
-to restore the worship of God in the land (2 Chron. xxxiii.
-14-17).</p>
-
-<p>4. Prov. iv. 14, 17.</p>
-
-<p>5. Prov. iv. 18.</p>
-
-<p>6. In the reign of Josiah the king sent to Huldah the
-prophetess to inquire as to God's will concerning the people
-(2 Kings xxii. 14-20).</p>
-
-<p>7. The copy of the Law which Moses had written was
-found (2 Kings xxii. 8; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 14).</p>
-
-<p>8. In the reign of Amon, king of Judah, we are told the
-people worshipped the "sun, moon, and stars, and all the
-host of heaven" (2 Kings xxiii. 5).</p>
-
-<p>9. In the reign of Josiah, who burnt men's bones on the
-altar at Bethel (2 Kings xxiii. 15, 16; 1 Kings xiii. 2).</p>
-
-<p>10. Jehoiakim threw on the fire the roll on which Jeremiah
-had written at God's command a warning to the
-king and his people (Jer. xxxvi. 23).</p>
-
-<p>11. Jer. xxii. 13, 14; 2 Kings xxiv. 4.</p>
-
-<p>12. Jehoiakim was bound in fetters to carry him to
-Babylon, but was slain at Jerusalem and his dead body
-cast outside the city (2 Chron. xxxvi. 6; Jer. xxii. 19).</p>
-
-<div class="tn"><h3>Transcriber's note:</h3>
-<p>Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed.</p>
-
-<p>Missing page numbers are page numbers that were not shown in the original text.</p>
-
-<p>The illustrations have been moved so that they do not break up paragraphs.</p>
-
-<p>Mismatched quotes are not fixed if it's not sufficiently clear where the missing quote should be placed.</p>
-
-<p>The cover for the eBook version of this book was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Quiver, 11/1899, by Anonymous
-
-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: The Quiver, 11/1899
-
-Author: Anonymous
-
-Release Date: September 15, 2013 [EBook #43738]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ASCII
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUIVER, 11/1899 ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Delphine Lettau, Julia Neufeld and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
-
-
-
-
-
-Transcriber's note:
-
-Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
-
-Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=).
-
-Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals.
-
-The carat character (^) indicates that the following letter is
-superscripted (example: y^e).
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-
-
-
-The Quiver 11/1899
-
-
-[Illustration: MOTHERHOOD.
-
-_After the Picture by_ MISS IDA LOVERING.]
-
-
-
-
-LADY DOCTORS IN HEATHEN LANDS
-
-By the Author of "The Child Wives and Widows of India," Etc.
-
-
-A garrison of snow-capped mountains; a valley smiling in Oriental
-luxuriance; the gorgeous, romantic loveliness described in
-"Lalla Rookh"--such are the general impressions of the land of
-Kashmir. Dirt, disease, and degradation summed up its prevailing
-characteristics in the eyes of an Englishman, who, in October, 1872,
-toiled wearily over the Pir Panjal, 11,900 feet above the level of
-the sea.
-
-This was Dr. Elmslie's last journey. He hardly realised, as he
-dragged his weary limbs over rough but familiar paths, that one
-object for which he had struggled for years was practically
-accomplished. He sank from exhaustion on the way, and the day
-after his death Government granted permission for missionaries to
-spend the winter in the Valley of Kashmir. Still farther was he
-from knowing of another result of his labours. He had appealed to
-Englishwomen to bring the gifts of healing to suffering and secluded
-inmates of zenanas. Dr. Elmslie had found a direct way to the hearts
-of prejudiced heathen men. The sick came to him for healing, and
-learnt the meaning of his self-denying life.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Elliott and Fry._)
-
-THE LATE DR. FANNY BUTLER.
-
-(_At the time she went to India._)]
-
-"Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life,"
-are ancient words of wisdom; but this rule has exceptions. To Hindu
-women, at least, caste is dearer than life. It would be as easy
-to restore the down to a bruised butterfly's wing as to give back
-self-respect, and with it all that makes life worth living, to a
-zenana lady who has been exposed to the gaze or touch of a man other
-than a near relation. Custom of the country debars a respectable
-woman from receiving ministry to body, soul, or mind, unless it
-comes from one of her own sex. Dr. Elmslie's appeal resulted in Miss
-Fanny Butler's offer of service to the Indian Female Normal School
-and Instruction Society. She was the first enrolled student of the
-London School of Medicine, which had just been transferred from
-Edinburgh, and passed second out of one hundred and twenty-three
-candidates, one hundred and nineteen of whom were men, in the
-Preliminary Arts Examination. She went to India in October, 1880,
-the first fully qualified medical missionary to women.
-
-Seventeen years after Dr. Elmslie's death Dr. Fanny Butler obtained
-another concession for Kashmir, the permission for missionaries to
-live within the city of Srinagar. She saw the foundations of a new
-hospital for women begun within the city, and fourteen days after
-she also laid down what, an hour before her death, she described
-as a "good long life," in the service of Kashmiri people. The age
-of thirty-nine, she said to the friends who surrounded her, and
-who felt that she of all others could not be spared, was "not so
-very young to die," and she sent an earnest plea to the Church of
-England Zenana Society, the division of the old society to which
-she belonged, to send someone quickly to take her place. The new
-hospital was the gift of Mrs. Bishop (Miss Isabella Bird) in memory
-of her husband. She had seen the dirty crowd of suffering women at
-the dispensary door overpower two men, and the earliest arrivals
-precipitated head foremost by the rush from behind, whilst numbers
-were turned away in misery and disappointment.
-
-Hospitals and dispensaries have rapidly increased since the day
-of pioneers. Absolute necessity has forced medical work on many
-missionaries in the field. The most elementary knowledge of nursing
-and hygiene appears miraculous to women sunk in utter ignorance. A
-white woman too modest to give them remedies for every ailment is
-usually regarded as unkind. A neglected missionary dispensary is
-practically unknown.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Church of England Zenana
-Missionary Society._)
-
-OUTSIDE THE VERANDAH OF THE WOMEN'S HOSPITAL AT TARN TARAN.
-
-(_Showing some of the patients placed out to spend the hot night in
-the open._)]
-
-At the time when the Countess Dufferin started her admirable
-scheme for providing medical aid for Indian women a well-known
-Anglo-Indian surgeon stated publicly that, whatever other
-qualification was required in a candidate, two were absolutely
-necessary: she must be a lady in the highest sense of the word,
-and she must be a Christian, and he proceeded to give good reasons
-for what he said. The experience of every woman who has taken up
-this work would bear out his sentiments. Without courtesy and
-ready intuition of the feelings of others it would be hard to
-get an entrance into zenanas, and nothing but love and devotion
-to her Master would enable a woman to persevere in spending her
-life amongst sick heathen women, in spite of sights, scenes, and
-vexations beyond conception in England.
-
-[Illustration: (_From a Photograph._)
-
-THE DUCHESS OF CONNAUGHT'S HOSPITAL, PESHAWUR.]
-
-The greatest difficulties are probably met in high-caste zenanas.
-There, in the midst of unhealthy surroundings, the friends and
-neighbours have grand opportunities of undoing any good that may
-have been accomplished. It is grievous to a medical missionary to
-find her fever patient dying from a douche of cold water, because
-the white woman has defiled her high caste by feeling her pulse.
-It is enough to make her give up a case in despair if, after she
-has explained that quiet is absolutely necessary, the friends and
-neighbours decide that the evil spirit supposed to be in possession
-must be driven out by the music of tom-toms. A Hindu man is said
-to "sin religiously," and a Hindu woman excels him in devotion to
-her creed. A fever patient in the Punjab refused to drink milk--the
-one thing of all others that her medical woman ordered her--because
-she said, if it were the last thing she swallowed, her soul would
-pass into the body of a cobra. One medical missionary found a
-woman, who was in a critical state, lying on a mat, whilst an old
-woman, supposed to be learned in sickness, stood on her body, or
-patrolled up and down like a sentinel, as far as the length would
-admit. This was kindly meant. Another found one suffering seriously
-from the effect of a linseed poultice. She had carefully explained
-the mysteries of making and applying it, but in her absence the
-patient's friends had spread dry linseed over her chest and poured
-boiling water over it.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Baness Bros._)
-
-WAITING THEIR TURN.
-
-(_Patients outside the Tarn Taran Hospital Dispensary._)]
-
-Happily, all the women in India are not secluded in zenanas. By
-far the largest proportion live in the villages, but their notions
-of propriety are very strict. The hard-working field-women will hide
-themselves on the suspicion of a _sahib_ being within reach. When
-once they are satisfied that the visitor belongs to their own sex
-and is harmless, crowds beset the missionary encampments. Many tales
-of suffering are poured into sympathising ears.
-
-"I am blind from crying for my only son" is not an infrequent
-complaint. Nothing can be done in this case.
-
-"There is no god or goddess to love a Hindu woman. Whatever
-offerings we make her, the goddess of small-pox smites us, and then
-the men say the women have not offered enough, and are angry." This
-was the reply of a Punjabi woman, who spoke for her friends and
-neighbours.
-
-One Bengali woman told a missionary of the death of a precious baby
-boy. There did not seem much the matter, but the _hakim_ (a native
-quack) first gave him something burning to swallow, and then applied
-a red-hot iron to each side in turn; and the child only drew one or
-two breaths after this treatment. This also, one hopes, was kindly
-meant. The Hindus are by no means wanting in humanity, but ignorance
-is often as fatal as cruelty.
-
-Many patients find an excuse for coming again and again to the
-dispensaries. There they hear of blessings in this world and the
-next which they say seem too good to be true. They see love shining
-in the earnest faces, and feel it in the touch of hands that will
-not shrink from dressing repulsive sores.
-
-The majority of cases in dispensaries are ordinary fevers or skin
-diseases resulting from dirt, and other scourges that follow
-defiance of elementary rules of health.
-
-Patients discharged as cured often return. "Tell me again that Name
-that I can say when I pray," one of them asked, to explain the
-reappearance of her shrivelled old face; "I forget so soon." And she
-went on her way repeating the Name that even some of the heathen
-realise must be exalted above all others.
-
-"I know that your Jesus must reign over our land," a Punjabi woman
-said to a lady who had opened a dispensary at Tarn Taran, a sacred
-city of the Sikhs; "I know it, because your religion is full of
-love and ours has none at all."
-
-The mission hospital at this city, with the name which literally
-means "The Place of Salvation," and the dispensary seen in the
-illustration, came mainly into being through the determination
-of the inhabitants. A suffering baby might claim a share in its
-existence. This infant's mother brought it to a missionary whose
-training as a nurse had made her a friend in sickness. The child's
-sight was hopelessly gone. The mother said that the _hakim_ had told
-her alum was good for sore eyes, so she had put it under the lids.
-
-"You have used it in such a way as to blind your baby," the
-missionary said; "and I could have told you what to do."
-
-"How should I know?" the woman replied, using a common phrase to
-express helplessness or lethargy; but she told the story to her
-friends, and other mothers, whose babies' eyes were suffering, soon
-proved that the white woman had made no empty boast. Ophthalmia
-is terribly common in India, and its marvellous cures began to be
-famous.
-
-One day a family party carried an invalid into the verandah of the
-Tarn Taran mission house. The missionary looked inside the _doolie_;
-she was not a doctor, and declined to undertake such a serious case,
-and told the men to take their invalid to the Amritsar Hospital.
-They were determined to take no such trouble. To show that she was
-equally determined to make them, she went inside the house and shut
-the doors and blinds. Who would hold out the longest? The result was
-a foregone conclusion. The Punjabis, armed with a greater disregard
-for a woman's life, gained the victory by the simple method of
-beating a retreat, leaving the helpless woman behind them. In common
-humanity she could not be left to die. In a few days her family
-returned to inquire, and were gratified to find her progressing
-towards recovery. The white woman's celebrity was now secured, and
-to her consternation and embarrassment she found her verandah full
-of patients, and, from overwork, was soon herself added to the
-number. The people of Tarn Taran afterwards gave the building for a
-Women's Mission Hospital, and a new one is now in the charge of a
-fully qualified lady doctor.
-
-Hospitals are by far the most satisfactory part of medical
-missions. In zenanas and dispensaries it is one thing to prescribe
-and give advice, and another for orders to be obeyed, especially
-if they are contrary to rules of caste or custom. It is well known
-that a Hindu soldier, who will follow his British officer into the
-fiercest _melee_, and, if necessary, die for him, if true to his own
-creed, will not receive a cup of water at his hands. When wounded
-his parched lips will close tightly, lest his caste should suffer.
-The same principle debars his womenfolk from accepting physic in
-a liquid form from Englishwomen. They may, however, take powders.
-Written directions are generally useless, and verbal ones often
-misunderstood. It is little wonder if dispensary patients make slow
-progress.
-
-"Are you sure you took the medicine I gave you?" inquired a medical
-missionary of one who made no advance at all.
-
-"Quite sure, Miss Sahiba."
-
-"How did you take it?"
-
-"I ate the paper and threw away the dust."
-
-This mistake was not astonishing under the circumstances. One
-Mohammedan specific is to swallow a paper pellet with the name of
-God written in Arabic; another, for the _mullah_ to write an Arabic
-inscription on a plate, and for the water that washes it off to be
-the dose.
-
-[Illustration: A GROUP OF WORKERS AT THE DUCHESS OF CONNAUGHT'S
-HOSPITAL.
-
-(_Dr. Wheeler stands at the left-hand side of group._)]
-
-It is well when superstition and misconception stop short at
-swallowing paper and inky water. A woman, seriously injured from
-an accident, was carried into the Duchess of Connaught Hospital,
-Peshawur. Her husband accompanied her, and saw the medical
-missionary in charge carefully attend to fractures and bruises. Rest
-and sleep and quiet were doing their work, and the man was left to
-watch. A sudden crash startled the ward. The husband had turned
-the bedstead over on its side, and flung his wife down. He fancied
-she was dying, and said it would imperil her soul if it departed
-whilst she lay on anything but the floor. He had the satisfaction
-of knowing that she died where he placed her. This was a case
-of a Hindu "sinning religiously." It would be harder to forgive
-the frequent sacrifice of life to superstition, if there were no
-ennobling element underlying it of honest desire for some vague
-spiritual good.
-
-The Duchess of Connaught Hospital is a permanent memorial of her
-Royal Highness's kind interest in the women of India. Whilst on the
-North-Western Frontier she went through the Dispensary and Nursing
-Home which represented the first effort to bring medical aid to the
-Afghan women, and allowed it to be called after her name. A new and
-much larger building, of which a drawing has been reproduced, has
-taken the place of the native quarters, where Mohammedan bigotry
-was by slow degrees overcome. For years the ladies of the Church of
-England Zenana Missionary Society, who had charge of this hospital,
-were the only Europeans living within the walls of Peshawur.
-Every night the great city gates closed them in, and separated
-them from other missionaries and from Government servants. They
-chose to be in the midst of their work, and though outbreaks of
-Mohammedan fanaticism repeatedly checked teaching in schools and
-zenanas, ministry to the sick continued, and never lost the friendly
-confidence of Peshawuris.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Church of England Zenana
-Missionary Society._)
-
-STAFF AND PATIENTS OF ST. CATHERINE'S HOSPITAL, AMRITSAR.]
-
-In its early and humbler days, the fame of this hospital reached
-far-away Khorassan. A lady of that country who was suffering
-terribly, caused herself to be carried the fifteen days' journey to
-Peshawur. Miss Mitcheson, who opened the first dispensary, and is
-now the head of the hospital, saw that her case was critical and
-required an operation of a far more serious kind than she had ever
-attempted, and begged her to allow the civil surgeon to see her.
-
-"I would rather die," the patient answered. The combined forces of
-suffering, fear of death, and persuasion, were powerless to move
-her. The Englishwoman, of whose powers she had heard in her own
-country, might do what she liked with her, but no man should come
-near her. Happily Miss Mitcheson successfully accomplished what was
-necessary, and the Khorassan lady made a good recovery. When the
-time came for parting from her new friends, she promised to use in
-her own country the knowledge she had gained in Peshawur. She kept
-her word, as more visitors from Khorassan testified, and they said
-she had not forgotten the benefits she had received in the mission
-hospital.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Church Missionary Society._)
-
-BACK VIEW OF NEW WOMEN'S HOSPITAL, HANGCHOW.]
-
-During Miss Mitcheson's absence in England Dr. Charlotte Wheeler,
-who with her fellow-workers, in the illustration on p. 102, stands
-in the verandah of the old building, superintended the medical work.
-On Miss Mitcheson's return, Miss Wheeler opened a medical mission
-amongst the women in Quetta. This work extended rapidly on and
-beyond the frontier, so that in November, 1896, when it was a year
-old, eight different languages were spoken on the same day in the
-dispensary waiting room.
-
-Institutions for training Christian girls of India as doctors or
-nurses have come into existence as the number of candidates has
-increased and the necessity has arisen. The North India School
-of Medicine has been established at Ludhiana with this object.
-Many of the mission hospitals also have training classes. St.
-Catherine's Hospital, Amritsar, under the superintendence of Miss
-Hewlett, who has had nineteen years' experience, has provided very
-valuable assistant medical missionaries for stations in the Punjab
-and Bengal. At the last census a hundred Christian women--counting
-missionaries, assistants, patients, nurses and students--were within
-its walls. An illustration shows the inmates mustering before going
-to church.
-
-One student in St. Catherine's Hospital, who had gained a
-scholarship, gave promise of a brilliant career. Before the time
-of study in which she delighted was over, the lady superintendent
-became suspicious of what this young girl described as broken
-chilblains on her fingers. A doctor was called in, and confirmed
-her impression that it was leprosy. An Eastern girl knows, what in
-Europe is only faintly imagined, of the horrors of this loathsome
-disease. One cry of anguish only escaped her when she was told
-the verdict. Then she rose above the trial, and resigned herself
-cheerfully to the will of God. She was prepared to start the next
-day for the Leper Settlement near Calcutta without meeting her
-friends or fellow-students for a word of farewell.
-
-"What comforts me," she said to the Clerical Secretary of the Church
-of England Zenana Missionary Society, who was in Amritsar at the
-time, "is that I may go as a missionary rather than as a patient."
-
-She went to that place of death and banishment, to live out the rest
-of her days in ministry for others. In her case the days lingered
-into years, and the disease took a severe form, but her devotion
-and courage never failed. When death came to her as a friend, and
-her work was done, the memory of the "superior girl," who had lived
-among the afflicted people as a missionary rather than a patient,
-remained. Perhaps her fellowship in suffering gave her the final
-qualification to be a missionary to lepers.
-
-India is the land which above all others cries out for lady medical
-missionaries; but other Eastern countries have also a claim.
-Wherever Islam has planted its iron heel, women are jealously
-guarded in harems, and it is very unusual for a man to be allowed
-entrance on any pretext. In China, also, women of superior class are
-hidden within the high walls that surround their houses. Those free
-to go out gain little but suffering from the barbarous attentions of
-native surgeons. In the East the knowledge which brings relief from
-pain is a power to overcome obstacles to Christianity that resist
-every other force.
-
-The Church of England Zenana Missionary Society has sent out a
-qualified lady doctor to Foochow, and in 1894 the Church Missionary
-Society opened a hospital for women in Hangchow with one large
-and six smaller wards. One patient who was brought into this
-building--of which two views are given--suffering from diseased
-bones, has gone out to devote her recovered health and new knowledge
-to the service of God and her own countrywomen.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Church Missionary Society._)
-
-INTERIOR OF NEW WOMEN'S HOSPITAL, HANGCHOW]
-
-There is scarcely a mission hospital or dispensary that cannot
-tell of similar results of the double ministry to body and soul.
-Each year justifies the increased number of women with medical
-qualifications sent into the mission field. Some, like Mrs.
-Russell Watson, of the Baptist Mission at Chefu, are the wives of
-missionaries, others have been sent out by various missions, such
-as the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission, or by the women's branches
-(added during the close of the present century), to the more
-venerable societies.
-
-Dr. Henry Martyn Clark, of Amritsar, once asked a friendly Hindu
-what department of foreign missions his people considered most
-dangerous.
-
-"Why should I reveal our secrets to the enemy?" the Hindu responded.
-But he yielded to persuasion. "We do not very much fear your
-preaching," he said, "for we need not listen; nor your schools, for
-we need not send our children; nor your books, for we need not read
-them. But we do fear your women, for they are gaining our homes; and
-we very much fear your medical missions, for they are gaining our
-hearts. Hearts and homes gone, what shall we have left?"
-
-What may be expected when medical and women's missions are combined?
-According to the friendly Hindu, the very citadels of idolatry and
-superstition might tremble at the advance of this double force to
-rescue the captives.
-
-  D. L. WOOLMER.
-
-[Illustration: OUR ROLL OF HEROIC DEEDS]
-
-This month we devote our space to a pictorial representation of an
-heroic act by James Williamson, a fisherman of Whalsay, Shetland.
-During a heavy storm he waded out to the succour of two companions,
-who had been pinned on the rocks by their capsized boat and were
-in imminent danger of drowning. Williamson was at first carried
-away by a heavy sea, but was returned by the next. Then with an
-extraordinary effort he lifted the side of the boat, seized the men,
-and, with one under each arm, fought his way through the boiling
-surf to dry land. For this conspicuous act of bravery Williamson was
-awarded the Silver Medal of THE QUIVER Heroes Fund.]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: PLEDGED]
-
-PLEDGED
-
-By Katharine Tynan, Author of "A Daughter of Erin," Etc.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-YOUTH AT THE PROW.
-
-
-"And then, old fellow," went on Sir Anthony's letter to Jack Leslie,
-of the Blues, his particular chum, "I stood staring, with my eyes
-watering and a little scratch on my nose bleeding where the old
-rooster--for a rooster it was--struck me with his spurs as he flew.
-He might have knocked out my eye, the brute! The second missile (an
-invention they call a sun-bonnet, I believe, made of pink calico and
-horribly stiffened) lay crumpled at my feet. And there in front of
-me stood the culprit herself, looking half-ashamed and half-inclined
-to follow the example of the other sun-bonnet which had buried
-itself in a big chair at the end of the room, and made scarcely a
-pretence of stifling its peals of laughter. I felt no end of a ninny
-I can tell you, especially as the owner of the first sun-bonnet was
-by long chalks the most beautiful creature I'd ever seen.
-
-"I'm no good at describing a girl's charms, but even at the first
-glance her beautiful violet eyes struck me. Blue eyes and black
-lashes and eyebrows--it is a thing happens over here sometimes,
-they tell me. Then, though she'd been rushing about after the
-ancient barnyard fowl who was to have graced the table in my honour,
-she had no more colour than a white rose; and yet she looked the
-picture of health and life--so different from fine ladies. This was
-Miss Pamela--Pam for short--as I discovered later. To finish her
-description, her charming head is covered with a mass of short black
-curls. She had a very shabby frock on, which didn't take a bit from
-her loveliness. I couldn't help wondering what the mater would have
-thought if she could have seen her. She would surely have called her
-'a young woman,' with that superb contempt of hers.
-
-"However, the breeding tells. Nothing could have been finer than the
-little air with which she pulled herself together, and said, as if
-it were an every-day thing to blind and maim your visitors:
-
-"'You must be Sir Anthony Trevithick. I am so sorry. That wretched
-fowl flew in through the open window, and we've been three-quarters
-of an hour chasing him round. It was so unfortunate his flying out
-just at that moment, and still more unfortunate that I should have
-flung my bonnet after him. But you've no idea how he had aggravated
-us.'
-
-"I assure you the mater couldn't have done it better, if one could
-conceivably imagine the mater under such circumstances.
-
-"I could think of nothing to do but to pick up the bonnet and hand
-it to her, muttering some idiocy about it not mattering a bit. While
-this was going on the laughter in the chair was dying off in sobs of
-enjoyment.
-
-"But before we could get any further Mr. Graydon himself made his
-appearance. I suppose something about my looks struck him--for a
-cucumber wasn't in it for coolness with Miss Pam--because he said,
-'Why, bless me, Sir Anthony! what's the matter? What's the matter,
-Pam? Why, Sir Anthony, your nose is bleeding!'
-
-[Illustration: "The old rooster struck me with his spurs."--_p._
-107.]
-
-"'Why, so it is!' said Miss Pam, calmly. 'Sir Anthony was trying
-to catch the red cock, papa, with a view to his dinner, but he's
-escaped, I'm sorry to say, and the dinner with him. It will be
-days before he comes home after the alarm we've given him. I'm
-so sorry you're wounded, Sir Anthony. Can I get you a little
-sticking-plaster?'
-
-"'I never know where I shall find the fowls in this house,' said
-Mr. Graydon, a little irascibly, I thought; 'but the drawing-room
-at least ought to be kept free from them. Why, Sylvia, what are you
-doing there, child? Come here, and speak to Sir Anthony.'
-
-"I expected a small child to come out of the big chair in answer to
-the summons; but, lo and behold! out of the sun-bonnet there looked
-another satin-cheeked damsel, almost as beautiful as the first. She
-made her bow demurely, and, I assure you, there wasn't a feather out
-of her after her fits of laughter at my expense. She had rather an
-ecstatic look, and her eyes were a bit moist--that was all. I can
-tell you I never felt so small in my life as when I stood up before
-those impudent girls, for I could see that the pair of them were
-hugely delighted at the whole affair.
-
-"'Get some tea for Sir Anthony, girls,' said the father, 'and see
-that he has hot water taken to his room; he's had a long journey.
-Sit down, my lad--that is, if there's a chair in the room without a
-dog on it. Here, Mark Antony, you lazy animal, come off that sofa.'
-This to the fattest bulldog I ever saw--with such a jowl. He's Miss
-Sylvia's, and an amiable dog, despite his looks.
-
-"Then the eldest daughter came in--not a patch on the others for
-beauty, but a Madonna of a creature, with a beautiful voice and a
-rather sad expression. She was greatly concerned about my scratched
-nose. But all the time she was talking I noticed that she looked at
-her father steadily reproachful. At last he noticed it too, for he
-suddenly blurted out:
-
-"'Why, bless my soul! Molly, I forgot all about it,' and then he
-stopped and laughed. Miss Pamela has told me since that they had
-instructed their father to keep me on the way as long as possible.
-
-"You'll gather that it is a rather rummy place. It is. The windows
-in my bedroom are mended with brown paper, and there are holes in
-the floor you could put your foot through. Not that my father's son
-need mind little hardships. But I am amused to think of what the
-mater would say, with her notions of things.
-
-"By the way, if you're in Brook Street any time, don't repeat
-what I've told you. The mater hated my coming here. She has some
-extraordinary prejudice against Graydon, though he scarcely seems
-to remember her. But as I've given up my desire for soldiering to
-please her, it's my turn now to please myself by reading for this
-Foreign Office grind with my father's old friend.
-
-"A word more and I am done. You'll think me as long-winded as
-some of those old women at the clubs. But their ways here are too
-delicious. The establishment is managed by one old woman--Bridget,
-who seems mistress, maid, and man rolled, in one. Well, the morning
-after I came, when I rang for my shaving water there was no
-response. At last I heard a foot go by my door, and I looked out
-cautiously. It was Bridget, and to her I made my request. 'Why,
-bless the boy!' she said, staring at me, 'You haven't been pullin'
-that old bell that's never rung in the memory of man?' I assured her
-I had. 'Well, then,' she said, 'goodness help your little wit! An'
-so ye want shavin' water, do ye? Sure, I thought ye wor a bit of a
-boy, that never wanted shavin' at all, at all!' However, she brought
-me the water obligingly, in an extraordinary piece of kitchen
-crockery. 'I suppose you're used to valetin',' she said. ''Twas
-Misther Mick spoiled me entirely for other young gentlemen. He'd
-dart down for his shavin' water--aye, many a time before I had the
-kitchen fire lit.' Mr. Mick was apparently a former pupil; I often
-hear of him.
-
-"There's any amount of sport here, but I won't tantalise you. I like
-Graydon better every day; he's a dear old boy, and though he's in
-the clouds half the time when he's supposed to be coaching me, I can
-see that he knows more than half the tutors in London put together.
-He's a delightful companion out of doors, a good sportsman, and as
-young as the youngest.
-
-"It's a mystery his being buried here. But I've no time to try to
-unriddle it now, and you'll never get as far as this, I expect.
-Good-bye, old fellow--I'm extremely well satisfied with my present
-quarters, and pity you in Knightsbridge. I suppose town is getting
-empty."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-When this enormous epistle was finished and sealed, the young
-gentleman put it in his pocket and went downstairs. His pace was
-hastened by the fact that he could hear the joyful yelping of dogs
-in the hall, from which he gathered that someone besides himself was
-bent on outdoor exercise. Indeed, as he reached the hall and caught
-his hat from one of the dusty antlers, he saw the two younger Miss
-Graydons setting out amid their leaping and yelping escorts. He
-hurried after and overtook them.
-
-"May I come with you?" he asked eagerly. "I've a very important
-letter to post, and if you're going to the village you might perhaps
-point out the post-office. I'm such a duffer at finding out things
-for myself."
-
-"But we're turning our backs on the village," said Miss Sylvia,
-"going in exactly the opposite direction."
-
-"Oh, well, then, it doesn't matter; the letter can wait till another
-time."
-
-"Though it is so important. Oh, but you must post it. We'll put you
-on the way for the village. You turn to the right and we to the left
-when we reach the gate; then you'll walk straight into the arms of
-the post-office."
-
-Pamela, who had not yet spoken, turned her heavenly-coloured eyes
-on her sister, but without speaking. Something in the look made the
-young fellow's heart throb suddenly.
-
-"Ah, Miss Sylvia," he said imploringly, "don't put difficulties in
-my way. I want to come for a walk, if you will have me, and the
-letter can wait. I'm not contemplative enough to enjoy a country
-walk alone; and it will be a pleasure to walk with you and your
-sister."
-
-"And the dogs?"
-
-"And the dogs. The joys of a country walk are doubled in the society
-of dogs."
-
-"I hope you'll think so when you have the felicity of fishing them
-out of a bog-hole. They will chase every beast they see; and our
-neighbour, Jack Malone's black cow, Polly, always leads them such a
-dance, ending up deservedly in a bog-hole."
-
-"I'll try to endure even that, Miss Sylvia."
-
-"Then if Mark Antony gets a thorn in his paw, as he almost
-invariably does, you'll have to carry him home."
-
-"He must weigh three stone, Miss Sylvia."
-
-"About that, Sir Anthony."
-
-"Then it is better I should carry him than you."
-
-"Oh, if you're bent on it, Sir Anthony."
-
-"If you're not bent against it, Miss Sylvia."
-
-"Well, come along then, for this is the parting of the ways."
-
-They had arrived at the gate by this time.
-
-"Sylvia should have told you, Sir Anthony, that though we turn our
-backs on the village, yet we pass a wall letter-box, which the
-postman empties on his way to Lettergort."
-
-It was Pamela speaking for the first time, and in this less
-hoydenish mood of hers she had a likeness to her gentle elder sister.
-
-"I'm not surprised to hear it, Miss Pamela. I guessed Miss Sylvia
-was only piling up the difficulties to tease me. But I was not to be
-put off."
-
-"You are really a most persistent person, Sir Anthony."
-
-"I know when I want a thing and mean to get it, Miss Sylvia."
-
-"Did you ever see anything more beautiful than the rose-light on
-that mountain, Sir Anthony?"
-
-"I have seen more beautiful things, Miss Pamela."
-
-He spoke with the utmost simplicity, but the girl blushed
-nevertheless, and was furious with herself for blushing.
-
-"See how rosy the peak is," she went on in some confusion, "but the
-woods are purple at the base. If we were over there where the road
-winds round the hill-foot, we should hear nothing but the singing of
-little streams. They are chattering through the bracken everywhere,
-and spilling into the road, where they make little channels for
-themselves, clear as amber."
-
-"They make your boots very wet and your skirt draggle-tailed,"
-remarked Sylvia.
-
-"I see chimneys rising above the wood," said Sir Anthony. "Is there
-a house there, then?"
-
-"There is, but it is empty at present. It belongs to Lord Glengall,
-who is away just now. It has a queer story attached to it."
-
-"Indeed?"
-
-"Yes. Lord Glengall went to Australia as a boy, and was unheard
-of for years. His mother lived there, with one old servant, in
-the bitterest poverty. She was so proud no one dared to interfere,
-until, it having been noticed that the chimneys were smokeless
-for days, the house was entered by force, and mistress and maid
-were found dying of starvation side by side. The house was full of
-valuables--lace and plate, and all kinds of lovely things--but they
-were heirlooms, and the old lady would rather starve than sell them,
-and the old servant was quite of the same mind."
-
-"What happened then?"
-
-"They were taken off to the Rectory by old Mr. Rogers, who died last
-year. And in the nick of time Lord Glengall, whom everyone said was
-dead, turned up safe and sound to nurse his old mother. 'I kept the
-things together for you, my boy,' she said as soon as she recognised
-him.
-
-"And the next thing she said," went on Sylvia, taking up the tale,
-"was, 'Where's that cat?' The faithfulness of animals, Sir Anthony!
