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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/75657-0.txt b/75657-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ecad324 --- /dev/null +++ b/75657-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9281 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75657 *** + +Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed. + + +[Illustration: A CHILD OF POVERTY.] + + + + FOLLOWING + + HEAVENWARD + + + OR + + _The Story of Alfred Reid_ + + + BY + + Pansy + + [Isabella Alden] + + AUTHOR OF "A NEW GRAFT ON THE FAMILY TREE," "ESTHER REID," + "WORKERS TOGETHER," "A HEDGE FENCE," + &c. &c. + + + [Illustration] + + + + THOMAS NELSON AND SONS + London, Edinburgh, and New York + ———————————— + 1902 + + + + Contents. + + [Illustration] + +Chapter. + + I. IT MAY BE THAT SHE IS WORKING STILL + + II. WHAT DID IT ALL AMOUNT TO, ANYHOW? + + III. ANYTHING UNCOMMON ABOUT ME? + + IV. I DON'T BLAME THEM + + V. A CHRISTIAN HOME + + VI. SATAN, HE HAS 'EM ALL THE WEEK + + VII. WHAT A LITTLE SCHEMER IT IS! + + VIII. WHAT WOULD YOU DO, DEAR? + + IX. TREMENDOUS FACTS! + + X. AND SHE ALWAYS TRIED + + XI. I HAVE BUT TO TRY AGAIN + + XII. I WANT THEM TO GET USED TO PARLOURS + + XIII. LET US BE FASHIONABLE + + XIV. SOMETHING'S HAPPENED + + XV. WHAT MADE HER DIFFERENT? + + XVI. HERE WAS HIS OPPORTUNITY + + XVII. I WONDER WHAT THEY'RE ALL AFTER + + XVIII. YOUR'N'S THE WAY! + + XIX. WE HAVE BEGUN BACKWARDS + + XX. OH, WHAT A NICE THOUGHT! + + XXI. HAD HIS EXPERIMENT BEEN TOO SEVERE? + + XXII. SOME PEOPLE ARE HARD TO WARN + + XXIII. PART OF THE GREAT WELL-TO-DO WORLD + + XXIV. FOR YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT MAY COME + + XXV. WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH? + + XXVI. O LORD, TAKE DIRK TOO! + + XXVII. AN AWFUL PROBLEM! + + XXVIII. MAY SHE GO WITH ME? + + XXIX. WHAT IF I BELONGED? + + XXX. IT IS NO MADE-UP AFFAIR + + XXXI. THEIR WORKS DO FOLLOW THEM + + + + FOLLOWING HEAVENWARD. + + [Illustration] + +CHAPTER I. + +"IT MAY BE THAT SHE IS WORKING STILL." + +IT was raining drearily, and but few people were abroad—that is, few +comparatively speaking, though the streets seemed full of hurrying, +dripping mortals. In the large dry-goods store business was by no +means so brisk as on sunny days, and one of the younger clerks, whose +station was near a window looking out upon the thoroughfare, had time +to stand gazing at the passers-by. They did not seem to interest him +particularly, or else they puzzled him. His young, handsome face wore +a thoughtful look, almost a troubled expression about the eyes, which +seemed to be gazing beyond the passers-by. + +Just across the aisle from him, a lady, seated in one of the +easy-chairs set for the accommodation of shoppers, waited and watched +him; a young and pretty woman, tastefully, even elegantly-dressed, yet +her costume was quite in keeping with the stormy day. The young man's +face seemed to have special interest for her, though he was apparently +unaware of her existence. A close observer would have discovered that +she was watching him with deeply interested eyes. + +Whatever served to hold the thoughts of the young man apparently grew +in perplexity, for the troubled look continually deepened. At last, +forgetting the possible listener, he addressed the dripping clouds +perhaps—at least, he was looking at them:— + +"I don't know how to do it, but something ought to be done. It is worse +than folly to expect good from the way that things are now managed. +Esther would have known just what, and how; and how interested she +would have been! I try to do her work, and to 'redeem the time;' but +the simple truth is, I don't know how, and nobody else seems to." + +These sentences were not given all at once, but murmured from time to +time at his unsympathetic audience outside. + +Patter, patter, patter! Drip, drip, drip! Steady, uncompromising +business. It was all the answer the clouds vouchsafed him. + +With the listener inside it was different. The interested look changed +to an eager one. She left her seat and moved toward the absorbed young +man, breaking in on his reverie with the clearest of voices:— + +"I beg your pardon,—but are you thinking of your sister? You are +Mr. Reid, I believe? I have heard of your sister's life, and of her +beautiful death, through a dear friend of my husband, who loved Esther. +I have always wanted to know more about her. I wanted to get acquainted +with you, so I might ask you things about her. I am waiting now for my +husband to come and introduce us. But perhaps it isn't necessary. Do +you know who I am?" + +"It is Mrs. Roberts, I believe?" the young man said, struggling with +his astonishment and embarrassment. + +"Yes; and you are Mr. Alfred Reid. Well, now we know each other without +any further ceremony. Will you tell me a little about your sister, Mr. +Reid'? You were thinking of her just now." + +"I was missing her just now," said he, trying to smile, "as I very +often am. I was a little fellow when she died; but the older I grow, +the more difficult I find it to see how the world can spare her. She +was so full of plans for work, and there are so few like her." + +"It may be that she is working still, in the person of her brother." + +He shook his head energetically, though his face flushed. + +"No, I can only blunder vaguely over work that I know she, with her +energetic ways and quick wits, could have done, and done well. It +happens that she was especially interested in a class of people of whom +I know something. They need help, and I don't know how to help them. It +seems to me that she could have done it." + +"Will you tell me who the people are?" + +"It is a set of boys for whom nobody cares," he said, speaking sadly; +"it hardly seems possible that there could ever have been a time when +anybody cared for them, though I suppose their mothers did when they +were little fellows." + +Thus spoke the ignorant young man—ignorant of the depths to which sin +will sink human nature, but rich in the memory of mother-love. + +"I think of my sister Esther in connection with them," he said, +speaking apologetically, "because she was peculiarly interested in wild +young fellows like them; she thought they might be reached, that there +might be ways invented for reaching them, such as had not been yet. She +had plans, and they were good ones. I thought so then, little fellow +that I was, and I think so now, only nobody is at work carrying them +out; and I wonder sometimes if Esther could have been needed in heaven +half as much as she is needed on earth. She used to talk to me a great +deal about what might be done. I think now that she wanted to put me in +the way of taking up some of the work that she would have done; but she +mistook her material. I can't do it." + +"Are you sure? You are young yet; and besides, you may be doing more +than you think. Couldn't I help? What is there that needs doing for +these particular young men?" + +"Everything!" he said excitedly. "If you should see them, you would get +a faint idea of it. They come occasionally down to the Sabbath school +at the South End; in fact, they come quite frequently, though I'm sure +I can't see why. It certainly isn't for any good that they get. Their +actions, Mrs. Roberts, surpass anything that I ever imagined." + +"Who is their teacher?" + +"That would be a difficult question to answer. They have a different +teacher every Sabbath. No one is willing to undertake the class twice. +They have tried all the teachers who attend regularly, and several who +have volunteered for once, and never would attempt it a second time. +Just now there is no one who will make a venture." + +"Have 'you' tried?" + +He shook his head emphatically. + +"I know at least so much. Why, Mrs. Roberts, some of them are as old as +I, and, indeed, I think one or two are older. No; we have secured the +best teachers that we could for them, but each one has been a failure. +I suppose they must go." + +"Go where?" + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"What an awful question! Where 'will' they go, Mrs. Roberts, if we let +them slip now?" + +He was tremendously in earnest. One could not help feeling that he had +studied the possibilities, and felt the danger. + +"Suppose I try to help! Shall I come and take that class next Sabbath?" + +This simple, directly-put question brought the young man suddenly from +the heights of his excitement into visible embarrassment. He looked +down on the small, fair lady, reaching hardly to his shoulder, attired +in that unmistakable way which bespeaks the lady of wealth and culture, +and could imagine nothing more incongruous than to have her seated +before that class of swearing, spitting, fighting boys. Not that her +wealth or her culture was an objection, but she looked so utterly +unlike what he had imagined their teacher must be—she was so small, so +frail, so fair and sweet, and ignorant of the ways of the great wicked +world, and especially of those great wicked boys. What could he say to +her? + +He was so manifestly embarrassed that the small lady laughed. + +"You think I cannot do it," she said almost gaily. + +He hastened to answer her. + +"Indeed, you have no idea of the sort of class it is. I have given you +no conception of it; I cannot. You would think yourself before a set of +uncaged animals." + +"Yes; and in case of failure I should only be where the others +are who have tried and failed. If you will introduce me, and your +superintendent will let me, I mean to try; and that will relieve you of +the dilemma of being entirely without a teacher for them." + +Young Reid had nothing to say. He thought the attempt a piece of folly, +a worse than useless experiment; but how was he to say so to the wife +of his employer? + +That gentleman appeared just then, making haste. + +"I was unavoidably detained," he explained; "I feared you would grow +weary of waiting.—Ah, Reid, my wife has introduced herself, I see.—Is +he the young man you were speaking of, Mrs. Roberts?" + +"The very young man—Esther Reid's brother. He doesn't know how glad I +am to have met him.—Some day, when we are better acquainted, and you +trust me more fully, I am going to tell you how I became so deeply +interested in your dear sister. Meantime this little matter should be +definitely settled.—Mr. Roberts, I have invited myself to take a class +to-morrow down at the South End Mission." + +"Have you indeed?" + +Mr. Roberts spoke heartily, and seemed by no means dismayed, only a +trifle perplexed as to details. + +"How can we manage it, Flossy? My prison class takes me in an opposite +direction at the same hour, you know." + +"Yes; I thought of that. I propose to ask Mr. Reid to call for me, and +show me the way, and vouch for my good intentions after I reach there. +Do you suppose he will do it?" + +She looked smilingly from her husband to young Reid, and both waited +for his answer. + +"I obey directions," he said, bowing respectfully to Mr. Roberts. "Am I +to have the honour of being detailed for that service to-morrow?" + +"So Mrs. Roberts says," was the good-humoured reply. + +And then the merchant took his wife away to their waiting carriage that +had drawn up before the door, leaving Alfred Reid, if the truth must be +told, in a fume. + +"Much she knows what she is talking about!" he said, jerking certain +boxes out of their places on the shelves, and then banging them back +again, seeming to suppose that he was by this process putting his +department in order for closing. "Little bit of a dressed up doll! +They will tear her into ribbons, metaphorically, if not literally, +before this time to-morrow. She thinks, because she is the wife of Evan +Roberts, the great merchant, she can go anywhere and do anything, and +that people will respect her. She has never had anything to do with a +set of fellows who care less than nothing about money and position, +except to be ten times more insolent and outrageous in their conduct +than they would if she had less of it. + +"I shall feel like a born idiot in presenting this pretty little doll +to teach that class. Mr. Durant will think I have lost what few wits I +had. What can possess the woman to want to try? It is just because she +has no conception of what she is about. But Mr. Roberts must know. I +wonder what he means by permitting it?" + + +In very much the same state of mind did our young man pilot his new and +unsought-for recruit into the crowded mission rooms of the South End on +the following Sabbath afternoon. She looked not one whit less able to +compete with the terrors which awaited the teacher of the formidable +class. + +Her dress was simplicity itself, according to Mrs. Roberts ideas of +simplicity; yet, from the row of ostrich tips that bobbed and nodded at +each other, all around the front of her velvet hat, to the buttons of +her neat-fitting boots, she seemed to bring a new atmosphere into the +room. + +Yesterday's rain was over, and the pleasant south windows were aglow +with sunshine. As Mrs. Roberts sat down, the sunbeams came and played +about her face, and she seemed in keeping with them and with nothing +else around her. + +The superintendent bestowed curious glances on her during the opening +exercises. He had seen the shadow on young Reid's face when he seated +her, and had found time to question:— + +"Whom have we here?" + +"Mrs. Evan Roberts. She wants to try the vacant class. 'I' did not ask +her, Mr. Durant; she invited herself." + +Mr. Durant looked over at her, and tried to keep his eyes from smiling. + +"She looks very diminutive in every way for such an undertaking. They +will frighten her out before she commences, will they not?" + +"I presume so; but I didn't know what to do. She wanted to come, and I +could not tell her she must not." + +"No, of course; the occasion is too rare to lose. Very few people +ask the privilege of trying that class. There is no teacher for them +to-day; and your Mrs. Roberts must learn by experience that some things +are more difficult than others. I will let her try it." + +Meantime "the boys" of the dreaded class were studying the new face. +She was the only person not already seated before a class, and they +naturally judged that she was to be their next victim. They looked at +her, and then at one another, and winked, and coughed, and sneezed, +and nudged elbows, and giggled outright, every one of them, meantime +chewing tobacco with all their might, and expectorating freely wherever +they judged it would be most offensive. + +Alfred Reid watched them, inwardly groaning. Being used to their faces, +he could plainly read that they anticipated a richer time than usual, +and rejoiced greatly over the youth and beauty of their victim. + +But young Reid was not the only one who watched. Mrs. Roberts, +without seeming to be aware of their presence, lost not a wriggle or +a nudge. She was studying her material, and it must be confessed that +they startled her not a little. They represented a different type of +humanity from her Chautauqua boys, or her boys in the old church at +home—rather, an advanced stage of both those types. + +When Mr. Durant came toward her, the look on his face was not +reassuring; it so plainly said that he expected failure, and was sorry +for her as well as for himself. However, with as good grace as he could +assume, he led her to the seat prepared for the teacher, and gave her a +formal introduction. + +"Boys, this is Mrs. Roberts, who is willing to try to teach you to-day. +I wish you would show her that you know how to behave yourselves." + +Mrs. Roberts wished that he had left her to introduce herself, or that +he had said almost anything rather than what he did; the mischievous +gleam in several pairs of eyes said that they meant to show her +something that they considered far more interesting than that. + +Many were the sympathetic glances that were bestowed on the young and +pretty lady as she went to her task. As for Alfred Reid, there was more +than sympathy in his face. He was vexed with the young volunteer and +vexed with himself. + +He told himself savagely that this was what came of his silly habit of +thinking aloud. If only he had kept his anxieties about that class to +himself, Mrs. Roberts would never have heard of it, and been tempted to +put herself in such a ridiculous position; and if this episode did not +break him of the habit, he did not know what would. + +He was presently, however, given a class of small boys, with enough +of original and acquired depravity about them to keep him intensely +employed, and the entire school settled to work. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +"WHAT DID IT ALL AMOUNT TO, ANYHOW?" + +SETTLED, that is, so far as the class of boys in the corner would +permit the use of that term. They had not settled in the least. Two of +them indulged in a louder burst of laughter than before, just as Mrs. +Roberts took her seat. Yet her face was in nowise ruffled. + +"Good-afternoon," she said, with as much courtesy as she would have +used in addressing gentlemen. "I wonder if you know that I am a +stranger in this great city? You are almost the first acquaintances +that I am making among the young people, and I have a fancy that I +would like to have you all for my friends. Suppose we enter into a +compact to be excellent and faithful friends to one another? What do +you say?" + +What were they to say? They were slightly taken aback, surprised into +listening quietly to the close of the strange sentence, and then giving +no answer beyond violent nudges and aside looks. What did she mean? +Was she "chaffing" them? This was unlike the opening of any lesson. +It certainly could not be the first question on the lesson-paper; nor +did it sound like certain well-meant admonitions to "try to improve +the opportunity" and "learn all that they could." With each of these +commencements they were entirely familiar; but this was something new. + +"Do you agree to the compact?" she asked, while they waited, her face +bright with smiles. + +"Dunno about that," said one whom she very soon discovered occupied the +position of a ringleader; "as a general thing, we like to be kind of +careful about our friendships. We might strike something that wasn't +quite the thing with people in our position. You can't be too careful +in a big city, you know." + +It is impossible to give you an idea of the impishness with which this +impudent answer was jerked out, to the great amusement of the others, +who laughed immoderately. + +It suited Mrs. Roberts to treat the reply with perfect seriousness and +composure. + +"That is very true," she said courteously; "but at the same time I +venture to hope that since you know nothing ill of me as yet, you +will receive me into a sort of conditional friendship, with the +understanding that I remain your friend until I am guilty of some +conduct that ought to justify you in deserting me. I am sure you cannot +object to that; and now, if we are to be friends, we should know each +other's names. I am Mrs. Evan Roberts, and I live at No. 76 East +Fifty-fifth Street. I shall be glad to see you at my house whenever +you would like to call on me. Now, will one of you be kind enough to +introduce himself and the class? Perhaps you will introduce me to your +friends?" + +She looked directly at the ringleader. + +"Certainly, certainly, mum!" he replied briskly. "This is Mr. Carrot +Pumpkins, at your service, mum—this fellow on my left, I mean; rather +a queer name I daresay you think. It all came of his being fond of +sitting astride a pumpkin when he was a little shaver, and of his hair +being exactly the colour of carrots, as you can see for yourself. And +this fellow on my right is Mr. Champion Chawer; so-called because he +can make the biggest run on tobacco of any of the set, taking him day +in and day out. That fellow at your elbow is 'Slippery Jim.' We don't +call him 'Mister,' because he doesn't stay long enough in one place to +have it tacked on to him. He is such a slippery scamp that an eel is +nowhere, compared to him." + +During this rapid flow of words the listeners, who evidently admired +their leader became so convulsed with laughter as to lose all vestige +of respectability, and Mr. Durant's disturbed face appeared in view. + +"Boys, this is perfectly disgraceful!" he said, speaking in sharp and +highly-excited tones—"Perfectly disgraceful! I don't know why you wish +to come here to disturb us in this way Sabbath after Sabbath! But we +have really endured enough. There is a policeman at the foot of the +stairs, and he can easily call others to his help; so now, if you wish +to remain here, you must behave yourselves." + +During the deliverance of this sentence, some of the boys gave mimic +groans, one of them whistled, and others kept up a running comment. + +"A policeman! Oh good! That's little Duffer, I know! We've seen him +before! Wouldn't mind giving him a chase to-day, just for exercise, you +know, mum." + +"I say, boys, let's cut and run, the whole band of us. We can jump +these seats at one bound, and take the little woman along on our +shoulders for a ride! Shall we do it?" This from the leader, who in +time came to be known as "Nimble Dick." + +"Bah! No!" replied a third. "Let's stick it out and see what she's got +to say; she's a new party. Besides, we can't give her the slip in that +way; we're friends of hers, you know." + +"Mrs. Roberts," said the distressed Mr. Durant, in a not very good +undertone, "I think you will have to give it up. They are worse than +usual this morning. We have endured much from them, and I must say that +my patience is exhausted. Will you not take the seat at the other end +of the room?" + +"Not unless they wish me to." + +The people who had known Flossy Shipley well would have detected a +curious little quiver in her voice, which meant that she was making +a strong effort at self-control; but a stranger would hardly have +observed it. + +"Do you wish me to go away, young gentlemen?" + +The scamps thus appealed to looked at one another again, as if in doubt +what to say. This again was new ground to them. Policemen they were +accustomed to. At last Nimble Dick made answer:— + +"No, I'm bound if we do; it comes the nearest to looking like a lark +of anything that we have had in a long time.—I say, parson, go off +about your business and let us alone. We was having a good time getting +acquainted till you come and spoiled it. We'll be as sober as deacons +at a prayer-meetin'. And look out how you insult this young woman; +she's a friend of ours, and we're bound to protect her. No asking of +her to change her seat; she's going to sit right here to the end of the +chapter." + +Mr. Durant looked his willingness to summon the police at once; but +Mrs. Roberts's voice, evenly poised now, took up the story:— + +"Thank you; then I will stay. And since it is getting late, suppose we +lose no more time. There was something about which I wanted to tell +you. But a few evenings ago I attended a gathering where I saw some +very singular things. A gentleman in the party was tied with a strong +rope, hands and feet, as firmly as two men could tie him—people who +knew how to tie knots, and they did their best; yet while we stood +looking at him, he shook his hand free and held it out to them. How do +you think it was done?" + +"Sham knots," said one. + +"No, for my husband was one of the gentlemen who tied him, and he +assured me that he tied the rope as firmly as he could. Besides, more +wonderful things than that were done. I tied my own handkerchief into +at least a dozen very hard knots, and gave it to him, and I saw him +put it in a glass of water, then seize it and shake it out, and the +knots were gone. I saw him take two clean glasses, and pour water from +a pitcher into one, and it seemed to turn instantly to wine. Then he +poured that glass of wine into the other empty glass, and immediately +it turned back to water, or seemed to. Dozens of other strange things +he did. I should really like to tell you about them all. I will, at +some other time; but just now I think you would like to know how he did +them?" + +"How he did them!" "As if you could tell!" "Can you tell?" "Pitch in, +mum; I'd like to hear that part myself!" These were some of the eager +answers. + +Had the little teacher, under the embarrassments of the occasion, taken +leave of her senses? Actually she was bending forward, opened Bible +turned face downward on her knee, engaged in describing, in somewhat +minute detail, the explanations of certain sleight-of-hand performances +which she had recently seen! What idea of the office of teacher, and +the solemnity of the truths to be taught, had she? + +The boys were listening, their heads bent forward all around her. What +of that? They would have listened equally well to a graphically-told +story of a Fourth Avenue riot, and been equally benefited, you think? +They did not know just when the speaker slipped from the events of last +week to the events of more than three thousand years ago. Indeed, so +ignorant were they of all past history, that they were not even aware +that she went back into the past; for aught they knew, she might have +gone on Wednesday of last week to see the man who could untie knots +by magic, and on Thursday to see the men who could drop canes on the +ground that would appear to turn into wriggling serpents. But there was +one statement that proved too much for their credulity. + +"You could not imagine what occurred next," said the bright-faced +teacher. "The cane or rod that the first man had dropped actually +opened its mouth and swallowed the other rods that seemed to be +serpents, and was left there alone in its triumph!" + +"Oh, bosh!" said Nimble Dick, contempt expressed in the very curve +of his nose. "That's too steep; I don't believe a word of it! These +fellows can do lots of queer things—I've seen 'em perform myself; but +they never made a live thing yet; I've heard folks that know say so." + +"Precisely what I wanted to reach," said Mrs. Roberts with animation. +"You are right; they never did; and you have discovered just the +difference between them and the one man of whom I have been telling +you. He worked by the power of God; he distinctly stated that he did, +and that God really turned his rod into a serpent, and allowed it to +swallow the imitations of life, and then turned it back again into a +rod, to show that nothing was beyond his power." + +"Did you see the thing done?" questioned a young sceptic, running his +tongue into his cheek in a skilful way, and distorting his whole face +with a disagreeable leer. He began to suspect that he was being cheated +into listening to a Bible story. + +Mrs. Roberts was prompt with her answer:— + +"Oh no, I did not; neither did I see the great fire that you had in +this city about a year ago. At that time I was a thousand miles away; +and it so happens that I have never talked with any person who did see +it; yet I know there was a great fire, and many buildings were burned +and lives lost. It has been proved to me." + +"Oh, well," said sceptic number two, while number one retired into +silence to speculate over this answer, "fires are common enough things; +anybody can know that they happen; but it ain't such a common affair +to see a stick turn into a serpent and swallow up other serpents. I've +seen them fellows make things that looked like snakes myself. I could +most swear to it that I'd seen them wriggle; but they never did no +swallowing." + +"That is, they did not give unmistakable signs that they were alive. +But do you think it too strange a thing for God to do? Surely he can +make life. How is it that you are here, breathing, talking, thinking, +if there is no power anywhere to make life?" + +"Oh, I came from a tadpole," said the boastful young scientist, putting +his thumbs under his arms, and affecting an air of great wisdom. "I +know all about that; I was there, and see the things wriggle." + +Evolution staring her in the face in a corner class in a mission +school—a class that had been gathered from the slums! Mrs. Roberts did +not know that these are the very places in which to find it in all its +coarseness. Yet she made haste to meet the boy on his own ground. + +"Very well, if you choose to take that view of it. Was not the tadpole +alive? Where did the life come from? You insist that the story I +have been telling you is untrue because you know that none of these +sleight-of-hand performers have ever or can ever make actual life—that +it is an impossible thing for human beings to do. Yet when I tell you +that God did it, you refuse the statement. How are you going to account +for life? If in its very lowest forms it cannot be made by men who have +given all their time to the study of the marvellous, how is it that it +is everywhere about us, unless I am correct, and there is a Power that +can produce life?" + +Not a boy among them had heard the term "evolution," knew anything +about "the survival of the fittest." They were entirely ignorant +of "protoplasm" or "bioplasm;" yet not one of them but had caught +the meaning of some of these terms, as they had been translated for +them into the vernacular of the city slums; not one in the class but +perceived that their champion arguer had been met on his own ground and +vanquished. + +Not with an outburst of horror; he had not even been informed that he +was irreverent. Nimble Dick delighted in making each teacher tell him +this. He had merely been replied to in the calmest of argumentative +tones, and called upon to account for the facts in his own statements, +and had been unable to do so. + +The crowd broke into a derisive laugh, and were noisy, it is true, +and brought troubled frowns to the face of their superintendent, and +made the flush on Alfred Reid's face deepen; yet if both these anxious +watchers had known it, it was worthy of note that the laugh had been at +the expense of one of their number, and not at their teacher. + +"Well, go on," interposed the youngest and quietest of the group. "Tell +us some more about your old fellow with his serpents. Did they stay +swallowed, and what did it all amount to, anyhow?" + +Thus challenged, Mrs. Roberts gave her whole heart to the business of +giving, in as dramatic a manner as she could, the closing scenes in the +act performed in Egypt so long ago, carefully avoiding any reference +to time, and mentioning no names, using only modern terms, and an +exceedingly simple conversational form of language. She was, however, +presently interrupted with a question:— + +"When did all this happen, and why don't somebody do something like it +nowdays?" + +Ignoring the first question, Mrs. Roberts adroitly gave herself to the +second. + +"Why don't you find your pleasure in tumbling around on the floor, +playing with a bright-coloured marble or two, as you did when a child? +The world was in its childhood when God taught the people in this way. +He has given them just as wonderful lessons since, but lessons more +suited to men and women who have learned to think and reason. We don't +like to be always treated as children." + +Whether they really dimly understood the meaning or not is possibly +doubtful, yet it appealed to their sense of dignity in so indirect a +way, that they did not themselves realize what inclined them to quiet +for a moment, while she finished her sentence earnestly. + +In the midst of the quiet, the closing-bell rang, and the seven young +scamps seemed at once to take into their hearts seven other spirits +worse than themselves, and behaved abominably during the closing +exercises, and tumbled out of the door over each other in the wildest +fashion the moment the signal was given, halting only to say, in the +person of their leader,— + +"You be on hand next Sunday; we like your yarns first-rate." + +Mrs. Roberts, with glowing cheeks and eyes behind which there were +unshed tears, made her way to the desk where Mr. Durant was standing, +and spoke quickly:— + +"There is a difference between others who have tried it and myself, Mr. +Durant. The sentence in Mr. Reid's account that gave me courage was, +'Every one has failed, so far; people are unwilling to take the class a +second time.' I have failed, but I want to try again." + + + +CHAPTER III. + +"ANYTHING UNCOMMON ABOUT ME?" + +THOUGH they rushed out with even more noise than usual, every +boy of them knew that the noise was to cover a certain sense of +shame-facedness, because they had actually been beguiled into listening +quietly for a few minutes to earnest words. + +Directly they had reached the privacy of the street they became quieter. + +"I say, boys," said Nimble Dick, "is that an awful green one, or a new +kind?" + +"New, I should say," replied one of the younger boys; "she ain't like +anything that's been in that room since we got acquainted with it. I +don't know her style myself." + +"What do you take it she meant by that stuff about being friends, and +telling us where she lived, and all that?" + +"Dunno what she meant; but she ain't 'green,' you may bet your head on +that. I'll tell you what I think, boys: I b'lieve she knows what she is +about, every time." + +What this sage conclusion amounted to, one not acquainted with the +dialect of the street might have been at a loss to understand; but the +rest of the party received it in grave silence and nods of the head, as +though it were a thought that needed careful investigation. In common +parlance, Jerry Tompkins had expressed the opinion that Mrs. Roberts +had some point to gain in being so uncommonly polite and attentive to +them, and they were curious to know what the motive could possibly be. + +They considered the important question in silence until they reached +the next corner; then Nimble Dick, tossing back his head as one who had +thrown off an abstruse problem, and would have none of it, said:— + +"Well, what next? We've got through with that fun for to-day. What are +you going to do, boys? Say we go around to Poke's, and see what is +going on there?" + +To this proposition there was eager agreement from all the party save +one; he maintained a somewhat moody silence. + +"What say, Dirk?" the leader asked, addressing him. "Are you ready for +Poke's?" + +"No; I don't think I'll go around just now." + +"What then? If you've got something better on hand, why don't you let a +fellow know? We're not dying for Poke's place." + +"I haven't got a thing on hand; only I don't care about going there." + +"Where, then?" + +"Nowhere." + +"Nowhere! Mean place. Too cold weather to stop in the streets. There +'ll be a good fire at Poke's. You come along; don't go to getting the +sulks; it ain't becoming, just after you've been to Sunday school." + +But the young fellow persisted in gloomily refusing to join them, and +presently they began to tease, in what they meant to be a good-natured +way. + +"Dirk's struck," said one. "That yellow-haired party has got him by +the throat; I saw her looking at him most uncommon sharp, when she was +telling that biggest story of hers about the serpent that swallowed. +Dirk he thinks he's been swallowed by one of 'em; he feels it choking +in his throat." + +"No," said another, "that ain't it; Dirk's a-going to get pious. That's +his last dodge; I've seen the spell coming on for some time. Didn't +you see him pick up that there Bible and lay it on the seat the other +Sunday, after Jerry's elbow knocked it off by mistake? I've been scared +about Dirk ever since; and now he won't go to Poke's! It's a bad sign. +I say, Dirk, maybe there's going to be a prayer-meeting down your way, +and you wouldn't mind letting us come?" + +They expected him to laugh, but his face grow blacker than before, and +at last he said, in very significant tones:— + +"You better hold up there, Scrawley, if you don't want to try the depth +of that gutter." + +"Leave him be," said Nimble Dick quickly; "he's going into one of his +tantrums. When he begins like that, there's no end to the fighting +that's in him; and I don't want a row now,—it's too early in the day; +besides, I know something that's better fun. You fellows come along +with me, and let him go." + +All this was said in a sort of undertone as Dirk strode on ahead; and +when, at another corner, he dashed down it, leaving them all, there was +no call after him. He was free to go where he would, and for reasons +that he himself could not have explained, he chose that it should be +home—that is, the place which he called home. It might not meet your +ideas of what a spot so named should be. + +The road to it led through one of the meanest portions of the city. +Each foot of the way the houses seemed to grow more squalid-looking and +the streets filthier. The particular alley down which he dived at last +was narrower and blacker than any yet passed, and the cellar door which +he pushed open let him into the meanest-looking house in the row—a +long, low, dark room. + +In one corner there was the remnant of a stove, braced up by bricks +and stones; but no fire was burning therein, though the day was cold. +Furniture there was none, unless the usual rickety table and two broken +chairs could be called by that name. A door was ajar that led into an +inner cellar, and a glimpse of piles of offensive-looking rags, that +were called "bed-clothes" by the family, might have given you an idea +of what their home life was, as hardly any other phase of it can. The +rags were not all in the farther cellar, however; a gay, patch-work +quilt, or at least one that had once been gay, but from which bits of +black cotton now oozed in every direction, seemed to have curled itself +in a heap against the one window. However, it moved soon after Dirk +opened the door, and showed itself to be more than a quilt. Inside was +a young girl, the quilt wrapped around her closely, drawn up about her +face and head, as if she would hide all but her eyes within, and try to +get rid of shivering. + +"You home?" she said, her tones expressing surprise, but at the same +time indifference. "What is it for?" + +"Because I wanted to come. Hasn't a fellow a right to come home if he +wants to?" + +"Of course; and it's such a lovely home, and you are so fond of it, no +one need wonder at your coming in the middle of the day." + +The sentence was sarcastic enough, but the tones were hardly so; they +expressed too much indifference even for sarcasm. + +Dirk surveyed her thoughtfully; he seemed to have no answer ready. +In fact, his face wore almost a startled air, and really the thought +which presented itself for consideration was startling. Something about +the face of the girl, done up so grotesquely in her ragged quilt, +suggested the lady who had been his teacher at the mission! Could one +find a sharper contrast than existed between these two? Yet Dirk, as he +looked, could not get away from it. + +"What are you staring at?" the girl asked presently, growing uneasy +over the fixedness of his gaze. "Do you see anything uncommon about me?" + +"Where's mother?" he asked, dropping his eyes and turning from her. + +"In there, asleep. You needn't talk quite so loud; it won't hurt her to +get a bit of rest. She sat up till morning, poking at your old coat." + +Dirk looked down at it thoughtfully. There had been an attempt to make +it decent, although the setting of the patches showed an unpractised +hand, and they were of a strikingly different colour from the coat +itself. + +"You might have done it for her, then, in the daytime," he said +briefly; and added, "Where's father?" + +The girl shrugged her shoulders. + +"How should I know? Where he is most of the time. You know more about +it than I do, or ought to; you live on the street." + +He gave her an answer which seemed to surprise her:— + +"I say, Mart, what is the use in being so horrid cross all the time?" + +"You are so good-natured," she said, "and everything is so nice and +pleasant around me, it is a wonder that I should ever be cross!" + +"That's all lost, Mart, for I never said I was good-natured, nor +thought I was; and if I don't know just how hateful things are, I +should like to know who does! But, after all, what good does it do to +snarl? Why couldn't you and me say a good-natured word once in a while, +just for a change?" + +"Try it," she said; "I wish you would! I'm so tired of things as they +now are that most any change would be fine. But I'll risk your doing +much in that line; it isn't in you." + +What was there in this cross girl to remind any one in his senses +of Mrs. Evan Roberts? Yet, even as she spoke that last ungracious +sentence, she turned a little, so that a slant beam of sunshine, one +of the few that ever found their way into this dreary room, laid a +streak of light just across her hair, yellowing it until it was almost +the shade that he had noted in the lady at the mission; and he thought +of her again, and wondered curiously whether, if Mart were dressed in +the shining black dress, and fur wraps, and feather-decked bonnet that +the lady had worn, she would really resemble her. How would Mart look +dressed up, he wondered—even decently dressed, as the girls were whom +he met on the streets? He had never seen her in anything much more +becoming than the ragged quilt. He was studying her in a way that Mart +did not in the least understand. She broke the spell suddenly again:— + +"Have you had any dinner?" + +"Dinner? Why, no! Of course not. Where would I find that sort of thing? +I looked all up and down the streets, and smelled plenty of it, but not +a bite did I get." + +"Where have you been?" + +"Oh, around in several places; not much of anywhere." + +"I know where you've been,—" a severe light coming into her eyes; +"you've been down to the South End, and if I was you, I'd be ashamed of +myself! I know how you fellows go on down there. Sallie Calkins goes, +and she told me all about it. She said that she was ashamed to live +in the same street with any of you, and that none of the folks in the +mission knew what to do with you, and the next thing you knew you would +all be marched off to the lock-up." + +"Let them try it," muttered Dirk, his face growing darker; "we'd make +that street too hot to hold them in short order if they played at any +such game as that, and I guess they know it." + +"Well, anyhow, I wouldn't be meaner and lower down than I had to be, +Dirk Colson! It is bad enough as it is—a drunkard for a father, and we +nothing more than beggars! But I'd behave myself half-way decent when I +went among folks that wanted to be good to me, or else I'd stay away." + +"Look here! You keep your preaching for them that wants to hear it; I +don't. A fellow can't come home without having a row; if it isn't of +one kind, it's another. I wonder I ever come home at all." + +Dirk was angry now, and his dark, thin face looked fierce with passion. + +His sister kept the curiously composed tone and manner with which she +had said all her exasperating things. + +"I wonder you do," she said. "I suppose you get starved, and can't help +it, now and then. There's some dinner I saved for you. If you want it, +eat it, and then take yourself to some place that suits you better." + +As she spoke, she jerked open the door of a little cupboard near which +she stood, and brought therefrom a much-cracked plate, on which lay +a baked potato, with one end broken or bitten off, then carefully +replaced, as if the owner might have had a second thought as to its +disposal; a bit of corn-bread, somewhat burned, and half of a roasted +apple. + +Meagre as the fare was for a hungry boy, there was more variety than he +had expected, and something in the simple preparation touched him and +quieted his anger. + +"Where did this come from?" he asked, taking in the unaccustomed morsel +of apple with two eager bites. "I tell you that is good!" + +"Sallie Calkins gave it to me last night. She got one give to her +somewhere." + +Just as the last bite was gone, it occurred to Dirk first to wonder, +and then to be almost certain, that his sister, having shared the +apple, had saved her entire share for him. It was not the first time he +had known of such an effort on her part to supply him with food. Had he +thought of it sooner, he would certainly have left a bit of the dainty +for her; but no thought of telling her so, for an instant crossed his +mind. + +Neither had she, on her part, the slightest idea of describing to him +with what care and patience she and Sallie had roasted the choice +morsel before Sallie's fire, only last night—Sallie's father being +fortunately late in coming, and so giving them a chance; then she had +borne hers home in a bit of paper, and carefully guarded it all day, +just for this hour. Also, she might have told him that she bit the end +from the potato before she remembered that there would be none left for +him, and then fitted it on again as best she could, and went without. +She would not have told him for worlds. Why? She could not have +explained why. Something within her shrank from letting him know, not +that she sacrificed for him, but that she cared enough for him to want +to do it! + +Potato and corn-bread were gone, to the last crumb; it seemed to Dirk +that there had been only enough of them to show him how hungry he was. + +"I suppose there isn't anything more?" he said wistfully, with the +rising inflection, indeed, but not as one who had any idea of receiving +an affirmative answer. + +"I should think there wasn't!"—defiance in the tone. "There's a piece +of bread that I kept for mother's supper, and I mean she shall have it." + +"Well, don't bite me! I'm perfectly willing that she shall. Isn't there +anything for a fire?" + +"Only some chips that I'm saving till mother has her nap out." + +"You better go to bed yourself, then; it's awful cold here." + +"I ain't going to stir from this corner so long as this streak of light +lasts. It isn't so very often I see it that I can afford to lose it." + +Her brother turned and looked at her. She had gathered the folds of the +ragged quilt about her again, and was crouching at the low window, and +the very last gleam that the sunshine would vouchsafe them came and +glimmered in her hair. + +There it was again—that mysterious, haunting resemblance! What would +Mart think if he told her of it? Probably that he was trying to poke +fun at her. At least, he should not experiment. Yet he could not help +wondering again how Mart would look if she were dressed like other +people. + +"I say, Mart," he began suddenly, breaking the stillness, "let's you +and I get out of this, where it is warmer. Come and take a walk down on +the avenue; the sun will shine yet for half an hour and it is real warm +and bright." + +"In this quilt?" she asked significantly, looking down at it. + +The boy's face darkened. + +"Hasn't your shawl got out of pawn yet?" + +"How should it?" + +He flung himself angrily out of the broken chair, picked up his ragged +cap, and strode angrily and noisily across the room, out at the door, +stumbling up the steps, like one half-blind with disgust or rage, and +went on swift feet down the street out of sight. And Mart, poor Mart, +left thus to solitude, let the last beam of the sun go without watching +and buried her face in the ragged quilt and cried. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +"I DON'T BLAME THEM." + +IT was not a "pet" name. Poor Mart Colson would not have known what +to do with a pet name. Her life had not taught her how to use such +phrases. How she came to be named Martha, she did not know; but a +hollow-eyed, sad-voiced woman could have told her of a country home, +long ago, where there were daffodils blowing in the early spring, +almost under the snow; where, later, the earth was turned into sky, +or the stars came down and gleamed all over her father's fields, so +plentiful were the dandelions; and the breath of the clover came in at +all the open windows; and the cows—her father's cows—coming home from +pasture, and the tinkle of their bells, were sights and sounds familiar +to her ear. She sat there one summer evening, in the back door, +watching the glory and the peace, and studying, between times, her +Sabbath lessons. Often and often the words came back to her in future +years. + + "Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus." + +That was one of the verses. Was it a dim memory of the words, and a +sort of blind reaching out after their fulfilment, that led her to name +her poor little two-days-old baby Martha? + +The old home had vanished; the sweet-scented meadows, the tinkling +bells, the peace and the plenty, were as utterly things of the past as +though they had not been. Mother and father and one brother were gone, +lying in grass-grown, neglected graves; and she—why the two-days-old +baby's father was drunk, and had been for three weeks! A hard, +hateful-sounding word—coarse, almost. Why don't I say intoxicated? Oh, +because I can't! I've no desire to find smooth-sounding words with +which to cover the sin of that baby's father. + +But the mother named her Martha. She never told her why, if, indeed, +she herself fully knew; it was not a family name. Gradually, after the +fashion of the times, she sought to shorten the name; and because they +had not sweet, short words as "Pet," and "Dear," and "Sweet,"—all such +belong to happy homes—they grew to calling her Mart. And now, even she +herself hardly realized that she had ever owned to any other call. + +Poor Mart! I find myself wanting to use the adjective over and over +again when I speak of her. Such a desolate, loveless life! Always a +drunken father—she had never known any other; always a sharp-toned, +weary-eyed, disheartened mother, who shut her tenderness for the child +within herself, as one who could not afford to show it. Then Dirk, the +one brother, going astray almost as soon as he was born. What wonder, +from such a home? + +Yet Mart wondered and felt bitter over it. Why could not Dirk be +like some others of whom she knew—like Sallie Calkins's brother, for +instance, who worked day and night, and brought home often and often +an apple, or a herring, or sometimes even a picture paper for Sallie? +Mart was sharp-tongued; all her life had taught her to be so. She spoke +sharp words out of the bitterness of her heart at Dirk; and of late +rarely anything but sharp words; yet—and this was Mart's secret, hidden +away as if it were something of which to be ashamed—she loved Dirk, +loved him fiercely, with all the pent-up wealth of her young heart; and +often, because she loved him, she was harsh and bitter towards him, +though she did not herself understand why this should be. + +As for Dirk, he walked rapidly but for a few blocks; his dinner had +been too insufficient to give him strength, after the first aimless +anger had subsided. Then came the question what to do with himself. +Why hadn't he gone with the fellows? More than likely some of them +had contrived a way to get a dinner. Why had he persisted in sullenly +leaving them all and going home? + +He had not the least idea why he had been impelled to go home. Now that +he was fairly away from home again, he had no idea what to do with +himself. A place where he could warm his feet and his hands, where +he could get a bite to eat, possibly,—this last would be an immense +attraction, but was not a necessity, and he did not expect it,—but +warmth, at least, he felt that he must have. Where would he find it? +What place had been provided for such as he? + +He ought by this time to have been earning his own living—to have had a +corner which he could call home, earned by himself, where some of the +decencies of life were gathered. Of course he ought; but the painful +fact to meet just now was that he had not done his duty. He had gone +astray, not so far but that there were plenty of chances to go further, +greater deeps to which he might yet reach, but far enough to all but +break any watchful mother's heart—only that his mother's heart was +broken before he was born. + +The simple question waiting to be solved was this: Having done as +poorly for himself as under the circumstances he well could, what +was Dirk Colson to do next? He had no idea; neither, apparently, had +multitudes of Christian people engaged in praying that the Father's +will might be done on earth even as it was in heaven. + +The young man walked six blocks down the respectable avenue, lined +with pleasant homes, where the people went to church, and read their +Bibles, and had family prayers, and kept holy the Sabbath day. Not a +door among them all opened and held out a winning signal to arrest his +heedless feet. Not so Satan. Is he ever caught idling at his post? Just +around the corner from the respectable avenue (and around the corner +Dirk presently turned, still uncertain what to do, where to find the +warmth he craved), then the winning invitations for such as he began +to present themselves. Saloons, and saloons, and saloons! How many of +them were there, far outnumbering the churches! Pleasant they looked, +too—opening doors, ever and anon, revealing brightness and warmth +within. They would like to see him inside. Of this Dirk was sure. + +Not that he had money, but he had something that in such places often +served him well—a decided and dangerous talent for imitating any and +every peculiarity of voice or manner that had chanced to come under his +notice. He could make the fellows in these saloons roar with laughter. +If he did particularly well, they were willing to order for him a glass +of beer, or a fairly good cigar; in any case, he had a chance to get +warm. This was actually Dirk's only present source of income! Yet he +shrank from it; he could not have told you why, but on this particular +Sabbath, he was averse to earning his coveted warmth in this way. He +walked resolutely by two or three places where he had reason to think +he might be welcomed, wondering vaguely whether there wasn't something +else a fellow could do to keep himself from freezing. + +Oddly enough there seemed to be something about the glimmer of sunshine +as he saw it in Mart's hair that kept him from halting before any of +the places open to him. What if she had come out with him to take a +walk? He could not have taken her into one of them! Then, poor fellow, +he set himself to wondering where the place was, open and warmed, to +which he could take Mart. There were places, several of them, in the +large city; but Dirk knew nothing about them, and he was acquainted +with the saloons. He thought of another thing: he had been invited to +call at a house in East Fifty-fifth Street. Suppose he should walk up +there this very afternoon and ring the bell, and say that he had come +to call! What would happen then? Whereupon he laughed aloud, the fancy +seemed to him so utterly preposterous. The idea of "his" making a call! +The utter improbability of his ever seeing the inside of one of the +East Fifty-fifth Street mansions! + +Still remained that hopeless question, What should he do with himself? +The sun was quite gone now, and a cold wind was blowing up freshly from +the north. It blew directly through Dick's threadbare garments. He +turned suddenly and slipped inside one of the worst of the many saloons +which literally line this end of the street. He had refused to go with +the boys to Poke's, an hour or two before, and this was several grades +below Poke's in decency. But it was growing dark, and he was cold. + +There was one young man who saw him dart down those cellar stairs, +who stood still and looked at him, his face darkening the while with +discouragement. This, then, was all the afternoon's Sabbath school +had accomplished for him. To be sure he was not disappointed at the +result—it was no more than he had expected; but it was so discouraging +to be an eye-witness to the degradation to which these young wretches +had fallen. Of course the young man was Alfred Reid; and he went home, +and was dreary over all sorts of failures in Christian work, mission +Sabbath schools especially, and their own more especially than any +other. + + +Among the early shoppers on Monday morning came Mrs. Evan Roberts. +Shopping, however, seemed to be a small part of her business. She came +directly to young Reid's counter, and addressed him very much as though +she had ceased talking with him but a moment before:— + +"Mr. Reid, what can you and I do for those boys during the week?" + +But Alfred was at his gloomiest. + +"I don't see that we can do anything for them at any time," he said +dismally. "What is an hour on Sunday, set against all the rest of the +time? They go from the schoolroom to the rum saloons, and dawdle away +the rest of the day. Yesterday I met that young Colson going into one +of the worst saloons in Dey Street. They are not to blame, either." +This last in a fiercer tone, after a slight pause. "I don't blame them: +they have nowhere else to go and nothing to do; and it is cold on the +streets, and warm in the saloons." + +If he expected the small lady, who was regarding him so steadily, to +take the other side of this question, he was disappointed. + +She spoke quietly enough, but with the earnestness of conviction. + +"Those are startling facts. I do not see how any one could be surprised +that the results are as they are; and the practical question forces +itself upon us,—What are we to do under the circumstances? Mr. Reid, +you have had your eyes open in regard to this subject for some time; +what have you thought out?" + +Now was Mr. Alfred Reid embarrassed. It was true that his eyes had +been long open to the subject; it was true that he had given it a +great deal of what he had called thought. But with those alert eyes +fixed on his face, her whole manner indicating intense earnestness, +he suddenly realized that all his thought had been to no purpose, had +accomplished nothing, unless it had served to give him a feeling almost +of irritation against the boys, and their teachers who made failures, +and the people who folded their hands and let things go to ruin. Here +confronted him one whose hands were not folded, though they rested +quietly enough on the counter before him. He began to feel that there +might be latent power in them. + +"I have nothing to say," and he said it at last with flushed face and +embarrassed voice; "I have thought out nothing. The whole thing seems +hopeless to me with my utter lack of resources. My sister had schemes, +many of them, and they seemed to me good ones, even then; they seem +better now, only I cannot carry them out." + +She caught at the name. + +"Your sister? Esther Reid? Good! Let us carry them out, you and I, +and as many more as we can get to help us. She is at work yet, don't +you see? What is that prophecy about her—that voice which the prophet +heard, you know? + + "'And I heard a voice saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which +die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may +rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.'" + +How strangely the words sounded, repeated in her low, clear voice, +amid the hum of business on every side! Alfred Reid felt singularly +moved. He had been a highly strung, imaginative child. He had been his +sister Esther's almost constant companion during those last months in +which she was slowly fading out of sight. While Julia held steadily to +her mother's side, and learned to do many helpful things, he had been +stationed chief nurse in Esther's room, to see that she lacked for no +tender care during the hours when others must be away from her. And +those hours she had tenderly improved. + +He remembered to this day just how she looked, with a pink flush +all over her cheeks, and a bright light in her eyes, as she talked +to him of the things that she and Dr. Douglas had meant to do for +boys—neglected, homeless, friendless boys. Oh, the plans they had +carefully thought out, to reach after these forsaken ones! He +remembered that his own cheeks had grown hot while he listened, and the +blood had seemed to race like fire through his veins when she said: + +"God wants 'me' for something else, Alfred: but you will do my work +when you get to be a man; you will find helpers, and carry it on as I +wanted to do." + +He had made no audible answer, but he had told himself sturdily again +and again that he certainly would. Yet here he was, barely of age, and +almost soured by disappointments. Certain well-meant attempts having +proved failures, and having not found the helpers whom he had eagerly +expected, the magnitude of the work impressed itself upon him more +remorselessly each hour. + +Yet now he seemed to feel again the thrill in his veins, and he felt +almost under the power of his sister's eye, while those words were in +his ears: + + "'They may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.'" + +Might it possibly be that this was one of the "helpers" of whom Esther +used to talk—sent by God himself to take up her planned work, and +follow it out? Yet she was so utterly unlike his memory of Esther! She +had seemed to him a self-reliant, strong toned woman—Mrs. Roberts was +so small and frail-looking, and so fashionably dressed; and how those +boys had acted with her only yesterday! What could she possibly do? + +Customers came just then, to change the current of his thoughts. They +wanted round collars, and deep collars, and fichus, and edges, and +a hundred little irritating things. Young Reid, usually so gracious +and patient, had much ado to keep from showing his annoyance over the +smallness of all their wishes. + +Meantime Mrs. Roberts, who had taken a seat, entered apparently with +absorption into the relative merits of round or pointed collars with +a young lady acquaintance. She patiently measured to discover whether +the turned-down corner of one was a quarter of an inch deeper than +the other or not; she gave, with due deliberation, her opinion as +to whether the points were more becoming to the young lady's style +of beauty than the rolling fronts; and even went to the trouble of +unfastening her furs to show still another style that she liked better +than either, sending the disgusted Alfred to an entirely different box +in search of a like pattern. + +As he went, his lip curled visibly. What a fool he had been to allow +himself to get momentarily excited over this doll! How preposterous in +him to mention his dead sister's name to her! She had already forgotten +the entire matter, and was deep in the merits of collars! His first +estimate of her had been the correct one. Her mind was just about as +deep, he believed, as the tiny collar she was measuring. What a farce +it was to talk to her about helping those poor fellers! She probably +thought a few soup-tickets, and a chance for a good Christmas dinner at +some of the public charity halls, was the way to reach and reform them. +"He" shouldn't help her; she mustn't expect it. Doubtless she did not. +Probably she had by this time forgotten that she had suggested it. + +Why need she trouble herself about a few collars for a young lady in +her own circle to wear with her morning dresses? That was just it, he +told himself. It was because she "was" in her circle, and because the +collars were to be honoured by being worn by such as she, that they +became important, and the boys and their desperate needs sunk into +insignificance. Well, he wished they would both go and leave him to +himself—give him a chance to rally from his momentary excitement, of +which he was now ashamed. + +At last the collars were bought, but not until the counter was strown +with different sorts; and the lady, with many bright little nothings +for last words, moved off to another part of the store, and Mrs. +Roberts whirled on her seat until her eyes were in full view again, and +said:— + +"What were some of her plans, Mr. Reid?" + + + +CHAPTER V. + +"A CHRISTIAN HOME." + +"I DON'T suppose you can go into details just now," she added, noting +young Reid's hesitation and embarrassment; "but I was wondering if you +could give me some general idea of what she wanted to do, or thought +could be done." + +"There were a great many things that she wanted to do, and I believe +she thought they could be done; but I don't think she knew the world +very well," said this aged cynic. "She judged everybody from the +standpoint of her own unselfishness. I remember she was not in sympathy +with soup-houses and dinner-tickets, and great public charities of +that sort. Or, I don't know that I should say she was not in sympathy +with them. I mean, rather, that those would not have been her ways of +working. + +"She was thinking of young people, and to give them a dinner now and +then she would not have considered a very great step toward elevating +them morally and spiritually. Mrs. Roberts, it was just that which she +wanted to do—lift them up. She thought there could be invented ways of +reaching them, so that they would want helping, want teaching—'crave' +it, I mean; and she thought that Christian homes of wealth and culture +could be opened to them, and they gradually drawn in—made to feel on a +level with others in the social scale. + +"In short, she believed that instead of people going down to them +in a condescending spirit, they could be drawn up to the level of +others, so that they would realize their manhood, and be led to make +earnest efforts to take their rightful places in the world. I know I am +bungling dreadfully; I don't know how to tell you her plans, only that +they were splendid. But I am afraid the world will have to be made over +before they can be carried out." + +"Perhaps so. Christ is at work making the world over, you know." The +lady before him, whose eyes never for an instant moved from his face, +spoke with exceeding sweetness and gravity. Neither by word nor glance +did she give him to understand that she thought his schemes wild. +"But I find that, after all, I want details. I catch a glimpse of the +grandness of your sister's meaning. What were some of the steps—the +little steps, such as you and I could take, toward accomplishing it? +Yet even while I ask the question, I see something of what the answer +must be.— + + "'Christian homes opening to receive them!' + +"That is a new thought to me, and in the plural number I do not see how +just now it could be done; but 'one' Christian home—I ought to be able +to manage that. Mr. Reid, that is the way to begin it, you may depend. +Indeed, I suppose you have tried it. The city is full of boys, and many +of them are away down. Since we cannot reach all of them this week, we +must try to reach seven; and, failing in that, suppose we say one. For +which one have you been working? Just who, at this moment, specially +interests you? I hope it is one of my boys, because, you see, they +appeal to me just now as no others can. Which is it, Mr. Reid? And what +have you tried to do for him? And to what extent have you succeeded?" + +There were never any hotter cheeks than young Reid's just at that +moment. This was the most extraordinary person with whom he had ever +talked. It was impossible to generalize with her. Not that he wanted +to generalize; on the contrary, he at once saw the possibilities +growing out of individual effort, and caught at the idea of undertaking +something. + +But the question was, Why had he not thought of it before? One person +to reach after and try for! Surely he might have attempted that, +instead of trying to carry the hundreds that he stumbled against, +and so accomplish nothing for any of them. It was humiliating the +confession that he had to make:— + +"Indeed, Mrs. Roberts, I have not one in mind. If you asked me what +one hundred I was most anxious about, I might possibly be able to +answer; but I see that there has been no individuality about it—unless, +perhaps, the half-dozen or more boys who compose that class are taking +a little stronger hold on me than any of the others. But even for them +I have tried to do nothing—unless two or three attempts to secure a +permanent teacher for them, which have ended in failure, may count for +effort. I don't blame myself as much as I might, because, now that you +suggest personal work to me, I realize that there is nothing for one +situated as I am to do. I have no Christian home at my command." + +"Ah, but we are to come down to very small numbers, you know—to +fractions, if need be. You have a piece of Christian home at command, I +trust?" + +But he looked at her inquiringly, and she explained:— + +"Why, you have the privacy of your own room, which is, of course, your +corner of home just now, and it is a Christian corner. Is there not +room in it sometimes for two?" + +He smiled faintly over that. + +"Mrs. Roberts, there is one thing with which you evidently are not +familiar, and that is, the corner which a poor clerk in the city +has to call home. Mine is the fourth story back of a fourth-rate +boarding-house, where the thermometer drops often below the +freezing-point; and this place I share with as uncongenial a fellow as +ever breathed. What would you think of labelling such accommodations +'home'? And what can I do in it for others?" + +"Not much, perhaps," smiling, "unless for the uncongenial fellow. I +should think there might be a chance in this direction." + +"Ah, but," he said eagerly, "he is a Christian. My sympathies do not +need to be drawn out in that direction." + +The smile was a peculiar one now, but the tone was very quiet in which +the little lady said that some time, when they had leisure to talk, she +should like to ask him whether his experience with Christians had been +so exceptionally bright that he thought there was no work to do in that +direction. + +"But just now," she added earnestly, "I want to know, since you are +shut away from home effort, for which of these boys you are praying +especially, and which of them do you carry about on your heart, with +the hope of a chance meeting, an unexpected opportunity to speak +a word, or do a kindness, or look a kindness, that shall give you +possible future influence? Don't you have to work in those ways? + +"Two people never equally interest me at the same moment. I find I +must be intensely individual, not to the exclusion of others, but in +praying. For instance, yesterday I prayed and this morning I prayed +for my entire class; but there was one all the time who was uppermost. +I find myself questioning, What can I do for them all, but especially +for him? Do you know, I fancy that most Christians feel the same; +individual effort is so necessary that I have thought perhaps the Holy +Spirit turns our thoughts most directly toward one person at a time, so +that we may concentrate our efforts. Do you think this is so?" + +Young Reid did not answer so promptly; he had no answer ready that +suited him. His strongest feeling just then was one of self-reproach, +mingled with humiliation. How had he looked down on this fair and +beautiful little woman—her very beauty being, he had fancied, an +element against her when it came to actual effort! How had he allowed +himself to sneer over her attempt at teaching that class of boys! How +actually irritable he had been over it! How almost angrily he had +questioned why it was that a teacher was not found for them fitted to +their needs, when he had prayed about it so much, determined not to +believe that the prayer had been answered and the teacher found! Yet +here she was, the one whose efforts he had despised, talking already +about individual prayer for them; while he, who had done a great amount +of fretting for them, had not once presented them as individuals to +Christ, and asked a definite blessing for each! + +His answer, when it came, was low and full of feeling:— + +"I have concentrated my desires in praying for the coming of such a +teacher as might get hold of them, and I begin to think that I have an +answer to my prayers." + +But she was absolutely proof against compliments. She wasted not a +moment's thought on that, but said,— + +"Mr. Reid, who are they? I tried to get their names yesterday, but soon +saw that they were not in the mood to help me. I don't think I have one +correct name. Can you give me a list?" + +No, he could not—which admission did not lessen the glow on his cheeks. +Possibly he could mention the names of two, and guess at a third, but +of the others he knew nothing. + +"To whom, then, can I go? Mr. Durant would know, of course. Where shall +I find him?" + +So much Alfred knew. Mr. Durant was to be found at the Fourth National +Bank; but as for giving information in regard to that class, he was +sure it was beyond him. He (Alfred) had asked only last Sabbath who the +boy was who behaved so wretchedly, and also who was the fellow next +him, but Mr. Durant had not known. + +"Well, then," Mrs. Roberts said, nothing daunted, not even a shadow +appearing on her quiet face, she must just study it out with his help. + +"There is immediate work for you," she said, "for of course I want to +know their names. Who are the two? This Dirk Colson whom you mentioned, +which was he?" + +Alfred described him as well as his bewilderment would allow, and was +interrupted,— + +"Oh, the small dark one. I know; he interested me. Where does he live?" + +But to this question no clear answer could be given. Down in one of the +alleys towards the South End; but just which alley, or how far down +it, Alfred did not know. He knew it was a disreputable alley, and that +there wasn't a decent home anywhere about it, and that was all. + +"What does Dirk do for a living?" + +This question was quite as difficult to answer as the other. Nothing, +young Reid believed—at least nothing regular. Odd jobs he doubtless +picked up occasionally, but as for regular employment, Alfred was sure +he had none. + +"Is that his fault—I mean, doesn't he desire work, and make an effort +to secure it?" + +But this young Reid could not even pretend to answer. Work, for such as +he, was scarce; boys with better habits, brought up to be industrious, +were at this present time out of work. Possibly the fellow was not to +blame for being an idler. + +Many other questions were asked, and many attempts were made at +answers. But when the shoppers began to press in to such a degree +that their conversation was broken, and the energetic seeker after +information felt herself obliged to retire, one thing had been +accomplished—Alfred Reid had been made to realize that he knew much +less than he had supposed he did about the seven boys who had seemed +to be filling his thoughts for several weeks. And also, in his eager, +passionate desire that everything should be done for all of them, he +had overlooked the chances for doing here and there some little thing +for one of them. + +"Good-morning," Mrs. Roberts had said, turning cordially to a +fashionably dressed lady. "Collars? Oh yes, this is the counter for +them to be found in endless variety. They have a new pattern that +I have been admiring.—Mr. Reid, please show Mrs. Emory the curtain +collars with embroidered points." + +Which thing Mr. Reid proceeded to do with alacrity and respect, no +trace of the earlier contemptuous feeling shadowing his face. Here was +a woman who knew stylish collars when she saw them, and who also knew +several other things, and had taught him a lesson this very morning +that he would not be likely to forget. + + +But Mrs. Roberts, as she made her way out from the fast-filling store, +felt that she had not made great progress toward getting acquainted +with her class. + +Still, it must be admitted that if young Reid had gotten some new +ideas, so also had she. + +"A Christian home!" + +She found herself repeating the phrase, lingering over it, wondering if +her new home, in every sense of the word, merited that title. + +"It cannot simply mean a home where Christ is honoured," she said to +herself. "I surely have that. It rather means a home where everything +pertaining to it serves his cause. The very furniture and the light and +the brightness are made to do duty for him, else they have no place +there; and I, labelled Christian, have no right to them. Can I bear the +test, I wonder? + +"What is there that I can do with all the beauties of my parlours? +There are things that I have not done. I can see some to do; but how +can my Christian home serve these boys? When I get them into it, of +course it will be work for me; but how to get them in! Who are they? +I wonder what spring I can touch to give me even this meagre bit of +information." + +As if in answer to her mental query, she came just then full upon +Policeman Duffer. She recognized him instantly; a man who, though by +no means small, was so far from having the majestic presence of most +policemen that, in the estimation of the boys, he merited the name +"Little Duffer." + +Mrs. Roberts carried to her new work one talent not always to be found +among even efficient workers—the ability to remember both names and +faces. Especially did a name seem, without any effort on her part, to +fasten itself upon her memory; and not only that, but it brought with +it a train of memories enabling her to locate when and where, and under +what circumstances, she heard the name, and therefore generally whom +the name fitted. + +Recognizing the features of the policeman whom she had seen at the +door of the South End Mission, she connected him at once with the term +"Little Duffer" heard in her class, and addressed him. + +"Mr. Duffer, I believe." + +It is safe to say that Policeman Duffer, entirely accustomed as he was +to hearing himself addressed officially a hundred or a thousand times +in a day, was yet utterly unaccustomed to the prefix of "Mr.," and +started in surprise. + +"Are you not the gentleman whom I saw at the South End last Sabbath?" + +The policeman admitted that he probably was. He was detailed for duty +there. Then she plunged at once into business. Did he know the boys who +attended that school? Some of them he did, better than he wanted to; +and a precious set they were, in Policeman Duffer's opinion. + +"Might as well go out to the Zoo," he declared, "and get a set of +animals and try to tame 'em." + +Mrs. Roberts was not in the mood to argue; she was bent on information. +Did he know, she wondered, the boys who composed her class? She had +just taken the class, and was so unfortunate as not to be acquainted +with their names. One was Dirk Colson; and another, she had heard, was +Haskell—Timothy Haskell, perhaps, though of that she was not certain. +Did that give Mr. Duffer any clue? + +"Plenty of clue," he said, shaking his head. "So you've taken that +class, ma'am," a curious mixture of amazement and credulity in his +voice. "What possessed you, if I may be so bold? They're a hard lot, +ma'am. I know them, as I said, altogether too well. I've had enough +to do with some of them, and I expect more work from them. They gain +in wickedness in a most surprising way. Their names? Yes; there's +Scrawley, and Sneaking Billy, and Black Dirk—him you know." + +Mrs. Roberts interrupted him. She begged his pardon, but could those +really be the boys' names? Were they not rather some unfortunate street +names that had been fastened upon them? + +Thus brought back to his senses, Policeman Duffer laughed, and admitted +that he supposed Sneaking Billy was properly named Sneyder. But he was +once caught in a mean trick, from which he tried in so many ways to +squirm out, that the boys had themselves named him Sneaking Billy, and +the name had stuck. + +As for "Scrawley," his real name was Stephen Crowley. How it became +contracted into "Scrawley," the boys could tell better than anybody +else. They always called him that, and so did other people; and +Policeman Duffer was inclined to doubt whether the fellow remembered +that he had any other name. + +"You can see yourself, ma'am," he added, "how Black Dirk came by his +name. He is the blackest white fellow as ever I saw, and I've seen +crowds of 'em." + +The streets were full, and Policeman Duffer was being interviewed by +a great many people in regard to all the questions that policemen are +expected to answer. But by dint of patient waiting, one foot poised on +a curbstone to keep it out of the mud, making hurried little memoranda +while Policeman Duffer was engaged, and earnestly plying her questions +when he was at leisure, Mrs. Roberts learned the names of her seven +boys, and where several of them lived. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +"SATAN, HE HAS 'EM ALL THE WEEK." + +"THAT Black Dirk is a case," said Policeman Duffer, turning hastily +away from an unusually stupid man who could not be made to understand +where a certain street was. "He is the worst of the lot, I believe. +Jerry Tompkins is slyer, and Dick Bolton is quicker than lightning at +mischief—Nimble Dick they call him—he's a sort of ringleader—what he +does the rest are apt to do; but to my thinking Dirk is ahead of them +all for evil. The rest are kind of jolly; fun seems to be about half +that they are after: but Dirk, he's sullen; you never know how to take +him, nor when he may burst out on you. He's dangerous. I am always +looking out for something awful that he will do." + +Poor Dirk! Yet he was the boy to whom Mrs. Roberts's desires had gone +out the most anxiously. It was over his image that she had lingered +that morning in her closet. Policeman Duller would have been greatly +astonished had he known there was that in his words which gave her +courage. + +"Perhaps," she said to herself with quickening breath, "oh, perhaps the +poor boy is the most in danger of them all, and the Saviour, knowing +it, sees ways in which I may reach him, and so presses his poor, sullen +face on my memory." + +"What does he do for a living?" she hastened to ask. + +"Well, to the best of my knowledge, he loafs for a living. That's all +I've ever known him guilty of doing. He's got a drunken father—one +of the meanest kind of drunkards. If he would go and stay drunk all +the time, and leave them alone, they might manage; but he has spells +of getting half over it, and coming home and tearing around like all +possessed. Then they have times! I've been in there when it took all +my strength to manage him. If he would get killed in one of his rows, +I'd have some hope of the rest of 'em; but he won't. That kind of folks +never do get killed; it's the decent ones. + +"A fellow was carried by here just now with a broken leg—a nice, decent +boy, works hard to help his sister. He's the sort now that gets his leg +broken, and gets laid up for the rest of the winter. How do you account +for that? He lives pretty near Black Dirk's. Of course, he's got a +drunken father—they all have in that row; but if I was going in for +benevolence, I'd twice as soon do something for young Calkins as for +any of your set; they're a bad lot. They aren't worth lifting a finger +for. Now, that's a fact." + +"And yet," said Mrs. Roberts, her voice tremulous with a feeling that +just then surged over her, "how can I help remembering that if the Lord +Jesus had said that of us, and stayed up there in his glory, we should +have been utterly without help or hope to-day?" + +Very much astonished was Policeman Duffer. Ladies on all sorts of +errands had consulted him; he had been presented with many tracts in +his day; but rarely had a clear-voiced, earnest-eyed woman quietly +confronted him with that name, as if it contained an unanswerable +argument. However, he was not embarrassed; it took a great deal to +embarrass him. + +"I don't take much stock in him," he said, with a lofty toss of his +head, and a careless tone, as though the question were one easy to +dispose of. "I don't believe in him myself." + +"Do you know him?" + +Earnest eyes were raised to his face, fixed steadily on his face, while +the questioner waited quietly for an answer. + +Policeman Duffer was embarrassed now; he was not used to being +confronted with such matter of fact questions. + +"Do I know him?" with a confused little laugh. "Why, I reckon not, +ma'am; according to the popular notion, he is too faraway for folks to +be well acquainted." + +"Then popular notion is mistaken; for I know him very well indeed, +and he is by no means faraway. But what I meant was, Have you studied +his life and character, and do you fully understand the arguments for +believing in him?" + +"I study the folks who profess to belong to him, ma'am, and I find that +about as much as I can stand." + +This was said with a saucy little laugh, and with the air of a man who +believed he had produced an unanswerable argument. The steady eyes did +not move from his face, and the voice which answered him had lost none +of its quietness. + +"But do you think it is wise to spend your time in studying the +imperfect copies, without looking at the perfect pattern? You would not +take the child's careless imitation as a proof that his teacher could +not write. I thank you for helping me to-day. I wish you would help my +boys when you can; and I wish you would study my Master instead of me. +Good-morning." + +"That's a queer party!" did Policeman Duffer exclaim, as he watched her +far down the street. "I would like to know who she is; she ain't like +the rest somehow. 'Her' boys! Much she knows about 'em. Her bears, she +might as well call 'em. What does she think she can do with that set in +her little hour—Sunday afternoon? Satan, he has 'em all the week, and +looks after 'em sharp; and then these Christians come in of a Sunday, +and mince a little, and think they can upset his doings by it. Shows +their sense! But she's a curious little party—sharp, without knowing +it. I'll keep an eye on her, and save her from scrapes if I can." + + +Meantime, all unconscious of his good intentions, Mrs. Roberts pursued +her way down the thronged avenue, and presently turned from it +entirely, and moved down one of the side streets with resolute steps. A +daring thought had come into her mind; she would try to find the alley +where one at least of her boys lived. It couldn't be worse than some +of the alleys at home which she had penetrated. She felt certain that +by following the policeman's directions she could find the place, and +possibly be able to minister to the boy with a broken limb. + +At all events, it was necessary for her to know how her boys lived, and +where they lived, if she were to reach them. But there are alleys and +alleys, as the venturesome lady found to her cost. This one into which +she was plunging excelled anything in that line which she had ever +imagined—swarming with life in its most repulsive forms, and growing +every moment more terrifying to a well-dressed woman braving its +horrors alone. + +She stopped in dismay at last, admitting, reluctantly, that the wisest +thing she could do was to turn round and go home. Possibly the wisest, +but not, it appeared, practicable. Where was home? Down which of the +cross-streets had she come? Did this one where she stood lead to it? Or +did it lead, as it appeared to her, in an entirely opposite direction? +She looked up and down and across for some familiar landmark, and +looked in vain, growing momentarily more frightened at the attention +she was attracting by standing irresolutely there. + +Flossy Shipley, in her girlhood days, had been almost a hopeless +coward; and Flossy Roberts felt, by the throbbing of her heart, that +she had not yet outgrown her girlish character. Suddenly she gave a +little exclamation of delight, and with a spring forward, laid her hand +on the arm of one whom she recognized—none other than "Nimble Dick" +himself. + +"I am so glad," she said to the amazed young scamp, a little quiver of +satisfaction in her voice, "so glad to have met you. Do you know you +are a friend in need? I have lost my way. I cannot decide which way to +turn to reach Fifth Avenue again. Will you help me please?" + +When had Nimble Dick lost an opportunity for fun at the expense of +another? Here was a chance for a jolly lark! A woman scared to death +because she was in Green Alley. What would she think of Burk Street? +Suppose he should send her there—only three blocks away, through a +lovelier part of the city than she had seen yet? He would venture. +If the crowds here showed her too much attention, it would be worth +something to see how she got through Burk Street. + +"Oh yes," he said briskly. "I can show you the way in a twinkling. You +just go down this alley till you come to the big house at the corner +that has the windows all knocked out of it; then you turn and go down +that street till you get to the third crossing; then turn again to the +right, and you'll be on Fifth Avenue before you know it." + +Had Mrs. Roberts been looking at his face, she would have seen the +wicked light dancing in his eyes, over the thought that he had thus +mapped out for her a walk through the very worst portion of the +city—every step, of course, lending her further and further away from +Fifth Avenue. + +The sights that she might see, and the mishaps which might occur to +her—a handsomely-dressed woman, alone—before she made her way through +the horrors of these streets, were too much even for Nimble Dick's +imagination, who knew the locality well. He did not try to calculate +them, but gave himself up to the enjoyment of imagining how long it +would be before she would reach home if she followed his directions. + +"She won't see no swallowing serpents that I knows of," he reflected +gleefully; "but I'll miss my reckoning if she don't see what will scare +her worse than they would." + +But Mrs. Roberts was already "scared." She felt her heart beating hard, +and knew that her cheeks were aglow with excitement and vague terror. +She was not used to walking such streets alone. She looked ahead at the +way pointed out, and could see that the swarming life grew more turbid +as far as her eye could reach. She felt that she could not brave its +terrors unprotected. Suddenly, she turned from looking down the alley, +and her hand—a small, delicately-gloved hand—was again laid on Nimble +Dick's arm. He could feel it trembling. + +"I suppose I shall seem very foolish to you," she said gently, "but I +am afraid to walk down there alone. Would you mind going along with +me to protect me? I am only a woman, you know, and we are apt to be +cowards." + +A very curious sensation came over Nimble Dick. He looked up the +alley, and down the alley, and was glad that not one of the "fellows" +was in sight. What was to become of his lark? But there was that hand +still resting on his arm, with a persuasive touch in it; and he had +never been appealed to for protection before—never in his life! Was it +possible that with him she would not be afraid? He turned and looked at +her searchingly, a scowl on his face: no, she was not "shamming;" her +eyes were full of anxious fear, and also of petition. + +Nimble Dick was amazed at himself, and ashamed of himself. He did not +know how to account for his sudden change of intention, but he suddenly +turned in an opposite direction from the one which he had pointed out, +and said, "Come on, then; I'll show you a shorter way," and strode +forward. + +"Oh, thank you!" she said, relief and gratitude in her voice. "I +shall be so much obliged to you for coming with me; I am quite +bewildered—cannot decide which way I came, or any about it. I was +trying to find the house of a young man who has been hurt. A policeman +told me that he lived in this street, and that his name is Calkins. I +was think about him, and walked on without noticing, until I did not +know where I was. Do you know anything of the man?" + +"You are too far down for him," said Nimble Dick. "He's quality, and +lives at the upper end of the alley. That's his house away up there. +He's hurt bad, they say; but I s'pose he'll get well. He's got a +quality doctor, a regular swell, who never come into these alleys +before. He was going along when they brought Mark home, and he followed +them in, and he come there again last night and this morning. I dunno +what for, I'm sure. Mark Calkins can't pay no doctor's bills, if he +does work regular, and pay more rent than the rest of folks." + +There was a curious mixture of complaint and satisfaction in Dick's +tone. Mrs. Roberts gathered from it that the young man, Mark Calkins, +in whom the policeman had tried to interest her, was superior to the +rest of the miserable people in the alley, and that they resented it +as an insult to themselves; but that, at the same time, the reflected +honour of having a "swell" doctor come into their midst, attendant upon +one who really belonged to their class, was very great. + +Could she possibly get a little influence over them by following up the +injured young man, and giving what help was needful? She had hardly +meant to call, though trying to find the house. Her method of reasoning +had been something like this: + +"The policeman said he lived about two blocks from my poor Dirk's home. +Since there has so recently been an accident, there may be something to +mark the house—a doctor passing in, possibly, or something that shall +give me a landmark, and I can have a glimpse of the outside of one of +the homes." + +In her ignorance of life at that end of the social scale, she did not +know that a doctor passing in and out, even after an accident, was a +sufficiently rare occurrence to make much more of a mark than she was +looking for. So absorbed had she been over the boys belonging to her +class, that she had rather ignored the policeman's manliest hint to add +this one to her list. Yet, was it possibly an answer to her prayer, an +entering wedge of some sort, that might open the way to influence? + +"Who is the doctor?" she asked her guide, as the possibility of making +an entrance through him occurred to her. "Do you know his name?" + +Oh yes, Dick knew his name, and where he lived, and even the names of +some of his "swell" patients;—trust him for gaining information about +anything that came into the alley. + +"It's Dr. Everett," he said promptly, that curious touch of +pride appearing again in his voice. "He lives away up among the +Twenty-thirders, and he goes to Cady's house to doctor, and lots of +them places where the big ones lives. I dunno how he happens to come +here." + +Mrs. Roberts had never heard the name, but she reflected that she was +a new-comer, and wisely desisted from taking from the glory of Dr. +Everett by admitting that he was not known to all the world. He might +be a good doctor and a philanthropic one; his visits to this region +looked like it. + +"Do you know where any of the boys in our class live?" + +This was her next carefully-worded question. She did not know whether +to hint that she had heard of one who lived in that alley, or whether +this would be considered an insult. + +"Well," said Nimble Dick, the sly twinkle coming back to his eyes that +the strangeness of the situation had driven away for a moment, "I +calculate that I know where I live myself; sometimes I do, anyhow." + +"To be sure!" she said, laughing at his humour. "I should have said +where any of the others live. Of course you will give me your address, +after being so kind as to see me to—some point with which I am +acquainted." + +She had nearly said a place of safety, but checked herself in time. I +am not sure, though, that Dick would have noticed it; he was lost in +astonishment over the idea of giving anybody his address. + +"This is Dirk Colson's house," he said suddenly; "and he is one of our +fellows." + +Mrs. Roberts uttered an exclamation. The house was one of the most +forlorn in the row, seeming, if the miserable state of the buildings +would admit of comparison, to be more out of repair than the others. +It came home to her just then, with a sudden, desolating force, that +human beings, such as she was trying to reach, and such as she hoped +would live in heaven for ever, called such earthly habitations as these +homes. What possible idea could they ever get of heaven by calling it +"home"? + +"Do they have the whole of that house?" + +She asked the question timidly, for the building looked very large, but +she was utterly unused to city tenement life. + +"The 'whole' of that house?" Dick fairly shouted the sentence, and +bent himself double with laughter. "Well, I should say not, mum! As +near as I can calculate, about thirty-five different families have +that pleasure. The whole of the house! Oh, my! What a greeny!" And he +laughed again. + +Mrs. Roberts exerted herself to laugh with him, albeit she was +horror-stricken. Thirty-five families in one house! How could they be +other than awful in their ways of living? + +"I know almost nothing about great cities," she said; "my home was in a +much smaller one." + +This was the truth, but not the whole truth. Instinct kept this +veritable lady, in the truest sense of the word, from explaining that +she knew nothing about the abject poor when she was speaking to one of +their number. Just at this moment occurred a diversion: they had been +making swift progress through the alley, Dick's long strides requiring +effort on his companion's part to keep by his side; but just ahead the +way was obstructed. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +"WHAT A LITTLE SCHEMER IT IS!" + +A RIOT! Not among men, which is sufficiently terrifying, nor yet among +women, which is worse, but that most awful of all sights and sounds +of sin—a riot among the children. Swearing, spitting at one another, +tearing one another's hair, scratching like tigers, growling like wild +beasts, throwing garbage at one another! This was the sort of crowd +upon which Mrs. Roberts, in her black silk walking-dress, with her +velvet hat and seal furs, presently came. She grasped at Dick's arm in +horror, but a feeling that was more than terror was taking her strength +away. + +"Oh!" she said, and the agony in her voice really suggested more than +terror to the young fellow beside her. "And they are little children! +They cannot be more than seven or eight! Oh, what can I do?" + +"You needn't be scared, mum!" There was a little hint of something +like pity in Dick's voice. She clung to him so that he could not help +feeling himself her protector. "It ain't an uncommon row at all. They +mostly act like this: most likely one of 'em's found a bone and t'other +one wants it, and then they're gone in for a row, and all the young +ones crowd around and fight, on one side or t'other." + +Did this fearful explanation make the situation less terrible? + +There was a lull, however, in the quarrel. The elegantly-dressed lady +was seen approaching—an unusual sight in that alley—and both parties +paused to get a view,—paused in their attentions to each other, that +is; but at Mrs. Roberts they hooted and jeered, and one threw a handful +of mud. + +Then did Nimble Dick rise to his position as protector. + +"Shut up, there!—Stand aside, Pluck, and let us pass!—Look out there, +you Smirchy!—Don't you throw that over here unless you want your head +broke for you when I get back!" + +This threat was thrown at a wretched little girl, who had dived her +hand deeply into a box or cask of garbage, and brought it forth reeking +with rotten apples, pork fat, and any liquid horror which the name +suggests to you. She had her hand uplifted ready to throw, and was +evidently intending to give the strange lady the benefit of what she +had prepared for one of the rioters. + +The assured tone in which Nimble Dick spoke had its effect; the +combatants were all small, and he was large, and was evidently +recognized as a power. There were some defiant glances thrown at him, +but the motley crowd gave way, and allowed him to pass uninjured. Still +he kept an alert watch of them until quite out of reach, and was not +sparing of his admonitions:— + +"Hold on there, Bill; I see that!—Look out, Sally! You'll be sorry if +you throw anything, mind you that!" + +And at last they were through the crowd—not out of danger, it seemed; +for there, directly in their narrow path, was a drunken man, swaying +from side to side in the way which is so terrible to one unused to such +sights. + +Dick felt the hold on his arm tighten, and was astonished at the sound +of his own voice as he said soothingly,— + +"You needn't be scared at him, mum; that's only old Jock. He's as ugly +as Old Nick himself, but he knows better than to be very ugly to me. I +can throw him in the gutter as easy as I could them young ones and he +knows it. That's Dirk's father, that is! Ain't he a beauty?" + +And again Mrs. Roberts uttered an exclamation of dismay, and part of +her terror went out in sorry over the wrongs of a boy who had such a +home and such a father. What ought to be expected of him? + +That interminable alley was conquered at last, and they emerged into +respectability on the broad avenue. Mrs. Roberts released her hold of +her protector's arm, and his new character vanished on the instant. + +"You're here, mum," he said, with a saucy twinkle in his eye and a +saucy leer on his face. "Can you get yourself home from this spot? Or +shall I borrow a wheel-barrow and take you there?" + +Much shaken with various emotions though she was, Mrs. Roberts forced +herself to laugh. She would not frown on his fun when it was not +positively sinful. He might not be aware that it was disrespectful; he +might never have heard the word. + +"I know the way now, thank you; at least I think I do. Can you tell me +whether I take a green car or a yellow one to get to East Fifty-fifth +Street?" + +"You take a green one," he said quietly, his character of protector +having returned to him with the question, which still showed her +dependence on him. + +"Thank you," she said again, with great heartiness. "I shall never +forget your care of me." + +Her hand was in her pocket, and a bright coin was between her fingers. +She longed to give it to Nimble Dick: he had saved her from so much +this morning; and he was so miserably clad, surely he needed help. A +moment's reflection, and she resolutely withdrew her hand. He should +be paid by a simple, hearty "Thank you!" this morning for kindness +rendered. He might not consider it a current coin, but possibly it +would be his first lesson in the courtesies of life. + + +Later in the day, when Mrs. Roberts was somewhat rested from her +morning's campaign, young Reid received a little note:— + + "DEAR MR. REID,—I know the names of all the boys, and enclose you a +list. It is possible that you may fall in with some one during the day +who can impart knowledge concerning them. Anyway, I thought you would +like to know their names. Keep me posted, please, as to your success +in making their acquaintance. We are allies, remember.—Yours for the +Master,— + + "MRS. E. L. ROBERTS." + +Alfred Reid twisted the delicate note-paper thoughtfully in his hand, a +look of perplexity on his face. He felt committed for labour; glad was +he, very, yet perplexed. He did not in the least know where to commence. + +Well, neither had this little lady; yet she had accomplished more in +her one day's acquaintance than he after a lapse of weeks. Either she +had found opportunities, or had made them. There must be chances; he +would be sure to keep his eyes open after this. + + +In the handsome house on East Fifty-fifth Street where Mr. Roberts had +settled his bride, after a somewhat extended business tour, involving +months of absence, matters were in train for a cosy evening in the +library. That was the name of the beautiful room where the husband +and wife sat down together; but it was quite unlike the conventional +library. Books there were in lavish abundance; but there were also +pictures and flowers, and a singing bird or two, and an utter absence +of that severe attention to business details which characterizes most +rooms so named. Little prettinesses, which Mr. Roberts smilingly +admitted did not belong to a library, were yet established there, with +an air of having come to stay. + +"We will call it the library for convenience," the master of the house +said, "and then we will put into it whatever we please. It shall be a +conservatory, and a sewing-room, and a lounging-room, and anything else +that you and I choose to make it." + +And Mrs. Roberts gleefully assented, and gave free rein to her pretty +tastes. Flossy Shipley had been wont to be much trammelled with the +ways in which "they" did everything; but Mrs. Evan Roberts was learning +that, in unimportant matters at least, they had a right to be a law +unto themselves. Perhaps it helped her, to be aware that a large class +of people were all ready to quote "Mrs. Even Roberts" as an authority +on almost any point of taste. + +On the evening in question, Mr. Roberts, in dressing and slippers, +had drawn his lounging-chair to the drop-light, preparatory to a +half-hour of reading aloud. But it transpired that there was something +preparatory to that, or at least that must take the precedence. Certain +business telegrams followed him home, which required the writing of two +or three business letters. + +"It will not take me long," he explained to his wife; "and they are +not complicated affairs, so I give you leave to talk right on while I +despatch them." + +She laughed at this hint about her fondness for talk, but presently +made use of the privilege. + +"Evan, what sort of a young man do you consider Mr. Reid?" + +"Reid? Who? Oh, my clerk! The very best sort; a most estimable +fellow—one of a thousand. By the way, did you tell him how you became +interested in that sister of his?" + +"Not yet. I want to get better acquainted; but, Evan, do you know where +he boards?" + +"Hardly; on Third Avenue somewhere, I believe, or possibly Second. The +store register would show. Do you want his address?" + +"Oh, I know where it is; but I mean, what sort of a place is it?" + +Mr. Roberts slightly elevated his shapely shoulders. + +"It is a boarding-house where many clerks board: that tells a doleful +story to the initiated, I suspect. Poor fare and dismal surroundings; +still, it is eminently respectable." + +"Where does he spend his Sabbaths?" + +The rapidly-moving pen executed nearly two lines of handsome writing +before Mr. Roberts was ready to respond to this question. + +"Why, at church, principally, I fancy. He is very regular in his +attendance at morning service, and the South End Mission absorbs his +afternoons. I suppose he goes to church in the evening; but since we +have been giving our attention to that evening mission I have not seen +him." + +"Ah, but, Evan, I mean the rest of the time—those little bits of +Sabbath time that are sacred to home. The twilight, for instance, or +for an hour in the morning. Do you know what sort of a place he has for +those times?" + +Nearly three more lines were added to the paper, then Mr. Roberts +raised his head. + +"No, my dear, I don't. Now that you bring me face to face with the +question, it seems a surprising thing to say that I should not know +where a young man who has been for more than a year in our employment +spends his choice bits of time, but I don't." + +"Then I want to tell you something about it. He has a dingy, fourth +story back room—small, I fancy, from the way in which he spoke of it, +and not a speck of fire ever! In such weather as this, how can a young +man read his Bible, or even pray, under such circumstances?" + +Mr. Roberts laid down his pen and sat erect, regarding his wife with a +thoughtful, faraway air. + +"Flossy," he said at last, "it is an immense question! You open a +perfect mine of anxiety and doubt. I have hovered around the edges for +some time, but have generally contrived to shut my eyes and refuse to +look into it, because I was afraid of what I might see, and because I +did not know what to do with my knowledge. I have not been the working +member of the firm very long, you know, and my special field, until +lately, has been the other side of the ocean. + +"But I have been at home long enough to know that there are several +hundred young men in our employment who are away from their homes, and +knowing, as I do, the price of board in respectable houses, and knowing +the salaries which the younger ones receive, it does not require a +great deal of penetration to discover that they must have rather dreary +homes here, to put it mildly. + +"The fact is, Flossy, I haven't wanted to look into this thing very +closely, because I do not see the remedy. Look at our house, for +instance, with its three hundred clerks, we'll say, who are away +from their friends. Suppose one-half, or even one-third of them are +miserably situated, what can I do?" + +"Are they not sufficiently well paid to have the ordinary comforts of +life?" + +"Doubtful. The truth is, what you and I call the ordinary comforts +of life takes a good deal of money. And in the city, rents are high, +and the boarding-house keepers have hard struggles to make their +expenditure meet their income, and they carry economy to the very +verge of meanness—some of them fairly over the verge, I presume. +And the result is cheap food badly cooked—because well-cooked food +means high-priced help—and cold rooms and dreariness and discomfort +everywhere. + +"Now what can be done about it? Then our house is only one of hundreds, +and in many of these hundreds they employ more help and give less wages +than we; in fact, I know that some of our clerks are looked upon with +envy by a great many young men. We never have any trouble in supplying +vacancies. People swarm around us, because we have the reputation of +being liberal. We are not liberal, however; sometimes I am inclined +to think we are hardly fair; yet there is nothing I can do. I am a +junior partner, with a great deal of the responsibility, and a third of +the voting power, and I can't get salaries raised. I've been working +at that problem at intervals for a year, and have accomplished very +little. Do you wonder that I keep my eyes as closely shut as I can?" + +His wife's face wore a thoughtful, not to say perplexed look. She +seemed to have no answer ready; and, after waiting a moment for it, Mr. +Roberts bent himself again to the task of getting his business letters +answered. Before he had written one more line, her face had cleared. +She interrupted him:— + +"Evan, when you talk about three hundred clerks, and multiply that by +hundreds of houses and more hundreds of clerks, I cannot follow you at +all. It is not that I am not impressed with the number—I am—it appalls +me; but I don't want to be appalled, I want to be helpful. + +"Perhaps just now there is nothing that I can do for the hundreds, so I +want to narrow my thoughts down to what, possibly, I can do. What, for +instance, can be done towards getting a good young man like Alfred Reid +into a place that will be just a little bit like a home, that will give +him a spot where he can study his Bible in comfort, and invite a friend +with whom he wants to pray, or whom he wants to reach and help in any +way? That isn't a large problem. Can't it be solved?" + +Her husband smiled. + +"He is only one of thousands," he said. + +"Yes, I know; but he is one of thousands. Since we cannot reach +thousands, shall we fail to reach one? Evan, I am only one of +thousands, but how would you argue about me?" + +Mr. Roberts laughed again. + +"You are one out of thousands and thousands!" he said emphatically. + +A line more, and he signed the firm's name with an unusually fine +flourish. + +"There! I've accomplished one letter. What do you want to do, Flossy?" + +"I want Mr. Reid to have a room where he can invite one of my boys +occasionally, and make him comfortable, and do for him what we cannot +with our rooms—do for him what only a young man can do for a young man. +I don't clearly know what I want further than that, but I see that one +thing as a stepping-stone. Remember, I want all your thousands to have +just as pleasant rooms, and I would like to help to bring it about, but +I don't just now see the way." + +"Do you see the way to this?" + +"No; but doesn't it seem as though we ought to be able to accomplish so +much?" + +"It does, certainly. What is your desire, Flossy? Do you want him to +have a room in our house?" + +She shook her head. + +"No, that would not further my plan for those boys. I would like to +have him here, and it would be a good thing for him—at least I think it +would; but I can see things which he could accomplish for those young +men, set by himself in a different part of the city. Besides, Evan, I +have other plans for our rooms, entirely different ones, some of them I +am afraid you will think are very strange." + +He answered the doubt with a smile that said he had no fears of her or +her plans. + +"What a little schemer it is!" he said, looking down on her with fond, +proud eyes. "Who would have imagined that she could plot, and plot so +mysteriously? I used to think she was a very open-hearted woman." + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +"WHAT WOULD YOU DO, DEAR?" + +SHE joined in his laugh, albeit there was a tender look in her eyes. +After a moment, she said gently:— + +"It is not scheming, Evan; I am only trying to set about the work for +which I have been chosen. I'll tell you how it all came to me. I was +reading—my morning reading, you know—after you had gone, taking little +dips here and there, in the fashion that you think is so unsystematic; +and I came upon this verse: + + "'He is a chosen vessel unto me'— + +"You know, about Paul? Well, it came to me with a sudden sense of +awe and beauty—the being chosen of God to do a great work. I stopped +reading, to think it out. What a grand moment it must have been to Paul +when he realized it! And I began to feel almost sorry that we lived in +such different times, with no such opportunities. + +"I stopped right in the midst of my folly to remember that I was as +certainly chosen of God as ever Paul was; for assuredly I did not +come to him of myself, nor begin to love him of myself, and therefore +he must indeed have chosen me. And I wondered whether probably each +Christian had not a work to do as definite as Paul's; a work that would +be given to no other—unless, indeed, the chosen one failed. I did not +want to fail, and I asked God not to let me. + +"Then, of course, I set to wondering what my work, or my part of some +other person's work, could be. It was the morning after you had told me +that about Esther Reid. You cannot think how that impressed me. I could +not get away from the wonderment as to how her work was prospering, and +whether there were chosen ones enough, or if there might possibly be a +little place for me. I couldn't settle anything, and finally I decided +to look at Paul's work a little while. + +"Of course, it was not reasonable to suppose that the duties of the +great apostle had anything in common with my bits of effort; still, I +said, the directions given him may help me a little. And, Evan, what do +you think was the first thing I found! Why, this: + + "'The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldst know his +will.' + +"Surely, so far, the things for which both he and I were chosen were +parallel. I looked further: + + "'And see that Just One.' + +"That was the very next. Was not I, too, chosen for that? + + "'Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty.' + +"I said over the beautiful promise, to assure myself that it was true, +and went on: + + "'And shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.' + +"Was it not strange, Evan? Certainly I shall hear my King speak, often +and often, when I get home. Only think of it! So far, Paul was not +ahead of me. I hurried to find another reference to Paul' work, and I +found this; let me read it to you." + +Her bit of dainty sewing was suddenly pushed to one side, and up from +the depths of the rose-lined work-basket came a small, plainly-bound +Bible, much marked. A rapid turning of the leaves, and the eager +disciple read: + + "'I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister +and a witness, both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those +things in the which I will appear unto thee.' + +"Now, Evan, you know the veriest child can be a witness if he knows +anything about the facts; and I do certainly know some wonderful things +about Jesus to which I could witness. And, besides, isn't it reasonable +to suppose that he will appear to me every day with things for me to +witness to? And then I read this—Paul sent to the Gentiles, you know; +but for what? + + "'To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from +the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, +and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in +me.' + +"Evan, was there ever a more wonderful work to do in the world than +that? And yet I cannot tell you how it made feel to discover, or at +least to realize, that a great deal of it was my work. Of course I +naturally began to ask myself, What Gentile was there for me to reach? +Whose eyes must I try to open? + +"Do you know, that very afternoon I met Mr. Reid, and heard of those +boys. They interested me from the first, and what he told me about his +sister increased the interest. Then when I saw them!