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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Be Courteous, by Mrs. M. H. Maxwell
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+Title: Be Courteous
+
+Author: Mrs. M. H. Maxwell
+
+Release Date: December, 2005  [EBook #9402]
+[This file was first posted on September 29, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: US-ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, BE COURTEOUS ***
+
+
+
+
+E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Tonya Allen, and Project Gutenberg
+Distributed Proofreaders
+
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+
+
+
+
+
+BE COURTEOUS:
+
+OR,
+
+RELIGION THE TRUE REFINER.
+
+BY MRS. M. H. MAXWELL.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: MARY AND THE SICK CHILD--SEE PAGE 56.]
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+The scenes and characters of this story are those once familiar to the
+writer. The story itself is but a disconnected diary of one who, early
+refined from earthly dross, lived only long enough to show us that
+there was both reason and divine authority in the words of an apostle,
+when he exhorted Christians to "Be Courteous."
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE PLAIN--THE ISOLATED DWELLING--BLUE-BERRY PARTY--TAKING A
+VOTE--TREATMENT OF NEW ACQUAINTANCES--THE FAMILY AT APPLEDALE--THE
+YOUNG PEOPLE UPON THE PLAIN----SINCERE MILK OF THE WORD--A CALL AT THE
+LOG-HOUSE--THE RIDE HOME--ORIGINAL POETRY
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE KIND "GOOD-MORNING "--THE HIGH HILL--UNEXPECTED MEETING--ROMANCE
+AND REALITY--THE GOOD FARMER--IMPRESSIONS OF CHILDHOOD--WORSHIPING--
+BEARING THE CROSS
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE POOR WOMAN OF THE PLAIN--THE NOTE--MOURNFUL MUSINGS--THE CUP OF
+TEA--THE STRUGGLE--CHARITY AND SELF--EMMA'S HISTORY
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE LITTLE TIME--HOW IMPROVED--FITNESS FOR REFINED SOCIETY--MORNING
+REFLECTIONS--RUTH AND BOAZ--CHARITY AND COURTESY--THE VISIT
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE OLD PEDDLER--BITTER WORDS--THE MEEK REPLY--THE EFFECT--ACTING A
+PART--SOFTER FEELINGS--THE DEATH-SCENE--THE DAY OF SMALL
+THINGS--SIMPLE CHRISTIAN COURTESY
+
+
+
+
+BE COURTEOUS:
+
+OR,
+
+RELIGION THE TRUE REFINER.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE PLAIN--THE ISOLATED DWELLING--BLUE-BERRY PARTY--TAKING A
+VOTE--TREATMENT OF NEW ACQUAINTANCES--THE FAMILY AT APPLEDALE--THE
+YOUNG PEOPLE UPON THE PLAIN--SINCERE MILK OF THE WORD--A CALL AT THE
+LOG-HOUSE--THE RIDE HOME--ORIGINAL POETRY.
+
+
+Not more than a mile and a half from a pleasant village in one of our
+eastern States is a plain, extending many miles, and terminated on the
+north by a widespread pond. A narrow road runs across the plain; but
+the line of green grass bordering the "wheel-track" upon either side,
+shows that though the nearest, this road is not the most frequented way
+to the pond. Many reasons might be assigned for this. There is a
+wearisome monotony in the scenery along this plain. There are no hills,
+and but few trees to diversify the almost interminable prospect,
+stretching east, west, north, and south, like a broad ocean, without
+wave or ripple. The few trees scattered here and there stand alone,
+casting long shadows over the plain at nightfall, and adding solemnity
+to the mysterious stillness of that isolated place. It is not a place
+for human habitation, for the soil is sandy and sterile; neither is it
+a place for human hearts, so desolate in winter, and so unsheltered and
+dry during the long warm summer. Yet midway between the village and the
+pond was once a house, standing with its back turned unceremoniously
+upon the narrow road with its border of green. It was a poor thing to
+be called a house. Its front door was made, as it seemed, without
+reference to anything, for it opened upon the broad ocean-like plain.
+No questions had been asked relative to a title-deed of the land upon
+which that house stood, or whether "poor Graffam" had a right to pile
+up logs in the middle of that plain, and under them to hide a family of
+six. Through many a long eastern winter that family had lived there,
+little known, and little cared for. Nobody had taken the pains to go on
+purpose to see them; yet, during the month of July, and a part of
+August, some of the family were often seen. At all times of the year,
+in summer's heat and in winter's snow, the children going and returning
+from school, were wont to meet "poor Graffam," a short man, with sandy
+hair, carrying an ax upon his shoulder, and bearing in his hand a small
+pail of "dinner;" for Graffam, when refused employment by others,
+usually found something to do at "Motley's Mills," which were about
+half a mile from the village. Sad and serious-looking was this poor man
+in the morning, and neither extreme civility nor extreme rudeness on
+the part of the school children could procure a single word from him at
+this time of day. Not thus at evening. "Let us run after Graffam, and
+have some fun," the boys would say on returning home; and then it was
+wonderful to see the change which had been wrought in this
+mournful-looking, taciturn man of the morning. Sometimes he was in a
+rage, repaying their assaults with fearful oaths and bitter curses; but
+it was a thing more general to find him in merry mood, and then he was
+himself a boy, pitching his companions about in the snow, or talking
+with them largely and confidentially of landed estates and vast
+resources all his own. It is needless to inform my sagacious young
+reader, that the cause of this change in the poor man was rum.
+
+We have referred to the month of July and a part of August; it was
+during this season of the year that the plain, on account of the rich
+berries tinging its surface with beautiful blue, became a place of much
+resort. These berries, hanging in countless clusters upon their low
+bushes among the shrubbery, were at least worth going to see. It is the
+opinion of most people, however, (an opinion first entertained in
+Eden,) that fruit pleasant to the eye is desirable for the taste. Such
+was the opinion prevalent in that region; and the sight of merry
+"blue-berry companies," sometimes in wagons, sometimes on foot, was
+among the most common of our midsummer morning scenes. Equally familiar
+was the sight of like companies returning at evening, weary, but better
+satisfied; glad that, with well-filled pails and baskets, they were so
+near home. This was the time of year when the young Graffams became
+visible. The blue-berry companies often encountered them upon the
+plain, but found them shy as young partridges, dodging through the
+bushes, and skulking away as though kidnappers were in pursuit.
+
+There was, however, one boy among them, the eldest, (if we remember
+rightly,) who was quite familiar with the villagers. He was a little
+boy, not more than ten or eleven at the time of which I now write, and
+for two or three summers had been in the habit of bringing berries to
+the village, and offering them for any small matter, either for food or
+clothing. Both the kind-hearted and the curious had plied this little
+boy with questions, relative to his manner of life, his mother,
+brothers, and sisters; but his answers were far from giving information
+upon any of these points. He always declined a proposed visit by
+saying, "Mother don't want no company." This seemed true enough; for
+when any visitor to the plain called at Graffam's for a drink of water,
+they were never invited to enter. The water was handed them through a
+small opening, and the mother was seldom visible.
+
+It was one of the brightest of our July mornings, when a blue-berry
+company started from the village before-mentioned. Two wagons filled
+with young people passed along the principal street at an early hour,
+raising a cloud of dust as they turned the corner where stood a
+guide-board pointing out the _plain_ road to the pond. Onward rolled
+the two wagons, the tin-pails and dippers dancing and rattling in the
+rear, keeping time with the clatter of untamed tongues in the van.
+"Shall we call at 'Appledale?'" asked the driver of the first wagon,
+coming to a sudden stand.
+
+"Go along!" laughingly answered a gay girl in the second. "Our horse is
+putting his nose into your tin rattletraps."
+
+The question was repeated.
+
+"They are strangers to us," replied a black-eyed young lady, "and from
+seeing them at church I should think them precise. A refusal would be
+mortifying; and if the prim Miss Martha concludes to go, that will be
+still worse. We cannot act ourselves, and all the fun will be spoiled.
+What say you, Fanny Brighton?"
+
+Fanny, a bright-looking, but rather reckless girl, replied: "They shall
+not go, neither Miss Martha nor Miss Emma; not that I care a
+fiddlestring for their primness or their precision; nobody shall
+prevent me from thinking, and acting, and doing as I please to-day;
+from being, in short, what I was made to be--Fanny Brighton, and nobody
+else."
+
+Fanny spoke with her usual authority, and expected obedience; but to
+her surprise Henry Boyd, the young driver of the first wagon, still
+hesitated, and stooping down, he whispered to a mild, lovely-looking
+girl, who, seated upon a box, was holding her parasol so as to shield
+from the sun's rays a sickly little boy. "Take a vote of the company,"
+whispered the pretty girl, whom he called Mary.
+
+"If it be your minds," said Henry, rising to his feet, "that we call at
+Appledale, and invite Miss Martha and Miss Emma Lindsay to be of our
+company, please manifest it by raising the right hand. It is a vote,"
+he quietly continued, taking his seat.
+
+"Mary Palmer!" called out Fanny; "you are a simpleton, and so fond of
+serving people as to court insult."
+
+Mary's cheek flushed a little. It was not the first time that she had
+been called a simpleton, or some kindred name, by the out-spoken Miss
+Fanny; for this young lady prided herself on not being afraid to speak
+plainly, and tell people just what she thought of them.
+
+As we before said, Mary's cheek flushed a little; but she instantly
+thought to herself, "It is Fanny, and I won't mind it." So she smiled,
+and said very gently, "I am sure, Fanny, that no sensible person will
+insult me for trying to be courteous, though I may not exactly
+understand the way. It can do the Misses Lindsay no harm to receive
+such an invitation from us, and we cannot be injured by a refusal."
+
+"For my own part," said Henry, "I think that the question whether we
+are to be neighbors or not should be settled. They are strangers, and
+it is our business to make the first advance toward an acquaintance. If
+they decline, we have only hereafter to keep at a respectful distance."
+
+"Precious little respect will they find in me," said Fanny. "I am too
+much of a Yankee to flatter people by subserviency, or to put myself
+out of the way to gain acquaintances about whom I care not a fig. But
+drive on: while we are prating and voting about the nabobs at Appledale
+the sun is growing hot."
+
+Henry gathered up his reins, and away the wagons clattered down the
+long hill, and with a short, thunder-like rumble crossed the bridge
+between the Sliver Place and Appledale. Perhaps the writer may be
+called to account for this romantic name: he will therefore give it
+here. Appledale was once called Snag-Orchard, on account of the old
+trees whose fugitive roots often found their way into the road, making
+great trouble, and causing great complaint from the citizens, who
+yearly worked out a tax there.
+
+The people of that place would never have thought of calling it
+anything else, had it not been for Susan and Margaret Sliver, who
+sometimes wrote verses, and thought that Appledale sounded better in
+poetry than did Snag-Orchard. These ladies, (they called themselves
+young, but we must be truthful, even at the expense of courtesy,)
+--these ladies, Margaret and Susan, said that this old place
+was decidedly romantic; but the plain people living in that vicinity
+knew but little of romance. If they saved time from hard labor to read
+their Bible, it was certainly a subject for thankfulness. Most of them
+thought that Snag-Orchard was a gloomy place, and that it was a pity
+for so much good ground to be taken up with overgrown trees. It suited
+Mr. Croswell, however, who was the former proprietor. He had but little
+interest in the land belonging to this world, for all his relatives,
+nearly every one, had gone to the land that is "very far off." He loved
+the trees, and seemed to us like an old tree himself, from which
+kindred branch and spray had fallen, leaving him in the world's
+wilderness alone. Some thought him melancholy; but he was not: he was
+only waiting upon the shore of that river dividing the "blessed land"
+from ours; and one spring morning, very suddenly to his neighbors, he
+crossed that river, and found more, infinitely more than he had ever
+lost. After he was gone, the house was closed for a time; and through
+the bright days of the following summer, when the foliage became heavy
+upon the old trees, casting so deep a shadow as to make noonday but
+twilight there, and when the night breeze sang mournfully among the
+pines in the rear of that old house, people coming from the pond by the
+way of the plain looked stealthily over their shoulders at
+Snag-Orchard: but they knew not why, for nothing was there--nothing but
+loneliness and desertion.
+
+There was a report among the school children that the Croswell house
+was haunted; and in his merry moods poor Graffam had told the boys, how
+many a time upon a dark night, when going from Motley's Mills to his
+house upon the plain, he had seen that house brilliantly illuminated,
+and once or twice had heard old Mr. Croswell call to him from the
+window, and say, "Beware, Graffam, beware." Little, however, was
+thought of these stories, for we all knew that the unhappy man often
+went home at night with a fire upon his brain, and had no doubt but
+that he got up his own illuminations; and as for the admonition,
+"Beware, Graffam, beware," it doubtless came from the frogs, and was
+interpreted by his own conscience. Snag-Orchard, however, was evidently
+dreaded until the Lindsays came to live there, when it became less
+gloomy: for though the old trees with their heavy foliage were still
+there, descending in long sentinel-like rows down the hill-slope, until
+the last row drooped their branches into the bright waters of the
+brook, yet the rank grass around the house, that had so long raised its
+seedy head, and looked in at the windows, was mowed down, and
+sociable-looking flowers had taken its place; and then at evening, the
+traveler returning from the pond by the way of the plain, realized what
+had once been but the brilliant phantasy of poor Graffam's brain--for
+though Mrs. Lindsay was a widow, she was neither poor nor deserted. The
+reason for her coming there was not at that time known among us. A
+gentleman who was projecting the plan of a settlement at the pond, in
+reference to mill and factory privileges, bargained for the Croswell
+place, and early in the spring this family took up a residence there.
+Three months had passed away, and they were still strangers. This was
+not from any want of sociability upon the part of their neighbors,--or
+from studied indifference upon their own part, but from the time of
+their first coming they had seemed fully occupied with company. Gay
+parties upon horse-back had frequently issued from the large gate,
+where in years gone by oxen had walked demurely in, bearing a
+three-story load of hay. The long riding-dresses and feathered caps of
+these gay riders, inasmuch as they were new in that old-fashioned
+place, were judged of according to the several tastes of the farmers'
+wives and daughters. Some thought it pretty business for girls to be
+figuring about with men's hats, when there was work enough for women
+folks within doors: and others thought (very justly too) that the
+matter of this riding was no concern of theirs; and having business
+enough of their own, they concluded to let Mrs. Lindsay and her guests
+do as they pleased. This was a wise conclusion, since it daily became
+more and more evident that they had no intention of doing otherwise
+than as they pleased. Some of the family always presented themselves at
+church on the Lord's day, but among them Miss Emma, and an elderly
+woman supposed to be the housekeeper, were the only constant
+attendants. Thus much of the new family at Appledale. The reader will
+learn more as we progress in our story.