-Old Tib, with whom they had shared all their short-commons, had, it
-seems, stolen the very last drop of milk that stood between them and
-starvation, and had then escaped through a window into the woods. 'I
-should like to give him a good hiding before I die.' That was the
-second speech of the indomitable old lady."
-
-"What a chance for the novelist this country of yours presents!"
-said Sir Anthony.
-
-"But that fortunately he never comes our way," replied Pamela.
-
-"Your father promised me you would take me fishing one day." He
-spoke to Sylvia, but his eyes turned from her to Pamela.
-
-"So we shall," said Sylvia readily.
-
-"The river runs quite close to the house?"
-
-"Yes, but if you want the pleasantest fishing, you must climb for
-it. Up there in the hills are little golden-brown trout-streams
-running through the valleys under the shadow of woods, and they are
-full of trout spoiling to be caught."
-
-"You know the best places, Miss Sylvia."
-
-"Don't let her guide you, Sir Anthony. I'll tell you a story about
-her. She was always tantalising Mick St. Leger, an old pupil of
-papa's, who is in India now, with stories of a wonderful pike which
-inhabited one of the big holes in the Moyle. Well, poor Mick used
-to sit and fish for hours, now and then catching a little fish by
-accident, for his heart wasn't in it for thinking of Sylvia's big
-pike. And Sylvia used to sit by watching him, apparently full of
-sympathy. One day he was fishing the big hole as usual, when he
-gave a long whistle. 'What is it, Mick?' Sylvia cried, running to
-him. 'It feels like a twenty-pounder,' said poor Mick, very red in
-the face. 'Oh, Mick, do let me help!' cried Sylvia. And then, with
-an immense deal of carefulness, and poor Mick holding on like grim
-death, they reeled up an old tin can full of stones, in the handle
-of which Mick's line was caught."
-
-"Mick would never have known," said Sylvia dispassionately, "if
-little Patsy Murray hadn't come running after me a week later,
-calling out, 'Where's that apple ye promised me for sinkin' me
-mother's ould can in the river?' Mick never believed in me as an
-honest angler afterwards."
-
-"No wonder! But to think your father should have suggested you as my
-guide, Miss Sylvia!"
-
-"Pam's just as bad, Sir Anthony. I generally do the things, but Pam
-encourages me."
-
-Pamela again turned those eyes of heaven's own colour in mute
-reproach upon her sister.
-
-"I'll have faith in you, Miss Pam," said Sir Anthony impulsively,
-"no matter what your sister says to the contrary."
-
-And he meant his rash promise.
-
-[Illustration: "The letter can wait till another time."--_p._ 109.]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-THE WISHING WELL.
-
-
-"My friends generally call me Tony," said a voice, the youthful
-growl of which was subdued to all possible softness.
-
-"We have known each other such a little while," replied Pamela,
-looking down at the ground, which had begun to cover itself in the
-flying gold of the autumn woods.
-
-"As the calendar counts; but we--'we count time by
-heart-throbs'--doesn't somebody say that?"
-
-A colour, like a pink rose-leaf, warmed in Pamela's clear cheek.
-
-"We have become very good friends," she said, "seeing that it is
-only six--or is it seven?--weeks ago since we met."
-
-"It is eight," said the youth. "I came in mid-July, and now it is
-mid-September. But it sometimes seems to me that I have always been
-here, and that my life elsewhere was but a dream."
-
-[Illustration: "Tell me what you wished for?"]
-
-"If that were so," she said demurely--and for a moment the violet
-eyes looked up at him under their shadow of night--"if that were so,
-then I might really call you by your name, Sir Anthony. But it is
-too soon."
-
-"Then you will one day, Miss Pamela? How many days must go by first?
-You called that other man--St. Leger--by his name. It is 'Mick' with
-all of you."
-
-"Ah," said Pamela, again with the bewildering glance; "but Mick was
-Mick, you see."
-
-A sudden irrational anger kindled in the young man's eye, and his
-expression stiffened.
-
-"Oh, I see," he said. "This paragon had special privileges which no
-one else may hope to share."
-
-"He certainly had," said Pamela. "For no one else would endure them,
-poor dear!"
-
-"Now, what do you mean by that?" he said doubtfully. "Do you mean
-the privilege of being called by his name?"
-
-"No, but the privilege of my society and Sylvia's."
-
-"He must have been jolly hard to please."
-
-"He wasn't, then. He was as easily pleased as a child. I should
-like to have seen you in some of the situations in which Mick
-distinguished himself."
-
-"I daresay I'd be very undistinguished. I make no pretence of being
-a paragon."
-
-"It would be useless to, Sir Anthony."
-
-"I don't dispute it, Miss Pamela. I suppose we'd better be making
-for home?"
-
-He turned and walked sulkily along the forest path with the girl by
-his side. For a second there was silence; then Pamela broke it by
-saying softly:
-
-"I often have thought that one reason why Molly fell in love with
-Mick was because she pitied him so much. He came to the wall in all
-our escapades. Of course, he was always in love with Molly, but I
-believe it was in protecting him from us that she became so fond of
-him."
-
-"He is your sister's lover, then?" incredulously.
-
-"Why, _of course_ he is. Whose did you suppose he was?"
-
-"Yours, Miss Pamela."
-
-"Mine! why, he'd never look at me when Molly was by. Besides, you
-don't know how horribly we ill-used the poor dear fellow."
-
-"Miss Pam, I wish you'd ill-use me."
-
-"You wouldn't like it at all, Sir Anthony."
-
-"Yes, I should, Miss Pamela. So Mick is engaged to your sister. What
-an ass I have been!"
-
-"Yes, poor dears, they are engaged, without the remotest prospect
-of ever being married that I can see. Mick's a subaltern in a line
-regiment, with just his pay--he got in through the Militia--and
-Molly, needless to say, hasn't a penny."
-
-"He's a lucky fellow, all the same. And now, Miss Pamela, what have
-we been quarrelling about?"
-
-"I'm sure I don't know, Sir Anthony. Have we been quarrelling?"
-
-"_I_ have."
-
-"But I haven't. I did think you were a little cross about something.
-But here is the Wishing Well that I told you about."
-
-They had come on a little glade of the forest, in the midst of which
-was a brier heavy with blackberries. The bush hooded a little space,
-and, looking underneath, one saw, as in a cup, a still depth of
-water over pebbles of gold and silver.
-
-"You are to drink, Sir Anthony, without spilling a drop, and think
-on your wish at the same time."
-
-"Drink from what, Miss Pamela?"
-
-"Why, from your hands, of course."
-
-"I couldn't; the water would all run away."
-
-"No, it wouldn't. See how I manage it."
-
-The girl scooped the water into her rosy palms and drank it slowly.
-Then she looked at him, and again the wave of rose flowed in her
-cheek.
-
-"I never could manage it; I'm such a duffer at things. Miss Pamela,
-would you let me drink from your hands? _Do!_"
-
-Without a word she stooped and lifted the water and held it to him.
-He drank from the rosy cup to the last drop. Then he suddenly caught
-the hands that had served him, and pressed them to his lips. For a
-moment they were yielded to him, and then the girl drew back. He
-thought she trembled a little, and the ardour in his gaze grew.
-
-"I am sorry," he said, "but I couldn't help it. You are not angry,
-Miss Pamela?"
-
-"I am going home, Sir Anthony," she said.
-
-"Not till you tell me one thing----"
-
-He barred her way, putting himself in front of her. "Tell me what
-you wished for."
-
-Her eyes fell before his, and as she stood with her hands clasped,
-and her head bent, she was a different creature from the wild Pamela
-of a few short weeks ago. The sunlight through the thinned branches
-fell on her short curls, for her hat--which she had been swinging by
-a ribbon--had fallen to her feet.
-
-"Look at me," he said; "I want to see what is in your eyes."
-
-She lifted them obediently, and then let them fall again.
-
-"Ah, that is enough," he said, with exultation in his voice. "You
-have answered me, Pam. That is enough just for the present. Some day
-I shall tell you what I wished for, and we shall see if our wishes
-come true. A double wish should have double force to induce its
-fulfilment. Isn't it so, Pam?"
-
-She said nothing, and he looked at her with triumph shining in his
-eyes. Blent with it was the tenderness of a lover when he knows he
-is loved, and just a shade of shamefacedness as well.
-
-"We must be wise, little beautiful Pamela," he said presently, in a
-low voice. "We must be wise and wait. I mustn't ask yet all I would
-ask, but I will one day--one good day, Pamela. You will trust me,
-won't you?"
-
-"Yes," said Pamela, hardly knowing what she was asked.
-
-"It will not be for long. Indeed, I could not endure it for long.
-Shall we be friends for a little while longer, Pamela darling?"
-
-"Yes," said Pamela, forgetting to rebuke him.
-
-"After to-day I will not call you darling till I have the right
-before all the world. After to-day. I meant to have held my tongue,
-but you bewildered me, Pamela. You are not angry with me?"
-
-"No," came almost in a whisper.
-
-"Lift up your eyes to me and say it. That is right. How beautiful
-your eyes are, Pamela! Say 'Tony,' now."
-
-"Tony!"
-
-"Dear Tony."
-
-"Dear Tony!"
-
-"How sweetly you say it! It is like silver in your voice. But, come
-now, we will go home. I have to be wise, you know. Ah, Pamela,
-Pamela! why did you bring me to the Wishing Well?"
-
-"You wanted to go."
-
-"Yes, I know; but it was an accident that we were alone, or it was
-Fate--yes, it was surely Fate that sent Miss Spencer's carriage for
-your sister at the last moment, so that we had to take our walk
-without her. Shall we go now, and talk no more about love to-day?"
-
-Pamela hesitated, and then said:
-
-"Poor Sylvia! She has spent this lovely afternoon shut up with an
-old lady and a dog."
-
-"She wouldn't mind the dog, I fancy, Pam."
-
-"Nor the old lady. Sylvia is fond of Miss Spencer, strange as it may
-seem."
-
-"Why is it strange, Pam? I can't help using the sweet little name."
-
-He had taken her hand by this time, and they were walking like
-children down the aisle of golden trees.
-
-"You haven't seen Miss Spencer. She is a little mad and a little
-grotesque to most people. But she is devoted to Sylvia, and Sylvia
-to her. She is not mad to Sylvia."
-
-"How does it come that I haven't seen Miss Spencer?"
-
-"She has been abroad. You'll see her one of these days, I expect.
-She was crossed in love in her youth, and it seems to have made her
-strange in ways. She's immensely wealthy, and gives a good deal in
-charity, but mostly among single women. She seems to think that
-those who have husbands and children don't need pity."
-
-"She's quite safe for your sister to be with?"
-
-"Oh, quite. She has all her senses, only that she's a trifle
-peculiar. She's a splendid business woman, everyone says."
-
-"It is a curious friendship. I should never have supposed it of Miss
-Sylvia."
-
-"No. One funny thing is that Miss Spencer's full of sentiment--wait
-till you hear her sing 'She wore a Wreath of Roses'--whereas
-Sylvia's quite without sentiment, and laughs at everything
-sentimental."
-
-"I feel sorry for the poor old thing," said Sir Anthony, with a
-half-ashamed laugh, "because she was crossed in love. I shouldn't
-like to be crossed in love myself, Pamela."
-
-"It was cruel," said Pamela simply. "The man made her love him, and
-then went away and never came back. She was poor then. She inherited
-Dovercourt quite unexpectedly."
-
-"What a sweep he must have been!"
-
-[Illustration: "Come along, Trevithick," he cried, rushing away.]
-
-"Poor Miss Spencer always thinks he will come back, though people
-say he married abroad and died there. I tell you all this so that
-you won't be the least bit in the world inclined to laugh when you
-see her. I daresay it's funny enough to see a pink silk coal-scuttle
-bonnet on top of a grey head; but then, you know, you don't feel
-like laughing."
-
-"No, indeed, darling."
-
-"Sylvia says it's made a man-hater of her. That's how she excuses
-herself for treating her admirers so outrageously."
-
-"I'd have fallen in love with Sylvia myself, only for you, Pamela."
-
-"It's lucky you didn't, Tony." The name came with soft hesitation.
-
-"Why, Pam?"
-
-"She'd have laughed in your face."
-
-"I'd rather have your way, Pam."
-
-"My way?"
-
-"Though it made me behave worse than I intended. But never mind. A
-little time will unravel the tangled skein. Now we are nearly out of
-the wood. Ah, Pamela! kiss me once--I shall not ask you again till I
-have the full right."
-
-Without a word the girl lifted her face to meet his kiss. To her it
-was the kiss of betrothal.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-"I WILL COME AGAIN, MY DEAR."
-
-
-"I wish my friend, Glengall, were at home," said Mr. Graydon,
-leaning back in the chair by the study fire. "He'd give you a mount
-while you were waiting for Johnny Maher's little mare. The hounds
-meet at Lettergort to-day."
-
-He looked wistfully through the bare trees on the lawn, as though
-he saw in imagination the scarlet horsemen pounding away after the
-streaming line of hounds.
-
-His pupil thrust into a book a sketch of Pamela which he had been
-making absent-mindedly.
-
-"Why don't you hunt, sir?" he asked, with sympathy.
-
-"So I do, my lad, when I can. But I can't afford to keep a horse,
-and there aren't many mounts to be had here. Glengall is going to
-set up stables when he comes back, and I'll have the run of them, I
-suppose. He's a good fellow--one wouldn't mind being obliged to him."
-
-"The mare'll be a good one when she's broken," said the young man.
-
-"The best in the world for Irish fences, if she does look a bit
-roughish."
-
-"You'll ride her for me, when I am away at Christmas, to get her
-mouth in?"
-
-"Thank you, my lad; I should like to." Mr. Graydon's eye kindled
-with pleasure. "But I didn't know you were going. It seems a longish
-way to go home for Christmas."
-
-"My mother would like to see me."
-
-"To be sure, to be sure. I quite understand, and, of course, there
-are friends in London you naturally want to see."
-
-"No one very particularly, sir."
-
-"Ah, well! it will be a holiday from this dull place."
-
-"No, I assure you, sir. It is partly because I have some--some
-business I want to settle. It is really true that there is no one
-I go to see whom I regard more than the friends I shall be leaving
-behind."
-
-Sir Anthony blushed hotly over this avowal, but his unsuspicious
-host only saw in it the shamefacedness with which a man, and
-especially a young man, makes a display of his feelings.
-
-"Now, that is kind of you," he said, looking at his pupil
-benignantly. "I am sure our Christmas will be dull without you. Do
-the girls know you are going? They won't like it, eh? And they will
-be disappointed that you will not be here for the Vandaleur affair."
-
-"I am coming back for that, sir."
-
-"I am glad. It is really the children's first outing. It is a dull
-enough affair for young people, but then they will wear their pretty
-frocks and see strange faces. We are such quiet people, Trevithick,
-that even Vandaleur's big dinner and reception, which comes off
-regularly whenever there is a general election in sight"--Mr.
-Graydon broke off to laugh and rub his hands--"is an event for us.
-But we are forgetting our Tacitus, my boy. Let us get back to the
-old fellow."
-
-At that moment there was the sound of a horn, and, with the shout of
-a boy, Mr. Graydon was up.
-
-"Come along, Trevithick," he cried, rushing away, hatless and
-coatless. "We shall get a glimpse of them. What a day for a scent!
-They are sure to find at Larry's Spinney."
-
-His words came back to his pupil, who was getting under weigh more
-leisurely.
-
-"Dear old boy!" he muttered to himself. "It's not surprising my
-father never forgot him. I wonder why the mater regards him with so
-deadly a hatred, though?"
-
-At lunch Mr. Graydon announced that Sir Anthony was going home for
-Christmas. There was a shrill expostulation from Sylvia, and even a
-mild protest from Mary, but Pamela said nothing. Perhaps it was not
-news to Pamela.
-
-"You will not be here for the skating," said Sylvia aggrievedly;
-"that is, if there's going to be any. And I've promised them at
-the Rectory that you'd recite at their penny reading and give away
-the presents at the Christmas-tree, besides managing the magic
-lantern. And, oh!"--the magnitude of the misfortune coming full upon
-her--"you're not surely going to miss the Vandaleur dinner?"
-
-"No, Miss Sylvia, I shall be here for it certainly. I wouldn't
-miss it for anything; but I object to your engagements for me with
-the Rectory people. I'd rather be shot than recite, and--the other
-things are beyond me," laughing.
-
-"Never mind, then," said the young lady airily. "Lord Glengall will
-do just as well. I shall like to see him distributing the articles.
-Besides, he will please the people better than a 'baronite,' and be
-of the rale ould blood, too."
-
-"Sylvia!" said her father, with a rebuke in his voice.
-
-"Never mind, papa dear. Sir Anthony understands all about his being
-only a 'baronite.' Bridget told him the other day that if the master
-had his rights 'tisn't teaching a 'Sir' he'd be."
-
-"So she did," said Sir Anthony.
-
-Mr. Graydon laughed.
-
-"Ah, well, my boy! you mustn't tell your mother what odd people
-you've found among the wild Irish--will you?"
-
-"She wouldn't understand a bit, but I'll tell her what dear friends
-I have found and made at Carrickmoyle."
-
-He blushed again, and Mr. Graydon thought how well his modesty
-became him.
-
-"Ah, well!" he said, "I suppose we must make up our minds to spend
-Christmas without you. What are you going to do this afternoon?"
-
-"I'm going to Maher's to see the mare, and put her through her
-paces. I'd like to have her stabled here as soon as possible. If
-she's ready, she can come at once."
-
-"To be sure. There's stabling for twenty horses here, though the
-stalls are bare--worse luck! But we won't let Sheila starve. Shall
-we, girls? I'll go bail these children will make a fine pet of her,
-Trevithick."
-
-"I shall be all the fonder of her, sir, though I'm well pleased with
-her at present."
-
-"She's a sweet little bit of horseflesh," assented Mr. Graydon. "I
-think I shall come with you, if you don't object to my company. I've
-a bit of business with Johnny myself."
-
-When they returned in time for the afternoon cup of tea, they found
-an old yellow barouche standing before the door.
-
-"Ah, Miss Spencer is here," said Mr. Graydon. "She's rather an
-oddity, my boy, so prepare to meet one."
-
-"I heard her story from Miss Pamela. It is very sad."
-
-"When I was a boy of thirteen or fourteen I remember her a
-brilliantly lovely young woman. That was before that scoundrel came
-in her way."
-
-When they entered the drawing-room Miss Spencer was sitting with her
-back to them, almost hidden in a deep armchair. The three girls were
-sitting or standing about her, all evidently much interested.
-
-"Here is papa, and our guest with him, Miss Spencer," said Mary.
-
-The little old woman came out of her chair with a sudden darting
-movement like that of a bird. Her gaze went from Mr. Graydon to the
-younger man.
-
-"Oh!" she cried. "Whom did you say?"
-
-She looked at the stranger for a moment with an agony of expectation
-in her yet bright eyes, while she fumbled nervously for the
-long-handled glasses at her side. When she had found them she peered
-at him through them; then dropped them, the expression of her face
-changing to indifference.
-
-"I beg your pardon, sir," she said. "I am expecting a friend, and
-for a moment I thought you were he."
-
-"How do you do, Miss Spencer?" broke in Mr. Graydon. "I see you have
-Stella under the barouche again. I'm glad she has recovered from her
-lameness."
-
-"The foot has come all right, thank you," said Miss Spencer,
-assuming quite an ordinary manner. "You weren't hunting to-day?"
-
-"No; I must wait till Glengall sets up his stables."
-
-"Ah, Glengall is coming home soon?"
-
-"He expects to reach Plymouth on the eighteenth. He will be at home
-for Christmas."
-
-"There'll be nothing in order for him in that old barrack of his."
-
-"He'll stay here while he's getting things straight. He is going
-to make a grand place of Glengall. He has plenty of money, and the
-heart to spend it, and the practical wit to direct it."
-
-"What will he do with it then? He has neither chick nor child."
-
-"There is always time, Miss Spencer."
-
-The slightly mad, brooding look came back to the little wizened
-white face.
-
-"Yes, of course, there is time," she said, dreamily. "I remember
-someone--who was it?--who knew Glengall when she was a young woman
-and he was a little boy. Glengall can't be old, of course, and any
-day people may return--mayn't they?"
-
-"Why, to be sure they may. Glengall did, though he was twenty years
-out of the reach of civilisation."
-
-"Oh, I wasn't thinking of Glengall. It was of someone much younger,
-someone about the age of that young gentleman there."
-
-Trevithick stood in the background and watched her with honest eyes
-of wonder and pity. She was smoothing the pink silk of her gown,
-while her eyes watched the fire as if she saw something very happy
-in it. Her skin was waxen white, and her features sharpened, but the
-brilliant eyes kept their beauty, and her little old hands, covered
-with rings, were delicately shaped. Her hair was half-white through
-the original black, and very oddly her pink bonnet, with its wreath
-of roses inside, sat on the streaked hair and over the white face.
-She had thrown off a large sable cloak on to the back of her chair.
-
-[Illustration: Trevithick watched her with wonder and pity.]
-
-Sylvia now broke in on Miss Spencer's half-mad mood. She touched one
-of the hands tenderly. Trevithick, as he noticed it, thought that
-it was the first time he had seen Sylvia's face really soft; and
-wonderfully the new expression completed the girl's beauty. So she
-will look, he thought, some day, when she is in love, like--like
-Pamela. But Pamela's serious face was hidden from him now with a
-fire-screen she held in her hand. He had noticed of late that she
-seldom looked at him, nor was he displeased. He knew the secret she
-was afraid to reveal.
-
-"We are all going to the Vandaleur affair, Miss Spencer," Sylvia
-was saying. "It will be on the thirtieth. There are to be great
-doings--acres of marquees for the diners, and the winter garden lit
-by electricity, and I don't know what besides."
-
-Miss Spencer came back to every-day life with a start.
-
-"To the Vandaleur affair, child! Why, who is going to take you?"
-
-"Papa, of course. He loves a little outing, though he won't admit
-it. He says he'd rather stay at home and have a quiet night's work
-at his book, and get some hot tea ready for us by the time we come
-home."
-
-"Why shouldn't I take you?" said the old lady. "I'm hardly old
-enough for a chaperon, of course, still I've the carriage, and
-I'd enjoy the function. I haven't been at one since the time Tom
-Charteris was master of the hounds. How long ago is that?"
-
-Mr. Graydon, to whom she spoke, answered her without looking at her.
-
-"A goodish few years ago."
-
-"It can't be," said the old lady; "not more than four or five at the
-outside. I wore white satin and pearls. That reminds me: what are
-you going to wear, minx?"
-
-This to Sylvia, at the same time softly pulling her ear.
-
-"We've got pattern-books of silk stuffs from Dublin. They're
-dirt-cheap; but the dressmaking will be the bother. However, I
-daresay we'll manage. Mrs. Collins' Nancy, who is a lady's-maid, is
-expected home for Christmas. She'll cut the frocks out, and we'll
-sew them ourselves. She'll know the fashions."
-
-[Illustration: "I must go, to unravel a tangled skein."]
-
-"Stuff and nonsense, child! Your first public appearance, too."
-
-"It's Pam's also. But you'll see we'll look very nice. I shouldn't
-be surprised if the prince fell in love with me."
-
-"What prince? Oh, I see, Cinderella's. But Cinderella went
-magnificently to her evening party--not in cheap and nasty stuffs
-cobbled up anyhow."
-
-"The prince wouldn't see that. He'd be disconsolate when I
-disappeared at twelve o'clock, and he'd send all over the country to
-find the fit of my glass slipper, and Molly and Pam would cry tears
-of rage because it wouldn't even fit on their toes."
-
-"You're not ball-going, minx."
-
-"It will be just as good. There'll be a beautiful dinner, and
-everyone in the county there, and afterwards there will be acres of
-beautiful things to see. It is a thousand pities Mr. Vandaleur is an
-absentee."
-
-"If he wasn't, he wouldn't have to remind you of his existence now,"
-said the old lady cynically. "But am I to be chaperon?"
-
-"Well, I'll tell you what, Miss Spencer," said Mr. Graydon. "If
-you'd take charge of these children, I'd be greatly obliged to
-you. The fact is that I've to attend a sort of unofficial meeting
-of Vandaleur's supporters in the afternoon, and he has hospitably
-offered me a bed. So I thought I'd take my bag over and dress there
-after the meeting."
-
-"And stay all night? I knew it," cried Sylvia. "Papa pretended it
-was such a bother, and all the time he was longing to be in for
-every bit of it. Only he didn't know what to do with us."
-
-Mr. Graydon laughed.
-
-"Maybe you wouldn't like it yourself. I shall be button-holed by
-Musgrave and Frost and Clitheroe, and every man in the county who
-thinks he has a head for politics and wants a patient listener."
-
-"And you will go at it hammer and tongs with the best of them, and
-forget you have daughters. I don't suppose you'll even remember at
-dinner-time to see whether anyone is asking us if we've an appetite."
-
-"The young fellows will do that. Every boy in the county will be
-there, including the 300th from Dangan Barracks."
-
-"I daresay," said Sylvia: "you're always ready to shift your
-responsibilities. Never mind, Miss Spencer; I daresay we shall be
-able to find someone who will look after us, if it's only a waiter."
-
-"Oh, indeed, you'll find someone to befriend you, never fear. And so
-will Pam. And so shall I. But what about Molly?"
-
-"Never mind me, Miss Spencer," said Mary. "It would never do to have
-you chaperoning three girls, and I shouldn't enjoy it a bit. I shall
-stay up and have tea for you after your cold drive."
-
-"I don't know what girls are coming to," said Miss Spencer; "I
-shouldn't like to have to stay at home myself."
-
-"We don't mind Molly," cried her sisters; "she really likes to stay
-at home and write her perpetual letters."
-
-"I shouldn't mind having the three of you," went on Miss Spencer;
-"we'd pass for four sisters."
-
-"We should never look as lovely as you in that white satin and
-pearls," said Sylvia, fondly.
-
-"I was much admired," said Miss Spencer, complacently. "But now I
-must be going. I've letters to write before dinner: I don't want to
-lose my beauty-sleep sitting up to write them."
-
-When Sir Anthony came into the drawing-room before dinner, he found
-only Pamela stretching her hands to the wood fire in the low grate.
-
-The lover stooped down and kissed them.
-
-"Have you been out?" he asked in a whisper.
-
-"Only to the stables with Sylvia. Your Sheila has come. She is a
-dear thing."
-
-"You like her, Pam?"
-
-"Who could help it? She looks so wild and shy, and she is so gentle
-at the same time."
-
-"Do you like her because she is mine, Pam? Do you, just a little
-because of that? Say you do, Pam."
-
-"Just a little," whispered Pam.
-
-"Why, if you like, she shall be yours, when--when everything has
-come right. I think she would carry a lady beautifully. What do you
-say, Pam? Would you like her, _then_?"
-
-"Yes," said Pamela, with her eyes very bright.
-
-"You didn't seem to mind my going away at Christmas, Pam. You were
-the only one who didn't protest."
-
-"I know you wouldn't go if you could help it."
-
-"Wise little woman. I must go, darling--to unravel a tangled skein.
-Afterwards it will be paradise, Pam. I will come back as soon--as
-soon as ever I can. I shall be in a fury of impatience till I come
-back."
-
-"And I," said Pam, lifting her eyes to her lover, and flooding him
-with their light.
-
-"Sweetheart! you were a coquette when I knew you first, Pam. Now you
-don't try me as many girls try their lovers."
-
-"I have only love for you now. Ah! what should I do if you did not
-come back?"
-
-"I will come back, 'though 'twere ten thousand mile.' I shall be
-here for your great function. Do you think I would have you go
-without me?"
-
-"I shouldn't care for it without you."
-
-"There will be other men there, Pamela, to see how beautiful you
-are. I must be there to guard my own."
-
-"There is no need for that."
-
-"I believe you, my love, you are as much mine as if you were my
-wife. And I am as much yours."
-
-"Love can only mean that."
-
-"Ah, my darling! how sweet you are! You wouldn't care for the
-admiration of other men, Pam?"
-
-"Only for one."
-
-"It is hard to be wise, Pam, when I am with you. You are too sweet.
-It is fortunate I am going."
-
-"When you come back it will be different."
-
-"Yes; you will have to make up to me for my prudence all these
-months. I have been good, Pam; I have never asked you for a kiss."
-
-"Yes, you have been good."
-
-"And you, you are a girl in ten thousand. You have never asked me
-what stood between us--a shadowy barrier, Pam, but even that must go
-before I claim you, my queen. When I come back, Pam! Ah, when I come
-back!"
-
-"Here is Molly," said Pam, in a low voice, as her sister entered the
-room.
-
-  END OF CHAPTER SIX.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: GREAT ANNIVERSARIES]
-
-GREAT ANNIVERSARIES
-
-_IN DECEMBER._
-
-By the Rev. A. R. Buckland, M.A., Morning Preacher at the Foundling
-Hospital.
-
-
-December is a month of great names. On December 21st, 1117,
-according to some authorities, there was born, in a house that stood
-on the site of the Mercers' Chapel in Cheapside, Thomas a Becket.
-Whether men side with Church or State, and are for or against
-Becket, they will hardly deny him the right to be remembered as an
-outstanding figure in our history. On the last day of the month died
-another great Englishman; like Becket, an Oxford man, and a potent
-factor in the religious development of our nation. On December 31st
-there passed away at Lutterworth John Wycliffe. His bones, thirteen
-years after burial, were dragged from their resting-place and cast
-into the River Swift. Thomas Fuller turns that shameful act of
-ecclesiastical malice to good use. "Thus," he says, "this brook did
-convey his ashes into the Avon, the Avon into the Severn, the Severn
-into the narrow sea, and this into the wide ocean. And so the ashes
-of Wycliffe are the emblem of his doctrine, which is now dispersed
-all the world over." On the 13th of the month, many generations
-later, there came into the world Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, an
-ecclesiastic of still another type. No modern dean ever identified
-himself with his cathedral as Stanley did with Westminster Abbey.
-Its national character was always present to his mind. His simple
-piety, his good works, his sympathy with Nonconformists, all helped
-to make the Dean himself rather a national possession than merely an
-ecclesiastic. He died in 1881.
-
-[Illustration: JOHN WYCLIFFE.
-
-(_From the Portrait at King's College._)]
-
-We have had the Church, let us come to the State. It is a rich
-month that claims the birth both of William Ewart Gladstone
-(December 29th) and of his great rival, Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of
-Beaconsfield (December 20th). They began their careers under very
-different auspices. Eton and Oxford prepared the one for immediate
-entry, under favouring circumstances, into Parliamentary life. The
-other was educated privately, designed for the law, and first caught
-the public eye as an author when he burst upon the world with the
-novel, "Vivian Grey." Mr. Gladstone survived his rival seventeen
-years.
-
-[Illustration: DEAN STANLEY.
-
-(_Photo: The London Stereoscopic Co._)]
-
-There died on December 14th one whom the British nation can only
-number amongst its own worthies by adoption. The death of the Prince
-Consort in the prime of life, and just when his very considerable
-powers and great devotion were beginning to be understood by those
-who at first regarded him with doubt because he was a foreigner,
-plunged our Queen into sorrow which long darkened the life of the
-Court and was felt by the whole nation. The pure, unblemished life
-of the Prince Consort, his sincere desire to advance the welfare of
-the people, his ready promotion of the arts and sciences, as well
-as his tender devotion to the Queen, have long been understood and
-valued by the nation which he served.
-
-[Illustration: JOHN MILTON.
-
-(_From the Miniature by Samuel Cooper._)]
-
-To come to other fields: there was born in London on December 9th,
-1608, John Milton. Educated at Cambridge, he early gave free play to
-the powers which in their issue have made his name familiar wherever
-the English language is spoken. Few remember him as a writer of
-polemical treatises on affairs of the State and the Church, or even
-as Latin Secretary to Cromwell; but he was an old man and blind when
-he gave the world "Paradise Lost."
-
-On the 12th there died Robert Browning, a poet who spoke to his
-age as few men have ever done, and spoke of God and the soul, of
-the here and the hereafter, with a clearness of faith which was as
-distinct as the robust manliness of his character.
-
-[Illustration: SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN
-
-(_From the Portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller._)]
-
-December 28th is given as the date upon which Westminster Abbey was
-consecrated in 1065; and on December 2nd that other minster, St.
-Paul's Cathedral, was opened in 1697. Legend says that the same
-King Sebert who founded the original St. Paul's also founded the
-Abbey at Westminster, whilst another story invokes the aid of King
-Offa. There is, however, clear testimony to the establishment of
-a Benedictine abbey at Westminster in the time of Edgar; that is
-antiquity respectable enough to satisfy most of us. A cathedral
-on this site is mentioned by the Venerable Bede as early as 604;
-but the actual fabric of St. Paul's has, according to Mr. Loftie,
-undergone greater vicissitudes than that of any other cathedral in
-England. The present St. Paul's was begun in 1675 and finished in
-1710. Its cost was L736,752. Sir Christopher Wren, its architect,
-received for his services L200 a year. What were then called "the
-new ball and cross" on the cathedral were completed in this same
-month in 1821.
