THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 The Raft. 
 
 See pajs 196
 
 E A C H E L ; 
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 
 
 He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that 
 is broken down, and without walls. PROV. xxv, 28. 
 
 FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 fork: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PORTER, 
 
 SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 200 MULBERRY- STREET.
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by 
 CARLTON & PORTER, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for 
 the Southern District of New York.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 I. How RACHEL LEARNS TO PRAY 7 
 
 II. EACHEL GOES HOME 30 
 
 III. RACHEL'S CAST ARIES, AND WHAT THEY BEING 55 
 
 IV. THE EMPTY NAIL 79 
 
 V. THE CITY WITHODT WALLS 109 
 
 VI. THE CHILDBEDS MYSTERY. 137 
 
 VII. HOW THE STRENGTH OF RACHEL'S WALLS 
 
 is TRIED 163 
 
 VIIL S^M'S PUNISHMENT. 190 
 
 IX. RACHEL'S REPENTANCE < 210 
 
 X. CAPTAIN LEE'S RETURN. 240 
 
 THE RAFT 2 
 
 RACHEL AND HER KITTEN 99 
 
 LOADING THE RAFT 160 
 
 THE PICNIC ON THE ISLAND 182 
 
 622641
 
 RACHEL; 
 
 OB, 
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HOW RACHEL LEARNS TO PRAY. 
 
 RACHEL stood at the window and 
 watched Ernest on the morning when 
 he left the Asylum with his new fa- 
 ther, until he could no longer be seen. 
 Then she stole away into the dark- 
 est, stillest corner of the school-room, 
 and hid her face. She did not shed 
 a tear ; she only put her hands close- 
 ly together and shut her eyes very 
 tight. For some reason the sun-light 
 was not pleasant, and the happy
 
 8 RACHEL \ OE, 
 
 voices of the children sounded noisily. 
 No one noticed her. She heard Miss 
 Camp calling the classes to order, and 
 the tramp of little feet crossing the 
 uncarpeted floor. Ernest's class in 
 spelling was the first to recite. Ra- 
 chel waited, almost hoping to hear 
 the qnick response of his voice ; but 
 no, it was only Teddy Scott, and he 
 missed, which Ernest never did. 
 
 " I hope," said Miss Camp, " my 
 little scholars will take a great deal 
 of pains to get their lessons well, that 
 I may not wish Ernest back for his 
 good example. Which of you boys 
 is going to take his place as leader of 
 the class ?" 
 
 " I am going to try," said Christie. 
 
 Rachel shook her head very impa- 
 tiently, and felt as if she wanted to 
 shake Christie too.
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 9 
 
 " I hope you will. If you try 
 Christie, you can do almost anything ; 
 but you must remember how faith- 
 fully Ernest studied. He did not 
 look on his book one moment, and 
 all around the school-room the next." 
 
 " No, but he drawed ships. I saw 
 him lots of times," said Christie, 
 archly. 
 
 u He never did !" said Rachel 
 sharply. 
 
 " Rachel," said Miss Camp, " that 
 is not a polite or pleasant way of 
 speaking. I am sorry you should do 
 so." 
 
 Now Rachel was not in a mood 
 to bear reproof. She was feeling 
 very unhappy without quite know- 
 ing the reason why, and so she said 
 more rudely still, 
 
 " I don't care ; I hate him. He
 
 10 RACHEL ; OR, 
 
 always thinks he can do everything, 
 and he aint half so good as Ernest." 
 
 " Go to your room, and stay there 
 until you feel willing to behave like 
 a good girl," said Miss Camp. 
 
 Kachel put her head down on the 
 desk again and did not move. Miss 
 Camp waited a few minutes. She 
 knew Rachel's bad temper so well 
 that she almost dreaded to come into 
 contact with it, and she knew too 
 that this freak of ill-humor had 
 come only from grief at parting with 
 Ernest; still, the outbreak had been 
 so rude and uncalled-for that it 
 would not do to pass it over un- 
 noticed. The eyes of all the other 
 children were upon her, and among 
 such an assembly it was very neces- 
 sary to preserve discipline. She 
 knew too that Rachel's temper
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 11 
 
 though hasty, was not lasting. A 
 few minutes of quiet would often 
 entirely subdue her. So she waited 
 patiently, but did not go on with her 
 class. The school-room was very 
 still; you could have heard a pin 
 drop. They did hear Rachel breath- 
 ing heavily, as if she were all ready 
 to burst into a loud fit of weeping. 
 
 Miss Camp hoped for that result. 
 Rachel would then be tender and 
 more easily reached. But no, the 
 very hush in the room only goaded 
 her on, made her more angry and 
 more uncomfortable. 
 
 " Rachel !" There was something 
 in Miss Camp's voice which made the 
 other children start, but Rachel did 
 not move ; so the teacher walked 
 across the room and laid her hand 
 very gently on the dark curls.
 
 12 RACHEL; OK, 
 
 "Poor little Rachel," she said, and 
 the authority in her voice had changed 
 to great tenderness, " I am veiy sorry 
 you feel so badly. We shall all of 
 us miss Ernest, but it wont bring him 
 back to be naughty, and say unkind 
 things. You would not like to have 
 him know you were disobeying and 
 grieving me, would you ?" 
 
 The teacher's hand soothed the 
 throbbing nerves of the child even 
 more than the kind words. " Now I 
 will let you sit here a few minutes 
 longer, if you think you can come 
 like a good child, and tell Christie 
 you are sorry for what you have 
 said; then you would like to go to 
 your room and ask God to forgive 
 you, and give you better control over 
 your quick temper, wouldn't you ?" 
 
 There was no answer, but the
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 13 
 
 quick breathing grew calmer. Miss 
 Camp hoped she had gained an easy 
 victory this time, but she did not 
 like to leave Rachel, and she was 
 wondering what she could do when 
 she saw Faith making her way quiet- 
 ly toward her seat. How pale she 
 was ! any little excitement -told so 
 quickly on the delicate child. She 
 came noiselessly in to the desk, and 
 sat down by Rachel's side. Then 
 she put up her little hand, so little 
 and wan, beside Miss Camp's. Ra- 
 chel started; she knew the touch at 
 once, but she had not heard Faith 
 come. Pretty soon Faith put her 
 cheek down, and Miss Camp drew 
 her hand away and went back to 
 her class. There was something in 
 Faith's earnest face which told her 
 that she could be spared. The chil
 
 14 RACHEL; OB, 
 
 dren all seemed to understand that 
 the matter was settled, and that it 
 was only now a question of time ; it 
 would be right in the end. The spell- 
 ing was resumed, and by the time the 
 lesson was finished, Rachel had put 
 her arm around Faith, and the part 
 of j^he desk upon which she laid her 
 head was wet with tears. 
 
 "Now, Rachel," whispered Faith 
 softly as the children were going to 
 their seats, " there is Christie coming 
 right by. He is such a darling, you 
 wouldn't make him feel bad for the 
 world. Tell him so when he comes. 
 That is what Christie May would call 
 being generous." 
 
 Rachel sat up very straight and 
 looked Christie steadily in the face 
 as he came toward her. Such a 
 happy, hearty face, no one could look
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 15 
 
 long into it without catching some of 
 the sunny temper that made it so 
 pleasant. U A nierry heart doeth. 
 good like a medicine." If Faith's 
 loving ways had helped Rachel to 
 try to do right at first, Christie's 
 smile finished the work; and when 
 he was near enough to speak to him, 
 she said, 
 
 "I am sorry, Christie, I spoke so 
 cross to you." 
 
 "O I don't mind, Eachie, I am 
 cross as two sticks myself sometimes, 
 and then I would bite a board nail 
 in two, I dare say, if I had one be- 
 tween my teeth ;" and Christie snap- 
 ped two rows of very white little 
 teeth, as if he were anxious to make 
 the experiment, though he was laugh- 
 ing all the time. 
 
 Rachel laughed too, so did Faith,
 
 16 RACHEL; OK, 
 
 and Miss Camp saw that the troubled 
 waters were once more at rest. 
 
 Now would Eachel go to her room 
 and ask God to forgive her? Faith 
 .was anxious that she should, and so 
 she whispered, with that peculiarly 
 beautiful expression in her large eyes 
 which God had given to her, to com- 
 pensate in part for the many things 
 of which he had deprived her, " Now 
 Jesus is just as ready as Christie was. 
 Come, Rachel, then you can be all 
 happy," and she slid off from her 
 seat and held out her hand. Rachel 
 almost mechanically put hers in it, 
 and suffered herself to be led away. 
 Miss Camp smiled as they passed 
 her, and said, "For thou, Lord, art 
 good and ready to forgive, and plen- 
 teous in mercy unto all them that 
 call upon thee."
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 17 
 
 Now when Rachel had reached her 
 room and Faith had shut the door 
 and left her alone, my young readers 
 must not suppose that she knelt 
 down and repeated a little prayer. 
 Rachel was not a praying child. She 
 had been taught to say the Lord's 
 prayer before she came to the Asy- 
 lum, and since then she had learned 
 several other appropriate child's 
 prayers; but Rachel never thought 
 much about God or Jesus, never felt 
 that she was at times a sinful little 
 child, and needed forgiveness and a 
 blessing. She was so strong and 
 well and full of life that she only 
 minded what was passing before her ; 
 what she could see and hear and 
 feel. Her conscience was not tender. 
 She never thought whether a thing 
 was right or wrong, only whether
 
 18 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 she wished or did not wish to do it, 
 and she indulged her high temper at 
 all times with as little attempt at 
 self-control as if she were not capable 
 of it. 
 
 It was in vain that good Aunty 
 May time after time pointed out to 
 her how wrong this was. Not a day 
 passed but in some way it was roused 
 and made trouble for herself and all 
 around her. After trying various 
 modes of punishment, the matron 
 had decided that there was none so 
 effectual as to leave her alone. She 
 also faithfully tried to impress upon 
 her the need of asking the forgive- 
 ness of that Friend, so much greater 
 than any earthly friend, whom she 
 had grieved. But if Rachel had 
 wished to pray, she would not have 
 known how, and this was a point
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 19 
 
 which had never occurred to the ma- 
 tron. If she could have looked at 
 Rachel now, as she stood in the mid- 
 dle of the room, with her eyes fixed 
 upon the floor and a sad expression 
 on her face, she would, notwithstand- 
 ing all her experience with children, 
 have learned a new lesson. Rachel 
 did not know, if she knelt down and 
 only said, " Now I lay me," or " Jesus, 
 gentle shepherd, hear me," that it 
 would be asking the great God to 
 forgive her for being cross and quick 
 tempered, just as much as if she had 
 said, U O, God, please to forgive me 
 for being angry and having spoken 
 cross to Christie, for Christ's sake." 
 God could look right into her heart 
 and would know just what she 
 meant even better than she knew 
 herself, and he would see that she 
 
 2
 
 20 KACHEL; OR, 
 
 was sorry and wanted to be forgiven 
 No one had ever explained to her 
 the nature of prayer, and that God 
 had made her mind for it as much as 
 he had made her eyes to see the light, 
 and her ears to hear the birds sing, 
 and her mouth to taste nice fruit. 
 So here she stood to-day looking 
 down on the floor in a very troubled, 
 bewildered kind of a way. Perhaps 
 there were some thoughts down at 
 the bottom of her heart which God 
 could read, and which he accepted 
 for a prayer. No one can tell. Cer- 
 tain it is that Rachel wished to be 
 good, and hoped never, never to be 
 angry again so long as she lived. If 
 she had been older she could have 
 reasoned more ; but we must not for- 
 get how young she was, and then we 
 do not know that she had religious
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 21 
 
 parents. It does not seem that she 
 had ever heard her mother pray. I 
 am sure that every one of my little 
 readers who has a praying mother will 
 know how to pray better than Ra- 
 chel did ; for you will remember what 
 words she used when she brought 
 you to the throne of grace and 
 pleaded for you, that some sin might 
 be blotted out from the great book 
 forever. Let me say to those chil- 
 dren who have not been so blessed, 
 "When you want to pray, do not 
 think of God, with his angels around 
 him, as a being a long way off in 
 heaven, and too busy and too 
 great to mind what a little child 
 says. To-day he is in the room with 
 Rachel. He is listening to hear the 
 least word she shall utter. He cares 
 as much for her, poor orphan and
 
 22 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 pauper child as she is, as he would if 
 she were the single one in all his 
 wide world, and he had nothing else 
 to do but save and bless her. So 
 you must remember, when you wish 
 to pray, that God is there with you, 
 not away off in some dim, distant 
 place that you cannot even imagine. 
 And then there is one other thing; 
 when you pray tell him the truth. 
 Do not think that you can deceive 
 him. It is not prayer if your lips 
 use words .which your heart does not 
 feel. It is not important that you 
 should have a set form of speech, it 
 is only needful that you should be in 
 earnest to have God to love you, 
 and Jesus take you in his arms and 
 bless you. 
 