+
+"I would see Mrs. Lindsay and the young ladies," said Henry Boyd, as
+the servant opened the door. Henry was shown into the same room, where
+many a time he had sat and talked with old Mr. Croswell, but which now
+seemed to him like another place. A handsome carpet now covered the
+white oaken floor, and rich curtains partially concealed the windows
+once shaded by simple green. Where stood the old "sideboard" was now an
+elegant piano, and luxurious chairs and lounges had taken the place of
+Mr. Croswell's high-backed, upright-looking furniture. But Henry was
+self-possessed; and though there were a number of young ladies in the
+room, dressed in handsome morning _dishabille_, he neither stammered
+nor turned red, but bowing easily to Mrs. Lindsay, gave Misses Martha
+and Emma an invitation to go with him and the young ladies to the
+plain. Mrs. Lindsay saw that Martha, on glancing from the window at the
+rustic-looking company, could scarcely suppress a smile, so she
+courteously thanked Henry, and was about to excuse her daughters, when
+Emma entered the room. Henry could not accuse either Mrs. Lindsay or
+Martha of impoliteness, but he felt somehow as though there was a great
+contrast between this courtesy and that shown him by Emma; for she
+offered him her hand, and said, "It is very kind of you to call for us,
+and if mamma pleases, I should like to go."
+
+"I have no objection, my love," said Mrs. Lindsay, "provided you return
+before night."
+
+Henry assured her that they should, Martha respectfully declined the
+invitation, and Emma ran up stairs. "I am going," said she joyfully to
+the elderly woman with whom she was often seen at church. "I am going,
+Dora; and that dear little Mary Palmer is there." Dora arose, and
+pinned a thin shawl upon the neck of the delicate girl, and while she
+did so, looked affectionately into her white face.
+
+"Of what are you thinking, Dora?" asked Emma.
+
+"I was thinking," said she, "that my lily could shed her fragrance
+beyond her own garden to-day."
+
+"O, I am no lily," said Emma, half laughing, "only a poor blighted
+thing going out to steal fragrance from other flowers."
+
+"Well, darling," said Dora, "you can have it without theft, for we can
+make for ourselves a garden of spices anywhere, and then you know who
+will come in and eat our pleasant fruit."
+
+Emma smiled, and nodded a good-by, as she left the room.
+
+"What a singular girl is Emma," said one of the young ladies who looked
+from the keeping-room window, as she entered the wagon. "I was glad
+that they had the courtesy to offer her a cushioned seat; but she has
+refused it, and is riding off upon a box. Dear Mrs. Lindsay, Emma is
+excessively polite."
+
+"_Mysteriously_ polite, I call it," said Mrs. Lindsay. "She seems more
+and more to lose sight of herself, in a desire to make others happy;
+yet before we left the city she often offended me by her disregard of
+fashionable etiquette."
+
+"Yet Emma never was offensive in her manners, mamma," said Martha.
+
+"She was truly beloved, I know it, dear," replied the lady; "but her
+great truthfulness kept me in constant jeopardy. Just think of her
+telling Madam Richards that people considered her too old to dance."
+
+"Well, it _was_ a shame," answered the first speaker, "for a lady of
+such excellent qualities to make herself ridiculous by a single
+foible."
+
+"So Emma thought," said Mrs. Lindsay, "and had the frankness to tell
+her so. It turned out well enough in her case, it is true; for she told
+me when I went to apologize, that Emma had shown so much heartfelt
+interest and concern in the matter of her being a public
+laughing-stock, that she was obliged not only to forgive, but to love
+her the better for what I called a rudeness. But," continued Mrs.
+Lindsay, "singular as she is, I would give worlds to have her----"
+
+Here the lady paused, and Martha said quickly, "She is better, mother.
+She sleeps very well now, and her night-sweats are not so profuse."
+
+The mother made no answer. It was not because Martha's hopeful words
+were unheeded, but because mournful memories were at work in her heart;
+and to avoid further conversation she arose and left the room.
+
+"Mamma will look upon the dark side," said Martha, "but _I_ am much
+encouraged. Our physician says, that rambling about in the country,
+running in the fields and woods, climbing fences and trees, if she is
+disposed, will do wonders for Emma: and I believe it; for how
+wonderfully she has improved during these three months--so full of
+life, and so full of interest in everybody."
+
+Emma had refused the cushioned seat, because she saw at a glance that
+the young boy occupying that seat was more feeble than herself. The
+name of this little boy was Edwin. Emma had met him frequently in the
+woods, and down by the brook where he went to fish. They had thus
+become pretty well acquainted, and from him Emma had learned the name
+of the pretty girl who sat in the pew in front of their own at
+church--the little girl who wore a black ribbon upon her bonnet, and
+whose manner in the house of prayer was both quiet and devout. Edwin
+had told her that the name of this pretty girl was Mary Palmer; that
+just before their family came to Appledale she had lost a little
+sister; and that since then, though very quiet and kind before, Mary
+had been very patient, even with Fanny Brighton. Emma, therefore, was
+not wholly unprepared for the off-hand greeting bestowed upon her that
+morning by Fanny. On first getting into the wagon, she pressed Mary's
+hand without waiting for the ceremony of an introduction, for she knew
+her name. Mary loved to have Emma so near her; for though they had
+never spoken together before, a mutual affection existed between them;
+but the modest girl felt that Henry ought to have given Emma a seat
+beside some one who knew more than herself.
+
+"Fanny Brighton," thought Mary, "is so amusing when she chooses to be;
+Alice More is so witty; and the Misses Sliver so learned, Henry ought
+to have seen that Emma was where she would be pleasantly entertained;
+but I will make amends for this when we get to the plain--I will
+introduce her, and leave her with them."
+
+Emma, however, seemed well satisfied with her company. "I have long
+wanted to speak with you," said she.
+
+"That is very polite," thought Mary; "I suppose it is what well-bred
+people generally say. I have _really_ wanted to hear her speak, though
+I won't say so, for she will think that I am only trying to be polite."
+
+Emma took off her sun-bonnet when riding through the woods, and told
+Mary how happy it made her to hear the birds sing, and to breathe the
+sweet fragrance which came from the hay-meadows; but Mary felt
+diffident, and did not reply warmly, as she felt. She called Emma Miss
+Lindsay; so Emma felt obliged to call her Miss Palmer, though she
+longed to put her arms around her, as they sat upon the box, and call
+her _Mary_.
+
+All this time the company in the rear were talking in this way:--
+
+"I suppose," said Fanny Brighton, "that this little chicky-dandy thinks
+she has done us a great favor, by condescending to ride in a wagon, and
+upon a box. If she shows off any of her aristocratic airs to me, I will
+soon make her understand that her room is better than her company."
+
+"What a milk-and-water looking thing she is," said Alice More; "they
+had better have kept their cosset at home; she will be calling, 'ma!
+ma!' before night."
+
+"And we will answer, 'bah!'" said Josh Cheever, as Susan Sliver put her
+hand over his mouth, for fear that he would give a sample.
+
+Arrived at the plains, the wagons were turned a little into the
+shrubbery, so as not to obstruct the passage of the narrow road; then
+the company alighted, while Henry and Joshua led the horses to one of
+the large trees, (of which there were, as we have already said, but
+few,) each carrying a bundle of hay under his arm.
+
+In the mean time Mary introduced the young ladies severally to Emma.
+Alice More professed herself very glad to see her; but this profession,
+for some reason, seemed to give Emma pain. Fanny made no professions at
+all, only coldly nodding a "how-d'ye-do," without appearing to notice
+that Emma wished to shake hands. The Misses Sliver were cordial enough,
+but too sentimental for the occasion; Miss Susan, using the language of
+some novel she had read, said, she hoped to find in Emma a "kindred
+spirit;" at which remark Fanny laughed outright, saying she hoped that
+"Sliver Crook" and "Snag Orchard" would not become etherialized.
+
+"I cannot talk in that way," thought Mary; "so I will go by myself, and
+pick berries, leaving Miss Lindsay with them." Mary felt, however, that
+she should like to be somewhere near Emma; so she only withdrew a
+little way, sitting down where she could see her through the bushes.
+Alice chattered away very freely for a time, and then wandered off in
+pursuit of Fanny, who, from the first, had not addressed a single word
+to Emma. But the Misses Sliver kept near her, and seemed to be making
+themselves very agreeable. Mary heard them mention at least a dozen
+books, of which she had not heard even the titles before, and she was
+glad for having left Emma with those who could talk of such matters.
+She watched her though, as she bent over the blueberry bushes, and
+fancied that she looked sad. Then after a time she saw her sit down
+upon a log, looking very languid and weary. Mary had brought a bottle
+of nice milk from home that morning, and the thought crossed her mind
+that a draught of that milk might be refreshing to Emma; so she took a
+bright little dipper from her basket, and ran off toward the wagon.
+
+"Where are you going, Mary Palmer?" said Alice, whom she met on the
+way.
+
+"Miss Lindsay looks very pale and tired," said Mary. "I am going to
+carry her some of my nice milk."
+
+"I would do no such thing," said Alice; "she is used to having a host
+of servants at her heels, and thinks that we country girls will act as
+her lackies. If she wants refreshment, tell her where it is, and let
+her go for it herself."
+
+"Why, Alice," replied Mary, "you told her this morning that you were
+very glad to see her, and now you have no interest in making her either
+comfortable or happy."
+
+"To be sure," said Alice; "do you suppose that I was going to say, 'I
+am not at all glad to see you, Miss Prim--I am mad enough with Henry
+Boyd to pull his ears, because he went to your house for you?' You
+would not have had me say so; but these were my feelings; so what am I
+to do?"
+
+"I know what _I_ would do," said Mary, firmly. "I would pray to God
+until I had better feelings; so that I could say from my _heart_, I am
+glad to see you."
+
+"O good!" exclaimed Alice, laughingly; "you _are_ getting to be
+religious, and I shall tell Fanny: so look out, little Miss Courtesy."
+
+"You are very kind," said Emma, as she took the bright dipper of milk
+from Mary. "I ate but little breakfast, and am very fond of milk. This
+looks so nice too, so pure and white, in this clean, shining dipper:"
+and Emma sat looking at the milk, as though it were a pity to drink it
+up; and Mary stood looking at her, until she thought that perhaps it
+was not polite to do so, and turned away.
+
+"Don't go," said Emma, "unless you choose to be by yourself. Sit down
+here just a minute. I have queer thoughts about this milk; and since we
+are all alone, I will tell you what they are. You read the Bible,
+Ma--,--I mean Miss Palmer?"
+
+"Yes; but call me Mary, if you please. I am not used to being called
+Miss."
+
+"Well then, Mary dear," said Emma, drawing closer to her, as they sat
+upon the log, "you remember where the Bible speaks of the _sincere
+milk_ of the _word_" Mary smiled; for she was much pleased, and a
+little surprised. Mrs. Lindsay and her family, with their Sabbath rides
+and evening dancing parties, were not of course considered religious
+people. "What do you suppose," continued Emma, "is meant by the sincere
+milk of the word?"
+
+"When a very little girl," replied Mary, "father bought me a small book
+called 'Milk for Babes,' and said it was for children who wanted to
+learn the first principles of the doctrine of Christ. That little book
+was all about _charity_."
+
+"Was it?" said Emma, with animation, "how strange that I should have
+the same thoughts, without knowing anything about it! When you gave me
+this milk I thought of that passage, and of the one about the cup of
+cold water; and now, Mary, please to say why you took all this pains
+for me. Was it just to be polite?"
+
+"No," replied Mary, smiling; "I was afraid that you might think me
+_im_-polite for offering you milk in a tin dipper, but I saw you
+looking pale and tired, and thought that it might do you good."
+
+"That was giving it to me in the name of a disciple," said Emma, in a
+low voice, looking at the milk again, as though it was now hallowed and
+blessed of God. "It is delicious," said she, taking the cup from her
+lips, "and I feel better. I am not so weary; my head aches less, and my
+_heart_ is refreshed."
+
+"Then I have not lost my reward," said Mary. "But here come Fanny and
+Alice. They are very entertaining, and the day will be less tedious if
+you can manage to keep with them. Fanny is plain spoken, but people
+call her a good-hearted girl; and Alice is so funny."
+
+"If you please," replied Emma, "I had rather be with you. I am not
+afraid of plain-spoken people, if they are kind. Dora is very careful
+to tell me my faults, but then her manner is such that I can't help
+feeling that it is because she loves me so well; so I am neither pained
+nor vexed. I used to be very partial to _funny_ people; but I feel
+serious now nearly all of the time. I can love Fanny and Alice; but,
+Mary dear, I had rather be with you, if you please."
+
+"O," replied Mary, "I love to have you with me."
+
+She was prevented from saying more, for Alice now called out, "Forward,
+march! Do you hear the drum?"
+
+"It is not probable," said Fanny, "that a _religious_ person like Mary
+Palmer will march to the tune of Yankee Doodle upon a kettle-drum."
+
+Emma looked at Mary, and saw the deep blush upon her face, and the tear
+that, in spite of herself, trembled in her mild blue eye.
+
+"How unkind," thought Emma, "and so _rude_ too! This plain-spoken girl
+has not a good heart, if people do think so. I shall ask Dora about
+her."
+
+"It is the signal for dinner," said Mary, recovering herself in a
+minute, and turning with a smile toward Emma. "Henry wants us to go to
+the wagons." So they walked along arm-in-arm, while Alice and Fanny
+whispered together about this sudden intimacy, and prophesied that hot
+love like that would soon be cold.
+
+"I mean to tell Mary just what I think of it," said Fanny; "for I am
+not afraid to speak my mind to anybody."
+
+"Well," replied Alice, "I cannot imagine what Miss Emma likes in Mary,
+or why Mary is so charmed with her. This much I will say, but don't you
+name it to any one--neither of them is at all to _my_ fancy."
+
+It was not wonderful that Alice did not know the secret of that
+affection between two who were comparatively strangers to each other.
+The reason was not plain even to Emma and Mary, for neither of them yet
+knew it by the Scripture name, which is "unity of the Spirit." Each had
+loved the other while as yet no word of communication had passed
+between them, because each had a portion of that Spirit which binds
+heart to heart. Alice would not have understood this had it been told
+her, for she had never entertained this gentle Spirit. She might have
+done so, for it knocks at every human heart; but there are other
+spirits there--spirits that must be cast out, before that which is
+long-suffering, meek, and good, will come in and sup with us. Alice
+would not cast emulation, pride, envy, and jealousy out of her heart,
+that the good Spirit might enter. Would she have done so, she might not
+have found it so difficult to understand what Emma and Mary saw in each
+other to love.
