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diff --git a/30681.txt b/30681.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2c22855 --- /dev/null +++ b/30681.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1948 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Nanny Merry, by Anonymous + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Nanny Merry + or, What Made the Difference + + +Author: Anonymous + + + +Release Date: December 14, 2009 [eBook #30681] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NANNY MERRY*** + + +E-text prepared by Delphine Lettau and the Project Gutenberg Online +Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 30681-h.htm or 30681-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30681/30681-h/30681-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30681/30681-h.zip) + + + + + +NANNY MERRY. + + +[Illustration: CROWNING THE QUEEN] + + +NANNY MERRY; + +Or, + +What Made the Difference? + + + + + + + +London: +T. Nelson and Sons, Paternoster Row; +Edinburgh; and New York. +1872. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +IN WHICH NANNIE IS INTRODUCED. + + +A little brown house, with an old elm-tree before it, a frame of +lattice-work around the door, with a broad stone for a step--this is +where old Grannie Burt lives. And there she is sitting in the doorway +with her Bible in her lap. She can't read it, for she is blind; but she +likes to have it by her; she likes the "feeling of it," she says. "When +my Bible is away," Grannie Burt says, "I am sometimes troubled and +worried; but if I can only touch it, my troubles are all gone; for what +harm can any trouble do us when we are going to heaven at last?" + +But grannie doesn't always have to _feel_ her Bible. Sometimes--very +often--a little girl comes down the path to the brown house, and sitting +down close by grannie, on that cricket that you see there now, takes the +good book and reads the blessed words to her, till the tears trickle down +grannie's wrinkled face, and laying her trembling hand on the little +girl's head, she says, "God bless thee, my child." + +I think she is expecting her now; for, see the cricket is all ready, and +on the little table is a pitcher of cool water from the old well that +you see just behind the house; and here is the little girl herself. + +"Good-morning, grannie; are you waiting for me? I couldn't come any +sooner, because mamma wanted me to play with Charlie; and here are some +peaches mamma sent you,--she thought you would like them;" and Nannie, +quite out of breath with her walk and her talk, stops a minute, which +gives Grannie Burt a chance to answer her questions and to thank her for +her peaches. "Now shall I read, grannie?" said Nannie, as, taking a long +draught from the little pitcher, she sat down on the cricket. + +"Eat this peach first," said grannie, picking out the softest and +handing it to her; "I know you must be warm from your long walk, and +this will cool you." + +The peach looked so tempting that Nannie looked at it wishfully. Her +mother had only given her one, and she had sent grannie a whole basketful. +It was only for a moment that Nannie let these selfish thoughts trouble +her. "Grannie never has any of her own, and in a few weeks I can have +as many as I want," she thought; so taking up the Bible she said, "No, +grannie, thank you; the water has cooled me enough; where shall I +begin?" + +"Read about heaven, Nannie; you know I like to hear about that best." + +Softly the little voice began: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth." +Then she read of the tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of +the nations; and of the water of life, that flows near the jasper throne. + +When she had finished, she said, "What makes you like to hear of heaven +so much, grannie?" + +"Oh, I'm going there, Nannie! When you read about the beautiful things, +the pearly gates, and the golden streets, I think, 'I shall see them, +for there will be no night there; not even in these poor old eyes of +mine.' And when you read, 'the Lamb is the light thereof,' then I think +Jesus will be there, and that's what I like best of all." + +"Where _is_ heaven, grannie?" + +"Up there, I suppose," she said, pointing to the bright sky above. + +"But, grannie, there was a gentleman at our house yesterday, and I heard +him talking with my father, and he said he thought heaven was in the sun. +So I thought I would ask you, because you always know so much about it. Do +you think it is in the sun?" + +"I don't think anything about it. I don't think it makes much difference +_where_ it is, if we only get there at last." + +"Sister Mary said she thought heaven would be where God was." + +"So I think, child; and I don't think it's the pearls, and gold, and all +those things you read about, that make it either; for I think any place +would be heaven, if we found Jesus there. This old room has been pretty +near it, sometimes." + +Nannie turned to the 14th chapter of John, which she knew grannie loved +to hear, and commenced reading. + +While she is reading, let us go down the street to the lane--bordered +with trees--walk up the narrow footpath, and over the stile just by the +blackberry-bushes, across the field to the little garden, and through +the borders of pinks and marigolds, to the white cottage where Nannie +lives. You can come to it by the street, if you choose, and you may come +in under the great elm-tree, by the gate; but then the street is so dusty, +and you miss seeing the little garden with its bright flowers; and the +blossoms in the lane smell so sweetly, that it is quite worth while going +that way. But here we are, before the door, on which we read, in bright +letters, "Dr. Merry;" for Nannie's name is Nannie Merry, and Nannie's +father is a doctor. He is doctor in a pleasant little town that is +situated on the banks of a narrow river. I don't think you could find +either the town or the river on your maps, if you should try; so there +would be no use in telling you their names. It was a pleasant town, +however, with its large elm-trees, and pretty white cottages, with here +and there a large house, where the grandest people lived. + +But Nannie's father was only a country doctor, and didn't live in a very +large house. You can see for yourself that it is only a white cottage, +with green blinds, and a long porch in front, covered with sweetbriar +and honeysuckle. But the people that live in the house are quite as +pleasant as the house itself, or even as the people that live in the +large brick house. After Dr. Merry comes Mrs. Merry, or Nannie's mother, +who is, like most mothers, very kind and good; then sister Mary, who is +grown up, and Nannie thinks the best sister ever was; then Belle, who is +very pretty, and about twelve years old; John and Charlie, who are, like +most boys, great teasers, and Nannie sometimes thinks a good deal worse +than most boys--but then, Charlie is only four years old, so there is +some excuse for him. Lastly, we have Nannie herself, who is--well, we +shall find out what she is before our story is finished. She is nine +years old, "nearly ten," and would feel offended if we left that out. +But here she comes from Grannie Burt's, so we must stop talking about +her. She is coming by the lane just as we did, running at first, then a +little slower, till at last she stops, for her sister Mary is weeding +one of the pretty borders in the little garden. + +"O Mary! grannie thinks just as you do about heaven; I don't think Mr. +Brown knows so much about it as she does." + +"Why not, Nannie?" + +"Oh, because grannie is almost there, Mary,--she ought to know!" + +"What makes you think grannie is almost there?" + +"Why, she said so; and then she loves to hear about heaven, just as I +did about home when I was at Aunt Sarah's." + +"Do _you_ like to hear about heaven, Nannie?" + +"Sometimes," she answered, while with her little shoe she played with +the pebbles. + +"Not always! Nannie; when don't you like to hear about it?" + +Nannie played with the pebbles a good while. At last she said, "I like +to hear _some_ things about it always, but not everything." + +"And what do you like to hear about it always?" + +"I like to hear about golden streets, and the beautiful water, and the +trees, and the harps of the angels, and