 There was once a little boy who 
 had done wrong. He was a gentle.
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 23 
 
 loving child, and lie was grieved over 
 his sin, so at night, just before he 
 went to bed, he knelt down by his 
 crib, and folding his hands, he said, 
 
 "O, Jesus, please lub me, and I 
 will try to be dood morrow-day." 
 Then feeling that that was not quite 
 enough, he knelt again, and said, 
 " And please lub my little gray kitty, 
 the one with white ears, for Christ's 
 sake. Amen." 
 
 Those were true prayers, for the 
 boy's heart was in them. He loved 
 his kitten best of anything in the 
 world, and he felt that in some way 
 he gave it to Jesus, and that to give 
 it was to show him how much he 
 wished to love him, and to be good. 
 
 Now the point of this first chapter 
 is this, I want you to notice it par- 
 ticularly, for a great deal of the in-
 
 24 KACHEL ; OR, 
 
 terest and value of this book will 
 depend upon it : Rachel's chief fault 
 was an ungoverned, high temper. 
 She was handsome, as you will re- 
 member, with very large dark eyes, 
 and long, glossy black curls. She 
 was bright and quick at her lessons, 
 and had many smart and pleasant 
 ways about her, so that no one could 
 be long with her without loving her. 
 Her manners, too, were generally 
 winning. She was thoughtful for 
 others, and thoughtless about her- 
 self; that is, she was not strongly 
 selfish, never wanted the best, and 
 she was as contented in seeing others 
 happy as in being happy herself. 
 But with all these charming things 
 everybody had some fear of her. 
 No one in the Asylum was long with 
 her without watching her moods,
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT "WALLS. 25 
 
 and being very careful not to do 
 anything to offend her. This was 
 because she became so quickly and 
 so fearfully angry. Sometimes it was 
 one thing which annoyed her, some- 
 times it was another, but scarcely a 
 day passed during which she did not 
 give way to her temper. This was a 
 very bad and troublesome trait, one 
 which caused Aunty May much an- 
 noyance, and over which, so far, she 
 had been able to exercise very little 
 control. The only one in the Asy- 
 lum, now that Ernest was gone, who 
 would be likely to help her was 
 Faith, and she was never present at 
 one of Rachel's outbreaks without 
 suffering from it afterward in nerv- 
 ous debility or renewed attacks of 
 pain. 
 When Aunty May found that weeks
 
 26 RACHEL ; OK, 
 
 and months passed on without any 
 obvious change for the better in 
 Rachel in this respect, she began to 
 fall back upon what was always her 
 last as well as her first resort : prayer. 
 She prayed, and used every means 
 her experience and observation could 
 suggest; and when she found the 
 means only seemed to make matters 
 worse, she trusted only to prayer. 
 How great and sufficient an aid it is 
 even in our direst needs. The strug- 
 gle which Rachel had, both before 
 and after she learned how to pray, 
 will be shown in a few words in 
 the following pages. God will help 
 those who ask him in a simple, 
 childlike, earnest, truthful way. 
 Every one of these words are import- 
 ant in their meaning. Ponder them 
 well, young reader, and at the same
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 27 
 
 time ask God to explain and impress 
 them upon your hearts. 
 
 Rachel remained where she was 
 until she had prayed and had been 
 heard, as we will hope. When 
 Aunty May came to bring her down 
 to the school-room, she found there a 
 gentle child, with a softened look in 
 her eyes, and she felt sorry for her 
 as she saw the almost discouraged 
 expression with which she received 
 the few words of tender reproof that 
 she felt it her duty to give. 
 
 "Dear Rachel," she said, "it is 
 very hard, I know it is, but God will 
 help you." 
 
 Faith was waiting for her near the 
 door. Miss Camp had just called out 
 the geography class, a study of which 
 Rachel was very fond, and in study- 
 ing which she often helped both
 
 28 RACHEL ; OR, 
 
 Faith and Christie. This lesson had 
 been very interesting ; so many odd 
 places to find, and all on the bright- 
 colored maps. These three children 
 learned it well, and Miss Camp 
 praised them warmly, so warmly, 
 that Rachel's heart, which had felt 
 so heavy and sad, began to be lighter 
 and happier; and when she went 
 back to her seat, no one would have 
 recognized her as the same child who 
 had so recently wet the lid of the 
 desk with her angry tears. Christie 
 had unconsciously taken Ernest's va- 
 cant seat ; he even had his slate and 
 pencil in his hand, and now he was 
 marking over a half-rubbed-out ship 
 which Ernest had drawn the day 
 before. Rachel watched him eager- 
 ly. How many ships Ernest had 
 drawn for her, how many times he
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 29 
 
 had given her his slate and pencil, 
 and laughed at her awkward at- 
 tempts to imitate him. Where was 
 he now? Would he never come 
 back again ? Would that great man 
 with the black hat be kind to him ? 
 Would he miss her, and want to see 
 her as much as she did him ? Who 
 was Ally ? A little new sister ? Ra- 
 chel sat and silently thought over 
 these things, while Christie drew his 
 ship. Faith played with her great rag 
 doll, and the other children, freed 
 from the restraints of school, frolick- 
 ed around the room, as happy and 
 full of life and joy, as if they were in 
 their own homes, and not members 
 of only a charity Orphan Asylum ; but 
 they were Christ's dear lambs even 
 here.
 
 30 RACHEL ; OE, 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 RACHEL GOES HOME. 
 
 MRS. TLLTON'S interest in the Or 
 phan Asylum had been very much 
 freshened since she had placed Ra- 
 chel there. She now went to visit it 
 every week, and the child became 
 constantly nearer and dearer to her. 
 She was pleased with her progress in 
 almost every particular. Her lessons 
 were always well reported, she had 
 learned to sew neatly, and her little 
 habits, many of which had become 
 careless from neglect, were fast be- 
 coming ladylike. The matron made 
 no secret to Mrs. Tilton of the tem- 
 per which gave her so much trouble. 
 She frequently went to her for ad-
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 31 
 
 vice, and Mrs. Tilton was both sur- 
 prised and grieved at the frequency 
 and violence of its appearance. So 
 far, however, in her intercourse with 
 Rachel she had not attempted to use 
 any direct influence over her for the 
 purpose of preventing it. She knew 
 that with so young a child it would 
 do very little good to reason or to 
 exact from her a promise of care- 
 fulness for the future. Rachel's tem- 
 per was born in her. It was as nat- 
 ural as her propensity to eat or 
 drink, to laugh or cry, to be pleased 
 or sorry, and she was scarcely able 
 to check it ; but it was necessary 
 that she should be taught to over- 
 come it She must learn the way to 
 ask help from God, as well as to read, 
 to sew, to study, or any other of the 
 many things children have to learn.
 
 32 KACHEL ; OK, 
 
 Mrs. Tilton thought it would be use- 
 less to rebuke Rachel in her happy 
 moments for a fault committed in the 
 past, and it strangely happened that 
 often as she saw Rachel, and fre- 
 quent as the bursts of childish tem- 
 per were, she had never witnessed 
 one of them. 
 
 It was singular how, from the very 
 first moment of her being released 
 from the police officer, Rachel had 
 clung to Mrs. Tilton. She always 
 came down into the parlor (no 
 longer, thanks to her benefactress, so 
 desolate as it was on the morning 
 when she was first brought there,) 
 with such a happy face, that its 
 memory staid with the kind lady 
 long afterward. To sit close by her 
 side, with both of her little hands 
 clasping tight the gloved one that
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 33 
 
 was always ready for her ; to fix her 
 eyes on Mrs. Tilton's face with such 
 a longing, loving look ; seemed to 
 make her perfectly happy. Mrs. 
 Tilton almost always brought her a 
 little present, but while she remained 
 that was of small value to Rachel. 
 It would drop upon the floor, be 
 thrown carelessly upon a chair, in- 
 deed, be quite forgotten until the 
 giver was gone. Then she rarely 
 parted with it for a moment, until at 
 night sleep had made both the gift 
 and the visit seem like things of the 
 past. 
 
 This was unusual in such a child. 
 Aunty May wondered over it, and 
 Mrs. Tilton could not forget it, even 
 after leaving the asylum. It did not 
 occur to any of them then that this 
 was one way in which God was keep-
 
 34 KACHEL; OR, 
 
 ing his promise of remembering the 
 fatherless ; but it certainly was. 
 
 Soon after Ernest left for his home 
 on Nelson's Island, Aunty May began 
 to find the care of Rachel, without 
 his controlling influence, too much for 
 her, and she felt that it would be 
 necessary to find a home for her also 
 as soon as possible. Not a day passed 
 now but there was trouble somewhere. 
 One day Rachel pushed a boy down 
 stairs, hurting him quite severely, 
 because he had knocked carelessly 
 against Faith as she was coming 
 slowly and painfully up. At an- 
 other time she struck Janet Dodge 
 in her mouth, causing swollen lips 
 and bleeding teeth. Teddy Jones 
 was hurled against the hot stove for 
 taking Ernest's slate away from 
 Christie. In short, if either Miss
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 35 
 
 Camp or Aunty May heard a sud- 
 den cry of pain or fear, they never 
 doubted that it was caused by Ra- 
 chel. One of the most trying things 
 of all was, that Rachel was seldom 
 made angry by any indignity or in- 
 jury offered to herself; it was al- 
 ways for something done to some one 
 she loved, so it was very difficult to 
 know just how to blame her. But 
 the constant care and anxiety which 
 she occasioned were very severe upon 
 those who had the charge of her; 
 besides, the discipline of the whole 
 Asylum was injured. Children who 
 were hasty, but much better able to 
 control themselves than poor Rachel, 
 made less attempt to do so. They 
 took advantage of the leniency which 
 Aunty May was in a measure obliged 
 to show to her ; and so, before Rachel
 
 36 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 had been in the Asylum three months, 
 it became a different place from what 
 it was when she entered. Lest my 
 readers may not observe the truth 
 which this fact so clearly shows I 
 will stop here and point it out. 
 Don't you see how that fault of 
 yours, for which your parents have 
 reproved you so often, does not affect 
 you alone ? Every one of your fam- 
 ily suffers with you, and not only your 
 own family, but the school of which 
 you are a member, and through the 
 school, the whole neighborhood in 
 which you live. O, child, you are 
 small and young, but you are of 
 great importance, and can do for 
 good or for ill as much as many a 
 grown person. Remember this when 
 you carelessly do not take any pains 
 to correct a fault. You must not
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 37 
 
 only suffer and be punished for it 
 yourself, but you make others suffer 
 also. Does that seem generous or 
 kind-hearted in you ? 
 