+
+The company was now assembled under a large tree near to the roadside.
+Henry had constructed a rude table, over which was spread a cloth, and,
+assisted by Joshua, he was now bringing the dinner from the wagon,
+while the Misses Sliver arranged the dishes.
+
+"Here is a comfortable seat, Miss Lindsay," said Henry, when the dinner
+was ready; and he led her to a rock beside the table, which was covered
+with moss.
+
+"One of nature's verdant cushions," said Susan Sliver.
+
+"Nature is very polite to the aristocracy," whispered Fanny, loud
+enough to be heard; but Emma lifted little Edwin to the rock, saying
+that it was just high enough for him.
+
+Fanny had determined to show that she was not afraid to act herself
+anywhere, so she talked about matters not at all interesting to the
+company, taking care to think differently from every one who expressed
+an opinion.
+
+Again the question arose in Emma's mind, whether such rudeness could be
+the fruit of a good heart; but she quieted herself by saying, "I will
+ask Dora about it."
+
+After the dinner was over, Miss Margaret Sliver began to talk of some
+verses that Susan had written for this occasion, and insisted on
+drawing them from her pocket. Susan pretended great unwillingness; but
+her sister easily possessed herself of the copy, which, with great
+pathos of manner, she read to the company.
+
+"Splendid! elegant!" exclaimed Alice; but at the same time she stepped
+upon Fanny's toe, and gave her a merry sidelong glance. "Beautiful! are
+they not, Mary Palmer?"
+
+"I am no judge of poetry," said Mary, modestly; "so my opinion is not
+worth having."
+
+"_You_ cannot say so, Miss Lindsay," continued Alice, "for I heard you
+repeating some lines this morning."
+
+"Did you," asked Emma, coloring a little, "then I think they must have
+been from a hymn by James Montgomery, of which I am very fond, and
+sometimes repeat unconsciously."
+
+"Of course," said Fanny, looking suddenly at Emma, "you think Miss
+Sliver equal to Montgomery."
+
+"This is not the place for me to say whether I do or not," replied
+Emma, quietly.
+
+"I know," said Fanny, "that there are some people who think that the
+truth is not to be spoken at all times; but I have never yet been
+afraid to say what I think."
+
+"There are things," said Henry, "of which we may not think rightly,
+and, understanding this, some are slow to speak."
+
+"And who is to be the judge of our thoughts," asked Fanny, "whether
+they be right or wrong?"
+
+All were silent now; not because they had no answer for Fanny's
+question, but because they were not willing to give the _right_ answer.
+
+At last, Mary, in a low voice, replied: "The Bible should be our rule,
+both for thought and word, and conscience must judge between that and
+us."
+
+"And does the Bible teach you to flatter people with your tongue, while
+you are laughing at them in your sleeves?" asked Fanny.
+
+"No," replied Mary; "but it teaches us to love our neighbor as
+ourselves, to be courteous, and pitiful."
+
+"Then I keep one requirement," said Fanny, jumping over the log, seated
+upon which she had eaten her dinner; "for I do pity people who are too
+mealy-mouthed to be honest--pity, or _despise_ them, I cannot tell
+which."
+
+All now had withdrawn from the table, except Emma, Mary, Joshua
+Cheever, and little Edwin. "Your milk is very nice, Mary," said Eddy,
+"but it does not cure my thirst; O I do want some cold water."
+
+"There is none nearer than the pond," said Joshua, "unless you go to
+Graffam's; but they are so piggish, I would choke before I would ask
+water of them. The last time I went there, the old woman sent one of
+the young ones to tell me that the village folks were an unmannerly
+set, and she wanted them to keep their distance. I told the girl to
+give my love to her mother, and tell her that she was the sweetest
+poppy upon the plain. So you see that it wouldn't do for me to go there
+again; I might get my head cracked with one of Graffam's rum-jugs."
+
+"I am not afraid to go," said Mary. "I have no doubt but that the
+blueberry parties are a trouble to Mrs. Graffam."
+
+"_Mrs_. Graffam!" exclaimed Joshua, laughing. "Nobody else calls her
+anything but Moll, and her husband, Pete."
+
+Emma now lifted Edwin from his seat upon the rock, and taking his hand,
+while Mary brought the bright dipper, they started for the log-house,
+which looked in the distance like a black stump.
+
+"It is loving your neighbor _better_ than yourself,"--said the little
+boy, looking smilingly up into Emma's face,--"I am sure it is, to come
+all this way with me."
+
+"Well, we ought to love our neighbor better than ourselves," replied
+Mary, who was walking behind. "We shall, Eddy, if we are like----"
+
+"Like Jesus?" asked Eddy.
+
+"Yes," said Mary. "He didn't love himself at all; but he loved us, even
+unto death."
+
+"How wonderful!" said Emma. "Talk some more about him, Mary dear, if
+you please."
+
+But they were now at the poor door, which swung upon its wooden hinges:
+they were about to knock, when they saw a forlorn-looking woman come
+from a dark closet, with a sick child in her arms.
+
+"Poor little thing!" said Mary, going toward her.[*] "What is the
+matter with him, Mrs. Graffam?"
+
+[Footnote *: See Frontispiece.]
+
+"He is very sick," she replied, glancing from her to the door, when
+Emma courtesied politely, and Edwin pulled off his hat. "Walk in," said
+Mrs. Graffam; "my children are all out upon the plain, but you can help
+yourselves to seats." Then turning to Mary she said again, "He is very
+sick, and I cannot tell what is the matter with him, unless it is want
+of----." Here she paused, and after a time added, "He is losing all his
+flesh, poor thing!"
+
+"Yes," said Mary, "he looks as my dear little sister did just before
+she died!"
+
+"When did she die?" asked Mrs. Graffam.
+
+"Just as the grass was getting green," said Mary. "It was a fit time
+for her to die, Mrs. Graffam; for she was born in the spring, and it
+seemed exactly as though the sweet bud had to go back to the
+summer-land before it could bloom."
+
+"And if your little baby dies, Mrs. Graffam," said Eddy, "he will be a
+flower in God's garden; won't he, Mary?"
+
+"Yes," whispered Mary, while the poor woman's face flushed, and her lip
+quivered. Mary glanced at Edwin, and remembered her errand.
+
+"Mrs. Graffam," said she, "I know that the blue-berry parties must be a
+great trouble to you, and we would not have come here for water, only
+Eddy is not very well."
+
+"You are welcome to as much water as you want," interrupted Mrs.
+Graffam, "and so is any one who can treat us with civility. We are very
+poor, it is true, and that is not our greatest misfortune either; but
+it is hard to be despised."
+
+While Mary was gone for the water, Emma sat looking at the sick baby,
+and noticed, that though the weather was warm, its skeleton limbs
+looked blue and cold. She was going to advise the mother to wrap it in
+flannel, when the thought that perhaps the poor woman had none,
+prevented her speaking: for Christian courtesy never says to the poor
+"Be ye warmed and clothed," while it provides not the things which are
+necessary; and fortunately Emma thought it time enough to speak of what
+the poor child needed, when she had _supplied_ that need. Edwin was
+greatly refreshed by his drink of cold water, and kissing the sick
+child, he thanked Mrs. Graffam, and was ready to go.
+
+"There is a good old lady living with my mother," said Emma, "who is
+used to sickness, and might know what to do for your babe, Mrs.
+Graffam; shall I ask her to come with me, and see you?"
+
+"I shall be glad to see anybody," was the reply, "who is like you or
+your little friends;" and bidding the poor woman a good-by, they went
+back to the plain.
+
+Henry Boyd remembered his promise to Mrs. Lindsay, and before the sun
+was down the company were on their way home. The talk and clatter of
+the morning were now hushed. Joshua whistled, while his horse plodded
+lazily along, until Fanny peevishly bade him "hold his tongue."
+
+"Anybody does that," said Joshua, "when he whistles!" but he
+good-naturedly stopped.
+
+Margaret Sliver undertook to repeat some poetry composed by Susan, upon
+the setting sun:--
+
+  The setting sun is going down
+    Behind the western hills;
+  It glitters like a golden crown,----
+
+"What is the last line, Susan?" asked Margaret; but Susan was not
+flattered by the way her poetry had been handled at the dinner-table,
+and now she refused to supply the missing rhyme.
+
+  The setting sun is going down
+    Behind the western hills,
+
+pursued Margaret;
+
+  It glitters like a golden crown,
+    "_On top of Motley's Mills!_"
+
+added Alice; while Fanny, calling out to Henry Boyd, repeated the whole
+verse as Susan's poetry, bidding him ask Miss Lindsay if Montgomery
+could beat that. Susan was highly offended, saying that she considered
+herself insulted, and chose to walk the remainder of the way.
+
+"O no, Miss Sliver," said Joshua; "never mind Fanny Brighton--she is
+only one of the blunt sort, saying right to your face what other folks
+would say behind your back."
+
+This explanation from Joshua was rather more favorable than Fanny
+deserved; for she had not the faithful Christian charity, which, while
+it unflinchingly speaks truth to those whom it concerns, is careful to
+speak no evil anywhere. It was well known, that though Fanny boasted of
+not being afraid to tell to people's faces what she thought of them,
+she was not less fearless in talking of the same things in their
+absence; so that she differed from common backbiters only in having
+more--shall we call it impudence?
+
+It is a harsh name, but let us analyze the principle. What spirit
+possesses the human heart, when it shows a disposition to make others
+uncomfortable? Is it frankness--we know that it is sometimes dignified
+with that name; though it is little akin to the true Christian
+faithfulness, which, always at peace with truth, never offends against
+true courtesy. Charity regards the little foibles incident to fallen
+human nature with a lenient eye, never pointing them out to the
+scornful gaze of another, but remembering that they are to be touched
+tenderly, if touched at all; _secretly_, too, apart from the scrutiny
+of another, and by disinterested friendship alone.
+
+"The Sliver girls make fools of themselves, and of each other," said
+Fanny, when Margaret and Susan, arrived at their own house, coldly took
+leave of the company.
+
+"I know it," replied Alice. "To think that they will associate with us
+girls, pretending to be young, when everybody knows that they are not:
+dressing, prinking, reading novels, and making poetry; while their poor
+old slave of a mother is making butter and cheese."
+
+"It provokes me when I think of it," answered Fanny; "and how you can
+flatter them so, calling their dresses becoming, and their poetry
+beautiful, I cannot imagine, when you know, Alice, that it is all a
+lie."
+
+"Well," said Alice, laughingly, "I do it for fun. It is so amusing to
+see their languishing airs; and then, Fanny, to tell the truth, I have
+no objection to people's playing the fool, if it makes them feel
+better."
+
+"But I shall hate you, by-and-by," said Fanny, "for being a hypocrite."
+
+"Guess it won't be any put out to you," replied Joshua; "for you are as
+full of hate as an egg is of meat."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE KIND "GOOD-MORNING"--THE HIGH HILL--UNEXPECTED MEETING--ROMANCE AND
+REALITY--THE GOOD FARMER--IMPRESSIONS OF CHILDHOOD--WORSHIPING--BEARING
+THE CROSS.
+
+
+"Good-morning, Mr. Graffam," said Emma, who was in the garden when the
+poor man of the plain passed along the road on his way to the mills.
+
+We have before said that morning was not the time for this man to talk,
+and now he felt inclined, as usual, to pass this early salutation
+without notice; but it had been a long time since he had been accosted
+in that manner. It was no uncommon thing for people to address him in
+this way: "Good-morning, Pete! Feel sober after your last night's high,
+eh?" But a respectful "Good-morning, Mr. Graffam," now met his ear. "Can
+it be," thought the fallen man, "that I am still _Mr._, or are they
+mocking me?" He looked up, but saw neither jest nor scorn upon the fair
+face looking over the garden-wall.
+
+"Good-morning, sir," repeated Emma; "it is a fine morning."
+
+Poor Graffam looked with his dull swollen eyes upon the bright-blue
+sky, and then upon the wood-crowned hill, and the shaded dell, where
+the waters rippled and murmured, and the birds sang cheerily, and his
+heart caught some apprehension of beauty, for he answered slowly, "So
+it is, miss,--a very fine morning."
+
+"And pray, how is your dear little babe, sir?" asked Emma, in a voice
+of tender concern.
+
+This question seemed fully to rouse him. There was a glance both of
+surprise and intelligence in his eye, as he replied, "The child is very
+sick;" and then repeated, as though it were a fact new to himself,
+"Yes, that poor child is very sick indeed."
+
+"I was at your house yesterday," continued Emma, "and promised Mrs.
+Graffam that I would bring a good old lady living with us to see her;
+but I am not well enough to go to-day."
+
+"Sorry if you are sick," murmured Graffam.
+
+"Thank you," said Emma. "I was going to ask if you would have the
+kindness just to call at the gate tonight, and take a small package for
+Mrs. Graffam?"
+
+"I will," said he, with a tone and manner something like self-respect
+and respect for his wife,--"I will, miss, with pleasure;" and he pulled
+his old hat from his head, and bowed low, while Emma bade him good-by.
+
+"Go out upon the hills, my love," called Mrs. Lindsay from her window
+to Emma; "it will do you no good to be tying-up flowers, and talking
+with ragged old men by the roadside. Put on your bonnet, and walk
+briskly over the bridge, and let me see you from my window upon the top
+of yonder hill."
+
+Emma cheerfully obeyed, and though she felt extremely languid,
+compelled herself to walk briskly as her mother had desired; but coming
+to the foot of the hill she paused, and looked doubtfully upon its
+steep sides and lofty top. "It reminds me of 'the Hill Difficulty,'"
+thought Emma; "but the Christian pilgrim did not allow himself to stop
+and think over the difficulties, but 'addressed himself to his
+journey.' So must I:" and ceasing to look at the top, but only at the
+place for her feet, step by step, she at length gained the summit, and
+waved her handkerchief toward the house. The signal was answered from
+her mother's window, and then she sat down upon a rock to rest. But the
+morning was too dazzlingly beautiful there. She felt oppressed by the
+glory of distant mountains, sparkling rivers, and wide-spread fields of
+corn and grain; but looking down a gentle slope of the hill she saw a
+delightful place--it was a bend of the little brook gliding through the
+meadow-ground of Appledale. The pines had cast their spiral leaves
+there, so that the hill-side and the borders of the rill looked as
+though covered with sunlight, though there was in fact nothing but
+shade, for the trees clustered together, and locked their green arms,
+as if to shut the brook from day-light; yet close upon the borders of
+that brook Emma saw a large flat rock, around which the waters played,
+looking so cool and inviting that she longed to be there. She put her
+hand into her pocket, and found, to her joy, that the dear companion of
+her rambles was there: it was her Bible. Happy for Emma, she had
+learned to prize its gentle converse above that of human tongues; and
+now, sitting down upon her feet, she smiled to see how glassy the pine
+leaves had made the hill-slope, for she could slide along with but
+little exertion, and soon found herself upon the broad flat rock.
