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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Gold Thread and Wee Davie, by Norman MacLeod
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this eBook.
-
-Title: The Gold Thread and Wee Davie
-       Two Stories for the Young
-
-Author: Norman MacLeod
-
-Release Date: October 29, 2020 [eBook #63572]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-Produced by: Carol Brown, Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLD THREAD AND WEE DAVIE ***
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: “Look yonder; that is the house of Darkeye the forester.
-We are safe!”]
-
-
-
-
-THE
-
-GOLD THREAD
-
-AND
-
-WEE DAVIE
-
-
-TWO STORIES FOR THE YOUNG
-
-
-BY
-
-NORMAN MACLEOD, D.D.
-
-AUTHOR OF “THE STARLING,” “THE OLD LIEUTENANT AND HIS SON,” ETC.
-
-
-THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, LTD.
-
-LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK
-
-
-
-
-LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
-
-
-  “Look yonder; that is the house of Darkeye the forester.
-     We are safe!”                                     _Frontispiece_
-
-  “See that tall tower,” said Wolf                                16
-
-  “Isn’t he a bonnie bit bairn?”                                  96
-
-   William never moved, though his great chest seemed to
-     heave                                                       144
-
-
-
-
-THE GOLD THREAD
-
-A STORY FOR THE YOUNG
-
-
-
-
-THE GOLD THREAD.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-
-Once upon a time, a boy lost his way in a vast forest that filled many
-a valley and passed over many a hill――a rolling sea of leaves for
-miles and miles, farther than the eye could reach. His name was Eric,
-son of the good King Magnus. He was dressed in a blue velvet dress,
-with a gold band round his waist, and his fair locks in silken curls
-waved from his beautiful head. He was a lovely boy, and if you looked
-into his large blue eyes, and saw his sweet smile, you would say in
-your heart, “There is a boy so winning and brave and true, that I
-would dearly like to have him as a friend and companion.” But, alas!
-his hands and face were scratched, and his clothes torn with the
-briars, as he ran here and there like one much perplexed. Sometimes he
-made his way through tangled brushwood, or crossed the little grassy
-plains in the forest, now losing himself in dark ravines, then
-climbing up their steep sides, or crossing with difficulty the streams
-that hurried through them. For a long time he kept his heart up, and
-always said to himself, “I shall find it, I shall find it;” until, as
-the day advanced, he was wearied and hungry; and every now and then he
-cried, “Oh, my father! where is my father? I’m lost! I’m lost!” And
-“Where, oh, where is my gold thread?”
-
-All day the forest seemed to him to be very sad. He had never seen it
-so gloomy. There was a strange sadness in the rustle of the leaves,
-and a sadness in the noise of the streams. He did not hear the birds
-sing as they used to do. But he heard the ravens croak with their
-hoarse voice, as their black forms swept along the precipices which
-here and there rose above the forest, and he never saw so many large
-hawks wheeling in the sky. They always appeared to be wheeling over
-his head, pausing, and fluttering as if about to dart down upon him.
-But on he journeyed, in the hope of finding his way out of the
-boundless forest, or of meeting some one who would be his guide. At
-last the sun appeared to be near its setting, and he could see the
-high branches of the trees shining like gold, as its rays from the
-west fell upon them. But underneath, the forest was getting darker and
-darker, and all the birds were preparing to sleep, and everything at
-last became so still that he could hear his steps echoing through the
-wood, and if he stopped, he heard his heart beating, or a leaf
-falling; but nowhere did he see a house, and no human being had he met
-since morning. Then the wind suddenly began to rise, and he heard it
-at first creeping along the tree-tops like a gentle whisper, and
-by-and-by to call louder and louder for the storm to come. Dark clouds
-gathered over the sky, and rushed along chased by the winds, that were
-soon to search the forest and fight with the old trees. No wonder if
-the boy began to fear, in case some evil would happen to him. Not that
-he was a coward, but a very bravehearted boy; _but he had done wrong_,
-and it was that which made him afraid.
-
-At last, wearied and hardly able to go further, he sat down at the
-root of an old oak, burying his face in his hands, not knowing what to
-do. He then tried to climb the tree, and there to sleep somewhere
-among its branches, in case wild beasts should attack him. But as he
-was climbing up, he heard some one singing with a loud voice. He
-listened attentively, and looking eagerly through the leaves, he saw a
-boy apparently older than himself, dressed in rough shaggy clothes, as
-if made from skins of wild animals. His long matted hair escaped over
-his cheeks from under a black bearskin cap. With a short thick stick
-he was driving a herd of swine through the wood. “Hey there, you black
-porker!” cried the boy, as he threw a stone at some pig which was
-running away. “Get along, you lazy long snout!” he shouted to another,
-as he came thump on its back with his short stick. And then he sang
-this song with a loud voice which made the woods ring:――
-
-    “Oh, there’s nothing half so fine
-     As to be a herd of swine,
-     And through the forest toddle,
-     With nothing in my noddle,
-   But rub a dub, a dub, hey up, halloo!
-
-    “How my little porkers gallop
-     As their ugly hides I wallop!
-     How they grunt, and how they wheeze!
-     How they grub among the trees!
-   Oh, rub a dub, a dub, hey up, halloo!
-
-    “How their backs begin to bristle
-     When they hear their master whistle!
-     How they kick at every lick
-     That I give them with my stick!
-   Oh, rub a dub, a dub, hey up, halloo!”
-
-“Get along, you rascals,” cried the savage-looking herd, “or I’ll kill
-and roast you before your time;” and soon the herd, with his swine,
-were concealed from Eric’s sight by the wood; but he still heard his
-“rub-a-dub” chorus, to which he beat time with a sort of rude drum,
-which he had made for himself with a skin and hoop. Eric determined to
-make his acquaintance, or at all events to follow him to some house;
-so he descended from the tree, and ran off in the direction from which
-he heard the song coming. He soon overtook him.
-
-“Hollo!” said the wild-looking lad, with as much astonishment as if
-Eric had fallen from the clouds. “Who? where from? where to?”
-
-“I have lost my way in the wood,” said Eric, “and want you to guide
-me.”
-
-“To Ralph?” asked the swineherd.
-
-“Ralph! pray, who is he?”
-
-“Master, chief, captain, all,” replied the young savage.
-
-“I will go anywhere for shelter, as night is coming on; but I will
-reward you if you bring me to my father’s home.”
-
-“Who is your father, my fine fellow?” inquired the swineherd, leaning
-on his stick.
-
-“The king,” replied Eric.
-
-“You lie! Ralph is king.”
-
-“I speak the truth, swineherd.”
-
-The swineherd by this time was examining Eric’s dress with an impudent
-look. “Pay me now,” said he; “give me this gold band, and I will guide
-you.”
-
-“I cannot give you this gold band, for my father gave it to me, and I
-have lost enough to-day. By the bye, did you see a gold thread waving
-anywhere among the trees?”
-
-“A gold thread! What do you mean? I saw nothing but pigs until I saw
-you, and I shall treat you like a pig, d’ye hear? and lick you too,
-for I have no time to put off. So give me your band. Come, be quick!”
-said he, with his fierce face, and holding up his stick as he came up
-to Eric.
-
-“Keep off, swineherd; don’t touch me!”
-
-“Don’t touch you! why shouldn’t I touch you? Do you see this stick?
-How would you like to have it among your fine curls, as I drive it
-among the pigs’ bristles?” and he began to flourish it over his head,
-and to press nearer and nearer. “Once! twice! when I say thrice, if
-you do not unbuckle, I shall save you the trouble, and leave you to
-the wild beasts, who would like a tender bit of prince’s flesh better
-than pork. Come; once! twice!”
-
-Eric was on his guard, and said, “I shall fight you, you young robber,
-till death, rather than give you this band――so keep off.”
-
-“Thrice!” shouted the herd, and down came his thick cudgel, which he
-intended should fall on Eric’s head.
-
-But Eric sprang aside, and before he could recover himself, dashed in
-upon him, tripped him up, and threw him on the grass, getting on top
-of him and seizing him by the throat in a moment. The herd, in his
-efforts to get out of Eric’s grasp, let go his cudgel, which Eric
-seized and held over his head. “Unless you promise, master swineherd,
-to leave me alone, I may leave _you_ alone with the wild beasts.”
-
-“You are stronger than I thought,” said the herd. “Let me up, or I
-shall be choked. Let me up, I say, and I promise to guide you.”
-
-“I shall trust you,” said Eric, “though you would not trust me. Rise!”
-
-So the herd rose and picked up his cap, but Eric would not give him
-his stick until he guided him to some house. “Come along,” said he
-sulkily.
-
-“What is your name?” asked Eric.
-
-“They call me Wolf. I killed a wolf once with my boar-spear.”
-
-“Why, Wolf, did you try to kill me?”
-
-“Because I wanted your gold belt.”
-
-“But it is a great sin to rob and kill.”
-
-“Other people rob me, and would kill me too if I did not take care of
-their pigs,” said Wolf carelessly.
-
-“You should fear God, Wolf.”
-
-“I fear that name truly, for Ralph always swears by it when he is in a
-rage. But I do not know what it means.”
-
-“O Wolf, surely your father and mother told you about God, who made
-all things, and made you and me; God, who loves us, and wishes us to
-love Him, and to do what is right?”
-
-“I have no father or mother,” replied Wolf, “nor brothers or sisters,
-and I never heard of God. No one cares for me but my pigs, and so I
-sleep with them, and eat with them.”
-
-“Poor fellow!” said Eric, with a look of kindness; “I am sorry for
-you. Here is all the money I have. Take it. I wish to show you that I
-have no ill will to you;” and Eric gave him a gold coin.
-
-Wolf gave a grunt like one of his pigs, and began his song of
-“Rub-a-dub.”
-
-“No one ever gave me money before,” remarked Wolf almost to himself,
-as he examined the coin on his rough hand, which looked like tanned
-leather. “How much is this?” inquired Wolf.
-
-Eric explained its value. The herd was astonished, and began to think
-what he could purchase with it. He seemed very anxious to conceal it,
-and at last did so in the top of his hairy cap.
-
-[Illustration: “See that tall tower,” said Wolf.]
-
-“See that tall tower,” said Wolf, “which looks like a rock above the
-trees; that is the only house near for twenty miles round. You can
-reach it soon; and when you do reach it,” said Wolf, speaking low, as
-if some one might hear him, “take my advice, and get away as fast as
-you can from my master Ralph, for”――and Wolf gave a number of winks,
-as much as to say, I know something.
-
-“What do you mean?” asked Eric.
-
-“Oh, nothing, nothing; but take Wolf’s advice, and say to Ralph you
-are a beggar. Put the gold band in your pocket, and swear to remain
-with him, but run off when you can. Cheat him; that’s my way.”
-
-“It is not my way,” replied Eric, and, come what may, never will be,
-for a voice says to me,――
-
-  ‘Better to die
-   Than ever to lie,’”
-
-“Ha! ha!” said Wolf; “I wish you lived with Ralph. He would teach you
-another lesson, my lad.”
-
-“I would rather that I had you, Wolf, to live in my house. I would be
-kind to you, and help you to be good, and tell you about God, who
-lives in the sky.”
-
-“And is that He who is speaking? Listen!”
-
-Thunder began to mutter in the sky.
-
-“Yes, it is He,” replied Eric; “and if you listen, you will also hear
-Him often speak with a small still voice in your heart.”
-
-“I never heard Him,” replied Wolf; “but I cannot stay longer with you,
-for my pigs will wander: there is a black rascal who always leads them
-astray. Now, king’s son, give Wolf the stick; it is all he has.”
-
-“Here it is to you, and I am sure you will not use it wrongly; you
-will try to be good, Wolf? for it will make you happy.”
-
-“Humph!” said Wolf, “I am happy when I get my pigs home, and Ralph
-does not strike me. But I must away, and see you don’t tell any one
-you gave me money. They would rob me.” And away he ran among the trees
-in search of his pigs, while Eric heard his little drum, and his song
-of “Rub-a-dub, halloo!” die away in the distance.
-
-Another loud peal of thunder and flash of lightning made Eric start,
-and off he ran towards a light which now beamed from the tower. But he
-thought to himself, “I am much worse than that poor Wolf, for I knew
-what was right, and did not do it. I heard the voice, but did not
-attend to it. Oh, my father, why did I not obey you?”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-
-Sometimes he lost sight of the light, and again he caught it, till it
-became brighter and brighter, and very soon he came to a high rock, on
-the top of which was perched a tall dark tower. After groping about,
-he found a narrow path that led up to the tower. From one of the
-windows of the tower the light was brightly shining. He went up a
-flight of steep steps till he reached a massive door covered with
-iron, and knocked as loud as he could, when a large dog began barking
-furiously inside, and springing up to the door, as if it would tear it
-down. Then a gruff voice called out of a window over the door, “Who is
-there? Who disturbs me in this way?”
-
-The little boy replied, “Please, sir, I am Eric, son of King Magnus,
-and I have lost my way in this wood.”
-
-“The son of the king, are you?” asked the voice. “That is a grand
-joke! Let me have a sight of you.” Then the window was shut, and he
-heard footsteps coming tramp, tramp down the stairs, and the voice
-said to the dog, “Lie down, hound, and don’t be greedy! You would not
-eat a young prince, would you? Lie down!”
-
-The door was then opened by a fierce-looking man with a long beard.
-The man bid him enter, and examined him about himself and his journey.
-Eric answered truly every question.
-
-Then the man rang a bell for an old woman who lived in the house, and
-bid her take the boy with her, and give him his supper. The old woman
-looked very ugly and very cross, and led Eric up, up, a great number
-of dark gloomy stairs, until she reached a small room, with a bed and
-table in it, where she bade Eric wait till she brought him supper.
-
-The big hound followed them, and stayed in the room while the woman
-went away. Eric was at first afraid of the dog, he was so large and
-wild-looking; but he came and laid his head on his knee, and Eric
-scratched his ears, and patted him, and was very kind to him. The
-supper came, and little Eric managed to keep a few bits of meat out of
-his own supper for the dog, and when the old woman went out of the
-room he fed the hound, who seemed very hungry, and said to him, “Good
-dog, I love you very much.” The dog wagged his tail, and looked up
-kindly with his large eyes, for he was thankful for his supper, and
-ate much more than Eric.
-
-“Now,” said the old woman gruffly, when she took away the remains of
-the supper, “you have ate what would do me for a week. You won’t
-starve, master prince. Go to bed.”
-
-The old woman left him, but suddenly returning, she discovered Eric on
-his knees. As he rose she scoffed and jeered him, and asked, “Do you
-always say your prayers?”
-
-“Yes, always,” replied the boy.
-
-“Who taught you?”
-
-“My mother, who is dead.”
-
-The old woman heaved a deep sigh, but the boy did not know why.
-Perhaps she used to pray when she was a little girl herself, and had
-given up doing so, and become wicked; or perhaps she thought of some
-child of her own whom she had never taught to pray. She then went away
-without speaking a word more, and Eric was left in darkness. He looked
-out through the narrow window of his room, but could see nothing but
-black clouds rushing over the sky. Far down he heard a stream roaring,
-and the wind, which now blew a gale, came booming over the tree-tops,
-and howling round the tower. Every now and then a flash lighted up the
-forest, and the thunder crashed in the sky. It was a fearful night!