 During one of Mrs. Tilton's visits, 
 before Rachel was called in, Aunty 
 May discussed the subject of a new 
 home with her. She felt that in a 
 very eminent degree the influence 
 under which Rachel might fall would 
 form her character, and that there- 
 fore it would be necessary to exercise 
 extreme caution in its selection. The 
 uncommon beauty of the child had 
 already attracted much attention 
 from the visitors of the Asylum, and 
 several had wished to adopt her; but 
 Aunty May had always answered, 
 " that she was not ready to part with 
 the child." Indeed, while she felt 
 that the good of all required that
 
 38 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 she should leave, her future seemed 
 very hopeless; so she could only 
 commend her to her kind Father in 
 heaven, and trust her to him. Aunty 
 May often said that she never prayed 
 so much for any other of the hund- 
 reds of children who had been under 
 her care as she did for Rachel, and 
 she never felt more sure that God 
 had heard and answered. 
 
 Mrs. Tilton also had been feeling 
 for some time that the Asylum was 
 no place for such a child as Rachel. 
 She needed more care, a stronger and 
 more immediate personal discipline 
 than she could find as one among so 
 many ; but what could be done with 
 her ? Mrs. Tilton had numerous 
 persons dependent upon her charity, 
 but there was not one among them 
 all who seemed so peculiarly her
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 39 
 
 charge as Rachel had from the mo- 
 ment she stopped her carriage oppo- 
 site the frightened, screaming child 
 on the sidewalk until the present; 
 and this new home, therefore, she 
 determined to find ; but where ? 
 There was no one among the circle 
 of her friends who would be likely 
 to adopt the child of unknown par- 
 ents, picked up in the street, and 
 carried to an Orphan Asylum, and it 
 would be equally difficult to find any 
 one fitted for the trust. It was 
 weeks before it ever occurred to her 
 that perhaps God was calling her to 
 that task, and even then it did not 
 immediately assume the form of im- 
 perative duty. 
 
 It need hardly now be told the 
 reader that Mrs. Tilton belonged to 
 that large class of wealthy people to
 
 40 RACHEL ; OR, 
 
 whom God has not only given the 
 means, but also the will and the 
 power to do a great deal of good. 
 She had generally found enough to 
 occupy her outside of her own home ; 
 this she had held sacred to its own en- 
 joyments and memories. She was a 
 lady of much cultivation, moving in 
 the midst of a large and influential 
 literary circle, with her time and 
 thoughts so fully occupied that it 
 seemed to those looking on impossi- 
 ble to find room for anything more. 
 But Mrs. Tilton was more than 
 wealthy and benevolent. She was a 
 warm-hearted, sincere, active Chris- 
 tian, feeling that her time, her 
 money, and her health were given 
 to her to use, first of all, in her 
 Master's service. The world knew 
 her for a large-hearted, benevo-
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 41 
 
 lent lady; God knew her for an 
 humble, faithful worker in his vine- 
 yard. 
 
 Some years previous to the period 
 of which we are speaking she had 
 lost, within a few months of each 
 other, her two children ; but she had 
 not for this reason allowed herself to 
 feel that the only duty which re- 
 mained to her in life was to suffer 
 passively. She knew they were safe 
 " in the garden of her Lord," and if 
 she meekly bore her cross, she should 
 one day find them waiting for her 
 there. But their memories were very 
 precious to her, and she had never 
 felt inclined to take others in their 
 stead. The first thought of adopting 
 Rachel was, therefore, one of great 
 pain. She could not hear the dear 
 word "mother" spoken by other
 
 42 RACHEL ; O*R, 
 
 lips than those now so still and cold, 
 and yet she would not wrong one of 
 Jesus's little ones by taking it to a 
 home from which she withheld the 
 heart. But with every sight of Ra- 
 chel, since it was determined that 
 she must leave the Asylum, came the 
 thought, pressing closer and closer 
 upon her conscience, of her own 
 ability and duty to do what there 
 seemed no one else so well qualified 
 to attempt. 
 
 Her husband at first met the prop- 
 osition with a decided refusal. She 
 had already as much care as her 
 health would allow; the child could 
 be sent to some pleasant country 
 home, and, if necessary, he would 
 put aside every year a certain sum 
 for her support ; but he had no fancy 
 for such a new element in his family ;
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 43 
 
 indeed, it was not to be thought of 
 for a moment. 
 
 But Mrs. Tilton knew that this was 
 out of consideration for herself more 
 than from any other motive, as he was 
 very fond of children, and had not 
 struggled back into life from the 
 graves of his own lost ones with half 
 her quiet resignation. And as she 
 every day became more and more 
 convinced that she ought to take 
 Rachel, she at last won from him a 
 reluctant consent to make the trial. 
 He had never seen her, but had al- 
 ways been interested in what Mrs. 
 Tilton had told him of her. It must 
 be acknowledged now, however, that 
 he shrank very much from the under- 
 taking, and would gladly have paid 
 a large sum to any one to relieve 
 them from the seeming duty.
 
 44 EACHEL ; OR, 
 
 The struggle through which Mrs. 
 Tilton had passed had not been made 
 known to any one but her husband. 
 It was, therefore, no wonder that 
 Aunty May thought God had direct- 
 ly answered her prayer when she 
 said to her that she, herself, had 
 resolved to adopt Rachel. 
 
 No one could see the tears that 
 would rush into Aunty May's eyes 
 and roll down her cheeks, and hear 
 how fervently she said, "May the 
 orphan's God bless you, dear lady," 
 without being convinced that this 
 good matron was well adapted to 
 her place, and that she truly loved 
 those who were . intrusted to her 
 care. 
 
 There was not a day to be lost. If 
 Rachel was to come, the sooner the 
 better ; so that very morning she
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 45 
 
 bade good-by to the children and to 
 the matron, and with great, wonder- 
 ing eyes took her seat as the rich la- 
 dy's child in her elegant carriage. 
 
 Faith threw both her puny arms 
 around her neck, and sobbed aloud. 
 How could she part with her ! She 
 had always been good and kind to her ; 
 never angry with her, never forgetful 
 of her. Must everybody whom she 
 loved go away ? Had God no little 
 sick Faith in his world ; only the well, 
 handsome children that he could care 
 for? Was she always, always to be 
 left, and always to have such a dull, 
 aching heart and body ? Faith did 
 not ask herself all these questions as 
 she hung around Rachel's neck ; but 
 she sobbed, and wished it was night 
 and dark, so that she could be alone 
 and still, and then somehow go away
 
 46 RACHEL ; OR, 
 
 out of life, and not be here any more. 
 But that night, when it grew dark 
 and cold, and there was no Rachel to 
 pull the small wadded sack up over 
 her aching shoulders, or make Janet 
 give up the easy chair, which Mrs. 
 Tilton had bought to rest her spine, 
 then she thought all these other 
 things ; and she could not answer 
 them, neither could^ she tell them to 
 Aunty May. She could have told 
 them to her mother, but, alas ! to no 
 one else. 
 
 Christie was half glad and half 
 sorry to have Rachel go. He loved 
 her when she was quiet and pleasant, 
 but he had too many memories of 
 knocks and pinches from her when 
 she was angry to really care for her. 
 He thought several of the other girls 
 were much better, and they made him
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 4 
 
 happier ; so lie said good-by quite in- 
 differently, and climbed up on the 
 window-sill to watch the handsome 
 horses, as he always did when he 
 knew Mrs. Tilton's carriage was at the 
 door. John, the coachman, had learn- 
 ed to know his chubby, pleasant face, 
 and always looked for it ; indeed, here 
 began an acquaintance which ripened 
 into a warm affection in after life. 
 
 Rachel was silent as they drove 
 through the noisy streets; perhaps 
 she remembered her other ride there, 
 and was thinking of the life from 
 which she had then been rescued ; per- 
 haps she was wondering about the 
 new home to which she was going. 
 Mrs. Tilton thought, as she watched 
 her, that she would like to know of 
 what she was thinking, but she did 
 not speak to her until the carriage
 
 48 EACIIEL ; OR, 
 
 stopped before her own door. So 
 far she had not said to Rachel that 
 she intended to take her for her own. 
 She felt that her husband must be 
 the one, in the end, to decide the 
 question, and if he should dislike the 
 child, it would be wrong for her to 
 insist on her remaining, so she had 
 told her she was to go home with 
 her, without entering into particulars, 
 nor is it to be supposed that Rachel 
 attached any special meaning to the 
 plan. 
 
 There was still another important 
 member of Mrs. Tilton's family whom, 
 for many reasons, it was very desira- 
 ble to please in the matter of adopt- 
 ing Rachel. This was an old serv- 
 ant, Nancy Pratt. Nancy had been 
 in the family of Mrs. Tilton's mother 
 for many years before coming into
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 49 
 
 hers, and had been a kind of mother 
 to her all her life. She was a woman 
 of very decided character, and not 
 always easy to please. She was neat 
 to a fault, careful'and painstaking, and 
 very easily put out of humor by any- 
 thing which interfered with order and 
 propriety. She had a cross way of 
 speaking, too, which irritated those 
 who did not know her ; in short, with 
 a great many good and noble traits, 
 Nancy was not one of those persons 
 who would be chosen to live with if 
 it could be helped. She was fond of 
 children and, in her way, indulgent 
 to them ; but it was only when they 
 did not by deed or look cross or an- 
 noy her. If they succeeded in get- 
 ting on her right side and very dis- 
 tinct the sides were they might 
 be comfortable and happy, but if
 
 50 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 they were on the wrong side, there 
 would be no rest for them in her 
 presence. 
 
 Mrs. Til ton had no trouble with 
 her, and she found her extremely use- 
 ful. She had so much good sense 
 and shrewdness, that she could be 
 trusted almost anywhere to do what 
 was to be done, though it was not al- 
 ways accomplished to the satisfaction 
 or happiness of all concerned. 
 
 She had always been interested in 
 Rachel; she had made many of the 
 clothes which Mrs. Tilton had pre- 
 pared for her, and had, perhaps, been 
 consulted more than any one else, be- 
 sides Mr. Tilton, as to receiving her 
 into the family. Much to Mrs. Til- 
 ton's surprise she said that she con- 
 sidered it her " bounden duty ;" and 
 when a thing was a bounden duty,
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 51 
 
 why, the Lord meant that it should 
 take place, and that was just the reason 
 why he had laid it on her. If he saw 
 fit to take their own precious lambs 
 from them, that was not any reason 
 why the good fold should be deso- 
 late. For her part, she would rather 
 hear a child's voice around the house 
 and little pattering feet going up and 
 down, than any of your grand pian- 
 nies, she did not care who played 
 them. And this was the way Nancy 
 Pratt felt in the morning when Ra- 
 chel was brought home. 
 