—Evan, if ever boys +were in the power of Satan, they are; and to think that they may have +an inheritance among them which are sanctified! + +"This morning, when I saw where some of them lived, and imagined how +they lived, I felt stunned for a moment. It seemed to me impossible. +What means could possibly be found of sufficient power to fit them for +such an inheritance? And then directly came the closing words of the +commission: + + "Through 'faith that is in me.' + +"Evan, God will save them, and I think he will let me help." + +"Amen!" said Mr. Roberts, and his voice was husky. + +When his wife was in one of her exalted moods, he always admired her +with a sort of reverence. He had been for years an earnest worker. +He carried business plans and business principles into the work; he +studied cause and effect, and calculated and expected certain results +to follow certain causes, like a mathematical problem. Not that he by +any means forgot the power of faith, or in any sense attempted to do +his work alone. He was a Christian who spent much time on his knees. +But little Flossy brought so much of the childlike, unquestioning +spirit into her work, that sometimes he stood in awe, not knowing +whether he could follow her. It was not so much a mathematical problem +to be worked out, as it was the faith that can remove mountains. + + "As a little child relies + On a strength beyond his own; + Knows he's neither strong nor wise, + Fears to stir a step alone." + +Mr. Roberts often found himself quoting these lines when his wife gave +him glimpses of her heart; and at such times he had no hesitancy in +deciding that the steps she took were not alone, but the Lord was with +her. + +The postman's ring broke in on their quiet. + +"I hope there are letters from home to-night," Mrs. Roberts said—"real +long ones. It is a week since we have heard." + +"And I ought to hope that they would require a first reading in +private," her husband answered, as he seized his neglected pen. "It is +the only way in which these business letters will get answered. I find +the temptation to talk to you irresistible." + +One letter! But that was of comfortable dimensions and weight. + +"It is from Marion," Mrs. Roberts said, delight in her voice, after the +first glance at the familiar writing. She was presently lost in its +many pages, and the business of letter-writing went on uninterruptedly +for some time. + +Mrs. Marion Dennis had not forgotten her fondness for her pretty little +Flossy, nor forgotten that—softly innocent little creature though +she was—she possessed a wisdom far above those who are credited with +having keen insight; even a wisdom so subtle, and withal so tender, +that its source could only be Infinite Wisdom. So she, in company with +many others, was learning to turn to the friend so much younger than +herself, as one in whom she could safely confide. + + "DEAR LITTLE FLOSSY—" so the letter ran— + + "I suppose, though you should live to be a white-haired old lady, +sitting with placid face and fluted cap and spectacles, in your +high-backed arm-chair, in the most treasured corner, mayhap, of some +grand-daughter's choicest room, I, writing to you, would still commence +'Dear little Flossy.' That I have to cover it from prying eyes by the +dignified and respectable 'Mrs. Evan Roberts,' is almost a matter of +amusement to me. + + "I fancy I can see you making a journey through some of the Chautauqua +avenues, picking your way daintily towards Palestine, bending lovingly +over the small white stones that mark the village of Bethany—a pink +on your cheek, born, as I thought, of the excitement of being among +those tiny photographs of the wonderful past, but born in part, I now +believe, of the fact that Mr. Evan Roberts joined us in our walk. Oh, +little mousie, how quiet you were! + + "Well, many things have since transpired. We are old married women, +you and Ruth, and Eurie and I. I suppose the contrast in our lives—the +outward portion of them, I mean—is still as strongly marked, perhaps +more so, than it was when we were in Chautauqua together. We were girls +then; we are matrons now, and with the taking on of that title, Ruth +and I took special and great responsibilities. + + "To-night it rains. Dr. Dennis has been called to the upper part of the +city—away out to Springdale, in fact—to see a sick and dying man, and I +am alone and almost lonely. If I could summon any one of the three to +my aid and comfort, I would. I am almost as lonely as I was on some of +those evenings in the old boarding-house. Still there are differences: +the smoky old stove is not—a summer warmth floats through the house, +born of steam; no ill-smelling kerosene lamp offends your aesthetic +friend to-night, but the softest of shaded drop-lights sheds a halo +around me. Isn't that almost poetic? + + "Moreover, oh, blessed thought! I have no examination-papers to +prepare, no reports to make up; nothing to do but visit with you. +Also, I will admit just to you that this is another and most blessed +difference between this and my lonely past—at almost any moment now +I may hope for Dr. Dennis's ring; and when he comes, all sense of +loneliness will instantly depart. Ah! Flossy, dear Flossy, this is +such a difference as even you cannot appreciate! You had your mother +and father, and all your dear home friends, and I had no one; and, +besides—here I hesitate, lest you may be too obtuse to understand the +reasoning—you have only added Mr. Roberts to your circle of treasures. +He is grand and good, I know, and I like him, without even a mental +reservation; but, my dear, I have added Dr. Dennis! Can human language +say more? + + "Nonsense aside, sweet little woman, God has been very good to you +and me. Yet, Flossy, do you remember how, during those last months in +which we were together, I fell into the habit of telling you a great +deal about the thorns, and admitted to you once that they pricked less +when they had felt your soothing touch? I want to tell you something. +Our Gracie—I am so sorry for her, yet I don't know what to do. She is +living a most unhappy life, and of course she shadows our lives also. + + "I told you, dear, about Professor Ellis. He is still trying to +convince poor Gracie that I, being her stepmother, must be her natural +enemy; reminding her that before I came into the family, her father was +entirely willing to receive his calls, and allowed her to accept his +attentions. Don't you see, it isn't strange at all that the poor little +girl should believe him and turn from me. She has many injudicious +helpers in her father's congregation. There are those who sigh over her +almost in my hearing. + + "'Poor Gracie!' they say. 'How changed she is! She used to be so +bright and happy. There is something unnatural in these second-mother +relations. All high-spirited children rebel.' + + "Imagine such talk helping Gracie! Meantime, what do you suppose can +be Professor Ellis's motive? I cannot think that he cares for her; I +almost do not believe that there is enough purity left in him even +to admire a pure-hearted young girl—certainly not one with such high +ideals and earnest ambitions as Gracie had. + + "'Why does she admire him?' I fancy I hear you asking. + + "My dear, she doesn't: she thinks she does, and at seventeen such +thoughts sometimes work irreparable mischief; but left alone, one of +these days she would make the discovery that she was flattered by his +attentions, because he is nearly fifteen years older than she, and +is brilliant in conversation, and quoted as the finest musician in +the city. I wish I knew more things about him. What I do know shows +me plainly enough the sort of man he is; but with these guileless +young things it seems as though one had to unmask wickedness very +thoroughly before they will believe that it is anything but gossip or +misrepresentation. + + "He has gone away for a six weeks' vacation; I don't know where, nor +does Dr. Dennis. Gracie knows, but does not enlighten me. + + "Flossy, dear, could you give me a little wholesome advice, do you +think? I wonder, sometimes, whether I was not too complacent over +my proposed duties. Such schemes as I had! I was going to be the +blessedest stepmother that girl ever had. That would not be saying +much, possibly. Don't we all incline to think that the second mothers +must be wrong, and the sons and daughters poor abused darlings? But I +loved Gracie, you know, and she seemed to love me, and to be so happy +over the thought of our near relationship. + + "There is very little happiness from any such source during these days. +Gracie has retired into dignity. She can be the most dignified young +woman on occasion that I ever beheld. She is not rude to me; on the +contrary, she is ceremoniously polite—calls me Mrs. Dennis, and all +that sort of thing, when necessity compels her to call me anything. But +she speaks as little as possible; sits at table with us three times a +day, when she cannot secure an excuse for absence that her father will +accept; says, 'Yes, sir,' and, 'No, sir,' obediently to him, and, 'No, +ma'am, thank you,' to me; and that is the extent of our conversation. +Generally her face is pale and her eyes red, and at the first possible +moment she begs to be excused, and retires to the privacy of her own +room and locks her door. + + "Her father has stopped her music lessons; at least she preferred to +have them stopped rather than take lessons of any other person, so she +practises no more. She continues her German and French, and secures +good reports from the professors; but there is an air of weariness and +dreariness about everything she does, that makes one alternate between +a feeling of deep pity for her and a desire to box her ears or shut her +up in a corner until she can behave herself. As a rule, however, I am +sorry for her. I was young once myself; I was undisciplined; I had no +mother, and I had a thousand wild fancies, any one of which might have +ruined me. + + "What do you think you would do, dear, if Mr. Roberts had a daughter +and you were her mother? You are all in a flush now, and have laid down +this sheet and said aloud, 'What an idea! Marion does say the most +absurd things!' + + "Well, then, if you were Marion Dennis, and stood before God in the +place of mother to Grace Dennis, what do you imagine you would do? I'll +tell you my policy. I am uniformly cheerful in her presence—gay, if I +can make gaiety out of anything—not toward her father, you understand, +because I can fancy that might irritate her. I really try to be gay +toward Gracie herself; but can you imagine an attempt to be cheery +with a tombstone? I study as much as I can her tastes, in the ordering +of dinner and desserts, and arrange the flowers that I know she likes +best; and, in short, try to do all those little bits of nice things +that I feel certain you would do in my place. And just here I may as +well own that I learned these small prettinesses studying you—never +should have thought them out for myself. + + "Flossy, Dr. Dennis is one of the most patient and long-suffering of +men, but it is very hard for him to be patient with poor Gracie, harder +than it is for me: first, because I know by personal experience just +what a turbulent young creature a miss of seventeen or eighteen can be; +and secondly, because it is upon me her displeasure falls most heavily, +and that naturally he resents. + + "Why am I writing all this to you? I don't know, childie, really, save +that I remember what a curious way you have of telling Jesus all about +your friends and their trials, and I remember with great comfort that +you are my friend. Don't imagine me as miserable; I can never be that +so long as Christ is the present helper that he is to me now; and you +do not need to be told that I daily thank him for giving me my husband. +But I think you will understand better than many would how earnestly +I desire to fill the place of mother to my bright young motherless +Gracie, with her dangerous beauty and her dangerous talents, and her +capacity for being miserable. Oh, I want to do more than my duty! I +want to love her with all my heart, and to have her love me. If it were +not for that man, who always hated me, and who, I believe in my heart, +has sought her out and is pressing his attentions upon her because he +sees a possibility of stinging me through her, I might hope to fill the +place in her heart that I thought I could." + +The letter closed abruptly at this point, and was finished a few days +afterwards in a different strain, giving plenty of home news, and being +full of the brightness which always sparkled in Marion's letters; but +it was the first two or three pages to which Mrs. Roberts turned back, +and which she thoughtfully re-read. Then she interrupted the busy pen:— + +"Evan, are not the business letters nearly done? I want to read this to +you, and then I want to talk with you." + +"Delightful prospects both of them," he said with energy, as he added +the last hurried line, signed, and delivered to his wife to enclose +in its envelope, then pushed aside writing materials, and sat back to +enjoy. + +"It isn't all delightful," his wife said, shaking her head. "I did hope +that poor Marion was going to have a few years of rest; her life has +been such a hard one." + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +"TREMENDOUS FACTS!" + +IT is well that Mrs. Marion Dennis felt entirely safe in her friend +Flossy's hands, for her affairs were very thoroughly talked over that +evening, and sundry conclusions arrived at. + +One question Mrs. Roberts asked her husband, at the close of the +conference, which apparently had nothing to do with Marion Dennis's +affairs. + +"Evan, do you know Dr. Everett?" + +"Everett? Let me think—yes, I know of him; a young physician, +comparatively, who has not been here long, and has made his mark." + +"In what direction?" + +"Several, perhaps; but I have heard of him chiefly in the line of his +profession. He was accidentally called to attend a young lady belonging +to a very wealthy family out in Brookline. I say accidentally—that +is a common way we have of speaking, you know; of course I mean +providentially. + +"The nursery governess in the family was sick, and this Dr. Everett, +who had fallen in with her somewhere, volunteered to cure her. He was +calling on her one morning when the sick daughter, who, by the way, +had been given up by her physician, was taken suddenly and alarmingly +worse. In the emergency Dr. Everett was summoned, and while they waited +for the regular physician, he succeeded in doing such good service +that he inspired the mother with confidence. She became anxious to put +the case entirely into his hands, which was done, and the young lady +recovered, and Dr. Everett's position, professionally, was assured. +Isn't that an interesting little item for you? He is said to have +marked success; and, of course, since the Brookline occurrence his +practice is largely among the wealthy. How has your attention been +called to him?" + +"My protector this morning said he was a 'swell' doctor, who was +attending that Calkins boy. I wondered if he did it because he loved +Christ. He might be a helper. I wait to call on that sick boy to-morrow +if I can arrange it. I think I must take some one with me." + +"You may take me with you," her husband said emphatically. + +However much trips through alleys with Nimble Dick might be conducive +to that young man's moral development, Mr. Roberts felt that his wife +had experimented sufficiently. + + +Thus it transpired that, dressed in the plainest, quietest garb which +her wardrobe could furnish, Mrs. Roberts went to the alley the next +morning accompanied by her husband. + +In one sense it was a mistake that the first call in the alley should +have been made on the Calkins family. It was calculated to give Mrs. +Roberts mistaken ideas as to the manner in which poor people lived. +A bare enough room, certainly, not even a bit of carpet laid before +the bed, but it was a clean room. Floor and window and cupboard door +were as clean as water could make them; and the bed, while it looked +hopelessly hard and dreadful to Mrs. Roberts, was really a pattern of +neatness and purity to every dweller in that attic. There was a straw +tick, covered with a dark calico spread which did duty as a sheet, and +the boy who lay on it was covered by a patched quilt that had been +mended, and was clean. Wonderful things these to say of such a locality! + +Mr. Roberts suspected it, and Dr. Everett knew it. That gentleman was +bending over his patient when the two guests arrived, and vouchsafed +them not even a glance while the dark-haired, dark-eyed, homely, +decently dressed girl gave Mrs. Roberts a seat on the one chair which +the room contained, and set a stool for her husband that had been made +of four old chair legs and a square board. + +Sallie Calkins was somewhat flurried by this unexpected call. She had +no idea who the people were, nor for what they had come. A vague fear +that they might be in some way connected with her brother's "place" at +the printing-office, which he was in such fear of losing that his night +had been a restless one, made her hasten to say, in a tremulous voice,— + +"The doctor thinks he will be well in a little while. It isn't a bad +break, he says, and Mark wants to keep his place. He thinks, maybe, +some of the alley boys would keep it for him, if you would be so kind." + +She was evidently addressing Mr. Roberts, but she looked at Flossy. The +fair, sweet face, that gave her such sympathetic glances, seemed the +one to appeal to. Mr. Roberts, however, discerned that he was mistaken +for the employer, and immediately dispelled the idea by asking where +the boy worked, and how the accident had happened. + +"It was the elevator, sir," she said eagerly. "The chain broke, and it +went down with a bang, and Mark was on it, and he rolled off somehow, +he doesn't know how; and he has been that bad that he couldn't tell me +if he had. He was kind of wild, sir, all night, and talking about his +place." + +"Was there no one but you to be with him during the night?" Mrs. +Roberts asked. "Where is the mother?" + +"We've got no mother, ma'am; there is only Mark and me—and father," she +added, after a doubtful pause. "But father was not at home last night. +Oh, I didn't need no one to take care of Mark. I wouldn't have left +him." + +"And he likes to have you take care of him, I am sure. What do you give +him to eat? He will need nourishing food, I think—beef teas and broths, +and nice little tempting dishes made with milk, perhaps. Are you his +cook, too? I wonder if you wouldn't like to have me show you how to +make good things for him? I've learned how to make some nice dishes +that sick people like." + +Before the bewildered girl could answer, the doctor turned abruptly +from his long examination of his patient, and gave the guests the first +attention he had vouchsafed them. The truth was, this man had had some +unfortunate experiences with district visitors, and had perhaps an +unreasonable prejudice against them as a class. + +"I can't help it, ma'am," he said to Mrs. Saunders, when she was taking +him to task one day. "There are exceptions, of course, at least we will +hope there are; but if you had seen some of my specimens, you would +be the first to wish an infusion of common sense could be introduced +among them. As a rule, they offer a tract where they should give a loaf +of bread or a bowl of broth, and wedge their advice and reproofs in +with every helpful movement. It is like so many doses of medicine to +the patient—to be endured because he is at their mercy, and can't help +himself. They mean well, the most of them; but the trouble is, we have +a way of making district visitors out of people who have nothing to do, +and who have never learned that 'all the nations of the earth were made +of one blood.'" + +Something in Mrs. Roberts's tones or words seemed to interest him, and +he turned toward her. + +"Does this alley belong to you?" he asked abruptly, his mind still full +of the district visitor. + +She regarded him with a puzzled air for a moment, then answered +naïvely,— + +"I don't think it does; if it did, I would have some things ever so +different." + +Dr. Everett laughed; and Mr. Roberts came forward and introduced +himself. + +"My wife has hardly answered you fully," he said. "I am under the +impression that she desires to adopt a certain portion of this alley—at +least I have heard of little else since last Sabbath afternoon. She is +in search of some stray sheep who have been put under her care." + +"Ah," the doctor said, turning quickly to her, "a Sabbath school +teacher? Is this young man one of your scholars?" + +No, she explained; but she had heard of him while inquiring where one +of her boys lived, and she had called to see if she could help in any +way. Dirk Colson was the boy, who, they told her lived near this place. + +The eyes of the trim sister brightened. + +"He lives in the next square," she said. "O, ma'am, are you his +teacher, and do you care for him? I'm so glad." + +"He is a favourite of yours, is he?" the doctor asked, looking from +one speaking face to another, and seeming immensely interested in the +matter. + +"No, indeed!" the girl said quickly. "He's horrid! But I'm sorry for +his sister; and she wants Dirk to get on, and he never does get on. But +I thought maybe such a kind of a teacher could help him." + +There was such intense and genuine admiration in the girl's voice for +the vision of loveliness before her, that Dr. Everett could not help +smiling. + +"It doesn't seem unlikely," said he with significance; and added, "Who +is this Dirk Colson who seems to be an object of interest?" + +"He is one of the worst boys in the alley, sir; sometimes I think he +is the very worst, because he is cross as well as hateful. But Mark is +always kind of sorry for him, and says he has such a bad father, he +can't help it. And Mart—that's his sister—she is a friend of mine, and +she feels bad about Dirk, but she can't do nothing; he ain't a bit like +Mark there." + +The last words were spoken tenderly, and the sisterly eyes turned +toward the boy on the bed, and obeying a sign from his eyes she went +over to him. The doctor plied his questions,— + +"Rave you recently taken a class, madam? And is their general +reputation as encouraging as this special scamp of whom we are hearing?" + +His words almost jarred on Mrs. Roberts. She had already prayed enough +for her boys to have a sort of tender feeling for them—a half desire +to cover their faults from the gaze of the indifferent world. Did Dr. +Everett represent the indifferent world, or did he love her Master? She +wished she knew. + +"There is nothing encouraging about them," she said with grave +earnestness, "save the facts that they are made in the image of God, +and that he wants them to 'turn from the power of Satan unto God, that +they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them +which are sanctified.'" + +A rare flash of intelligence and appreciation greeted her now from +those fine eyes bent so scrutinizingly on her. + +"Tremendous facts!" he said. "Glorious possibilities! 'Himself +hath said it.' I claim kinship with you; I am an heir of the same +inheritance." + +He held a hand to each, and they were cordially grasped. Then Dr. +Everett proceeded to business. + +"There is enough to do," he said; "everything is lacking here; there +is severe poverty, united to the most scrupulous tenderness and the +most tender love on the part of this brother and sister. I stumbled +on the case, and will do, professionally, all that is needed. And I +have a friend who would undoubtedly come to the rescue, but she is +crowded just now. I shall be rejoiced to report to her a helper. Do +you know Joy Saunders? Well, I wish you did; she is one whom you could +appreciate. She is young, though, and without a husband to guard her, +and there are some places to which she cannot come." + +"Has she learned that important fact?" asked Mr. Roberts with a +significant smile. Then some explanation seemed necessary. "This lady," +he said, "tried the alley alone yesterday, and lost her way, and went +lower down—quite near to Burk Street, I imagine." + +"And what happened?" The quick question and the doctor's tone suggested +possibilities not pleasant. + +"Oh, she met one of her new recruits—as hard a boy, so one of the +policemen on this beat tells me, as there is in the row—and pressed him +into service to escort her back to civilization; and, strange to say, +the fellow did it without playing any tricks." + +The doctor turned on the small lady a curious glance. + +"I think you may be able to do something, even for Dirk Colson," he +said. + +"Do you know him?" + +He laughed over the eagerness of the question. + +"Never heard of him before. I was only thinking of our friend's +description of his awfulness.—Ah, whom have we here?" + +For the door had opened abruptly, and a pair of great blue eyes, set +in a frame of tawny hair all in a frizzle, had peered in on them. The +vision was clothed in garments so torn, the wonder was that they stayed +on at all, and there was a general look of abject poverty about her to +which Sallie Calkins, with all the bareness of her lot, was a stranger. + +She stood for just a moment, as if transfixed by astonishment at the +unwonted sight in the room, then turned and sped way as swiftly and +silently as she had come. + +"That is Dirk's sister," Sallie Calkins said, coming forward, her +homely face aglow with shame. "She isn't a bad girl, ma'am, she doesn't +mean to be, but she has a dreadful time. Her mother is sickly, and has +to go out washing, times when she isn't able to sit up; and there 'll +be days when she can't hold up her head. And the father is bad, ma'am, +and drinks, and swears, and sells things for drink till there ain't +nothing left to sell; and Mart hasn't anything to mend her clothes +with, and she doesn't know how, anyway; and she hasn't even got a comb +to comb her hair with, her father he took it to sell. And everything +there is horrid, and Dirk, he's awful." + +It was strange—she could not herself account for it—but with every +added word of misery that set poor Dirk Colson lower and lower in the +scale of humanity, there seemed to come into this woman's heart, and +shine in her face, an assurance that he was to be a "chosen vessel unto +God." + +The doctor was watching her again, curious, apparently, to see how this +pitiful appeal for forbearance in judging of poor Mart affected her, +and something in his face made her say, speaking low, "an inheritance +among them which are sanctified." + +"Amen!" he said. + +And there came to Mrs. Roberts a feeling that this earnest prayer, for +the second time repeated by two men who prayed, was a sort a seal from +the Master. + +She turned away from both gentlemen then; the tears were very near the +surface. She must do something to tone down the beating of her heart. +Sallie was at hand, and she went with her to another corner of the +room, and a low-toned conversation was carried on, scraps of which +floated back to the gentlemen in the form of "sheets," "grape jelly," +"mutton broth," "a soft pillow," and the like. + +"I feel my patient growing better," the doctor said with satisfaction. + +"Is there no father here?" Mr. Roberts asked. + +The doctor shook his head, but answered,— + +"There is the most pitiful apology for a father that I ever saw—a mere +wreck of a man! Spends his time in a sort of weak drinking, if I may +coin a phrase to describe him; he actually uses no energy even in that +business. Just staggers around and bemoans his lot—a most unfortunate +man, in his own estimation, with whom the world, through no fault of +his, has gone wrong. He is never downright intoxicated, and never free +from the effects of liquor. He is much like a wilted leaf in the hands +of this boy and girl. They could pitch him out of the window without +much difficulty, and if the fall did not kill him, he would shed tears +and say it was a hard world. + +"But now, what do we see when the name of father is so dishonoured—made +a wreck, as it were? Why, the order of nature is reversed, and these +children take on the protective. They are father and mother, and he is +the weak, sinning child. The way that that boy and girl have worked +to keep their miserable father from starving or freezing is something +to astonish the very angels. They shield him, too; nobody who wants +to reach their hearts must blame him. They are a study!—As different +from the other inhabitants of the alley as the sky is different from +that mud-hole down there. It isn't a good simile, either. There is no +religion in their efforts. They are the veriest heathen." + +"How do you account for the development?" + +The doctor shook his head. + +"I don't account for it; it is abnormal. There must have been a mother +who left her impress. I can't learn anything about the mother—she died +when the girl was an infant; but I would like to know her history. I +venture to assert that she belonged to Christ, and that a gleam of the +divine pity that she saw in him, and loved, left its impress on her +children. That is somewhat mystical," he added, smiling. "I rarely talk +in this way; it must have been your wife who set me off." + +"But she is the most practical and energetic of beings!" + +"Ay, so are the angels, I fancy; and make us think of heaven directly +we hear the rustle of their wings. Has your wife been a Christian long?" + +"Barely two years since she began to think of these things." + +"I thought as much. She impresses me as one who is being led; who +does not choose to go alone; has not learned how, indeed. A very few +Christians never learn how, and with them the Lord does his special +work. Well, sir, I must go. I'm glad to have met you, and glad to leave +you here. Good-morning!" + + + +CHAPTER X. + +"AND SHE ALWAYS TRIED." + +OTHER business was transacted that morning which brought results. A +curious habit of Mrs. Roberts's—one which, perhaps, most strongly +marked the difference between her ways of working and those of other +people—was that of appealing to the person at hand for information on +any subject which chanced to be the one prominent in her mind at the +time. + +Where other and more systematic persons would have said, "He is not the +one to ask about this matter; there is no reason for supposing that he +has any knowledge in this direction," Mrs. Roberts would say, "I cannot +be sure that he may not be able to give just the information which I +need. In any case, what harm will it do to try?" And she always tried. + +It was on this principle that she arrested Dr. Everett's speedy +departure with a question,— + +"Dr. Everett, are you familiar with boarding-houses for young men?" + +Something like a vision swept instantly before the doctor, in which he +saw the long line of young men and the long line of boarding-houses in +the world; and he laughed with eyes and lips, the question seemed so +queerly put. + +"With how many of them, madam?" There was amusement in his voice, but +there was also curiosity; he wanted to know what this original little +lady was in search of. + +"One would do, if it were of just the right stamp. I'll tell you what +I want,—a nice, quiet, comfortable 'home' sort of place, with a small +room, capable of being warmed, a single bedstead, with a passably +good bed, and a moderate rate of board. Are not those modest enough +requirements?" + +"Not at all! They are preposterous! A boarding-house to which one could +conveniently apply the word 'home'! 'Fire' in a young man's room! He is +expected to enjoy freezing in a city; and if he come from the country, +he should be grateful for the privilege! But the idea of calling for a +good bed! That is the wildest suggestion of all!—Has she ever boarded, +Mr. Roberts?" + +"Not at a boarding-house, at least," said that gentleman, enjoying the +fun. + +But Mrs. Roberts looked grave. + +"Are you serious?" she asked gently. "Is there no chance in this great +city for a Christian young man to have the ordinary comforts of common +life—just a little quiet room where he can pray, and where he can +invite some tempted soul, and try to help him? Doesn't it seem all +wrong?" + +The laugh was gone from the doctor's face. There was a look of keen +interest and genuine respect. + +"How many young men are you thinking about? There are many Christians, +I believe, among that class—poor young men away from home—and I have +reason to fear that their chances for comfortable retirement are very +scarce. I have thought about the problem somewhat how to help them. In +the concrete, I don't see the way. Of how many are you thinking?" + +"I am willing to think about them all," Mrs. Roberts said—and now it +was her turn to laugh—"but I am planning for just one. I cannot work in +great ways, but I thought I might help one." + +"Exactly!—Mr. Roberts, if every Christian in our city would undertake +to help one, the problem would be solved. Well, there is one +boarding-house to which the word 'home' may properly be applied; and +there is one small room on the third floor vacated yesterday. I wonder +if the Master wants it for your young man. It seems to me if there is +any one thing more than another that we need in that house just now it +is a Christian young man. Of what type is your friend? Will he help or +hinder a gay young scamp much sought after by Satan?" + +"He will try hard to help," said both Mr. and Mrs. Roberts. + +And before they parted the doctor had taken Mr. Reid's address, and +promised to call on him and negotiate the matter. + +"That plan will work in two ways," said Mrs. Roberts gleefully. "Mr. +Reid will be in the same home with, and somewhat under the influence +of, that grand doctor. Isn't it splendid that we asked just him?" + +And her husband smilingly assented, and added that he should not have +thought of such a thing as asking him. + +On her way down town, Mrs. Roberts had dropped a letter in the mail, +which also brought results. It read thus:— + + "DEAR MARION,—I have time for but a line, for I want to catch the +morning mail. I have such a nice plan. Suppose you let your Gracie +come and stay with me for a few weeks. You know she always liked me a +little, and Evan and I think we can make it pleasant for her. I will +try to get her so much interested in seven boys whom I know that she +will forget all about Professor Ellis. Mr. Barnwell, a confidential +clerk in the store (old and gray-headed), will go to-morrow to transact +some business with papa. Evan will give him a letter of introduction +to Dr. Dennis. He expects to return on Saturday, and if you will trust +Gracie to us, and she is willing to come, she might travel in Mr. +Barnwell's care, and we would meet her at the station. Dear Marion, +we should like it ever so much; and I have prayed about it all the +morning, and cannot help thinking that Jesus likes it too." + + +Thus it came to pass that when Mrs. Roberts took her seat on the next +Sabbath afternoon before her seven boys at the South End Mission, a +vision of loveliness, such as the mission had not often seen, came in +with her, and looked with wide-open eyes on all the new and strange +sights and sounds about her. + +A very pretty creature was Gracie Dennis. Her eyes had lost none of +their brightness, although they had shed some tears during her recent +experiences. They were fairly sparkling to-day, for the great city +into which she had come for the first time was like fairyland to her; +albeit, she had passed through scenes that afternoon which bore no +resemblance to her idea of fairyland. + +What the boys thought of her could only be determined from their +stares. Let us hope that her presence had nothing to do with their +conduct, for never, in all the annals of the South End Mission, had +seven boys comported themselves as did those before whom Mrs. Roberts +sat that winter afternoon. + +Nimble Dick, as if to be revenged for his unintentional courtesy of +the Monday before, placed his ill-kept feet on the seat in front of +him, in alarming proximity to Mrs. Roberts's shoulders, and chewed +his tobacco, and defiled the floor with its juice, and talked aloud, +and was in every sense disgusting. Neither was Dirk Colson one whit +behind him. The spirit of entertainment was upon him. He mimicked Mr. +Durant's somewhat hoarse tones, exaggerating the imitation, of course, +until it was ludicrous. He imitated the somewhat shrill tenor and the +nasal tones of Deacon Carter, who was doing good work with a class of +meek-looking women. He even imitated Mrs. Roberts's soft, low voice, as +she essayed to interest them in Moses and some of the wonders which he +performed. + +Vain hope! Struggle as she might to be intensely dramatic in her +narrative, she did not for a moment gain the ascendency. + +"Moses?" interrupted Nimble Dick in the very midst of one of her most +earnest sentences. "Let's see! That was the old fellow who swallowed +the serpents, wasn't it? I should have thought he would have been used +up." + +"You don't know nothin'," interrupted Stephen Crowley, with a nudge at +Dirk that the latter pretended tipped him entirely off his seat, and +left him a limp heap at Mrs. Roberts's feet. + +"He don't know nothin'!" repeated Stephen, addressing Mrs. Roberts in +a confidential tone. "'Twas the serpents swallowed Moses, wasn't it? +Question is, How did he get around again?" + +"Quit that!" came at this point from Dirk Colson, in his fiercest tone. +"Look here, you Bill Snyder, if you try pinching on me again, I'll +pitch you over the head of old Durant in less than a second!" + +What was the poor, pale little woman to do? With one boy crawling about +the floor and two others in a hand-to-hand fight, with the rest in a +giggle, of what use to try to talk to them about Moses? You should have +seen Gracie Dennis's eyes by that time! Horror and disgust were about +equally expressed, and rising above them both, a look of actual fear. +Mr. Durant came over to attempt a rescue, his face distressed beyond +measure. + +"Mrs. Roberts, this is too much. I am sure that patience has ceased to +be a virtue. They have never gone so far before. I suspected mischief +to-day. I have heard from several of them during the week, and never +anything but evil. I am prepared for it: there is a full police force +on guard in the next room; what I propose is to have every one of these +fellows taken to the lock-up. It will be a lesson that they richly +deserve, and may do them good." + +Whispering was not one of Mr. Durant's strong points. He meant to +convey secret intelligence of carefully-laid plans to Mrs. Roberts +alone. In reality, not a boy in the class but heard every word. They +were startled into silence. + +"A full police force!" + +They were not fonder of the lock-up than are most boys who deserve +that punishment. They were skilful in escaping the hands of policemen. +They had not believed that the South End Mission would resort to any +such means. They recognized in the mission an attempt to do them good; +and, without any effort at reasoning it out, they had by tacit consent +decided that policemen and lock-ups and Christian effort did not match. +They had chuckled much over the stationing of "little Duffer" at the +door on guard. Any two of the strong young fellows were a match for +him; and in the event of a riot, which they would like no better fun +than to help to get up, how many choice spirits all about the room +would join them if given the word, and in the delightful confusion +which would result how easy to escape from sight and hearing while +Policeman Duffer was summoning aid! They had felt comparatively safe; +but "a full police force" detailed for duty was quite another thing. + +They felt caught in a trap. Nimble Dick got up in haste from the floor +and took his seat, and the boys looked from one to another with ominous +frowns. There were reasons why none of them cared to come before the +police court just now. What was to be done? + +While they waited and considered, Mrs. Roberts did it. Her hand was on +Mr. Durant's arm, and directly the loud whispering ceased, she spoke in +low but distinctly emphatic tones,— + +"I beg of you, Mr. Durant, do no such thing. I would dismiss every +policeman at once, with thanks, if I were you. We shall not need their +help. I give you my word of honour that the boys will be quiet during +the rest of the session, not because they are afraid of policemen, +but because they respect me, and do not want to see me frightened or +annoyed. Please don't let a policeman come near us." + +I am not sure which was the more astonished, the superintendent or the +boys. He returned to his desk with the bewildered air of one whose +deep-laid schemes had come to naught in an unexpected manner without +giving him time to rally; and the boys looked at one another in +perplexity, and were silent. + +Mrs. Roberts turned to them with quiet voice. + +"Boys," she said, "you have spoiled the story that I was going to tell +you. I have lost my place, and there isn't time to go back and find it. +I am sorry, for I think you would have liked the story. I spent a good +deal of time this week trying to make it interesting. But never mind +now, there is something else I want to say. Will you spend the hours +from eight to ten with me to-morrow evening at my house? I brought +cards with me for each of you containing my address, that you might +have no trouble in finding the place." + +Whereupon she produced the delicate bits of pasteboard with her name +and address handsomely engraved thereon. + +Nimble Dick took his between his soiled thumb and finger, turned it +over in a pretence of great interest, and finally endeavoured to +"sight" it with his eye as a workman does his board. + +"What 'll you do with us if we come?" Stephen Crowley asked, fixing +what was intended as a wise look upon her, the leer in his eye hinting +that he was smart enough to see another trap, and meant not to fall +into it. + +Mrs. Roberts laughed pleasantly. + +"It is an unusual question when one invites company," she said; "but +I don't mind answering it. For one thing, I thought we would have an +oyster stew and some good coffee together. Then, if any of you like +music, I have a friend with me who is a good singer; and I have a few +pictures I should like you to see, if you cared to; and—I don't know +whether you are fond of flowers, but some of you may have a mother or +sister at home who is, and the greenhouse is all aglow just now. Oh, +how can I tell what I should do to entertain guests? Just what seemed +to me to be pleasant at the time. That is the way I generally do. May I +expect you?" + +The boys stared. This was a new departure indeed! How much of it did +she mean? What was she trying to do? Was it a trap? Still, she had +rescued them from the police force, and they had not expected that, +for every boy of them knew that he had treated her shamefully. Timothy +Haskell was generally the quietest one of the group, and perhaps the +most straightforward. He went directly to the point of the question +that he saw in the eyes of the others. + +"What do you do it for?" + +"Yes, that's the talk," said Nimble Dick. "What do you want of us?" + +"Why, I want you to spend the evening with me. Didn't I tell you? If +you really mean to be friends with me, of course I must invite you to +my home. What could I want except to have a nice time? I'm trying to +make you like me. Of course I want you to like me. How can we have +pleasant times together unless you do?" + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +"I HAVE BUT TO TRY AGAIN." + +"PLEASANT times like we've been having to-day?" said Nimble Dick with a +wicked leer. + +If he meant to disconcert her, he missed his point. + +"No," she said promptly; "we haven't had a bit nice times to-day; and +as for liking you, I haven't done so to-day at all. If I had the least +idea that you meant often to treat me as you have this afternoon, I +should know it was of no use. But I cannot think that you will continue +to treat a lady in such a manner, particularly when I am really trying +to make a pleasant time for you. There is no object, you see, in +spoiling it." + +This plain bit of truth, for the time being, so commended itself to the +judgment of the boys, that they regarded the speaker gravely, without +attempting a reply. She was not moralizing—at least it was unlike any +moralizing that they had ever heard. It seemed to be simply a bit of +practical common sense. Not a boy would have owned it, but each felt, +just at that moment, a faint hope that she would not decide it was of +no use, and give them up. Straightforward Tim Haskell had one more +question to ask:— + +"Why didn't you let them bring in their police and settle us?" + +Their teacher hesitated just a moment. Would the "whole truth" do to +speak in this case? Could she hope to make them understand that she +saw in it a step lower down, and that thus degraded before her eyes, +she feared her possible hold on them would be gone for ever? No, it +wouldn't do. A little, a very little piece of the truth was all that +she could treat them to. A faint sparkle in her bright eyes, which +every one of them saw, and she said:— + +"I was afraid you might not be excused in time to keep your engagement +with me to-morrow evening." + +They all laughed, not boisterously—actually an appreciative laugh. They +were bright; there is hardly a street boy living by his wits who isn't. +They recognized the humour hidden in the answer, and enjoyed it. + +Then the superintendent's bell rang. That bell always did seem to have +an evil influence on those boys. Indeed, Mrs. Roberts was known to +remark, a few Sundays afterwards, that if there were no opening and +closing exercises in the Sabbath school, her work would be easier; +that street boys did not seem to have one element of devotion in them, +and needed to be kept at high pressure, in order to be able to control +themselves. + +The thought is worthy of study perhaps. It is just possible that our +opening and closing exercises are too long drawn out even for those who +are not street boys. + +Be that as it may, the little spell which Mrs. Roberts had been able +for a few minutes to weave around her boys on this particular Sabbath, +was broken by the sound of the bell. The boys returned to their +memories of insult, as they regarded the police force. They muttered +sullenly among themselves about "traps" and "sells," and "guessed they +wouldn't get caught here again;" and Mrs. Roberts, seeming not to hear, +heard with a heavy heart. + +How angry they looked! Even Nimble Dick's usually merry face was +clouded over. What a curious thing it was that even they had their +ideas of propriety, and felt themselves insulted. Was it an instinct, +she wondered—a reminder that there was in them material for manhood? + +Would they ever, any of them, be men—Christian gentlemen? It seemed +almost too great a stretch for even her imagination. As she moved in +her seat, her delicately-embroidered, perfumed handkerchief fell to +the floor. Mrs. Roberts was used to young men—mere boys, even—whose +instinctive movement would be to instantly restore it to her. Not a +boy before her thought of such a thing. She had not expected it, of +course. Yet she wondered if the instinct were not dormant, needing but +the suggestion. It was a queer little notion, worthy of Flossy Shipley +herself, who, from being continually busy about little things, had come +to the conclusion that nothing anywhere was little—that the so-called +trifles, which make up many lives, had much to do with the happiness +of other lives. Was it worth her while to try to teach these street +Arabs to pick up fallen handkerchiefs? She differed from many Christian +workers in that, in her simplicity, she really thought it was. + +There was a lull just at that moment. A hymn had been announced, but +the organist's tune-book had been mislaid, and was being sought after. +It could disturb no one if Mrs. Roberts tried her little experiment. +She looked longingly at Dirk Colson, but his brows were black and his +eyes fierce; this was no time to reach him. Nimble Dick looked much +more approachable. She determined to venture him:— + +"Mr. Bolton," spoken in her sweetest voice, "I have dropped my +handkerchief." + +"Anybody with half an eye could see that, mum, and a mighty dirty spot +you picked out for such a nice little rag to lie in." + +This was her only response. Then the discomfited experimenter told +herself that she was a blunderer. How could this poor fellow be +expected to know what she meant? Why had she not asked the service from +him? She would try again. + +Would he be kind enough to pick it up for her? It was long afterwards +before Mrs. Roberts could think of his answer without a sinking heart. +Fixing bold, saucy eyes on her, he spoke in deliberate tones, loud +enough to be heard half-way across the room:— + +"Why, pick it up yourself, mum! It is as near to you as it is to me, +and you don't look weakly." + +She picked it up, her poor cheeks burning, but she did not forget it. + + +The after-school conferences told their different stories. + +"Well," Mr. Durant said, stopping in the act of mopping his hot +forehead to shake hands with her, "Mrs. Roberts, I honour your courage. +Those boys were simply fearful to-day; I really feared some outbreak +that would be hard to quell. I'm afraid we shall have to give them up. +Yes, I know how you feel; but you haven't been here to see what we have +borne from them. All sorts of teachers have been tried. We have given +them the best material we had, both men and women, and every one has +failed. Then you actually want to try it for another Sabbath! Well, I'm +glad of it. Oh, I don't want to give them up, it makes my heart ache +to think of it; but if we can't keep them in sufficient order to get +any benefit, nor find a teacher who is willing to hold on to them, what +else is there for us to do? But that last complaint I needn't make so +long as you 'hold on,' need I?" This last with a genial smile. "Well, +God bless you; I couldn't begin to tell you how much I hope you will +succeed." + +But his face said, "However, I know you won't." + +He turned from her and said as much to young Reid:— + +"She is in earnest, Reid, and she has resources; but she won't catch +them, simply because they don't mean to be caught; they come here to +make trouble, and for nothing else. Just look at the way they have +performed to-day—worse than ever; and they never had a better teacher. +I've watched her, and I believe she knows how. I'll tell you what it +is, Reid; we must hold on to her, and when she gives up those boys we +must secure her for that class of girls down by the door. I really +think we have a prize." + +Now, if he had but known it, Mrs. Evan Roberts meant to teach no other +class at the South End Mission save those boys. + + +"Flossy Shipley!" (This was Gracie Dennis's exclamation when she was +very much excited; she went back to the old name) "What are you trying +to do with those horrid boys? And how can you endure their impudence? I +never saw anything like their actions in my life, and I thought I had +seen bad boys. You look completely worn-out, and no wonder. I shouldn't +think Mr. Roberts would let you do this. What good can you do such +creatures, Flossy?" + +"My dear Gracie, don't you think that Jesus Christ died to save them?" + +"Well," said Gracie hesitatingly. It was a favourite phrase with her, +as it is with many people when they don't know what to say next. + +"And don't you think he wants them saved? And will he not be pleased +with even my little bits of effort if he knows that my sincere desire +is to save these souls for his glory?" + +"But what I mean is, what good can you do them so long as they act as +they do now? They didn't listen to a word you said, so as to get any +good out of it." + +"I don't know that dear, nor do you. Don't you think the Holy Spirit +sometimes presses words on people that they do not seem to be heeding? +In any event, that is a part with which I have nothing to do. I tried, +and if I failed utterly, I have but to try again. It isn't as though +there were some good teacher ready to take them. Nobody will make a +second effort. Now there is one thing I can certainly do—I can keep on +making efforts: who knows but some of them may bear fruit? By the way, +Gracie, I want ever so much of your help." + +"Mine!" said Gracie, with wide-open eyes. "I don't know how to +help people; I'm not good." And her face darkened in a frown, some +unpleasant memories that went far just then proving the truth of that +statement coming to mind just then. After a moment she spoke in a +somewhat more gentle tone: "Don't count on me, Flossy, for help about +those boys. They frighten me; I never saw such fellows. I couldn't help +wondering what—papa would have said to them." + +Between the "wondering" and the noun there had been an observable +pause. Mrs. Roberts suspected that the thought in Gracie's mind was +rather what Mrs. Dennis, who was supposed to have much knowledge of +boys, would have thought of them. But since her arrival Gracie had +studiously avoided any reference to her stepmother, and Mrs. Roberts +had humoured her folly. + +"Never mind—you can help them; and when you begin to realize that, you +will forget your fears." + +"Do you expect to see one of the creatures to-morrow evening? What in +the world would you do with them if they did come?" + +"I'm not sure I expect them, I only hope for them. As to what to do +with them, I trust to you to help to answer that question. I want to +give them an idea of what a nice time is." + +"I cannot help," said Gracie again; but she was interested, and +referred again and again to the subject, cross-questioning Mrs. Roberts +as to her plans and hopes, until that lady gave a satisfied smile at +the thought that her seven boys had begun their work. + +The first part of this conversation was held while they waited in one +of the class-rooms for Mr. Reid to give in his report before joining +them. The waiting suggested to Gracie another question,— + +"Who is this Mr. Reid, who seems to have us in charge?" + +"He is one of the clerks from the store, which accounts, in part, for +his attendance on us. But I am interested in him for other reasons. He +had a wonderful sister—that is, she was a wonderful Christian; she died +when quite young, but one might be ready to go to heaven early if one +had accomplished as much as she did. + +"By one of those strange arrangements which I should think would go +far toward making observing people believe in a special Providence, +her life, or I might almost say her death, was the means of changing +the current of my husband's life. He says he was a gay young fellow, a +member of the church, but giving just as little attention to religion +as many do whom you and I know. An accident to one of his family held +him for several weeks in the town where this Esther Reid lived, and +her physician, with whom he became acquainted, introduced him to her. +It seems she was very much interested in young men—in their Christian +development. He went to see her several times, and, to use his own +expression, she first made him realize that there was such a thing +as zeal, and then she set it on fire. What she had begun in life she +finished in her death. Evan attended her funeral services, and the +walls were hung with Bible texts of her selection. The most wonderful +texts! All about Christian work, and about being in earnest, because +the time was short. Evan says he began to understand then that the +service of Christ was first, best, and always. + +"Wasn't it a singular Providence that led him under the influence of +that young girl during the closing weeks of her life? Only think, he +has been doing her work ever since—doing it, possibly, in ways that she +could not compass. That is one reason why I am so much interested in +those boys. It seems to me as though they were her boys. Did I tell you +that her heart went out especially after the neglected? + +"I learned about the boys through Mr. Reid. He was but a child when +his sister died, and yet she succeeded in so enthusing him with her +ideas that he is all the time trying to carry out her plans. She had +some wonderful ones. This idea of inviting the boys socially I had from +her. Do you see how plainly she is working yet, though she has been in +heaven so long?" + +"Do you think," asked Gracie Dennis, a timid, gentle sound to her +voice, "that all Christians ought to put religion 'first, best, and +always,' as your husband said? I fancied that some were set apart to do +a special work." + +"We are all set apart, dear, don't you think? Given to Him to use as He +will. The trouble is that so many of us take back the gifts, and use +our time and our tongues as though they were our own." + +"Our 'tongues!'" repeated Gracie, amazement in her voice. + +"Why, yes; didn't you give Him your tongue when you gave Him yourself? +And yet you are fortunate if you have not dishonoured Him with it many +a time." + +Said Gracie, "What a queer way you have of putting things." + +Then came Alfred Reid in haste, and apologizing for the long delay. +Gracie Dennis watched him curiously, listened critically to his words. +Was it to be supposed that this young man put religion "first, best, +and always," and considered his tongue as given to the Lord? + +Alfred bore the scrutiny well. He took very little notice of Miss +Gracie, being entirely absorbed with another matter. He had settled +opinions about Mrs. Roberts now, from which he would not be likely to +waver. He had seen much of her during the week, and he knew she had not +been idle. She had given him much valuable information concerning the +boys in whom he had been interested all winter, and with whom she had +known for a week. + +Also he was aware that Sallie and Mark Calkins had seen much of her to +their great benefit. She had made him her messenger on one occasion, +and he had seen Sallie Calkins take from the basket the clean, +sweet-smelling sheets that were to freshen her brother's bed, and +bestow on them rapturous kisses, while she murmured, "I'd walk on my +knees in broad daylight through the gutter to serve her—that I would!" + +"Sheets aren't much, I suppose," moralized the young man, as he walked +thoughtfully homeward. "People with much less money than she has +might have furnished them. It is thinking about things that makes the +difference between her and others." + +But he had not quite found the secret. The main difference between +her and many other people lay in the fact that she set steadily about +"doing" the things she thought of that would be nice to do. + +On the whole, young Reid was fully prepared to sympathize with Mr. +Durant's opinion, that the South End Mission had secured a prize. Not +that he was very hopeful over those boys. He felt that their conduct, +under the circumstances, showed a depth of depravity which was beyond +the reach of mission schools; but it was a comfort to think that good +things were arranged for them if they had but chosen to receive. He +began at once to talk about them. + +"Mrs. Roberts, they are worse than I had supposed. I am afraid that +your patience is exhausted." + +Her answer was peculiar:— + +"Mr. Reid, I want you to spend to-morrow evening with me. I have +invited my boys, and I depend on you and Gracie here to help to +entertain them." + +"Are you equal to such formidable work as that?" asked Gracie with a +mischievous smile. + +He did not respond to the smile; he was looking at Mrs. Roberts, +studying her face as one bewildered with the rapidity of her moves. + +"I want to be," he said with feeling; "I want to know how to work, +and I'm learning.—Mrs. Roberts, I moved to my new boarding-house last +evening, and my room is a perfect little gem. There is an illuminated +text in it, and all around it is twined an ivy, growing, don't you +think—hidden, you know, behind the frame in a bottle; and the text is +one of my sister's treasures. Isn't that a singular coincidence?" + +"It is very nice," said Mrs. Roberts, with satisfied eyes. She still +made much use of that little word. + +"And, Mrs. Roberts, I asked one of your boys to come in this evening +and see my room." + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +"I WANT THEM TO GET USED TO PARLOURS." + +"THOSE two people can think and talk of nothing but those dreadful +boys," said Gracie to herself, half annoyed and wholly interested. +She found herself that very evening turning over the music, with the +wonderment in her mind as to what she could sing that they would be +likely to care for—provided one of them appeared, which thing she did +not expect. + +But I have not told you of all the discussions had that day. The boys +went their various ways, their minds also busy with the events of the +afternoon. Dirk Colson and Stephen Crowley went off together; not that +they were special friends, but their homes lay near together. For the +distance of half a block they walked in silence; then Stephen Crowley +spoke his mind:— + +"Nimble Dick wasn't near as smart to-day as he thinks he was, accordin' +to my way of thinkin'." + +"He was meaner than dirt!" burst forth Dirk fiercely. "To go back on +her like that, after she had saved us from a row with the police, ain't +what I believe in. Why couldn't he have picked up the rag, seeing she +wanted him to? That's what I say. I'd 'a done it myself if she had give +me the chance." + +"That there Dick Bolton can be too mean for anything when he sets out," +said Stephen, with a grave air of superiority. "I don't go in for +anything of that kind myself. We wasn't none of us much to boast of; +but Dick, he went too fur. I say, Dirk, what do you s'pose all that +yarn means about to-morrow night? And what be we goin' to do about +it? Dick, he said it was all a game to get hold of us somehow, and he +wasn't goin' to have nothin' to do with it." + +Had Stephen Crowley desired exceedingly to secure Dirk's vote in +favour of the proposed entertainment, he could not, at that moment, +have chosen a better way. Dirk tossed his thick mat of black hair in a +defiant fashion, and answered:— + +"He needn't have a thing to do with it, so far as I care. I don't know +who'll miss him; but if he thinks he's got all the fellows under his +thumb, and they're goin' to do as he says, I'll show him a thing or +two. I'm a-goin' to-morrow night. I don't care what it is, nor what +it is for. She was nice and friendly to us to-day, and I'm willin' to +trust her to-morrow. I shall go up there and see what she does want. It +can't kill a fellow to do that much." + +"Then I'm a-goin', too," declared Stephen with decision. "Dick, he +thinks there won't none of us go if he don't; and I'd just like to show +him that he must get up early in the mornin' if he wants to keep track +of us." + +If Dirk Colson needed anything to strengthen his resolution, there +was material in that last sentence which supplied it. He had long +chafed under the control of Dick Bolton; here was a chance to assert +superiority. He even, just at that moment, conceived the brilliant idea +of supplanting Dick—running an opposition party, as it were. + +What if he should get every fellow in the class to promise to go, and +Dick, the acknowledged leader, should find himself left out alone in +the cold? The thought actually made his grim face break into a smile. +Thus it came to pass that the most efficient worker for the success +of the Monday evening entertainment, so far at least as securing the +presence of the guests, was Dirk Colson. + + +In Mr. Roberts's mansion preparations for receiving and entertaining +the hoped-for guests went briskly forward—preparations which astonished +the young guest already arrived. + +"Are you really going to let them come in here?" she asked, as she +followed Mrs. Roberts through the elegant parlours, and watched her +putting delicate touches here and there. + +"Certainly; why not? Don't you open your parlours when you receive your +friends?" + +"I don't think we have such peculiar friends on our list," Gracie said +with a little laugh; and then, "Flossy, they will spoil your furniture." + +"If one evening in the Master's service will spoil anything, it surely +ought to be spoiled," Mrs. Roberts answered serenely. + +"But, Flossy,—" with a touch of impatience in her voice,—"what is the +use? Wouldn't the dining-room answer every purpose—be to them the most +elegant room they ever beheld, and be less likely to suffer from their +contact?" + +The busy little mistress of all the beauty around her turned to her +guest with a peculiar smile on her face, half mischievous and wholly +sweet, as she said:— + +"I want them to get used to parlours, my dear; they may have much to do +with them, as well as with dining-rooms." + +"They are more likely to have to do with penitentiaries and prisons," +Gracie said. But she abandoned discussion, and gave herself to the +pleasure of arranging lovely flowers in their lovely vases. + +There was a divided house as to the probability of the guests +appearing,—Mr. Roberts inclining to the belief that some of them would +come, while Gracie was entirely sceptical. Mrs. Roberts kept her own +counsel, neither expressing wish nor fear, but steadily pushing her +preparations. + + +As a matter of fact, the entire seven appeared together promptly as the +clock struck eight. + +At the last moment Dick Bolton, the usual leader, finding himself +in a minority of one, not to be outwitted, protested that he had +not the least notion of staying away; of course he was going, and +good-naturedly joined the group. + +I wonder if you have the least conception of how those boys looked? The +ideas of some people cannot get below nicely-patched clothes, carefully +brushed boots, clean collars, and neatly arranged hair. + +Clean collars! Not a boy of them owned a collar. No thought of brushing +their worn-out, unmended boots ever entered their minds. Their clothes +were much patched, but in many places needed it still. + +Stephen Crowley had made a somewhat unsuccessful attempt to put his +mass of hair in order. Most of the others had not thought even of that. +Why should they? Poor Dirk, you will remember, if he had thought of it, +had no comb with which to experiment. It is doubtful if many of the +others were any better off in this respect. + +Imagine the seven standing, a confused, grinning heap, in the centre of +Mrs. Roberts's large and brilliantly-lighted hall! + +She came forward to welcome them, shaking hands, though they made no +attempt to offer a hand in greeting. She had to grasp after each. She +essayed to introduce Gracie; not one of them attempted a bow. + +"Come this way," Mrs. Roberts said, "and take seats." + +Then she led the way into the long, bright, elegantly-furnished, +flower-decked room. + +They followed her in a row. Midway in the room they made a halt. +They caught a view of themselves—full length at that—revealed by the +great mirrors. They had never seen themselves set in contrast before. +They could not sit in a row, for the easy-chairs and sofas, though +plentiful, had the air of having been just vacated by people who had +left them carelessly where they had chanced to sit. + +It required diplomacy to seat those boys. When at last Stephen Crowley +dropped into one of the great pillowy chairs, he Instantly sprang up +again, and looked at it doubtfully. Was the thing a trap? How far down +would it sink with him? This was too much for Nimble Dick, even under +the present overpowering circumstances—he laughed. His hostess blessed +him for that laugh. The horrible stiffness was somewhat broken, and all +were seated. + +Just at that moment came Alfred Reid, hurriedly, like one who had +intended promptness and missed it. + +"All here ahead of me!" he exclaimed. "Mrs. Roberts, I beg your pardon. +At the last moment I went in search of Dr. Everett; there was serious +illness in a house next door, and I happened to know just where he was." + +During this address he was shaking hands with his hostess, his manner +easy and graceful, as one used to it all. Then he crossed the room, +that wonderful room, treading down those flowers on the carpet as +though he had no fears of breaking their stems. + +"Good-evening, Miss Dennis," he said, and he was bowing in a manner +that Dirk Colson was confident he could imitate. Then he turned to the +boys, shaking hands:— + +"How are you, Haskell?—By the way, Crowley, I called on you to-day at +the office; sorry not to find you in." + +"Mrs. Roberts, allow me!" And he wheeled one of the easy-chairs to the +spot where that lady was standing. + +"How well he enters into the thing," said Gracie Dennis to herself, +looking on in admiration at this young man, who, still so young, was +adapting himself to circumstances that might well have embarrassed +older heads than his. + +He plunged into talk with the boys, making them answer questions. He +had come but a few moments before from Mark Calkins's, stopped there +with a message from Dr. Everett; and these boys knew Mark and Sallie +and the worthless father, and all the more or less worthless neighbours +who ran in and out, and young Reid had a dozen questions to ask. +His quick-wittedness, and the ease with which he made talk to these +young men who lived in such an utterly different world from himself, +surprised his hostess very much. + +Even she did not know to what an exalted pitch his enthusiasm and +excitement reached, though he had flashed a pair of most appreciative +eyes on her when she gave him her invitation for the evening. Here was +actually his sister Esther's darling scheme being worked out before his +eyes! + +Not only that, but he was being called upon to help. Esther had wanted +him to grow up to undertake just such efforts as these; and only +last week they had seemed to him so altogether good and noble and so +impossible to try. Yet here he was helping to try them! No wonder +Alfred Reid could talk. + +It had been determined in family council that Mr. Roberts must absent +himself. He was in the house, indeed—no further away than the library, +ready for call in event of an emergency; but it was judged that another +stranger, and such a formidable one as the head of the house, must be +avoided for this one evening. + +As for Mr. Reid, would they remember that he was not much older than +some of them, and that he was not a rich young man living on his +income, but was earning his living by daily work? And would they note +the contrast between themselves and him? This was what their hostess +wondered. A few moments and then came a summons to the dining-room. +Seated at last, though one of the poor fellows stumbled over a chair, +and barely saved himself from falling. + +If you could have seen that dining-table, the picture of it would +have lingered long in your memory. The whitest and finest of damask +table linen; napkins so large that they almost justified Dick Bolton's +whisper, "What be you goin' to do with your sheet?" China so delicate +that Gracie Dennis could not restrain an inward shiver when any of the +clumsy fingers touched a bit of it; and such a glitter of silver as +even Gracie had never seen before. + +One thing was different from the conventional tea-party—every servant +was banished; none but tender eyes, interested in her experiment, +and ready to help it on, should witness the blunders of the boys. So +the hostess had decreed, and so instructed Alfred and Gracie. The +consequence was that Alfred himself served the steaming oysters with +liberal hand, and Gracie presided over jellies and sauces, while +Mrs. Roberts sugared and creamed and poured cups of such coffee as +those fellows had never even smelled before. If you think they were +embarrassed to the degree that they could not eat, you are mistaken. + +They were street boys; their lives had been spent in a hardening +atmosphere. Directly the first sense of novelty passed away, and their +poorly-fed stomachs craved the unusual fare served up for them, the +fellows grinned at one another, seized their silver spoons, and dived +into the stews in a fashion that would have horrified every servant in +the house. + +How they ate! Oysters and coffee and pickles and cakes and jellies! +There seemed no limit to their capacities; neither did they make the +slightest attempt to correct their table manners. None of them paid any +outward attention to their "sheets," although Alfred and Gracie spread +theirs with elaborate care; they leaned their elbows on the table; they +made loud, swooping sounds with their lips; and, in short, transgressed +every law known to civilized life. Why not? What did they know about +civilized life? + +Nevertheless, not one movement of young Reid's escaped the notice of +some of them. + +He tried still to carry on a conversation, though the business of +eating was being too closely attended to on all sides to let him be +very successful. + +Gracie studied him, and was not only interested in his efforts, but +roused to make some attempts herself. What could she talk about with +such people? School? The literary club? The last concert? The course +of lectures? The last new book that everybody was reading? No, not +everybody; assuredly not these seven. + +On what ground was she to meet them? + +Yet talk she must and would. Mr. Reid should see that she at least +wanted to help. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +"LET US BE FASHIONABLE." + +ONE feature of the hour was not only entirely new to the boys, but gave +them a curious feeling, the name of which they did not understand. +When the last one sat back in his chair, thereby admitting himself +vanquished, Mrs. Roberts, looking at the young man who sat at the foot +of the table, said:— + +"Will you return thanks?" + +What did that mean? To be sure they had heard of thanking people, but +even they were aware that it was an unusual thing for persons to demand +thanks for themselves. + +They watched. Behold, the young man bowed his head, and these were the +words he spoke:— + + "Dear Saviour, we thank thee for the joys of this evening. We pray thee +to teach us so to live that we may all meet some day in our Father's +house. Amen." + +The boys looked at one another, then looked down at their plates. Their +sole experience of prayer was connected with the South End Mission. To +meet it at a supper-table was a revelation. Did the people who lived +in grand houses, and had such wonderful things to eat, always pray at +their supper-tables? This was the problem which they were turning over +in their minds. + +Returning to the parlour, Gracie went at once to the piano. She had +spent a good deal of Monday in settling the question of what to play, +and had chosen the most sparkling music she could find. I am anxious to +have it recorded that, all uncultured as they were, these boys neither +talked nor laughed during the music, but appeared at least to listen. +It was Dirk Colson who sat nearest to the piano, and who listened in +that indescribable way which always flatters a musician. + +"Do you like it?" Gracie asked, running off the final notes in a tinkle +of melody. + +His dark face flushed a deep red. + +"I dunno," he said with an awkward laugh; "it's queer-sounding. I don't +see how you make so many tinkles. Do you make all your fingers go at +once on them black and white things?" + +"Not quite; but sometimes they have to dance about in a very lively +fashion. I have to keep my wits at work, I assure you." + +"Is it hard to do?" + +"Not very, nowadays. When I first commenced, the practising was horrid; +I hated it." + +"What made you do it, then?" + +"Oh, the same reason which makes people do a great many things that +they don't like," she said lightly; "I wanted the results. I knew if I +worked at it steadily, the time would come when I should not only enjoy +it myself, but be able to give pleasure to other people. Why, don't you +ever do things that you don't particularly like?" + +He shrugged his shoulders, and bestowed on her a very wise look. + +"Often enough," he said fiercely, and he thought of his drunken father. +"But then I wouldn't if I could help it." + +"That would depend on whether you thought the thing would pay in the +end, would it not?" Then, without waiting for an answer, she asked, +"What is your business?" + +"My business?" with a curiously puzzled air. + +"Yes; how do you spend your time?" + +"Hunting up something to eat," he said, with a grim smile, visions of +his aimless loafing appearing before him all the only occupation he +could be said to have. It had not occurred to him to try to mislead +her, but she evidently did not understand. + +"Oh, yes," she said seriously, "so I suppose. Isn't it queer how busy +men and women have to be, day after day, and year after year, just +getting themselves and others something to eat? Do you have other +people to help to get it for—mother, for instance, and little brothers +and sisters?" + +"I've got a mother," he said, "and a sister." + +"And that makes work easier, does it not? I always thought it would +be stupid to work all the time just for one's self. But I meant, What +do you work at in order to get the something to eat—there are so many +different ways?" + +"How do you know I work at all?" + +Dirk's voice was growing sullen; a consciousness that he would appear +at a disadvantage in admitting himself an idler in the busy world was +dawning upon him as an entirely new idea. + +At his question, Gracie turned on her music-stool and regarded him with +surprise. + +"Why, of course you work," she said; "people all do." + +She was not acting a part. Her experience among poor people was limited +to that outwardly respectable class who, however disreputable their +conduct might be on Sabbath, had, nevertheless, a Monday occupation +with which they pretended to earn a living. + +Dirk shrugged his shoulders again. + +"Do they?" he said. + +Her evident ignorance of the world made him good-natured. She was not +trying to preach to him, he decided—a thing which Dirk hated in common +with all persons of his class. + +But the lull in the music had started conversation in other parts of +the room. + +Dirk heard young Reid's question:— + +"Mrs. Roberts, do you know of any young man looking for work? I heard +of a good situation this afternoon. Oh, there are plenty of applicants +but the gentleman is an old friend of my brother-in-law, and I could +speak a helpful word for somebody." + +"I have no one in mind," Mrs. Roberts said, and she glanced eagerly +at the boys, lounging in various attitudes in her easy-chairs. Only +three of them, she knew, made any pretence of earning their living. Did +Alfred mean one of them? + +"Here is a chance for you, young gentlemen," she said lightly; "who +bids for a situation?" + +"What is the place?" + +It was Dirk Colson who asked the question. Ever since he could +remember, he was supposed to have been hunting for work, but I am not +sure that he ever felt quite such a desire to find it as at that moment. + +"It is at Gray's, in Ninth Street, a good chance; but the one who +secures it must have a fair knowledge of figures." + +"Oh dear!" said Dirk, sinking lower in his easy-chair. "No use in me +asking about it." + +"Are figures your weak point?" Mrs. Roberts asked, smiling on him. "I +can sympathize with you; I had to work harder over arithmetic than +at any other study; but I learned to like it. Do you know I think +it would be a favourite study with you? It is so nice to conquer an +obstinate-looking row of figures, and fairly oblige the right result to +appear. What did you find hardest about the study, Mr. Colson?" + +The others chuckled, but Dirk glowered at them fiercely. + +"There's nothin' to laugh about, as I see," he said. "I didn't find +nothin' hard, because I never had no chance to try. I never went to +no school, nor had books, nor nothin'; now that's the truth, and I'm +blamed if I ain't going own it." + +"What a good thing it is that you are young." This was her animated +answer. "There is a chance to make up lost time.—Mr. Reid, I have such +a nice idea. I heard you and Dr. Everett speaking of the literary +club the other night. Why cannot we have a literary club of our own—a +reading circle, or something of that sort? Suppose we should meet once +a week and read aloud something interesting, and have talks about it +afterwards?—Do you ever read aloud?" + +If Mrs. Roberts in all sincerity had not been one of the most +simple-hearted and, in some respects, ignorant little creatures on the +face of the globe, she could never, with serious face, have addressed +such a question to Nimble Dick. + +Young Reid could not have done it, for he realized the folly of +supposing that Nimble Dick ever read anything. By just so much was +Mrs. Roberts ahead of him. She supposed that these boys had their +literature, and read it, and perhaps met somewhere on occasion and read +together. This made it possible for her to ask surprising questions +with honest face. + +"Bless me!" said Nimble Dick, startled into an upright posture. "Oh, +no, mum, never." + +And even Dirk Colson laughed at the expression on his face. + +"Still I think you would enjoy it, after a little practice, and I can't +help fancying you would make a good reader." + +The boys were all laughing now, Nimble Dick with the rest. + +"You're in for an awful blunder there," he said, good-naturedly. "I'm +like Black Dirk, never had no chances, and didn't do nothin' worth +speakin' of with them that I had. Why, mum! I can't even read to +myself. I make the awfullest work you ever heard of spellin' out the +show-bills. I have to get Black Dirk to help me; and him and me is a +team." + +By this time Dirk's face had lost its smile, and his fierce eyes were +flashing; but the hostess was serene. + +"That doesn't prove anything against my statement. I was speaking of +what could be, not necessarily of what was. Let us have a club. The +more I think of the plan the more it pleases me. I'll tell you! The +word 'club' doesn't quite suit me. Let us be fashionable. Gracie, +don't you know how fashionable it is becoming to have 'evenings' set +apart for special occasions?—Mr. Reid, you know Mrs. Judson's 'Tuesday +evenings,' and Mrs. Symond's 'Friday evenings'? Very well, let us have +our 'Monday evenings,' in which we will do all sorts of nice things; +sometimes literary, sometimes musical, and sometimes—well, anything +that we please. What do you say, gentlemen; shall we organize? Mr. +Reid, will you give Monday evenings to us?—Gracie, you are my guest, +and cannot, of course refuse." + +It was a novel idea certainly. Even Alfred, while trying to heartily +second her, was in doubt as to what she could hope to accomplish by +it. As for the boys, not one of them promised to attend; but neither +did they refuse. Mrs. Roberts presently left the subject, seeming to +consider her point carried, and proposed a visit to the conservatory. + +I think it very doubtful whether the boy lives who does not like +flowers. There are those who seem to consider it a mark of manliness +to affect indifference to them; but these, as they grow older—become +real men—generally lay this bit of folly aside. Then there are those, +plenty of them, who really do not know that they care for flowers. The +boys, ushered for the first time in their lives into the full bloom of +a conservatory, were, most of them, of this latter stamp. + +What a scene of beauty it was! Great white callas, bending their +graceful cups; great red and yellow roses, making the air rich with +their breath; vines, and mosses, and ferns, and small flowers, in +almost endless variety. Alfred and Gracie moved among the glories, the +latter exhausting all her superlatives in honest delight, although she +had visited the spot a dozen times that day; and Alfred, who had been +less favoured, was hardly less eager and responsive than she. + +But Mrs. Roberts watched the boys. + +It was all very well for those two to enjoy her flowers; of course they +would. But what language would the silent, lovely things speak to her +untutored boys? They said not a word; not one of them. They made no +exclamations, they had no superlatives at command. But Stephen Crowley +stooped before a lovely carnation, and smelled, and smelled, drawing in +long breaths, as though he meant to take its fragrance all away with +him; and Nimble Dick picked up the straying end of an ivy, and restored +it to its support again, in a way that was not to be lost sight of by +one who was looking for hearts; and Dirk Colson brushed back his matted +hair and stood long before a great, pure lily, and looked down into its +heart with an expression on his face that his teacher never forgot. + +She came over to him presently, standing beside him, saying nothing. +Then at last she reached forth her hand and broke the lily from its +stalk. He started, almost as if something had struck him. + +"What did you do that for?" And his voice was fierce. + +"I want you to take this for me to your sister—the girl with beautiful +golden hair; I saw her one day, and I shall remember her hair and eyes. +She will like this flower, and she will like you to bring it to her." + +"Gracie—" raising her voice—"gather some flowers, will you, and make +them into bouquets? These young gentlemen will like to carry them to +some one. There must be mothers at home who will enjoy bouquets brought +by their sons." + +Over this gently-spoken sentence Nimble Dick laughed a hard, derisive +laugh. It made the blood flow into Black Dirk's indignant face. Even +Alfred Reid lost self-control for a moment, and flashed a glance at him +out of angry eyes. How could there be any hope of a boy who sneered at +his mother? Yet you need not judge him too harshly. + +He thought of his mother, indeed, when he laughed; but alas, he thought +of her as drunk. And he knew her scarcely at all, save as that word +described her. How could "mother" mean to him what it meant to Alfred +Reid—what it meant even to Dirk Colson, whose mother, weak indeed in +body and spirit, full of complaining words, oftentimes weakly bitter +words to him, yet patched his clothes so long as she could get patches +and thread, and would have washed them if she could have got soap, and +been able to bring the water, and if her only tub hadn't been in pawn? +Oh, yes, there are degrees in mothers. + +Mrs. Roberts, meantime, broke off blossoms with lavish hand, and made +bouquets for Nimble Dick and for Dirk. He took the bright-hued ones +with a smile, but the lily he held by itself, and still looked at it. + +They went away at last noisily, growing almost if not quite rough +towards one another, at least; and directly they were out of the door, +Nimble Dick gave a whoop that would have chilled the blood of nervous +women. But matron and maiden looked at each other and laughed. + +"We have kept them pent-up all the evening, and that is the +escape-valve being raised to avoid a general explosion." This was Mrs. +Roberts's explanation. + +They were quite alone. Alfred, on being invited in low tones to tarry +and talk things over, had shaken his head and replied significantly:— + +"Thank you, no; I am one of them, and must stand on the same level." + +"You are right," Mrs. Roberts said smilingly; "you must have been an +apt pupil, my friend. That dear sister taught you a great deal." + +He held up the bouquet which she had made for him. + +"I am going to put it before Esther's picture," he said; "her work is +going on." + + +"Well," said Gracie, "it is over, and we lived through it. And they +did all come. I am amazed over that. And how they did eat! I suppose +the next thing is to open all the windows and air out. Flossy Roberts, +I'm afraid you are going insane. The idea of your inviting that horde +here every Monday. What a parlour you would have! And they would breed +a pestilence. They won't come, to be sure; but just imagine it if they +should! I really think Mr. Roberts ought to send you home for Dr. +Mitchell to look after. Well, Flossy, what next?" + +"Next, dear, you must pray. Pray as you never have done before for +the souls of these boys, and for the success of my 'Monday evenings.' +Gracie, we are at work for immortal souls. Think of it! They must live +for ever. Shall they, through all eternity, keep dropping lower and +lower, or shall they wear crowns?" + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +"SOMETHING'S HAPPENED." + +SALLIE CALKINS sat in a common little rocking-chair and rocked; and +while she rocked she sewed, setting neat stitches in a brown coat which +was already patched and darned, and was threadbare in many places. +There was a look of deep content on Sallie's face. There were many +reasons for it. + +Dr. Everett had that morning pronounced Mark's broken limb to be +healing rapidly. He had also reported that Mark's place was to be held +open for him by his employers. At this present moment Mark, arrayed in +a clean shirt, was resting on a very white sheet, his head reposing +on a real feather pillow dressed in white and frilled. Over him was +carefully spread another of those wonderful sheets, and, to make the +crowning glory, a white quilt, warm and soft, tucked him in on every +side. How could Sallie but rejoice? + +All about the room there had been changes. A neat little table stood +at the bed-side. It was covered with a white cloth, and a china bowl +set thereon, with a silver spoon beside it; a delicate goblet and china +pitcher also, both carefully covered with a napkin. Did Mrs. Roberts +know how homely Sallie gloried in the thinness of that china and the +fineness of that napkin? How does it happen that some of the very poor +seem born with such æsthetic tastes? + +Mrs. Roberts had intuitions, and was given to certain acts, concerning +which she could not give to others satisfactory explanations; +therefore, she sometimes left china where others would have judged the +plainest stoneware more prudent and sensible. + +A bit of bright carpet was spread at the side of the bed; a fire glowed +in the neatly-brushed stove; a white muslin curtain hung at the window; +and the chair in which Sallie rocked and sewed was new and gaily +painted. + +There were other traces of Mrs. Roberts. You might not have noticed +them, but it seemed to Sallie that her fingers had touched everywhere. +Yet the lady herself thought that she had done very little. She had +held her inclinations in check with severe judgment. + +The door opened softly, and a mass of golden hair, from out of which +peered great eyes, peeped cautiously in. + +"Alone?" it said, nodding first toward the figure on the bed, and +intimating that she was aware of Mark's presence, and did not mean him. + +"Yes," said Sallie; "come in. Mark's asleep, but you won't disturb him. +He don't disturb easy; he sleeps just like a baby since the doctor +stopped that pain in his knee. There's my new chair; just try it, and +see how nice it is." + +Saying which, she got herself out of the little rocker in haste, and +pushed it toward her guest, meantime taking a plain wooden chair, also +new, and adding, "Did you hear of anybody like her before?" + +"Something's happened," said Mart Colson, ignoring the reference to the +mysterious pronoun—her voice so full of a new and strange meaning, that +had Sallie been acquainted with the word she might have said it was +filled with awe. + +As it was, she only exclaimed, "What?" in an intensely interested tone. + +"Why, look here! I brought it along to show you." + +Whereupon she produced from under her piece of torn shawl a large +broken-nosed pitcher, a piece of brown paper carefully tied over the +top. She untied the bit of calico string with fingers that shook from +excitement. + +"Look in there!" she exclaimed at last, triumph in her tone, reaching +forward the pitcher. + +Sallie looked, and drew in her breath with a long, expressive "O—h!" + +There, reposing in stately beauty, lay the great white lily with its +golden bell. + +"Yes, I should think so," Mart said, satisfied with the expression. +"Did you ever see anything like that before? It ain't made of wax, nor +anything else that folks ever made. It's alive. I felt of it. It looks +like velvet and satin and all them lovely store things; but it doesn't +feel so: it feels alive, and it grew. But, Sallie Calkins, if you +should live a hundred years, and guess all the time, you never could +guess where I got it. Sallie Calkins, if you'll believe it, Dirk gave +it to me!" + +"Dirk?" + +"Yes, he did!" + +Who would have supposed Mart Colson's voice capable of such a +triumphant ring! + +[Illustration: THE LILY.] + +"You see the way of it was: last night he didn't come for his supper +at all, and that always scares me dreadful. I'm expecting something +to happen, you know. Father, he didn't come either; for the matter of +that, he hasn't come yet. And mother, she was awful tired, and hadn't +had no dinner to speak of, and she just broke down and took on awful. +Mother don't often cry; and it's good she don't, for she just goes into +it with all her might when the time comes. It wasn't about father—she's +used to him, you know, and don't expect nothing else; but Dirk drives +her wild with what may happen to him. I was worried about him too, but +I was mad at him; it seemed too awful mean in him to stay away and +scare mother. At last I got her to go to bed, and she was all tuckered +out and went to sleep. + +"Then I wrapped myself in the quilt and sat down to wait; but I got +asleep, and I dreamed I saw 'her.' She had wings to each side of her, +and she flew over the tops of all these houses, and made them turn +white like the snow looks when it is coming down before it drops into +the gutters. Wasn't that queer? Well, some noise woke me up. I was +sitting flat on the floor by mother, and I sat up straight all of a +tremble. And there was the old stool, and the brown pitcher on it +half-full of water; and this wonderful thing stood in it looking at me. +And Dirk, he stood off the other side looking at it. + +"'It's for you, and she sent it.' That's what he said to me; and I +wasn't real wide awake, you know. I suppose that's what made his voice +sound so queer. + +"And what do you think I said? I was thinking of my dream, and says +I,—'Did she have her wings on?' + +"Then Dirk made a queer noise; it was a laugh, but it sounded most like +a cry. + +"'I guess so,' says he. And then he turned and went off to bed. + +"And I can't get any more out of him; he is as snarly when I ask any +questions as though he was mad about it all. If it hadn't been for +this great white thing, I might have thought this morning that it all +belonged to the dream. But Dirk brought this home from somewhere, and +put it in the pitcher, and gave it to me his own self; that's sure." + +The story closed in triumph. + +"It is beautiful!" said Sallie, the brown jacket slipping to the floor, +while she bent over the lily. "It is beautiful all of it, and it looks +just like her, and sounds like her, wings and all. Of course she sent +it." + +"And Dirk brought it!" That part of the story Mart Colson did not +forget. + +Sometimes it seems to me a pity that hearts are not laid bare to the +gaze of others. What, for instance, might not this little incident have +done for Dirk Colson had he known how the starved heart of his sister +fed on the thought that he brought her the flower? + +Still, on the other hand, I don't know what the effect would have been +on Mart had she known what a tremendous amount of courage it had taken +to present the flower to her. A dozen times on the way home had Dirk +been on the point of consigning it to the gutter. "He" carry home a +flower! If it had been a loaf of bread, he thought it would have been +more consistent. Some way he recognized a fine sarcasm in the thought +that he, who had never in his life contributed towards the necessities +of the family should carry to that dreary home a flower! + +Yet the fair lily did its work well during that long walk from East +Fifty-fifth Street to the shadow of the alley. It made Dirk Colson tell +it fiercely that he hated himself; that he was a brute and a loafer—a +blot on the earth, and ought not to live. Why didn't he go to work? Why +didn't he have things to bring home to Mart every little while, as Mark +Calkins did to Sallie? Hadn't he seen Mark, only a few evenings before +he was hurt, with a pair of girl's shoes strung over his shoulder, and +heard him whistle as he ran, two steps at a time, up the rickety stairs? + +What would Mart think if he should bring her home a pair of shoes? +What would she think of his bringing her a flower? She would sneer, of +course; and, in the mood which then possessed him, Dirk said angrily +that she had a right to sneer, and would be a fool not to; and yet he +hated the thought of it. There was nothing in life that Dirk hated more +than sneers; and he had been fed on them ever since he could remember. + +He was altogether unprepared for the reception which the lily received. +That suggestion about wings, which seemed so apt, had brought the +"queer" sound to his voice that Mart had noticed. If only she had +understood and not spoiled, next morning, the effect of her words! + + +In the prosaic daylight, the illusion of "wings" being banished, she +was bent on knowing how Dirk came into possession of the lily. + +"Who sent it, Dirk? I don't believe anybody told you to give it to me. +Who would care about my having a flower? Where did you get it?" + +"Where do you s'pose?" Dirk's voice was ominously gruff. + +It is a painful truth that by daylight he was ashamed of his part of +the transaction. + +"I told you she sent it. It's noways likely that I'd take the trouble +to make up a lie about that weed. How do I know what she wanted you to +have it for? Maybe she thought it matched your looks." + +There was a bitter sneer in Dirk's voice; yet all the time he heard the +sweet, low voice saying, "That girl with the beautiful golden hair." +Suppose he should tell Mart that? Why not? Let me tell you that Dirk +Colson would not have repeated that sentence for the world! And yet he +did not know why. + +Mart's face burned red under his sneer. + +"How am I to know who 'she' is?" she said in bitter scorn. "Some of +your bar-room beauties, for whom you dance and whistle, I suppose. You +can tell her I would rather have my shawl out of pawn, or some shoes +for my feet, enough sight. What do I care for a great flower mocking at +me." + +"Pitch it into the fire, then; and it will be many a long day before I +bring you anything else," said Dirk, pushing himself angrily back from +the table, where he had been eating bread dipped in choice pork fat. + +"There isn't a bit of danger of my doing that," she called after him +mockingly. "There isn't a spunk of fire, nor likely to be to-day, +unless some of your admirers send me a shovel of coal. Mercy knows, I +wish they would." + +He mercifully lost part of this sentence, for the reason that before it +was concluded, he was moving with long, angry strides up the alley. + +And then Mart took the broken-nosed pitcher away into the farthermost +corner, although she was alone in the room, and laid her face against +the cool, pure lily, and wept into it great burning tears. Poor, +ignorant soul! She wanted—oh how she "wanted"!—Dirk to be brave and +good like Mark Calkins, her one type of manhood. Yet she did not know +that she was crushing out the germ which might have grown in his heart. +True, she knew herself to be very different from Sallie; but she +thought, poor soul that that was because Mark was so different from +Dirk. + +Isn't it a pity that the sweet-faced lily could not have told its +tender story to both these ignorant ones? + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +"WHAT MADE HER DIFFERENT?" + +"I HAVE heard a good deal about your sister that has interested me. Do +you like to talk of her?" + +This was the question which Gracie Dennis asked of young Reid as he +stood beside her at the piano. She had been playing, and he had come +to the music alcove for the purpose of turning her music; but now she +was touching sweet chords here and there aimlessly, and waiting for his +answer. + +At the farther end of the parlour Mrs. Roberts was entertaining a +caller; but the distance between them was so great that in effect the +young people were alone. + +"I like nothing better than to talk of her," Mr. Reid said with +animation; "but I don't know so much about her as I wish I did. She +went away when I was quite young. I used to say 'she died,' but since +I have awakened to see her cherished plans being carried on all around +me, I cannot think of her as dead." + +"That is what I want to talk about—her work, or her plans for work. +What made her so different from other people, Mr. Reid? Wasn't she +different?" + +The young man regarded the question thoughtfully before answering. + +"Not from all the people," he said at last, "but certainly very +different from some. I used to think that all Christians were like her, +of course; then, when I saw my mistake, I went to the other extreme, +and thought there were none like her on earth. I have discovered that +the medium position is the correct one." + +"But what I want to know is, what made her different? It wasn't her +age. Mrs. Roberts thinks she was young." + +"She was hardly nineteen when she died. Oh no, it wasn't age; she +told me that she used to be very different. She was a Christian from +childhood, but she said that she was ashamed to claim the name. There +was nothing Christ-like about her; still she was a member of the +Church. As I remember her, and as I look at other people, my judgment +is, that in her early Christian life she was much like most of the +Christians with whom you and I are familiar." + +"And what made her different? Was it—that is—do you think it was +because she was to die so soon that she had a special experience?" + +"Not at all," he said promptly; "it was before she realized anything +about her condition that the great change took place in her. My +brother-in-law says that she supposed herself to be in perfect health +at the time when she was most marked in her Christian life." + +"Ah! But you don't understand; I mean more than that. It is difficult +to tell what I mean; I mean—but you know, of course, God knew that she +was soon to go to heaven. I thought, perhaps, he gave her a special +experience on that account." + +"No, oh no," he said, speaking with great earnestness. "Esther was +particularly anxious that no one should suppose her experience +exceptional. Little fellow though I was, it seemed to be her desire +that I should fully understand this. + +"'Don't let anybody make you think that because you are a little boy, +you must be a sort of half-way Christian,' she used to say, and her +eyes would glow with feeling. 'I tried that way for years,' she said, +'and I want you to understand that it is not only sinful, but there is +not a particle of happiness to be gotten out of it—not a particle; and +I would give almost nothing for what such a Christian can accomplish. +The harm one does, more than overbalances all effort for Christ.' + +"I think, perhaps, she felt more deeply on that than on almost any +subject; and it was because she thought had wasted so many years." + +"Then do you think that there is, or rather that there should be, no +difference in Christians? Have all the same work to do?" + +"Not that, quite, of course; or, I don't know either. Isn't it all +different forms of the Master's work. The children of the home may +have each a different task, but each is needed to make the home +what it should be, and each worker needs the same spirit of love +and unselfishness to enable him to do his part. It isn't a perfect +illustration, Miss Dennis. I'm not skilful in that direction, but I +know what I mean, and that is a comfort." + +"And I know what you mean," Gracie said, not joining in his laugh; "but +I am not sure that I believe it. Why, Mr. Reid, that would make a very +solemn thing of living." + +"Well, did you suppose it was other than solemn? I'm sure it makes a +triumphant thing of it, too; and without it we are only a lot of wax +figures, dancing to pass the time away." + +"But don't you really think that people have a right to have any nice +times?" + +"Miss Dennis, did you ever see any person who had nicer times than your +friend, Mrs. Roberts?" + +"Well, Flossy is peculiar; her tastes all seem to lie in this +direction, though once they did not, I admit. Papa used to think that +she had no talent for anything but dancing. Something changed Flossy's +entire character. No one who knew her two years ago could possibly deny +that." + +"She will serve as an illustration then to explain my meaning. I +believe, Miss Dennis, that religion should have sufficient power over +us to change all our tastes and plans in life, fitting them to the +Saviour's use." + +"But what would such a rule as that do with most of the Christians of +your acquaintance?" + +"Ah! I am old and experienced enough to warn you not to make shipwreck +of your happiness on that shoal. I hovered around it, and vexed my soul +over the whole bewildering question, until I suddenly discovered that I +was held absolutely responsible only for my own soul, and that the Lord +would look after his own." + +For a time there was no answer to this. Gracie let her fingers wander +with apparent aimlessness over the keys, drawing out soft sweet +strains. Suddenly she said:— + +"What do you expect Flossy will accomplish with that last scheme of +hers? I ought to beg her pardon for the familiar name, but I have known +her ever since I was a child. Don't you think her attempts for those +boys rather hopeless?" + +Instantly the young man's eyes filled with tears, and when he spoke his +voice indicated deep emotion. + +"I can hardly tell you how I feel about those boys. I have been anxious +for them so long, and felt so hopeless. Do you remember how Elijah +sat under a juniper tree, discouraged, and said that he was the only +one who had not bowed the knee to Baal; and the Lord told him he was +mistaken—that there were five thousand others? It sounds ridiculously +egotistical, but I have felt at times something like that, as though I +was the only one who cared whether the poor fellows went to destruction +or not. + +"But since I have met Mrs. Roberts, and seen how intense she is and +single-hearted, and since through her I have met Dr. Everett, and +seen how they are trying to work at the same problem; and since I +have come to know how Mr. Roberts is at work all the time for young +men; and above all, since that wonderful evening here last Monday, +when I saw how two gifted ladies understood the art of turning their +accomplishments to account, in order to take those poor fellows captive +for Christ, I discovered that there were ways of solving this problem +about which I had known nothing, and people to carry it through. It was +simply glorious in you to give those fellows such music as you did, and +to accomplish by it what you did. My life has been narrow, Miss Dennis; +I never saw the piano used for Christ before." + +Gracie looked down at the keys, her face aglow. It was a new +experience, this being classed among the Christian workers of the +world—making her music for other purposes than to amuse the gay friends +who chanced to gather around her. She made the keys speak loudly for a +few minutes, then softening them, said,— + +"You must not class me with Flossy, Mr. Reid. I only did what she +wanted done. I am not in the least like her, unselfish and gentle, and +all that." + +But his reply, spoken low, was pleasant to her ears:— + + "'By their fruits ye shall know them.'" + +He evidently looked upon her as a worker. She could not help feeling +that it was pleasant to be so classed. What an intense young man he +was! Not in the least like those with whom she had hitherto been most +familiar. + +There was another voice in the front parlour, a strong, vigorous voice, +that carried a sense of power with it. + +"Ah!" said Reid, his eyes bright, his face eager. "That is Dr. Everett. +Just study him if you want another type of the sort of Christian about +whom we have been talking—the grandest man!" + +Gracie, shielded by the distance, turned on her stool and studied him. +Certainly he did not look much as though he were appointed for early +death. What a splendid physique it was! + +And how thoroughly wide awake and interested he was in the subject +under discussion. Bits of the talk floated back to the two at the piano. + +"Oh, he is young," Dr. Everett was saying; "I hope for returned vigour +in time, but there must be long weeks of patience, before he will be +ready for his old employment." + +"Do you know of whom he is speaking?" Gracie asked. + +"I fancy it is that Calkins boy, the one with the broken limb. He is +deeply interested in the poor fellow, and is trying to plan employment +of some less wearing sort for him, I believe. Dr. Everett is always +intensely interested in somebody." + +"Is it always the very poor?" + +Alfred laughed. + +"Not always. I know several quite well-to-do fellows on whom he keeps +a careful oversight; but he is grandly interested in the poor. He is +taking rank as one of the most successful physicians in the city, and +of course he is pressed for time; yet he is so continually at the +call of the poor, that people begin to speak of him as the poor man's +doctor. He told me he was proud of that title." + +At this point the musicians were appealed to, to come to the front +parlour, and Gracie had opportunity for a nearer study of the man +whom she could not help but admire. He was not likely to suffer from +a nearer view—at least, not while Gracie was in the mood that then +possessed her. He greeted her cordially, and at once brought her into +the conversation by appealing to her for a decision, seeming to take it +for granted that she was of the same spirit with himself. + +This young lady was taking lessons of life that were designed to be +helpful to her if she would but let them. A thoroughly well-educated +and cultured gentleman, well fitted to take high rank in society, not +in the ministry, and yet thoroughly absorbed in what she had hitherto +almost unconsciously set down as minister's work, was a mystery to her. +Moreover, for the second time that evening, she felt a curious sense +of satisfaction in being classed among the energetic workers of the +world. The pretty school-girl, who had lived all her young life in a +neighbourhood where she was "Gracie Dennis," looked up to, indeed, by +her set, and having a decided influence of her own, yet felt it to be +a novel experience to hear herself addressed in a clear, firm voice, +after this manner:— + +"Miss Dennis, what means would you advise for interesting a company of +young girls in reading regularly books which would be of use to them? +Of course, I speak of a class of girls who have done no reading of any +account heretofore: and who have no knowledge in the matter." + +"It is something about which I have not thought at all," said Gracie, +her pretty face all in a flush. "But I should suppose the way would be +to take one girl at a time, and study her, to find what would be likely +to interest and help her, and also to get such an influence over her +that she would read what I wanted her to." + +"First catch your hare, eh? Good!" said the doctor, with an approving +glance towards Mrs. Roberts. "The longer I live, the more convinced am +I that individual effort is what accomplishes the great things in this +world." + +There was more talk about this and kindred matters; and Gracie found +herself drawn out, and her interest excited on themes about which she +had supposed she knew nothing. + +Then occurred an interruption—a ringing of the doorbell. + +"For Miss Dennis," said the messenger; but she handed the card to Mrs. +Roberts. + +There was just a moment of hesitation, while that lady apparently +studied the name; then she said composedly,— + +"This is Professor Ellis, Gracie. Do you wish to receive him this +evening?" + +Since I have known Mrs. Roberts well, I have studied her innocently +sincere manner, with not a little curiosity as to the probable effect +on the world, suppose it were possible for others to adopt her +method. The actual practical effect with her is that she succeeds +often in wisely deceiving, while intending to be perfectly sincere. +For instance, her question to Gracie, after a moment of hesitation, +during which she asked herself, "What ought I to do?" and immediately +answered herself, "There is nothing for me to do but to be perfectly +straightforward." + +Her question was intended to say to Gracie: "I trust you. What your +father has directed you to do, I feel sure you will obey." + +But it said different things from that to Gracie. Ever since she had +been told that she might make her old acquaintance, Flossy, a visit, +this highly strung young lady had been suspicious that this was a +device of her stepmother to get pleasantly rid of her for a few weeks. +She surmised that a very carefully elaborate account of her sins had +been written out by this same stepmother for the benefit of her young +hostess, and that special directions had been given for guarding her +from the wolf, Professor Ellis. She would have spoiled the entire +scheme by haughtily refusing to leave home, had not the innocent +delight of a young girl over the thought of visiting a beautiful +strange city gotten the better of her pride. The gently-put question of +her hostess disarmed a whole nest of suspicions. It was hardly possible +that it had been hinted to Flossy that her guest might attempt to elope +with this man, else she would not with serene face be asking whether it +was her wish to receive him. + +"If you please," she made haste to answer, her cheeks glowing the while +and Mrs. Roberts gave instant direction that the gentleman be shown +into the parlour. + +There were several new lessons set for Miss Gracie Dennis to learn that +evening. One was that Professor Ellis, with his faultless dress and +excessive politeness, his finished bows and smiles that would have done +credit to any ball-room in the land, his accurate knowledge of all the +printed rules of etiquette, yet in Mrs. Roberts's parlour, contrasted +with Dr. Everett, and even with young Reid, the dry-goods clerk, +appeared at a disadvantage. + +She was slow in learning the lesson; on that first evening she simply +stared at it in bewilderment. What did it mean? + +There was an attempt to draw the professor into the circle, to continue +the conversation that had been so animated and interesting before +his entrance. The effect was much like that produced in striking a +discordant note in a hitherto faultless piece of music. Young men out +of business needing help, needing an encouraging word, an outstretched +hand! Professor Ellis had words, and hands, but he might have been +without either for all the help they gave him in responding to efforts +like these. Books to help to uplift the young, to give them high ideas +of life, to enthuse them with desires to live for a purpose—truly he +could only stare blankly at the suggestion. What did he know of books +written for such purposes? + +Yet Gracie had supposed him to be literary in his tastes and pursuits. +Certainly, he read French. Yes, French novels! He was quite familiar +with some of such a character that, had Gracie been French scholar +and ever likely to come in contact with a copy of them, he would not +have dared to mention their names in her presence. More than once of +late had the stepmother wished that her young daughter understood the +language well enough to be aware that the man whom she admired used +frequently smooth-sounding French oaths. But alas for Gracie, when he +had so poisoned her mother's influence over this dangerously pretty +girl, that she would have believed his word at any time rather than +that mother's! + +Well, he read other than French novels; Charles Reade, for instance, +and some of the more recent authors fashionable in certain circles. +It is true that Gracie was not acquainted with them, that her father +would not allow a copy of their books to come freely into his home, and +Gracie was much too honourable to read them in private. But it is also +true that while professing to admire this trait in her, as charming in +a young daughter, the professor had also, pityingly and gently, told +this young daughter that these things were her father's concessions to +the narrow age and trammelled profession to which he belonged; that the +fact was, free thought was discouraged, because there was that in every +Church which would not bear its light; that her wise father was one of +a hundred in recognizing this, and trying to shield her while she was +young. + +You are also to remember that she was young, and therefore forgive her +that she did not detect the contradictory sophistry in the professor's +words. He really understood how to sugar-coat poison as well as any man +of his stamp could. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +"HERE WAS HIS OPPORTUNITY." + +BUT the question which would keep forcing itself an Gracie Dennis was +this: "If he really knows of nice books, full of 'the beautiful' and +'the ennobling,' that would enlighten the race, as he has often told +me, why doesn't he mention some of them now? There is no minister here +'trammelled by long years of narrowing education.' How does he know but +that these people are as advanced in their ideas as he is himself?" + +I do not mean that she was conscious of thinking these thoughts, but +that they hovered on the edge, as it were, of her mind, making her feel +ill at ease. + +Dr. Everett, on his part, seemed courteously bent on securing an +expression of the professor's opinion about matters of which he either +could not or would not talk. When at last the disturbed gentleman +resolved to violate what Gracie was a law of good breeding, and +address her in French, what with her embarrassment lest others should +understand, and her own marked ignorance of the language, she found +great difficulty in making a free translation. + +"Upon my word, I wish you understood French or some other tongue, so +that we could escape from this boredom. Does the poor little prisoner +have much of this to endure? Cannot we escape to the music-room and +talk things over?" + +Gracie cast a frightened glance about her to see if there were others +who understood better than herself this sentence, which, for aught she +knew, might contain something startling. But Alfred was busily engaged +in looking up the name of a book which he had vainly tried to recall, +and Dr. Everett was apparently serenely oblivious to any language but +his mother-tongue. + +Very soon after this Gracie managed to escape with her caller to the +music alcove: thus much of the French she had understood; and, at +least, Professor Ellis could play, which fact she resolved that the +people in the front parlour should speedily understand. Ah, but he +could play, and herein lay one of his strong fascinations for the +music-loving girl. For a time the most ravishing strains rolled through +the parlour, hushing into rapt attention the group gathered there, who +had just been reinforced by the coming of Mr. Roberts. By degrees the +strains grew fainter and fainter, and at last ceased altogether, as the +professor, still on the music-stool, bent over Gracie seated in a low +chair, and apparently found fluent speech at last. + +Mrs. Roberts, meantime, was ill at ease. What would Dr. Dennis and +Marion say, could they have a peep at this moment into her back +parlour? Was she being faithful to her trust? Yet what was there she +could do? She tried to sustain her part in the conversation; but her +troubled gaze, constantly wandering elsewhere, betrayed her. + +Dr. Everett's keen eyes were upon her. + +"Are you particularly interested in that man?" he asked abruptly. + +Mrs. Roberts smiled faintly. + +"I am particularly interested in that girl," she said. + +"How do you like her present companionship?" + +"Not at all," she answered quickly. + +Whereupon Mr. Roberts began to question. + +"May I know, doctor, whether you have any other reason than that of +intuition for asking the question?" + +"Possibly not," said the doctor guardedly. "It may be a case of +mistaken identity.—Mrs. Roberts, would you like to have me investigate +something that may be to his disadvantage?" + +Mrs. Roberts had a prompt answer ready. + +"There are reasons why it is specially important that such an +investigation should be made and reported to me. May I commission you?" + +The doctor bowed; and the subject of Professor Ellis was immediately +dropped. + + +During the following week certain innovations took place in Mrs. +Roberts's well-ordered household. At the end of the conservatory was a +long, bright, and hitherto unfurnished room. It had been designed as a +sort of second conservatory, whenever the beauties of that department +should outgrow their present bounds; but meantime other plants had +taken root and blossomed in the mistress's heart. Early in the week the +unused room had been opened and cleaned; then began to arrive packages +of various shapes and sizes; a roll of carpeting, and two young men +from the carpet store; and there followed soon after the sound of +hammering. Furniture-waggons halted before the door, leaving their +burdens. Men and women flitted to and fro, busy and important. + +It was Saturday night before Mr. Roberts and his young clerk were +invited in to admire and criticise the new room. Mr. Roberts, at least, +was prepared to appreciate its transformation. + +The floor was covered with a heavy carpet in lovely shades of mossy +green, and easy-chairs and couches in tints either matched or made +delightful contrasts with the carpet abounded. The walls were hung +with pictures and charts and maps. A study-table occupied the centre +of the room—one of those charming tables, full of mysterious drawers +and unexpected corners; paper and pens and inks in various colours were +disposed about this table in delightful profusion. Other tables, plenty +of them, small and neat, each of a different shape or design, were +stationed at intervals, in convenient proximity to comfortable chairs. + +Nothing could be further removed from one's idea of a schoolroom than +was that long, beautiful parlour. Yet when you thought of it, and took +a second, deliberate survey, nothing that could have contributed to +the enjoyment of pupils was missing. A small cabinet organ occupied an +alcove, and music-books of various grades were strown over it. Toward +this spot Mrs. Roberts smiled significantly as her eye caught Alfred +Reid's, and she said,— + +"I have visions of sacred Sabbath evening half-hours connected with +this corner, one of these days; meantime, is this a pleasant room for +our Monday evenings?" + +But Alfred could not answer her. His head was turned away, and there +was a suspicious lump in his throat that made him know better than +to attempt speech. He was standing at that moment under one of the +wall-texts that the gaslight illumined until it glowed, and the words +stood out with startling clearness:— + + "Let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober." + +His sister's text; one that, perhaps more than any other, was on her +lips when she talked with him; one that hung at her coffin's head when +he, a little boy, stood beside the coffin and looked down at her face, +and looked up at that text, and took a mental photograph of both to +live in his heart for ever. + +"This is your special chair," Mrs. Roberts said, smiling up at him. + +And he understood her,—here was his opportunity to live out that text +for his sister. Wouldn't he try! + +"Well," said Gracie, drawing a long breath, "as a study it is certainly +a success. One can easily see, Flossy, why you were born with the +ability to tell at a glance what colours harmonized, and just where +things fitted in. I can't imagine anything prettier than this, and I +cannot imagine what you are going to do with it." + +Whereupon they sat down to talk that important question over—what they +were going to try to do. Sometimes I have wondered whether Esther, +from her beautiful home, could look down on it all, and whether she +smiled over the fact that her work was doing so much more than she had +planned? She had roused in her little brother an ambition that had +grown with his years, and that had helped to hold him away from many +temptations: so much, doubtless, she had foreseen; but what a blessed +thing it was that she had touched, in those long-ago years, influences +which had drawn her brother, in his young and perilous manhood, into +intimate relations with such people as Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, so that +they sat down familiarly to talk over mutual interests! But for +Esther's words, spoken long ago, but for her strong desires transmitted +to him, he might have sat with a very different circle, and talked over +widely different schemes. + +On the edge of this circle Gracie Dennis hovered. She could not but be +interested in their talk, for she was a Christian, and her father was +a Christian, and she had all her life breathed in the atmosphere of a +Christian home. + +At the same time, she could but imagine some of their ideas wild ones, +for she had never been associated with people who widely overstepped +the conventional ways of doing things. And she had, of late, been much +with Professor Ellis, who had a sort of gentlemanly sneer for every +phase of Christian work, and, so far as could be discovered, believed +in nothing. He had not been outspoken, it is true, and herein lay one +of the dangers. He was too skilful to be outspoken; but the subtle +poison had been working, and although Gracie could not help being +interested in those queer boys, she could not help thinking Flossy's +whole scheme exceedingly visionary, and expected it to come to grief. + +The puzzling question was, why did Mr. Roberts, being a keen-sighted +man, permit it all? Or was he so much in love with Flossy that he could +not bear to thwart even her wildest flights? It was strange, too, to +see a young man like Alfred Reid so absorbed; his sister must have had +wonderful power over him, Gracie thought. She went back to his sister's +influence, always, in trying to explain the matter, and never gave a +thought to Christ's influence. Meantime she listened to the various +plans proposed for the first Monday evening, and was sufficiently +interested to gather her pretty face in a frown when the distant peal +from the doorbell sounded through the house. + +"What a pity to be interrupted by a caller!" she exclaimed. "This room +is so much nicer than the parlour. Flossy, don't you hope it is some +one to see Mr. Roberts on business?" + +"No," said Mrs. Roberts, shaking her head, with a smile; "I feel in +special need of Mr. Roberts just now.—Evan, I really think we must be +excused to callers for this one evening, there are so many things to +arrange." + +"Let us wait and see," answered Mr. Roberts; "perhaps the Lord has sent +the caller here to help us, or to be helped." + +At that moment came the card. + +"Oh, it is Dr. Everett!" was Mrs. Roberts's exclamation. "Let us have +him come directly here. Evan, please go and escort him. You were right; +the Lord has sent him to help us. I don't know how, I'm sure; but he is +just the man to help everywhere." + +And the circle instantly widened itself to receive Dr. Everett. + +It took almost no time to speak the commonplaces of the occasion, and +get back at once to the business of the hour. It was evident that +Dr. Everett needed no lengthy explanations, and there was apparently +nothing bewildering to his mind in the plan. True, it was new to him; +but he seemed to spring at once to the centre of their thought. His +eyes glowed for a moment, and he said with peculiar emphasis,— + +"Reid, when the Son of man cometh, he will surely find 'some' faith on +the earth!" + +Then he gave himself to intensest listening and questioning, and +presently followed his questions with suggestions which showed that +unconventional ways of working were not altogether new to him. + +As for Gracie, she had as much as she could do to listen intelligently. +She almost caught her breath over the rapidity with which the talkers +moved from one scheme to another. All the time there was a curious +process of comparison between this man and Professor Ells going on in +her mind. Not that she wished to compare the two. She told herself +that it was absurd to do so; none the less she did it. For instance, +she reminded herself that she had mentally assented promptly to the +suggestion of inviting the doctor to this room to talk this strange +scheme over; she had recognized the fitness of the act. But suppose +Professor Ellis should call, would it not be simply absurd to think of +explaining to him the uses of this unique room? Who would for a moment +think of suggesting his name as a helper? + + +I do not know how to describe to you the appearance of that room on +Monday evening when the boys were in it. I do not know whether the +sight to you would have been pitiful or ludicrous. How can I tell, +not knowing you? There was a dreadful incongruity between the soiled, +ragged clothes and matted hair and unwashed hands and the exquisite +purity which prevailed around them. Of course you could have seen +that; but the all-important question, the answer to which would have +stamped your place in the world's work-shop, would have been, Do you +see any further than that? And seeing further, which way? Do you see +the possibilities, or the certainties of failure? Oh, no, I am wrong; +it would take more than that to tell where you belong. + +Dr. Everett saw the possibilities, and gloried in them. Gracie Dennis +thought she saw the certainty of failure, and was sorry for it. But +Professor Ellis would have seen the certainty of failure, and would +have met it with a sneer, if he had not been too indifferent even for +that. As for Mrs. Roberts, did she or did she not represent a different +and higher type than any of the others? She thought not much about +either success or failure, but pushed steadily forward the plan that +she believed she had gotten on her knees, born of the Spirit. If it +really were of God, nothing could make it fail; but if she mistook, and +the plan was only hers, mere failure in that direction would signify +nothing: she would have but to try again. Something of this she felt +but did not reason out, for she was no logician. + +What the boys saw was a great, splendid room, the like of which they +had never seen before, for they recognized, without being able to +explain, the difference between it and the parlours, and felt freer +in it. They all came, and they looked not one whit better than on the +Monday evening before. + +Over this fact Gracie Dennis, with all her public scoffing, was, in +private, a little disappointed. It is true she had not expected to see +them again; but "if" they came, she thought it possible that they might +have been tempted to appear with clean hands and faces. Possibly some +were so tempted, and but for the difficulties in the way, might really +have tried for this. But Gracie was not sufficiently enlightened to +dream of difficulties in the way of simply washing one's face and hands. + +During the Saturday evening conference it had been decided that Mr. +Roberts must make acquaintance with his guests. It would never do to +have them come familiarly to his house, and he not be able to recognize +them on the streets. Several plans were suggested for introducing him +skilfully to them, but he disapproved of them all. + +"No," he said; "I'll tell you what we'll do. I will introduce myself. +You may receive them, Flossy, and then retire for a few minutes, +and I'll let myself in by the conservatory passage, and make myself +acquainted to the best of my abilities. In ten minutes, Flossy, I'll +give you leave to return. As for the rest of you, don't dare to venture +in until I have made good my claim as the head of the house. I am +jealous of you, perhaps." + +To this plan Mrs. Roberts readily assented, but the young clerk +looked doubtful. In common with the rest of the employés, he stood in +wholesome awe of the keen-eyed, thorough business man, who seemed to +know, as by a sort of instinct, when anything in any department of the +great store was not moving according to rule. His knowledge of Mr. +Roberts, outside of the store, was limited, and he expected to find the +boys, if not frightened, so awed that they would resolve never to be +caught inside that room again. + +However, he, of course, only looked his fears. He was too much afraid +of the great merchant to express them; and it had been understood, when +they separated, that this plan was to be carried out. + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +"I WONDER WHAT THEY'RE ALL AFTER." + +IN the library waited Gracie and Mr. Reid, while Mrs. Roberts went +merrily to see whether the boys or their host had proved the stronger. + +"I don't believe this part of the programme will work," Alfred said +confidently, the moment the door closed after Mrs. Roberts. "Those +fellows will all be afraid of Mr. Roberts, and we shall lose what +little hold we have on them." + +"They don't look to me as though it ever occurred to them to be afraid +of anything," Gracie said. + +But Alfred Reid, who had studied deeper into this problem of the +different classes of society, was ready with his answer:— + +"Yes, they are; they can be awed, and made to feel uncomfortable to +the degree that they will resolve not to appear in that region again. +One cannot judge from their behaviour in Sabbath school. Some way they +recognize mission school as being in a sense their property, and behave +accordingly; but in a man's own house, surrounded by things of which +they do not even know the name, he has them at a disadvantage, and can +easily rouse within them the feeling that they are 'trapped,' than +which there is nothing those fellows dread so much, I believe." + +"But they were not afraid of Flossy last week, even surrounded by the +elegancies of her parlours and dining-room." + +"Ah!" he said, his eyes alight. "She has a wisdom born of God, I think, +for managing these and all other concerns. She is unlike everybody +else." + +Whereupon Grace Dennis laughed; not a disagreeable laugh, but +there came to her just then a sense of the strangeness of thinking +that pretty Flossy Shipley, whom she had known all her life, and +half-scorned from the heights of her childhood because she was a silly +little thing, who could not do her problems in class, should have a +wisdom unlike any others. Yet, almost immediately her laugh was stayed, +because the change in Flossy was so great that she, too, recognized it +as born of God. Sometimes it came with force to this proud young girl +that if God could do so much for Flossy, what might he not be willing +to do with those whom he had made intellectually her superior, if they +were but ready to be led? + +The young man, who was studying her, watched the grave look deepen on +her face, and wondered at its source. What a pretty face it was! Oh, +much more than pretty; there was great strength in it, and sweetness, +too, of a certain sort, but he could not help comparing the sort with +that in some other faces, and he wondered over the difference. This +young lady was a Christian. Why should her Christian experience stamp +her with such a different expression from that which others wore? He +always finished this sort of sentence with a blank space first, as +though he did not choose to have himself tell himself any names. Yet he +spoke a name forcibly enough, still gazing earnestly at Gracie. + +"Did you ever meet Miss Joy Saunders?" + +Gracie turned toward him a laughing face. + +"No; but we are very anxious to, Flossy and I. We have both been told +that we ought to know her, and told so earnestly that we really think +we ought. Who is she? Is she, too, unlike anybody else?" + +"Very," he said promptly. "I know her very little; she is the daughter +of our landlady. I meet her in the hall on rare occasions, and +sometimes catch glimpses of her just vanishing from some room as I +enter; but as for being acquainted with her, I suppose I am not. I +think—though of that I am by no means sure—that she is engaged to Dr. +Everett. + +"Oh then, of course he would think naturally that people ought to know +her. What is she like?" + +"Like nothing," said Alfred, with great promptness. "Did you ever know +a person named Joy?" + +"No;—what a singular name!" + +"Well it fits. She is very far removed from mirth, and she is not what +people call gay, and she is not outspoken apparently at any time, +though, as I say, I do not know her; but there is something in her face +that fits the name. I do not know what it is. Sometimes I think it is +the shining of Christ's face reflected in her; but the puzzle is, why +do not other faces have it—faces which belong to him?" + +"Perhaps there is a difference in the degree of belonging." + +Gracie spoke the words very gently, wondering meanwhile at the way in +which this thought chimed in with hers about Flossy. + +"Oh, there is. But why should there be? If I belong to Christ, I +belong, don't I? There is no half-way service possible. Why do I not so +look that others take knowledge of me that I have been with Jesus?" + +"How do you know but they do?" + +"Ah, I know—I know too well. They are more likely a great deal to +take knowledge that I have been with Satan. I feel the frown all over +my face a great deal of the time; and the world goes astray a great +many times, when I suppose it is just myself that is wrong. But, Miss +Dennis, I hunger for the shining of his face in me." + +"That must be the meaning of the beatitude which puzzled my childhood," +she answered, trying to speak lightly, to hide feelings that were +deeply moved: + + "'Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for +they shall be filled.'" + +"Thank you," he said smiling; "there is actually a promise I had +not thought of it. And yet—" the thoughtful frown gathering almost +immediately—"do you suppose that a person who really hungered for a +certain thing could be satisfied with anything else? I often have +an hour of what at the moment seems to me like hunger for Him; but +the hour passes, and I get filled with business, or with plans, or +possibly with annoyances, and feel nothing but a general irritation +for everybody. Do you think there can be anything genuine about such +desires, so easily turned aside?" + +"Oh, I do not know," said Gracie hastily. "Why do you ask me such +things? Did not I tell you I was not good? Ask those people who are +unlike all others. Why don't you ask this Joy? She could tell you, +I presume. I can tell you nothing, save that this is a very strange +world, not half so nice as I once thought it, and I don't like to think +about things." + +How different he was from other young men with whom she had spent +fifteen minutes many a time in gay banter! This was, after all, the +thought uppermost in her mind at that moment. Nice Christian men, of +whom her father spoke well, and who, people said, were young men to be +proud of, it seemed to her that she knew them by the dozen, yet with +which one of them had she ever carried on such a conversation as this? +With which one could she have attempted anything of the kind, without +leading him to suppose that she was taking leave of her senses? + +She recalled some of the gay words that she had spoken with these +others, and tried hurriedly to decide why it would sound to her +perfectly absurd to talk with Alfred Reid in that way. However, she did +not want to talk with him; he was too full of questionings. + +"And questions," said poor Gracie, "are all that I can ask myself. I +want somebody to talk with who is assured of the ground on which he +stands, and can tell me why he stands there." + +There was not time for further talk; they were summoned to the new +room. Bursts of laughter greeted their ears as they made their way +eagerly across the hall, and Gracie took time to remark that the boys +were certainly not awed into silence, before the opening door let them +into the brightly-lighted scene. Every boy was laughing, not quietly, +but immoderately, and the centre of attraction was evidently Mr. +Roberts. + +"I have been giving our friends an account of an old army experience," +he said, in explanation to Gracie, "and we have been enjoying a laugh +together over the old memory.—You are all acquainted with Miss Dennis, +I think, young gentlemen?" + +Clearly there was no need for any one to introduce Mr. Roberts to the +boys; apparently they knew him now better than they did any of the +others. Yet as Gracie, after shaking hands with each of the guests, +took a vacant seat by Nimble Dick, she was greeted with a confidential +whisper:— + +"That's a jolly chap as ever I saw; and I never heard anything to beat +the yarn he told us for cuteness. Who is he?" + +"Why, he is Mr. Evan Roberts, the owner of this house." + +"My eyes!" said Dick, gazing about him in a startled way. "Look here; +he ain't that Roberts from the big store in Fourth Street?" + +"Yes, he is; he is one of the partners in that store." + +Then did Nimble Dick give a low whistle—suddenly cut short as the other +boys looked at him—and sat up straight in his chair, and for at least +a minute was awed, or else was bewildered. If his mind could have been +looked into for a moment, something like this might have been seen +there: + +"And here I am sittin' in one of his chairs, and been laughin' to kill +over his funny story! If this ain't the greatest lark out! I wonder +what they're all after, anyhow!" + +Then the real business of the evening commenced. + +I should like to describe that evening, but it is really worse to +describe than the boys. It was designed to be one of those most +difficult evenings, where every act and almost every word has been +previously arranged, but arranged in such a manner as to appear like an +impromptu effort, the result of merely the happenings of the hour. + +For instance, Mrs. Roberts aimed at nothing less formidable than the +teaching of these boys to read and write, and knew as well as you or I +know it, that to frankly own that she was ready and willing to give her +time and patience to so teaching them would be to outwit herself. They +did not belong to the class who can be beguiled into evening schools. +There are such. Mark Calkins would have seized such an opportunity +and rejoiced over it, but these were lower in the scale; they did +not realize their need, and they had what they in ignorance called +"independence;" they were not to be "trapped" by evening schools. +Therefore it required diplomacy; and no people can be more diplomatic, +on occasion, than certain most innocent-looking little women. Mrs. +Roberts had studied her way step by step. + +Therefore it was that by the most natural passage possible she led the +way to a discussion of different styles of writing, bringing forth to +aid her a certain old autograph album which had been to many places +of note, among others Chautauqua, and had the names of distinguished +persons, as well as of many who were not distinguished, except for +Christian endurance in consenting to write in an autograph album. Good +writers were talked about and selected, and poor writers were talked +about; and it was said by some one, accidentally of course, that a good +hand was really an accomplishment. + +"It is more than that," declared Mr. Roberts. "A man's business +life often turns on it. I have myself had to turn away from several +otherwise suitable helpers in our business because they really could +not write a good, clear hand, that could be read without studying.—Are +you a good writer, Miss Gracie?" + +This remark, coming suddenly to Gracie from her host, almost +embarrassed her; for you are not to suppose that the very words by +which these themes should be introduced had been planned, and it had +not occurred to Gracie that so personal a question might be asked her. +But she rallied quickly:— + +"No, sir; I am sorry to say that I am not. I write what papa calls a +mincing hand—all jumbled up together, you know, or running into each +other, the letters are, and so difficult to read that papa said when I +came away, he hoped I would call on his friend, Doctor Stuart, every +day, and write a letter on his type-writer." + +"What is that?" interrupted Nimble Dick, his face curious. + +"What? A type-writer? Oh, it is a strange little machine used instead +of the pen—at least, a very few people use it. It is quite new, I +think, and must be very curious. I never saw one, but the writing +looks just like print. Dr. Stuart, a pastor in the city, is my papa's +friend, and writes to him on his, and papa reads the letter with great +satisfaction, saying to me,— + +"'There, daughter, that is something like! People who cannot write well +enough for others to read should print.'" + +"They are not so very uncommon, Miss Dennis," explained Dr. Everett, +who saw the eagerness on Nimble Dick's face. "It is a comparatively +new invention, but is being caught up very promptly. I think nearly +all the leading lawyers use them, and those who do not own them are +getting their copying done at the rooms. They are very ingenious little +instruments." + +"Did you say you never saw one?" + +This question from Mr. Roberts to Gracie, and he added:— + +"Mrs. Roberts, I believe you have never had other than that first +glimpse I showed you in the Parker Building. I have an idea. Suppose I +hire one of the little fellows to interest us? It would be pleasant to +look into it and see how it works. Did none of you ever see one? + +"Well, now, we'll try for that on next Monday evening. I'll have one +sent up to-morrow; and, Miss Gracie, we'll appoint you showman for +the following Monday, so it is to be hoped that you will employ your +leisure in learning how to manage the creature, and perhaps send your +father a readable letter at the same time." + +Now, as may readily be supposed, all this about machinery had not been +arranged for beforehand, but was a side issue, born of the fact that +the watchful servant of his Master saw an eager look in the eyes of the +boy Dick directly there was anything said that suggested machinery. One +of the great aims of these evenings was to study character, however +developed. + +Having turned his company from the regular channel, Mr. Roberts made +haste to put them skilfully back where they were before:— + +"Still it would be a pity to resort to machinery simply because one did +not know how to write well. I would rather set to work to correct the +error. I happen to know one of our number who can write a very enviable +hand.—Do you know, Reid, that the letter you wrote me was the first +thing which attracted me to you? I remember I showed the note to one of +our senior partners, who was particularly disturbed by poor writing, +and he said,— + +"'Engage him, Roberts, do! Young man who can write like that will be a +relief.' + +"Mrs. Roberts, I move that we resolve ourselves at this moment into a +writing-class, to be taught by Mr. Reid.—My dear sir, will you take us +in hand?" + +Something of this kind had been planned—at least, it had been planned +that Reid should be asked to do this thing; but he found the actual +asking embarrassing, and struggled with it with flushing cheeks. + +Gracie came to his aid:— + +"I don't know whether I'll take lessons or not. Who wants to expose +one's ignorance? How will you teach? Must we each give a specimen of +our present attainments?" + +Instantly Reid divined the reason for the question. + +"No," he said eagerly; "oh, no; I should begin with those horrors of +your childhood, pothooks or something of that sort—lines and curves, +you know. There are not many of them after all in our letters, and when +once a person has conquered them, it is easy to put them together." + +There was more talk, easy and social. + +Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, the doctor, and Gracie seemed equally interested +in the project, and questioned young Reid, until he assured them that +he began to feel like a veritable professor. Apparently the boys were +forgotten. This very fact put them at their ease, and they listened +interested and amused over the thought that these ladies and gentlemen +wanted to go to school. + +At first I do not think it occurred to one of them that he was included +in the proposal to form a writing-class. + +How was it done? I am not sure that any one of the eager group of +workers could have told you afterward, so excited did they become over +this first scheme. Nobody could remember just what words were said, nor +who said them, nor whether the boys all looked equally startled when +paper and pen were put into each hand. They remembered that some shook +their heads emphatically, and that Nimble Dick spoke plainly: + +"No you don't! I can't write any more than a duck can, and I never +expect to." + +Mrs. Roberts knew that Dirk Colson's dark face turned a fierce red, and +he indignantly snapped the offered pen half-way across the table with +his thumb and finger. But of these words and acts nobody apparently +took any notice. The writing began, and the first marks given as copies +were so simple, looked so easy to do, and the attempts of the ladies +and gentlemen fell so far short of what the teacher desired, and were +so unmercifully criticised by him, and the criticisms were so merrily +received by the writers, that at last the whole thing took the form of +a joke to Nimble Dick's mind, and he became possessed with a burning +desire to try. + +One by one the boys stealthily followed his example, Alfred taking care +to watch eagerly, to commend both Stephen Crowley and Gracie Dennis in +the same breath for some true stroke, and criticise both Mrs. Roberts +and Nimble Dick for not holding the pen aright. + +The entire party became so interested that only Mrs. Roberts knew just +when Dirk Colson stealthily brought back his pen from the distance to +which it had been rolled, and, sitting upright that he might attract +the less notice, tried his hand on the curve which was giving even Dr. +Everett trouble. + +When the young teacher discovered it, he made also another discovery, +which he proclaimed:— + +"Upon my word—I beg the pardon of each of you—but Colson here has made +the only respectable R-curve there is in the company." + +Then if his sister Mart had seen the glow on Dirk's face, I am not sure +that she would have known him. There was a momentary transformation. + +As for Mrs. Roberts, she bowed low over the letter she was carefully +forming, but it was to say in soft whisper heard by one ear alone,— + +"Thank God!" + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +"YOUR'N'S THE WAY!" + +YOU are not to suppose, because this first Monday evening (which, by +the way, was concluded with sandwiches and coffee) was a success, +pronounced so by all concerned, that therefore the ones which followed +were all rose-colour. + +Fortunately, not one of the workers expected this, and so were brave +and cheerful under drawbacks. + +These were numerous and varied. + +After the first novelty wore off, it took at times only the most +trivial excuses to keep the boys away. Sometimes when they came, their +conduct was anything but encouraging. They lolled in the easy-chairs, +smelling strongly of tobacco and other bar-room odours, refused +insolently to apply themselves to any work at hand, audibly pronounced +the whole thing "slow," and in numberless ways severely tried the +patience of both Alfred and Gracie. + +For the others, they had counted the cost—at least the gentlemen +had—and expected to move slowly, even to appear to go backward some of +the time. As for Mrs. Roberts, I have told you that she worked in a +peculiar manner, with the motto, "This one thing I do," apparently ever +before her. + +Each evening was distinct in itself, with efforts to make and obstacles +to overcome; and at its close she had a way of laying it aside, +as something with which her part was done, not attempting even to +calculate results. Then she was ready to turn to a new day, and work +steadily for that. + + +The winter was slipping away, and Gracie Dennis lingered. She could +hardly have told you why, yet there were many apparent reasons. Mrs. +Roberts wanted her, rejoiced in her, and coaxed irresistibly as often +as the thought of going home was mentioned. Then Gracie, laugh over the +peculiar work going on as she might, was undeniably interested in those +boys. She was working for them, therefore of course she was interested. + +"I don't see how you can go this week," would young Reid say to her, +with a perplexed air; "you know we have that matter all planned for +next Monday evening. How can we carry out the scheme if you are not +there to do your part?" + +Then would Gracie laugh, and demur, and admit, to herself only, that it +was very pleasant to be needed—as she certainly was—for one night more; +and so the nights passed. + +Her work was to be "Professor of Elocution," as Mr. Roberts gaily +called her when the workers were alone together. It had been +discovered that she could read both prose and poetry with effect. So +a reading-class was organized, and they chose for the first evening, +not one of Bryant's or Whittier's gems, nor selections from Milton or +Shakespeare, which would have suited part of the company, nor yet the +"Easy Readings" in some standard spelling-book, which would have fitted +the capacity of the others, but, with care and much discussion, one of +Will Carleton's descriptive poems, full of homely yet tender language, +full of pathos and of humour, was unanimously selected. + +The first evening reading had been commenced with nuts and apples. +There are those who can see no connection between this and the +intellectual; happily for the characters with whom she had to deal, +Mrs. Roberts was not one of them. + +While the others were still enjoying the refreshments, she took the +book and read. This was her quiet little sacrifice. It was not pleasant +to her to become a public reader. It required courage to get through +with one verse, with Dr. Everett sitting opposite, and Gracie Dennis +on a low seat at her side, and her husband listening intently. Mrs. +Roberts was not a good reader, and was aware of it. She pronounced +the words correctly, it is true; but when you had said that, you had +said all that there was to offer in praise of her effort. She had some +exasperating faults. But she bravely read the two verses, and some of +the boys listened, and one of them laughed; he had caught a gleam of +the fun in the poem. This, of course, was Nimble Dick. + +Then Alfred Reid made the same effort on the same verses; his +performance was very little better, and he, too, knew it. He could +write, but he was by no means a public reader; this was his offering to +the general good. If those fellows, by reason of his mistakes, could be +induced to climb, he was willing to offer his pride on the altar. No +matter by what petty trials they were caught, so that they were really +caught. + +Then followed Gracie Dennis; and her own father, acceptable preacher +though he was, might with credit to himself have taken lessons of +her. She was certainly, for one so young and so unprofessional, a +magnificent reader. So indeed was Marion Wilbur, and she had enjoyed +teaching Gracie. + +The poem blossomed in her hand. The crunching of nuts and apples +entirely ceased. The boys sat erect, and listened and laughed, and +flushed and swallowed suspiciously, over some of the homely pathos. +They had never heard anything like that before, and they evidently +appreciated it. She read through to the end. + +Then were unloosed the tongues. They exclaimed in delight,— + +"What an accomplishment it is!" said Mr. Roberts. "And how few possess +it! Doctor, how many really fine readers have you heard in your life?" + +"About three," said the doctor laconically. + +"Well," said Mrs. Roberts, "let us all be exceptions.—Gracie, teach us +how. I will try again." + +And she did, on the first verse of the poem, with better success than +before; but how sharp the contrast between her reading and Gracie's, +she knew! It was not easy for her to read. + +I don't know—possibly I am mistaken—but it seems to me that I have +known people ready for large sacrifices, who yet would shrink painfully +from these little ones. + +In discussing the programme for the evening, the question had been, +when each had done his part, How were they to influence the boys to +join? Could they join? Was it probable that they knew enough about +reading to attempt to speak the words of the poem? With reference to +this obstacle, a poem had been chosen full of simple, homely words, +such as are in common use; especially was the first verse free from +what Mr. Roberts called "shoals." Having heard the verse read several +times, it was hoped that some one of the seven might have courage to +attempt it; but Gracie did not believe that such would be the case. + +"I don't see how we can ask them, and do it naturally," said Dr. +Everett. "It is such an unheard-of thing, you know; and I am afraid, do +our best, it will present itself to them as a patronage, and that will +be fatal. The people who are low enough to need patronage are the very +ones who won't endure it." + +Whereupon various ways of managing the matter were discussed and +discarded. Suddenly Mrs. Roberts turned to her young lieutenant, who +had been silent for some time, and said,— + +"What are you thinking of, Mr. Reid Do you see a way out?" + +"No," he said; "I have neither knowledge nor skill in such matters; +but my thoughts just then were faraway. I was thinking how curiously +certain apparently trivial instances of one's childhood will stand out +with almost startling prominence." + +"What sent you off in that direction?" questioned Dr. Everett. "There +must have been an association of ideas." + +"Oh, there was. I was thinking how vividly I remembered a discussion +between my mother and my sister younger than Esther, in regard to +some matter which perplexed them; and when they could come to no +satisfactory conclusion, they appealed to my sister Esther, who was +resting as usual on her lounge. I seem to hear her voice as she said,— + +"'We haven't to do anything about it until to-morrow; perhaps to-morrow +will have a light of its own for our direction.'" + +"Thank you," Mrs. Roberts said, her eyes lighting with an appreciative +smile; "we have not to do anything about this until Monday night, and +perhaps Monday night will see us wise." + +I don't know how many thought of this little conversation when Monday +evening came; but certainly Alfred Reid and Mrs. Roberts did, for +she glanced at him and smiled significantly when Dr. Everett, having +apparently forgotten that anything beyond their own pleasure was in +contemplation, challenged Gracie to a discussion as to the emphasis on +a certain word in the second line; he had never heard it so read, and +he called for an analysis that would sustain the reading, and received +it, and was not yet prepared to yield the point, but read the verse as +he had imagined it should be read. + +And then Gracie, at Mr. Roberts's call, repeated it with her rendering; +and I am not sure but all parties concerned actually forgot their final +object in the interest of the discussion until they were suddenly +called to it by an interrupting voice,— + +"Your'n's the way," it said, with an emphatic nod of a shock of matted +hair—"your'n's the way." + +It was Dirk Colson. He had forgotten for the moment that anybody was +listening to him, save the two readers. He was looking directly at +Gracie, and the nods were evidently intended for her. + +"Of course it is!" she said eagerly, her face flushing with a triumph +that had nothing to do with the right emphasis. + +"You read it, won't you, and show these people that we are right?" + +Afterward, Mrs. Roberts confessed that she involuntarily placed her +hand on her heart with a dim idea of hushing its beating, lest others +would hear, so important to her did the moment seem. + +Dr. Everett looked dismayed. The least hopeful one of the seven seemed +Dirk. None of them knew of his dangerous talent for imitation. None of +them believed that he would make any attempt at reading, but thought +he would shrink into deeper sullenness. All of them were mistaken. He +reached for the book, glanced for a moment over the lines, and then +read the verse with so complete an imitation of Gracie Dennis, and yet +with a voice and manner that so fitted the homely words and the homely +scene described, that the effect was actually better than when Gracie +read. + +Instinctively the cultured portion of his audience greeted the effort +with a clapping of hands. The blood, meantime, rolled in dark waves +over Dirk's face. He had been cheered before. None of his present +applauders could imagine what a set had often clapped their hands +over his successful imitations; but Dirk, who liked applause as well +as other human beings do, had never, in his wildest stretches of +imagination, placed himself before such people as listened now, and +received their approval. + +Great was the excitement and satisfaction. The six companions, far from +feeling any emotion of jealousy, seemed greatly elated, believing that +one of their number had made a "hit" and increased their importance. + +No one else could be found to attempt the verse. Nimble Dick shook his +head good-naturedly, and declared that he would rather "undertake to +run an engine to Californy" than try it; and the others were of like +mind. Then came Gracie to the front again. + +"I'll tell you what you must all do. I have been experimenting with +that type-writer, Mr. Roberts, all the week. You know it will manifold, +with the use of carbon paper; and it chances that when I was seized +with a desire to try its powers in that direction, I chose this very +verse to copy. So I have fifteen good copies in print. You must each +take a copy and make this verse a study until next Monday; then I shall +challenge you all to sustain me in my reading." + +This proposition was hailed with such satisfaction by the older members +that it immediately became popular, and each boy received his copy +mechanically and gazed at it curiously, but Dirk Colson's thoughts were +turned in a new channel. + +"Look here!" he said, detaining Gracie by an imperious inclination of +his head, as she handed him the copy. "How did you make these? Didn't +you print them fifteen times? I didn't understand what you said." + +"Why no," said Gracie; "the machine will manifold. I'll show you; come +over to the end window: it stands there waiting to be displayed, and it +is a little wonder." + +Then they crowded around the type-writer, and Gracie, really proud of +the skill she had acquired in a week's time, showed off the little +wonder to great advantage. + +The fact that the type-writer was new to most of the others, that they +were decidedly ignorant as to its working, increased the comfort of +the hour, by doing away with the embarrassing feeling that any one of +them was playing a part. Dr. Everett was no more familiar with the +type-writer than was Dirk Colson, and was just as eager to know about +it. + +Also, everybody apparently felt an equally strong desire to write his +name on the marvellous little creature; and each in turn sat down +before it and moved his awkward hands with nearly equal slowness over +the keys, picking out the magic letters. + +It was this episode that made the workers during their next conference +branch out in new lines. + +"We need something," said Dr. Everett, walking up and down the +floor in puzzled thought—"we need something that shall be a genuine +common interest, of which we are all, or all but one, equally +ignorant—something that we can take hold of with zest, on as low a +platform as the most ignorant of those seven. I was convinced of that +when I saw the abandon with which we all went into the type-writer +business with a naturalness and equality that, in the matter of reading +and writing, it is impossible for us to feel. If the machine were +complicated, so that it would take us each three months or so to master +it, that would do. What can we take up that will place us on a level?" + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +"WE HAVE BEGUN BACKWARDS." + +"WELL," said Mr. Reid, "we should want to have one of our number not +'on a level.' How would it do to appoint you, Dr. Everett, to give us +a few lectures in hygiene? Popular lectures about air and exercise and +ventilation and bathing, and all sorts of every-day topics about which +people are ignorant." + +"That's a capital idea, Reid. Those fellows could certainly be +benefited by a little attention to such questions; and I'm sure the +rest of us would like to hear of the principles which govern these +important laws. Such lectures put into popular form are decidedly +interesting, I think. Let us vote for them." This was Mr. Roberts's +hearty seconding. + +But the doctor laughed. + +"There is a ludicrous side to it which you do not see," he said. +"Imagine me holding forth on the importance of ventilation, for +instance, to a poor fellow who comes from a region where father +and mother, and a horde of children of both sexes and all ages, +crowd together in one room, and that a cellar, where the sun never +penetrates, and the air that crawls in through the one small window is +reeking With even more impurities than can be found inside; or talking +about bathing to the poor wretches who have no clothes to change, and +barely water enough, by carrying it long distances, to satisfy their +most pressing needs! + +"Still, Reid, I'm not quarrelling with your idea. There is a sensible +side to it; there are things that I could tell even those boys which +might interest them, and would certainly be to their advantage to +know. The subject is one which can be popularized to suit even such +an audience. I'll try for it occasionally if it shall seem best, but +it doesn't meet my demand. I want us all on a platform where we shall +start in equal ignorance and get on together. Of course you are all +more or less familiar with all the facts that I should have to present, +and the boys would know it. They are sharp fellows; it wouldn't take +them an hour to discover that we were fishing for them; and if there is +any one thing on which they are at present determined, it is probably +that they will not be benefited. What is there that one of us knows +of which the others are ignorant? French won't do, for Miss Dennis is +acquainted with that language, I think, and so are you, Reid, are you +not?" + +"Well, I can stammer through a few sentences. I don't speak it like a +native, as you do." + +At this revelation a vivid blush glowed on Gracie Dennis's cheek. She +remembered Professor Ellis's comments in French. Then the doctor had +understood, though his face was so imperturbable! What could he have +thought of the courtesy of her guest? + +Meantime Mr. Reid wore a perplexed face. + +"You are right," he said to the doctor; "we are not enough on a level; +I felt our advantage last night when Miss Dennis was explaining the +type-writer. But I don't see the way clear. What subject is there on +which all but one of us could meet on common ground, and that one could +turn professor?" + +Here interposed Mr. Roberts, speaking in a meek tone of voice:— + +"If I were not a modest man, I should venture a suggestion; as it is, I +really don't know what to do." + +The doctor turned to him quickly:— + +"Out with it, man; if you are master of a profession, or a trade, or a +theory, unknown to the rest of us, you are bound on your honour as a +member of this unique organization to present it." + +At the same moment Mrs. Roberts came to his aid. + +"O Evan, teach us shorthand!" + +Whereupon Mr. Roberts heaved what was intended to appear as a sigh of +relief, and announced that his modesty was preserved. + +Upon this suggestion they seized with eagerness; not one of them knew +anything about phonetic writing, save Mr. Roberts, and he was master of +the art. + +"It is the very thing!" the doctor said with heartiness. "I should like +exceedingly to learn it, and Reid and the ladies may be able to make it +useful in a hundred ways; and as for the seven, if they really master +it, it may be the foundation of a fortune for some of them." + +So, without more ado, it was planned that on the very next Monday +evening the subject should be skilfully presented, its importance +and its fascinations discussed, and the boys be beguiled into taking +a first lesson, sandwiched in between the all-important reading and +writing lessons. + +Alas for plans! On the very next Monday the conspirators, with the +exception of young Reid, were together by seven o'clock. The faint +aroma of coffee floated through the room. A fruit-basket filled with +oranges occupied a conspicuous table, and everything waited for the +guests. + +While they waited, instead of enjoying themselves as the four were +certainly capable of doing, they were noticeably restless—listened +for the shuffling of careless feet on the steps, and the sound of +uncultured voices in the hall, and waited expectantly whenever the bell +pealed, only to be obliged to send word to some caller that "Mr. and +Mrs. Roberts were engaged." + +The special occupation of the four seemed to be to look at their +watches and to remark that the doctor's was a trifle fast, and to +wonder if half-past seven would be a more suitable hour for the boys, +and to wonder what could be detaining Reid. + +At last it was half-past seven, and then it was fifteen minutes of +eight, and then it was ten minutes of eight! + +And then the doorbell rang again. It was Reid, and he was alone! One +glance at his distressed face told the lookers-on that something was +amiss, even before he exclaimed:— + +"You won't see a boy to-night!" + +"Why?" "What is the trouble?" "Where are they?" + +These were the various ways of putting the same question. + +"One of the M'Cullum partners has become interested in the boys, it +seems, and has concluded that he will try what he can do towards their +elevation; so he has commenced by presenting each one of them with a +ticket to the Green Street Theatre, and there they are at this moment!" + +This startling intelligence was variously received. + +Dr. Everett exclaimed,—"Is it possible?" + +Gracie Dennis remarked that it was something like what she had +expected; Mrs. Roberts said not a word; and Mr. Roberts added to the +astonishment of the moment by bursting into a laugh. + +Poor Reid seemed to feel the laugh more than anything; his face +gathered into heavier clouds than before, he bit his lip to hold back +the vexed words that were just ready to burst forth, and strode almost +angrily to the farther corner of the room. + +An embarrassed silence seemed to fall upon the others. At least Gracie +felt embarrassed; the doctor looked simply expectant. + +At last Mr. Roberts drew himself up from his lounging attitude and +broke into the stillness. + +"Ah, now, good people, don't let us make serious mistakes! Come back +here, my dear young brother, and let us look this thing in the face, +and talk it over calmly. Are we children playing at benevolence that at +the first discouragement we should cry out,— + +"'All is lost!' And retire vanquished? + +"Come, I laughed because really this does not seem such a serious +matter to me as it seems to present to the rest of you. + +"What did we expect? Here are seven boys, right from the gutters; +somehow we have had them laid on our hearts, and have enlisted to help +to fight the battle that is going on about them in this world. Christ +died to save them, and Satan means that the sacrifice shall be in vain. +He is bringing all his powers to bear on them, and he has many and +varied powers. + +"Here comes into the scene a man benevolently inclined—not a Christian, +but in his way a philanthropist. By accident, he has come in contact +with one of the boys; by accident, he learns that something—he does +not know quite what—is being attempted to benefit them. Can't you give +him the credit of being honest? The only thing he thinks of that he +can do to help is to give them an evening's entertainment. At one of +the decent theatres there is being presented what seems to be known +in their parlance as a 'moral play!' So he presents each boy with a +ticket. Now, what did we expect of those boys? + +"Last week a lady and two gentlemen who have been members of our church +for years left the regular prayer-meeting and went to the Philharmonic +concert. + +"Ought we to expect that it would even occur to our seven boys to give +up what to them is a rare treat for the pleasure of spending an evening +with us? As for the moral obligation, they have probably never so much +as heard the words. + +"Isn't it time we knew what we were about? What are we after? It is +well enough to teach the poor fellows to read and write, and to help to +lift them up in other ways, but our efforts will amount to very little +unless we succeed in bringing them to the great Lever of human society; +unless Christ takes hold of this thing we shall fail. Now, has he taken +hold? Is he, at least, as much interested in them as we are? Is his +Holy Spirit preceding and supplementing all our efforts? And if this is +the case, is an evening at a theatre going to ruin his plans?" + +Long before these earnest sentences were concluded, Reid had returned +from his distant corner and taken a seat near his employer. His eyes +were full of tears, and his voice trembled:— + +"I beg your pardon, Mr. Roberts; I'm an ignorant blunderer; I did feel +for the moment as though everything were lost." + +"We have begun backwards," said Mr. Roberts. "I was reading to-day what +a mistake the missionaries made for years in trying to 'civilize' the +Greenlanders. And what a perfect failure they made of it until one day, +almost by accident, a man began to tell them about Christ on the cross, +and the story melted them. I don't think we have thought enough about +him in this matter." + +"I stand convicted," Dr. Everett said; "I've made the same mistake, I +believe, in all my efforts for people. I have been praying for them, it +is true; but after all, I feel now as though there had been too much +relying on human means, and not enough on God. It is a case of 'these +ought ye to have done, and not to have left the other undone.'" + +"Well," said Mr. Roberts, looking at his watch, "we are in the same +condemnation; it is, I believe, the most common and one of the most +fatal mistakes that Christian workers make. But there is a way out. We +expected to spend until ten o'clock with those boys. It is nearly nine +now: suppose we spend the next hour with Christ, asking for the power +of the Holy Spirit on any and every effort that we may make for them in +the future? Our ultimate aim is to bring every one of them to Jesus, +and he knows it; now if we have gone about in the wrong way, we have +only to ask his forgiveness and look to him steadily for guidance. What +do you say, friends? Shall we spend the hour in taking them to the only +One who really can afford them lasting help?" + +I suppose that he who "maketh the wrath of man to praise him" is +equally able to manage the folly of man. Could the injudicious +philanthropist have looked into that room that evening, and heard the +prayers that went up to God for those boys, and understood something +of the power of prayer, he would have had one illustration of how God +manages the foolishness of men. + +It was a very earnest prayer-meeting. These workers had each one bowed +in secret, and with more or less earnestness asked for God's blessing +on their efforts; but it occurred to them that evening, as a very +strange thing, that they had never unitedly prayed for this before. + +Therefore, there was an element of confession in all the prayers that +moved Gracie Dennis strangely. Especially was this the case when she +heard her old acquaintance, Flossy, pour out her soul's longings. It +happened, so strange are the customs of Christians, that though this +was the daughter of a minister of the gospel, herself a Christian, +she had never before heard a lady pray in the presence of gentlemen. +She had heard of their doing so, heard them criticised with sharp +sarcasm. Some of the criticisms which had sounded full of keenness and +wit when she heard them, recurred to her at this time, and some way, +with Flossy's low, earnest voice filling her heart, they dwindled into +shallowness and coarseness. All the same, their baneful influence was +on her, and helped to hold her back from opening her lips, for the +critic had been Professor Ellis. + +When the hostess and her young guest were left alone together that +evening, the latter had a question to ask:— + +"Flossy Shipley!"—the name, you will remember, which she always went +back to when excited. "I didn't know you believed in praying in public! +Have you changed in everything?" + +"In public, my dear!" with a quiet smile. "Why, I am in my own house." + +"Oh yes, but you know what I mean—before gentlemen. Do you really think +it is necessary?" + +"As to that, Gracie, I don't believe I thought anything about it. I +wanted to pray for those boys, and so I prayed." + +"And didn't you really shrink from it at all? How very queer! Flossy, +I do believe nobody was ever so much changed by religion as you have +been. I don't see what makes the difference. I'm sure I think I'm a +Christian, but I could never do such a thing as that." + +"Not if you believed it to be your duty?" + +"But I don't believe it," said the fair logician, her face flushing; +"I think it is out of place. I beg your pardon, Flossy, I don't mean I +think it sounded badly in you; but only that for me it would be horrid, +and I couldn't do it." + +"Then what are you talking about, my dear? If you should never consider +it your duty, you would certainly never be called upon to do it." + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +"OH, WHAT A NICE THOUGHT!" + +THIS very calm view of the question gave Gracie time to recover from +her excitement, and to laugh at her folly. + +Then Mrs. Roberts said, still speaking very gently,— + +"I don't want to argue with you, dear, and I couldn't if I wished—you +know I am a dunce about all such things; but I just want to ask you a +little question. You need not answer me unless you choose—not now, that +is; perhaps some time we may want to talk about it. I would like to +know the reasons that people have for thinking that it is out of place +for a lady to kneel down with her Christian friends and speak to Jesus +about a thing that they unitedly desire, and that they believe he is +able to do for them? If it is not proper to speak before them, why is +it proper to speak to them on the same subject?" + +This question Gracie carried to her room for thought. + + +Meantime, as Dr. Everett and young Reid went homeward, they had a talk +together. + +"When I found out that those boys had gone to the theatre to-night I +was completely discouraged," declared Reid. "It seemed to me that our +work was a failure; I could almost see Satan laughing over the success +of his scheme. I never felt so about anything in my life. And now it +seems to me that perhaps the Lord will let it result in being the best +thing that ever happened to us." + +To all of which Dr. Everett made the apparently irrelevant answer,— + +"Mr. Roberts and his wife are singularly well mated; how perfectly they +fit into each other's thoughts. Reid, you and I have a great deal to +learn from them." + +"I have," said Reid meekly. + + +Yet another bit of talk closed this evening. + +"M'Cullum has given me an idea," Mr. Roberts said to his wife as they +sat together reviewing the day. "Not a bad one, I fancy. I wonder when +we can act on it and watch results? There are tickets for other places +besides theatres. Why couldn't we furnish them for some entertainment, +lecture, or concert, or something of the sort that would be really +helpful? The only difficulty is that there are few helpful places, as +yet, within reach of their capacities. It takes an exceptional genius +to hold such listeners." + +But his wife, her face aglow, clasped her hands in an ecstasy of +delight. + +"What a beautiful thought!" she said. "And how nice that it should come +to you just now, when there will be such a splendid opportunity to put +it in practice! Why, don't you know? Gough, next week—half-a-crown +tickets; on temperance, too! How grand! And, Evan, let us give them +each two tickets. I want that Dirk Colson to take his sister. Perhaps +he will not, but then he may; one can never tell. O Evan, won't it be +nice?" + +"Ah!" said Mr. Roberts. "As usual you are ahead of me. I had not +thought of the two tickets apiece. That is a suggestion for their +manliness. Flossy, we'll try it." + + +Yet another bit of talk. + +They shambled down the stairs from the second-rate hall at a late hour +that evening—those seven boys; quiet for them, though the play had been +exciting, and not remarkably moral, "viewed" from the standpoint of a +Christian. + +"After all," said Nimble Dick, breaking a silence with speech, as +though the subject of which he spoke had been under discussion among +them, "after all, it was rather sneaking to bolt and say nothing; I +kind of wish we hadn't done it." + +"That's what I told you all along," said Dirk Colson with even unusual +sullenness; "but you would go and do it, and we was fools enough to +follow you." + +"And I'll bet she had oysters or something!" This from Jerry Tompkins. +You have probably no idea how hungry he was at that moment. + +"They was goin' to do somethin' new to-night—that there Dennis girl +told me so when I met her on the street yesterday; something that we +would like first-rate, she said— a bran-new notion." This was Stephen +Crowley's contribution to the general discomfort. + +"Well," said Nimble Dick, and the sigh with which he spoke the word +would have gone to Mrs. Roberts's heart, "I s'pose it's all up now; I +shouldn't wonder if we never got another bid; I wouldn't if I was them, +I know that. And their old theatre wasn't no good shakes, after all. +We've been a pack of fools, and I don't mind owning it." + +Whereupon, having reached the corner, they separated and went glumly to +their homes. And this is gratitude! What a pity Mr. M'Cullum, who had +been smiling over his benevolence all the evening, could not have heard +them! + + +The weeks that followed this night were crowded with trifles on which +hung important and far-reaching results. This is a very trite saying, I +know. All weeks are crowded with eventful trifles—at least, we in our +blindness call them trifles, although we are constantly discovering +their importance, and being constantly astonished over them. + +Among other things, the seven boys became nine, having taken to their +companionship two choice spirits, apparently worse than themselves, +and appeared at the South End Mission with all the bravado that boys +of their stamp are apt to put on when they feel somewhat ashamed of +themselves. The consequence was that the trials which Mrs. Roberts had +to endure from them, though a trifle less apparent to others, were not +a whit less distressing than usual. + +But before the session was concluded they were treated to a sensation +that held them in silent astonishment for nearly five minutes. Any +person well acquainted with Alfred Reid could have told that he +had a plan in view, and was trying to carry it in the face of some +opposition. He looked convinced, and Mr. Durant looked astonished and +troubled; there was much low-toned talk between them, and some shaking +of head. Apparently, however, Mr. Reid came off victor, for his brow +cleared, and he presently made his way to Mrs. Roberts's side and said +a few words, and must have been gratified by the sudden lighting up of +her face and her eager,— + +"Oh, what a nice thought! Even if it fails apparently, it will not +utterly, for the suggestion will help them." + +In the course of time the new idea came to the front. There was to be +a festival, or a social, or an entertainment at the South End in the +course of a few weeks—a sort of anniversary of the starting of the +mission. Among other work that was in progress, the decoration of the +room, involving the hanging of pictures, banners, mottoes, wreaths, +etc., required some strong arms and willing hands. Committees were to +be formed. Two weeks before, teachers had been appointed to prepare a +list of committees. It fell to young Reid to appoint the committee on +decoration. When he was called upon for his report, he came promptly +forward, like a man ready for action, and commenced,— + +"A committee of four has been deemed amply sufficient for decoration, +and I appoint for the purpose the following: Richard Bolton, Morris +Burns, Miss Gracie Dennis, and Miss Annie Powell." + +The teachers, who had been long at the mission, looked from one to +another with a bewildered air. Morris Burns they knew—a clear-eyed +young Scotchman, with willing hands and feet ever ready to run off +errands for all workers, a boy of nineteen or so, whom everybody liked, +warmhearted, unselfish, and thoroughly trustworthy. Annie Powell was +one of the older girls in Mr. Durant's Bible-class—a sweet-faced, +lady-like little factory girl, who would work in with Morris Burns +nicely. Miss Gracie Dennis was Mrs. Roberts's beautiful young friend. +All the teachers knew her, and all thought it very kind in her to throw +her strength and taste into the preparations as heartily as though she +were one of them. But who was Richard Bolton? Nobody knew. Yet their +knowledge of business etiquette told them that he was chairman of the +decoration committee. Where was he? Not a teacher, certainly, for they +were intimately acquainted with one another; and they knew no such name +in the one Bible-class made up of trustworthy helpers. + +Over in Mrs. Roberts's class, with the single exception of the teacher, +there was equal ignorance. The nine boys had stopped their restless +mischief to listen, because there is a sort of fascination to boys +in all the details of well-managed business. They liked to hear the +appointments; but who Richard Bolton might be seemed not to occur to +one of them. It is true that Jerry Tompkins nudged Nimble Dick in +anything but a quiet way with his elbow, and murmured, "You've got a +namesake it seems in this 'ere job." Yet no light dawned on them. + +Mr. Durant, who, it is possible, has not appeared to you in a +favourable light, for the reason that he was being much perplexed +by the entirely new methods being introduced among the boys who had +heretofore driven him to the very verge of desperation, was really a +quick-witted man, and having succumbed to what he feared was a wild +experiment, knew how to help to carry it out properly. He came briskly +to the front—Alfred's committee being the last on the list—and began +his work. + +"The chairmen of these different committees will be kind enough to +report to me as rapidly as possible the time and place of their first +meeting for consultation, and I will make the announcements." Then he +stepped to Mrs. Roberts's class. "Bolton," he said, bending toward that +astonished scamp, and speaking as though this were an every-day affair, +"you are chairman, I believe, of the decoration committee; where and +when will you have them meet?" + +Imagine Nimble Dick's eyes! Nay, imagine the eyes and faces of the +entire nine! It would have been a study for an artist. + +For a moment Nimble Dick was speechless; then he managed to burst forth +with,— + +"What in thunder are you talking about?" + +"Your committee," said Mr. Durant politely, ignoring the manner of the +questioner. "You must call them together, you know, to plan your work. +Where shall it be, and when?" + +"I ain't got no committee; and I ain't got no place to meet nobody; and +I don't know what in thunder you're after." + +Then came Mrs. Roberts to the rescue. + +"Why, Mr. Bolton, you can meet at our society parlour, you know. It is +the very place, and will be so convenient for Miss Dennis." + +"What's to meet, and what's to do?" said Dick defiantly. "I ain't going +to meet nobody." + +"Why, it is just to hang mottoes and banners, and trim the room for the +anniversary. Of course you'll help; I would have the meeting arranged +there by all means." + +"Very well," said Mr. Durant quickly, as though he had received the +answer from the chairman himself. "Now as to time, you ought to come +together to-morrow evening if you could; there is a good deal to do." + +"Mr. Bolton, couldn't you come up at six o'clock for once? Then you +could get your work all done before the time for our social. I can +arrange for Annie Powell to be there at that time; and, Mr. Durant, +doesn't Morris Burns work for you? Could he be present at six o'clock? +Then I don't see but your meeting is nicely planned. You can be there +at six, can't you, Mr. Bolton?" + +"I tell you I don't know nothin' what you are talking about." + +Nimble Dick, who was rarely anything but good-natured, was surprised +by the bewilderments of the situation into being almost as fierce as +Dirk Colson was habitually; the gaping amazement of his boon companions +seeming to add to his irritation. + +"But you will," said his teacher cheerily. "It is an easy matter to +explain. Miss Dennis knows all about such things, and I'm going to +help, though they haven't honoured me with an appointment." + +At a sign from the lady, Mr. Durant stepped back to his platform and +announced,— + +"The chairman of the committee on decoration desires me to say that +his committee is called together to-morrow evening at the Young Men's +Social Parlours, No. 76 East Fifty-fifth Street, at six o'clock, +'sharp,' as the chairman has another engagement at seven." + +"I had to coin a name for the place of meeting," he said to Mrs. +Roberts afterwards. "I beg your pardon if it was wrong; but Reid has +been giving me glowing accounts of that room, and you said something +about its being a social parlour, didn't you?" + +"It is a good name," said Mrs. Roberts. "We have awkwardly called it +the 'new room.' I am glad it is christened. I will have some curtains +hung through the centre to-morrow to make 'parlours' instead of parlour +of it. I can see how a second room can be made useful in several ways." + +Thus was the bewildering committee whirled into existence; the chairman +thereof being still so dumbfounded with his position that he did not +rouse until the laughing boys, by whom he was surrounded, began to +take in some of the fun of the situation, and to assail him right and +left with mock congratulations, ill-suppressed groans, hisses, and the +like. Then he turned towards them with new-born dignity that would have +fitted Dirk Colson, and said,— + +"If you fellows don't shut up and behave yourselves something like +decent for the rest of the time, I'll chaw half-a-dozen of you into +mincemeat as soon as we are out of this!" + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +"HAD HIS EXPERIMENT BEEN TOO SEVERE?" + +DR. EVERETT was driving rapidly through the city—at least, as rapidly +as the crowded character of the streets would permit. He was out on +professional duty, and had just been congratulating himself that his +regular calls were now made for the day, and unless something special +intervened, he should have a couple of hours free for the alleys. + +That meant professional duty, too, and of the very hardest character, +one would suppose, as it brought him in contact not only with sickness +in some of its most repulsive forms, but with abject poverty as well, +and too often with loathsome forms of sin; yet he went about this +work with a zest that his regular practice did not furnish. This +was something done solely for Jesus' sake, and with an eye that was +manifestly single to his glory. + +He had already selected his alley, and was planning how, when his +horses were safely stabled, he could make a crosscut to it, when his +eyes were held by two persons who were ascending together the stairway +that led to one of the public halls. His face darkened as he watched +them. Apparently they were engrossed with each other, and took no +notice of him; but there were reasons why he specially desired to keep +them in view. A network of carriages and waggons such as is common to +crowded thoroughfares blocked his path just then, and prolonged his +opportunity to watch the two. + +They made their way in a very leisurely manner up the long staircase, +letting others, more in haste, pass them continually. Yet presently +they joined the group who were passing up tickets of entrance. + +The doctor signalled a policeman, and entered into conversation:— + +"What is going on in Seltzer Hall?" + +"Well, sir, there's a kind of a concert, I guess. They play on goblets, +they say just common glass goblets—and make fine music." + +"An afternoon entertainment?" + +"Yes, sir, as a kind of introduction, you know; they expect to get a +crowd for evening by this means." + +"Do you know where tickets are to be had?" + +The policeman indicated a bookstore at his left by a gesture from his +thumb, and said, "Right here," and offered to secure some at once. He +knew Dr. Everett; many of the policemen did. + +His offer was accepted with thanks, and the doctor presently wound +his way out from the network with two green tickets in his pocket. +His plans for the afternoon had been suddenly changed. Instead of +spending the time in Sewell Alley, he had decided to attend a musical +exhibition, the instruments being goblets! + +He must make all speed now, so he left the crowded street and dodged +through several by-ways to the stables. + +No use to keep his horses. "She would be afraid to drive through such +crowds," he explained to himself, "and I should be afraid to leave the +carriage standing." + +Rushing out from the stables, he caught just the right street-car, and +in a short space of time was ringing at Mr. Roberts's door. + +Gracie Dennis was in the hall, dressed for the street. + +"Ah," said the doctor, "I am either fortunate or unfortunate, I wonder +which? I had set my heart on having you for a companion to what I fancy +may be a unique entertainment. Is there another engagement in the way? +I know this is a most unconventional method, but a doctor is never sure +of his time." + +But Gracie Dennis felt too well acquainted with Dr. Everett, and +was too young and ready for enjoyment, to be disturbed about +conventionality. She merrily declared her willingness to be taken to +whatever entertainment the doctor had to propose. Mrs. Roberts was out +with her husband on business connected with church matters, and she had +only intended to walk a square or two for her health. + +On the way the doctor was very quiet, Gracie having most of the talking +to do herself. The truth was, he was trying to recall the faces of the +people he had seen crowding into the hall, to make sure that he was not +taking Gracie among people whom he would not care to have her meet. +Apparently the couple whose movements had changed all his afternoon +plans were not a sufficient guarantee of respectability. + +However, his face cleared as he recalled one and another as being in +the crowd seeking admission; they might not be of the class with whom +Gracie was accustomed to mingle, but they were respectable people. + +Gracie was in a merry mood. She understood enough of the doctor's busy +life to feel sure that this sudden resolve to be entertained was quite +out of his ordinary line, and that of itself served to mark the hour as +exceptional. + +"He feels the need of a little every-day fun," she told herself, "and +I'll help him to have it if I can. Poor man! It must be doleful to go +among sick and dying people all the time." + +They were late at the hall; the concert was well under way; but there +were plenty of vacant seats. Dr. Everett swept his eye over the room; +then indicated to the usher just which seat he would have. It was one +which commanded a view of the young man and woman who seemed to have +such a mysterious influence over his plans. + +He was relieved to find, quite early in the entertainment, that it +really was unique, and, in its way, well worth her hearing. Had the +surroundings been agreeable, he could easily have given himself up to +enjoyment. However, they had been seated but a few moments when he saw +by Gracie's startled eyes that she had seen and recognized at least one +of the couple at their left. + +Professor Ellis, in his usual faultless attire, lounged gracefully +on the seat in such a manner that his side-face was distinct; he +rested a well-shaped arm on the back of the seat next him, and his +delicately-gloved hand almost, if not quite, touched the shoulder of +his companion. + +Both he and the lady at his side gave extremely little attention to +the entertainment in progress. Apparently they had come thither for +purposes of conversation. They kept up a continuous murmur of talk, +interspersed at intervals with rippling laughter, and really seemed so +entirely absorbed in each other as to have at times forgotten that the +hall was public, and that the attention of many was being turned toward +them. + +The girl was pretty, extremely so, with an entirely different style of +beauty from Gracie Dennis; and a certain indescribable something in her +face and manner would have told even the most casual observer that she +moved in a different circle. It was not her dress, unless that was a +little too pronounced for the place and hour; but quite young ladies in +good society sometimes make a similar mistake. Neither was her manner +objectionable to the degree that you could have pointed to any one +thing as offensive; yet you would have been sure, had you watched her, +that she was without the pale of what we call society. + +Gracie Dennis watched her with a kind of fascination, becoming at last +so absorbed with the watching, and the apparently troubled thoughts +which grew out of it, that she gave but slight attention to Dr. +Everett's occasional remarks, nor seemed to observe that at last, he +lapsed into total silence. + +Once, during the hour, the young woman glanced casually in their +direction, and the careless nod and free and easy smile with which she +acknowledged Dr. Everett's presence drew a startled glance from Gracie +to rest on him for a moment. + +"Now I wish I had my horses," the doctor said, as at last they made +their way down the aisle. "I have a mile's drive up-town to take, and I +think the exercise might be good for you." + +Gracie caught at the suggestion, and begged to be allowed to remain in +the bookstore below while he went for the horses. + +"I want a ride, and I want to talk with you," she said simply. + +As this was precisely what he wanted, he went for the horses without +more delay. + +Meantime, Gracie, in one of the windows of the bookstore, was supposed +to be employed in examining a recent book, but in reality gave much +attention to the couple who were crossing the street, or rather waiting +for an opportunity to do so. + +They seemed in no haste, but were conspicuous, even in the crowded +street, for their interest in each other. More than one policeman +regarded them narrowly, as Professor Ellis stood with head bent toward +the lady, engaged in eager and animated conversation. It was just the +attitude of absorbed interest with which he had so often listened to +Gracie—not on the street, it is true, but in some crowded parlour—and +it had flattered her. + +It made her frown to-day. + +They were starting now to make the disagreeable crossing. He had taken +his companion's hand, preparatory to a leap over a muddy spot; but +Gracie could see that there was a pressure of it that was unnecessary, +and, for the street, peculiar. His face, too, was distinctly visible, +and the expression on it was what Gracie had seen before, but certainly +she supposed no other person had. + +Altogether it was probably well for Professor Ellis's peace of mind +that he did not turn at that moment and get a glimpse of the young lady +in the bookstore. Instead he took his lady away, and they were lost in +the crowd. + + +Dr. Everett, making all haste with his horses, had still time for +anxious thought. Had his experiment been too severe on Gracie? Was it +possible that her interest in the man was such that the afternoon's +experience had been mixed with pain as well as with disgust? He could +not believe it possible that the pure-hearted young girl cared for such +a man as Professor Ellis. Yet there had been a look on her face when +she saw those two which startled and hurt him. + +When fairly seated in his carriage, he did not speak until they had +threaded the maze of waggons and reached clear ground. Even then, he +only said, "Now for speed," and gave the horses their desire, until +crowds and business were left behind, and they were driving down a +broad avenue, lined on either side with stately yet quiet-looking +houses. Then he drew rein, and obliged the horses to walk; he had by +this time resolved on probing the wound, if there was one. + +"I wish I knew just how much of a villain that man is." These were the +somewhat startling words which broke his silence. + +"What man?" Yet the very tones of Gracie's voice indicated that she +knew of whom he was speaking. + +"That man Ellis—Professor, I think he is called. I have reason to be +very suspicious of him. By the way, Miss Gracie, I think he is an +acquaintance of yours. Have you confidence in him?" + +How promptly and indignantly such a question would have received an +affirmative answer two months before! What should she say now? + +"In what respect?" she faltered, more for the purpose of gaining time +than because she did not understand the question. + +"Well, in any respect, I am almost prepared to say. I have not the +honour of the man's acquaintance; but whatever I hear about him, or see +in him, I dislike and distrust. Just at present his ways are specially +disturbing. You noticed him this afternoon, I think! The young girl in +his company belongs to my Sabbath school. I have a deep interest in +her, partly because she is the sort of girl who is always more or less +in danger in this wicked world, and partly because she is capable of +strongly influencing another, who is a special protégé of mine." + +"Who is the girl?" Gracie's manner was abrupt, and her voice +constrained. It was evident that she was making great effort to control +herself, and appear indifferent to all parties. + +The doctor took no notice of her constraint. + +"Her name is Mason, Hester Mason. She attends the Packard Place Sabbath +School, which you know I superintend. She is motherless, and worse than +fatherless; is a clerk in one of the Fourth Avenue stores; and is, or +was, inclined to be what is called gay. I do not know that that term +conveys any special meaning to you; in young men I think they call the +same line of conduct 'fast.' I hope and believe that you would not well +understand either term; yet, I think, possibly, that watching her this +afternoon in a public hall will give you some conception of the stretch +that there is between yourself and her." + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +"SOME PEOPLE ARE HARD TO WARN." + +HAD Dr. Everett desired in a few words to show Gracie the gulf +between herself and the man who had been the girl's companion for the +afternoon, perhaps he could not have formed his sentence better. + +She shivered visibly, and the doctor drew the carriage wraps more +carefully about her, while he continued:— + +"I would not want to give you a wrong estimate of Hester Mason, nor +lead you to imagine for a moment that I believe a girl who serves +behind a counter cannot be a true lady. I wanted rather to explain to +you that her opportunities had been limited. She means to be a good +girl, I think; in fact, I may say I have the utmost confidence in her +intentions. She is not a Christian, but a few weeks ago I had her +name on my note-book as one who was almost persuaded. She has been +fighting the question of personal religion for some time; her special +stumbling-block being that she is quick-witted, and has quite a clear +idea of how Christians ought to live, and can find very few who seem +to her to be living what they profess. However, as I say, I have been +very hopeful of her until within a few weeks, when she came in contact +with this man, and I tremble for the result. He is constant in his +attentions, and she is evidently flattered and dazed." + +"How long has he known her? How did he become acquainted?" Abrupt +questions still, asked in that curiously repressed voice. + +The doctor's face was growing very grave and stern. He feared that +there was a real wound here. + +"Inadvertently, Miss Dennis, it seems that both you and I are to blame, +or, at least, are involved in the acquaintance. Do you remember a +little incident which occurred in a street-car some six weeks ago? A +young woman, in leaving the car, dropped a package, which you noticing, +called our attention to, and pointed out the person crossing the +street; and Professor Ellis announced his willingness to overtake her +and return the package, as he was about to leave the car. Miss Mason +was the person in question, and Professor Ellis presumed on that very +slight introduction to cultivate an acquaintance. I have learned that +he quoted my name in connection with the incident, and since that day +has been on terms of exceeding intimacy with Hester." + +Gracie was surprised out of her reserve. + +"I remember the incident perfectly; but the girl I saw this afternoon +cannot be the one who was on the car." + +"Yes; she was in holiday attire to-day, and in her working garb when +you saw her momentarily on the car. I remember a feeling of regret that +Professor Ellis should have so promptly volunteered to do your errand; +yet I did not know what I dreaded. I simply shrank from the man, and +wanted others to do so." + +"Dr. Everett, what is his motive in showing her attention?" + +"I wish I knew. I can tell you what I greatly fear—that it is to play +with the human heart; to see to what extent he can gain power over it. +And in this case, certainly, it is a most cruel thing. The girl has +no friends, no father or mother, to advise with or help her. She is +bright and pretty, and is being shown glimpses of a world that seems to +her like fairyland. She is dazzled, and one cannot blame her, for she +has neither carefully-formed judgment nor trustworthy friends to lean +upon. Miss Dennis, you can judge from her manner this afternoon what +is her knowledge of the customs of polite society. I do not think she +has an idea that she was conspicuous, save for her beauty and the fine +appearance of her attendant. She is not one to shrink from what she +would consider legitimate public admiration, and this you can see but +adds to her danger." + +"But, Dr. Everett, you do not think, you cannot mean, that he intends +to pay her special attention—that he means anything more than the +desire to give her a little pleasure?" + +"Well," said the doctor, speaking slowly but with firmness, "you may +judge, Miss Dennis, what I think—what any honourable person thinks—of +a man who bestows in public the sort of attentions which we saw this +afternoon. You would have been insulted by them. The only reason that +this poor girl was not, is because she does not know any better. Did +you observe the flashing of a peculiarly set ring on her finger? I have +reason to fear that it belongs to him, and that she believes herself +specially honoured in being asked to wear it." + +Poor Gracie's cheeks were flaming now. She had not observed the ring; +but she knew it well, and for one brief evening had worn it herself, +and then had returned it to the owner with the assurance that she +could not bring herself to wear it without her father's consent. She +remembered what a wound she had felt herself bestowing when he had +looked at her with those expressive, reproachful eyes, and replied that +if she felt toward him as he did to her, she would not allow even a +father to come between them. And he had actually given that ring into +the keeping of this girl! + +They rode on in silence, the doctor giving a hint to the horses that +they might go as fast as they chose. He was in great doubt and pain of +heart. Could it be possible that this carefully shielded young girl was +caught in the toils of a man whom he believed to be an unprincipled +villain? + +If so, had he been unnecessarily cruel in his revelations? Ought he to +take her home, or drive further and give her time to recover herself? + +Could he have understood what was passing in her mind, he would have +known better what next to say. + +The simple truth was this: before she came to Mrs. Roberts, the child +had believed herself to be a martyr to the unreasonable prejudices of +her stepmother. She had been led to feel that her father had turned +against her, solely because of his wife's influence over him; and that +the wife was piqued because Professor Ellis had not paid her sufficient +attention in the days of her maidenhood. This, the professor had +succeeded in teaching Gracie to feel, was the sole charge against him. + +He was therefore an ill-used man, and therefore her heart went out +towards him in sympathy. It had not been at first a stronger feeling +than this; but, flattered by his attentions, so much more marked and +polished than had ever been offered to the young girl before, she had +taught herself to believe that, but for her father's bitterness, she +could be to Professor Ellis what he delicately and vaguely assured her +no one else could, and fill a place that hitherto in his lonely life +had been left void. + +She had not engaged herself to him; indeed, he had never in actual +words asked her to do so. But to the young and innocent and +well-trained there is a language which speaks as clearly as words, and +is held as sacred. Gracie had allowed herself to be looked upon as one +who was held by others from being more to Professor Ellis than she was, +who might always, perhaps, be held back; for she had resolved in her +own sad heart that she would never marry against her father's consent, +no, not if she were twice of age. + +Of late, strange revelations had come to her. She had measured +Professor Ellis with other men, Christian men, and he had appeared at +a disadvantage. Also, she had measured herself by the side of other +Christian workers, and herself had appeared at a disadvantage. A vague +unrest and dissatisfaction with her Christian experience were growing +on her. Moreover, she was growing interested in those boys as she had +not believed that it would be possible for her to be interested when +she first saw them. She began to believe that some of them at least +would be saved. She wanted to help to save them, and to help others. +Her martyrdom dwindled rapidly into insignificance, until there would +pass entire days in which she did not once remember that she was an +unhappy girl. + +At last, but a week or two before this afternoon, she had taken her +affairs in hand, and tried to look steadily at them. The result of her +hours of thought and prayer was that she was bound to Professor Ellis: +that is, provided there should come a time in the dim and distant +future when her father should give his consent, it would be her duty +and her pleasure, because of what had passed between them, to marry +him. Still, she began to feel less amazed at her father's opinion of +him, less angry about it. She began to say to herself, softly and +pitifully: + +"Poor, lonely man! He has no one to be his friend. He is not a +Christian, and that is what makes so great a difference between him and +others. It is that which papa misses. But I must not desert him; I must +pray for him all the time, and work for his conversion. Then he will +grow to be the sort of man whom papa can like, and everything will be +right." + +And while she said it, she was dimly conscious of a feeling of +satisfaction over the thought that she was very young, and that it +would be a long, long time yet before anything could be settled. And +that meantime, it certainly was not right for her to have anything to +do with Professor Ellis, only to pray for him. And that perhaps her +father would allow her to carry out a project that was under delightful +discussion in the Roberts family—namely, to remain in the city as a +pupil in the famous Green Lawn School. And she did not know,—foolish +little thing!—that so far even as her heart was concerned everything +was wrong. + +Perhaps it would be difficult for me to explain to you—that is, if you +do not understand without explanation—what a turmoil she was thrown +into by this afternoon's experience. She was far from realizing as yet +that the uppermost feeling even now was not wounded love, but wounded +pride—of what poor stuff she had been making a hero! Nothing had ever +opened her eyes like this before. Was it possible that she had spent +entire evenings with a man who stooped to set in unpleasant, even +suspicious light, not his own character only, but that of an ignorant +young girl? + +It would not do to plead a lack of knowledge in excuse for him; he +might be ignorant of the ways of the Christian world, but no one +understood better the rules which governed society. During part of the +afternoon she had been very angry with the girl; but after listening to +Dr. Everett, it began to dawn upon her that her friend had been playing +with the ignorance of a girl who probably trusted him fully. You are to +understand that Gracie Dennis was the sort of girl who would be made +very angry by such a suspicion. The glow on her cheeks was not all +caused by the fresh air of the spring day. + +"Dr. Everett," she said at last, breaking the silence, "what do you +think he means by asking the girl to wear that ring, or by letting her +wear it? Does he—do you suppose that he has engaged himself to her?" + +"I wish I knew what he meant!" Dr. Everett said again, a surge +of indignation rushing over him. "If he really meant anything so +honourable as that, it would be bad enough business for poor Hester; +but, as I said, I distrust the man utterly, and from my experience with +the world I have reason. From your knowledge of him, Miss Dennis, could +you suppose him to be honest and earnest in his attentions to that +girl?" + +It was a very plain question. It meant more to Dr. Everett than even +Gracie saw, but she saw enough to know that she was admitting an +intimacy that made her blush. However, she answered steadily,— + +"No, I cannot think that he is honest or honourable." + +"So I fear. Witness this afternoon. Gentlemen do not parade their +friendships before the public gaze, and that man knows it." + +The doctor's voice was very stern. He was sure now that there was a +wound, and that it was being probed. He believed in making thorough +work even with wounds; there would be more hope of genuine healing +afterward. + +Gracie's next question, if her companion had but known it, was a +singular one. + +"Why have not people who are her friends warned her against him, +and held her back from making such a false step, if she does it in +ignorance?" + +O Gracie Dennis! How are warnings sometimes received, even by +carefully-trained girls, who have every reason to trust the love that +would shield them? + +"Some people are very hard to warn," said the doctor. "I have tried it, +and I have a friend who has tried to help her; but the poor girl, you +must remember, has not been brought up in a Christian atmosphere—has +never had a Christian friend who came with the authority of +relationship. If she had a good father, the way would be made so plain. +As it is, can't you see how naturally she distrusts the rest of us, in +favour of the man who makes special professions of friendship? I am not +surprised at Hester, I am only sorry for her." + +Had the doctor been carefully informed as to all the circumstances +connected with Gracie's intimacy with the professor, he could not have +chosen words which would have touched her conscience more. Had not her +good father tenderly and patiently warned her? And had she not chosen +to blind her eyes to all his words, and believe rather in Professor +Ellis than in him? + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +"PART OF THE GREAT WELL-TO-DO WORLD." + +"I MUST call at this house," the doctor said, suddenly drawing rein +before a quiet little house at the foot of a wide lawn. "The gatekeeper +of this American castle has a sick child whom I have promised to see. +Can you hold the horses, Miss Dennis, or shall I tie them? This is a +quiet spot, and they are gentle." + +"I am not afraid of anything," Gracie said, eyes aglow as well as +cheeks. + +And the doctor went into the house wondering whether Professor Ellis, +if he could see her now, would not be afraid of her. + +Once inside, he gave a start of surprise, almost of dismay, for the +face which appeared at the open door of the sick-room belonged to Joy +Saunders. + +"You here?" he said, trying to control the disturbed element in his +voice. + +She answered quietly,— + +"I came out by street-car. Did you drive?" + +"Yes," he said abruptly; "but I am not alone. How is the child?" And he +went forward at once to his professional duties, leaving her to wonder +over his manner. + +It was peculiar certainly. Joy Saunders was used to abruptness from +this man, but there was a quality in it to-day that she did not +recognize. She went and looked out of the window, and saw Gracie Dennis +holding the horses—saw her red, "red" cheeks and flashing eyes, and the +peculiar, haughty poise of her head, with which the stepmother at home +was well acquainted. + +She did not know this Gracie Dennis save by reputation. Once Dr. +Everett had asked her to call at Mrs. Roberts's, and had made her feel +as though she were foolishly conventional in declining to do so. + +"How is she ever to know you, according to the rules which trammel +society? There ought to be some way arranged for Christians to be free +from trammels." + +This had been his comment; but he had not asked her again, and she had +never met Mrs. Roberts, nor yet Gracie Dennis. Yet she knew her very +well, and had watched her often as she passed. She knew instantly who +she was now, as she sat there in her haughty beauty, checking with +determined hand the impatience of those horses. Oh, she knew more than +this! It was very apparent now why Dr. Everett was peculiarly abrupt, +and—well, yes—embarrassed. She had almost thought that was the name of +the feeling, only it had seemed so absurd. And then Joy Saunders held +her meek little head high, and told herself that he need not fear her +presence; she could go as she had come, in the street-car. + +The doctor came towards her now, speaking rapidly es usual:— + +"Joy, the child is very sick. There ought to be an experienced person +here to-night. Not you; I am sorry you came up. Do you think your +mother would come? Will you ride down with me? I have Miss Dennis in +the carriage, but it is quite large enough for three, you know." + +Then Joy had turned away her head, holding it high, and said,— + +"No, thank you; I am going down in the street-car." + +And that blundering doctor drew on his gloves, saying to himself, "I +don't know but that is best," and went out, only waiting to say to Joy:— + +"Will you ask your mother about it? I will see her as soon as I can get +around. I wish you would go directly home from here—will you?" + +Then he lifted his hat to her, and sprang into his carriage and rode +away with Gracie Dennis. + +And Joy Saunders waited for the next yellow car, and climbed into it, +and told herself all the way down town that she wished she had stayed +at the little house and watched all night by the sick child. + +The thoughts that Dr. Everett had given to the entire matter were few. +They ran somewhat after this fashion:— + +"Joy here! And I'm afraid of the fever, from all I have heard. I shall +take her home as soon as possible. How will that poor little girl in +the carriage manage with a new acquaintance just now, I wonder? + +"I am afraid it will be quite a strain. Still, I can do the talking, +and let her be quiet. The main point is that I hoped she might have a +suggestion to make about Hester. If she could rouse herself to try to +save that girl, it would be the best thing she could do. If she only +knew it, Joy is the one who could help her in that direction or any +other." + +As they dashed down the avenue, he was still occupied in wishing that +he had urged Joy to ride, and thus forced an acquaintance between her +and the pretty girl at his side. He was not very patient with what he +called the "trammels" of society. When there were two people so fitted +to enjoy and help each other, as were Joy Saunders and Gracie Dennis, +he held it to be a waste in Christian economy that they should not know +each other. + +Too much occupied with his thoughts and his driving to give heed to +passers-by, he lost the careful bow that young Reid had for them as +they drew near the city's whirl again. + +Gracie did not; she returned it with a slightly-heightened colour in +her cheeks, and wondered if that young man knew Professor Ellis, and +what he thought of him, and what he thought of her for being acquainted +with him. + +Sometimes it seems to me a real pity that on occasion there could +not be some way of looking into one another's thoughts. So many +misunderstandings might thus be saved. + +For instance, there was Reid, who went on his way with a clouded +brow. Where had Dr. Everett been? And why was Gracie Dennis with +him? Was it probable that he had been riding for pleasure? The bare +suggestion astonished the young man. He found that he had never before +given room to the thought that Dr. Everett took time for pleasure. +Allowing this to be the case, why had he not taken Joy Saunders with +him? Such a proceeding would have seemed altogether natural, though +the honest-hearted young fellow admitted to himself that, had he been +taking a ride for pleasure, the companion of his choice would not have +been Joy Saunders. It was certainly a bewildering world. + +So trying did young Reid find his thoughts on that evening that he +actually set himself deliberately to learn whether the ride was the +result of chance or design. The consequence was, that he learned not +only of the ride, but of the afternoon entertainment at Seltzer Hall, +with glass goblets for instruments. This increased his astonishment, +and did not lessen the gloom on his face. + +But the two in the carriage, unconscious of the gloomy young man, or of +the sad-hearted young girl riding in a street-car, were almost silent +during the homeward ride, until just as they turned into the avenue +that led to Mr. Roberts's door. Then Gracie said:— + +"Dr. Everett, I should like to know that girl. There are some things +that I ought to say to her, and if I had a chance I would try to say +them in a way to help her." + +"I will manage it," said Dr. Everett, speaking in a quick, relieved +tone. He felt encouraged for Hester now, and greatly relieved about +Gracie. She might be wounded, but she was made of the material of which +he had hoped. She was not going to die herself, nor fold her hands and +see others ruined, merely because she had been deceived. + +He bade her a cheery "Good-afternoon!" And drove away, feeling that, +although he had been obliged to give up Sewell Alley, good work had +been accomplished. He believed now that he understood the situation. + +He was right about one thing: Gracie Dennis had not the slightest idea +of dying. Her mood was better expressed, half an hour later, when she +stood at the parlour window, and returned a low, lingering bow from +Professor Ellis, with a haughty stare from flashing eyes, looking out +from an erect and motionless head. + + +Dirk Colson's brain was in a whirl. He had an important question to +settle. In his pocket were two blue tickets, promising to admit him to +the largest and finest hall in the city to hear the great temperance +orator. Dirk knew very little about orators, but he had heard of John +B. Gough, and everything he had heard made him wish to have a glimpse +of him. You will remember that Dirk was an imitator. He had heard that +Mr. Gough was also, and down deep in his heart the boy had an ambition +to hear the man. Now was his unexpected opportunity. Of course he was +going, but the perplexing thing was, what to do with that other ticket. + +There was Mart! Oh yes, to be sure, he had not forgotten her; but +what a strange thing it would be to take her to a lecture! He had +never taken her anywhere in his life. She had nothing to wear, though +he remembered at that moment that the mother had, by earnest effort, +succeeded in getting her shawl out of pawn. + +There was one incentive for taking her; it would please Mrs. Roberts. +Dirk studied the thing for some time, to try to discover why she should +care, and had finally given up the problem as too great for him. Yet he +was sure she cared; there had been a wistful light in her eyes when she +said, "I thought possibly you might like to take that sister with the +golden hair," that he saw and interpreted. + +It took him three days to decide what he should say, supposing he made +up his mind to ask her. + +Several people were at work helping him, though he knew nothing about +that. Mrs. Roberts remarked one evening to young Reid that she wished +she knew a way to induce Dirk Colson to take his sister, without +actually asking him to do so. She fancied that, besides the advantage +which might possibly directly follow an evening spent in that way, it +would suggest new thoughts to the brother. + +The young man caught at the suggestion, and wanted to help to carry it +out. It was not an easy thing to do. He had not grown intimate with +Dirk Colson; in fact, that misguided young fellow rather resented any +attempt at intimacy. He was, however, acquainted with Sallie Calkins; +the numerous trips he had made to their room during Mark's illness had +brought him into such constant and pleasant contact with Sallie and her +brother that they looked upon him as a tried friend. Sallie, he knew, +was a friend of the shy, golden-haired sister. + +So one evening he went to call at the Calkins's room, with a vague hope +of helping indirectly in bringing to pass Mrs. Roberts's desires. + +To Sallie, he made known the wish that Dirk would take his sister to +the lecture, and secured from her a promise to help the scheme along, +provided it developed. + +After he went away, Sallie sat long at her sewing, making all alone, +by a dim light, one of the most heroic little sacrifices that was ever +offered "in His name." To fully understand it, you must know that Mark +Calkins had recovered sufficiently to take his place in the office +where Dr. Everett had secured him an opening, and an employment that +would enable him to sit most of the time, thereby giving his injured +limb a chance to rest. + +Also, Mark had been admitted to the Monday evening gatherings, and was +distinguishing himself there by his skill in reading and writing. Of +course he had received two tickets, and equally of course, being the +boy he was, he had planned to take Sallie with him to the lecture. + +Great was Sallie's prospective pleasure! The event of her lifetime it +was to be. To walk with Mark through the crowded streets, both neatly +dressed; to walk boldly forward with the throng, and present their +tickets of admittance to the great hall, hitherto seen only from the +outside; to move down the long aisles as those who had a right, and +select their seats unquestioned by police; in short, to be like other +people—part of the great well-to-do world—this was Sallie's joy. + +She had washed and mended her best calico dress; she had sewed buttons +on the pretty cape, according to Mrs. Roberts's directions; she had +tried on the neat bonnet which had been manufactured for her by Mrs. +Roberts's own fingers, and altogether, Sallie had probably gotten, +during these two days, more enjoyment out of Gough's lecture than many +others who had heard him a dozen times ever secured. I do not think it +any wonder that, as she rocked and sewed, and thought out her great +thought, there fell tears on the work she was doing. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +"FOR YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT MAY COME." + +THIS was the thought: Suppose Dirk Colson should want to take his +sister. Sallie did not believe it in the least probable—she had not +that amount of faith in Dirk Colson; but suppose he should, Mart could +not go, for the reason that she would have nothing to wear. + +And here was Sallie's pretty cape, which would cover the worst of her +dress, and her pretty bonnet, which she knew would make a picture of +Mart; but if she lent them, it meant staying at home to Sallie. Could +she do it? Could she bear to think of such a thing? What would Mark +say? What would he do with his other ticket? + +Would she be likely ever to have another chance to go to that wonderful +hall, and be like other folks? + +But Mart had never been anywhere in her life. + +"And I," said poor Sallie, catching her breath with a sob, "have been +often for a walk on the brightest streets, and looked in at the shop +windows, and everything. I 'most know I will help her to go if I can." + +Young Reid had no conception of the sacrifice for which he had asked. + +It is little wonder, surely, that Sallie's voice faltered that same +evening, as she explained to Mart, who had slipped in for a bit of +talk, that if ever she wanted to go anywhere very much, she was to let +Sallie know, and she should have her cape and bonnet to wear. Then she +had anxiously planned for her a way to mend her dress, so that it would +look quite well under the cape, and she had even urged,— + +"Now do, Mart; if anybody should want you to go, don't say you won't, +but take your chance, for you don't know what may come." + +Also she bore with patience Mart's scornful laugh and emphatic +statement that no chances ever came to her, and nobody ever wanted her +to go anywhere. + +As she talked she grew interested and eloquent; urged earnestly that +Mart should embrace the first opportunity to go somewhere, and wear her +new cape and bonnet. At the same time she was silent about the lecture. +Suppose no chance should come? Then it would be doubly hard to Mart to +have had the possibility suggested. The same delicate reasoning had +held her from dwelling on her own prospects. Some people would have +been very much astonished over the amount of delicate consideration for +the feelings of others which could be found in that little room. + +Dirk loitered strangely over his meagre dinner the next afternoon. It +was late, for he had secured a position at last in one of the printing +offices, and was apt to take his meals at any hour when it happened to +be convenient to do without him at the office. He had only been three +days at work, and Mart had taken little notice of the new departure, +except to remark grimly that it would not last. But to Sallie she had +boasted that Dirk had gone to work as hard as anybody. If somebody +could only have told Dirk that his sister ever boasted of him, it might +have helped him much during these days. + +"What are you hanging around for? You've got all there will be to eat +in this house to-day, and it is time you were off." + +This was the ungracious manner in which the sister took note of his +lingering. She was painfully afraid that he had already grown weary of +regular employment, and the fear made her voice gruffer than usual. + +His reply amazed her; in fact, it amazed himself. + +"Mart, I've got tickets to a show—a nice place—and I want you to go +along." + +"Humph!" said Mart. "That is a likely story!" + +Then he grew earnest, displayed his treasures, and urged her +acceptance, quite astonished with himself the while. Did he really want +her to go, he wondered, or did he want to please Mrs. Roberts? + +You would have been interested, an hour later, to have seen Mart +skip up the rickety stairs leading to the Calkins' abode. You would +probably have thought that she endangered life or limb by her rapid +movements; but Mart was used to such staircases, and the news she had +to communicate required haste. + +"There's a chance!" she said, breathless with speed and eagerness. +"Sallie Calkins, there's a chance, and you'd never guess how. Dirk he +wants me to go to a show with him this very night! He's got tickets. It +is a big show, where all the grand folks go. It is in the very biggest +hall in this city, and Dirk he says I am to go. Sallie Calkins, do you +mean it, truly, that I am to wear your lovely new bonnet and cape? Do +you suppose I can really go anywhere? I don't know why Dirk wants me to +go so much, but he coaxed and coaxed." + +Poor Sallie! She stooped quickly to pick up a pin from the floor, so +that Mart might not get a glimpse of her eyes with the sudden tears in +them. Yet, as she stooped, she made her final, grand sacrifice—Mart +should go! + +Then she entered with entire abandon into the preparations. Not only +her bonnet and cape, but her shoes—new ones that Mark had bought her +with his first earnings after his illness—were to attend the lecture. + +She rejoiced over the excellent fit of the shoes. She did more than +this. As Mart watched the process of buttoning them, and remarked +complacently that she shouldn't wonder if Dirk would buy her a pair +some day when he earned money enough, she kept her lip from curling +with an incredulous sneer. You will remember that she had not the +slightest faith in Dirk. + +Neither must I forget that there was another thing to lend—her comb—in +order that Mart's wonderful yellow hair might be for once reduced to +something like order. And at the risk of leading you to think that +Sallie was altogether too "æsthetic" for her position in life, I shall +have to confess that this was her hardest bit of sacrifice, her comb +was so new and so pretty! + +However, it did its duty on Mart's tawny locks, and the transforming +effect was marvellous. In fact, when all was ready, the cape adjusted, +the hat which Mrs. Roberts had shown her how to wear set on the yellow +head, Sallie said not a word, but went to the packing-box in the corner +which served as a treasure cupboard, and drew forth the one possession +about which she had been utterly silent—a little hand-glass which Mark +had brought her one winter evening just before he was hurt. A cheap, +little, ugly glass which you would have turned from in disgust, saying +that it made your nose awry, and your chin protrude, and your eyes +squint, and was altogether horrid. But, held before Mart's glowing +face, what a secret did it reveal! + +Mart looked, and was silent, too, and went home in a hushed frame of +mind to wait for Dirk. Home was deserted. The mother had dragged her +wearied body out for a day of "light" work. The time had gone by when +she was able to do any that people called heavy. Where the father was +none of the family knew, and their chief hope concerning him was that +he would stay away as long as possible. + + +I find myself longing to give you an idea of what that elegant, +brilliantly-lighted hall, with its brilliant audience, was to this +girl, and being unable to do it. + +When people live so far below us that our every-day experiences are to +them like a day at the World's Fair, it is very hard indeed to describe +how our special treats affect them. + +It is a treat to everybody to hear Gough. How then can I tell you +what it was to this girl and her brother? Dirk listened; he must +have listened well, for long afterward he was able to repeat entire +paragraphs, and to imitate the manner of the great orator with +remarkable skill. + +Yet at the time he would have seemed to a close watcher to have been +absorbed in another way. He looked at Mart somewhat as he had on +that Sabbath when his acquaintance with Mrs. Roberts began. But the +thought which had dimly haunted him that day blossomed on this evening. +Certainly Mart looked like Mrs. Roberts! It might be folly to think so. +Doubtless the fellows would make no end of fun of him if he should over +tell them so, which he meant to take excellent care not to do; but the +fact remained, that in Sallie's bonnet and cape, and, above all, with +the waves of hair floating about her, there was a look which instantly +and strongly reminded him of that lady. + +There was another listener at the lecture who was unexpectedly present. +Part of poor Sallie's trial had been to tell her brother, who had been +radiant for a week over the prospect of taking her, that she had with +her own hand put away the blessing. How would Mark take it? + +Dirk's forlorn-looking sister was no favourite of his. I think it would +have been very difficult to have convinced him that there was a trace +of Mrs. Roberts in her face. + +But such curious creatures are we that it actually hurt Sallie to see +how quietly he took the great sad news of her sacrifice. After the +first start of surprise, he seemed preoccupied, and she could almost +have thought that he did not hear her explanation. She had much ado to +keep back the tears; but she had made a special little feast for him +that evening, with a white cloth on the table, and a cup of actual tea, +and the cup set in a saucer. She was not going to spoil the scene with +tears; so after a little she said cheerily,— + +"Nov you have a chance to do something nice for somebody. Who will you +take on your ticket?" + +"I was thinking," he answered slowly. "You know it is a temperance +lecture, and it is by a wonderful man. The fellows in the shop have +been talking about him all day, and they say you just can't help +thinking when he gets a-going, and I was just thinking, What if we +could get 'him' to go, and 'he' would listen, and get to thinking." + +There are no italics that will give you an idea of the peculiar +emphasis which the boy put on the pronouns. + +Sallie understood; that "he" could mean but one person in the world. + +But her brother must have answered the look on her face, for she spoke +no word. + +"Sometimes they do, Sallie. There was old Pete, you know." + +Oh, yes, Sallie knew old Pete; everybody in that alley knew him—a +notorious drunkard once, of the sort which people, even good Christian +people, are apt to pronounce hopeless. Yet now he wore a neat suit +of clothes every day, and brought home twenty pounds of flour at one +time in a sack, and bought his coal by the barrel. Wonderful things +occasionally happened in that alley. + +"Yes," said Sallie, "that is true; and old Pete wasn't much like him." + +The tone spoke volumes. It would have almost angered her, even now, to +have had it hinted that old Pete was superior to that father, though +hardly a person acquainted with the two but would have said that there +was more hope for old Pete, even in his miserable past, than for this +one. How they managed it, those two—the difficult task of getting +him persuaded to go, and then the more difficult task of keeping him +sufficiently sober to get there, would make a story in itself. I fancy +there are many such stories in real life which will never get told. The +probabilities are, if they were, some wise critic would pronounce them +unnatural and sensational. + +Suffice it to say that the task was accomplished, and among the most +attentive listeners to the great speaker that evening was Sallie's +father, while she sat at home and mended a badly torn jacket, and cried +now and then, and was glad and sorry and proud and frightened and +hopeful by turns all that long evening. + +I am not sure but it was better for her that she sat at home. I don't +know just what she might have done had she been in the hall to see her +father, at the close of the meeting, shamble forward with the crowd and +sign his name to the total abstinence pledge. + +She might have screamed out in her excitement, or she might have +fainted. For although there were those who said—some with a sneer, and +some with a sigh—that "signing the pledge would not amount to anything; +the miserable fellow could not keep a pledge to save his life!" Sallie +would have thought nothing of the kind. She had faith in her father's +word. + +It is a wonderful stimulus to have some one who believes in us. + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +"WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH?" + +"DO you know," said Mrs. Roberts, addressing Gracie Dennis, who, with +young Reid, had waited in the hall for her to join them (they were +ready for the lecture, and were to take up Mr. Roberts on the way)—"do +you know that I have a desire which I see no way of realizing? If Mr. +Colson should bring his sister with him to-night, I should like so much +to get possession of her and bring her home with me. But I have been +planning all day, and see no possible excuse for such an apparently +wild proceeding." + +I want you to notice how naturally Mrs. Roberts said "Mr. Colson." She +never talked about Dirk under any other name; she even taught herself +to think of him as "Mr. Colson." Consequently, when she spoke the name +in his presence, there was not a trace of unnaturalness in tone or +manner. The others tried in vain to follow her example. Dr. Everett +could not speak of him in this way without slight hesitation and a +touch of embarrassment. + +"The truth is," said he, "I think 'Dirk' all the week, and on the +Sabbath I find it impossible to reach up to 'Mr. Colson' without an +effort." + +There was no touch of "reaching up" or reaching down about Mrs. +Roberts's talk with her pupils. It is possible that this is one link in +the chain of influence which she was weaving around them. + +Gracie Dennis's face expressed curiosity, and when they were seated in +the carriage, she referred to the cause:— + +"But, Flossy, I cannot imagine why you should want to do such a thing. +It will certainly be too late to-night to try to get acquainted with +her. I should think some time when you could have an unbroken evening +would be the better for experimenting." + +"For some sorts of experimenting it would," Mrs. Roberts answered, +smiling quietly; "my experiment, in part at least, was to see how the +pink room might impress her." + +"Flossy Shipley!" + +When Gracie took refuge in that name, her hostess knew she was not only +much excited, but a trifle disapproving; at such times she made haste +to change the subject. + +It happened that the thing for which she had been planning shaped +itself so naturally as to give not the slightest colour of +premeditation to the act. + +When Dirk and his sister worked their way through the dense crowds +to the open air, they discovered that it was raining heavily. For +almost the first time in her life the fact struck terror to Mart +Colson's soul. Ordinarily no duck could have been more indifferent to a +rain-storm than herself. On this evening she gave vent to her dismay in +short, expressive words,— + +"Sallie's bonnet!—And cape!" This last after a moment's thought. "And +shoes!" she added, as the magnitude of her troubles grew upon her. + +Drawn up close to the sidewalk stood a carriage and a pair of horses +that Dirk could not help giving admiring attention to, despite the +rain. A fine horse always held his attention. No thought of the +occupants of the carriage came to him, not even after a head leaned +forward and a hand beckoned; of course it was beckoning to somebody +else. Then a clear voice spoke:— + +"Mr. Colson." + +He started quickly forward; there was but one person who ever said "Mr. +Colson," and besides, that voice belonged only to one. + +"I want your sister to go home with me. It is raining so hard that she +ought not to walk, and I should like very much to have her stay with me +to-night. Won't you ask her to, please?" + +If Mrs. Roberts had been asking a favour, instead of conferring one, +her voice could not have been sweeter and more winning. + +Dirk went back to his sister, too much bewildered by the state of +affairs even to express surprise. "Mart," he said, "she wants you." + +A quick spring to the sidewalk, and young Reid was standing beside Mart. + +"It is raining so hard," he explained, "Mrs. Roberts would be very glad +if you would come." + +And Mart, thinking of nothing at all save Sallie's bonnet and cape and +shoes, turned toward the waiting carriage. + +Mr. Reid had his umbrella raised, and carefully shielded the bonnet, +assisting its wearer to enter the carriage with as much courtesy as he +had bestowed on Gracie Dennis but a few moments before. Not a movement +was lost on the watching Dirk. + +When the door was closed and the good-nights had been said—Mrs. Roberts +leaning from the carriage again for that purpose—and when the horses +had dashed around the corner, he still occupied his position on the +curbstone, gazing down the street, gazing at nothing unless he saw a +reflection of his own bewildered thoughts. + +"Come!" said a policeman who knew him, and was therefore suspicious. +"What are you hanging about here for? Move on!" + +"Humph!" said Dirk, as he slowly took his hands out of his pockets, +eyes still fixed on the corner where the carriage had turned. "What if +I should?" + +Something in his eye would have told Mrs. Roberts, had she been +there, that he meant more than moving down the street, though that he +presently did, regardless of wind and rain. + +Meantime the bonnet and cape in the carriage stepped somewhat into the +background, and the girl who wore them allowed herself once more to +think of her individuality, and to wonder at her position. She sat bolt +upright on the edge of the soft, gray seat, and gazed about her as well +as she could by the glimmer of the street lamps. She in a carriage! +Mart Colson sitting on a back seat, beside a grand lady, and rolling +down the avenue! Who would have supposed that such a thing could have +happened to Sallie Calkins's bonnet? + +Mrs. Roberts recognized the bonnet and cape with a smile of +satisfaction. She had studied much over the possibilities of this +girl's costume. Was it probable that she had anything suitable to wear +to a lecture? She had passed the cellar where the girl lived but once, +and had had but one glimpse of her; yet these glimpses had been enough +to render it highly improbable that she had any street costume. Then +had Mrs. Roberts canvassed the possibilities of getting a street suit +for her; there were apparently insurmountable difficulties in the way. +She was too utterly unacquainted with the ground to venture. Besides, +there were reasons for believing that anything of value would find its +way from that cellar to a pawnbroker's in a very short space of time. + +Having spent hours over many different schemes, and rejected each +one as liable to bring disaster, Mrs. Roberts was obliged to betake +herself to prayer. If the watching Saviour wanted her to work through +the medium of this lecture on this particular child of his, he could +certainly see that she was present; could furnish her with clothes to +wear, either through herself or some other of his servants. She would +wait and watch. + +Not once had she thought of Sallie Calkins and the new bonnet that +her own fingers had helped to fashion; yet here it was beside her on +the head of this girl, toward whom she was drawn! The fact made Mrs. +Roberts radiant. + +She said almost nothing to the startled prisoner at her side, beyond a +murmured, "So glad you let me carry you home with me!" Then she drew a +bright-coloured wrap about her, and left her to her amazement, while +the eager tongues of the rest of the party talked continuously. + + +By the way, you are not acquainted with the pink room, I think. You +should see it before it is invaded for the night. Large it is. I +think little people sometimes have a peculiar fondness for large +rooms; Mrs. Roberts had. The walls were tinted with what might be +called a suggestion of pink, with just a touch of sunset gold about +the mouldings. The carpet was soft and rich; it gave back no sound of +footfall. It was strewn with pink buds; some just opening into beauty, +some half-blown. Accustomed to the sight of elegant carpets as you are, +you would almost have stooped to pick one of these buds, they looked so +real. The curtains to the windows were white, but lined with rose pink; +they were looped back with knots of pink ribbons. The bed was a marvel +of pink and white drapery; so was the dressing-bureau. The easy-chairs +were upholstered in soft grays with a pinkish tinge; and the tidies, +lavishly displayed, were all of pink and white. + +There was nothing conventional about the room. A professional would +have been shocked by some of its appointments. Many a lady of wealth, +accustomed to having things as "they" decree, would have been more than +doubtful over the pink ribbons and the profusion of white drapery. +Aside from the carpet, and a choice picture or two, there was nothing +especially expensive about the furnishings. It was simply a room in +which Mrs. Roberts had allowed her own sweet little fancies to take her +captive. + +The gas was lighted; the door was ajar into a toilet-room; a lavish +display of great, beautiful towels could be seen as you peeped in, and +various touches told of an expected guest. Flowers were blossoming +on the mantle, and a tiny vase which stood on a bracket near the +toilet-stand held a single rose of a peculiar hue and perfume, which +had blossomed for this hour—at least, Mrs. Roberts thought it had. + +Into this room, in all its purity and beauty, went Sallie Calkins's +bonnet and cape and her strong, new, thick shoes; and the wearer +thereof pushed the bonnet away from her flushed face, and stood and +looked about her. + +Downstairs they discussed in curious tones not her, but the mistress of +the mansion. + +"Flossy, I do think you are too queer for anything! Why don't you have +her go to Katy's room? Katy is away for the night, you know, and I'm +sure her room is as neat and pretty as can be. Imagine what a contrast +it would be to anything that she has ever seen!—Mr. Reid, you ought to +see the room into which she has been put. There isn't a more elegant +one in the house. Some of its furnishings are so delicate that I hardly +like to touch them. What sort of a disease is it that has taken Mrs. +Roberts, do you suppose, to send her there?—Flossy, she will get no +rest to-night; she will be afraid of that immaculate bed." + +This, of course, was Gracie Dennis. + +Mr. Roberts looked from her to his wife, his face smiling, curious, yet +with a sort of at-rest expression. + +"What do you hope to accomplish, Flossy?" He asked the question as +one who was pleased to watch a new experiment, yet felt sure that the +experimenter had an end to attain which would justify any measures that +she might take. Mr. Roberts had believed in his wife when he chose her +from all others; but he was learning to believe in her in a peculiar +sense, as one led by a hand that made no mistakes. + +She turned to answer his question, her face bright, yet half puzzled:— + +"I am not sure that I can explain to you what I hoped for," she said; +"I caught the idea from Mr. Reid." + +"From me!" and the young man thus mentioned looked so astonished and +incredulous that Gracie laughed. + +"He is sure he never thought of anything so wild," she said gaily. +"Flossy, you must find a better excuse than that." + +"Yet it was something that he said.—Do you remember telling me, +not long ago, about your sister's idea that all the world had lost +its place because of sin; that God intended everything here to be +beautiful, and all life to be bright with joy, and that Satan had +gotten hold of men's lives, and was trying to ruin them, and that every +beautiful creation was God's picture to the world of what his intention +had been? I'm telling it poorly; but it made a very deep impression. +This girl's face, you know, is beautiful. It is what God meant some +faces to be—at least, I mean he has given her the frame for a face of +beauty. I have a vague, half-understood sort of wish to give her a +glimpse of harmony—something that will fit her golden hair and lovely +complexion—and see what she will think of God's idea, and whether she +will understand that it is sin which has spoiled it, and whether she is +willing to serve the author of her ruin. I don't believe I am making +myself plain, but I know what I mean, at least." + +"If we do not, I think it must be because you have caught a thought +from God that we are not able to reach up to." + +It was Mr. Roberts who made this reply. Something in his wife's +experiment had deeply moved him. + +As for Mr. Reid, his face lighted, as it always did, at the mention of +his sister's name. + +"Sometimes I almost think that it is Esther still at work, and that He +lets her work through this woman." + +It was what he said to Gracie Dennis in an aside. Mrs. Roberts had +already gone to see, in person, to the comfort of her guest. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +"O LORD, TAKE DIRK TOO!" + +SHE found her standing before the mirror. By reason of the fact that +she understood no pretty trick of braid or curl, her long yellow hair +hung just as nature had made it, with no waves or ripples save those +which had grown with its growth. It fell about her now like a sunset +cloud. She had taken from the vase near at hand a rose, which she had +pushed in among the masses of hair, with no knowledge as to how it +should be arranged, or indeed thought; yet the effect was something +which made Mrs. Roberts give an involuntary start of admiration. + +Still it was evident that, though apparently gazing at herself, she was +thinking away beyond herself. It is doubtful if at that moment she saw +the flower or her own reflection, or knew that she was looking. Her +eyes had the faraway expression which one sometimes sees in great power +on faces like hers. + +She turned as Mrs. Roberts, having softly knocked and received no +answer, softly entered. And her first words indicated the intensity of +her thought, whatever it was. + +"Dirk has 'got' to go there!" + +"Go where?" asked Mrs. Roberts, startled out of the words she meant to +speak—startled by the hint of power in the voice and manner. "Of whom +are you thinking, my dear girl, and where do you want him to go?" + +"I'm thinking about Dirk, ma'am; I thought about him all the +evening—the man made me; and I've made up my mind. He's 'got' to go to +heaven!" + +I suppose I cannot give you an idea of the force in her voice. It was +as though a resolution, from which there could be no appeal, had been +taken, and the person resolving felt her own power to accomplish. It +was altogether an unexpected answer to Mrs. Roberts. She did not know +whether to be half-frightened or to laugh. + +She sat down in one of the easy-chairs to study the girl, and consider +what answer to make. Mart, meantime, turned back to the survey of +herself in the mirror, or to the survey of whatever she saw there, and +continued talking:— + +"I never knew much about heaven. You may guess that if you have ever +been in our alley. Only lately, Sallie Calkins she's been telling me +what you told her, and I had a kind of notion that you must know what +you was talking about, and that it was for rich folks and grand folks +like you; but the man told about that Madge, you know, to-night—an +awful drunkard and swearer, and all that—how she reformed and went to +heaven. + +"Dirk ain't no drunkard, but he will be. Everybody says he will, +because father is such an awful one. Mother, she's never had no hope of +him. She says father didn't drink till he was most twenty, and then he +begun; and she's looking for Dirk to begin, and I haven't thought he +could help it either. What if he doesn't care for it much yet? He will, +it's likely. I've never told nobody that, not even Sallie; and I've +been mad at mother every time she said any such thing. But all the time +I've been expecting him to begin; and I know well enough when once they +begin how it goes on. + +"But that man to-night told things that made a difference. He says that +God can keep them from wanting to drink, and help them right straight +along; and that they can go to heaven as well as the best one. I've +wanted nice things for Dirk all my life; but I never saw no way to get +them, and it made me mad. To-night I saw a way, but I never had no kind +of a notion how heaven looked till I come into this room, and see the +light and the flowers and the shine, and another room spread out there +in the glass; and now I know, and Dirk shall go." + +Mrs. Roberts was in no mood for laughing; the tears were dropping +slowly on the flower she held in her hand. Mart saw in the glass just +then a sight which seemed to add to her surprise. She turned wondering +eyes on her hostess. + +"What are you crying for?" she asked. "Don't spoil the flower; it is +like the one Dirk brought me once. He said you sent it to me. I kept +it 'most a week. I took it over to Sallie's, and she got fresh water +for it every day, somehow; and it was then she begun to tell me what +you said about heaven, and I thought if God had made such flowers as +that for you, it was likely he had made a heaven for you. But I didn't +believe it was for Dirk till to-night, and I didn't have no kind of +a notion how it looked till just now. Do you believe what that man +said—that folks like Dirk can go? Of course, if Madge went, why, Dirk +would have a right. He is bad, just because he has to be. He never had +no chance to be anything else; and he ain't very bad, anyhow—nothing to +compare with some." Her voice was almost fierce in its earnestness; she +was beginning to resent the creeping doubt that Mrs. Roberts's silence +suggested. + +Careful words must be spoken now. What if this awakening soul should be +turned aside? No wonder that the unspoken words were prayers. + +"Dirk 'has' a right to go to heaven," she said steadily, sweetly; +"there is not the shadow of a doubt as to his right. No one in the +world—not Satan himself—can deprive him of it; and it is not only his +right, but his 'duty' to go." + +"Then he shall!" + +I wish I could give you an idea of the strength in the girl's voice. It +almost carried conviction with it to Mrs. Roberts's heart. + +"Come and sit down," she said, and she drew her towards one of the low +cushions. + +If Mart sat on that, her head would be just where a gentle hand could +stroke the masses of hair. + +"Let me talk with you about this. You are mistaken in one thing. Dirk +is very bad. He is bad enough to shut him out of heaven for ever." + +The girl started, and tried to fling off the caressing hand. + +"So are you," said the gentle voice. + +"Oh 'me'! Don't talk about me. Who ever said I wasn't bad? Let me go; I +want to go home. I don't care how hard it rains." + +"And so am I," continued the gentle voice. + +The girl on the cushion ceased struggling to free herself from the +caressing touch, and remained motionless. "Let me tell you of something +that we have each done a great many times. We have been asked and urged +and coaxed, day after day and year after year, to accept an invitation +to go to this very heaven, and we have paid no attention at all; and +this after Jesus Christ had given his life to make a way for us to go. +Is not that being bad?" + +"Dirk he never had no invitation—never heard anything about it." + +"Yes, he has," speaking with quiet firmness. "The Lord Jesus Christ +told me to invite him, and I have done so a great many times, and he +has made no answer; and Sallie Calkins has invited you, and you have +treated it in just the same way." + +"I didn't believe it." + +"Isn't that being bad? What has He ever done that you should refuse to +believe his word, when he died an awful death to prove to you that he +was in earnest?" + +"You said Dirk had a right to go." + +"So he has. Jesus Christ has given him a right if he will. I have +invited you to my house, and asked you to spend the night in this room, +and sleep in this bed. Has any person a right to keep you from doing +so?" + +"No." An emphatic nod of the head, and a lingering, almost loving look +at the white bed behind her. + +"Then cannot you truthfully say that you have a right to be here? +My dear girl, it is so faint an illustration of what Jesus Christ +has done to give you a right to heaven, that I almost wonder at your +understanding it. But can you imagine something of how I should have +felt had I urged you to come to me night after night, for weeks and +years, and you had turned from me with no answer, or else with scorn?" + +"You wouldn't have kept on asking me." Mart spoke with the assurance of +one who had firm faith in her statement. + +"No, I presume I should not. I would have said, after the third or +fourth invitation, 'If she really will not have anything to do with me, +I cannot help it.' And I should have tried to forget you. This is one +of the many differences between Christ and me. He waits, and asks, and +'asks.' How long will you keep him waiting?" + +I have given you only the beginning of the conversation. It was long +ere it was concluded. + +Downstairs Mr. Reid waited as long as he could, curious to know the +result of Mart's first impressions. Then he went away, and Gracie went +to her room, and the house settled into quiet. And Mr. Roberts in the +library waited for his wife, while she told over again, with tender +words and simple illustrations, the "old, old story," so fitted to the +wants of the world. + +How many times has there been a like result! + +It was midnight when they knelt together, the fair child of luxury and +the child of poverty; but the Saviour, who intercedes for both, bent +his ear, and heard again the cry of a groping soul seeking him out of +darkness, and held out his loving, never-failing arms, able to reach +down to her depth, and received her to himself. Who can tell that +story? Who can describe how heaven seemed to the girl just then? + +It was not what Mrs. Roberts had expected. I cannot even say that it +was what she had hoped for. Her faith had not reached to such a height +at all. She could hardly have put into words what she hoped. When she +ventured to try to tell it to the friends in the parlour and to you, I +doubt whether you understood. She thought to get a hold on the girl; +to show her something of God's beauty and love, as it shone through +herself; to make her long after something her life did not give, and +to gradually lead her to seek after satisfaction in Christ. A long +process—something that should unfold gradually, with many discouraging +drawbacks, and some days that would look like utter failures. She had +schooled herself to be prepared for this; but she had not looked for +Him to exert his mighty power to save in a moment. How it had touched +her to find a soul hungry, not for itself, but for a brother, I shall +not attempt to tell. + +The first words she said, after she went back to her waiting husband a +little after midnight, were these:— + +"'He could not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.' +I think that is what is the matter with the world to-day. I wonder +if He would not be pleased with one who could throw herself at his +feet with a childlike abandon of faith, and expect wonders, yes, and +impossibilities, just as a child feels that anything can be done +by father? God has shamed my faith to-night. It is as though I had +asked for a crumb of bread, and he gave me the entire loaf. That girl +upstairs has not heard of him before as a Saviour for her—has never +thought of such a thing, or, at least, dreamed of its possibility; and +yet she has given herself to him. And, Evan, what do you think were the +first words she said? + +"'O Lord, take Dirk too!' + +"She is on her knees at this moment praying for him. If you could have +seen her face when it first dawned upon her that she could tell God +about him, and ask for his mighty power to be exerted in his behalf, it +would have been a picture for your lifetime. O Evan, Evan, why can we +not expect great things of God?" + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +"AN AWFUL PROBLEM!" + +ISN'T it strange the ways the Lord takes to answer prayers? + +Much prayer had been made for Dirk Colson, but few had thought of his +sister. Sallie Calkins, it is true, had come with trembling steps +into the light of Christ's love, and had immediately desired to have +Mart enjoy it with her, but was very trembling and doubting as to her +ability to reach Mart, or to influence her in the right direction. She +sent the bonnet and cape to the lecture with a prayer, but she did not +look for the prayer to be answered. Verily, He has to be content with +faith "less than a grain of mustard-seed." + +Was the rest of the story an answer to prayer? We are to remember that +he has strange ways. Events startling enough in their import followed +each other in rapid succession. In the first place, Dirk's father, +poor, wrecked man, returned no more. Whether he had wandered among the +network of railroads which lined the southern portion of the city and +lost his life there, or whether he had fallen into the river, or just +how he had disappeared, could not be discovered. + +There were three men killed by an accident on the road one night, but +their disfigured bodies were buried before Dirk heard of it. There was +a man seen struggling in the water off the lower wharf one evening, but +he sank before help could reach him, and his body was not recovered. +There were half-a-dozen men killed by a boiler explosion, but that was +not heard of in time to look into it. There were so many ways in which +the wreck might have gone out of life and left no sign. They were safe +in supposing that he was intoxicated, and that was about all they could +be perfectly sure of concerning him—that, and the fact that he came no +more. Of course, there was no such search for him as is made for the +man of respectability and position. + +To one who had some idea of the worth of a soul, it was pitiful to see +what a tiny ripple this disappearance made on the surface of life. + +A moment of startled questioning by those who lived in the immediate +neighbourhood; a few women with aprons thrown over their heads +congregating in groups around the pump or before the door of the +bakery; a crowd of dirty children, stopping their play for a moment, +and speaking lower: then the tide of noisy, fighting, swearing life +went on. + +One was gone out from it. Whither? None knew, few cared; and there were +such crowds and crowds left, how could he be missed? + +One missed him—an abused, insulted, down-trodden woman—one whom, +years before, he had promised to love and cherish, until death parted +them, and had broken the vows almost as soon as taken, and never +renewed them again. Yet that woman wept bitter tears over his absence; +watched for him, listened nightly for his staggering footsteps; rose +up from her heap of straw in the corner in the middle of the night, +and set wide-open the cellar door, and listened to the angry voices +floating down to her from some drunken brawl further up the street, +if, perchance, she might hear his; listened, and held her breath, and +quivered all over with hope and fear; then crept back to her miserable +bed, covered her head with the ragged quilt, and cried herself into a +few hours of forgetfulness. + +"She is crying herself to death about him!" Mart said. There was +surprise mingled with awe in her voice. + +She told it to Dirk, and the two stood thoughtfully for a moment +looking out at the one window. They carefully avoided looking at each +other. They did not understand. To them there was simply relief in the +father's absence. They had no trace of love for him in their hearts. +The word "father" meant nothing to them but misery. + +Still there was that in them which respected the mother's grief; they +tried to shield her. Dirk, of his own thoughtfulness, brought home some +tea in a paper, and bought half a pint of milk at the corner dairy. +And Mart took lessons of Sallie, and made a delicate slice of toast, +and borrowed Sallie's one cup and saucer to serve the tea in. She was +disappointed that the mother cried, and could hardly drink the tea. She +was even almost vexed that the mother said with tears that: + +"Poor Jock always did like tea so much, and she had always thought that +maybe if he could have had it hot and strong, he would not have taken +to the drink." + +Mart had no faith in this, no belief that anything in her father's +past life could have kept him from the drink; but she held herself +silent, and let the tears have their way. All the time she had in her +heart one great solemn regret. There was One who would have helped her +father, would and could have saved him, even from rum. What if she, his +daughter, had known the Lord Jesus, and could have taken the miserable +father to him and had him transformed! Mart had no doubt about his +power to do it. An unanswerable argument had been given her. No infidel +need try to assail her now. + +But the father! Why had everybody kept silence and let him sink away? + +Awful! + +Why had not she known Christ? Why had she not listened to Sallie but a +week before? Why had not Dirk learned the way and saved his father? An +awful problem! Mart's life must henceforth be shadowed by it. + +Meantime what was Mrs. Roberts to do for this new-born soul? How was +she to help her, and, through her, to help her brother? + +She, in her elegant home, sat down to study this problem. + +Life at East Fifty-fifth Street was so far removed from life in the +alley that she knew nothing about the missing father. Days passed, +and, busy with many claims of society, she had made no movement toward +helping the girl, and knew as yet no way to do it; yet she carried her +on her heart. Monday evening came and went, and still she had been +detained from any effort. + + +One afternoon her thoughts shaped themselves into action. She would go +and see Mart. She would get Dirk to protect her in her journey down +the alley; also, in accomplishing this, she would accomplish another +thing. She would call on Dirk at his place of business. The chief of +the office was a Christian man; yet she had reason to believe that he +knew less about Dirk, and cared much less for him, than he did for his +little dog that sat in the window and barked at passers-by. + +She had no difficulty in securing attention. Ladies were not often +admitted, but a card bearing the name "Mrs. Evan Roberts" was +sufficient passport among any of the business men of the city. + +Mr. Stone was more than ready—he was eager to serve her. What could he +do for the elegantly-dressed lady whose carriage waited at the door, +while she came in person among the bales and boxes? Her business must +be urgent. + +It was. Could she speak with Mr. Colson just for a moment? She would +not detain him long, but she wished to make an appointment with him for +the next day. + +"Mr. Colson!" The chief and his perplexed assistant looked at each +other thoughtfully and shook their heads. There was no such person +connected with their establishment. She must have the wrong number. + +No; she was positive. + +"He told me only three days ago that he was in your employment. He is +on the third floor, I believe." + +The gentlemen looked at each other again. + +"Colson!" repeated Mr. Stone. "There is certainly a mistake. Briggs is +in charge on the third floor front, and Dickson has the back rooms. No, +Mrs. Roberts, we have no such name among our men, I am positive." + +But Mrs. Roberts gently held her ground. She was sure she was not +mistaken, for she had talked with him about his work and the different +men. He was in Mr. Briggs's department, she felt quite sure. He was not +a foreman, she explained, but quite a young man, had been there but a +few weeks, and Dr. Everett was the one who had interested himself in +securing the place. + +Light of some sort began to dawn on the perplexed faces of the +gentlemen. + +"Can she mean black Dirk, do you suppose?" questioned the elder, +looking hard at his associate. + +Then came the sweet voice of the visitor. + +"Oh, no, he is not a coloured gentleman. His name is Colson—Mr. Derrick +Colson." + +"That is the one," said the gentleman quickly. Should he laugh or be +annoyed? + +It took but a moment after that to summon "Mr. Derrick Colson." Black +he was, certainly, not only by reason of his naturally dark skin, but +because of the grimy work, whatever it was, which fell to his lot. His +big apron was soiled with ink and oil, and daubed with bits of dark +colour which seemed not to be either. + +He came forward with his usual shambling gait, and an additional shade +of sullenness apparent on his face, but it glowed a swarthy red when he +recognized the lady. + +"Good-afternoon, Mr. Colson," she said, and she held forth her +delicately-gloved hand. + +His own went forward to meet it, then drew suddenly back. + +"It is not clean enough," he said; "there's ink or something on it." + +But the lavender kids were not withdrawn. + +"Never mind the ink; a little honest soil never hurt anybody," and the +rough, dark hand was taken in her own. + +Then occurred a few moments' chat; at least the lady chatted with easy +familiarity. She referred to the "Social Parlours," to the "Monday +Evenings," to Miss Dennis's "Musicale," to half-a-dozen themes about +which the bewildered gentlemen within hearing knew nothing. + +Could it be that the low-voiced, gentle lady was trying to give them a +lesson as well as to talk with Dirk? Finally she made an appointment +for the next afternoon. Would his employer be so kind as to excuse +him for an hour, if convenient? Certainly, it would be convenient, to +please Mrs. Evan Roberts. + +Dirk was very much embarrassed. He blushed and stammered, and did not +know how to answer any of the kindnesses. + +But there were two things during the interview which gave Mrs. Roberts +more pleasure than you, perhaps, are able to understand. + +One was, that at sight of her he had suddenly snatched off the paper +cap which he wore; and the other, that having set it again on his head +as he turned from her, he glanced back from the door, and, in answer to +her bow and smile, lifted the ugly little cap with an air that was an +exact imitation of young Reid, and yet so well done that you would not +have thought of it as an imitation. + +Mrs. Roberts could have clapped her bands, but she did not. Instead she +said sweetly,— + +"I am very glad that Mr. Colson is in the employment of a Christian +gentleman. He is greatly in need of help from all Christian sources, +and I am sure there is that in him which will respond to judicious +effort." + +Then she let the bewildered man attend her to her carriage, and went on +her way rejoicing. + + +But there were plans being laid for her at that moment of which she +knew nothing. + +To-morrow she would go and see the golden-haired girl. In a +neatly-packed basket she had certain things—among them a bonnet and a +sack that she knew would fit the hair and face, and she believed would +give Mart pleasure. If only she could contrive a natural way to give +them to her, and there could be planned ways of keeping them safe from +the pawnbroker's grasp. + +All this time she knew nothing of the fact that the hand which had +grasped for years to furnish the pawnbroker was stilled for ever. It +had not once occurred to Dirk to tell her. It is a solemn fact that in +this greater excitement he had actually forgotten it! + +As for the "Christian employer," he did not know of it to tell. He had +not so much as known whether black Dirk had a father or not. He was +simply a street rough whom Dr. Everett was trying experiments with. And +because there was an unusual pressure on the office, and poor help was +better than none, he was helping the experiment. + +However, when Dirk went home from the office that night, he remembered +that the father was gone. + +Mart met him at the door, a look of solemn determination on her face. + +"Dirk," she said, "she's going; as sure as you live, she's going. She's +been bad all the afternoon. Sallie says that Mark's doctor will come +to see her—she knows he will, and Mark shall go for him as soon as he +comes home; but I don't mean to wait for no doctor. I want 'her' to +come. 'She' knows the way, and I want mother to be told it right, so +there won't be no mistake. You go for her, Dirk, right off straight. +There ain't any time to lose, for I tell you now she's 'going.' She's +been failing all along, you know, and she has just cried herself down. +Dirk, will you go for 'her' as fast as you can?" + +The confusion of pronouns might have bewildered you. They did not Dirk. +"Her" meant to him exactly what it did to Mart. He could not think how +it could possibly mean any other person. But this was astounding news +about his mother! It was one thing to have a father disappear whom he +had simply feared until he had learned to hate. It was quite another +thing to talk about the going away of the only one who had ever tried +to mend his clothes, and who had sat up nights to wash them when she +could. + +He strode past Mart into the wretched room, and looked at the bed in +the corner. + +The mother was asleep, but on her face was a strange change—a something +that he had never seen there before, worn and sunken as it always was. +It made him understand Mart's fears. + +"I'll go," he said huskily, and rushed from the house. + +"Her" carriage was just rolling down the avenue as his swift feet +cleared the alley. He knew the horses. He was a little ahead of them; +but it was not probable that the driver would stop for him. + +"Won't you stop that carriage?" he said in breathless haste to a +policeman at the corner. "I've got to speak to the lady that's in it." + +"I'll be quite likely to, no doubt!" said the policeman in quiet irony. +"What rascality are you up to now, Dirk? Can't you be decent for a few +days?" + +But Dirk was trying to free himself from the detaining hand, and threw +up one arm in a sort of despairing gesture to the coachman. Mr. Roberts +caught the signal, recognized the face, and in another moment the +horses stood restlessly by the curbstone, and Dirk, his embarrassment +gone, told his brief story rapidly:— + +"Father went off a little ago, and never came back; and mother, she +is sickly, and it set her crying; and she's going, Mart thinks, and I +guess it's so; and Mart wants you to come and show her the way. She +said you knew how, and you would come." + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +"MAY SHE GO WITH ME?" + +OF course she went. And of course, now that the truth was known, much +was done. + +Dr. Everett was summoned. The wretched bed, with its distressing rags, +was turned out altogether, and a comfortable one took its place. Broths +and teas and jellies and physical comfort of every kind were furnished, +and the doctor did his best to battle with the disease that long years +of want and misery had fastened upon their victim. It was all too late, +of course. It was true what Mr. Roberts sadly said, that half of the +effort, expended years or even months before, might have saved the +poor, tortured life; but now! + +How awful those "too lates" are! Isn't it a wonder that we ever take +the risk of having one ring in our ears for ever? There was one thing +over which some of these Christian workers shed tears of joy. + +"'I' am too late," said Dr. Everett, "but my Master has as much power +to-day as ever. He can save her." + +And he did. The poor, tired woman, who years before had remembered an +old story well enough to name her one daughter "Martha," in memory of +the one who "loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus," roused her dull +heart at the mention of His name, and listened while the wonderful +story was told her that he loved not only Martha and her sister, but +her own poor, sinful, wrecked self—loved her enough to reach after her, +and call and wait, and prepare for her a home in his glory. + +Dear! Why has not some one come with the news before? Surely she would +have listened during those long, sad years. Well, they made the way +plain. Neither was it a difficult thing to do. The woman was weary, and +travel-stained, and afraid, and longed for nothing so much as a place +of refuge. She knew that she was a sinner; she knew that she was, and +had been for many a year, powerless to help herself. Why should she not +hail with joy the story of a great and willing Helper? + + "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden." + +She opened her eyes with a gleam of eagerness to hear the words: +"Weary?" Yes, indeed! "Heavy laden?" Who more so? If the call was not +for her, whom could it mean? What else? Why, what but the glorious old +story,— + + "I will give you rest." + +What wonder that she closed her eyes and smiled. What wonder that the +first words after that were, "I'll come; show me how." And he showed +her how. + +"Dirk," the sister said, when the mother had gone the last and only +restful journey of her life—"Dirk, she went to heaven, and I'm going. +I've been wanting to tell you for more than a week, but I didn't know +how. He asked me to, and I'm going. Now, you must. 'Cause we never +had a good time here, and she'll kind of expect it in heaven, and be +looking out for you;—she always looked out for you, Dirk." + +Then did Dirk lose his half-sullen self-control, and great tears rolled +down his dark cheeks. + +But the sister shed no tears. She had serious business to attend to. +Dirk must go to heaven now without fail. + + +One day there was an unusual scene in the alley. It was no uncommon +thing to see a coffin carried out from there, but on this day there +was a hearse, and a minister in Dr. Everett's carriage, and Dirk and +his sister, in neat apparel, came out together and were seated in Mr. +Roberts's carriage; and all the boys of the Monday evening class walked +arm in arm after the slow-moving carriages. And the children of the +alley stopped their playing and their fighting, and the women stood +silent in doorways, and took, most of them, their very first lesson in +the proprieties of life. + +"She's got a ride in a carriage at last, poor soul!" said one, thinking +of the worn-out body in the coffin. + +And another said, "I wonder what poor old Jock would think of all this." + +But the scene made its impression and left its lesson. I think the +voices of some of them were lower during the rest of the day because of +it. + +What next? It was the question that filled Mrs. Roberts's thoughts. +Something must be done for Dirk and Mart. That fearful alley was no +place for human beings—certainly not for these two. But what to do with +them was a question not easily answered. + +Various plans were proposed. Sallie Calkins's two rooms were much +better than the cellar in which the Colson family had lived; and there +was a chance to rent a room next to Sallie's, with a closet opening +from it for Dirk. How would it do to have them board with Sallie? The +suggestion came first from Gracie Dennis, and sounded reasonable. Mrs. +Roberts was almost ashamed to dislike it as much as she did. Sallie's +neat rooms were home now. The father, for this length of time at least, +held to his pledge; and son and daughter were radiant over him. He +had gone to work, and already the two rooms were taking on an air of +greater comfort because of the little things that he proudly brought +home. + +Sallie was doing her part wisely. The table was regularly laid now, +with a white cloth and knives and forks; and two new cups and plates +had been added to the dishes. Would it be wise to invade this home just +at this juncture and introduce boarders? Mrs. Roberts did not believe +that it would. It was not as though the father had an established +character, and stood ready to shield his children; they were still +acting the protective, and he had but too recently risen from the +depths where Dirk and Mart had laughed and jeered at him. + +Besides, the rooms were located in that dreadful alley; and do what she +would, Mrs. Roberts could not feel that that dangerously-beautiful face +could find a safe abiding-place in that alley. Some other way must be +thought of. + +Their immediate future was arranged through the intervention of a +house agent; for even that dreary and desolate cellar had its agent, +who was eager to secure his rent. He was unwise enough to undertake to +interview Mrs. Roberts as she descended from her carriage, not long +after it had followed Mart's mother to the grave. + +He considered this effort of his, a special stroke of business energy. +He wanted to be patient with the poor, he said; there wasn't an agent +in the city who waited for them oftener than he did; but business was +business, and it stood to reason that he could not depend on a fellow +like Dirk. It had been bad enough when the mother was there, but he +couldn't think of such a thing as risking it now. What was he to +understand? Did she mean to rent the room for them, and for how long? +Because it was his duty to look out for the future. + +What would be more natural than for Mrs. Roberts, with those two young +things looking on, to say that of course she would be responsible for +the rent as long as they lived in the room? Thus reasoned the house +agent. + +Instead of which, Mrs. Roberts turned toward Dirk, her face flushed +over the hardness of a man who could stop a boy and girl on such +business on their way from their mother's grave, and said: + +"If I were in your place, Mr. Colson, I should not rent these rooms at +all. They are not suited to your sister's needs. I am sure you can do +better." + +The agent was disgusted. "Mr. Colson," indeed! The disreputable young +scamp whom nobody trusted. He would show this silly woman a fact or two. + +"Business is business," he repeated doggedly. "Either they must take +the room, and pay the rent in advance, or else they must hustle out +this very night. I have waited now three days after time for decency's +sake, and more than that I couldn't and wouldn't do." + +Dirk stood looking from one to the other, the red coming and going on +his swarthy face. Here was responsibility! He had not thought of it +before. The mother was not there to count out the hoarded rent with +trembling fingers, and save the wretched home to them for another +month. She would never be there again. He had nothing with which to pay +rent; he had nowhere to move. Yet "she" had called him Mr. Colson, and +seemed to expect him to act for himself and Mart. + +It was she who answered the agent, but she spoke to Dirk: + +"Very well. I suppose you are quite as willing to leave here to-night +as at any time. If I were you, I would leave immediately. Let your +sister come home with me for the night, and until you have time to make +other arrangements." + +Mr. Roberts had been summoned to a bank meeting, and had sent Reid to +attend his wife. He came forward now from the carriage, where he had +stood waiting, and laid hand on Dirk's arm. + +"And you come home with me to-night, Colson," he said in a cordial +tone, such as he might have used with any young friend; "then we shall +have a chance to talk things over and make plans." + +"That is nice," Mrs. Roberts said quickly, rejoicing in her heart over +Reid's promptness to act. "Then you can get away from this wretched +place at once. Mr. Roberts will see to the removal of your goods, +whatever you need, and the agent can call on him in the morning. That +will be the simplest way to settle it all. May she go with me?" + +A slight, caressing movement of a gloved hand on the girl's arm +accompanied this question. + +Mart was silent with bewilderment. When had Dirk ever before been asked +what she might do, or might not do? At first she was half inclined to +scorn the suggestion. Then, suddenly, it came to her with a sense of +relief and protection: she was not alone; it was Dirk's business to +think of and care for her. Would he do it? + +As for Dirk, no wonder that his face was deeply flushed. New thoughts +were struggling in his heart. He was to decide for Mart; he was the +head of the home now. + +Mrs. Roberts waited anxiously. She longed exceedingly to rouse in +the boy, who was already grown to the stature of a man, a sense of +responsibility. + +A moment more, and he had shaken himself free from the spell which +seemed to bind him. + +"We'll do as you say." He spoke with the air of a man who had assumed +his proper place and taken up his duties. "Mart, you go along with her, +and I'll see about things to-morrow." + +And Mart, for the first time in her life, received and obeyed in +silence a direction from her brother. + +Possibly Mrs. Roberts may have been mistaken, but she thought that much +had been accomplished that day. + +Yet none of them realized whereunto this thing would grow. + + +Mrs. Roberts, when she ushered Mart that evening into the pink room +again, and showed her how to manage the hot and cold water, and which +bell to ring if she needed anything, and in every imaginable way +treated her as a guest, whom it was pleasant to serve, had really no +plans just then—no hobby to ride—but simply acted out the dictates of +her heart. + +You will remember that her Christian life had been always +unconventional. The very fact that during her early girlhood she had +been painfully trammelled by what "they" would say or think, seemed to +have had its influence over her later experiences. Since she had been +made free, she would be free indeed—that is, with the liberty with +which Christ makes us free. What would please "him" she resolved should +be the one thought to which she would give careful attention. Now, +it is perhaps worthy of mention that this closely following disciple +did not once stop to determine whether it would please him to give +such tender care to this stray child of his, or whether she would be +considered doing not just the thing, in his eyes, if she entertained +her in the pink room. + +About what he would have her do next, she gave much thought. And it was +not for days, or rather weeks, that she caught the possibility of his +meaning that the pink room should really be the girl's own. + +It was just this way. The weeks went by, and no plan for settling Mart +comfortably elsewhere met Mrs. Roberts's approval. There was constantly +some excellent reason why the one mentioned would not do. + +Meantime they became, she and Gracie Dennis, more and more deeply +interested in Mart. In her wardrobe first. + +"Wherever she lives, she should have respectable clothing; thus much is +easily settled." + +So the matron decreed, and Gracie did not gainsay it. She became +absorbed in preparing it. Such fascinating work! So many things were +needed, and her skin was so delicate, and her eyes so blue, and +Gracie's choice of shades and textures fitted her so precisely. + +Then when dressed, simple though her toilet was, her remarkable beauty +shone out so conspicuously as to alarm Mrs. Roberts, whenever she +thought of her in shop or in store. + +Several times during the weeks she visited Sallie Calkins, and looked +about her with a thoughtful air, and came away feeling that it would +not do. There was Mark, growing into manhood; a good boy, hard-working, +respectable, proud of his good, homely sister, and of his reformed +father. The two rooms were taking on every sort of homely comfort that +Sallie's skill, helped by Mrs. Roberts's suggestions, could devise. It +was growing into a model little home in its way, but there was not a +corner in it where Mart would fit. + +Then, as the days passed, a subtle, fascinating change began to come +over Mart. She slipped quietly into certain household duties. She +showed marvellous skill with her needle—such skill indeed, that Gracie +Dennis said more than once: + +"I'll tell you, Flossy, what to do with her: put her in a good +establishment, and let her learn the dressmaking trade. She could make +her fortune in time." + +And Mrs. Roberts smiled, and assented to the statement, but not to the +proposition. There was no dressmaking establishment known to her where +she was willing to place so young and pretty and ignorant a girl. But +she was quite willing that Mart should learn the looping of dresses, +and the fitting of sacks and collars and ruffles, and take many a +stitch for her, as well as for Gracie. + +She was willing to have her do a dozen little nameless things the +ways of doing which she had caught up; until at last the touch of her +fingers began to be felt about the rooms, and Mrs. Roberts began to +notice that she should miss Mart when she went away. Still, from the +first time she said this, the thought came afterward with a smile of +satisfaction, and it was but a week afterward that she caught herself +phrasing it, that she should miss her "if" she went away. + +What about Dirk? Young Reid could have told you more of him during +these days than anybody else. He still stayed at the boarding-house. +Mrs. Saunders, the mistress of it, was one who, if you had known her, +you would feel sure could interest herself heartily in such as he. +There was a bit of a room next to Reid's. To be sure, it had been used +for a clothes-press, and it took the busy housekeeper half-a-day to +plan how she could get along without it; but she planned, and offered +it to Reid for his protégé. + +"Just for the present, you know, until he sees what he can do, poor +fellow," she said. + +And Reid accepted the little room joyfully, and helped to fit it up. + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +"WHAT IF I BELONGED?" + +YOU think things are taking very rapid strides? Well, don't you know +that there come periods when they do just that thing, or appear +to? Why, even the buds on the trees teach us the lesson. How many +spring-times have you gone to your bed feeling that the season was +late, and the trees were bare, and the fruits would all be backward, +and nature was dawdling along in a very wearisome fashion; and awakened +in the morning to find that there had in the night been a gentle rain, +and a movement of mysterious power among the buds and the grasses, and +that now, in the morning sunshine, the world had burst into bloom? Yet, +did you really suppose, after all, that the work was done in one night? + +There was progress of several sorts in the class at the South End. +Even a casual observer could have seen a change in the boys that first +Sunday after they had attended Dirk's mother to the grave. The dignity +of that hour of sorrow was still upon them. Even the very reckless and +world-hardened will offer a certain degree of respect to death. On +ordinary occasions the boys might have been merry at Dirk's expense, +for they saw changes in him; but the memory of his mother's coffin kept +them silent, and let his changed manner have its effect. + +That Sunday was full of small events to Dirk—at least they are small +enough when one puts them on paper, though I admit that they looked +large to him. Several people interested themselves in his welfare. + +"Poor fellow!" said Mrs. Saunders. "I suppose his mother tried to do +for him. Just as likely as not she had a clean shirt for him of a +Sunday morning." + +You will perceive that Mrs. Saunders, though all her life a resident of +a large city, was not very well acquainted with the abject poor. + +In point of fact, Dirk Colson had had no extra clothing for his mother +to make clean. But Mrs. Saunders, full of the motherly thought, yet +finding no trace of a shirt in the bundle of rags that Dirk had brought +with him, went down one day into the depths of an old trunk, and +brought to light and mended and washed and ironed a shirt that had long +been laid aside. + +It lay in its purity on a chair at the foot of Dirk's bed on Sabbath +morning. He lay still and looked at it for a while, then arose and gave +such careful attention to the soap and water as was new to him, and +arrayed himself in the clean linen. + +Rig clothes were whole and clean. Mr. Roberts had seen to it that he +went respectably dressed to his mother's funeral. + +A tap at his door a little later, and young Reid appeared, shoe-brush +and blacking-box in hand. + +"Want to borrow?" he said, in the careless tone of one who might have +supposed that the blacking of his boots was an every-day matter to this +boy. "I always keep my own; it is cheaper than to depend on the street +boys." + +Dirk said nothing at all, but reached forth his hand, and took the +offered tools, and the hint which came with them. When he went down +to breakfast his boots shone, and his fresh paper collar was neatly +arranged; altogether he was not the boy to whom I first introduced +you. I am not sure that Policeman Duffer would have recognized him. A +collar and a necktie make a great difference in some people's personal +appearance. Dirk wondered a little as to where the box of paper collars +came from. The necktie he had just found lying in the bottom of the +box. It was the mate of the one Reid wore; but that told nothing, for +both were simple and plain, and could be bought by the dozen in any +furnishing store. + + +It is small wonder that the boys in the class looked at him. Nimble +Dick wore at first a roguish air, but a sudden memory of Dirk's face +when he turned away from his mother's grave came in time. Open graves +are not easy things to forget. + +Dirk went to the church that day—went with young Reid by invitation, +and sat in the pew behind Mr. Roberts. + +By the way, the seat which he occupied was another of Mr. Roberts's +peculiarities. Three seats were rented by him in a central part of the +large church. One of these seats he and his wife regularly occupied. +The others were almost as regularly occupied by the clerks from the +store who chose to make that their church home. Six sittings to a pew. +When a young man chose, Mr. Roberts was ready to enter into a business +engagement with him, whereby the sitting should be considered his own, +Mr. Roberts considering it to be no part of any one's concern that the +sum for which he thus sublet the sittings was not a tenth of what the +first rental cost. It was in this way that Mr. Reid owned sittings in +the pew just back of that occupied by Mr. Roberts, and brought with him +constantly one and another young man. To-day the young man was Dirk +Colson. + +It was all a strange world to him. He had wandered into the gallery +of the mission chapel, and looked down from his perch on the crowd of +worshippers; but this morning he was in the very centre of things, as +if he were one of them. Perhaps it was not strange that the startled +inquiry came to his mind: What if I belonged? Where did he belong now? +He had lost his place; he must make another. What if it should be in +this neighbourhood, among these surroundings? Such thoughts did not +take actual shape to him, so that he could have put them into words; +they merely hovered in his atmosphere. + +Mrs. Roberts sat so that he could look at her, which thing he liked to +do. It had long since been settled in his mind that he had one friend, +and that one was Mrs. Roberts. He admired Gracie Dennis, too, with a +different sort of admiration from that which he gave to the matron. She +might be all very well; and she was a splendid reader, and he knew that +he could imitate her on certain sentences, at least. And she had taught +him to use the type-writer—an accomplishment which he meant to perfect +himself in as soon as he had a chance. In fact, his ambition reached +higher than that: one of these days, he meant to make one of his own, +with certain improvements! Who shall say that Dirk was not growing? + +On this particular day there sat beside Mrs. Roberts a lady,—a +stranger. He could not see her face, but for some reason, which he did +not understand, Dirk liked to look at her. She suggested something to +him that seemed like a familiar dream. He thought much about her, and +resolved to see if in her face she looked like any one he ever saw. As +she turned at the close of the service he was looking at her steadily. +Lo! It was Mart. + +No; the possibility had not once suggested itself to his mind. If you +think this doubtful, you merely show that you know nothing about the +transforming effect of a becoming dress, no matter how simple it may +be. Remember, Dirk had never but twice seen his sister in a bonnet. +The first time it was Sallie's; and though the effect was sufficiently +startling, yet Sallie's bonnet did not fit her face as this creation +of Gracie Dennis's fingers did. The second time the bonnet had been a +hideous black one, proffered by an old woman who lived in the story +above them, and whose thoughtfulness Mrs. Roberts would not mar by +making any mention of the neat one which she had brought in a box that +day. The black bonnet had been like a mask, hiding Mart's beauty. + +The bonnet that she wore now was not of that character. It told a +wonderful story to Dirk's astonished gaze. Now, indeed, the likeness +was plain; without doubt, the girl whose face lighted with a curious +smile at sight of him bore a striking likeness to the woman who had +smiled on him whenever she met him! + +A curious effect this had on Dirk. There was that in his sister which +made it possible for her to be something like the woman who had won his +heart; and that sister was in his care—she had said so. He must work +for her, and watch over her! + +I suppose that Sabbath was really the beginning of the surface changes +in Mrs. Roberts's class—not the beginning to the teacher, but to those +people who have eyes only for strongly marked things. + +I know that it was but a few weeks afterward that Mrs. Roberts came +home with such an unusual light in her eyes, and with her face so full +of brightness, that her husband said, inquiringly,— + +"What is it, Flossy?" + +She turned to him eagerly, ready to laugh. + +"It is what you will understand, but a great many people wouldn't. It +is so nice that you understand things! I feel just like saying, 'Thank +the Lord.'" + +"Do you mean to convey the idea that only a very few favoured people +feel like that? I don't know of a person who has not great occasion. +What is your special one?" + +"Evan, the last boy had his boots blacked, and a fresh paper collar on!" + +Mr. Roberts threw back his head and laughed—a genial, hearty laugh. + +His wife looked on, smiling. + +There is a great deal of character in a laugh, remember; you would have +known that this was a sympathetic one. + +Mr. Roberts was entirely capable of realizing what this said to his +wife about the future of her boys. It was becoming certain that their +self-respect was awakened. + +A few days thereafter occurred another of those little things which +mark some characters. + +Dirk, at Mrs. Saunders's breakfast-table on Sabbath morning, heard talk +that on Monday, he recalled. By the way, I should have told you of one +other way in which the Sabbath became a marked day to him. He slept in +the little room which opened from Reid's, but his meals were picked up +at a restaurant, as occasion offered,—a much nicer and surer method of +living than he had ever known before. Even the commonest restaurant +was great respectability to him. Yet you will remember that he had +by this time taken several suppers in Mrs. Roberts's dining-room. He +knew that there was a difference in things—in fact, his experience now +stretched over infinite differences; but the first time he sat down to +Mrs. Saunders's breakfast-table, on a Sabbath morning, he discovered +another grade: this by no means belonged to the restaurant class. These +Sunday breakfasts and dinners were some of Mrs. Saunders's quiet ways +of helping along the work of the Christian world. Many a young man +appeared at her table as the guest of Reid or of Dr. Everett, or of +some other of the boarders, who was unaware that he owed the pleasant +experience to the landlady. + +Well, Dirk at the Sabbath table heard talk of one General Burton, +famous as a soldier, a scholar, and an orator. General Burton was +in the city, the guest of a prominent man. He was to speak on the +following evening in one of the great halls, and much eager talk was +had concerning him; great desire was expressed to hear him, to get a +glimpse of him. Dirk listened in silence, but had his own thoughts +about what it must be to have people talking about one, wanting to get +a glimpse of one, and next, what it must be to be intimate with such +people. Did Mrs. Roberts know the great man? he wondered. And then +Dirk smiled as he thought how queer it was that he should know Mrs. +Roberts—that he might, in fact, be called intimately acquainted with +her! + +Remembering this reverie of his, you will better understand how he felt +on Monday morning, as he made his way in haste down a quiet part of one +of the up-town streets, intent on an errand that required promptness, +to hear his name called by Mrs. Roberts. + +"Good-morning!" she said. "Are you in too great haste to recognize your +friends? I want to introduce you to a friend of mine. General Burton, +Mr. Colson.—General, this is one of my young men, of whom I told you." + +Whereupon the famous general, hero of many battles, held out his +honoured hand and took Dirk's in a cordial grasp. I don't suppose I +could explain to you what an effect this action had on a boy like Dirk. + +There is this comfort, you may be a student of human nature, and +therefore may understand it all without explanation. + +This is only one of many so-called trifles which occurred during the +weeks to make their indelible impress on the characters of the boys. + +Of course, the Monday evenings prospered. Reading lessons and writing +lessons, and, as time passed, lessons of all sorts, made good progress. + +Neatly-blackened boots, carefully-arranged hair, and fresh collars +became the rule instead of the exception. + +Other avenues for improvement opened. It became noised abroad in +Christian circles that great transformations were being worked among +a certain set of hard young fellows who had hitherto been best known +to the police. Mr. Roberts was interviewed by one and another, and one +outgrowth of the talks was that tickets for a course of expensive and +valuable and attractive lectures on popular subjects were placed in +large numbers in Mr. Roberts's hands for him to use at discretion. + +Moreover, seats were rented in the church, towards which most of the +boys gravitated—the one connected with their mission; seats re-rented +after Mr. Roberts's plan, so that as often as there appeared a young +man who cared to have a spot in the church which belonged to him, it +could be had for a very small sum—in fact, as pews rented in that +church, a ridiculously small sum. + +These are only hints of the channels which time and patience and +thought opened for these young men, on whom, but a short time before, +Satan believed himself to have so firm a grip. + +One feature of the Monday evenings had, in the course of time, to be +changed. The young teacher of elocution went home. + +"I want to go," she said at last, in answer to her hostess's pleading. +"I think it quite likely that papa would let me stay and attend school +here; but I am in haste to get home. You need not look sober, Flossy. I +have had a happier time than I have ever had in my life before, and I +have found here a sort of happiness that will last. It almost breaks my +heart to think of leaving those boys, especially my dear Dick Bolton; +but really I need to go home and undo certain things that I left badly +done. You don't half know me, Flossy Shipley. When I came here I was a +regular goose. If you had known what a simpleton I was, and how hateful +I had been about some things at home, you would never have invited me. + +"Among other things that were hateful about me, I was a real horror to +my mother. I thought I had reason to distrust and dislike her, when the +truth is that I have cause to go down on my knees and thank her for +keeping me from some things. I'm in a real hurry to get home, and show +that young mother of mine what a perfectly angelic daughter I can be." + +And Mrs. Roberts smiled and kept her own counsel, and this was all +that she was supposed to know about her young guest. She never knew +the whole story about Professor Ellis; though there was a girl, Hester +Mason by name, in Dr. Everett's Sabbath school, who could have told her +a good deal about him, and about Gracie Dennis's helping to break the +net that Satan had woven for her unwary feet. + +The fact is, there is a great deal concerning all these people—Hester +Mason and Dr. Everett and Joy Saunders and Joy Saunders's mother—which +I should have liked to tell you if I could have found room. You may +read of them any time, however, if you choose, in a book called +"Workers Together; or, An Endless Chain." Of course, the story of +their lives does not end even there, because the chain is, as I said, +"endless;" but there are many of the links presented to view. + +So Gracie Dennis went home. And neither then nor afterward did Mrs. +Roberts hear in detail the story of Professor Ellis. What matter? She +had, however, a short added chapter. It came in a letter from Mrs. +Marion Dennis not long after Gracie's return. It read thus:— + + "O Flossy Shipley Roberts! Blessed little scheming saint that you are! +What did you do? How did you do it? Ah! I know more about it than those +sentences would indicate. The dear Lord did it, working through you, +his servant. He has called our Gracie to higher ground, filled her +heart with that which has made insignificant things take their true +place, and wrong things show for what they are. + + "You know, of course, that it is all right about Professor Ellis;—Or +no! I fear it is all wrong about him, but right with our Gracie. I hear +that he has permanently located in your city. Perhaps your Christian +charity can reach him. He sent Gracie a letter, trying to explain +certain affairs about that Mason girl, with which I presume you are +familiar. She showed me the letter and her answer. He will not write +her another!" + + +"I don't know any Mason girl," said Mrs. Roberts to her husband, "but +it doesn't matter. I don't want to know the story if there is nothing +to be done through it. There are stories enough that one 'must' know." + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +"IT IS NO MADE-UP AFFAIR." + +IT was Monday evening, and there was company at Mr. Roberts's +home—not the usual Monday evening gathering, but quite a large party +of well-dressed men and women, many of them young, yet some were +middle-aged. The pretty room opposite the conservatory was thrown +open, and aglow with lights and flowers; and groups were continually +passing in and out, admiring the paintings and the flowers, and the +type-writers of different patterns, and the books and magazines, of +which there were many. But interest was not confined to this room. The +parlours were thrown open and the music-room beyond; even the cosy +little library was public property for this one evening. The company +was large and their tastes were varied; so no pains had been spared to +give them variety. + +You are acquainted with quite a number of the guests; yet I am by no +means sure that you would recognize them all. Even in so short a period +as three years great changes may be effected. + +For instance, do you know the young man in unnoticeable, and therefore +appropriate, evening dress, who is doing duty at the piano, watching +with practised eye the course of the player, and turning the leaf with +skilful hand at just the right moment? It is a somewhat embarrassing +position; but his manner leads you to suppose that he has been +accustomed to it all his life, and that he reads music well. In the +latter belief you are correct; but as to being accustomed to it—three +years ago Nimble Dick could have told you a different story. + +You can't believe that it is he? I do not wonder. The change is +certainly a great one; but he does not feel it. To tell you the truth, +he almost forgets, when he becomes absorbed in his work, that this sort +of society was not always open to him. Three years mean a long time +to the young; and Richard Bolton has so long been accustomed to the +freedom of Mrs. Roberts's parlour; and to the sort of people whom one +finds there, that none of the refinements of polite life are strange +to him; and as to turning music, has he not done it for his hostess +numberless times? + +If your eyes are now opened, it is possible that you may be trying to +spy out other young men. The rooms are full of them, elegantly-dressed +fashionable young men; but a few are noticeable by the air which they +have of being in a sense responsible for the comfort of the others. +They are on the alert; they are taking care that no young guest shall +appear for a moment to be forgotten or neglected. They appear to be +entirely familiar with the house and all its appointments. They can be +appealed to for a glass of water or an ice, or to know what special +scene this landscape hanging over the mantle represents, or whose bust +this is in the niche at the left, or in what portion of the library a +certain book will be found, or from what part of the foreign world that +strangely-shaped shell came; and they are all equally at home. + +In short, it is like having a dozen or twenty young hosts to look after +your comfort and pleasure. In point of fact, there are seventeen of +them. The original seven has thus increased. Two months ago there were +twenty; but one has secured an appointment as telegraph operator in a +distant city—and as Stephen Crowley occupies a similar position in one +of the offices in this city, some very interesting conversations are +held, and many important items connected with the "Monday evenings" +and the South End School and the "Library Association," etc., are +transmitted when the lines are not otherwise employed. + +Young Haskell, too, has gone with one of the partners from the store +where he was first employed, to set up a branch store in a not distant +town; and his old Sabbath school teacher has already received letters +from him, saying that they have started a branch Sunday school in the +south part of the town, and that he has picked seven little wretches +out of the streets, from eight to twelve years of age, and gone to work. + + "And, dear Mrs. Roberts, I wish you would pray for me, that I may be +able to bring every one of them to Christ." + +So the letter ran; and that tells volumes to the initiated about young +Haskell. + +But although the changes among these young men have been great almost +to bewilderment, only one of the number has been promoted to a dazzling +height. The others are without exception earning good, honest livings +for themselves; securing good, substantial education through the +evening classes which have grown out of that first effort; bidding fair +to become leading and honoured citizens when they actually take their +places as men. But Mark Calkins, faithful, plodding, good-hearted, +patient Mark, has surpassed them all! + +The truth is, "that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath +entered into the heart," what sort of magnificence surrounds him now. +He has gone to court. The chief Ruler of the realm has sent for Mark to +be always in his immediate presence in the palace; and with what joy he +went I cannot tell you, nor how often they speak of him, and try to let +their hearts conceive of the glory which surrounds him, and dwell on +the day when they will be called, one after another, to share the same +glory, for this is the ambition of more than half of them. + +Now, in that sentence is unveiled the most curious part of my curious +story; and that it is curious I frankly admit. It is no made-up affair. +I am not responsible for the strangeness of it. You are to remember +that "truth is stranger than fiction," and then to understand that I am +telling you the truth. It is, then, a fact that these young men have +each received conditional appointments to serve in the palace, high in +power, and splendour, and dignity. The conditions are that they are +to be willing to be guided in all things by the will of their King, +whom they each admit to be wise above all wisdom, and to be kind above +all their conceptions of kindness. It is true that nine of the number +have accepted their appointments, donned their uniform, assumed their +positions as he has directed, and are waiting for the summons to appear +in person at court. It is also true that the others are still in a +state of indecision; they do not know whether to accept the appointment +or not. It is true that they feel themselves honoured; that they +believe this to be the only path of honourable and safe promotion. It +is true that they have full faith in those who will tell with joy that, +having enlisted, they find the service even in this ante-room sweet and +the rewards great. + +It is true that they severally visited Mark, just as the door was +opening to admit him to the palace, and heard him speak of the glimpses +of its glory, and heard that his last words before he went away +were, "Oh, mine eyes see the King in his beauty!" And that his voice +was jubilant as that of a conqueror, and his face radiant as with a +reflection of unseen glory. And yet they hesitate, and daily with the +call, and mean, some time, to have such an inheritance deeded to them, +but not now. Remember, I am not responsible for this. Were I writing +fiction I should hesitate to set down such idiotic folly, expecting you +to call it unnatural or absurdly overdrawn; but I do solemnly declare +to you that this is fact. Account for the folly of their behaviour as +best you can. + +Well, Sallie and her father are left behind. But, mind you, they are +not among the doubtful ones. They both as much expect to serve at court +as they expect to live through all eternity. But while they wait, +they are busy. They have moved from the alley; the surroundings were +not such as they liked. Did you notice that bit of a house standing +modestly back from the road, at the farther corner of those ample +grounds that surround the South End Church? It is the sexton's house; +and that church, and those Sunday school rooms, and those grounds, and +everything pertaining to them, are under his care. The father is the +sexton it is true, and attends the furnace and rings the bell; but it +is Sallie's care that keeps seat and desk and window so beautifully +free from dust or stain. Oh, they live busy lives, and happy ones. +Sallie trusted not in vain in her father's promise that night, when he +put his weak will into the pledge; but you are to understand that it +was but a few days thereafter when he planted his weak and wavering +feet on the Rock of Ages. Then did Satan angle for him in vain. + +So, on this Monday evening, there were but seventeen at the gathering. +I hesitate over what to name the gathering. I would call it a party, +but that in many respects it was so totally different from anything +with which you are probably acquainted by that name. + +The young man who stands by the door of the conservatory, eagerly +describing to Miss Henderson a rare and curious flower, which has +been sent to Mrs. Roberts from California, is "Black Dirk." Really, I +hope you are sufficiently astonished; for he looks so utterly unlike +the scamp who used to be the special torment of the South End Mission +that I should be disappointed if you were not impressed by it. "Mr. +Colson" almost everybody calls him now. The name has long since lost +its strangeness. He is in the employment of the great firm of Bostwick, +Smythe, Roberts & Co. + +And although Mr. Roberts has never found it convenient to do so before, +there were reasons why he thought it would be well to have a clerk +within call, so Mr. Colson boards with what was the junior partner of +the firm. He is so no more, by the way, for Mr. Reid has been received +as a member, and is decidedly a "junior" partner. Probably Mr. Roberts +could tell you, if he chose, why one so young, and without capital, had +been elected to partnership; but, as a rule, he keeps his own counsel, +only remarking that the young man developed remarkable business +faculties which were patent to the whole firm. To his wife he said:— + +"I tell you, Flossy, I believe a consecrated life will be honoured +by the Lord in whatever channel he gives it talents to develop. +'Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.' That young man is going to have a +career in business. I shouldn't be surprised if the Master meant him to +show the world how a Christian can use money to his glory." + +It is early yet to prophesy what Mr. Colson will do. Doubtless he will +be a merchant; certainly he will be a Christian; possibly he will be +an orator, of whom the world will yet hear—a temperance orator, for +instance. I know you would like to hear him read a poem. He is not +confined to Will Carleton's style now, though he still reads with power +some of those inimitable delineations of life; but Gracie Dennis offers +no more criticisms when he reads. In fact, I have heard her defer to +him, when a question arose, as one who had probably studied the passage +and caught its best. I am willing to confess that my poor Black Dirk +was a bit of a genius. + +The thought I desire you to catch is that so many of those poor +fellows, who of necessity live by their wits in the city slums, are +diamonds which could be fitted to shine. You take a diamond, and throw +it down in the dirt and filth, and put your foot on it, and grind it +in, and leave it there, sinking and soiling, day after day, year after +year; and when somebody comes along and picks it out, how much will it +gleam for him at first? Yet the diamond is there. + + "Thou shalt ... be ... a royal diadem in the hand of thy God." + +Mrs. Roberts had been at work hunting diamonds for His diadem. + +As Mr. Colson stood there chatting freely with Miss Henderson, there +was nothing about the association that looked incongruous, neither did +it occur to any. There was not a trace of embarrassment about this boy +from the slums; he had forgotten the slums, and stood talking with one +of the aristocrats of the city. + +How came she to talk with him, to allow herself to be entertained by +him? Let me tell you; thereby hangs a tale. Some time before this +evening—in fact, nearly two years before—Mrs. Roberts had come to a +puzzle, and stood and looked at it doubtfully. Then she presented it to +the others:— + +"They are growing easy in their manners with me; learning to be +gentlemanly without embarrassment, and thoughtful over little things +without being ashamed of it; but I am afraid that with other ladies +they would be sadly frightened and awkward. When Mrs. Delaney came in +this evening I could but notice how utterly silent Mr. Colson became; +he had been talking well before. It seems as though there was a great +gulf between them and social advancement. How can we bridge it?" + +Then Mr. Reid ventured his thought:— + +"My sister Esther had a class in the Centre Street Sabbath school—nice +little girls, who wore pretty dresses, and had their hair curled, and +came from the best families. After she was taken sick, she told me +one of her regrets was that she had not stayed well long enough to +try a plan which she had. She meant to take a class of rough little +boys in the mission school, and she meant to ask the mothers of the +little girls to let them come, once a month, and play with the little +boys from the streets—she to play with them and watch over them +every moment, but to try to interest the girls in teaching the boys +gentleness and good manners. I don't know how it would have worked. +Esther was never well enough to undertake it, nor could she seem +to enlist any one else in such service. It has grave objections, I +suppose; but I have always thought that I should like to see something +of the kind carefully tried." + +Mrs. Roberts, before this little story was half concluded, had turned +those eager eyes of hers on the speaker—eyes that always had a peculiar +light in them whenever her soul took in a new suggestion. + +"Thank you," she said. "I see—oh! A great many things. I ought to have +called in that dear sister Esther to help on this phase of the question +before. It has always seemed to me as though we were doing her work." + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +"THEIR WORKS DO FOLLOW THEM." + +THAT was the beginning of a new effort. There were certain young ladies +becoming well known to Mrs. Roberts by reason of a similarity of tastes +which drew them to her. + +She sat down one day and wrote out their names with great care on her +tablets. + +Miss Henderson's name headed the list. She was one of the aristocrats. +I use the word in its highest sense. The accidents of wealth and +position were hers—at least, that is the way we talk, though I suppose +we all believe that the Lord is the giver of both, and will require an +account of the same at our hands. + +If this be so, Miss Henderson will be more ready than some with her +rendering; for she is of royal blood, and guards well the honour of the +Christian name she bears. + +Without hesitation, Miss Henderson headed the list. The others were +chosen more slowly—ten of them, picked soldiers, to do special duty "in +His name." + +It required much explanation, much care to plan wisely. + +But the girls caught at the idea. + +In the course of weeks they formed a band, with Miss Henderson for +president. Ostensibly they were a literary society; really they were +diamond polishers. + +They met one evening by invitation with Mrs. Roberts, and made the +acquaintance of the "Monday Club." They sang for them, read for them, +heard them read; chatted with them on the various topics of the +hour,—the last lecture of the course, which all had attended; a certain +book carefully read and criticised by Mr. and Mrs. Roberts and Dr. +Everett in the Monday Club—not so carefully read by the young ladies; +therefore, it came to pass that they were somewhat worsted in an +argument concerning it, which was bad neither for the young ladies nor +the Monday Club. + +Finally, they were taken out to supper by these young men who had so +far come under Mrs. Roberts's influence that they were willing to +endure "torture" for the sake of pleasing her. + +It is a long story. I could write another book about it just as well as +not. + +The main difficulty would be that the critics would pronounce the story +overdrawn. They always do when one revels in facts. It is only when +an author keeps within the range of sober fiction that he may feel +comparatively safe from this charge. + +These young ladies represented other parlours and other dining-rooms. +They arranged for little graceful entertainments, to which the Monday +Club was invited. Gradually others were invited too—good, solid men, +and wise-hearted, motherly women. The invitations were select, the +"polishers" were chosen with care; but it was surprising to these +workers to find how large the Christian world is, and how many stood +ready to help if they were shown how. + +"It is one of the best suggestions that that dear Esther has given us." +This Mrs. Roberts said one evening when the Young Ladies' Band and the +Monday Club combined their forces and gave an entertainment to some of +the best people in the avenue. + +I have given you hints of how they did it. They were every one +Christians, these young ladies; none others were chosen. They worked +with a single aim in view—His glory. They took no step that was not +paved with prayer. Do you need to be told that they succeeded? + +This was one of the reasons why Mr. Colson chatted with Miss Henderson +with perfect freedom, and why his bow was graceful and easy when she +introduced him to her friend Miss Fanshawe of Philadelphia. He was +accustomed to being introduced to her friends. + +I'm sure I hope you wish I would tell you somewhat of Mart Colson. If +you are not deeply interested in her, I am disappointed in you. She has +been such an object of interest to me since that time when I caught a +glimpse of her once through the cellar window, with a gleam of sunset +making her hair into gold. + +It is a summer evening of which I tell you, and she is all in white, +except her eyes—nothing can be bluer than they are to-night—and except +the flowers about her. She is always among the flowers. + +I hesitate, after all, to tell you about Mart. Hers is one of those +stories hard to tell. Besides, her friend and patron has suffered much +criticism because of her, and though Mrs. Roberts does not care in the +least, I find that I am sensitive. + +Has she really kept that Colson girl with her all these years? Yes, she +has. I speak it meekly, but she has! And never had her learn a trade, +or work in a factory, or learn to support herself in any way? She has +never sent her anywhere to learn a trade, or to work in a factory, or +to stand behind a counter. It is too true. + +No, I was almost sure you did not approve of it. But, for all that, +I don't mean to argue Mrs. Roberts's cause. "To her own Master she +standeth or falleth." + +Not but what Mrs. Roberts has argued, on occasion—with Gracie Dennis, +for instance, who paid her a few weeks' visit, less than three months +after she first went home. + +"Flossy," she would say, "what are you going to do with the girl? Do +you really mean to keep her here?" + +"She has no mother, my child, nor father; and her brother is not able +to care for her yet. Where would you have me send her?" + +"Why, Flossy, there are places." + +"Yes, my dear, I know it, and this is one of them." + +"Well, but she ought to be learning things. How is she going to support +herself?" + +"She is studying arithmetic with me, you know, and writing and reading +with the dining-room girls; and I am teaching her music; and Mr. +Roberts proposes to have her join the history class as soon as she is +sufficiently advanced in the more common studies." + +"But, Flossy Shipley, that is great nonsense! You know what I mean. You +cannot turn the world upside down in that fashion, or make an orphan +asylum of your house or a charity school." + +"My dear, do you really think the house is in danger? Does it look like +an orphan asylum or feel like a charity school?" + +Then would Gracie Dennis laugh, but look a trifle vexed, nevertheless, +and mutter that people couldn't do things that way in this world. + +Then would Flossy be ready with her gentle drops of oil to soothe the +ruffles. + +"Gracie, dear, I am not trying to reform the world. There are a great +many girls left destitute, I know, and I will do at wholesale all I +can for them; but this one is peculiar. You have admitted that it was +unusual to see such dangerous beauty, and she is unusual in her mental +development. She could be fierce and wicked; she is ignorant and bitter +about many things: I am afraid for her. I have not been able to think +of a place where the Lord Jesus would have me take her. I must see to +it that 'he' is pleased, you know, at all hazards. If he does not mean +us to keep her in the shelter of our home for the present, we do not +know what he means. + +"We cannot 'mother' the whole race; he has not even suggested it to our +hearts. He has simply said, 'Here, take this one; there is room for +her; keep her until I plainly tell you that her place is elsewhere.' +Gracie, would you have me tell him we cannot?" + +By this time Gracie would be humble and sweet. + +"It is very good of you," she would say meekly; "and I was not +thinking of such a thing as finding fault. I was only wondering +whether—whether—well, you know, whether such a life as she is leading +in your house would not unfit her for her proper sphere?" + +But a sentence like that was always liable to put little Mrs. Roberts +on all the dignity she possessed. Her husband had ideas on that +subject, and had imbued her with them. Her voice could even sound +almost haughty as she said,— + +"As to that, Gracie, we must remember that the 'sphere' of an American +woman is the one that she can fill acceptably in God's sight. He may +call her to the highest; I don't know. Since she is the daughter of a +King, there may be no spot on his footstool too high for his intentions +concerning her." + +There was outside criticism, of course. Indeed, Mrs. Roberts was +sufficiently peculiar in many respects to call for much criticism +from the world. They talked much about "that girl" she had picked up. +Gradually they said "that Colson girl;" then one day some daughter +asked, "Is she really a sister of that handsome Mr. Colson in the +store?" And by-and-by there were some who spoke of her as "Mattie +Colson." That was the name which Mrs. Roberts always called her. It +began gradually to be known also that "Mattie Colson" knew a great deal +which was worth knowing. Three years of companionship with a lady like +Mrs. Roberts, and such as she gathers about her, can do much for a girl +who wishes much done for her. + +As to "earning her living," I am not sure but she was learning to do +it in several ways. Mrs. Roberts struggled against all false ideas of +life, therefore taught her none. + +She was not the cook, but she could, and had on occasion served up a +most enjoyable breakfast. + +She was not the second girl, yet her fingers were undeniably skilful +in the arrangement of rooms and tables. She was not the sewing girl, +yet constant were the calls on fingers that had become wise in these +directions. She was by no means the nurse, yet there was a little +golden-haired "Flossy" in the sunny room upstairs whose devoted slave +she was, and whose mother felt that Mattie's loving, watchful care over +her darling was only second to her own, and was so to be relied upon, +by day and night, as to repay tenfold whatever she might have done for +the girl. + +In fact, it would perhaps be difficult to define "Mart" Colson's +position in the house. Yet she was, as I have said, becoming known +among the young ladies outside as—"Mattie Colson, that handsome young +Colson's sister, as pretty as a doll, and a protégée of that lovely +Mrs. Roberts, you know." + +As for the Young Ladies' Band—I do not include them when I talk of the +girls "outside"—what they had done for Mattie Colson she could not have +told you though she tried, her eyes shining with tears. + +The days had come wherein the very matrons who had said that it was +a strange thing for Mrs. Roberts to take a girl from the slums into +her family, that it was "tempting Providence to attempt such violent +wrenches," now said one to another that "it must be a great relief to +Mrs. Roberts to have that Mattie Colson always at her elbow to see that +everything about the home was just as it should be." And they added, +with a sigh, that "some people were very fortunate." + +Now, dear critic, you stand all ready to say that this is a very nice +paper story, but that in actual life attempts at doing good do not +result so smoothly; that to be "natural," Mrs. Roberts ought, at least, +to have tried in vain to reclaim half of her boys. + +It is true, I have said nothing to you about two or three whom she has +not as yet reached, though she is still trying. My story was not of +them, but of the twenty whom she did reach. Concerning your verdict, +there are two things that I want to say: first, go into the work, and +give the time and patience and faith and prayer that Mrs. Roberts +and her fellow-workers gave, before you decide that it is vain. And +secondly, will you kindly remember that, whether this be natural or +not, it is true? + +I do not think I have told you the immediate occasion of this +particular gathering. It was, in fact, a reception given to Mrs. Reid. +It is not likely that I need tell you at this late day that her name +was Gracie Dennis Reid. I could have told you much about it had I been +writing a story of that sort. + +In fact, there is a chance for considerable romancing. There are +matters of interest that I might tell you about "Mr. Colson" himself, +young as he is, and about Mattie who wears to-night a rose that "she" +did not pick from the conservatory; but I don't mean to tell it. + +I have just one other bit of history to give you. They stood together +for a moment—the young bridegroom and the lady with whom he had +faithfully worked ever since that rainy afternoon in which he had +confided his gloom to her. Both were looking at the two young men who +stood near the piano waiting to join in the chorus. Both had known +these young men as "Nimble Dick" and "Black Dirk." + +Still another of the original seven stood in the immediate vicinity. +The glances of the two workers took them all in; then they looked at +each other and smiled meaningly. + +"I have been thinking of that first Sunday afternoon," said Mrs. +Roberts. "I asked them to pick up my handkerchief which had dropped, +and 'Nimble Dick' said, 'Pick it up yourself, mum, you're as able to as +we be!' I wonder if they would remember it? What if I should tell them!" + +As she spoke, the bit of cambric in her hand designedly dropped almost +at the feet of Dirk Colson. He stooped for it instantly; but "Nimble +Dick" was too quick for him, and presented it to the owner with a +graceful bow, and a slightly triumphant smile. + +But the chorus was commencing, and the bass and tenor were at once +absorbed in their work; so Mr. Reid and Mrs. Roberts had the memorial +laugh all to themselves. None but they understood what the white +handkerchief said. + +Despite the laughter there was a suspicious mist in Mr. Reid's eyes. + +"How far is mirth removed from tears?" he asked his hostess. And then: +"Do you know, when I look at these young men, moving about your rooms +at their ease, really ornaments to society, and think of the places in +the world that they will be likely to fill, and think of what they were +when you first saw them, the overwhelming contrast brings the tears!" + +Said Mrs. Roberts:— + +"I will tell you something that will do your heart good. Did you know +that our young lady helpers had reorganized in larger force, and with +certain fixed lines of work which they feel certain they can do? The +effort has passed out of the realm of mere experiment. They have chosen +a name. They are henceforth to be known as THE ESTHER REID BAND. + +"They came to me for a motto to hang in their rooms below the name; and +I gave them this:— + + "'And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are +the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, +that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.'" + + + + THE END. + + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75657 *** diff --git a/75657-h/75657-h.htm b/75657-h/75657-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4dc2b45 --- /dev/null +++ b/75657-h/75657-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9692 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + Following Heavenward or The Story of Alfred Reid, by Pansy (Isabella Alden) │ Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/image001.jpg" type="image/cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size:12.0pt; + font-family:"Verdana"; +} + +p {text-indent: 2em;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +/* Images */ + +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} + +.w100 { + width: auto + } + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +p.t1 {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 125%; + text-align: center + } + +p.t2 { + text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 150%; + text-align: center + } + +p.t3 { + text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: center + } + +p.t3b { + text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 100%; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center + } + +p.t4 { + text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 80%; + text-align: center + } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +p.poem { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + padding: 20px 0; + text-align: left; + width: 555px; + } + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75657 ***</div> + +<p>Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image001" style="max-width: 33.8125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image001.jpg" alt="image001"> +</figure> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image002" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image002.jpg" alt="image002"> +</figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>A CHILD OF POVERTY.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + + + +<h1>FOLLOWING <br> +<br> + HEAVENWARD</h1> + + +<p class="t3"> +OR<br> +</p> + +<p class="t1"> +<em>The Story of Alfred Reid</em><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +BY<br> +</p> + +<p class="t1"> +Pansy<br> +<br> +[Isabella Alden]<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p class="t4"> +AUTHOR OF "A NEW GRAFT ON THE FAMILY TREE," "ESTHER REID,"<br> +"WORKERS TOGETHER," "A HEDGE FENCE,"<br> +&c. &c.<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image003" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image003.jpg" alt="image003"> +</figure> + +<p><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +THOMAS NELSON AND SONS<br> +</p> + +<p class="t4"> +London, Edinburgh, and New York<br> +<br> +————————————<br> +</p> + +<p class="t3"> +1902<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3b"> +Contents.<br> +</p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image004" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image004.jpg" alt="image004"> +</figure> + +<p>Chapter.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_1">I. IT MAY BE THAT SHE IS WORKING STILL</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_2">II. WHAT DID IT ALL AMOUNT TO, ANYHOW?</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_3">III. ANYTHING UNCOMMON ABOUT ME?</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_4">IV. I DON'T BLAME THEM</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_5">V. A CHRISTIAN HOME</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_6">VI. SATAN, HE HAS 'EM ALL THE WEEK</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_7">VII. WHAT A LITTLE SCHEMER IT IS!</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_8">VIII. WHAT WOULD YOU DO, DEAR?</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_9">IX. TREMENDOUS FACTS!</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_10">X. AND SHE ALWAYS TRIED</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_11">XI. I HAVE BUT TO TRY AGAIN</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_12">XII. I WANT THEM TO GET USED TO PARLOURS</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_13">XIII. LET US BE FASHIONABLE</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_14">XIV. SOMETHING'S HAPPENED</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_15">XV. WHAT MADE HER DIFFERENT?</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_16">XVI. HERE WAS HIS OPPORTUNITY</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_17">XVII. I WONDER WHAT THEY'RE ALL AFTER</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_18">XVIII. YOUR'N'S THE WAY!</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_19">XIX. WE HAVE BEGUN BACKWARDS</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_20">XX. OH, WHAT A NICE THOUGHT!</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_21">XXI. HAD HIS EXPERIMENT BEEN TOO SEVERE?</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_22">XXII. SOME PEOPLE ARE HARD TO WARN</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_23">XXIII. PART OF THE GREAT WELL-TO-DO WORLD</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_24">XXIV. FOR YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT MAY COME</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_25">XXV. WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH?</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_26">XXVI. O LORD, TAKE DIRK TOO!</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_27">XXVII. AN AWFUL PROBLEM!</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_28">XXVIII. MAY SHE GO WITH ME?</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_29">XXIX. WHAT IF I BELONGED?</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_30">XXX. IT IS NO MADE-UP AFFAIR</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_31">XXXI. THEIR WORKS DO FOLLOW THEM</a></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t2"> +<b>FOLLOWING HEAVENWARD.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image005" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image005.jpg" alt="image005"> +</figure> + +<p><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_1">CHAPTER I.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"IT MAY BE THAT SHE IS WORKING STILL."</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>IT was raining drearily, and but few people were abroad—that is, few +comparatively speaking, though the streets seemed full of hurrying, +dripping mortals. In the large dry-goods store business was by no +means so brisk as on sunny days, and one of the younger clerks, whose +station was near a window looking out upon the thoroughfare, had time +to stand gazing at the passers-by. They did not seem to interest him +particularly, or else they puzzled him. His young, handsome face wore +a thoughtful look, almost a troubled expression about the eyes, which +seemed to be gazing beyond the passers-by.</p> + +<p>Just across the aisle from him, a lady, seated in one of the +easy-chairs set for the accommodation of shoppers, waited and watched +him; a young and pretty woman, tastefully, even elegantly-dressed, yet +her costume was quite in keeping with the stormy day. The young man's +face seemed to have special interest for her, though he was apparently +unaware of her existence. A close observer would have discovered that +she was watching him with deeply interested eyes.</p> + +<p>Whatever served to hold the thoughts of the young man apparently grew +in perplexity, for the troubled look continually deepened. At last, +forgetting the possible listener, he addressed the dripping clouds +perhaps—at least, he was looking at them:—</p> + +<p>"I don't know how to do it, but something ought to be done. It is worse +than folly to expect good from the way that things are now managed. +Esther would have known just what, and how; and how interested she +would have been! I try to do her work, and to 'redeem the time;' but +the simple truth is, I don't know how, and nobody else seems to."</p> + +<p>These sentences were not given all at once, but murmured from time to +time at his unsympathetic audience outside.</p> + +<p>Patter, patter, patter! Drip, drip, drip! Steady, uncompromising +business. It was all the answer the clouds vouchsafed him.</p> + +<p>With the listener inside it was different. The interested look changed +to an eager one. She left her seat and moved toward the absorbed young +man, breaking in on his reverie with the clearest of voices:—</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon,—but are you thinking of your sister? You are +Mr. Reid, I believe? I have heard of your sister's life, and of her +beautiful death, through a dear friend of my husband, who loved Esther. +I have always wanted to know more about her. I wanted to get acquainted +with you, so I might ask you things about her. I am waiting now for my +husband to come and introduce us. But perhaps it isn't necessary. Do +you know who I am?"</p> + +<p>"It is Mrs. Roberts, I believe?" the young man said, struggling with +his astonishment and embarrassment.</p> + +<p>"Yes; and you are Mr. Alfred Reid. Well, now we know each other without +any further ceremony. Will you tell me a little about your sister, Mr. +Reid'? You were thinking of her just now."</p> + +<p>"I was missing her just now," said he, trying to smile, "as I very +often am. I was a little fellow when she died; but the older I grow, +the more difficult I find it to see how the world can spare her. She +was so full of plans for work, and there are so few like her."</p> + +<p>"It may be that she is working still, in the person of her brother."</p> + +<p>He shook his head energetically, though his face flushed.</p> + +<p>"No, I can only blunder vaguely over work that I know she, with her +energetic ways and quick wits, could have done, and done well. It +happens that she was especially interested in a class of people of whom +I know something. They need help, and I don't know how to help them. It +seems to me that she could have done it."</p> + +<p>"Will you tell me who the people are?"</p> + +<p>"It is a set of boys for whom nobody cares," he said, speaking sadly; +"it hardly seems possible that there could ever have been a time when +anybody cared for them, though I suppose their mothers did when they +were little fellows."</p> + +<p>Thus spoke the ignorant young man—ignorant of the depths to which sin +will sink human nature, but rich in the memory of mother-love.</p> + +<p>"I think of my sister Esther in connection with them," he said, +speaking apologetically, "because she was peculiarly interested in wild +young fellows like them; she thought they might be reached, that there +might be ways invented for reaching them, such as had not been yet. She +had plans, and they were good ones. I thought so then, little fellow +that I was, and I think so now, only nobody is at work carrying them +out; and I wonder sometimes if Esther could have been needed in heaven +half as much as she is needed on earth. She used to talk to me a great +deal about what might be done. I think now that she wanted to put me in +the way of taking up some of the work that she would have done; but she +mistook her material. I can't do it."</p> + +<p>"Are you sure? You are young yet; and besides, you may be doing more +than you think. Couldn't I help? What is there that needs doing for +these particular young men?"</p> + +<p>"Everything!" he said excitedly. "If you should see them, you would get +a faint idea of it. They come occasionally down to the Sabbath school +at the South End; in fact, they come quite frequently, though I'm sure +I can't see why. It certainly isn't for any good that they get. Their +actions, Mrs. Roberts, surpass anything that I ever imagined."</p> + +<p>"Who is their teacher?"</p> + +<p>"That would be a difficult question to answer. They have a different +teacher every Sabbath. No one is willing to undertake the class twice. +They have tried all the teachers who attend regularly, and several who +have volunteered for once, and never would attempt it a second time. +Just now there is no one who will make a venture."</p> + +<p>"Have 'you' tried?"</p> + +<p>He shook his head emphatically.</p> + +<p>"I know at least so much. Why, Mrs. Roberts, some of them are as old as +I, and, indeed, I think one or two are older. No; we have secured the +best teachers that we could for them, but each one has been a failure. +I suppose they must go."</p> + +<p>"Go where?"</p> + +<p>He shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"What an awful question! Where 'will' they go, Mrs. Roberts, if we let +them slip now?"</p> + +<p>He was tremendously in earnest. One could not help feeling that he had +studied the possibilities, and felt the danger.</p> + +<p>"Suppose I try to help! Shall I come and take that class next Sabbath?"</p> + +<p>This simple, directly-put question brought the young man suddenly from +the heights of his excitement into visible embarrassment. He looked +down on the small, fair lady, reaching hardly to his shoulder, attired +in that unmistakable way which bespeaks the lady of wealth and culture, +and could imagine nothing more incongruous than to have her seated +before that class of swearing, spitting, fighting boys. Not that her +wealth or her culture was an objection, but she looked so utterly +unlike what he had imagined their teacher must be—she was so small, so +frail, so fair and sweet, and ignorant of the ways of the great wicked +world, and especially of those great wicked boys. What could he say to +her?</p> + +<p>He was so manifestly embarrassed that the small lady laughed.</p> + +<p>"You think I cannot do it," she said almost gaily.</p> + +<p>He hastened to answer her.</p> + +<p>"Indeed, you have no idea of the sort of class it is. I have given you +no conception of it; I cannot. You would think yourself before a set of +uncaged animals."