-
-By-and-by Eric heard footsteps at his door, and immediately the man
-with the beard entered it, and sat down. “Do you know,” he asked,
-“where your father is?”
-
-“No,” said Eric; “as I told you, I lost my way in the forest, and have
-been wandering all day, and cannot find him; but perhaps you will send
-some one to-morrow with me to show me the way to his castle, and I am
-sure my kind, good father will give you a rich reward.”
-
-“You are very, very far from your father’s house,” said the man, “and
-I fear you will never see him again; but come with me, and I shall
-show you some beautiful things that will please you.” So the man took
-Eric by the hand, and, carrying a bright lamp in the other, led him
-into a room that seemed full of gold and silver, with beautiful
-dresses sparkling with diamonds, and every kind of splendour, and he
-said, “Stay with me, my boy, and I will give you all this, for I am a
-king too, and will make you my heir.”
-
-“Oh no, no,” said Eric; “I will never forsake my own father.”
-
-The man then said, “If you stay with me, you need never go to school
-all day, but may amuse yourself from morning till night, and have a
-beautiful pony to ride, and a gun to shoot deer with, and also
-fishing-rods, and a servant to attend you, and any kind of meat and
-drink you like best. Do stay with me!”
-
-“You are very kind,” said Eric, “but I cannot be happy without my
-father. Oh, my dear father! if I found you I would never leave you
-more!”
-
-“Come then with me, my fine fellow, and I shall show you something
-different,” said the man, seizing Eric firmly by the arm, and looking
-very fierce.
-
-After walking along a passage, from the end of which confused noises
-came, a door was opened, and in a large hall, round a great oak table,
-sat a company of fierce-looking men, drinking from large flagons which
-stood before them. Their faces were red, and their eyes gleamed like
-fire. Ralph placed Eric on the table. One of the robbers was singing
-this song:――
-
-  “We’re the famous robber band――
-                          Hurrah!
-   The lords of all the land――
-                          Hurrah!
-   A fig for law or duty,
-   If we only get our booty;
-   With a fa, lal, la, la, la!
-
-  “Our law is what we will――
-                          Hurrah!
-   So we lie, and rob, or kill――
-                          Hurrah!
-  ‘Every man to mind himself,’
-   Is the rule of Captain Ralph;
-   With a fa, lal, la, la, la!”
-
-No wonder poor Eric trembled as he heard that lawless band thus
-glorying in their shame, and like demons singing their horrid song in
-praise of all that was most dreadful and most wicked. He had read
-stories of robbers, which sometimes made him think that they were
-fine, brave fellows, but now that he was among them, he saw how
-depraved, cruel, and frightful they were. Their savage, coarse looks
-terrified him; but he was held by Ralph on the table.
-
-When the song was ended, one of them asked, “Whom have we got here?”
-
-“Who do you think?” replied Ralph. “What would you say, my men, to a
-young prince――no less than the son of our great enemy, King Magnus?”
-
-“A young prince! The son of Magnus! What a prize!” they exclaimed.
-“What shall we do with him?”
-
-“First of all, let us have his gold belt,” said Ralph, unbuckling
-Eric’s belt. “Ha! what a pretty thing it is!”
-
-“My father gave it to me, and I don’t wish to part with it. The
-swineherd Wolf tried to take it from me, but I fought him, and kept
-it,” said Eric.
-
-“Wolf is a brave young robber,” replied Ralph, “and he shall have it
-for his trouble. In the meantime, my lad, it is mine. But what, my
-men, shall we do with the prince?”
-
-“Kill him,” said one.
-
-“Starve him to death,” said another.
-
-“Put his eyes out, and send him back to his father,” said a third.
-
-Eric prayed to God, but said nothing.
-
-“I propose,” said Ralph, “to make him a captain if he will stay with
-us.”
-
-“Never!” said Eric; “I would rather die!”
-
-“Let him die, then,” said a fierce robber; “for his father hung my
-brother for killing one of his nobles.”
-
-“I tell you what we will do with the lion’s whelp,” said Ralph: “let
-us keep him in prison, and send a message to his father that we have
-him snug in a den among the mountains, and that, unless he sends us an
-immense ransom, we shall kill him.”
-
-“That will do famously,” said the robbers; “so off with him!”
-
-Then Ralph led the boy downstairs――down, down, until Eric thought they
-never would stop――and at last they came to an iron door, with great
-bars on it, and a large lock, and Ralph turned to Eric, and said, “I
-know your father, and I hate him! for he sends his soldiers after me,
-and tries to save travellers from me; and now I have got his son. I
-will keep you here till you die, or till he pays!” Then he opened the
-dungeon door, and thrust Eric in. When it closed it echoed like
-thunder through the passages. Eric lay down on the dungeon floor, and
-wept till his heart seemed to break.
-
-All seemed a strange dream. Oh, how he repented having disobeyed his
-father! and how he seemed to be as bad as the dreadful robbers in
-having done what he pleased, and followed his own will, instead of
-doing what was right! After some time he heard some rustling, as if
-high up on the wall, and a voice whispering “Eric!”
-
-“Who is there?” asked Eric, and his little heart trembled.
-
-“Silence! quiet! it is Wolf. Here is a small window in your prison,
-and I have opened it outside; climb up, get out, and run for your
-life.”
-
-Eric heard no more, but scrambled in the dark up the rough stones in
-the wall until he reached the window. As he looked out he saw the
-stars and the woods. He soon forced his way through, and dropped down
-on the opposite side. Some one caught him in his arms. It was Wolf.
-
-“Here is your gold band, Eric. I got it from Ralph; for He who was
-speaking in the thunder has been saying things in my heart. You were
-kind to poor Wolf. Now run for your life! I shall close the window
-again. Ralph will never know how you got out, and he will not open the
-prison door till after breakfast. So you have a long time. Run as long
-as you can along that road till you reach a hill, then cross it and
-follow a stream. Run off!”
-
-“Bless you, Wolf!” said Eric; “I shall never forget you.”
-
-Poor Eric! how he ran, and ran, beneath the stars! He felt no fatigue
-for a time. He thought he heard the robbers after him; every time the
-wind blew loud, he imagined it was their wild cry. On he ran till he
-reached the hill, and crossed it, and came to a green spot beneath a
-rock, when he could run no more, but fell down, and whether he fainted
-or fell asleep he could not tell.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-
-Eric knew not how long he slept, but as in a dream he heard a sweet
-voice singing these words:――
-
-  “Rest thee, boy, rest thee, boy, lonely and weary,
-     Thy little heart breaking from losing the way;
-   Thy father has not left thee friendless though dreary,
-     When learning through suffering to fear and obey,”
-
-Eric opened his eyes, but moved not a limb, as if under some strange
-fascination. It was early morning. High overhead a lark was also
-“singing like an angel in the clouds.” The mysterious voice went on in
-the same beautiful and soothing strain,――
-
-  “Oh, sweet is the lark as she sings o’er her nest,
-     And warbles unseen in the clear morning light;
-   But sweeter by far is the song in the breast
-     When in life’s early morning we do what is right!”
-
-Eric could neither move nor speak; but in his heart he confessed with
-sorrow that he had done what was wrong. And again the voice sang,――
-
-  “Now, darling, awaken! Thou art not forsaken!
-     The old night is past and a new day begun.
-   Let thy journey with love to thy father be taken,
-     And at evening thy father will welcome thee home.”
-
-“I shall arise and go to my father!” said Eric, springing to his feet.
-He saw beside him a beautiful lady, who looked like a picture in his
-father’s room of his dead mother, or like one of those angels from
-heaven about whom he had often read.
-
-And the lady said, “Fear not! I know you, Eric, and how it came to
-pass that you are here. Your father sent you for a wise and good
-purpose through the forest, and gave you hold of a gold thread to
-guide you, and told you never to let it go; but instead of doing your
-duty, and keeping hold of the thread, you let it go to chase
-butterflies and gather wild berries and to amuse yourself. This you
-did more than once. You neglected your father’s counsels and warnings,
-and so you lost your thread, and then you lost your way. What dangers
-and troubles have you thus got into through disobedience to your
-father’s commands, and want of confidence in his love and wisdom! But
-if you had only trusted your father’s directions, the gold thread
-would have brought you to his beautiful castle, where there is to be a
-happy meeting of your friends, with all your brothers and sisters.”
-Poor little Eric began to weep! “Listen to me, child,” said the lady
-kindly, “for _you cannot have peace but by being good_. Do you know,
-all your brothers and sisters made this very journey by help of the
-gold thread, and they are at home with great joy.”
-
-“Oh, save me, save me!” cried Eric, and caught the lady’s hand.
-
-“Yes, I shall save you,” said she, “if you will learn obedience. I
-know and love you, dear boy. I know and love your father, and have
-been sent by him to deliver you. I heard what you said, and know all
-you did, last night, and I was very glad that you proved your love to
-your father, and your love of truth, and your love of others, and this
-makes me hope all good of you for the future. Come now with me.”
-
-And so the beautiful woman took him by the hand. The storm had passed
-away, and the sun was shining on the green leaves of the trees, and
-every drop of dew sparkled like a diamond. The birds were all warbling
-their morning hymns, and feeding their young ones in their nests. The
-streams were also dancing down the rocks and through the glens. “The
-mountains broke forth into singing, and all the trees clapped their
-hands with joy.” Everything thus seemed so happy to Eric, for he
-himself was happy at the thought of doing what was right, and of going
-home. The lady led him to a sunny glade in the wood, covered with wild
-flowers, from which the bees were busy gathering their honey, and she
-said, “Now, child, are you willing to do your father’s will?”
-
-“Oh yes!”
-
-“Will you do it, whatever dangers may await you?”
-
-“Yes!”
-
-“Well, then, I must tell you that your father has given me the gold
-thread you lost; and he bids me remind you that if you keep hold of
-it, and follow it wherever it leads, you are sure to come to him at
-sunset; but if you let it go, you may wander on in this dark forest
-till you die, or are again taken prisoner by robbers.”
-
-“Oh, bless you,” said Eric, “for such good news! I am resolved to do
-my duty, come what may.”
-
-“May you be helped to do it!” said the lady. She then gave him a cake,
-to support him in his journey. “And now, child,” she added, “one
-advice more I will give you, and it was given you by your father,
-though you forgot it; it is this――if ever you feel the thread slipping
-from your hands, or are yourself tempted to let it go, pray
-immediately, and you will get wisdom and strength to find it, to lay
-hold of it, and follow it. Before we part, kneel down and ask
-assistance to be good and obedient, brave and patient, until you meet
-your father.”
-
-The little boy knelt down and repeated the Lord’s Prayer; and as he
-said, “Thy will be done on earth, as it is done in heaven,” he felt
-calm and happy as he used to do when he knelt at his mother’s knee,
-and he thought her hand was on his head, and that she kissed his cheek
-and blessed him. When he lifted up his head there was no one there but
-himself; but he saw an old gray cross, and a GOLD THREAD was tied to
-it, and passed away, away, shining through the woods.
-
-With a firm hold of his gold thread, the boy began his journey home.
-He passed along pathways on which the brown leaves of last year’s
-growing were thickly strewn, and from among which flowers of every
-colour were springing. He crossed little brooks that ran like silver
-threads and tinkled like silver bells. He went under trees with huge
-trunks, and huge branches that swept down to the ground and waved far
-up in the blue sky. The birds hopped about him, and looked down upon
-him from among the green leaves, and they sang him songs, and some of
-them seemed to speak to him. He thought one large bird like a crow
-cried, “Good boy, good boy!” and another whistled, “Cheer up, cheer
-up!” and so he went merrily on, and very often he gave the robins and
-blackbirds that came near him bits of his cake.
-
-After a while, he came to a green spot in the middle of the wood,
-without trees, and a footpath went direct across it, to the place
-where the gold thread was leading him, and there he saw a sight that
-made him wonder and pause. It was a bird about the size of a pigeon,
-with feathers like gold and a crown like silver, and it was slowly
-walking not far from him, and he saw gold eggs glittering in a nest
-among the grass a few yards off. Now he thought it would be such a
-nice thing to bring home a nest with gold eggs! The bird did not seem
-afraid of him, but stopped and looked at him with a calm blue eye, as
-if she said, “Surely you would not rob me?” He could not, however,
-reach the nest with his hand, and though he pulled and pulled the
-thread, it would not yield one inch, but seemed as stiff as a wire.
-
-“I see the thread quite plain,” said the boy to himself, “the very
-place where it enters the dark wood on the other side. I will just
-jump to the nest, and in a moment I shall have the eggs in my pocket,
-and then spring back and catch the thread again. I cannot lose it
-here, with the sun shining; and, besides, I see it a long way before
-me.” So he took one step to seize the eggs; but he was in such haste
-that he fell and crushed the nest, breaking the eggs to pieces, and
-the little bird screamed and flew away; and then all at once the birds
-in the trees began to fly about, and a large owl flew out of a dark
-glade, and cried, “Whoo――whoo――whoo-oo-oo!” and a cloud came over the
-sun!
-
-Eric’s heart beat quick, and he made a grasp at his gold thread, but
-it was not there! Another, and another grasp, but it was not there!
-and soon he saw it waving far above his head, like a gossamer thread
-in the breeze. You would have pitied him, while you could not have
-helped being angry with him for having been so silly and disobedient
-when thus tried, if you had only seen his pale face, as he looked
-above him for his thread, and about him for the road, but could see
-neither! And he became so confused with his fall, that he did not know
-which side of the open glade he had entered, nor to which point he was
-travelling. But at last he thought he heard a bird chirping,
-“Seek――seek――seek!” and another repeating, “Try again――try
-again――try――try!” and then he remembered what the lady had said to
-him, and he fell on his knees and told all his grief, and cried, “Oh,
-give me back my thread! and help me never, never, to let it go again!”
-
-As he lifted up his eyes, he saw the thread come slowly, slowly down;
-and when it came near, he sprang to it and caught it, and he did not
-know whether to laugh, or cry, or sing, he was so thankful and happy!
-“Ah!” said he, “I hope I shall never forget this fall!” That part of
-the Lord’s Prayer came into his mind which says, “Lead us not into
-temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
-
-“Who would have thought,” said he to himself, “that I was in any
-danger in such a beautiful, green, sunny place as this!”
-
-Then on he went, and a large crow on a tree was hoarsely croaking,
-“Beware, beware!”
-
-“Thank you, Mr. Crow,” said the boy, “I shall;” and he threw him a bit
-of bread for his good advice, and ran on gaily to make up for lost
-time.
-
-But now the thread led him through the strangest places. One was a
-very dark deep ravine, with a stream that roared and rushed far down,
-and overhead the rocks seemed to meet, and thick bushes concealed the
-light, and nothing could Eric see but the gold thread, that looked
-like a thread of fire, though even that grew dim sometimes, until he
-could only feel it in his hand. And whither he was going he knew not.