 She was peeping through the win- 
 dow-blind of the room which used to 
 be the nursery when the carriage 
 stopped. Many tears and heart-aches 
 it cost both Mrs. Tilton and Nancy 
 to open this desolated room again, 
 but, firm in her resolve not to shrink
 
 52 RACHEL ; OB, 
 
 from anything which promised the 
 good of the child, Mrs. Til ton had 
 not hesitated. She knew that one of 
 the first things requisite for the hap- 
 piness of children, is a place peculiar- 
 ly their own, where they can be free 
 to move and act as they please, and 
 in a house as handsomely furnished 
 and nicely kept as her own this was 
 specially desirable. Nancy had taken 
 out some of May's toys; they had 
 been put away so sacredly since the 
 dear child last played with them, 
 that they looked almost new to her 
 now. New, and yet how many old, 
 old thoughts clustered around them. 
 May had been an angel five long 
 years, it almost seemed to Nancy as 
 if she had gone when she, too, was a 
 child, and that somehow when she 
 saw her once more she should be a
 
 THE CITY. WITHOUT WALLS. 53 
 
 child again, and they should play to- 
 gether. John lifted Rachel out in 
 his arms, and put her tenderly down 
 upon the steps. Rachel raised her 
 eyes to look at the house and met 
 those of Nancy looking down upon 
 her. 
 
 " Brown as a chestnut," said Nan- 
 cy aloud to herself ; " no more like 
 our May than nothing, but it's all 
 the better for that. The poor, dear, 
 motherless little thing that she is, and 
 such a beauty too !" 
 
 Rachel had never been within such 
 a house before, but her hand was now 
 in Mrs. Tilton's, and she would have 
 followed her anywhere. Now she 
 goes through the long entry, up, up, 
 the soft, flower-carpeted stairs, see- 
 ing everything and trembling a little, 
 just a little, at so much new beauty ;
 
 54 EACHEL ; OR, 
 
 and then Mrs. Tilton opens the door, 
 and says to Nancy, who had been list- 
 ening as they came, "Nancy, this is 
 our little Rachel."
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 55 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 RACHEL'S CANARIES, AND WHAT THEY 
 BRING. 
 
 RACHEL had never heard of fairy 
 palaces, as I presume most of my 
 readers have ; but if she had, she 
 would certainly have thought she 
 was dropped down into one now. 
 Such a contrast as this nursery was 
 to the bare, though cheerful school- 
 room at the Asylum ! Mrs. Tilton 
 had taken a great deal of pains to 
 make it tasteful and cheerful for her 
 own children, and it was none the 
 less so for the new-found child of to- 
 day. A pretty paper, gay with 
 bright flowers, covered the walls, and 
 other flowers smiled up to her from 
 the carpet under her feet. It seemed
 
 56 EACHEL; OK, 
 
 to the dazzled and bewildered child 
 that it was flowers everywhere, for on 
 the mantle-piece Nancy had arranged 
 pretty vases filled from the conserva- 
 tory, and in the window two pots held 
 large blossoming shrubs. Nancy her- 
 self, so neat and prim, so homely, and 
 yet looking so kindly, came to meet 
 her with outstretched arms, and the 
 first thing Rachel heard her say was : 
 
 "God be thanked for giving this 
 lonely old heart a young child to 
 love again !" 
 
 Rachel did not understand her; 
 she only knew that she kissed her sev- 
 eral times, and that for some reason 
 she put her own arms round Nancy's 
 neck as she never had dared to do 
 around Mrs. Tilton's, and laid her lit- 
 tle round cheek down on the withered, 
 tear-stained one of the old woman,
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 57 
 
 and could not look away from the 
 love that shone out of her eyes, even 
 to the beautiful flowers which were 
 all around her. 
 
 Mrs. Tilton drew a long breath of 
 relief. So far all was well: Nancy 
 had certainly taken a fancy to the 
 child. Now if Rachel, like May, 
 was only one of the gentle ones : but 
 she was not, and Nancy's own temper 
 had not improved from age. Still, 
 as it would do no good to borrow 
 trouble, Mrs. Tilton determined to be 
 satisfied with what was hopeful in to- 
 day, and to leave to-morrow in the 
 hands of Him who careth for us. 
 One would have thought, to see Ra- 
 chel and Nancy together now, that 
 Rachel was a long absent /one re- 
 turned, rather than an orphan child 
 brought to a new home.
 
 58 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 Clothes which were suitable for the 
 change in the circumstances of her 
 life had been prepared for Rachel, 
 and Nancy's first act of care was to 
 dress her neatly in them. If she had 
 thought her pretty before, her admi- 
 ration now was but ill disguised, and 
 it was difficult for even Mrs. Tilton to 
 restrain showing how pleased and 
 surprised she was at the change which 
 the dress wrought. If Mr. Tilton 
 also would be pleased with the ap- 
 pearance and manners of the child, 
 she felt as if the most difficult part of 
 the adoption was passed. 
 
 Rachel was to dine to-day in the 
 nursery with Nancy. Mrs. Tilton 
 was very particular about the table 
 manners of a child, and she very well 
 knew Rachel would need much in- 
 struction.
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 59 
 
 Mr. Tilton's first inquiry on his 
 return was if Rachel had been 
 brought, and when he was told that 
 she was in the nursery, he went di- 
 rectly there to see her. 
 
 Mrs. Tilton heard him ascending 
 the stairs, and knew the anxiety 
 which prompted him. Nancy, too, 
 heard him coming, and all the nice 
 lesson which she had intended to 
 give Rachel in order to prepare her 
 for the meeting were lost; but she 
 said, " There is Mr. Tilton ; now, Ra- 
 chel, you must behave like a little 
 lady;" and like a little lady surely 
 Rachel did behave. She went to 
 him the moment he called her, and 
 though she looked very searchingly 
 in his face, as she had in that of the 
 others, still she answered his questions 
 promptly and so modestly that Mr.
 
 60 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 Tilton was well pleased. He talked 
 with her a few minutes, then stopped 
 at his wife's door as he went down. 
 
 " Well ?" she said, looking up anx- 
 iously. 
 
 " I like the child ; she has mind 
 and beauty. The latter is of no value 
 without the other, but both together 
 are rare." 
 
 "I am very glad that she pleases 
 you." 
 
 " So am I. We will do our best to 
 give the orphan a good home." 
 
 And so Rachel was adopted. 
 
 The change in the child's life for a 
 time acted very favorably, so far as 
 any exhibition of her temper was 
 concerned. Away from all other 
 children, she had now no occasion for 
 being angry; there was nothing to 
 try or annoy her. Mrs. Tilton was
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 61 
 
 decided, but so gentle in what she 
 required that it was pleasant to 
 obey her, and as for Nancy, the only 
 danger so far was from her unlim- 
 ited indulgence of all the child's 
 wishes. 
 
 Feeling desirous that Each el should 
 be well grounded in all the rudiments 
 of learning, Mrs. Tilton spent an hour 
 every morning in her instruction, and 
 Nancy taught her the use of her 
 needle in the very nice, old-time way 
 of sewing. Rachel was quick, and 
 willing to learn, and by the time she 
 had been a month in the house Mrs. 
 Tilton wondered she ever could have 
 hesitated to adopt so good and so un- 
 common a child. 
 
 Mrs. Tilton brought her home a 
 great many presents, and among them 
 were two canaries. One of them was
 
 62 EACHEL; OK, 
 
 called Dick. He had golden wings, 
 with just a tiny white spot on his 
 breast. The other was Nellie. She 
 had some pretty brown feathers on 
 the tips of her wings, and a brown tail. 
 They were in a white and blue cage, 
 and when Nancy hung it in the win- 
 dow, and Dick began to sing, Rachel 
 was a very happy child. She could 
 not learn her spelling, she could not 
 even sew, though Nancy, seeing how 
 full she was of her treasures, thought- 
 fully changed the hour's occupation. 
 Rachel could do nothing but stand up 
 in a chair, close to the cage, and watch 
 the little things while they jumped 
 from their perch to the floor of the 
 cage, picking a seed out from the 
 well-filled glass, eating it so daintily, 
 and then dipping their round heads 
 into the clear water and lifting them
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 63 
 
 up again with such a happy, satisfied 
 look in their brown eyes. 
 
 If Nancy had realized that Rachel 
 had never before seen a canary 
 or any other kind of a bird nearer 
 than upon the limbs of the trees 
 on the common, she would have 
 been even more considerate than she 
 was, and would have taken away all 
 tasks for this morning ; but this 
 never occurred to her. May had 
 owned birds; they had swung from 
 that very nail in the window all 
 her short life, and Nancy thought 
 they were as much a part of a little 
 girl's happiness as her doll. So now, 
 after having spoken kindly several 
 times to Rachel to induce her to go 
 back to her sewing, she said at last 
 sharply, 
 
 "Let them birds alone, Rachel
 
 64 EACHEL ; OR, 
 
 Tilton, and go back to your patch- 
 work." 
 
 Not an inch did Eachel move 
 She never even took her eyes from 
 the cage ; and Nancy, after watching 
 her for a moment, with an ominous 
 frown gathering between her eye- 
 brows, said again, 
 
 " Don't you hear me ? Let them 
 alone ; you wont have a walk with 
 me on the common one step till that 
 whole square is done." 
 
 If Rachel had been stone deaf she 
 could not have shown less attention. 
 Nancy caught her arm quickly, 
 and, without thinking much of dislo- 
 cated shoulders, landed her on the 
 floor. Rachel flew at her, struck, 
 scratched, pinched, and bit her, much 
 more like an enraged animal than 
 like a child. -At first Nancy was too
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 65 
 
 much surprised to make any resist- 
 ance, and it was not until she felt 
 Rachel's teeth in the fleshy part of 
 her thumb that she tried to defend 
 herself, and even then it required all 
 the exercise of her strength to hold 
 and control her. 
 
 Mrs. Til ton heard from her room 
 the screams with which Rachel vent- 
 ed her fury, and Nancy's loud and 
 angry rebukes, and, hastening in, 
 found Rachel struggling in Nancy's 
 firm grasp, with her face purple with 
 anger, and Nancy with an expression 
 of mingled terror and vexation. 
 
 To separate the two was no easy 
 task. Words of command and en- 
 treaty proved at first in vain ; and it 
 was not until Mrs. Tilton had her 
 hand fairly over Rachel's mouth that 
 she could stop either her screams or
 
 66 EACHEL ; OB, 
 
 her attempts to bite. But at last Ra- 
 chel's eyes, so wild and unnatural in 
 their staring expression, began to 
 droop a little, and the rigid muscles 
 to yield. Mrs. Tilton took the tight- 
 clenched hands in hers, and held 
 them gently; and Nancy, with a 
 great effort, yielded the child to her 
 mistress. 
 
 " O, ma'am," she said, catching her 
 breath as she spoke, "if she be'ent a 
 tiger, a real lion, then I never saw 
 nor heard any one who was; why 
 she is a wild-cat. See here how she 
 clawed me;" and Nancy held out 
 her scratched and bleeding hands. 
 
 "What does this all mean, Nan- 
 cy?" 
 
 "Just nothing at all, ma'am. She 
 wanted to look at them birds long 
 past her lesson time, and I thought
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 67 
 
 as they were new it was natural like, 
 and so I told her to take her sewing 
 instead you know she could hear 
 them sing and sew too ; but when I 
 spoke to her she didn't take no more 
 notice of me than just nothing at all, 
 and I spoke again, and she was as 
 deaf as a post ; so I took hold of her 
 and put her down here, and she flew 
 at me." 
 
 Nancy, as she told the story, cast 
 many angry and revengeful looks at 
 Rachel, who stood close by Mrs. Til- 
 ton's side, looking from one to the 
 other, as if she had just waked from 
 a dream, a bad, ugly dream. 
 