their golden crowns." + +"And what don't you like to hear about?" + +The little foot moved backwards and forwards a good while, and when +Nannie did speak, she spoke almost as if she were afraid to do so. + +"I don't like to hear about its always being Sunday there." + +"Why, Nannie, don't you like Sunday here?" + +"Why, yes, always once a week; but that's not like _always_. I don't +think I should like to go to church _every_ day, and learn the Catechism, +and have a cold dinner, and not play at all." + +"Maybe I can help you a little, Nannie. Do you ever get tired of loving +father?" + +"Why, no; I should never get tired of that, I'm sure he never gets tired +of loving me." + +"Do you get tired of showing you love him by trying to please him?" + +"No, Mary; but--" + +"Never mind the 'buts' till I have done. Now, God is 'Our Father,' and +all we have to do in heaven is to love him, and to show how very much we +love him by trying to do all we can to please him. Do you think you'll +get tired of that?" + +"No. But that isn't like Sunday." + +"What do we do on Sunday, Nannie?" + +"Why, go to church and--" + +"Yes; but what do we go to church for?" + +"Oh, I see now!" said Nannie, her face brightening up,--"oh, I see! We +worship God on Sunday, and that's what we'll do always in heaven; isn't +it, Mary?" + +"Yes, that's why we say it's always Sunday there; and we shall love +God so much better there than we do now, that we can only be happy in +praising him. Even now, when we think how good he is to us, and how he +loves us, it seems as if we _must_ praise him; but then we shall see him +always, and never forget what he has done for us. Do you think we can +help praising him, or that it will be hard work to join with the angels +in singing, 'Holy, holy, Lord God Almighty'--'Worthy is the Lamb that +was slain'? Do you think you understand now, Nannie, and will like to +hear about heaven as much as Grannie Burt does?" + +"Oh yes! I felt very sorry, because I knew I ought to love to think +about heaven! And so I think I do. But Belle said they did nothing but +sing hymns there, and she didn't see what there was so very pleasant in +that." + +"Belle ought not to talk so. But what did you say to her?" + +"I said," Nannie answered, holding down her head, "I thought the reason +she didn't like it was because she was not good; because all good people +liked to hear about heaven." + +"That's the reason, I think," said sister Mary, as she gathered up her +weeds for Nannie to take away. Nannie carried them off, thinking all the +time, "Oh dear, I wish I were as good as sister Mary!" If wishes would +make any one good, Nannie would have been very good long before this time. +"At anyrate," said Nannie, as she emptied the weeds into the ash-heap, +"I will try. Father says there are weeds in our hearts, and we can pull +them up. I mean to try." + +We shall see in the next chapter how Nannie succeeds in pulling up the +weeds. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +"IF THY BROTHER SIN AGAINST THEE, FORGIVE HIM." + + +One bright sunshiny day, just when the snow had commenced melting, the +children started in high glee to take advantage of its softened state to +make a snow-man. This was a favourite occupation of the children. Two or +three times every year they adorned the front yard with a giant figure +resembling a man, which was allowed to stand until Jack and Charlie +snowballed it down, or the spring sun melted it away. + +"Here's a nice place," said Jack, stopping under the old elm-tree by the +gate. "He'll do for a sentinel here, and we'll arm him with a gun." + +"Or a porter," said Belle; "and we'll give him a key." + +"Here, Nannie, come this way," he said, as he saw Nannie and Charlie +walking off in the other direction. + +"Charlie and I are going to make one by ourselves," said Nannie. + +"You can't do it," said Jack; "you don't know how." + +"We know how as well as you," said Charlie indignantly. + +"Well, we'll beat you then. Come, hurry, Belle." + +So they set to work, rolling their balls, sometimes running across each +other's track, when Master Charlie must always leave his work to throw a +ball at Jack. Jack, however, was too busy to return them. + +"Don't, Charlie, keep stopping so," said Nannie; "we shall not get it +done." + +"I want to snowball Jack," said Charlie. + +"But we want to finish the snow-man first." + +Then Charlie would stick to his work a few minutes; but whenever Jack +came in sight, rolling his now huge ball, Charlie couldn't resist the +temptation, and would fill his hands full of snow, and let fly at Jack. +He yielded to the temptation the more easily, as he found Jack was too +busy to pay him back. + +Belle and Jack now could move their ball no longer, and so they proceeded +to make a smaller one for the head, and to shape out the arms. Jack +made the hat to crown him, while Belle shaped his coat and marked out +the buttons. Soon Charlie, who was more interested in theirs than his +own, cried out, "Oh, he's putting his hat on!" + +Belle and Jack gave three cheers, and introduced Nannie and Charlie to +Mr. James Snow. + +Mr. James Snow was a very remarkable-looking old man, with a long white +beard, who looked as if he had much better been leaning on a staff, than +raising the gun with which Jack had armed him. + +"You had better come with us," said Belle; "you can't make one by +yourselves." + +"Yes, we can," said Nannie. "Can't we, Charlie?" + +"Yes, we can," said Charlie. "Nicer than that one too." + +"And we'll call ours Jack Frost," said Nannie, as they hurried off to +their work. + +But Charlie was more trouble than help, and Nannie began to grow tired. +Belle and Jack stood by, looking on and teasing her. Charlie stopped +working, and began to defend their workmanship with snowballs, which Jack +and Belle were not slow to return. At last, just as Nannie had fashioned +a most uncomfortable-looking nose, and had succeeded with great difficulty +in inducing it to stay in its right place, Jack's mischievous nature +overcame him, and seizing a lump of snow, he threw it straight at the +unfortunate nose. This was more than Nannie could bear. + +"You naughty, ill-natured boy," she said; "I'll never speak to you +again." + +"O Nannie, I'm really sorry. I was only in fun;" for Jack, like most +boys, thought "only in fun" excuse enough for anything. "Come back, and +I'll help you to make it." + +Nannie paid no attention to him, but walked off in a very dignified +manner. Jack whistled a tune, and walked off in no very pleasant humour, +while Belle and Charlie went into the house. Their pleasure was all gone +for want of "_the soft answer which turneth away wrath_." + +Nannie came in and sat down by the fire and began to read. She was very +much interested in the book she was reading; but, somehow, to-day she +did not like it as well as usual. She turned over the leaves, and read +a little here and there; but it didn't please her. She got up from her +chair, went to the window, and began drumming on the window-pane. + +"Be still, Nannie," said her father, who was sitting in the room, +reading. She sat down again, and sat looking into the fire. + +"I don't care," she thought; "Jack had no business to do it. I think he +was very unkind, and I'll do the same to him another time. Yes, I will," +she said to herself more determinedly, because there was something within +which said, _"If thy brother sin against thee, forgive him."_ Nannie +wouldn't listen, but kept cherishing the angry thoughts. + +"He may be thankful it wasn't Belle instead of me, for she would have +told father of him in a minute. Jack is always teasing me. He spoiled +all my card-houses yesterday. Forgiving him then didn't do him any +good." + +The little voice within whispered, _"Lord, how oft shall my brother sin +against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith, Until +seventy times seven."