-At times he seemed to be on the edge of a precipice, until he almost
-thought the next step _must_ lead him over and plunge him down; but
-just when he came to the very edge, the thread would lead him quite
-safely along it. Then appeared a rock which looked like a wall, and he
-would say to himself, “Well, I must be stopped here! I shall never be
-able to climb up!” But just as he touched it, he would find steps cut
-in it, and up, up, the thread would lead him to the top! Then it would
-bring him down, down, until he once stood beside a raging stream, and
-the water foamed and dashed. “And now,” he would think, “I must be
-drowned; but never mind, I will not let my thread go.” But so it was,
-that when he came so near the stream as to feel the spray upon his
-cheek, and thought he must leap in if he followed his thread, what
-would he see but a little bridge that passed from bank to bank, and by
-which he crossed in perfect safety; until he began to lose fear, and
-to believe more and more that he would always be in the right road, as
-long as he did not trust mere appearances, but kept hold of his
-thread!
-
-At last Eric got very tired and hungry, for his cake was nearly done,
-and he had started early, and it was now well on in the day. But what
-was very strange, the thread supported him more than a staff could
-have done, and seemed to lift him up from the ground and make him go
-lightly along.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-
-Eric had now to endure a great trial of his faith in the thread. As he
-journeyed on, the thread led him up a winding path towards the summit
-of a hill, descending which the large trees of the forest were left
-behind, and small stunted bushes grew among masses of gray rocks. The
-path was like the bed of a dry brook, and was often very steep. There
-were no birds, except little stonechats, that hopped and chirped among
-the large round stones. Far below, he could see the tops of the trees,
-and here and there a stream glittering under the sunbeams. Nothing
-disturbed the silence but the hoarse croak of the raven, or the wild
-cry of a kite or an eagle, that, like a speck, wheeled far up in the
-sky. But, suddenly, Eric heard a roar like thunder, that seemed to
-come from the direction towards which the thread was leading him. He
-stopped for a moment, but the thread was firm in his hand and led
-right up the hill. On he went, and no wonder he was afraid, when, as
-he turned the corner of a rock, he heard another roar, and saw the
-head of a large lion looking out of what seemed to be a cave, a few
-yards back from the edge of a dizzy precipice! He saw, too, that the
-path he must follow was between the lion’s den and the precipice! What
-now was to be done? Would he give up his thread and fly? No! A voice
-in his heart encouraged him to be brave and not fear, and he knew from
-his experience that he had always been led in safety and peace when he
-followed the road, holding fast to his thread. He was certain that his
-father never would deceive him, or bid him do anything but what was
-right; and he was sure, too, that the lady, from her love to him, and
-her teaching him to trust God and to pray, would not have bid him do
-anything that was wrong. And then an old verse his nurse taught him
-came into his mind,――
-
-  “Fear not to do right,
-     Fear not the grave;
-   But fear to do wrong,
-     Your life to save.”
-
-All this, and much more, passed through little Eric’s mind in a
-minute, and so he resolved to go on, come what might. There was just
-one thing he saw which cheered him, and that was a white hare, sitting
-with her ears cocked, quite close to the lion’s den, and he wondered
-how she had no fear, but could not explain it at the time. On he went,
-but he could hardly breathe, as the thread led still nearer and nearer
-the den. These big eyes were glaring on him, and seemed to draw him
-closer and closer! There the lion was, on one side of the path, and
-the great precipice on the other. One step more, and he was between
-them. He went on until he was so near that he seemed to feel the
-lion’s breath, when suddenly he sprang out on him, and tried to strike
-him with his huge paw that would have crushed him to the dust! Eric
-shut his eyes, and gave himself up for lost. But the lion suddenly
-fell back, for he was held fast by a great iron chain, and so Eric
-passed in safety!
-
-Oh! how thankful he was! and how gladly he ran downhill, the lion
-roaring behind him in his den. Down he ran until all was quiet again.
-As he pursued his journey in the beautiful green woods, something told
-him his greatest trial was past. He felt very peaceful and strong. And
-now, as he reached some noble old beech-trees, the thread fell on the
-grass, and he took this as a sign that he should lie down too, and so
-he did, grateful for the rest. He ate some of his cake that tasted so
-nice, and drank from a clear spring beside him, and gathered wild
-strawberries which grew in abundance all round him, and thus had quite
-a feast. He then stretched himself on his back among soft moss, and
-looked up through the branches of the gigantic trees, and watched with
-delight the sunlight speckling the emerald green leaves and brown bark
-with touches of silver, and, far up, the deep blue sky with white
-clouds reposing on it, like snowy islands on a blue ocean; and he
-watched the squirrels with their bushy tails, as they ran up the
-trees, and jumped from branch to branch, and sported among the leaves,
-until he fell into a sort of pleasant day-dream, and felt so happy, he
-hardly knew why.
-
-As he lay here, he thought he heard in his half-waking dream a little
-squirrel sing a song. Was it not his own heart, now so glad because
-doing what was right, which was singing? This was the song which he
-thought he heard:――
-
-      “I’m a merry, merry squirrel;
-       All day I leap and whirl,
-   Through my home in the old beech-tree;
-       If you chase me, I will run
-       In the shade and in the sun,
-   But you never, never can catch me!
-     For round a bough I’ll creep,
-       Playing hide-and-seek so sly,
-     Or through the leaves Bo-peep,
-       With my little shining eye.
-         Ha, ha, ha! ha, ha, ha! ha, ha, ha!
-
-      “Up and down I run and frisk,
-       With my bushy tail to whisk
-   All who mope in the old beech-trees;
-       How droll to see the owl,
-       As I make him wink and growl,
-   When his sleepy, sleepy head I tease!
-     And I waken up the bat,
-       Who flies off with a scream,
-     For he thinks that I’m the cat
-       Pouncing on him in his dream.
-         Ha, ha, ha! ha, ha, ha! ha, ha, ha!
-
-      “Through all the summer long
-       I never want a song,
-   From my birds in the old beech-trees;
-       I have singers all the night,
-       And with the morning bright,
-   Come my busy humming fat brown bees.
-     When I’ve nothing else to do,
-       With the nursing birds I sit,
-     And we laugh at the cuckoo
-       A-cuckooing to her tit!
-         Ha, ha, ha! ha, ha, ha! ha, ha, ha!
-
-      “When winter comes with snow,
-       And its cruel tempests blow
-   All the leaves from my old beech-trees,
-       Then beside the wren and mouse
-       I furnish up a house,
-   Where like a prince I live at my ease!
-     What care I for hail or sleet,
-       With my cosy cap and coat!
-   And my tail upon my feet,
-     Or wrapped about my throat!
-       Ha, ha, ha! ha, ha, ha! ha, ha, ha!”
-
-As Eric opened his eyes and looked up, he saw a little squirrel with
-its tail curling up its back, sitting on a branch looking down upon
-him; and then it playfully ran away with the tail waving after it.
-“Farewell, happy little fellow!” said Eric; “I must do my work now,
-and play like you afterwards;” for now the thread again became tight,
-and Eric, refreshed with his rest, and hearty for his journey, stepped
-out bravely. He saw, at some distance beyond an open glade in the
-forest, a rapid river towards which he was descending, when he thought
-he perceived something struggling in the stream, and then heard a loud
-cry or scream for help, as if from one drowning. He was almost tempted
-to run off to his assistance without his thread, but he felt thankful
-that the thread became tight again, and led in the very direction from
-whence he heard the cries coming. So off he ran as fast as he could,
-and as he came to the brink of a deep, dark pool in the river, he saw
-the head of a boy rising above the water, as the poor little fellow
-tried to keep himself afloat. Now he sank――again he rose――until he
-suddenly sank down and did not again appear. Eric laid hold of his
-thread with a firm hand and leaped in over head and ears, and then
-rose to the surface, and with his other hand swam to where the boy had
-disappeared. He soon caught him, and brought him with great difficulty
-to the surface, which he never could have done unless the thread had
-supported them both above the water.
-
-“Eric!” cried the gasping boy, opening his eyes, almost covered by his
-long wet hair.
-
-“Wolf, is it you?” It was indeed poor Wolf, who lay panting on the dry
-land, with his hairy clothes dripping with water, and himself hardly
-able to speak. “Oh, tell me, Wolf, what brought you here? I am so glad
-to have helped you!”
-
-After a little time, when Wolf could speak, he told him in his own
-way, bit by bit, how Ralph had suspected him; and how the old woman
-had heard him speaking as she was looking out of an upper window; and
-how when Ralph asked the gold belt he could not give it; and how he
-was obliged himself to fly; and how he had been running for his life
-for hours. “Now let us fly,” said Wolf; “I am quite strong again. I
-fear that they are in pursuit of us.”
-
-They both went on at a quick pace, Eric having shown Wolf the thread
-he had asked him about the day before, and explained to him how he
-must never part with it, come what might. “Oh, rub-a-dub, dub!” said
-Wolf, squeezing the water out of his hair, as he trotted along; “I am
-glad to be away. Ralph would have killed me like a pig. The voice told
-me to run after you.” So on they went as fast as they could, when
-suddenly Wolf stopped, and listening with anxious face he said, “Hark!
-did you hear anything?”
-
-“No,” said Eric; “what was it?”
-
-“Hush!――listen!――there again――I hear it!”
-
-“I think I do hear something far off like a dog’s bark,” replied Eric.
-“Hark!”
-
-So they both stopped and listened, and far away they heard a deep
-“Bow-wow-wow-wow-o-o-o-o-o” echoing through the forest.
-
-“Let us run as fast as we can,” said the boy, in evident fear; “hear
-him――hear him!”
-
-“Bow-wow-wow-o-o-o-o,” and the sound came nearer and nearer.
-
-“What is it? why are you so afraid?” anxiously inquired Eric.
-
-“Oh! that is Ralph’s bloodhound, Tuscar,” cried Wolf, “and he is
-following us. He won’t perhaps touch me, but you he may.” So Eric ran
-as fast as he could, but never let go the gold thread, which this time
-led up a steep hill, which they were obliged to scramble up. “Run,
-Eric!――quick――hide――up a tree――anywhere!”
-
-“I cannot, I dare not,” said Eric; “whatever happens, I must hold fast
-my thread.”
-
-But they heard the “Bow-wow-o-o-o” coming nearer and nearer, and as
-they looked back they saw an immense hound rush out of the wood, and
-as he came to the water he saw the boys on the opposite hill, and so
-he leaped into the stream, and in a few minutes would be near them.
-And now he came bellowing like a fierce bull up the hill, his tongue
-hanging out, and his nose smelling along the ground, following their
-footsteps.
-
-“I shall run and meet him,” said Wolf, “and stop him if I can;” and
-down ran the swineherd, calling “Tuscar! Tuscar! good dog, Tuscar!”
-
-But though Tuscar knew Wolf, he passed him, and ran up to Eric. As he
-reached Eric, who stood calm and firm, the bloodhound stopped panting,
-smelling his clothes all round, but, strange to say, wagging his huge
-tail, and then ran back the way he had come, as if he had made a
-mistake, and all his race was for nothing! It was the large hound Eric
-had fed! So his kindness was not lost even on the dog.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-
-Eric and Wolf now pursued their journey with light and hopeful hearts,
-for they had got out of what was called the wild robber country, and
-he knew that he was drawing near home. The thread was stronger than
-ever, and every hour it helped more and more to support him. On the
-two went together, Wolf trotting along with his short stick, and
-sometimes snorting and blowing with fatigue like one of his own pigs.
-They conversed as best they could about all they had seen.
-
-“Did you see big Thorold the lion?” asked Wolf.
-
-“I did,” said Eric; “he is very awful, but he was chained.”
-
-“Lucky for you,” said Wolf, “for Ralph hunts with him and kills
-travellers. He will obey none but Ralph. I heard him roaring. He is
-hungry. He once ate one of my pigs, and would have ate me if he had
-not first caught the porker. I escaped up a tree.”
-
-And thus they talked, as they journeyed on through woods, and across
-green plains, and over low hills, until, as they were walking along,
-Wolf complained of hunger. Eric at once gave him what remained of his
-large cake; but it did not suffice to appease the appetite of the
-swineherd, who was, however, very grateful for what he got. To their
-delight they now saw a beautiful cottage not far from their path, and,
-as they approached it, an old woman with a pretty girl, who seemed to
-be her daughter, came out to meet them.
-
-“Good-day, young gentleman!” said the old woman, with a kind smile and
-a courtesy; “you seem to be on your travels, and look wearied. Pray
-come into my cottage, and I shall refresh you.”
-
-“What lucky fellows we are!” said Wolf.
-
-“We are much obliged to you for your hospitality,” replied Eric. But
-alas! the thread drew him in an opposite direction; so turning to Wolf
-he said, “I cannot go in.”
-
-“Come, my handsome young gentleman,” said the young woman, “and we
-shall make you so happy. You shall have such a dinner as will delight
-you, I am sure; and you may remain as long as you please, and I shall
-dance and sing to you; nor need you pay anything.” And she came
-forward smiling and dancing, offering her arm to Eric. “Surely you
-won’t be so ungallant as refuse me! you are so beautiful, and have
-such lovely hair and eyes, and I never saw such a belt as you wear: do
-come!”
-
-“Come, my son,” said the old woman to Wolf, as she put her hand round
-his neck.
-
-“With all my heart,” replied Wolf; “for, to tell the truth, I am
-wearied and hungry: such offers as yours one does not get every day.”
-
-“I cannot go,” again said Eric. _They_ could not see the thread, for
-to some it was invisible; but _he_ saw it, and felt it like a wire
-passing away from the cottage. “Who are you, kind friends?” inquired
-Eric.
-
-“Friends of the king and of his family. Honest subjects, good people,”
-said the old woman.
-
-“Do you know Prince Eric?” asked Wolf.
-
-“Right well!” replied the young woman. “He is a great friend of mine;
-a fine tall comely youth. He calls me his own little sweetheart.”
-
-“It is false!” said Eric; “you do not know him. You should not lie.”
-But he did not tell her who he was, neither did Wolf, for Eric had
-made a sign to him to be silent. “I won’t enter your dwelling,” said
-Eric, “for my duty calls me away.”
-
-They both gave a loud laugh, and said, “Hear him! Only hear a fine
-young fellow talking about duty! Pleasure, ease, and liberty are for
-the young. We only want to make you happy: come!”
-
-“I shall go with you,” said Wolf; “do come, Eric.”
-
-“Wolf, speak to me,” said Eric, whispering to the swineherd. “You know
-_I_ cannot go, for my duty tells me to follow the thread. But now I
-see that this is the house of the wicked, for you heard how they lied;
-they neither knew the king nor his children; and they laugh, too, at
-duty. Be advised, Wolf, and follow me.”
-
-Wolf hesitated, and looked displeased. “Only for an hour, Eric.”
-
-“Not a minute, Wolf. If you trust them more than me, go; but I am sure
-you and I shall never meet again.”
-
-“Then I will trust you, Eric,” said Wolf; “the voice in my heart tells
-me to do so.”