 Mrs. Tilton saw the expression, the 
 same that she had seen on the day of 
 the street affray. She remembered 
 then that she had been able to soothe 
 her only by the most tender treatment, 
 
 5
 
 68 KACHEL; OB, 
 
 and that, of course, was the best way 
 now ; so she said to Nancy, " You 
 may go, Nancy, I will talk with you 
 more by and by when she is quieter." 
 
 Nancy looked as if she wanted to 
 question the order, and have the 
 trouble settled then and there ; but a 
 look from Mrs. Tilton told her that 
 there was no use in disputing it, and 
 she very reluctantly moved away. 
 
 Mrs. Tilton sat down in the rock- 
 ing chair, the very one in which she 
 had so often rocked her own children 
 to sleep, and laying Rachel's head 
 upon her breast, without saying one 
 word, she began to rock her. As 
 she did so, God sent into her heart 
 so many sweet, motherly thoughts, 
 so many memories, gentle and ten- 
 der, that the wild throbbing pulses 
 that were beating against hers could
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 69 
 
 not but be stilled. After a few min- 
 utes' silence, she began to sing a soft, 
 low lullaby, one which she had sung 
 so many, many times before ; and as 
 she sung, Rachel's quick breathing 
 became more quiet, her mouth partly 
 opened, and soon her head, which 
 had only staid where Mrs. Tilton had 
 placed it, because she felt that it 
 must, drooped heavily. The storm 
 was past. The child remained quiet 
 so long that Mrs. Tilton thought she 
 must have fallen asleep; and when 
 she looked de>wn into her face, she 
 was surprised to see her wide awake, 
 and with a loving look in her eyes. 
 
 "Dear little Rachel," she said; 
 "you are very sorry that you have 
 done so wrong." 
 
 Rachel nestled closer to her, but 
 did not speak.
 
 70 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 " Do you know whom you have 
 made sorry besides mamma," (Rachel 
 called Mrs. Tilton mamma now,) 
 "and papa, and good, kind Nancy, 
 and little Rachel?" 
 
 " No, mamma," said Rachel in a 
 whisper. 
 
 "You have grieved your dear 
 Saviour." 
 
 Rachel looked up wonderingly. 
 
 "Listen to me, Rachel. You re- 
 member last night I told you about 
 Jesus taking the little children in his 
 arms and blessing them,*and how he 
 was waiting to love and bless you?" 
 
 " And did he come and stay in my 
 room all night after you went away ?" 
 asked Rachel quickly. 
 
 " Yes, when papa and mamma and 
 Nancy were asleep too, and there 
 was no one to take care of you,
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 1 
 
 Jesus was there, and he kept all harm 
 away, and when you were rested he 
 sent the morning light and the bright 
 sun to wake you and make you happy 
 and good all day." 
 
 " When did he go away ?" 
 
 " He has never gone away ; he was 
 here when papa brought home the 
 pretty birds, and he loved to see 
 them and to have you happy with 
 them." 
 
 " Where is he now j" 
 
 a He is here, and he was here when 
 you were so very wicked. He saw it 
 all; he saw how you struck and 
 pinched and bit ; he saw every print 
 which your teeth made in Nancy's 
 hands, and every drop of blood which 
 your nails drew. How do you think 
 he felt?" 
 
 Rachel sat up and looked search-
 
 72 RACHEL ; OR, 
 
 mgly round in the room, then turned 
 her eyes with a doubting expression 
 toward her new mother. 
 
 Mrs. Tilton understood it, and 
 said, "You think, perhaps, because 
 you cannot see him that he is not here. 
 You know I have always told you no 
 one could see God, or Christ, until 
 they die and go to heaven. When I 
 came into your room last night after 
 dark and spoke to you behind the 
 curtains of your bed, and you an- 
 swered me, could you see me ?" 
 
 "No, mamma." 
 
 " And yet you knew I was there 
 and was speaking to you ?" 
 
 " Yes, mamma." 
 
 "It is just so with Jesus. He is 
 here, but you cannot see him any 
 more than you could see me, because 
 he is a spirit, and that shuts him out
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 73 
 
 from your sight just as much as the 
 dark shuts me out. Now, as he loves 
 you better than any one else can, so 
 he feels more grieved and sorry when 
 you do wrong than even I do." 
 
 " I don't believe it," said Rachel. 
 
 "Rachel, that is a very improper 
 way of speaking." 
 
 " But I don't want him to be sor- 
 ry, and to love me better than you 
 do. I love you best." 
 
 Mrs. Tilton saw this was a point it 
 would be in vain to argue with her 
 now, so she said, " I hope I love Je- 
 sus a great deal better than I do any 
 one else, and there is no one I am so 
 sorry to grieve. When I have done 
 wrong the first thing I do is to kneel 
 down and ask him to forgive me ; so 
 now we will kneel down and I will 
 ask him to forgive my child and
 
 74 EACHEL; OK, 
 
 make her better. I am going to tell 
 him just what a naughty, wicked 
 temper she has, and ask him to help 
 her to govern it." 
 
 Without saying any more Mrs. 
 Tilton knelt by the rocking chair, 
 and folding Rachel's hands in hers, 
 prayed for her. It was probably 
 the first time in her life that Rachel 
 really knew what prayer meant, and 
 now she did not know clearly; she 
 had only a vague idea that some one 
 who was there, and she could not see 
 any more than if it was dark, was 
 sorry, and she was to be forgiven. 
 There stole into her heart a new feel- 
 ing of regret, she did not know that 
 it was repentance, for as yet she had 
 not begun to realize how wrong a 
 thing an indulged temper is, though 
 she had often been told of it at the
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 5 
 
 Asylum. A bad temper is different 
 from almost any other bad trait. It 
 comes so suddenly, and is so overmas- 
 tering, that those who have it are often 
 made its victims, it would almost 
 seem, without any choice on their 
 part. If Rachel had known, when 
 she felt herself swinging from the 
 chair to the floor in Nancy's hands, 
 that she was going to be angry, she 
 probably would have tried to control 
 it ; but poor child, as I have said, she 
 knew very little either what temper 
 was or what control meant. While 
 Mrs. Tilton was praying with her, for 
 the first time an indistinct impression 
 of having done wrong, or rather a 
 heavy feeling about her heart, made 
 her wish she could see Jesus, and go 
 up to him and say, as Mrs. Tilton had, 
 " Forgive me, I am very, very sorry,"
 
 Y6 EACHEL; OR, 
 
 She thought of him as she had seen 
 him on the great pictured cards 
 which her papa had brought her 
 from which to learn her Sabbath les- 
 son, sitting under a tree surrounded 
 by a group of children, with his 
 hands on the heads of two. Her 
 mamma had told her he was blessing 
 them, and if he were only here, and 
 would put his hand on her, perhaps 
 he would bless her, and then that 
 would be the same as being forgiven, 
 for the children that were around 
 him looked so happy, as if none of 
 them felt sad and troubled as she did. 
 This was an important step for 
 Rachel. My readers will remember 
 what I said to them in the first chap- 
 ter about the necessity of asking 
 Christ to forgive us and help us, if 
 we wish to conquer a fault, and that
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. TT 
 
 we must be sincere and earnest if we 
 expect him to do so. Rachel had 
 at this time a feeling that there was 
 somebody who must forgive her, and 
 a desire to be forgiven. This was 
 one step in the right way : repent- 
 ance, and a desire to have the sin 
 blotted out. So, when Mrs. Tilton 
 asked her if she would not like to 
 ask Jesus to pardon her, instead of 
 standing, as she had at the Asylum, 
 with only a dim, struggling wish, she 
 fell again on her knees, and said, 
 
 " O, Jesus, if you se'ed me be very 
 angry, and do all those naughty 
 things mamma says I did, wont you 
 make me never do so any more. 
 Amen." 
 
 That was Rachel's first prayer; I 
 mean the first one she ever prayed 
 from her own heart in her own words.
 
 8 RACHEL J OR, 
 
 Mrs. Tilton was reassured by its 
 simple fervor ; and the hope that she 
 had taken the right method in this 
 first exhibition of Rachel's temper 
 since she had adopted her, gave her 
 courage for the future.
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 79 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE EMPTY NAIL. 
 
 WHEN Mrs. Tilton saw how melted 
 and tender Rachel was she felt quite 
 unwilling to inflict any punishment 
 for the temper which she had shown, 
 but she was too wise and good not 
 to believe in Solomon's theory, that 
 sparing the rod spoils the child. She 
 knew that it need not be, literally, 
 the rod, but some kind of suffering, 
 a penalty for a broken law; some- 
 thing which should touch and influ- 
 ence the heart. 
 
 So far, since she had been with 
 her, Rachel had never required this 
 kind of discipline, and Mrs. Tilton 
 knew that the better and more care-
 
 80 EACHEL; OR, 
 
 Fully a child is trained the less neces- 
 sity there is for it ; but she knew too 
 that if such an emergency should 
 come, to shrink from meeting it 
 would be to do Rachel a great injury. 
 
 " Dear Rachel," she said now, 
 " mamma is very sorry, but she must 
 take away your pretty birds until 
 she feels quite sure you are penitent, 
 and will try never to do so again." 
 
 Rachel sprang eagerly toward the 
 cage and held both hands up to it, 
 but did not speak. 
 
 "I shall carry the cage into my 
 room, and Nancy will take good care 
 of Dick and Nellie; but God made 
 the birds for those children only 
 who know how to govern their 
 naughty tempers. As soon as you 
 have learned to do so they may come 
 home again."
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 81 
 
 Mrs. Tilton took the cage down 
 from the nail. Dick flew to the 
 bars, put his cunning head against 
 them, as if he was trying to get out, 
 and began to sing one of his sweetest 
 songs. He had never sang so loud 
 and clear before, and Rachel put 
 both arms around the cage and tried 
 to kiss him as he sang. Very strange- 
 ly, Dick did not seem at all fright- 
 ened. He had taken an extraordi- 
 nary fancy to his little new mistress, 
 and as soon as the song was ended 
 he put his bill through the cage as if 
 to return her caresses. Now if any 
 one but Mrs. Tilton had held the 
 cage, Rachel would have been angry 
 again, for this appeal of birdie to her 
 affection was quite too much. As it 
 was, the color came and went; she 
 drew long, deep breaths, and then,
 
 82 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 by the greatest effort at self-control 
 which she had ever made, threw her- 
 self upon the floor, and covered her 
 face with her hands. 
 
 Mrs. Tilton carried the birds out 
 quickly, and, stopping for a moment 
 to listen at the door, heard no sound. 
 Calling Nancy, she told her what 
 had happened, and directed her, 
 after a few minutes, to go in, and if 
 she found Rachel quiet, to give her 
 the square of patchwork which she 
 had told her to do ; after it was fin- 
 ished, she must take her out for a 
 cheerful walk around the common; 
 but before she went, she hoped, of 
 her own accord, she would tell Nancy 
 that she was sorry for what she had 
 done, and ask her forgiveness. Should 
 she not, Nancy was to bring her to 
 Mrs. Tilton.
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 83 
 
 It was in vain that Nancy, whose 
 good heart always very soon got the 
 better of her impatience, now tried 
 to blame herself more than Rachel, 
 insisting that if she had had any 
 sense, she might have seen as easy as 
 not that little folks who never owned 
 birds before wanted some time to 
 love them in, without being plagued 
 with sewing; that God made birds 
 specially for them, and not squares of 
 bed-quilts ; and and in short, that 
 dear little Rachel was about right, and 
 she, old nurse Nancy, was growing too 
 old, as this showed, to be trusted with 
 the darlings any more. 
 