</p> + +<p>"Yes; and in case of failure I should only be where the others +are who have tried and failed. If you will introduce me, and your +superintendent will let me, I mean to try; and that will relieve you of +the dilemma of being entirely without a teacher for them."</p> + +<p>Young Reid had nothing to say. He thought the attempt a piece of folly, +a worse than useless experiment; but how was he to say so to the wife +of his employer?</p> + +<p>That gentleman appeared just then, making haste.</p> + +<p>"I was unavoidably detained," he explained; "I feared you would grow +weary of waiting.—Ah, Reid, my wife has introduced herself, I see.—Is +he the young man you were speaking of, Mrs. Roberts?"</p> + +<p>"The very young man—Esther Reid's brother. He doesn't know how glad I +am to have met him.—Some day, when we are better acquainted, and you +trust me more fully, I am going to tell you how I became so deeply +interested in your dear sister. Meantime this little matter should be +definitely settled.—Mr. Roberts, I have invited myself to take a class +to-morrow down at the South End Mission."</p> + +<p>"Have you indeed?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Roberts spoke heartily, and seemed by no means dismayed, only a +trifle perplexed as to details.</p> + +<p>"How can we manage it, Flossy? My prison class takes me in an opposite +direction at the same hour, you know."</p> + +<p>"Yes; I thought of that. I propose to ask Mr. Reid to call for me, and +show me the way, and vouch for my good intentions after I reach there. +Do you suppose he will do it?"</p> + +<p>She looked smilingly from her husband to young Reid, and both waited +for his answer.</p> + +<p>"I obey directions," he said, bowing respectfully to Mr. Roberts. "Am I +to have the honour of being detailed for that service to-morrow?"</p> + +<p>"So Mrs. Roberts says," was the good-humoured reply.</p> + +<p>And then the merchant took his wife away to their waiting carriage that +had drawn up before the door, leaving Alfred Reid, if the truth must be +told, in a fume.</p> + +<p>"Much she knows what she is talking about!" he said, jerking certain +boxes out of their places on the shelves, and then banging them back +again, seeming to suppose that he was by this process putting his +department in order for closing. "Little bit of a dressed up doll! +They will tear her into ribbons, metaphorically, if not literally, +before this time to-morrow. She thinks, because she is the wife of Evan +Roberts, the great merchant, she can go anywhere and do anything, and +that people will respect her. She has never had anything to do with a +set of fellows who care less than nothing about money and position, +except to be ten times more insolent and outrageous in their conduct +than they would if she had less of it.</p> + +<p>"I shall feel like a born idiot in presenting this pretty little doll +to teach that class. Mr. Durant will think I have lost what few wits I +had. What can possess the woman to want to try? It is just because she +has no conception of what she is about. But Mr. Roberts must know. I +wonder what he means by permitting it?"</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>In very much the same state of mind did our young man pilot his new and +unsought-for recruit into the crowded mission rooms of the South End on +the following Sabbath afternoon. She looked not one whit less able to +compete with the terrors which awaited the teacher of the formidable +class.</p> + +<p>Her dress was simplicity itself, according to Mrs. Roberts ideas of +simplicity; yet, from the row of ostrich tips that bobbed and nodded at +each other, all around the front of her velvet hat, to the buttons of +her neat-fitting boots, she seemed to bring a new atmosphere into the +room.</p> + +<p>Yesterday's rain was over, and the pleasant south windows were aglow +with sunshine. As Mrs. Roberts sat down, the sunbeams came and played +about her face, and she seemed in keeping with them and with nothing +else around her.</p> + +<p>The superintendent bestowed curious glances on her during the opening +exercises. He had seen the shadow on young Reid's face when he seated +her, and had found time to question:—</p> + +<p>"Whom have we here?"</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Evan Roberts. She wants to try the vacant class. 'I' did not ask +her, Mr. Durant; she invited herself."</p> + +<p>Mr. Durant looked over at her, and tried to keep his eyes from smiling.</p> + +<p>"She looks very diminutive in every way for such an undertaking. They +will frighten her out before she commences, will they not?"</p> + +<p>"I presume so; but I didn't know what to do. She wanted to come, and I +could not tell her she must not."</p> + +<p>"No, of course; the occasion is too rare to lose. Very few people +ask the privilege of trying that class. There is no teacher for them +to-day; and your Mrs. Roberts must learn by experience that some things +are more difficult than others. I will let her try it."</p> + +<p>Meantime "the boys" of the dreaded class were studying the new face. +She was the only person not already seated before a class, and they +naturally judged that she was to be their next victim. They looked at +her, and then at one another, and winked, and coughed, and sneezed, +and nudged elbows, and giggled outright, every one of them, meantime +chewing tobacco with all their might, and expectorating freely wherever +they judged it would be most offensive.</p> + +<p>Alfred Reid watched them, inwardly groaning. Being used to their faces, +he could plainly read that they anticipated a richer time than usual, +and rejoiced greatly over the youth and beauty of their victim.</p> + +<p>But young Reid was not the only one who watched. Mrs. Roberts, +without seeming to be aware of their presence, lost not a wriggle or +a nudge. She was studying her material, and it must be confessed that +they startled her not a little. They represented a different type of +humanity from her Chautauqua boys, or her boys in the old church at +home—rather, an advanced stage of both those types.</p> + +<p>When Mr. Durant came toward her, the look on his face was not +reassuring; it so plainly said that he expected failure, and was sorry +for her as well as for himself. However, with as good grace as he could +assume, he led her to the seat prepared for the teacher, and gave her a +formal introduction.</p> + +<p>"Boys, this is Mrs. Roberts, who is willing to try to teach you to-day. +I wish you would show her that you know how to behave yourselves."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts wished that he had left her to introduce herself, or that +he had said almost anything rather than what he did; the mischievous +gleam in several pairs of eyes said that they meant to show her +something that they considered far more interesting than that.</p> + +<p>Many were the sympathetic glances that were bestowed on the young and +pretty lady as she went to her task. As for Alfred Reid, there was more +than sympathy in his face. He was vexed with the young volunteer and +vexed with himself.</p> + +<p>He told himself savagely that this was what came of his silly habit of +thinking aloud. If only he had kept his anxieties about that class to +himself, Mrs. Roberts would never have heard of it, and been tempted to +put herself in such a ridiculous position; and if this episode did not +break him of the habit, he did not know what would.</p> + +<p>He was presently, however, given a class of small boys, with enough +of original and acquired depravity about them to keep him intensely +employed, and the entire school settled to work.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_2">CHAPTER II.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"WHAT DID IT ALL AMOUNT TO, ANYHOW?"</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>SETTLED, that is, so far as the class of boys in the corner would +permit the use of that term. They had not settled in the least. Two of +them indulged in a louder burst of laughter than before, just as Mrs. +Roberts took her seat. Yet her face was in nowise ruffled.</p> + +<p>"Good-afternoon," she said, with as much courtesy as she would have +used in addressing gentlemen. "I wonder if you know that I am a +stranger in this great city? You are almost the first acquaintances +that I am making among the young people, and I have a fancy that I +would like to have you all for my friends. Suppose we enter into a +compact to be excellent and faithful friends to one another? What do +you say?"</p> + +<p>What were they to say? They were slightly taken aback, surprised into +listening quietly to the close of the strange sentence, and then giving +no answer beyond violent nudges and aside looks. What did she mean? +Was she "chaffing" them? This was unlike the opening of any lesson. +It certainly could not be the first question on the lesson-paper; nor +did it sound like certain well-meant admonitions to "try to improve +the opportunity" and "learn all that they could." With each of these +commencements they were entirely familiar; but this was something new.</p> + +<p>"Do you agree to the compact?" she asked, while they waited, her face +bright with smiles.</p> + +<p>"Dunno about that," said one whom she very soon discovered occupied the +position of a ringleader; "as a general thing, we like to be kind of +careful about our friendships. We might strike something that wasn't +quite the thing with people in our position. You can't be too careful +in a big city, you know."</p> + +<p>It is impossible to give you an idea of the impishness with which this +impudent answer was jerked out, to the great amusement of the others, +who laughed immoderately.</p> + +<p>It suited Mrs. Roberts to treat the reply with perfect seriousness and +composure.</p> + +<p>"That is very true," she said courteously; "but at the same time I +venture to hope that since you know nothing ill of me as yet, you +will receive me into a sort of conditional friendship, with the +understanding that I remain your friend until I am guilty of some +conduct that ought to justify you in deserting me. I am sure you cannot +object to that; and now, if we are to be friends, we should know each +other's names. I am Mrs. Evan Roberts, and I live at No. 76 East +Fifty-fifth Street. I shall be glad to see you at my house whenever +you would like to call on me. Now, will one of you be kind enough to +introduce himself and the class? Perhaps you will introduce me to your +friends?"</p> + +<p>She looked directly at the ringleader.</p> + +<p>"Certainly, certainly, mum!" he replied briskly. "This is Mr. Carrot +Pumpkins, at your service, mum—this fellow on my left, I mean; rather +a queer name I daresay you think. It all came of his being fond of +sitting astride a pumpkin when he was a little shaver, and of his hair +being exactly the colour of carrots, as you can see for yourself. And +this fellow on my right is Mr. Champion Chawer; so-called because he +can make the biggest run on tobacco of any of the set, taking him day +in and day out. That fellow at your elbow is 'Slippery Jim.' We don't +call him 'Mister,' because he doesn't stay long enough in one place to +have it tacked on to him. He is such a slippery scamp that an eel is +nowhere, compared to him."</p> + +<p>During this rapid flow of words the listeners, who evidently admired +their leader became so convulsed with laughter as to lose all vestige +of respectability, and Mr. Durant's disturbed face appeared in view.</p> + +<p>"Boys, this is perfectly disgraceful!" he said, speaking in sharp and +highly-excited tones—"Perfectly disgraceful! I don't know why you wish +to come here to disturb us in this way Sabbath after Sabbath! But we +have really endured enough. There is a policeman at the foot of the +stairs, and he can easily call others to his help; so now, if you wish +to remain here, you must behave yourselves."</p> + +<p>During the deliverance of this sentence, some of the boys gave mimic +groans, one of them whistled, and others kept up a running comment.</p> + +<p>"A policeman! Oh good! That's little Duffer, I know! We've seen him +before! Wouldn't mind giving him a chase to-day, just for exercise, you +know, mum."</p> + +<p>"I say, boys, let's cut and run, the whole band of us. We can jump +these seats at one bound, and take the little woman along on our +shoulders for a ride! Shall we do it?" This from the leader, who in +time came to be known as "Nimble Dick."</p> + +<p>"Bah! No!" replied a third. "Let's stick it out and see what she's got +to say; she's a new party. Besides, we can't give her the slip in that +way; we're friends of hers, you know."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Roberts," said the distressed Mr. Durant, in a not very good +undertone, "I think you will have to give it up. They are worse than +usual this morning. We have endured much from them, and I must say that +my patience is exhausted. Will you not take the seat at the other end +of the room?"</p> + +<p>"Not unless they wish me to."</p> + +<p>The people who had known Flossy Shipley well would have detected a +curious little quiver in her voice, which meant that she was making +a strong effort at self-control; but a stranger would hardly have +observed it.</p> + +<p>"Do you wish me to go away, young gentlemen?"</p> + +<p>The scamps thus appealed to looked at one another again, as if in doubt +what to say. This again was new ground to them. Policemen they were +accustomed to. At last Nimble Dick made answer:—</p> + +<p>"No, I'm bound if we do; it comes the nearest to looking like a lark +of anything that we have had in a long time.—I say, parson, go off +about your business and let us alone. We was having a good time getting +acquainted till you come and spoiled it. We'll be as sober as deacons +at a prayer-meetin'. And look out how you insult this young woman; +she's a friend of ours, and we're bound to protect her. No asking of +her to change her seat; she's going to sit right here to the end of the +chapter."</p> + +<p>Mr. Durant looked his willingness to summon the police at once; but +Mrs. Roberts's voice, evenly poised now, took up the story:—</p> + +<p>"Thank you; then I will stay. And since it is getting late, suppose we +lose no more time. There was something about which I wanted to tell +you. But a few evenings ago I attended a gathering where I saw some +very singular things. A gentleman in the party was tied with a strong +rope, hands and feet, as firmly as two men could tie him—people who +knew how to tie knots, and they did their best; yet while we stood +looking at him, he shook his hand free and held it out to them. How do +you think it was done?"</p> + +<p>"Sham knots," said one.</p> + +<p>"No, for my husband was one of the gentlemen who tied him, and he +assured me that he tied the rope as firmly as he could. Besides, more +wonderful things than that were done. I tied my own handkerchief into +at least a dozen very hard knots, and gave it to him, and I saw him +put it in a glass of water, then seize it and shake it out, and the +knots were gone. I saw him take two clean glasses, and pour water from +a pitcher into one, and it seemed to turn instantly to wine. Then he +poured that glass of wine into the other empty glass, and immediately +it turned back to water, or seemed to. Dozens of other strange things +he did. I should really like to tell you about them all. I will, at +some other time; but just now I think you would like to know how he did +them?"</p> + +<p>"How he did them!" "As if you could tell!" "Can you tell?" "Pitch in, +mum; I'd like to hear that part myself!" These were some of the eager +answers.</p> + +<p>Had the little teacher, under the embarrassments of the occasion, taken +leave of her senses? Actually she was bending forward, opened Bible +turned face downward on her knee, engaged in describing, in somewhat +minute detail, the explanations of certain sleight-of-hand performances +which she had recently seen! What idea of the office of teacher, and +the solemnity of the truths to be taught, had she?</p> + +<p>The boys were listening, their heads bent forward all around her. What +of that? They would have listened equally well to a graphically-told +story of a Fourth Avenue riot, and been equally benefited, you think? +They did not know just when the speaker slipped from the events of last +week to the events of more than three thousand years ago. Indeed, so +ignorant were they of all past history, that they were not even aware +that she went back into the past; for aught they knew, she might have +gone on Wednesday of last week to see the man who could untie knots +by magic, and on Thursday to see the men who could drop canes on the +ground that would appear to turn into wriggling serpents. But there was +one statement that proved too much for their credulity.</p> + +<p>"You could not imagine what occurred next," said the bright-faced +teacher. "The cane or rod that the first man had dropped actually +opened its mouth and swallowed the other rods that seemed to be +serpents, and was left there alone in its triumph!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, bosh!" said Nimble Dick, contempt expressed in the very curve +of his nose. "That's too steep; I don't believe a word of it! These +fellows can do lots of queer things—I've seen 'em perform myself; but +they never made a live thing yet; I've heard folks that know say so."</p> + +<p>"Precisely what I wanted to reach," said Mrs. Roberts with animation. +"You are right; they never did; and you have discovered just the +difference between them and the one man of whom I have been telling +you. He worked by the power of God; he distinctly stated that he did, +and that God really turned his rod into a serpent, and allowed it to +swallow the imitations of life, and then turned it back again into a +rod, to show that nothing was beyond his power."</p> + +<p>"Did you see the thing done?" questioned a young sceptic, running his +tongue into his cheek in a skilful way, and distorting his whole face +with a disagreeable leer. He began to suspect that he was being cheated +into listening to a Bible story.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts was prompt with her answer:—</p> + +<p>"Oh no, I did not; neither did I see the great fire that you had in +this city about a year ago. At that time I was a thousand miles away; +and it so happens that I have never talked with any person who did see +it; yet I know there was a great fire, and many buildings were burned +and lives lost. It has been proved to me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well," said sceptic number two, while number one retired into +silence to speculate over this answer, "fires are common enough things; +anybody can know that they happen; but it ain't such a common affair +to see a stick turn into a serpent and swallow up other serpents. I've +seen them fellows make things that looked like snakes myself. I could +most swear to it that I'd seen them wriggle; but they never did no +swallowing."</p> + +<p>"That is, they did not give unmistakable signs that they were alive. +But do you think it too strange a thing for God to do? Surely he can +make life. How is it that you are here, breathing, talking, thinking, +if there is no power anywhere to make life?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I came from a tadpole," said the boastful young scientist, putting +his thumbs under his arms, and affecting an air of great wisdom. "I +know all about that; I was there, and see the things wriggle."</p> + +<p>Evolution staring her in the face in a corner class in a mission +school—a class that had been gathered from the slums! Mrs. Roberts did +not know that these are the very places in which to find it in all its +coarseness. Yet she made haste to meet the boy on his own ground.</p> + +<p>"Very well, if you choose to take that view of it. Was not the tadpole +alive? Where did the life come from? You insist that the story I +have been telling you is untrue because you know that none of these +sleight-of-hand performers have ever or can ever make actual life—that +it is an impossible thing for human beings to do. Yet when I tell you +that God did it, you refuse the statement. How are you going to account +for life? If in its very lowest forms it cannot be made by men who have +given all their time to the study of the marvellous, how is it that it +is everywhere about us, unless I am correct, and there is a Power that +can produce life?"</p> + +<p>Not a boy among them had heard the term "evolution," knew anything +about "the survival of the fittest." They were entirely ignorant +of "protoplasm" or "bioplasm;" yet not one of them but had caught +the meaning of some of these terms, as they had been translated for +them into the vernacular of the city slums; not one in the class but +perceived that their champion arguer had been met on his own ground and +vanquished.</p> + +<p>Not with an outburst of horror; he had not even been informed that he +was irreverent. Nimble Dick delighted in making each teacher tell him +this. He had merely been replied to in the calmest of argumentative +tones, and called upon to account for the facts in his own statements, +and had been unable to do so.</p> + +<p>The crowd broke into a derisive laugh, and were noisy, it is true, +and brought troubled frowns to the face of their superintendent, and +made the flush on Alfred Reid's face deepen; yet if both these anxious +watchers had known it, it was worthy of note that the laugh had been at +the expense of one of their number, and not at their teacher.</p> + +<p>"Well, go on," interposed the youngest and quietest of the group. "Tell +us some more about your old fellow with his serpents. Did they stay +swallowed, and what did it all amount to, anyhow?"</p> + +<p>Thus challenged, Mrs. Roberts gave her whole heart to the business of +giving, in as dramatic a manner as she could, the closing scenes in the +act performed in Egypt so long ago, carefully avoiding any reference +to time, and mentioning no names, using only modern terms, and an +exceedingly simple conversational form of language. She was, however, +presently interrupted with a question:—</p> + +<p>"When did all this happen, and why don't somebody do something like it +nowdays?"</p> + +<p>Ignoring the first question, Mrs. Roberts adroitly gave herself to the +second.</p> + +<p>"Why don't you find your pleasure in tumbling around on the floor, +playing with a bright-coloured marble or two, as you did when a child? +The world was in its childhood when God taught the people in this way. +He has given them just as wonderful lessons since, but lessons more +suited to men and women who have learned to think and reason. We don't +like to be always treated as children."</p> + +<p>Whether they really dimly understood the meaning or not is possibly +doubtful, yet it appealed to their sense of dignity in so indirect a +way, that they did not themselves realize what inclined them to quiet +for a moment, while she finished her sentence earnestly.</p> + +<p>In the midst of the quiet, the closing-bell rang, and the seven young +scamps seemed at once to take into their hearts seven other spirits +worse than themselves, and behaved abominably during the closing +exercises, and tumbled out of the door over each other in the wildest +fashion the moment the signal was given, halting only to say, in the +person of their leader,—</p> + +<p>"You be on hand next Sunday; we like your yarns first-rate."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts, with glowing cheeks and eyes behind which there were +unshed tears, made her way to the desk where Mr. Durant was standing, +and spoke quickly:—</p> + +<p>"There is a difference between others who have tried it and myself, Mr. +Durant. The sentence in Mr. Reid's account that gave me courage was, +'Every one has failed, so far; people are unwilling to take the class a +second time.' I have failed, but I want to try again."</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_3">CHAPTER III.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"ANYTHING UNCOMMON ABOUT ME?"</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>THOUGH they rushed out with even more noise than usual, every +boy of them knew that the noise was to cover a certain sense of +shame-facedness, because they had actually been beguiled into listening +quietly for a few minutes to earnest words.</p> + +<p>Directly they had reached the privacy of the street they became quieter.</p> + +<p>"I say, boys," said Nimble Dick, "is that an awful green one, or a new +kind?"</p> + +<p>"New, I should say," replied one of the younger boys; "she ain't like +anything that's been in that room since we got acquainted with it. I +don't know her style myself."</p> + +<p>"What do you take it she meant by that stuff about being friends, and +telling us where she lived, and all that?"</p> + +<p>"Dunno what she meant; but she ain't 'green,' you may bet your head on +that. I'll tell you what I think, boys: I b'lieve she knows what she is +about, every time."</p> + +<p>What this sage conclusion amounted to, one not acquainted with the +dialect of the street might have been at a loss to understand; but the +rest of the party received it in grave silence and nods of the head, as +though it were a thought that needed careful investigation. In common +parlance, Jerry Tompkins had expressed the opinion that Mrs. Roberts +had some point to gain in being so uncommonly polite and attentive to +them, and they were curious to know what the motive could possibly be.</p> + +<p>They considered the important question in silence until they reached +the next corner; then Nimble Dick, tossing back his head as one who had +thrown off an abstruse problem, and would have none of it, said:—</p> + +<p>"Well, what next? We've got through with that fun for to-day. What are +you going to do, boys? Say we go around to Poke's, and see what is +going on there?"</p> + +<p>To this proposition there was eager agreement from all the party save +one; he maintained a somewhat moody silence.</p> + +<p>"What say, Dirk?" the leader asked, addressing him. "Are you ready for +Poke's?"</p> + +<p>"No; I don't think I'll go around just now."</p> + +<p>"What then? If you've got something better on hand, why don't you let a +fellow know? We're not dying for Poke's place."</p> + +<p>"I haven't got a thing on hand; only I don't care about going there."</p> + +<p>"Where, then?"</p> + +<p>"Nowhere."</p> + +<p>"Nowhere! Mean place. Too cold weather to stop in the streets. There +'ll be a good fire at Poke's. You come along; don't go to getting the +sulks; it ain't becoming, just after you've been to Sunday school."</p> + +<p>But the young fellow persisted in gloomily refusing to join them, and +presently they began to tease, in what they meant to be a good-natured +way.</p> + +<p>"Dirk's struck," said one. "That yellow-haired party has got him by +the throat; I saw her looking at him most uncommon sharp, when she was +telling that biggest story of hers about the serpent that swallowed. +Dirk he thinks he's been swallowed by one of 'em; he feels it choking +in his throat."</p> + +<p>"No," said another, "that ain't it; Dirk's a-going to get pious. That's +his last dodge; I've seen the spell coming on for some time. Didn't +you see him pick up that there Bible and lay it on the seat the other +Sunday, after Jerry's elbow knocked it off by mistake? I've been scared +about Dirk ever since; and now he won't go to Poke's! It's a bad sign. +I say, Dirk, maybe there's going to be a prayer-meeting down your way, +and you wouldn't mind letting us come?"</p> + +<p>They expected him to laugh, but his face grow blacker than before, and +at last he said, in very significant tones:—</p> + +<p>"You better hold up there, Scrawley, if you don't want to try the depth +of that gutter."</p> + +<p>"Leave him be," said Nimble Dick quickly; "he's going into one of his +tantrums. When he begins like that, there's no end to the fighting +that's in him; and I don't want a row now,—it's too early in the day; +besides, I know something that's better fun. You fellows come along +with me, and let him go."</p> + +<p>All this was said in a sort of undertone as Dirk strode on ahead; and +when, at another corner, he dashed down it, leaving them all, there was +no call after him. He was free to go where he would, and for reasons +that he himself could not have explained, he chose that it should be +home—that is, the place which he called home. It might not meet your +ideas of what a spot so named should be.</p> + +<p>The road to it led through one of the meanest portions of the city. +Each foot of the way the houses seemed to grow more squalid-looking and +the streets filthier. The particular alley down which he dived at last +was narrower and blacker than any yet passed, and the cellar door which +he pushed open let him into the meanest-looking house in the row—a +long, low, dark room.</p> + +<p>In one corner there was the remnant of a stove, braced up by bricks +and stones; but no fire was burning therein, though the day was cold. +Furniture there was none, unless the usual rickety table and two broken +chairs could be called by that name. A door was ajar that led into an +inner cellar, and a glimpse of piles of offensive-looking rags, that +were called "bed-clothes" by the family, might have given you an idea +of what their home life was, as hardly any other phase of it can. The +rags were not all in the farther cellar, however; a gay, patch-work +quilt, or at least one that had once been gay, but from which bits of +black cotton now oozed in every direction, seemed to have curled itself +in a heap against the one window. However, it moved soon after Dirk +opened the door, and showed itself to be more than a quilt. Inside was +a young girl, the quilt wrapped around her closely, drawn up about her +face and head, as if she would hide all but her eyes within, and try to +get rid of shivering.</p> + +<p>"You home?" she said, her tones expressing surprise, but at the same +time indifference. "What is it for?"</p> + +<p>"Because I wanted to come. Hasn't a fellow a right to come home if he +wants to?"</p> + +<p>"Of course; and it's such a lovely home, and you are so fond of it, no +one need wonder at your coming in the middle of the day."</p> + +<p>The sentence was sarcastic enough, but the tones were hardly so; they +expressed too much indifference even for sarcasm.</p> + +<p>Dirk surveyed her thoughtfully; he seemed to have no answer ready. +In fact, his face wore almost a startled air, and really the thought +which presented itself for consideration was startling. Something about +the face of the girl, done up so grotesquely in her ragged quilt, +suggested the lady who had been his teacher at the mission! Could one +find a sharper contrast than existed between these two? Yet Dirk, as he +looked, could not get away from it.</p> + +<p>"What are you staring at?" the girl asked presently, growing uneasy +over the fixedness of his gaze. "Do you see anything uncommon about me?"</p> + +<p>"Where's mother?" he asked, dropping his eyes and turning from her.</p> + +<p>"In there, asleep. You needn't talk quite so loud; it won't hurt her to +get a bit of rest. She sat up till morning, poking at your old coat."</p> + +<p>Dirk looked down at it thoughtfully. There had been an attempt to make +it decent, although the setting of the patches showed an unpractised +hand, and they were of a strikingly different colour from the coat +itself.</p> + +<p>"You might have done it for her, then, in the daytime," he said +briefly; and added, "Where's father?"</p> + +<p>The girl shrugged her shoulders.</p> + +<p>"How should I know? Where he is most of the time. You know more about +it than I do, or ought to; you live on the street."</p> + +<p>He gave her an answer which seemed to surprise her:—</p> + +<p>"I say, Mart, what is the use in being so horrid cross all the time?"</p> + +<p>"You are so good-natured," she said, "and everything is so nice and +pleasant around me, it is a wonder that I should ever be cross!"</p> + +<p>"That's all lost, Mart, for I never said I was good-natured, nor +thought I was; and if I don't know just how hateful things are, I +should like to know who does! But, after all, what good does it do to +snarl? Why couldn't you and me say a good-natured word once in a while, +just for a change?"</p> + +<p>"Try it," she said; "I wish you would! I'm so tired of things as they +now are that most any change would be fine. But I'll risk your doing +much in that line; it isn't in you."</p> + +<p>What was there in this cross girl to remind any one in his senses +of Mrs. Evan Roberts? Yet, even as she spoke that last ungracious +sentence, she turned a little, so that a slant beam of sunshine, one +of the few that ever found their way into this dreary room, laid a +streak of light just across her hair, yellowing it until it was almost +the shade that he had noted in the lady at the mission; and he thought +of her again, and wondered curiously whether, if Mart were dressed in +the shining black dress, and fur wraps, and feather-decked bonnet that +the lady had worn, she would really resemble her. How would Mart look +dressed up, he wondered—even decently dressed, as the girls were whom +he met on the streets? He had never seen her in anything much more +becoming than the ragged quilt. He was studying her in a way that Mart +did not in the least understand. She broke the spell suddenly again:—</p> + +<p>"Have you had any dinner?"</p> + +<p>"Dinner? Why, no! Of course not. Where would I find that sort of thing? +I looked all up and down the streets, and smelled plenty of it, but not +a bite did I get."</p> + +<p>"Where have you been?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, around in several places; not much of anywhere."</p> + +<p>"I know where you've been,—" a severe light coming into her eyes; +"you've been down to the South End, and if I was you, I'd be ashamed of +myself! I know how you fellows go on down there. Sallie Calkins goes, +and she told me all about it. She said that she was ashamed to live +in the same street with any of you, and that none of the folks in the +mission knew what to do with you, and the next thing you knew you would +all be marched off to the lock-up."</p> + +<p>"Let them try it," muttered Dirk, his face growing darker; "we'd make +that street too hot to hold them in short order if they played at any +such game as that, and I guess they know it."</p> + +<p>"Well, anyhow, I wouldn't be meaner and lower down than I had to be, +Dirk Colson! It is bad enough as it is—a drunkard for a father, and we +nothing more than beggars! But I'd behave myself half-way decent when I +went among folks that wanted to be good to me, or else I'd stay away."</p> + +<p>"Look here! You keep your preaching for them that wants to hear it; I +don't. A fellow can't come home without having a row; if it isn't of +one kind, it's another. I wonder I ever come home at all."</p> + +<p>Dirk was angry now, and his dark, thin face looked fierce with passion.</p> + +<p>His sister kept the curiously composed tone and manner with which she +had said all her exasperating things.</p> + +<p>"I wonder you do," she said. "I suppose you get starved, and can't help +it, now and then. There's some dinner I saved for you. If you want it, +eat it, and then take yourself to some place that suits you better."</p> + +<p>As she spoke, she jerked open the door of a little cupboard near which +she stood, and brought therefrom a much-cracked plate, on which lay +a baked potato, with one end broken or bitten off, then carefully +replaced, as if the owner might have had a second thought as to its +disposal; a bit of corn-bread, somewhat burned, and half of a roasted +apple.</p> + +<p>Meagre as the fare was for a hungry boy, there was more variety than he +had expected, and something in the simple preparation touched him and +quieted his anger.</p> + +<p>"Where did this come from?" he asked, taking in the unaccustomed morsel +of apple with two eager bites. "I tell you that is good!"</p> + +<p>"Sallie Calkins gave it to me last night. She got one give to her +somewhere."</p> + +<p>Just as the last bite was gone, it occurred to Dirk first to wonder, +and then to be almost certain, that his sister, having shared the +apple, had saved her entire share for him. It was not the first time he +had known of such an effort on her part to supply him with food. Had he +thought of it sooner, he would certainly have left a bit of the dainty +for her; but no thought of telling her so, for an instant crossed his +mind.</p> + +<p>Neither had she, on her part, the slightest idea of describing to him +with what care and patience she and Sallie had roasted the choice +morsel before Sallie's fire, only last night—Sallie's father being +fortunately late in coming, and so giving them a chance; then she had +borne hers home in a bit of paper, and carefully guarded it all day, +just for this hour. Also, she might have told him that she bit the end +from the potato before she remembered that there would be none left for +him, and then fitted it on again as best she could, and went without. +She would not have told him for worlds. Why? She could not have +explained why. Something within her shrank from letting him know, not +that she sacrificed for him, but that she cared enough for him to want +to do it!</p> + +<p>Potato and corn-bread were gone, to the last crumb; it seemed to Dirk +that there had been only enough of them to show him how hungry he was.</p> + +<p>"I suppose there isn't anything more?" he said wistfully, with the +rising inflection, indeed, but not as one who had any idea of receiving +an affirmative answer.</p> + +<p>"I should think there wasn't!"—defiance in the tone. "There's a piece +of bread that I kept for mother's supper, and I mean she shall have it."</p> + +<p>"Well, don't bite me! I'm perfectly willing that she shall. Isn't there +anything for a fire?"</p> + +<p>"Only some chips that I'm saving till mother has her nap out."</p> + +<p>"You better go to bed yourself, then; it's awful cold here."</p> + +<p>"I ain't going to stir from this corner so long as this streak of light +lasts. It isn't so very often I see it that I can afford to lose it."</p> + +<p>Her brother turned and looked at her. She had gathered the folds of the +ragged quilt about her again, and was crouching at the low window, and +the very last gleam that the sunshine would vouchsafe them came and +glimmered in her hair.</p> + +<p>There it was again—that mysterious, haunting resemblance! What would +Mart think if he told her of it? Probably that he was trying to poke +fun at her. At least, he should not experiment. Yet he could not help +wondering again how Mart would look if she were dressed like other +people.</p> + +<p>"I say, Mart," he began suddenly, breaking the stillness, "let's you +and I get out of this, where it is warmer. Come and take a walk down on +the avenue; the sun will shine yet for half an hour and it is real warm +and bright."</p> + +<p>"In this quilt?" she asked significantly, looking down at it.</p> + +<p>The boy's face darkened.</p> + +<p>"Hasn't your shawl got out of pawn yet?"</p> + +<p>"How should it?"</p> + +<p>He flung himself angrily out of the broken chair, picked up his ragged +cap, and strode angrily and noisily across the room, out at the door, +stumbling up the steps, like one half-blind with disgust or rage, and +went on swift feet down the street out of sight. And Mart, poor Mart, +left thus to solitude, let the last beam of the sun go without watching +and buried her face in the ragged quilt and cried.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_4">CHAPTER IV.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"I DON'T BLAME THEM."</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>IT was not a "pet" name. Poor Mart Colson would not have known what +to do with a pet name. Her life had not taught her how to use such +phrases. How she came to be named Martha, she did not know; but a +hollow-eyed, sad-voiced woman could have told her of a country home, +long ago, where there were daffodils blowing in the early spring, +almost under the snow; where, later, the earth was turned into sky, +or the stars came down and gleamed all over her father's fields, so +plentiful were the dandelions; and the breath of the clover came in at +all the open windows; and the cows—her father's cows—coming home from +pasture, and the tinkle of their bells, were sights and sounds familiar +to her ear. She sat there one summer evening, in the back door, +watching the glory and the peace, and studying, between times, her +Sabbath lessons. Often and often the words came back to her in future +years.</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus."<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>That was one of the verses. Was it a dim memory of the words, and a +sort of blind reaching out after their fulfilment, that led her to name +her poor little two-days-old baby Martha?</p> + +<p>The old home had vanished; the sweet-scented meadows, the tinkling +bells, the peace and the plenty, were as utterly things of the past as +though they had not been. Mother and father and one brother were gone, +lying in grass-grown, neglected graves; and she—why the two-days-old +baby's father was drunk, and had been for three weeks! A hard, +hateful-sounding word—coarse, almost. Why don't I say intoxicated? Oh, +because I can't! I've no desire to find smooth-sounding words with +which to cover the sin of that baby's father.</p> + +<p>But the mother named her Martha. She never told her why, if, indeed, +she herself fully knew; it was not a family name. Gradually, after the +fashion of the times, she sought to shorten the name; and because they +had not sweet, short words as "Pet," and "Dear," and "Sweet,"—all such +belong to happy homes—they grew to calling her Mart. And now, even she +herself hardly realized that she had ever owned to any other call.</p> + +<p>Poor Mart! I find myself wanting to use the adjective over and over +again when I speak of her. Such a desolate, loveless life! Always a +drunken father—she had never known any other; always a sharp-toned, +weary-eyed, disheartened mother, who shut her tenderness for the child +within herself, as one who could not afford to show it. Then Dirk, the +one brother, going astray almost as soon as he was born. What wonder, +from such a home?</p> + +<p>Yet Mart wondered and felt bitter over it. Why could not Dirk be +like some others of whom she knew—like Sallie Calkins's brother, for +instance, who worked day and night, and brought home often and often +an apple, or a herring, or sometimes even a picture paper for Sallie? +Mart was sharp-tongued; all her life had taught her to be so. She spoke +sharp words out of the bitterness of her heart at Dirk; and of late +rarely anything but sharp words; yet—and this was Mart's secret, hidden +away as if it were something of which to be ashamed—she loved Dirk, +loved him fiercely, with all the pent-up wealth of her young heart; and +often, because she loved him, she was harsh and bitter towards him, +though she did not herself understand why this should be.</p> + +<p>As for Dirk, he walked rapidly but for a few blocks; his dinner had +been too insufficient to give him strength, after the first aimless +anger had subsided. Then came the question what to do with himself. +Why hadn't he gone with the fellows? More than likely some of them +had contrived a way to get a dinner. Why had he persisted in sullenly +leaving them all and going home?</p> + +<p>He had not the least idea why he had been impelled to go home. Now that +he was fairly away from home again, he had no idea what to do with +himself. A place where he could warm his feet and his hands, where +he could get a bite to eat, possibly,—this last would be an immense +attraction, but was not a necessity, and he did not expect it,—but +warmth, at least, he felt that he must have. Where would he find it? +What place had been provided for such as he?</p> + +<p>He ought by this time to have been earning his own living—to have had a +corner which he could call home, earned by himself, where some of the +decencies of life were gathered. Of course he ought; but the painful +fact to meet just now was that he had not done his duty. He had gone +astray, not so far but that there were plenty of chances to go further, +greater deeps to which he might yet reach, but far enough to all but +break any watchful mother's heart—only that his mother's heart was +broken before he was born.</p> + +<p>The simple question waiting to be solved was this: Having done as +poorly for himself as under the circumstances he well could, what +was Dirk Colson to do next? He had no idea; neither, apparently, had +multitudes of Christian people engaged in praying that the Father's +will might be done on earth even as it was in heaven.</p> + +<p>The young man walked six blocks down the respectable avenue, lined +with pleasant homes, where the people went to church, and read their +Bibles, and had family prayers, and kept holy the Sabbath day. Not a +door among them all opened and held out a winning signal to arrest his +heedless feet. Not so Satan. Is he ever caught idling at his post? Just +around the corner from the respectable avenue (and around the corner +Dirk presently turned, still uncertain what to do, where to find the +warmth he craved), then the winning invitations for such as he began +to present themselves. Saloons, and saloons, and saloons! How many of +them were there, far outnumbering the churches! Pleasant they looked, +too—opening doors, ever and anon, revealing brightness and warmth +within. They would like to see him inside. Of this Dirk was sure.</p> + +<p>Not that he had money, but he had something that in such places often +served him well—a decided and dangerous talent for imitating any and +every peculiarity of voice or manner that had chanced to come under his +notice. He could make the fellows in these saloons roar with laughter. +If he did particularly well, they were willing to order for him a glass +of beer, or a fairly good cigar; in any case, he had a chance to get +warm. This was actually Dirk's only present source of income! Yet he +shrank from it; he could not have told you why, but on this particular +Sabbath, he was averse to earning his coveted warmth in this way. He +walked resolutely by two or three places where he had reason to think +he might be welcomed, wondering vaguely whether there wasn't something +else a fellow could do to keep himself from freezing.</p> + +<p>Oddly enough there seemed to be something about the glimmer of sunshine +as he saw it in Mart's hair that kept him from halting before any of +the places open to him. What if she had come out with him to take a +walk? He could not have taken her into one of them! Then, poor fellow, +he set himself to wondering where the place was, open and warmed, to +which he could take Mart. There were places, several of them, in the +large city; but Dirk knew nothing about them, and he was acquainted +with the saloons. He thought of another thing: he had been invited to +call at a house in East Fifty-fifth Street. Suppose he should walk up +there this very afternoon and ring the bell, and say that he had come +to call! What would happen then? Whereupon he laughed aloud, the fancy +seemed to him so utterly preposterous. The idea of "his" making a call! +The utter improbability of his ever seeing the inside of one of the +East Fifty-fifth Street mansions!</p> + +<p>Still remained that hopeless question, What should he do with himself? +The sun was quite gone now, and a cold wind was blowing up freshly from +the north. It blew directly through Dick's threadbare garments. He +turned suddenly and slipped inside one of the worst of the many saloons +which literally line this end of the street. He had refused to go with +the boys to Poke's, an hour or two before, and this was several grades +below Poke's in decency. But it was growing dark, and he was cold.</p> + +<p>There was one young man who saw him dart down those cellar stairs, +who stood still and looked at him, his face darkening the while with +discouragement. This, then, was all the afternoon's Sabbath school +had accomplished for him. To be sure he was not disappointed at the +result—it was no more than he had expected; but it was so discouraging +to be an eye-witness to the degradation to which these young wretches +had fallen. Of course the young man was Alfred Reid; and he went home, +and was dreary over all sorts of failures in Christian work, mission +Sabbath schools especially, and their own more especially than any +other.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>Among the early shoppers on Monday morning came Mrs. Evan Roberts. +Shopping, however, seemed to be a small part of her business. She came +directly to young Reid's counter, and addressed him very much as though +she had ceased talking with him but a moment before:—</p> + +<p>"Mr. Reid, what can you and I do for those boys during the week?"</p> + +<p>But Alfred was at his gloomiest.</p> + +<p>"I don't see that we can do anything for them at any time," he said +dismally. "What is an hour on Sunday, set against all the rest of the +time? They go from the schoolroom to the rum saloons, and dawdle away +the rest of the day. Yesterday I met that young Colson going into one +of the worst saloons in Dey Street. They are not to blame, either." +This last in a fiercer tone, after a slight pause. "I don't blame them: +they have nowhere else to go and nothing to do; and it is cold on the +streets, and warm in the saloons."</p> + +<p>If he expected the small lady, who was regarding him so steadily, to +take the other side of this question, he was disappointed.</p> + +<p>She spoke quietly enough, but with the earnestness of conviction.</p> + +<p>"Those are startling facts. I do not see how any one could be surprised +that the results are as they are; and the practical question forces +itself upon us,—What are we to do under the circumstances? Mr. Reid, +you have had your eyes open in regard to this subject for some time; +what have you thought out?"</p> + +<p>Now was Mr. Alfred Reid embarrassed. It was true that his eyes had +been long open to the subject; it was true that he had given it a +great deal of what he had called thought. But with those alert eyes +fixed on his face, her whole manner indicating intense earnestness, +he suddenly realized that all his thought had been to no purpose, had +accomplished nothing, unless it had served to give him a feeling almost +of irritation against the boys, and their teachers who made failures, +and the people who folded their hands and let things go to ruin. Here +confronted him one whose hands were not folded, though they rested +quietly enough on the counter before him. He began to feel that there +might be latent power in them.</p> + +<p>"I have nothing to say," and he said it at last with flushed face and +embarrassed voice; "I have thought out nothing. The whole thing seems +hopeless to me with my utter lack of resources. My sister had schemes, +many of them, and they seemed to me good ones, even then; they seem +better now, only I cannot carry them out."</p> + +<p>She caught at the name.</p> + +<p>"Your sister? Esther Reid? Good! Let us carry them out, you and I, +and as many more as we can get to help us. She is at work yet, don't +you see? What is that prophecy about her—that voice which the prophet +heard, you know?</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'And I heard a voice saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which +die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may +rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.'"<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>How strangely the words sounded, repeated in her low, clear voice, +amid the hum of business on every side! Alfred Reid felt singularly +moved. He had been a highly strung, imaginative child. He had been his +sister Esther's almost constant companion during those last months in +which she was slowly fading out of sight. While Julia held steadily to +her mother's side, and learned to do many helpful things, he had been +stationed chief nurse in Esther's room, to see that she lacked for no +tender care during the hours when others must be away from her. And +those hours she had tenderly improved.</p> + +<p>He remembered to this day just how she looked, with a pink flush +all over her cheeks, and a bright light in her eyes, as she talked +to him of the things that she and Dr. Douglas had meant to do for +boys—neglected, homeless, friendless boys. Oh, the plans they had +carefully thought out, to reach after these forsaken ones! He +remembered that his own cheeks had grown hot while he listened, and the +blood had seemed to race like fire through his veins when she said:</p> + +<p>"God wants 'me' for something else, Alfred: but you will do my work +when you get to be a man; you will find helpers, and carry it on as I +wanted to do."</p> + +<p>He had made no audible answer, but he had told himself sturdily again +and again that he certainly would. Yet here he was, barely of age, and +almost soured by disappointments. Certain well-meant attempts having +proved failures, and having not found the helpers whom he had eagerly +expected, the magnitude of the work impressed itself upon him more +remorselessly each hour.</p> + +<p>Yet now he seemed to feel again the thrill in his veins, and he felt +almost under the power of his sister's eye, while those words were in +his ears:</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'They may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.'"<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>Might it possibly be that this was one of the "helpers" of whom Esther +used to talk—sent by God himself to take up her planned work, and +follow it out? Yet she was so utterly unlike his memory of Esther! She +had seemed to him a self-reliant, strong toned woman—Mrs. Roberts was +so small and frail-looking, and so fashionably dressed; and how those +boys had acted with her only yesterday! What could she possibly do?</p> + +<p>Customers came just then, to change the current of his thoughts. They +wanted round collars, and deep collars, and fichus, and edges, and +a hundred little irritating things. Young Reid, usually so gracious +and patient, had much ado to keep from showing his annoyance over the +smallness of all their wishes.</p> + +<p>Meantime Mrs. Roberts, who had taken a seat, entered apparently with +absorption into the relative merits of round or pointed collars with +a young lady acquaintance. She patiently measured to discover whether +the turned-down corner of one was a quarter of an inch deeper than +the other or not; she gave, with due deliberation, her opinion as +to whether the points were more becoming to the young lady's style +of beauty than the rolling fronts; and even went to the trouble of +unfastening her furs to show still another style that she liked better +than either, sending the disgusted Alfred to an entirely different box +in search of a like pattern.</p> + +<p>As he went, his lip curled visibly. What a fool he had been to allow +himself to get momentarily excited over this doll! How preposterous in +him to mention his dead sister's name to her! She had already forgotten +the entire matter, and was deep in the merits of collars! His first +estimate of her had been the correct one. Her mind was just about as +deep, he believed, as the tiny collar she was measuring. What a farce +it was to talk to her about helping those poor fellers! She probably +thought a few soup-tickets, and a chance for a good Christmas dinner at +some of the public charity halls, was the way to reach and reform them. +"He" shouldn't help her; she mustn't expect it. Doubtless she did not. +Probably she had by this time forgotten that she had suggested it.</p> + +<p>Why need she trouble herself about a few collars for a young lady in +her own circle to wear with her morning dresses? That was just it, he +told himself. It was because she "was" in her circle, and because the +collars were to be honoured by being worn by such as she, that they +became important, and the boys and their desperate needs sunk into +insignificance. Well, he wished they would both go and leave him to +himself—give him a chance to rally from his momentary excitement, of +which he was now ashamed.</p> + +<p>At last the collars were bought, but not until the counter was strown +with different sorts; and the lady, with many bright little nothings +for last words, moved off to another part of the store, and Mrs. +Roberts whirled on her seat until her eyes were in full view again, and +said:—</p> + +<p>"What were some of her plans, Mr. Reid?"</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_5">CHAPTER V.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"A CHRISTIAN HOME."</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"I DON'T suppose you can go into details just now," she added, noting +young Reid's hesitation and embarrassment; "but I was wondering if you +could give me some general idea of what she wanted to do, or thought +could be done."</p> + +<p>"There were a great many things that she wanted to do, and I believe +she thought they could be done; but I don't think she knew the world +very well," said this aged cynic. "She judged everybody from the +standpoint of her own unselfishness. I remember she was not in sympathy +with soup-houses and dinner-tickets, and great public charities of +that sort. Or, I don't know that I should say she was not in sympathy +with them. I mean, rather, that those would not have been her ways of +working.</p> + +<p>"She was thinking of young people, and to give them a dinner now and +then she would not have considered a very great step toward elevating +them morally and spiritually. Mrs. Roberts, it was just that which she +wanted to do—lift them up. She thought there could be invented ways of +reaching them, so that they would want helping, want teaching—'crave' +it, I mean; and she thought that Christian homes of wealth and culture +could be opened to them, and they gradually drawn in—made to feel on a +level with others in the social scale.</p> + +<p>"In short, she believed that instead of people going down to them +in a condescending spirit, they could be drawn up to the level of +others, so that they would realize their manhood, and be led to make +earnest efforts to take their rightful places in the world. I know I am +bungling dreadfully; I don't know how to tell you her plans, only that +they were splendid. But I am afraid the world will have to be made over +before they can be carried out."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps so. Christ is at work making the world over, you know." The +lady before him, whose eyes never for an instant moved from his face, +spoke with exceeding sweetness and gravity. Neither by word nor glance +did she give him to understand that she thought his schemes wild. +"But I find that, after all, I want details. I catch a glimpse of the +grandness of your sister's meaning. What were some of the steps—the +little steps, such as you and I could take, toward accomplishing it? +Yet even while I ask the question, I see something of what the answer +must be.—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'Christian homes opening to receive them!'<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"That is a new thought to me, and in the plural number I do not see how +just now it could be done; but 'one' Christian home—I ought to be able +to manage that. Mr. Reid, that is the way to begin it, you may depend. +Indeed, I suppose you have tried it. The city is full of boys, and many +of them are away down. Since we cannot reach all of them this week, we +must try to reach seven; and, failing in that, suppose we say one. For +which one have you been working? Just who, at this moment, specially +interests you? I hope it is one of my boys, because, you see, they +appeal to me just now as no others can. Which is it, Mr. Reid? And what +have you tried to do for him? And to what extent have you succeeded?"</p> + +<p>There were never any hotter cheeks than young Reid's just at that +moment. This was the most extraordinary person with whom he had ever +talked. It was impossible to generalize with her. Not that he wanted +to generalize; on the contrary, he at once saw the possibilities +growing out of individual effort, and caught at the idea of undertaking +something.</p> + +<p>But the question was, Why had he not thought of it before? One person +to reach after and try for! Surely he might have attempted that, +instead of trying to carry the hundreds that he stumbled against, +and so accomplish nothing for any of them. It was humiliating the +confession that he had to make:—</p> + +<p>"Indeed, Mrs. Roberts, I have not one in mind. If you asked me what +one hundred I was most anxious about, I might possibly be able to +answer; but I see that there has been no individuality about it—unless, +perhaps, the half-dozen or more boys who compose that class are taking +a little stronger hold on me than any of the others. But even for them +I have tried to do nothing—unless two or three attempts to secure a +permanent teacher for them, which have ended in failure, may count for +effort. I don't blame myself as much as I might, because, now that you +suggest personal work to me, I realize that there is nothing for one +situated as I am to do. I have no Christian home at my command."</p> + +<p>"Ah, but we are to come down to very small numbers, you know—to +fractions, if need be. You have a piece of Christian home at command, I +trust?"</p> + +<p>But he looked at her inquiringly, and she explained:—</p> + +<p>"Why, you have the privacy of your own room, which is, of course, your +corner of home just now, and it is a Christian corner. Is there not +room in it sometimes for two?"</p> + +<p>He smiled faintly over that.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Roberts, there is one thing with which you evidently are not +familiar, and that is, the corner which a poor clerk in the city +has to call home. Mine is the fourth story back of a fourth-rate +boarding-house, where the thermometer drops often below the +freezing-point; and this place I share with as uncongenial a fellow as +ever breathed. What would you think of labelling such accommodations +'home'? And what can I do in it for others?"</p> + +<p>"Not much, perhaps," smiling, "unless for the uncongenial fellow. I +should think there might be a chance in this direction."</p> + +<p>"Ah, but," he said eagerly, "he is a Christian. My sympathies do not +need to be drawn out in that direction."</p> + +<p>The smile was a peculiar one now, but the tone was very quiet in which +the little lady said that some time, when they had leisure to talk, she +should like to ask him whether his experience with Christians had been +so exceptionally bright that he thought there was no work to do in that +direction.</p> + +<p>"But just now," she added earnestly, "I want to know, since you are +shut away from home effort, for which of these boys you are praying +especially, and which of them do you carry about on your heart, with +the hope of a chance meeting, an unexpected opportunity to speak +a word, or do a kindness, or look a kindness, that shall give you +possible future influence? Don't you have to work in those ways?</p> + +<p>"Two people never equally interest me at the same moment. I find I +must be intensely individual, not to the exclusion of others, but in +praying. For instance, yesterday I prayed and this morning I prayed +for my entire class; but there was one all the time who was uppermost. +I find myself questioning, What can I do for them all, but especially +for him? Do you know, I fancy that most Christians feel the same; +individual effort is so necessary that I have thought perhaps the Holy +Spirit turns our thoughts most directly toward one person at a time, so +that we may concentrate our efforts. Do you think this is so?"</p> + +<p>Young Reid did not answer so promptly; he had no answer ready that +suited him. His strongest feeling just then was one of self-reproach, +mingled with humiliation. How had he looked down on this fair and +beautiful little woman—her very beauty being, he had fancied, an +element against her when it came to actual effort! How had he allowed +himself to sneer over her attempt at teaching that class of boys! How +actually irritable he had been over it! How almost angrily he had +questioned why it was that a teacher was not found for them fitted to +their needs, when he had prayed about it so much, determined not to +believe that the prayer had been answered and the teacher found! Yet +here she was, the one whose efforts he had despised, talking already +about individual prayer for them; while he, who had done a great amount +of fretting for them, had not once presented them as individuals to +Christ, and asked a definite blessing for each!</p> + +<p>His answer, when it came, was low and full of feeling:—</p> + +<p>"I have concentrated my desires in praying for the coming of such a +teacher as might get hold of them, and I begin to think that I have an +answer to my prayers."</p> + +<p>But she was absolutely proof against compliments. She wasted not a +moment's thought on that, but said,—</p> + +<p>"Mr. Reid, who are they? I tried to get their names yesterday, but soon +saw that they were not in the mood to help me. I don't think I have one +correct name. Can you give me a list?"</p> + +<p>No, he could not—which admission did not lessen the glow on his cheeks. +Possibly he could mention the names of two, and guess at a third, but +of the others he knew nothing.</p> + +<p>"To whom, then, can I go? Mr. Durant would know, of course. Where shall +I find him?"</p> + +<p>So much Alfred knew. Mr. Durant was to be found at the Fourth National +Bank; but as for giving information in regard to that class, he was +sure it was beyond him. He (Alfred) had asked only last Sabbath who the +boy was who behaved so wretchedly, and also who was the fellow next +him, but Mr. Durant had not known.</p> + +<p>"Well, then," Mrs. Roberts said, nothing daunted, not even a shadow +appearing on her quiet face, she must just study it out with his help.</p> + +<p>"There is immediate work for you," she said, "for of course I want to +know their names. Who are the two? This Dirk Colson whom you mentioned, +which was he?"</p> + +<p>Alfred described him as well as his bewilderment would allow, and was +interrupted,—</p> + +<p>"Oh, the small dark one. I know; he interested me. Where does he live?"</p> + +<p>But to this question no clear answer could be given. Down in one of the +alleys towards the South End; but just which alley, or how far down +it, Alfred did not know. He knew it was a disreputable alley, and that +there wasn't a decent home anywhere about it, and that was all.</p> + +<p>"What does Dirk do for a living?"</p> + +<p>This question was quite as difficult to answer as the other. Nothing, +young Reid believed—at least nothing regular. Odd jobs he doubtless +picked up occasionally, but as for regular employment, Alfred was sure +he had none.</p> + +<p>"Is that his fault—I mean, doesn't he desire work, and make an effort +to secure it?"</p> + +<p>But this young Reid could not even pretend to answer. Work, for such as +he, was scarce; boys with better habits, brought up to be industrious, +were at this present time out of work. Possibly the fellow was not to +blame for being an idler.</p> + +<p>Many other questions were asked, and many attempts were made at +answers. But when the shoppers began to press in to such a degree +that their conversation was broken, and the energetic seeker after +information felt herself obliged to retire, one thing had been +accomplished—Alfred Reid had been made to realize that he knew much +less than he had supposed he did about the seven boys who had seemed +to be filling his thoughts for several weeks. And also, in his eager, +passionate desire that everything should be done for all of them, he +had overlooked the chances for doing here and there some little thing +for one of them.</p> + +<p>"Good-morning," Mrs. Roberts had said, turning cordially to a +fashionably dressed lady. "Collars? Oh yes, this is the counter for +them to be found in endless variety. They have a new pattern that +I have been admiring.—Mr. Reid, please show Mrs. Emory the curtain +collars with embroidered points."</p> + +<p>Which thing Mr. Reid proceeded to do with alacrity and respect, no +trace of the earlier contemptuous feeling shadowing his face. Here was +a woman who knew stylish collars when she saw them, and who also knew +several other things, and had taught him a lesson this very morning +that he would not be likely to forget.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>But Mrs. Roberts, as she made her way out from the fast-filling store, +felt that she had not made great progress toward getting acquainted +with her class.</p> + +<p>Still, it must be admitted that if young Reid had gotten some new +ideas, so also had she.</p> + +<p>"A Christian home!"</p> + +<p>She found herself repeating the phrase, lingering over it, wondering if +her new home, in every sense of the word, merited that title.</p> + +<p>"It cannot simply mean a home where Christ is honoured," she said to +herself. "I surely have that. It rather means a home where everything +pertaining to it serves his cause. The very furniture and the light and +the brightness are made to do duty for him, else they have no place +there; and I, labelled Christian, have no right to them. Can I bear the +test, I wonder?</p> + +<p>"What is there that I can do with all the beauties of my parlours? +There are things that I have not done. I can see some to do; but how +can my Christian home serve these boys? When I get them into it, of +course it will be work for me; but how to get them in! Who are they? +I wonder what spring I can touch to give me even this meagre bit of +information."</p> + +<p>As if in answer to her mental query, she came just then full upon +Policeman Duffer. She recognized him instantly; a man who, though by +no means small, was so far from having the majestic presence of most +policemen that, in the estimation of the boys, he merited the name +"Little Duffer."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts carried to her new work one talent not always to be found +among even efficient workers—the ability to remember both names and +faces. Especially did a name seem, without any effort on her part, to +fasten itself upon her memory; and not only that, but it brought with +it a train of memories enabling her to locate when and where, and under +what circumstances, she heard the name, and therefore generally whom +the name fitted.</p> + +<p>Recognizing the features of the policeman whom she had seen at the +door of the South End Mission, she connected him at once with the term +"Little Duffer" heard in her class, and addressed him.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Duffer, I believe."</p> + +<p>It is safe to say that Policeman Duffer, entirely accustomed as he was +to hearing himself addressed officially a hundred or a thousand times +in a day, was yet utterly unaccustomed to the prefix of "Mr.," and +started in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Are you not the gentleman whom I saw at the South End last Sabbath?"</p> + +<p>The policeman admitted that he probably was. He was detailed for duty +there. Then she plunged at once into business. Did he know the boys who +attended that school? Some of them he did, better than he wanted to; +and a precious set they were, in Policeman Duffer's opinion.</p> + +<p>"Might as well go out to the Zoo," he declared, "and get a set of +animals and try to tame 'em."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts was not in the mood to argue; she was bent on information. +Did he know, she wondered, the boys who composed her class? She had +just taken the class, and was so unfortunate as not to be acquainted +with their names. One was Dirk Colson; and another, she had heard, was +Haskell—Timothy Haskell, perhaps, though of that she was not certain. +Did that give Mr. Duffer any clue?</p> + +<p>"Plenty of clue," he said, shaking his head. "So you've taken that +class, ma'am," a curious mixture of amazement and credulity in his +voice. "What possessed you, if I may be so bold? They're a hard lot, +ma'am. I know them, as I said, altogether too well. I've had enough +to do with some of them, and I expect more work from them. They gain +in wickedness in a most surprising way. Their names? Yes; there's +Scrawley, and Sneaking Billy, and Black Dirk—him you know."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts interrupted him. She begged his pardon, but could those +really be the boys' names? Were they not rather some unfortunate street +names that had been fastened upon them?</p> + +<p>Thus brought back to his senses, Policeman Duffer laughed, and admitted +that he supposed Sneaking Billy was properly named Sneyder. But he was +once caught in a mean trick, from which he tried in so many ways to +squirm out, that the boys had themselves named him Sneaking Billy, and +the name had stuck.</p> + +<p>As for "Scrawley," his real name was Stephen Crowley. How it became +contracted into "Scrawley," the boys could tell better than anybody +else. They always called him that, and so did other people; and +Policeman Duffer was inclined to doubt whether the fellow remembered +that he had any other name.</p> + +<p>"You can see yourself, ma'am," he added, "how Black Dirk came by his +name. He is the blackest white fellow as ever I saw, and I've seen +crowds of 'em."</p> + +<p>The streets were full, and Policeman Duffer was being interviewed by +a great many people in regard to all the questions that policemen are +expected to answer. But by dint of patient waiting, one foot poised on +a curbstone to keep it out of the mud, making hurried little memoranda +while Policeman Duffer was engaged, and earnestly plying her questions +when he was at leisure, Mrs. Roberts learned the names of her seven +boys, and where several of them lived.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_6">CHAPTER VI.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"SATAN, HE HAS 'EM ALL THE WEEK."</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"THAT Black Dirk is a case," said Policeman Duffer, turning hastily +away from an unusually stupid man who could not be made to understand +where a certain street was. "He is the worst of the lot, I believe. +Jerry Tompkins is slyer, and Dick Bolton is quicker than lightning at +mischief—Nimble Dick they call him—he's a sort of ringleader—what he +does the rest are apt to do; but to my thinking Dirk is ahead of them +all for evil. The rest are kind of jolly; fun seems to be about half +that they are after: but Dirk, he's sullen; you never know how to take +him, nor when he may burst out on you. He's dangerous. I am always +looking out for something awful that he will do."</p> + +<p>Poor Dirk! Yet he was the boy to whom Mrs. Roberts's desires had gone +out the most anxiously. It was over his image that she had lingered +that morning in her closet. Policeman Duller would have been greatly +astonished had he known there was that in his words which gave her +courage.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," she said to herself with quickening breath, "oh, perhaps the +poor boy is the most in danger of them all, and the Saviour, knowing +it, sees ways in which I may reach him, and so presses his poor, sullen +face on my memory."</p> + +<p>"What does he do for a living?" she hastened to ask.</p> + +<p>"Well, to the best of my knowledge, he loafs for a living. That's all +I've ever known him guilty of doing. He's got a drunken father—one +of the meanest kind of drunkards. If he would go and stay drunk all +the time, and leave them alone, they might manage; but he has spells +of getting half over it, and coming home and tearing around like all +possessed. Then they have times! I've been in there when it took all +my strength to manage him. If he would get killed in one of his rows, +I'd have some hope of the rest of 'em; but he won't. That kind of folks +never do get killed; it's the decent ones.</p> + +<p>"A fellow was carried by here just now with a broken leg—a nice, decent +boy, works hard to help his sister. He's the sort now that gets his leg +broken, and gets laid up for the rest of the winter. How do you account +for that? He lives pretty near Black Dirk's. Of course, he's got a +drunken father—they all have in that row; but if I was going in for +benevolence, I'd twice as soon do something for young Calkins as for +any of your set; they're a bad lot. They aren't worth lifting a finger +for. Now, that's a fact."</p> + +<p>"And yet," said Mrs. Roberts, her voice tremulous with a feeling that +just then surged over her, "how can I help remembering that if the Lord +Jesus had said that of us, and stayed up there in his glory, we should +have been utterly without help or hope to-day?"</p> + +<p>Very much astonished was Policeman Duffer. Ladies on all sorts of +errands had consulted him; he had been presented with many tracts in +his day; but rarely had a clear-voiced, earnest-eyed woman quietly +confronted him with that name, as if it contained an unanswerable +argument. However, he was not embarrassed; it took a great deal to +embarrass him.</p> + +<p>"I don't take much stock in him," he said, with a lofty toss of his +head, and a careless tone, as though the question were one easy to +dispose of. "I don't believe in him myself."</p> + +<p>"Do you know him?"</p> + +<p>Earnest eyes were raised to his face, fixed steadily on his face, while +the questioner waited quietly for an answer.</p> + +<p>Policeman Duffer was embarrassed now; he was not used to being +confronted with such matter of fact questions.</p> + +<p>"Do I know him?" with a confused little laugh. "Why, I reckon not, +ma'am; according to the popular notion, he is too faraway for folks to +be well acquainted."</p> + +<p>"Then popular notion is mistaken; for I know him very well indeed, +and he is by no means faraway. But what I meant was, Have you studied +his life and character, and do you fully understand the arguments for +believing in him?"</p> + +<p>"I study the folks who profess to belong to him, ma'am, and I find that +about as much as I can stand."</p> + +<p>This was said with a saucy little laugh, and with the air of a man who +believed he had produced an unanswerable argument. The steady eyes did +not move from his face, and the voice which answered him had lost none +of its quietness.</p> + +<p>"But do you think it is wise to spend your time in studying the +imperfect copies, without looking at the perfect pattern? You would not +take the child's careless imitation as a proof that his teacher could +not write. I thank you for helping me to-day. I wish you would help my +boys when you can; and I wish you would study my Master instead of me. +Good-morning."</p> + +<p>"That's a queer party!" did Policeman Duffer exclaim, as he watched her +far down the street. "I would like to know who she is; she ain't like +the rest somehow. 'Her' boys! Much she knows about 'em. Her bears, she +might as well call 'em. What does she think she can do with that set in +her little hour—Sunday afternoon? Satan, he has 'em all the week, and +looks after 'em sharp; and then these Christians come in of a Sunday, +and mince a little, and think they can upset his doings by it. Shows +their sense! But she's a curious little party—sharp, without knowing +it. I'll keep an eye on her, and save her from scrapes if I can."</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>Meantime, all unconscious of his good intentions, Mrs. Roberts pursued +her way down the thronged avenue, and presently turned from it +entirely, and moved down one of the side streets with resolute steps. A +daring thought had come into her mind; she would try to find the alley +where one at least of her boys lived. It couldn't be worse than some +of the alleys at home which she had penetrated. She felt certain that +by following the policeman's directions she could find the place, and +possibly be able to minister to the boy with a broken limb.</p> + +<p>At all events, it was necessary for her to know how her boys lived, and +where they lived, if she were to reach them. But there are alleys and +alleys, as the venturesome lady found to her cost. This one into which +she was plunging excelled anything in that line which she had ever +imagined—swarming with life in its most repulsive forms, and growing +every moment more terrifying to a well-dressed woman braving its +horrors alone.</p> + +<p>She stopped in dismay at last, admitting, reluctantly, that the wisest +thing she could do was to turn round and go home. Possibly the wisest, +but not, it appeared, practicable. Where was home? Down which of the +cross-streets had she come? Did this one where she stood lead to it? Or +did it lead, as it appeared to her, in an entirely opposite direction? +She looked up and down and across for some familiar landmark, and +looked in vain, growing momentarily more frightened at the attention +she was attracting by standing irresolutely there.</p> + +<p>Flossy Shipley, in her girlhood days, had been almost a hopeless +coward; and Flossy Roberts felt, by the throbbing of her heart, that +she had not yet outgrown her girlish character. Suddenly she gave a +little exclamation of delight, and with a spring forward, laid her hand +on the arm of one whom she recognized—none other than "Nimble Dick" +himself.</p> + +<p>"I am so glad," she said to the amazed young scamp, a little quiver of +satisfaction in her voice, "so glad to have met you. Do you know you +are a friend in need? I have lost my way. I cannot decide which way to +turn to reach Fifth Avenue again. Will you help me please?"</p> + +<p>When had Nimble Dick lost an opportunity for fun at the expense of +another? Here was a chance for a jolly lark! A woman scared to death +because she was in Green Alley. What would she think of Burk Street? +Suppose he should send her there—only three blocks away, through a +lovelier part of the city than she had seen yet? He would venture. +If the crowds here showed her too much attention, it would be worth +something to see how she got through Burk Street.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes," he said briskly. "I can show you the way in a twinkling. You +just go down this alley till you come to the big house at the corner +that has the windows all knocked out of it; then you turn and go down +that street till you get to the third crossing; then turn again to the +right, and you'll be on Fifth Avenue before you know it."</p> + +<p>Had Mrs. Roberts been looking at his face, she would have seen the +wicked light dancing in his eyes, over the thought that he had thus +mapped out for her a walk through the very worst portion of the +city—every step, of course, lending her further and further away from +Fifth Avenue.</p> + +<p>The sights that she might see, and the mishaps which might occur to +her—a handsomely-dressed woman, alone—before she made her way through +the horrors of these streets, were too much even for Nimble Dick's +imagination, who knew the locality well. He did not try to calculate +them, but gave himself up to the enjoyment of imagining how long it +would be before she would reach home if she followed his directions.</p> + +<p>"She won't see no swallowing serpents that I knows of," he reflected +gleefully; "but I'll miss my reckoning if she don't see what will scare +her worse than they would."</p> + +<p>But Mrs. Roberts was already "scared." She felt her heart beating hard, +and knew that her cheeks were aglow with excitement and vague terror. +She was not used to walking such streets alone. She looked ahead at the +way pointed out, and could see that the swarming life grew more turbid +as far as her eye could reach. She felt that she could not brave its +terrors unprotected. Suddenly, she turned from looking down the alley, +and her hand—a small, delicately-gloved hand—was again laid on Nimble +Dick's arm. He could feel it trembling.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I shall seem very foolish to you," she said gently, "but I +am afraid to walk down there alone. Would you mind going along with +me to protect me? I am only a woman, you know, and we are apt to be +cowards."</p> + +<p>A very curious sensation came over Nimble Dick. He looked up the +alley, and down the alley, and was glad that not one of the "fellows" +was in sight. What was to become of his lark? But there was that hand +still resting on his arm, with a persuasive touch in it; and he had +never been appealed to for protection before—never in his life! Was it +possible that with him she would not be afraid? He turned and looked at +her searchingly, a scowl on his face: no, she was not "shamming;" her +eyes were full of anxious fear, and also of petition.</p> + +<p>Nimble Dick was amazed at himself, and ashamed of himself. He did not +know how to account for his sudden change of intention, but he suddenly +turned in an opposite direction from the one which he had pointed out, +and said, "Come on, then; I'll show you a shorter way," and strode +forward.</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you!" she said, relief and gratitude in her voice. "I +shall be so much obliged to you for coming with me; I am quite +bewildered—cannot decide which way I came, or any about it. I was +trying to find the house of a young man who has been hurt. A policeman +told me that he lived in this street, and that his name is Calkins. I +was think about him, and walked on without noticing, until I did not +know where I was. Do you know anything of the man?"</p> + +<p>"You are too far down for him," said Nimble Dick. "He's quality, and +lives at the upper end of the alley. That's his house away up there. +He's hurt bad, they say; but I s'pose he'll get well. He's got a +quality doctor, a regular swell, who never come into these alleys +before. He was going along when they brought Mark home, and he followed +them in, and he come there again last night and this morning. I dunno +what for, I'm sure. Mark Calkins can't pay no doctor's bills, if he +does work regular, and pay more rent than the rest of folks."</p> + +<p>There was a curious mixture of complaint and satisfaction in Dick's +tone. Mrs. Roberts gathered from it that the young man, Mark Calkins, +in whom the policeman had tried to interest her, was superior to the +rest of the miserable people in the alley, and that they resented it +as an insult to themselves; but that, at the same time, the reflected +honour of having a "swell" doctor come into their midst, attendant upon +one who really belonged to their class, was very great.</p> + +<p>Could she possibly get a little influence over them by following up the +injured young man, and giving what help was needful? She had hardly +meant to call, though trying to find the house. Her method of reasoning +had been something like this:</p> + +<p>"The policeman said he lived about two blocks from my poor Dirk's home. +Since there has so recently been an accident, there may be something to +mark the house—a doctor passing in, possibly, or something that shall +give me a landmark, and I can have a glimpse of the outside of one of +the homes."</p> + +<p>In her ignorance of life at that end of the social scale, she did not +know that a doctor passing in and out, even after an accident, was a +sufficiently rare occurrence to make much more of a mark than she was +looking for. So absorbed had she been over the boys belonging to her +class, that she had rather ignored the policeman's manliest hint to add +this one to her list. Yet, was it possibly an answer to her prayer, an +entering wedge of some sort, that might open the way to influence?</p> + +<p>"Who is the doctor?" she asked her guide, as the possibility of making +an entrance through him occurred to her. "Do you know his name?"</p> + +<p>Oh yes, Dick knew his name, and where he lived, and even the names of +some of his "swell" patients;—trust him for gaining information about +anything that came into the alley.</p> + +<p>"It's Dr. Everett," he said promptly, that curious touch of +pride appearing again in his voice. "He lives away up among the +Twenty-thirders, and he goes to Cady's house to doctor, and lots of +them places where the big ones lives. I dunno how he happens to come +here."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts had never heard the name, but she reflected that she was +a new-comer, and wisely desisted from taking from the glory of Dr. +Everett by admitting that he was not known to all the world. He might +be a good doctor and a philanthropic one; his visits to this region +looked like it.</p> + +<p>"Do you know where any of the boys in our class live?"</p> + +<p>This was her next carefully-worded question. She did not know whether +to hint that she had heard of one who lived in that alley, or whether +this would be considered an insult.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Nimble Dick, the sly twinkle coming back to his eyes that +the strangeness of the situation had driven away for a moment, "I +calculate that I know where I live myself; sometimes I do, anyhow."</p> + +<p>"To be sure!" she said, laughing at his humour. "I should have said +where any of the others live. Of course you will give me your address, +after being so kind as to see me to—some point with which I am +acquainted."</p> + +<p>She had nearly said a place of safety, but checked herself in time. I +am not sure, though, that Dick would have noticed it; he was lost in +astonishment over the idea of giving anybody his address.</p> + +<p>"This is Dirk Colson's house," he said suddenly; "and he is one of our +fellows."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts uttered an exclamation. The house was one of the most +forlorn in the row, seeming, if the miserable state of the buildings +would admit of comparison, to be more out of repair than the others. +It came home to her just then, with a sudden, desolating force, that +human beings, such as she was trying to reach, and such as she hoped +would live in heaven for ever, called such earthly habitations as these +homes. What possible idea could they ever get of heaven by calling it +"home"?</p> + +<p>"Do they have the whole of that house?"</p> + +<p>She asked the question timidly, for the building looked very large, but +she was utterly unused to city tenement life.</p> + +<p>"The 'whole' of that house?" Dick fairly shouted the sentence, and +bent himself double with laughter. "Well, I should say not, mum! As +near as I can calculate, about thirty-five different families have +that pleasure. The whole of the house! Oh, my! What a greeny!" And he +laughed again.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts exerted herself to laugh with him, albeit she was +horror-stricken. Thirty-five families in one house! How could they be +other than awful in their ways of living?</p> + +<p>"I know almost nothing about great cities," she said; "my home was in a +much smaller one."</p> + +<p>This was the truth, but not the whole truth. Instinct kept this +veritable lady, in the truest sense of the word, from explaining that +she knew nothing about the abject poor when she was speaking to one of +their number. Just at this moment occurred a diversion: they had been +making swift progress through the alley, Dick's long strides requiring +effort on his companion's part to keep by his side; but just ahead the +way was obstructed.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_7">CHAPTER VII.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"WHAT A LITTLE SCHEMER IT IS!"</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>A RIOT! Not among men, which is sufficiently terrifying, nor yet among +women, which is worse, but that most awful of all sights and sounds +of sin—a riot among the children. Swearing, spitting at one another, +tearing one another's hair, scratching like tigers, growling like wild +beasts, throwing garbage at one another! This was the sort of crowd +upon which Mrs. Roberts, in her black silk walking-dress, with her +velvet hat and seal furs, presently came. She grasped at Dick's arm in +horror, but a feeling that was more than terror was taking her strength +away.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" she said, and the agony in her voice really suggested more than +terror to the young fellow beside her. "And they are little children! +They cannot be more than seven or eight! Oh, what can I do?"</p> + +<p>"You needn't be scared, mum!" There was a little hint of something +like pity in Dick's voice. She clung to him so that he could not help +feeling himself her protector. "It ain't an uncommon row at all. They +mostly act like this: most likely one of 'em's found a bone and t'other +one wants it, and then they're gone in for a row, and all the young +ones crowd around and fight, on one side or t'other."</p> + +<p>Did this fearful explanation make the situation less terrible?</p> + +<p>There was a lull, however, in the quarrel. The elegantly-dressed lady +was seen approaching—an unusual sight in that alley—and both parties +paused to get a view,—paused in their attentions to each other, that +is; but at Mrs. Roberts they hooted and jeered, and one threw a handful +of mud.</p> + +<p>Then did Nimble Dick rise to his position as protector.</p> + +<p>"Shut up, there!—Stand aside, Pluck, and let us pass!—Look out there, +you Smirchy!—Don't you throw that over here unless you want your head +broke for you when I get back!"</p> + +<p>This threat was thrown at a wretched little girl, who had dived her +hand deeply into a box or cask of garbage, and brought it forth reeking +with rotten apples, pork fat, and any liquid horror which the name +suggests to you. She had her hand uplifted ready to throw, and was +evidently intending to give the strange lady the benefit of what she +had prepared for one of the rioters.</p> + +<p>The assured tone in which Nimble Dick spoke had its effect; the +combatants were all small, and he was large, and was evidently +recognized as a power. There were some defiant glances thrown at him, +but the motley crowd gave way, and allowed him to pass uninjured. Still +he kept an alert watch of them until quite out of reach, and was not +sparing of his admonitions:—</p> + +<p>"Hold on there, Bill; I see that!—Look out, Sally! You'll be sorry if +you throw anything, mind you that!"</p> + +<p>And at last they were through the crowd—not out of danger, it seemed; +for there, directly in their narrow path, was a drunken man, swaying +from side to side in the way which is so terrible to one unused to such +sights.</p> + +<p>Dick felt the hold on his arm tighten, and was astonished at the sound +of his own voice as he said soothingly,—</p> + +<p>"You needn't be scared at him, mum; that's only old Jock. He's as ugly +as Old Nick himself, but he knows better than to be very ugly to me. I +can throw him in the gutter as easy as I could them young ones and he +knows it. That's Dirk's father, that is! Ain't he a beauty?"</p> + +<p>And again Mrs. Roberts uttered an exclamation of dismay, and part of +her terror went out in sorry over the wrongs of a boy who had such a +home and such a father. What ought to be expected of him?</p> + +<p>That interminable alley was conquered at last, and they emerged into +respectability on the broad avenue. Mrs. Roberts released her hold of +her protector's arm, and his new character vanished on the instant.</p> + +<p>"You're here, mum," he said, with a saucy twinkle in his eye and a +saucy leer on his face. "Can you get yourself home from this spot? Or +shall I borrow a wheel-barrow and take you there?"</p> + +<p>Much shaken with various emotions though she was, Mrs. Roberts forced +herself to laugh. She would not frown on his fun when it was not +positively sinful. He might not be aware that it was disrespectful; he +might never have heard the word.</p> + +<p>"I know the way now, thank you; at least I think I do. Can you tell me +whether I take a green car or a yellow one to get to East Fifty-fifth +Street?"</p> + +<p>"You take a green one," he said quietly, his character of protector +having returned to him with the question, which still showed her +dependence on him.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," she said again, with great heartiness. "I shall never +forget your care of me."</p> + +<p>Her hand was in her pocket, and a bright coin was between her fingers. +She longed to give it to Nimble Dick: he had saved her from so much +this morning; and he was so miserably clad, surely he needed help. A +moment's reflection, and she resolutely withdrew her hand. He should +be paid by a simple, hearty "Thank you!" this morning for kindness +rendered. He might not consider it a current coin, but possibly it +would be his first lesson in the courtesies of life.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>Later in the day, when Mrs. Roberts was somewhat rested from her +morning's campaign, young Reid received a little note:—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "DEAR MR. REID,—I know the names of all the boys, and enclose you a +list. It is possible that you may fall in with some one during the day +who can impart knowledge concerning them. Anyway, I thought you would +like to know their names. Keep me posted, please, as to your success +in making their acquaintance. We are allies, remember.—Yours for the +Master,—<br> +<br> +<span style="margin-left: 15.5em;">"MRS. E. L. ROBERTS."</span><br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>Alfred Reid twisted the delicate note-paper thoughtfully in his hand, a +look of perplexity on his face. He felt committed for labour; glad was +he, very, yet perplexed. He did not in the least know where to commence.</p> + +<p>Well, neither had this little lady; yet she had accomplished more in +her one day's acquaintance than he after a lapse of weeks. Either she +had found opportunities, or had made them. There must be chances; he +would be sure to keep his eyes open after this.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>In the handsome house on East Fifty-fifth Street where Mr. Roberts had +settled his bride, after a somewhat extended business tour, involving +months of absence, matters were in train for a cosy evening in the +library. That was the name of the beautiful room where the husband +and wife sat down together; but it was quite unlike the conventional +library. Books there were in lavish abundance; but there were also +pictures and flowers, and a singing bird or two, and an utter absence +of that severe attention to business details which characterizes most +rooms so named. Little prettinesses, which Mr. Roberts smilingly +admitted did not belong to a library, were yet established there, with +an air of having come to stay.</p> + +<p>"We will call it the library for convenience," the master of the house +said, "and then we will put into it whatever we please. It shall be a +conservatory, and a sewing-room, and a lounging-room, and anything else +that you and I choose to make it."</p> + +<p>And Mrs. Roberts gleefully assented, and gave free rein to her pretty +tastes. Flossy Shipley had been wont to be much trammelled with the +ways in which "they" did everything; but Mrs. Evan Roberts was learning +that, in unimportant matters at least, they had a right to be a law +unto themselves. Perhaps it helped her, to be aware that a large class +of people were all ready to quote "Mrs. Even Roberts" as an authority +on almost any point of taste.</p> + +<p>On the evening in question, Mr. Roberts, in dressing and slippers, +had drawn his lounging-chair to the drop-light, preparatory to a +half-hour of reading aloud. But it transpired that there was something +preparatory to that, or at least that must take the precedence. Certain +business telegrams followed him home, which required the writing of two +or three business letters.</p> + +<p>"It will not take me long," he explained to his wife; "and they are +not complicated affairs, so I give you leave to talk right on while I +despatch them."</p> + +<p>She laughed at this hint about her fondness for talk, but presently +made use of the privilege.</p> + +<p>"Evan, what sort of a young man do you consider Mr. Reid?"</p> + +<p>"Reid? Who? Oh, my clerk! The very best sort; a most estimable +fellow—one of a thousand. By the way, did you tell him how you became +interested in that sister of his?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet. I want to get better acquainted; but, Evan, do you know where +he boards?"</p> + +<p>"Hardly; on Third Avenue somewhere, I believe, or possibly Second. The +store register would show. Do you want his address?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know where it is; but I mean, what sort of a place is it?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Roberts slightly elevated his shapely shoulders.</p> + +<p>"It is a boarding-house where many clerks board: that tells a doleful +story to the initiated, I suspect. Poor fare and dismal surroundings; +still, it is eminently respectable."</p> + +<p>"Where does he spend his Sabbaths?"</p> + +<p>The rapidly-moving pen executed nearly two lines of handsome writing +before Mr. Roberts was ready to respond to this question.</p> + +<p>"Why, at church, principally, I fancy. He is very regular in his +attendance at morning service, and the South End Mission absorbs his +afternoons. I suppose he goes to church in the evening; but since we +have been giving our attention to that evening mission I have not seen +him."</p> + +<p>"Ah, but, Evan, I mean the rest of the time—those little bits of +Sabbath time that are sacred to home. The twilight, for instance, or +for an hour in the morning. Do you know what sort of a place he has for +those times?"</p> + +<p>Nearly three more lines were added to the paper, then Mr. Roberts +raised his head.</p> + +<p>"No, my dear, I don't. Now that you bring me face to face with the +question, it seems a surprising thing to say that I should not know +where a young man who has been for more than a year in our employment +spends his choice bits of time, but I don't."</p> + +<p>"Then I want to tell you something about it. He has a dingy, fourth +story back room—small, I fancy, from the way in which he spoke of it, +and not a speck of fire ever! In such weather as this, how can a young +man read his Bible, or even pray, under such circumstances?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Roberts laid down his pen and sat erect, regarding his wife with a +thoughtful, faraway air.</p> + +<p>"Flossy," he said at last, "it is an immense question! You open a +perfect mine of anxiety and doubt. I have hovered around the edges for +some time, but have generally contrived to shut my eyes and refuse to +look into it, because I was afraid of what I might see, and because I +did not know what to do with my knowledge. I have not been the working +member of the firm very long, you know, and my special field, until +lately, has been the other side of the ocean.</p> + +<p>"But I have been at home long enough to know that there are several +hundred young men in our employment who are away from their homes, and +knowing, as I do, the price of board in respectable houses, and knowing +the salaries which the younger ones receive, it does not require a +great deal of penetration to discover that they must have rather dreary +homes here, to put it mildly.</p> + +<p>"The fact is, Flossy, I haven't wanted to look into this thing very +closely, because I do not see the remedy. Look at our house, for +instance, with its three hundred clerks, we'll say, who are away +from their friends. Suppose one-half, or even one-third of them are +miserably situated, what can I do?"</p> + +<p>"Are they not sufficiently well paid to have the ordinary comforts of +life?"</p> + +<p>"Doubtful. The truth is, what you and I call the ordinary comforts +of life takes a good deal of money. And in the city, rents are high, +and the boarding-house keepers have hard struggles to make their +expenditure meet their income, and they carry economy to the very +verge of meanness—some of them fairly over the verge, I presume. +And the result is cheap food badly cooked—because well-cooked food +means high-priced help—and cold rooms and dreariness and discomfort +everywhere.</p> + +<p>"Now what can be done about it? Then our house is only one of hundreds, +and in many of these hundreds they employ more help and give less wages +than we; in fact, I know that some of our clerks are looked upon with +envy by a great many young men. We never have any trouble in supplying +vacancies. People swarm around us, because we have the reputation of +being liberal. We are not liberal, however; sometimes I am inclined +to think we are hardly fair; yet there is nothing I can do. I am a +junior partner, with a great deal of the responsibility, and a third of +the voting power, and I can't get salaries raised. I've been working +at that problem at intervals for a year, and have accomplished very +little. Do you wonder that I keep my eyes as closely shut as I can?"</p> + +<p>His wife's face wore a thoughtful, not to say perplexed look. She +seemed to have no answer ready; and, after waiting a moment for it, Mr. +Roberts bent himself again to the task of getting his business letters +answered. Before he had written one more line, her face had cleared. +She interrupted him:—</p> + +<p>"Evan, when you talk about three hundred clerks, and multiply that by +hundreds of houses and more hundreds of clerks, I cannot follow you at +all. It is not that I am not impressed with the number—I am—it appalls +me; but I don't want to be appalled, I want to be helpful.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps just now there is nothing that I can do for the hundreds, so I +want to narrow my thoughts down to what, possibly, I can do. What, for +instance, can be done towards getting a good young man like Alfred Reid +into a place that will be just a little bit like a home, that will give +him a spot where he can study his Bible in comfort, and invite a friend +with whom he wants to pray, or whom he wants to reach and help in any +way? That isn't a large problem. Can't it be solved?"</p> + +<p>Her husband smiled.</p> + +<p>"He is only one of thousands," he said.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know; but he is one of thousands. Since we cannot reach +thousands, shall we fail to reach one? Evan, I am only one of +thousands, but how would you argue about me?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Roberts laughed again.</p> + +<p>"You are one out of thousands and thousands!" he said emphatically.</p> + +<p>A line more, and he signed the firm's name with an unusually fine +flourish.</p> + +<p>"There! I've accomplished one letter. What do you want to do, Flossy?"</p> + +<p>"I want Mr. Reid to have a room where he can invite one of my boys +occasionally, and make him comfortable, and do for him what we cannot +with our rooms—do for him what only a young man can do for a young man. +I don't clearly know what I want further than that, but I see that one +thing as a stepping-stone. Remember, I want all your thousands to have +just as pleasant rooms, and I would like to help to bring it about, but +I don't just now see the way."</p> + +<p>"Do you see the way to this?"</p> + +<p>"No; but doesn't it seem as though we ought to be able to accomplish so +much?"</p> + +<p>"It does, certainly. What is your desire, Flossy? Do you want him to +have a room in our house?"</p> + +<p>She shook her head.</p> + +<p>"No, that would not further my plan for those boys. I would like to +have him here, and it would be a good thing for him—at least I think it +would; but I can see things which he could accomplish for those young +men, set by himself in a different part of the city. Besides, Evan, I +have other plans for our rooms, entirely different ones, some of them I +am afraid you will think are very strange."</p> + +<p>He answered the doubt with a smile that said he had no fears of her or +her plans.</p> + +<p>"What a little schemer it is!" he said, looking down on her with fond, +proud eyes. "Who would have imagined that she could plot, and plot so +mysteriously? I used to think she was a very open-hearted woman."</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_8">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"WHAT WOULD YOU DO, DEAR?"</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>SHE joined in his laugh, albeit there was a tender look in her eyes. +After a moment, she said gently:—</p> + +<p>"It is not scheming, Evan; I am only trying to set about the work for +which I have been chosen. I'll tell you how it all came to me. I was +reading—my morning reading, you know—after you had gone, taking little +dips here and there, in the fashion that you think is so unsystematic; +and I came upon this verse:</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'He is a chosen vessel unto me'—<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"You know, about Paul? Well, it came to me with a sudden sense of +awe and beauty—the being chosen of God to do a great work. I stopped +reading, to think it out. What a grand moment it must have been to Paul +when he realized it! And I began to feel almost sorry that we lived in +such different times, with no such opportunities.</p> + +<p>"I stopped right in the midst of my folly to remember that I was as +certainly chosen of God as ever Paul was; for assuredly I did not +come to him of myself, nor begin to love him of myself, and therefore +he must indeed have chosen me. And I wondered whether probably each +Christian had not a work to do as definite as Paul's; a work that would +be given to no other—unless, indeed, the chosen one failed. I did not +want to fail, and I asked God not to let me.</p> + +<p>"Then, of course, I set to wondering what my work, or my part of some +other person's work, could be. It was the morning after you had told me +that about Esther Reid. You cannot think how that impressed me. I could +not get away from the wonderment as to how her work was prospering, and +whether there were chosen ones enough, or if there might possibly be a +little place for me. I couldn't settle anything, and finally I decided +to look at Paul's work a little while.</p> + +<p>"Of course, it was not reasonable to suppose that the duties of the +great apostle had anything in common with my bits of effort; still, I +said, the directions given him may help me a little. And, Evan, what do +you think was the first thing I found! Why, this:</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldst know his +will.'<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"Surely, so far, the things for which both he and I were chosen were +parallel. I looked further:</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'And see that Just One.'<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"That was the very next. Was not I, too, chosen for that?</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty.'<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"I said over the beautiful promise, to assure myself that it was true, +and went on:</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'And shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.'<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"Was it not strange, Evan? Certainly I shall hear my King speak, often +and often, when I get home. Only think of it! So far, Paul was not +ahead of me. I hurried to find another reference to Paul' work, and I +found this; let me read it to you."</p> + +<p>Her bit of dainty sewing was suddenly pushed to one side, and up from +the depths of the rose-lined work-basket came a small, plainly-bound +Bible, much marked. A rapid turning of the leaves, and the eager +disciple read:</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister +and a witness, both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those +things in the which I will appear unto thee.'<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"Now, Evan, you know the veriest child can be a witness if he knows +anything about the facts; and I do certainly know some wonderful things +about Jesus to which I could witness. And, besides, isn't it reasonable +to suppose that he will appear to me every day with things for me to +witness to? And then I read this—Paul sent to the Gentiles, you know; +but for what?</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from +the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, +and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in +me.'<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"Evan, was there ever a more wonderful work to do in the world than +that? And yet I cannot tell you how it made feel to discover, or at +least to realize, that a great deal of it was my work. Of course I +naturally began to ask myself, What Gentile was there for me to reach? +Whose eyes must I try to open?</p> + +<p>"Do you know, that very afternoon I met Mr. Reid, and heard of those +boys. They interested me from the first, and what he told me about his +sister increased the interest. Then when I saw them!—Evan, if ever boys +were in the power of Satan, they are; and to think that they may have +an inheritance among them which are sanctified!</p> + +<p>"This morning, when I saw where some of them lived, and imagined how +they lived, I felt stunned for a moment. It seemed to me impossible. +What means could possibly be found of sufficient power to fit them for +such an inheritance? And then directly came the closing words of the +commission:</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "Through 'faith that is in me.'<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"Evan, God will save them, and I think he will let me help."</p> + +<p>"Amen!" said Mr. Roberts, and his voice was husky.</p> + +<p>When his wife was in one of her exalted moods, he always admired her +with a sort of reverence. He had been for years an earnest worker. +He carried business plans and business principles into the work; he +studied cause and effect, and calculated and expected certain results +to follow certain causes, like a mathematical problem. Not that he by +any means forgot the power of faith, or in any sense attempted to do +his work alone. He was a Christian who spent much time on his knees. +But little Flossy brought so much of the childlike, unquestioning +spirit into her work, that sometimes he stood in awe, not knowing +whether he could follow her. It was not so much a mathematical problem +to be worked out, as it was the faith that can remove mountains.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<br> +"As a little child relies<br> + On a strength beyond his own;<br> + Knows he's neither strong nor wise,<br> + Fears to stir a step alone."<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>Mr. Roberts often found himself quoting these lines when his wife gave +him glimpses of her heart; and at such times he had no hesitancy in +deciding that the steps she took were not alone, but the Lord was with +her.</p> + +<p>The postman's ring broke in on their quiet.</p> + +<p>"I hope there are letters from home to-night," Mrs. Roberts said—"real +long ones. It is a week since we have heard."</p> + +<p>"And I ought to hope that they would require a first reading in +private," her husband answered, as he seized his neglected pen. "It is +the only way in which these business letters will get answered. I find +the temptation to talk to you irresistible."</p> + +<p>One letter! But that was of comfortable dimensions and weight.</p> + +<p>"It is from Marion," Mrs. Roberts said, delight in her voice, after the +first glance at the familiar writing. She was presently lost in its +many pages, and the business of letter-writing went on uninterruptedly +for some time.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Marion Dennis had not forgotten her fondness for her pretty little +Flossy, nor forgotten that—softly innocent little creature though +she was—she possessed a wisdom far above those who are credited with +having keen insight; even a wisdom so subtle, and withal so tender, +that its source could only be Infinite Wisdom. So she, in company with +many others, was learning to turn to the friend so much younger than +herself, as one in whom she could safely confide.</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "DEAR LITTLE FLOSSY—" so the letter ran—<br> +<br> + "I suppose, though you should live to be a white-haired old lady, +sitting with placid face and fluted cap and spectacles, in your +high-backed arm-chair, in the most treasured corner, mayhap, of some +grand-daughter's choicest room, I, writing to you, would still commence +'Dear little Flossy.' That I have to cover it from prying eyes by the +dignified and respectable 'Mrs. Evan Roberts,' is almost a matter of +amusement to me.<br> +<br> + "I fancy I can see you making a journey through some of the Chautauqua +avenues, picking your way daintily towards Palestine, bending lovingly +over the small white stones that mark the village of Bethany—a pink +on your cheek, born, as I thought, of the excitement of being among +those tiny photographs of the wonderful past, but born in part, I now +believe, of the fact that Mr. Evan Roberts joined us in our walk. Oh, +little mousie, how quiet you were!