-
-And so they both passed on. But the old woman and the girl began to
-abuse them, and call them all manner of evil names, and to laugh at
-them as silly fellows. The girl threw stones at them, which made Wolf
-turn round and flourish his stick over his head. At last they
-re-entered the cottage, the old woman shaking her fist, and calling
-out from the door, “I’ll soon send my friend Ralph after you!”
-
-“Oh, ho! is that the way the wind blows?” exclaimed the swineherd,
-with a whistle; and, grasping Eric’s arm, said, “You were right,
-prince! I never suspected them. I see now they are bad.”
-
-“I saw that before,” replied Eric, “and knew that no good would come
-to us from making their acquaintance.”
-
-“Were they not cunning?”
-
-“Yes; but probably, with all their smiles, flattery, and fair
-promises, they would have proved more cruel in the end than either
-Ralph or old Thorold.”
-
-“What would they have done to us? Why did they meet us? Who are they,
-think you?”
-
-“I don’t know, Wolf; it was enough for me that they lied, and did not
-wish us to do what was right.”
-
-Not long after this strange adventure they reached a rising ground
-from which a magnificent view burst upon them. Below there was a large
-lake, surrounded by wooded hills, above which rose noble rocks fringed
-with stately pines, and higher ranges of mountains beyond, some of
-whose summits were covered with snow that glittered like purest
-alabaster in the azure blue of the sky. Eric gave a cry of joy; for he
-saw the house of one of his father’s foresters, where he had once been
-with his father. “Wolf! Wolf!” he exclaimed, “look yonder; that is the
-house of Darkeye the forester. We are safe!” and the thread was
-leading straight down in the very direction which they wished.
-
-Darkeye’s house was built on a small green island in the lake. The
-island was like a little fort, for on every side the rocks descended
-like a wall. It could only be approached by a boat, which Darkeye kept
-on the island, and then by a narrow stair cut out of the rock. No
-robbers could thus get near it, and Darkeye was there to give shelter
-to travellers, and to help any of the poor who had to pass that way.
-The thread led down to the shore and the narrow ferry. They forgot
-their fatigue, and ran down till they reached the ferry. “Boat ahoy!”
-shouted Eric.
-
-By-and-by two boys were seen running out of the cottage, and after
-looking cautiously at those who were calling for the boat, they rowed
-off, and soon were at the shore, where stood Eric with his gold belt,
-and Wolf in his rough skins. “Don’t you remember me?” asked Eric. The
-boys looked astonished as they recognized the young prince, and
-received him joyfully into their boat, he holding by the thread, which
-seemed to cross the ferry towards the cottage.
-
-How many questions were mutually put and answered in a few minutes!
-They told him their father was at home; and how he had lately seen the
-king; and how the king was anxiously looking for Eric’s return; and
-how glad all on the island would be to see him. And the younger boy
-told him how they had a tame otter, that fished in the lake, and a
-fine golden eagle which they had got young in her nest, that lived on
-the island with them; and how their mother had got another baby since
-he had been there, and how happy they all were, and so on, until they
-arrived at the island. And there was old Darkeye himself waiting to
-receive them; and when he saw who was in the boat, he ran down the
-stone steps and grasped the young prince’s hand, and drew him to his
-heart. “Welcome, welcome!” said he; “I knew you had been in the
-forest, but your father would not tell me anything more about you. He
-only said that he longed for your coming home. But who is this?” asked
-Darkeye, pointing to Wolf.
-
-“A friend of mine,” said Eric, with a smile.
-
-“My name is Wolf,” grunted the swineherd.
-
-“I think I have seen him before. But no! What? Yes!” said Darkeye,
-examining him; then added, as if he had discovered some old
-acquaintance, “Surely I _have_ seen him. Tell me, my fine fellow, did
-you――――”
-
-It was evident Darkeye had seen Wolf killing his game, or in some
-affray with the robbers. Wolf looked steadily at Darkeye, then at
-Eric, but said nothing.
-
-“O Darkeye, do not trouble poor Wolf, but let him go into the cottage,
-and come you with me, as I wish to tell you all that has happened to
-me during these few days.”
-
-So, while the boys took Wolf to the cottage, and food was being
-prepared, Eric told Darkeye all his adventures; and you would have
-been sure that the forester was hearing something which surprised and
-interested him wonderfully, had you seen his face, and how he
-sometimes laughed, or knit his brows and looked angry, or sad and
-solemn, or sprang to his feet from the rock on which he was sitting
-beside Eric.
-
-When Eric came to speak about the old woman and her daughter, “Ah!”
-said Darkeye, “there are not worse people in that wicked country! They
-say that the old woman is a witch of some kind. But whether she
-poisons travellers or drowns them, I know not. No doubt she is in
-league with Ralph the robber, and would have robbed you or kept you
-fast in some way or other till you were handed over to him. You were
-right, my prince, in all you did. The only way of being delivered from
-temptation is to be brave, and do what is right, come what may.” At
-last, grasping Eric by the hand, he led him back to the cottage. There
-Darkeye’s wife received him like a mother, and all the children
-gathered round him in surprise and admiration, he looked so brave and
-lovely.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-
-One of the walls of the cottage was reared on the edge of the rock, so
-that it seemed a continuation of it, and to rise up from the deep
-waters of the lake. The boys were thus able often to fish with a long
-line out of the window. A winding stair led to a look-out on the roof,
-from which the whole island, called “The Green Island of the Lake,”
-could be seen. It was about a mile or more in circumference, and was
-dotted all over with the cottages of the other foresters and king’s
-huntsmen, each surrounded with clumps of trees, through which the
-curling smoke from the chimneys might be seen ascending. There were
-everywhere beautifully kept gardens, with fruits, and flowers, and
-beehives; and fields, too, with their crops. On the green knolls and
-in the little valleys might be seen cows and sheep; while flocks of
-goats browsed among ivy-covered rocks.
-
-In the middle of the island was a little shallow lake, beside which
-the otter had his house among the rocks; and there the eagle also
-lived. All the children in the island were the best of friends, and
-they played together, and sailed their boats on the little lake, and
-every day met in the house of one of the foresters to learn their
-lessons; and on Sunday, as they were very far away from any church,
-old Darkeye used to read good books to them, and worship with them,
-and did all he could to make them good and happy. They often met at
-such times in the open air, beneath a large tree which sheltered them
-from the sun.
-
-There was also in the island a house where, by the king’s orders, all
-poor travellers could find refuge and refreshment. And it was a great
-pleasure to the boys and girls to visit them; and if they were sick
-and confined to bed, to read to them, and attend to their wants. If
-the stranger had any children, the young islanders always shared their
-sports with them. And nothing pleased these stranger children more
-than to get leave to sail a boat, or to have the loan of a
-fishing-rod, or to hear the boys call Oscar――for that was the name of
-the otter――out of his den, and play with Tor the eagle; or to see them
-feed Oscar with some of the fish they had caught, and Tor with a bit
-of meat. The dogs were so friendly, too, that they never touched
-Oscar, but would swim about in the same pool with him. And so all were
-happy in the Green Island; because Darkeye had taught them what a
-wicked thing selfishness was, and that the only way to be happy was by
-thinking about others as well as themselves, and by loving one
-another. He also used to say: “Now, when you work, work like men, and
-when you play, play like boys: be hearty at both.” And so while there
-was no idleness, there was abundance of recreation.
-
-Another evil was never permitted in the island, and that was
-disobedience to parents, or want of respect to the old. But, indeed,
-punishment for these offences was seldom or never needed. The young
-learned to _like_ to do what was right, and were too brave and manly
-to give pain and trouble to others.
-
-I should have mentioned, also, that they had a little band of
-musicians. One beat the drum, a few played the fife, and others some
-simple instrument; while almost all could sing tolerably well in
-parts. Thus, many a traveller would pause and listen with delight as
-he heard on a summer’s evening the chorus song from many voices, or
-the music from the band coming from the island. “Young people,”
-Darkeye used to say, “have much wealth and happiness given them, if
-they only used their gifts.”
-
-But I am forgetting Eric and Wolf. They were both, you may be sure,
-ready for their dinner, and there was laid for them on a table, cream,
-cakes, and fresh trout, and such other good things as the kind woman
-could get ready.
-
-But now the thread began to move, as if it wished Eric to move also.
-Before rising to depart, he told Wolf how Darkeye, for his sake, would
-be so glad to take care of him, until he got his father’s permission
-to bring him into the castle; that he would learn to be a huntsman,
-and be taught what was good, and to know about the voice that spoke in
-his heart, and that all the boys in the island would make him their
-friend if he did what was right.
-
-“Ralph will come here!” said Wolf, hanging his head.
-
-“I wish the rascal did,” said Darkeye, “for he would never go back.
-But he cannot enter my fort, and knows me and my huntsmen too well
-ever to try it. I have had more than one brush with the villain, and
-we hope soon to drive him and his brood from their bloody nest. Wolf,
-you are welcome and safe, for Eric’s sake!” Then turning to Eric, he
-said, “I shall teach him, and make a man of him, my young prince,
-depend upon it. And now, before we part, I have to ask a favour,”
-continued Darkeye. “You know our custom near evening? If the thread
-permits, remain and be one of us.”
-
-“I remember it,” said Eric, “and will remain and be one of you, and
-let poor Wolf also be one.”
-
-And so they entered the cottage, and all sat down round an open window
-which looked out upon the beautiful lake dotted with wooded islands,
-and surrounded by the noble forest, above which rose the giant peaks
-and precipices. The water was calm as glass, and reflected every
-brilliant colour from rock and tree, and, most of all, from the golden
-clouds, which already began to gather in the west. Darkeye read from
-the Blessed Book of one who had left his father’s house, and went to a
-far country, where he would fain have satisfied his hunger from the
-husks which the swine did eat, but who at last returned home after
-having suffered from his disobedience. When he closed the Book, all
-stood up and sang these words with sweet and happy voices:――
-
-  “Father! from Thy throne above,
-     Bless our lowly home below!
-   Jesus, Shepherd! in Thy love,
-     Save Thy flock from every foe.
-
-  “Thine we are! for Thou hast made us;
-     Thine, for we’re redeemed by Thee;
-   Thine, for Thou hast ever led us,
-     Thine, we evermore shall be!
-
-  “May we love Thee, may we fear Thee,
-     May Thy will, not ours, be done;
-   Never leave us till we’re near Thee
-     In Thy Home, where all are one!”
-
-Then they knelt down, and Darkeye spoke to God in the name of them
-all, thanking Him for His goodness, and telling Him their wants. When
-they rose from their knees, the gold thread shone brilliantly, and,
-like a beam of light, passed out at the door in the direction of the
-ferry. During the singing of the verses, Wolf seemed for the first
-time quite overcome. He bent his head, and covered his face with his
-hands. He then said, in a low voice, when the short service was over,
-and as if speaking to himself, while all were silent listening to him,
-“I had a dream. Long, long ago. A carriage――a lady. She was on her
-knees crying. She had hold of me. Ralph was there and the robbers. I
-forget the rest.” He rose and looked out of the window, gazing
-vacantly.
-
-“What can he mean?” asked Eric aside to Darkeye, who was looking
-tenderly on Wolf.
-
-“Ah! who knows, poor boy! Singing always touches the heart of these
-wanderers. Perhaps――yes――it may be,” he said, so that Eric alone could
-hear him, “that he has been taken when a child by Ralph from some rich
-traveller, and perhaps his mother was killed! He may have been the
-child of good people. Was that his mother who prayed for him? If so,
-her prayers are now answered, for her boy will be delivered――poor
-Wolf!――Wolf, my boy,” said Darkeye, “come and bid farewell to your
-friend.”
-
-Wolf started as from a dream, and came to Eric.
-
-“Farewell, my kind Wolf, and I hope some day to see you in my father’s
-house.” The swineherd spoke not a word, but wiped his eyes with the
-back of his rough hand. “Cheer up, Wolf, for you will be good and
-happy here.”
-
-“Wolf is happy already, and he will take care of the pigs, or do
-anything for you all.” He then held out his stick to Eric, and said,
-“Take it; it is all Wolf has: Ralph has the gold coin.”
-
-“Thank you, good Wolf; but you will require it, and I need nothing to
-remember you.”
-
-“Don’t be angry, Eric, for what I did in the forest when we met. My
-heart is sorry.”
-
-“We did not know one another then, Wolf, and I shall never forget that
-to you I owe my escape.”
-
-“Wolf loves you, and every one here.”
-
-“I am sure you do, Wolf, and I love you. God bless you, Wolf, I must
-go; farewell!”
-
-And so they parted. But all gathered round Eric, and accompanied him
-to the boat, blessing the little prince, and wishing him a peaceful
-and happy journey. Eric thanked them with many smiles and tender
-words. Darkeye alone went with him into the boat, wondering greatly at
-the thread, and most of all at the prince, who shone with a beauty
-that seemed not of this world. The prince landed, but Darkeye knew for
-many reasons that he could not accompany him in his journey, which he
-must take alone. Eric landed on the shore, embraced Darkeye, and
-waving his hand to all on the island, he soon was lost to their sight
-in the great forest.
-
-A winding pathway, over the ridge of hills, led down to a broad and
-rapid but smooth river, and on its banks was a royal boat, beautiful
-to look upon. The thread led into the boat, and though no one was
-there, Eric entered, and sat on a velvet cushion on which the golden
-thread laid itself down. No sooner had he gone on board of the boat,
-than――as if his little foot, when it touched her, had sent her from
-the shore――she slowly moved into the centre of the channel, and was
-carried downwards by the current. On she swept on the bosom of that
-clear stream, between shores adorned with all that could delight the
-eye――rocks and trees and flowers, with here and there waterfalls,
-white as snow, from mountain rivulets which poured themselves into the
-great river. The woods were full of song, and birds with splendid
-plumage gleamed and flashed amidst the foliage like rainbow hues
-amidst the clouds.
-
-Eric knew not whither he was being carried, but his heart was sunshine
-and peace. On and on he swept with the winding stream, until at last
-darting under a dark archway of brick, and then emerging into light,
-the boat grounded on a shore of pure white sand, while the thread rose
-and led him to the land.
-
-No sooner had he stepped on shore and ascended the green bank, than he
-found himself at the end of a long, broad avenue of splendid old
-trees, whose tops met in a green arch overhead. The far-off end of the
-avenue was closed by a great stair of pure white marble steps which
-ascended to a magnificent castle. Wall rose above wall, and tower over
-tower. He saw grand flights of stairs, leading from one stately
-terrace to another, with marble statues, clear gushing fountains, and
-flower gardens, and every kind of lovely tree. It was his father’s
-castle at last! He ran on with breathless anxiety and joy. He soon
-reached it. A large gate was before him, that seemed to be covered
-with glittering gold. The thread led directly to it. As he reached the
-door, he saw the thread tied to a golden knocker, shaped like the old
-cross in the forest. Inscribed over the door were the words, “He that
-persevereth to the end shall be saved.” And on the knocker, “Knock,
-and it shall be opened.” He seized the knocker, and the moment it
-fell, the thread broke and vanished. A crash of music was heard
-inside. The door opened, and there stood Eric’s father, surrounded by
-his brothers and sisters; and the beautiful lady was there too, and
-many, many more to welcome Eric. His father clasped him to his heart,
-and said, “My son was lost, but is found!”