 It was in vain that Mrs. Tilton 
 pointed to the wounds on her hands. 
 She said they were u no more than 
 pin-scratches, and not worth mind- 
 ing." So Mrs. Tilton was obliged, at
 
 84 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 last, to insist that none of this too- 
 ready forgiveness should be shown 
 to the child, but that she should be 
 made to feel to the fullest extent the 
 wrong she had done. 
 
 When Nancy left Mrs. Tilton's 
 room, it was with a more imploring 
 look toward the cage than even Ra- 
 chel's face had worn ; but it was just 
 as unavailing. Mrs. Tilton only felt 
 that she had two children, an old and 
 a young one, to deal with, and must 
 be just so much the more firm. She 
 knew Nancy would gladly have car- 
 ried it back, covered the child with 
 kisses, given her every pretty thing 
 she could find for her, and so make 
 friends again in the speediest manner 
 possible. Nor was she far from 
 right, as Nancy's behavior the mo- 
 ment she left her showed. Now it
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 85 
 
 must be known that Nancy, like a 
 great many other good old women, 
 had a fancy for marvelous cures, and 
 was all the time concocting some as- 
 tonishing kind of medicine. To do 
 her justice she had been an uncom- 
 monly good nurse, and with her nat- 
 ural shrewdness had learned much of 
 the proper treatment for sickness and 
 suffering. Her sick friends often 
 sent for her instead of a physician, 
 and she no doubly helped the patient 
 to be well quite as soon. Among her 
 discoveries was a wonderful salve, 
 which healed bruises, cured burns, 
 closed cuts, took down inflammations, 
 rubbed away swellings, removed 
 sprains ; indeed, it was equal, in its re- 
 medial effects, to the best quack med- 
 icine ever puffed in a newspaper. A 
 box of this always stood on the table
 
 86 KACHEL; OR, 
 
 by the head of Nancy's bed, and if 
 Mrs. Tilton had seen her, after she 
 left her room, she would have found 
 her rub the salve most energetic- 
 ally into every little mark which 
 Kachel had made, and then slide the 
 box into her pocket, to have it handy 
 for use any moment when she should 
 be alone. A stranger would have 
 thought Nancy the guilty one to 
 see the troubled look on her face as 
 she went toward the nursery; and 
 really the timid way in which she 
 turned the latch was very like that of 
 a naughty child, who does not know 
 what kind of a reception is waiting 
 within. 
 
 Kachel had got up from the floor 
 very soon after her mother had left 
 her, and had gone to the chair by the 
 window in which she had stood to
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 8 
 
 look at her birds. When Nancy 
 came in she found her there gazing at 
 the empty nail with such a sad, 
 troubled face, that in spite of her de- 
 termination to be very grave, and do 
 just as she knew Mrs. Til ton would 
 wish, Nancy could hardly refrain 
 from catching the child in her arms 
 and crying with and for her. As 
 it was, she tried to look straight 
 forward, as if she did not see her, and 
 walked up to the basket of patchwork, 
 with a fervent wish in her heart that 
 it was anywhere else, and made for 
 anything but Rachel's fingers. 
 
 " My dear," she said, and there was 
 a gentle tremor in her voice which 
 Rachel's ear immediately caught; 
 u My dear, it's a beautiful morning, 
 and mamma says when you have done 
 this pretty square you and I may go
 
 88 RACHEL ; OR, 
 
 and have a nice, pleasant walk on the 
 common. Come, darling, we will 
 have the red one you like so well, 
 and Nancy will thread your needle 
 and begin it for you all nice." 
 
 Rachel jumped down from the 
 chair and came to Nancy's side with- 
 out any reply. The nurse ventured 
 a look at her. What a sad face it 
 was ! so unlike her Rachel's. " Now 
 for the new thimble, the real silver 
 thimble, just like Nancy's, that mam- 
 ma bought for you, and then the lit- 
 tle finger ; no, not the thumb, mamma 
 don't wear a thinible on her thumb ; 
 old Susan Price, whose fingers are all 
 stiff with rheumatism, does, but Ra- 
 chel has eight fingers all made for 
 thimbles." 
 
 Rachel spread the whole eight 
 fingers before her. " Yes, I told you
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 89 
 
 so, dear little bits of fingers they 
 are too. Nancy loves every one of 
 them," and she put them to her mouth 
 and gave them a kiss. "There, 
 that will do. Now, here is the thim- 
 ble finger; we will put the thimble 
 on and then give it two more kisses 
 to make it nimble, and sew little 
 stitches." 
 
 Rachel held her hands still through 
 all this, looking very steadily in Nan- 
 cy's face. 
 
 The reader need hardly be told 
 that the square selected was the pret- 
 tiest in the basket, and that, when 
 Nancy had threaded the needle and 
 began it, she made it necessary to 
 sew a long place before she handed it 
 to Rachel, and then, when seated in 
 her little chair at her feet the child 
 had fairly commenced the task, she
 
 90 RACHEL ; OR, 
 
 sat watching the progress of every 
 stitch with a nervous impatience 
 which it was very well for Rachel 
 not to see. After every few 
 stitches Rachel raised her eyes to- 
 ward the empty nail, and Nancy saw 
 her lip quiver as she did so. 
 
 " O dear me !" she said to herself, 
 "she'll burst out crying, and that 
 will be the last of me ; for certain as 
 I live I shall catch her up and com- 
 fort her in spite of myself. I don't 
 see how I can help it." 
 
 But she was mistaken ; Rachel did 
 not cry ; she sat still and sewed, with 
 her face growing every moment 
 longer and sadder, so that, when she 
 made a knot in her thread and broke 
 it, Nancy was very grateful for the 
 excuse for taking the work into her 
 own hands and nearly completing
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 91 
 
 what she had so kindly begun. Ra- 
 chel's face did not brighten now as it 
 generally did for any such help; it 
 may be questioned whether she even 
 felt as grateful for it as she should. 
 There seemed to be but one thing of 
 any interest to her, that was the 
 empty nail from which the bird cage 
 had swung. 
 
 Of course, the sewing was finished 
 in a much shorter time than usual, 
 and Nancy, delighted to have it over, 
 hurried to dress Rachel and herself 
 for their walk. 
 
 Rachel was generally a very pleas- 
 ant companion; she saw and heard 
 everything out of doors so quickly. 
 It was, as Nancy often said to Mrs. 
 Tilton, as good as a story in a child's 
 story book to be with her ; but to-day 
 she did not seem to care for anything.
 
 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 She went to her mother's room 
 to say " good-by " before she went t 
 and came back with teal's in her eyes. 
 Dick had seen her, and sung to her. 
 Nancy wiped the tears away, and as 
 she did so (O joy of joys !) Rachel 
 took her wounded hand, covered with 
 salve as it was, in her own, and kiss- 
 ing it, whispered, 
 
 " I am so sorry, O so very, very, 
 very sorry ; poor, dear hand, I wont 
 ever do so again ; never, never, never, 
 never." 
 
 "Why, you blessed darling," said 
 old Nancy, bending down to kiss her 
 and dropping some big tears on the 
 hands, " you didn't hurt me half so 
 bad as it looks. There, now, we 
 never'll do so any more, and then God 
 will forgive us, and Nancy, she don't 
 care nothing at all about it, only she
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 93 
 
 wants her darling to be a dear little 
 lady that Jesus can love. He don't 
 love any of your wicked, angry chil 
 dren. Didn't you know, when you are 
 angry, you are a city without walls ?" 
 
 " What ?" asked Rachel, whose ear 
 was always caught by anything new 
 and strange. 
 
 " A city without walls ; haven't 
 you ever heard of it ?" Rachel shook 
 her head, and when her hat was tied 
 on, and they were going down the 
 stairs hand in hand, asked again, 
 
 " What is a city without walls ?" 
 
 Now Nancy was a good Bible 
 scholar, and knew more of the holy 
 book by heart than very many who are 
 younger and more intelligent. She 
 almost always had a verse ready to 
 quote on any important occasion, and 
 could generally explain its meaning
 
 94 EACHEL; OK, 
 
 in her homely, quaint way; but for a 
 moment, to-day, she was puzzled, so 
 she said, 
 
 " Wait until we have had our 
 walk, and then I will tell you a little 
 story about it. This is the whole 
 verse, I will show it to you in my 
 big Bible when we come home : 
 4 He that hath no rule over his own 
 spirit is like a city that is broken 
 down and without walls.' " 
 
 Rachel had already heard many 
 stories from that big Bible, and the 
 happiest hours of her day were when 
 Nancy had it in her lap, and was 
 talking to her ; so she said, " When 
 we come home to-night, then we will 
 sit down and have a long story all 
 nice and good, wont we ?" 
 
 " Yes, lamb, yes ; so we will ; and 
 now when we go out you can look all
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 95 
 
 around and see what a real city is, so 
 you will know the better." Nancy 
 was glad, if the truth must be told, 
 to have this time in which to think 
 up the story. Rachel asked so many 
 questions that it was difficult at any 
 time to answer her, and about this 
 city without walls, she did not feel 
 so sure herself. How could this lit- 
 tle girl, who had no idea of cities, or 
 walls, or robbers, or enemies, or any 
 such things, be made to understand. 
 Well, the walk was to come now, and 
 the story by and by, so they went out. 
 It was a clear, bright December 
 day, such a day as hardly ever comes 
 to any city but Boston, where the 
 air is sharp, as if it was full of lit- 
 tle icicles, and your hands and feet, 
 that you think you have hidden away 
 so nicely under warm coverings, are
 
 96 KACHEL; OB, 
 
 found out and pinched and numbed, 
 until you really begin to wonder 
 whether you have not forgotten 
 them, and left them at home. 
 
 Nancy's old blood did not move 
 with quite so warmth-giving a flow 
 as Rachel's, and before the walk was 
 half over she was beginning to plan 
 where she could stop to get warm, 
 and find something that would be 
 pretty and pleasing for Rachel. They 
 had generally dropped into the bird 
 fanciers in Court-street, but that 
 would not do to-day. Never had the 
 windows of the confectioners', shops 
 looked so tempting before ; but 
 Mrs. Tilton, knowing how apt Nancy 
 would be to make frequent visits to 
 them if she found it pleasing to Ra- 
 chel, had expressly forbidden it. The 
 pictures in the windows were mostly
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 97 
 
 of a kind not interesting to children, 
 and there was no such thing as look- 
 ing over children's books simply to 
 gratify a child. While Nancy, with 
 her ears and nose, her fingers and 
 feet tingling with the frost, was in 
 much trouble, wondering what she 
 should do, the question was answered 
 by a beautiful little white kitten's 
 jumping into the window of a grocery 
 which they were passing, and Rachel's 
 noisy delight as she saw it. 
 
 To open the door and inquire if 
 she could buy it was Nancy's first 
 movement. 
 
 "Yes," the man replied. " It troub- 
 les me ; it is so tame it is not afraid 
 of any one, and is always under the 
 customers' feet." 
 
 While they were talking, Rachel 
 had caught the kitten, and sitting on
 
 98 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 a box was hugging and kissing it, as 
 only little girls can, and looking so 
 radiantly happy, that, without a sec- 
 ond thought, Nancy paid the man 
 what he asked for it, and told Rachel 
 it was hers, and she might carry it 
 home. 
 