_ + +Nannie heard it again, but still wouldn't listen, and went on,--"And the +other day he tore my prettiest paper doll, just for fun. I'd like to know +how he'd like to have me tear his things 'just for fun.' + +"And the other day he hurt poor pussy's ears." + +The little voice whispered,--"And the other day, when you were sick, he +stayed away from the nutting party, and showed you pictures, and read +to you;" and as fast as Nannie told of an unkind act, the little voice +whispered of a kind one. But Nannie could not listen to-day to the +friendly voice which had so often helped her out of her troubles. + +After supper Jack said again, "Come, Nannie, let us be friends, won't +you?" + +Nannie had let the angry thoughts have dominion so long, that although +she felt almost inclined to make it up with Jack, pride conquered, and +she turned away without a word. + +Poor Jack! he really loved his little sister very much, and had felt very +sorry about the quarrel. It had cost a good deal of effort to go so far +towards making it up, even though he knew he was to blame. But now, +instead of being sorry, he was only angry, and turned away, saying, +"Well, I can stand it as long as you can." + +That night, as Nannie lay awake, the little voice that Nannie had +neglected so long kept whispering, _"Let not the sun go down upon thy +wrath."_ She tried to think of something else, but it kept whispering, +whispering. + +"I don't see," she said, "why I need trouble myself so about it. Belle +wouldn't mind it a bit." + +When morning came, she felt better, and determined to think no more +about it. But at prayers Dr. Merry read the sixth chapter of Matthew: +_"For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also +forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will +your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses."_ + +As her father read these verses, the little voice whispered once more, +"Listen, listen;" and this time Nannie did listen; and when they all +joined in the Lord's Prayer, it was with a trembling voice she said, +_"Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those that trespass against us."_ + +That morning, as Jack started for school, Nannie ran after him, and +overtook him just as he stepped into the wood-shed to find his knife, +which as usual was missing. + +"Jack," she said, going close up to him, "I'm sorry I called you naughty +and ill-natured." + +Jack was in a great hurry, and already out of patience from the loss of +his knife; besides, he had not forgotten how Nannie had met his effort +for peace the evening before; so he pushed by her, saying, "Well, don't +bother me now; you're in my light." She moved aside a little, so that +the light from the door could come in, then spying his knife under the +work-bench, she picked it up and gave it to him. He took it from her, +and ran off without any thanks. + +The tears came into Nannie's eyes. "He's too unkind, I think," she said; +"he might at least have thanked me for finding his knife. Next time I'll +leave it alone, and he may find it the best way he can." + +Nannie's little friend inside whispered again, _"Forgive till seventy +times seven."_ Nannie listened now, and in her heart she prayed again, +_"Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those that sin against us."_ + +That afternoon, as Nannie was sitting reading, Jack put his head in at +the door, and said, "Nannie, there's a gentleman in the front yard wants +to see you." + +Nannie was so busy reading, that she did not notice the strangeness of +the message. She put away her book and went out. As she went into the +yard, what should she see there but her snow-man, all complete! She +turned round to thank Jack, but he was nowhere in sight. Nannie went up +closer to examine the snow-statue, and found a piece of paper on it, +with Mr. Jack Frost written on it in large letters. Under the name was +written with a pencil:-- + +"Mr. Jack Frost requests of Miss Nannie Merry that she will excuse his +friend Mr. John Merry for his rudeness this morning, as Mr. Frost +assures her that he will behave better next time." + +Nannie laughed as she took off the paper, and running into the house, +she soon found Jack standing by the kitchen-fire. Coming up behind him, +without his seeing her, she put her arms round his neck, and kissed him +several times before he could speak. Then laughing, she said,-- + +"Miss Nannie Merry will excuse Mr. John Merry this time." + +Somehow that evening Nannie and Jack were greater friends than ever; and +as they sat together looking at the pictures in some large books that +Nannie couldn't lift alone, Nannie was not sorry she had listened to the +little voice that had troubled her only to make her do right. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +CHRISTMAS. + + +What a beautiful morning it was, that Christmas morning! It seemed as +though the earth, in its pure robe of snow, and the trees, in their +sparkling armour of ice, every twig jewelled and gleaming in the sun, +had clothed themselves in beauty, and with joyful thoughts were giving +thanks to their Creator. + +Nannie didn't think all this, but something very much like it was in her +heart, as she stood looking out from the window, as sister Mary set the +last smoking dish on the table. + +That morning Dr. Merry read the 116th Psalm, beginning, _"I love the Lord, +because he hath heard my voice."_ Nannie listened very attentively, but +there was one verse she didn't quite understand. It was this: _"I will +offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving."_ She hadn't time after +prayers to ask her father or sister Mary about it, but all the time she +kept thinking of it and trying to understand it. She didn't know that +every time she had looked out upon the snow, and felt thankful to God +for the bright fire within that kept her warm, she had offered the +sacrifice of thanksgiving. She didn't know that when she thought of +Jesus, and her little heart seemed so full of love to him, because he +had died for her, she had offered indeed an acceptable sacrifice of +thanksgiving. She didn't know it; but Jesus knew it, and accepted the +sacrifice, with the same love as when royal David sang the words to his +golden harp. + +"Nannie," called sister Mary, "Jack is waiting for you." + +"In a minute," said Nannie, as she pulled on her warm mittens. + +"It had better be a minute," Jack cried, "if you're going with me, for I +haven't much time to spare before dinner." + +Nannie, laughing, took up the little basket her mother had packed so +nicely for Grannie Burt, and off they started, Jack drawing the large +basket on his little hand-barrow. + +"Where shall we go first, Jack?" + +"Oh, to Grannie Burt's, of course, and then you can help me to draw the +barrow the rest of the way." + +"Let us go to the other places first," said Nannie, "and then you can +draw me on the barrow the rest of the way." + +"That's more than I bargained for; this basket is all that I want to +carry before dinner." + +Poor Jack, however, was destined to carry a much heavier load than his +basket of mince-pies and roast chickens; for as Nannie skipped along, +her foot slipped, and down she came, basket and all, while grannie's +nice mince-pies tumbled out, and rolled down the street. + +"Oh dear!" said Nannie, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, "do look at +grannie's pie! What shall we do?" + +"Pick it up, of course," said Jack, as he ran after it. + +"Nothing but clean snow," he said, as he brought it back; "nobody will +know it from sugar." + +"Oh, but it's all broken! What shall we do?" + +"See here!" said Jack, lifting the cover of the large basket; "mother +has sent Aunt Betsy two; we can take one of them for grannie." + +"Why, Jack, are you in earnest?" + +"Well, it's the best I can do. I can't mend it, and I can't make a new +one." + +"Let us go back, then, and get another." + +"Go back! why, Nannie, it's all you can do to walk now; you're limping +away like crazy Sam." + +"Don't make me laugh," said Nannie, laughing all the time through her +tears; "my foot hurts me so, I can hardly walk." + +Jack's fun was all gone in a minute, as he shouldered his big basket, +and lifted Nannie on his little hand-barrow. + +"O Jack! you can't carry the basket and drag me too!" + +"Yes, I can,--and hundreds more like you." + +And Jack trudged along, stopping now and then to take breath, until they +came to Grannie Burt's. + +"O Jack! what shall we do about the pie?" said Nannie, her tears starting +afresh at the thought. + +Jack couldn't stand the sight of Nannie's tears; so he said, "Never mind +it; I'll go back and get another." + +"Oh, will you? Thank you, Jack." + +Grannie Burt's daughter, Susan, now came to the door, and made all sorts +of exclamations over Nannie, whose ankle pained her so much, she couldn't +walk, and Jack had to carry her into the house. While Jack told the story +of the pie, Susan had taken off Nannie's shoe and stocking, and was +bathing her ankle, while grannie kept saying, "Does it feel better, +dear?" + +"Never mind the pie," said grannie, as Jack went on with his story; "it's +just as good as ever, though it is broken." + +"Oh, but it doesn't look so nice," said Nannie. + +"I can't see it, you know," said grannie, laughing. + +But Nannie wasn't satisfied, and called to Jack, as he started off, to be +sure and bring another. + +Very soon Nannie felt better, and sitting up in the big chair, she +reached over for the large Bible, and said,-- + +"Grannie, shall I read to you, while I'm waiting?" + +"I'm afraid you don't feel well enough." + +"Oh yes, I should like to read; I want to read the chapter father read +this morning." + +She turned over the leaves and found the place, and began: _"I love the +Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications."_ + +"Oh yes," said grannie; "David isn't the only one who can say that. God +has always heard me." + +"Did you ever ask him, grannie, to make you see?" said Nannie. + +"No; I never asked him. I asked him to make me patient to bear it. You +think it's dreadful, Nannie, to be blind, and I used to think so too. +But God never takes anything from us without giving us something else to +make up for it. You think I sit in the dark always; but it isn't dark, +Nannie; it's all light--a light brighter than the sun: it's the light +of heaven; I see it constantly. It isn't only those that live in heaven +that can say they have no need of the sun or moon, for the Lamb is their +light: I can say it too.--Yes," she went on, more to herself than +Nannie,--"yes, dear Saviour, thou art my light." + +Nannie sat looking wonderingly at the wrinkled old face, so happy and +peaceful, and at the withered hands folded so quietly, and thought she +did not understand it then. Many years after, when she too was old, did +she remember that peaceful face and those folded hands, and say in the +midst of trial and sorrow,-- + +"Yes, dear Saviour, thou art my light!" + +"I have thought sometimes," grannie went on, "that heaven will be +pleasanter to me, for not seeing here. Think how new it will all be +there! People that have always had their sight only see something +different when they go to heaven; but I haven't seen anything for ten +years. Just think what it will be to me to see those beautiful things +you read about!" + +"What are they, Nannie?" + +Nannie said, "Golden streets, gates of pearl, the tree of life, the wall +of jasper. I don't remember any more." + +"And Jesus, Nannie; you don't forget him? Think of these poor blind eyes, +that have seen nothing for so long, opening at last upon _his_ face! I +love to think of those blind people Jesus healed, and think that he was +the first thing they saw." + +Then Nannie read on: _"Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God +is merciful. Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt +bountifully with thee."_ + +Just as she finished, there was a knock at the door; and who should it +be but Dr. Merry, with two pies for grannie, and the horse and gig to +take Nannie home. And soon Nannie was lying on the couch by the bright +dining-room fire, while mother, and Mary, and Belle, and Charlie all +crowded round, asking how she felt. + +"Oh, well enough," said Nannie, as sister Mary took off the warm hood, +and kissed the dear face inside of it. "I hope it will stop aching in +time for me to go to church." + +"To church!" said Dr. Merry, looking up from his book; "no church for +Nannie to-day." + +Nannie said nothing, but turned her head away to hide the tears, while +sister Mary, stooping down and kissing her, said, "Never mind; you +couldn't walk there, you know." + +Afterwards, when no one was in the room except her father, she reached +over to the table for the Bible, and found the psalm they had read that +morning. Pointing with her finger to the last two verses, she said, +"Father, please read that." + +Dr. Merry laid down his paper, and coming over to her couch, he read: +_"I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people, +in the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. +Praise ye the Lord!"_--"Well what of that?" he said, looking up, though +the tears stood in his eyes, as he watched the little face turned so +wistfully toward him. + +"I want to go to church so much, father," she said, as she saw he +understood her. + +"But, Nannie, I don't think David went to church when he couldn't walk." + +"He might have been carried," said Nannie, driving back the tears that +wanted to come. + +"Perhaps he was," said her father; "and so might you be, if father +thought it right." + +"Would it hurt me, father?" + +"I don't know that it would. It might, though; so I think you had better +not try. You must be patient, and remember what I've told you, that God +sends all these little trials. Do you understand me?" + +"I think I do." + +"I like to see my little daughter love God's house, but I like to see +her bear it patiently when she can't go there." + +"I will try," said Nannie, while she kept saying "No!" to the tears as +fast as they came. Every little while, however, one wouldn't mind, and +would jump over the edge and run down. But she kept on saying, "Be +patient, be patient;" and at last the tears got tired of coming, and +troubled her no more. She had pulled up an ugly weed called "Impatience" +that morning. + +Soon after, Jack came in with his empty basket. + +"Well, Nannie, I wish I were in your place--not obliged to go to church, +and not sick enough to lose your dinner. I always go to church, for +fear, if I'm sick, father'll say, 'Turkey isn't good for headache.' I +never thought of such a convenient excuse as spraining my ankle. Let me +hear how you did it. It's too late to try it now, but it may do the next +time." + +"O Jack, how you do talk! I'm so glad you're better than you talk." + +"How do you know that, Miss Nannie?" + +"Why, everybody knows it. This morning you laughed at me; but as soon as +you found out I was really hurt, you drew me and that big basket too on +your barrow. You're so kind." + +Jack whistled a tune and kicked the fire-irons, because he didn't want +Nannie to see the tears that started. He was too much of a boy to let +them do anything but start. + +"Jack," Nannie began, after a pause, "why don't you like to go to church?" +She was saying to herself all the time, _"In the courts of the Lord's +house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem."_ + +"Oh, I don't know; I should like it well enough if father would let me +sit up with the rest of the boys in the gallery." + +"But you wouldn't do as they do in church, Jack?" + +"Why not?" + +"It's God's house," said Nannie softly. Jack sat silent for a long time, +while Nannie lay looking into the fire, and whispering all the time to +herself, "Be patient, be patient." + +That afternoon, as father, mother, and children were engaged beside her, +Nannie lay on her couch and looked on; but she did not need to say, "Be +patient, be patient," for she was patient; and when her father, stopping +for a moment, whispered, "Is all right, Nannie?" she said, smiling, +"Yes, father; trying helps, doesn't it?" + +Swiftly the evening fled. They had cracked nuts and eaten apples, till +even Jack was satisfied; and as the fire burned down, and Charlie lay +asleep in his mother's lap, the father said, "How many things we have +to be thankful for this year! Let us each tell of something, and then +together we will offer our sacrifice of thanksgiving." + +The mother's fingers played in Charlie's curls, as she said, "I thank my +heavenly Father for my children's lives." + +They were still for a moment. They all remembered the sad days of +last winter, when they gathered round the fire and whispered anxiously +together, while Charlie tossed and wearied on his sick-bed. + +Then sister Mary said, "I thank him for his Son Jesus Christ." + +Then Belle, in a softened tone, said, "I thank him for our pleasant +home." + +Jack said, while Nannie looked up with a pleasant smile, "I thank him +for my little sister." + +Then it was Nannie's turn, and, smiling to her father, she said, "I +thank him for _patience_." + +So ended their Christmas-day. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +SOMETHING NEW. + + +"Oh, what a darling it is!" said Nannie to Belle, as they stood looking +at the little bundle sister Mary was holding. "What wee bits of hands!" +she said, as she opened the blanket. "I'm so glad it's a little sister; +I haven't any little one, you know, and it's so much nicer than a +brother." + +"So much nicer than a brother!" exclaimed Jack, who was looking on with +affected indifference. "I'd like to know how many snowballs that 'dear +little hand,' as you call it, will make for you. I'm sure I'd like as +good a brother as you've got." + +"Oh," said Nannie, "a brother will do very well; but I think a little +sister is nicer. Oh, just see," she added in a whisper, "it's going to +sleep." + +"Going to sleep!" said Jack; "I'd like to know how you can tell. It +looks just as it did before." + +"Why, Jack, its eyes are shut." + +"Its eyes shut!--do let me see. I didn't know it had any." + +"Come, Jack, they shan't make fun of our baby," said sister Mary, as she +took it into the other room. "It's a good deal prettier than you were!" + +Belle and Nannie both laughed, in which Jack joined, not at all +offended. + +"What are they going to call it?" said Jack, after a pause. + +"Nellie, sister Mary said," Belle answered; "after a little sister of +mother's that died." + +"How old was mother's sister when she died?" Jack asked. + +"Just four years old. I heard mother tell all about her. She was so +pretty, with long brown curls and brown eyes; and mother said she was +always happy, and when anybody seemed sad, she would put her little +hands in theirs, and say, 'What make you feel sorry? I love you.' One day +she came in, and climbed up into mother's lap--her mother's, you know, +grandmother's--and laid her head down, and said, 'I'm so tired,' and went +to sleep. She slept on and on, until grandmother got frightened, and sent +for the doctor. When he came, he said she was going to die. She was sick +for about a day, and didn't know anything. The next afternoon, while +grandmother was holding her in her lap, she opened her eyes, and seeing +the tears in grandmother's eyes, she said, 'What make you feel sorry? I +love you!' and that was the last thing she said." + +"Did she die, then?" said Nannie. + +"Yes; mother said she only breathed a few minutes after it. I saw the +grave when I was at grandmother's. There's a little stone, and her name +written on it. 'Nellie Bliss, aged four years.'" + +"Just as old as Charlie," said Nannie. "How old would she be now?" + +"Almost as old as mother," said Belle. + +"How long she must have been in heaven. I wonder if she'll know our baby +is named after her?" + + * * * * * + +The little Nellie soon began to find her way into their hearts. Nannie +and Belle loved to sit and hold her, very carefully; and even Jack would +step softly, and not slam the door quite so hard, when told that little +Nellie was asleep,--though he did say, "He wished people would be as +particular when he was asleep, and not make such a racket in the +morning." + +So for three short weeks the little bud shed its perfume, making +happy those around it; then--oh, how often comes that _then_ in human +life!--then it withered. + +The children stepped softly about, or sat in silence round the fire, +while the baby lay in their mother's arms panting for breath; and when +all was still, and they saw their father lay the little form in the +crib, and close the eyes, they knew that it was dead. + +Sadly passed that evening. Dr. Merry was absent to see some patients, +and sister Mary was in the room with their mother. The children gathered +round the fire, and talked in low, subdued voices, for death was new to +them. + +"How strange," said Nannie, "that our little baby should die before old +Grannie Burt, who has been waiting so long." + +"Aunt Nellie will know now that she was named for her," said Belle. + +"And perhaps," said Nannie, "she will teach her about everything there." +So they talked of heaven and heavenly things. The little baby's death +had not been in vain. Belle and Jack both thought more of another world +than they had ever done before, and in each a little voice whispered, +"Am I ready for heaven?" + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +WHAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE? + + +"O Mother! Fanny Bell, and Mary Green, and ever so many of the girls, +are going into the woods to-morrow afternoon, and they want us to go +with them. May we, mother?" said Belle and Nannie together, as they came +running into the room where their mother was. + +"I'll see about it," she said; "it will depend upon what kind of girls +you are." + +"Oh, we'll be very good, mother, if you will let us go." + +"We'll see," said their mother. + +The morrow came, and with it the desired permission. Pretty early, +Nannie, who was on the watch, saw them coming, and called out to Belle, +"Here they are!" Belle ran out. + +"Are you going?" + +"Yes." + +"Is Nannie?" + +"Yes." + +"Oh, I'm so glad Nannie's going," cried one voice and another. "Yes, I'm +so glad." + +"I don't see," said Belle to herself, "why they should be so glad Nannie +is going. They don't seem to care about me at all." + +With rather a cross tone of voice, she called to Nannie to make haste +and get ready. + +Just as they were starting, Charlie came in, and seeing Nannie with her +bonnet on, he called out:-- + +"O Nannie, where are you going? I want you to show me the pictures in +your new book." + +"I can't this afternoon, Charlie; I'm going into the woods." + +"Oh, pshaw!" said Charlie; "I like so much better when you're at home." + +"It does not make any difference to Charlie whether I'm at home or not," +Belle said to herself. + +When they started there was such a strife who should walk with Nannie, +that Belle was very nearly left to walk alone. Their walk led through +the pretty lane bordered with lime-trees, at the back of Dr. Merry's +house, then on past Grannie Burt's house, when it turned off into a +little path, across the field that was worn quite smooth by the boys +going nutting. This path brought you at last to a stile. Over this stile +they all climbed, and now were in the woods. What a beautiful wood it +was! The trees opened here and there to let in the sunlight, which +danced in and out among the green and yellow and russet brown leaves of +the trees, changing into every hue of autumn. On the ground, springing +up everywhere, were the dark leaves and bright red berries of the +cranberry and bilberry; while down by the brook the greenest of all +mosses covered the stones, and converted any old log that came in their +way into the softest of seats. Then, what a wild and roaring little +brook that Stony Brook was! You could follow it all the way through the +woods by only stepping from stone to stone, and every little while you +might see a great hole scooped out in the rock, where the water lay dark +and silent, or a little precipice over which it dashed and foamed. This +was a favourite wood with the children. In summer they often spent whole +days there, gathering wild flowers or the beautiful fern leaves, which +grew in every nook and corner. And now that the bright autumn leaves +were scattered everywhere, and the tempting berries covered the ground, +they found employment for many a spare hour. To-day the little girls +had gathered leaves and berries till they were tired, when Ellen Bates +said,-- + +"Let us choose a queen, and crown her." + +"What will you crown her with?" said Mary Green. + +"Oh, these bright leaves will do," said Nannie; "we can put them +together by the stems." + +Now when it was first proposed to choose a queen, Belle thought, "They +always choose the prettiest one for a queen--I know they will choose +me;" so she said with great eagerness, "Oh yes, let us have a queen!" + +"Let us have Belle for our queen!" cried one of the girls. + +"Oh no, we want Nannie!" said two or three at once. + +"A crown of red leaves will look pretty with Nannie's red hair," said +one of the girls, laughing. + +"I don't care," said another. "We all love her best, and I don't intend +to crown anybody I don't like, if they _are_ pretty." + +Belle stood looking on with pretended indifference, for she did not want +the girls should know how much she cared about it. + +"All that vote for Belle hold up a bunch of berries; and all that vote +for Nannie hold up an oak leaf." + +The girls laughed, and held up their hands. There were six oak leaves, +and only two bunches of berries. + +"I'd rather Belle would be queen," said Nannie, though it cost a little +effort to say it; for she was as much pleased with the honour as any one. + +"But we had rather not," the girls said. "You cannot help yourself; so +sit down while we make your crown." + +Belle was too proud to show her disappointment, so she sat down and helped +to make the crown. Very pretty she looked as she sat on the mossy bank, +while her hands worked in and out among the bright coloured leaves. A +stranger looking at the two sisters, would have wondered why the girls +had passed by Belle, and chosen the plain though pleasant-faced Nannie. +So one would think that looked only on the outside; but could one have +looked within, they would soon have understood the reason of the choice. + +After the crowning of the queen, which was performed with all due +ceremony, the children went home, following Stony Brook till it poured +its waters into the little river on which the village was built. + +After they reached home, Belle went upstairs, and sitting down by the +window, gave free vent to the angry thoughts she had been keeping under +all the afternoon. + +"I don't see," she said to herself at last, "what makes the difference. +I know I'm a great deal prettier than Nannie;" and she went across and +looked at herself in the glass. "Yes, I am a great deal prettier, and +yet the girls all love Nannie better. And I can learn a lesson twice as +quick, and yet Miss Taylor likes Nannie better than me, and helps her +out of all her difficulties. And father, and mother, and sister Mary, +all think there's nobody like Nannie, and they are always scolding me +for something or other. I wish people would love me as they do Nannie. I +would rather be the ugliest person in the world and be loved." She was +silent for a moment, while conscience brought before her all the kind +acts Nannie was always doing for somebody. How ready she was to give up +her own pleasure, and do anything for others. Then she went off into a +pleasant day-dream, in which she was very good, always did just right, +and everybody loved her. All the old women in the village thought no +one could do anything for them like Belle Merry; her mother thought she +never could spare Belle, and Charlie was never satisfied when Belle was +away. She forgot, when she was dreaming, how, when her father said Granny +Burt had no one to read to her, she said "she hadn't time to read to an +old woman." + +She forgot how often, when her mother had asked for some little help, +it had been given so pettishly as to make that mother's face grow sad. +She forgot how often, when Charlie had made some little request for +entertainment, she had turned away, until now he never asked Belle +for anything when Nannie was in the room. Yes, she forgot all this, +she forgot all the hard part of doing right, and her dream was very +pleasant--so pleasant, that at last she said, with great determination, +"I mean to be so kind and good, that they will all love me. I'm going to +try. I'll begin at once, to-night." + +So she started down-stairs. Poor Belle! how many times had she come out +of her little room and gone down-stairs with the same determination to +do better, and how many times had she failed! + +And how many times had Nannie come out of the same little room with the +same resolution, and almost always succeeded! What made the difference? +If you had been there sometimes with Nannie, you would have found that +she did one thing that Belle had not done. She knelt down and asked God +to help her. + +There was the difference. Belle was trying to make herself good, Nannie +was praying to Jesus to help her. + +As Belle came into the sitting-room, her mother said to her, "You ought +to have come down immediately to help to set the table, Belle; Nannie +set it for you." + +Belle said nothing, neither did she thank Nannie, who looked up for a +moment, then went on reading. + +"Belle," said her mother, "you may fill the water-pitcher, since Nannie +has done your work for you." + +"I didn't ask her to do my work," said Belle, as she took the pitcher. +"That's always the way," she said to herself; "now I came down-stairs +feeling pleasant enough, and mother began scolding me because I hadn't +set the table. There's no use trying. I wasn't to blame." + +Who _was_ to blame? + +After supper Belle sat down with a book she was busy reading. Just as +she began, her father asked her to bring his slippers. + +"In a minute," she said, without looking up, while she went on reading. + +Nannie, seeing Belle so much interested, ran off and brought the slippers, +and received a pleasant "Thank you!" from her father. Belle was not so +much interested in her book as not to hear the "Thank you," and it again +excited the angry feelings. + +"I was going in a minute," she said to herself. "Nannie needn't have +been in such a hurry. I wasn't to blame." + +Who _was_ to blame? + +"I wish one of you would take Charlie to bed," said their mother, as she +came in with her basket of mending. Here was a good opportunity to help +her mother, and Belle put down her book with determination, and said, +"I'll take him." + +"No," said Master Charlie, "I don't want Belle to put me to bed;--I want +Nannie. You go, Nannie," he said, putting his little arms around her +neck, and looking up beseechingly. So Nannie laid down her book and took +Charlie to bed. + +Poor Belle! She held her book up to hide the tears that would come. +"There's no use in trying," she thought. "It wasn't my fault if Charlie +wouldn't let me." + +Whose fault was it? + +Dr. Merry had seen it all. He saw the struggle it had been for Belle +to put away her book, and he saw the tears fill her eyes when Charlie +refused; and now, as he got up to go to his surgery, he whispered to +her, "Be strong and of a good courage. For the Lord thy God, he it is +that doth go with thee." + +"What could her father mean?" Belle kept thinking it over and over. +"Be strong and of a good courage"--she knew well enough what the words +meant, but why should her father say them to her. She wondered if he +knew she was trying to do better, and was almost ready to give up. + +"Be strong and of a good courage,"--she said it again. "Of good courage, +means not to be afraid, not to give up, to go on trying, no matter how +hard it is. But I don't see the use in trying. It's always the same, +everything goes wrong. I may as well give up at first as at last." + +There was a Bible lying by her on the table, and, almost without thinking, +she took it up, and began turning over the leaves to find the words; she +knew where they were, for she had seen them many times. She found the +place, and read over again the words,-- + +"For the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail +thee, nor forsake thee." + +"I can't do right,--there's no use trying;" but while she said it, she +was reading over again the last part, "He will not fail thee." + +"I wonder," she said, brightening up as the thought struck her, "if that +is what father meant! I can't do right myself, but God will help me." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE STORY. + + +One Sunday afternoon, as Mary sat reading in the porch, Jack and Charlie +came and sat down by her on the old sofa; and soon Charlie put his little +curly head between her face and the book, and said coaxingly, "Please +tell us a story, sister Mary." + +The little upturned face was well kissed before sister Mary said, "Well, +Jack, call Nannie and Belle, and we'll have a story." + +Jack ran off in high glee, for sister Mary's stories were always +welcomed by the children. + +Nannie and Belle came as fast as their feet would bring them, and were +soon sitting in readiness on the porch steps. + +"Now, sister Mary," said Nannie, "a _good_ story, please." + +"What do you mean by a good one, Nannie?" + +"One that will teach us to be good," said Nannie in a low voice. + +"Oh, nonsense!" said Jack; "that wasn't what I meant. I want a pretty +story." + +"So do I," said Belle. + +"And so do I," chimed in Charlie. + +"Well," said sister Mary, "can't I tell you a good story, and a pretty +one too?" + +"I suppose so," said Jack, kicking the foot-stool. + +"Well, she can't tell us anything, Jack," said Belle, "if you don't keep +your feet still." + +"I think you are rather hard on Jack; but never mind. Now," said sister +Mary, "we'll have our story:-- + + * * * * * + +"It was a poor little room the sun was looking into, just as it was +setting. There was no carpet on the floor, and no curtains to the +window. The old grate was cracked and rusty, and contained a few red +coals among the embers. By the fire, in a curious old chair, roughly +made, yet looking comfortable, sat a little girl rocking herself backwards +and forwards. It was a very pale face that the sun shone upon, and a very +thin, pale hand it was that the little girl was holding up, shading her +eyes. Every little while the girl dropped her hand, and looked towards +the window with a bright smile,--and no wonder! for there stood the +prettiest of rose-bushes, with bright green leaves, and one dark crimson +bud just opening. She sat watching it, till the last rays of the sun died +away, and it began to grow dark. Then the look of sadness came back to +her face, and drawing her old shawl closer round her, she sat leaning +her head on her hand. By-and-by there was a sound of footsteps, and the +door opened, and a man entered with a slow and heavy step. She turned +round with a quick smile,--'O father! what has made you so late?' + +"He said nothing; but, stooping down, lifted her in his arms, and sat +down by the fire. Though he lifted her very gently, an expression of +pain passed over her face, and you could see that the poor limbs hung +shrunken and helpless. He was a rough-looking man, with a rough, heavy +voice; but when he spoke to her, his tones were very gentle, and as he +held her in his lap he stroked her hair softly and kissed her again and +again. + +"'How have you been to-day, Lizzie?' + +"'Pretty well, father. When neighbour Green came in to see to the +fire, she brought me some nice warm broth for my dinner. Wasn't it kind, +father--and wasn't it odd too? I had been thinking all the morning how +much I should like some broth, and then just to think I had some for +my dinner. And then the best of all is that dear little rose-bush. You +can't see it now, it's so dark; it's got one dear little bud, and it +won't eat anything but water, so I can keep it. Mrs. Smith brought it to +me, and she brought a nice basketful of things besides; and you'll get +some of them for your supper--won't you, father?' + +"He put her back carefully in her chair, then put on a few more coals, +and brought out from a basket in a corner their supper. After they had +eaten, he took her again in his arms and sat down with her. + +"'Was the day very long, Lizzie?' + +"'Yes,' she said; 'the days are all long without mother.' + +"He started as she said it; then said, 'I'm very glad she isn't here.' + +"'Glad! father?' + +"'Yes, glad; for'--he said almost in a whisper--'they never hunger +there. I wish we were there too.' + +"He laid his head on her shoulder, while the words came fast: 'No +work--I have hunted, hunted everywhere. I have been ready to give up, +and then I would think of you, Lizzie, and I kept on; but there's no +work to be had. O Lizzie, Lizzie, I could bear it if it weren't for +you!' + +"She said nothing, but kept stroking his hair with her little hand, +while her face looked very sad. + +"'I will try once more, to-morrow, though I know there's no use.' + +"'Perhaps you can find something, father. Don't despair. God will take +care of us. Shall I say mother's psalm, father?' + +"He only nodded his head, and she began: _'I will bless the Lord at all +times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth.'_ + +"'Does it say, "at all times," Lizzie?' + +"'Yes, father, "_at all times_;" that means when we are in trouble too, +doesn't it?' + +"'It must mean so; but it isn't so easy to praise him when we can't see +any light, as when everything is bright.' + +"'It isn't so easy to _praise_, father; but then we can _pray_.' + +"'We can pray, Lizzie; but what if God doesn't hear us?' + +"'But he does hear us, father. That's just what the verse that mother +liked best said: _"I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me +out of all my troubles."_ And this verse too: _"Many are the +afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth them out of them +all."_ That is a sweet verse, father.' + +"'Say them all, Lizzie.' + +"'I don't remember them all. I will say all I can: _"The angel of the +Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them."_ +_"Oh, fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that +fear him."'_ + +"'Do you think that's always true, Lizzie?' + +"'I don't know,' she said, with a puzzled look; 'we want something now. +You want work, and I want to be well and strong to help you; but maybe +it doesn't mean we shall have everything we want, but all that is best +for us. That's what mother used to say, and that's what the next verse +says too: _"The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that +seek the Lord shall not want any good thing."_ And perhaps it isn't here +that we shall not want. You said "there was no hunger there," didn't +you, father?' + +"'Yes, Lizzie.' + +"'And then there is that other verse, father: _"Yea, though I walk +through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for +thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."'_ + +"Her voice trembled as she said it, and she paused, for they were her +mother's dying words. + +"'We will fear no evil, father. We won't stop trusting; will we, +father?' + +"'No, Lizzie; I sometimes fear I should if it weren't for you. What +should I do without you?' and his arms grasped her closer, as if even +the thought were painful. + +"'O father, you would be glad that God had taken me where I couldn't +suffer any more, and where I should be straight and pretty like other +children.' + +"'You are pretty now, Lizzie. I never see any face that looks so +beautiful to me.' + +"'But it isn't like other children's, father. When Mrs. Smith came in +to-day, she had a pretty little girl with her, with such bright golden +hair, and such rosy cheeks, and so tall and straight, she must look like +the angels, I think. And when I looked at her, it was so hard to keep +the tears from coming. I had to keep thinking of what mother told me +when I read about the pool where the sick people washed and were made +well; and I said I wished there was such a pool now. Mother said the +river of death was such a pool, and that after I had crossed it, I +should be like the angels in heaven. But she said, father, she should +still know me; so, father, you will keep on trusting and praising too, +won't you, if God takes me there?' + +"He made no answer, but held her closely to him, till the few coals in +the grate grew white, and the room grew cold. + +"'It's too cold for you here, Lizzie, and we can't have any more coals +to-night. Shall I put you in bed now?' + +"'Let me sing mother's hymn first, father.' + +"He raised her a little, and in a sweet, low voice she began singing:-- + + "'Breast the wave, Christian, when it is strongest; + Watch for day, Christian, when night is longest; + Onward and onward still be thine endeavour, + The rest that remaineth endureth for ever. + + "'Fight the fight, Christian--Jesus is o'er thee; + Run the race, Christian--heaven is before thee; + He who hath promised faltereth never; + Oh, trust in the love that endureth for ever. + + "'Lift the eye, Christian, just as it closeth; + Raise the heart, Christian, ere it reposeth; + Nothing thy soul from the Saviour can sever, + Soon shalt thou mount upward to praise him for ever.'" + +Sister Mary paused after she had sung the hymn. There were tears in the +children's eyes, and for a moment they were silent. + +"Is that all?" they said at last. + +"No," said sister Mary, "there's some more; but I'm afraid you are +tired." + +"Oh no; tell us the rest!" + +"Very well," said sister Mary, "but we'll have to make haste; it's +growing late:-- + +"The setting sun was shining again into the poor little room, and the +little girl sat again, wrapped