-
-While all crowded around Eric with his weary feet and torn dress, kept
-together by his golden band, a chorus was heard singing,――
-
-  “Home where the weary rest,
-   Home where the good are blest,
-       Home of the soul;
-   Glorious the race when run,
-   Glorious the prize when won,
-       Glorious the goal!”
-
-Then there rose a swell of many young voices singing,――
-
-  “Oh, be joyful, be joyful, let every voice sing!
-   Welcome, brothers, our brother, the son of the king;
-   His wanderings are past, to his father he’s come;
-   Little Eric, our darling, we welcome thee home!
-   Oh, blessed is the true one who follows the road,
-   Holding fast to his GOLD THREAD OF DUTY TO GOD,
-   Who, when tempted, is firm, who in danger is brave,
-   Who, forgetting himself, will a lost brother save.
-   Then be joyful, be joyful, for Eric is come;
-   Little Eric, our darling, we welcome thee home!”
-
-And then the sun set, and the earth was dark, but the palace of the
-king shone like an aurora in the wintry sky.
-
-
-
-
-“WEE DAVIE.”
-
-
-
-
-“WEE DAVIE.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-“And a little child shall lead them.”
-
-
-“Wee Davie” was the only child of William Thorburn, blacksmith. The
-child had reached the age in which he could venture, with prudence and
-reflection, on a journey from one chair to another, his wits kept
-alive by maternal warnings of “Tak’ care, Davie; mind the fire,
-Davie.” And when his journey was ended in safety, and he looked over
-his shoulder with a cry of joy to his mother, he was rewarded, in
-addition to the rewards of his own brave and adventurous spirit, by
-such a smile as equalled only his own, and by the well-merited
-approval of “Weel done, Davie!”
-
-Davie was the most powerful and influential member of the household.
-Neither the British fleet, nor the French army, nor the Armstrong gun,
-nor the British Constitution had the power of doing what Davie did.
-They might as well have tried to make a primrose grow or a lark sing!
-He was, for example, a wonderful stimulus to labour. His father, the
-smith, had been rather disposed to idleness before his son’s arrival.
-He did not take to his work on cold mornings as he might have done,
-and was apt to neglect many opportunities which offered themselves of
-bettering his condition; and Jeanie was easily put off by some
-plausible objection when she urged her husband to make an additional
-honest penny to keep the house. But “the bairn” became a new motive to
-exertion; and the thought of leaving him and Jeanie more comfortable,
-in case sickness laid the smith aside, or death took him away, became
-like a new sinew to his powerful arm, as he wielded the hammer, and
-made it ring the music of hearty work on the sounding anvil. The
-meaning of benefit-clubs, sick-societies, and penny-banks was fully
-explained by “wee Davie.”
-
-Davie also exercised a remarkable influence on his father’s political
-views and social habits. The smith had been fond of debates on
-political questions, and no more sonorous growl of discontent than his
-could be heard against the powers that be, the injustice done to the
-masses, and the misery which was occasioned by class legislation. He
-had also made up his mind not to be happy or contented, but only to
-endure life as a necessity laid upon him, until the required reforms
-in Church and State, at home and abroad, had been attained.
-
-  [Illustration: “Isn’t he a bonnie bit bairn?”
-   _See page 100._]
-
-But his wife, without uttering a syllable on matters which she did not
-pretend even to understand, and by a series of acts _out_ of
-Parliament, by reforms in household arrangements, by introducing good
-_bills_ to her own House of Commons, and by a charter, whose points
-were chiefly very commonplace ones, such as a comfortable meal, a tidy
-home, a clean fireside, a polished grate, above all, a cheerful
-countenance and womanly love――these _radical_ changes had made her
-husband wonderfully fond of his own house. He was, under this
-teaching, getting every day too contented for a patriot, and too happy
-for a man in such an ill-governed world. His old companions could not
-at last coax him out at night. He was lost as a member of one of the
-most philosophical clubs in the neighbourhood. His old pluck, they
-said, was gone. The wife, it was alleged by the patriotic bachelors,
-had “cowed” him, and driven all the spirit out of him. But “wee Davie”
-completed this revolution.
-
-One failing of William’s had hitherto resisted Jeanie’s silent
-influence. The smith had formed the habit, before he was married, of
-meeting a few companions, “just in a friendly way,” on pay-nights at a
-public-house. It was true that he was never “what might be called a
-drunkard,” “never lost a day’s work,” “never was the worse of liquor,”
-etc. But, nevertheless, when he entered the snuggery in Peter Wilson’s
-whisky shop, with the blazing fire and comfortable atmosphere; and
-when, with half a dozen talkative and, to him, pleasant fellows and
-old companions, he sat round the fire, and the glass circulated, and
-the gossip of the week was discussed, and racy stories were told, and
-one or two songs sung, linked together by memories of old merry
-meetings; and current jokes were repeated, with humour, of the
-tyrannical influence which some would presume to exercise on “innocent
-social enjoyment”――then would the smith’s brawny chest expand, and his
-face beam, and his feelings become malleable, and his sixpences begin
-to melt, and flow out in generous sympathy into Peter Wilson’s fozy
-hand, and there counted beneath his sodden eyes. And so it was that
-the smith’s wages were always _minus_ Peter’s gains.
-
-His wife had her fears――her horrid anticipations――but did not like to
-“even” her husband to anything so dreadful as what she in her heart
-dreaded. She took her own way, however, to win him to the house and to
-good, and gently insinuated wishes rather than expressed them. The
-smith, no doubt, was only “merry,” and never was ill-tempered or
-unkind; “yet at times――” “and then, what if――” Yes, Jeanie, you are
-right! The demon sneaks into the house by degrees, and at first may be
-dispelled, and the door shut upon him; but let him only once take
-possession, then he will keep it, and shut the door against everything
-pure, and lovely, and of good report, and bar it against thee and “wee
-Davie,” ay, and against better than thee and than all else, and fill
-the house with sin and shame, with misery and despair! But “wee
-Davie,” with his arm of might, drove the demon out.
-
-It happened thus. One evening when the smith returned home so that
-“you would know _it_ on him,” his child toddled to him, and, lifting
-him up, he made him stand before him on his knee. The child began to
-play with the locks of the Samson, and to pat him on the cheek, and to
-repeat with glee the name of “dad-a.” The smith gazed at him intently,
-and with a peculiar look of love, mingled with sadness.
-
-“Isn’t he a bonnie bit bairn?” asked Jeanie, as she looked over her
-husband’s shoulder at the child, nodding and smiling to him.
-
-The smith spoke not a word, but gazed still upon his boy, while some
-sudden emotion was strongly working in his countenance. “It’s done!”
-he at last said, as he put his child down.
-
-“What’s wrang? what’s wrang?” exclaimed his wife, as she stood before
-him, and put her hands round his shoulders, bending down until her
-face was close to his.
-
-“Everything is wrang, Jeanie!”
-
-“Willie, what is’t? are ye no’ weel?――tell me what’s wrang wi’
-you?――oh, tell me!” she exclaimed in evident alarm.
-
-“It’s a’ richt noo!” he said, rising up, and seizing his child, lifted
-him up to his breast, and kissed him. He then folded him in his arms,
-clasped him to his heart, and looking up in silence, said, “Davie has
-done it, along wi’ you, Jeanie. Thank God, I am a free man!”
-
-His wife felt awed, she knew not how.
-
-“Sit doon,” he said, as he took out his handkerchief and wiped away a
-tear from his eye, “and I’ll tell you a’ aboot it.”
-
-Jeanie sat on a stool at his feet, with Davie on her knee.
-
-Her husband seized his child’s little hand with one of his own, and
-with the other took his wife’s. “I havena been what ye may ca’ a
-drunkard,” he said, “but I hae been often as I shouldna hae been, and
-as, wi’ God’s help, I never, never will be again!”
-
-“Oh!” exclaimed Jeanie.
-
-“Let me speak,” said William. “To think, Jeanie”――here he struggled as
-if something was choking him――“to think that for whisky I might beggar
-you and wee Davie; tak’ the claes aff your back; drive ye to the
-workhouse; break your heart; and ruin my bonnie bairn, that loves me
-sae weel, in saul and body, for time and for eternity! God forgie me!
-I canna stand the thocht o’t, let alane the reality!” and the strong
-man rose, and little accustomed as he was to show his feelings, he
-kissed his wife and child. “It’s done, it’s done!” he said; “dinna
-greet, Jeanie. Thank God for you and Davie, my best blessings.”
-
-“Except Himsel’!” said Jeanie, as she hung on her husband’s neck.
-
-“Amen!” said the smith; “and noo, woman, nae mair aboot it; it’s done.
-Gie wee Davie a piece, and get the supper ready.”
-
-“Wee Davie” was also a great promoter of social intercourse, an
-unconscious link between man and man, and a great practical
-“unionist.” He healed breaches, reconciled differences, and was a
-peace-maker between kinsfolk and neighbours. For example: Jeanie’s
-parents were rather opposed to her marriage with the smith; some said
-because they belonged to the rural aristocracy of country farmers.
-They regretted, therefore, the day――though their regret was expressed
-only to old friends――when the lame condition of some of the horses had
-brought Thorburn into communion with their stable, and ultimately with
-their house. Thorburn was admitted to be a sensible, well-to-do man;
-but then he was, at best, but a smith, and Jeanie was good-looking,
-and “by ordinary,” with expectations of some “tocher,” and as her
-mother remarked, “though I say it, that shouldna say it,” etc., and
-so, with this introduction, she would proceed to enlarge on Jeanie’s
-excellences, commenting on the poor smith rather with pauses of
-silence, and expressions of hope “that she might be mistaken,” all of
-which, from their very mystery, were more depreciatory than any direct
-charges. But when “wee Davie” was born, the old couple deemed it
-proper and due to themselves――not to speak of the respect due to their
-daughter, whom they sincerely loved――to come and visit her. Her mother
-had been with her, indeed, at an earlier period; and the house was so
-clean, and Thorburn so intelligent, and the child pronounced to be so
-like old David Armstrong, Jeanie’s father, especially about the
-forehead, that the two families, as the smith remarked, were evidently
-being welded, so that a few more gentle hammerings would make them
-one.
-
-“Wee Davie,” as he grew up, became the fire of love which heated the
-hearts of good metal so as to enable favourable circumstances to give
-the necessary finishing stroke which would permanently unite them.
-These circumstances were constantly occurring until, at last,
-Armstrong called on every market-day to see his daughter and grandson,
-and he played with the boy (who was his only grandson), and took him
-on his knee, and put a “sweetie” into his mouth, and evidently felt as
-if he himself was reproduced and lived in the boy. This led to closer
-intercourse, until David Armstrong admitted that William Thorburn was
-one of the most sensible men he knew, and that he would not only back
-him against any of his acquaintances for a knowledge of a good horse,
-but for wonderful information as to the state of the country
-generally, especially of the landed interest and the high rent of
-land. Mrs. Armstrong finally admitted that Jeanie was not so far
-mistaken in her choice of a husband. The good woman always assumed
-that the sagacity of the family was derived from her side of the
-house. But whatever doubts still lingered in their minds as to the
-marriage, these were all dissipated by one look of “wee Davie.” “I’m
-just real proud aboot that braw bairn o’ Jeanie’s,” she used to say to
-her husband. She added one day, with a chuckling laugh and smile,
-“D’ye no’ think yersel’, gudeman, that wee Davie has a look o’ auld
-Davie?”
-
-“Maybe, maybe,” replied auld Davie; “but I aye think he’s our ain
-bairn we lost thirty years syne.”
-
-“That has been in my ain mind,” said his wife; “but I never liked to
-say it. But he’s no’ the waur o’ being like baith.”
-
-Again: There lived in the same common passage, and opposite to William
-Thorburn’s door, an old soldier, a pensioner. He was a bachelor, and
-by no means disposed to hold much intercourse with his neighbours. The
-noise of the children was obnoxious to him. He maintained that “an
-hour’s drill every day would alone make them tolerable. Obedience to
-authority; right about, march! That’s the thing,” the Corporal would
-say to some father of a numerous family in the “close,” as he
-flourished his stick with a smile rather than a growl. Jeanie
-pronounced him to be “a selfish body.” Thorburn had more than once
-tried to cultivate acquaintance with him, as they were constantly
-brought into outward contact. But the Corporal was a Tory, and more
-than suspected the smith of holding “Radical” sentiments. To defend
-things as they were was a point of honour with the pensioner――a
-religion. Any dislike to the Government seemed a slight upon the army,
-and therefore upon himself. Thorburn at last avoided him, and
-pronounced him proud and ignorant. But one day “wee Davie” found his
-way into his house, and putting his hands on his knees as he smoked
-his pipe at the fireside, looked up to his face. The old soldier was
-arrested by the beauty of the child, and took him on his knee. To his
-surprise, Davie did not scream; and when his mother soon followed in
-search of her boy, and made many apologies for his “impudence,” as she
-called it, the Corporal maintained that he was a jewel, a perfect
-gentleman, and dubbed him “the Captain.”
-
-Next day, tapping at Thorburn’s door, the Corporal gracefully
-presented a toy in the shape of a small sword and drum for his young
-hero. That night he smoked his pipe at the smith’s fireside, and told
-such stories of his battles as fired the smith’s enthusiasm, called
-forth his praises, and, what was more substantial, a most comfortable
-tea by Jeanie, which clinched their friendly intercourse. He and “the
-Captain” became constant associates, and many a loud laugh might be
-heard from the Corporal’s room as he played with the boy, and educated
-his genius. “He makes me young again, does the Captain!” remarked the
-Corporal to his mother.
-
-Mrs. Fergusson, another neighbour, was also drawn into the same net by
-“wee Davie.” She was a fussy, gossiping woman, noisy and disagreeable.
-She found Jeanie uncongenial, who “kept herself to herself,” instead
-of giving away some of her good self to her neighbour, and thus taking
-some of her neighbour’s bad self out of her. But her youngest child
-became seriously ill, and Jeanie thought, “If Davie was ill I would
-like a neighbour to speir for him,” and so she went upstairs to visit
-Mrs. Fergusson, and begged pardon, but “wished to know how Mary was?”
-and Mrs. Fergusson was bowed down with sorrow, and thanked her, and
-bid her “to come ben.” And Jeanie did so, and spoke kindly to the
-child, and told her, moreover, what pleasure it would give her to
-nurse her baby occasionally; and she invited the younger children to
-come down to her house and play with “wee Davie,” and thus keep the
-sick one quiet; and she helped also to cook some nutritive drinks, and
-got nice milk from her father for the sick one, and often excused
-herself for apparent meddling by saying, “When one has a bairn o’
-their ain, they canna but feel for other folk’s bairns.”
-
-Mrs. Fergusson’s heart became subdued, softened, and friendly, and she
-said, “We took it as extraordinar’ kind in Mrs. Thorburn to do as she
-has done. It is a blessing to have sic a neighbour.”
-
-But it was “wee Davie” did it.