 Even the shopkeeper and the 
 clerks stopped to watch her as she 
 danced around the store, fairly be- 
 side herself with delight ; and kitty, 
 quite as happy to be loved as she 
 to love, purred and nestled down 
 close to her, and put her little vel- 
 vet paw all over Each el's cheeks 
 without so much as showing that 
 she owned a claw, and turned her 
 white ears up and down, until she was 
 sure she had shown off their pretty 
 pink lining. Then she rubbed her 
 whiskers on Rachel's tiny muff to see
 
 Rachel and her Kitten.
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 101 
 
 if it was not a mouse, and having sat- 
 isfied herself with regard to all these 
 points, shut her green eyes and went 
 to sleep. 
 
 Not a thought besides the child's 
 enjoyment came into Nancy's mind, 
 until she saw that Miss Kitty was 
 likely to have a profound nap, and she 
 herself was thoroughly warmed ; then 
 for the first time she remembered 
 Mrs. Tilton, and what she would think 
 of her purchase. It must be ac- 
 knowledged that with the thought 
 many doubts occurred to Nancy, and 
 that the question of taking the kitten 
 home began to look not quite pleas- 
 ant. She could carry it through the 
 streets under her cloak well enough, 
 if Rachel would let her take it. That 
 was not the point ; but was not this 
 
 rewarding when Mrs. Tilton had pun- 
 7
 
 102 KACHEL ; OR, 
 
 ished ? If she had a new pet, what 
 was the use of the empty nail ? 
 
 Ah, Nancy, good, kind old Nancy, 
 you are not the only one whose wise 
 judgment with children comes too 
 late. Rachel would not suffer the 
 kitten to leave her arms ; she prom- 
 ised to hold her tightly, to cover her 
 up warm, to protect her from any 
 dog or boy they might meet. Nan- 
 cy saw by the quick flash of her eye 
 that it would not do then and there 
 to press the matter, so leaving the 
 rest of her walk unfinished, very re- 
 luctantly it must be confessed, she 
 turned her face toward home. All 
 the way she heard Rachel kissing the 
 kitten, and the little thing at one time 
 gave a most emphatic cry, as if the 
 love had been a little too ardent for 
 its comfort. " Now what will come ?"
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 103 
 
 said Nancy to herself as they reached 
 home at last. " Mrs. Tilton never 
 makes half-way work with anything, 
 and I am almost certain she wont 
 thank me for this; perhaps I had 
 better go right up first and settle it 
 with her before Rachel has a chance 
 to show it to her. 17 This wise resolu- 
 tion she was prevented from carrying 
 out by Rachel's pushing her away, 
 and running up much faster than she 
 could to her mother's door. Pushing 
 it open, she rushed in with, 
 
 " O mamma ! see, see what a dear, 
 darling beauty she is !" 
 
 "What a cunning little thing!" 
 said Mrs. Tilton, looking up from the 
 book she was reading. " Whose is 
 it?" 
 
 " My ounty tonty. Nancy said the 
 man must give it to me, and he did."
 
 104 EACHEL; OR, 
 
 Nancy by this time had come in at 
 the door, and as Mrs. Tilton looked at 
 her she saw in a moment that she 
 was conscious of all the mischief she 
 had done, so she only said, 
 
 " Nancy is very kind and good to 
 you, Rachel ; do you remember how 
 you hurt her this morning ?" 
 
 Rachel's face changed instantly, 
 and, dropping the kitten, she ran to 
 Nancy, caught her hand, and looking 
 at it carefully, said, 
 
 " Must the kitty stay here too with 
 the birdies? I will not cry. I will 
 not be angry. I will try to be good." 
 
 " O, Mrs. Tilton, ma'am, if you had 
 only seen and heard her," broke in 
 Nancy; "before we went out you 
 would have felt that she was repent- 
 ant and never would do so again. It 
 almost broke her heart to see how
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 105 
 
 she had hurt her poor, dear old 
 Nancy; and as for the kitten, why it 
 will always be a teaching her, a kind 
 of saying to her, i now be gentle like, 
 and don't you get angry.' You may 
 see by its very face, ma'am, that it's 
 all ready to say so to her." And 
 Nancy followed what she had said 
 with a series of expressive gestures 
 made behind Rachel's back. 
 
 Mrs. Tilton shook her head at her ; 
 indeed, she was far from pleased, and 
 would gladly have sent the kitten 
 away, could she have done so without 
 further trouble. As it was she 
 said, 
 
 " Rachel, you may have her, and 
 take her to the nursery just so long 
 as you are well behaved; but the 
 first time you are angry I shall take 
 her away and shall not give her back
 
 106 EACHEL ; OR, 
 
 to you again, as I promised I would 
 the birdies." 
 
 " When I am a city without walls 
 will you take her?" asked Rachel. 
 " Nancy says I was to-day, and to- 
 night she is going to tell me what it 
 means." 
 
 "Yes," said her mother, smiling, 
 " when your walls are broken down, 
 and whole armies of naughty, wicked 
 feelings come rushing in, then kitty 
 will be afraid to stay with such a 
 child, she will want to run away 
 somewhere else. No little pet loves 
 a child that is not gentle, kind, and 
 tender with it. Look in kitty's face ; 
 do you suppose she would shut her 
 eyes and go to sleep so quietly if she 
 thought you would be likely to strike 
 or pinch her the next moment ?" 
 
 Rachel held her kitten up and
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 10 7 
 
 kissed her, and as she did so, she 
 looked so mild and loving that it was 
 almost impossible to believe that she 
 could be angry again. 
 
 "You may be right," said Mrs. 
 Tilton to Nancy, " kitty may teach 
 her what you and I cannot. Let us 
 now hope for the best. She may 
 play until time for her afternoon les- 
 sons, and then, Rachel, you must not 
 object to kitty's being carried away 
 until they are learned." 
 
 Dick sang very loud from his 
 perch, and Nellie hopped down at 
 this moment to dip its little bill into 
 the water. Rachel forgot her new 
 pet while she stood looking at them. 
 O if she could only take them too, 
 there would not be a happier child, 
 she felt sure, in all the wide world. 
 Nancy waited patiently for her until
 
 108 KACHEL; OB, 
 
 the song was ended, then they went 
 to the nursery, where the first thing 
 Rachel's eyes sought was the empty 
 nail. She saw it for a moment only, 
 then the tears shut it out ; nor could 
 the sight of kitty, now busily explor- 
 ing the room, divert her from it. 
 That empty nail, how much it said 
 to Rachel ! She sat down before it, 
 and fancied she saw the cage swing- 
 ing from it; fancied she saw Dick 
 and Nellie ; and then she listened 
 for the song ; but she heard only 
 her conscience saying, 
 
 "Little girl, be careful, be very 
 careful to govern that bad temper of 
 yours. Ask God to help you. 71
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 109 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 
 
 IT was difficult for Nancy to re- 
 strain her admiration of the manner 
 in which Rachel performed her after- 
 noon tasks. Kitty was carried away 
 without a word of objection, the long 
 spelling lesson faultlessly learned, the 
 wounded hands kissed so many times 
 that no more salve was needed for 
 their healing; and when the hour 
 came, after tea, in which Rachel was 
 accustomed to get the great Bible 
 and read her evening portion over to 
 Nancy, reciting her verse, and hav- 
 ing, as a reward, a long story, it may 
 be questioned which was the hap- 
 pier, the little girl or the old nurse.
 
 110 EACHEL; OR, 
 
 Rachel would always draw Nancy's 
 chair up before the bright grate, put 
 her own close beside it, and then lay 
 her head on the spotless white apron, 
 which Nancy kept for " tending chil- 
 dren in," and then the story was 
 begun. To-night Rachel was not 
 slow to claim the promise of the 
 story about the city without walls ; 
 and as Nancy had profited by the 
 hint conveyed in Mrs. Til ton's re- 
 mark to Rachel, she was now all 
 ready to begin, after reading with 
 her the twenty-fifth chapter of Prov- 
 erbs, which contained the verse. 
 
 "There was once a great, good 
 King, who lived in a beautiful coun- 
 try far off from here. You don't 
 know how beautiful the country was. 
 Its rivers were waters of life, its seas 
 were of glass, and its stones were
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. Ill 
 
 precious stones ; its houses were built 
 of pure gold; its gates were pearls, 
 and its gardens were full of flowers 
 that never die/' 
 
 "I should like to see those," said 
 Rachel. 
 
 " Yes, darling, you don't know how 
 pretty they are, and how happy all 
 the children are who live there." 
 
 " Do they have birds and kitties ?" 
 
 " They have everything they want 
 to make them happy. Well, this 
 great King has only those children 
 live there with him who are good, 
 and who have been tried. It is trial 
 that helps people become good. Did 
 you know it, Rachel ?" 
 
 Now Rachel had a half-idea that a 
 trial was something that everybody 
 disliked, but must have, so she said 
 "Yes," and Nancy went on. "But
 
 112 EACHEL; OR, 
 
 as there is nothing in His country to 
 try them, He causes a child to 
 live first in another land, where she 
 will meet with a great many strange 
 and hard things. He lets her live 
 there, sometimes long years, until 
 she becomes old, and then, if all 
 these trials that she has met have 
 not conquered her, but she has con- 
 quered them, He takes her to His . 
 land and makes her a child again, 
 and lets her stay there forever. 
 When He places her in this strange 
 land He builds a wall up around her 
 soul, which is the part that lives 
 with Him. It is just as if this soul 
 was a city, because there are so 
 many different things living in it. 
 There is what makes her smile 
 and what makes her cry, what 
 makes her love and what makes her
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 113 
 
 hate, what makes her happy and 
 what makes her sorry, what makes 
 her remember and what makes her 
 forget, what makes her like pretty 
 things and dislike ugly ones, what 
 makes her want to do right and be 
 afraid to do what is wrong, and what 
 makes her very sad and troubled 
 when she has done wrong ; there is, 
 too, the feeling that makes her want 
 to pray and to read her Bible, and 
 to like to hear about God and her 
 Saviour. Now suppose every one of 
 these things, and a great many more 
 which I can't stop to tell you of now, 
 were houses, don't you see what a 
 little city full there would be ?" 
 
 " A whole lot," said Rachel, "but 
 what funny houses they are. Are 
 they of gold too ?" 
 
 "O no; it is only the houses 'in
 
 114 RACHEL ; OR, 
 
 that beautiful land where the King 
 lives that are of gold." 
 
 " Is the child the soul ?" 
 
 " Yes, they are the very same, only 
 the child we see has a body that God 
 has given to clothe the soul.'' 
 
 Rachel looked very much puzzled, 
 but Nancy knew she could not make 
 this clear, so she went on without 
 observing it. " Well, around all 
 these houses God builds a wall when 
 he makes the child. It is a strange 
 wall ; outside it is very thin, and ev- 
 erything that comes against it could 
 break it down easily if God hadn't 
 put inside of it some curious kinds of 
 gates, so that when the soul sees any- 
 thing that will break the walls com- 
 ing, if it is on the watch, all it has to 
 do is to shut down the gates and 
 everything within the city is safe;
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 115 
 
 nothing can then break the walls in, 
 or tumble them down, or even get 
 one single stone out from them. 
 What is more curious still, no matter 
 how little or how weak any little 
 child is, it has the strength to shut 
 these gates, even if it can't do any- 
 thing else. Sometimes the king 
 makes them so that if the child just 
 wishes them shut they will close 
 tight ; and sometimes, when he thinks 
 the child will be the better for it, he 
 makes it very hard to close them, so 
 that the owner has to tug and pull 
 with all his might. Even then it oc- 
 casionally happens that if he does his 
 very best he can't move the gates, 
 and the enemies from the outside 
 break down the walls, and even the 
 houses. Then he has to cry for help 
 to the great King, who is always list-
 
 116 KACHEL; OR, 
 
 ening and ready, and comes right to 
 the rescue, and with his own great 
 hand closes the gates. 
 