up in her old shawl, before the fire, +rocking to and fro. The little girl's face had a very bright smile on +it; but it wasn't the rose-bush with its little bud, now almost opened, +that caused it, for she didn't look that way at all. She had a little +bit of paper in her hand that she held very tightly, while her eyes kept +watching the door. The sunlight faded, and the room grew dark, but the +little face still wore the bright smile. + +"As the door opened, she cried out eagerly,-- + +"'O father, here's something for you! There was a gentleman here to see +you to-day, and he left his name; here it is on this card; and he said +if you would come to see him, he had some work for you.' + +"The man sat down in his chair, and laid his head in his hands. + +"'O Lizzie,' he said, 'it's more than I deserve; I was just ready to +give up trusting. I have sought all day, and I couldn't bear to come +home.' + +"'God did hear us; didn't he, father? I'm so glad we didn't stop +trusting. Hadn't you better go now, father, and see about it?' + +"'Yes,' he said, 'I'll go now,' stooping down to read the card by the +light of the fire. + +"He went out, and the shadows settled down over the room; but the little +girl sat still, and you could just hear her humming to herself,-- + + "'Breast the wave, Christian, when it is strongest.' + +"Presently she heard her father's step. It was quicker and lighter than +it had been for many a day." + +"'I've got it, Lizzie. It's a place as a porter in a warehouse; and good +wages too. And see here,' he said, as he lighted a candle he had brought +with him, 'we'll have a light to-night, and a nice supper too.' + +"'O father!' said Lizzie, as she looked on with bright eyes as her +father took out the parcels; 'how did you get all those things?' + +"'The gentleman paid me something in advance. He said he knew people +that had been out of work so long needed something.' + +"It was a pleasant evening; the candlelight seemed so bright to Lizzie's +eyes, that hadn't seen any for so long a time, and her father was so +cheerful. Yes, it was a pleasant evening; and they closed by reading the +103rd Psalm:-- + +_"'Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy +name._ + +_"'Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.'"_ + + * * * * * + +Sister Mary took up her book and went into the house, while the children +gathered together on the steps to watch the sun that was now setting. + +"Lizzie was a wonderfully good little girl, wasn't she," said Jack; "but +then she was sick. I never knew any good people that weren't either sick +or ugly." + +"Why, Jack, there's sister Mary, and papa and mamma, and Miss Taylor, +and--" + +"Oh, I mean children. All the children I read about are good, and get +ill, and die. I rather think Lizzie would have died if sister Mary had +gone on with her story." + +"It _is_ so in books," said Belle; "they always die." + +"People would not want to write about them if they lived," said Nannie. + +"Why not?" said Jack; "I wish some one would write about me." + +"If they wrote about you," said Belle, "they could call their work, 'A +warning to bad boys,' or, 'An ugly boy that wasn't good.'" + +While they were talking so, Nannie was thinking very intently. + +"What are you thinking about, Nannie?" said Belle. + +"I was thinking about what Jack said--that all the good people were +either sick or ugly; I don't believe it's true. But if it is true, I +was thinking that perhaps it's like what Abraham told the rich man: +'Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, +and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art +tormented.' So I thought that the ones that were sick and ugly here, but +loved Jesus, had received all their evil things, and would be well and +beautiful there." + +"Maybe so," said Jack, more thoughtfully than before. Then stooping down +and kissing Nannie, he said, "I know one good girl that isn't sick." + +The sun was just setting, leaving about half its great face to light the +world. + +In Jack's heart the sun was just rising. + +Nannie's words kept sounding in his ears,--"Perhaps, perhaps they +have received in this life their good things;" and those other words, +"Therefore he is comforted, and thou art tormented." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +"THE LAMB IS THE LIGHT THEREOF." + + +"Nannie, Nannie,--where's Nannie?" Jack called one pleasant summer +morning. + +Just then Nannie's voice was heard singing, and she came into the +kitchen, where Jack was. + +"Nannie, father has just gone down to Grannie Burt's, and he wants you +to go there too. Mother is going now, and she says you may go with her +if you'll make haste." + +Nannie was off in a minute for her sun-bonnet, and very soon was walking +with her mother and Jack through the tree-bordered lane; very quietly now +though, for she knows that grannie is dying, and she thinks to herself, +"Grannie will be in heaven to-night," and the little face brightens as +she thinks of the beauties of the heavenly city; "and grannie will see +too--why, how happy she must be! I should think good people would love +to die. It's like going to some beautiful world we've heard of." But as +Nannie looked up at the trees, and the heavy white clouds above them, +and then down at the green carpet of grass at her feet, she thought it +would be _leaving_ a beautiful world too. + +Now they reach the little brown house, and Nannie begins to feel a +little frightened. She creeps in timidly behind her mother, and sits +down at the foot of the bed, while Jack sits down on the door-step. Soon +grannie says feebly,-- + +"Has Nannie come?" + +"Yes," said her mother; "Nannie's here." + +"Nannie, come where I can touch you." + +As Nannie comes nearer, grannie stretches out her hand, and laying it on +her head, says in a low voice,-- + +"God bless thee--God bless thee, my child! I have never seen you here, +Nannie, but I shall know you in heaven. I shan't need to ask you to read +to me there, for I shall see. But read to me here once more, +Nannie--once more." + +Nannie lifts up for the last time grannie's worn Bible, and begins to +read, as she has so often read before,-- + +_"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth."_ + +Very still it was in the chamber of death, while the little head bowed +over the sacred book, and the tearful voice read of the glories of that +land whither the wearied one was going. Fainter and fainter grew the +breath; and as the child read the words, _"And the city hath no need of +the sun or moon to lighten it, for the Lamb is the light thereof,"_ the +lids closed over the sightless eyes here--but opened there, where the +Lamb is the light. Grannie Burt was in heaven. + + Long she listened for His footsteps, + Echoing from those streets of gold-- + Now just within the pearly gates, + She is no longer old. + + The pilgrim-staff is broken-- + The worn-out garment fold + And lay away for ever,-- + She is no longer old. + + Farewell, farewell, our mother! + Our greatest joy is told, + As we fold the aged hands and say, + She is no longer old. + +Twice have the trees blossomed, and twice the autumn leaves fallen, +since first we met our little friend Nannie. We have given but a few +pages in the life of those few years; there have been many others--some, +perhaps, in which the little girl forgot to ask for help in her trying, +and therefore failed. + +It may seem hard to be trying on and on, never yielding to +discouragement; but if you should see Nannie's bright eyes and happy +face, you would not think so; and if you should ask Nannie if she was +tired of trying, I think she would answer, _"Her ways are ways of +pleasantness, and all her paths are peace."_ + +We may perhaps hear of Nannie again, and of the success which always +follows faithful effort. But whether we do or not, I can let you into +the secret of her future life. Here it is in these words:-- + +_"Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but the woman that feareth +the Lord, she shall be praised."_ + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NANNY MERRY*** + + +******* This file should be named 30681.txt or 30681.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/0/6/8/30681 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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