+Taking her little Bible, she was just turning to some passages Dora had
+marked, when she heard a deep sigh, and saw, to her surprise, Susan
+Sliver seated upon a moss-turf, crying bitterly.
+
+"I am close to Sliver Crook," thought Emma, now for the first time
+noticing the house not far beyond the trees. "This may be Miss Susan's
+place of retirement, and I have no right here; but I cannot get away
+now without being seen; and then she seems unhappy. I should be glad to
+comfort her, if I could without----"
+
+Just at that moment Susan looked up, and saw Emma, who sprang from the
+rock, and running toward her, said: "I was not aware of a trespass upon
+your grounds, Miss Sliver. You will pardon me. It looked so inviting
+here, that I was constrained to come down from the hill."
+
+Susan, however, did not appear at all embarrassed at being caught in
+tears.
+
+She wiped her face with her apron, and then Emma saw an open book upon
+her knee. "My dear Miss Lindsay," said Susan, "it is no intrusion. I am
+glad to find a congenial spirit anywhere. My joy at this meeting is
+inexpressible; for now I know that there is one in this cold-hearted
+place, one beside my sister Margaret, who can appreciate my feelings."
+
+Emma was silent; for she did not understand what those feelings were,
+or whether she appreciated them or not.
+
+"Prom my childhood," continued Susan, "I have been among the people of
+my race, but not of them. I have stood alone, in a shroud of thoughts,
+which were not their thoughts; but few understand me, my dear, for I
+live in an ideal world, and whatever calls me back to this gross
+creation, makes me perfectly miserable: say, my dear Miss Lindsay, are
+these your feelings?"
+
+"Alas, no," replied Emma; "I love the world too well, and have spent
+many wretched, sleepless nights because I was unwilling to leave it:
+but that time is passed. If I have any fear now, it is that my work on
+earth will not be well done before I am called away."
+
+Susan turned a wondering eye upon the pale, weary-looking girl, and for
+a moment forgot her intense sympathy for herself. "You are sick," said
+she, with an expression of real interest and concern.
+
+"Yes," replied Emma, "that is evident. My friends have tried to hide it
+from me, and from themselves. They have sent me from place to place,
+but death is following me everywhere. _I_ never felt it so surely as I
+do this morning:" and Emma laid her head upon the moss-turf beside
+Susan. She looked like a faded lily, as she lay there; her white dress
+scarcely more white than the forehead and cheek upon which her dark
+damp hair rested heavily. Susan took a handkerchief from her pocket,
+and wrung it in the clear, cool waters of the brook, and kneeling upon
+the ground beside Emma, wiped her pale face, and tucking up her
+sleeves, chafed her poor withered arms, until Emma revived.
+
+"Thank you," said she; "I was a little faint. Mamma is so desirous for
+me to exercise in the open air, that I go every day to the farthest
+limit of my strength. I was not able to climb that hill this morning."
+
+Susan made no reply, but sat looking mournfully into her face. All the
+morning she had been weeping over the sorrows of an imaginary being
+whom she had found in a novel wandering about, and falling at every
+step into the most superlative misery. It was hard for Susan to read,
+and not identify herself with this beautiful suffering shadow; but now
+she had come from her ideal world, and was forced, for a time, to
+forget both the shadow and herself. Close to her father's old
+farm-house, and in the woods of Sliver-Crook, she saw what, described
+in a romance, would have been pathetic enough, but which, seen in
+reality, called out from her heart the good rational sympathy which,
+though buried in sentimental rubbish, was not dead.
+
+"Do you really think," said she, bending over Emma, "that you must----"
+
+Emma smiled, as she replied, "What difficulty we find in pronouncing
+that word! One would think that there was a sting in the very _name_ of
+death: and so there is, Miss Sliver, until God gives us the victory,
+through Jesus Christ."
+
+"Jesus was a beautiful character," said Susan, taking up Emma's Bible,
+beside which the red-covered novel lay blushing as if in an agony of
+shame. "I have often felt," she continued, "a strong desire to visit
+the places hallowed by his personal ministry; the garden where he kept
+his sad night-watch, Miss Lindsay; the Mount of Olives, and the
+clear-gliding Kedron. O," continued Susan, enthusiastically, "I should
+like to stand where the Marys stood, on the dreadful day of his
+crucifixion, and visit the tomb where they went, bearing sweet spices.
+O, wouldn't it be delightful?"
+
+"Yes," replied Emma, languidly; "but we should not find him there
+now,--upon Calvary, or the Mount of Olives; by the sweet-gliding
+Kedron, or in the Garden of Gethsemane,--unless we were like him, meek
+and lowly, and such can find him anywhere, Miss Sliver. The spirit of
+Jesus would hallow _this_ book, making it blessed and holy like the
+waters of Kedron; and this high hill might be to us what the Mount of
+Olives was to the disciples--for that was sacred only because Jesus
+talked with them there. Dora told me last night that the Holy Spirit
+could make any place holy."
+
+Susan was silent. Emma had spoken words to which something within bore
+witness as truth, and she knew not what to say. Emma, too, lay musing
+for some time; and then raising her head, and resting it upon her hand,
+she said: "How wonderfully self-denying Jesus was, Miss Sliver. Nobody
+appreciated the Saviour when he was upon earth, not even the disciples;
+yet this was nothing to him, for he did not seek his own glory. He went
+cheerfully about his Father's work, never thinking of himself, and
+never feeling himself degraded by the presence of a poor, sick, sinful
+multitude."
+
+"I know it," said Susan, thoughtfully; "but the world will never see
+another Jesus, Miss Lindsay."
+
+"O, it will, it will," replied Emma, with animation. "When human hearts
+are willing to let his Spirit dwell in them, human hands will do the
+work which Jesus did; and so his kingdom will come, and the world will
+see and acknowledge their King."
+
+A shrill blast from a horn, at the farm-house across the brook, now
+interrupted their conversation.
+
+"It is time for me to go home," said Susan; "but I shall not consent to
+leave you to climb that hill again today--you must go to our house, and
+stay until you are rested."
+
+This kind decision of manner, so unlike anything she had before seen in
+Susan Sliver, quite interested Emma. She did not feel averse to a
+further acquaintance, and taking her arm they crossed the rustic
+bridge, and were soon at the farm-house. An elderly man, wearing a
+Quaker hat, had just entered, and Emma heard him talking to a
+good-looking old lady, who, both warm and tired, was vehemently beating
+a minute pudding. "Thee looks tired, Sarah; where are the girls?"
+
+"Can't say where Susan is," was the reply. "Margaret is up stairs,
+sewing."
+
+"Well, there is a time for everything, and the girls are old enough to
+know it; but here comes Susan. Come, Susan, thee ought to be helping
+thy mother these hot days; but who is this friend?"
+
+"Mrs. Lindsay's daughter," said Susan.
+
+Emma might have saved her graceful courtesy this time; for the old
+gentleman did not return it by taking off his broad-brimmed hat: yet
+she felt the sincere politeness of his manner, as, offering his hand,
+he said, "I am glad to see thee, child; how is thy mother?"
+
+"Very well, thank you," said Emma, taking a seat upon the cushioned
+chair, which Susan brought and placed near the open door.
+
+The old lady was not less cordial in her manner toward their visitor;
+but she seemed in a great hurry to get dinner upon the table, for the
+men were coming from the field, and the sun had crossed the noon-mark.
+
+Emma was glad to see Susan taking hold to help her mother; and
+presently Margaret came down stairs, dressed a little too much, and a
+little too girlish, but appearing very kind and good-natured.
+
+"What shall I call thy name?" asked the old gentleman.
+
+"Emma, if you please," was the reply.
+
+"Well, then, Emma," he continued, "thee is welcome to our table; take
+thy chair along, and eat dinner with us."
+
+Emma felt but little appetite for a farmer's dinner; but she saw that
+the family would feel more comfortable if she was at the table with
+them, and prompted, not by appetite, but by true courtesy, she did as
+she was desired. The farmer folded his hands, and the whole family sat
+for a moment in rigid silence. Emma was not accustomed to any form of
+thanksgiving before meat; but she understood this silent expression,
+and sympathized therein.
+
+"Thee looks delicate," said the old man; "what shall I give thee to
+eat, Emma?"
+
+"Anything, sir," answered Emma, with habitual politeness, though she
+did feel a preference for the milk which came up to the very rim of a
+large pitcher upon a corner of the table.
+
+Margaret began to apologize for the coarseness of their meal: but her
+father interposed, saying, "It is good enough for well people, and as
+good as we generally have; but if thee has anything a little nice for a
+poor appetite, bring it to thy friend."
+
+"Now," thought Emma, "Christian politeness bids me put them at ease in
+this respect." So she said frankly, "I would rather have a glass of
+your nice milk than anything else."
+
+"Thy wants are easily supplied then," replied the good man, as he
+filled her tumbler, and laid a slice of bread upon her plate.
+
+Again Emma thought of the "sincere milk of the word," and looking at
+the plain old farmer, she wondered if he had not grown to the stature
+of a Christian, by means of this simple charity.
+
+"Has thee been long out of health?" asked the farmer.
+
+Emma was not startled by this question, though her mother and sister,
+had they been present, would have considered it a rudeness.
+
+"I was very healthy when a little child," replied Emma. "This
+feebleness came on me by degrees,--I can scarcely tell when it
+commenced."
+
+"Very likely," replied the farmer. "I lost two sisters by consumption;
+they appeared much as thee does."
+
+"Father!" exclaimed Margaret; and the old gentleman recollected
+himself. "I don't conclude from this," said he, "that thy case is one
+of consumption:" and he looked kindly into Emma's face, as though
+desiring to be both considerate and sincere.
+
+"It would not alarm me to hear you call it by that name," replied Emma.
+"I am in the habit of regarding death as at the door; and wish so to
+do, because I am thus constantly reminded that what my hands find to do
+must he done with my might."
+
+"I am glad to hear such a testimony from thee," said the old man,
+earnestly. "It is a pity that any of us should forget the work to be
+done in this world, and the shortness of time."
+
+The dinner was now over, and Emma, greatly refreshed, shook hands with
+the farmer and his family, promising to call again; and then took the
+short way of the main road to her own home. The old man looked after
+her, as her white dress glanced through the green trees by the
+roadside, until she descended the hill, and was out of sight.
+
+"What does thee think of that child, Sarah?" he asked, turning to his
+wife.
+
+"Well, Enoch," was the reply; "_I_ think that she is ripening for
+glory."
+
+The good woman was not of the same religious persuasion with her
+husband; but this small matter never interrupted the most cordial
+interchange of religious sympathy between them; and now his eyes filled
+with tears, and he felt as he had often done before, that "the Spirit"
+moved Sarah to give this testimony.
+
+"Margaret," said he, turning to his daughter, "thee can learn a great
+deal from that child, though she is much younger than thyself."
+
+Margaret felt the slight pettishness which always attended a reference
+to her age, and was about to ask her father how he knew her to be much
+older than Emma Lindsay; but a more rational feeling had been roused in
+her heart, and for once it predominated over this folly.
+
+Margaret was not like her sister in the matter of romance and
+abstraction from every-day scenes and pursuits, though she loved to
+regard Susan as something wonderful, and show off her literary
+productions. Margaret's foible, on the contrary, was too great a love
+for the present world. Unfortunately, she had fixed her heart upon what
+is too evanescent for the love of an immortal. Youth, beauty, and the
+graces of fashion were the shadows at whose shrine she worshiped,
+though the substance was gone. Thus precious time was spent in seeking
+to repair its own breaches, and she saw not that they widened day by
+day--saw not how the cunning device by which she sought to hide the
+footprint of years, only left that foot-print more visible. God had
+given both Margaret and Susan better food for the immortal mind, but
+they, like many others, chose to feed upon the wind. No wonder that
+they were ever unsatisfied. The plain people of that region, who
+boasted of nothing superior to _common_ sense, regarded the Sliver
+girls as curiosities. Some called them _soft_, and thought there was a
+lack of head wisdom; many laughed about them; but no one, save Fanny
+Brighton, laughed _at_ them. Their parents were highly esteemed; and it
+may be a matter of wonder how they came to be what they were. The cast
+of human character is usually taken in childhood--an important fact to
+those charged with so responsible a trust; and it was during Margaret
+and Susan's childhood, that a vain and sentimental lady sojourned for
+two summers at their father's house. The unsuspecting farmer and his
+wife never thought of examining the stock of books with which she
+loaded the old case in the "fore-room." Having no time for reading
+except Sundays, uncle Enoch never expected to get through "Barclay's
+Apology," without neglecting his Bible, and this he had no intention of
+doing. It was not, therefore, to be expected, that he would spend time
+to read even the titles of Mrs. Coolbroth's books. But Margaret and
+Susan, bright, sensible children then, were beginning to feel the
+thirst often felt in childhood--the restless craving of the spirit for
+something new: no wonder, then, that they seized the fruit so "pleasant
+to the eye," and as it seemed to them "desirable to make one wise."
+Thus the poor girls were lured from the plain homely path, which, plain
+and homely as it is, always proves at last the way of pleasantness and
+the path of peace. They knew that people called them odd, and in this
+they gloried. Fanny Brighton they regarded as a rude girl, who, though
+she vexed them, never put them out of humor with themselves. But now,
+strange as it may appear, the quiet Christian words and manner of Emma
+Lindsay had done this, and they could not tell why. Those words and
+that manner, so courteous and kind, were not calculated to wound, yet
+they felt wounded. Emma had not done it--it was the _truth_ dwelling in
+her heart, and showing itself in its most appropriate dress, which is
+Christian courtesy of manner.
+
+Margaret sat down that afternoon, with a desire to redeem some of the
+time which, when she thought of Emma, seemed indeed to be passing away;
+and Susan, when she meditated on what Emma had said of Him who never
+scorned the humble paths of usefulness, and through his life-long went
+about doing good, felt that it was time to examine the spirit that
+would worship, without _bearing_ the Saviour's cross.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE POOR WOMAN OF THE PLAIN--THE NOTE--MOURNFUL MUSINGS--THE CUP OF
+TEA--THE STRUGGLE--CHARITY AND SELF--EMMA'S HISTORY.