-
-The street in which the smith lived was as uninteresting as any could
-be. A description of its outs and ins would have made a “social
-science” meeting shudder. Beauty or even neatness it had not. Every
-“close” or “entry” in it looked like a sepulchre. The back courts were
-a huddled confusion of outhouses; strings of linens drying; stray dogs
-searching for food; pigeons similarly employed with more apparent
-success and satisfaction; and cats creeping about; with crowds of
-children, laughing, shouting, and muddy to the eyes, acting with
-intense glee the great dramas of life, marriages, battles, deaths, and
-burials, with castle-building and extensive farming and commercial
-operations. But everywhere smoke, mud, wet, and an utterly
-uncomfortable look. And so long as we in Scotland have a western ocean
-to afford an unlimited supply of water, and western mountains to
-condense it as it passes in the blue air over their summits, and
-western winds to waft it to our cities, and so long as it will pour
-down, and be welcomed by smoke above and earth below――then
-consequently so long we shall find it difficult to be “neat and tidy
-about the doors,” or to transport the cleanliness of England into our
-streets and lanes. But, in spite of all this, how many cheerful homes,
-with bright fires and nice furniture, and rows of books, and
-intelligent, sober, happy men and women, with healthy, nice children,
-are everywhere to be found in those very streets, that seem to the eye
-of those who have never penetrated farther than their outside, to be
-“dreadful-looking places;” and who imagine that all their inhabitants
-must be like pigs in pigstyes, steeped in wretchedness and whisky; and
-infer that every ignorant and filthy and drunken Irish brawler and
-labourer is a fair type of the whole of our artisans.
-
-There is, I begin to suspect, a vast deal of exaggerated nonsense
-written about the working classes. Be that as it may, I feel pretty
-certain of this, that there is no country on earth in which the
-skilled and well-conducted artisan can get so much for his money,
-socially, physically, intellectually, and morally, as in our own
-Britain, and none in which there are to be found so many artisans who
-take advantage of these benefits. But for the ignorant and
-ill-disposed, the idle and the drunken, there is no country where
-their degradation is more rapid, and their ruin more sure. The former
-can easily rise above the mud, and breathe a free and happy
-atmosphere; but if he falls into it, it is likely he will be sooner
-smothered and buried than anywhere else on earth.
-
-A happier home could hardly be found than William Thorburn’s, smith,
-as he sat, after coming home from his work, at the fireside, reading
-his newspaper, or some book of weightier literature, Jeanie sewing
-opposite to him, and, as it often happened, both absorbed occasionally
-in the rays of that bright light, “wee Davie,” which filled their
-dwelling, and the whole world, to their eyes; or listened to the grand
-concert of his happy voice, which mingled with their busy work and
-silent thoughts, giving harmony to all. How much was done for his
-sake! He was the most sensible, efficient, and thoroughly
-philosophical missionary of social science in all its departments who
-could enter that house.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-
-My heart is sore as I write it, that “wee Davie” got ill. He began to
-refuse his food, and nothing would please him; then to get peevish and
-cross, so that he would hardly go to his father, except to kiss him
-with tearful cheeks, and then stretch out his hands with a cry for his
-mother. His mother nursed him on her knee, and rocked him, and walked
-with him, and sang to him her own household lullabies; and put him to
-bed, and lifted him up, and laid him down, and “fought” with him day
-and night, caring for neither food nor sleep, but only for her child’s
-ease and comfort. What lessons of self-sacrificing love was she thus
-unconsciously taught by her little sufferer! The physician was at last
-called in, who pronounced it “a bad case――a _very_ serious case.” I
-forget the specific nature of the illness. The idea of danger to Davie
-had never entered the minds of his parents. The day on which William
-realized it, he was, as his fellow-workmen expressed it, “clean
-stupid.” They saw him make mistakes he had never made before, and knew
-it could not be from drink, but could not guess the cause. “I maun
-gang hame!” was his only explanation, when, at three o’clock, he put
-on his coat and stalked out of the smithy, like one utterly
-indifferent as to what the consequences might be to ploughs or
-harrows, wheels or horse-shoes. Yet taking an old fellow-workman
-aside, he whispered to him, “For auld friendship sake, Tam, tak’
-charge this day o’ my wark.”
-
-“What ails Willie?” was the only question put by him and others, to
-which no reply could be given.
-
-It was on the afternoon of next day that “the minister” called. It
-must here be confessed that William was a rare attender of any church.
-The fact was, he had been hitherto rather sceptical in his tendencies;
-not that his doubts had ever assumed a systematic form, or had ever
-been expressed in any determined or dogmatic manner. But he had read
-Tom Paine, associated the political rights of man with rebellion
-against all old authorities, all of whom seemed to him to have denied
-them, and he had imbibed the idea at the old “philosophical” club,
-that ministers, especially those of the Established Church, were the
-enemies of all progress, had no sympathy with the working classes,
-were slaves to the aristocracy, preached as a mere profession and only
-for their pay, and had, moreover, a large share of hypocrisy and
-humbug in them. The visit of Dr. M’Gavin was, therefore, very
-unexpected.
-
-When the Doctor entered the house, after a courteous request to be
-allowed to do so, as it was always his principle that the poorest man
-was entitled to the same respect as the man of rank or riches, he
-said, “I have just heard from some of your neighbours, whom I have
-been visiting, that your child is seriously unwell, and I thought you
-would excuse me intruding upon you to inquire for him.”
-
-William made him welcome and begged him to be seated. The call was
-specially acceptable to Jeanie. Old David, I should have mentioned,
-was an “elder” in a most worthy dissenting congregation, and his
-strong religious convictions and church views formed in his mind a
-chief objection to the marriage of his daughter with a man “who was
-not,” as he said, “even a member of any kirk.” Jeanie had often wished
-her husband to be more decided in what she felt herself to be a duty
-and a privilege. The visit of the Doctor, whose character was well
-known and much esteemed, was therefore peculiarly welcome to her. In a
-little while the Doctor was standing beside the little bed of the
-sufferer, who was asleep, and gently touching “wee Davie’s” hand, he
-said, in a quiet voice, to the smith, “My brother, I sincerely feel
-for you! I am myself a father, and have suffered losses in my family.”
-
-At the word _losses_, William winced, and moved from his place as if
-he felt uneasy.
-
-The Doctor quickly perceived it, and said, “I do not, of course, mean
-to express so rash and unkind an opinion as that you are to lose this
-very beautiful and interesting boy, but only to show you how I am
-enabled, from experience, to understand your anxiety, and to
-sympathize with you and your wife.” And noiselessly walking to the
-arm-chair near the fire, he there sat down, while William and Jeanie
-sat near him. After hearing with patience and attention the account
-from Jeanie of the beginning and progress of the child’s disease, he
-said, “Whatever happens, it is a comfort to know that God our Father
-is acquainted with all that you suffer, all you fear, and all you
-wish; and that Jesus Christ, our Brother, has a fellow-feeling with us
-in all our infirmities and trials.”
-
-“The Deity must know all,” said William, with a softened voice; “He is
-infinitely great and incomprehensible.”
-
-“Yes,” replied the Doctor; “and so great, that He can attend to our
-smallest concerns; yet not so incomprehensible but that a father’s
-heart can truly feel after Him, so as at least to find Him through His
-Son. Ah! my brother,” continued the Doctor, “what a comfort and
-strength the thought is to all men, and ought to be to you working
-men, and to you parents, especially with your dear child in sickness,
-that He who marks a sparrow fall, smitten by winter’s cold, and who
-feeds the wild beasts, is acquainted with us, with our most secret
-affairs, so that even, as it were, the hairs of our heads are
-numbered; that He who is the Father, Almighty Maker of the heavens and
-the earth, knows the things which we need; that He has in us,
-individually, an interest which is incomprehensible, only because His
-love to us is so in its depth; that He considers each of us, and
-weighs all His dealings towards us with a carefulness as great as if
-we alone existed in His universe; so that, as a father pitieth his
-children, He pitieth us, knowing our frames, and _remembering_ we are
-dust.”
-
-William bent his head and was silent, while Jeanie listened with her
-whole soul.
-
-“It is not easy, minister,” said William, breaking silence, “for
-hard-wrought and tried men to believe that.”
-
-“Nor for any man,” replied the Doctor. “I find it very difficult to
-believe it myself as a real thing, yet I know it to be true; and,” he
-continued, with a low and affectionate voice, “perhaps we never could
-have known it and believed it at all, unless God had taught it to us
-by the life of His own Son, who came to reveal Him. But as I see _Him_
-taking up little children into His loving arms, when others would keep
-them away who did not understand what perfect love was, and as I see
-in such doings how love cannot but come down and meet the wants of its
-smallest and weakest object, oh! it is then I learn in what consists
-the real greatness of God, ‘whose name is Love.’” The Doctor paused
-for a moment, and then went on: “Because, my brother, I see in this
-love of Christ more than the love of a good man merely; I see revealed
-in it the loving tenderness towards us and ours of that God whom no
-eye hath seen or can see, but whom the eye of the spirit can perceive;
-for, as Jesus said, ‘He who seeth _Me_, seeth the Father.’”
-
-“I believe a’ ye say, Doctor,” said Jeanie meekly. “_I_ wadna like to
-keep my bairn frae Him; but, oh! sir, I hope――I hope He wull lift him
-up, and do to us now as He did to many distressed ones while on
-earth!”
-
-“I hope,” said the Doctor, “God will spare your boy; but you must ask
-Him sincerely so to do, and you must trust Him, and commit your child
-into His hands without fear, and acquiesce in His doing towards you
-and your boy as He pleases.”
-
-“That is hard!” remarked William.
-
-“Hard?” mildly replied the Doctor. “What would you choose else, had
-you the power of doing so, rather than of acquiescing in the will of
-God? Would you trust your own heart, for instance, more than the heart
-of God? or would you rather have your child’s fate decided by any
-other on earth than by yourself?”
-
-“No, for I know how I love the boy.”
-
-“But God loves him much more than you do; for he belongs to God, and
-was made by Him and for Him.”
-
-“Excuse me, Doctor, but yet I canna thole the thocht o’ parting wi’
-him!” said Jeanie.
-
-“May God spare him to you, my friends!” replied the minister, “if it
-be for your good and his. But,” he added, “there are worse things than
-death.”
-
-This remark, made in almost an under voice, was followed by silence
-for a few moments. The Doctor’s eyes were cast down as if in
-meditation or prayer.
-
-“Death is hard enough!” said the smith.
-
-“But hard chiefly as a sign of something worse,” continued the
-minister. “Pardon me for asking you such questions as these:――What if
-your child grew up an enemy to you? What if he never returned your
-love? What if he never would trust you? What if he never would speak
-to you? What if he always disobeyed you? Would this not bring down
-your gray hairs with sorrow to the grave?”
-
-“Eh! sir,” said Jeanie, “that _would_ be waur than death!”
-
-“But excuse me, Doctor, for just remarking,” interrupted William,
-“that I never knew any child with a good parent who would so act. I
-really don’t think it possible that our ain wee Davie, even with our
-poor bringing up, would ever come to _that_. It would be so
-unnatural.”
-
-“God knows, Thorburn,” said the Doctor. “There are many unnatural
-things in this world. Listen to me kindly; for I sincerely thank you
-for having allowed one who is a stranger to speak so frankly to you,
-and for having heard me with such considerate patience.”
-
-“Oh, gang on, gang on, Doctor; I like to hear you,” said Jeanie.
-
-“Certainly, sir,” added the smith.
-
-“Well, then,” said the Doctor, “I have no wish to appear even to find
-fault with you at such a time. I feel more disposed to weep with you
-in your sorrow than to search your heart or life for sin. But I feel
-at such solemn times as these, solemn to you and to your wife, that
-the voice of a Father is speaking to you in the rod, and it ought to
-be heard; and that His hand is ministering discipline in time, and you
-ought to give Him reverence, and be in subjection to the Father of our
-spirits that you may live; and therefore, in order to impart to you
-more strength and comfort in the end, let me beseech of you, after I
-am gone, to consider candidly whether you have not perhaps been acting
-towards _your_ Father in heaven in the very way in which did your
-child grow up and act towards you would be reckoned as worse than
-death. Therefore honestly ask yourselves whether there has been from
-you love to God your Father in return for His love to you. Has there
-been cordial friendship or the reverse? Confidence or distrust?
-Disobedience or rebellion? Communion in frank, believing, and
-affectionate prayer, or silence? I do not ask you to reply to me; but
-I wish you and myself, as loving fathers of our children, to ask
-whether we have felt and acted towards the best and most loving of
-fathers as we wish our children to feel and act towards ourselves.”
-The Doctor paused for a moment. Jeanie shook her head slowly, and the
-smith stared with her at the fire. “My friends, we have all sinned,
-and this is our sin of sins, that we have _not known nor loved our
-Father_, but have been forgetful of Him, strange, shy to Him; yes, we
-have been cold, heartless, prodigal, disobedient children.” Another
-short pause, and the Doctor then spoke on in the same quiet and loving
-voice――“But whatever we are or have been, let us hope in God, or we
-perish. Every sinner is doomed, but no man is doomed to be a sinner.
-God is our Father still; and just as you both have nourished and
-cherished your dear boy, and have been loving when he knew it not, nor
-could understand that great love in your hearts which, sure am I, will
-never grow cold but in the grave, so has it been with God to us His
-children. Open your hearts to His love, as you would open your eyes to
-the light which has been ever shining. Believe it as the grand
-reality, as you would have your boy open his heart to and believe in
-your love when he awakens from his sleep. Your love, as I have said,
-is deep, real to your boy, irrespective of his knowledge or return of
-it. But what is this to the love of God? ‘_Herein_ is love, not that
-we loved God, but that He loved us, and gave His Son to be a
-propitiation for our sins.’ Let us, my friends, never rest till we are
-enabled in some degree to see and to appreciate this, and to say, ‘We
-have known and believed the love which God has to us.’”
-
-“Dr. M’Gavin,” said William, “you have spoken to me as no man ever did
-before, and you will believe me, I am sure, when I say that I respect
-you and myself too much to flatter you. But there is surely a meaning
-in my love to that boy which I never saw before. It begins to glimmer
-on me.”
-
-“Thank God if it does! But I do not speak to you――and this you must
-give me credit for――as if it were my profession only; I speak to you
-as a man, a father, and a brother, wishing you to share the good which
-God has given to me and gives to you. So I tell you again, and would
-repeat it and repeat it, that if we would only have to God that simple
-confidence, hearty love, frank, cheerful communion, peace and joy,
-which we wish our children to have towards us, we would experience a
-true regeneration. And what was the whole life of Jesus Christ save a
-life of this blessed, confiding, obedient, childlike sonship? Oh, that
-we would learn of Him, and grow up in likeness to Him! But this
-ignorance of God is worse than death. For if knowledge be life,
-spiritual ignorance is death. My good friends, I have been led to give
-you a regular sermon!” said the Doctor, smiling; “but I really cannot
-help it. To use common everyday language, I think our treatment of God
-has been shameful, unjust, and disgraceful on the part of men with
-reason, conscience, and heart. I do not express myself half so
-strongly as I feel. I am ashamed and disgusted with myself, and all
-the members of the human family, for what we feel, and feel _not_, to
-such a Father. If it were not for what the one Elder Brother was and
-did, the whole family would have been disgraced and ruined most
-righteously!”