-
-[Illustration: ROBERT BROWNING.
-
-(_Photo: Cameron and Smith, Mortimer Street, W._)]
-
-An old calendar assures me that on the 15th of this month, in the
-year 1802, "societies for abolishing the common method of sweeping
-chimneys" were instituted.
-
-On the 20th of this month, in the year 1814, Samuel Marsden landed
-in New Zealand--a missionary anniversary worth recalling.
-
-[Illustration: W. E. GLADSTONE
-
-Photo: Samuel Walker.
-
-THE EARL of BEACONSFIELD.
-
-Photo: Hughes-Mullins, Ryde. I.W.
-
-TWO EMINENT STATESMEN BORN IN DECEMBER.]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: The Limits of Human Genius]
-
-The Limits of Human Genius
-
-_Pulpit at Gloucester Cathedral._
-
-A Sermon Preached by the Very Rev. H. Donald M. Spence, D.D., Dean
-of Gloucester, at the Opening Service of the September (1898)
-Meeting of the Three-Choirs Festival in Gloucester Cathedral.
-
-     "As for Wisdom, what she is, and how she came up, I will tell
-       you, and will not hide mysteries from you, but will seek her
-       out from the beginning of her nativity, and bring the knowledge
-       of her into Light, and will not pass over Truth."
-
-
-The surroundings of a custodian of a mediaeval cathedral, beautiful
-though they are, at the same time are unutterably pathetic. They
-tell him, do the pages of the old solemn Book of Stone he is never
-weary of turning over and of pondering upon, that the genius of
-man has its limits, which it may never pass; that the story of
-human progress to higher and ever higher levels is often a delusive
-one; that in past ages his forefathers were perhaps as noble and
-chivalrous--aye, nobler, more chivalrous than the men of his own
-generation--that their imagination was more brilliant and their
-hands more cunning; that if in some respects progress is visible, in
-others the movement is retrograde.
-
-Again, a great mediaeval cathedral like our own glorious Gloucester,
-inimitable in its fadeless beauty and matchless strength, surely
-deals a very heavy blow to human pride, and it teaches humility to
-the most competent and ablest of our number, for it is a conception
-belonging to a past age. A great gathering, however, like the
-present, numbering some six or seven thousand persons, is for varied
-reasons an inspiring one and bids us be trustful--even hopeful.
-
-Dwell we a brief while first on our surroundings. Of all works
-devised by human ingenuity and carried on by human skill, the
-triumphs of architecture are among the most enduring, afford the
-most genuine and purest delight to the greater number of men and
-women, are confessedly the most attractive, perhaps the most
-instructive, as they are among the most enduring of human creations.
-The glories of Luxor and Karnak, which for several thousand years
-have been mirrored in the grey-green Nile; the white and gleaming
-shrines of Athens the bright and happy, the mighty ruins of Eternal
-Rome, are splendid instances.
-
-But perhaps the conspicuous examples of this architecture, the
-most loved of human arts and crafts, are, after all, the mediaeval
-cathedrals. The first object of interest for the modern traveller in
-search of health or rest is a cathedral. All sorts and conditions
-of men find delight in its contemplation. The delight, of course,
-is varied, but the strange and witching beauty appeals to them all.
-This appeal to the higher and devotional side of our nature speaks
-to every soul, to the unlearned as to the learned, to the mill-hand
-as to the scholar. The wanderer from the New World beyond the seas
-at once seeks them out, conscious that in them he will find a
-beauty and a joy such as he will never see or feel outside their
-charmed walls.
-
-I have said that to the custodian of such a cathedral the
-surroundings are, if not sad, at least pathetic, for these
-magnificent and loved creations of human genius belong to a somewhat
-remote past, and, as far as these exquisite buildings are concerned,
-save for purposes of necessary repair--repair simply to arrest the
-ravages of time--for nearly four hundred years the clink of trowel
-and pickaxe has been hushed.
-
-It is scarcely an exaggerated statement which speaks of
-architecture, in its noblest sense, as a lost art. Very significant
-are the words of one of the greatest of modern architects, who,
-after dwelling on the decadence of his loved art, tells us how "It
-is a somewhat saddening reflection--but there is no escaping from
-the conclusion--that the art which created the glorious abbeys and
-minsters, the beautiful parish churches so plentifully dotted over
-our country--abbeys, minsters, and churches which the churchmen of
-the second half of the nineteenth century so reverently and wisely
-restore and seek to copy stone by stone, arch by arch, window by
-window, down to the smallest bit of ornament--is a lost art! Men
-have come sorrowfully to see that mediaeval architecture is the
-last link--perhaps the most beautiful as well as the last link--of
-that long chain of architectural styles, 'commencing in far-back
-ages in Egypt and passing on in continuous course through Assyria,
-Persia, Greece, Rome, and Byzantium, and thence taken up by the
-infant nations of modern Europe, and by them prolonged through
-successive ages of continuous progress till it terminated in the
-beautiful thirteenth-and fourteenth-century Gothic, and has never
-since produced a link of its own.... Alas! it is the last link
-of that mighty chain which had stretched unbroken through nearly
-four thousand years--the glorious termination of the history of
-original and genuine architecture.'" Well may men love it and seek
-to preserve the examples they possess of it, and aim at copying it
-as well as they can. These remarkable and melancholy words above
-quoted were deliberately spoken by Sir Gilbert Scott, R.A., LL.D.,
-in his first lecture on Mediaeval Architecture delivered at the Royal
-Academy some years ago.
-
-So much for my note of sadness. Now let me strike a different chord.
-
-Such a gathering as the present, I repeat, is an inspiring one, for
-it tells me that if one great art dies, He who loves us and has
-redeemed us at so great a price, gives His children something in its
-place. Now it is strange that amidst all the gorgeous and striking
-ceremonial of the mediaeval services, with their wealth of colour
-and ornament, with all their touching and elaborate symbolism,
-music, as it is now understood, was unknown and comparatively
-neglected. In the noblest cathedral of the Middle Ages, in the
-stateliest Benedictine or Cistercian abbey, while the eye was filled
-with sights of solemnity and beauty, each sight containing its
-special and peculiar teaching, the ear was comparatively uncared
-for. Strangely monotonous and even harsh would chaunt and psalm
-and hymn, as rendered in the mighty abbeys of Westminster, Durham,
-or Gloucester in the days of the great Plantagenets, of the White
-Rose or Red Rose kings, sound to the musically trained ears of the
-worshippers of the second half of the nineteenth century. Indeed,
-music as a great science was unknown in pre-Reformation times. The
-most complete anthem-book may be searched through by the curious
-scholar, but scarcely a musical composer of any note will be found
-in these collections of a date earlier than the reign of Queen
-Elizabeth. It would seem as though, when architecture ceased in the
-sixteenth century to be a living craft, a new art was discovered and
-worked at by men.
-
-A new art! I say these words, strange to some, with emphasis.
-One who has indeed a right to speak of music[1] thus voices my
-assertion. While telling us that certain grand forms of music loom
-out of the darkness of the earlier centuries of our era, the famous
-musician to whom I refer adds that little of what we understand of
-music existed before the later years of the fifteenth century. It
-was no mere renaissance, for that which had never been born could
-not be born again.
-
-[1] Professor Hullah, in his "Lectures on the History of Modern
-Music," delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain,
-published 1884. See, too, Professor Hullah's Royal Institution
-Lecture on the Transition Period of Musical History (1876).
-
-In case some should think that too strong expressions are here
-used, it may be well to quote some of Professor Hullah's own
-words, which he used in the above-mentioned lecture at the Royal
-Institution:--"Music is a new art.... What we now call music ...
-what answers to our definition of music, has come into being only
-within comparatively few years; almost within the memory of men
-living." "I should say that in the scholastic music there was no
-art, and in the popular music no science; whence it is that the
-former has ceased to please, and the latter has for the most part
-perished utterly."
-
-It was a new art which charmed and delighted men as they listened to
-the magic of the sounds evoked by the majesty of the compositions
-of Palestrina, or by the sweetness of the music of Marenzio. It is
-true, as I said, that certain grand forms of music loom out of the
-darkness of the remote past--shadowy forms--and the rare composers
-and writers of the music of the past are, as far as music is
-concerned, but the shadow of names now. I allude, as famous examples
-of these shadows of names, to names such as Gregory and Isidore,
-Hucbald and the eleventh-century _maestro_, Guido Aretino.
-
-With extraordinary rapidity developed the new craft. To give here
-some familiar landmarks--
-
-Henry VIII. was reigning before Josquin Depres, whom all musicians
-revere as one of the earliest, certainly the most renowned, of the
-pioneers of modern music, became generally known in Europe. Josquin
-Depres was born somewhere about the year 1466, dying about 1515,
-some ten or fifteen years before Palestrina was born. Luther said of
-him, "Other musicians do what they can with notes; Josquin does what
-he likes with them." The Abbate Baini alludes to him as "the idol of
-Europe"; and again writes, "Nothing is beautiful unless it be the
-work of Josquin."
-
-The famous Roman School of music only dates from 1540. The oratorio,
-even in its more simple forms, made its appearance some seventy
-years later.
-
-Not until the last years of our Queen Elizabeth were the names of
-Palestrina and Marenzio, those great early composers, conspicuous,
-and the Queen so loved of Englishmen had long fallen asleep before
-Carissimi, the earliest master of the sacred cantata in its many
-forms, gave his mighty impulse to the new-born art; while the works
-of his world-famed pupil Scarlatti, and of our own English Purcell,
-belong to the art-records of the days of William and Mary and Queen
-Anne. See how the whole of the marvellous story of music--as we
-understand music--belongs to quite recent days!
-
-All through the eighteenth century, when the Georges reigned,
-architecture slept its well-nigh dreamless sleep. But the new art of
-music grew with each succeeding year, while the men whose names will
-never die lived and wrote.
-
-It was this eighteenth century which saw a Beethoven, a Handel, a
-Bach, a Haydn, and a Mozart. As masters of the new-born craft none
-can be conceived greater.
-
-The century now closing boasts, however, a long line of true
-followers and worthy disciples of those great ones, men whose names
-are household words in every European city.
-
-But my brief record, necessarily dry and bald, of a momentous
-change in the teaching of the world would be incomplete without one
-word on the glorious instrument--the voice, so to speak--of these
-masters of a new art, the organ. The first organ known in Western
-Europe traditionally was sent to Pepin in France by the Emperor of
-Constantinople in 759, but Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne, in his poem
-on Virginity, some half a century earlier, apparently describes
-what appears to have been the organ. Elphege, Abbot of Winchester
-in the tenth century, is said to have caused a very large organ to
-be constructed; but, with this solitary exception, all the mediaeval
-organs seem to have been small and comparatively unimportant
-instruments. The oldest organ-cases preserved do not date back
-further than the last years of the fifteenth century, and these by
-the side of modern organs are insignificant in size. Viollet le Duc,
-in his great work, gives us a picture of the Perpignan organ, one of
-the earliest (early in the sixteenth century). From this date the
-size rapidly increased.
-
-In the "Rites of Durham," where a great mediaeval church is described
-at the period of the Dissolution (1530-40), there were three organs
-in use in the abbey church, the principal one being only used at
-"principall Feasts," the pipes being "very faire and partly gilded."
-"Only two organs in England," says the "Rites," "of the same
-makinge, one in Yorke and another in Paules."
-
-[Illustration: LISTENERS AT THE THREE-CHOIR FESTIVAL.]
-
-The most magnificent organ-case in Europe is the one in St.
-Janskirk at Bois le Duc, and, like the vast majority of the great
-organ-cases, is Renaissance in style. Viollet le Duc sums up the
-question in the following sentence:--
-
-"It does not appear that great organs were in use before the
-fifteenth century, and it was only towards the close of the
-fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries that the idea of
-building organs of dimensions hitherto unknown was first conceived."
-
-The organ, as we now know it, was born among us at the same date
-when architecture died. Like the music of the Middle Ages, in the
-days when these vast and peerless buildings arose, it is true the
-organ was not unknown; but, like mediaeval music, it was a small,
-poor thing compared with the stupendous instrument we know and love.
-There was no great organ before the last years of the fifteenth
-century, when the Tudors reigned. The sixteenth and seventeenth
-centuries witnessed its development, and acknowledged its surpassing
-grandeur, and recognised its fitness as one of the chief handmaids
-of the new great art.
-
-Now the secret of the men who built this lordly abbey is lost; never
-again will such a triumph of, alas! a dead art arise to charm and
-to delight, to instruct and inspire the children of men. But we
-may still preserve and reverently use this rare and noble legacy
-of a vanished age as a shrine and a peerless teaching-home--a
-prayer-home, in which are taught the great evangelical truths
-by which Christian men live and breathe and have their being,
-the saving knowledge of the work of the Precious Blood, the glad
-Redemption-story, the story loved of men; the story which never
-ages, never palls, but which, like dew, descends on each succeeding
-generation of believers, and gives them new stores of faith and hope
-and love. This--these things--we try to do, and not without success,
-for as God's bright glory-cloud once brooded over the sacred
-desert-tent and the holy Jerusalem Temple, so now upon our beloved
-and ancient cathedral, with its almost countless services of praise
-and prayer and teaching, God's blessing surely rests.
-
-"It sleeps," does our cathedral, as one has lately said in words
-beautiful as true--"it sleeps with its splendid dreams upon its
-lifted face." But it has, too, its many wakeful working hours. Not
-the least memorable of these will strike this week, when the charmed
-strains of Handel and Haydn, Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Beethoven, and
-of the great Englishmen, Gibbons and Boyce and Walmisley and Wesley,
-and last, but not least, of Hubert Parry, peal through these fretted
-vaults, "lingering and wandering on" among these wondrous chambers
-of inspired imagery; while the almost prophetic words of that truest
-English song-man Wordsworth become history:--
-
-    "Give all thou canst; high heaven rejects the lore
-     Of nicely calculated less or more;
-     So deem'd the man who fashion'd for the sense
-     These lofty pillars, spread that branching roof
-     Self-poised, and scoop'd into ten thousand cells,
-     Where light and shade repose, where music dwells
-     Lingering and wandering on as loth to die--
-     Like thoughts whose very sweetness yieldeth proof
-     That they were born for immortality."
-
-[Illustration: Decorative]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: A Hero in Disguise]
-
-A HERO IN DISGUISE
-
-A Complete Story. By M. Westrup.
-
-
-The girl was little, slender, insignificant--only her love made her
-heroic. The man was big, broad, one to be noticed in a crowd, and
-his love made him as helpless as a little child.
-
-They stood opposite each other in the poor, shabby little room. His
-eyes devoured her face wildly, incredulously, but her eyes were
-fixed on a great hole in the faded carpet.
-
-Her mind was chaotic, for with his eager words of love rang others,
-bewildering her. Side by side with his passionate outpouring of his
-love for her, his longing to have her for his own, to live for her
-and work for her, were other words--words of ambition and great
-aspirations, words of intending travel into far-away countries, of
-hardships and discomforts to be borne for the sake of the book that
-was to be written--the book that was to bring fame and satisfaction
-to the writer of it.
-
-And these words rang with a deep note of earnestness and strength,
-and overpowered those eager, present tones that were pleading to her
-so wildly.
-
-"I called you Kathleen Mavourneen last night, you remember, and you
-smiled and blushed!" he protested, roughly. "Why did you do it?
-Kathleen, you _do_ love me, you do! Why don't you speak to me? I
-tell you, I have seen it in your eyes. Why do you deny it now?"
-
-She shook her head, and her heart cried in agony, "How long? How
-long?"
-
-"Won't you try, then?" with a humbleness that was not natural to
-him. "Oh, Kitty, little Kitty, I cannot live without you!"
-
-He held out his arms to her despairingly.
-
-"I have a singing lesson to give at one o'clock," she said.
-
-His arms fell to his sides. The sun streamed in on to the pretty,
-pale, downbent face of the girl, and on to the white, haggard face
-of the man who stood opposite.
-
-There were no shadows in the little room--it was all glare and
-shabbiness.
-
-"I will go," he said, and then his eyes caught fire; "but you are
-a flirt! Do you hear, a paltry, heartless flirt! You have led me
-on--played with me. You have made your eyes soft, your lips sweet,
-to amuse yourself at my expense! How do you do it?" with a little
-cynical laugh. "It's really clever--of its kind--you know----"
-
-He moved towards the door.
-
-"I beg your pardon," he said icily. "I should not have spoken so to
-a woman. Good-bye."
-
-"You will begin your travels now?" she said.
-
-He laughed.
-
-"Why keep up the pretence?" he said; "it's rather late now to
-pretend any interest in my life."
-
-She was silent.
-
-At the door he paused.
-
-He was a proud man, and he had an iron will.
-
-But his love made him helpless and weak as a little child.
-
-"Kathleen," he breathed, "you are sure?"
-
-A moment she stood still and rigid as a statue.
-
-"Little one, I love you so----" His voice was soft and caressing;
-but her love made her heroic. She raised her head. "I am sure," she
-said steadily.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The girl sat in a corner of the warm, gorgeous drawing-room, and
-wished vaguely that people would not nod and stare at her so
-energetically. She was used to it now, and tired of it.
-
-She had never liked it, but fame brings notoriety in its train, and
-notoriety brings nods and whispers and stares.
-
-She was dressed beautifully. She had always liked pretty things, and
-now she could have as many as she wanted.
-
-The man stood over in a doorway and watched her with cynical eyes.
-
-He had not seen her for five years, and as he stood there another
-man lounged up and spoke to him.
-
-"Looking at _la belle Philomele_?" he said; "she's quite the rage,
-you know. Ever heard her sing? You're only just back from the wilds,
-aren't you? Oh, well, of course you'll go to St. James's Hall
-to-morrow? She's going to sing, you know. Her voice is splendid. I
-never go to hear her myself--makes me feel I'm a miserable sinner
-somehow--does, 'pon my word. I've heard her twice, and then I
-dropped it. Don't like feeling small, you know."
-
-He lounged away again, and the man with the cynical eyes still
-watched her.
-
-Her head was turned away from him--only a soft, fair cheek and
-little ear nestling in a soft mass of hair, a white throat, and a
-lot of pale chiffon and silk, could he see. And suddenly the cheek
-and even neck were flooded with a red blush, and then they looked
-whiter than before. He wondered, and smiled bitterly as he did so.
-
-And the girl's eyes remained fixed, eager, fascinated, on the long
-looking-glass before her.
-
-But she was not looking at herself.
-
-Afterwards he sought her.
-
-"You were wise," he said mockingly, and her eyes grew dark with pain.
-
-He took the seat beside her and played with the costly fan he had
-picked up.
-
-[Illustration: "You were wise," he said, mockingly.]
-
-"I must congratulate you," he said indifferently. "This"--with
-a comprehensive wave towards her dress and the diamonds at her
-throat--"is better than the old days."
-
-"Yes."
-
-"But perhaps you have forgotten so long as--what is it?--ten--no,
-five years ago?"
-
-"No."
-
-He furled and unfurled the fan in silence, and wondered who had
-given her the Parma violets in her hair.
-
-"Your--book?" she said timidly.
-
-He stared at her blankly.
-
-She reddened slowly.
-
-"You--you--were going to--to travel, and write about it--strange
-places----" she faltered.
-
-"Oh, ah! yes, I believe I was--five years ago."
-
-Her face was white again now.
-
-"You _have_ travelled?" she ventured at last.
-
-"Oh, yes! I've done nothing else for five years. I've shot tigers,
-bears--I've lived with Chinamen and negroes--chummed with cannibals
-once--oh!"--with a laugh--"I've had a fine time!"
-
-Her eyes were wistful.
-
-Her hostess brought up a man to be introduced, and when she turned
-again, the chair was empty.
-
-She did not see him again for two weeks.
-
-There was an added pathos in the beautiful voice.
-
-_La belle Philomele_ brought tears to many thousands of eyes, but
-her own were dry and restless. It was dawning on her that she had
-made a mistake--five years ago.
-
-"Seen Hugh Hawksleigh?" she heard one man say to another. "Never
-been so disappointed in a chap in my life. Years ago he promised
-great things. Those articles of his on 'Foreign Ways and Doings'
-made quite a sensation, you know. And there was some talk of wild
-travels and a book that was going to be _the_ book of the day. The
-travels are all right, but where's the book?"
-
-"The usual thing--a woman," drawled the other. "Didn't you know?
-Some pretty coquette--the usual game--but the cost was heavier than
-usual--to him. It knocked it out of him, you know. I never saw a
-fellow so hard hit. That was five years ago, and he's never written
-a line since. Poor fellow!"
-
-The knowledge that she had made a mistake five years ago was growing
-plainer to her.
-
-At the end of the fortnight she met him and asked him to come and
-see her.
-
-He smiled, and did not come.
-
-Her eyes grew too big for the small, sad face.
-
-She met him again, and asked him why he had not come.
-
-He looked down into the sweet, true eyes, and his love weakened his
-will again.
-
-He promised he would come. He came, and stayed five minutes. He
-looked at her sternly as he greeted her.
-
-"Why do you want me?" he said, and watched the colour come and go in
-her cheeks with pitiless eyes.
-
-"We--used--to be--friends," she whispered.
-
-He laughed.
-
-"Never! I never felt friendship for you," he said, "nor you for
-me. You forget. Five years is a long time, but I have a retentive
-memory. I forget nothing."
-
-"Nor I," she murmured.
-
-"No? Then why do you ask me to come and see you?"
-
-She did not answer.
-
-He looked round the pretty shaded room.
-
-He laughed again.
-
-"There is a difference," he said, "in you too."
-
-She looked up quickly.
-
-"I am the same," she said, knowing her own heart.
-
-"Are you?" His eyes grew stormy. "Listen," he said, in a low, tense
-voice: "I am five years wiser than I was--then. I will not be a tool
-again. You have ruined my life--doesn't that content you? I would
-have staked my life on your goodness and purity--once. I dare not
-believe in any woman since you, with your angel's eyes, are false.
-I was full of ambition and hope once; you killed both. I tried to
-write--after. I could not. I shall never do anything now--never be
-anything. I despise myself, and it's not a nice feeling to live
-with. It makes men desperate. I love you still. Do you understand? I
-have loved you all the time, and I loathe myself for it." His voice
-changed. "You may triumph," he said, "but now you understand--I will
-not come again."
-
-She stretched out her arms after him, but he was gone. And she knew
-now quite clearly that she had made a mistake five years ago.
-
-For three weeks and a half she did not see him.
-
-Then she saw him when he thought he was alone.
-
-She studied his face with eyes that ached at what they saw. Then she
-went forward and touched him gently on his arm.
-
-"Well?" he said.
-
-"Will you come," she said in a low voice, "to see me----"
-
-"Thanks, no."
-
-His eyes rested bitterly on her rich gown.
-
-It came across him again how wise she had been. Tied to him, she
-could not have been as she was now.
-
-"I have something I must say to you," she said tremulously; "will
-you come--just this once?"
-
-He looked down into the soft eyes with the beautiful light in them.
-
-"I would rather not," he said gently.
-
-The weariness in his eyes brought a sob to her throat.
-
-"Ah, do!" she entreated; "I will never ask you again."
-
-He looked at her with searching incredulity.
-
-Then he turned away.
-
-Just so had she looked five years ago.
-
-She laid a small, despairing hand on his.
-
-The iciness of it went to his heart.
-
-"I will come," he said gently, and went away.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-When he came, he wondered at the agitation in her small white face.
-
-Her eyes were burning.
-
-He waited silently.
-
-She twisted her hands restlessly together, and he saw that she was
-trembling.
-
-He drew a chair forward.
-
-"Won't you sit down?" he said.
-
-She sat down in a nest of softest cushions.
-
-"I--I----" she began, and put up her hand to her throat, "I want
-to--to--to explain."
-
-His face darkened.
-
-She got up restlessly and faced him.
-
-He thought of that time when they had faced each other before--in
-the shabby, glaring little room--and his face hardened.
-
-"When you----" she began; "I thought it was for you--I had heard you
-say----"
-
-"Are you going back five years?" he asked.
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Then would you mind _not_?" he said. "There can be no good in it,
-and to me at least it is not a pleasant subject."
-
-"I must!" she burst out. "Oh! cannot you help me? It is so hard!"
-
-She held out her hands pathetically.
-
-A deep colour came into his tanned face, and he stood still, looking
-at her strangely.
-
-"I think I will go," he said; "there is no use in prolonging this."
-
-"Do you--love--me still?" she cried suddenly.
-
-He turned on her in a white passion of anger.
-
-"Not content yet?" he breathed. "What are you made of? Do you
-want me to show you all my degradation? Why? Oh, Kitty, Kitty, be
-merciful! Be true to those eyes of yours----"
-
-He stopped abruptly and moved over to the door.
-
-"Hugh, I love you!"
-
-It was the veriest whisper, but it stayed his steps, and brought a
-great light leaping to his eyes.
-
-The light died down.
-
-"It is too late!" he said, and turned away.
-
-"Hugh, listen--I loved you always--five years ago. It was for your
-sake----"
-
-He turned again.
-
-"Kitty?" he said uncertainly.
-
-She went on bravely, always heroic through her love.
-
-"I was poor--insignificant; you were ambitious--clever. I had heard
-your longings after greatness. Hugh, how could you travel into those
-wild countries with me? I knew you would give it up, and how could I
-bear that? To be a drag, a hindrance to you! And in the coming years
-I thought you would regret---- Hugh, you were poor, too, though not
-so poor as I. I did it for you--it nearly killed me, Hugh. I was ill
-after, but it was for you!"
-
-Her voice died away into silence.
-
-He stood very still, and his face was white and bloodless.
-
-But in his eyes there was a great reverence.
-
-"Forgive me!" he said.
-
-She smiled softly.
-
-"Oh, yes," she said.
-
-The cynicism had gone from his face, and the hardness and bitterness
-too.
-
-[Illustration: "Oh, cannot you help me? It is so hard!"]
-
-She looked at him wistfully. He turned away from her eyes and hid
-his face in his hands.
-
-"It was a mistake," he said, slowly, dully.
-
-"Yes."
-
-Still she waited.
-
-He looked up, and she strove to read his face in vain.
-
-Sad it was, and set, and yet there was a light there too.
-
-He took her hands gently in his.
-
-"Kathleen," he said earnestly, "God knows what I think of you. I can
-work now. Good-bye, dear."
-
-She raised her eyes to his--mystified and anxious.
-
-He answered them, very gently, but with a firmness there was no
-gainsaying.
-
-"You are famous," he said; "when I have made a name I will come to
-you. Will you wait, Kitty?"
-
-"For ever, Hugh," she answered, understanding him so well that that
-was all she said.
-
-He bent and kissed her hands.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-She knelt at the side of his bed, heedless of the presence of the
-nurse at the other end of the room, and her tears wetted his hand.
-The right hand and arm were swathed in bandages.
-
-He smiled sadly as he looked at her.
-
-"I am a failure," he said.
-
-"Ah, no, no! All England is ringing with your name. Hugh"--she
-raised a face all alight with a proud joy--"you are famous now!"
-
-A little flush rose to his white face.
-
-"Pshaw!" he said, "rescuing a woman and a few children from being
-burnt to death. Anyone would have done it."
-
-"Ah, no, Hugh! Brave men shrank from that awful sea and burning
-ship!"
-
-He was silent, looking at his bandaged hand.
-
-"I must learn to write with my left hand," he said.
-
-She bent nearer.
-
-"Let me write for you," she whispered; "let me finish your book,
-Hugh, while you dictate it to me. I do not sing now in public, you
-know."
-
-"Yes, I know."
-
-He drew her closer to him and rested his cheek against her soft hair.
-
-"I said I would not come to you till I had made a name," he said. "I
-am a wreck now! I shall be a wreck for a long while----"
-
-"Ah, dear, but you are famous!" she interposed lovingly.
-
-He sighed.
-
-"I cannot do without you any longer, Kitty. I am beaten at last.
-Will you take a wreck?"
-
-"I will take _you_, Hugh, a famous----"
-
-"A famous wreck," he finished with a smile.
-
-[Illustration: "Let me write for you," she whispered.]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: THE PULPIT MANNER]
-
-THE PULPIT MANNER
-
-CHARACTERISTIC GESTURES OF GREAT PREACHERS.
-
-=By F. M. Holmes.=
-
-
-First let us look at Dr. Joseph Parker. His sermons are constantly
-attended by ministers of all denominations, including clergymen of
-the Church of England; and no stronger testimony, we take it, could
-be given to a man's extraordinary preaching power than that year
-after year he continually attracts other preachers.
-
-Dr. Parker, it is almost needless to explain, is the eminent
-Congregational minister of the City Temple in London, and he
-occupies the unique position of having maintained for thirty years
-a noonday service every Thursday in addition to his usual Sunday
-services. To this Thursday service come persons from the ends of the
-earth, and ministers and laymen of various religious persuasions. On
-one occasion the sittings of a conference belonging to one of the
-minor Methodist bodies seemed seriously imperilled because so many
-of the delegates desired to go and hear Dr. Parker.
-
-What is the secret of his widely attractive power? The answer comes
-in a word--he is intensely dramatic. We do not mean theatrical.
-He chooses a clear message to deliver, and that message--that
-paramount thought--is driven home to his hearers in a manner that
-forces itself upon every mind, no matter how reluctant. He uses
-short, pithy sentences, and heightens and emphasises their effect by
-suitable modulations of voice, by deliberate or rapid utterance as
-the words may require, and by vigorous and appropriate gesture. He
-speaks only the very pith and point of what he has to say, and then
-says it in the clearest and most suitably effective manner that he
-can possibly command. It is the thing itself we hear, rather than
-talk or argument all round and about it.
-
-[Illustration: DR. PARKER.]
-
-Thus, on one occasion, his theme was found in the text, "Jesus in
-the midst." "Where is the midst?" he asked in a clear and striking,
-sonorous voice that commanded attention at once. These were his
-opening words, and after a pause he proceeded in the same manner and
-in similar short, striking sentences to point to different ideas of
-"the midst," and to declare that Christ was, or should be, in the
-midst of the literature, science, philosophy, and business of the
-day. Unless ministers preached Christ, said he, they had better be
-silent.
-
-[ILLUSTRATION: BISHOP OF RIPON. ARCHDEACON SINCLAIR.
-DEAN LEFROY. BISHOP OF STEPNEY.]
-
-There is nothing new in this, you will say. No doubt Dr. Parker
-would tell you that he does not wish to preach anything new; but no
-one can watch him critically without concluding that he constantly
-studies not only what he shall say, but how he shall say it in the
-most striking and effective manner.
-
-As a dramatic preacher, we might also instance the Rev. J. H.
-Jowett, who has succeeded the late Dr. Dale at Carr's Lane
-Congregational Church, Birmingham. To his Oxford scholarship Mr.
-Jowett has united an assiduous cultivation of a fine voice and
-vigorous yet graceful and suitable gesture, which render him a most
-striking and fascinating preacher.
-
-But turning now to other styles, if Dr. Parker is one of the most
-dramatic, Dr. Boyd Carpenter, the learned Bishop of Ripon, is one of
-the most eloquent of preachers. He is also one of the most rapid.
-He seems so fully charged with his subject that the words pour from
-his lips like a torrent; his body turns first to one side and then
-to the other, and anon leans forward in front, as though propelled
-by the energy of the thought within. His hand is often held up
-before him with the index finger pointing, as though to lead his
-audience on to the next thought, and to prevent their interest or
-attention from flagging. But, rapid and fluent as he is, it must
-not be thought that he is superficial; on the contrary, there is
-every evidence that the discourse is well thought out, and based
-on a solid framework of reason, while the language is eloquent and
-rhetorical. And it is, as it were, to mark the network of logical
-deduction within the words that the index finger is brought so fully
-into play. We judge that his voice is naturally somewhat thin and
-poor, but by careful use and perhaps assiduous cultivation, and by
-the most beautifully clear articulation, Dr. Boyd Carpenter can make
-himself heard in St. Paul's with what appears to be perfect ease.
-There is no straining of the voice and no shouting; but in a quiet
-though forcible manner he sends his voice round the huge building.
-Further, it has been pointed out to me that he will not commence his
-discourse until the congregation have settled themselves down into
-absolute quietness, and all the rustling of dresses, and coughing,
-and fidgeting are stilled. Under these circumstances his voice
-would, of course, carry far better in a large church.
-
-Somewhat similar in manner is Canon Barker, of Marylebone,
-who, in the energetic expression of the thought with which he
-seems surcharged, bends forward sometimes so deeply towards the
-congregation as to give, the impression that he is about to dive out
-of the pulpit. But his style is that of the special pleader, the
-advocate and the debater; it is as though he desires to argue out
-everything to its logical conclusion, rather than to sway or move
-his audience by eloquence and emotional appeals.
-
-[Illustration: PREBENDARY WEBB-PEPLOE.]
-
-Dean Lefroy of Norwich is also a debater; perhaps, a more keen
-debater than Canon Barker, and he is also a rhetorician. He delights
-to preach a strongly evangelical "Gospel" sermon, and to embellish
-it with rhetoric and declaim it with passionate earnestness. It is
-evident he thoroughly believes in his theme, he seeks to impress it
-on his audience by vigorous, earnest, passionate utterance, in which
-his energetic gestures are often of the most decided character.