+
+
+Seated upon her low door-stone was Mrs. Graffam, the poor woman of the
+plain. It was almost night; the sun had gone down, leaving a long red
+line upon the western horizon, which cast a lurid ray upon the
+gathering twilight. The poor children of that log-house were fast
+asleep: for all that day they had been out upon the plain, where the
+sun, from a cloudless sky, glared down upon them; and now the evening
+shade was beautiful, and so soothing too, that neither the hard pallet
+of straw, nor the hungry musquitoes could drive sleep from eyes so
+weary. The sick babe was asleep too: all day it had moaned in its
+comfortless little cradle, for the mother had work to do--hard work,
+and abundant--for a family so large and poor. Heavily sat poor Mrs.
+Graffam upon the door-stone, waiting, she could not tell for what. Many
+years before she had waited at twilight for her husband's return, and
+listened, as the wind rustled the leaves, because she loved to go out
+and meet him as he neared their home. But those years were gone, and
+with them the lovelight and beauty of both heart and home. The contrast
+between that barren, desolate plain and her former home, was not
+greater than the contrast between the glad heart of other years, and
+the one sinking despairingly as she sat upon the door-stone that night.
+
+At last she heard a heavy step along the path leading from the narrow
+road to that lone hut; but the sound of that step only deepened the
+shadow that gloomed around her. She sat motionless; and there was
+something in her manner like the resignation of a stricken, but
+trusting heart: but it was not that; it was only the sullen gloom of
+despair. Nearer and nearer drew the footstep, and she rose from her
+seat, that her poor besotted husband might pass to his bed of straw;
+but he did not pass in,--he only looked at her for a moment, and then
+averted his eye, for very shame because she had perceived that he was
+not drunk. The bag which he had carried week after week to the mills
+and brought home every night empty, because he deemed rum more
+necessary for himself than food for his family, was now filled with
+flour; but he said nothing, and she too was silent, as she followed him
+into the hut, and took the large basket which he offered her. Opening
+this basket, she found a note, and returning to the door, read as
+follows:--
+
+"MRS. GRAFFAM:--_Dear Madam_,--I was not able to come and fetch our
+good Dora to see you to-day; but your husband has kindly promised to
+call this evening, and take the little matters which I have put up for
+the dear sick baby; and to-morrow, if it please God, we will see you at
+your own house.
+
+"Your friend, EMMA LINDSAY."
+
+Graffam looked at his wife as she came in with the note, and,
+notwithstanding she had lately spoken very harsh words to him, he
+pitied her, and somehow felt as though she was not greatly to blame for
+calling him an "unfeeling brute." On the other hand, as Mrs. Graffam
+took the things from the basket, she glanced toward her husband, and
+thought to herself, "He is sober to-night, and it is all owing to the
+kind politeness of that dear girl. His self-respect is not entirely
+gone, for he would not appear drunk before Emma. If I could command
+patience to treat him with civility, there might be some hope in that;"
+so turning toward him she asked, "Have you taken supper, Mr. Graffam?"
+
+The poor man hesitated. He was really hungry; for that which had proved
+to him both victuals and drink, was now wanting; but he feared to speak
+of his hunger, lest his wife should say, "The children have no rum to
+drink, and it takes all the food _I_ can supply, to keep them from
+starving."
+
+"Here is a nice loaf of bread," continued Mrs. Graffam, cheerfully, as
+she took the things from the basket, "and a paper of tea; Miss Emma
+could not have intended these for poor little Sammy: so, if you please,
+Mr. Graffam, just light a fire under the kettle, and I will make you a
+cup of tea."
+
+"And a cup for yourself," said Graffam, as he lighted the dry sticks in
+the large stone chimney, and then peered into the corners of the room
+in search of his children.
+
+"They are all asleep," said his wife; and the poor man turned quickly
+toward the fire again, for he feared that she would add, "The poor
+creatures have been out upon the plains all day: Heaven knows what we
+shall do when the berries are gone." But Mrs. Graffam said nothing
+more. She set out the pine table, and going to an old chest brought a
+white cloth; it was of bird's-eye diaper. Graffam remembered well who
+wove it; and a pleasant vision came along with that white table-cloth.
+He saw his mother, as in olden times, weaving; while he stood by her
+side, wondering at the skill with which she sent the shuttle through
+its wiry arch, and noticing how the little matter of adding thread to
+thread filled the "cloth beam" little by little, until the long "web"
+was done. "Such is life," thought Graffam; "the little by little of
+human action goes to fill up the warp of time, and decides the worth of
+what we manufacture for eternity." Then he looked sadly over his own
+work, and could but say to himself, "It is all loose ends, loose ends.
+What a web for eternity!"
+
+"Supper is ready," said Mrs. Graffam, and the poor man turned toward
+the table. The white loaf was there, and a basin of the berries his
+little ones had picked from the plain. In a solitary cup (for it was
+the only one saved from their wreck of crockery) Graffam saw his tea,
+and offered to exchange with his wife for the broken mug, into which
+was poured a scanty portion for herself.
+
+"No, thank you," said she, "this is very well;" and they were seated at
+the table.
+
+It was upon the whole a cheerful meal. It seemed as though each one had
+been a long journey, and had just returned; they were pleased with each
+other, and talked of old acquaintances, and other days, themes upon
+which they had held no converse for a long, long time past.
+
+As their supper was finished, the little one in the cradle moaned
+again, and Mrs. Graffam brought from the basket a long flannel dress,
+and put it upon "wee bit," gently rubbing its blue limbs; then, with
+something of the freedom and confidence of other days, she laid poor
+baby upon its father's knee, and going again to the friendly basket,
+brought thence a bottle, from which she dropped a little fine-flavored
+cordial into warm water. The babe opened its large eyes upon its
+mother, as though wondering what it could be that was so good upon its
+poor little tongue and lip; then rubbing its tiny hands up and down the
+flannel dress, it looked smilingly into the father's face, and uttered
+an expressive "goo!" The parent was not quite dead in that father's
+heart, though long buried beneath the waves of selfish indulgence. He
+looked upon that poor little creature, and wondered that he could ever
+forget one so suffering and dependent. "The baby feels better," said
+Graffam to his wife; and he thought to himself, "I too should feel
+better, could I break my chains and be a man."
+
+Through most of that night Graffam thought the same thing, and wondered
+if it could be done. "I have dug my own grave," thought he, "and
+officious hands have helped me in; they have cast over me the dirt of
+scorn and ridicule, until I am well-nigh buried alive. O, if there was
+left in others one particle of respect, I might come forth from this
+grave! I know that I might, from the little of kindness and civility
+shown me this day. I was once respected, and so was my wife; but I have
+dragged her down, down with me. It is a shame, for she is worthy a
+better fate." Thus thought poor Graffam through many hours of that
+night, and in the morning he turned from his hut again, with but little
+hope of seeing it as he did then, with open eyes, from which his soul
+looked forth; thinking, hoping, fearing, yet ready to struggle once
+more for life.
+
+It was a beautiful morning, and Emma sat beside the open window, less
+languid than she had been the day before. Dora was putting things in
+order, when Emma asked this question:--"Through what medium do we see
+people, Dora, when we discover nothing but their faults?"
+
+"Through the medium of self," was the ready reply. "If there is
+anything offensive in a person, self is nettled on its own account, and
+in its excitement sees nothing but the offense."
+
+"How would charity act toward a person whose manners are extremely
+rude?" asked Emma.
+
+"Charity is always giving," replied Dora, "while it exacts nothing. It
+is never jealous of its own dignity. It never behaveth itself unseemly;
+but beareth, hopeth, and endureth all things, even from those who know
+nothing of its own sweet expression--courtesy."
+
+"I must see Fanny Brighton again," thought Emma, "and ask Charity to
+lend me her eyes, that I may see if there is nothing good in her; or if
+I can manage to put out the eyes of self, by seeing nothing through
+this medium, perhaps charity will become eyes to the blind."
+
+It was by the blessing of God upon the humble efforts of that pious old
+lady called Dora, that Emma had become what she was. Mrs. Lindsay was a
+worldly woman, and the time had been when she had no higher hopes for
+her children than to see them richly gifted with worldly
+accomplishments. Her two eldest daughters, Helen and Amanda, had been
+models in this respect; and for a season the mother rejoiced in this
+pride of her eyes. But there is a strange intruder often found where he
+is least desired, and never retiring simply because his presence is
+deprecated--that is death. Who has not entertained this uninvited
+guest?
+
+When Helen and Amanda began to droop, as Emma now did, Dora was the
+oldest servant in Mrs. Lindsay's family, and highly esteemed, both on
+account of her fidelity and her pleasing manners. "There is something
+peculiar about Dora," Mrs. Lindsay would say, "she is never untruthful
+and never impolite; two ideas which, in the eyes of fashionable
+etiquette, seem antagonistic. It was not, however, until her daughters
+began to show symptoms of decline, that Mrs. Lindsay understood this
+peculiarity in Dora.
+
+"You must turn that religious woman out of your house," said the
+physician, "or I cannot save your daughters." And Dora was severely
+reprimanded by her mistress for the extreme discourtesy of offering to
+read to the young ladies from the Bible.
+
+"What can she think?" asked Helen, with concern. "The doctor says that
+I shall be well in a few days; but Dora looks serious, and offers to
+read to me from the Bible. You will not have me deceived, mamma?"
+
+"No, love," said her mother, trying to persuade her own heart that
+there was no cause for alarm. "Dora is religious, and such people
+always have fits of being disobliging."
+
+"She is extremely kind to me in everything else," said the poor girl;
+"it is only in this thing that she makes me unhappy."
+
+"She shall make you unhappy no more; I will forbid her to approach your
+room." And so she did. Dora was accused of impertinence, and felt most
+keenly that truth and the world's etiquette were at war.
+
+Days passed on, and there were serious faces, more than one, in that
+house where it was impertinent to speak of death and eternity. It is
+true, that for a time gay visitors were admitted to Helen's chamber,
+and there was hollow laughter there, as they talked of balls, parties,
+and new fashions, and told the poor girl that she was looking better
+every day: but Dora saw them whisper, and shake their heads to each
+other as they passed out; and she saw that every day the mother grew
+more fearful as it regarded the daughter, and kinder toward herself.
+
+At last she was told that Helen wanted her; but she was charged to be
+careful, as the poor girl was extremely weak.
+
+"Dora, Dora," said Helen, "_you_ will tell me the truth. Mother said
+that I should not be deceived; but I have been, O, I have been cruelly
+deceived."
+
+Dora talked soothingly of Him who is the resurrection and the life: but
+the poor girl had opened her eyes all too suddenly upon the startling
+picture of death; and now shrinking from his cold embrace, she could
+not hear of hope and comfort. Her dying words were to the mother
+fraught with keenest anguish, for she spoke of this cruel deceit unto
+the last. Amanda soon followed her young sister to the tomb; but the
+mother was spared the self-accusation and bitter sorrow attendant upon
+Helen's death. Early in her sickness Amanda was consigned to the care
+of Dora. It was in vain that the physician expostulated; Mrs. Lindsay
+feared nothing so much as again to hear words of reproof from a dying
+child for having deceived her. Dora kept her post with Christian
+fidelity, and Amanda entered the dark valley and shadow of death
+fearing no evil.
+
+Emma was at that time five years of age, and Martha ten. "My dear
+madam," said Dora, "fashion has robbed you of a great treasure. Your
+daughters, predisposed to consumption, cannot safely obey its whimsical
+demands."
+
+"Nonsense, Dora!" replied Mrs. Lindsay. But when alone, she thought
+seriously upon what the good woman had said. Memory brought before her
+mind pictures from which she could not turn. The thin-soled shoes, and
+silken hose, in which fashion had required her delicate daughters to
+promenade the damp walks of the city; the flimsy ball-dress, the
+prolonged dance, and joined with these, the sudden exposure to a wintry
+air, were shades upon the bright picture of pleasures past,--dark
+shades indeed, but awfully true.
+
+"Perhaps Martha and Emma may be spared to me," said the mother to her
+fashionable friends; "but how can I think of the conditions!" and her
+friends talked over the matter among themselves, and concluded that,
+after all, a person's life was of but little value, if they must live
+secluded from the world; and they gave Mrs. Lindsay a remote hint, that
+it was best to let her daughters live _while_ they lived.
+
+Mrs. Lindsay, however, had more than once stood upon the threshold of
+another life, having followed a husband and two daughters to the silent
+tomb: and in her secret heart she suspected the small value of what she
+had purchased at so great a cost. It seemed hard indeed to deprive her
+beautiful children of a fashionable education, and the struggle was
+very severe; but the mother triumphed over worldly vanity, and Monsieur
+de la Beaumont was told that his services in the family as
+dancing-master were no longer desired.
+
+"One strange ting!" said monsieur; and the world at large thought the
+same.
+
+Mrs. Lindsay considered herself as having made a great sacrifice to
+affection, and sometimes feared that she might live to see the day when
+she should wish her little novices out of sight, somewhere. One thing
+she determined on, however; and that was to take as much of the world
+as she could get herself, and thus solace herself for what she was to
+lose in her daughters. It cannot be supposed, that with this resolution
+the mother would reserve time for the care and culture of these little
+ones, who were given over to Dora with but one hope--the forlorn
+one--that she would save them alive. This the old lady could not
+promise to do; for she understood that having the sentence of death in
+ourselves, we are not to trust human means and precautions, but only
+Him who raiseth the dead. She, however, cheerfully undertook the
+precious charge committed to her trust; glad from her heart that the
+poor lambs had been saved from the slaughter, and praying most
+earnestly that they might be claimed by the Great Shepherd, and
+gathered to his fold.
+
+Martha was a very quiet, thoughtful child, with speech and manner much
+beyond her years; she was not, therefore, strictly confined to the
+nursery, but allowed to mingle freely with her mother's guests. Emma,
+on the contrary, was much younger, and full of wayward humors. She
+greatly needed a mother; but the sacred writer has declared, "She that
+liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth." How many little hearts
+have proved the bitterness of that truth! God in mercy saved little
+Emma from this sad experience, by raising up for her infancy and
+childhood such a friend as was the pious, faithful Dora.
+
+"It is a promising bud," thought the good woman, "but it may wither
+even without the blight of fashion; so I will try to secure for it an
+immortal bloom."
+
+Thus in the morning Dora sowed her seed, the "good seed" for an
+immortal harvest; and soon the tender blade began to appear--a most
+ungainly thing in the eyes of her mother; for the first fruit of Dora's
+good seed, as shown by little Emma, was a great love of truth--a love
+which as yet she knew not how to regulate or apply. She was a beautiful
+child; and for a time her mother's vanity was gratified by having her
+brought from the nursery to her drawing-rooms, to be caressed, admired,
+and praised for her smart speeches; but after a time her truth-telling
+propensity became too evident. The polite occupants of the drawing-room
+began to whisper among themselves that Miss Emma was a spoiled child,
+and had better be kept in the nursery.