<br> +<br> + "Well, many things have since transpired. We are old married women, +you and Ruth, and Eurie and I. I suppose the contrast in our lives—the +outward portion of them, I mean—is still as strongly marked, perhaps +more so, than it was when we were in Chautauqua together. We were girls +then; we are matrons now, and with the taking on of that title, Ruth +and I took special and great responsibilities.<br> +<br> + "To-night it rains. Dr. Dennis has been called to the upper part of the +city—away out to Springdale, in fact—to see a sick and dying man, and I +am alone and almost lonely. If I could summon any one of the three to +my aid and comfort, I would. I am almost as lonely as I was on some of +those evenings in the old boarding-house. Still there are differences: +the smoky old stove is not—a summer warmth floats through the house, +born of steam; no ill-smelling kerosene lamp offends your aesthetic +friend to-night, but the softest of shaded drop-lights sheds a halo +around me. Isn't that almost poetic?<br> +<br> + "Moreover, oh, blessed thought! I have no examination-papers to +prepare, no reports to make up; nothing to do but visit with you. +Also, I will admit just to you that this is another and most blessed +difference between this and my lonely past—at almost any moment now +I may hope for Dr. Dennis's ring; and when he comes, all sense of +loneliness will instantly depart. Ah! Flossy, dear Flossy, this is +such a difference as even you cannot appreciate! You had your mother +and father, and all your dear home friends, and I had no one; and, +besides—here I hesitate, lest you may be too obtuse to understand the +reasoning—you have only added Mr. Roberts to your circle of treasures. +He is grand and good, I know, and I like him, without even a mental +reservation; but, my dear, I have added Dr. Dennis! Can human language +say more?<br> +<br> + "Nonsense aside, sweet little woman, God has been very good to you +and me. Yet, Flossy, do you remember how, during those last months in +which we were together, I fell into the habit of telling you a great +deal about the thorns, and admitted to you once that they pricked less +when they had felt your soothing touch? I want to tell you something. +Our Gracie—I am so sorry for her, yet I don't know what to do. She is +living a most unhappy life, and of course she shadows our lives also.<br> +<br> + "I told you, dear, about Professor Ellis. He is still trying to +convince poor Gracie that I, being her stepmother, must be her natural +enemy; reminding her that before I came into the family, her father was +entirely willing to receive his calls, and allowed her to accept his +attentions. Don't you see, it isn't strange at all that the poor little +girl should believe him and turn from me. She has many injudicious +helpers in her father's congregation. There are those who sigh over her +almost in my hearing.<br> +<br> + "'Poor Gracie!' they say. 'How changed she is! She used to be so +bright and happy. There is something unnatural in these second-mother +relations. All high-spirited children rebel.'<br> +<br> + "Imagine such talk helping Gracie! Meantime, what do you suppose can +be Professor Ellis's motive? I cannot think that he cares for her; I +almost do not believe that there is enough purity left in him even +to admire a pure-hearted young girl—certainly not one with such high +ideals and earnest ambitions as Gracie had.<br> +<br> + "'Why does she admire him?' I fancy I hear you asking.<br> +<br> + "My dear, she doesn't: she thinks she does, and at seventeen such +thoughts sometimes work irreparable mischief; but left alone, one of +these days she would make the discovery that she was flattered by his +attentions, because he is nearly fifteen years older than she, and +is brilliant in conversation, and quoted as the finest musician in +the city. I wish I knew more things about him. What I do know shows +me plainly enough the sort of man he is; but with these guileless +young things it seems as though one had to unmask wickedness very +thoroughly before they will believe that it is anything but gossip or +misrepresentation.<br> +<br> + "He has gone away for a six weeks' vacation; I don't know where, nor +does Dr. Dennis. Gracie knows, but does not enlighten me.<br> +<br> + "Flossy, dear, could you give me a little wholesome advice, do you +think? I wonder, sometimes, whether I was not too complacent over +my proposed duties. Such schemes as I had! I was going to be the +blessedest stepmother that girl ever had. That would not be saying +much, possibly. Don't we all incline to think that the second mothers +must be wrong, and the sons and daughters poor abused darlings? But I +loved Gracie, you know, and she seemed to love me, and to be so happy +over the thought of our near relationship.<br> +<br> + "There is very little happiness from any such source during these days. +Gracie has retired into dignity. She can be the most dignified young +woman on occasion that I ever beheld. She is not rude to me; on the +contrary, she is ceremoniously polite—calls me Mrs. Dennis, and all +that sort of thing, when necessity compels her to call me anything. But +she speaks as little as possible; sits at table with us three times a +day, when she cannot secure an excuse for absence that her father will +accept; says, 'Yes, sir,' and, 'No, sir,' obediently to him, and, 'No, +ma'am, thank you,' to me; and that is the extent of our conversation. +Generally her face is pale and her eyes red, and at the first possible +moment she begs to be excused, and retires to the privacy of her own +room and locks her door.<br> +<br> + "Her father has stopped her music lessons; at least she preferred to +have them stopped rather than take lessons of any other person, so she +practises no more. She continues her German and French, and secures +good reports from the professors; but there is an air of weariness and +dreariness about everything she does, that makes one alternate between +a feeling of deep pity for her and a desire to box her ears or shut her +up in a corner until she can behave herself. As a rule, however, I am +sorry for her. I was young once myself; I was undisciplined; I had no +mother, and I had a thousand wild fancies, any one of which might have +ruined me.<br> +<br> + "What do you think you would do, dear, if Mr. Roberts had a daughter +and you were her mother? You are all in a flush now, and have laid down +this sheet and said aloud, 'What an idea! Marion does say the most +absurd things!'<br> +<br> + "Well, then, if you were Marion Dennis, and stood before God in the +place of mother to Grace Dennis, what do you imagine you would do? I'll +tell you my policy. I am uniformly cheerful in her presence—gay, if I +can make gaiety out of anything—not toward her father, you understand, +because I can fancy that might irritate her. I really try to be gay +toward Gracie herself; but can you imagine an attempt to be cheery +with a tombstone? I study as much as I can her tastes, in the ordering +of dinner and desserts, and arrange the flowers that I know she likes +best; and, in short, try to do all those little bits of nice things +that I feel certain you would do in my place. And just here I may as +well own that I learned these small prettinesses studying you—never +should have thought them out for myself.<br> +<br> + "Flossy, Dr. Dennis is one of the most patient and long-suffering of +men, but it is very hard for him to be patient with poor Gracie, harder +than it is for me: first, because I know by personal experience just +what a turbulent young creature a miss of seventeen or eighteen can be; +and secondly, because it is upon me her displeasure falls most heavily, +and that naturally he resents.<br> +<br> + "Why am I writing all this to you? I don't know, childie, really, save +that I remember what a curious way you have of telling Jesus all about +your friends and their trials, and I remember with great comfort that +you are my friend. Don't imagine me as miserable; I can never be that +so long as Christ is the present helper that he is to me now; and you +do not need to be told that I daily thank him for giving me my husband. +But I think you will understand better than many would how earnestly +I desire to fill the place of mother to my bright young motherless +Gracie, with her dangerous beauty and her dangerous talents, and her +capacity for being miserable. Oh, I want to do more than my duty! I +want to love her with all my heart, and to have her love me. If it were +not for that man, who always hated me, and who, I believe in my heart, +has sought her out and is pressing his attentions upon her because he +sees a possibility of stinging me through her, I might hope to fill the +place in her heart that I thought I could."<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>The letter closed abruptly at this point, and was finished a few days +afterwards in a different strain, giving plenty of home news, and being +full of the brightness which always sparkled in Marion's letters; but +it was the first two or three pages to which Mrs. Roberts turned back, +and which she thoughtfully re-read. Then she interrupted the busy pen:—</p> + +<p>"Evan, are not the business letters nearly done? I want to read this to +you, and then I want to talk with you."</p> + +<p>"Delightful prospects both of them," he said with energy, as he added +the last hurried line, signed, and delivered to his wife to enclose +in its envelope, then pushed aside writing materials, and sat back to +enjoy.</p> + +<p>"It isn't all delightful," his wife said, shaking her head. "I did hope +that poor Marion was going to have a few years of rest; her life has +been such a hard one."</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_9">CHAPTER IX.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"TREMENDOUS FACTS!"</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>IT is well that Mrs. Marion Dennis felt entirely safe in her friend +Flossy's hands, for her affairs were very thoroughly talked over that +evening, and sundry conclusions arrived at.</p> + +<p>One question Mrs. Roberts asked her husband, at the close of the +conference, which apparently had nothing to do with Marion Dennis's +affairs.</p> + +<p>"Evan, do you know Dr. Everett?"</p> + +<p>"Everett? Let me think—yes, I know of him; a young physician, +comparatively, who has not been here long, and has made his mark."</p> + +<p>"In what direction?"</p> + +<p>"Several, perhaps; but I have heard of him chiefly in the line of his +profession. He was accidentally called to attend a young lady belonging +to a very wealthy family out in Brookline. I say accidentally—that +is a common way we have of speaking, you know; of course I mean +providentially.</p> + +<p>"The nursery governess in the family was sick, and this Dr. Everett, +who had fallen in with her somewhere, volunteered to cure her. He was +calling on her one morning when the sick daughter, who, by the way, +had been given up by her physician, was taken suddenly and alarmingly +worse. In the emergency Dr. Everett was summoned, and while they waited +for the regular physician, he succeeded in doing such good service +that he inspired the mother with confidence. She became anxious to put +the case entirely into his hands, which was done, and the young lady +recovered, and Dr. Everett's position, professionally, was assured. +Isn't that an interesting little item for you? He is said to have +marked success; and, of course, since the Brookline occurrence his +practice is largely among the wealthy. How has your attention been +called to him?"</p> + +<p>"My protector this morning said he was a 'swell' doctor, who was +attending that Calkins boy. I wondered if he did it because he loved +Christ. He might be a helper. I wait to call on that sick boy to-morrow +if I can arrange it. I think I must take some one with me."</p> + +<p>"You may take me with you," her husband said emphatically.</p> + +<p>However much trips through alleys with Nimble Dick might be conducive +to that young man's moral development, Mr. Roberts felt that his wife +had experimented sufficiently.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>Thus it transpired that, dressed in the plainest, quietest garb which +her wardrobe could furnish, Mrs. Roberts went to the alley the next +morning accompanied by her husband.</p> + +<p>In one sense it was a mistake that the first call in the alley should +have been made on the Calkins family. It was calculated to give Mrs. +Roberts mistaken ideas as to the manner in which poor people lived. +A bare enough room, certainly, not even a bit of carpet laid before +the bed, but it was a clean room. Floor and window and cupboard door +were as clean as water could make them; and the bed, while it looked +hopelessly hard and dreadful to Mrs. Roberts, was really a pattern of +neatness and purity to every dweller in that attic. There was a straw +tick, covered with a dark calico spread which did duty as a sheet, and +the boy who lay on it was covered by a patched quilt that had been +mended, and was clean. Wonderful things these to say of such a locality!</p> + +<p>Mr. Roberts suspected it, and Dr. Everett knew it. That gentleman was +bending over his patient when the two guests arrived, and vouchsafed +them not even a glance while the dark-haired, dark-eyed, homely, +decently dressed girl gave Mrs. Roberts a seat on the one chair which +the room contained, and set a stool for her husband that had been made +of four old chair legs and a square board.</p> + +<p>Sallie Calkins was somewhat flurried by this unexpected call. She had +no idea who the people were, nor for what they had come. A vague fear +that they might be in some way connected with her brother's "place" at +the printing-office, which he was in such fear of losing that his night +had been a restless one, made her hasten to say, in a tremulous voice,—</p> + +<p>"The doctor thinks he will be well in a little while. It isn't a bad +break, he says, and Mark wants to keep his place. He thinks, maybe, +some of the alley boys would keep it for him, if you would be so kind."</p> + +<p>She was evidently addressing Mr. Roberts, but she looked at Flossy. The +fair, sweet face, that gave her such sympathetic glances, seemed the +one to appeal to. Mr. Roberts, however, discerned that he was mistaken +for the employer, and immediately dispelled the idea by asking where +the boy worked, and how the accident had happened.</p> + +<p>"It was the elevator, sir," she said eagerly. "The chain broke, and it +went down with a bang, and Mark was on it, and he rolled off somehow, +he doesn't know how; and he has been that bad that he couldn't tell me +if he had. He was kind of wild, sir, all night, and talking about his +place."</p> + +<p>"Was there no one but you to be with him during the night?" Mrs. +Roberts asked. "Where is the mother?"</p> + +<p>"We've got no mother, ma'am; there is only Mark and me—and father," she +added, after a doubtful pause. "But father was not at home last night. +Oh, I didn't need no one to take care of Mark. I wouldn't have left +him."</p> + +<p>"And he likes to have you take care of him, I am sure. What do you give +him to eat? He will need nourishing food, I think—beef teas and broths, +and nice little tempting dishes made with milk, perhaps. Are you his +cook, too? I wonder if you wouldn't like to have me show you how to +make good things for him? I've learned how to make some nice dishes +that sick people like."</p> + +<p>Before the bewildered girl could answer, the doctor turned abruptly +from his long examination of his patient, and gave the guests the first +attention he had vouchsafed them. The truth was, this man had had some +unfortunate experiences with district visitors, and had perhaps an +unreasonable prejudice against them as a class.</p> + +<p>"I can't help it, ma'am," he said to Mrs. Saunders, when she was taking +him to task one day. "There are exceptions, of course, at least we will +hope there are; but if you had seen some of my specimens, you would +be the first to wish an infusion of common sense could be introduced +among them. As a rule, they offer a tract where they should give a loaf +of bread or a bowl of broth, and wedge their advice and reproofs in +with every helpful movement. It is like so many doses of medicine to +the patient—to be endured because he is at their mercy, and can't help +himself. They mean well, the most of them; but the trouble is, we have +a way of making district visitors out of people who have nothing to do, +and who have never learned that 'all the nations of the earth were made +of one blood.'"</p> + +<p>Something in Mrs. Roberts's tones or words seemed to interest him, and +he turned toward her.</p> + +<p>"Does this alley belong to you?" he asked abruptly, his mind still full +of the district visitor.</p> + +<p>She regarded him with a puzzled air for a moment, then answered +naïvely,—</p> + +<p>"I don't think it does; if it did, I would have some things ever so +different."</p> + +<p>Dr. Everett laughed; and Mr. Roberts came forward and introduced +himself.</p> + +<p>"My wife has hardly answered you fully," he said. "I am under the +impression that she desires to adopt a certain portion of this alley—at +least I have heard of little else since last Sabbath afternoon. She is +in search of some stray sheep who have been put under her care."</p> + +<p>"Ah," the doctor said, turning quickly to her, "a Sabbath school +teacher? Is this young man one of your scholars?"</p> + +<p>No, she explained; but she had heard of him while inquiring where one +of her boys lived, and she had called to see if she could help in any +way. Dirk Colson was the boy, who, they told her lived near this place.</p> + +<p>The eyes of the trim sister brightened.</p> + +<p>"He lives in the next square," she said. "O, ma'am, are you his +teacher, and do you care for him? I'm so glad."</p> + +<p>"He is a favourite of yours, is he?" the doctor asked, looking from +one speaking face to another, and seeming immensely interested in the +matter.</p> + +<p>"No, indeed!" the girl said quickly. "He's horrid! But I'm sorry for +his sister; and she wants Dirk to get on, and he never does get on. But +I thought maybe such a kind of a teacher could help him."</p> + +<p>There was such intense and genuine admiration in the girl's voice for +the vision of loveliness before her, that Dr. Everett could not help +smiling.</p> + +<p>"It doesn't seem unlikely," said he with significance; and added, "Who +is this Dirk Colson who seems to be an object of interest?"</p> + +<p>"He is one of the worst boys in the alley, sir; sometimes I think he +is the very worst, because he is cross as well as hateful. But Mark is +always kind of sorry for him, and says he has such a bad father, he +can't help it. And Mart—that's his sister—she is a friend of mine, and +she feels bad about Dirk, but she can't do nothing; he ain't a bit like +Mark there."</p> + +<p>The last words were spoken tenderly, and the sisterly eyes turned +toward the boy on the bed, and obeying a sign from his eyes she went +over to him. The doctor plied his questions,—</p> + +<p>"Rave you recently taken a class, madam? And is their general +reputation as encouraging as this special scamp of whom we are hearing?"</p> + +<p>His words almost jarred on Mrs. Roberts. She had already prayed enough +for her boys to have a sort of tender feeling for them—a half desire +to cover their faults from the gaze of the indifferent world. Did Dr. +Everett represent the indifferent world, or did he love her Master? She +wished she knew.</p> + +<p>"There is nothing encouraging about them," she said with grave +earnestness, "save the facts that they are made in the image of God, +and that he wants them to 'turn from the power of Satan unto God, that +they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them +which are sanctified.'"</p> + +<p>A rare flash of intelligence and appreciation greeted her now from +those fine eyes bent so scrutinizingly on her.</p> + +<p>"Tremendous facts!" he said. "Glorious possibilities! 'Himself +hath said it.' I claim kinship with you; I am an heir of the same +inheritance."</p> + +<p>He held a hand to each, and they were cordially grasped. Then Dr. +Everett proceeded to business.</p> + +<p>"There is enough to do," he said; "everything is lacking here; there +is severe poverty, united to the most scrupulous tenderness and the +most tender love on the part of this brother and sister. I stumbled +on the case, and will do, professionally, all that is needed. And I +have a friend who would undoubtedly come to the rescue, but she is +crowded just now. I shall be rejoiced to report to her a helper. Do +you know Joy Saunders? Well, I wish you did; she is one whom you could +appreciate. She is young, though, and without a husband to guard her, +and there are some places to which she cannot come."</p> + +<p>"Has she learned that important fact?" asked Mr. Roberts with a +significant smile. Then some explanation seemed necessary. "This lady," +he said, "tried the alley alone yesterday, and lost her way, and went +lower down—quite near to Burk Street, I imagine."</p> + +<p>"And what happened?" The quick question and the doctor's tone suggested +possibilities not pleasant.</p> + +<p>"Oh, she met one of her new recruits—as hard a boy, so one of the +policemen on this beat tells me, as there is in the row—and pressed him +into service to escort her back to civilization; and, strange to say, +the fellow did it without playing any tricks."</p> + +<p>The doctor turned on the small lady a curious glance.</p> + +<p>"I think you may be able to do something, even for Dirk Colson," he +said.</p> + +<p>"Do you know him?"</p> + +<p>He laughed over the eagerness of the question.</p> + +<p>"Never heard of him before. I was only thinking of our friend's +description of his awfulness.—Ah, whom have we here?"</p> + +<p>For the door had opened abruptly, and a pair of great blue eyes, set +in a frame of tawny hair all in a frizzle, had peered in on them. The +vision was clothed in garments so torn, the wonder was that they stayed +on at all, and there was a general look of abject poverty about her to +which Sallie Calkins, with all the bareness of her lot, was a stranger.</p> + +<p>She stood for just a moment, as if transfixed by astonishment at the +unwonted sight in the room, then turned and sped way as swiftly and +silently as she had come.</p> + +<p>"That is Dirk's sister," Sallie Calkins said, coming forward, her +homely face aglow with shame. "She isn't a bad girl, ma'am, she doesn't +mean to be, but she has a dreadful time. Her mother is sickly, and has +to go out washing, times when she isn't able to sit up; and there 'll +be days when she can't hold up her head. And the father is bad, ma'am, +and drinks, and swears, and sells things for drink till there ain't +nothing left to sell; and Mart hasn't anything to mend her clothes +with, and she doesn't know how, anyway; and she hasn't even got a comb +to comb her hair with, her father he took it to sell. And everything +there is horrid, and Dirk, he's awful."</p> + +<p>It was strange—she could not herself account for it—but with every +added word of misery that set poor Dirk Colson lower and lower in the +scale of humanity, there seemed to come into this woman's heart, and +shine in her face, an assurance that he was to be a "chosen vessel unto +God."</p> + +<p>The doctor was watching her again, curious, apparently, to see how this +pitiful appeal for forbearance in judging of poor Mart affected her, +and something in his face made her say, speaking low, "an inheritance +among them which are sanctified."</p> + +<p>"Amen!" he said.</p> + +<p>And there came to Mrs. Roberts a feeling that this earnest prayer, for +the second time repeated by two men who prayed, was a sort a seal from +the Master.</p> + +<p>She turned away from both gentlemen then; the tears were very near the +surface. She must do something to tone down the beating of her heart. +Sallie was at hand, and she went with her to another corner of the +room, and a low-toned conversation was carried on, scraps of which +floated back to the gentlemen in the form of "sheets," "grape jelly," +"mutton broth," "a soft pillow," and the like.</p> + +<p>"I feel my patient growing better," the doctor said with satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Is there no father here?" Mr. Roberts asked.</p> + +<p>The doctor shook his head, but answered,—</p> + +<p>"There is the most pitiful apology for a father that I ever saw—a mere +wreck of a man! Spends his time in a sort of weak drinking, if I may +coin a phrase to describe him; he actually uses no energy even in that +business. Just staggers around and bemoans his lot—a most unfortunate +man, in his own estimation, with whom the world, through no fault of +his, has gone wrong. He is never downright intoxicated, and never free +from the effects of liquor. He is much like a wilted leaf in the hands +of this boy and girl. They could pitch him out of the window without +much difficulty, and if the fall did not kill him, he would shed tears +and say it was a hard world.</p> + +<p>"But now, what do we see when the name of father is so dishonoured—made +a wreck, as it were? Why, the order of nature is reversed, and these +children take on the protective. They are father and mother, and he is +the weak, sinning child. The way that that boy and girl have worked +to keep their miserable father from starving or freezing is something +to astonish the very angels. They shield him, too; nobody who wants +to reach their hearts must blame him. They are a study!—As different +from the other inhabitants of the alley as the sky is different from +that mud-hole down there. It isn't a good simile, either. There is no +religion in their efforts. They are the veriest heathen."</p> + +<p>"How do you account for the development?"</p> + +<p>The doctor shook his head.</p> + +<p>"I don't account for it; it is abnormal. There must have been a mother +who left her impress. I can't learn anything about the mother—she died +when the girl was an infant; but I would like to know her history. I +venture to assert that she belonged to Christ, and that a gleam of the +divine pity that she saw in him, and loved, left its impress on her +children. That is somewhat mystical," he added, smiling. "I rarely talk +in this way; it must have been your wife who set me off."</p> + +<p>"But she is the most practical and energetic of beings!"</p> + +<p>"Ay, so are the angels, I fancy; and make us think of heaven directly +we hear the rustle of their wings. Has your wife been a Christian long?"</p> + +<p>"Barely two years since she began to think of these things."</p> + +<p>"I thought as much. She impresses me as one who is being led; who +does not choose to go alone; has not learned how, indeed. A very few +Christians never learn how, and with them the Lord does his special +work. Well, sir, I must go. I'm glad to have met you, and glad to leave +you here. Good-morning!"</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_10">CHAPTER X.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"AND SHE ALWAYS TRIED."</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>OTHER business was transacted that morning which brought results. A +curious habit of Mrs. Roberts's—one which, perhaps, most strongly +marked the difference between her ways of working and those of other +people—was that of appealing to the person at hand for information on +any subject which chanced to be the one prominent in her mind at the +time.</p> + +<p>Where other and more systematic persons would have said, "He is not the +one to ask about this matter; there is no reason for supposing that he +has any knowledge in this direction," Mrs. Roberts would say, "I cannot +be sure that he may not be able to give just the information which I +need. In any case, what harm will it do to try?" And she always tried.</p> + +<p>It was on this principle that she arrested Dr. Everett's speedy +departure with a question,—</p> + +<p>"Dr. Everett, are you familiar with boarding-houses for young men?"</p> + +<p>Something like a vision swept instantly before the doctor, in which he +saw the long line of young men and the long line of boarding-houses in +the world; and he laughed with eyes and lips, the question seemed so +queerly put.</p> + +<p>"With how many of them, madam?" There was amusement in his voice, but +there was also curiosity; he wanted to know what this original little +lady was in search of.</p> + +<p>"One would do, if it were of just the right stamp. I'll tell you what +I want,—a nice, quiet, comfortable 'home' sort of place, with a small +room, capable of being warmed, a single bedstead, with a passably +good bed, and a moderate rate of board. Are not those modest enough +requirements?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all! They are preposterous! A boarding-house to which one could +conveniently apply the word 'home'! 'Fire' in a young man's room! He is +expected to enjoy freezing in a city; and if he come from the country, +he should be grateful for the privilege! But the idea of calling for a +good bed! That is the wildest suggestion of all!—Has she ever boarded, +Mr. Roberts?"</p> + +<p>"Not at a boarding-house, at least," said that gentleman, enjoying the +fun.</p> + +<p>But Mrs. Roberts looked grave.</p> + +<p>"Are you serious?" she asked gently. "Is there no chance in this great +city for a Christian young man to have the ordinary comforts of common +life—just a little quiet room where he can pray, and where he can +invite some tempted soul, and try to help him? Doesn't it seem all +wrong?"</p> + +<p>The laugh was gone from the doctor's face. There was a look of keen +interest and genuine respect.</p> + +<p>"How many young men are you thinking about? There are many Christians, +I believe, among that class—poor young men away from home—and I have +reason to fear that their chances for comfortable retirement are very +scarce. I have thought about the problem somewhat how to help them. In +the concrete, I don't see the way. Of how many are you thinking?"</p> + +<p>"I am willing to think about them all," Mrs. Roberts said—and now it +was her turn to laugh—"but I am planning for just one. I cannot work in +great ways, but I thought I might help one."</p> + +<p>"Exactly!—Mr. Roberts, if every Christian in our city would undertake +to help one, the problem would be solved. Well, there is one +boarding-house to which the word 'home' may properly be applied; and +there is one small room on the third floor vacated yesterday. I wonder +if the Master wants it for your young man. It seems to me if there is +any one thing more than another that we need in that house just now it +is a Christian young man. Of what type is your friend? Will he help or +hinder a gay young scamp much sought after by Satan?"</p> + +<p>"He will try hard to help," said both Mr. and Mrs. Roberts.</p> + +<p>And before they parted the doctor had taken Mr. Reid's address, and +promised to call on him and negotiate the matter.</p> + +<p>"That plan will work in two ways," said Mrs. Roberts gleefully. "Mr. +Reid will be in the same home with, and somewhat under the influence +of, that grand doctor. Isn't it splendid that we asked just him?"</p> + +<p>And her husband smilingly assented, and added that he should not have +thought of such a thing as asking him.</p> + +<p>On her way down town, Mrs. Roberts had dropped a letter in the mail, +which also brought results. It read thus:—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "DEAR MARION,—I have time for but a line, for I want to catch the +morning mail. I have such a nice plan. Suppose you let your Gracie +come and stay with me for a few weeks. You know she always liked me a +little, and Evan and I think we can make it pleasant for her. I will +try to get her so much interested in seven boys whom I know that she +will forget all about Professor Ellis. Mr. Barnwell, a confidential +clerk in the store (old and gray-headed), will go to-morrow to transact +some business with papa. Evan will give him a letter of introduction +to Dr. Dennis. He expects to return on Saturday, and if you will trust +Gracie to us, and she is willing to come, she might travel in Mr. +Barnwell's care, and we would meet her at the station. Dear Marion, +we should like it ever so much; and I have prayed about it all the +morning, and cannot help thinking that Jesus likes it too."<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>Thus it came to pass that when Mrs. Roberts took her seat on the next +Sabbath afternoon before her seven boys at the South End Mission, a +vision of loveliness, such as the mission had not often seen, came in +with her, and looked with wide-open eyes on all the new and strange +sights and sounds about her.</p> + +<p>A very pretty creature was Gracie Dennis. Her eyes had lost none of +their brightness, although they had shed some tears during her recent +experiences. They were fairly sparkling to-day, for the great city +into which she had come for the first time was like fairyland to her; +albeit, she had passed through scenes that afternoon which bore no +resemblance to her idea of fairyland.</p> + +<p>What the boys thought of her could only be determined from their +stares. Let us hope that her presence had nothing to do with their +conduct, for never, in all the annals of the South End Mission, had +seven boys comported themselves as did those before whom Mrs. Roberts +sat that winter afternoon.</p> + +<p>Nimble Dick, as if to be revenged for his unintentional courtesy of +the Monday before, placed his ill-kept feet on the seat in front of +him, in alarming proximity to Mrs. Roberts's shoulders, and chewed +his tobacco, and defiled the floor with its juice, and talked aloud, +and was in every sense disgusting. Neither was Dirk Colson one whit +behind him. The spirit of entertainment was upon him. He mimicked Mr. +Durant's somewhat hoarse tones, exaggerating the imitation, of course, +until it was ludicrous. He imitated the somewhat shrill tenor and the +nasal tones of Deacon Carter, who was doing good work with a class of +meek-looking women. He even imitated Mrs. Roberts's soft, low voice, as +she essayed to interest them in Moses and some of the wonders which he +performed.</p> + +<p>Vain hope! Struggle as she might to be intensely dramatic in her +narrative, she did not for a moment gain the ascendency.</p> + +<p>"Moses?" interrupted Nimble Dick in the very midst of one of her most +earnest sentences. "Let's see! That was the old fellow who swallowed +the serpents, wasn't it? I should have thought he would have been used +up."</p> + +<p>"You don't know nothin'," interrupted Stephen Crowley, with a nudge at +Dirk that the latter pretended tipped him entirely off his seat, and +left him a limp heap at Mrs. Roberts's feet.</p> + +<p>"He don't know nothin'!" repeated Stephen, addressing Mrs. Roberts in +a confidential tone. "'Twas the serpents swallowed Moses, wasn't it? +Question is, How did he get around again?"</p> + +<p>"Quit that!" came at this point from Dirk Colson, in his fiercest tone. +"Look here, you Bill Snyder, if you try pinching on me again, I'll +pitch you over the head of old Durant in less than a second!"</p> + +<p>What was the poor, pale little woman to do? With one boy crawling about +the floor and two others in a hand-to-hand fight, with the rest in a +giggle, of what use to try to talk to them about Moses? You should have +seen Gracie Dennis's eyes by that time! Horror and disgust were about +equally expressed, and rising above them both, a look of actual fear. +Mr. Durant came over to attempt a rescue, his face distressed beyond +measure.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Roberts, this is too much. I am sure that patience has ceased to +be a virtue. They have never gone so far before. I suspected mischief +to-day. I have heard from several of them during the week, and never +anything but evil. I am prepared for it: there is a full police force +on guard in the next room; what I propose is to have every one of these +fellows taken to the lock-up. It will be a lesson that they richly +deserve, and may do them good."</p> + +<p>Whispering was not one of Mr. Durant's strong points. He meant to +convey secret intelligence of carefully-laid plans to Mrs. Roberts +alone. In reality, not a boy in the class but heard every word. They +were startled into silence.</p> + +<p>"A full police force!"</p> + +<p>They were not fonder of the lock-up than are most boys who deserve +that punishment. They were skilful in escaping the hands of policemen. +They had not believed that the South End Mission would resort to any +such means. They recognized in the mission an attempt to do them good; +and, without any effort at reasoning it out, they had by tacit consent +decided that policemen and lock-ups and Christian effort did not match. +They had chuckled much over the stationing of "little Duffer" at the +door on guard. Any two of the strong young fellows were a match for +him; and in the event of a riot, which they would like no better fun +than to help to get up, how many choice spirits all about the room +would join them if given the word, and in the delightful confusion +which would result how easy to escape from sight and hearing while +Policeman Duffer was summoning aid! They had felt comparatively safe; +but "a full police force" detailed for duty was quite another thing.</p> + +<p>They felt caught in a trap. Nimble Dick got up in haste from the floor +and took his seat, and the boys looked from one to another with ominous +frowns. There were reasons why none of them cared to come before the +police court just now. What was to be done?</p> + +<p>While they waited and considered, Mrs. Roberts did it. Her hand was on +Mr. Durant's arm, and directly the loud whispering ceased, she spoke in +low but distinctly emphatic tones,—</p> + +<p>"I beg of you, Mr. Durant, do no such thing. I would dismiss every +policeman at once, with thanks, if I were you. We shall not need their +help. I give you my word of honour that the boys will be quiet during +the rest of the session, not because they are afraid of policemen, +but because they respect me, and do not want to see me frightened or +annoyed. Please don't let a policeman come near us."</p> + +<p>I am not sure which was the more astonished, the superintendent or the +boys. He returned to his desk with the bewildered air of one whose +deep-laid schemes had come to naught in an unexpected manner without +giving him time to rally; and the boys looked at one another in +perplexity, and were silent.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts turned to them with quiet voice.</p> + +<p>"Boys," she said, "you have spoiled the story that I was going to tell +you. I have lost my place, and there isn't time to go back and find it. +I am sorry, for I think you would have liked the story. I spent a good +deal of time this week trying to make it interesting. But never mind +now, there is something else I want to say. Will you spend the hours +from eight to ten with me to-morrow evening at my house? I brought +cards with me for each of you containing my address, that you might +have no trouble in finding the place."</p> + +<p>Whereupon she produced the delicate bits of pasteboard with her name +and address handsomely engraved thereon.</p> + +<p>Nimble Dick took his between his soiled thumb and finger, turned it +over in a pretence of great interest, and finally endeavoured to +"sight" it with his eye as a workman does his board.</p> + +<p>"What 'll you do with us if we come?" Stephen Crowley asked, fixing +what was intended as a wise look upon her, the leer in his eye hinting +that he was smart enough to see another trap, and meant not to fall +into it.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts laughed pleasantly.</p> + +<p>"It is an unusual question when one invites company," she said; "but +I don't mind answering it. For one thing, I thought we would have an +oyster stew and some good coffee together. Then, if any of you like +music, I have a friend with me who is a good singer; and I have a few +pictures I should like you to see, if you cared to; and—I don't know +whether you are fond of flowers, but some of you may have a mother or +sister at home who is, and the greenhouse is all aglow just now. Oh, +how can I tell what I should do to entertain guests? Just what seemed +to me to be pleasant at the time. That is the way I generally do. May I +expect you?"</p> + +<p>The boys stared. This was a new departure indeed! How much of it did +she mean? What was she trying to do? Was it a trap? Still, she had +rescued them from the police force, and they had not expected that, +for every boy of them knew that he had treated her shamefully. Timothy +Haskell was generally the quietest one of the group, and perhaps the +most straightforward. He went directly to the point of the question +that he saw in the eyes of the others.</p> + +<p>"What do you do it for?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's the talk," said Nimble Dick. "What do you want of us?"</p> + +<p>"Why, I want you to spend the evening with me. Didn't I tell you? If +you really mean to be friends with me, of course I must invite you to +my home. What could I want except to have a nice time? I'm trying to +make you like me. Of course I want you to like me. How can we have +pleasant times together unless you do?"</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_11">CHAPTER XI.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"I HAVE BUT TO TRY AGAIN."</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"PLEASANT times like we've been having to-day?" said Nimble Dick with a +wicked leer.</p> + +<p>If he meant to disconcert her, he missed his point.</p> + +<p>"No," she said promptly; "we haven't had a bit nice times to-day; and +as for liking you, I haven't done so to-day at all. If I had the least +idea that you meant often to treat me as you have this afternoon, I +should know it was of no use. But I cannot think that you will continue +to treat a lady in such a manner, particularly when I am really trying +to make a pleasant time for you. There is no object, you see, in +spoiling it."</p> + +<p>This plain bit of truth, for the time being, so commended itself to the +judgment of the boys, that they regarded the speaker gravely, without +attempting a reply. She was not moralizing—at least it was unlike any +moralizing that they had ever heard. It seemed to be simply a bit of +practical common sense. Not a boy would have owned it, but each felt, +just at that moment, a faint hope that she would not decide it was of +no use, and give them up. Straightforward Tim Haskell had one more +question to ask:—</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you let them bring in their police and settle us?"</p> + +<p>Their teacher hesitated just a moment. Would the "whole truth" do to +speak in this case? Could she hope to make them understand that she +saw in it a step lower down, and that thus degraded before her eyes, +she feared her possible hold on them would be gone for ever? No, it +wouldn't do. A little, a very little piece of the truth was all that +she could treat them to. A faint sparkle in her bright eyes, which +every one of them saw, and she said:—</p> + +<p>"I was afraid you might not be excused in time to keep your engagement +with me to-morrow evening."</p> + +<p>They all laughed, not boisterously—actually an appreciative laugh. They +were bright; there is hardly a street boy living by his wits who isn't. +They recognized the humour hidden in the answer, and enjoyed it.</p> + +<p>Then the superintendent's bell rang. That bell always did seem to have +an evil influence on those boys. Indeed, Mrs. Roberts was known to +remark, a few Sundays afterwards, that if there were no opening and +closing exercises in the Sabbath school, her work would be easier; +that street boys did not seem to have one element of devotion in them, +and needed to be kept at high pressure, in order to be able to control +themselves.</p> + +<p>The thought is worthy of study perhaps. It is just possible that our +opening and closing exercises are too long drawn out even for those who +are not street boys.</p> + +<p>Be that as it may, the little spell which Mrs. Roberts had been able +for a few minutes to weave around her boys on this particular Sabbath, +was broken by the sound of the bell. The boys returned to their +memories of insult, as they regarded the police force. They muttered +sullenly among themselves about "traps" and "sells," and "guessed they +wouldn't get caught here again;" and Mrs. Roberts, seeming not to hear, +heard with a heavy heart.</p> + +<p>How angry they looked! Even Nimble Dick's usually merry face was +clouded over. What a curious thing it was that even they had their +ideas of propriety, and felt themselves insulted. Was it an instinct, +she wondered—a reminder that there was in them material for manhood?</p> + +<p>Would they ever, any of them, be men—Christian gentlemen? It seemed +almost too great a stretch for even her imagination. As she moved in +her seat, her delicately-embroidered, perfumed handkerchief fell to +the floor. Mrs. Roberts was used to young men—mere boys, even—whose +instinctive movement would be to instantly restore it to her. Not a +boy before her thought of such a thing. She had not expected it, of +course. Yet she wondered if the instinct were not dormant, needing but +the suggestion. It was a queer little notion, worthy of Flossy Shipley +herself, who, from being continually busy about little things, had come +to the conclusion that nothing anywhere was little—that the so-called +trifles, which make up many lives, had much to do with the happiness +of other lives. Was it worth her while to try to teach these street +Arabs to pick up fallen handkerchiefs? She differed from many Christian +workers in that, in her simplicity, she really thought it was.</p> + +<p>There was a lull just at that moment. A hymn had been announced, but +the organist's tune-book had been mislaid, and was being sought after. +It could disturb no one if Mrs. Roberts tried her little experiment. +She looked longingly at Dirk Colson, but his brows were black and his +eyes fierce; this was no time to reach him. Nimble Dick looked much +more approachable. She determined to venture him:—</p> + +<p>"Mr. Bolton," spoken in her sweetest voice, "I have dropped my +handkerchief."</p> + +<p>"Anybody with half an eye could see that, mum, and a mighty dirty spot +you picked out for such a nice little rag to lie in."</p> + +<p>This was her only response. Then the discomfited experimenter told +herself that she was a blunderer. How could this poor fellow be +expected to know what she meant? Why had she not asked the service from +him? She would try again.</p> + +<p>Would he be kind enough to pick it up for her? It was long afterwards +before Mrs. Roberts could think of his answer without a sinking heart. +Fixing bold, saucy eyes on her, he spoke in deliberate tones, loud +enough to be heard half-way across the room:—</p> + +<p>"Why, pick it up yourself, mum! It is as near to you as it is to me, +and you don't look weakly."</p> + +<p>She picked it up, her poor cheeks burning, but she did not forget it.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>The after-school conferences told their different stories.</p> + +<p>"Well," Mr. Durant said, stopping in the act of mopping his hot +forehead to shake hands with her, "Mrs. Roberts, I honour your courage. +Those boys were simply fearful to-day; I really feared some outbreak +that would be hard to quell. I'm afraid we shall have to give them up. +Yes, I know how you feel; but you haven't been here to see what we have +borne from them. All sorts of teachers have been tried. We have given +them the best material we had, both men and women, and every one has +failed. Then you actually want to try it for another Sabbath! Well, I'm +glad of it. Oh, I don't want to give them up, it makes my heart ache +to think of it; but if we can't keep them in sufficient order to get +any benefit, nor find a teacher who is willing to hold on to them, what +else is there for us to do? But that last complaint I needn't make so +long as you 'hold on,' need I?" This last with a genial smile. "Well, +God bless you; I couldn't begin to tell you how much I hope you will +succeed."</p> + +<p>But his face said, "However, I know you won't."</p> + +<p>He turned from her and said as much to young Reid:—</p> + +<p>"She is in earnest, Reid, and she has resources; but she won't catch +them, simply because they don't mean to be caught; they come here to +make trouble, and for nothing else. Just look at the way they have +performed to-day—worse than ever; and they never had a better teacher. +I've watched her, and I believe she knows how. I'll tell you what it +is, Reid; we must hold on to her, and when she gives up those boys we +must secure her for that class of girls down by the door. I really +think we have a prize."</p> + +<p>Now, if he had but known it, Mrs. Evan Roberts meant to teach no other +class at the South End Mission save those boys.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"Flossy Shipley!" (This was Gracie Dennis's exclamation when she was +very much excited; she went back to the old name) "What are you trying +to do with those horrid boys? And how can you endure their impudence? I +never saw anything like their actions in my life, and I thought I had +seen bad boys. You look completely worn-out, and no wonder. I shouldn't +think Mr. Roberts would let you do this. What good can you do such +creatures, Flossy?"</p> + +<p>"My dear Gracie, don't you think that Jesus Christ died to save them?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Gracie hesitatingly. It was a favourite phrase with her, +as it is with many people when they don't know what to say next.</p> + +<p>"And don't you think he wants them saved? And will he not be pleased +with even my little bits of effort if he knows that my sincere desire +is to save these souls for his glory?"</p> + +<p>"But what I mean is, what good can you do them so long as they act as +they do now? They didn't listen to a word you said, so as to get any +good out of it."</p> + +<p>"I don't know that dear, nor do you. Don't you think the Holy Spirit +sometimes presses words on people that they do not seem to be heeding? +In any event, that is a part with which I have nothing to do. I tried, +and if I failed utterly, I have but to try again. It isn't as though +there were some good teacher ready to take them. Nobody will make a +second effort. Now there is one thing I can certainly do—I can keep on +making efforts: who knows but some of them may bear fruit? By the way, +Gracie, I want ever so much of your help."</p> + +<p>"Mine!" said Gracie, with wide-open eyes. "I don't know how to +help people; I'm not good." And her face darkened in a frown, some +unpleasant memories that went far just then proving the truth of that +statement coming to mind just then. After a moment she spoke in a +somewhat more gentle tone: "Don't count on me, Flossy, for help about +those boys. They frighten me; I never saw such fellows. I couldn't help +wondering what—papa would have said to them."</p> + +<p>Between the "wondering" and the noun there had been an observable +pause. Mrs. Roberts suspected that the thought in Gracie's mind was +rather what Mrs. Dennis, who was supposed to have much knowledge of +boys, would have thought of them. But since her arrival Gracie had +studiously avoided any reference to her stepmother, and Mrs. Roberts +had humoured her folly.</p> + +<p>"Never mind—you can help them; and when you begin to realize that, you +will forget your fears."</p> + +<p>"Do you expect to see one of the creatures to-morrow evening? What in +the world would you do with them if they did come?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not sure I expect them, I only hope for them. As to what to do +with them, I trust to you to help to answer that question. I want to +give them an idea of what a nice time is."</p> + +<p>"I cannot help," said Gracie again; but she was interested, and +referred again and again to the subject, cross-questioning Mrs. Roberts +as to her plans and hopes, until that lady gave a satisfied smile at +the thought that her seven boys had begun their work.</p> + +<p>The first part of this conversation was held while they waited in one +of the class-rooms for Mr. Reid to give in his report before joining +them. The waiting suggested to Gracie another question,—</p> + +<p>"Who is this Mr. Reid, who seems to have us in charge?"</p> + +<p>"He is one of the clerks from the store, which accounts, in part, for +his attendance on us. But I am interested in him for other reasons. He +had a wonderful sister—that is, she was a wonderful Christian; she died +when quite young, but one might be ready to go to heaven early if one +had accomplished as much as she did.</p> + +<p>"By one of those strange arrangements which I should think would go +far toward making observing people believe in a special Providence, +her life, or I might almost say her death, was the means of changing +the current of my husband's life. He says he was a gay young fellow, a +member of the church, but giving just as little attention to religion +as many do whom you and I know. An accident to one of his family held +him for several weeks in the town where this Esther Reid lived, and +her physician, with whom he became acquainted, introduced him to her. +It seems she was very much interested in young men—in their Christian +development. He went to see her several times, and, to use his own +expression, she first made him realize that there was such a thing +as zeal, and then she set it on fire. What she had begun in life she +finished in her death. Evan attended her funeral services, and the +walls were hung with Bible texts of her selection. The most wonderful +texts! All about Christian work, and about being in earnest, because +the time was short. Evan says he began to understand then that the +service of Christ was first, best, and always.</p> + +<p>"Wasn't it a singular Providence that led him under the influence of +that young girl during the closing weeks of her life? Only think, he +has been doing her work ever since—doing it, possibly, in ways that she +could not compass. That is one reason why I am so much interested in +those boys. It seems to me as though they were her boys. Did I tell you +that her heart went out especially after the neglected?</p> + +<p>"I learned about the boys through Mr. Reid. He was but a child when +his sister died, and yet she succeeded in so enthusing him with her +ideas that he is all the time trying to carry out her plans. She had +some wonderful ones. This idea of inviting the boys socially I had from +her. Do you see how plainly she is working yet, though she has been in +heaven so long?"</p> + +<p>"Do you think," asked Gracie Dennis, a timid, gentle sound to her +voice, "that all Christians ought to put religion 'first, best, and +always,' as your husband said? I fancied that some were set apart to do +a special work."</p> + +<p>"We are all set apart, dear, don't you think? Given to Him to use as He +will. The trouble is that so many of us take back the gifts, and use +our time and our tongues as though they were our own."</p> + +<p>"Our 'tongues!'" repeated Gracie, amazement in her voice.</p> + +<p>"Why, yes; didn't you give Him your tongue when you gave Him yourself? +And yet you are fortunate if you have not dishonoured Him with it many +a time."</p> + +<p>Said Gracie, "What a queer way you have of putting things."</p> + +<p>Then came Alfred Reid in haste, and apologizing for the long delay. +Gracie Dennis watched him curiously, listened critically to his words. +Was it to be supposed that this young man put religion "first, best, +and always," and considered his tongue as given to the Lord?</p> + +<p>Alfred bore the scrutiny well. He took very little notice of Miss +Gracie, being entirely absorbed with another matter. He had settled +opinions about Mrs. Roberts now, from which he would not be likely to +waver. He had seen much of her during the week, and he knew she had not +been idle. She had given him much valuable information concerning the +boys in whom he had been interested all winter, and with whom she had +known for a week.</p> + +<p>Also he was aware that Sallie and Mark Calkins had seen much of her to +their great benefit. She had made him her messenger on one occasion, +and he had seen Sallie Calkins take from the basket the clean, +sweet-smelling sheets that were to freshen her brother's bed, and +bestow on them rapturous kisses, while she murmured, "I'd walk on my +knees in broad daylight through the gutter to serve her—that I would!"</p> + +<p>"Sheets aren't much, I suppose," moralized the young man, as he walked +thoughtfully homeward. "People with much less money than she has +might have furnished them. It is thinking about things that makes the +difference between her and others."</p> + +<p>But he had not quite found the secret. The main difference between +her and many other people lay in the fact that she set steadily about +"doing" the things she thought of that would be nice to do.</p> + +<p>On the whole, young Reid was fully prepared to sympathize with Mr. +Durant's opinion, that the South End Mission had secured a prize. Not +that he was very hopeful over those boys. He felt that their conduct, +under the circumstances, showed a depth of depravity which was beyond +the reach of mission schools; but it was a comfort to think that good +things were arranged for them if they had but chosen to receive. He +began at once to talk about them.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Roberts, they are worse than I had supposed. I am afraid that +your patience is exhausted."</p> + +<p>Her answer was peculiar:—</p> + +<p>"Mr. Reid, I want you to spend to-morrow evening with me. I have +invited my boys, and I depend on you and Gracie here to help to +entertain them."</p> + +<p>"Are you equal to such formidable work as that?" asked Gracie with a +mischievous smile.</p> + +<p>He did not respond to the smile; he was looking at Mrs. Roberts, +studying her face as one bewildered with the rapidity of her moves.</p> + +<p>"I want to be," he said with feeling; "I want to know how to work, +and I'm learning.—Mrs. Roberts, I moved to my new boarding-house last +evening, and my room is a perfect little gem. There is an illuminated +text in it, and all around it is twined an ivy, growing, don't you +think—hidden, you know, behind the frame in a bottle; and the text is +one of my sister's treasures. Isn't that a singular coincidence?"</p> + +<p>"It is very nice," said Mrs. Roberts, with satisfied eyes. She still +made much use of that little word.</p> + +<p>"And, Mrs. Roberts, I asked one of your boys to come in this evening +and see my room."</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_12">CHAPTER XII.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"I WANT THEM TO GET USED TO PARLOURS."</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"THOSE two people can think and talk of nothing but those dreadful +boys," said Gracie to herself, half annoyed and wholly interested. +She found herself that very evening turning over the music, with the +wonderment in her mind as to what she could sing that they would be +likely to care for—provided one of them appeared, which thing she did +not expect.</p> + +<p>But I have not told you of all the discussions had that day. The boys +went their various ways, their minds also busy with the events of the +afternoon. Dirk Colson and Stephen Crowley went off together; not that +they were special friends, but their homes lay near together. For the +distance of half a block they walked in silence; then Stephen Crowley +spoke his mind:—</p> + +<p>"Nimble Dick wasn't near as smart to-day as he thinks he was, accordin' +to my way of thinkin'."</p> + +<p>"He was meaner than dirt!" burst forth Dirk fiercely. "To go back on +her like that, after she had saved us from a row with the police, ain't +what I believe in. Why couldn't he have picked up the rag, seeing she +wanted him to? That's what I say. I'd 'a done it myself if she had give +me the chance."</p> + +<p>"That there Dick Bolton can be too mean for anything when he sets out," +said Stephen, with a grave air of superiority. "I don't go in for +anything of that kind myself. We wasn't none of us much to boast of; +but Dick, he went too fur. I say, Dirk, what do you s'pose all that +yarn means about to-morrow night? And what be we goin' to do about +it? Dick, he said it was all a game to get hold of us somehow, and he +wasn't goin' to have nothin' to do with it."</p> + +<p>Had Stephen Crowley desired exceedingly to secure Dirk's vote in +favour of the proposed entertainment, he could not, at that moment, +have chosen a better way. Dirk tossed his thick mat of black hair in a +defiant fashion, and answered:—</p> + +<p>"He needn't have a thing to do with it, so far as I care. I don't know +who'll miss him; but if he thinks he's got all the fellows under his +thumb, and they're goin' to do as he says, I'll show him a thing or +two. I'm a-goin' to-morrow night. I don't care what it is, nor what +it is for. She was nice and friendly to us to-day, and I'm willin' to +trust her to-morrow. I shall go up there and see what she does want. It +can't kill a fellow to do that much."</p> + +<p>"Then I'm a-goin', too," declared Stephen with decision. "Dick, he +thinks there won't none of us go if he don't; and I'd just like to show +him that he must get up early in the mornin' if he wants to keep track +of us."</p> + +<p>If Dirk Colson needed anything to strengthen his resolution, there +was material in that last sentence which supplied it. He had long +chafed under the control of Dick Bolton; here was a chance to assert +superiority. He even, just at that moment, conceived the brilliant idea +of supplanting Dick—running an opposition party, as it were.</p> + +<p>What if he should get every fellow in the class to promise to go, and +Dick, the acknowledged leader, should find himself left out alone in +the cold? The thought actually made his grim face break into a smile. +Thus it came to pass that the most efficient worker for the success +of the Monday evening entertainment, so far at least as securing the +presence of the guests, was Dirk Colson.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>In Mr. Roberts's mansion preparations for receiving and entertaining +the hoped-for guests went briskly forward—preparations which astonished +the young guest already arrived.</p> + +<p>"Are you really going to let them come in here?" she asked, as she +followed Mrs. Roberts through the elegant parlours, and watched her +putting delicate touches here and there.</p> + +<p>"Certainly; why not? Don't you open your parlours when you receive your +friends?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think we have such peculiar friends on our list," Gracie said +with a little laugh; and then, "Flossy, they will spoil your furniture."</p> + +<p>"If one evening in the Master's service will spoil anything, it surely +ought to be spoiled," Mrs. Roberts answered serenely.</p> + +<p>"But, Flossy,—" with a touch of impatience in her voice,—"what is the +use? Wouldn't the dining-room answer every purpose—be to them the most +elegant room they ever beheld, and be less likely to suffer from their +contact?"</p> + +<p>The busy little mistress of all the beauty around her turned to her +guest with a peculiar smile on her face, half mischievous and wholly +sweet, as she said:—</p> + +<p>"I want them to get used to parlours, my dear; they may have much to do +with them, as well as with dining-rooms."</p> + +<p>"They are more likely to have to do with penitentiaries and prisons," +Gracie said. But she abandoned discussion, and gave herself to the +pleasure of arranging lovely flowers in their lovely vases.</p> + +<p>There was a divided house as to the probability of the guests +appearing,—Mr. Roberts inclining to the belief that some of them would +come, while Gracie was entirely sceptical. Mrs. Roberts kept her own +counsel, neither expressing wish nor fear, but steadily pushing her +preparations.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, the entire seven appeared together promptly as the +clock struck eight.</p> + +<p>At the last moment Dick Bolton, the usual leader, finding himself +in a minority of one, not to be outwitted, protested that he had +not the least notion of staying away; of course he was going, and +good-naturedly joined the group.</p> + +<p>I wonder if you have the least conception of how those boys looked? The +ideas of some people cannot get below nicely-patched clothes, carefully +brushed boots, clean collars, and neatly arranged hair.</p> + +<p>Clean collars! Not a boy of them owned a collar. No thought of brushing +their worn-out, unmended boots ever entered their minds. Their clothes +were much patched, but in many places needed it still.</p> + +<p>Stephen Crowley had made a somewhat unsuccessful attempt to put his +mass of hair in order. Most of the others had not thought even of that. +Why should they? Poor Dirk, you will remember, if he had thought of it, +had no comb with which to experiment. It is doubtful if many of the +others were any better off in this respect.</p> + +<p>Imagine the seven standing, a confused, grinning heap, in the centre of +Mrs. Roberts's large and brilliantly-lighted hall!</p> + +<p>She came forward to welcome them, shaking hands, though they made no +attempt to offer a hand in greeting. She had to grasp after each. She +essayed to introduce Gracie; not one of them attempted a bow.</p> + +<p>"Come this way," Mrs. Roberts said, "and take seats."</p> + +<p>Then she led the way into the long, bright, elegantly-furnished, +flower-decked room.</p> + +<p>They followed her in a row. Midway in the room they made a halt. +They caught a view of themselves—full length at that—revealed by the +great mirrors. They had never seen themselves set in contrast before. +They could not sit in a row, for the easy-chairs and sofas, though +plentiful, had the air of having been just vacated by people who had +left them carelessly where they had chanced to sit.</p> + +<p>It required diplomacy to seat those boys. When at last Stephen Crowley +dropped into one of the great pillowy chairs, he Instantly sprang up +again, and looked at it doubtfully. Was the thing a trap? How far down +would it sink with him? This was too much for Nimble Dick, even under +the present overpowering circumstances—he laughed. His hostess blessed +him for that laugh. The horrible stiffness was somewhat broken, and all +were seated.</p> + +<p>Just at that moment came Alfred Reid, hurriedly, like one who had +intended promptness and missed it.</p> + +<p>"All here ahead of me!" he exclaimed. "Mrs. Roberts, I beg your pardon. +At the last moment I went in search of Dr. Everett; there was serious +illness in a house next door, and I happened to know just where he was."</p> + +<p>During this address he was shaking hands with his hostess, his manner +easy and graceful, as one used to it all. Then he crossed the room, +that wonderful room, treading down those flowers on the carpet as +though he had no fears of breaking their stems.</p> + +<p>"Good-evening, Miss Dennis," he said, and he was bowing in a manner +that Dirk Colson was confident he could imitate. Then he turned to the +boys, shaking hands:—</p> + +<p>"How are you, Haskell?—By the way, Crowley, I called on you to-day at +the office; sorry not to find you in."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Roberts, allow me!" And he wheeled one of the easy-chairs to the +spot where that lady was standing.</p> + +<p>"How well he enters into the thing," said Gracie Dennis to herself, +looking on in admiration at this young man, who, still so young, was +adapting himself to circumstances that might well have embarrassed +older heads than his.</p> + +<p>He plunged into talk with the boys, making them answer questions. He +had come but a few moments before from Mark Calkins's, stopped there +with a message from Dr. Everett; and these boys knew Mark and Sallie +and the worthless father, and all the more or less worthless neighbours +who ran in and out, and young Reid had a dozen questions to ask. +His quick-wittedness, and the ease with which he made talk to these +young men who lived in such an utterly different world from himself, +surprised his hostess very much.</p> + +<p>Even she did not know to what an exalted pitch his enthusiasm and +excitement reached, though he had flashed a pair of most appreciative +eyes on her when she gave him her invitation for the evening. Here was +actually his sister Esther's darling scheme being worked out before his +eyes!</p> + +<p>Not only that, but he was being called upon to help. Esther had wanted +him to grow up to undertake just such efforts as these; and only +last week they had seemed to him so altogether good and noble and so +impossible to try. Yet here he was helping to try them! No wonder +Alfred Reid could talk.</p> + +<p>It had been determined in family council that Mr. Roberts must absent +himself. He was in the house, indeed—no further away than the library, +ready for call in event of an emergency; but it was judged that another +stranger, and such a formidable one as the head of the house, must be +avoided for this one evening.</p> + +<p>As for Mr. Reid, would they remember that he was not much older than +some of them, and that he was not a rich young man living on his +income, but was earning his living by daily work? And would they note +the contrast between themselves and him? This was what their hostess +wondered. A few moments and then came a summons to the dining-room. +Seated at last, though one of the poor fellows stumbled over a chair, +and barely saved himself from falling.</p> + +<p>If you could have seen that dining-table, the picture of it would +have lingered long in your memory. The whitest and finest of damask +table linen; napkins so large that they almost justified Dick Bolton's +whisper, "What be you goin' to do with your sheet?" China so delicate +that Gracie Dennis could not restrain an inward shiver when any of the +clumsy fingers touched a bit of it; and such a glitter of silver as +even Gracie had never seen before.</p> + +<p>One thing was different from the conventional tea-party—every servant +was banished; none but tender eyes, interested in her experiment, +and ready to help it on, should witness the blunders of the boys. So +the hostess had decreed, and so instructed Alfred and Gracie. The +consequence was that Alfred himself served the steaming oysters with +liberal hand, and Gracie presided over jellies and sauces, while +Mrs. Roberts sugared and creamed and poured cups of such coffee as +those fellows had never even smelled before. If you think they were +embarrassed to the degree that they could not eat, you are mistaken.</p> + +<p>They were street boys; their lives had been spent in a hardening +atmosphere. Directly the first sense of novelty passed away, and their +poorly-fed stomachs craved the unusual fare served up for them, the +fellows grinned at one another, seized their silver spoons, and dived +into the stews in a fashion that would have horrified every servant in +the house.</p> + +<p>How they ate! Oysters and coffee and pickles and cakes and jellies! +There seemed no limit to their capacities; neither did they make the +slightest attempt to correct their table manners. None of them paid any +outward attention to their "sheets," although Alfred and Gracie spread +theirs with elaborate care; they leaned their elbows on the table; they +made loud, swooping sounds with their lips; and, in short, transgressed +every law known to civilized life. Why not? What did they know about +civilized life?</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, not one movement of young Reid's escaped the notice of +some of them.</p> + +<p>He tried still to carry on a conversation, though the business of +eating was being too closely attended to on all sides to let him be +very successful.</p> + +<p>Gracie studied him, and was not only interested in his efforts, but +roused to make some attempts herself. What could she talk about with +such people? School? The literary club? The last concert? The course +of lectures? The last new book that everybody was reading? No, not +everybody; assuredly not these seven.</p> + +<p>On what ground was she to meet them?</p> + +<p>Yet talk she must and would. Mr. Reid should see that she at least +wanted to help.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_13">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"LET US BE FASHIONABLE."</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>ONE feature of the hour was not only entirely new to the boys, but gave +them a curious feeling, the name of which they did not understand. +When the last one sat back in his chair, thereby admitting himself +vanquished, Mrs. Roberts, looking at the young man who sat at the foot +of the table, said:—</p> + +<p>"Will you return thanks?"</p> + +<p>What did that mean? To be sure they had heard of thanking people, but +even they were aware that it was an unusual thing for persons to demand +thanks for themselves.</p> + +<p>They watched. Behold, the young man bowed his head, and these were the +words he spoke:—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "Dear Saviour, we thank thee for the joys of this evening. We pray thee +to teach us so to live that we may all meet some day in our Father's +house. Amen."<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>The boys looked at one another, then looked down at their plates. Their +sole experience of prayer was connected with the South End Mission. To +meet it at a supper-table was a revelation. Did the people who lived +in grand houses, and had such wonderful things to eat, always pray at +their supper-tables? This was the problem which they were turning over +in their minds.</p> + +<p>Returning to the parlour, Gracie went at once to the piano. She had +spent a good deal of Monday in settling the question of what to play, +and had chosen the most sparkling music she could find. I am anxious to +have it recorded that, all uncultured as they were, these boys neither +talked nor laughed during the music, but appeared at least to listen. +It was Dirk Colson who sat nearest to the piano, and who listened in +that indescribable way which always flatters a musician.</p> + +<p>"Do you like it?" Gracie asked, running off the final notes in a tinkle +of melody.</p> + +<p>His dark face flushed a deep red.</p> + +<p>"I dunno," he said with an awkward laugh; "it's queer-sounding. I don't +see how you make so many tinkles. Do you make all your fingers go at +once on them black and white things?"</p> + +<p>"Not quite; but sometimes they have to dance about in a very lively +fashion. I have to keep my wits at work, I assure you."</p> + +<p>"Is it hard to do?"</p> + +<p>"Not very, nowadays. When I first commenced, the practising was horrid; +I hated it."</p> + +<p>"What made you do it, then?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, the same reason which makes people do a great many things that +they don't like," she said lightly; "I wanted the results. I knew if I +worked at it steadily, the time would come when I should not only enjoy +it myself, but be able to give pleasure to other people. Why, don't you +ever do things that you don't particularly like?"</p> + +<p>He shrugged his shoulders, and bestowed on her a very wise look.</p> + +<p>"Often enough," he said fiercely, and he thought of his drunken father. +"But then I wouldn't if I could help it."</p> + +<p>"That would depend on whether you thought the thing would pay in the +end, would it not?" Then, without waiting for an answer, she asked, +"What is your business?"</p> + +<p>"My business?" with a curiously puzzled air.</p> + +<p>"Yes; how do you spend your time?"</p> + +<p>"Hunting up something to eat," he said, with a grim smile, visions of +his aimless loafing appearing before him all the only occupation he +could be said to have. It had not occurred to him to try to mislead +her, but she evidently did not understand.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," she said seriously, "so I suppose. Isn't it queer how busy +men and women have to be, day after day, and year after year, just +getting themselves and others something to eat? Do you have other +people to help to get it for—mother, for instance, and little brothers +and sisters?"</p> + +<p>"I've got a mother," he said, "and a sister."</p> + +<p>"And that makes work easier, does it not? I always thought it would +be stupid to work all the time just for one's self. But I meant, What +do you work at in order to get the something to eat—there are so many +different ways?"</p> + +<p>"How do you know I work at all?"</p> + +<p>Dirk's voice was growing sullen; a consciousness that he would appear +at a disadvantage in admitting himself an idler in the busy world was +dawning upon him as an entirely new idea.</p> + +<p>At his question, Gracie turned on her music-stool and regarded him with +surprise.</p> + +<p>"Why, of course you work," she said; "people all do."</p> + +<p>She was not acting a part. Her experience among poor people was limited +to that outwardly respectable class who, however disreputable their +conduct might be on Sabbath, had, nevertheless, a Monday occupation +with which they pretended to earn a living.</p> + +<p>Dirk shrugged his shoulders again.</p> + +<p>"Do they?" he said.</p> + +<p>Her evident ignorance of the world made him good-natured. She was not +trying to preach to him, he decided—a thing which Dirk hated in common +with all persons of his class.</p> + +<p>But the lull in the music had started conversation in other parts of +the room.</p> + +<p>Dirk heard young Reid's question:—</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Roberts, do you know of any young man looking for work? I heard +of a good situation this afternoon. Oh, there are plenty of applicants +but the gentleman is an old friend of my brother-in-law, and I could +speak a helpful word for somebody."</p> + +<p>"I have no one in mind," Mrs. Roberts said, and she glanced eagerly +at the boys, lounging in various attitudes in her easy-chairs. Only +three of them, she knew, made any pretence of earning their living. Did +Alfred mean one of them?</p> + +<p>"Here is a chance for you, young gentlemen," she said lightly; "who +bids for a situation?"</p> + +<p>"What is the place?"</p> + +<p>It was Dirk Colson who asked the question. Ever since he could +remember, he was supposed to have been hunting for work, but I am not +sure that he ever felt quite such a desire to find it as at that moment.</p> + +<p>"It is at Gray's, in Ninth Street, a good chance; but the one who +secures it must have a fair knowledge of figures."</p> + +<p>"Oh dear!" said Dirk, sinking lower in his easy-chair. "No use in me +asking about it."</p> + +<p>"Are figures your weak point?" Mrs. Roberts asked, smiling on him. "I +can sympathize with you; I had to work harder over arithmetic than +at any other study; but I learned to like it. Do you know I think +it would be a favourite study with you? It is so nice to conquer an +obstinate-looking row of figures, and fairly oblige the right result to +appear. What did you find hardest about the study, Mr. Colson?"</p> + +<p>The others chuckled, but Dirk glowered at them fiercely.</p> + +<p>"There's nothin' to laugh about, as I see," he said. "I didn't find +nothin' hard, because I never had no chance to try. I never went to +no school, nor had books, nor nothin'; now that's the truth, and I'm +blamed if I ain't going own it."</p> + +<p>"What a good thing it is that you are young." This was her animated +answer. "There is a chance to make up lost time.—Mr. Reid, I have such +a nice idea. I heard you and Dr. Everett speaking of the literary +club the other night. Why cannot we have a literary club of our own—a +reading circle, or something of that sort? Suppose we should meet once +a week and read aloud something interesting, and have talks about it +afterwards?—Do you ever read aloud?"</p> + +<p>If Mrs. Roberts in all sincerity had not been one of the most +simple-hearted and, in some respects, ignorant little creatures on the +face of the globe, she could never, with serious face, have addressed +such a question to Nimble Dick.</p> + +<p>Young Reid could not have done it, for he realized the folly of +supposing that Nimble Dick ever read anything. By just so much was +Mrs. Roberts ahead of him. She supposed that these boys had their +literature, and read it, and perhaps met somewhere on occasion and read +together. This made it possible for her to ask surprising questions +with honest face.</p> + +<p>"Bless me!" said Nimble Dick, startled into an upright posture. "Oh, +no, mum, never."</p> + +<p>And even Dirk Colson laughed at the expression on his face.</p> + +<p>"Still I think you would enjoy it, after a little practice, and I can't +help fancying you would make a good reader."</p> + +<p>The boys were all laughing now, Nimble Dick with the rest.</p> + +<p>"You're in for an awful blunder there," he said, good-naturedly. "I'm +like Black Dirk, never had no chances, and didn't do nothin' worth +speakin' of with them that I had. Why, mum! I can't even read to +myself. I make the awfullest work you ever heard of spellin' out the +show-bills. I have to get Black Dirk to help me; and him and me is a +team."</p> + +<p>By this time Dirk's face had lost its smile, and his fierce eyes were +flashing; but the hostess was serene.</p> + +<p>"That doesn't prove anything against my statement. I was speaking of +what could be, not necessarily of what was. Let us have a club. The +more I think of the plan the more it pleases me. I'll tell you! The +word 'club' doesn't quite suit me. Let us be fashionable. Gracie, +don't you know how fashionable it is becoming to have 'evenings' set +apart for special occasions?—Mr. Reid, you know Mrs. Judson's 'Tuesday +evenings,' and Mrs. Symond's 'Friday evenings'? Very well, let us have +our 'Monday evenings,' in which we will do all sorts of nice things; +sometimes literary, sometimes musical, and sometimes—well, anything +that we please. What do you say, gentlemen; shall we organize? Mr. +Reid, will you give Monday evenings to us?—Gracie, you are my guest, +and cannot, of course refuse."</p> + +<p>It was a novel idea certainly. Even Alfred, while trying to heartily +second her, was in doubt as to what she could hope to accomplish by +it. As for the boys, not one of them promised to attend; but neither +did they refuse. Mrs. Roberts presently left the subject, seeming to +consider her point carried, and proposed a visit to the conservatory.</p> + +<p>I think it very doubtful whether the boy lives who does not like +flowers. There are those who seem to consider it a mark of manliness +to affect indifference to them; but these, as they grow older—become +real men—generally lay this bit of folly aside. Then there are those, +plenty of them, who really do not know that they care for flowers. The +boys, ushered for the first time in their lives into the full bloom of +a conservatory, were, most of them, of this latter stamp.</p> + +<p>What a scene of beauty it was! Great white callas, bending their +graceful cups; great red and yellow roses, making the air rich with +their breath; vines, and mosses, and ferns, and small flowers, in +almost endless variety. Alfred and Gracie moved among the glories, the +latter exhausting all her superlatives in honest delight, although she +had visited the spot a dozen times that day; and Alfred, who had been +less favoured, was hardly less eager and responsive than she.</p> + +<p>But Mrs. Roberts watched the boys.</p> + +<p>It was all very well for those two to enjoy her flowers; of course they +would. But what language would the silent, lovely things speak to her +untutored boys? They said not a word; not one of them. They made no +exclamations, they had no superlatives at command. But Stephen Crowley +stooped before a lovely carnation, and smelled, and smelled, drawing in +long breaths, as though he meant to take its fragrance all away with +him; and Nimble Dick picked up the straying end of an ivy, and restored +it to its support again, in a way that was not to be lost sight of by +one who was looking for hearts; and Dirk Colson brushed back his matted +hair and stood long before a great, pure lily, and looked down into its +heart with an expression on his face that his teacher never forgot.</p> + +<p>She came over to him presently, standing beside him, saying nothing. +Then at last she reached forth her hand and broke the lily from its +stalk. He started, almost as if something had struck him.</p> + +<p>"What did you do that for?" And his voice was fierce.</p> + +<p>"I want you to take this for me to your sister—the girl with beautiful +golden hair; I saw her one day, and I shall remember her hair and eyes. +She will like this flower, and she will like you to bring it to her."</p> + +<p>"Gracie—" raising her voice—"gather some flowers, will you, and make +them into bouquets? These young gentlemen will like to carry them to +some one. There must be mothers at home who will enjoy bouquets brought +by their sons."</p> + +<p>Over this gently-spoken sentence Nimble Dick laughed a hard, derisive +laugh. It made the blood flow into Black Dirk's indignant face. Even +Alfred Reid lost self-control for a moment, and flashed a glance at him +out of angry eyes. How could there be any hope of a boy who sneered at +his mother? Yet you need not judge him too harshly.</p> + +<p>He thought of his mother, indeed, when he laughed; but alas, he thought +of her as drunk. And he knew her scarcely at all, save as that word +described her. How could "mother" mean to him what it meant to Alfred +Reid—what it meant even to Dirk Colson, whose mother, weak indeed in +body and spirit, full of complaining words, oftentimes weakly bitter +words to him, yet patched his clothes so long as she could get patches +and thread, and would have washed them if she could have got soap, and +been able to bring the water, and if her only tub hadn't been in pawn? +Oh, yes, there are degrees in mothers.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts, meantime, broke off blossoms with lavish hand, and made +bouquets for Nimble Dick and for Dirk. He took the bright-hued ones +with a smile, but the lily he held by itself, and still looked at it.</p> + +<p>They went away at last noisily, growing almost if not quite rough +towards one another, at least; and directly they were out of the door, +Nimble Dick gave a whoop that would have chilled the blood of nervous +women. But matron and maiden looked at each other and laughed.</p> + +<p>"We have kept them pent-up all the evening, and that is the +escape-valve being raised to avoid a general explosion." This was Mrs. +Roberts's explanation.</p> + +<p>They were quite alone. Alfred, on being invited in low tones to tarry +and talk things over, had shaken his head and replied significantly:—</p> + +<p>"Thank you, no; I am one of them, and must stand on the same level."</p> + +<p>"You are right," Mrs. Roberts said smilingly; "you must have been an +apt pupil, my friend. That dear sister taught you a great deal."</p> + +<p>He held up the bouquet which she had made for him.</p> + +<p>"I am going to put it before Esther's picture," he said; "her work is +going on."</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"Well," said Gracie, "it is over, and we lived through it. And they +did all come. I am amazed over that. And how they did eat! I suppose +the next thing is to open all the windows and air out. Flossy Roberts, +I'm afraid you are going insane. The idea of your inviting that horde +here every Monday. What a parlour you would have! And they would breed +a pestilence. They won't come, to be sure; but just imagine it if they +should! I really think Mr. Roberts ought to send you home for Dr. +Mitchell to look after. Well, Flossy, what next?"</p> + +<p>"Next, dear, you must pray. Pray as you never have done before for +the souls of these boys, and for the success of my 'Monday evenings.' +Gracie, we are at work for immortal souls. Think of it! They must live +for ever. Shall they, through all eternity, keep dropping lower and +lower, or shall they wear crowns?"</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_14">CHAPTER XIV.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"SOMETHING'S HAPPENED."</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>SALLIE CALKINS sat in a common little rocking-chair and rocked; and +while she rocked she sewed, setting neat stitches in a brown coat which +was already patched and darned, and was threadbare in many places. +There was a look of deep content on Sallie's face. There were many +reasons for it.</p> + +<p>Dr. Everett had that morning pronounced Mark's broken limb to be +healing rapidly. He had also reported that Mark's place was to be held +open for him by his employers. At this present moment Mark, arrayed in +a clean shirt, was resting on a very white sheet, his head reposing +on a real feather pillow dressed in white and frilled. Over him was +carefully spread another of those wonderful sheets, and, to make the +crowning glory, a white quilt, warm and soft, tucked him in on every +side. How could Sallie but rejoice?</p> + +<p>All about the room there had been changes. A neat little table stood +at the bed-side. It was covered with a white cloth, and a china bowl +set thereon, with a silver spoon beside it; a delicate goblet and china +pitcher also, both carefully covered with a napkin. Did Mrs. Roberts +know how homely Sallie gloried in the thinness of that china and the +fineness of that napkin? How does it happen that some of the very poor +seem born with such æsthetic tastes?</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts had intuitions, and was given to certain acts, concerning +which she could not give to others satisfactory explanations; +therefore, she sometimes left china where others would have judged the +plainest stoneware more prudent and sensible.</p> + +<p>A bit of bright carpet was spread at the side of the bed; a fire glowed +in the neatly-brushed stove; a white muslin curtain hung at the window; +and the chair in which Sallie rocked and sewed was new and gaily +painted.</p> + +<p>There were other traces of Mrs. Roberts. You might not have noticed +them, but it seemed to Sallie that her fingers had touched everywhere. +Yet the lady herself thought that she had done very little. She had +held her inclinations in check with severe judgment.</p> + +<p>The door opened softly, and a mass of golden hair, from out of which +peered great eyes, peeped cautiously in.</p> + +<p>"Alone?" it said, nodding first toward the figure on the bed, and +intimating that she was aware of Mark's presence, and did not mean him.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Sallie; "come in. Mark's asleep, but you won't disturb him. +He don't disturb easy; he sleeps just like a baby since the doctor +stopped that pain in his knee. There's my new chair; just try it, and +see how nice it is."</p> + +<p>Saying which, she got herself out of the little rocker in haste, and +pushed it toward her guest, meantime taking a plain wooden chair, also +new, and adding, "Did you hear of anybody like her before?"</p> + +<p>"Something's happened," said Mart Colson, ignoring the reference to the +mysterious pronoun—her voice so full of a new and strange meaning, that +had Sallie been acquainted with the word she might have said it was +filled with awe.</p> + +<p>As it was, she only exclaimed, "What?" in an intensely interested tone.</p> + +<p>"Why, look here! I brought it along to show you."</p> + +<p>Whereupon she produced from under her piece of torn shawl a large +broken-nosed pitcher, a piece of brown paper carefully tied over the +top. She untied the bit of calico string with fingers that shook from +excitement.</p> + +<p>"Look in there!" she exclaimed at last, triumph in her tone, reaching +forward the pitcher.</p> + +<p>Sallie looked, and drew in her breath with a long, expressive "O—h!"</p> + +<p>There, reposing in stately beauty, lay the great white lily with its +golden bell.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I should think so," Mart said, satisfied with the expression. +"Did you ever see anything like that before? It ain't made of wax, nor +anything else that folks ever made. It's alive. I felt of it. It looks +like velvet and satin and all them lovely store things; but it doesn't +feel so: it feels alive, and it grew. But, Sallie Calkins, if you +should live a hundred years, and guess all the time, you never could +guess where I got it. Sallie Calkins, if you'll believe it, Dirk gave +it to me!"</p> + +<p>"Dirk?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, he did!"</p> + +<p>Who would have supposed Mart Colson's voice capable of such a +triumphant ring!</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image006" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image006.jpg" alt="image006"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>THE LILY.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"You see the way of it was: last night he didn't come for his supper +at all, and that always scares me dreadful. I'm expecting something +to happen, you know. Father, he didn't come either; for the matter of +that, he hasn't come yet. And mother, she was awful tired, and hadn't +had no dinner to speak of, and she just broke down and took on awful. +Mother don't often cry; and it's good she don't, for she just goes into +it with all her might when the time comes. It wasn't about father—she's +used to him, you know, and don't expect nothing else; but Dirk drives +her wild with what may happen to him. I was worried about him too, but +I was mad at him; it seemed too awful mean in him to stay away and +scare mother. At last I got her to go to bed, and she was all tuckered +out and went to sleep.</p> + +<p>"Then I wrapped myself in the quilt and sat down to wait; but I got +asleep, and I dreamed I saw 'her.' She had wings to each side of her, +and she flew over the tops of all these houses, and made them turn +white like the snow looks when it is coming down before it drops into +the gutters. Wasn't that queer? Well, some noise woke me up. I was +sitting flat on the floor by mother, and I sat up straight all of a +tremble. And there was the old stool, and the brown pitcher on it +half-full of water; and this wonderful thing stood in it looking at me. +And Dirk, he stood off the other side looking at it.</p> + +<p>"'It's for you, and she sent it.' That's what he said to me; and I +wasn't real wide awake, you know. I suppose that's what made his voice +sound so queer.</p> + +<p>"And what do you think I said? I was thinking of my dream, and says +I,—'Did she have her wings on?'</p> + +<p>"Then Dirk made a queer noise; it was a laugh, but it sounded most like +a cry.</p> + +<p>"'I guess so,' says he. And then he turned and went off to bed.</p> + +<p>"And I can't get any more out of him; he is as snarly when I ask any +questions as though he was mad about it all. If it hadn't been for +this great white thing, I might have thought this morning that it all +belonged to the dream. But Dirk brought this home from somewhere, and +put it in the pitcher, and gave it to me his own self; that's sure."</p> + +<p>The story closed in triumph.</p> + +<p>"It is beautiful!" said Sallie, the brown jacket slipping to the floor, +while she bent over the lily. "It is beautiful all of it, and it looks +just like her, and sounds like her, wings and all. Of course she sent +it."</p> + +<p>"And Dirk brought it!" That part of the story Mart Colson did not +forget.</p> + +<p>Sometimes it seems to me a pity that hearts are not laid bare to the +gaze of others. What, for instance, might not this little incident have +done for Dirk Colson had he known how the starved heart of his sister +fed on the thought that he brought her the flower?</p> + +<p>Still, on the other hand, I don't know what the effect would have been +on Mart had she known what a tremendous amount of courage it had taken +to present the flower to her. A dozen times on the way home had Dirk +been on the point of consigning it to the gutter. "He" carry home a +flower! If it had been a loaf of bread, he thought it would have been +more consistent. Some way he recognized a fine sarcasm in the thought +that he, who had never in his life contributed towards the necessities +of the family should carry to that dreary home a flower!</p> + +<p>Yet the fair lily did its work well during that long walk from East +Fifty-fifth Street to the shadow of the alley. It made Dirk Colson tell +it fiercely that he hated himself; that he was a brute and a loafer—a +blot on the earth, and ought not to live. Why didn't he go to work? Why +didn't he have things to bring home to Mart every little while, as Mark +Calkins did to Sallie? Hadn't he seen Mark, only a few evenings before +he was hurt, with a pair of girl's shoes strung over his shoulder, and +heard him whistle as he ran, two steps at a time, up the rickety stairs?</p> + +<p>What would Mart think if he should bring her home a pair of shoes? +What would she think of his bringing her a flower? She would sneer, of +course; and, in the mood which then possessed him, Dirk said angrily +that she had a right to sneer, and would be a fool not to; and yet he +hated the thought of it. There was nothing in life that Dirk hated more +than sneers; and he had been fed on them ever since he could remember.</p> + +<p>He was altogether unprepared for the reception which the lily received. +That suggestion about wings, which seemed so apt, had brought the +"queer" sound to his voice that Mart had noticed. If only she had +understood and not spoiled, next morning, the effect of her words!</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>In the prosaic daylight, the illusion of "wings" being banished, she +was bent on knowing how Dirk came into possession of the lily.</p> + +<p>"Who sent it, Dirk? I don't believe anybody told you to give it to me. +Who would care about my having a flower? Where did you get it?"</p> + +<p>"Where do you s'pose?" Dirk's voice was ominously gruff.</p> + +<p>It is a painful truth that by daylight he was ashamed of his part of +the transaction.</p> + +<p>"I told you she sent it. It's noways likely that I'd take the trouble +to make up a lie about that weed. How do I know what she wanted you to +have it for? Maybe she thought it matched your looks."</p> + +<p>There was a bitter sneer in Dirk's voice; yet all the time he heard the +sweet, low voice saying, "That girl with the beautiful golden hair." +Suppose he should tell Mart that? Why not? Let me tell you that Dirk +Colson would not have repeated that sentence for the world! And yet he +did not know why.</p> + +<p>Mart's face burned red under his sneer.</p> + +<p>"How am I to know who 'she' is?" she said in bitter scorn. "Some of +your bar-room beauties, for whom you dance and whistle, I suppose. You +can tell her I would rather have my shawl out of pawn, or some shoes +for my feet, enough sight. What do I care for a great flower mocking at +me."</p> + +<p>"Pitch it into the fire, then; and it will be many a long day before I +bring you anything else," said Dirk, pushing himself angrily back from +the table, where he had been eating bread dipped in choice pork fat.</p> + +<p>"There isn't a bit of danger of my doing that," she called after him +mockingly. "There isn't a spunk of fire, nor likely to be to-day, +unless some of your admirers send me a shovel of coal. Mercy knows, I +wish they would."</p> + +<p>He mercifully lost part of this sentence, for the reason that before it +was concluded, he was moving with long, angry strides up the alley.</p> + +<p>And then Mart took the broken-nosed pitcher away into the farthermost +corner, although she was alone in the room, and laid her face against +the cool, pure lily, and wept into it great burning tears. Poor, +ignorant soul! She wanted—oh how she "wanted"!—Dirk to be brave and +good like Mark Calkins, her one type of manhood. Yet she did not know +that she was crushing out the germ which might have grown in his heart. +True, she knew herself to be very different from Sallie; but she +thought, poor soul that that was because Mark was so different from +Dirk.</p> + +<p>Isn't it a pity that the sweet-faced lily could not have told its +tender story to both these ignorant ones?</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_15">CHAPTER XV.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"WHAT MADE HER DIFFERENT?"</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"I HAVE heard a good deal about your sister that has interested me. Do +you like to talk of her?"</p> + +<p>This was the question which Gracie Dennis asked of young Reid as he +stood beside her at the piano. She had been playing, and he had come +to the music alcove for the purpose of turning her music; but now she +was touching sweet chords here and there aimlessly, and waiting for his +answer.</p> + +<p>At the farther end of the parlour Mrs. Roberts was entertaining a +caller; but the distance between them was so great that in effect the +young people were alone.</p> + +<p>"I like nothing better than to talk of her," Mr. Reid said with +animation; "but I don't know so much about her as I wish I did. She +went away when I was quite young. I used to say 'she died,' but since +I have awakened to see her cherished plans being carried on all around +me, I cannot think of her as dead."</p> + +<p>"That is what I want to talk about—her work, or her plans for work. +What made her so different from other people, Mr. Reid? Wasn't she +different?"</p> + +<p>The young man regarded the question thoughtfully before answering.</p> + +<p>"Not from all the people," he said at last, "but certainly very +different from some. I used to think that all Christians were like her, +of course; then, when I saw my mistake, I went to the other extreme, +and thought there were none like her on earth. I have discovered that +the medium position is the correct one."</p> + +<p>"But what I want to know is, what made her different? It wasn't her +age. Mrs. Roberts thinks she was young."</p> + +<p>"She was hardly nineteen when she died. Oh no, it wasn't age; she +told me that she used to be very different. She was a Christian from +childhood, but she said that she was ashamed to claim the name. There +was nothing Christ-like about her; still she was a member of the +Church. As I remember her, and as I look at other people, my judgment +is, that in her early Christian life she was much like most of the +Christians with whom you and I are familiar."</p> + +<p>"And what made her different? Was it—that is—do you think it was +because she was to die so soon that she had a special experience?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all," he said promptly; "it was before she realized anything +about her condition that the great change took place in her. My +brother-in-law says that she supposed herself to be in perfect health +at the time when she was most marked in her Christian life."</p> + +<p>"Ah! But you don't understand; I mean more than that. It is difficult +to tell what I mean; I mean—but you know, of course, God knew that she +was soon to go to heaven. I thought, perhaps, he gave her a special +experience on that account."</p> + +<p>"No, oh no," he said, speaking with great earnestness. "Esther was +particularly anxious that no one should suppose her experience +exceptional. Little fellow though I was, it seemed to be her desire +that I should fully understand this.</p> + +<p>"'Don't let anybody make you think that because you are a little boy, +you must be a sort of half-way Christian,' she used to say, and her +eyes would glow with feeling. 'I tried that way for years,' she said, +'and I want you to understand that it is not only sinful, but there is +not a particle of happiness to be gotten out of it—not a particle; and +I would give almost nothing for what such a Christian can accomplish. +The harm one does, more than overbalances all effort for Christ.'</p> + +<p>"I think, perhaps, she felt more deeply on that than on almost any +subject; and it was because she thought had wasted so many years."</p> + +<p>"Then do you think that there is, or rather that there should be, no +difference in Christians? Have all the same work to do?"</p> + +<p>"Not that, quite, of course; or, I don't know either. Isn't it all +different forms of the Master's work. The children of the home may +have each a different task, but each is needed to make the home +what it should be, and each worker needs the same spirit of love +and unselfishness to enable him to do his part. It isn't a perfect +illustration, Miss Dennis. I'm not skilful in that direction, but I +know what I mean, and that is a comfort."</p> + +<p>"And I know what you mean," Gracie said, not joining in his laugh; "but +I am not sure that I believe it. Why, Mr. Reid, that would make a very +solemn thing of living."</p> + +<p>"Well, did you suppose it was other than solemn? I'm sure it makes a +triumphant thing of it, too; and without it we are only a lot of wax +figures, dancing to pass the time away."</p> + +<p>"But don't you really think that people have a right to have any nice +times?"</p> + +<p>"Miss Dennis, did you ever see any person who had nicer times than your +friend, Mrs. Roberts?"</p> + +<p>"Well, Flossy is peculiar; her tastes all seem to lie in this +direction, though once they did not, I admit. Papa used to think that +she had no talent for anything but dancing. Something changed Flossy's +entire character. No one who knew her two years ago could possibly deny +that."</p> + +<p>"She will serve as an illustration then to explain my meaning. I +believe, Miss Dennis, that religion should have sufficient power over +us to change all our tastes and plans in life, fitting them to the +Saviour's use."</p> + +<p>"But what would such a rule as that do with most of the Christians of +your acquaintance?"</p> + +<p>"Ah! I am old and experienced enough to warn you not to make shipwreck +of your happiness on that shoal. I hovered around it, and vexed my soul +over the whole bewildering question, until I suddenly discovered that I +was held absolutely responsible only for my own soul, and that the Lord +would look after his own."</p> + +<p>For a time there was no answer to this. Gracie let her fingers wander +with apparent aimlessness over the keys, drawing out soft sweet +strains. Suddenly she said:—</p> + +<p>"What do you expect Flossy will accomplish with that last scheme of +hers? I ought to beg her pardon for the familiar name, but I have known +her ever since I was a child. Don't you think her attempts for those +boys rather hopeless?"</p> + +<p>Instantly the young man's eyes filled with tears, and when he spoke his +voice indicated deep emotion.</p> + +<p>"I can hardly tell you how I feel about those boys. I have been anxious +for them so long, and felt so hopeless. Do you remember how Elijah +sat under a juniper tree, discouraged, and said that he was the only +one who had not bowed the knee to Baal; and the Lord told him he was +mistaken—that there were five thousand others? It sounds ridiculously +egotistical, but I have felt at times something like that, as though I +was the only one who cared whether the poor fellows went to destruction +or not.</p> + +<p>"But since I have met Mrs. Roberts, and seen how intense she is and +single-hearted, and since through her I have met Dr. Everett, and +seen how they are trying to work at the same problem; and since I +have come to know how Mr. Roberts is at work all the time for young +men; and above all, since that wonderful evening here last Monday, +when I saw how two gifted ladies understood the art of turning their +accomplishments to account, in order to take those poor fellows captive +for Christ, I discovered that there were ways of solving this problem +about which I had known nothing, and people to carry it through. It was +simply glorious in you to give those fellows such music as you did, and +to accomplish by it what you did. My life has been narrow, Miss Dennis; +I never saw the piano used for Christ before."</p> + +<p>Gracie looked down at the keys, her face aglow. It was a new +experience, this being classed among the Christian workers of the +world—making her music for other purposes than to amuse the gay friends +who chanced to gather around her. She made the keys speak loudly for a +few minutes, then softening them, said,—</p> + +<p>"You must not class me with Flossy, Mr. Reid. I only did what she +wanted done. I am not in the least like her, unselfish and gentle, and +all that."</p> + +<p>But his reply, spoken low, was pleasant to her ears:—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'By their fruits ye shall know them.'"<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>He evidently looked upon her as a worker. She could not help feeling +that it was pleasant to be so classed. What an intense young man he +was! Not in the least like those with whom she had hitherto been most +familiar.</p> + +<p>There was another voice in the front parlour, a strong, vigorous voice, +that carried a sense of power with it.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Reid, his eyes bright, his face eager. "That is Dr. Everett. +Just study him if you want another type of the sort of Christian about +whom we have been talking—the grandest man!"</p> + +<p>Gracie, shielded by the distance, turned on her stool and studied him. +Certainly he did not look much as though he were appointed for early +death. What a splendid physique it was!</p> + +<p>And how thoroughly wide awake and interested he was in the subject +under discussion. Bits of the talk floated back to the two at the piano.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he is young," Dr. Everett was saying; "I hope for returned vigour +in time, but there must be long weeks of patience, before he will be +ready for his old employment."</p> + +<p>"Do you know of whom he is speaking?" Gracie asked.</p> + +<p>"I fancy it is that Calkins boy, the one with the broken limb. He is +deeply interested in the poor fellow, and is trying to plan employment +of some less wearing sort for him, I believe. Dr. Everett is always +intensely interested in somebody."</p> + +<p>"Is it always the very poor?"</p> + +<p>Alfred laughed.</p> + +<p>"Not always. I know several quite well-to-do fellows on whom he keeps +a careful oversight; but he is grandly interested in the poor. He is +taking rank as one of the most successful physicians in the city, and +of course he is pressed for time; yet he is so continually at the +call of the poor, that people begin to speak of him as the poor man's +doctor. He told me he was proud of that title."</p> + +<p>At this point the musicians were appealed to, to come to the front +parlour, and Gracie had opportunity for a nearer study of the man +whom she could not help but admire. He was not likely to suffer from +a nearer view—at least, not while Gracie was in the mood that then +possessed her. He greeted her cordially, and at once brought her into +the conversation by appealing to her for a decision, seeming to take it +for granted that she was of the same spirit with himself.</p> + +<p>This young lady was taking lessons of life that were designed to be +helpful to her if she would but let them. A thoroughly well-educated +and cultured gentleman, well fitted to take high rank in society, not +in the ministry, and yet thoroughly absorbed in what she had hitherto +almost unconsciously set down as minister's work, was a mystery to her. +Moreover, for the second time that evening, she felt a curious sense +of satisfaction in being classed among the energetic workers of the +world. The pretty school-girl, who had lived all her young life in a +neighbourhood where she was "Gracie Dennis," looked up to, indeed, by +her set, and having a decided influence of her own, yet felt it to be +a novel experience to hear herself addressed in a clear, firm voice, +after this manner:—</p> + +<p>"Miss Dennis, what means would you advise for interesting a company of +young girls in reading regularly books which would be of use to them? +Of course, I speak of a class of girls who have done no reading of any +account heretofore: and who have no knowledge in the matter."</p> + +<p>"It is something about which I have not thought at all," said Gracie, +her pretty face all in a flush. "But I should suppose the way would be +to take one girl at a time, and study her, to find what would be likely +to interest and help her, and also to get such an influence over her +that she would read what I wanted her to."</p> + +<p>"First catch your hare, eh? Good!" said the doctor, with an approving +glance towards Mrs. Roberts. "The longer I live, the more convinced am +I that individual effort is what accomplishes the great things in this +world."</p> + +<p>There was more talk about this and kindred matters; and Gracie found +herself drawn out, and her interest excited on themes about which she +had supposed she knew nothing.</p> + +<p>Then occurred an interruption—a ringing of the doorbell.</p> + +<p>"For Miss Dennis," said the messenger; but she handed the card to Mrs. +Roberts.</p> + +<p>There was just a moment of hesitation, while that lady apparently +studied the name; then she said composedly,—</p> + +<p>"This is Professor Ellis, Gracie. Do you wish to receive him this +evening?"</p> + +<p>Since I have known Mrs. Roberts well, I have studied her innocently +sincere manner, with not a little curiosity as to the probable effect +on the world, suppose it were possible for others to adopt her +method. The actual practical effect with her is that she succeeds +often in wisely deceiving, while intending to be perfectly sincere. +For instance, her question to Gracie, after a moment of hesitation, +during which she asked herself, "What ought I to do?" and immediately +answered herself, "There is nothing for me to do but to be perfectly +straightforward."</p> + +<p>Her question was intended to say to Gracie: "I trust you. What your +father has directed you to do, I feel sure you will obey."</p> + +<p>But it said different things from that to Gracie. Ever since she had +been told that she might make her old acquaintance, Flossy, a visit, +this highly strung young lady had been suspicious that this was a +device of her stepmother to get pleasantly rid of her for a few weeks. +She surmised that a very carefully elaborate account of her sins had +been written out by this same stepmother for the benefit of her young +hostess, and that special directions had been given for guarding her +from the wolf, Professor Ellis. She would have spoiled the entire +scheme by haughtily refusing to leave home, had not the innocent +delight of a young girl over the thought of visiting a beautiful +strange city gotten the better of her pride. The gently-put question of +her hostess disarmed a whole nest of suspicions. It was hardly possible +that it had been hinted to Flossy that her guest might attempt to elope +with this man, else she would not with serene face be asking whether it +was her wish to receive him.</p> + +<p>"If you please," she made haste to answer, her cheeks glowing the while +and Mrs. Roberts gave instant direction that the gentleman be shown +into the parlour.</p> + +<p>There were several new lessons set for Miss Gracie Dennis to learn that +evening. One was that Professor Ellis, with his faultless dress and +excessive politeness, his finished bows and smiles that would have done +credit to any ball-room in the land, his accurate knowledge of all the +printed rules of etiquette, yet in Mrs. Roberts's parlour, contrasted +with Dr. Everett, and even with young Reid, the dry-goods clerk, +appeared at a disadvantage.</p> + +<p>She was slow in learning the lesson; on that first evening she simply +stared at it in bewilderment. What did it mean?</p> + +<p>There was an attempt to draw the professor into the circle, to continue +the conversation that had been so animated and interesting before +his entrance. The effect was much like that produced in striking a +discordant note in a hitherto faultless piece of music. Young men out +of business needing help, needing an encouraging word, an outstretched +hand! Professor Ellis had words, and hands, but he might have been +without either for all the help they gave him in responding to efforts +like these. Books to help to uplift the young, to give them high ideas +of life, to enthuse them with desires to live for a purpose—truly he +could only stare blankly at the suggestion. What did he know of books +written for such purposes?</p> + +<p>Yet Gracie had supposed him to be literary in his tastes and pursuits. +Certainly, he read French. Yes, French novels! He was quite familiar +with some of such a character that, had Gracie been French scholar +and ever likely to come in contact with a copy of them, he would not +have dared to mention their names in her presence. More than once of +late had the stepmother wished that her young daughter understood the +language well enough to be aware that the man whom she admired used +frequently smooth-sounding French oaths. But alas for Gracie, when he +had so poisoned her mother's influence over this dangerously pretty +girl, that she would have believed his word at any time rather than +that mother's!