-A curious characteristic of his preaching has been related to me
-by a friend. "You cannot listen to Lefroy for five minutes," said
-he, "without violently taking sides either for or against him. You
-are either intensely in favour of him or find yourself becoming
-almost vehemently opposed"--a testimony, we take it that the Dean
-is a decided, downright, assertive and aggressive preacher rather
-than persuasive and emotional. He has instituted a Nave service at
-Norwich Cathedral, at which he often preaches himself, and attracts
-enormous congregations.
-
-[Illustration: JOHN MCNEIL.]
-
-Still continuing to glance at those whom we may call rapid and
-fluent preachers, Prebendary Webb-Peploe comes to mind. He is not
-so energetic as some others, but the rapidity of his utterance, the
-fluency of his expression, and his great command of language, would
-rival that of almost any speaker. He and many others would probably
-utter three times as many words in a given time as Dr. Parker or
-Archdeacon Sinclair.
-
-[Illustration: IAN MACLAREN
-
-(_Dr. John Watson._)]
-
-The latter is slow, deliberate, and dignified in his utterances,
-rarely using gesture and affecting a grave and somewhat sonorous
-voice; but the Archdeacon's sermons are always most carefully
-prepared, and indicate considerable study and research.
-
-Among the grave and sedate preachers we might also place Dr. John
-Watson ("Ian Maclaren"), of Sefton Park Presbyterian Church,
-Liverpool; his sermons are full of thought, and, as might be
-expected, exhibit an excellent literary finish.
-
-Now, if we take Archdeacon Sinclair and Dr. John Watson as examples
-of more deliberate and sedate preachers, we may regard the Rev. John
-McNeil, the well-known Presbyterian minister, as an instance of the
-colloquial preacher.
-
-Not that his voice is low-pitched, as used in conversation. Mr.
-McNeil has done what few preachers could physically undertake: he
-has preached twice a day for a fortnight in the Albert Hall at
-Kensington, the largest hall in London, and capable of holding
-about ten thousand persons; and he has repeatedly filled the huge
-Agricultural Hall at Islington, numbers being turned away from
-lack of room. His voice, indeed, seems capable of filling the
-largest hall without effort. But his style is easy, unaffected,
-conversational, though sometimes, with both arms outstretched, he
-bursts forth into loud and impassioned appeals. There is no doubt a
-large section of the public who like this easy and colloquial style,
-especially if it come quite naturally to the speaker.
-
-[Illustration: DR. MCLAREN.]
-
-And now another celebrated figure rises on the scene, the
-eminent Baptist minister, Dr. McLaren of Manchester. Refined,
-scholarly, brimming over with knowledge, and a master of beautiful
-illustration, there is no doubt that he takes rank as one of the
-very greatest preachers of the day. Like other great speakers, he
-has evidently studied the art of preaching.
-
-[Illustration: DR. HORTON. HUGH PRICE HUGHES. J. R. JOWETT.
-SILVESTER HORNE.]
-
-At a meeting at the Holborn Restaurant to celebrate his ministerial
-jubilee in April, 1896, he said he had determined, at the outset of
-his career, to concentrate his mind on the work of the ministry and
-not fritter away his energies over many minor engagements. He had
-always endeavoured to make his ministry one of Gospel exposition; he
-had preached Christ because he believed that men needed redemption,
-and he had preached without doubts and hesitations. It was Thomas
-Binney who had taught him how to preach.
-
-Undoubtedly Dr. McLaren has succeeded in his aim as an expositor
-of the Scriptures, for that is regarded as one of his chief
-characteristics. A favourite gesture of Dr. McLaren's--at all events
-in his earlier days--was to squeeze up a handkerchief, no doubt
-quite unconsciously, in his right hand by the nervous energy he was
-putting forth in his discourse, and then suddenly his hand would
-dart out to mark some emphatic passage as though he were about to
-throw the handkerchief at the congregation; but needless to add the
-handkerchief was never thrown.
-
-Like Dr. McLaren, Dr. Whyte, of Free St. George's, Edinburgh, has
-a great command of beautiful and striking illustrations. "He is
-the most wonderful preacher in Scotland," declared an enthusiastic
-Scot to me on one occasion. "Mr. Gladstone used often to hear him,
-and Lord Rosebery does now." Dr. Whyte makes great use of the
-imagination in his discourses and employs frequent gestures, but
-graceful, emphatic and always to suit the action to the word and
-the word to the action. "One illustration," said a gentleman, "I
-remember some time ago. Dr. Whyte was preaching about tribulation,
-and he showed that the word came from _tribulum_, which is a Latin
-name for a roller or sledge for thrashing out corn, and in the same
-way tribulation sifted men as wheat." How like a platitude this may
-sound when summarised down to a line; but the point is that the idea
-of the beneficial purpose of tribulation had been so firmly fixed in
-the hearer's mind that he remembered it, and perchance in some dark
-hour it had been to him a "cup of strength in some great agony."
-Is not that, after all, one of the great aims and one of the great
-tests of good speaking--to fix some idea, some truth firmly in the
-hearer's mind so that it is never forgotten?
-
-As a robust, manly preacher few, if any, we suspect, can surpass
-Dean Hole of Rochester. He has a tall, commanding presence--he is
-over six feet high--a bright, animated countenance, and a most
-genial manner. When some years ago he held the living of Caunton,
-Notts, he used to journey periodically to Liverpool, where his
-midday addresses to commercial men were most successful and
-exercised great influence. He does not employ much gesture, but his
-fine voice, sparkling eye and manly, straightforward utterances,
-based on reason and logic, always command deep attention.
-
-[Illustration: DR. WHYTE.]
-
-His appeal is rather to reason than to the emotions, and by way
-of contrast we may glance at Canon Wilberforce, who is fluent and
-fervent, and affords one of the best examples of the emotional
-preacher. It would seem as though he set himself to arouse and stir
-up all the feelings of his congregation and lead them into what
-he conceives to be the right channel. Often choosing most unusual
-texts, he can yet make direct and pointed appeals from the pulpit,
-touching the greatest hopes and deepest trusts of human nature,
-and yet can employ as illustrations the greatest events and the
-newest discoveries of the day. He uses but little gesture, in this
-respect being somewhat different from the eminent Wesleyan, the Rev.
-Hugh Price Hughes, who might also be classed as an emotional--we
-had almost said passionate--preacher. In fluency and fervour he
-is probably surpassed by none. Possessed of a remarkably clear,
-vibrating, and penetrating voice, which seems as though it could
-thrill through any building, however large, there is no chance of
-anyone dozing when he is in the pulpit. When pleading some cause or
-denouncing some wrong, his feelings seem to get the better of him,
-and he slashes away with his voice in a perfect hurricane of verbal
-blows.
-
-[Illustration: DR. CLIFFORD.]
-
-Quite as emotional and quite as fluent is Dr. Clifford of Westbourne
-Park Baptist Church. His command of language is extraordinary,
-and with a mind less clear and well-regulated this great fluency
-might prove a snare; but his discourses are always remarkably
-well-arranged, his "points" are clear, and his meanings driven home
-with remarkable emphasis. His congregations are immense, and his
-hearers are devoted to him. His gestures often follow his words,
-and one--probably quite unconscious--is, it must be confessed, not
-graceful, even if forcible: it is a drawing back of his arms, and
-then shooting them out both together as if appealing to the people.
-His voice is exceptionally clear, penetrating, and resonant; and in
-all very popular preachers much is due to the voice.
-
-[Illustration: DEAN HOLE.]
-
-The Bishop of Stepney, who may be described as bearing all the
-characteristics of the highly cultured Oxford man, has in addition
-a deeply sympathetic musical voice. He does not use much gesture,
-but such as he does employ is well suited to the words, while his
-illustrations are often drawn from his social and religious work in
-the East End. He used frequently to preach in Victoria Park, where
-he has readily acknowledged his best supporters were Nonconformists.
-
-[Illustration: CANON BARKER. CANON WILBERFORCE.]
-
-Another eminent preacher whom we may also describe as exhibiting all
-the characteristics of Oxford culture is Dr. Horton of Lyndhurst
-Road Congregational Church, Hampstead. Possessed, like the Bishop
-of Stepney, of a remarkably sympathetic voice, he modulates and
-varies it to suit the subject and the words, and his gesture,
-never redundant, has lately been reduced almost to extinction. At
-the sermon which he preached before the Congregational Union at
-its autumnal assembly at Birmingham in 1897, his style was almost
-severely quiet, but the effect of his thrilling voice and sometimes
-awesome whispered tones, his polished literary language, and his
-intense earnestness--as he declared that the ideal Christian must be
-in constant touch with God, and yet in constant touch with men--was
-very great, and appealed both to reason and emotion. Indeed, both
-of these find their place in his sermons. Dr. Horton has mastered
-the art of always being interesting, no matter what his theme; and
-it would seem as though in his discourses he makes an effort to
-really interest and to reach all sorts and conditions of men.
-
-Another Congregational minister who exhibits much of the Oxford
-manner is the Rev. Silvester Horne, of Kensington; but, in addition,
-he seems possessed of a fiery zeal and fervent enthusiasm that will,
-it is feared, wear him out physically before his day is fully spent,
-unless he carefully husbands his nervous energy. Already, although
-a young man, he has had to take rest for a whole year because of
-ill-health. That inner fire, that mental energy, that disciplined
-enthusiasm, which light up his face so brilliantly and animate his
-suitable and graceful gesture, are far too precious a possession to
-be quenched too quickly; but there are few or none of the younger
-preachers of the day who have promise of a more brilliant future.
-
-And now a word in conclusion for one who is perhaps the greatest
-philosophical preacher of the time--Dr. Fairbairn of Mansfield
-College at Oxford. His memory is marvellous, his power of choice
-and accurate verbal expression is wonderful; he can speak for hours
-without a note, and though sometimes a sentence should appear
-involved and complicated, it will finish admirably, and, if read
-in a verbatim report afterwards, will have all the finish of a
-literary production wrought out in the quiet of the study. He uses
-but little gesture, an occasional opening out of hands and arms, as
-though to present and lay before the audience the thought which he
-is uttering, seems nearly all. In fact, it would appear that he is
-so absorbed in the abstract thought, the argument, the philosophy he
-is working out before you, that he thinks nothing of the manner in
-which he utters it.
-
-We do not pretend to have exhausted the list of famous preachers, or
-even to have glanced at all the different types; but these will be
-sufficient to indicate the variety that prevails, and to show that
-there is an art of preaching which, like other arts, needs to be
-assiduously cultivated, and well repays those who intelligently do
-so.
-
-
-
-
-A MOTHER'S BIBLE.
-
-  A pathetic incident occurred some years ago in connection with one
-    of our wars abroad. A youth who had been wounded, and who died in
-    the field hospital, clutched in his last hours an old worn copy of
-    the Bible, on the flyleaf of which were inscribed these touching
-    lines:--
-
-TO MY BOY.
-
-
-    Remember, love, who gave you this,
-      When other days shall come,
-    When she who had thy earliest kiss
-      Sleeps in her narrow home.
-    Remember! 'twas a mother gave
-    The gift to one she'd die to save.
-
-    A mother sought a pledge of love,
-      The holiest, for her son;
-    And from the gift of God above
-      She chose a godly one--
-    She chose for her beloved boy
-    The source of light and life and joy.
-
-    And bade him keep the gift, that when
-      The parting hour should come
-    They might have hope, and meet again
-      In an eternal home:
-    She said his faith in that should be
-    Sweet incense to her memory.
-
-    And should the scoffer in his pride
-      Laugh his fond faith to scorn,
-    And bid him cast the pledge aside
-      Which he from youth had borne--
-    She bade him pause and ask his breast
-    If he or she had loved him best.
-
-    A mother's blessing on her son
-      Goes with this holy thing,
-    The love that would retain the one
-      Must to the other cling.
-    Remember! 'tis no idle toy,
-    Thy mother's gift! Remember, boy!
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: ROGER PETTINGDALE]
-
-ROGER PETTINGDALE
-
-_A RUSTIC LOVE-STORY._
-
-By H. A. Davies.
-
-
-Across the fields from the church--through the clover meadow first,
-into the broad wheat-field next, and thence over the pasture lands,
-all yellow with the glint of buttercups--you will come to the
-Pettingdale farm. A thrill and a song and an aching went through
-my blood all together when I looked on the block of buildings the
-other day. How sweet-and-bitter is remembrance; how musical to the
-heart, and yet how sad with yearning! For the sight of that rugged
-old chimney standing square and grim and familiar upon the grey
-roof of the house; the red-tiled barns clustering behind, plain and
-prosperous; the sweep of the waving corn-fields towards the setting
-sun; caused my heart to surge with swift memories, long since buried
-and forgotten beneath the stress of life. How peaceful were the old
-days amidst these very fields! When the heart is young, ah! then's
-the time for music; and what echoes of far-off melodies--songs
-of old summers past and gone--does the scene awaken! There's the
-orchard where I spent such rare hours. Here are the hedges where we
-went a-nutting. Yonder is the oak-tree which we used to climb, Frank
-Pettingdale and I. It is still the same sturdy tree, keeping gnarled
-and knotted guard over the same creaking gateway, just as in the old
-days!
-
-Wherever my eyes fell there were thorns and roses for the heart all
-in one moment. It was in the old upland field that Clara Pettingdale
-and I as children used to wander, hand in hand, amongst the
-buttercups. She has long slept, poor Clara, in that corner of the
-churchyard where lie generations of Pettingdales past and gone--a
-long line of sturdy yeomen.
-
-The full light of the sun falls upon the courtyard of the farmhouse.
-It has a broad frontage, long and low and quaint, with irregular
-gables and overhanging eaves and deep, mullioned windows. The
-house runs queerly on two sides of the courtyard, one wing being
-at right angles to the other. It is beautifully clean and prim,
-with its whitewashed walls, its freshly painted woodwork, and
-its geraniums growing in green boxes on every window-sill. On
-the third side of the yard run the granary and the cider-house;
-while the fourth, save for an ivy-covered wall, which gives way to
-the entrance gates in one corner, is open to the gentle vista of
-countryside which stretches away before the house. What a pleasant
-old courtyard it is--so cool in the summer that the panting dogs
-love to throw themselves upon its stones; so sheltered in winter
-that the blustering nor'-easters touch it not; so prosperous-looking
-always, with its well-kept flags laid from end to end, as level and
-smooth as a billiard-table, and as spotless as the floor of the
-farm kitchen. How the polished milk-cans glisten and blink upon
-the wall! How the white sills of the old-fashioned windows gleam
-in the sunlight! The whole place seems to breathe of scouring and
-buckets, and scrubbing brushes and vigorous arms. Every morning the
-yard is washed down by the house-boy (it used to be Elijah in my
-day, but he is now a bearded man, and labours outside, and a young
-Ezra is the present knight of the bucket); every morning the cans
-are scoured and the tubs are scrubbed, and the step before the door
-is free-stoned, and the flowers are watered, and the house seems to
-smile a glistening, watery smile, as though it had just lifted its
-head from its morning dip to bid you the time of day. There was ever
-a charm to me about Pettingdale and its paved courtyard. I mind me
-well what a brave and romantic sound to my young ears was that of
-the horse's hoofs ringing and clamping upon the stones as he was
-brought up to the door on market days with the high yellow dogcart
-behind him; or the clatter of the wheels across the yard as Roger
-Pettingdale drove out through the broad gateway, a fine old figure
-with his white hair, and his aquiline nose, and his broad, well-set
-shoulders.
-
-[Illustration: His hair went snow-white early in life.]
-
-He is still outwardly the same. One could hardly detect a single
-point of change in him, save that his face is more furrowed and his
-eyes deeper set. His hair went snow-white early in life. Generations
-of Pettingdales have been subject to the same peculiarity. Thus it
-is that the long step from forty to sixty-five has wrought little
-difference in Roger Pettingdale. His body is as erect, his step as
-firm, his voice as sonorous as ever. He was ever a well-known figure
-at all the county markets and agricultural meetings, and it might be
-twenty-five years agone for all the change that one can see in him.
-Among other men he was always noticeable, with his tall figure, his
-white hair, his clean-shaven, well-cut face, and that wide-rimmed
-silk hat which he always affected. As he moved amongst the crowd I
-have heard men say, "Who is that?" and others answer, "Don't you
-know him? Why, surely everybody knows _him_? He's Roger Pettingdale."
-
-He is elected on all the local bodies. Thus he is a guardian of the
-poor, a member of the School Board, vice-chairman of the County
-Council, and the people's churchwarden at the parish church. There
-is no man amongst all those he meets in these capacities whose words
-are listened to with more respect. That solid weight, that hallmark
-of sound judgment which always attends upon sheer common-sense, is
-apparent in every opinion he utters. He forms his judgments first,
-and speaks afterwards. While other men are impulsively throwing
-themselves into useless controversy on this or that vexed question,
-Roger Pettingdale is silently weighing the _pros_ and _cons_ of
-the matter in his own mind; and when he speaks there is usually
-nothing more to be said. He chops no logic; he simply argues
-with the sledge-hammer of common-sense, backed up by the blunt,
-uncompromising sincerity of an honest and fair-dealing mind. His
-tolerance, his breadth of vision, his power of seeing the other side
-of the question, his scorn of all shams and pretences, have made his
-name a password for integrity and sound judgment. "You will always
-get a fair hearing from Roger Pettingdale," people say. "Does Roger
-Pettingdale think so? Oh, then, there must be something in it."
-
-In his home life, in the control of his farm, in his own daily
-affairs, there is the same straightforwardness, the same sincerity,
-the same well-balanced judgment and acumen. "There never was a
-year, as I remember, when we didn't have plenty of hay to begin
-conditioning on," said one of his labourers the other day. "Now,
-at the next farm they've never got enough." That is only a small
-instance of the perfection of method which marks every department of
-the prosperous farm.
-
-At home he is essentially a plain man, this sturdy farmer. There
-is no nonsense about him, although he can claim blood with one of
-the oldest families in the county. Yet he has a proper pride, in
-a manly, direct kind of way, as you shall see. He has had four
-children, two boys and two girls, in giving birth to the youngest
-of whom his wife died. James, the eldest, is his right hand in the
-farm management, and will some day be head of the family, as the
-Pettingdales have succeeded, son to father, for generations out of
-mind. Mary, the second, you shall hear more of anon. Frank, the
-third, my old playmate, early in life took the fancy that he would
-like to be a soldier. Roger Pettingdale has ever been a wise and a
-tolerant father, studying well the nature of each of his children.
-He unerringly knew Frank's proud and stubborn character.
-
-"You want to be a soldier?" he said. "Well, I could have wished it
-otherwise, Frank. It would have been a pleasure to me to see you
-settle down on the farm. But we will not argue the point. Let it
-stand for twelve months, and then talk to me about it."
-
-Twelve months did not change Frank's resolve. When he mentioned
-it again, a drawn look passed over Roger Pettingdale's face for a
-moment--a look of keen pain--for he loved his children. Then he drew
-himself up to his full height.
-
-"You are still of the same mind, Frank! Then I have nothing more to
-say. I am not going to attempt to dictate to you what your calling
-should be. You have to live your own life, and as you make your bed
-you must lie on it. Remember that, my lad. If you decide to go as a
-soldier, you shall go in a proper fashion, lad. You shall have your
-commission. No son of mine shall enter the ranks."
-
-And have his commission Frank did. I looked at the tablet in the old
-church the other day with a surging heart. It is a brass tablet, the
-lettering of which has been recently renovated.
-
-       TO THE MEMORY OF
-  LIEUTENANT FRANK PETTINGDALE,
-    WHO FELL IN ACTION IN THE
-     BATTLE OF TEL-EL-KEBIR.
-
-That was all. There was no vainglorious recounting of the brave
-deed in the performance of which Frank was cut down. He fell "in
-action." That was all. It was Roger Pettingdale all over--simple and
-direct and manly. And were not the laconic words far more eloquent
-than all the ornate elegiacs that poets might have written, just as
-Roger Pettingdale's silent grief when the news reached him was far
-more eloquent than all the passionate outbursts of frenzied sorrow
-that one could conceive?
-
-The fourth child, Clara, as I have already said, sleeps in the
-churchyard. She died when she was a fair-haired girl of ten--as
-bright and promising a maiden as one could wish to see. But she was
-ever fragile, like her mother, and suddenly she faded away, leaving
-a great gap in the home life at the Pettingdale farm.
-
-As to Mary, the second child, she was nineteen years of age, and
-newly returned from school, when Edward Leigh, the son of old Squire
-Leigh, of the Hall, came home from his travels round the world.
-These two, who had only distantly known each other as children,
-met for the first time after many years--she a sweet-looking,
-fresh-coloured girl, in the first blush of womanhood; and he a
-manly, well-set young fellow with a pleasant, sincere face and
-straightforward blue eyes. It was the old story! Twang goes the
-bow of the roguish little archer, and to some heart or another the
-world all at once becomes rose-colour. The old story! They saw each
-other on a Sunday morning across the church. She, sitting in the
-Pettingdale pew, mentally noted that there was a young man at the
-Squire's side who could be no other than his newly returned son; and
-he, from his corner underneath the dingy, ponderous coat-of-arms
-of the Leigh family, looked upon her in her simple dress of white.
-The sun, striking through the window to her right, glinted upon her
-brown hair, which always curled so prettily about her forehead. He
-thought, as he looked, that she was the sweetest, daintiest maiden
-he had ever seen, and he fell in love with her.
-
-He made no secret of his passion. Beating about the bush was
-entirely foreign to Edward Leigh. The choleric old Squire went
-off into a fit of apoplectic rage when he heard how things stood.
-The veins swelled in his forehead, and that pugnacious under-lip
-of his stood out and drew itself over the upper lip and the teeth
-with a tight grip. But Edward had all the old Leigh blood in him.
-"I love her, father," he said quietly, looking the Squire straight
-in the face, and the old man's heart sank within him as he met the
-steady glance of those blue eyes. Fits of passion, threats, fiery
-denunciations--they were all of no avail. Edward was never once
-other than respectful. He would stand with shoulders squared and
-head uplifted, bearing the storm in perfect calm and silence, and
-then would look his father in the face and say--"Father, I love
-her"; and the Squire would clench his fist and march to and fro,
-furiously stamping his feet upon the floor.
-
-[Illustration: "Father, I love her."]
-
-In one culminating fit of choleric rage the Squire rode over to the
-farm. He found Roger Pettingdale in the corn-field, looking at the
-growing wheat.
-
-[Illustration: "Forgive me!"]
-
-"Look here, Pettingdale," he burst forth fiercely. "This nonsense
-must be stopped. Are you an idiot, that you cannot see what is going
-on, or are you in the scheme to entrap my----"
-
-Roger Pettingdale turned round upon him.
-
-"I beg your pardon, Squire Leigh?" he said quietly, as one who had
-not heard aright.
-
-"Tut! Nonsense!" retorted the Squire. "Don't 'beg-your-pardon' me!
-You know full well what I mean. Are you blind? I say it must be
-stopped! You know full well that that precious son of mine has gone
-stark mad over that chit of a girl of yours!"
-
-"And what of that, Squire Leigh?" replied Roger Pettingdale, drawing
-himself to his full height and looking at the Squire from underneath
-his heavy eyebrows. "If that precious son of yours has gone stark
-mad over my daughter, what of that?"
-
-"Why, this," thundered the Squire: "that it must be stopped!"
-
-"Very well, why don't you stop it?" replied Roger Pettingdale.
-
-The retort, perfectly cool and natural, laid bare all the Squire's
-impotence at one stroke, and drove him well-nigh to frenzy. His eyes
-shot fire, and those veins in his forehead swelled as though they
-would burst.
-
-"It is not my daughter who is coming to the Hall after your son,"
-Roger Pettingdale went on. "It is your son who is coming here after
-my daughter. You seem to forget that point. You say it must be
-stopped. And I repeat--Why don't you stop it?"
-
-"It is as I thought," shouted the enraged Squire. "You are all in
-it--all of you. All in the scheme to entrap him! A pretty plot,
-don't you call it, for a man who poses as a Christian?"
-
-In a blind access of fury he took a step forward and raised his
-riding-whip. And then his shaking arm fell to his side, for Roger
-Pettingdale had laid a hand upon his shoulder, and was confronting
-him with grave, kindly, pitying eyes.
-
-"You are in anger, Squire Leigh," he said, with simple dignity,
-"else I should take your words as an insult. Be sure that the
-Pettingdales have not fallen so low, nor their womenkind either,
-that they need to trap the son of Squire Leigh. But I tell you this,
-as man to man: if your son truly loves my daughter, and if she
-loves him in return, I will put no bar before my child's happiness;
-no, not for you, nor for all the Leighs in the world. We come of
-as good a stock as you, Squire! Remember that! More money and more
-land maybe you have--but not more pride of family. I care naught
-for your money or your land. Thank God! I have prospered beyond all
-expectation. And I tell you again, straight to your face, if your
-son comes to me and asks for my daughter's hand, and I find it is
-for her happiness, I shall say 'Yes.'"
-
-"I shall disinherit him!" burst forth the Squire; "he shall not have
-a penny--not a brass farthing!"
-
-"I shall tell him," continued Roger Pettingdale, "that if he would
-win my daughter, he must first make a position for himself in the
-world, independently of aught you can do for or against him; and
-that shall be the test of his sincerity."
-
-Then he turned away, and the Squire, his face livid with passion,
-marched off, savagely cutting at the wheat-ears with his
-riding-whip. And when he mounted his horse at the corner of the
-field, he dug his spurs so viciously into her that she bounded and
-reared, and almost threw him.
-
-Well, the long and short of it was that Edward Leigh was not found
-wanting in the test which was imposed upon him.
-
-"You are quite right, sir," he said to Roger Pettingdale; "the
-condition is a reasonable one. I ask for nothing more than the
-chance of proving that I am in earnest."
-
-He went to London, studied under his father's old college friend,
-John Wetherell, the well-known Queen's Counsel, and in five years
-was making fair headway in the courts as a barrister. And the
-strange part of it was that the choleric old Squire--who has a good
-heart underneath his rough exterior--seeing his son's name in the
-papers from time to time, felt his paternal pride rising within him
-despite his stubborn resentment. Perhaps, too, he felt lonely in his
-old age. At all events, he went over to the farm one day, and asked
-to see Mary.
-
-"I shall fight against it no longer, my dear," he said, holding
-out his hand. "The lad has proved his grit, and the woman who
-can call forth such steady love in a man is more than worthy of
-being mistress of the Hall. I am an old man, and have no time left
-for bitternesses. Forgive me, and you will find me as staunch in
-friendship as you have found me frank in enmity."
-
-Mary is now Mary Leigh, of Leigh Hall, and a sweeter, gentler, more
-winsome mistress you could not find in the whole land. You may often
-see the old Squire leaning upon her shoulder--a bent, white-haired
-figure--as they walk in the grounds.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Among all the seasons of the year, I think there is none that Roger
-Pettingdale loves so well as the time of harvest. You may see him
-standing at the gateway, looking in meditation down the long shimmer
-and sheen of the golden wheat-field as the wind ripples over it.
-
-"I love to gaze at fields white with corn," he said to me once.
-"They seem to breathe rich promises of that full fruition to which
-our own lives shall come if we live them well and uprightly."
-
-At the last harvest thanksgiving service in the village church I was
-present for the sake of old times, and from my place behind Roger
-Pettingdale I saw him lost in meditation, with eyes fixed upon the
-chancel window. And when he stood up to sing he was still rapt in
-thought; but suddenly he joined in the sweet old hymn so lustily and
-with such a full heart that it did me good to hear him.
-
-    "The valleys stand so thick with corn
-     That even they are singing."
-
-
-
-
-THE ART OF READING.
-
-By the Ven. Archdeacon Diggle, M.A.
-
-
-Reading aloud is more commonly regarded as an accomplishment than
-an art. In truth, it is both. It is an art in that it cannot be
-left to its own guidance, but requires both an acquaintance with
-rules and familiarity with their practice to bring it to perfection.
-It is an accomplishment in that it is a means of completing our
-equipment for happy social life. Good reading yields not only profit
-but pleasure to others. It is one means of throwing brightness into
-home-life to gather the children together and read really well to
-them. And what a sweet delight it is in the ward of a hospital, or
-among the inmates of a workhouse, or by the bedside of some dearly
-loved invalid, to be able, by reading in soft, gentle, refreshing
-tones, to charm away the monotony and the weariness, perhaps for
-awhile to relieve even the pain, of the lonely and the suffering! We
-might shed sunshine into the darkness of many a life if, instead of
-spending our leisure hours in _ennui_ on ourselves, we devoted them
-to reading aloud to others.
-
-Reading aloud is good for ourselves both physically and morally. It
-is good morally, for if we never read anything unfit for reading
-aloud we shall not be likely to read anything morally deteriorating.
-And physically, reading aloud is a benignant exercise. It widens
-the chest, opens the lungs, strengthens the throat, and does good
-to all the breathing organs. It is a mistake to suppose that using
-the voice weakens it. Abuse or misuse of the vocal organs, as of any
-other organs, injures them; but by proper use and exercise they are
-strengthened and improved. Speakers and preachers have bad throats
-not because they use their throat too much, but because they use it
-badly. They force and torment it, instead of training it to natural
-action and giving it free, full play. And who shall blame them? At
-school they were taught to spell and mind their stops; but how to
-breathe and manage the voice when reading, they probably were not
-taught a single rule. In many instances teachers themselves are
-wholly ignorant of the art and therefore incapable of teaching it.
-And so it comes to pass that, unless either outward circumstance
-or innate common-sense turn our attention in later life to the
-management of the vocal organs, we never learn to read aloud without
-weariness and with pleasure. It is mainly through lack of early
-training that, of all useful and delightful accomplishments, the art
-of reading aloud is one of the least practised and most rare.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Russell and Sons, Baker Street, W._)
-ARCHDEACON DIGGLE.]
-
-Yet it is an art which, in some degree, may be acquired by the
-majority of people; very many could, by a little training and
-perseverance, even excel in it. Of course, the art admits of many
-degrees of excellence. But without reaching the splendid summits of
-the art, attainable only by the highly gifted few, ordinary persons
-may learn to read sufficiently well to gratify both themselves and
-others, if they will take pains to learn and practise a few simple
-rules.
-
-The first requirement is to master the physics of the art: to learn
-to breathe in through the nostrils and out through the mouth,
-never to speak on an inflowing breath, quickly to fill the lungs
-and slowly to empty them, never to gasp or strain after sound, not
-to attempt the higher notes until the lower have been completely
-mastered, to rely more on the lower than the higher notes, to teach
-the lips and front portion of the mouth to do their fair share of
-work equally with the larynx and the vocal cords. A moustache is an
-impediment to easy and distinct reading. It hinders the air from
-passing in free, full flow up the nostrils, and it troubles the
-waves of sound as they issue from the mouth; causing indistinctness,
-more or less flat and thick, in enunciation.
-
-Clearness of enunciation ranks next in importance after easy,
-natural, flexible production of voice, and largely depends on it,
-for there can be no clear, crisp, distinct enunciation of words,
-unless the tools by which words are made, viz. the organs of voice,
-are kept sharp and well burnished. Moreover, for the attainment
-of limpid and finely articulated enunciation careful training is
-required both in the melody and modulation of sounds.
-
-Precision and beauty of enunciation are much assisted by habitual
-practice of the graduated series of all the tones from the keynote
-to its octave. Do not sing when you are reading, but, in order to
-read well, first learn to sing; otherwise your reading will be flat
-and monotonous, without light and shade, instead of being fresh,
-richly modulated, and melodious.
-
-The next requirement of good reading is to learn the relative value
-of the letters, and the right handling of the syllables, of which
-words are composed.
-
-This study is both interesting and attractive, for, as Plato
-observes, letters themselves have a clear significance. The letter
-_r_ is expressive of motion, the letters _d_ and _t_ of binding and
-rest, the letter _l_ of smoothness, _n_ of inwardness, the letter
-_e_ of length and the letter _o_ of roundness.[2] Letters run in
-families, and each family has its own characteristic significance of
-sound. Some letters belong to the lips, others to the throat, others
-employ the whole mouth. Vowels and final consonants are the letters
-which demand most care and support in good reading. For the most
-part, vowels should be rich and full, and the final consonant well
-sustained.
-
-[2] _Cf._ Jowett's Plato, I. 311.
-
-If letters in themselves are expressive and significant,
-collocations of letters in syllables and words are clearly more
-significant still. "By various degrees of strength or weakness,
-emphasis or pitch, length or shortness, they become the natural
-expressions both of the stronger and the finer parts of human
-feeling and thought." To read well, therefore, it is necessary to
-give intelligent and ready heed to the relative weight of words,
-to notice whether consonants are massed together to increase their
-density, or vowels are freely interspersed to leaven and make
-them light. True enunciation largely depends on a careful study
-of the natural formation of words and a right appreciation of the
-proportionate value of their several syllables.