-
-“Doctor,” said William, with a trembling voice, “thank ye, thank ye,
-from my heart. I confess I have been very careless in going to the
-church, but――”
-
-“We may talk of that again, if you allow me to return to-morrow. Yet,”
-continued the Doctor, pointing to the child, “God in His mercy never
-leaves Himself without a witness. Look at your child, and listen to
-your own heart, and remember all I have said, and you will perhaps
-discover that though you tried it you could not fly from the Word of
-the Lord. A father’s voice by a child has been preaching to you. Yes,
-Thorburn, when in love God gave you that child, He sent an eloquent
-and holy missionary to your house to preach the gospel of what our
-Father is, and what we as children ought to be. Only listen to that
-sermon, and you will soon be prepared to listen to others.”
-
-The Doctor rose to depart. Before doing so, he asked permission to
-pray, which was cheerfully granted. Wishing to strengthen the faith of
-those sufferers in prayer, he first said, “If God _cannot_ hear and
-answer prayer, He is not supreme; if He _will_ not, He is not our
-Father. But blessed be His name, His own Son, who knew Him perfectly,
-who Himself prayed, and was heard in that He prayed, has enabled our
-parental hearts, from our love to our own children, to feel the beauty
-and truth of this His own argument, ‘Ask, and it shall be given you;
-seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for
-every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to
-him that knocketh, it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you,
-whom, if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a
-fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to
-give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father
-which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him!’” And then
-the Doctor poured forth a simple, loving, and most sympathizing
-prayer, in which he made himself one with his fellow-worshippers, and
-expressed to a common Father the anguish of the hearts around him.
-When it ended, he went to the bed, and looked at the sleeping child,
-touched its white hand, and said, “God bless your little one! May this
-sleep be for health!”
-
-“It’s the first sleep,” said Jeanie, “he has had for a lang time. It
-may be a turn in his complaint.”
-
-Without waiting to force the parents to give him an immediate reply to
-what he had taught them, the Doctor shook them warmly by the hand, and
-gazed on them with a world of interest in his eyes, asking them only
-kindly to consider what he had said. The silence which ensued for a
-few minutes after his absence, as William and Jeanie returned from the
-door and stood beside the bed, was broken by the smith observing, “I
-am glad that man came to our house, Jeanie. Yon was indeed preaching
-that a man can understand and canna forget. It was wee Davie did it.”
-
-“That’s true,” said Jeanie; “thank God for’t!” And after gazing on the
-sleeping child, she added, “Is he no’ bonnie? I dinna wunner that sic
-a bairn should bring gude to the house.”
-
-That night William had thoughts in his heart which burned with a
-redder glow than the coals upon the smithy fire! I am much mistaken if
-he did not begin to feel that God had sent him a home missionary in
-“wee Davie.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-
-It was a beautiful morning in spring, with blue sky, living air,
-springing grass, and singing bird; but William Thorburn had not left
-his house that morning, and the door was shut.
-
-Mrs. Fergusson trod the wooden stair that led to the flat above his
-with slow and cautious step; and as she met her boy running down
-whistling, she said, “What d’ye mean, Jamie, wi’ that noise? Do ye no’
-ken wee Davie is dead? Ye should hae mair feeling, laddie!”
-
-The Corporal, whose door was half open, crept out, and in an
-under-breath beckoned Mrs. Fergusson to speak to him. “Do you know how
-they are?” he asked in a low voice.
-
-“No,” she replied, shaking her head. “I sat up wi’ Mrs. Thorburn half
-the night, and left Davie sleeping, and never thocht it would come to
-this. My heart is sair for them. But since it happened the door has
-been barred, and no one has been in. I somehow dinna like to intrude,
-for, nae doot, they will be in an awfu’ way aboot that bairn.”
-
-“I don’t wonder――I don’t wonder!” remarked the Corporal meditatively;
-“I did not believe I could feel as I do. I don’t understand it. Here
-am I, who have seen men killed by my side. I have seen a single shot
-cut down half our company.”
-
-“Is it possible?”
-
-“It is certain,” said the Corporal; “and I have charged at
-Pampeluna――it was there I was wounded――over dead and dying comrades,
-yet, will you believe me? I never shed a tear――never; but there was
-something in that Captain――I mean the boy”――and the Corporal took out
-his snuff-box, and snuffed vehemently. “And what a brave fellow his
-father is! I never thought I could love a Radical; but he was not what
-you call a Radical; he was――I don’t know what else, but he is a man,
-an out-and-out man, every inch of him; I’ll say that for him――a man is
-William Thorburn! Have you not seen his wife?”
-
-“No, poor body! It was six o’clock when she ran up to me, no’
-distracted either, but awfu’ quiet like, and wakened me up, and just
-said, ‘He is awa’;’ and then afore I could speak she ran doon the
-stair, and steekit the door; and she has such a keen speerit, I dinna
-like to gang to bother her. My heart is sair for her.”
-
-They both were silent, as if listening for some sound in William
-Thorburn’s house, but all was still as the grave.
-
-The first who entered it was old David Armstrong and his wife. They
-found Jeanie busy about her house, and William sitting on a chair,
-staring into the fire, dressed with more than usual care. The curtains
-of the bed were up. It was covered with a pure white sheet, and
-something lay upon it which they knew.
-
-Jeanie came forward, and took the hand of father and mother, without a
-tear on her face, and said quietly, “Come ben,” as she gave her father
-a chair beside her husband, and led her mother into an inner room,
-closing the door. What was spoken there between them I know not.
-
-William rose to receive old David, and said, “It was a fine spring
-day.” David gave a warm squeeze to his hand, and sat down. He rose and
-went to the bed. William followed him, and took the cloth off the
-boy’s face in silence. They both gazed on it. The face was unchanged,
-as in sleep. The flaxen curls seemed to have been carefully arranged,
-for they escaped from under the white cap, and clustered like golden
-wreaths around the silvery forehead and cheeks. William covered up the
-face, and both returned to their seats by the fireside.
-
-“I never lost ane since my ain wee Davie dee’d, and yours, Willie, was
-dear to me as my ain,” exclaimed the old man, and then broke down, and
-sobbed like a child.
-
-William never moved, though his great chest seemed to heave; but he
-seized the poker and began to arrange the fire, and then was still as
-before. By-and-by, the door of the inner room opened, and Jeanie and
-her mother appeared, both of them composed and serene. The same scene
-was repeated as they passed the bed. Mrs. Armstrong seated herself
-beside her husband, and Jeanie placed a large Bible on the table, and,
-pointing to it, said, “Father,” and then drew her chair near the
-smith.
-
-[Illustration: William never moved, though his great chest seemed to
-heave.]
-
-David Armstrong put on his spectacles, opened the Bible, and selecting
-a portion of Scripture, reverently said, “Let us read the Word of
-God.” The house was quiet. No business on that day intruded itself
-upon their minds. It was difficult for any of them to speak, but they
-were ready to hear. The passages which old David selected for reading
-were 2 Samuel xii. 15-23, Matthew ix. 18-26, and John xi. 1-44. Having
-closed the book, he said, with a trembling but solemn voice, “God, who
-doeth all things according to the counsel of His own will, has been
-pleased to send us a heavy affliction. ‘The Lord giveth, and the Lord
-taketh away!’ May He enable us to say at all times, ‘Blessed be the
-name of the Lord.’ For whether He gives or takes away, He is always
-the same in love and mercy. If He takes away, it is but to give
-something better, for He afflicts us to make us partakers of His
-holiness. Our wee one is not dead; he only sleepeth.” Here David
-paused, but recovering himself, said, “Yes, his body sleepeth in Jesus
-till the resurrection morning. He himself is with Christ. He is alive,
-in his Father’s bosom. Oh, it is strange to think o’t, and hard to
-believe! but, blessed be God! it’s true, that――that――Jesus Christ, who
-sees us, sees him, and sees us thegither, ay, enoo!――” continued David
-thoughtfully, like one pondering on a new truth; “this very minute we
-are all in His sight! Oh, it’s grand and comforting; our wee Davie is
-in the arms of Jesus Christ!” A solemn silence ensued. “The bonnie
-bairn will never return to us, but we shall go to him, and some o’ us
-ere lang, I hope. Let us pray.” And they all knelt down, and a true
-prayer, from a true heart, was spoken, from suffering parents, to Him
-“of whom _the whole family_ in heaven and earth is named.”
-
-To David’s surprise and great satisfaction, he heard William utter
-Amen to his prayer, which included honest confession of sin;
-expressions of thankfulness for mercies, enumerating very many
-mercies, among others, the great gift of their child, thus taken away,
-with thanks for all he had been, and for all he then was; with
-trustful petitions for grace to help them in their time of need.
-
-That afternoon Dr. M’Gavin called, and manifested quiet, unobtrusive,
-but most touching sympathy. His very silence was eloquent affection.
-
-“I’m proud to meet wi’ you, sir,” said old Armstrong, after the Doctor
-had been seated for a while. “Although I’m no’ o’ your kirk, yet we’re
-baith o’ ae Kirk for a’ that.”
-
-“With one Father, one Brother, one Spirit, one life, one love, one
-hope!” replied the Doctor.
-
-“True, sir, true, sir, our differences are nothing to our agreements,
-Doctor.”
-
-“Our non-essential differences arise out of our essential union, Mr.
-Armstrong. If we differ honestly and conscientiously as brethren, I
-hope it is because we differ only in judgment as to how to please our
-Father, and our Eldest Brother. Our hearts are one in our wish to do
-Their will. For none of us liveth, or dieth even, to himself.”
-
-“Ay, ay, Doctor. So it is, so it is! as the auld saying has’t, ‘The
-best men are but men at the best.’ We maun carry ane another’s
-burdens; and ignorance, or even bigotry, is the heaviest ony man can
-carry for his neebour. Thank God, brighter and better times are
-coming! We here see through a glass darkly; but then face to face. We
-know only in pairt; then shall we know even as we are known. We must
-be faithful to our given light, and serve Him, and not man.”
-
-“There are differences among living men,” replied the Doctor, “but
-none among the dead. We shall only agree perfectly when we know and
-love as saints, without error and without sin.”
-
-“I mind,” said David, warming with the conversation, and the pleasure
-of getting his better heart out――“I mind two neighbours of mine, and
-ye’ll mind them too, gudewife? that was Johnnie Morton and auld Andrew
-Gebbie. The tane was a keen Burgher, and the tother an Antiburgher.
-Baith lived in the same house, though at different ends, and it was
-the bargain that each should keep his ain side o’ the house aye weel
-thatched. But they happened to dispute so desperate about the
-principles o’ their kirks, that at last they quarrelled, and didna
-speak. So ae day after this, as they were on the roof thatching, each
-on his ain side, they reached the tap, and sae looking ower, face met
-face. What could they do? They couldna flee. So at last Andrew took
-aff his Kilmarnock cap, and, scratching his head, said, ‘Johnnie, you
-and me, I think, have been very foolish to dispute as we hae done as
-to Christ’s will aboot our kirks, till we hae forgot His will aboot
-ourselves; and so we hae fought sae keen for what we ca’ the truth
-that it has ended in brither fechting against brither. Whatever’s
-wrang, this canna be richt, if we dinna love. Noo, it strikes me that
-maybe it’s wi’ the Kirk as wi’ this hoose: ye’re working on ae side
-and me on the other, but if we only do our wark weel, we wull meet at
-the tap at last. Gie’s your han’!’ And so they shook han’s, and were
-the best o’ freens ever after.”
-
-“Thank you, Mr. Armstrong, for the story,” said the Doctor. Then
-looking to the bed, he remarked, “Oh, if we were only simple, true,
-and loving, like little children, would we not, like that dear one,
-enter the kingdom of heaven, and know and love all who were in it, or
-on their way to it?”
-
-“I’m glad I have met you, Doctor,” resumed the old elder. “It does
-ane’s heart good to meet a brother who has been a stranger. But if it
-hadna been for his death noo, we might never have met. Isna that
-queer? God’s ways are no’ our ways.”
-
-“God brings life out of death,” replied the Doctor, “and in many ways
-does He ordain praise from babes and sucklings, whether living or
-dead.” Was not “wee Davie” a home missionary to the dissenting elder
-and Established Church minister? “And now,” continued the Doctor,
-“with your permission, good friends, I will read a short psalm and
-offer up a short prayer before I go.”
-
-They thanked him, and he read the 23rd Psalm. His only remark was, as
-he closed the Bible, “The Good Shepherd has been pleased to take this
-dear lamb into His fold, never more to leave it.”
-
-“And may the lamb be the means of making the auld sheep to follow!”
-added the elder.
-
-When the prayer was over, Jeanie, who had hardly spoken a word, said,
-without looking at the Doctor, “Oh, sir, God didna hear our prayer for
-my bairn!”
-
-“Dinna speak that way, Jeanie woman!” said old David softly, yet
-firmly.
-
-“I canna help it, father; I maun get oot my thochts that are burning
-at my heart. The minister maun forgie me,” replied Jeanie.
-
-“Surely, Mrs. Thorburn,” said the Doctor; “and it would be a great
-satisfaction to me if I could, from what God has taught me from His
-Word, and from my experience of sorrow, be able to solve any
-difficulty, or help you to acquiesce in God’s dealings with you; not
-because you _must,_ but because you _ought_ to submit; not because God
-has _power_, and therefore does as He pleases, but because He is Love,
-and therefore pleases always to do what is right.”
-
-“But, oh, He didna hear our prayer; that’s my battle! We were maybe
-wrang in asking what was against His wull.”
-
-“Not in the way, perhaps, in which you expected, Mrs. Thorburn; yet
-every true prayer is verily heard and answered by Him. But He is too
-good, too wise, too loving, to give us always literally what we ask;
-if so, He would often be very cruel, and _that_ He can never be. You
-would not give your child a serpent, if in his assurance he asked one,
-mistaking it for a fish; nor would you give him a stone for bread?”
-
-The Doctor paused.
-
-“When Nathan, the Lord’s prophet, telt King David that his child must
-die,” said Armstrong, “yet David even then prayed to the Lord to spare
-his life, and I dinna doot that his Father in heaven was pleased wi’
-his freedom and faith.”
-
-“Right,” continued the Doctor, “for I am sure we cannot trust Him too
-much, or open our human hearts to Him too freely; let us always
-remember, too, that when God refuses what we ask, He gives us
-something better――yea, far more than we can ask or think. He gave your
-dear child for a time; and if He has taken him away, can you, for
-example, tell the evil, the misery, which may have been prevented? How
-many parents would give worlds that their children had died in
-infancy! And you could not wish for more than your child’s good, and
-so God has thus far literally heard that prayer. He has done so by
-taking your child to Himself. Your precious jewel is not lost, but is
-in God’s treasury, where no thief can break through and steal; _that_
-is surely something.”
-
-“Oh yes, sir, it is!” said Jeanie; “but yet it’s an awfu’ blank! Ilka
-thing in the world seems different.”