</p> + +<p>Well, he read other than French novels; Charles Reade, for instance, +and some of the more recent authors fashionable in certain circles. +It is true that Gracie was not acquainted with them, that her father +would not allow a copy of their books to come freely into his home, and +Gracie was much too honourable to read them in private. But it is also +true that while professing to admire this trait in her, as charming in +a young daughter, the professor had also, pityingly and gently, told +this young daughter that these things were her father's concessions to +the narrow age and trammelled profession to which he belonged; that the +fact was, free thought was discouraged, because there was that in every +Church which would not bear its light; that her wise father was one of +a hundred in recognizing this, and trying to shield her while she was +young.</p> + +<p>You are also to remember that she was young, and therefore forgive her +that she did not detect the contradictory sophistry in the professor's +words. He really understood how to sugar-coat poison as well as any man +of his stamp could.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_16">CHAPTER XVI.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"HERE WAS HIS OPPORTUNITY."</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>BUT the question which would keep forcing itself an Gracie Dennis was +this: "If he really knows of nice books, full of 'the beautiful' and +'the ennobling,' that would enlighten the race, as he has often told +me, why doesn't he mention some of them now? There is no minister here +'trammelled by long years of narrowing education.' How does he know but +that these people are as advanced in their ideas as he is himself?"</p> + +<p>I do not mean that she was conscious of thinking these thoughts, but +that they hovered on the edge, as it were, of her mind, making her feel +ill at ease.</p> + +<p>Dr. Everett, on his part, seemed courteously bent on securing an +expression of the professor's opinion about matters of which he either +could not or would not talk. When at last the disturbed gentleman +resolved to violate what Gracie was a law of good breeding, and +address her in French, what with her embarrassment lest others should +understand, and her own marked ignorance of the language, she found +great difficulty in making a free translation.</p> + +<p>"Upon my word, I wish you understood French or some other tongue, so +that we could escape from this boredom. Does the poor little prisoner +have much of this to endure? Cannot we escape to the music-room and +talk things over?"</p> + +<p>Gracie cast a frightened glance about her to see if there were others +who understood better than herself this sentence, which, for aught she +knew, might contain something startling. But Alfred was busily engaged +in looking up the name of a book which he had vainly tried to recall, +and Dr. Everett was apparently serenely oblivious to any language but +his mother-tongue.</p> + +<p>Very soon after this Gracie managed to escape with her caller to the +music alcove: thus much of the French she had understood; and, at +least, Professor Ellis could play, which fact she resolved that the +people in the front parlour should speedily understand. Ah, but he +could play, and herein lay one of his strong fascinations for the +music-loving girl. For a time the most ravishing strains rolled through +the parlour, hushing into rapt attention the group gathered there, who +had just been reinforced by the coming of Mr. Roberts. By degrees the +strains grew fainter and fainter, and at last ceased altogether, as the +professor, still on the music-stool, bent over Gracie seated in a low +chair, and apparently found fluent speech at last.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts, meantime, was ill at ease. What would Dr. Dennis and +Marion say, could they have a peep at this moment into her back +parlour? Was she being faithful to her trust? Yet what was there she +could do? She tried to sustain her part in the conversation; but her +troubled gaze, constantly wandering elsewhere, betrayed her.</p> + +<p>Dr. Everett's keen eyes were upon her.</p> + +<p>"Are you particularly interested in that man?" he asked abruptly.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts smiled faintly.</p> + +<p>"I am particularly interested in that girl," she said.</p> + +<p>"How do you like her present companionship?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all," she answered quickly.</p> + +<p>Whereupon Mr. Roberts began to question.</p> + +<p>"May I know, doctor, whether you have any other reason than that of +intuition for asking the question?"</p> + +<p>"Possibly not," said the doctor guardedly. "It may be a case of +mistaken identity.—Mrs. Roberts, would you like to have me investigate +something that may be to his disadvantage?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts had a prompt answer ready.</p> + +<p>"There are reasons why it is specially important that such an +investigation should be made and reported to me. May I commission you?"</p> + +<p>The doctor bowed; and the subject of Professor Ellis was immediately +dropped.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>During the following week certain innovations took place in Mrs. +Roberts's well-ordered household. At the end of the conservatory was a +long, bright, and hitherto unfurnished room. It had been designed as a +sort of second conservatory, whenever the beauties of that department +should outgrow their present bounds; but meantime other plants had +taken root and blossomed in the mistress's heart. Early in the week the +unused room had been opened and cleaned; then began to arrive packages +of various shapes and sizes; a roll of carpeting, and two young men +from the carpet store; and there followed soon after the sound of +hammering. Furniture-waggons halted before the door, leaving their +burdens. Men and women flitted to and fro, busy and important.</p> + +<p>It was Saturday night before Mr. Roberts and his young clerk were +invited in to admire and criticise the new room. Mr. Roberts, at least, +was prepared to appreciate its transformation.</p> + +<p>The floor was covered with a heavy carpet in lovely shades of mossy +green, and easy-chairs and couches in tints either matched or made +delightful contrasts with the carpet abounded. The walls were hung +with pictures and charts and maps. A study-table occupied the centre +of the room—one of those charming tables, full of mysterious drawers +and unexpected corners; paper and pens and inks in various colours were +disposed about this table in delightful profusion. Other tables, plenty +of them, small and neat, each of a different shape or design, were +stationed at intervals, in convenient proximity to comfortable chairs.</p> + +<p>Nothing could be further removed from one's idea of a schoolroom than +was that long, beautiful parlour. Yet when you thought of it, and took +a second, deliberate survey, nothing that could have contributed to +the enjoyment of pupils was missing. A small cabinet organ occupied an +alcove, and music-books of various grades were strown over it. Toward +this spot Mrs. Roberts smiled significantly as her eye caught Alfred +Reid's, and she said,—</p> + +<p>"I have visions of sacred Sabbath evening half-hours connected with +this corner, one of these days; meantime, is this a pleasant room for +our Monday evenings?"</p> + +<p>But Alfred could not answer her. His head was turned away, and there +was a suspicious lump in his throat that made him know better than +to attempt speech. He was standing at that moment under one of the +wall-texts that the gaslight illumined until it glowed, and the words +stood out with startling clearness:—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "Let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober."<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>His sister's text; one that, perhaps more than any other, was on her +lips when she talked with him; one that hung at her coffin's head when +he, a little boy, stood beside the coffin and looked down at her face, +and looked up at that text, and took a mental photograph of both to +live in his heart for ever.</p> + +<p>"This is your special chair," Mrs. Roberts said, smiling up at him.</p> + +<p>And he understood her,—here was his opportunity to live out that text +for his sister. Wouldn't he try!</p> + +<p>"Well," said Gracie, drawing a long breath, "as a study it is certainly +a success. One can easily see, Flossy, why you were born with the +ability to tell at a glance what colours harmonized, and just where +things fitted in. I can't imagine anything prettier than this, and I +cannot imagine what you are going to do with it."</p> + +<p>Whereupon they sat down to talk that important question over—what they +were going to try to do. Sometimes I have wondered whether Esther, +from her beautiful home, could look down on it all, and whether she +smiled over the fact that her work was doing so much more than she had +planned? She had roused in her little brother an ambition that had +grown with his years, and that had helped to hold him away from many +temptations: so much, doubtless, she had foreseen; but what a blessed +thing it was that she had touched, in those long-ago years, influences +which had drawn her brother, in his young and perilous manhood, into +intimate relations with such people as Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, so that +they sat down familiarly to talk over mutual interests! But for +Esther's words, spoken long ago, but for her strong desires transmitted +to him, he might have sat with a very different circle, and talked over +widely different schemes.</p> + +<p>On the edge of this circle Gracie Dennis hovered. She could not but be +interested in their talk, for she was a Christian, and her father was +a Christian, and she had all her life breathed in the atmosphere of a +Christian home.</p> + +<p>At the same time, she could but imagine some of their ideas wild ones, +for she had never been associated with people who widely overstepped +the conventional ways of doing things. And she had, of late, been much +with Professor Ellis, who had a sort of gentlemanly sneer for every +phase of Christian work, and, so far as could be discovered, believed +in nothing. He had not been outspoken, it is true, and herein lay one +of the dangers. He was too skilful to be outspoken; but the subtle +poison had been working, and although Gracie could not help being +interested in those queer boys, she could not help thinking Flossy's +whole scheme exceedingly visionary, and expected it to come to grief.</p> + +<p>The puzzling question was, why did Mr. Roberts, being a keen-sighted +man, permit it all? Or was he so much in love with Flossy that he could +not bear to thwart even her wildest flights? It was strange, too, to +see a young man like Alfred Reid so absorbed; his sister must have had +wonderful power over him, Gracie thought. She went back to his sister's +influence, always, in trying to explain the matter, and never gave a +thought to Christ's influence. Meantime she listened to the various +plans proposed for the first Monday evening, and was sufficiently +interested to gather her pretty face in a frown when the distant peal +from the doorbell sounded through the house.</p> + +<p>"What a pity to be interrupted by a caller!" she exclaimed. "This room +is so much nicer than the parlour. Flossy, don't you hope it is some +one to see Mr. Roberts on business?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Mrs. Roberts, shaking her head, with a smile; "I feel in +special need of Mr. Roberts just now.—Evan, I really think we must be +excused to callers for this one evening, there are so many things to +arrange."</p> + +<p>"Let us wait and see," answered Mr. Roberts; "perhaps the Lord has sent +the caller here to help us, or to be helped."</p> + +<p>At that moment came the card.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it is Dr. Everett!" was Mrs. Roberts's exclamation. "Let us have +him come directly here. Evan, please go and escort him. You were right; +the Lord has sent him to help us. I don't know how, I'm sure; but he is +just the man to help everywhere."</p> + +<p>And the circle instantly widened itself to receive Dr. Everett.</p> + +<p>It took almost no time to speak the commonplaces of the occasion, and +get back at once to the business of the hour. It was evident that +Dr. Everett needed no lengthy explanations, and there was apparently +nothing bewildering to his mind in the plan. True, it was new to him; +but he seemed to spring at once to the centre of their thought. His +eyes glowed for a moment, and he said with peculiar emphasis,—</p> + +<p>"Reid, when the Son of man cometh, he will surely find 'some' faith on +the earth!"</p> + +<p>Then he gave himself to intensest listening and questioning, and +presently followed his questions with suggestions which showed that +unconventional ways of working were not altogether new to him.</p> + +<p>As for Gracie, she had as much as she could do to listen intelligently. +She almost caught her breath over the rapidity with which the talkers +moved from one scheme to another. All the time there was a curious +process of comparison between this man and Professor Ells going on in +her mind. Not that she wished to compare the two. She told herself +that it was absurd to do so; none the less she did it. For instance, +she reminded herself that she had mentally assented promptly to the +suggestion of inviting the doctor to this room to talk this strange +scheme over; she had recognized the fitness of the act. But suppose +Professor Ellis should call, would it not be simply absurd to think of +explaining to him the uses of this unique room? Who would for a moment +think of suggesting his name as a helper?</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>I do not know how to describe to you the appearance of that room on +Monday evening when the boys were in it. I do not know whether the +sight to you would have been pitiful or ludicrous. How can I tell, +not knowing you? There was a dreadful incongruity between the soiled, +ragged clothes and matted hair and unwashed hands and the exquisite +purity which prevailed around them. Of course you could have seen +that; but the all-important question, the answer to which would have +stamped your place in the world's work-shop, would have been, Do you +see any further than that? And seeing further, which way? Do you see +the possibilities, or the certainties of failure? Oh, no, I am wrong; +it would take more than that to tell where you belong.</p> + +<p>Dr. Everett saw the possibilities, and gloried in them. Gracie Dennis +thought she saw the certainty of failure, and was sorry for it. But +Professor Ellis would have seen the certainty of failure, and would +have met it with a sneer, if he had not been too indifferent even for +that. As for Mrs. Roberts, did she or did she not represent a different +and higher type than any of the others? She thought not much about +either success or failure, but pushed steadily forward the plan that +she believed she had gotten on her knees, born of the Spirit. If it +really were of God, nothing could make it fail; but if she mistook, and +the plan was only hers, mere failure in that direction would signify +nothing: she would have but to try again. Something of this she felt +but did not reason out, for she was no logician.</p> + +<p>What the boys saw was a great, splendid room, the like of which they +had never seen before, for they recognized, without being able to +explain, the difference between it and the parlours, and felt freer +in it. They all came, and they looked not one whit better than on the +Monday evening before.</p> + +<p>Over this fact Gracie Dennis, with all her public scoffing, was, in +private, a little disappointed. It is true she had not expected to see +them again; but "if" they came, she thought it possible that they might +have been tempted to appear with clean hands and faces. Possibly some +were so tempted, and but for the difficulties in the way, might really +have tried for this. But Gracie was not sufficiently enlightened to +dream of difficulties in the way of simply washing one's face and hands.</p> + +<p>During the Saturday evening conference it had been decided that Mr. +Roberts must make acquaintance with his guests. It would never do to +have them come familiarly to his house, and he not be able to recognize +them on the streets. Several plans were suggested for introducing him +skilfully to them, but he disapproved of them all.</p> + +<p>"No," he said; "I'll tell you what we'll do. I will introduce myself. +You may receive them, Flossy, and then retire for a few minutes, +and I'll let myself in by the conservatory passage, and make myself +acquainted to the best of my abilities. In ten minutes, Flossy, I'll +give you leave to return. As for the rest of you, don't dare to venture +in until I have made good my claim as the head of the house. I am +jealous of you, perhaps."</p> + +<p>To this plan Mrs. Roberts readily assented, but the young clerk +looked doubtful. In common with the rest of the employés, he stood in +wholesome awe of the keen-eyed, thorough business man, who seemed to +know, as by a sort of instinct, when anything in any department of the +great store was not moving according to rule. His knowledge of Mr. +Roberts, outside of the store, was limited, and he expected to find the +boys, if not frightened, so awed that they would resolve never to be +caught inside that room again.</p> + +<p>However, he, of course, only looked his fears. He was too much afraid +of the great merchant to express them; and it had been understood, when +they separated, that this plan was to be carried out.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_17">CHAPTER XVII.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"I WONDER WHAT THEY'RE ALL AFTER."</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>IN the library waited Gracie and Mr. Reid, while Mrs. Roberts went +merrily to see whether the boys or their host had proved the stronger.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe this part of the programme will work," Alfred said +confidently, the moment the door closed after Mrs. Roberts. "Those +fellows will all be afraid of Mr. Roberts, and we shall lose what +little hold we have on them."</p> + +<p>"They don't look to me as though it ever occurred to them to be afraid +of anything," Gracie said.</p> + +<p>But Alfred Reid, who had studied deeper into this problem of the +different classes of society, was ready with his answer:—</p> + +<p>"Yes, they are; they can be awed, and made to feel uncomfortable to +the degree that they will resolve not to appear in that region again. +One cannot judge from their behaviour in Sabbath school. Some way they +recognize mission school as being in a sense their property, and behave +accordingly; but in a man's own house, surrounded by things of which +they do not even know the name, he has them at a disadvantage, and can +easily rouse within them the feeling that they are 'trapped,' than +which there is nothing those fellows dread so much, I believe."</p> + +<p>"But they were not afraid of Flossy last week, even surrounded by the +elegancies of her parlours and dining-room."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" he said, his eyes alight. "She has a wisdom born of God, I think, +for managing these and all other concerns. She is unlike everybody +else."</p> + +<p>Whereupon Grace Dennis laughed; not a disagreeable laugh, but +there came to her just then a sense of the strangeness of thinking +that pretty Flossy Shipley, whom she had known all her life, and +half-scorned from the heights of her childhood because she was a silly +little thing, who could not do her problems in class, should have a +wisdom unlike any others. Yet, almost immediately her laugh was stayed, +because the change in Flossy was so great that she, too, recognized it +as born of God. Sometimes it came with force to this proud young girl +that if God could do so much for Flossy, what might he not be willing +to do with those whom he had made intellectually her superior, if they +were but ready to be led?</p> + +<p>The young man, who was studying her, watched the grave look deepen on +her face, and wondered at its source. What a pretty face it was! Oh, +much more than pretty; there was great strength in it, and sweetness, +too, of a certain sort, but he could not help comparing the sort with +that in some other faces, and he wondered over the difference. This +young lady was a Christian. Why should her Christian experience stamp +her with such a different expression from that which others wore? He +always finished this sort of sentence with a blank space first, as +though he did not choose to have himself tell himself any names. Yet he +spoke a name forcibly enough, still gazing earnestly at Gracie.</p> + +<p>"Did you ever meet Miss Joy Saunders?"</p> + +<p>Gracie turned toward him a laughing face.</p> + +<p>"No; but we are very anxious to, Flossy and I. We have both been told +that we ought to know her, and told so earnestly that we really think +we ought. Who is she? Is she, too, unlike anybody else?"</p> + +<p>"Very," he said promptly. "I know her very little; she is the daughter +of our landlady. I meet her in the hall on rare occasions, and +sometimes catch glimpses of her just vanishing from some room as I +enter; but as for being acquainted with her, I suppose I am not. I +think—though of that I am by no means sure—that she is engaged to Dr. +Everett.</p> + +<p>"Oh then, of course he would think naturally that people ought to know +her. What is she like?"</p> + +<p>"Like nothing," said Alfred, with great promptness. "Did you ever know +a person named Joy?"</p> + +<p>"No;—what a singular name!"</p> + +<p>"Well it fits. She is very far removed from mirth, and she is not what +people call gay, and she is not outspoken apparently at any time, +though, as I say, I do not know her; but there is something in her face +that fits the name. I do not know what it is. Sometimes I think it is +the shining of Christ's face reflected in her; but the puzzle is, why +do not other faces have it—faces which belong to him?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps there is a difference in the degree of belonging."</p> + +<p>Gracie spoke the words very gently, wondering meanwhile at the way in +which this thought chimed in with hers about Flossy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, there is. But why should there be? If I belong to Christ, I +belong, don't I? There is no half-way service possible. Why do I not so +look that others take knowledge of me that I have been with Jesus?"</p> + +<p>"How do you know but they do?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, I know—I know too well. They are more likely a great deal to +take knowledge that I have been with Satan. I feel the frown all over +my face a great deal of the time; and the world goes astray a great +many times, when I suppose it is just myself that is wrong. But, Miss +Dennis, I hunger for the shining of his face in me."</p> + +<p>"That must be the meaning of the beatitude which puzzled my childhood," +she answered, trying to speak lightly, to hide feelings that were +deeply moved:</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for +they shall be filled.'"<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"Thank you," he said smiling; "there is actually a promise I had +not thought of it. And yet—" the thoughtful frown gathering almost +immediately—"do you suppose that a person who really hungered for a +certain thing could be satisfied with anything else? I often have +an hour of what at the moment seems to me like hunger for Him; but +the hour passes, and I get filled with business, or with plans, or +possibly with annoyances, and feel nothing but a general irritation +for everybody. Do you think there can be anything genuine about such +desires, so easily turned aside?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I do not know," said Gracie hastily. "Why do you ask me such +things? Did not I tell you I was not good? Ask those people who are +unlike all others. Why don't you ask this Joy? She could tell you, +I presume. I can tell you nothing, save that this is a very strange +world, not half so nice as I once thought it, and I don't like to think +about things."</p> + +<p>How different he was from other young men with whom she had spent +fifteen minutes many a time in gay banter! This was, after all, the +thought uppermost in her mind at that moment. Nice Christian men, of +whom her father spoke well, and who, people said, were young men to be +proud of, it seemed to her that she knew them by the dozen, yet with +which one of them had she ever carried on such a conversation as this? +With which one could she have attempted anything of the kind, without +leading him to suppose that she was taking leave of her senses?</p> + +<p>She recalled some of the gay words that she had spoken with these +others, and tried hurriedly to decide why it would sound to her +perfectly absurd to talk with Alfred Reid in that way. However, she did +not want to talk with him; he was too full of questionings.</p> + +<p>"And questions," said poor Gracie, "are all that I can ask myself. I +want somebody to talk with who is assured of the ground on which he +stands, and can tell me why he stands there."</p> + +<p>There was not time for further talk; they were summoned to the new +room. Bursts of laughter greeted their ears as they made their way +eagerly across the hall, and Gracie took time to remark that the boys +were certainly not awed into silence, before the opening door let them +into the brightly-lighted scene. Every boy was laughing, not quietly, +but immoderately, and the centre of attraction was evidently Mr. +Roberts.</p> + +<p>"I have been giving our friends an account of an old army experience," +he said, in explanation to Gracie, "and we have been enjoying a laugh +together over the old memory.—You are all acquainted with Miss Dennis, +I think, young gentlemen?"</p> + +<p>Clearly there was no need for any one to introduce Mr. Roberts to the +boys; apparently they knew him now better than they did any of the +others. Yet as Gracie, after shaking hands with each of the guests, +took a vacant seat by Nimble Dick, she was greeted with a confidential +whisper:—</p> + +<p>"That's a jolly chap as ever I saw; and I never heard anything to beat +the yarn he told us for cuteness. Who is he?"</p> + +<p>"Why, he is Mr. Evan Roberts, the owner of this house."</p> + +<p>"My eyes!" said Dick, gazing about him in a startled way. "Look here; +he ain't that Roberts from the big store in Fourth Street?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, he is; he is one of the partners in that store."</p> + +<p>Then did Nimble Dick give a low whistle—suddenly cut short as the other +boys looked at him—and sat up straight in his chair, and for at least +a minute was awed, or else was bewildered. If his mind could have been +looked into for a moment, something like this might have been seen +there:</p> + +<p>"And here I am sittin' in one of his chairs, and been laughin' to kill +over his funny story! If this ain't the greatest lark out! I wonder +what they're all after, anyhow!"</p> + +<p>Then the real business of the evening commenced.</p> + +<p>I should like to describe that evening, but it is really worse to +describe than the boys. It was designed to be one of those most +difficult evenings, where every act and almost every word has been +previously arranged, but arranged in such a manner as to appear like an +impromptu effort, the result of merely the happenings of the hour.</p> + +<p>For instance, Mrs. Roberts aimed at nothing less formidable than the +teaching of these boys to read and write, and knew as well as you or I +know it, that to frankly own that she was ready and willing to give her +time and patience to so teaching them would be to outwit herself. They +did not belong to the class who can be beguiled into evening schools. +There are such. Mark Calkins would have seized such an opportunity +and rejoiced over it, but these were lower in the scale; they did +not realize their need, and they had what they in ignorance called +"independence;" they were not to be "trapped" by evening schools. +Therefore it required diplomacy; and no people can be more diplomatic, +on occasion, than certain most innocent-looking little women. Mrs. +Roberts had studied her way step by step.</p> + +<p>Therefore it was that by the most natural passage possible she led the +way to a discussion of different styles of writing, bringing forth to +aid her a certain old autograph album which had been to many places +of note, among others Chautauqua, and had the names of distinguished +persons, as well as of many who were not distinguished, except for +Christian endurance in consenting to write in an autograph album. Good +writers were talked about and selected, and poor writers were talked +about; and it was said by some one, accidentally of course, that a good +hand was really an accomplishment.</p> + +<p>"It is more than that," declared Mr. Roberts. "A man's business +life often turns on it. I have myself had to turn away from several +otherwise suitable helpers in our business because they really could +not write a good, clear hand, that could be read without studying.—Are +you a good writer, Miss Gracie?"</p> + +<p>This remark, coming suddenly to Gracie from her host, almost +embarrassed her; for you are not to suppose that the very words by +which these themes should be introduced had been planned, and it had +not occurred to Gracie that so personal a question might be asked her. +But she rallied quickly:—</p> + +<p>"No, sir; I am sorry to say that I am not. I write what papa calls a +mincing hand—all jumbled up together, you know, or running into each +other, the letters are, and so difficult to read that papa said when I +came away, he hoped I would call on his friend, Doctor Stuart, every +day, and write a letter on his type-writer."</p> + +<p>"What is that?" interrupted Nimble Dick, his face curious.</p> + +<p>"What? A type-writer? Oh, it is a strange little machine used instead +of the pen—at least, a very few people use it. It is quite new, I +think, and must be very curious. I never saw one, but the writing +looks just like print. Dr. Stuart, a pastor in the city, is my papa's +friend, and writes to him on his, and papa reads the letter with great +satisfaction, saying to me,—</p> + +<p>"'There, daughter, that is something like! People who cannot write well +enough for others to read should print.'"</p> + +<p>"They are not so very uncommon, Miss Dennis," explained Dr. Everett, +who saw the eagerness on Nimble Dick's face. "It is a comparatively +new invention, but is being caught up very promptly. I think nearly +all the leading lawyers use them, and those who do not own them are +getting their copying done at the rooms. They are very ingenious little +instruments."</p> + +<p>"Did you say you never saw one?"</p> + +<p>This question from Mr. Roberts to Gracie, and he added:—</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Roberts, I believe you have never had other than that first +glimpse I showed you in the Parker Building. I have an idea. Suppose I +hire one of the little fellows to interest us? It would be pleasant to +look into it and see how it works. Did none of you ever see one?</p> + +<p>"Well, now, we'll try for that on next Monday evening. I'll have one +sent up to-morrow; and, Miss Gracie, we'll appoint you showman for +the following Monday, so it is to be hoped that you will employ your +leisure in learning how to manage the creature, and perhaps send your +father a readable letter at the same time."</p> + +<p>Now, as may readily be supposed, all this about machinery had not been +arranged for beforehand, but was a side issue, born of the fact that +the watchful servant of his Master saw an eager look in the eyes of the +boy Dick directly there was anything said that suggested machinery. One +of the great aims of these evenings was to study character, however +developed.</p> + +<p>Having turned his company from the regular channel, Mr. Roberts made +haste to put them skilfully back where they were before:—</p> + +<p>"Still it would be a pity to resort to machinery simply because one did +not know how to write well. I would rather set to work to correct the +error. I happen to know one of our number who can write a very enviable +hand.—Do you know, Reid, that the letter you wrote me was the first +thing which attracted me to you? I remember I showed the note to one of +our senior partners, who was particularly disturbed by poor writing, +and he said,—</p> + +<p>"'Engage him, Roberts, do! Young man who can write like that will be a +relief.'</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Roberts, I move that we resolve ourselves at this moment into a +writing-class, to be taught by Mr. Reid.—My dear sir, will you take us +in hand?"</p> + +<p>Something of this kind had been planned—at least, it had been planned +that Reid should be asked to do this thing; but he found the actual +asking embarrassing, and struggled with it with flushing cheeks.</p> + +<p>Gracie came to his aid:—</p> + +<p>"I don't know whether I'll take lessons or not. Who wants to expose +one's ignorance? How will you teach? Must we each give a specimen of +our present attainments?"</p> + +<p>Instantly Reid divined the reason for the question.</p> + +<p>"No," he said eagerly; "oh, no; I should begin with those horrors of +your childhood, pothooks or something of that sort—lines and curves, +you know. There are not many of them after all in our letters, and when +once a person has conquered them, it is easy to put them together."</p> + +<p>There was more talk, easy and social.</p> + +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, the doctor, and Gracie seemed equally interested +in the project, and questioned young Reid, until he assured them that +he began to feel like a veritable professor. Apparently the boys were +forgotten. This very fact put them at their ease, and they listened +interested and amused over the thought that these ladies and gentlemen +wanted to go to school.</p> + +<p>At first I do not think it occurred to one of them that he was included +in the proposal to form a writing-class.</p> + +<p>How was it done? I am not sure that any one of the eager group of +workers could have told you afterward, so excited did they become over +this first scheme. Nobody could remember just what words were said, nor +who said them, nor whether the boys all looked equally startled when +paper and pen were put into each hand. They remembered that some shook +their heads emphatically, and that Nimble Dick spoke plainly:</p> + +<p>"No you don't! I can't write any more than a duck can, and I never +expect to."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts knew that Dirk Colson's dark face turned a fierce red, and +he indignantly snapped the offered pen half-way across the table with +his thumb and finger. But of these words and acts nobody apparently +took any notice. The writing began, and the first marks given as copies +were so simple, looked so easy to do, and the attempts of the ladies +and gentlemen fell so far short of what the teacher desired, and were +so unmercifully criticised by him, and the criticisms were so merrily +received by the writers, that at last the whole thing took the form of +a joke to Nimble Dick's mind, and he became possessed with a burning +desire to try.</p> + +<p>One by one the boys stealthily followed his example, Alfred taking care +to watch eagerly, to commend both Stephen Crowley and Gracie Dennis in +the same breath for some true stroke, and criticise both Mrs. Roberts +and Nimble Dick for not holding the pen aright.</p> + +<p>The entire party became so interested that only Mrs. Roberts knew just +when Dirk Colson stealthily brought back his pen from the distance to +which it had been rolled, and, sitting upright that he might attract +the less notice, tried his hand on the curve which was giving even Dr. +Everett trouble.</p> + +<p>When the young teacher discovered it, he made also another discovery, +which he proclaimed:—</p> + +<p>"Upon my word—I beg the pardon of each of you—but Colson here has made +the only respectable R-curve there is in the company."</p> + +<p>Then if his sister Mart had seen the glow on Dirk's face, I am not sure +that she would have known him. There was a momentary transformation.</p> + +<p>As for Mrs. Roberts, she bowed low over the letter she was carefully +forming, but it was to say in soft whisper heard by one ear alone,—</p> + +<p>"Thank God!"</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_18">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"YOUR'N'S THE WAY!"</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>YOU are not to suppose, because this first Monday evening (which, by +the way, was concluded with sandwiches and coffee) was a success, +pronounced so by all concerned, that therefore the ones which followed +were all rose-colour.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, not one of the workers expected this, and so were brave +and cheerful under drawbacks.</p> + +<p>These were numerous and varied.</p> + +<p>After the first novelty wore off, it took at times only the most +trivial excuses to keep the boys away. Sometimes when they came, their +conduct was anything but encouraging. They lolled in the easy-chairs, +smelling strongly of tobacco and other bar-room odours, refused +insolently to apply themselves to any work at hand, audibly pronounced +the whole thing "slow," and in numberless ways severely tried the +patience of both Alfred and Gracie.</p> + +<p>For the others, they had counted the cost—at least the gentlemen +had—and expected to move slowly, even to appear to go backward some of +the time. As for Mrs. Roberts, I have told you that she worked in a +peculiar manner, with the motto, "This one thing I do," apparently ever +before her.</p> + +<p>Each evening was distinct in itself, with efforts to make and obstacles +to overcome; and at its close she had a way of laying it aside, +as something with which her part was done, not attempting even to +calculate results. Then she was ready to turn to a new day, and work +steadily for that.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>The winter was slipping away, and Gracie Dennis lingered. She could +hardly have told you why, yet there were many apparent reasons. Mrs. +Roberts wanted her, rejoiced in her, and coaxed irresistibly as often +as the thought of going home was mentioned. Then Gracie, laugh over the +peculiar work going on as she might, was undeniably interested in those +boys. She was working for them, therefore of course she was interested.</p> + +<p>"I don't see how you can go this week," would young Reid say to her, +with a perplexed air; "you know we have that matter all planned for +next Monday evening. How can we carry out the scheme if you are not +there to do your part?"</p> + +<p>Then would Gracie laugh, and demur, and admit, to herself only, that it +was very pleasant to be needed—as she certainly was—for one night more; +and so the nights passed.</p> + +<p>Her work was to be "Professor of Elocution," as Mr. Roberts gaily +called her when the workers were alone together. It had been +discovered that she could read both prose and poetry with effect. So +a reading-class was organized, and they chose for the first evening, +not one of Bryant's or Whittier's gems, nor selections from Milton or +Shakespeare, which would have suited part of the company, nor yet the +"Easy Readings" in some standard spelling-book, which would have fitted +the capacity of the others, but, with care and much discussion, one of +Will Carleton's descriptive poems, full of homely yet tender language, +full of pathos and of humour, was unanimously selected.</p> + +<p>The first evening reading had been commenced with nuts and apples. +There are those who can see no connection between this and the +intellectual; happily for the characters with whom she had to deal, +Mrs. Roberts was not one of them.</p> + +<p>While the others were still enjoying the refreshments, she took the +book and read. This was her quiet little sacrifice. It was not pleasant +to her to become a public reader. It required courage to get through +with one verse, with Dr. Everett sitting opposite, and Gracie Dennis +on a low seat at her side, and her husband listening intently. Mrs. +Roberts was not a good reader, and was aware of it. She pronounced +the words correctly, it is true; but when you had said that, you had +said all that there was to offer in praise of her effort. She had some +exasperating faults. But she bravely read the two verses, and some of +the boys listened, and one of them laughed; he had caught a gleam of +the fun in the poem. This, of course, was Nimble Dick.</p> + +<p>Then Alfred Reid made the same effort on the same verses; his +performance was very little better, and he, too, knew it. He could +write, but he was by no means a public reader; this was his offering to +the general good. If those fellows, by reason of his mistakes, could be +induced to climb, he was willing to offer his pride on the altar. No +matter by what petty trials they were caught, so that they were really +caught.</p> + +<p>Then followed Gracie Dennis; and her own father, acceptable preacher +though he was, might with credit to himself have taken lessons of +her. She was certainly, for one so young and so unprofessional, a +magnificent reader. So indeed was Marion Wilbur, and she had enjoyed +teaching Gracie.</p> + +<p>The poem blossomed in her hand. The crunching of nuts and apples +entirely ceased. The boys sat erect, and listened and laughed, and +flushed and swallowed suspiciously, over some of the homely pathos. +They had never heard anything like that before, and they evidently +appreciated it. She read through to the end.</p> + +<p>Then were unloosed the tongues. They exclaimed in delight,—</p> + +<p>"What an accomplishment it is!" said Mr. Roberts. "And how few possess +it! Doctor, how many really fine readers have you heard in your life?"</p> + +<p>"About three," said the doctor laconically.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Mrs. Roberts, "let us all be exceptions.—Gracie, teach us +how. I will try again."</p> + +<p>And she did, on the first verse of the poem, with better success than +before; but how sharp the contrast between her reading and Gracie's, +she knew! It was not easy for her to read.</p> + +<p>I don't know—possibly I am mistaken—but it seems to me that I have +known people ready for large sacrifices, who yet would shrink painfully +from these little ones.</p> + +<p>In discussing the programme for the evening, the question had been, +when each had done his part, How were they to influence the boys to +join? Could they join? Was it probable that they knew enough about +reading to attempt to speak the words of the poem? With reference to +this obstacle, a poem had been chosen full of simple, homely words, +such as are in common use; especially was the first verse free from +what Mr. Roberts called "shoals." Having heard the verse read several +times, it was hoped that some one of the seven might have courage to +attempt it; but Gracie did not believe that such would be the case.</p> + +<p>"I don't see how we can ask them, and do it naturally," said Dr. +Everett. "It is such an unheard-of thing, you know; and I am afraid, do +our best, it will present itself to them as a patronage, and that will +be fatal. The people who are low enough to need patronage are the very +ones who won't endure it."</p> + +<p>Whereupon various ways of managing the matter were discussed and +discarded. Suddenly Mrs. Roberts turned to her young lieutenant, who +had been silent for some time, and said,—</p> + +<p>"What are you thinking of, Mr. Reid Do you see a way out?"</p> + +<p>"No," he said; "I have neither knowledge nor skill in such matters; +but my thoughts just then were faraway. I was thinking how curiously +certain apparently trivial instances of one's childhood will stand out +with almost startling prominence."</p> + +<p>"What sent you off in that direction?" questioned Dr. Everett. "There +must have been an association of ideas."</p> + +<p>"Oh, there was. I was thinking how vividly I remembered a discussion +between my mother and my sister younger than Esther, in regard to +some matter which perplexed them; and when they could come to no +satisfactory conclusion, they appealed to my sister Esther, who was +resting as usual on her lounge. I seem to hear her voice as she said,—</p> + +<p>"'We haven't to do anything about it until to-morrow; perhaps to-morrow +will have a light of its own for our direction.'"</p> + +<p>"Thank you," Mrs. Roberts said, her eyes lighting with an appreciative +smile; "we have not to do anything about this until Monday night, and +perhaps Monday night will see us wise."</p> + +<p>I don't know how many thought of this little conversation when Monday +evening came; but certainly Alfred Reid and Mrs. Roberts did, for +she glanced at him and smiled significantly when Dr. Everett, having +apparently forgotten that anything beyond their own pleasure was in +contemplation, challenged Gracie to a discussion as to the emphasis on +a certain word in the second line; he had never heard it so read, and +he called for an analysis that would sustain the reading, and received +it, and was not yet prepared to yield the point, but read the verse as +he had imagined it should be read.</p> + +<p>And then Gracie, at Mr. Roberts's call, repeated it with her rendering; +and I am not sure but all parties concerned actually forgot their final +object in the interest of the discussion until they were suddenly +called to it by an interrupting voice,—</p> + +<p>"Your'n's the way," it said, with an emphatic nod of a shock of matted +hair—"your'n's the way."</p> + +<p>It was Dirk Colson. He had forgotten for the moment that anybody was +listening to him, save the two readers. He was looking directly at +Gracie, and the nods were evidently intended for her.</p> + +<p>"Of course it is!" she said eagerly, her face flushing with a triumph +that had nothing to do with the right emphasis.</p> + +<p>"You read it, won't you, and show these people that we are right?"</p> + +<p>Afterward, Mrs. Roberts confessed that she involuntarily placed her +hand on her heart with a dim idea of hushing its beating, lest others +would hear, so important to her did the moment seem.</p> + +<p>Dr. Everett looked dismayed. The least hopeful one of the seven seemed +Dirk. None of them knew of his dangerous talent for imitation. None of +them believed that he would make any attempt at reading, but thought +he would shrink into deeper sullenness. All of them were mistaken. He +reached for the book, glanced for a moment over the lines, and then +read the verse with so complete an imitation of Gracie Dennis, and yet +with a voice and manner that so fitted the homely words and the homely +scene described, that the effect was actually better than when Gracie +read.</p> + +<p>Instinctively the cultured portion of his audience greeted the effort +with a clapping of hands. The blood, meantime, rolled in dark waves +over Dirk's face. He had been cheered before. None of his present +applauders could imagine what a set had often clapped their hands +over his successful imitations; but Dirk, who liked applause as well +as other human beings do, had never, in his wildest stretches of +imagination, placed himself before such people as listened now, and +received their approval.</p> + +<p>Great was the excitement and satisfaction. The six companions, far from +feeling any emotion of jealousy, seemed greatly elated, believing that +one of their number had made a "hit" and increased their importance.</p> + +<p>No one else could be found to attempt the verse. Nimble Dick shook his +head good-naturedly, and declared that he would rather "undertake to +run an engine to Californy" than try it; and the others were of like +mind. Then came Gracie to the front again.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what you must all do. I have been experimenting with +that type-writer, Mr. Roberts, all the week. You know it will manifold, +with the use of carbon paper; and it chances that when I was seized +with a desire to try its powers in that direction, I chose this very +verse to copy. So I have fifteen good copies in print. You must each +take a copy and make this verse a study until next Monday; then I shall +challenge you all to sustain me in my reading."</p> + +<p>This proposition was hailed with such satisfaction by the older members +that it immediately became popular, and each boy received his copy +mechanically and gazed at it curiously, but Dirk Colson's thoughts were +turned in a new channel.</p> + +<p>"Look here!" he said, detaining Gracie by an imperious inclination of +his head, as she handed him the copy. "How did you make these? Didn't +you print them fifteen times? I didn't understand what you said."</p> + +<p>"Why no," said Gracie; "the machine will manifold. I'll show you; come +over to the end window: it stands there waiting to be displayed, and it +is a little wonder."</p> + +<p>Then they crowded around the type-writer, and Gracie, really proud of +the skill she had acquired in a week's time, showed off the little +wonder to great advantage.</p> + +<p>The fact that the type-writer was new to most of the others, that they +were decidedly ignorant as to its working, increased the comfort of +the hour, by doing away with the embarrassing feeling that any one of +them was playing a part. Dr. Everett was no more familiar with the +type-writer than was Dirk Colson, and was just as eager to know about +it.</p> + +<p>Also, everybody apparently felt an equally strong desire to write his +name on the marvellous little creature; and each in turn sat down +before it and moved his awkward hands with nearly equal slowness over +the keys, picking out the magic letters.</p> + +<p>It was this episode that made the workers during their next conference +branch out in new lines.</p> + +<p>"We need something," said Dr. Everett, walking up and down the +floor in puzzled thought—"we need something that shall be a genuine +common interest, of which we are all, or all but one, equally +ignorant—something that we can take hold of with zest, on as low a +platform as the most ignorant of those seven. I was convinced of that +when I saw the abandon with which we all went into the type-writer +business with a naturalness and equality that, in the matter of reading +and writing, it is impossible for us to feel. If the machine were +complicated, so that it would take us each three months or so to master +it, that would do. What can we take up that will place us on a level?"</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_19">CHAPTER XIX.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"WE HAVE BEGUN BACKWARDS."</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"WELL," said Mr. Reid, "we should want to have one of our number not +'on a level.' How would it do to appoint you, Dr. Everett, to give us +a few lectures in hygiene? Popular lectures about air and exercise and +ventilation and bathing, and all sorts of every-day topics about which +people are ignorant."</p> + +<p>"That's a capital idea, Reid. Those fellows could certainly be +benefited by a little attention to such questions; and I'm sure the +rest of us would like to hear of the principles which govern these +important laws. Such lectures put into popular form are decidedly +interesting, I think. Let us vote for them." This was Mr. Roberts's +hearty seconding.</p> + +<p>But the doctor laughed.</p> + +<p>"There is a ludicrous side to it which you do not see," he said. +"Imagine me holding forth on the importance of ventilation, for +instance, to a poor fellow who comes from a region where father +and mother, and a horde of children of both sexes and all ages, +crowd together in one room, and that a cellar, where the sun never +penetrates, and the air that crawls in through the one small window is +reeking With even more impurities than can be found inside; or talking +about bathing to the poor wretches who have no clothes to change, and +barely water enough, by carrying it long distances, to satisfy their +most pressing needs!</p> + +<p>"Still, Reid, I'm not quarrelling with your idea. There is a sensible +side to it; there are things that I could tell even those boys which +might interest them, and would certainly be to their advantage to +know. The subject is one which can be popularized to suit even such +an audience. I'll try for it occasionally if it shall seem best, but +it doesn't meet my demand. I want us all on a platform where we shall +start in equal ignorance and get on together. Of course you are all +more or less familiar with all the facts that I should have to present, +and the boys would know it. They are sharp fellows; it wouldn't take +them an hour to discover that we were fishing for them; and if there is +any one thing on which they are at present determined, it is probably +that they will not be benefited. What is there that one of us knows +of which the others are ignorant? French won't do, for Miss Dennis is +acquainted with that language, I think, and so are you, Reid, are you +not?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I can stammer through a few sentences. I don't speak it like a +native, as you do."</p> + +<p>At this revelation a vivid blush glowed on Gracie Dennis's cheek. She +remembered Professor Ellis's comments in French. Then the doctor had +understood, though his face was so imperturbable! What could he have +thought of the courtesy of her guest?</p> + +<p>Meantime Mr. Reid wore a perplexed face.</p> + +<p>"You are right," he said to the doctor; "we are not enough on a level; +I felt our advantage last night when Miss Dennis was explaining the +type-writer. But I don't see the way clear. What subject is there on +which all but one of us could meet on common ground, and that one could +turn professor?"</p> + +<p>Here interposed Mr. Roberts, speaking in a meek tone of voice:—</p> + +<p>"If I were not a modest man, I should venture a suggestion; as it is, I +really don't know what to do."</p> + +<p>The doctor turned to him quickly:—</p> + +<p>"Out with it, man; if you are master of a profession, or a trade, or a +theory, unknown to the rest of us, you are bound on your honour as a +member of this unique organization to present it."</p> + +<p>At the same moment Mrs. Roberts came to his aid.</p> + +<p>"O Evan, teach us shorthand!"</p> + +<p>Whereupon Mr. Roberts heaved what was intended to appear as a sigh of +relief, and announced that his modesty was preserved.</p> + +<p>Upon this suggestion they seized with eagerness; not one of them knew +anything about phonetic writing, save Mr. Roberts, and he was master of +the art.</p> + +<p>"It is the very thing!" the doctor said with heartiness. "I should like +exceedingly to learn it, and Reid and the ladies may be able to make it +useful in a hundred ways; and as for the seven, if they really master +it, it may be the foundation of a fortune for some of them."</p> + +<p>So, without more ado, it was planned that on the very next Monday +evening the subject should be skilfully presented, its importance +and its fascinations discussed, and the boys be beguiled into taking +a first lesson, sandwiched in between the all-important reading and +writing lessons.</p> + +<p>Alas for plans! On the very next Monday the conspirators, with the +exception of young Reid, were together by seven o'clock. The faint +aroma of coffee floated through the room. A fruit-basket filled with +oranges occupied a conspicuous table, and everything waited for the +guests.</p> + +<p>While they waited, instead of enjoying themselves as the four were +certainly capable of doing, they were noticeably restless—listened +for the shuffling of careless feet on the steps, and the sound of +uncultured voices in the hall, and waited expectantly whenever the bell +pealed, only to be obliged to send word to some caller that "Mr. and +Mrs. Roberts were engaged."</p> + +<p>The special occupation of the four seemed to be to look at their +watches and to remark that the doctor's was a trifle fast, and to +wonder if half-past seven would be a more suitable hour for the boys, +and to wonder what could be detaining Reid.</p> + +<p>At last it was half-past seven, and then it was fifteen minutes of +eight, and then it was ten minutes of eight!</p> + +<p>And then the doorbell rang again. It was Reid, and he was alone! One +glance at his distressed face told the lookers-on that something was +amiss, even before he exclaimed:—</p> + +<p>"You won't see a boy to-night!"</p> + +<p>"Why?" "What is the trouble?" "Where are they?"</p> + +<p>These were the various ways of putting the same question.</p> + +<p>"One of the M'Cullum partners has become interested in the boys, it +seems, and has concluded that he will try what he can do towards their +elevation; so he has commenced by presenting each one of them with a +ticket to the Green Street Theatre, and there they are at this moment!"</p> + +<p>This startling intelligence was variously received.</p> + +<p>Dr. Everett exclaimed,—"Is it possible?"</p> + +<p>Gracie Dennis remarked that it was something like what she had +expected; Mrs. Roberts said not a word; and Mr. Roberts added to the +astonishment of the moment by bursting into a laugh.</p> + +<p>Poor Reid seemed to feel the laugh more than anything; his face +gathered into heavier clouds than before, he bit his lip to hold back +the vexed words that were just ready to burst forth, and strode almost +angrily to the farther corner of the room.</p> + +<p>An embarrassed silence seemed to fall upon the others. At least Gracie +felt embarrassed; the doctor looked simply expectant.</p> + +<p>At last Mr. Roberts drew himself up from his lounging attitude and +broke into the stillness.</p> + +<p>"Ah, now, good people, don't let us make serious mistakes! Come back +here, my dear young brother, and let us look this thing in the face, +and talk it over calmly. Are we children playing at benevolence that at +the first discouragement we should cry out,—</p> + +<p>"'All is lost!' And retire vanquished?</p> + +<p>"Come, I laughed because really this does not seem such a serious +matter to me as it seems to present to the rest of you.</p> + +<p>"What did we expect? Here are seven boys, right from the gutters; +somehow we have had them laid on our hearts, and have enlisted to help +to fight the battle that is going on about them in this world. Christ +died to save them, and Satan means that the sacrifice shall be in vain. +He is bringing all his powers to bear on them, and he has many and +varied powers.</p> + +<p>"Here comes into the scene a man benevolently inclined—not a Christian, +but in his way a philanthropist. By accident, he has come in contact +with one of the boys; by accident, he learns that something—he does +not know quite what—is being attempted to benefit them. Can't you give +him the credit of being honest? The only thing he thinks of that he +can do to help is to give them an evening's entertainment. At one of +the decent theatres there is being presented what seems to be known +in their parlance as a 'moral play!' So he presents each boy with a +ticket. Now, what did we expect of those boys?</p> + +<p>"Last week a lady and two gentlemen who have been members of our church +for years left the regular prayer-meeting and went to the Philharmonic +concert.</p> + +<p>"Ought we to expect that it would even occur to our seven boys to give +up what to them is a rare treat for the pleasure of spending an evening +with us? As for the moral obligation, they have probably never so much +as heard the words.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it time we knew what we were about? What are we after? It is +well enough to teach the poor fellows to read and write, and to help to +lift them up in other ways, but our efforts will amount to very little +unless we succeed in bringing them to the great Lever of human society; +unless Christ takes hold of this thing we shall fail. Now, has he taken +hold? Is he, at least, as much interested in them as we are? Is his +Holy Spirit preceding and supplementing all our efforts? And if this is +the case, is an evening at a theatre going to ruin his plans?"</p> + +<p>Long before these earnest sentences were concluded, Reid had returned +from his distant corner and taken a seat near his employer. His eyes +were full of tears, and his voice trembled:—</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, Mr. Roberts; I'm an ignorant blunderer; I did feel +for the moment as though everything were lost."</p> + +<p>"We have begun backwards," said Mr. Roberts. "I was reading to-day what +a mistake the missionaries made for years in trying to 'civilize' the +Greenlanders. And what a perfect failure they made of it until one day, +almost by accident, a man began to tell them about Christ on the cross, +and the story melted them. I don't think we have thought enough about +him in this matter."</p> + +<p>"I stand convicted," Dr. Everett said; "I've made the same mistake, I +believe, in all my efforts for people. I have been praying for them, it +is true; but after all, I feel now as though there had been too much +relying on human means, and not enough on God. It is a case of 'these +ought ye to have done, and not to have left the other undone.'"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Mr. Roberts, looking at his watch, "we are in the same +condemnation; it is, I believe, the most common and one of the most +fatal mistakes that Christian workers make. But there is a way out. We +expected to spend until ten o'clock with those boys. It is nearly nine +now: suppose we spend the next hour with Christ, asking for the power +of the Holy Spirit on any and every effort that we may make for them in +the future? Our ultimate aim is to bring every one of them to Jesus, +and he knows it; now if we have gone about in the wrong way, we have +only to ask his forgiveness and look to him steadily for guidance. What +do you say, friends? Shall we spend the hour in taking them to the only +One who really can afford them lasting help?"</p> + +<p>I suppose that he who "maketh the wrath of man to praise him" is +equally able to manage the folly of man. Could the injudicious +philanthropist have looked into that room that evening, and heard the +prayers that went up to God for those boys, and understood something +of the power of prayer, he would have had one illustration of how God +manages the foolishness of men.</p> + +<p>It was a very earnest prayer-meeting. These workers had each one bowed +in secret, and with more or less earnestness asked for God's blessing +on their efforts; but it occurred to them that evening, as a very +strange thing, that they had never unitedly prayed for this before.</p> + +<p>Therefore, there was an element of confession in all the prayers that +moved Gracie Dennis strangely. Especially was this the case when she +heard her old acquaintance, Flossy, pour out her soul's longings. It +happened, so strange are the customs of Christians, that though this +was the daughter of a minister of the gospel, herself a Christian, +she had never before heard a lady pray in the presence of gentlemen. +She had heard of their doing so, heard them criticised with sharp +sarcasm. Some of the criticisms which had sounded full of keenness and +wit when she heard them, recurred to her at this time, and some way, +with Flossy's low, earnest voice filling her heart, they dwindled into +shallowness and coarseness. All the same, their baneful influence was +on her, and helped to hold her back from opening her lips, for the +critic had been Professor Ellis.</p> + +<p>When the hostess and her young guest were left alone together that +evening, the latter had a question to ask:—</p> + +<p>"Flossy Shipley!"—the name, you will remember, which she always went +back to when excited. "I didn't know you believed in praying in public! +Have you changed in everything?"</p> + +<p>"In public, my dear!" with a quiet smile. "Why, I am in my own house."</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, but you know what I mean—before gentlemen. Do you really think +it is necessary?"</p> + +<p>"As to that, Gracie, I don't believe I thought anything about it. I +wanted to pray for those boys, and so I prayed."</p> + +<p>"And didn't you really shrink from it at all? How very queer! Flossy, +I do believe nobody was ever so much changed by religion as you have +been. I don't see what makes the difference. I'm sure I think I'm a +Christian, but I could never do such a thing as that."</p> + +<p>"Not if you believed it to be your duty?"</p> + +<p>"But I don't believe it," said the fair logician, her face flushing; +"I think it is out of place. I beg your pardon, Flossy, I don't mean I +think it sounded badly in you; but only that for me it would be horrid, +and I couldn't do it."</p> + +<p>"Then what are you talking about, my dear? If you should never consider +it your duty, you would certainly never be called upon to do it."</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_20">CHAPTER XX.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"OH, WHAT A NICE THOUGHT!"</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>THIS very calm view of the question gave Gracie time to recover from +her excitement, and to laugh at her folly.</p> + +<p>Then Mrs. Roberts said, still speaking very gently,—</p> + +<p>"I don't want to argue with you, dear, and I couldn't if I wished—you +know I am a dunce about all such things; but I just want to ask you a +little question. You need not answer me unless you choose—not now, that +is; perhaps some time we may want to talk about it. I would like to +know the reasons that people have for thinking that it is out of place +for a lady to kneel down with her Christian friends and speak to Jesus +about a thing that they unitedly desire, and that they believe he is +able to do for them? If it is not proper to speak before them, why is +it proper to speak to them on the same subject?"</p> + +<p>This question Gracie carried to her room for thought.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>Meantime, as Dr. Everett and young Reid went homeward, they had a talk +together.</p> + +<p>"When I found out that those boys had gone to the theatre to-night I +was completely discouraged," declared Reid. "It seemed to me that our +work was a failure; I could almost see Satan laughing over the success +of his scheme. I never felt so about anything in my life. And now it +seems to me that perhaps the Lord will let it result in being the best +thing that ever happened to us."</p> + +<p>To all of which Dr. Everett made the apparently irrelevant answer,—</p> + +<p>"Mr. Roberts and his wife are singularly well mated; how perfectly they +fit into each other's thoughts. Reid, you and I have a great deal to +learn from them."</p> + +<p>"I have," said Reid meekly.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>Yet another bit of talk closed this evening.</p> + +<p>"M'Cullum has given me an idea," Mr. Roberts said to his wife as they +sat together reviewing the day. "Not a bad one, I fancy. I wonder when +we can act on it and watch results? There are tickets for other places +besides theatres. Why couldn't we furnish them for some entertainment, +lecture, or concert, or something of the sort that would be really +helpful? The only difficulty is that there are few helpful places, as +yet, within reach of their capacities. It takes an exceptional genius +to hold such listeners."</p> + +<p>But his wife, her face aglow, clasped her hands in an ecstasy of +delight.</p> + +<p>"What a beautiful thought!" she said. "And how nice that it should come +to you just now, when there will be such a splendid opportunity to put +it in practice! Why, don't you know? Gough, next week—half-a-crown +tickets; on temperance, too! How grand! And, Evan, let us give them +each two tickets. I want that Dirk Colson to take his sister. Perhaps +he will not, but then he may; one can never tell. O Evan, won't it be +nice?"</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Mr. Roberts. "As usual you are ahead of me. I had not +thought of the two tickets apiece. That is a suggestion for their +manliness. Flossy, we'll try it."</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>Yet another bit of talk.</p> + +<p>They shambled down the stairs from the second-rate hall at a late hour +that evening—those seven boys; quiet for them, though the play had been +exciting, and not remarkably moral, "viewed" from the standpoint of a +Christian.</p> + +<p>"After all," said Nimble Dick, breaking a silence with speech, as +though the subject of which he spoke had been under discussion among +them, "after all, it was rather sneaking to bolt and say nothing; I +kind of wish we hadn't done it."</p> + +<p>"That's what I told you all along," said Dirk Colson with even unusual +sullenness; "but you would go and do it, and we was fools enough to +follow you."</p> + +<p>"And I'll bet she had oysters or something!" This from Jerry Tompkins. +You have probably no idea how hungry he was at that moment.</p> + +<p>"They was goin' to do somethin' new to-night—that there Dennis girl +told me so when I met her on the street yesterday; something that we +would like first-rate, she said— a bran-new notion." This was Stephen +Crowley's contribution to the general discomfort.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Nimble Dick, and the sigh with which he spoke the word +would have gone to Mrs. Roberts's heart, "I s'pose it's all up now; I +shouldn't wonder if we never got another bid; I wouldn't if I was them, +I know that. And their old theatre wasn't no good shakes, after all. +We've been a pack of fools, and I don't mind owning it."</p> + +<p>Whereupon, having reached the corner, they separated and went glumly to +their homes. And this is gratitude! What a pity Mr. M'Cullum, who had +been smiling over his benevolence all the evening, could not have heard +them!</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>The weeks that followed this night were crowded with trifles on which +hung important and far-reaching results. This is a very trite saying, I +know. All weeks are crowded with eventful trifles—at least, we in our +blindness call them trifles, although we are constantly discovering +their importance, and being constantly astonished over them.</p> + +<p>Among other things, the seven boys became nine, having taken to their +companionship two choice spirits, apparently worse than themselves, +and appeared at the South End Mission with all the bravado that boys +of their stamp are apt to put on when they feel somewhat ashamed of +themselves. The consequence was that the trials which Mrs. Roberts had +to endure from them, though a trifle less apparent to others, were not +a whit less distressing than usual.</p> + +<p>But before the session was concluded they were treated to a sensation +that held them in silent astonishment for nearly five minutes. Any +person well acquainted with Alfred Reid could have told that he +had a plan in view, and was trying to carry it in the face of some +opposition. He looked convinced, and Mr. Durant looked astonished and +troubled; there was much low-toned talk between them, and some shaking +of head. Apparently, however, Mr. Reid came off victor, for his brow +cleared, and he presently made his way to Mrs. Roberts's side and said +a few words, and must have been gratified by the sudden lighting up of +her face and her eager,—</p> + +<p>"Oh, what a nice thought! Even if it fails apparently, it will not +utterly, for the suggestion will help them."</p> + +<p>In the course of time the new idea came to the front. There was to be +a festival, or a social, or an entertainment at the South End in the +course of a few weeks—a sort of anniversary of the starting of the +mission. Among other work that was in progress, the decoration of the +room, involving the hanging of pictures, banners, mottoes, wreaths, +etc., required some strong arms and willing hands. Committees were to +be formed. Two weeks before, teachers had been appointed to prepare a +list of committees. It fell to young Reid to appoint the committee on +decoration. When he was called upon for his report, he came promptly +forward, like a man ready for action, and commenced,—</p> + +<p>"A committee of four has been deemed amply sufficient for decoration, +and I appoint for the purpose the following: Richard Bolton, Morris +Burns, Miss Gracie Dennis, and Miss Annie Powell."</p> + +<p>The teachers, who had been long at the mission, looked from one to +another with a bewildered air. Morris Burns they knew—a clear-eyed +young Scotchman, with willing hands and feet ever ready to run off +errands for all workers, a boy of nineteen or so, whom everybody liked, +warmhearted, unselfish, and thoroughly trustworthy. Annie Powell was +one of the older girls in Mr. Durant's Bible-class—a sweet-faced, +lady-like little factory girl, who would work in with Morris Burns +nicely. Miss Gracie Dennis was Mrs. Roberts's beautiful young friend. +All the teachers knew her, and all thought it very kind in her to throw +her strength and taste into the preparations as heartily as though she +were one of them. But who was Richard Bolton? Nobody knew. Yet their +knowledge of business etiquette told them that he was chairman of the +decoration committee. Where was he? Not a teacher, certainly, for they +were intimately acquainted with one another; and they knew no such name +in the one Bible-class made up of trustworthy helpers.</p> + +<p>Over in Mrs. Roberts's class, with the single exception of the teacher, +there was equal ignorance. The nine boys had stopped their restless +mischief to listen, because there is a sort of fascination to boys +in all the details of well-managed business. They liked to hear the +appointments; but who Richard Bolton might be seemed not to occur to +one of them. It is true that Jerry Tompkins nudged Nimble Dick in +anything but a quiet way with his elbow, and murmured, "You've got a +namesake it seems in this 'ere job." Yet no light dawned on them.</p> + +<p>Mr. Durant, who, it is possible, has not appeared to you in a +favourable light, for the reason that he was being much perplexed +by the entirely new methods being introduced among the boys who had +heretofore driven him to the very verge of desperation, was really a +quick-witted man, and having succumbed to what he feared was a wild +experiment, knew how to help to carry it out properly. He came briskly +to the front—Alfred's committee being the last on the list—and began +his work.</p> + +<p>"The chairmen of these different committees will be kind enough to +report to me as rapidly as possible the time and place of their first +meeting for consultation, and I will make the announcements." Then he +stepped to Mrs. Roberts's class. "Bolton," he said, bending toward that +astonished scamp, and speaking as though this were an every-day affair, +"you are chairman, I believe, of the decoration committee; where and +when will you have them meet?"</p> + +<p>Imagine Nimble Dick's eyes! Nay, imagine the eyes and faces of the +entire nine! It would have been a study for an artist.</p> + +<p>For a moment Nimble Dick was speechless; then he managed to burst forth +with,—</p> + +<p>"What in thunder are you talking about?"</p> + +<p>"Your committee," said Mr. Durant politely, ignoring the manner of the +questioner. "You must call them together, you know, to plan your work. +Where shall it be, and when?"</p> + +<p>"I ain't got no committee; and I ain't got no place to meet nobody; and +I don't know what in thunder you're after."</p> + +<p>Then came Mrs. Roberts to the rescue.</p> + +<p>"Why, Mr. Bolton, you can meet at our society parlour, you know. It is +the very place, and will be so convenient for Miss Dennis."</p> + +<p>"What's to meet, and what's to do?" said Dick defiantly. "I ain't going +to meet nobody."</p> + +<p>"Why, it is just to hang mottoes and banners, and trim the room for the +anniversary. Of course you'll help; I would have the meeting arranged +there by all means."</p> + +<p>"Very well," said Mr. Durant quickly, as though he had received the +answer from the chairman himself. "Now as to time, you ought to come +together to-morrow evening if you could; there is a good deal to do."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Bolton, couldn't you come up at six o'clock for once? Then you +could get your work all done before the time for our social. I can +arrange for Annie Powell to be there at that time; and, Mr. Durant, +doesn't Morris Burns work for you? Could he be present at six o'clock? +Then I don't see but your meeting is nicely planned. You can be there +at six, can't you, Mr. Bolton?"</p> + +<p>"I tell you I don't know nothin' what you are talking about."</p> + +<p>Nimble Dick, who was rarely anything but good-natured, was surprised +by the bewilderments of the situation into being almost as fierce as +Dirk Colson was habitually; the gaping amazement of his boon companions +seeming to add to his irritation.</p> + +<p>"But you will," said his teacher cheerily. "It is an easy matter to +explain. Miss Dennis knows all about such things, and I'm going to +help, though they haven't honoured me with an appointment."</p> + +<p>At a sign from the lady, Mr. Durant stepped back to his platform and +announced,—</p> + +<p>"The chairman of the committee on decoration desires me to say that +his committee is called together to-morrow evening at the Young Men's +Social Parlours, No. 76 East Fifty-fifth Street, at six o'clock, +'sharp,' as the chairman has another engagement at seven."</p> + +<p>"I had to coin a name for the place of meeting," he said to Mrs. +Roberts afterwards. "I beg your pardon if it was wrong; but Reid has +been giving me glowing accounts of that room, and you said something +about its being a social parlour, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"It is a good name," said Mrs. Roberts. "We have awkwardly called it +the 'new room.' I am glad it is christened. I will have some curtains +hung through the centre to-morrow to make 'parlours' instead of parlour +of it. I can see how a second room can be made useful in several ways."</p> + +<p>Thus was the bewildering committee whirled into existence; the chairman +thereof being still so dumbfounded with his position that he did not +rouse until the laughing boys, by whom he was surrounded, began to +take in some of the fun of the situation, and to assail him right and +left with mock congratulations, ill-suppressed groans, hisses, and the +like. Then he turned towards them with new-born dignity that would have +fitted Dirk Colson, and said,—</p> + +<p>"If you fellows don't shut up and behave yourselves something like +decent for the rest of the time, I'll chaw half-a-dozen of you into +mincemeat as soon as we are out of this!"</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_21">CHAPTER XXI.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"HAD HIS EXPERIMENT BEEN TOO SEVERE?"</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>DR. EVERETT was driving rapidly through the city—at least, as rapidly +as the crowded character of the streets would permit. He was out on +professional duty, and had just been congratulating himself that his +regular calls were now made for the day, and unless something special +intervened, he should have a couple of hours free for the alleys.</p> + +<p>That meant professional duty, too, and of the very hardest character, +one would suppose, as it brought him in contact not only with sickness +in some of its most repulsive forms, but with abject poverty as well, +and too often with loathsome forms of sin; yet he went about this +work with a zest that his regular practice did not furnish. This +was something done solely for Jesus' sake, and with an eye that was +manifestly single to his glory.</p> + +<p>He had already selected his alley, and was planning how, when his +horses were safely stabled, he could make a crosscut to it, when his +eyes were held by two persons who were ascending together the stairway +that led to one of the public halls. His face darkened as he watched +them. Apparently they were engrossed with each other, and took no +notice of him; but there were reasons why he specially desired to keep +them in view. A network of carriages and waggons such as is common to +crowded thoroughfares blocked his path just then, and prolonged his +opportunity to watch the two.</p> + +<p>They made their way in a very leisurely manner up the long staircase, +letting others, more in haste, pass them continually. Yet presently +they joined the group who were passing up tickets of entrance.</p> + +<p>The doctor signalled a policeman, and entered into conversation:—</p> + +<p>"What is going on in Seltzer Hall?"</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, there's a kind of a concert, I guess. They play on goblets, +they say just common glass goblets—and make fine music."</p> + +<p>"An afternoon entertainment?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, as a kind of introduction, you know; they expect to get a +crowd for evening by this means."</p> + +<p>"Do you know where tickets are to be had?"</p> + +<p>The policeman indicated a bookstore at his left by a gesture from his +thumb, and said, "Right here," and offered to secure some at once. He +knew Dr. Everett; many of the policemen did.</p> + +<p>His offer was accepted with thanks, and the doctor presently wound +his way out from the network with two green tickets in his pocket. +His plans for the afternoon had been suddenly changed. Instead of +spending the time in Sewell Alley, he had decided to attend a musical +exhibition, the instruments being goblets!</p> + +<p>He must make all speed now, so he left the crowded street and dodged +through several by-ways to the stables.</p> + +<p>No use to keep his horses. "She would be afraid to drive through such +crowds," he explained to himself, "and I should be afraid to leave the +carriage standing."</p> + +<p>Rushing out from the stables, he caught just the right street-car, and +in a short space of time was ringing at Mr. Roberts's door.</p> + +<p>Gracie Dennis was in the hall, dressed for the street.</p> + +<p>"Ah," said the doctor, "I am either fortunate or unfortunate, I wonder +which? I had set my heart on having you for a companion to what I fancy +may be a unique entertainment. Is there another engagement in the way? +I know this is a most unconventional method, but a doctor is never sure +of his time."</p> + +<p>But Gracie Dennis felt too well acquainted with Dr. Everett, and +was too young and ready for enjoyment, to be disturbed about +conventionality. She merrily declared her willingness to be taken to +whatever entertainment the doctor had to propose. Mrs. Roberts was out +with her husband on business connected with church matters, and she had +only intended to walk a square or two for her health.</p> + +<p>On the way the doctor was very quiet, Gracie having most of the talking +to do herself. The truth was, he was trying to recall the faces of the +people he had seen crowding into the hall, to make sure that he was not +taking Gracie among people whom he would not care to have her meet. +Apparently the couple whose movements had changed all his afternoon +plans were not a sufficient guarantee of respectability.</p> + +<p>However, his face cleared as he recalled one and another as being in +the crowd seeking admission; they might not be of the class with whom +Gracie was accustomed to mingle, but they were respectable people.</p> + +<p>Gracie was in a merry mood. She understood enough of the doctor's busy +life to feel sure that this sudden resolve to be entertained was quite +out of his ordinary line, and that of itself served to mark the hour as +exceptional.</p> + +<p>"He feels the need of a little every-day fun," she told herself, "and +I'll help him to have it if I can. Poor man! It must be doleful to go +among sick and dying people all the time."</p> + +<p>They were late at the hall; the concert was well under way; but there +were plenty of vacant seats. Dr. Everett swept his eye over the room; +then indicated to the usher just which seat he would have. It was one +which commanded a view of the young man and woman who seemed to have +such a mysterious influence over his plans.</p> + +<p>He was relieved to find, quite early in the entertainment, that it +really was unique, and, in its way, well worth her hearing. Had the +surroundings been agreeable, he could easily have given himself up to +enjoyment. However, they had been seated but a few moments when he saw +by Gracie's startled eyes that she had seen and recognized at least one +of the couple at their left.</p> + +<p>Professor Ellis, in his usual faultless attire, lounged gracefully +on the seat in such a manner that his side-face was distinct; he +rested a well-shaped arm on the back of the seat next him, and his +delicately-gloved hand almost, if not quite, touched the shoulder of +his companion.</p> + +<p>Both he and the lady at his side gave extremely little attention to +the entertainment in progress. Apparently they had come thither for +purposes of conversation. They kept up a continuous murmur of talk, +interspersed at intervals with rippling laughter, and really seemed so +entirely absorbed in each other as to have at times forgotten that the +hall was public, and that the attention of many was being turned toward +them.</p> + +<p>The girl was pretty, extremely so, with an entirely different style of +beauty from Gracie Dennis; and a certain indescribable something in her +face and manner would have told even the most casual observer that she +moved in a different circle. It was not her dress, unless that was a +little too pronounced for the place and hour; but quite young ladies in +good society sometimes make a similar mistake. Neither was her manner +objectionable to the degree that you could have pointed to any one +thing as offensive; yet you would have been sure, had you watched her, +that she was without the pale of what we call society.</p> + +<p>Gracie Dennis watched her with a kind of fascination, becoming at last +so absorbed with the watching, and the apparently troubled thoughts +which grew out of it, that she gave but slight attention to Dr. +Everett's occasional remarks, nor seemed to observe that at last, he +lapsed into total silence.</p> + +<p>Once, during the hour, the young woman glanced casually in their +direction, and the careless nod and free and easy smile with which she +acknowledged Dr. Everett's presence drew a startled glance from Gracie +to rest on him for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Now I wish I had my horses," the doctor said, as at last they made +their way down the aisle. "I have a mile's drive up-town to take, and I +think the exercise might be good for you."</p> + +<p>Gracie caught at the suggestion, and begged to be allowed to remain in +the bookstore below while he went for the horses.</p> + +<p>"I want a ride, and I want to talk with you," she said simply.</p> + +<p>As this was precisely what he wanted, he went for the horses without +more delay.</p> + +<p>Meantime, Gracie, in one of the windows of the bookstore, was supposed +to be employed in examining a recent book, but in reality gave much +attention to the couple who were crossing the street, or rather waiting +for an opportunity to do so.</p> + +<p>They seemed in no haste, but were conspicuous, even in the crowded +street, for their interest in each other. More than one policeman +regarded them narrowly, as Professor Ellis stood with head bent toward +the lady, engaged in eager and animated conversation. It was just the +attitude of absorbed interest with which he had so often listened to +Gracie—not on the street, it is true, but in some crowded parlour—and +it had flattered her.</p> + +<p>It made her frown to-day.</p> + +<p>They were starting now to make the disagreeable crossing. He had taken +his companion's hand, preparatory to a leap over a muddy spot; but +Gracie could see that there was a pressure of it that was unnecessary, +and, for the street, peculiar. His face, too, was distinctly visible, +and the expression on it was what Gracie had seen before, but certainly +she supposed no other person had.</p> + +<p>Altogether it was probably well for Professor Ellis's peace of mind +that he did not turn at that moment and get a glimpse of the young lady +in the bookstore. Instead he took his lady away, and they were lost in +the crowd.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>Dr. Everett, making all haste with his horses, had still time for +anxious thought. Had his experiment been too severe on Gracie? Was it +possible that her interest in the man was such that the afternoon's +experience had been mixed with pain as well as with disgust? He could +not believe it possible that the pure-hearted young girl cared for such +a man as Professor Ellis. Yet there had been a look on her face when +she saw those two which startled and hurt him.</p> + +<p>When fairly seated in his carriage, he did not speak until they had +threaded the maze of waggons and reached clear ground. Even then, he +only said, "Now for speed," and gave the horses their desire, until +crowds and business were left behind, and they were driving down a +broad avenue, lined on either side with stately yet quiet-looking +houses. Then he drew rein, and obliged the horses to walk; he had by +this time resolved on probing the wound, if there was one.</p> + +<p>"I wish I knew just how much of a villain that man is." These were the +somewhat startling words which broke his silence.</p> + +<p>"What man?" Yet the very tones of Gracie's voice indicated that she +knew of whom he was speaking.</p> + +<p>"That man Ellis—Professor, I think he is called. I have reason to be +very suspicious of him. By the way, Miss Gracie, I think he is an +acquaintance of yours. Have you confidence in him?"</p> + +<p>How promptly and indignantly such a question would have received an +affirmative answer two months before! What should she say now?</p> + +<p>"In what respect?" she faltered, more for the purpose of gaining time +than because she did not understand the question.</p> + +<p>"Well, in any respect, I am almost prepared to say. I have not the +honour of the man's acquaintance; but whatever I hear about him, or see +in him, I dislike and distrust. Just at present his ways are specially +disturbing. You noticed him this afternoon, I think! The young girl in +his company belongs to my Sabbath school. I have a deep interest in +her, partly because she is the sort of girl who is always more or less +in danger in this wicked world, and partly because she is capable of +strongly influencing another, who is a special protégé of mine."</p> + +<p>"Who is the girl?" Gracie's manner was abrupt, and her voice +constrained. It was evident that she was making great effort to control +herself, and appear indifferent to all parties.</p> + +<p>The doctor took no notice of her constraint.</p> + +<p>"Her name is Mason, Hester Mason. She attends the Packard Place Sabbath +School, which you know I superintend. She is motherless, and worse than +fatherless; is a clerk in one of the Fourth Avenue stores; and is, or +was, inclined to be what is called gay. I do not know that that term +conveys any special meaning to you; in young men I think they call the +same line of conduct 'fast.' I hope and believe that you would not well +understand either term; yet, I think, possibly, that watching her this +afternoon in a public hall will give you some conception of the stretch +that there is between yourself and her."</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_22">CHAPTER XXII.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"SOME PEOPLE ARE HARD TO WARN."</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>HAD Dr. Everett desired in a few words to show Gracie the gulf +between herself and the man who had been the girl's companion for the +afternoon, perhaps he could not have formed his sentence better.</p> + +<p>She shivered visibly, and the doctor drew the carriage wraps more +carefully about her, while he continued:—</p> + +<p>"I would not want to give you a wrong estimate of Hester Mason, nor +lead you to imagine for a moment that I believe a girl who serves +behind a counter cannot be a true lady. I wanted rather to explain to +you that her opportunities had been limited. She means to be a good +girl, I think; in fact, I may say I have the utmost confidence in her +intentions. She is not a Christian, but a few weeks ago I had her +name on my note-book as one who was almost persuaded. She has been +fighting the question of personal religion for some time; her special +stumbling-block being that she is quick-witted, and has quite a clear +idea of how Christians ought to live, and can find very few who seem +to her to be living what they profess. However, as I say, I have been +very hopeful of her until within a few weeks, when she came in contact +with this man, and I tremble for the result. He is constant in his +attentions, and she is evidently flattered and dazed."</p> + +<p>"How long has he known her? How did he become acquainted?" Abrupt +questions still, asked in that curiously repressed voice.</p> + +<p>The doctor's face was growing very grave and stern. He feared that +there was a real wound here.</p> + +<p>"Inadvertently, Miss Dennis, it seems that both you and I are to blame, +or, at least, are involved in the acquaintance. Do you remember a +little incident which occurred in a street-car some six weeks ago? A +young woman, in leaving the car, dropped a package, which you noticing, +called our attention to, and pointed out the person crossing the +street; and Professor Ellis announced his willingness to overtake her +and return the package, as he was about to leave the car. Miss Mason +was the person in question, and Professor Ellis presumed on that very +slight introduction to cultivate an acquaintance. I have learned that +he quoted my name in connection with the incident, and since that day +has been on terms of exceeding intimacy with Hester."</p> + +<p>Gracie was surprised out of her reserve.</p> + +<p>"I remember the incident perfectly; but the girl I saw this afternoon +cannot be the one who was on the car."</p> + +<p>"Yes; she was in holiday attire to-day, and in her working garb when +you saw her momentarily on the car. I remember a feeling of regret that +Professor Ellis should have so promptly volunteered to do your errand; +yet I did not know what I dreaded. I simply shrank from the man, and +wanted others to do so."</p> + +<p>"Dr. Everett, what is his motive in showing her attention?"</p> + +<p>"I wish I knew. I can tell you what I greatly fear—that it is to play +with the human heart; to see to what extent he can gain power over it. +And in this case, certainly, it is a most cruel thing. The girl has +no friends, no father or mother, to advise with or help her. She is +bright and pretty, and is being shown glimpses of a world that seems to +her like fairyland. She is dazzled, and one cannot blame her, for she +has neither carefully-formed judgment nor trustworthy friends to lean +upon. Miss Dennis, you can judge from her manner this afternoon what +is her knowledge of the customs of polite society. I do not think she +has an idea that she was conspicuous, save for her beauty and the fine +appearance of her attendant. She is not one to shrink from what she +would consider legitimate public admiration, and this you can see but +adds to her danger."</p> + +<p>"But, Dr. Everett, you do not think, you cannot mean, that he intends +to pay her special attention—that he means anything more than the +desire to give her a little pleasure?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said the doctor, speaking slowly but with firmness, "you may +judge, Miss Dennis, what I think—what any honourable person thinks—of +a man who bestows in public the sort of attentions which we saw this +afternoon. You would have been insulted by them. The only reason that +this poor girl was not, is because she does not know any better. Did +you observe the flashing of a peculiarly set ring on her finger? I have +reason to fear that it belongs to him, and that she believes herself +specially honoured in being asked to wear it."</p> + +<p>Poor Gracie's cheeks were flaming now. She had not observed the ring; +but she knew it well, and for one brief evening had worn it herself, +and then had returned it to the owner with the assurance that she +could not bring herself to wear it without her father's consent. She +remembered what a wound she had felt herself bestowing when he had +looked at her with those expressive, reproachful eyes, and replied that +if she felt toward him as he did to her, she would not allow even a +father to come between them. And he had actually given that ring into +the keeping of this girl!</p> + +<p>They rode on in silence, the doctor giving a hint to the horses that +they might go as fast as they chose. He was in great doubt and pain of +heart. Could it be possible that this carefully shielded young girl was +caught in the toils of a man whom he believed to be an unprincipled +villain?</p> + +<p>If so, had he been unnecessarily cruel in his revelations? Ought he to +take her home, or drive further and give her time to recover herself?</p> + +<p>Could he have understood what was passing in her mind, he would have +known better what next to say.</p> + +<p>The simple truth was this: before she came to Mrs. Roberts, the child +had believed herself to be a martyr to the unreasonable prejudices of +her stepmother. She had been led to feel that her father had turned +against her, solely because of his wife's influence over him; and that +the wife was piqued because Professor Ellis had not paid her sufficient +attention in the days of her maidenhood. This, the professor had +succeeded in teaching Gracie to feel, was the sole charge against him.</p> + +<p>He was therefore an ill-used man, and therefore her heart went out +towards him in sympathy. It had not been at first a stronger feeling +than this; but, flattered by his attentions, so much more marked and +polished than had ever been offered to the young girl before, she had +taught herself to believe that, but for her father's bitterness, she +could be to Professor Ellis what he delicately and vaguely assured her +no one else could, and fill a place that hitherto in his lonely life +had been left void.</p> + +<p>She had not engaged herself to him; indeed, he had never in actual +words asked her to do so. But to the young and innocent and +well-trained there is a language which speaks as clearly as words, and +is held as sacred. Gracie had allowed herself to be looked upon as one +who was held by others from being more to Professor Ellis than she was, +who might always, perhaps, be held back; for she had resolved in her +own sad heart that she would never marry against her father's consent, +no, not if she were twice of age.</p> + +<p>Of late, strange revelations had come to her. She had measured +Professor Ellis with other men, Christian men, and he had appeared at +a disadvantage. Also, she had measured herself by the side of other +Christian workers, and herself had appeared at a disadvantage. A vague +unrest and dissatisfaction with her Christian experience were growing +on her. Moreover, she was growing interested in those boys as she had +not believed that it would be possible for her to be interested when +she first saw them. She began to believe that some of them at least +would be saved. She wanted to help to save them, and to help others. +Her martyrdom dwindled rapidly into insignificance, until there would +pass entire days in which she did not once remember that she was an +unhappy girl.</p> + +<p>At last, but a week or two before this afternoon, she had taken her +affairs in hand, and tried to look steadily at them. The result of her +hours of thought and prayer was that she was bound to Professor Ellis: +that is, provided there should come a time in the dim and distant +future when her father should give his consent, it would be her duty +and her pleasure, because of what had passed between them, to marry +him. Still, she began to feel less amazed at her father's opinion of +him, less angry about it. She began to say to herself, softly and +pitifully:</p> + +<p>"Poor, lonely man! He has no one to be his friend. He is not a +Christian, and that is what makes so great a difference between him and +others. It is that which papa misses. But I must not desert him; I must +pray for him all the time, and work for his conversion. Then he will +grow to be the sort of man whom papa can like, and everything will be +right."</p> + +<p>And while she said it, she was dimly conscious of a feeling of +satisfaction over the thought that she was very young, and that it +would be a long, long time yet before anything could be settled. And +that meantime, it certainly was not right for her to have anything to +do with Professor Ellis, only to pray for him. And that perhaps her +father would allow her to carry out a project that was under delightful +discussion in the Roberts family—namely, to remain in the city as a +pupil in the famous Green Lawn School. And she did not know,—foolish +little thing!—that so far even as her heart was concerned everything +was wrong.</p> + +<p>Perhaps it would be difficult for me to explain to you—that is, if you +do not understand without explanation—what a turmoil she was thrown +into by this afternoon's experience. She was far from realizing as yet +that the uppermost feeling even now was not wounded love, but wounded +pride—of what poor stuff she had been making a hero! Nothing had ever +opened her eyes like this before. Was it possible that she had spent +entire evenings with a man who stooped to set in unpleasant, even +suspicious light, not his own character only, but that of an ignorant +young girl?</p> + +<p>It would not do to plead a lack of knowledge in excuse for him; he +might be ignorant of the ways of the Christian world, but no one +understood better the rules which governed society. During part of the +afternoon she had been very angry with the girl; but after listening to +Dr. Everett, it began to dawn upon her that her friend had been playing +with the ignorance of a girl who probably trusted him fully. You are to +understand that Gracie Dennis was the sort of girl who would be made +very angry by such a suspicion. The glow on her cheeks was not all +caused by the fresh air of the spring day.</p> + +<p>"Dr. Everett," she said at last, breaking the silence, "what do you +think he means by asking the girl to wear that ring, or by letting her +wear it? Does he—do you suppose that he has engaged himself to her?"</p> + +<p>"I wish I knew what he meant!" Dr. Everett said again, a surge +of indignation rushing over him. "If he really meant anything so +honourable as that, it would be bad enough business for poor Hester; +but, as I said, I distrust the man utterly, and from my experience with +the world I have reason. From your knowledge of him, Miss Dennis, could +you suppose him to be honest and earnest in his attentions to that +girl?"</p> + +<p>It was a very plain question. It meant more to Dr. Everett than even +Gracie saw, but she saw enough to know that she was admitting an +intimacy that made her blush. However, she answered steadily,—</p> + +<p>"No, I cannot think that he is honest or honourable."</p> + +<p>"So I fear. Witness this afternoon. Gentlemen do not parade their +friendships before the public gaze, and that man knows it."</p> + +<p>The doctor's voice was very stern. He was sure now that there was a +wound, and that it was being probed. He believed in making thorough +work even with wounds; there would be more hope of genuine healing +afterward.</p> + +<p>Gracie's next question, if her companion had but known it, was a +singular one.</p> + +<p>"Why have not people who are her friends warned her against him, +and held her back from making such a false step, if she does it in +ignorance?"</p> + +<p>O Gracie Dennis! How are warnings sometimes received, even by +carefully-trained girls, who have every reason to trust the love that +would shield them?</p> + +<p>"Some people are very hard to warn," said the doctor. "I have tried it, +and I have a friend who has tried to help her; but the poor girl, you +must remember, has not been brought up in a Christian atmosphere—has +never had a Christian friend who came with the authority of +relationship. If she had a good father, the way would be made so plain. +As it is, can't you see how naturally she distrusts the rest of us, in +favour of the man who makes special professions of friendship? I am not +surprised at Hester, I am only sorry for her."</p> + +<p>Had the doctor been carefully informed as to all the circumstances +connected with Gracie's intimacy with the professor, he could not have +chosen words which would have touched her conscience more. Had not her +good father tenderly and patiently warned her? And had she not chosen +to blind her eyes to all his words, and believe rather in Professor +Ellis than in him?</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_23">CHAPTER XXIII.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"PART OF THE GREAT WELL-TO-DO WORLD."</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"I MUST call at this house," the doctor said, suddenly drawing rein +before a quiet little house at the foot of a wide lawn. "The gatekeeper +of this American castle has a sick child whom I have promised to see. +Can you hold the horses, Miss Dennis, or shall I tie them? This is a +quiet spot, and they are gentle."</p> + +<p>"I am not afraid of anything," Gracie said, eyes aglow as well as +cheeks.</p> + +<p>And the doctor went into the house wondering whether Professor Ellis, +if he could see her now, would not be afraid of her.</p> + +<p>Once inside, he gave a start of surprise, almost of dismay, for the +face which appeared at the open door of the sick-room belonged to Joy +Saunders.</p> + +<p>"You here?" he said, trying to control the disturbed element in his +voice.</p> + +<p>She answered quietly,—</p> + +<p>"I came out by street-car. Did you drive?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said abruptly; "but I am not alone. How is the child?" And he +went forward at once to his professional duties, leaving her to wonder +over his manner.</p> + +<p>It was peculiar certainly. Joy Saunders was used to abruptness from +this man, but there was a quality in it to-day that she did not +recognize. She went and looked out of the window, and saw Gracie Dennis +holding the horses—saw her red, "red" cheeks and flashing eyes, and the +peculiar, haughty poise of her head, with which the stepmother at home +was well acquainted.</p> + +<p>She did not know this Gracie Dennis save by reputation. Once Dr. +Everett had asked her to call at Mrs. Roberts's, and had made her feel +as though she were foolishly conventional in declining to do so.</p> + +<p>"How is she ever to know you, according to the rules which trammel +society? There ought to be some way arranged for Christians to be free +from trammels."</p> + +<p>This had been his comment; but he had not asked her again, and she had +never met Mrs. Roberts, nor yet Gracie Dennis. Yet she knew her very +well, and had watched her often as she passed. She knew instantly who +she was now, as she sat there in her haughty beauty, checking with +determined hand the impatience of those horses. Oh, she knew more than +this! It was very apparent now why Dr. Everett was peculiarly abrupt, +and—well, yes—embarrassed. She had almost thought that was the name of +the feeling, only it had seemed so absurd. And then Joy Saunders held +her meek little head high, and told herself that he need not fear her +presence; she could go as she had come, in the street-car.</p> + +<p>The doctor came towards her now, speaking rapidly es usual:—</p> + +<p>"Joy, the child is very sick. There ought to be an experienced person +here to-night. Not you; I am sorry you came up. Do you think your +mother would come? Will you ride down with me? I have Miss Dennis in +the carriage, but it is quite large enough for three, you know."</p> + +<p>Then Joy had turned away her head, holding it high, and said,—</p> + +<p>"No, thank you; I am going down in the street-car."</p> + +<p>And that blundering doctor drew on his gloves, saying to himself, "I +don't know but that is best," and went out, only waiting to say to Joy:—</p> + +<p>"Will you ask your mother about it? I will see her as soon as I can get +around. I wish you would go directly home from here—will you?"</p> + +<p>Then he lifted his hat to her, and sprang into his carriage and rode +away with Gracie Dennis.</p> + +<p>And Joy Saunders waited for the next yellow car, and climbed into it, +and told herself all the way down town that she wished she had stayed +at the little house and watched all night by the sick child.</p> + +<p>The thoughts that Dr. Everett had given to the entire matter were few. +They ran somewhat after this fashion:—</p> + +<p>"Joy here! And I'm afraid of the fever, from all I have heard. I shall +take her home as soon as possible. How will that poor little girl in +the carriage manage with a new acquaintance just now, I wonder?</p> + +<p>"I am afraid it will be quite a strain. Still, I can do the talking, +and let her be quiet. The main point is that I hoped she might have a +suggestion to make about Hester. If she could rouse herself to try to +save that girl, it would be the best thing she could do. If she only +knew it, Joy is the one who could help her in that direction or any +other."</p> + +<p>As they dashed down the avenue, he was still occupied in wishing that +he had urged Joy to ride, and thus forced an acquaintance between her +and the pretty girl at his side. He was not very patient with what he +called the "trammels" of society. When there were two people so fitted +to enjoy and help each other, as were Joy Saunders and Gracie Dennis, +he held it to be a waste in Christian economy that they should not know +each other.</p> + +<p>Too much occupied with his thoughts and his driving to give heed to +passers-by, he lost the careful bow that young Reid had for them as +they drew near the city's whirl again.</p> + +<p>Gracie did not; she returned it with a slightly-heightened colour in +her cheeks, and wondered if that young man knew Professor Ellis, and +what he thought of him, and what he thought of her for being acquainted +with him.</p> + +<p>Sometimes it seems to me a real pity that on occasion there could +not be some way of looking into one another's thoughts. So many +misunderstandings might thus be saved.</p> + +<p>For instance, there was Reid, who went on his way with a clouded +brow. Where had Dr. Everett been? And why was Gracie Dennis with +him? Was it probable that he had been riding for pleasure? The bare +suggestion astonished the young man. He found that he had never before +given room to the thought that Dr. Everett took time for pleasure. +Allowing this to be the case, why had he not taken Joy Saunders with +him? Such a proceeding would have seemed altogether natural, though +the honest-hearted young fellow admitted to himself that, had he been +taking a ride for pleasure, the companion of his choice would not have +been Joy Saunders. It was certainly a bewildering world.</p> + +<p>So trying did young Reid find his thoughts on that evening that he +actually set himself deliberately to learn whether the ride was the +result of chance or design. The consequence was, that he learned not +only of the ride, but of the afternoon entertainment at Seltzer Hall, +with glass goblets for instruments. This increased his astonishment, +and did not lessen the gloom on his face.</p> + +<p>But the two in the carriage, unconscious of the gloomy young man, or of +the sad-hearted young girl riding in a street-car, were almost silent +during the homeward ride, until just as they turned into the avenue +that led to Mr. Roberts's door. Then Gracie said:—</p> + +<p>"Dr. Everett, I should like to know that girl. There are some things +that I ought to say to her, and if I had a chance I would try to say +them in a way to help her."</p> + +<p>"I will manage it," said Dr. Everett, speaking in a quick, relieved +tone. He felt encouraged for Hester now, and greatly relieved about +Gracie. She might be wounded, but she was made of the material of which +he had hoped. She was not going to die herself, nor fold her hands and +see others ruined, merely because she had been deceived.</p> + +<p>He bade her a cheery "Good-afternoon!" And drove away, feeling that, +although he had been obliged to give up Sewell Alley, good work had +been accomplished. He believed now that he understood the situation.</p> + +<p>He was right about one thing: Gracie Dennis had not the slightest idea +of dying. Her mood was better expressed, half an hour later, when she +stood at the parlour window, and returned a low, lingering bow from +Professor Ellis, with a haughty stare from flashing eyes, looking out +from an erect and motionless head.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>Dirk Colson's brain was in a whirl. He had an important question to +settle. In his pocket were two blue tickets, promising to admit him to +the largest and finest hall in the city to hear the great temperance +orator. Dirk knew very little about orators, but he had heard of John +B. Gough, and everything he had heard made him wish to have a glimpse +of him. You will remember that Dirk was an imitator. He had heard that +Mr. Gough was also, and down deep in his heart the boy had an ambition +to hear the man. Now was his unexpected opportunity. Of course he was +going, but the perplexing thing was, what to do with that other ticket.</p> + +<p>There was Mart! Oh yes, to be sure, he had not forgotten her; but +what a strange thing it would be to take her to a lecture! He had +never taken her anywhere in his life. She had nothing to wear, though +he remembered at that moment that the mother had, by earnest effort, +succeeded in getting her shawl out of pawn.</p> + +<p>There was one incentive for taking her; it would please Mrs. Roberts. +Dirk studied the thing for some time, to try to discover why she should +care, and had finally given up the problem as too great for him. Yet he +was sure she cared; there had been a wistful light in her eyes when she +said, "I thought possibly you might like to take that sister with the +golden hair," that he saw and interpreted.</p> + +<p>It took him three days to decide what he should say, supposing he made +up his mind to ask her.</p> + +<p>Several people were at work helping him, though he knew nothing about +that. Mrs. Roberts remarked one evening to young Reid that she wished +she knew a way to induce Dirk Colson to take his sister, without +actually asking him to do so. She fancied that, besides the advantage +which might possibly directly follow an evening spent in that way, it +would suggest new thoughts to the brother.</p> + +<p>The young man caught at the suggestion, and wanted to help to carry it +out. It was not an easy thing to do. He had not grown intimate with +Dirk Colson; in fact, that misguided young fellow rather resented any +attempt at intimacy. He was, however, acquainted with Sallie Calkins; +the numerous trips he had made to their room during Mark's illness had +brought him into such constant and pleasant contact with Sallie and her +brother that they looked upon him as a tried friend. Sallie, he knew, +was a friend of the shy, golden-haired sister.</p> + +<p>So one evening he went to call at the Calkins's room, with a vague hope +of helping indirectly in bringing to pass Mrs. Roberts's desires.</p> + +<p>To Sallie, he made known the wish that Dirk would take his sister to +the lecture, and secured from her a promise to help the scheme along, +provided it developed.</p> + +<p>After he went away, Sallie sat long at her sewing, making all alone, +by a dim light, one of the most heroic little sacrifices that was ever +offered "in His name." To fully understand it, you must know that Mark +Calkins had recovered sufficiently to take his place in the office +where Dr. Everett had secured him an opening, and an employment that +would enable him to sit most of the time, thereby giving his injured +limb a chance to rest.</p> + +<p>Also, Mark had been admitted to the Monday evening gatherings, and was +distinguishing himself there by his skill in reading and writing. Of +course he had received two tickets, and equally of course, being the +boy he was, he had planned to take Sallie with him to the lecture.