-
-Reading, however, is frequently spoiled by pedantry and exaggerated
-minuteness. In seeking to avoid slovenliness readers often fall into
-foppery. Good reading goes at an easy pace, it is neither too fast
-nor too slow; it neither counts the letters nor omits them, neither
-jumbles syllables together nor anatomises words. The good reader
-reads so that intelligent listeners can spell his words, but he does
-not read as if spelling them himself. He avoids the extremes both
-of negligence and nicety, and constantly remembers that whatever is
-overdone is badly done. Avoid ostentation. No rule in reading is
-more fundamental than this.
-
-Near akin to ostentation is the taint of false and histrionic
-emphasis. Colourless reading, bad though it be, is better than
-tawdry reading. Especially in all reading of a religious or sacred
-character should affectation and dramatic artifices be reverently
-avoided.
-
-To read the Bible in church as if playing a part on the stage is as
-inappropriate and irreligious as to read like one in haste to catch
-a train.
-
-Each kind of subject demands its own proper style in reading. Prose
-should not be read like poetry; nor all kinds either of prose or
-poetry alike. As in writing, each species should be dressed in
-language from its own wardrobe; so in reading, each several kind
-should receive its own appropriate tone, and travel at its own
-appropriate speed. To read everything alike is to read nothing--or
-at most only one thing--well.
-
-[Illustration: Charming away the monotony and the weariness.]
-
-Great authors are by no means invariably good readers, even of
-their own productions. Lord Tennyson read some of his own glorious
-poems beautifully; but others he read either droningly or with too
-much singsong. Dickens read his own works with wonderful power and
-realisation. Wordsworth read his own verse admirably; but we are
-told that neither Coleridge nor Southey could read verse well: "They
-read as if crying or wailing lugubriously."
-
-Reading, therefore, is an art which doubtless requires, for
-the attainment of excellence, some degree of histrionic
-gifts--imagination, imitation, fervour, and passion.
-
-Similarly with oratory and authorship. Both these arts are distinct
-from that of reading; as each of these again is distinct from the
-other.
-
-It is curious, indeed, how few among great authors are great
-orators; or, among great orators, great authors. The gifts which
-tell in writing--condensation, terseness, finish--are not the
-gifts which tell most in speaking. In speaking, the essentials are
-clearness of enunciation, sympathy with the audience, copiousness
-of illustration, directness of statement, uninvolved reasoning. The
-merits which impart value to a book--wealth of fact, niceness in
-balancing opposing considerations, delicacy of assertion, depth and
-sweep of argument--may easily become ineffective in the delivery of
-a speech. Hence, therefore, whereas a good speaker is occasionally
-a good writer, owing to his rare combination of different orders
-of talent, it more frequently happens that the one set of talents
-is given to one man to enrich them in seclusion, and the other to
-another man to use them with publicity.
-
-In like manner with reading; it is an art by itself. It is natural
-to suppose that no one could possibly read an author's works so
-well as the author's self, because no one can understand them so
-intimately as their own creator. Yet experience proves this to be
-not the case; and for a reason which at first sight is not wholly
-apparent. It is just because they are his own that, as a rule, he
-cannot read them well. He may have a richly cultivated voice, clear
-enunciation, a varied power of modulation; he may even be able to
-read the works of others well, yet be a failure in reading what he
-himself has written. Why is this? Partly, perhaps, it is due to
-an unavoidable self-consciousness in reading his own works; and
-self-consciousness is the ruin of good reading. "Forget thyself"
-is a necessary condition of good reading. Partly, perhaps, it is
-due to over-absorption in the memory of sensations and sentiments
-which overpowered him when he wrote in the solitude of his chamber,
-but which are somewhat unnatural and overstrained for exhibition
-before a concourse of auditors. But probably the principal reason
-is that one of the greatest charms of good reading arises from the
-co-operation of two spirits toward one end--the spirit of the author
-and the spirit of the reader. The reader of another's works seeks
-actively to express the spirit of his author, yet unintentionally
-he is expressing his own spirit also. The author enters into him
-and he throws himself into the author; his reading, therefore, is
-the union, the marriage, the interpenetration and expression of two
-spirits--the author's and his own. However interesting, therefore,
-and delightful it may be to hear an author read his own works,
-yet is there always lacking the dash and force and suggestiveness
-produced when a great author is interpreted by a great reader. The
-author merely reproduces his original meaning in what he wrote;
-the reader, through the agency of his own independent personality,
-idealises and diversifies that meaning.
-
-Idealisation is one of the most beautiful effects of the fine art of
-reading. The most ordinary poem or piece of prose, when idealised
-by an accomplished artist in reading, grows lovely and sweet. And
-one way of learning to read well ourselves is to sit at the feet of
-some of these great masters of reading. Until we have heard a great
-reader read it is next to impossible to conceive what a fine and
-noble art true reading is. On the other hand, we can never become
-good readers by merely listening to others, any more than we can
-become good musicians by hearing others play.
-
-In the art of reading, others may be our models; none but ourselves
-can be our makers. Listening to others may show us how the thing
-can best be done, but without doing the thing ourselves the thing
-can never be truly learned by us. Sometimes, indeed, listening to
-others has an effect quite the opposite of a model for imitation.
-"Pausanias tells us of an ancient player on the harp who was wont to
-make his scholars go to hear one who played badly that they might
-learn to hate his discords and false measures." In like manner, one
-way of learning to read well is to hear others read badly.
-
-The art of reading aloud culminates in the expression of the
-spiritual through the medium of the physical. As sculpture aspires
-to express its ideals in stone, and painting in colour, and music
-in sound, so reading embodies its ideals in uttered words. A
-well-trained voice, clearness of enunciation, rhythm and flexibility
-of articulation--these are the physical framework of the art of
-reading aloud. Without first acquiring these the reader is as
-impotent as the painter without colour or the sculptor without
-stone. But the physics of reading are nothing more than its material
-framework. Unless the reader is inspired with ideals, reading will
-never rise to the dignity and glory of an art with him. He may be
-as a house-painter with his brush, or a mason with his stone--an
-industrious and useful artificer, but not an artist in his work.
-
-
-
-
-MIDGET CHURCHES
-
-By J. A. Reid.
-
-
-The subject of church architecture is ever a fascinating one.
-Millions of money and an immense amount of time and labour have been
-spent in erecting places of worship, some of which are magnificent
-structures capable of seating several thousands. On the other hand,
-small, humble edifices sometimes suffice to meet the requirements of
-the worshippers; and it is with these that we here propose to deal.
-
-Which of the midget churches is the smallest it is somewhat
-difficult to say; but it is believed that the smallest church in
-England is the truly miniature church of Lullington, in Sussex.
-It is a primitive and quaint building, constructed of flint with
-stone quoins, with a roof of red tiles. It can boast of a little
-weather-boarded turret at its west end; but its bell does not toll
-now, and the birds of the air have long since found the turret a
-convenient nesting-place. The church is but sixteen feet square. The
-pulpit is a pew, with panelled sides and door, and the furniture is
-of the plainest. Five, narrow, diamond-paned windows throw a scanty
-light upon the interior, in which there is accommodation for thirty
-persons--quite sufficient for the population of the village.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: H. J. Unwin, Hailsham._)
-
-LULLINGTON CHURCH.
-
-(_Sixteen feet square._)]
-
-A somewhat larger edifice is the very interesting church of
-Wythburn, in Cumberland, the dimensions of which are--nave (length),
-thirty-nine feet; height of walls, ten feet; and width, fifteen
-feet. This was the original church, erected about one hundred and
-sixty years ago, and is of the simplest description. The roof is
-constructed of old ships' timber, and the windows are square holes
-with wooden frames. The chancel is eighteen feet long by fifteen
-feet by ten feet. The beautiful little east window is by Henry
-Holiday, and was put in to the memory of the late vicar. What
-a magnificent site for a church! The poets have thus expressed
-themselves with regard to this humble but beautifully situated
-church:--
-
-Canon H. D. Rawnsley wrote:
-
-    "We cannot stay--for life is but an Inn,
-     A halfway house--and, lo! the graves how near!
-     Yet mighty minds have hither come for cheer
-     Before the upward path they dared begin.
-     Here Gray the pilgrim rested pale and thin,
-     Here Wilson laughed, and Wordsworth murmured here.
-     Here Coleridge mused, and ere he crossed the mere
-     Hence Arnold viewed the Goal he hoped to win.
-     And we who would Helvellyn's height essay,
-     Or climb towards the gateway of the mound
-     Where Dunmail died because his realm was fair,
-     May join their gracious company who found
-     Earth's beauty made Life's Inn a House of Prayer,
-     And speed, refreshed of soul, upon our way."
-
-[Illustration: _Wythburn Church as compared with St. Paul's
-Cathedral._
-
-(_Photo: T. Dumble, Keswick._)
-
-WYTHBURN CHURCH.
-
-(_Thirteen yards long, five yards wide._)]
-
-Wordsworth, too, said:
-
-    "If Wythburn's modest House of Prayer,
-     As lowly as the lowliest dwelling,
-     Had, with its belfry's humble stock,
-     A little pair that hang in air,
-     Been mistress also of a clock
-     (And one, too, not hung in crazy plight),
-     Twelve strokes that clock would have been telling
-     Under the brow of old Helvellyn."
-
-And H. Coleridge:
-
-    "Humble it is, and meek, and very low,
-     And speaks its purpose by a single bell:
-     But God Himself, and He alone, can know
-     If spiry temples please Him half so well."
-
-We have given two instances of very small churches: let us now refer
-to a midget chapel. At Crawshawbooth, a village near Burnley, there
-is an extremely interesting diminutive place of worship known as
-the Friends' Meeting-House, an old-fashioned building covered with
-ivy, and environed by a well-cared-for burial ground. It contains
-half a dozen oak benches, on which the worshippers sit. Though these
-benches are sufficient to provide seating accommodation for about
-sixty, the attendance is rarely more than six. John Bright once
-worshipped here, walking from Rochdale, a distance of twelve miles.
-This quaint little place is naturally regarded with much interest by
-visitors.
-
-It is interesting to point out that there is another Quaker
-meeting-house in the hamlet of Jordans, in Buckinghamshire, which
-is, if anything, smaller than that already referred to. It has been
-called the Shrine of Quakerism, for early in June every year a
-gathering of Quakers takes place. Here lie the remains of William
-Penn, one of the greatest of Quakers. At a cottage in the vicinity
-Milton wrote his "Paradise Lost."
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: R. W. Lord, Little Lever, near Bolton._)
-
-THE FRIENDS' MEETING-HOUSE, CRAWSHAWBOOTH.
-
-(_Containing six oak benches to accommodate sixty worshippers._)]
-
-To revert to churches, Kilpeck Church is well worth referring to as
-being a lovely little place of worship. The nave is thirty-six feet
-by twenty, and the chancel seventeen by sixteen feet ten inches,
-the total length being sixty-eight feet and the average breadth
-about sixteen feet. It is built upon a Saxon foundation, and Saxon
-remains are still to be seen--notably, a "holy-water" stoup that
-must be one thousand or eleven hundred years old. It is not possible
-to do justice to this beautiful church in a few words, but the
-accompanying photograph will give an idea of the quaintness and
-beauty of the structure. The sculpture is remarkably interesting.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Poulton and Sons, Lee._)
-
-KILPECK CHURCH.
-
-(_Nave thirty-six feet by twenty._)]
-
-An article on midget places of worship would be incomplete without a
-reference to the little lath-and-plaster church of Essex, consisting
-of nave, chancel, and a small turret. Hazeleigh Church, as it is
-named, stands in the near vicinity of Hazeleigh Hall--once the
-home of the Essex family of the Alleynes, one of whom founded the
-College of God's Gift at Dulwich. This little church has thus been
-described by the Rev. H. R. Wadmore, sometime curate:--
-
-    "... A little church beside a wood
-     Securely sheltered from the sweeping blast;
-     So quiet, so secure, it seems to be
-     A very type of rest and all that's still."
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: R. D. Barrett._)
-
-CHILCOMBE CHURCH.
-
-(_Twelve yards long._)]
-
-This little church of Hazeleigh, owing to its simple character,
-differs but slightly from the roadside cottages. It has been styled
-"the meanest church in Essex," owing to its unpretentious character.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd._)
-
-THE CAVE CHURCH AT LEDAIG, NEAR OBAN.
-
-(_The most primitive church in the kingdom._)]
-
-A pleasing little church is that of Chilcombe, near Bridport,
-Dorsetshire. Chilcombe is mentioned in the Doomsday Book, and at one
-time was the property of the Knight Hospitallers of St. John. The
-existing church dates from the thirteenth century. It is in the
-Roman style, and possesses a good Norman font. The length of the
-nave is twenty-two by fourteen feet, the chancel being thirteen by
-eleven feet. The owner of the parish and the patron of the living is
-Admiral the Hon. M. H. Nelson.
-
-[Illustration: GROVE CHURCH, NEAR LEIGHTON BUZZARD.
-
-(_Capable of seating fifty people._)]
-
-Another remarkably small church is that of St. Peter, on the Castle
-Rise, at Cambridge, its dimensions being twenty-five by sixteen
-feet. It is of Norman architecture.
-
-England by no means possesses all the diminutive churches and
-chapels, and a very quaint and interesting church is that of Ledaig,
-near Oban. It is unsectarian, and its congregation numbers, on the
-average, twenty-five. It was founded by John Campbell, who was more
-familiarly known as "The Bard of Benderlock." He converted a natural
-cavern in the cliffs of Ledaig into a place of worship. A portion
-of a trunk of a tree, on which Robert Bruce is said to have rested,
-serves as a table and reading-desk. Trunks of trees around the sides
-of the cavern serve as seats for the worshippers. Mr. Campbell
-officiated as minister for many years to a band of faithful Highland
-worshippers in this curious church. Mr. Campbell was a remarkable
-personality. He was postmaster of Ledaig, and he also gained a
-considerable reputation as a poet. He was a much respected man, and
-his memory is dear to many.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: A. A. Inglis, Edinburgh._)
-
-ST. MARGARET'S CHAPEL, EDINBURGH CASTLE.
-
-(_For some time used as a powder magazine._)]
-
-I would like to refer to a very interesting midget church at
-Grove, near Leighton Buzzard, which I had the pleasure of visiting
-recently. It is the smallest in the county, and is a gable-roofed,
-barn-like fabric, with a door on the north side. In 1883 the little
-church was restored throughout, the fine old-fashioned square
-pews being replaced by open wooden seats, and it is now capable
-of seating about fifty people. Formerly the edifice contained a
-"three-decker"--clerk's desk, reading-desk, and pulpit combined. The
-churchyard contains many graves, but only one tombstone (eighteenth
-century). The dimensions of the church are--length, twenty-nine and
-a half feet; width, eighteen feet; height, about forty feet; in
-all probability, the church was formerly larger than at present.
-Grove is generally considered to be one of the smallest parishes in
-England, and one could hardly conceive of a smaller. It consists
-practically of a farmhouse and a lock-keeper's cottage.
-
-[Illustration: ST. ROBERT'S CHAPEL, KNARESBOROUGH.
-
-(_Showing figure of a Knight Templar cut in the rock._)
-
-(_Photo: G. E. Arnold, Knaresborough._)]
-
-We must not forget that at the top of Edinburgh Castle is the
-historical diminutive chapel of St. Margaret's, which was the
-private chapel of the pious Margaret, Queen of Malcolm III., during
-her residence in the castle. Until very recently it had been quite
-lost sight of, having been converted into a powder magazine and
-fallen into disrepair. In 1853, however, it was "discovered" and
-put into an efficient state of repair. It is considered to be
-the oldest and smallest chapel in Scotland, its dimensions being
-sixteen feet six inches by ten feet sixteen inches. The semicircular
-chancel is separated from the nave by a well-carved double-round
-arch, decorated with Norman zigzag mouldings. It is too small to be
-made available for divine service for the troops quartered in the
-castle, and the only use that it is now put to is for occasional
-baptisms and morning Communion.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd._)
-
-SMALL CHURCH AT ST. ANDREW, GREENSTED, NEAR ONGAR.
-
-(_Believed to include the only remaining portion of a Saxon wooden
-church._)]
-
-There are several very small places of worship which are now, alas!
-in ruins. At Iona, for instance, on the west coast of Scotland,
-are the remains of an extremely small chapel, known as St. Oran's
-Chapel. It is very near Iona Cathedral. It is constructed of red
-granite, and its external measurements are sixty feet by twenty-two
-feet. It is now roofless, and is very old. This little chapel
-is believed to have been built by Queen Margaret in 1080. Its
-architecture is Romanesque, and it has one low entrance. This humble
-edifice is interesting inasmuch as within its walls is the tomb of
-Sir Walter Scott's "Lord of the Isles," the friend of Bruce.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd._)
-
-DIMINUTIVE CHAPEL AT POINT IN VIEW, NEAR EXMOUTH.
-
-(_Containing an organ made by the pastor._)]
-
-There is another tiny barn-like edifice at Greenloaning, near
-Dunblane. The little church is situated adjacent to a farmhouse, and
-seems to have been erected for the benefit of the farm-workers. It
-is remarkably small. The scenery in the vicinity is magnificent, and
-the church is regarded with much interest by tourists.
-
-St. Anthony's Chapel is another small building also in ruins. It is
-interesting owing to its historic surroundings, being in the near
-vicinity of Holyrood Palace. It comprises a hermitage, sixteen feet
-long, twelve feet wide, and eight feet high, and a Gothic chapel
-forty-three feet long, eighteen feet broad, and eighteen feet high.
-
-One of the most remarkable of these little churches is that at
-Knaresborough, in Yorkshire, which is a very queer little chapel
-elegantly hewn out of the solid rock, the roof being beautifully
-ribbed and groined in the Gothic style. At the back of the altar is
-a large niche, where an image used to stand, and on one side of it
-is a place for the "holy-water" basin. There are also figures of
-three heads--designed, it is believed, for an emblematical allusion
-to the order of the monks at the once neighbouring priory. Possibly
-they were cut by some of the monks. The order was known as Sanctae
-Trinitatis. A few yards away there is another head. It has been
-surmised that this is a representation of St. John the Baptist, to
-whom the chapel is supposed to be dedicated. There is a cavity in
-the floor, in which some ancient relic was rested. The chapel is
-ten feet six inches long, nine feet wide, and seven and a half feet
-high. Near the entrance is the following inscription:--
-
-    "Beneath yon ivy's spreading shade,
-     For lonely contemplation made,
-     An ancient chapel stands complete,
-     Once the hermit's calm retreat
-     From worldly pomp and sordid care,
-     To humble penitence and prayer;
-     The sight is pleasing, all agree--
-     Do, gentle stranger, turn and see."
-
-The chapel is known as St. Robert's Chapel. St. Robert, the hermit
-who used it for devotions, was born about 1160, and was the son
-of Sir Toke Flouris, who was mayor of the city of York. In his
-youth he was noted for his piety, and he entered the Cistercian
-Abbey of Newminster in Northumberland. He was only there eighteen
-weeks, however, removing to York, and then to Knaresborough, where
-he retired from the world to live a life of contemplation in this
-restful spot. He died in the September of 1218. On one side of the
-entrance to the chapel, under the ivy, is the figure of a Knight
-Templar, cut in the rock, in the act of drawing his sword to defend
-the place from the violence of intruders. This is a queer and
-remarkable building, and, though not now used as a place of worship,
-the reference here made to it may prove interesting.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd._)
-
-INTERIOR VIEW OF PERIVALE CHURCH.]
-
-The cathedral of St. Asaph, in Flintshire, might be mentioned in
-this category as being the smallest cathedral in the country. It
-is in the shape of a simple cross in plan, consisting of a choir
-transept, nave, with five bays with aisles, and a central tower
-forty feet square and one hundred feet high. The choir was built in
-1867-68 from the designs of the late Sir Gilbert Scott, R.A., and is
-of Early English architecture.
-
-Passing references might also be made to the diminutive church of
-Warlingham, in Surrey, which runs the midget church of Wotton in
-that county very close; and to Grosmont Church, Monmouth, erected
-by Eleanor of Provence, a quaint little structure with an octagonal
-tower. There used to be a church known as St. Mildred in the
-Poultry, which was removed to Lincolnshire. It formerly occupied a
-position in the eastern end of Cheapside, and in 1872 it was taken
-to pieces and re-erected at Louth. It is generally considered to be
-the smallest church designed by Wren.
-
-At St. Andrew, Greensted, near Ongar, there is a very small church,
-and it is a curiosity, inasmuch as it is believed to be a relic of
-the only church of Saxon origin built of wood remaining.
-
-There is a small chapel at Point in View, near Exmouth. It is
-Congregational, and it provides seating accommodation for eighty
-persons, and forms one side of a block, the other three sides being
-taken up by four little almshouses, each consisting of two rooms
-occupied by four elderly maiden ladies. Over the chapel door is this
-motto:--
-
-    "One Point in View
-     We all pursue."
-
-The chapel contains a diminutive organ made by the pastor. In the
-vicinity there is a peculiar round house, the property of the
-Reichel family. It was a member of this family who founded the
-chapel and almshouses.
-
-The little church of St. Nicholas at Hulcote should be mentioned.
-It is near Woburn, the seat of the Duke of Bedford. It is rather
-difficult to find, at any rate when the foliage is on the trees,
-so surrounded is it by them. It was built about the year 1610 by
-Richard Chernocke. Its measurements are: length, from the tower to
-the chancel step, thirty-nine and a half feet; chancel, eight and a
-half feet from step to east; width, sixteen feet three inches. There
-are carved oaken panels to many of the seats, and on the north wall,
-inside the chancel rails, are some valuable old monuments in memory
-of the Chernocke family. It is now between fifteen and twenty years
-since the church was used for divine service, but it is still used
-for funerals.
-
-There is a little church, near London, known as Perivale. Although
-so near to the great metropolis, it is situated in a peculiarly
-lonely district. It lies in the valley of the Brent amid expansive
-meadows and hay farms. In 1871 there were only seven houses and
-thirty-three inhabitants in the parish. The midget church is
-situated at the end of a field near a low, semi-Gothic half-timber
-parsonage and a farmhouse. Although somewhat desolate, the spot is
-a restful one, and the hill and spire of Harrow in the distance
-make the scene pleasing to the eye. The little church is in the
-Early Perpendicular style, and consists of a nave, a narrow chancel,
-a rough wooden tower with short, pyramidal spire at the west,
-and porch on the south-west. The interior presents a well-kept
-appearance. The church was restored in 1875. In the windows is some
-late fifteenth-century glass containing figures of St. John the
-Baptist and St. Matthew, in fairly good condition, and of Mary and
-Joseph, which are not so well preserved.
-
-The prettily situated ivy-clad church of St. Lawrence, Ventnor,
-Isle of Wight, is another edifice which might well be described as
-a midget church, although some years ago it was found necessary to
-enlarge it. The church originally was thirty feet eight and a half
-inches long, it is now forty feet eight and a half inches; and its
-breadth was formerly eleven feet, whereas it is now twenty feet.
-The height to the eaves is about six feet. The architecture is Old
-English, but not at all striking. The church dates back to about the
-year 1190.
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo: F. N. Broderick Hyde._)
-
-THE OLD CHURCH AT ST. LAWRENCE.]
-
-We have now exhausted our space, but not our subject. There are
-other examples of diminutive churches throughout the country, but we
-have made a selection of the more interesting ones. However small
-the church, the worshippers have this assurance from the Founder of
-the Christian religion: "Where two or three are gathered together in
-My name, there am I in the midst of them"; and with that quotation
-this little article may fittingly be concluded.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: Canon's Daughter]
-
-THE MINOR CANON'S DAUGHTER
-
-_THE STORY OF A CATHEDRAL TOWN._
-
-By E. S. Curry, Author of "One of the Greatest," "Closely Veiled,"
-Etc.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-A PREMATURE PROPOSAL.
-
-
-In the Canons' Court, between Mr. Bethune's and the Deanery, lived
-Mr. Warde. He was a pleasant man, well off, artistic, musical--and
-happy in a life of little work, which left him leisure for his
-artistic pursuits. He had a rosy, kind face and plump figure; the
-Bethune children, Marjorie included, went to him before anyone else
-in times of need. He had often shielded them from offended law.
-
-It was he who set on foot the literary and drawing guilds,
-arranged concerts, and was the universal handy man for games and
-social festivities to all the county round Norham. He was about
-thirty-five, and had a chivalric devotion to Mrs. Bethune and her
-children, since, as a young man, he had first come to Norham.
-
-Marjorie was so accustomed to this that she did not see what was
-manifest to other eyes, on her return from school in Munich. She
-took all his kindness as a matter of course, having no more relation
-to herself individually than the Bishop's or the Dean's. Since her
-return, he had been sedulously pursuing his courtship in every way
-that occurred to him.
-
-This gentleman was standing beside her under the lime-tree at the
-top of the garden, where Marjorie could superintend the pursuits of
-her two youngest brothers. They were now busily engaged underground.
-For a whole week every minute of David's and Sandy's leisure had
-been spent in digging a deep hole in the corner of the garden
-devoted to their use. Thence, with infinite patience, passages had
-been scooped, and the mound of earth thrown up against the wall had
-come in useful as a toboggan ground.
-
-The little boys had received strict orders that morning that all
-the earth in the passages of the "cave," which, in a frenzy of
-labour, the two schoolboys had burrowed out before breakfast, was
-to be removed before their return in the afternoon. As it got
-deeper, steps had been conveyed from the house for the descent of
-the hole. The utility of division of labour had been impressed upon
-the children. Orme was to fill the baskets; Ross, being surer of
-his equilibrium, was to carry them up and empty them. If the work
-was not done, and done properly, the babies would have to play
-elsewhere; no longer would their presence be tolerated by their
-elders.
-
-Marjorie was enjoying a new book, whose alluring cover was fit index
-to its contents. Now and then, between the pages, dark eyes looked
-at her in a strange and wonderful fashion. When this occurred, she
-would lift her own, and gaze dreamily over the currant bushes, her
-breath coming quickly, the colour fluctuating in her cheeks. Upon
-one such moment Mr. Warde had intruded.
-
-"I thought I would come in and talk to you about your sonnet,
-Marjorie," he said, looking about for a seat. There was nothing
-handy except a cleft log--used by the boys as a block for chopping
-sticks. On this uncomfortable seat Mr. Warde poised himself.
-
-[Illustration: The man, looking at her, thought he might take hope.]
-
-"But that wouldn't be fair, would it?" asked Marjorie.
-
-"Oh! we judged the poems yesterday. I didn't propose to alter
-anything. Mrs. Adeane's is the best, and Lady Esther's next.
-But--your usual imagination was wanting this time," he said gently.
-
-"I thought it was bad--it seemed so prosaic," Marjorie said humbly.
-"You see, father's advice always is, not to let imagination go
-further than it knows."
-
-"Have you never imagined, never thought about love?" he asked softly.
-
-"Often, lately," frankly. "I thought it was a very silly subject to
-choose."
-
-"Not silly, Marjorie. The loveliest poetry has been written about
-it, as it is the loveliest subject. Why 'lately'?" he asked.
-
-"To get ideas. They don't come, if you don't think--not to me, at
-least."
-
-"That way of putting it is new," he said, considering. "Well,
-Marjorie, I want you to think of it, to imagine all you can of what
-it means--the new brightness, the new beauty it gives to life;
-how it transforms all things, even the commonest, so that----" He
-paused. Marjorie was looking at him in wonder.
-
-Was it something in his glance that brought irresistibly back to her
-remembrance that look in Mr. Pelham's dark eyes, of which more than
-once that afternoon she had been thinking? She coloured brightly,
-and her beautiful eyes grew soft.
-
-"Ah! I see you know what I mean," Mr. Warde said gently.
-
-"Oh! I don't," said Marjorie confusedly. But the man, looking at
-her, thought he might take hope. He went on:
-
-"It is expressed in all beautiful music, as well as in the best
-literature and art. It appeals to everyone, because it is natural to
-all, and answers to something in the heart of every one of us. So
-you see, Marjorie, knowing you and your gift of imagination, I am
-disappointed at this bald little verse."
-
-"Father says it is dangerous imagining on nothing," Marjorie
-replied, plucking up her spirit. "First get facts, absolutely
-accurate. Then build on them."
-
-"Well, Marjorie, don't you realise that the facts are all about
-you, that I----Whatever's the matter?"
-
-A yell broke across the summer air, and Marjorie, springing up, bent
-over the edge of the crater-like hole. At the bottom lay Orme, his
-basket beside him, its contents upon him. In a second Marjorie had
-descended underground, and Mr. Warde was left gazing into space.
-
-When she emerged, Orme was in her arms, muddy tears bedewing his
-cherubic cheeks. "Fall'd," he announced, in a self-pitying tone, to
-the visitor.
-
-Marjorie reseated herself, her little brother's head upon her
-breast. As she comforted him, the man observing her grew more in
-love than ever. Marjorie, soft and gentle, unconsciously rehearsing
-Madonna attitudes, gave him a thrill of delight. Presently the boy,
-his conscience uneasy over neglected work, slipped from her knee,
-and, with muttered remarks on "er, nasty ground," descended again
-into its bosom.
-
-He had learnt the imprudence of engaging in another man's labour.
-Resenting the meaner part of filling the baskets for the more stolid
-and surefooted Ross to ascend and empty, he had been promptly
-punished for his ambition. His little soul was now sore with the
-injustice of things.
-
-"Er, nasty steps slipped poor Orme," he said to Ross, watching his
-careful ascent.
-
-"You not big anuff," Ross answered importantly. "Go and fill er
-basket. Do what David bidded you."
-
-Meanwhile Mr. Warde had glanced at his watch. Soon, all too soon,
-this semi-solitude in which he had been fortunate enough to find
-Marjorie would be invaded by the schoolboys. He was no nearer the
-end for which he had come, and he could not again drag in Marjorie's
-little verse for criticism. She glanced at him, as she drew the
-alluring book towards her, and said, not too politely:
-
-"If you are going to stay, I'll just fetch my work," rising as she
-spoke.
-
-"No, Marjorie, don't go. There's something I specially wished to
-say, to talk to you about," he said, becoming a little confused
-under her unconscious gaze. Could he, after all, disturb this
-serenity by the suggestion of love and marriage? He felt somehow
-that the time was not ripe--that they would seem incongruous to her
-in connection with himself. And yet, if he did not speak, and be
-quick about it, another man might step in.
-
-"I have had a letter to-day," he said, "offering me a college
-living."
-
-"Have you?" said Marjorie in a not altogether flattering manner, and
-looking at him rather as though she were much surprised. She stood
-poised, ready to fetch the threatened work; her attitude altogether
-an unflattering one to a lover who has just made an important
-communication.
-
-"You won't go, shall you?" she went on, her glance going past him
-to the wall which divided the gardens. Over the top big clusters
-of the roses in which Mr. Warde delighted nodded gaily, whilst
-further on the square face of his house was gay with bloom, amid
-which the two lines of windows stared a little baldly. The blind in
-each was arranged symmetrically, and in spite of its prim tidiness,
-even its outside showed that no loved woman ruled within. From her
-neighbour's house Marjorie's eyes jumped to her own home.
-
-Here there was no symmetry, but its character as a home stood out
-plain. The nursery windows, distinguished by their guarding bars,
-were wide open, and the blinds drawn to the top, whilst in the three
-open windows of her mother's room adjoining the curtains flopped
-lazily, and the blinds had been adjusted to the sun. Somehow the
-sight and the difference brought a feeling into Marjorie's heart
-which had not yet stirred it in connection with Mr. Warde. Hitherto
-he had not seemed to her to need pity. But now, when he went
-back into his house--away from her and the homely garden, where
-vegetables, and currant bushes, and the untidy quarter of the boys,
-were of more account than flowers, where little feet pattered, and
-boys' voices were never silent--what would he go back to? The blank
-windows lit up empty rooms, where no foot but his own stirred. He
-would find no companionship but that of his music and his books.
-Marjorie never guessed of the visions that peopled his fireside.
-
-"Shall you go?" she asked, looking at him--then speaking out
-suddenly the pity her thoughts had called up: "Won't it be very
-lonely?"
-
-"Very. Sit down please, Marjorie, and listen to me."
-
-Then, as she complied: "When first I came here, ten years ago, your
-father and mother were very kind to me, and I grew so attached to
-them and theirs, that I wanted nothing more. I felt no need of the
-ties other men have or make, because I had--you." Then his tone
-grew tender. "Do you remember how you used to come round and climb
-into my study window for your lessons, when the boys began to go to
-school? You were a bit forsaken then, Marjorie. And then, when you
-were good--as you weren't always--how a little pony accompanied me
-on my rides, and then when the pony and the child who rode it had
-each grown bigger, one day they both disappeared. The child went
-to school, to come back, nearly grown up, with music oozing out of
-her fingers' ends. Well, Marjorie" (he had risen, and his face was
-paling, his self-control vanishing, as he stood looking down on
-her), "I have waited a long time for that little girl--who has yet
-seemed always mine--I want her for my wife. Will you go with me,
-dear, if I go?"
-
-Marjorie gazed blankly into his face. "I? Of course, it is
-me," she said slowly. "I don't know--I didn't think--how can I
-leave--everybody?" her voice faltered.