-
-“I’m jist thinking, Jeanie,” said Mrs. Armstrong, “that it’s a comfort
-ye ever pit yer een on Davie, for there’s puir Mrs. Blair――John
-Blair’s blin’ wife, ye ken――when she lost her callant, May was a year,
-she cam’ to me in an awfu’ way aboot it, and what vexed her sae muckle
-was, that she never had seen his wee face, and that she could only
-touch and han’le him, and hear him greet.”
-
-“Puir body,” remarked Jeanie, “it was a sair misfortun’ for ony mither
-that――an’ yet――But I’ll no’ think aboot it; ilk ane has their ain
-burden to carry. Noo, minister, let me speir at you, sir: Will I never
-see my bairn again? and if I see him, will I no’ ken him?”
-
-“You might as well ask whether you could see and know your child if he
-had gone to a foreign country instead of to heaven,” replied the
-Doctor. “Alas! if we did not know our beloved friends in heaven, earth
-in some respects would be dearer to our hearts! But then, ignorance is
-not possible in such a place of light and love.”
-
-“It wadna be rational to think so,” remarked William, speaking for the
-first time, though he had been listening with great interest to the
-Doctor.
-
-“But,” continued Jeanie, with quiet earnestness, “will our bairn aye
-be a bairn, Doctor? Oh, I hope so!”
-
-“Dinna try, Jeanie dear,” said David, “to be wise aboon what is
-written.”
-
-The Doctor smiled, and asked, “If your child had lived, think you
-would you have rejoiced had he always continued to be a child and
-never grown or advanced? and are you a loss or a gain to your father
-and mother, because you have grown in mind and knowledge since you
-were an infant?”
-
-“I never thocht o’ that,” said Jeanie thoughtfully.
-
-“Be assured,” continued the Doctor, “there will be no such abortions
-there as infants in intellect and sense for ever. All will be perfect
-and complete, according to the plan of God, who made us for fellowship
-with Himself and all His blissful family. Your darling has gone to a
-noble school, and will be taught and trained there for immortality by
-Him who was Himself a child, and who knows a mother’s love and a
-mother’s sorrow; and you too, parents, if you believe in Christ, and
-hold fast your confidence in Him, and become to Him as little
-children, will be made fit to enter the same society; and thus you and
-your boy, though never, perhaps, forgetting your old relationship on
-earth, will be fit companions for one another for ever and ever.
-Depend upon it, you will both know and love each other there better
-than you ever could have done here.”
-
-“My wee pet!” murmured Jeanie, as the tears began to flow from a
-softened, because happier, heart.
-
-William hid his face in his hands. After a while, he broke silence and
-said, “These thoughts of heaven are new to me. But common sense tells
-me they maun be true. Heaven does not seem to me noo to be the same
-strange place it used to be. My loss is not so complete as I once
-thought it was. Neither we nor our bairn have lived in vain.”
-
-“Surely not,” said the Doctor――
-
-  “‘Better to have loved and lost,
-      Than never to have loved at all!’
-
-You have contributed one citizen to the heavenly Jerusalem; one member
-to the family above; one happy spirit to add his voice to the anthem
-before the throne of God!”
-
-“Lord, help our unbelief!” said Mr. Armstrong; “for the mair I think
-o’ the things which I believe, the mair they seem to me owre gude news
-to be true!”
-
-“The disciples, when they first saw Christ after His resurrection,”
-said the Doctor, “did not believe from very joy.”
-
-“We think owre muckle o’ our ain folk, Doctor, and owre little o’ Him.
-But it’s a comfort that He’s kent and loved as He ought to be by them.
-I thank Him, alang wi’ them that’s awa’, for all He is and gies to
-them noo.”
-
-“And for all He is and does, and will ever be and do, to every man who
-trusts Him,” added the Doctor; “our friends would be grieved, if grief
-were possible to them now, did they think our memory of them made us
-forget Him, or that our love to them made us love Him less. Surely, if
-they know what we are doing, they would rejoice if they also knew
-that, along with themselves, we too rejoiced in their God and our God.
-What child in heaven but would be glad to know that its parents joined
-with it in the prayer of ‘_Our_ Father’?”
-
-“If wee Davie could preach to us, I dare say, sir, that micht be his
-text.”
-
-“Though dead, he yet speaks,” replied the Doctor.
-
-Yes, the boy was yet a home missionary, drawing the hearts of that
-household to God.
-
-The Doctor rose to depart. “By-the-bye,” he said, “let me repeat a
-verse or two to you, Thorburn, from a poem which I am sure you will
-like. It expresses the thoughts of a parent about his dead girl, and
-which have already in part been poorly expressed by me when your wife
-asked me if she would know her boy:――
-
-  ‘She is not dead――the child of our affection,
-     But gone unto that school
-   Where she no longer needs our poor protection,
-     And Christ Himself doth rule.
-
-  ‘In that great cloister’s stillness and seclusion,
-     By guardian angels led,
-   Safe from temptation, safe from sin’s pollution,
-     She lives, whom we call dead.
-
-  ‘Not as a child shall we again behold her;
-     For when with raptures wild
-   In our embraces we again enfold her,
-     She will not be a child;
-
-  ‘But a fair maiden, in her Father’s mansion,
-     Clothed with celestial grace,
-   And beautiful with all the soul’s expansion
-     Shall we behold her face.’”
-
-“Thank ye, sir, thank ye,” said Thorburn; “and ye’ll no’ be offended
-if I ax ye to gie me a grip o’ yer han’.” And the smith laid hold of
-the Doctor’s proffered hand, so small and white, with his own hand, so
-large and powerful――“God reward ye, sir, for we canna! And noo,
-Doctor,” the smith continued, “I maun oot wi’t! Since ye hae been so
-kind as gie us that fine bit o’ English poetry, I canna help gieing
-you a bit o’ Scotch, for Scotch poetry has been a favourite reading o’
-mine, and there’s a verse that has been dirling a’ day in my heart.
-This is it:――
-
-  ‘It’s dowie at the hint o’ hairst,
-     At the wa’-gang o’ the swallow,
-   When the winds blaw cauld,
-   And the burns run bauld,
-     And the wuds are hanging yellow;
-   But oh! it’s dowier far to see
-   The wa’-gang o’ ane the heart gangs wi’,
-   The dead set o’ a shining e’e,
-   That closes the weary warld on thee!’
-
-Fareweel, sir! I’ll expect ye the morn at two, if convenient,” the
-smith whispered to the Doctor as he opened the door to him.
-
-“I’ll be sure to come,” he replied. “Thank you for those verses; and
-think for your good about all I have said.”
-
-That evening, there was a comfortable tea prepared by Jeanie for her
-friends, and the Corporal was one of the party. Had a stranger dropped
-in upon them, he would not have supposed that there was sorrow in the
-house. There is a merciful reaction to strong feeling. The highest
-waves, when they dash against the rock, flow farthest back, and
-scatter themselves in their rebound into sparkling foam and airy
-bubbles. The Corporal told some of his old stories of weariness and
-famine, of wounds and sufferings, and marches over the fields of Spain
-from victory to victory. Old Armstrong could match these only by
-Covenanter tales from _The Scots Worthies_, of battles long ago, but
-was astonished to find the Corporal a staunch Episcopalian, who had no
-sympathy with “rebels.” Yet so kind and courteous was the pensioner,
-that the elder confessed that he was “a real fine body, withoot a
-grain o’ bigotry.” William, too, had his talk on “the times,” and his
-favourite topic of reform; while Jeanie and her mother spoke of the
-farm, and of old friends among the cows, with many bygone
-reminiscences of persons and things. And thus the weight of their
-hearts was lightened, and made stronger, along with higher and better
-thoughts, to carry their burden; but ever and anon there came one
-little presence before them, causing a sinking of the heart.
-
-No sooner had their friends left the house for the night than the
-smith did what he never did before. He opened the Bible, and said to
-Jeanie, “I will read a chapter aloud before we retire to rest.”
-
-Jeanie clapped her husband fondly on the shoulder, and in silence sat
-down beside him while he read again some of the same passages which
-they had already heard. Few houses had that night more quiet and
-peaceful sleepers than that house, under whose roof, beneath the
-shining stars of God, those parents and their child reposed.
-
-The little black coffin was brought to the smith’s the night before
-the funeral. When the house was quiet, Davie was laid in it gently by
-his father. Jeanie stood by and assumed the duty of arranging with
-care the white garments in which her boy was dressed, wrapping them
-round him, and adjusting the head as if to sleep in her own bosom. She
-brushed once more the golden ringlets, and put the little hands in
-their right place, and opened out the frills in the cap, and removed
-every particle of sawdust which soiled the shroud. When all was
-finished, though she seemed anxious to prolong the work, the lid was
-put on the coffin, but so as to leave the face uncovered. Both were as
-silent as their child. But ere they retired to rest for the night,
-they instinctively went to take another look. As they gazed in
-silence, side by side, the smith felt his hand gently seized by his
-wife. She played at first nervously with the fingers, until, finding
-her own hand held by her husband, she looked into his face with an
-unutterable expression, and meeting his eyes so full of unobtrusive
-sorrow, she leant her head on his shoulder and said, “Willie, this is
-my last look o’ him on this side the grave. But, Willie dear, you and
-me maun see him again, and, mind ye, no’ to part――na, I canna thole
-that! We ken whaur _he_ is, and we maun gang till him. Noo, promise
-me! vow alang wi’ me here, that, as we love him and ane another, we’ll
-attend mair to what’s gude than we hae dune, that――oh, Willie! forgie
-me, for it’s no’ my pairt to speak, but I canna help it th’ noo, and
-just, my bonnie man, just agree wi’ me――that we’ll gie our hearts noo
-and for ever to our ain Saviour, and the Saviour o’ our wee Davie!”
-
-These words were uttered without ever lifting her head from her
-husband’s shoulder, and in low, broken accents, half choked with an
-inward struggle, but without a tear. She was encouraged to say
-this――for she had a timid awe for her husband――by the pressure ever
-and anon returned to hers from his hand.
-
-The smith spoke not, but bent his head over his wife, who felt his
-tears falling on her neck, as he whispered, “Amen, Jeanie! so help me,
-God!”
-
-A silence ensued, during which Jeanie got, as she said, “a gude
-greet,” for the first time, which took a weight off her heart. She
-then quietly kissed her child and turned away.
-
-Thorburn took the hand of his boy and said, “Fareweel, Davie, and when
-you and me meet again, we’ll baith, I tak’ it, be a bit different frae
-what we are this nicht!” He then put the lid on mechanically, turned
-one or two of the screws, and then sat down at the fireside to chat
-about the arrangements of the funeral as on a matter of business.
-
-After that, for the first time, William asked his wife to kneel down,
-and he would pray before they retired to rest. Poor fellow! he was
-sincere as ever man was, and never after till the day of his death did
-he omit this “exercise,” which once on a day was universal in every
-family whose head was a member of the church, and I have known it
-continued by the widow when her head was taken away. But on this the
-first night when the smith tried to utter aloud the thoughts of his
-heart, he could only say, “Our Father――!” There he stopped. Something
-seemed to seize him, and to stop his utterance. Did he only know how
-much was in these words, he possibly might have said more. As it was,
-the thoughts of the father on earth so mingled, he knew not how, with
-those of the Father in heaven, that he could not speak. But he
-continued on his knees, and spoke there to God as he had never spoken
-before. Jeanie did the same.
-
-After a while they both rose, and Jeanie said, “Thank ye, Willie. It’s
-a beautifu’ beginning, and it wull, I’m sure, hae a braw ending.”
-
-“It’s cauld iron, Jeanie woman,” said the smith, “but it wull melt and
-come a’ richt.”
-
-The day of the funeral was a day of beauty and sunshine. A few
-fellow-tradesmen and neighbours assembled in the house, dressed in
-their Sunday’s best, though it was visible in one or two that the best
-was the worse of the wear. The last thing a Scotch workman will part
-with, even to keep his family in food, is his Sunday clothes; and the
-last duty he will fail to perform, is following the body of a
-neighbour or acquaintance to the grave. All were dressed with crape on
-their hats, and had weepers on their coats――the Corporal wore,
-besides, a medal on his. The smith, according to custom, sat near the
-door, and shook each man by the hand as he pointed to a seat. Not a
-word, of course, was spoken.
-
-When all who were expected had assembled, the Doctor, who occupied a
-chair near the table on which the Bible lay, opened the Book, and
-after reading a portion of it without any comment, he prayed with a
-fervour and suitableness which touched every heart. This is our only
-Scotch burial service. The little coffin was then brought out, and was
-easily carried. The Corporal was the first to step forward, and
-saluting the smith by putting his hand to his hat, soldier fashion, he
-begged to have the honour of assisting. Slowly the small procession
-advanced towards the churchyard, about half a mile off; and angels
-beheld that wondrous sight, a child’s funeral――wondrous as a symbol of
-sin and of redemption; of the insignificance of a human being as a
-mere creature, and of his magnificence as belonging to Christ Jesus.
-
-As they reached the grave, the birds were singing, and a flood of
-light steeped in glory a neighbouring range of hill; while overhead,
-the sky had only one small, snow-white cloud reposing in peace on its
-azure blue.
-
-When the sexton had finished the grave, and smoothed it with his
-spade William quietly seized it, saying, “Gie me the shool, John, and
-I’ll gie him the last clap mysel’,” and he went over again the green
-turf carefully with gentle beats, and removed with his hand the small
-stones and gravel which roughened its surface. Those who stood very
-near, had they been narrowly watching him, which they had too much
-feeling to do, might have observed the smith give a peculiar, tender
-pressure and clap on the grave with his hand, as on a child’s breast,
-ere he returned the spade, and with a careless air said, “Here, John,
-thank ye; it’s a’ richt noo.” Then lifting up his hat, and looking
-round, added, “Thank ye, freens, for your trouble in coming.” And so
-they left “wee Davie” more precious and more enduring than the
-everlasting hills!
-
-       *     *     *     *     *
-
-Several years after this, Dr. M’Gavin, then a very old man, as he sat
-at his study fire, was conversing with a young preacher, who seemed to
-think that nothing could be accomplished of much value for the
-advancement of Christ’s kingdom, unless by some great “effort,” or
-“movement,” or “large committee,” which would carry everything at once
-by a _coup de main_. The Doctor quietly remarked, “My young friend,
-when you have lived as long in the ministry as I have done, you will
-learn how true it is, that ‘God fulfils Himself in many ways,’ He is
-in the still, small voice, and often, too, when He is neither in the
-earthquake nor in the hurricane. One of the most valuable elders I
-ever had――and whose admirable wife and daughters and well-doing,
-prosperous sons are still members of my church, and much attached
-friends――told me on his dying bed that, under God, he owed his chief
-good to the death of his first child, the circumstance which
-accidentally made me acquainted with him. On the last evening of his
-life, when enumerating the many things which had been blessed for his
-good, he said to me, ‘But under God it was my wee Davie that did it
-a’!’”
-
-
-
-Transcriber Note:
-
-Words and phrases in italics are surrounded by underscores, _like
-this_. Dialect, obsolete and alternative spellings were left
-unchanged. No changes were made to misplaced punctuation.
-
-
-
-
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