</p> + +<p>Great was Sallie's prospective pleasure! The event of her lifetime it +was to be. To walk with Mark through the crowded streets, both neatly +dressed; to walk boldly forward with the throng, and present their +tickets of admittance to the great hall, hitherto seen only from the +outside; to move down the long aisles as those who had a right, and +select their seats unquestioned by police; in short, to be like other +people—part of the great well-to-do world—this was Sallie's joy.</p> + +<p>She had washed and mended her best calico dress; she had sewed buttons +on the pretty cape, according to Mrs. Roberts's directions; she had +tried on the neat bonnet which had been manufactured for her by Mrs. +Roberts's own fingers, and altogether, Sallie had probably gotten, +during these two days, more enjoyment out of Gough's lecture than many +others who had heard him a dozen times ever secured. I do not think it +any wonder that, as she rocked and sewed, and thought out her great +thought, there fell tears on the work she was doing.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_24">CHAPTER XXIV.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"FOR YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT MAY COME."</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>THIS was the thought: Suppose Dirk Colson should want to take his +sister. Sallie did not believe it in the least probable—she had not +that amount of faith in Dirk Colson; but suppose he should, Mart could +not go, for the reason that she would have nothing to wear.</p> + +<p>And here was Sallie's pretty cape, which would cover the worst of her +dress, and her pretty bonnet, which she knew would make a picture of +Mart; but if she lent them, it meant staying at home to Sallie. Could +she do it? Could she bear to think of such a thing? What would Mark +say? What would he do with his other ticket?</p> + +<p>Would she be likely ever to have another chance to go to that wonderful +hall, and be like other folks?</p> + +<p>But Mart had never been anywhere in her life.</p> + +<p>"And I," said poor Sallie, catching her breath with a sob, "have been +often for a walk on the brightest streets, and looked in at the shop +windows, and everything. I 'most know I will help her to go if I can."</p> + +<p>Young Reid had no conception of the sacrifice for which he had asked.</p> + +<p>It is little wonder, surely, that Sallie's voice faltered that same +evening, as she explained to Mart, who had slipped in for a bit of +talk, that if ever she wanted to go anywhere very much, she was to let +Sallie know, and she should have her cape and bonnet to wear. Then she +had anxiously planned for her a way to mend her dress, so that it would +look quite well under the cape, and she had even urged,—</p> + +<p>"Now do, Mart; if anybody should want you to go, don't say you won't, +but take your chance, for you don't know what may come."</p> + +<p>Also she bore with patience Mart's scornful laugh and emphatic +statement that no chances ever came to her, and nobody ever wanted her +to go anywhere.</p> + +<p>As she talked she grew interested and eloquent; urged earnestly that +Mart should embrace the first opportunity to go somewhere, and wear her +new cape and bonnet. At the same time she was silent about the lecture. +Suppose no chance should come? Then it would be doubly hard to Mart to +have had the possibility suggested. The same delicate reasoning had +held her from dwelling on her own prospects. Some people would have +been very much astonished over the amount of delicate consideration for +the feelings of others which could be found in that little room.</p> + +<p>Dirk loitered strangely over his meagre dinner the next afternoon. It +was late, for he had secured a position at last in one of the printing +offices, and was apt to take his meals at any hour when it happened to +be convenient to do without him at the office. He had only been three +days at work, and Mart had taken little notice of the new departure, +except to remark grimly that it would not last. But to Sallie she had +boasted that Dirk had gone to work as hard as anybody. If somebody +could only have told Dirk that his sister ever boasted of him, it might +have helped him much during these days.</p> + +<p>"What are you hanging around for? You've got all there will be to eat +in this house to-day, and it is time you were off."</p> + +<p>This was the ungracious manner in which the sister took note of his +lingering. She was painfully afraid that he had already grown weary of +regular employment, and the fear made her voice gruffer than usual.</p> + +<p>His reply amazed her; in fact, it amazed himself.</p> + +<p>"Mart, I've got tickets to a show—a nice place—and I want you to go +along."</p> + +<p>"Humph!" said Mart. "That is a likely story!"</p> + +<p>Then he grew earnest, displayed his treasures, and urged her +acceptance, quite astonished with himself the while. Did he really want +her to go, he wondered, or did he want to please Mrs. Roberts?</p> + +<p>You would have been interested, an hour later, to have seen Mart +skip up the rickety stairs leading to the Calkins' abode. You would +probably have thought that she endangered life or limb by her rapid +movements; but Mart was used to such staircases, and the news she had +to communicate required haste.</p> + +<p>"There's a chance!" she said, breathless with speed and eagerness. +"Sallie Calkins, there's a chance, and you'd never guess how. Dirk he +wants me to go to a show with him this very night! He's got tickets. It +is a big show, where all the grand folks go. It is in the very biggest +hall in this city, and Dirk he says I am to go. Sallie Calkins, do you +mean it, truly, that I am to wear your lovely new bonnet and cape? Do +you suppose I can really go anywhere? I don't know why Dirk wants me to +go so much, but he coaxed and coaxed."</p> + +<p>Poor Sallie! She stooped quickly to pick up a pin from the floor, so +that Mart might not get a glimpse of her eyes with the sudden tears in +them. Yet, as she stooped, she made her final, grand sacrifice—Mart +should go!</p> + +<p>Then she entered with entire abandon into the preparations. Not only +her bonnet and cape, but her shoes—new ones that Mark had bought her +with his first earnings after his illness—were to attend the lecture.</p> + +<p>She rejoiced over the excellent fit of the shoes. She did more than +this. As Mart watched the process of buttoning them, and remarked +complacently that she shouldn't wonder if Dirk would buy her a pair +some day when he earned money enough, she kept her lip from curling +with an incredulous sneer. You will remember that she had not the +slightest faith in Dirk.</p> + +<p>Neither must I forget that there was another thing to lend—her comb—in +order that Mart's wonderful yellow hair might be for once reduced to +something like order. And at the risk of leading you to think that +Sallie was altogether too "æsthetic" for her position in life, I shall +have to confess that this was her hardest bit of sacrifice, her comb +was so new and so pretty!</p> + +<p>However, it did its duty on Mart's tawny locks, and the transforming +effect was marvellous. In fact, when all was ready, the cape adjusted, +the hat which Mrs. Roberts had shown her how to wear set on the yellow +head, Sallie said not a word, but went to the packing-box in the corner +which served as a treasure cupboard, and drew forth the one possession +about which she had been utterly silent—a little hand-glass which Mark +had brought her one winter evening just before he was hurt. A cheap, +little, ugly glass which you would have turned from in disgust, saying +that it made your nose awry, and your chin protrude, and your eyes +squint, and was altogether horrid. But, held before Mart's glowing +face, what a secret did it reveal!</p> + +<p>Mart looked, and was silent, too, and went home in a hushed frame of +mind to wait for Dirk. Home was deserted. The mother had dragged her +wearied body out for a day of "light" work. The time had gone by when +she was able to do any that people called heavy. Where the father was +none of the family knew, and their chief hope concerning him was that +he would stay away as long as possible.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>I find myself longing to give you an idea of what that elegant, +brilliantly-lighted hall, with its brilliant audience, was to this +girl, and being unable to do it.</p> + +<p>When people live so far below us that our every-day experiences are to +them like a day at the World's Fair, it is very hard indeed to describe +how our special treats affect them.</p> + +<p>It is a treat to everybody to hear Gough. How then can I tell you +what it was to this girl and her brother? Dirk listened; he must +have listened well, for long afterward he was able to repeat entire +paragraphs, and to imitate the manner of the great orator with +remarkable skill.</p> + +<p>Yet at the time he would have seemed to a close watcher to have been +absorbed in another way. He looked at Mart somewhat as he had on +that Sabbath when his acquaintance with Mrs. Roberts began. But the +thought which had dimly haunted him that day blossomed on this evening. +Certainly Mart looked like Mrs. Roberts! It might be folly to think so. +Doubtless the fellows would make no end of fun of him if he should over +tell them so, which he meant to take excellent care not to do; but the +fact remained, that in Sallie's bonnet and cape, and, above all, with +the waves of hair floating about her, there was a look which instantly +and strongly reminded him of that lady.</p> + +<p>There was another listener at the lecture who was unexpectedly present. +Part of poor Sallie's trial had been to tell her brother, who had been +radiant for a week over the prospect of taking her, that she had with +her own hand put away the blessing. How would Mark take it?</p> + +<p>Dirk's forlorn-looking sister was no favourite of his. I think it would +have been very difficult to have convinced him that there was a trace +of Mrs. Roberts in her face.</p> + +<p>But such curious creatures are we that it actually hurt Sallie to see +how quietly he took the great sad news of her sacrifice. After the +first start of surprise, he seemed preoccupied, and she could almost +have thought that he did not hear her explanation. She had much ado to +keep back the tears; but she had made a special little feast for him +that evening, with a white cloth on the table, and a cup of actual tea, +and the cup set in a saucer. She was not going to spoil the scene with +tears; so after a little she said cheerily,—</p> + +<p>"Nov you have a chance to do something nice for somebody. Who will you +take on your ticket?"</p> + +<p>"I was thinking," he answered slowly. "You know it is a temperance +lecture, and it is by a wonderful man. The fellows in the shop have +been talking about him all day, and they say you just can't help +thinking when he gets a-going, and I was just thinking, What if we +could get 'him' to go, and 'he' would listen, and get to thinking."</p> + +<p>There are no italics that will give you an idea of the peculiar +emphasis which the boy put on the pronouns.</p> + +<p>Sallie understood; that "he" could mean but one person in the world.</p> + +<p>But her brother must have answered the look on her face, for she spoke +no word.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes they do, Sallie. There was old Pete, you know."</p> + +<p>Oh, yes, Sallie knew old Pete; everybody in that alley knew him—a +notorious drunkard once, of the sort which people, even good Christian +people, are apt to pronounce hopeless. Yet now he wore a neat suit +of clothes every day, and brought home twenty pounds of flour at one +time in a sack, and bought his coal by the barrel. Wonderful things +occasionally happened in that alley.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Sallie, "that is true; and old Pete wasn't much like him."</p> + +<p>The tone spoke volumes. It would have almost angered her, even now, to +have had it hinted that old Pete was superior to that father, though +hardly a person acquainted with the two but would have said that there +was more hope for old Pete, even in his miserable past, than for this +one. How they managed it, those two—the difficult task of getting +him persuaded to go, and then the more difficult task of keeping him +sufficiently sober to get there, would make a story in itself. I fancy +there are many such stories in real life which will never get told. The +probabilities are, if they were, some wise critic would pronounce them +unnatural and sensational.</p> + +<p>Suffice it to say that the task was accomplished, and among the most +attentive listeners to the great speaker that evening was Sallie's +father, while she sat at home and mended a badly torn jacket, and cried +now and then, and was glad and sorry and proud and frightened and +hopeful by turns all that long evening.</p> + +<p>I am not sure but it was better for her that she sat at home. I don't +know just what she might have done had she been in the hall to see her +father, at the close of the meeting, shamble forward with the crowd and +sign his name to the total abstinence pledge.</p> + +<p>She might have screamed out in her excitement, or she might have +fainted. For although there were those who said—some with a sneer, and +some with a sigh—that "signing the pledge would not amount to anything; +the miserable fellow could not keep a pledge to save his life!" Sallie +would have thought nothing of the kind. She had faith in her father's +word.</p> + +<p>It is a wonderful stimulus to have some one who believes in us.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_25">CHAPTER XXV.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH?"</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"DO you know," said Mrs. Roberts, addressing Gracie Dennis, who, with +young Reid, had waited in the hall for her to join them (they were +ready for the lecture, and were to take up Mr. Roberts on the way)—"do +you know that I have a desire which I see no way of realizing? If Mr. +Colson should bring his sister with him to-night, I should like so much +to get possession of her and bring her home with me. But I have been +planning all day, and see no possible excuse for such an apparently +wild proceeding."</p> + +<p>I want you to notice how naturally Mrs. Roberts said "Mr. Colson." She +never talked about Dirk under any other name; she even taught herself +to think of him as "Mr. Colson." Consequently, when she spoke the name +in his presence, there was not a trace of unnaturalness in tone or +manner. The others tried in vain to follow her example. Dr. Everett +could not speak of him in this way without slight hesitation and a +touch of embarrassment.</p> + +<p>"The truth is," said he, "I think 'Dirk' all the week, and on the +Sabbath I find it impossible to reach up to 'Mr. Colson' without an +effort."</p> + +<p>There was no touch of "reaching up" or reaching down about Mrs. +Roberts's talk with her pupils. It is possible that this is one link in +the chain of influence which she was weaving around them.</p> + +<p>Gracie Dennis's face expressed curiosity, and when they were seated in +the carriage, she referred to the cause:—</p> + +<p>"But, Flossy, I cannot imagine why you should want to do such a thing. +It will certainly be too late to-night to try to get acquainted with +her. I should think some time when you could have an unbroken evening +would be the better for experimenting."</p> + +<p>"For some sorts of experimenting it would," Mrs. Roberts answered, +smiling quietly; "my experiment, in part at least, was to see how the +pink room might impress her."</p> + +<p>"Flossy Shipley!"</p> + +<p>When Gracie took refuge in that name, her hostess knew she was not only +much excited, but a trifle disapproving; at such times she made haste +to change the subject.</p> + +<p>It happened that the thing for which she had been planning shaped +itself so naturally as to give not the slightest colour of +premeditation to the act.</p> + +<p>When Dirk and his sister worked their way through the dense crowds +to the open air, they discovered that it was raining heavily. For +almost the first time in her life the fact struck terror to Mart +Colson's soul. Ordinarily no duck could have been more indifferent to a +rain-storm than herself. On this evening she gave vent to her dismay in +short, expressive words,—</p> + +<p>"Sallie's bonnet!—And cape!" This last after a moment's thought. "And +shoes!" she added, as the magnitude of her troubles grew upon her.</p> + +<p>Drawn up close to the sidewalk stood a carriage and a pair of horses +that Dirk could not help giving admiring attention to, despite the +rain. A fine horse always held his attention. No thought of the +occupants of the carriage came to him, not even after a head leaned +forward and a hand beckoned; of course it was beckoning to somebody +else. Then a clear voice spoke:—</p> + +<p>"Mr. Colson."</p> + +<p>He started quickly forward; there was but one person who ever said "Mr. +Colson," and besides, that voice belonged only to one.</p> + +<p>"I want your sister to go home with me. It is raining so hard that she +ought not to walk, and I should like very much to have her stay with me +to-night. Won't you ask her to, please?"</p> + +<p>If Mrs. Roberts had been asking a favour, instead of conferring one, +her voice could not have been sweeter and more winning.</p> + +<p>Dirk went back to his sister, too much bewildered by the state of +affairs even to express surprise. "Mart," he said, "she wants you."</p> + +<p>A quick spring to the sidewalk, and young Reid was standing beside Mart.</p> + +<p>"It is raining so hard," he explained, "Mrs. Roberts would be very glad +if you would come."</p> + +<p>And Mart, thinking of nothing at all save Sallie's bonnet and cape and +shoes, turned toward the waiting carriage.</p> + +<p>Mr. Reid had his umbrella raised, and carefully shielded the bonnet, +assisting its wearer to enter the carriage with as much courtesy as he +had bestowed on Gracie Dennis but a few moments before. Not a movement +was lost on the watching Dirk.</p> + +<p>When the door was closed and the good-nights had been said—Mrs. Roberts +leaning from the carriage again for that purpose—and when the horses +had dashed around the corner, he still occupied his position on the +curbstone, gazing down the street, gazing at nothing unless he saw a +reflection of his own bewildered thoughts.</p> + +<p>"Come!" said a policeman who knew him, and was therefore suspicious. +"What are you hanging about here for? Move on!"</p> + +<p>"Humph!" said Dirk, as he slowly took his hands out of his pockets, +eyes still fixed on the corner where the carriage had turned. "What if +I should?"</p> + +<p>Something in his eye would have told Mrs. Roberts, had she been +there, that he meant more than moving down the street, though that he +presently did, regardless of wind and rain.</p> + +<p>Meantime the bonnet and cape in the carriage stepped somewhat into the +background, and the girl who wore them allowed herself once more to +think of her individuality, and to wonder at her position. She sat bolt +upright on the edge of the soft, gray seat, and gazed about her as well +as she could by the glimmer of the street lamps. She in a carriage! +Mart Colson sitting on a back seat, beside a grand lady, and rolling +down the avenue! Who would have supposed that such a thing could have +happened to Sallie Calkins's bonnet?</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts recognized the bonnet and cape with a smile of +satisfaction. She had studied much over the possibilities of this +girl's costume. Was it probable that she had anything suitable to wear +to a lecture? She had passed the cellar where the girl lived but once, +and had had but one glimpse of her; yet these glimpses had been enough +to render it highly improbable that she had any street costume. Then +had Mrs. Roberts canvassed the possibilities of getting a street suit +for her; there were apparently insurmountable difficulties in the way. +She was too utterly unacquainted with the ground to venture. Besides, +there were reasons for believing that anything of value would find its +way from that cellar to a pawnbroker's in a very short space of time.</p> + +<p>Having spent hours over many different schemes, and rejected each +one as liable to bring disaster, Mrs. Roberts was obliged to betake +herself to prayer. If the watching Saviour wanted her to work through +the medium of this lecture on this particular child of his, he could +certainly see that she was present; could furnish her with clothes to +wear, either through herself or some other of his servants. She would +wait and watch.</p> + +<p>Not once had she thought of Sallie Calkins and the new bonnet that +her own fingers had helped to fashion; yet here it was beside her on +the head of this girl, toward whom she was drawn! The fact made Mrs. +Roberts radiant.</p> + +<p>She said almost nothing to the startled prisoner at her side, beyond a +murmured, "So glad you let me carry you home with me!" Then she drew a +bright-coloured wrap about her, and left her to her amazement, while +the eager tongues of the rest of the party talked continuously.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>By the way, you are not acquainted with the pink room, I think. You +should see it before it is invaded for the night. Large it is. I +think little people sometimes have a peculiar fondness for large +rooms; Mrs. Roberts had. The walls were tinted with what might be +called a suggestion of pink, with just a touch of sunset gold about +the mouldings. The carpet was soft and rich; it gave back no sound of +footfall. It was strewn with pink buds; some just opening into beauty, +some half-blown. Accustomed to the sight of elegant carpets as you are, +you would almost have stooped to pick one of these buds, they looked so +real. The curtains to the windows were white, but lined with rose pink; +they were looped back with knots of pink ribbons. The bed was a marvel +of pink and white drapery; so was the dressing-bureau. The easy-chairs +were upholstered in soft grays with a pinkish tinge; and the tidies, +lavishly displayed, were all of pink and white.</p> + +<p>There was nothing conventional about the room. A professional would +have been shocked by some of its appointments. Many a lady of wealth, +accustomed to having things as "they" decree, would have been more than +doubtful over the pink ribbons and the profusion of white drapery. +Aside from the carpet, and a choice picture or two, there was nothing +especially expensive about the furnishings. It was simply a room in +which Mrs. Roberts had allowed her own sweet little fancies to take her +captive.</p> + +<p>The gas was lighted; the door was ajar into a toilet-room; a lavish +display of great, beautiful towels could be seen as you peeped in, and +various touches told of an expected guest. Flowers were blossoming +on the mantle, and a tiny vase which stood on a bracket near the +toilet-stand held a single rose of a peculiar hue and perfume, which +had blossomed for this hour—at least, Mrs. Roberts thought it had.</p> + +<p>Into this room, in all its purity and beauty, went Sallie Calkins's +bonnet and cape and her strong, new, thick shoes; and the wearer +thereof pushed the bonnet away from her flushed face, and stood and +looked about her.</p> + +<p>Downstairs they discussed in curious tones not her, but the mistress of +the mansion.</p> + +<p>"Flossy, I do think you are too queer for anything! Why don't you have +her go to Katy's room? Katy is away for the night, you know, and I'm +sure her room is as neat and pretty as can be. Imagine what a contrast +it would be to anything that she has ever seen!—Mr. Reid, you ought to +see the room into which she has been put. There isn't a more elegant +one in the house. Some of its furnishings are so delicate that I hardly +like to touch them. What sort of a disease is it that has taken Mrs. +Roberts, do you suppose, to send her there?—Flossy, she will get no +rest to-night; she will be afraid of that immaculate bed."</p> + +<p>This, of course, was Gracie Dennis.</p> + +<p>Mr. Roberts looked from her to his wife, his face smiling, curious, yet +with a sort of at-rest expression.</p> + +<p>"What do you hope to accomplish, Flossy?" He asked the question as +one who was pleased to watch a new experiment, yet felt sure that the +experimenter had an end to attain which would justify any measures that +she might take. Mr. Roberts had believed in his wife when he chose her +from all others; but he was learning to believe in her in a peculiar +sense, as one led by a hand that made no mistakes.</p> + +<p>She turned to answer his question, her face bright, yet half puzzled:—</p> + +<p>"I am not sure that I can explain to you what I hoped for," she said; +"I caught the idea from Mr. Reid."</p> + +<p>"From me!" and the young man thus mentioned looked so astonished and +incredulous that Gracie laughed.</p> + +<p>"He is sure he never thought of anything so wild," she said gaily. +"Flossy, you must find a better excuse than that."</p> + +<p>"Yet it was something that he said.—Do you remember telling me, +not long ago, about your sister's idea that all the world had lost +its place because of sin; that God intended everything here to be +beautiful, and all life to be bright with joy, and that Satan had +gotten hold of men's lives, and was trying to ruin them, and that every +beautiful creation was God's picture to the world of what his intention +had been? I'm telling it poorly; but it made a very deep impression. +This girl's face, you know, is beautiful. It is what God meant some +faces to be—at least, I mean he has given her the frame for a face of +beauty. I have a vague, half-understood sort of wish to give her a +glimpse of harmony—something that will fit her golden hair and lovely +complexion—and see what she will think of God's idea, and whether she +will understand that it is sin which has spoiled it, and whether she is +willing to serve the author of her ruin. I don't believe I am making +myself plain, but I know what I mean, at least."</p> + +<p>"If we do not, I think it must be because you have caught a thought +from God that we are not able to reach up to."</p> + +<p>It was Mr. Roberts who made this reply. Something in his wife's +experiment had deeply moved him.</p> + +<p>As for Mr. Reid, his face lighted, as it always did, at the mention of +his sister's name.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes I almost think that it is Esther still at work, and that He +lets her work through this woman."</p> + +<p>It was what he said to Gracie Dennis in an aside. Mrs. Roberts had +already gone to see, in person, to the comfort of her guest.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_26">CHAPTER XXVI.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"O LORD, TAKE DIRK TOO!"</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>SHE found her standing before the mirror. By reason of the fact that +she understood no pretty trick of braid or curl, her long yellow hair +hung just as nature had made it, with no waves or ripples save those +which had grown with its growth. It fell about her now like a sunset +cloud. She had taken from the vase near at hand a rose, which she had +pushed in among the masses of hair, with no knowledge as to how it +should be arranged, or indeed thought; yet the effect was something +which made Mrs. Roberts give an involuntary start of admiration.</p> + +<p>Still it was evident that, though apparently gazing at herself, she was +thinking away beyond herself. It is doubtful if at that moment she saw +the flower or her own reflection, or knew that she was looking. Her +eyes had the faraway expression which one sometimes sees in great power +on faces like hers.</p> + +<p>She turned as Mrs. Roberts, having softly knocked and received no +answer, softly entered. And her first words indicated the intensity of +her thought, whatever it was.</p> + +<p>"Dirk has 'got' to go there!"</p> + +<p>"Go where?" asked Mrs. Roberts, startled out of the words she meant to +speak—startled by the hint of power in the voice and manner. "Of whom +are you thinking, my dear girl, and where do you want him to go?"</p> + +<p>"I'm thinking about Dirk, ma'am; I thought about him all the +evening—the man made me; and I've made up my mind. He's 'got' to go to +heaven!"</p> + +<p>I suppose I cannot give you an idea of the force in her voice. It was +as though a resolution, from which there could be no appeal, had been +taken, and the person resolving felt her own power to accomplish. It +was altogether an unexpected answer to Mrs. Roberts. She did not know +whether to be half-frightened or to laugh.</p> + +<p>She sat down in one of the easy-chairs to study the girl, and consider +what answer to make. Mart, meantime, turned back to the survey of +herself in the mirror, or to the survey of whatever she saw there, and +continued talking:—</p> + +<p>"I never knew much about heaven. You may guess that if you have ever +been in our alley. Only lately, Sallie Calkins she's been telling me +what you told her, and I had a kind of notion that you must know what +you was talking about, and that it was for rich folks and grand folks +like you; but the man told about that Madge, you know, to-night—an +awful drunkard and swearer, and all that—how she reformed and went to +heaven.</p> + +<p>"Dirk ain't no drunkard, but he will be. Everybody says he will, +because father is such an awful one. Mother, she's never had no hope of +him. She says father didn't drink till he was most twenty, and then he +begun; and she's looking for Dirk to begin, and I haven't thought he +could help it either. What if he doesn't care for it much yet? He will, +it's likely. I've never told nobody that, not even Sallie; and I've +been mad at mother every time she said any such thing. But all the time +I've been expecting him to begin; and I know well enough when once they +begin how it goes on.</p> + +<p>"But that man to-night told things that made a difference. He says that +God can keep them from wanting to drink, and help them right straight +along; and that they can go to heaven as well as the best one. I've +wanted nice things for Dirk all my life; but I never saw no way to get +them, and it made me mad. To-night I saw a way, but I never had no kind +of a notion how heaven looked till I come into this room, and see the +light and the flowers and the shine, and another room spread out there +in the glass; and now I know, and Dirk shall go."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts was in no mood for laughing; the tears were dropping +slowly on the flower she held in her hand. Mart saw in the glass just +then a sight which seemed to add to her surprise. She turned wondering +eyes on her hostess.</p> + +<p>"What are you crying for?" she asked. "Don't spoil the flower; it is +like the one Dirk brought me once. He said you sent it to me. I kept +it 'most a week. I took it over to Sallie's, and she got fresh water +for it every day, somehow; and it was then she begun to tell me what +you said about heaven, and I thought if God had made such flowers as +that for you, it was likely he had made a heaven for you. But I didn't +believe it was for Dirk till to-night, and I didn't have no kind of +a notion how it looked till just now. Do you believe what that man +said—that folks like Dirk can go? Of course, if Madge went, why, Dirk +would have a right. He is bad, just because he has to be. He never had +no chance to be anything else; and he ain't very bad, anyhow—nothing to +compare with some." Her voice was almost fierce in its earnestness; she +was beginning to resent the creeping doubt that Mrs. Roberts's silence +suggested.</p> + +<p>Careful words must be spoken now. What if this awakening soul should be +turned aside? No wonder that the unspoken words were prayers.</p> + +<p>"Dirk 'has' a right to go to heaven," she said steadily, sweetly; +"there is not the shadow of a doubt as to his right. No one in the +world—not Satan himself—can deprive him of it; and it is not only his +right, but his 'duty' to go."</p> + +<p>"Then he shall!"</p> + +<p>I wish I could give you an idea of the strength in the girl's voice. It +almost carried conviction with it to Mrs. Roberts's heart.</p> + +<p>"Come and sit down," she said, and she drew her towards one of the low +cushions.</p> + +<p>If Mart sat on that, her head would be just where a gentle hand could +stroke the masses of hair.</p> + +<p>"Let me talk with you about this. You are mistaken in one thing. Dirk +is very bad. He is bad enough to shut him out of heaven for ever."</p> + +<p>The girl started, and tried to fling off the caressing hand.</p> + +<p>"So are you," said the gentle voice.</p> + +<p>"Oh 'me'! Don't talk about me. Who ever said I wasn't bad? Let me go; I +want to go home. I don't care how hard it rains."</p> + +<p>"And so am I," continued the gentle voice.</p> + +<p>The girl on the cushion ceased struggling to free herself from the +caressing touch, and remained motionless. "Let me tell you of something +that we have each done a great many times. We have been asked and urged +and coaxed, day after day and year after year, to accept an invitation +to go to this very heaven, and we have paid no attention at all; and +this after Jesus Christ had given his life to make a way for us to go. +Is not that being bad?"</p> + +<p>"Dirk he never had no invitation—never heard anything about it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, he has," speaking with quiet firmness. "The Lord Jesus Christ +told me to invite him, and I have done so a great many times, and he +has made no answer; and Sallie Calkins has invited you, and you have +treated it in just the same way."</p> + +<p>"I didn't believe it."</p> + +<p>"Isn't that being bad? What has He ever done that you should refuse to +believe his word, when he died an awful death to prove to you that he +was in earnest?"</p> + +<p>"You said Dirk had a right to go."</p> + +<p>"So he has. Jesus Christ has given him a right if he will. I have +invited you to my house, and asked you to spend the night in this room, +and sleep in this bed. Has any person a right to keep you from doing +so?"</p> + +<p>"No." An emphatic nod of the head, and a lingering, almost loving look +at the white bed behind her.</p> + +<p>"Then cannot you truthfully say that you have a right to be here? +My dear girl, it is so faint an illustration of what Jesus Christ +has done to give you a right to heaven, that I almost wonder at your +understanding it. But can you imagine something of how I should have +felt had I urged you to come to me night after night, for weeks and +years, and you had turned from me with no answer, or else with scorn?"</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't have kept on asking me." Mart spoke with the assurance of +one who had firm faith in her statement.</p> + +<p>"No, I presume I should not. I would have said, after the third or +fourth invitation, 'If she really will not have anything to do with me, +I cannot help it.' And I should have tried to forget you. This is one +of the many differences between Christ and me. He waits, and asks, and +'asks.' How long will you keep him waiting?"</p> + +<p>I have given you only the beginning of the conversation. It was long +ere it was concluded.</p> + +<p>Downstairs Mr. Reid waited as long as he could, curious to know the +result of Mart's first impressions. Then he went away, and Gracie went +to her room, and the house settled into quiet. And Mr. Roberts in the +library waited for his wife, while she told over again, with tender +words and simple illustrations, the "old, old story," so fitted to the +wants of the world.</p> + +<p>How many times has there been a like result!</p> + +<p>It was midnight when they knelt together, the fair child of luxury and +the child of poverty; but the Saviour, who intercedes for both, bent +his ear, and heard again the cry of a groping soul seeking him out of +darkness, and held out his loving, never-failing arms, able to reach +down to her depth, and received her to himself. Who can tell that +story? Who can describe how heaven seemed to the girl just then?</p> + +<p>It was not what Mrs. Roberts had expected. I cannot even say that it +was what she had hoped for. Her faith had not reached to such a height +at all. She could hardly have put into words what she hoped. When she +ventured to try to tell it to the friends in the parlour and to you, I +doubt whether you understood. She thought to get a hold on the girl; +to show her something of God's beauty and love, as it shone through +herself; to make her long after something her life did not give, and +to gradually lead her to seek after satisfaction in Christ. A long +process—something that should unfold gradually, with many discouraging +drawbacks, and some days that would look like utter failures. She had +schooled herself to be prepared for this; but she had not looked for +Him to exert his mighty power to save in a moment. How it had touched +her to find a soul hungry, not for itself, but for a brother, I shall +not attempt to tell.</p> + +<p>The first words she said, after she went back to her waiting husband a +little after midnight, were these:—</p> + +<p>"'He could not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.' +I think that is what is the matter with the world to-day. I wonder +if He would not be pleased with one who could throw herself at his +feet with a childlike abandon of faith, and expect wonders, yes, and +impossibilities, just as a child feels that anything can be done +by father? God has shamed my faith to-night. It is as though I had +asked for a crumb of bread, and he gave me the entire loaf. That girl +upstairs has not heard of him before as a Saviour for her—has never +thought of such a thing, or, at least, dreamed of its possibility; and +yet she has given herself to him. And, Evan, what do you think were the +first words she said?</p> + +<p>"'O Lord, take Dirk too!'</p> + +<p>"She is on her knees at this moment praying for him. If you could have +seen her face when it first dawned upon her that she could tell God +about him, and ask for his mighty power to be exerted in his behalf, it +would have been a picture for your lifetime. O Evan, Evan, why can we +not expect great things of God?"</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_27">CHAPTER XXVII.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"AN AWFUL PROBLEM!"</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>ISN'T it strange the ways the Lord takes to answer prayers?</p> + +<p>Much prayer had been made for Dirk Colson, but few had thought of his +sister. Sallie Calkins, it is true, had come with trembling steps +into the light of Christ's love, and had immediately desired to have +Mart enjoy it with her, but was very trembling and doubting as to her +ability to reach Mart, or to influence her in the right direction. She +sent the bonnet and cape to the lecture with a prayer, but she did not +look for the prayer to be answered. Verily, He has to be content with +faith "less than a grain of mustard-seed."</p> + +<p>Was the rest of the story an answer to prayer? We are to remember that +he has strange ways. Events startling enough in their import followed +each other in rapid succession. In the first place, Dirk's father, +poor, wrecked man, returned no more. Whether he had wandered among the +network of railroads which lined the southern portion of the city and +lost his life there, or whether he had fallen into the river, or just +how he had disappeared, could not be discovered.</p> + +<p>There were three men killed by an accident on the road one night, but +their disfigured bodies were buried before Dirk heard of it. There was +a man seen struggling in the water off the lower wharf one evening, but +he sank before help could reach him, and his body was not recovered. +There were half-a-dozen men killed by a boiler explosion, but that was +not heard of in time to look into it. There were so many ways in which +the wreck might have gone out of life and left no sign. They were safe +in supposing that he was intoxicated, and that was about all they could +be perfectly sure of concerning him—that, and the fact that he came no +more. Of course, there was no such search for him as is made for the +man of respectability and position.</p> + +<p>To one who had some idea of the worth of a soul, it was pitiful to see +what a tiny ripple this disappearance made on the surface of life.</p> + +<p>A moment of startled questioning by those who lived in the immediate +neighbourhood; a few women with aprons thrown over their heads +congregating in groups around the pump or before the door of the +bakery; a crowd of dirty children, stopping their play for a moment, +and speaking lower: then the tide of noisy, fighting, swearing life +went on.</p> + +<p>One was gone out from it. Whither? None knew, few cared; and there were +such crowds and crowds left, how could he be missed?</p> + +<p>One missed him—an abused, insulted, down-trodden woman—one whom, +years before, he had promised to love and cherish, until death parted +them, and had broken the vows almost as soon as taken, and never +renewed them again. Yet that woman wept bitter tears over his absence; +watched for him, listened nightly for his staggering footsteps; rose +up from her heap of straw in the corner in the middle of the night, +and set wide-open the cellar door, and listened to the angry voices +floating down to her from some drunken brawl further up the street, +if, perchance, she might hear his; listened, and held her breath, and +quivered all over with hope and fear; then crept back to her miserable +bed, covered her head with the ragged quilt, and cried herself into a +few hours of forgetfulness.</p> + +<p>"She is crying herself to death about him!" Mart said. There was +surprise mingled with awe in her voice.</p> + +<p>She told it to Dirk, and the two stood thoughtfully for a moment +looking out at the one window. They carefully avoided looking at each +other. They did not understand. To them there was simply relief in the +father's absence. They had no trace of love for him in their hearts. +The word "father" meant nothing to them but misery.</p> + +<p>Still there was that in them which respected the mother's grief; they +tried to shield her. Dirk, of his own thoughtfulness, brought home some +tea in a paper, and bought half a pint of milk at the corner dairy. +And Mart took lessons of Sallie, and made a delicate slice of toast, +and borrowed Sallie's one cup and saucer to serve the tea in. She was +disappointed that the mother cried, and could hardly drink the tea. She +was even almost vexed that the mother said with tears that:</p> + +<p>"Poor Jock always did like tea so much, and she had always thought that +maybe if he could have had it hot and strong, he would not have taken +to the drink."</p> + +<p>Mart had no faith in this, no belief that anything in her father's +past life could have kept him from the drink; but she held herself +silent, and let the tears have their way. All the time she had in her +heart one great solemn regret. There was One who would have helped her +father, would and could have saved him, even from rum. What if she, his +daughter, had known the Lord Jesus, and could have taken the miserable +father to him and had him transformed! Mart had no doubt about his +power to do it. An unanswerable argument had been given her. No infidel +need try to assail her now.</p> + +<p>But the father! Why had everybody kept silence and let him sink away?</p> + +<p>Awful!</p> + +<p>Why had not she known Christ? Why had she not listened to Sallie but a +week before? Why had not Dirk learned the way and saved his father? An +awful problem! Mart's life must henceforth be shadowed by it.</p> + +<p>Meantime what was Mrs. Roberts to do for this new-born soul? How was +she to help her, and, through her, to help her brother?</p> + +<p>She, in her elegant home, sat down to study this problem.</p> + +<p>Life at East Fifty-fifth Street was so far removed from life in the +alley that she knew nothing about the missing father. Days passed, +and, busy with many claims of society, she had made no movement toward +helping the girl, and knew as yet no way to do it; yet she carried her +on her heart. Monday evening came and went, and still she had been +detained from any effort.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>One afternoon her thoughts shaped themselves into action. She would go +and see Mart. She would get Dirk to protect her in her journey down +the alley; also, in accomplishing this, she would accomplish another +thing. She would call on Dirk at his place of business. The chief of +the office was a Christian man; yet she had reason to believe that he +knew less about Dirk, and cared much less for him, than he did for his +little dog that sat in the window and barked at passers-by.</p> + +<p>She had no difficulty in securing attention. Ladies were not often +admitted, but a card bearing the name "Mrs. Evan Roberts" was +sufficient passport among any of the business men of the city.</p> + +<p>Mr. Stone was more than ready—he was eager to serve her. What could he +do for the elegantly-dressed lady whose carriage waited at the door, +while she came in person among the bales and boxes? Her business must +be urgent.</p> + +<p>It was. Could she speak with Mr. Colson just for a moment? She would +not detain him long, but she wished to make an appointment with him for +the next day.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Colson!" The chief and his perplexed assistant looked at each +other thoughtfully and shook their heads. There was no such person +connected with their establishment. She must have the wrong number.</p> + +<p>No; she was positive.</p> + +<p>"He told me only three days ago that he was in your employment. He is +on the third floor, I believe."</p> + +<p>The gentlemen looked at each other again.</p> + +<p>"Colson!" repeated Mr. Stone. "There is certainly a mistake. Briggs is +in charge on the third floor front, and Dickson has the back rooms. No, +Mrs. Roberts, we have no such name among our men, I am positive."</p> + +<p>But Mrs. Roberts gently held her ground. She was sure she was not +mistaken, for she had talked with him about his work and the different +men. He was in Mr. Briggs's department, she felt quite sure. He was not +a foreman, she explained, but quite a young man, had been there but a +few weeks, and Dr. Everett was the one who had interested himself in +securing the place.</p> + +<p>Light of some sort began to dawn on the perplexed faces of the +gentlemen.</p> + +<p>"Can she mean black Dirk, do you suppose?" questioned the elder, +looking hard at his associate.</p> + +<p>Then came the sweet voice of the visitor.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, he is not a coloured gentleman. His name is Colson—Mr. Derrick +Colson."</p> + +<p>"That is the one," said the gentleman quickly. Should he laugh or be +annoyed?</p> + +<p>It took but a moment after that to summon "Mr. Derrick Colson." Black +he was, certainly, not only by reason of his naturally dark skin, but +because of the grimy work, whatever it was, which fell to his lot. His +big apron was soiled with ink and oil, and daubed with bits of dark +colour which seemed not to be either.</p> + +<p>He came forward with his usual shambling gait, and an additional shade +of sullenness apparent on his face, but it glowed a swarthy red when he +recognized the lady.</p> + +<p>"Good-afternoon, Mr. Colson," she said, and she held forth her +delicately-gloved hand.</p> + +<p>His own went forward to meet it, then drew suddenly back.</p> + +<p>"It is not clean enough," he said; "there's ink or something on it."</p> + +<p>But the lavender kids were not withdrawn.</p> + +<p>"Never mind the ink; a little honest soil never hurt anybody," and the +rough, dark hand was taken in her own.</p> + +<p>Then occurred a few moments' chat; at least the lady chatted with easy +familiarity. She referred to the "Social Parlours," to the "Monday +Evenings," to Miss Dennis's "Musicale," to half-a-dozen themes about +which the bewildered gentlemen within hearing knew nothing.</p> + +<p>Could it be that the low-voiced, gentle lady was trying to give them a +lesson as well as to talk with Dirk? Finally she made an appointment +for the next afternoon. Would his employer be so kind as to excuse +him for an hour, if convenient? Certainly, it would be convenient, to +please Mrs. Evan Roberts.</p> + +<p>Dirk was very much embarrassed. He blushed and stammered, and did not +know how to answer any of the kindnesses.</p> + +<p>But there were two things during the interview which gave Mrs. Roberts +more pleasure than you, perhaps, are able to understand.</p> + +<p>One was, that at sight of her he had suddenly snatched off the paper +cap which he wore; and the other, that having set it again on his head +as he turned from her, he glanced back from the door, and, in answer to +her bow and smile, lifted the ugly little cap with an air that was an +exact imitation of young Reid, and yet so well done that you would not +have thought of it as an imitation.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts could have clapped her bands, but she did not. Instead she +said sweetly,—</p> + +<p>"I am very glad that Mr. Colson is in the employment of a Christian +gentleman. He is greatly in need of help from all Christian sources, +and I am sure there is that in him which will respond to judicious +effort."</p> + +<p>Then she let the bewildered man attend her to her carriage, and went on +her way rejoicing.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>But there were plans being laid for her at that moment of which she +knew nothing.</p> + +<p>To-morrow she would go and see the golden-haired girl. In a +neatly-packed basket she had certain things—among them a bonnet and a +sack that she knew would fit the hair and face, and she believed would +give Mart pleasure. If only she could contrive a natural way to give +them to her, and there could be planned ways of keeping them safe from +the pawnbroker's grasp.</p> + +<p>All this time she knew nothing of the fact that the hand which had +grasped for years to furnish the pawnbroker was stilled for ever. It +had not once occurred to Dirk to tell her. It is a solemn fact that in +this greater excitement he had actually forgotten it!</p> + +<p>As for the "Christian employer," he did not know of it to tell. He had +not so much as known whether black Dirk had a father or not. He was +simply a street rough whom Dr. Everett was trying experiments with. And +because there was an unusual pressure on the office, and poor help was +better than none, he was helping the experiment.</p> + +<p>However, when Dirk went home from the office that night, he remembered +that the father was gone.</p> + +<p>Mart met him at the door, a look of solemn determination on her face.</p> + +<p>"Dirk," she said, "she's going; as sure as you live, she's going. She's +been bad all the afternoon. Sallie says that Mark's doctor will come +to see her—she knows he will, and Mark shall go for him as soon as he +comes home; but I don't mean to wait for no doctor. I want 'her' to +come. 'She' knows the way, and I want mother to be told it right, so +there won't be no mistake. You go for her, Dirk, right off straight. +There ain't any time to lose, for I tell you now she's 'going.' She's +been failing all along, you know, and she has just cried herself down. +Dirk, will you go for 'her' as fast as you can?"</p> + +<p>The confusion of pronouns might have bewildered you. They did not Dirk. +"Her" meant to him exactly what it did to Mart. He could not think how +it could possibly mean any other person. But this was astounding news +about his mother! It was one thing to have a father disappear whom he +had simply feared until he had learned to hate. It was quite another +thing to talk about the going away of the only one who had ever tried +to mend his clothes, and who had sat up nights to wash them when she +could.</p> + +<p>He strode past Mart into the wretched room, and looked at the bed in +the corner.</p> + +<p>The mother was asleep, but on her face was a strange change—a something +that he had never seen there before, worn and sunken as it always was. +It made him understand Mart's fears.</p> + +<p>"I'll go," he said huskily, and rushed from the house.</p> + +<p>"Her" carriage was just rolling down the avenue as his swift feet +cleared the alley. He knew the horses. He was a little ahead of them; +but it was not probable that the driver would stop for him.</p> + +<p>"Won't you stop that carriage?" he said in breathless haste to a +policeman at the corner. "I've got to speak to the lady that's in it."</p> + +<p>"I'll be quite likely to, no doubt!" said the policeman in quiet irony. +"What rascality are you up to now, Dirk? Can't you be decent for a few +days?"</p> + +<p>But Dirk was trying to free himself from the detaining hand, and threw +up one arm in a sort of despairing gesture to the coachman. Mr. Roberts +caught the signal, recognized the face, and in another moment the +horses stood restlessly by the curbstone, and Dirk, his embarrassment +gone, told his brief story rapidly:—</p> + +<p>"Father went off a little ago, and never came back; and mother, she +is sickly, and it set her crying; and she's going, Mart thinks, and I +guess it's so; and Mart wants you to come and show her the way. She +said you knew how, and you would come."</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_28">CHAPTER XXVIII.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"MAY SHE GO WITH ME?"</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>OF course she went. And of course, now that the truth was known, much +was done.</p> + +<p>Dr. Everett was summoned. The wretched bed, with its distressing rags, +was turned out altogether, and a comfortable one took its place. Broths +and teas and jellies and physical comfort of every kind were furnished, +and the doctor did his best to battle with the disease that long years +of want and misery had fastened upon their victim. It was all too late, +of course. It was true what Mr. Roberts sadly said, that half of the +effort, expended years or even months before, might have saved the +poor, tortured life; but now!</p> + +<p>How awful those "too lates" are! Isn't it a wonder that we ever take +the risk of having one ring in our ears for ever? There was one thing +over which some of these Christian workers shed tears of joy.</p> + +<p>"'I' am too late," said Dr. Everett, "but my Master has as much power +to-day as ever. He can save her."</p> + +<p>And he did. The poor, tired woman, who years before had remembered an +old story well enough to name her one daughter "Martha," in memory of +the one who "loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus," roused her dull +heart at the mention of His name, and listened while the wonderful +story was told her that he loved not only Martha and her sister, but +her own poor, sinful, wrecked self—loved her enough to reach after her, +and call and wait, and prepare for her a home in his glory.</p> + +<p>Dear! Why has not some one come with the news before? Surely she would +have listened during those long, sad years. Well, they made the way +plain. Neither was it a difficult thing to do. The woman was weary, and +travel-stained, and afraid, and longed for nothing so much as a place +of refuge. She knew that she was a sinner; she knew that she was, and +had been for many a year, powerless to help herself. Why should she not +hail with joy the story of a great and willing Helper?</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden."<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>She opened her eyes with a gleam of eagerness to hear the words: +"Weary?" Yes, indeed! "Heavy laden?" Who more so? If the call was not +for her, whom could it mean? What else? Why, what but the glorious old +story,—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "I will give you rest."<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>What wonder that she closed her eyes and smiled. What wonder that the +first words after that were, "I'll come; show me how." And he showed +her how.</p> + +<p>"Dirk," the sister said, when the mother had gone the last and only +restful journey of her life—"Dirk, she went to heaven, and I'm going. +I've been wanting to tell you for more than a week, but I didn't know +how. He asked me to, and I'm going. Now, you must. 'Cause we never +had a good time here, and she'll kind of expect it in heaven, and be +looking out for you;—she always looked out for you, Dirk."</p> + +<p>Then did Dirk lose his half-sullen self-control, and great tears rolled +down his dark cheeks.</p> + +<p>But the sister shed no tears. She had serious business to attend to. +Dirk must go to heaven now without fail.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>One day there was an unusual scene in the alley. It was no uncommon +thing to see a coffin carried out from there, but on this day there +was a hearse, and a minister in Dr. Everett's carriage, and Dirk and +his sister, in neat apparel, came out together and were seated in Mr. +Roberts's carriage; and all the boys of the Monday evening class walked +arm in arm after the slow-moving carriages. And the children of the +alley stopped their playing and their fighting, and the women stood +silent in doorways, and took, most of them, their very first lesson in +the proprieties of life.</p> + +<p>"She's got a ride in a carriage at last, poor soul!" said one, thinking +of the worn-out body in the coffin.</p> + +<p>And another said, "I wonder what poor old Jock would think of all this."</p> + +<p>But the scene made its impression and left its lesson. I think the +voices of some of them were lower during the rest of the day because of +it.</p> + +<p>What next? It was the question that filled Mrs. Roberts's thoughts. +Something must be done for Dirk and Mart. That fearful alley was no +place for human beings—certainly not for these two. But what to do with +them was a question not easily answered.</p> + +<p>Various plans were proposed. Sallie Calkins's two rooms were much +better than the cellar in which the Colson family had lived; and there +was a chance to rent a room next to Sallie's, with a closet opening +from it for Dirk. How would it do to have them board with Sallie? The +suggestion came first from Gracie Dennis, and sounded reasonable. Mrs. +Roberts was almost ashamed to dislike it as much as she did. Sallie's +neat rooms were home now. The father, for this length of time at least, +held to his pledge; and son and daughter were radiant over him. He +had gone to work, and already the two rooms were taking on an air of +greater comfort because of the little things that he proudly brought +home.</p> + +<p>Sallie was doing her part wisely. The table was regularly laid now, +with a white cloth and knives and forks; and two new cups and plates +had been added to the dishes. Would it be wise to invade this home just +at this juncture and introduce boarders? Mrs. Roberts did not believe +that it would. It was not as though the father had an established +character, and stood ready to shield his children; they were still +acting the protective, and he had but too recently risen from the +depths where Dirk and Mart had laughed and jeered at him.</p> + +<p>Besides, the rooms were located in that dreadful alley; and do what she +would, Mrs. Roberts could not feel that that dangerously-beautiful face +could find a safe abiding-place in that alley. Some other way must be +thought of.</p> + +<p>Their immediate future was arranged through the intervention of a +house agent; for even that dreary and desolate cellar had its agent, +who was eager to secure his rent. He was unwise enough to undertake to +interview Mrs. Roberts as she descended from her carriage, not long +after it had followed Mart's mother to the grave.</p> + +<p>He considered this effort of his, a special stroke of business energy. +He wanted to be patient with the poor, he said; there wasn't an agent +in the city who waited for them oftener than he did; but business was +business, and it stood to reason that he could not depend on a fellow +like Dirk. It had been bad enough when the mother was there, but he +couldn't think of such a thing as risking it now. What was he to +understand? Did she mean to rent the room for them, and for how long? +Because it was his duty to look out for the future.</p> + +<p>What would be more natural than for Mrs. Roberts, with those two young +things looking on, to say that of course she would be responsible for +the rent as long as they lived in the room? Thus reasoned the house +agent.</p> + +<p>Instead of which, Mrs. Roberts turned toward Dirk, her face flushed +over the hardness of a man who could stop a boy and girl on such +business on their way from their mother's grave, and said:</p> + +<p>"If I were in your place, Mr. Colson, I should not rent these rooms at +all. They are not suited to your sister's needs. I am sure you can do +better."</p> + +<p>The agent was disgusted. "Mr. Colson," indeed! The disreputable young +scamp whom nobody trusted. He would show this silly woman a fact or two.</p> + +<p>"Business is business," he repeated doggedly. "Either they must take +the room, and pay the rent in advance, or else they must hustle out +this very night. I have waited now three days after time for decency's +sake, and more than that I couldn't and wouldn't do."</p> + +<p>Dirk stood looking from one to the other, the red coming and going on +his swarthy face. Here was responsibility! He had not thought of it +before. The mother was not there to count out the hoarded rent with +trembling fingers, and save the wretched home to them for another +month. She would never be there again. He had nothing with which to pay +rent; he had nowhere to move. Yet "she" had called him Mr. Colson, and +seemed to expect him to act for himself and Mart.</p> + +<p>It was she who answered the agent, but she spoke to Dirk:</p> + +<p>"Very well. I suppose you are quite as willing to leave here to-night +as at any time. If I were you, I would leave immediately. Let your +sister come home with me for the night, and until you have time to make +other arrangements."</p> + +<p>Mr. Roberts had been summoned to a bank meeting, and had sent Reid to +attend his wife. He came forward now from the carriage, where he had +stood waiting, and laid hand on Dirk's arm.</p> + +<p>"And you come home with me to-night, Colson," he said in a cordial +tone, such as he might have used with any young friend; "then we shall +have a chance to talk things over and make plans."</p> + +<p>"That is nice," Mrs. Roberts said quickly, rejoicing in her heart over +Reid's promptness to act. "Then you can get away from this wretched +place at once. Mr. Roberts will see to the removal of your goods, +whatever you need, and the agent can call on him in the morning. That +will be the simplest way to settle it all. May she go with me?"</p> + +<p>A slight, caressing movement of a gloved hand on the girl's arm +accompanied this question.</p> + +<p>Mart was silent with bewilderment. When had Dirk ever before been asked +what she might do, or might not do? At first she was half inclined to +scorn the suggestion. Then, suddenly, it came to her with a sense of +relief and protection: she was not alone; it was Dirk's business to +think of and care for her. Would he do it?</p> + +<p>As for Dirk, no wonder that his face was deeply flushed. New thoughts +were struggling in his heart. He was to decide for Mart; he was the +head of the home now.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts waited anxiously. She longed exceedingly to rouse in +the boy, who was already grown to the stature of a man, a sense of +responsibility.</p> + +<p>A moment more, and he had shaken himself free from the spell which +seemed to bind him.</p> + +<p>"We'll do as you say." He spoke with the air of a man who had assumed +his proper place and taken up his duties. "Mart, you go along with her, +and I'll see about things to-morrow."</p> + +<p>And Mart, for the first time in her life, received and obeyed in +silence a direction from her brother.</p> + +<p>Possibly Mrs. Roberts may have been mistaken, but she thought that much +had been accomplished that day.</p> + +<p>Yet none of them realized whereunto this thing would grow.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts, when she ushered Mart that evening into the pink room +again, and showed her how to manage the hot and cold water, and which +bell to ring if she needed anything, and in every imaginable way +treated her as a guest, whom it was pleasant to serve, had really no +plans just then—no hobby to ride—but simply acted out the dictates of +her heart.</p> + +<p>You will remember that her Christian life had been always +unconventional. The very fact that during her early girlhood she had +been painfully trammelled by what "they" would say or think, seemed to +have had its influence over her later experiences. Since she had been +made free, she would be free indeed—that is, with the liberty with +which Christ makes us free. What would please "him" she resolved should +be the one thought to which she would give careful attention. Now, +it is perhaps worthy of mention that this closely following disciple +did not once stop to determine whether it would please him to give +such tender care to this stray child of his, or whether she would be +considered doing not just the thing, in his eyes, if she entertained +her in the pink room.</p> + +<p>About what he would have her do next, she gave much thought. And it was +not for days, or rather weeks, that she caught the possibility of his +meaning that the pink room should really be the girl's own.</p> + +<p>It was just this way. The weeks went by, and no plan for settling Mart +comfortably elsewhere met Mrs. Roberts's approval. There was constantly +some excellent reason why the one mentioned would not do.</p> + +<p>Meantime they became, she and Gracie Dennis, more and more deeply +interested in Mart. In her wardrobe first.</p> + +<p>"Wherever she lives, she should have respectable clothing; thus much is +easily settled."</p> + +<p>So the matron decreed, and Gracie did not gainsay it. She became +absorbed in preparing it. Such fascinating work! So many things were +needed, and her skin was so delicate, and her eyes so blue, and +Gracie's choice of shades and textures fitted her so precisely.</p> + +<p>Then when dressed, simple though her toilet was, her remarkable beauty +shone out so conspicuously as to alarm Mrs. Roberts, whenever she +thought of her in shop or in store.</p> + +<p>Several times during the weeks she visited Sallie Calkins, and looked +about her with a thoughtful air, and came away feeling that it would +not do. There was Mark, growing into manhood; a good boy, hard-working, +respectable, proud of his good, homely sister, and of his reformed +father. The two rooms were taking on every sort of homely comfort that +Sallie's skill, helped by Mrs. Roberts's suggestions, could devise. It +was growing into a model little home in its way, but there was not a +corner in it where Mart would fit.</p> + +<p>Then, as the days passed, a subtle, fascinating change began to come +over Mart. She slipped quietly into certain household duties. She +showed marvellous skill with her needle—such skill indeed, that Gracie +Dennis said more than once:</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you, Flossy, what to do with her: put her in a good +establishment, and let her learn the dressmaking trade. She could make +her fortune in time."</p> + +<p>And Mrs. Roberts smiled, and assented to the statement, but not to the +proposition. There was no dressmaking establishment known to her where +she was willing to place so young and pretty and ignorant a girl. But +she was quite willing that Mart should learn the looping of dresses, +and the fitting of sacks and collars and ruffles, and take many a +stitch for her, as well as for Gracie.</p> + +<p>She was willing to have her do a dozen little nameless things the +ways of doing which she had caught up; until at last the touch of her +fingers began to be felt about the rooms, and Mrs. Roberts began to +notice that she should miss Mart when she went away. Still, from the +first time she said this, the thought came afterward with a smile of +satisfaction, and it was but a week afterward that she caught herself +phrasing it, that she should miss her "if" she went away.</p> + +<p>What about Dirk? Young Reid could have told you more of him during +these days than anybody else. He still stayed at the boarding-house. +Mrs. Saunders, the mistress of it, was one who, if you had known her, +you would feel sure could interest herself heartily in such as he. +There was a bit of a room next to Reid's. To be sure, it had been used +for a clothes-press, and it took the busy housekeeper half-a-day to +plan how she could get along without it; but she planned, and offered +it to Reid for his protégé.</p> + +<p>"Just for the present, you know, until he sees what he can do, poor +fellow," she said.</p> + +<p>And Reid accepted the little room joyfully, and helped to fit it up.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_29">CHAPTER XXIX.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"WHAT IF I BELONGED?"</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>YOU think things are taking very rapid strides? Well, don't you know +that there come periods when they do just that thing, or appear +to? Why, even the buds on the trees teach us the lesson. How many +spring-times have you gone to your bed feeling that the season was +late, and the trees were bare, and the fruits would all be backward, +and nature was dawdling along in a very wearisome fashion; and awakened +in the morning to find that there had in the night been a gentle rain, +and a movement of mysterious power among the buds and the grasses, and +that now, in the morning sunshine, the world had burst into bloom? Yet, +did you really suppose, after all, that the work was done in one night?</p> + +<p>There was progress of several sorts in the class at the South End. +Even a casual observer could have seen a change in the boys that first +Sunday after they had attended Dirk's mother to the grave. The dignity +of that hour of sorrow was still upon them. Even the very reckless and +world-hardened will offer a certain degree of respect to death. On +ordinary occasions the boys might have been merry at Dirk's expense, +for they saw changes in him; but the memory of his mother's coffin kept +them silent, and let his changed manner have its effect.</p> + +<p>That Sunday was full of small events to Dirk—at least they are small +enough when one puts them on paper, though I admit that they looked +large to him. Several people interested themselves in his welfare.</p> + +<p>"Poor fellow!" said Mrs. Saunders. "I suppose his mother tried to do +for him. Just as likely as not she had a clean shirt for him of a +Sunday morning."</p> + +<p>You will perceive that Mrs. Saunders, though all her life a resident of +a large city, was not very well acquainted with the abject poor.</p> + +<p>In point of fact, Dirk Colson had had no extra clothing for his mother +to make clean. But Mrs. Saunders, full of the motherly thought, yet +finding no trace of a shirt in the bundle of rags that Dirk had brought +with him, went down one day into the depths of an old trunk, and +brought to light and mended and washed and ironed a shirt that had long +been laid aside.</p> + +<p>It lay in its purity on a chair at the foot of Dirk's bed on Sabbath +morning. He lay still and looked at it for a while, then arose and gave +such careful attention to the soap and water as was new to him, and +arrayed himself in the clean linen.</p> + +<p>Rig clothes were whole and clean. Mr. Roberts had seen to it that he +went respectably dressed to his mother's funeral.</p> + +<p>A tap at his door a little later, and young Reid appeared, shoe-brush +and blacking-box in hand.</p> + +<p>"Want to borrow?" he said, in the careless tone of one who might have +supposed that the blacking of his boots was an every-day matter to this +boy. "I always keep my own; it is cheaper than to depend on the street +boys."</p> + +<p>Dirk said nothing at all, but reached forth his hand, and took the +offered tools, and the hint which came with them. When he went down +to breakfast his boots shone, and his fresh paper collar was neatly +arranged; altogether he was not the boy to whom I first introduced +you. I am not sure that Policeman Duffer would have recognized him. A +collar and a necktie make a great difference in some people's personal +appearance. Dirk wondered a little as to where the box of paper collars +came from. The necktie he had just found lying in the bottom of the +box. It was the mate of the one Reid wore; but that told nothing, for +both were simple and plain, and could be bought by the dozen in any +furnishing store.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>It is small wonder that the boys in the class looked at him. Nimble +Dick wore at first a roguish air, but a sudden memory of Dirk's face +when he turned away from his mother's grave came in time. Open graves +are not easy things to forget.</p> + +<p>Dirk went to the church that day—went with young Reid by invitation, +and sat in the pew behind Mr. Roberts.</p> + +<p>By the way, the seat which he occupied was another of Mr. Roberts's +peculiarities. Three seats were rented by him in a central part of the +large church. One of these seats he and his wife regularly occupied. +The others were almost as regularly occupied by the clerks from the +store who chose to make that their church home. Six sittings to a pew. +When a young man chose, Mr. Roberts was ready to enter into a business +engagement with him, whereby the sitting should be considered his own, +Mr. Roberts considering it to be no part of any one's concern that the +sum for which he thus sublet the sittings was not a tenth of what the +first rental cost. It was in this way that Mr. Reid owned sittings in +the pew just back of that occupied by Mr. Roberts, and brought with him +constantly one and another young man. To-day the young man was Dirk +Colson.</p> + +<p>It was all a strange world to him. He had wandered into the gallery +of the mission chapel, and looked down from his perch on the crowd of +worshippers; but this morning he was in the very centre of things, as +if he were one of them. Perhaps it was not strange that the startled +inquiry came to his mind: What if I belonged? Where did he belong now? +He had lost his place; he must make another. What if it should be in +this neighbourhood, among these surroundings? Such thoughts did not +take actual shape to him, so that he could have put them into words; +they merely hovered in his atmosphere.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts sat so that he could look at her, which thing he liked to +do. It had long since been settled in his mind that he had one friend, +and that one was Mrs. Roberts. He admired Gracie Dennis, too, with a +different sort of admiration from that which he gave to the matron. She +might be all very well; and she was a splendid reader, and he knew that +he could imitate her on certain sentences, at least. And she had taught +him to use the type-writer—an accomplishment which he meant to perfect +himself in as soon as he had a chance. In fact, his ambition reached +higher than that: one of these days, he meant to make one of his own, +with certain improvements! Who shall say that Dirk was not growing?</p> + +<p>On this particular day there sat beside Mrs. Roberts a lady,—a +stranger. He could not see her face, but for some reason, which he did +not understand, Dirk liked to look at her. She suggested something to +him that seemed like a familiar dream. He thought much about her, and +resolved to see if in her face she looked like any one he ever saw. As +she turned at the close of the service he was looking at her steadily. +Lo! It was Mart.</p> + +<p>No; the possibility had not once suggested itself to his mind. If you +think this doubtful, you merely show that you know nothing about the +transforming effect of a becoming dress, no matter how simple it may +be. Remember, Dirk had never but twice seen his sister in a bonnet. +The first time it was Sallie's; and though the effect was sufficiently +startling, yet Sallie's bonnet did not fit her face as this creation +of Gracie Dennis's fingers did. The second time the bonnet had been a +hideous black one, proffered by an old woman who lived in the story +above them, and whose thoughtfulness Mrs. Roberts would not mar by +making any mention of the neat one which she had brought in a box that +day. The black bonnet had been like a mask, hiding Mart's beauty.</p> + +<p>The bonnet that she wore now was not of that character. It told a +wonderful story to Dirk's astonished gaze. Now, indeed, the likeness +was plain; without doubt, the girl whose face lighted with a curious +smile at sight of him bore a striking likeness to the woman who had +smiled on him whenever she met him!</p> + +<p>A curious effect this had on Dirk. There was that in his sister which +made it possible for her to be something like the woman who had won his +heart; and that sister was in his care—she had said so. He must work +for her, and watch over her!</p> + +<p>I suppose that Sabbath was really the beginning of the surface changes +in Mrs. Roberts's class—not the beginning to the teacher, but to those +people who have eyes only for strongly marked things.</p> + +<p>I know that it was but a few weeks afterward that Mrs. Roberts came +home with such an unusual light in her eyes, and with her face so full +of brightness, that her husband said, inquiringly,—</p> + +<p>"What is it, Flossy?"</p> + +<p>She turned to him eagerly, ready to laugh.</p> + +<p>"It is what you will understand, but a great many people wouldn't. It +is so nice that you understand things! I feel just like saying, 'Thank +the Lord.'"</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to convey the idea that only a very few favoured people +feel like that? I don't know of a person who has not great occasion. +What is your special one?"</p> + +<p>"Evan, the last boy had his boots blacked, and a fresh paper collar on!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Roberts threw back his head and laughed—a genial, hearty laugh.</p> + +<p>His wife looked on, smiling.</p> + +<p>There is a great deal of character in a laugh, remember; you would have +known that this was a sympathetic one.</p> + +<p>Mr. Roberts was entirely capable of realizing what this said to his +wife about the future of her boys. It was becoming certain that their +self-respect was awakened.</p> + +<p>A few days thereafter occurred another of those little things which +mark some characters.</p> + +<p>Dirk, at Mrs. Saunders's breakfast-table on Sabbath morning, heard talk +that on Monday, he recalled. By the way, I should have told you of one +other way in which the Sabbath became a marked day to him. He slept in +the little room which opened from Reid's, but his meals were picked up +at a restaurant, as occasion offered,—a much nicer and surer method of +living than he had ever known before. Even the commonest restaurant +was great respectability to him. Yet you will remember that he had +by this time taken several suppers in Mrs. Roberts's dining-room. He +knew that there was a difference in things—in fact, his experience now +stretched over infinite differences; but the first time he sat down to +Mrs. Saunders's breakfast-table, on a Sabbath morning, he discovered +another grade: this by no means belonged to the restaurant class. These +Sunday breakfasts and dinners were some of Mrs. Saunders's quiet ways +of helping along the work of the Christian world. Many a young man +appeared at her table as the guest of Reid or of Dr. Everett, or of +some other of the boarders, who was unaware that he owed the pleasant +experience to the landlady.</p> + +<p>Well, Dirk at the Sabbath table heard talk of one General Burton, +famous as a soldier, a scholar, and an orator. General Burton was +in the city, the guest of a prominent man. He was to speak on the +following evening in one of the great halls, and much eager talk was +had concerning him; great desire was expressed to hear him, to get a +glimpse of him. Dirk listened in silence, but had his own thoughts +about what it must be to have people talking about one, wanting to get +a glimpse of one, and next, what it must be to be intimate with such +people. Did Mrs. Roberts know the great man? he wondered. And then +Dirk smiled as he thought how queer it was that he should know Mrs. +Roberts—that he might, in fact, be called intimately acquainted with +her!</p> + +<p>Remembering this reverie of his, you will better understand how he felt +on Monday morning, as he made his way in haste down a quiet part of one +of the up-town streets, intent on an errand that required promptness, +to hear his name called by Mrs. Roberts.</p> + +<p>"Good-morning!" she said. "Are you in too great haste to recognize your +friends? I want to introduce you to a friend of mine. General Burton, +Mr. Colson.—General, this is one of my young men, of whom I told you."</p> + +<p>Whereupon the famous general, hero of many battles, held out his +honoured hand and took Dirk's in a cordial grasp. I don't suppose I +could explain to you what an effect this action had on a boy like Dirk.</p> + +<p>There is this comfort, you may be a student of human nature, and +therefore may understand it all without explanation.</p> + +<p>This is only one of many so-called trifles which occurred during the +weeks to make their indelible impress on the characters of the boys.</p> + +<p>Of course, the Monday evenings prospered. Reading lessons and writing +lessons, and, as time passed, lessons of all sorts, made good progress.</p> + +<p>Neatly-blackened boots, carefully-arranged hair, and fresh collars +became the rule instead of the exception.</p> + +<p>Other avenues for improvement opened. It became noised abroad in +Christian circles that great transformations were being worked among +a certain set of hard young fellows who had hitherto been best known +to the police. Mr. Roberts was interviewed by one and another, and one +outgrowth of the talks was that tickets for a course of expensive and +valuable and attractive lectures on popular subjects were placed in +large numbers in Mr. Roberts's hands for him to use at discretion.</p> + +<p>Moreover, seats were rented in the church, towards which most of the +boys gravitated—the one connected with their mission; seats re-rented +after Mr. Roberts's plan, so that as often as there appeared a young +man who cared to have a spot in the church which belonged to him, it +could be had for a very small sum—in fact, as pews rented in that +church, a ridiculously small sum.</p> + +<p>These are only hints of the channels which time and patience and +thought opened for these young men, on whom, but a short time before, +Satan believed himself to have so firm a grip.</p> + +<p>One feature of the Monday evenings had, in the course of time, to be +changed. The young teacher of elocution went home.</p> + +<p>"I want to go," she said at last, in answer to her hostess's pleading. +"I think it quite likely that papa would let me stay and attend school +here; but I am in haste to get home. You need not look sober, Flossy. I +have had a happier time than I have ever had in my life before, and I +have found here a sort of happiness that will last. It almost breaks my +heart to think of leaving those boys, especially my dear Dick Bolton; +but really I need to go home and undo certain things that I left badly +done. You don't half know me, Flossy Shipley. When I came here I was a +regular goose. If you had known what a simpleton I was, and how hateful +I had been about some things at home, you would never have invited me.</p> + +<p>"Among other things that were hateful about me, I was a real horror to +my mother. I thought I had reason to distrust and dislike her, when the +truth is that I have cause to go down on my knees and thank her for +keeping me from some things. I'm in a real hurry to get home, and show +that young mother of mine what a perfectly angelic daughter I can be."</p> + +<p>And Mrs. Roberts smiled and kept her own counsel, and this was all +that she was supposed to know about her young guest. She never knew +the whole story about Professor Ellis; though there was a girl, Hester +Mason by name, in Dr. Everett's Sabbath school, who could have told her +a good deal about him, and about Gracie Dennis's helping to break the +net that Satan had woven for her unwary feet.</p> + +<p>The fact is, there is a great deal concerning all these people—Hester +Mason and Dr. Everett and Joy Saunders and Joy Saunders's mother—which +I should have liked to tell you if I could have found room. You may +read of them any time, however, if you choose, in a book called +"Workers Together; or, An Endless Chain." Of course, the story of +their lives does not end even there, because the chain is, as I said, +"endless;" but there are many of the links presented to view.</p> + +<p>So Gracie Dennis went home. And neither then nor afterward did Mrs. +Roberts hear in detail the story of Professor Ellis. What matter? She +had, however, a short added chapter. It came in a letter from Mrs. +Marion Dennis not long after Gracie's return. It read thus:—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "O Flossy Shipley Roberts! Blessed little scheming saint that you are! +What did you do? How did you do it? Ah! I know more about it than those +sentences would indicate. The dear Lord did it, working through you, +his servant. He has called our Gracie to higher ground, filled her +heart with that which has made insignificant things take their true +place, and wrong things show for what they are.<br> +<br> + "You know, of course, that it is all right about Professor Ellis;—Or +no! I fear it is all wrong about him, but right with our Gracie. I hear +that he has permanently located in your city. Perhaps your Christian +charity can reach him. He sent Gracie a letter, trying to explain +certain affairs about that Mason girl, with which I presume you are +familiar. She showed me the letter and her answer. He will not write +her another!"<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"I don't know any Mason girl," said Mrs. Roberts to her husband, "but +it doesn't matter. I don't want to know the story if there is nothing +to be done through it. There are stories enough that one 'must' know."</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_30">CHAPTER XXX.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"IT IS NO MADE-UP AFFAIR."</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>IT was Monday evening, and there was company at Mr. Roberts's +home—not the usual Monday evening gathering, but quite a large party +of well-dressed men and women, many of them young, yet some were +middle-aged. The pretty room opposite the conservatory was thrown +open, and aglow with lights and flowers; and groups were continually +passing in and out, admiring the paintings and the flowers, and the +type-writers of different patterns, and the books and magazines, of +which there were many. But interest was not confined to this room. The +parlours were thrown open and the music-room beyond; even the cosy +little library was public property for this one evening. The company +was large and their tastes were varied; so no pains had been spared to +give them variety.</p> + +<p>You are acquainted with quite a number of the guests; yet I am by no +means sure that you would recognize them all. Even in so short a period +as three years great changes may be effected.</p> + +<p>For instance, do you know the young man in unnoticeable, and therefore +appropriate, evening dress, who is doing duty at the piano, watching +with practised eye the course of the player, and turning the leaf with +skilful hand at just the right moment? It is a somewhat embarrassing +position; but his manner leads you to suppose that he has been +accustomed to it all his life, and that he reads music well. In the +latter belief you are correct; but as to being accustomed to it—three +years ago Nimble Dick could have told you a different story.</p> + +<p>You can't believe that it is he? I do not wonder. The change is +certainly a great one; but he does not feel it. To tell you the truth, +he almost forgets, when he becomes absorbed in his work, that this sort +of society was not always open to him. Three years mean a long time +to the young; and Richard Bolton has so long been accustomed to the +freedom of Mrs. Roberts's parlour; and to the sort of people whom one +finds there, that none of the refinements of polite life are strange +to him; and as to turning music, has he not done it for his hostess +numberless times?</p> + +<p>If your eyes are now opened, it is possible that you may be trying to +spy out other young men. The rooms are full of them, elegantly-dressed +fashionable young men; but a few are noticeable by the air which they +have of being in a sense responsible for the comfort of the others. +They are on the alert; they are taking care that no young guest shall +appear for a moment to be forgotten or neglected. They appear to be +entirely familiar with the house and all its appointments. They can be +appealed to for a glass of water or an ice, or to know what special +scene this landscape hanging over the mantle represents, or whose bust +this is in the niche at the left, or in what portion of the library a +certain book will be found, or from what part of the foreign world that +strangely-shaped shell came; and they are all equally at home.</p> + +<p>In short, it is like having a dozen or twenty young hosts to look after +your comfort and pleasure. In point of fact, there are seventeen of +them. The original seven has thus increased. Two months ago there were +twenty; but one has secured an appointment as telegraph operator in a +distant city—and as Stephen Crowley occupies a similar position in one +of the offices in this city, some very interesting conversations are +held, and many important items connected with the "Monday evenings" +and the South End School and the "Library Association," etc., are +transmitted when the lines are not otherwise employed.</p> + +<p>Young Haskell, too, has gone with one of the partners from the store +where he was first employed, to set up a branch store in a not distant +town; and his old Sabbath school teacher has already received letters +from him, saying that they have started a branch Sunday school in the +south part of the town, and that he has picked seven little wretches +out of the streets, from eight to twelve years of age, and gone to work.</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "And, dear Mrs. Roberts, I wish you would pray for me, that I may be +able to bring every one of them to Christ."<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>So the letter ran; and that tells volumes to the initiated about young +Haskell.</p> + +<p>But although the changes among these young men have been great almost +to bewilderment, only one of the number has been promoted to a dazzling +height. The others are without exception earning good, honest livings +for themselves; securing good, substantial education through the +evening classes which have grown out of that first effort; bidding fair +to become leading and honoured citizens when they actually take their +places as men. But Mark Calkins, faithful, plodding, good-hearted, +patient Mark, has surpassed them all!</p> + +<p>The truth is, "that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath +entered into the heart," what sort of magnificence surrounds him now. +He has gone to court. The chief Ruler of the realm has sent for Mark to +be always in his immediate presence in the palace; and with what joy he +went I cannot tell you, nor how often they speak of him, and try to let +their hearts conceive of the glory which surrounds him, and dwell on +the day when they will be called, one after another, to share the same +glory, for this is the ambition of more than half of them.</p> + +<p>Now, in that sentence is unveiled the most curious part of my curious +story; and that it is curious I frankly admit. It is no made-up affair. +I am not responsible for the strangeness of it. You are to remember +that "truth is stranger than fiction," and then to understand that I am +telling you the truth. It is, then, a fact that these young men have +each received conditional appointments to serve in the palace, high in +power, and splendour, and dignity. The conditions are that they are +to be willing to be guided in all things by the will of their King, +whom they each admit to be wise above all wisdom, and to be kind above +all their conceptions of kindness. It is true that nine of the number +have accepted their appointments, donned their uniform, assumed their +positions as he has directed, and are waiting for the summons to appear +in person at court. It is also true that the others are still in a +state of indecision; they do not know whether to accept the appointment +or not. It is true that they feel themselves honoured; that they +believe this to be the only path of honourable and safe promotion. It +is true that they have full faith in those who will tell with joy that, +having enlisted, they find the service even in this ante-room sweet and +the rewards great.</p> + +<p>It is true that they severally visited Mark, just as the door was +opening to admit him to the palace, and heard him speak of the glimpses +of its glory, and heard that his last words before he went away +were, "Oh, mine eyes see the King in his beauty!" And that his voice +was jubilant as that of a conqueror, and his face radiant as with a +reflection of unseen glory. And yet they hesitate, and daily with the +call, and mean, some time, to have such an inheritance deeded to them, +but not now. Remember, I am not responsible for this. Were I writing +fiction I should hesitate to set down such idiotic folly, expecting you +to call it unnatural or absurdly overdrawn; but I do solemnly declare +to you that this is fact. Account for the folly of their behaviour as +best you can.</p> + +<p>Well, Sallie and her father are left behind. But, mind you, they are +not among the doubtful ones. They both as much expect to serve at court +as they expect to live through all eternity. But while they wait, +they are busy. They have moved from the alley; the surroundings were +not such as they liked. Did you notice that bit of a house standing +modestly back from the road, at the farther corner of those ample +grounds that surround the South End Church? It is the sexton's house; +and that church, and those Sunday school rooms, and those grounds, and +everything pertaining to them, are under his care. The father is the +sexton it is true, and attends the furnace and rings the bell; but it +is Sallie's care that keeps seat and desk and window so beautifully +free from dust or stain. Oh, they live busy lives, and happy ones. +Sallie trusted not in vain in her father's promise that night, when he +put his weak will into the pledge; but you are to understand that it +was but a few days thereafter when he planted his weak and wavering +feet on the Rock of Ages. Then did Satan angle for him in vain.</p> + +<p>So, on this Monday evening, there were but seventeen at the gathering. +I hesitate over what to name the gathering. I would call it a party, +but that in many respects it was so totally different from anything +with which you are probably acquainted by that name.</p> + +<p>The young man who stands by the door of the conservatory, eagerly +describing to Miss Henderson a rare and curious flower, which has +been sent to Mrs. Roberts from California, is "Black Dirk." Really, I +hope you are sufficiently astonished; for he looks so utterly unlike +the scamp who used to be the special torment of the South End Mission +that I should be disappointed if you were not impressed by it. "Mr. +Colson" almost everybody calls him now. The name has long since lost +its strangeness. He is in the employment of the great firm of Bostwick, +Smythe, Roberts & Co.</p> + +<p>And although Mr. Roberts has never found it convenient to do so before, +there were reasons why he thought it would be well to have a clerk +within call, so Mr. Colson boards with what was the junior partner of +the firm. He is so no more, by the way, for Mr. Reid has been received +as a member, and is decidedly a "junior" partner. Probably Mr. Roberts +could tell you, if he chose, why one so young, and without capital, had +been elected to partnership; but, as a rule, he keeps his own counsel, +only remarking that the young man developed remarkable business +faculties which were patent to the whole firm. To his wife he said:—</p> + +<p>"I tell you, Flossy, I believe a consecrated life will be honoured +by the Lord in whatever channel he gives it talents to develop. +'Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.' That young man is going to have a +career in business. I shouldn't be surprised if the Master meant him to +show the world how a Christian can use money to his glory."</p> + +<p>It is early yet to prophesy what Mr. Colson will do. Doubtless he will +be a merchant; certainly he will be a Christian; possibly he will be +an orator, of whom the world will yet hear—a temperance orator, for +instance. I know you would like to hear him read a poem. He is not +confined to Will Carleton's style now, though he still reads with power +some of those inimitable delineations of life; but Gracie Dennis offers +no more criticisms when he reads. In fact, I have heard her defer to +him, when a question arose, as one who had probably studied the passage +and caught its best. I am willing to confess that my poor Black Dirk +was a bit of a genius.</p> + +<p>The thought I desire you to catch is that so many of those poor +fellows, who of necessity live by their wits in the city slums, are +diamonds which could be fitted to shine. You take a diamond, and throw +it down in the dirt and filth, and put your foot on it, and grind it +in, and leave it there, sinking and soiling, day after day, year after +year; and when somebody comes along and picks it out, how much will it +gleam for him at first? Yet the diamond is there.</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "Thou shalt ... be ... a royal diadem in the hand of thy God."<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts had been at work hunting diamonds for His diadem.</p> + +<p>As Mr. Colson stood there chatting freely with Miss Henderson, there +was nothing about the association that looked incongruous, neither did +it occur to any. There was not a trace of embarrassment about this boy +from the slums; he had forgotten the slums, and stood talking with one +of the aristocrats of the city.</p> + +<p>How came she to talk with him, to allow herself to be entertained by +him? Let me tell you; thereby hangs a tale. Some time before this +evening—in fact, nearly two years before—Mrs. Roberts had come to a +puzzle, and stood and looked at it doubtfully. Then she presented it to +the others:—</p> + +<p>"They are growing easy in their manners with me; learning to be +gentlemanly without embarrassment, and thoughtful over little things +without being ashamed of it; but I am afraid that with other ladies +they would be sadly frightened and awkward. When Mrs. Delaney came in +this evening I could but notice how utterly silent Mr. Colson became; +he had been talking well before. It seems as though there was a great +gulf between them and social advancement. How can we bridge it?"</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Reid ventured his thought:—</p> + +<p>"My sister Esther had a class in the Centre Street Sabbath school—nice +little girls, who wore pretty dresses, and had their hair curled, and +came from the best families. After she was taken sick, she told me +one of her regrets was that she had not stayed well long enough to +try a plan which she had. She meant to take a class of rough little +boys in the mission school, and she meant to ask the mothers of the +little girls to let them come, once a month, and play with the little +boys from the streets—she to play with them and watch over them +every moment, but to try to interest the girls in teaching the boys +gentleness and good manners. I don't know how it would have worked. +Esther was never well enough to undertake it, nor could she seem +to enlist any one else in such service. It has grave objections, I +suppose; but I have always thought that I should like to see something +of the kind carefully tried."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts, before this little story was half concluded, had turned +those eager eyes of hers on the speaker—eyes that always had a peculiar +light in them whenever her soul took in a new suggestion.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," she said. "I see—oh! A great many things. I ought to have +called in that dear sister Esther to help on this phase of the question +before. It has always seemed to me as though we were doing her work."</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_31">CHAPTER XXXI.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>"THEIR WORKS DO FOLLOW THEM."</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>THAT was the beginning of a new effort. There were certain young ladies +becoming well known to Mrs. Roberts by reason of a similarity of tastes +which drew them to her.</p> + +<p>She sat down one day and wrote out their names with great care on her +tablets.</p> + +<p>Miss Henderson's name headed the list. She was one of the aristocrats. +I use the word in its highest sense. The accidents of wealth and +position were hers—at least, that is the way we talk, though I suppose +we all believe that the Lord is the giver of both, and will require an +account of the same at our hands.</p> + +<p>If this be so, Miss Henderson will be more ready than some with her +rendering; for she is of royal blood, and guards well the honour of the +Christian name she bears.</p> + +<p>Without hesitation, Miss Henderson headed the list. The others were +chosen more slowly—ten of them, picked soldiers, to do special duty "in +His name."</p> + +<p>It required much explanation, much care to plan wisely.</p> + +<p>But the girls caught at the idea.</p> + +<p>In the course of weeks they formed a band, with Miss Henderson for +president. Ostensibly they were a literary society; really they were +diamond polishers.</p> + +<p>They met one evening by invitation with Mrs. Roberts, and made the +acquaintance of the "Monday Club." They sang for them, read for them, +heard them read; chatted with them on the various topics of the +hour,—the last lecture of the course, which all had attended; a certain +book carefully read and criticised by Mr. and Mrs. Roberts and Dr. +Everett in the Monday Club—not so carefully read by the young ladies; +therefore, it came to pass that they were somewhat worsted in an +argument concerning it, which was bad neither for the young ladies nor +the Monday Club.</p> + +<p>Finally, they were taken out to supper by these young men who had so +far come under Mrs. Roberts's influence that they were willing to +endure "torture" for the sake of pleasing her.</p> + +<p>It is a long story. I could write another book about it just as well as +not.</p> + +<p>The main difficulty would be that the critics would pronounce the story +overdrawn. They always do when one revels in facts. It is only when +an author keeps within the range of sober fiction that he may feel +comparatively safe from this charge.</p> + +<p>These young ladies represented other parlours and other dining-rooms. +They arranged for little graceful entertainments, to which the Monday +Club was invited. Gradually others were invited too—good, solid men, +and wise-hearted, motherly women. The invitations were select, the +"polishers" were chosen with care; but it was surprising to these +workers to find how large the Christian world is, and how many stood +ready to help if they were shown how.</p> + +<p>"It is one of the best suggestions that that dear Esther has given us." +This Mrs. Roberts said one evening when the Young Ladies' Band and the +Monday Club combined their forces and gave an entertainment to some of +the best people in the avenue.</p> + +<p>I have given you hints of how they did it. They were every one +Christians, these young ladies; none others were chosen. They worked +with a single aim in view—His glory. They took no step that was not +paved with prayer. Do you need to be told that they succeeded?</p> + +<p>This was one of the reasons why Mr. Colson chatted with Miss Henderson +with perfect freedom, and why his bow was graceful and easy when she +introduced him to her friend Miss Fanshawe of Philadelphia. He was +accustomed to being introduced to her friends.</p> + +<p>I'm sure I hope you wish I would tell you somewhat of Mart Colson. If +you are not deeply interested in her, I am disappointed in you. She has +been such an object of interest to me since that time when I caught a +glimpse of her once through the cellar window, with a gleam of sunset +making her hair into gold.</p> + +<p>It is a summer evening of which I tell you, and she is all in white, +except her eyes—nothing can be bluer than they are to-night—and except +the flowers about her. She is always among the flowers.</p> + +<p>I hesitate, after all, to tell you about Mart. Hers is one of those +stories hard to tell. Besides, her friend and patron has suffered much +criticism because of her, and though Mrs. Roberts does not care in the +least, I find that I am sensitive.</p> + +<p>Has she really kept that Colson girl with her all these years? Yes, she +has. I speak it meekly, but she has! And never had her learn a trade, +or work in a factory, or learn to support herself in any way? She has +never sent her anywhere to learn a trade, or to work in a factory, or +to stand behind a counter. It is too true.</p> + +<p>No, I was almost sure you did not approve of it. But, for all that, +I don't mean to argue Mrs. Roberts's cause. "To her own Master she +standeth or falleth."</p> + +<p>Not but what Mrs. Roberts has argued, on occasion—with Gracie Dennis, +for instance, who paid her a few weeks' visit, less than three months +after she first went home.</p> + +<p>"Flossy," she would say, "what are you going to do with the girl? Do +you really mean to keep her here?"</p> + +<p>"She has no mother, my child, nor father; and her brother is not able +to care for her yet. Where would you have me send her?"</p> + +<p>"Why, Flossy, there are places."</p> + +<p>"Yes, my dear, I know it, and this is one of them."</p> + +<p>"Well, but she ought to be learning things. How is she going to support +herself?"</p> + +<p>"She is studying arithmetic with me, you know, and writing and reading +with the dining-room girls; and I am teaching her music; and Mr. +Roberts proposes to have her join the history class as soon as she is +sufficiently advanced in the more common studies."</p> + +<p>"But, Flossy Shipley, that is great nonsense! You know what I mean. You +cannot turn the world upside down in that fashion, or make an orphan +asylum of your house or a charity school."</p> + +<p>"My dear, do you really think the house is in danger? Does it look like +an orphan asylum or feel like a charity school?"</p> + +<p>Then would Gracie Dennis laugh, but look a trifle vexed, nevertheless, +and mutter that people couldn't do things that way in this world.</p> + +<p>Then would Flossy be ready with her gentle drops of oil to soothe the +ruffles.</p> + +<p>"Gracie, dear, I am not trying to reform the world. There are a great +many girls left destitute, I know, and I will do at wholesale all I +can for them; but this one is peculiar. You have admitted that it was +unusual to see such dangerous beauty, and she is unusual in her mental +development. She could be fierce and wicked; she is ignorant and bitter +about many things: I am afraid for her. I have not been able to think +of a place where the Lord Jesus would have me take her. I must see to +it that 'he' is pleased, you know, at all hazards. If he does not mean +us to keep her in the shelter of our home for the present, we do not +know what he means.</p> + +<p>"We cannot 'mother' the whole race; he has not even suggested it to our +hearts. He has simply said, 'Here, take this one; there is room for +her; keep her until I plainly tell you that her place is elsewhere.' +Gracie, would you have me tell him we cannot?"</p> + +<p>By this time Gracie would be humble and sweet.</p> + +<p>"It is very good of you," she would say meekly; "and I was not +thinking of such a thing as finding fault. I was only wondering +whether—whether—well, you know, whether such a life as she is leading +in your house would not unfit her for her proper sphere?"</p> + +<p>But a sentence like that was always liable to put little Mrs. Roberts +on all the dignity she possessed. Her husband had ideas on that +subject, and had imbued her with them. Her voice could even sound +almost haughty as she said,—</p> + +<p>"As to that, Gracie, we must remember that the 'sphere' of an American +woman is the one that she can fill acceptably in God's sight. He may +call her to the highest; I don't know. Since she is the daughter of a +King, there may be no spot on his footstool too high for his intentions +concerning her."</p> + +<p>There was outside criticism, of course. Indeed, Mrs. Roberts was +sufficiently peculiar in many respects to call for much criticism +from the world. They talked much about "that girl" she had picked up. +Gradually they said "that Colson girl;" then one day some daughter +asked, "Is she really a sister of that handsome Mr. Colson in the +store?" And by-and-by there were some who spoke of her as "Mattie +Colson." That was the name which Mrs. Roberts always called her. It +began gradually to be known also that "Mattie Colson" knew a great deal +which was worth knowing. Three years of companionship with a lady like +Mrs. Roberts, and such as she gathers about her, can do much for a girl +who wishes much done for her.</p> + +<p>As to "earning her living," I am not sure but she was learning to do +it in several ways. Mrs. Roberts struggled against all false ideas of +life, therefore taught her none.</p> + +<p>She was not the cook, but she could, and had on occasion served up a +most enjoyable breakfast.</p> + +<p>She was not the second girl, yet her fingers were undeniably skilful +in the arrangement of rooms and tables. She was not the sewing girl, +yet constant were the calls on fingers that had become wise in these +directions. She was by no means the nurse, yet there was a little +golden-haired "Flossy" in the sunny room upstairs whose devoted slave +she was, and whose mother felt that Mattie's loving, watchful care over +her darling was only second to her own, and was so to be relied upon, +by day and night, as to repay tenfold whatever she might have done for +the girl.</p> + +<p>In fact, it would perhaps be difficult to define "Mart" Colson's +position in the house. Yet she was, as I have said, becoming known +among the young ladies outside as—"Mattie Colson, that handsome young +Colson's sister, as pretty as a doll, and a protégée of that lovely +Mrs. Roberts, you know."</p> + +<p>As for the Young Ladies' Band—I do not include them when I talk of the +girls "outside"—what they had done for Mattie Colson she could not have +told you though she tried, her eyes shining with tears.</p> + +<p>The days had come wherein the very matrons who had said that it was +a strange thing for Mrs. Roberts to take a girl from the slums into +her family, that it was "tempting Providence to attempt such violent +wrenches," now said one to another that "it must be a great relief to +Mrs. Roberts to have that Mattie Colson always at her elbow to see that +everything about the home was just as it should be." And they added, +with a sigh, that "some people were very fortunate."</p> + +<p>Now, dear critic, you stand all ready to say that this is a very nice +paper story, but that in actual life attempts at doing good do not +result so smoothly; that to be "natural," Mrs. Roberts ought, at least, +to have tried in vain to reclaim half of her boys.</p> + +<p>It is true, I have said nothing to you about two or three whom she has +not as yet reached, though she is still trying. My story was not of +them, but of the twenty whom she did reach. Concerning your verdict, +there are two things that I want to say: first, go into the work, and +give the time and patience and faith and prayer that Mrs. Roberts +and her fellow-workers gave, before you decide that it is vain. And +secondly, will you kindly remember that, whether this be natural or +not, it is true?</p> + +<p>I do not think I have told you the immediate occasion of this +particular gathering. It was, in fact, a reception given to Mrs. Reid. +It is not likely that I need tell you at this late day that her name +was Gracie Dennis Reid. I could have told you much about it had I been +writing a story of that sort.</p> + +<p>In fact, there is a chance for considerable romancing. There are +matters of interest that I might tell you about "Mr. Colson" himself, +young as he is, and about Mattie who wears to-night a rose that "she" +did not pick from the conservatory; but I don't mean to tell it.</p> + +<p>I have just one other bit of history to give you. They stood together +for a moment—the young bridegroom and the lady with whom he had +faithfully worked ever since that rainy afternoon in which he had +confided his gloom to her. Both were looking at the two young men who +stood near the piano waiting to join in the chorus. Both had known +these young men as "Nimble Dick" and "Black Dirk."</p> + +<p>Still another of the original seven stood in the immediate vicinity. +The glances of the two workers took them all in; then they looked at +each other and smiled meaningly.</p> + +<p>"I have been thinking of that first Sunday afternoon," said Mrs. +Roberts. "I asked them to pick up my handkerchief which had dropped, +and 'Nimble Dick' said, 'Pick it up yourself, mum, you're as able to as +we be!' I wonder if they would remember it? What if I should tell them!"</p> + +<p>As she spoke, the bit of cambric in her hand designedly dropped almost +at the feet of Dirk Colson. He stooped for it instantly; but "Nimble +Dick" was too quick for him, and presented it to the owner with a +graceful bow, and a slightly triumphant smile.</p> + +<p>But the chorus was commencing, and the bass and tenor were at once +absorbed in their work; so Mr. Reid and Mrs. Roberts had the memorial +laugh all to themselves. None but they understood what the white +handkerchief said.</p> + +<p>Despite the laughter there was a suspicious mist in Mr. Reid's eyes.</p> + +<p>"How far is mirth removed from tears?" he asked his hostess. And then: +"Do you know, when I look at these young men, moving about your rooms +at their ease, really ornaments to society, and think of the places in +the world that they will be likely to fill, and think of what they were +when you first saw them, the overwhelming contrast brings the tears!"</p> + +<p>Said Mrs. Roberts:—</p> + +<p>"I will tell you something that will do your heart good. Did you know +that our young lady helpers had reorganized in larger force, and with +certain fixed lines of work which they feel certain they can do? The +effort has passed out of the realm of mere experiment. They have chosen +a name. They are henceforth to be known as THE ESTHER REID BAND.</p> + +<p>"They came to me for a motto to hang in their rooms below the name; and +I gave them this:—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are +the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, +that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.'"<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +THE END.<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75657 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/75657-h/images/image001.jpg b/75657-h/images/image001.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b13f78d --- /dev/null +++ b/75657-h/images/image001.jpg diff --git a/75657-h/images/image002.jpg b/75657-h/images/image002.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..78b90d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/75657-h/images/image002.jpg diff --git a/75657-h/images/image003.jpg b/75657-h/images/image003.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2a75c93 --- /dev/null +++ b/75657-h/images/image003.jpg diff --git a/75657-h/images/image004.jpg b/75657-h/images/image004.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2c68584 --- /dev/null +++ b/75657-h/images/image004.jpg diff --git a/75657-h/images/image005.jpg b/75657-h/images/image005.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bceb6a3 --- /dev/null +++ b/75657-h/images/image005.jpg diff --git a/75657-h/images/image006.jpg b/75657-h/images/image006.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d2191b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/75657-h/images/image006.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b5dba15 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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