+
+Mrs. Lindsay was soon of the same opinion; for scarcely a day passed
+when Emma's truthfulness did not prove a nettle to her own vanity.
+
+"The child is rude," she would say to Dora,--"insufferably so. She told
+Madame A. that she looked like an apple-tree; which might have been
+taken for a compliment, had not the saucy little sprite explained
+herself by pointing to that old tree in the garden which the flowering
+shrubbery has decked with every variety of blossom: Mrs. A. is
+extremely fond of fancy colors. And when I took her to Bowker's the
+other day, that sick Miss Ellenwood was examining his new French goods,
+and called my attention to a splendid piece of muslin, and asked if it
+was not of beautiful texture. 'Dear Miss Ellen-wood,' interposed Emma;
+'you will not want a _figured_ muslin for a _coffin_ dress.' Think of
+that, Dora."
+
+"Well, my dear madam," replied Dora; "the child heard some of your
+friends say that this vain sick girl, who is spending all her slender
+income in dress, would want money soon to pay for a shroud."
+
+"Certainly, Dora, that has frequently been said; but the child should
+know better than give such a hint to the young lady herself! Several
+ladies were in the store, and I felt extremely mortified and shocked."
+
+Such complaints were frequent; and at last the good Dora answered all,
+by begging the mother to have patience both with herself and with the
+child. "This truthfulness," said she, "is of excellent quality, but it
+is now rough from the quarry. By-and-by charity will make its rough
+places smooth; for love not only refines and purifies, but it
+_polishes_ the hewn stone after the similitude of a palace."
+
+Mrs. Lindsay did not understand these words, and derived but little
+comfort therefrom. She could not see how Emma's bluntness was to be
+refined, save by putting her into fashion's crucible; and this she more
+than once resolved to do, at any risk. With this resolution, however,
+there always came a fearfulness, which seemed a warning voice from the
+tomb, bidding her "beware;" and to this voice of warning she took
+reluctant heed.
+
+Pursuing a quiet course of study under private tutors, Emma was still
+left morally and physically to the care of her pious friend. Dora
+planted in hope, and now the precious shoot was caused to spring forth
+by Him who giveth the increase. This precious shoot of moral strength,
+ungainly, and without form or comeliness to the world, she watered,
+tended, and watched, with earnest faith for the Husbandman, whose
+pruning knife should convert it into a goodly tree. Emma sometimes came
+to her friend with puzzling questions; among those most frequently
+asked were the following:--
+
+"How mamma could be 'not at home,' when she was in her chamber?"
+
+"How she could be extremely glad to see people who, she said, were
+'bores, and not to be endured?'"
+
+"Why it was more impolite to tell people what was foolish in their
+appearance, than to laugh about this appearance in their absence?"
+
+It was difficult to answer these questions, without casting a shade
+over those whom Dora wished the child to love and respect. Sometimes
+she told the little girl that it would often hurt people's feelings and
+make them very miserable, to know just what others thought of them. And
+yet the child would reply: "You say that if we would listen to God's
+little voice in our hearts, it would tell us all that is wrong. Why
+does he want to hurt folks' feelings? You had me read in the Bible
+about the truth, how, if we come to love it, it would make us free; but
+mamma says it is often impolite to speak the truth."
+
+Dora felt, as many under similar circumstances have felt, the earnest
+question pressing upon her heart: "Who is sufficient for these things?"
+and with greater trembling was it asked, as Emma grew in stature and
+increased in knowledge; for she saw that with the good seeds thorns had
+sprung up. Emma began to pride herself upon independent thought and
+action, and to show symptoms of haughty disdain toward those who
+stooped to the deceit of fashionable etiquette. Dora was often pained
+to hear her speak of things done and said, not for truth's sake, but
+because it _plagued_ others. It was evident that she was beginning to
+exult in the embarrassment which she often occasioned, but saw not the
+wicked self hiding beneath her garb of truth. Dora tried hard to point
+out this inward foe, but, with the blindness of a natural heart, Emma,
+having eyes, saw not; and the good woman knew well, that the child
+could not see, unless He that openeth the eyes of the blind should say
+unto her, "Receive thy sight." She told her of that charity which
+hopeth, believeth, and endureth all things; which, giving no place to
+falsehood, still never behaveth itself unseemly. She warned Emma of the
+heart's Ishmaelite--that truth which, incased in the armor of human
+pride, ever turns its hand against its fellow: but Emma did not fear
+this "strong man armed;" so she was led captive by him at his will.
+
+Thus she was growing up like a beautiful flower thickly set with
+thorns. There were, however, some among her mother's fashionable
+friends who professed themselves charmed with her wit and originality.
+
+Martha had passed the age at which her young sisters began to decline,
+and gave evidence of established health. She was now allowed to attend
+evening parties, and was found very tolerably, though not what the
+world calls "highly accomplished." There were those, however, who
+thought that Martha's solid education, good judgment, good sense, and
+good taste, were accomplishments enough. Mrs. Lindsay could not help
+feeling very well satisfied with her discreet, amiable daughter, though
+she was not eligible to a place in the ball-room, having never learned
+to dance.
+
+But it was not until people began to call Emma a comical little beauty,
+and beg her mother to fetch her to their select evening parties, that
+Mrs. Lindsay ceased to feel chagrined at the sacrifice made to
+affection. Emma was not long in learning by what pretty names she was
+called; and with this knowledge came the strong desire to sustain a
+reputation for wit and beauty. Dora saw the canker-worm at the root of
+that precious plant for whose perfection she had waited with long
+patience.
+
+Emma sometimes came home and repeated her triumphs and comicalities to
+this faithful friend, but receiving no answering smile, but, on the
+contrary, a solemn word of reproof or warning, she would often burst
+into a flood of peevish tears, saying that Dora was getting cross, and
+did not love her as formerly. In this the good woman saw signs less
+fearful than those of moral disease, but no less true; saw that this
+exposure and excitement were rapidly wearing away the frail foundations
+of health; and all that she feared was frankly expressed to the mother:
+but Mrs. Lindsay having once more allowed the film of vanity to blind
+the maternal eye, saw not the danger. The question, however, came to a
+speedy issue; for, attending a party one evening where the rooms were
+newly papered, and where, notwithstanding she felt chilly, her mother
+would not allow of her being wrapped in a shawl, Emma took a violent
+cold, which was immediately followed by a cough, and many other
+symptoms of rapid decline. Greatly alarmed, Mrs. Lindsay consulted her
+former physicians, and was again flattered with the hope that change of
+air, change of scene, and other changes, would speedily produce a
+change of health.
+
+Emma knew the history of her family, and understood well why she was
+hurried from land to sea, and from thence to other places remote from
+her home. Dora was not allowed to accompany her, because the physician
+said that her "long face" would be an incalculable injury; but that
+face, always beaming with the soul's deep interest and affection, was
+ever present to the sick girl. Through many a night-watch of suffering
+and feverish anxiety, those loving, earnest eyes seemed looking into
+her own; and Emma would say to her sister Martha, "Dear Dora! how I
+long to see her! she loves me, and prays for me; it seems to me that
+with Dora near I should not be afraid to die."
+
+Thus Emma talked; and the sensible, affectionate Martha saw that change
+of air and change of scene could not benefit her young sister, while
+her mind was so fevered and tossed; she therefore entreated her mother
+to return home, and after a time succeeded in making her understand
+this to be the best course.
+
+"O my dear Dora," said the poor weary child, as she found herself once
+more in her own room at home, with the good woman at her side, "I am so
+glad--_so_ glad to see you. And now I want you to stay with me, and
+talk as you used to when I was a little child. O, it makes me miserable
+to think how my heart wandered away from you, and from the Saviour,
+Dora; for I used to feel when a little girl that he loved me."
+
+"And he loves you still, dearest," replied the old lady, her heart
+swelling with gratitude to God. "He loves you, Emma, and will receive
+you freely, dear, without one word of reproach, if you will only come
+back."
+
+"I think so," said Emma, while the tears ran freely down her pale
+cheeks. "I did not spend those long dreadful nights, Dora, without
+thinking of him; and though ashamed of myself, I ventured to ask him,
+over and over again, to pity my wretchedness, and love me still. One
+night--it was not long ago--he seemed to come to me, and say the very
+same things which you have just said,--that he would not cast me off;
+that he loved me, even then."
+
+What a moment of joy to the faithful Christian, who had sowed in hope,
+but whose faith had been so severely tried.
+
+The tranquillity of mind which followed Emma's return home, operated
+favorably upon her health, and in a few weeks she was able to mingle
+with the family as formerly. Her mother did not propose her going
+abroad for company; but Emma seemed to take pleasure in being one of
+their small parties at home. Very different, however, was this pleasure
+from that which she had formerly sought and experienced.
+
+"What a change in Emma Lindsay!" was an exclamation frequent among her
+mother's friends. "Her pertness, repartee, and saucy witticisms are all
+gone. What have they been doing for her? This winning softness and
+grace of manner seems foreign to her nature."
+
+"I never thought," said another, "that I should come to love Emma
+Lindsay; but I do, and cannot help it--she is so lovely, so polite, and
+yet so _sincere_." A mystery, indeed, to the worldly wise, how
+politeness and sincerity could be made to embrace each other.
+
+The solemn subjects of death and eternity were matters of frequent and
+free conversation between Emma and her pious friend; and now, though
+there seemed some respite from the speedy execution of the sentence,
+"Thou shalt die, and not live," neither thought of the matter in any
+other light than that of a _little_ time given for work important to be
+done. Happy for Emma that she took this view of the subject, since it
+saved her from that remissness too common among the followers of
+Christ.
+
+"The Lord seems to have need of me," Emma would say to the good Dora;
+while she would answer, "Yes, dear, but be ready for him at his coming;
+be sure that you are able to say, 'I have _finished_ the work thou
+gavest me to do.'"
+
+Notwithstanding these favorable indications, as it regarded the health
+of her daughter, Mrs. Lindsay was sometimes roused from her security by
+symptoms less favorable, and at last resolved to follow the advice of
+Emma's physician, and take up a permanent residence in the country.
+
+Hence their removal to Appledale.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE LITTLE TIME--HOW IMPROVED--FITNESS FOR REFINED SOCIETY--MORNING
+REFLECTIONS--RUTH AND BOAZ--CHARITY AND COURTESY--THE VISIT.
+
+
+The little time allotted Emma seemed important, not only as it regarded
+her duty to others, but also in respect to herself. She desired a
+complete fitness for the refined society which she was about to enter.
+She wished, above all things, to become meet for an inheritance with
+the saints in light; and for this fitness she strove, using with
+diligence every means relative to this end which God had placed within
+her reach; and, as a valuable means, she availed herself of the
+spiritual perception and Christian fidelity of good Dora, who was
+always ready to aid her.
+
+"Tell me," she would say, "all that you see or _fear_ that is wrong in
+me; help me to examine my motives, emotions, and affections:" and Dora
+covenanted with Emma to this effect,--a sacred covenant, and one that
+should be oftener made among those who would be made perfect.
+
+It was in accordance with this covenant that Emma had spoken fully of
+her feelings and impressions respecting Fanny Brighton; and we have
+seen how faithfully this good woman kept her part of this covenant, by
+pointing out to Emma the judgment of charity and the judgment of self.
+
+Emma still sat by the open window, upon that fine morning, thinking and
+feeling, as she long had done, of the heart's great depth of
+deceitfulness, which no man could know, and no human power could reach,
+when she saw Mr. Graffam coming along the road.
+
+Poor Graffam, though in his sober senses, had been longer crossing the
+plain that morning than usual. Far down in the depths of his beclouded
+soul there was a love of the beautiful, and that love on this morning
+had been stirred within him. His eyes had been open to see the
+glittering dewdrops upon the tall wild flowers and green herbage of the
+plain, to see the giant trees stretch their green arms toward the sky;
+and his ears had been open to hear a sweet concert upon their topmost
+branches. Poor buried soul!--how it struggled for a resurrection; now
+leaping with joy at the thought of its own affinity for the pure and
+beautiful, and now sinking, sinking, sinking with the one blighting
+thought of human scorn richly merited.
+
+Night after night had poor Graffam reeled from side to side of that
+grass-tufted road, while the plain seemed to him an interminable lake
+of fire, amid whose scalding waves there rolled and tossed poor
+wretches like himself; and morning after morning he had returned by the
+same road, feeling as though a frost-breath had passed over the lake of
+fire, leaving it rough and leaden like a lava-deluged plain. But now,
+whence came the wonderful beauty of the widespread landscape? He knew
+in part, and brushed his old jacket sleeve across his swollen eyes. He
+feared that the vision was fated to pass away, "For my character is
+gone," said he; "nobody respects me; they call me 'old Pete,' and I am
+doomed." But a new feeling now came over him. He was nearing
+Snag-Orchard. The old chimneys were seen among the tree-tops, and
+strange to himself, (for years had passed since he had cared for his
+personal appearance,) he found his right hand tucking up its brother's
+dirty wristband, and adroitly turning the torn part of his old hat-rim
+to the side opposite Appledale.
+
+"Good-morning, good-morning, Mr. Graffam," was the cheerful greeting
+coming to him from a chamber window.
+
+But lo! he has forgotten the torn rim, and now it is flapping most
+gracefully, as the hat descends from the head, and is waved toward the
+window.
+
+"Stop, if you please," said Emma; and she ran down the stairway, and
+along the garden-walk, toward the gate.
+
+"Why, who is Emma flying to see?" asked Martha, as she saw her sister's
+white dress flitting past the window.
+
+One of the visitors looked toward the road, and, unable to speak for
+laughter, pointed out poor Graffam, who, standing with his crazy hat in
+his hand, and his long shaggy hair falling in tangled masses over his
+neck and forehead, was now examining his great red hand, to see if it
+was clean enough to shake the delicate little hand cordially offered
+him.
+
+"How is your babe this morning?" asked Emma.
+
+"Better, thank you," replied Graffam; and growing warm-hearted in her
+sunlight, he told her how the little thing had smiled, and crowed at
+him; or _began_ to tell, and then stopped short, fearing that he should
+forfeit her respect.
+
+"It is a dear child," said Emma; "and perhaps, Mr. Graffam, it may
+please God to restore him to health, and he may grow up to bless the
+world."
+
+Graffam started. The idea that a child of his should grow up to bless
+the world seemed too marvelous; "and yet," thought he, "I was not made
+for a curse."
+
+"I hope that he may live," said the poor man sincerely; and wondered
+how that hope came, for formerly the child's life had been a matter of
+utter indifference to him.
+
+"If it please God," added Emma.