-
-She rose suddenly, putting aside the hand that would have stayed
-her. There is nothing so cruel as a young thing who has no notion of
-her power and of the devotion she has stirred.
-
-"I didn't think," she said, cuttingly, "that you wanted payment. I
-thought--I thought----" And then, not trusting her voice further,
-she sprang away from his detaining hand, and fled.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-MARJORIE'S TROUBLE.
-
-
-"Dear Marjorie,--You gave me no answer yesterday, and I am afraid I
-took you by surprise, and perhaps shocked you. A girl is a tender
-thing, I know. Will you send me just a little line of hope and
-forgiveness? I love you--how dearly you cannot guess--and I want you
-to be my wife. But I will press nothing against your will, and I
-have written 'No' to the offer of that living. I think you will like
-to stay near home. Whatever you decide, whether you say 'Yes' or
-'No,' believe always that my love is too great to change, and that I
-am ever your attached friend,--W. ST. J. WARDE."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Marjorie was reading this letter with an expression which certainly
-did not augur well for its writer. She had been seeing to household
-matters for her mother, and had sat down with an armful of boys'
-clothes to mend, when the note had been handed to her.
-
-"I do not know what to say to him, mother. I wish--oh, I do so wish
-he hadn't done it."
-
-"He is a good man, Margie," her mother said simply. "A man, I think,
-to make you happy."
-
-[Illustration: "He is a good man, Margie."]
-
-"Happy, mother? I am happy now. What should I do next door? I should
-always be running in to see you. And how could you get on without
-me?"
-
-"We shall manage. And next door with Mr. Warde would be so much
-nicer than a long way off with someone else. It would scarcely be
-losing you."
-
-"Do you want me to go, mother?" asked Marjorie, struck by her
-mother's tone.
-
-"Not in one sense, dear; but you will go. It is natural for girls to
-marry. You will marry, I hope; it is the happiest life, with a good
-man you can look up to."
-
-[Illustration: "You have been very good to my boys," Mrs. Bethune
-said.]
-
-"But do I look up to him? I think we--Charity and I--often laugh at
-him."
-
-"But you can laugh, and yet look up, or life would be very dull. Who
-do you go to when you want to know anything that father can't teach
-you?"
-
-"To Mr. Warde," acknowledged Marjorie.
-
-"And when you want to go anywhere?"
-
-"Yes; but only because he has a carriage--and we haven't."
-
-"And when you want to see the picture galleries?"
-
-"He can go; he always has time. But all that doesn't mean that I
-want to marry him," she added.
-
-"But it is just that. You already look to him for most of your
-pleasures. That is a long way towards loving him. You would find him
-a very kind husband and friend."
-
-"Oh! mother, what must I do?" entreated Marjorie, the tears
-coming into her eyes. "He has spoilt everything. It is Charity's
-garden-party this afternoon, and I shall be so uncomfortable.
-Couldn't you go, mother, in your chair?"
-
-Mrs. Bethune's face changed.
-
-"I could, dear. Yes, I will go; perhaps it will be difficult for
-you." She sighed softly; she was hardly as yet reconciled to her
-helplessness in public, in spite of the cheery spirit which enabled
-her to bear suffering with such courage.
-
-Mrs. Bethune's spirit made her the idol and confidante of her boys.
-Her fun was unquenched, even when the fire of life would seem to
-have gone out for ever; after the terrible fall, when, to save the
-infant in her arms, she had laid herself upon her back for life. The
-baby--Orme--was found unhurt, folded round, so it seemed, by the
-broken body of his mother. Ross, the most thoughtful, she averred,
-of her six sons, once said to her:
-
-"Mummie, you do laugh mor'n anybody. Is it 'cos you can't walk?"
-
-"Yes, little son, perhaps it is; to make up, you know."
-
-And Sandy, butting his bright head into her knees one day,
-inconsolable about something, was won to laughter by, "Sandy, laugh!
-Look at me!"--and he had looked. And the irresistible witchery
-of the beautiful dark eyes had cured his woe. She was always the
-sunshiny centre of the house, and only her husband, or Marjorie in
-rare moments, guessed how sometimes the bright spirit quailed.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The Dean was popular in the county. When Mr. Pelham came into the
-Deanery garden somewhat late, he found Mrs. Bethune's chair under
-the chestnut trees, a centre of laughter and conversation. Marjorie
-was standing by her mother, with a wistful look on her face, he
-thought at first sight, wondering at its expression. Love, when
-presented first to a girl brought up as Marjorie had been, comes
-as a great shock. That it should be Mr. Warde of all men who
-should cause her this disquiet filled Marjorie with a sense of the
-unsatisfactoriness of the world. It disturbed things that had seemed
-to her as settled as the hills round Norham that this old friend
-should want to be her lover.
-
-Before going to the Deanery she had sent a little note in answer to
-his letter, in which she had said--
-
-"There is nothing to forgive. But you must not think of me like this
-any more. You have always been so kind to all of us that it grieves
-me to say 'No' to anything you want. Still, it must be 'No.'"
-
-She hoped he would not be present at the Deanery. It was his turn of
-duty at the cathedral. She would bring her mother away early, before
-he arrived. The afternoon was quite spoilt for her.
-
-And then Mr. Pelham had come up, and she had introduced him to her
-mother with a tremulousness and agitation quite unlike her usual
-serenity.
-
-"You have been very good to my boys," Mrs. Bethune said gratefully.
-
-"Your boys have been very good to my little girl," he answered,
-admiring the delicate beauty of the face, scarcely looking older
-than the unquiet one of the tall daughter beside her.
-
-"They're very enterprising," their mother said. "I hope she will not
-come to any harm with them. They're apt to give us surprises."
-
-"I wonder if you will give me some advice about her," he went on,
-drawn by some magic in the dark eyes to appeal to their owner for
-sympathy, "if I may consult you. It is about clothes," he said,
-smiling. "My nurse is kind and careful, but surely a baby in the
-country does not really need expensive dresses from a Regent Street
-outfitter. I should be so grateful if you would tell me where you
-get those pretty things your little boys always look so nice in."
-
-"Even when they are grubby?" laughed the mother. "I do not know
-where they could be bought. My nurse, and Marjorie, and I make them."
-
-"Then, if you do, surely my nurse ought to have time. I do not like
-my baby's over-dressed look; at least, white satin seems to be out
-of keeping with mud-pies and digging. She is great on digging just
-now."
-
-"Quite so," said Mrs. Bethune. "If you will send your nurse down to
-see me, I will have a talk with her."
-
-The Duchess of Norham, a very great person indeed now came up to
-greet Mrs. Bethune. She was not one who troubled about dress.
-To-day, in her grey silk, and round hat, she was the most plainly
-dressed woman on the Deanery lawn. Charity, by her side, was an
-effective contrast, in soft, shimmering pink.
-
-"Glad to see you out again, my dear," she said to Mrs. Bethune. "And
-this is your girl come back to you--grown past all knowledge. I hear
-wonders about her music," kindly. "Charity, may I take her away for
-a few minutes, presently? I want to hear this music Mr. Warde extols
-so. Where is he?" looking round.
-
-Marjorie's cheeks, in spite of her usual self-control, turned
-scarlet. But the Duchess's gaze was arrested by the look on Mr.
-Pelham's face. He, still standing with a hand on Mrs. Bethune's
-chair, was looking at Marjorie with a surprised appeal in his
-expression, as if he, too, was wondering at her sudden flush.
-
-"Oh!" thought the Duchess, "I imagined it was Charity. Was I
-mistaken then? Not about the girl, if those rosy cheeks are to be
-trusted."
-
-"Why isn't Mr. Warde here?" she asked of Marjorie, who, in obedience
-to her gesture, turned with her towards the house.
-
-"He is at the cathedral. It is his week."
-
-And the Duchess thought she guessed rightly the reason of the
-agitation she detected in Marjorie's voice.
-
-"The Blackton man will be unsuccessful," she settled. "But Charity
-is pretty enough to console him, and it will be a good marriage for
-them both."
-
-This great lady was never more happy than when arranging marriages
-amongst her friends.
-
-Marjorie did not dream how her sudden flush had betrayed her, and
-forgot lovers and the difficulties they caused when she sat down
-to the piano. But perhaps it was the perplexity in her mind that
-conveyed itself to the listener, through the plaintive melody ending
-in a staccato phrase which fell from her fingers.
-
-The Duchess sat at a little distance, viewing with approval the
-delicate face, framed in its bright hair.
-
-[Illustration: "Hush! Barbe, don't call!" entreated Sandy.--_p.
-168_.]
-
-"Good, pure, true, and strong," she settled; "and," as a sudden
-conviction struck her, "she is beautiful, like her mother was ten
-years ago. Dressed"--her thoughts following along the same way as
-Charity's--"well, she would be a success. She is wasted on Mr.
-Warde. Shall I interfere?"
-
-She was so deep in thought, working out a sudden plan, that she did
-not notice when Marjorie ceased playing.
-
-Marjorie, glancing at her, asked softly--
-
-"Was that too sad? Shall I try something else?"
-
-But in a moment the Duchess rose briskly, and put her hand kindly on
-Marjorie's shoulder.
-
-"No, my dear. I shouldn't like that spoiled by anything else. Mr.
-Warde is right. You have a gift. But a girl like you should not be
-sad or--or perplexed. Forgive an old woman. Is something troubling
-you?"
-
-Marjorie looked up into the keen eyes above her.
-
-"Not troubling," she hesitated, "only things are sometimes
-perplexing."
-
-As she spoke her eyes travelled to the window, through which came
-the sound of low-voiced chatter and delicate laughter. The older
-woman, looking at the girl, saw a sudden arrested look come into her
-eyes and, following their direction, was again puzzled. Charity,
-standing by Mrs. Bethune's chair, was smiling up into Mr. Pelham's
-face. She had the manner of one who is pleased, and who wishes
-to please, and her pretty daintiness of pose and dress was very
-attractive. Mr. Pelham's whole attention, as he conversed, was given
-to her. In his courteous attitude were expressed, in the eyes of the
-two lookers-on, both deference and admiration.
-
-"That girl has grown very pretty," the Duchess said, "and Mr. Pelham
-seems to think so. He is quite an acquisition here, though I am
-amused to hear you sniffed at him at first."
-
-"Yes," agreed Marjorie, a little pang at her heart.
-
-The keen eyes travelled back again to Marjorie's face.
-
-"But your mother was prettier than any of you. The sweetest,
-merriest creature ever seen, with you babies at her feet. I am glad
-to see her so much better, able to do even this little, poor soul,
-poor soul!"
-
-The sudden tears welled up into Marjorie's eyes at the appreciation
-and tenderness of the tone.
-
-"And, my dear--forgive an old woman again--but I think I have
-guessed Mr. Warde's hopes for a long time, and he is a good man.
-There, there"--as Marjorie's face grew agitated--"nothing could have
-happened better. Your mother will have you at hand, and though she
-is so unselfish and brave, she has missed you sadly; and there is
-plenty of money."
-
-Marjorie listened in silence, with a feeling as though chains were
-being bound round her. As she walked back by the Duchess's side to
-her mother's chair she strove in vain to recall her courage. In the
-eyes of the man who watched her, as she came towards him, the shadow
-on her face had deepened with that little excursion into the house.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-A MIDNIGHT VISIT.
-
-
-The boys had seized the opportunity of the attention of their elders
-being engaged elsewhere to get into mischief. Although they had
-made so much fuss about their right of way to school, it was not
-the only way they used. They had, in fact, several ways. One was
-by train to Baskerton, a village on the river five miles away, and
-thence, by lanes and the parks, home. This, however, required time
-and the absence of authorities. Another way was through Easton and
-the parks, up the course of the little stream, which at one point
-nearly touched the Court gardens. In this stream, its shallow waters
-splashing up against their ankles, the boys were walking, and the
-baby was prancing between them.
-
-"Should we take Barbe with us?" David had asked, pausing on the
-Green.
-
-"If we can get her," Sandy had replied.
-
-The boys reconnoitred, and the piercing whistle, which set the baby
-all a-quiver with expectation, sounded through the garden.
-
-"There then, go!" said nurse somewhat crossly, as Barbe began to
-stamp; and she went. Her education was proceeding apace. Her father
-sometimes listened aghast at the things which, in her baby prattle,
-she reported herself to have done.
-
-"See, Barbe, there's a rat!" Sandy said eagerly, as a flop and a
-splash made them jump. "See, it's swimmin' away."
-
-"'Wimmin' away," said the baby, stooping to look, her two hands
-on her two knees, and the front of her frock sailing on the water
-before her.
-
-"Oh, Barbe, you're all wet!" David said, as they landed, and
-strolled up the field.
-
-"Wet!" she echoed delightedly. "Foots--f'ock!"
-
-"You'll have to be dried."
-
-"I know," said Sandy cheerfully; "we'll dry you by the Bishop's
-fire--almost sure to be a fire."
-
-But the study window, to which they crept warily by sheltered ways,
-was shut. The Bishop was absent.
-
-"Now what's to be done?" said David.
-
-"I know where there's a fire," Sandy said. "Was this morning, 'cos
-of that lead. Let's take her to the little room."
-
-Again they slipped by leafy ways out of the Palace garden into the
-cathedral yard. The baby's wet skirts flopped round her, and David
-lifted her into his arms.
-
-The approach of Mrs. Lytchett, returning from the Deanery in
-unwonted bravery of attire, prompted them to seek refuge behind a
-tomb. Here it took the boys' whole attention to prevent Barbe's
-chatter drawing unwished-for notice upon them.
-
-"Hush! Barbe, don't call!" entreated Sandy.
-
-"Barbedie good girl," announced the baby in a loud voice, lifting
-herself on tip-toe to see the passer-by.
-
-Mrs. Lytchett's ears were good, and, besides, she felt certain at
-this point that her eyes had seen something fluttering. She stepped
-off the pathway, and examined a tomb near.
-
-"Hush!--sh--sh!" cautioned David, holding up his finger to his
-mouth--a movement which so pleased Barbe that she proceeded to copy
-it.
-
-Mrs. Lytchett passed on; the danger was over. David lifted up the
-baby and carried her into a little octagon room near by, built in
-the wall of the cathedral, and used frequently as a workroom or
-office.
-
-Here the boys were at home. It was the head-quarters of their
-greatest friends--the masons engaged on the renovations always in
-progress at the cathedral.
-
-In the grate were the slowly dying embers of a fire, and the room
-was empty.
-
-"Mr. Galton ain't locked up yet, knowed he wouldn't," said Sandy.
-"He likes his tea punctual--'spects it's time. Now, Barbe, come an'
-get done."
-
-Whilst David was holding the baby to the fire, Sandy disappeared,
-presently returning with an excited face.
-
-"They've nearly done," he said. "It's prime up there. Seems to me,
-we'd best settle as soon as possible."
-
-"This baby won't get dry," said David, gloomily. "Just look at her!"
-
-"I know," said Sandy, regarding the bedraggled Barbe. "We'll take
-it off an' leave it here. An' I'll fetch her somefink. Sure to be
-somefink stored in Margie's basket--know Orme made holes in himself
-last week."
-
-So it happened that it was a little blue girl--clad in one of Orme's
-shabbiest overalls--who met Mrs. Bethune's returning chair, and was
-lifted to her knee for a "yide."
-
-"But what has happened? where are her own clothes?" Mrs. Bethune
-asked, recognising the substitute.
-
-"We thought they were just a little damp," said Sandy in
-explanation, climbing up the back of the chair to kiss his mother.
-
-"Good boy, Sandy!" said his mother, "to take care of her."
-
-"But how did they get damp?" asked Marjorie suspiciously.
-
-"Just a little water p'raps got on them," he replied, feeling the
-tone unkind after his mother's praise.
-
-"Then you have been in mischief?" asked Marjorie.
-
-"Barbedie walked in er water," the baby replied, as if she had been
-doing a good work.
-
-"You shouldn't have let her," Mrs. Bethune said caressingly.
-
-"Barbe don't want lettin'," answered Sandy philosophically. "She
-does wivout."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The sweets of mischief whetted the boys' appetites for more. They
-applied themselves with zeal to a work they had in hand, and for the
-next few days little was seen of them.
-
-One evening they were standing in a disused corner of the Palace
-grounds, under the ruined window of the old banqueting hall, which
-formed part of the wall enclosing the gardens of the modern wing of
-the house. The corner where they stood was immediately adjoining the
-wall of their own garden, and was part of an overgrown shrubbery
-between the ruins and the parks.
-
-Both boys were exceedingly dirty. Faces, capless heads, fingers,
-clothes, all bore traces of the underground work from which they had
-just emerged. They had burrowed from their cave, and were mightily
-pleased at their point of exit. No place could be more secluded,
-nor less likely to be discovered. And from the ruined wall close
-by, under the shelter of a spreading elder, they were able to drop
-easily either into the cathedral yard or the Bishop's garden.
-
-"Now the game begins. We've got a base of operations," said David
-grandly.
-
-"How much?" asked Sandy.
-
-"What you work from, and what you fall back upon, if you get
-besieged. And it's a good base too," he added, looking round. "We've
-got to make this passage hard and firm, and then hide it from that
-prying gardener."
-
-"An' we can pay back Mrs. Lytchett," said Sandy with joy.
-
-"How?"
-
-"Oh, I know! She just hates us going to the Bishop's window. He told
-me he'd just got a new tin of gingerbread, an' now we can get in
-wivout goin' through the gate. She's made that gate so it clicks."
-
-"But you mustn't let her see."
-
-"Not me! If she comes, we'll just run round the house, and she'll
-fink we've come back way. And then she'll run round to catch us, an'
-we shan't be there."
-
-Sandy spoke with the certainty of much experience, as, indeed, he
-had a right to do.
-
-"Our character is all gone," David said thoughtfully, "so it don't
-much matter how bad we are."
-
-"No, s'long as it ain't wicked bad. We'll be highwaymen, but we
-won't be thieves and robbers."
-
-"We can get into the cathedral, too," suggested David.
-
-And then, with minds full of revolution and anarchy, the boys bent
-earnestly to the preliminary work of making their passage secure.
-
-"Ross and Orme, you're never to go along there without us," David
-said to his young brothers, when he had wriggled back to the cave
-whence his passage started. Now their services were no longer
-needed, they were felt to be rather nuisances.
-
-"If you do, you'll get smacked right hard," said Sandy.
-
-Both children fixed round eyes on their elders, unable to understand
-this sudden change. They were dismayed at its injustice. For some
-days they had been treated with indulgent kindness, all their faults
-overlooked, so long as they did diligent work. They were cleaned
-when possible, and consoled when their dirty appearance awoke wrath
-in the powers responsible for them. Now, it seemed, all was changed.
-There was no mistaking Sandy's attitude, as he stood ready to
-administer the smacks alluded to. Nor were David's frowning brows
-more encouraging.
-
-Ross tried argument. "We'se scooped, too," he said. "We'se got
-dirty, ever so," he added.
-
-"Ever so," echoed Orme.
-
-"No matter! You kids must do as you're bid, and if ever you go a
-step along there you'll catch it. See?" said David. And the infants,
-with moody brows, averred that they saw.
-
-By this time the hole which formed the entrance to the cave was much
-improved. The wooden steps had been replaced by a flight of mud
-steps, the making of which had been a joy, not only to the boys,
-but to the baby. They had required water as well as mud in their
-making--endless paddlings and pattings and treadings down of little
-feet before the staircase was complete. David had engineered the
-proceedings, and Mr. Warde, now and then hovering about the top, had
-conferred advice. He was not encouraged to descend. The boys wanted
-no prying grown-ups to mar their schemes. Marjorie, now and then,
-had suspicions that some extra mischief was afloat. Never before had
-she known them to stick to anything for so long. But she recollected
-the fascination of caves and holes, and was, besides, much engaged
-with her own concerns.
-
-[Illustration: =The Bishop and the boy.=--_p. 170._]
-
-One evening the Bishop, on leaving the drawing-room, had gone to
-his study. It had been a wet day, and the rain had finished in
-a thunderstorm an hour or so before, leaving the sky washed and
-pellucid under the summer moon.
-
-The shutters had been closed and a little fire lighted; but
-presently, finding the room warm, the Bishop opened the window, and
-stood gazing over the wide lawn which occupied the space between the
-house and the ruins.
-
-The delicate tracery of the ruined window of the banqueting hall,
-and the many unevennesses of the walls, stood out black against the
-sky. Every object on the lawn--every bush and tree and flower--was
-sharply distinct.
-
-As he looked, his eye caught a movement among the distant shrubs.
-Some small object was advancing along the gravelled walk surrounding
-the lawn. Presently, as if attracted by the light, it turned off the
-pathway on to the lawn, in a bee-line for the window.
-
-The Bishop stood watching, wondering a little, when the object
-resolved itself first into a small boy, and then into Sandy Bethune.
-
-"Why, Sandy!" he exclaimed, "how did you get here?"
-
-"Is it the middle of the night?" asked Sandy in his usual cheerful
-way.
-
-"Nearly. It's half-past eleven. Good gracious! What have you been
-doing?"
-
-For, on approaching the light, Sandy was seen to be covered with mud
-and otherwise much disarrayed.
-
-Sandy considered. He was in a deep fix--so deep a one as to threaten
-the upheaval and overthrow of some well-laid plans, just on the
-point of being carried out. The Bishop was an understanding man.
-Sandy had confided in him before, and knew his worth. If only
-Mrs. Lytchett did not live at the Palace, and spoil everything,
-Sandy would have been quite willing to share that residence with
-the Bishop. He had once told the Bishop so, artlessly asking when
-Mrs. Lytchett was going away to live elsewhere. The Bishop, on his
-side, found the children of his friend very charming, specially
-so irrepressible Sandy; and was ready to be lenient when their
-peccadilloes were in question. He now invited Sandy in, despite the
-muddy covering which encased him from head to foot. Sitting down, he
-began to question him gravely.
-
-"What is it, Sandy? Why are you in such a mess?"
-
-Sandy sat down on a little stool, as if glad to present his small
-person to the fire, and said, "It's the bovering funderstorm. We'd
-never thought of that. An' we got caught, an' had to take shelter,
-an' when we got back our way was bunged up--all squashy with mud.
-An' we hadn't got no spades nor fings out with us. So at last I said
-I would go and scout--you know--an' then I saw you."
-
-"Who's 'we'?" asked the Bishop.
-
-"Me an' David."
-
-"And how did you get into my garden?"
-
-"Oh, over the wall. We're highwaymen, and we've got a way of our
-own."
-
-"Indeed. And where's David now?"
-
-"Oh, he's over there, all muddy, tryin' to clean himself. He's a
-deal worse than me," said Sandy cheerfully.
-
-"He must indeed be bad, then. What do you propose to do?"
-
-"That's it. We can't get back to the pantry window now our way's
-gone," said artless Sandy. "Not in at all, not wivout knockin' at
-the door. I did think p'raps"--persuasively--"you cud come and
-knock."
-
-"I see. And then?"
-
-"Then, when you was talkin' to father, we cud slip in. Don't fink
-father would see--not to notice."
-
-"How long have you been highwaymen?" the Bishop asked.
-
-"On'y about a week--and this is a sickener," said Sandy disgustedly.
-"We was ghosts for a bit at first--till a woman screeched so we
-nearly got caught, stupid fing!"
-
-And the Bishop, remembering certain reports that had been made to
-him, was pleased with his acumen in refusing to call in the police.
-
-"If I were you, I should try a better line of business," he
-said. "Ghosts frighten silly women, and highwaymen are not very
-creditable, on the whole."
-
-"Yes," agreed Sandy. "We're goin' to. Next we're goin' to be
-pioneers and settlers."
-
-"Ah, I see. And where are you going to settle?"
-
-Sandy's bright eyes were turned suspiciously to the kind ones
-looking down upon him. He fidgeted uneasily, and a smile came across
-the Bishop's face.
-
-"I see," he said. "Perhaps you have not yet made up your minds."
-
-Sandy looked uncomfortable. "Not 'zactly," he confessed. "Truth is,
-it depends--I don't fink Dave would like me to tell. It's such a
-grand plan," he went on enthusiastically, "it 'ud be such a pity----"
-
-"To have it spoilt. Well, don't get into more mischief than you can
-help," the Bishop cautioned, "and don't do anything to make your
-mother uneasy."
-
-"Mother? Oh, mother'll laugh--she always does. You see, the bother
-is," confided Sandy, "there ain't no places to pioneer--every bit's
-taken. An' we've on'y just thought on it; an' it's splendid. We
-want a girl badly, though. Margie? No, Margie's no good. Settlers
-has wives an' squaws," went on Sandy pensively, "and we've on'y got
-Barbe lately, an' she's aw'fly little. 'Sides, you have to take such
-care on her--she's the on'y one Mr. Pelham's got. There's a lot of
-us, but mother says she cudn't spare not the littlest bit of one. So
-much less him his one, an' such a little one. It's a 'sponsibility,"
-sighed Sandy, "when you want to do fings."
-
-Through the open window came the musical sound of the chimes from
-the cathedral. The Bishop, with a quick sigh, rose.
-
-"There is a quarter to twelve. Your father will be going to bed.
-Fetch David quickly."
-
-"Should fink he's cleaned by now," said Sandy hopefully. "He was
-rubbin' himself wiv the leaves off the trees--drippin' wet."
-
-Mr. Bethune opened his front door in response to a low knocking,
-which at first he did not hear. His eyes had the unseeing, far-away
-look in them of a man disturbed in a possessing line of thought. The
-red light in the hall shone on the face of the Bishop, who entered
-and stood on the doormat for a minute, in such a position as to
-shield the entrance of the two muddy boys.
-
-"Here is the _Guardian_ for you," he said, "with a very appreciative
-notice of your paper." Then he went on, "And tell Marjorie to-morrow
-morning not to be too cross with the state of the boys' clothes.
-They've been in mischief, but it won't happen again--not the same
-sort."
-
-[Illustration: The father pretended not to hear the scuffling of
-small feet.]
-
-The two men looked at one another and laughed, and the father
-pretended not to hear the scuffling of small feet upon the stairs.
-The Bishop went home with no weight on his conscience--only a little
-pathetic envy of the man he had just left. Somehow those stifled
-scufflings up the stairs had gone straight to the depths of his very
-tender and lonely heart.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"The Bishop knows all 'bout it," excused Sandy sturdily, when
-confronted by Marjorie the next morning.
-
-"The Bishop knows that all your clothes are in the bath, with both
-taps running!"
-
-"Well, he does," Sandy repeated, "proberly. He said we were the
-out-an'-outest dirtiest little grubs he'd ever seen."
-
-"That you are--no one will contradict him. But he couldn't know that
-your clothes were in the bath."
-
-"Yes, he would. If they were so dirty, where else could they be?
-It's all that 'gustin' funderstorm."
-
-"Thunderstorm!" echoed Marjorie suspiciously. "That was at ten
-o'clock. What has that got to do with your clothes and the Bishop?"
-
-"Tell you it has. You'd best ask him, if you don't b'lieve me," said
-Sandy, hurt at her unbelief. "Anyhow, he does know that they was
-dirty. An' just cos we want to save trouble an' wash 'em ourselves,
-you're cross an' spiteful. Girls are no good--'cept little uns.
-What's there to put on? Best be somefink old, cos there's a deal of
-diggin' to be done."
-
-"I shall stop that digging if you make such a mess of yourselves."
-
-"You'd best not," said David meaningly, from his bed in the further
-corner. "If you do, you'll be sorry," he said darkly.
-
-  END OF CHAPTER SIX.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: Three Songs of Birth]
-
-Three
-
-Songs of Birth
-
-A
-
-_Christmas_
-
-_Sermon_
-
-By the Rev. Hugh Miller, M.A.
-
-  "Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host
-   praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
-          peace, good will toward men."--ST. LUKE ii. 13, 14.
-
-
-Three times are we told in Scripture that the angels sang. At the
-birth of the world, when the foundations of the earth were laid, the
-morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.
-When Jesus was born into the world a multitude of the heavenly host
-praised God and said, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
-peace, good will toward men." And when anyone is born again there is
-joy among the angels in heaven over the sinner that repenteth. The
-subject of the song in each case is the same: the leading _motif_ of
-them all is man.
-
-Man, to begin with, was God's chief end in creation, and the angels
-sang not so much because a new world had been made, but rather
-because a new being akin to themselves was put into it, to whom
-they might minister and with whom they might co-operate in the
-doing of God's most holy will; and this season comes to remind us
-of our inherent dignity in God's sight, of the noble ideal He has
-formed for us, of the value He sets on those whom He sent His Son
-to seek and to save. As God made us and as He intends us to be, we
-are not a little higher only than the animals, we are rather only
-"a little lower than the angels." He has crowned us with glory and
-honour and set us over the work of His hands. He has put all things
-under our feet. The material universe was made for man, to be his
-home, to develop his powers, to be a test and discipline of his
-moral character. I refuse to be reduced to the same rank, or to be
-placed in the same order, as the beasts that perish. Remembering the
-angels' first song, I assert my supremacy.
-
-And man is most of all supreme because God has given him the freedom
-to choose the objects of his life, and the means by which he can
-secure them. Sun, moon and stars are bound by laws which they cannot
-transgress. The movements of the animals are guided by impulses
-and instincts over which they have no moral control. To man alone
-belongs the power of refusing to bow before God's greatness and of
-disobeying God's commands. Man only has this sovereignty; but his
-sovereignty led to his servitude, and the chains that bound him were
-forged by an angel who fell before man's fall.
-
-If, then, all the angels worshipped and adored when man was made
-with the great gift of free choice, how must the holy ones that
-remained after the first and great apostasy have grieved when the
-fallen angels took man along with them in their fall! For because of
-man's disobedience God's idea in making man seemed to be thwarted
-and the peace and good will to which he was called appeared no
-longer possible. Instead of being the master of creation, he was now
-to a large extent its unhappy victim.
-
-We know from hints thrown out here and there in Scripture with what
-absorbing interest the angels followed the plans of God to bring
-order once more out of the chaos caused by sin, and the effort He
-put forth to create a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
-righteousness. No wonder, then, that when the fulness of the time
-was come, and God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the
-law to redeem man, the angels should have sung a second time, and
-anticipated for man at last a happy time of peace and good will.
-
-The angels had a clear perception of the purpose of Christ's coming.
-One of the chief of them said to Joseph, "Thou shalt call His name
-JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins." And they all
-sang when He came, because they knew that God was now dealing in a
-special and most effective way with that dark thing which cast its
-shadow on heaven as well as on earth. And it becomes us to remember
-that it is the sin of man which in the mind of God and His holy
-angels is associated with the coming of Jesus Christ. To this end
-was He born, and for this cause came He into the world.
-
-The sin of our first parents had passed on from generation to
-generation, and each one of the millions of mankind had to say,
-"Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive
-me"; and each fulfilled in his own life all too truly the sad
-promise of his birth. How was the tradition to be broken, and yet
-broken by one who really belonged to the race? The instincts of man
-himself foreshadowed the truth. Stories of a virgin birth here and
-there discernible in paganism show the deep intuition which was
-realised in Jesus Christ. He came into the world to fight with sin,
-to redeem a race steeped in a terrible heritage of evil, and that He
-might redeem it He Himself was born, and yet was free from evil.
-
-He fought sin and He conquered it. Why, then, has the angels' song
-not been fulfilled? Why does sin still cast its shadow on earth and
-heaven alike? Why does God's loving purpose in sending His Son seem
-still to suffer so wide defeat? Because in his recovery as in his
-fall, man's will must play its part. I can only be saved from sin
-when I _will_ to be saved; I only become a partaker of the benefits
-which Christ brought from heaven to earth when, yielding to the
-inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I turn with full accord to Jesus
-Christ as my Saviour. Marvel not, therefore, that we say to you with
-peculiar emphasis on the day in which Christ was born, "Ye must be
-born again." Otherwise, His birth is of no avail to you and me. We
-are not honouring Him, we are putting Him rather to an open shame,
-if we keep out of our thoughts at this time the supreme purpose of
-His coming, if we are not personally dealing with Him even now as to
-the burden and guilt of our sin.
-
-But we can set the angels a-singing in the sky, and the melody of
-their music can be felt in our own hearts, if we turn in lowly
-penitence to Him who came to save His people from their sins, and to
-quicken them to a new life of righteousness and peace and joy. Only
-when a man comes to himself in lowly penitence, and then goes to his
-Father with a lofty faith, does he enter into the full purpose of
-his manhood; and only then, also, is there not only joy among the
-angels in heaven over the sinner that thus repenteth, but there is
-music and dancing on the earth as well, and the old life ends in
-which sin reigned, and the new begins in which Christ reigns; and
-His reign means "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
-good will to men."
-
-"There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked."
-
-
-
-
-O Wondrous Night!
-
-A NEW CHRISTMAS CAROL.
-
-
-  _Words by_ ARTHUR BRYANT. _Music by_ CHARLES BASSETT.
-
-    1.  O wondrous night! O wondrous night! we fain would tell
-          The news the Angel told;
-        The holy vision which befel
-          The Shepherds by their fold.
-        With fear they saw, with gladness heard
-          The heav'nly minstrelsy,
-        With hope each trembling heart was stirred
-          At that sweet harmony: ...
-        "We bring good news Which ne'er shall cease;
-          To God be praise, to God be praise,
-            On earth be peace."
-
-    2.  O wondrous sight! O wondrous sight for simple swains,
-          With hasty steps who sped;
-        The music of those joyous strains
-          To that poor manger led.
-        With awe they gazed on Christ the Lord
-          Amid that happy throng,
-        And Israel at His feet adored,
-          Taught by the Angels' song: ...
-        "We bring good news,
-          Which ne'er shall cease;
-        To God be praise, to God be praise,
-            On earth be peace."
-
-    3.  O wondrous night! they homeward turned
-          To where their flocks did lay,
-        And sang the song they late had learned
-          To cheer them on their way.
-        The timid dawn began to peer
-          Across the dewy wold;
-        Their lips in accents loud and clear
-          The gladsome tidings told:
-            "We bring good news," &c.
-
-    4.  O wondrous sight, that God should live
-          In robe of flesh for man!
-        O wondrous Love, Himself to give
-          When closed His mortal span!
-        Sing, O ye skies! be joyful, earth!
-          Ye winds, bear o'er the seas
-        The news of blessed Jesu's birth,
-          And those sweet harmonies:
-            "We bring good news," &c.
-
-
-
-
-THE HOUSE COMFORTABLE.
-
-By Lina Orman Cooper, Author of "The House Beautiful," Etc.
-
-
-The House Beautiful must needs be also the House Comfortable, if
-we take true loveliness to consist of perfect fitness for service.
-Thoroughness is the keynote of each. In order to strike it we
-must have entered heart and soul into Ruskin's translation of St.
-Ursula's Room. Carpaccio himself painted the useful in the beautiful
-in this famous picture. From the princess's book, set up at a slope
-fittest for reading, to the shelf which runs under the window,
-providing a place to put things on--from a silver lamp on the white
-wall to the little blue slippers beside her bed, each detail ensures
-comfort of the first quality.
-
-Comfort is a thing quite apart from fashion. So it is easier to
-indicate the road which leads to the House Comfortable than it
-was to point out details in the House Beautiful. We most of us
-agree about the essentials required for real comfort: chairs upon
-which you can sit fearlessly; beds which rest and do not bruise;
-arms that support without cramping; pokers that bend not; strong
-tables and sharp knives, these are a sample of the things I mean.
-But true comfort depends on more than surface surroundings. It is
-indissolubly linked with attention to detail. The houses to which
-guests return time after time is the one in which soap is never
-absent from its tray, and where pillows are not only covered with
-frilled slips, but also stuffed with down and interlined with soft
-covering in place of waxed ticking.
-
-I would say, first of all, that the House Comfortable must stand
-in a sunny situation. This ensures warmth and light, without which
-our bodies are ill-nourished and miserable. "Where the sun never
-comes the doctor does" is a much-to-be-quoted proverb. We cannot all
-live exactly where we like. Circumstances of business, and means,
-generally determine locality. But common-sense must guide us in the
-selection of our houses. If we would be really comfortable, we must
-live in light, dry, airy, and clean homes. Never take a house on
-the sole recommendation of its pretty appearance. To have a really
-beautiful house we must first see that it is essentially built for
-comfort. The really useful and good is generally ornamental, for
-it possesses the realistic beauty of _fitness_. A north and south
-aspect for the chief sitting rooms, with east and west windows,
-secures both sunshine and shade. We want afternoon coolness as well
-as morning light. If our apartment looks towards the sun rising,
-heavy curtains should be ready to draw when east wind rages. A stick
-to effect this noiselessly is a small boon much appreciated. If our
-casement faces the golden gates of the west, no such protection
-is called for. But all windows should have double blinds--white
-outside, to absorb heat, and dark inside, to veil the sun when
-necessary. The comfort of lying in bed, facing a dark green blind
-can only be estimated by those who have reluctantly been disturbed
-by the too early shafts of the god Phoebus.
-
-There should be a triple water supply in the House Comfortable;
-ewers always filled from the soft-water pump. Every well and tank
-should be tested ere we take up residence. Pure water, and plenty
-of it, is essential to the health (and therefore comfort) of every
-household. It should be perfectly clear and bright, and free from
-taste or smell. Yet impurity may lurk even in the most sparkling
-water. Therefore science must decide as to its desirability. If
-only iron or lime water is procurable, jars of lump ammonia, or a
-bottle of cloudy liquid ammonia, a bag of oatmeal or a bundle of
-bran should lie on every washstand. The hot-water boiler not only
-supplies unlimited baths, but may be devised to heat the house. In
-every Canadian home a stove in the cellar warms the rooms above
-by means of drums and fans. We might do much the same in England
-with our hot-water pipes. These should certainly run through the
-linen-press and clothes cupboards, and terminate in bathroom
-spirals. On these, towels and rough sheets could be dried and
-aired. A face cloth always warm is one of the luxuries in our House
-Comfortable.
-
-After sanitation, ventilation takes its place in the home.
-How to secure a constant supply of fresh air is a question
-which demands most serious consideration. In ages past, houses
-were unintentionally ventilated by the ill-fitting doors and
-window-frames, wide chimneys, and open fire-places. But in our
-modern buildings comfort is secured by almost air-tight doors and
-windows. Ventilators at the top of such are delightful and necessary
-for real comfort, or a Queen Anne casement may have a swing in its
-upper frame. It is not always easy, however, to secure exemption
-from draught in our modern mansions. When the brick-and-mortar fiend
-has placed door, window, and fireplace exactly opposite each other,
-screens must be judiciously used. A brass rod from which hangs a
-curtain, screwed into the door jamb and suspended by a tiny chain
-from the ceiling, is a good thing, or an ordinary _portiere_ may be
-allowed. The former plan, however, enables us to keep the door open
-without feeling a wind.
-
-Padded stair-carpets secure noiseless ascent in the House
-Comfortable. Cork mats by the big bath are welcome to bare feet.
-Many cupboards are a necessity. A place for everything and
-everything in its place is one of the initial rules for everyone's
-comfort. It is also Divine law. Hanging presses, medicine cupboards,
-butler's pantry, housemaid's closets, keep dresses from dust,
-poisons from the unwary, silver and glass intact, and brushes unworn.
-
-The House Comfortable must not be over-servanted. Neither must it
-be undermanned. Of the two evils, the latter is preferable, as the
-mistress herself then looks after the minutiae of her house. With all
-deference to Matthew Prior, comfort does not flow on a line with
-ignorance. It requires a cultivated intelligence to provide such in
-our homes.
-
-Education has done much for us on this point. How not to do it
-in the House Comfortable is exemplified by the abodes of our
-forefathers. Going over Beaumaris Castle the other day, I noted
-the small apertures for exit; the high caverns of chimneys; the
-windows of horn; the crooked stairs. Nowadays we find stoves and
-slow combustion grates quite a necessity for comfort--whilst lofty
-ceilings, broad staircases, and wide windows can be quite as
-picturesque, and are far more to be desired.
-
-The dictionary definition of the word "comfort" implies enlivenment
-and capability for dispensing bodily ease. For this, moral qualities
-are as necessary as well-planned, well-equipped houses.
-
-Punctuality, for instance, is an ingredient required to secure a
-comfortable home.
-
-When breakfast and dinner are movable feasts, served up at the whim
-of a lie-a-bed or a gad-about, they can only be make-believes,
-after all. Cold coffee is unpalatable even when partaken of in a
-sunny room. Whitey-brown sausages are unappetising unless piping
-from the pot. Yet this--like all other virtues--may be strained
-too far. Nothing is more uncomfortable than to feel no latitude is
-allowed to a weary guest, or to find one's host at marmalade three
-minutes after the time appointed for the disappearance of a savoury.
-Courtesy in this must be our rule. Neatness is another necessity.
-No house can be really comfortable that is littered with papers,
-or in which boots lie in the drawing-room--yet finickiness in
-arrangement makes the home unbearable. The most uncomfortable visit
-I ever paid was to the most scientifically correct house. Chairs
-were not allowed to touch the wall-paper; footstools never shifted.
-A towel for wiping down the varnish of the bath was provided, and--I
-was made miserable! By all means keep paint and paper in as much
-primitive purity as possible, but let unobtrusive service guard
-these points.
-
-Much more could I discourse of the House Comfortable, but space
-forbids. Let me only remind you that the veriest cottage--plenished
-with wisdom and lovingly provided--may fulfil all its conditions
-just as well as the most luxurious castle.
-
-Told in Sunshine Room.]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: DONKEY BOY]
-
-DONKEY BOY TO THE QUEEN
-
-_A TRUE INCIDENT._
-
-By Alfred T. Story
-
-Part II.
-
-
-A week passed before anything further was heard. Then a summons came
-for Tam to appear before her Majesty on the following afternoon. He
-was duly in attendance, and had not long to wait before a man in
-Highland costume came into the room where he was seated and said--
-
-"Noo, my braw laddie, her Most Gracious Majesty and his Royal
-Highness the Prince Consort will come in through that door in twa
-seconds. When they enter all you hae to dy is ta stan' up an' mak'
-yer obeisance. An' when they ax ye a question jist ye say yes or
-nae, your Majesty, or your Royal Highness, as the case may be. An'
-if they ax ye naething--weel, jist ye say naething in return."
-
-With these words the wise servitor withdrew. Barely had he gone out
-of one door ere the other opened, and the same lady he had seen
-before, leaning on the arm of the gentleman he likewise remembered,
-appeared before friend Tam. They were both dressed much more richly
-than when he had previously seen them, the lady having a brilliant
-star on her breast, and the gentleman wearing a silken sash over his
-shoulder.
-
-For a moment the boy was confused, but he recovered himself
-sufficiently to recollect that he had to make an "obeisance." He had
-omitted to ask the Highland gentleman what that was, but he thought
-it must be something like the soldier's salute, and so he stood
-perfectly upright and saluted.
-
-"So you have come, my lad, to see her Majesty about the position of
-donkey-boy?" said the gentleman.
-
-"Yes, sir--your Royal Highness," replied Tam. Only when he had got
-out the word "sir" did it flash upon him that he was standing before
-the Queen and her Royal Consort.
-
-"Well, her Majesty has caused inquiries to be made about you, and
-she finds that, although you are a little wayward and sometimes
-disobedient to your grandparents, you are not on the whole a bad
-boy."
-
-"No, your Royal Highness," said Tam.
-
-"Does that mean that you are not a bad boy, or that you do not
-sometimes disobey your grandparents?"
-
-This question, though backed by a genial smile, somewhat
-disconcerted the would-be donkey-boy. He was silent for a moment,
-then he answered, looking first at one and then at the other, with
-that straight glance of his, "I hae sometimes been disobedient to
-my grandparents, but I think I have learned better now."
-
-"I am glad to hear that," said the Prince.
-
-Then, speaking for the first time, the Queen said, "Well, Tam, if I
-make you my donkey-boy, will you promise to be obedient to all my
-slightest wishes and commands? Do not answer lightly. I am a severe
-mistress in that I expect the strictest obedience and attention
-to duty. But I, in return, am strict in doing my duty to those I
-employ."
-
-"And if you prove a worthy and trustworthy servant," added the
-Prince, "your position is secure for life."
-
-"Not, however, as a mere donkey-boy all your days," put in the Queen
-with a smile.
-
-Said Tam with a faltering tongue: "If ye'll try me, your Majesty,
-I'll do my best, and," he added, as though struck with a sudden
-thought, "I'll no need to lick the donkeys, 'cos I ken hoo ta mek
-'em run 'thout the stick."
-
-[Illustration: Yetta threw up her hands in amaze.]
-
-"And how do you do that?" asked the Prince with a smile.
-
-"I meks 'em carry a bunch o' thistles afore 'em."
-
-"Well, we will see," replied her Majesty, smiling. "Now you may run
-home and tell your grandparents you are to be ready to begin duty
-this day week. But before you go you will see the gentleman who
-spoke to you a minute or two ago."
-
-With these words and a kindly smile the Sovereign and her Royal
-Consort withdrew.
-
-The one door closed, the other immediately opened, and again entered
-the Highland gentleman. "Sae ye hae been engagit ta look after ta
-cuddies, eh?" he questioned.
-
-Tam said he had.
-
-"Aweel, it's a verra guid step in life for a young callant to
-begin wi', an' if ye tek heed there's nae telling whereto it may
-lead--ablins even to the primiership, if ye ken what that is. For ye
-mun know, the gift o' the heaven-made Prime Minister is just to ken
-hoo ta manage a' th' human cuddies that are sent to Parliament to
-bother 'em. But mebbe a' that's a wee bit abune yer understanding as
-yet, and sae we'll just leave it an' speer aboot yer claes."
-
-Needless to say how surprised Donal and Yetta were to hear Tam's
-story, how thankful to reflect that their boy was to have such a
-start in life. He reported to them what had been said, and the
-promise he had given, and they believed that, like the Jamison he
-was, he would be true to his word. All the same, they did not omit
-to pray for that guidance and support for him without which his own
-efforts would be vain.
-
-The evening before Tam's week was up a parcel was delivered at
-Jamison's door, addressed to his grandson. It contained a complete
-new suit, as the Highland gentleman had said, "from the skin
-outwards." Never was seen such a brave outfit, to Tam's thinking. He
-turned it over and admired it, article by article, for at least a
-couple of hours, but would not try it on, or any part of it, until
-he had had a good wash. The tub was never a thing he was shy of, but
-on this occasion it was used as though he intended to wash out his
-every fault, as well as all the merely superficial smuts and stains
-that had accumulated, so as to appear before his Queen a spotlessly
-clean cuddy-tender.
-
-When the operation was completed, Tam indued himself in his new
-garments and went on parade, so to speak, before his grandmother.
-Yetta was busy stirring the matutinal porridge when he walked into
-the ben and said:
-
-"How do I look, granny?"
-
-Yetta, turning round, threw up her hands in amaze. She hardly knew
-him, so great was the transformation effected by the new clothes and
-the scrubbing he had given himself. Donal was no less surprised when
-he came in from his morning milking. Tam looked two inches taller
-and a lot sprucer.
-
-"Ye mind me of yer puir father," said the old man as he sat down to
-breakfast.
-
-That was a note of sad recollection which brought tears to Yetta's
-eyes; but a smile was soon gleaming through them when Tam, getting
-sight of Meg, who was eyeing him as it were askance, said drily,
-"Meg looks as if she hardly kenned what ta mek of her handiwark; for
-the beginning o't was a' her doing."
-
-Just then the noise of wheels was heard on the road, and as the
-messenger who brought the clothes left word that one of the Queen's
-carriages would pick him up on the morrow, Tam thought surely this
-was the one. But it was not. Indeed, he ran to the door at least
-twenty times ere, towards eleven o'clock, his vehicle arrived. It
-was a quaint affair, half carriage, half wash-basket, drawn by two
-asses, creatures as beautiful of their kind as could be found. It
-was driven by her whom he knew, and by her side were several bright
-little faces, while the Highland gentleman, riding behind on one
-pony, as sturdy and Hielan' as himself, led another by the bridle.
-
-Donal and Yetta came out and with bowed heads thanked the august
-though simple-hearted lady for the great kindness she had shown to
-their boy. She replied with a kindly smile:
-
-"There appears to be the making of a good man in him, and, with
-God's help, we will do our best to make him one."
-
-Little more was said, and, mounting the led pony, Tam rode off by
-the side of the faithful retainer, who never got further away from
-the carriage than the dust raised by its wheels.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Thus commenced Tam's career in life. Though he served the noblest
-lady in the land, he did not find his way one altogether of buttered
-parsnips and cream. The one thing abhorrent to his royal mistress
-was idleness and indifference. The motto of her establishment--of
-all her establishments--was "The diligent eye." In this principle
-she found not only the best interests of her own house, but the best
-interests also of those who served her.
-
-Tam could not be called idle, nor could he be called exactly
-indifferent; but during the years of his tending of cattle and
-sheep on the brae-side he had got into the habit of liking to loll
-about, to saunter and dream, and then to make up, or try to make
-up, the leeway of work or duty by a spurt of energy. Another fault
-he had was to leave things about--for others to "side" or put in
-order. This arose, no doubt, from the narrow dimensions of his home,
-where there was hardly room for everything to have its particular
-place. It was, however, neither a very grievous nor a deeply rooted
-fault; and a little sharp drilling, not unfrequently at the hands
-of the Highland gentleman--a sort of major of the household, who
-possessed "the diligent eye" _par excellence_--soon corrected Tam's
-delinquency in this regard.
-
-But the other fault was more deeply rooted and cost the young
-donkey-boy many a bad quarter of an hour. Indeed, on one occasion it
-nearly cost him his place. He had been given a task to do, and in
-place of doing it with all diligence he had been found with his feet
-growing to the ground, as it were. The consequence was an interview
-with the Highland gentleman, who told him, "Tam, ye have either ta
-pe punisht or to leave her Majesty's service: which shall it pe?"
-
-"I'll tek the punishment, sir, if you please," he answered.
-
-"Tam, ye are a wise poy, an' we'll mebby mek a man o' ye yet," said
-the major-domo.
-
-Tam took his punishment, and was the better for it; but he still
-failed to come up to his royal mistress's ideal of a servant. Like
-his fellow-servitors, he had plenty of time for rest and recreation:
-hours of labour were by no means long. So much time had he, indeed,
-for himself, that the Highland gentleman put suitable books before
-him, and counselled him to improve his mind by reading and study.
-He failed, however, to profit by the advice, and was presently made
-aware of his error by a violent thunder-clap.
-
-He was in attendance on his royal mistress one day, when she and
-the children were out for a drive. A poor body was met, in apparent
-distress, by the wayside. Inquiry was made as to her condition,
-present help was extended, and a promise of future beneficence given
-if further investigation should warrant its bestowal. Hence the
-necessity arose for an address to be written down, and Tam, who was
-that day the only person in attendance, was requested to do it.
-
-When Tam entered the royal service he could read a bit and write
-very imperfectly; but there had been time, had he followed the
-counsel given him, to have greatly improved himself in both those
-accomplishments. Not having done so, he fumbled egregiously over the
-task set him, and, in short, made such a hash of it that an eye of
-wrath was turned upon him.
-
-Tam had seen that eye in all its moods--of laughter and smiles, of
-grief, of earnestness, of affection, even of solemnity and awe, but
-he had never as yet beheld it flash in indignant wrath. He felt as
-though the muscles of his knees had been cut away and the ground
-was sinking from under his feet. What would he not have given to be
-miles away! But he had to face the storm, and it came in this way:
-
-"Were not books and paper and ink put before you? And were you not
-advised to improve your reading and writing?"
-
-Tam falteringly admitted that such was the case.
-
-"Why did you not attend to the advice?"
-
-"I--I----" stammered the ease-loving Tam.
-
-"Had you not the time?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Then why did you not do as you were wished?"
-
-Tam hung his head in shame.
-
-"Tam Jamison, listen to me. I will have those in my employ attend
-to my wishes, and attend to them with all their might. Do you wish
-to be ignorant all your life, when the time and the means for
-improvement are placed at your command? In three months' time I
-shall expect you to read and write in such a way that you will be
-able to fulfil in a creditable manner a simple duty like that you
-have to-day so grievously failed in. Now we'll go on."
-
-Tam Jamison wanted no more speaking to. He was now thoroughly awake:
-and he went to work with all his might to do the behest of his
-mistress and Sovereign, and, in truth, he made prodigious progress;
-so that when it happened one day--he being then in attendance on her
-Majesty in another part of the country--that she required the names
-of several rare plants to be written down for her future use, he did
-it so cleverly that he was rewarded with a pleased smile.
-
-Tam felt that he had acquired wings that afternoon, and the
-strangest part of the affair was, that when he came to reckon up
-precisely, he discovered that it was three months to a day since his
-"royal earwigging," as the Highland gentleman called it.
-
-To that worthy man Jamison communicated his delight. "Ah," said he,
-"ye thocht, like many anither, that ye were doing a great service to
-her gracious Majesty by your few hours of daily labour; but, guid
-faith, she does a mighty deal mair for ye than ye, or ony the likes
-o' ye, can do for her. Serve 'maist onybody else in the kintra, an'
-they'll take yer service an' gie ye yer wage, an' there's an end.
-But when her Majesty teks ye intil her household she teks ye to mek
-a man o' ye--if it's in ye, ye ken. An' weel she knows hoo ta do
-it--nane better. Sae ye just go on as ye've begun, Tam Jamison, an'
-ye'll mebbe no bide a feckless cuddy-callant till ye're auld an'
-blind."
-
-Jamison did not need to be taught his lesson a second time. He made
-diligent use of his opportunities, and improved so much and so
-visibly that when he was fifteen he was raised to the position of
-page. A greater mark of appreciation could hardly be given to one
-in the royal employ; for her Majesty's pages are amongst the most
-trusted of her servants.
-
-At first the humbler duties of a page fell to his lot; but as he
-improved in thoughtfulness and intelligence, and in his knowledge
-of the manifold and delicate duties which fell to his care--in which
-he had the aid and instruction of one of her Majesty's oldest and
-most experienced pages, a man who had been in her service ever since
-she ascended the throne--he rose higher and higher in the royal
-service and the royal consideration, until at last his services were
-rarely required except on State and exceptional occasions only.
-
-[Illustration: Tam hung his head in shame.]
-
-Scarcely a week passed that he did not recall the words of him we
-have called the Highland gentleman, when he said that the Queen
-did more for those in her service than they could ever do for her,
-in that she not only made men and women of them, but treated them
-more as gentlemen and ladies than as mere domestics. There were no
-servants in her employ, no matter how humble their sphere, but she
-knew them by name and had their welfare at heart; and if they served
-her well, she never lost sight of them, or forgot them--no, not even
-when the grave took them into its transitional embrace.
-
-Jamison had had abundant opportunities to note and set these
-things down in his heart, but he was never so much impressed by
-her Majesty's deep regard for those who served her faithfully and
-well as when, one dripping autumn day, he was required to accompany
-her to the churchyard of a rural village, halfway betwixt London
-and Windsor--in which, a day or two before, the aged servant above
-referred to had been buried--in order that she might lay a wreath
-upon his grave. It bore the words, "In grateful remembrance of a
-devoted and faithful servant, V.R.," and as she bent down to place
-it with her own hand upon the grave a tear fell upon the flowers
-that outshone the brightest jewel of her crown.
-
-
-
-
-TEMPERANCE NOTES AND NEWS.
-
-By a Leading Temperance Advocate.
-
-
-THE TEMPERANCE HOSPITAL.
-
-[Illustration: DR. J. J. RIDGE.
-
-(_Photo: J. Bacon, Newcastle-on-Tyne._)]
-
-The story of the Temperance Hospital in Hampstead Road forms one
-of the most interesting chapters in temperance history. When
-the experiment of treating accidents and disease without the
-administration of alcohol was first mooted, the idea was assailed
-with a storm of criticism in which the medical profession found a
-most active ally in the public Press. A quarter of a century has
-now elapsed since the first patient was received in the temporary
-premises in Gower Street, and although the medical staff have full
-permission, under certain regulations, to administer alcohol if
-deemed expedient, the last Report states that out of a total of
-13,984 in-patients, alcohol has only been resorted to in twenty-five
-cases. The percentage of recoveries compares most favourably with
-the ordinary hospitals, and the cases include every variety of
-disease and accident. The present head of the medical staff is Dr.
-J. J. Ridge, who has been connected with the institution from the
-first. For many years it has been the custom of the United Kingdom
-Band of Hope Union to organise a Christmas collection in aid of
-the Temperance Hospital. The amount thus realised has reached many
-thousand pounds, and it is hoped that this year's collection will
-prove the best of the series. The body of evidence in favour of
-total abstinence which the Temperance Hospital has accumulated
-certainly entitles the institution to the cordial support of the
-temperance public.
-
-[Illustration: THE TEMPERANCE HOSPITAL, HAMPSTEAD ROAD, LONDON.
-
-(_Photo supplied by the Press Studio._)]
-
-
-COMING EVENTS.
-
-Among the fixtures worth noting may be named the New Year's Meeting
-of the United Kingdom Band of Hope Union on Saturday, January 7th;
-the Annual Meeting of the London United Temperance Council, to be
-addressed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, on February 13th, in the
-Queen's Hall; a great Industrial Exhibition, promoted by the Hackney
-and East Middlesex Band of Hope Union, on April 10-13; Temperance
-Sunday for London Diocese April 23rd (St. George's Day, a grand
-opportunity for the clergy to strike a national note); and, as it is
-well to look ahead, a World's Temperance Convention to be held under
-the auspices of the National Temperance League in 1900.
-
-
-THE NEW ENGLISH DICTIONARY.
-
-It may be news to some of our readers that Dr. James A. H. Murray,
-the editor-in-chief of the monumental literary work which has been
-in progress for so many years, is an earnest total abstainer and a
-Vice-President of the National Temperance League. Dictionary-making
-and total abstinence seem to run together. In William Ball's "Slight
-Memorials of Hannah More" is this remark: "I dined last week at
-the Bishop of Chester's. Dr. Johnson was there. In the middle of
-dinner I urged Dr. Johnson to take a _little_ wine. He replied:
-'I can't drink a _little_, child, therefore I never touch it.
-Abstinence is as easy to me as temperance would be difficult.'" It
-is rather curious to note that it is only within recent years that
-our dictionaries have taken any cognisance of the meaning which
-temperance people give to the word "pledge." More than this, in
-the early dictionaries the word was almost exclusively given up to
-the other side of the drink question. For instance, in Bailey's
-Dictionary (1736) we have the following definition of the word
-"pledged":--"Having drank by the recommendation of another."...
-"The custom of pledging in drinking was occasioned by the Danes,
-who, while they had the superiority in England, used to stab the
-English or cut their throats while they were drinking; and thereupon
-they requested of some sitter-by to be their pledge and security
-while they drank; so that 'I will pledge you' signifies 'I will be
-your security that you shall drink in safety.'"
-
-[Illustration: "DICTIONARY" MURRAY.]
-
-Contrast this with the definition given in the last edition of
-Webster's Dictionary:--
-
-"A promise or agreement by which one binds one's self to do, or to
-refrain from doing something; especially a solemn promise in writing
-to refrain from using intoxicating liquors or other liquor; as to
-sign the pledge."
-
-No doubt, when Dr. Murray reaches the letter "P," we shall have a
-definition even still more illuminating. The New English Dictionary
-viewed from a temperance standpoint would make a delightful study.
-Take, for instance, volume one, in which "Alcohol" has more than
-a column to itself, while "Ale" has two columns, "Beer" two and
-a half columns, and "Abstain," "Abstainer," and "Abstaining" are
-treated with a wealth of illustration and meaning derived from such
-authorities as Wyclif in 1382 down to J. W. Bardsley (the present
-Bishop of Carlisle) in 1867, who is pressed into the service in this
-form:--
-
-"ABSTAINING.--Practising abstinence (from alcoholic beverages) 1867.
-J. W. BARDSLEY in 'Clerical Testimony to Total Abstinence' 30: 'The
-bride was the daughter of an abstaining clergyman.'"
-
-[Illustration: MADAME ANTOINETTE STERLING.
-
-(_Photo: Walery, Ltd., Regent Street, W._)]
-
-Now we will leave it to our fair readers to puzzle over until next
-month as to who the blushing bride was who is thus assured of
-immortality in the greatest Dictionary the world has ever seen.
-
-
-"TWO QUEENS OF SONG."
-
-"Example is better than precept," says the old adage, and there
-can be no doubt that the example of Madame Antoinette Sterling and
-Mrs. Mary Davies in the matter of total abstinence has been of the
-utmost value. It was at a reception given by Mr. and Mrs. Frederick
-Sherlock at Hackney, in 1892, to the Archbishop of Canterbury
-(then Bishop of London), that Madame Sterling, to the surprise of
-a delighted audience, volunteered "a few words." The gifted singer
-remarked that "she had been nearly all her life a total abstainer.
-When on long tours with members of her profession, it had been
-rather an aggravation to them to see, when they were pretty well
-prostrated, that she was almost or quite as fresh at the end of the
-journey as at the beginning. They also complained of the quality of
-the wine furnished to them, as well as of water. She took milk and
-cocoa, and also water, of which she did not complain, and scarcely
-missed one engagement in the seventeen years during which she had
-been before the public. She had never had a day's bad health, and
-had not suffered from those aches and pains of which she had heard
-other people complaining continually." Like Madame Sterling, Mrs.
-Mary Davies has upon many occasions shown a deep and practical
-interest in philanthropic work.
-
-[Illustration: MRS. MARY DAVIES.
-
-(_Photo: H. S. Mendelssohn, Pembridge Crescent, W._)]
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Press Studio._)
-
-MUSCULAR TRAINING AT THE NAVAL SCHOOL, GREENWICH.]
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Press Studio._)
-
-BUCKET-OF-WATER RACE AT THE NAVAL SCHOOL.]
-
-
-A FAMOUS BAND OF HOPE.
-
-Possibly the most unique Band of Hope in the world is that which is
-held in the Royal Naval School, Greenwich. It was founded so far
-back as 1871, by Samuel Sims, an honoured agent of the National
-Temperance League, and upon his death, in 1892, was taken over by
-Mr. W. S. Campbell, as the League's representative. No pressure at
-all is put upon the lads to induce them to join the Band of Hope,
-but, as a matter of fact, most of the lads in the school readily do
-so, and the present membership is fully a thousand strong. Regular
-weekly meetings are held, and the annual gathering, which is held
-in the great gymnasium, is a most inspiriting spectacle. A visit
-to the Royal Naval School, if it should happen to be in recreation
-time, cannot fail to afford considerable satisfaction to those who
-like to see Young England at play. Every type of healthy pastime is
-encouraged in its turn, and these young abstainers have frequently
-shown that they are well able to hold their own. It is encouraging
-to know that the principles of total abstinence are not discarded
-when the lads pass out into the Royal Navy or Mercantile Marine,
-for every year large numbers of them are drafted into Miss Weston's
-well-known temperance society.
-
-
-TEMPERANCE SUNDAY.
-
-The appointment of a special Sunday for the preaching of sermons on
-temperance originated with the Church of England Temperance Society
-many years ago. Owing to various circumstances, it is not possible
-for the Church of England clergy to take one Sunday simultaneously
-for the whole country, but each diocesan Bishop makes choice of
-a day and issues a pastoral letter to his clergy, so that at one
-period of the year or another the whole country is covered, so far
-as the Church of England is concerned. The Nonconformist bodies
-have, however, for some years past, fixed upon the last Sunday in
-November for Temperance Sunday, and as we go to press we learn that
-this year special reference will be made to the importance of Sunday
-Closing.
-
-
-
-
-SCRIPTURE LESSONS FOR SCHOOL & HOME INTERNATIONAL SERIES
-
-With Illustrative Anecdotes and References.
-
-
-DECEMBER 18TH.--=The Captivity of Judah.=
-
-_To read--Jer. lii. 1-11. Golden Text--Jer. xxix. 13._
-
-This chapter describes the fate of Judah. Later kings were all
-wicked. Warnings of Jeremiah and other prophets all been in vain.
-Time has come for judgment. Captivity in Babylon, long foretold,
-now about to commence. Came about in reign of Zedekiah. The eleven
-verses of this lesson almost identical with Jer. xxxix. 1-10.
-
-I. =The King= (1-3). _His name._ Originally Mattaniah, was son of
-good King Josiah and uncle of late King Jehoiachin. Jeremiah had
-prophesied of a future king (Jer. xxiii. 5-7) as the "Lord our
-righteousness." The king assumed that name, and was called Zedekiah.
-
-_His acts._ "Did evil," but had not always been altogether evil.
-Had made covenant with nobles and priests to abolish slavery
-(xxxiv. 8-10). But his great wrong was breaking his solemn oath of
-allegiance to king of Babylon (2 Chron. xxxvi. 13). This looked upon
-as his crowning vice (Ezek. xvii. 8), for which God's anger was upon
-him (ver. 3).
-
-=Lesson.= When thou vowest a vow defer not to pay it.
-
-II. =The Siege= (4-7). City besieged for last time. Jews never
-forgot day it began. Was January--tenth day of their tenth month.
-Great mounds or (earth-works) outside walls to shoot burning arrows,
-etc.; houses outside thrown down (Jer. xxxiii. 4). Famine and
-pestilence soon ravaged crowded population inside.
-
-_The assault._ City, after eighteen months, taken by assault at
-northern gate (B.C. 587). King and his family and royal guard
-escaped by passage between two walls (Jer. xxxix. 4), by royal
-gardens, down steep descent towards Jericho. There he was overtaken
-and made prisoner. His broken oath caused his destruction (Ezek.
-xvii. 20).
-
-=Lesson.= Evil shall hunt the wicked to overtake him.
-
-III. =Babylon.= He was taken to Babylon. His sons killed in his
-sight, then his eyes put out, bound with chains, kept in prison till
-death. Feeble in will, faithless in promise, judgment came upon him.