+
+"It has pleased God," said Graffam, "to lay three of my children
+beneath the sod, and perhaps it were better if they were all there, for
+we are----"
+
+"Are what, sir?"
+
+"Poor and despised, miss."
+
+"God does not despise the poor," said Emma. "When his Son came to live
+among men, the poor of this world were his chosen friends and
+companions."
+
+"Perhaps so," the poor man said, and turned his head mournfully away:
+"if poverty were all----"
+
+"He does not despise the _sinner_ either," said Emma, softly; "so far
+from that, he delivered his only Son unto death for their sake."
+
+Graffam lifted his eyes from the ground, and looked seriously into her
+face.
+
+"There was a time, miss," said he, "when that was a precious thought to
+me. Then to know that God was my friend, was enough, and I was happy;
+but that time is passed. I parted with his friendship to gain that of
+the world, and now I have lost, hopelessly lost all--all!"
+
+This was said in a tone of deep despair: so deep and sad, that it
+called tears of pity to Emma's eyes, as she earnestly replied,--
+
+"O do not say that _his_ friendship is hopelessly lost, Mr. Graffam;
+for you know, sir, that he does not hate what the world hates. He hates
+nothing but sin, and even from that his great mercy separates the
+sinner, and makes him an object of love. Jesus, Mr. Graffam, is the
+_sinner's friend_."
+
+"Yes, miss," replied the poor man; though Emma saw that the faith of
+this great truth did not enter his heart. There was no room as yet for
+so pure a faith. The soul's great idol, whatever it be,--the "man of
+sin" sitting in the place of God,--must be dethroned before the Holy
+will enter in. Yet Emma's words stirred still more those powers of the
+soul which Graffam had felt that morning struggling franticly with
+their chains. There was a strange mixture of hope and despair in the
+expression of his countenance, as he turned away, bidding her a sad
+"good-morning."
+
+"O," thought Emma, as she looked after him, "is there none to help?
+Poor Mr. Graffam might become a good and useful man: his family might
+live out among people, and be happy. I pity them from my very heart;"
+and thinking over the matter, Emma walked out into the road, wandering
+down the hill, across the bridge, beneath which the bright waters
+glided very soberly that morning. Here she paused awhile, looking over
+the wooden railing at the reflection of her own thin figure and pale
+face. "O Emma," she said, "what thou doest, do quickly; for there is
+neither work, knowledge, nor device in the grave, to which thou art
+hastening."
+
+Slowly, and somewhat wearily, she ascended the opposite bank, and then
+away in his field, working busily, she saw friend Sliver. She knew him
+by the broad-brimmed hat, which now and then bobbed up above the wall
+as the old man picked up the stones, and then resumed his hoe.
+
+Intent upon his work, he hoed long with his eyes upon the ground: but
+at last he paused, and holding the hoe in one hand, drew a checkered
+handkerchief from his pocket, and wiped the perspiration from his face;
+in doing this, he glanced toward the road, and saw Emma leaning over
+the wall, apparently inspecting his work.
+
+"Good-morning, Mr. Sliver," said Emma.
+
+[Illustration: EMMA AND THE QUAKER.]
+
+"Ah, how does thee do?" replied the good man, with evident pleasure. "I
+was not looking for thee in the potato field."
+
+"I suppose not," replied Emma, smiling. "I am like Ruth, the Moabitess,
+who went to glean in the fields of Boaz: only she wanted grain, and I
+want counsel."
+
+Friend Sliver laid down his hoe, and coming up to the wall, asked,
+"What is it, child?"
+
+"You know Mr. Graffam, sir?"
+
+"Thee means Peter, who lives upon the plains?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"O yes, I have known him some years; given to drink, Emma."
+
+"I know it," replied Emma; "but need he be lost, sir? He has a wife and
+four pretty children; can't he be saved?"
+
+"I see but one way," replied the old gentleman; "and that is to get him
+employment away from the mills. Motley keeps spirit for his hands. I
+have tried to help Peter by employing him myself, but he is very sullen
+when not in drink."
+
+"I will tell you the reason of that," said Emma; "the poor man has
+naturally great self-esteem, and people irritate and crush him by
+showing him no respect."
+
+"People can't show what they have not," replied friend Sliver, with a
+slight twinkle in his bright gray eye. "Can thee respect a drunkard,
+Emma?"
+
+"I can respect a _soul_, sir," replied Emma, warmly,--"a soul made in
+the image of God, though it were sunk in the very depths of pollution
+and wretchedness; and so can the 'Great and Holy One,' Mr. Sliver, or
+he never would have sent his Son to redeem the world."
+
+The sly twinkle vanished from the good Quaker's eye, and he looked
+seriously, earnestly, into the face of that dear girl. "Emma," said he,
+"what would thee do for Peter and his family? Can I aid thee in any
+way?"
+
+"You have done so already," said she, "by speaking of the temptations
+to which he is exposed. I think that I can persuade mother to employ
+him; and Mr. Sliver, as you are acquainted with the people here, you
+may do Mr. Graffam a good service, by persuading your neighbors to feel
+and to manifest some interest in himself and his family; ask them not
+to allow their children to call him 'Old Pete,' 'Old toper,' &c., and
+twit him of riding a high horse."
+
+"I will," replied friend Sliver, "and I will do anything else in my
+power to help thee."
+
+"Thank you," said Emma, smiling, and sliding from the fence; "I am
+greatly obliged to you; good-by, Mr. Sliver."
+
+"Farewell!" replied the old man, as he once more watched her descending
+the hill, and thought of what Sarah had said about her "ripening for
+glory."
+
+It was on the afternoon of that day that Dora and Emma set out for a
+visit to the plains. "I think," said the former, "that we had better
+ride around by 'Snow-Hill,' and inquire at Mr. Cotting's respecting
+this family." Mr. Cotting was the minister, and his wife was considered
+a very active woman, and such in truth she was. Sewing circles,
+Sunday-school exhibitions, donation parties, &c., had been quite
+unknown to that community until Mrs. Cotting came. It was said, too,
+that she had visited all the poor families around, and fitted out their
+children for Sabbath school.
+
+"If," said Dora, "we succeed in getting this poor family of the plains
+to mingle with their fellows, Mrs. Cotting's help will be needed; she
+is directress of the sewing circle, and from that can obtain clothing
+for the children."
+
+"Dear Dora," replied Emma, "don't propose any such thing, either to Mr.
+Graffam or his wife, now. It won't do--not yet. We will call and see
+Mrs. Cotting, if you please. She may know this family, and may be able
+to tell us how to manage. Here is the road which goes around by
+Snow-Hill: but stop a moment; there is Willie Graffam and his little
+sister, just coming from the plain.
+
+"How do you do, Willie?" continued Emma, as the children, each carrying
+a basket of berries, drew nearer.
+
+"Very well, thank you," said Willie, taking off his hat; and the little
+girl courtesied, without lifting her eyes from the ground.
+
+"We are going over to see your mother," said Emma.
+
+"Mother will be very glad to see _you_," replied the little boy; at the
+same time looking inquiringly at the horse's head which was turned
+toward Snow-Hill.
+
+Dora smiled at the emphasis bestowed upon _you_, and asked Willie "if
+his mother would not be glad to see her."
+
+"I guess so," was the reply; "but----"
+
+"But what, Willie?" asked Emma.
+
+The little fellow hung his head, and answered in a lower tone, "Mother
+don't want to see the minister's wife, for she has been at our house
+once."
+
+"I am afraid," said Dora, as they passed on, "that this family is one
+whom it will be difficult to benefit."
+
+"You will excuse me for keeping you in waiting so long," said Mrs.
+Cotting, as she entered the room where Dora and Emma had been seated
+for nearly an hour; "I understood the maid that it was Mrs. Lindsay
+herself, and I was in _dishabille_. My duties are so numerous and so
+pressing," continued Mrs. Cotting. "One might think that the cares of a
+family were sufficient for a wife and mother; but added to this, to
+have a whole parish upon one's hands." Here she paused and sighed.
+
+"Your situation," replied Dora, "is indeed one of earnest duty and
+responsibility; but the abundant grace provided for our utmost need is
+found, I trust, sufficient for you."
+
+Mrs. Cotting bowed, and Dora continued: "We will not take your time,
+madam, which must be fully occupied. We called to inquire respecting a
+family called Graffam, living upon the plain."
+
+"I know them," said Mrs. Cotting, "as indeed I do every other poor
+family in town. These Graffams are very strange people. I called there
+with Mrs. Jefferson Motley, the wealthiest lady at the mills. Graffam
+had a child at that time lying at the point of death. He was at home,
+and, what is a rare thing, was sober; but neither he nor his wife
+seemed at all grateful for this attention from myself and Mrs. Motley.
+We were at that time hunting up children for the Sabbath school; and in
+our charitable work were not unwilling to visit the most degraded. We
+told Graffam and his wife so; and told them, moreover, that we were
+desirous to rescue their children from ignorance and infamy. I had a
+bundle of clothes for the children, which I offered to Mrs. Graffam, on
+condition that she would keep them clean; never allowing them to be
+worn in their own dirty hut, but saved expressly for the Sabbath
+school. Then I talked to her faithfully of her own evil ways, (for I
+had heard that she picked berries upon the Sabbath;) and what do you
+suppose the poor wretch did? Why she turned from the dying bed of her
+child, and looked Mrs. Motley and myself in the face, as though we were
+common acquaintances. 'Madam,' said she, 'your religion is not to my
+taste. I prefer our present ignorance, and even infamy, to what you
+have offered this morning. As for picking berries upon the Sabbath, I
+must refer that to Him of whom, I must confess, I know too little; but
+my parents taught me that God is just, and I believe that he will
+justly judge between the rich who pay their laborers in that which is
+neither money nor bread, and the mother who, for lack of bread, must
+break the Sabbath.' Think what an impudent thrust at Mrs. Motley!--her
+husband allows Graffam to take up the most of his wages in rum, I
+suppose. It was evident that this Mrs. Graffam was no subject for
+charity--she was too ungrateful and too insolent; so we came away,
+bringing the things with us. The child died, and they would not have
+Mr. Cotting to attend the funeral. Graffam went for old Mr. Sliver, who
+sat in silence with the family for about half an hour, and then was
+'moved upon' to pray. The sexton said that Graffam and his wife sobbed
+aloud; but I have never ventured there again."
+
+Dora and Emma now rose to depart, and in going away met Mr. Cotting at
+the door. Emma felt herself indebted to her minister, and, with the
+cordiality of true Christian friendship, returned his greeting.
+
+"We are going to visit the family upon the plain," said she, as Mr.
+Cotting unfastened their horse, and was about to turn him the other
+way.
+
+"Are you?" inquired he, "that is what I have not done myself, as yet;
+Mrs. Cotting received so ungracious a reception, that it rather
+discouraged me; if you are upon a visit of charity I hope that you will
+be better received."
+
+"_Charity_ ought to be kindly received everywhere," replied Emma,
+"since she is long-suffering and kind herself, not easily provoked, and
+certainly not provoking, because she never behaves herself unseemly."
+
+"No," replied the minister, thoughtfully; "it is strange that true
+charity should be distasteful to any one." Then offering his hand, as
+he bade them good-by, he said to Emma, "I hope, my dear, that this
+charity abounds in you."
+
+"O no," she replied, "it does not _abound_--although, I trust, it has a
+home in my poor heart."
+
+Emma found the door of poor Graffam's hut open, and the mother sitting
+beside the cradle where lay the sick babe asleep.
+
+"Walk in," said Mrs. Graffam, smiling as she advanced toward the door.
+
+Dora was surprised at the ease of her manner, and the pleasant
+expression of her countenance, as she handed them chairs, and seemed
+really glad to see them.
+
+"The babe is better," said she, as Emma advanced toward the cradle; and
+at that moment the little one awoke.
+
+The good motherly Dora took the "wee bit" into her arms, and talked
+with Mrs. Graffam about the best course to be pursued with a feeble
+child like that, while Emma unpacked the stores which they brought,
+among which were many things not intended for baby, but which she
+delicately classed with the rest, calling the whole "medicine."
+
+Mrs. Graffam was at first somewhat reserved; but as Dora talked to her
+as a friend and sister, the frost of her spirit melted away, and she
+spoke of her mother now dead, of brothers and sisters, some dead and
+some far away: and as she grew thus communicative, and the tears of
+fond recollection trembled in her eyes, Dora talked of Him, the dear
+unfailing friend, who sticketh closer than a brother; who, in all the
+afflictions of his people, is afflicted, and the angel of whose
+presence is with them to comfort and to bless.
+
+Then poor Mrs. Graffam wept much, saying that she needed just such a
+friend. And when they went away, she wrapped the babe in a shawl, and,
+taking it in her arms, went with them to the road where they had left
+their horse.
+
+"You will come and see me again, won't you?" she asked.
+
+And Emma replied, "Yes, Mrs. Graffam; _I_ will come as long as I am
+able, and when I am not, you must come and see me."
+
+"I will," was the warm reply; "I would walk miles to see you, if you
+were sick."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE OLD PEDDLER--BITTER WORDS--THE MEEK REPLY--THE EFFECT--ACTING A
+PART--SOFTER FEELINGS--THE DEATH-SCENE--THE DAY OF SMALL
+THINGS--SIMPLE CHRISTIAN COURTESY.
+
+
+"I know," said Fanny Brighton, "that there is not a word of truth in
+what you say. Peddlers are always liars. This ring is nothing but
+brass, and would turn black with a week's wearing."
+
+"I bought it for gold," meekly replied the old man, as he placed his
+heavy box upon the ground, and wiped the large drops of sweat from his
+wrinkled face.
+
+"What else have you?" inquired Alice, as she turned over a box of
+thimbles, and pulled out a large handkerchief. "What a splendid thing!"
+said Alice; but at the same time she winked at Fanny, and laughed.
+
+[Illustration: THE GIRLS AND THE PEDDLER.]
+
+"Half cotton," said Fanny; "and now pray tell me when you take time to
+split your skeins of silk."
+
+"I never do such a thing!" said the old man, with some spirit.
+
+"Perhaps not," was the reply; "I suppose your profits are enough to
+hire it done; but here is a shawl,--what is the price of it?"
+
+"Five dollars, miss; and a good bargain at that." "Five dollars! O
+what a cheat!" and Fanny laid the shawl, all unfolded, upon the grass,
+where scissors, needles, buttons, tape, pins, &c., lay strewed in wild
+confusion. Once more the poor man wiped his forehead, and kept his
+patience. It is bad policy for the poor to lose their patience.
+
+"There comes Mary Palmer, and the missionary of Appledale," said Fanny.
+"Mr. Cotting will have to give up his office, or take Miss Lindsay as
+colleague."
+
+Fanny knew that Emma was near enough to hear these remarks, but she did
+not know for what intent the feeble girl had taxed her strength in
+walking so far to see her.
+
+The old peddler was now sadly putting his things back into his box; and
+Fanny, looking at him a moment, felt the injustice of causing him so
+much trouble for nothing: so she said to him, "Wait a moment--I will
+take some of your knickknacks, though they are not worth buying;" and
+she put into his hand a bill to pay for some articles which she hastily
+selected.
+
+The old man thanked her, and his hand trembled as he gave her the
+change. Then he took up his heavy box, and Emma handed him the straps
+which fastened it upon his shoulders.
+
+"Is it very heavy?" she asked.
+
+"Yes," was the reply, "it is; but I am used to heavy burdens."
+
+"Well, the burden and heat of your life's day is almost over," said
+Emma, as, assisted by Mary, she drew the strap firmly into the buckle.
+"Then, sir, if you are a Christian, you will _rest_."
+
+"I know it," said the old man; "I know it, child:" and he looked at
+Emma, as though she had given him something better than silver or gold.
+
+"Call at the large house, among the apple-trees," said Emma, "and tell
+the lady that her daughter sent you."
+
+All this time Fanny stood as if counting her money, while the old
+peddler went along.
+
+"He has cheated himself in making change," said she; "I owe him a
+quarter more."
+
+"Never mind," said Alice; "you paid enough for the things, and that is
+clear gain."
+
+Fanny paid no attention to Alice, but ran after the old man, and gave
+him all his due.
+
+Emma saw this; and the charity in her heart which "rejoiceth not in
+iniquity, but in the truth," exulted as one that findeth great spoil.
+She forgot the bitter remark which Fanny had made respecting herself;
+forgot all, except the one joyful thing that Fanny was not wholly
+selfish.
+
+"We walked over to see you for a little while," said Mary, as Fanny
+came back; and Emma was far from feeling it a rudeness, though Fanny
+did not say, "I am glad to see you." She, however, invited them into
+the house where her grandfather and grandmother lived--for Fanny was an
+orphan.
+
+Emma was very tired, and Fanny brought a pillow, which she placed upon
+the old-fashioned lounge, and asked her if she would like to lie down.
+She saw that Emma was pale, and this little act of kindness was
+prompted by a momentary feeling of pity: yet Fanny was ashamed of this
+kindness, and afraid that Mary and Alice would think her anxious to
+show Miss Lindsay particular attention; so putting on her old
+"care-for-nobody airs," she said, "Don't _you_ undertake to faint, Mary
+Palmer. We country girls are neither genteel nor sentimental enough for
+that."
+
+"And not feeble enough, I hope," replied Emma. "You have much to be
+thankful for, and so have I; for if it please God to deprive us of
+health, he will not leave us comfortless--not if we trust in him."
+
+Fanny was not naturally a hardhearted girl. Her aged grandparents had
+done much toward making her what she was. Left to them when she was but
+two years of age, Fanny found herself left also to the full sway of
+every selfish passion and desire. The old people believed from their
+hearts that such another child never lived--so bright, so witty, so
+smart, and fearless. They talked and laughed over her sayings in her
+presence, and, in the blindness of their fond affection, saw not that
+the child was impudent, even to themselves; yet there was a fountain of
+purer water in that young heart, though self-love was rapidly drying it
+up. Emma, however, had that day discovered a bright drop from that
+better fountain, and she believed that the wasted streams of affection
+might be unsealed, even in Fanny's heart; and the rude girl herself
+wondered at the feelings which came over her, as Emma replied so meekly
+to her unkind remark. "I did not know that you were out of health,"
+said Fanny; and both Mary and Alice were surprised at the tone of her
+voice and the expression of her countenance. She arose too, propped the
+pillow under Emma's head, and begged to know if she could do anything
+for her.
+
+"Nothing," said Emma; "only love me: if you can do that, Fanny, I shall
+feel better."
+
+Fanny tried to laugh, though she felt more like crying. "I am not much
+like other people," said she; "and those who want to have anything to
+do with me, must take me as I am."
+
+"O yes," replied Emma; "if the Saviour does not refuse to take us just
+as we are, I am sure we ought to receive others in the same way, and
+love them too, even as he has loved us."
+
+Very pleasantly did that summer afternoon pass away. Emma, after she
+had rested awhile, thought of going home; but Fanny entreated her to
+stay. She wanted to show her the bee-house, her grandfather's new
+beehive, the flower-garden, and many other things. Mary dearly loved to
+be near Emma; but this good little girl possessed the very best kind of
+courtesy, because it was the fruit of a pure loving heart--that kind of
+heart always forgetting its own wishes, in gratifying the wishes of
+another. Mary was always happy, but it was a sweet reflex happiness.
+She loved Emma, and dearly loved to hear her talk; but she did not
+claim the right of keeping close to her side. She sometimes lingered
+far behind, as Fanny and Emma walked arm-in-arm; but there was neither
+envy nor jealousy in this. She knew that Fanny was ashamed of being
+kind and affectionate, and she thought it best that they should be left
+to themselves; so she kept with Alice, and tried to do her good.
+
+That night, as the sun went down, Fanny might have been seen standing
+at the door, where she had bid Mary and Emma good-night. Alice was
+preparing to go, but Fanny seemed quite forgetful of her. She was still
+looking far down the road, where Mary and Emma, with an arm around each
+other's waist, were walking slowly along. Alice prided herself on being
+more genteel in her manners than was Fanny Brighton; but she had not
+Mary Palmer's self-forgetting courtesy. All the afternoon she had felt
+vexed, because she imagined that but little notice had been taken of
+herself; and now, as Fanny stood so absent-minded, picking a rose to
+pieces, as her eyes wandered far away, Alice hurriedly put on her
+bonnet, and said, in a tone of pique, "Good-night, Miss Brighton; I
+suppose you would like now to cut acquaintance with me."
+
+"Nonsense," said Fanny. "Wait a moment, I am going a little way with
+you;" and as they walked along, Fanny tried to be herself again.
+
+"There comes Graffam," said she: "now I hope that he is drunk; if so,
+we will make him tell about the times when he was major."
+
+But in this Fanny was disappointed. Soberly, but sadly, the poor man of
+the plain came along, and shrunk from the gaze of those merry girls.
+
+"O," said Fanny, "Uncle Pete is not tipsy; so we shall not hear from
+the major to-night."
+
+Poor Graffam passed them quickly, for he heard this remark; and a
+deeper shade of gloom came over him. "What is the use of this dreadful
+struggle?" thought he. "What suffering this self-denial has cost me!
+and yet what is gained? Nothing, but to know that I am ridiculed and
+despised."
+
+"It is the first time," said Fanny to herself, as she parted with Alice
+that night--"the first time that I have ever acted a part: but I would
+not have her suspect my feelings; and why do I feel so?"
+
+Thus thought Fanny, as she sat down upon a rock by the roadside, and
+could not keep back the tears which came from a heart never so sad
+before. And why so sad? Fanny had been, for a few hours, in close
+converse with one who every day was becoming more and more meet for an
+inheritance with the saints in light. She had ridiculed and set at
+defiance the most common rules of politeness; but what was she to do
+with the self-forgetting, affectionate courtesy which she had seen, not
+forced nor constrained, but beaming forth so sweetly, so naturally,
+from those young disciples of Christ? Fanny felt that, however
+deceitful the world's polite intercourse might be, _this_ was
+holy:--and how can sin approach purity without fear and trembling? She
+felt this mysterious fear. The reckless girl, whose highest boast had
+always been that she feared nothing, now trembled, as in imagination
+she changed places with Emma, and stood where she saw her
+standing,--upon the brink of the tomb.
+
+It was on this evening that Emma was summoned to her mother's room. She
+found her mother sitting alone with Martha. There was no light there
+save moonlight, and Emma was glad, for she knew that her own
+countenance was deathly; and she had known that for weeks her mother
+had watched her narrowly.
+
+"Emma, my dear," said Mrs. Lindsay, "you understand the reason of my
+coming to this place--that it was solely on your account."
+
+"Yes, mamma," said Emma.
+
+"I have invited some of the gayest of our young friends," continued
+Mrs. Lindsay, "to keep us company; and all this because I wanted you to
+make the most of being in the country. I have them here, my love, to
+talk, to ride, to run, and walk with you. This was the advice of your
+physician. He said that you would soon become healthy and happy,
+provided his directions were faithfully followed: but they are not; and
+how can we expect these favorable results? You neither ride nor walk
+with suitable company; not that I care much about your present
+associations. If they are conducive to health, that is sufficient: but
+I have reason to think, dear, that you spend a great part of your time
+alone--that you go into the woods, not with your gay young friends (as
+the doctor requires) to run and have a good frolic, but to sit down and
+read. Is it not so?"
+
+"Yes, mamma," said Emma, "it is so. I cannot run now, and I get very
+tired in walking only a short distance; but it _rests_ me, dear mother,
+to read the Bible."
+
+"But how can I have you go away alone to read your Bible, and think
+sadly of--being so weak?" asked her mother.
+
+"Not sadly," replied Emma; "I do not think sadly, mother, for all the
+sadness is gone; and if I have not become healthy, I certainly have
+become happy, very happy, since we came to Appledale. It is true that I
+see a great deal to be done now, and wish sometimes that those who have
+the prospect of years before them would undertake this work."
+
+"I am glad that you mentioned this," said Mrs. Lindsay; "you have
+imbibed some of Dora's strange notions, my dear, about living for
+others. You may be assured, Emma, that I have not sacrificed so much
+for any object save that of your health. I did not leave the society of
+the refined and intelligent for the sake of benefiting the rude and
+ignorant; and I would have you remember what _was_ my object. You have
+nothing to do with this community only with a view to your health. If
+such society amuses you, mingle with it freely, but waste no thoughts
+upon the people here. They have always taken care of themselves, and
+can do this still without any help from little Emma Lindsay."
+
+This the mother said playfully, as she kissed her cheek, and added: "I
+did not give you a fashionable education, my dear; but it was not
+because I intended you for a missionary."
+
+"My heavenly Father may have intended this," replied Emma; "and you
+would not oppose Him, mother, for he has purchased me with a great
+price. We may be unwilling to make the smallest sacrifice for our
+fellow-creatures, yet God gave his only Son a sacrifice for us."
+
+"How that child talks," said Mrs. Lindsay, bursting into tears as Emma
+left the room.
+
+"And yet," replied Martha, "if we cannot save her, mother, you would
+rather that she should be as she is."
+
+The mother made no reply, for she knew not what to say.
+
+Emma's first summer and winter at Appledale had passed away. It was a
+beautiful morning in May; Martha Lindsay was sitting beside a low couch
+where her young sister was sleeping so sweetly, so gently, that she had
+more than once placed her cheek close to those parted lips fearing that
+the breath was gone. Dora was in her little room adjoining Emma's, and
+with hands uplifted in prayer, was asking this one thing of the Lord,
+that as in life so in death, Emma might glorify him. Mrs. Lindsay was
+pacing the floor in her own chamber, now weeping as if her heart would
+break, and now striving in this hour of deep distress, to do as Emma
+had long entreated her to do, namely, to come weary and heavy laden to
+Him who in no wise will cast us out. Mr. Graffam was at work in the
+garden; but his eye, now clear and intelligent, often rested on the
+chamber windows where the curtains were folded so close and solemnly.
+
+Susan Sliver had watched with Emma many a night, and now she had
+retired for a few moments while Emma slept. Susan no longer sighed for
+Olivet and Kedron, for in a Christian's earnest daily work she had
+found places equally sacred.
+
+"I have come to hear thy dying testimony, Emma," said friend Sliver, as
+drawing his broad-brimmed hat more closely over his eyes, the old man
+took his seat beside the bed.
+
+Emma smiled feebly. "Are any more of my friends here?" she asked.
+
+"Fanny Brighton is in the keeping-room," said Martha.
+
+"Call her," whispered Emma; and in a few moments Fanny was kneeling
+beside the bed sobbing violently, while Emma pressed her hand, but
+could not speak. But there was a bright triumphant smile upon her face
+as Mary Palmer came in; and Mary smiled too through her tears. She had
+spent many a day with Emma since that first summer at Appledale; and
+now, though a little girl, and a young Christian, she felt somewhat as
+did Elisha when he awaited the horsemen and chariot which were coming
+for Elijah.
+
+Emma looked around the room and stretched her hand toward her mother,
+who had just entered with Dora. Mrs. Lindsay took that cold hand into
+her own, and then Emma repeated I Cor. xiii, 13, "And now abideth
+faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is
+charity."
+
+Emma's breath grew shorter, but she was able to add a verse which she
+had often read in Dora's hymn book:--
+
+"This is the grace must live and sing
+  When faith and hope shall cease,
+And sound from every joyful string
+  Through all the realms of bliss."
+
+These were the last audible words uttered by Emma. When another morning
+came it found her cold and silent, dressed for the grave. The spring
+blossoms breathed their sweet fragrance into her open window, but Emma
+was gone--gone to the land of unfading bloom; yet her life, short and
+beautiful as the spring, had left in passing a more enduring fragrance
+than that of early blossom and flower.
+
+Little by little does the husbandman cast the precious seed into the
+earth, and drop by drop comes the genial shower upon the green herb,
+yet who does not despise the day of small things? Young, feeble
+Christian, the world will never do thee justice, for in the great war
+of mighty deeds thy meek, noiseless charity is unheard and forgotten;
+but fear not, God keeps his own jewels. Do what thou canst, and thus
+provide for thyself "a treasure in the heavens that faileth not."
+
+There are some things spoken of in the town where Emma died, things not
+wholly forgotten, but far back in the distance of years. It is said
+that Mr. Graffam, who is now a Church-member and a town officer, was
+once a complete sot, living in a log-hut upon the plain. So much for
+the temperance reform. It is said, too, that the pious, charitable old
+lady, Mrs. Lindsay, and her good daughter Martha, now living at
+Appledale, were once very thoughtless, fashionable people; that the
+gentle, amiable Mrs. Boyd was, when a girl and living with her
+grandparents, one of the rudest and most reckless creatures living;
+that Susan and Margaret Sliver, now earnest, efficient co-operaters in
+every good cause, were once vain, frivolous, and almost hopelessly
+sentimental. Many such things are said; but there are but few who trace
+the changes that have taken place in those characters to their proper
+cause. We think, however, that if these persons could express what
+their secret hearts feel, they would ascribe the changes they have
+experienced to the grace of God first influencing them through the
+medium of simple Christian courtesy.
+
+
+
+
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