-
-=Lesson.= 1. The word of the Lord standeth sure.
-
-
-Bargains.
-
-He who buys the truth makes a good bargain. Zedekiah dealt in
-falsehood and lost his throne. Esau sold his birthright for a basin
-of soup. Judas made a bad bargain when he sold his Lord for the
-price of a slave. Take heed to the thing that is right, for that
-alone shall bring peace at the last.
-
-
-DECEMBER 25TH.--=A Christmas Lesson.=
-
-_To read--Hebrews i. 1-9. Golden Text--St. Luke ii. 11._
-
-This letter written to the Hebrews, i.e. Christians of Jewish birth
-who clung to the priesthood and services of the Temple as well as
-to Christianity. St. Paul shows how far the Christian system was
-superior to and superseded the Jewish. The types and ceremonies of
-the Law fulfilled in Christ, whose birthday is kept at Christmas.
-
-I. =God's Revelation= (1-2). _Past._ God revealed or unveiled
-Himself of old. This revelation inferior in three ways, viz. (1) It
-was given gradually, in portions, a part at a time. (2) Given in
-divers manners, under many figures and types. (3) Given by prophets,
-only human.
-
-_Present._ Final revelation of God's truth--once for all given to
-the saints (Jude 3). Given by His Son--the Word of God (St. John i.
-1, 2); heir of all things--God's agent in creation of the universe.
-
-II. =God's Son= (3-9). _Great in Himself._ Has Divine glory--the
-outshining of the Father's glory. He is God's image, the counterpart
-of the Father. To see Christ is to see God (St. John xiv. 9).
-
-_Great in His work._ (1) _Upholder_ of the universe as well as its
-Creator. (2) _Saviour._ Came not only as prophet to reveal God's
-will, but to purge man's sin. This He did by Himself with His own
-blood (ix. 12, 14).
-
-_Greater than angels._ In His person, His work. His exaltation to
-glory; testified by Scripture, _e.g._ Psalm ii. 3 tells of Christ's
-eternal Sonship--also referred to by St. Paul as fulfilled in His
-resurrection (Acts xiii. 33).
-
-_King over all._ Christ also a King. Rules in righteousness (Psalm
-xlv. 6, 7); received throne as victor over His enemies--sin, death,
-and the devil (xii. 2). Raised high above all.
-
-=Lesson.= Christ is King--honour Him; He is Saviour--love Him; He
-is God--fear Him. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and so ye perish.
-Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.
-
-
-Christ in the Old and New Testaments.
-
-A weaver, who had made an elaborate piece of tapestry, hung it
-upon the tenterhooks in his yard. That night it was stolen. A
-piece of tapestry was found by the police, which seemed to answer
-the description; but, as the pattern was not unlike that of other
-pieces, they wanted more definite proof. It was brought to the
-weaver's yard, and there the perforations in the fabric were found
-to correspond exactly to the tenterhooks. This was proof positive.
-In like manner, if we place the life and character of Christ against
-all the prophecies of Him in Scripture, they will be found to
-correspond exactly.
-
-
-1899.
-
-_New Series. The Gospel according to St. John._
-
-
-JANUARY 1ST.--=Christ the True Light.=
-
-_To read--St. John i. 1-14. Golden Text--Ver. 4._
-
-New Year--new course of lessons. This Gospel records the deeper
-spiritual truths of Christ's teaching, especially about His own
-Nature and Person. It sets Christ forth as God. St. John tells his
-object in writing a fourth Gospel in chap. xx. 31, which the class
-should read.
-
-I. =The Nature of Christ= (1-3). _Eternal._ In the beginning, not of
-the world, but before all creation, from everlasting. _Divine Word._
-Christ is the expression of the mind of God. Came to reveal God to
-man (xv. 15). _Living Person._ The Word not a mere attribute or
-power of God but a distinct Person. "With God" from everlasting. Not
-inferior to the Father, but very God Himself. _Creator._ As well as
-Saviour and Governor of the world (read Col. i. 16, 17; Heb. i. 2).
-
-II. =The Office of Christ= (4-13). _Source of Life._ As very God He
-had life in Himself, which He poured forth on His creation (vv. 25,
-26; xvii. 2). _Source of light._ The life from Son of God is cause
-of man's inward spiritual light by which he is saved. _Himself the
-light._ World was in spiritual darkness at Christ's coming. _Giver
-of light._ No man has light in himself, however great his natural
-powers. All true light is from Christ.
-
-_Rejected._ By His own. The world He made knew not its Creator (1
-Cor. i. 21). The nation He chose to be His own special people (Deut.
-vii. 6) received Him not.
-
-_Received._ By a few--both Jews and Gentiles; such as Nicodemus the
-ruler (iii. 1, 2), the disciples from Galilee (ii. 11), and others.
-How did they receive Him? By believing in Him. This faith, itself
-the gift of God, rewarded by further privilege of becoming God's
-sons--born into God's family by a new and spiritual birth (iii. 3).
-
-III. =The Glory of Christ= (14). Word was made flesh by taking to
-Himself man's human nature. He dwelt (_literally_ "pitched His
-tent") with men, full of mercy to heal bodies and souls, full of
-God's truth to teach.
-
-=Lessons.= 1. _Hold fast the Christian faith._ Jesus Christ one for
-ever with the Father. _God_--eternal, glorious, Creator, Giver of
-light and life to the soul--yet _Man_, like one of us.
-
-2. _Live the Christian life._ Jesus is our example, that we should
-follow His steps.
-
-
-Christians walking in the Light.
-
-A little girl in a London slum won a prize at a flower-show. Her
-flower was grown in a broken teapot in a back attic. When asked how
-she managed to grow the beautiful flower, she said her success came
-from always keeping the plant in the only corner of the room ever
-favoured by a sunbeam. Only by walking in the light and sight of God
-can Christians truly grow and bear fruit.
-
-
-JANUARY 8TH.--=Christ's first Disciples.=
-
-_To read--St. John i. 35-46. Golden Text--Ver. 36._
-
-Christ now thirty years old; has been baptised and received special
-outpouring of Holy Ghost (ver. 33), and also been tempted in the
-wilderness (St. Matt. iv. 1). Is now ready for His public work and
-ministry. Now begins to win disciples.
-
-I. =The first two Disciples= (35-40). _Heard of Him._ Picture Christ
-walking near the Jordan. St. John, who had baptised Him, points Him
-out to his followers. Describes Him: this the Lamb of God to Whom
-all the sacrifices pointed; the innocent lamb slain told of the
-death of the spotless Son of God for man's sin. His words went home.
-
-_Followed Him._ Who were they? Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, and
-probably St. John, writer of the Gospel, brother of James. Why did
-they follow? To learn more of Him. Had been baptised with baptism of
-repentance. Sense of sin led them to seek the Saviour. Christ knew
-their thoughts, encouraged them to learn more of Him (St. Matt. xi.
-28, 29).
-
-II. =The third Disciple= (41, 42). The two friends separate the next
-day, each in search of his brother. Andrew soon finds his--eagerly
-tells the news. They have found the long-expected Messiah, the
-Anointed of God. Brings Simon to Christ. No greater proof possible
-of having really found Christ than bringing another to Him. Christ
-looks with eager and searching eye at Simon--reads his very heart,
-sees his longing after truth; gives him a new name, Cephas (Hebrew)
-or Peter (Greek), meaning "a rock" or "stone." What did this
-signify? His bold and determined character, strong in the faith (St.
-Matt. xvi. 16), eager in defence of Christ (xviii. 10), and, after
-his fall and forgiveness, strong in love (xxi. 15).
-
-III. =The fourth Disciple= (43, 44). Philip of Bethsaida. Must have
-heard his friends talking of Christ. Probably stirred in his heart.
-Christ found him, as He afterwards found Zacchaeus St. (Luke xix. 5).
-His mission to seek as well as to save. Happy they who obey Christ's
-call and follow Him.
-
-IV. =The fifth Disciple= (45, 46). Philip soon shows marks of
-discipleship. He finds Nathanael. Tells him how Christ fulfilled
-prophecies, such as of a "prophet" like unto Moses, a "king" whose
-name should be "the Lord our righteousness" (Jer. xxiii. 5, 6).
-Nathanael asks in honest doubt if it can be possible for the Messiah
-to come from despised Nazareth. Philip did not argue, but bade him
-"Come and see"--the best cure for all doubts.
-
-=Lessons.= From the Baptist: The dying Saviour the greatest magnet
-for drawing souls.
-
-From Andrew: Show religion first at home.
-
-From Simon: Taste and see how gracious the Lord is.
-
-From Philip: Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
-
-From Nathanael: Hearken unto me, and I will teach you the fear of
-the Lord.
-
-
-"There's Another."
-
-A traveller lost in the snow on the Alps was rescued by one of the
-famous dogs of St. Bernard. When restored to consciousness his first
-words were, "There's another." The monks to whom the dogs belonged
-continued their search, and "the other" was found and saved. "Are
-you saved?" Is there not another whom you can rescue from sin and
-bring to the life of God?
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: Short Arrows]
-
-Short Arrows
-
-NOTES OF CHRISTIAN LIFE AND WORK.
-
-
-The Quiver Santa Claus.
-
-Last month we published full particulars of our scheme to provide
-Christmas Stockings for the many poor and friendless little ones who
-are not on Santa Claus's visiting list, and we appeal to our readers
-for their hearty practical co-operation in this work. Each stocking
-will contain wholesome goodies, in the shape of cake and sweets, in
-addition to an unbreakable toy and a Christmas card. The Proprietors
-of THE QUIVER have headed the subscription list with a donation of
-L25, which is sufficient to provide the contents of
-
-  FIVE HUNDRED CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS FOR
-  POOR AND FRIENDLESS CHILDREN,
-
-a sum of =one shilling= being sufficient to furnish a stocking and
-pay the postage. But, as we can profitably distribute _thousands_ of
-such presents, we confidently look to all lovers of the children to
-lend their generous aid, in order that as many as possible of the
-destitute little mites may have their Christmas brightened by such a
-welcome gift. We shall also be glad to receive recommendations from
-our readers of suitable cases for the receipt of the stockings, and
-for this purpose the special application form to be found in our
-Extra Christmas Number ("Christmas Arrows") should be used. As the
-time is short, contributions for the Christmas Stocking Fund should
-be sent =at once= to the Editor of THE QUIVER, La Belle Sauvage,
-London, E.C., and all amounts of one shilling and upwards will be
-thankfully acknowledged in our pages.
-
-[Illustration: CURIOUS ALMS-BOX IN PINHOE CHURCH.]
-
-
-A Curious Alms-box.
-
-In the interesting parish church of Pinhoe, near Exeter, appears a
-very curious alms-box surmounted by the figure of a man who seems,
-from his costume and general character, to date from the period of
-James I. He holds two books in his hand--representing most probably
-Bible and Prayer Book--one of which bears the inscription, "Y^e Poor
-Man of Pinhoo, 1700," but from information with which the vicar of
-the parish, the Rev. Frederick W. Pulling, has kindly supplied us,
-it appears that the books were added in 1879-80, when the church was
-restored. Previously the figure held a small flimsy box in front of
-him. He was, however, placed on the present handsome oak box bearing
-the inscription, "Remember y^e Poor," and the old flimsy box was
-removed. The present box was constructed from some very ancient
-timber from the roof of Salisbury Cathedral, when under repair.
-What the figure was originally intended to represent--whether a
-beadle, the dispenser of charities, or a relieving officer--is not
-known. Curiously enough, the parish records are quite silent as to
-the figure, and when, some time since, it was repaired it was sent
-to the eminent antiquary and ecclesiologist, the Rev. Mackenzie
-Walcott, who said he had seen only two such figures before. The
-wooden backing is of Jacobean style, and was designed by the
-architect in 1879 to strengthen the whole structure.
-
-
-"God Bless the Kernel."
-
-After the marvellous achievements in his two Chinese campaigns,
-which were sufficient to have made the reputations of a dozen
-ordinary colonels, Gordon came back to England in 1865 as poor as
-when he left home. During the next six years, which he spent in
-Gravesend as an engineer, the future keeper of Khartoum devoted a
-large portion of his leisure to visiting the sick and to teaching
-and training many of the ragged and neglected boys of the rough
-neighbourhood. So truly did these poor lads love their colonel that
-it was not uncommon to see chalked up on the walls the singular
-inscription, "God bless the Kernel." Their gratitude was apparently
-stronger than their orthography. When Englishmen reflect how Gordon
-placed his Divine Master first in every enterprise of his life, they
-must feel that no institution intended to honour the dead hero at
-Khartoum can be a worthy memorial which is not grounded on the rock
-of Christianity.
-
-
-Christmas Cards and Gift-Books.
-
-Christmas is pre-eminently the season of universal good-will,
-and the custom of conveying seasonable greetings by means of the
-attractive Christmas card is every year becoming more general.
-Amongst the publishers of these mementoes Messrs. Raphael Tuck and
-Sons take front rank, and the specimen box of cards, calendars,
-story-books, and illustrated texts, recently received from them,
-affords ample proof that the variety and artistic excellence which
-have always characterised their productions are well maintained this
-year. Some of the cards are veritable works of art, and deserve more
-than the temporary appreciation usually accorded to such; but the
-palm for novelty, both in design and treatment, must be accorded
-to the calendars, many of which are most original in conception,
-and all are daintily and tastefully produced.--For years past we
-have been accustomed to look for a Christmas book from Mr. Andrew
-Lang, and this season he has edited an edition of "The Arabian
-Nights Entertainments," which Messrs. Longmans have published in a
-charming cover, and with a number of clever illustrations by Mr.
-H. J. Ford.--Another suitable gift-book for children is "His Big
-Opportunity" (Hodder and Stoughton), a brightly written story by
-Amy Le Feuvre; whilst for young people what more inspiriting and
-interesting work could be presented to them than the life-story of
-the pioneer missionary, "Mackay of Uganda," of whose biography a new
-illustrated edition has just been issued by the same publishers.--We
-have also received the current yearly volumes of our contemporaries,
-_Good Words_ and _The Sunday Magazine_ (Isbister & Co.). These would
-both form valuable additions to any Sunday-school library, and are
-also admirably adapted for use as prizes or presents.
-
-[Illustration: (_From a Photograph._)
-
-THE LAUGHING GOD OF CHINA.]
-
-
-Compensation.
-
-An Irishman being bound over to keep the peace against all the
-Queen's subjects, said, "Then Heaven help the first foreigner I
-meet!" We are reminded of this when we see people civility itself to
-a good servant they are afraid of losing, or to the strongest-willed
-person in their home, and then relieving their pent-up feelings by
-being rude to the rest of the family.
-
-
-Laughter and War.
-
-"Have you any gods around here?" inquired an English traveller in
-rural China. "Oh, yes," replied a venerable Celestial; "the three
-Pure Ones, the God of the Fields, and the Goddess of Mercy." "My old
-friend, I am afraid your gods are not a few." "Foreign teacher,"
-said the old man, "verily, verily, our gods are ten thousand and
-thousands of thousands." Some are of stone, others of wood, clay,
-or bronze. One may be purchased for a farthing, another will cost
-L200. The Laughing God in our illustration is a representation in
-coarse pottery of Quantecong, supposed to be the first emperor.
-There are laughing Buddhas for sale, and some few images of
-beneficent mien; but the great horde are intended to inspire awe
-or terror. The second illustration is a well-executed terra-cotta
-figure of a deified warrior. The drawn sword and beard are similar
-to those of Kwante, the God of War, regarded as the head of the
-military department in China. In 1,600 state temples dedicated
-to him the mandarins worship once a month, and in thousands of
-smaller temples he is honoured with sacrifices of sheep and oxen.
-His worshippers believe that he was a general, who just about the
-time that the Prince of Peace came to this world in great humility
-made the enemies of China to tremble. The elevation or manufacture
-of gods is a simple affair. The keeper of an idol shop collects
-the heads, limbs, and trunk that he has moulded out of mud, unites
-them in one ill-proportioned figure, slips a frog, snake, lizard,
-or centipede into the hole in the back, and the idol is ready for
-dedication and worship! The calm, colossal Buddha at Peking is
-seventy feet high, but it can only witness to a blind feeling after
-God.
-
-
-An Ancient Manuscript of St Matthew.
-
-The romance of New Testament manuscripts is again enlarged; this
-time by the discovery of a papyrus fragment containing a part of
-the Gospel according to St. Matthew. The precious sheet was found
-in the Libyan desert, about one hundred and twenty miles south of
-Cairo, by Messrs. Grenfell and Hunt, the discoverers of the _Logia_.
-It is thought that this fragment may be older by a hundred years
-than any other manuscript of the New Testament hitherto available.
-Its value, had it been a whole book instead of two leaves, would
-have been priceless. Even so, it is of singular interest. Its
-actual history, of course, is beyond discovery, but its appearance
-amongst the world of scholars reminds us of the strangely varied
-channels through which Greek manuscripts of the New Testament have
-come down to us. There is the romantic story of the discovery,
-in a monastery on Mount Sinai, of the priceless manuscript known
-as the _Codex Sinaiticus_. There is the scarcely less valuable
-_Codex Alexandrinus_ which the British Museum now guards; that
-came to England as a gift to King Charles I. from a Patriarch of
-Constantinople. There is the great manuscript which is one of the
-glories of the Vatican Library at Rome, where it is believed to
-have been ever since that library was founded. There is the _Codex
-Ephraemi_ at Paris, its ancient writing partly legible beneath a
-much later work written over it--a manuscript which once belonged
-to Catherine de Medicis. There is another palimpsest brought to
-England from a convent in the Nubian desert. There is the manuscript
-presented by Laud to the Bodleian, and supposed to have been used
-by the Venerable Bede. In truth, the history of these treasures is
-full of romance, and it is but fitting that new discoveries should
-furnish other examples of the strange ways in which the text of the
-Holy Scriptures in various parts and forms has been preserved for us.
-
-[Illustration: (_From a Photograph._)
-
-A GOD OF WAR.]
-
-
-Humours of Hymen.
-
-While nothing can be so distressing to a clergyman, whose duty it
-is to solemnise marriages, as irreverence or flippancy, he can
-hardly fail to be amused, if many of his people are poor and his
-area is wide, at the occasional results of a genuine ignorance, or
-a legitimate nervousness. A well-known church in Central London
-can furnish several singular and recent experiences. It is not
-often that either of the contracting parties comes furnished with
-a prayer-book, but on a certain occasion the bride, a rather
-strong-minded-looking lady, did so, and insisted on holding it
-sternly and steadily under the nose of her future spouse. In
-repeating the passage in which "cherish" occurs, a bridegroom,
-in a faltering voice, expressed his willingness "to love and to
-'_perish_.'" "Oh, sir, I do feel _that_ nervous!" once pleaded
-another embarrassed swain in the middle of the service. A widower,
-who was extremely awkward and stupid in making the responses
-after the minister, apologised by saying, "Really, sir, it is so
-long since I was married last that I forget"! Another bridegroom,
-though middle-aged, seemed somewhat diffident with regard to his
-responsibilities, and answered to the inquiry, "Wilt thou love,
-comfort, honour, etc.?" "To the best of my abilities I will." A
-year or two ago, the roof of the particular church of which we
-are thinking was being renovated, and the interior was a maze of
-ladders. Under these a superstitious bride earnestly begged not
-to be compelled to go, so she was considerately conducted to the
-chancel by a circuitous route. There was a wedding last year at
-which a tiny bridesmaid made her appearance. As he had married her
-parents about six summers previously, the clergyman thought he
-might venture to take her by the arm and to place her in her proper
-position behind the bride. Considerably to his surprise, the small
-damsel hit out at him in a most workmanlike manner straight from
-the shoulder, and the edifice resounded with a terrific yell of
-defiance, "Me _won't_! Me WON'T!"
-
-[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Church Missionary Society._)
-
-INDIAN ORPHANS AT A BREAKFAST SUPPLIED BY MISSIONARIES.
-
-(_A scene during the recent famine._)]
-
-
-Some New Books.
-
-One of the most interesting biographies of the season is that of
-Bishop Walsham How, which has just been issued by Messrs. Isbister,
-prefaced by an excellent portrait of the late prelate. The Bishop
-was principally known by his work in the East of London, where
-he was greatly loved by clergy and parishioners alike, and many
-excellent stories are related _apropos_ of his cheeriness and
-tolerant good nature in dealing with the mixed elements of his
-crowded diocese. The memoir seems full and complete, as, indeed,
-it should be, the biographer being Mr. Frederick How (a son of
-the late Bishop), who had access to all the private memoranda of
-his father, and was naturally acquainted with every incident of
-interest concerning him. From the same publishers comes an excellent
-work by our contributor, Dean Farrar, on "Great Books," in which
-he critically reviews the life and works of Bunyan, Shakespeare,
-Dante, Milton, and other "master-spirits." Though admittedly written
-for young people, the volume contains much that is valuable and
-interesting to older readers. Messrs. Isbister have also recently
-issued a volume of sermons by the Rev. Stopford A. Brooke, under
-the title "The Gospel of Joy." Whilst we do not endorse all the
-views expressed by the author, yet at the same time we are bound to
-confess that Mr. Brooke's eloquent addresses teem with happy and
-suggestive thoughts.--A daintily produced volume reaches us from
-the Scientific Press in the form of Mr. J. T. Woolrych Perowne's
-account of his recent journey in Russian Central Asia, published
-under the comprehensive title "Russian Hosts and English Guests in
-Central Asia." In many respects the journey described was quite
-unique, and the interest is considerably increased by the number
-and variety of the excellent illustrations which are scattered
-throughout the book.--"Table-talk with Young Men" (Hodder and
-Stoughton) is the title which the Rev. W. J. Dawson gives to his
-recently published series of "pen-conversations" with young men.
-Mr. Dawson's practical, straightforward and cultured "talk" on
-such diverse subjects as "The Art of Living," "Christianity and
-Progress," "Civic Responsibility," etc., is not only brilliant but
-highly instructive, and the book is one which should find a place
-on every young man's bookshelf, for it will richly repay careful
-and constant perusal.--We have also to acknowledge the receipt of
-"Comfort and Counsel" (Hodder and Stoughton), containing quotations
-from the writings of Elizabeth Rundle Charles for every day in the
-year; "The Children's Year-Book of Prayer and Praise" (Longmans),
-compiled by C. M. Whishaw; a useful and informing little volume on
-"Diet and Food" (J. and A. Churchill), by Dr. Alexander Haig; "A
-Cluster of Camphire" (Passmore and Alabaster), containing short,
-sympathetic addresses by Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon to those who are sick
-and sorrowful; and "The Daily Homily" (Morgan and Scott), a series
-of brief, pregnant discourses on the books of the Bible from 1
-Samuel to Job, by the Rev. F. B. Meyer.
-
-
-"Out of the Eater came forth Meat."
-
-Samson's riddle is an everlasting proverb. Out of the devouring
-famine that last year devastated India blessings have already come
-to many provinces. A conquered race find it hard to love and trust
-their rulers, but in their trouble dwellers in the famine districts
-saw the practical side of Christianity. In the midst of universal
-rejoicing England was moved with compassion, and provided food for
-the starving. Government, in many instances, entrusted missionaries
-with the distribution of grain. The Indian people are slow to act
-and strong to endure. Thousands perished because they could not or
-would not realise that relief was within reach. Parents gave their
-last morsels to their children, and then lay down to die. Orphanages
-overflowed, and new ones had to be erected. Where an open shed and
-light meals of milk, rice, and curry meet the ideas of home and
-housekeeping, this is easier than it sounds. After a famine the
-number of Christian adherents to missions is always multiplied, and
-the supply of pupils creates new demand for teachers. It must be
-acknowledged that the taunt of being "rice-Christians" is sometimes
-justified, though there is little doubt that genuine gratitude to
-God, who moved His servants to help them, has caused numbers to turn
-to Him.
-
-
-Abraham's Vineyard.
-
-This piece of land is close to the Holy City, and now belongs to
-the Society for the Relief of Persecuted Jews. When the necessary
-excavation for building was begun, Abraham's Vineyard revealed
-signs of former glory and prosperity. Tesselated pavement, vats,
-baths, and a columbarium hewn out of the rock, showed that it had
-once belonged to a householder with taste for luxury as well as an
-eye for exquisite scenery. The baths and vats have been converted
-into cisterns for rain-water, and the place has become the scene
-of industry. The earth, in past years again and again reddened by
-battles, now yields peaceful harvests of grain. All the Jewish
-refugees are not, however, cultivators. Soap-making from olive oil
-and alkali grown on the Jordan Plain, glue-making, stone-dressing,
-quarrying, are industries which offer many of them an honest living.
-The idea of the founders of this society was "to give relief and
-employment to the Jews, especially in Jerusalem, until they are able
-to found colonies on their own account." The experiment of Abraham's
-Vineyard has succeeded, and the Jews have carried the work farther,
-as the trade in Jaffa oranges and olive-wood ware testify.
-
-
-OUR CHRISTMAS NUMBER.
-
-"CHRISTMAS ARROWS" (the Extra Christmas Number of THE QUIVER) is
-published simultaneously with this part, and contains a complete
-one-volume story by M. H. Cornwall Legh, entitled "=The Steep
-Ascent=," copiously illustrated by Frank Craig. In addition
-will be found a seasonable article by the Rev. Dr. Preston, on
-"=Christmas Chimes from Jerusalem=" (illustrated by Mark Zangwill);
-a contribution by the Rev. Canon McCormick entitled "=Christian
-Hospitality="; and a long fairy-parable by E. H. Strain which bears
-the title "=The Star Ruby=," and is illustrated by H. R. Millar.
-"Christmas Arrows" also contains full particulars and conditions
-of our scheme for providing =Christmas Stockings= for poor and
-friendless children, as well as the =Voting Form= which any reader
-is at liberty to use to recommend suitable cases for the receipt of
-our Christmas gift.
-
-
-ROLL OF HONOUR FOR SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORKERS.
-
-The =Special Silver Medal= and =Presentation Bible= offered for the
-longest known Sunday-school service in the county of =Leicester=
-(for which applications were invited up to October 31st) have been
-gained by
-
-  MISS ANNE HARRISON,
-         42, Humberstone Gate,
-                Leicester.
-
-who has distinguished herself by =fifty-eight= years' service in
-Harvey Lane Baptist Chapel, Leicester.
-
-As already announced, the next territorial county for which claims
-are invited for the =Silver Medal= is
-
-  SUSSEX,
-
-and applications, on the special form, must be received on or before
-November 30th, 1898. We may add that =Wiltshire= is the following
-county selected, the date-limit for claims in that case being
-December 31st, 1898. This county, in its turn, will be followed by
-=Durham=, for which the date will be one month later--viz. January
-31st, 1899.
-
-The names of members recently enrolled will be found in our
-advertisement pages.
-
-
-
-
-NEW QUIVER WAIFS.
-
-To be Selected by our Readers.
-
-
-For many years past our readers have generously taken the
-responsibility of maintaining a waif at Dr. Barnardo's Homes, and
-another at Miss Sharman's Orphanage in Southwark; but, as the
-present waifs are now growing up, and will soon be out in the world,
-the time has come for another selection. For this purpose, we have
-obtained particulars of eligible cases, which we submit to our
-readers, and, as we look to them for a continuance of their kindly
-help in supporting THE QUIVER Waifs, we feel that they would prefer
-to choose the new little ones who are to be so known. We would,
-therefore, request our readers to send a post-card (addressed to
-The Editor of THE QUIVER, La Belle Sauvage, London, E.C.), stating
-for which waif in each of the two sets they desire to vote, and
-the children with the highest number of votes will be elected. The
-post-cards should reach the Editor not later than December 31st,
-1898. It should be particularly understood that this course will
-imply no pecuniary obligation whatever on the part of the voters, as
-we shall rely solely upon the voluntary contributions of our readers
-to furnish the total requisite sum for the maintenance of the waifs,
-which amounts to L31 per year. All donations will be acknowledged in
-THE QUIVER month by month.
-
-
-Particulars of Cases.
-
-I. _For Dr. Barnardo's Homes_ (one vote):--
-
-ALBERT LE VASSEUR.--Eight years of age--mother left a widow with ten
-children--totally unable to support them all--when discovered there
-was no food or money in the house.
-
-CHARLES SALT.--Seven years of age--mother a "drunken and
-disreputable tramp"--father little better--parents without a home
-and constantly ill-treating the child.
-
-JOHN HARRISON.--Seven years of age--found in streets begging in
-ragged condition--father dead--mother disreputable--John somewhat
-lame in walk, owing to injury to the right knee in infancy.
-
-II. _For Miss Sharman's Orphanage_ (one vote):--
-
-ROSE HEELIS.--Aged two years--was born shortly after her father's
-death--mother has died of consumption--promises to grow into a very
-nice child, and is full of life and spirits.
-
-ETHEL ROBINSON.--Aged six years--father killed by an
-accident--mother in lunatic asylum--relatives too poor to help.
-
-LILY PAVITT.--Aged ten years--mother dead--father deserted
-children--an aunt took the child, but was unable to support her.
-
-
-THE QUIVER FUNDS.
-
-The following is a list of contributions received from October 1st
-up to and including October 31st, 1898. Subscriptions received after
-this date will be acknowledged next month:--
-
-For "_The Quiver_" _Waifs' Fund_: A Glasgow Mother (101st donation),
-1s.; J. J. E. (131st donation), 5s.; R. S., Crouch End (7th
-donation), 5s.; E. M. B., Jedburgh, 3s.; R. Dendy, Eastbourne, 3s.;
-Anon., Alford, 1s.
-
-For "_The Quiver_" _Christmas Stocking Fund_: Jessie, Agnes, and
-Cyril, 2s. 6d.; M. T., 5s.
-
-For _The Ragged School Union_: R. H. B., 2s. 6d.
-
-For _The Indian Leper Mission Fund_: A Thank-Offering, 1s.
-
-For _Dr. Barnardo's Homes_: An Irish Girl, 13s. Also 7s. 6d. from
-Diomedes sent direct.
-
-For _St. Giles Christian Mission_: Thank-Offering, 1s.
-
-
-
-
-THE QUIVER BIBLE CLASS.
-
-(BASED ON THE INTERNATIONAL SCRIPTURE LESSONS.)
-
-
-QUESTIONS.
-
-13. What was the great sin of which Zedekiah, king of Judah, was
-guilty and for which he was punished?
-
-14. In what way was Zedekiah punished?
-
-15. What prophecy was thereby fulfilled?
-
-16. In what way does the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews
-contrast the revelation of God to mankind under the old dispensation
-with that of the new?
-
-17. Quote a text which shows the relationship of the angels to the
-human race.
-
-18. What is the special characteristic of the Gospel of St. John?
-
-19. Quote text in which St. John asserts the truth of the
-Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
-
-20. What reference to St. John the Baptist was made by the last of
-the Old Testament prophets?
-
-21. It is said of our Lord, "He came unto His own, and His own
-received Him not." Quote passage from the Old Testament which shows
-that this passage refers to the Jewish people.
-
-22. From what circumstance should we gather that Nathanael was a
-diligent student of the Old Testament?
-
-23. In what words did our Lord show forth His divinity in speaking
-to Nathanael?
-
-24. In what way did St. John the Baptist point out to his disciples
-that Jesus was the Messiah?
-
-
-ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ON PAGE 96.
-
-1. Manasseh defiled the Temple at Jerusalem by setting up an idol
-therein (2 Chron. xxxiii. 7).
-
-2. 2 Chron. xxxiii. 14.
-
-3. Manasseh, having been reinstated in his kingdom by the Assyrians,
-gave up his idolatry and did all he could to restore the worship of
-God in the land (2 Chron. xxxiii. 14-17).
-
-4. Prov. iv. 14, 17.
-
-5. Prov. iv. 18.
-
-6. In the reign of Josiah the king sent to Huldah the prophetess to
-inquire as to God's will concerning the people (2 Kings xxii. 14-20).
-
-7. The copy of the Law which Moses had written was found (2 Kings
-xxii. 8; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 14).
-
-8. In the reign of Amon, king of Judah, we are told the people
-worshipped the "sun, moon, and stars, and all the host of heaven" (2
-Kings xxiii. 5).
-
-9. In the reign of Josiah, who burnt men's bones on the altar at
-Bethel (2 Kings xxiii. 15, 16; 1 Kings xiii. 2).
-
-10. Jehoiakim threw on the fire the roll on which Jeremiah had
-written at God's command a warning to the king and his people (Jer.
-xxxvi. 23).
-
-11. Jer. xxii. 13, 14; 2 Kings xxiv. 4.
-
-12. Jehoiakim was bound in fetters to carry him to Babylon, but was
-slain at Jerusalem and his dead body cast outside the city (2 Chron.
-xxxvi. 6; Jer. xxii. 19).
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Transcriber's note:
-
-Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
-Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as
-printed.
-
-Missing page numbers are page numbers that were not shown in the
-original text.
-
-The illustrations have been moved so that they do not break up
-paragraphs.
-
-Mismatched quotes are not fixed if it's not sufficiently clear where
-the missing quote should be placed.
-
-The cover for the eBook version of this book was created by the
-transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Quiver, 11/1899, by Anonymous
-
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