 " This child that I was telling you 
 about when I began iny story came 
 away from the beautiful home with 
 its walls all strong and whole, and 
 most of its houses filled with good 
 people; but, and here is another 
 strange thing, when the king makes 
 this city he lets people who are not 
 good get into some of the houses, evil 
 ones, who are ready to help those who 
 come from without, and destroy the 
 child, so that it cannot go to the 
 king's country." 
 
 "What does he do that for?" 
 asked Rachel eagerly. 
 
 " Because he wants the child thor- 
 oughly tried, and it would be only 
 half as hard to keep the enemies out
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 11 
 
 from the outside if there were none 
 within to help it. This child of 
 whom I tell you we will call Zaidee." 
 
 "What a funny name!" said Ka- 
 chel, much amused, and Nancy her- 
 self could not help laughing ; but she 
 had read it somewhere that day, and 
 it was the first one she thought of. 
 
 " Zaidee's city had two bad enemies 
 in it. but it was a long time before 
 she found out anything about them. 
 One enemy, who dwelt in a beautiful 
 house, with everything as pretty and 
 nice as could be, was Mr. Selfishness. 
 Now Zaidee thought him a very 
 pleasant gentleman, he had such 
 winning ways, and he always had 
 around him everything that anybody 
 could want. Zaidee saw that he al- 
 ways had the best apples and pears 
 and peaches and grapes, the prettiest
 
 118 RACHEL ; OR, 
 
 flowers, the prettiest pictures, and so 
 many story books; but it took a 
 great while to find out that what he 
 had he kept, and that he also took 
 away whatever he could lay his hands 
 on that belonged to any one else. 
 This was the way he kept constantly 
 breaking down her walls. Zaidee 
 had been placed in the care of a very 
 good lady in the trial-land, and this 
 lady had three other little children, 
 all given to her by the same being. 
 Now I will tell you just one instance 
 of how Mr. Selfishness frequently 
 served her : 
 
 "The lady had a fine garden, as 
 good a one as often was seen in the 
 trial-land, and she told the children 
 she would give them each a little patch 
 in it for a flower-garden, and who- 
 ever should bring her the first and
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 119 
 
 handsomest bunch of flowers from his 
 own bed should have an elegant large 
 picture book, which they all wanted. 
 Well, most of the time the children 
 were very happy together, and they 
 laid out their grounds, and hoed and 
 raked and planted their seeds, and 
 enjoyed themselves. By and by the 
 seeds came up, and then they weeded 
 among them, and watered and watched 
 them with a great deal of interest. 
 Mr. Selfishness was very well satis- 
 fied, for Zaidee's garden looked just 
 as well or a little better than any of 
 the others for a long time ; but Zai- 
 dee was indolent. After the new- 
 ness of the thing had worn off, she 
 began to be lazy about picking out 
 every little weed, and if the sun had 
 been hot, and they needed more than 
 the pailful of water she had brought,
 
 120 EACHEL ; OR, 
 
 she would throw herself down 
 under the shadow of some tree and 
 say to the others who were busy 
 bringing their second pailful, 'How 
 foolish you are ! I dare say there 
 will be a heavy dew to-night, and 
 they will be as wet as sop. Come, 
 sit down here with me, and hear that 
 gold robin sing ; there he is, on the 
 pear-tree.' I rather think Mrs. In- 
 dolence, a fat widow, had oue of 
 the houses in Zaidee's city, don't 
 you ?" 
 
 "Yes," said Rachel; "I would not 
 let her stay ; would you ?" 
 
 " No ; I should turn her out. She 
 is almost as bad a tenant as Mr. Self- 
 ishness; and I can tell you, darling, 
 you have no idea how often they live 
 side by side. When you have had a 
 flower-garden you will know that
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 121 
 
 nothing very nice ever grows with- 
 out care." 
 
 "When shall I have one?" 
 
 "One of these days when we go 
 to our home on Nelson's Island, and 
 then you will see why the other's 
 flowers grew taller and had larger 
 buds on than any which Zaidee 
 owned. Now Mr. Selfishness peeped 
 out of his windows every day, and 
 he began to grow more and more 
 uneasy to see how fast the other 
 flowers were outgrowing Zaidee's. 
 
 " ' This will never do,' he said ; 
 * we shall lose that book. We must 
 contrive some way to make ours bet- 
 ter, or theirs not so good,' and so he 
 went to planning. 
 
 " He was the enemy within the 
 city. Now the temptations were all 
 to come from outside the walls.
 
 KACHEL; OK, 
 
 There was the book, that was one; 
 there was the flower-gardens all ex- 
 posed, so Zaidee could injure them 
 at any time she wished ; there too 
 was the love the other children had 
 for Zaidee, never letting them sus- 
 pect that she would or could do 
 what would make them unhappy. 
 These were the trials for her, or, as 
 they proved, the enemies waiting to 
 storm the gates ; in other words, the 
 opportunities given her for choosing 
 what would make her fit to go and 
 be happy with her King in the beau- 
 tiful country, or what would shut her 
 away from Him forever. 
 
 "So many plans as Mr. Selfishness 
 made. But what do you think was 
 the one which Zaidee chose? I am 
 almost afraid to tell you, for fear you 
 will think her such a naughty little
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 123 
 
 child you wont want to hear any 
 more about her. 1 ' 
 
 " No, I shall not," said Rachel en- 
 couragingly. 
 
 "She got up early one morning, 
 very early, before the others were 
 awake, and went out into the garden 
 and picked off all the buds that were 
 larger than hers. There was a great 
 handful, so she did not at first 
 know what to do with them ; and at 
 last, very much frightened for fear 
 they would be found, and she pun- 
 ished, what do you think she did ?" 
 
 " I don't know," said Rachel. 
 
 " No more you don't, but I can tell 
 you. She went away off to another 
 part of the garden, dug a hole in the 
 ground, and buried them all there. 
 When the other children came out 
 to see how far their buds had opened
 
 124 EACHEL; OR, 
 
 in the night, they found only the 
 broken stems; nothing was left but 
 the smallest and meanest flowers. 
 Zaidee came with them, and tried to 
 look innocent, and as if she felt very 
 sorry ; but she had to turn away and 
 hide her face, it was so covered with 
 blushes; she did not dare to have 
 them look at her, for fear they would 
 suspect her. 
 
 " Crying very hard, they all ran in 
 to the kind lady under whose care 
 they were, and she went with them 
 to examine the garden. She noticed 
 at once that none of Zaidee's flowers 
 were touched, and although she had 
 never known her to do such a thing 
 before, she could not but think it very 
 strange. So she called her, and 
 asked her what it meant; and one 
 wrong thing always leads to another.
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 125 
 
 Zaidee said what was not true. She 
 said she had not been near them, 
 and did not know anything about 
 them. 
 
 " ' O, Zaidee, Zaidee, what a naugh- 
 ty little girl you are growing to be ; 
 how far you are wandering away 
 from your beautiful home !' 
 
 "The kind lady looked at her 
 very sorrowfully; she hardly knew 
 what to say ; and all the time Zaidee 
 stood vexed and troubled, almost 
 wishing she had let the flowers 
 alone, but not quite, for she wanted 
 the handsome book, which, she felt 
 sure, must now he hers. Ponto, a 
 great dog, with whom the children 
 loved to play, came running into the 
 garden, and, as if he knew there had 
 something wrong been done, and 
 they were unhappy, sniffed with his
 
 126 EACHEL OR, 
 
 cold, yellow nose all around them ; 
 and perhaps he found out Zaidee was 
 not good, for he pushed himself hard 
 against her, as if he did not wish her 
 to come too, then darted off before 
 the others, calling them, as plain as a 
 dog can speak, to come and have a 
 play with him. They did not wait 
 for a second invitation, but scamper- 
 ed with him, and away he dashed, 
 down to the very part of the garden 
 where Zaidee had hid the buds. 
 Pretty soon he came upon her foot- 
 steps, and beginning to scent them, 
 as dogs will, he followed them till he 
 came to the little mound of fresh 
 earth which she had piled up over 
 the buds. This he soon turned over 
 with his nose and paws; and there, 
 not more than an hour after Zaidee 
 thought they were gone forever, they
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 127 
 
 were all found, and the children 
 came back, bringing them in their 
 hands. 
 
 "Zaidee was so frightened that 
 she could not deny she had picked 
 them when the lady asked her. 
 But instead of being sorry, she 
 flew into a great rage, and struck 
 the children, then ran into their 
 gardens and began tearing up ev- 
 erything she could lay her hands 
 on. 
 
 " When the lady could stop her 
 she took her into the house, and shut 
 her up in a dark closet ; and while 
 she was there, with nothing to do 
 and nobody to speak to, she began to 
 think about her city, and in what con- 
 dition its walls were. O dear, what a 
 place it was ! It seemed to her as she 
 sat there, all alone in the dark, and
 
 128 KACHEL ; OR, 
 
 thought it over, that there was not a 
 single stone left one upon another, 
 but that the houses were all open 
 and exposed to whoever wanted to 
 come in. She found it very noisy 
 and busy there, and as she listened 
 she found how many wicked visitors 
 had stolen in through the gaps in the 
 wall, and the noise she heard was 
 their trying to take possession of 
 some of the good people's houses. 
 There was Miss Falsehood what a 
 dreadful looking creature she was 
 it made Zaidee frightened to look at 
 her. She strode in as soon as Zaidee 
 said she did not know who picked 
 the flowers, and was trying, with her 
 great bony hands, to pull Truth out of 
 her white marble house. But Truth 
 was asking the great King to let her 
 stay, and not give this wicked woman
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 129 
 
 room while there was any hope of 
 Zaidee's wishing to repair the walls 
 again and keep her out. There was 
 Cunning, a very ugly boy, who picked 
 his way pretty quickly through a 
 crack in the walls, while Zaidee was 
 stealing softly out of her bed in the 
 morning, and looking all around, to 
 be sure no one should see what she 
 was going to do. He wanted to live 
 in the house into which the great 
 King had put Honesty ; but the doors 
 were tight locked yet, though the wall 
 opposite the house was down. But 
 Temper ! Temper !" said Nancy, look- 
 ing very significantly into Rachel's 
 face as she said so, " Temper was the 
 ugliest and the worst of all the wick- 
 ed people that came in." 
 
 "How did he look?" asked Ra- 
 chel.
 
 130 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 " Look !" and Nancy was tempted 
 to describe the way in which Rachel 
 had looked and acted that morning, 
 but she wisely forbore. " He looked 
 monstrous ugly ! His face was all 
 covered with black and blue spots ; 
 he had one eye knocked in, his lips 
 were as big as two great beets, and 
 as for his nose, why, he had had it 
 knocked so many times fighting, it 
 seemed as if he hadn't any at all. I 
 never saw such a sight in my life. 
 Everybody got out of the way when 
 he was coming ; nobody ever likes to 
 meet him for fear of being hurt." 
 
 " Did he have marks on his hands ?" 
 asked Rachel meekly. 
 
 " I rather think he did," answered 
 Nancy with a smile ; " there are always 
 marks all over him, and it isn't likely 
 his hands would escape. He went
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 131 
 
 right to Sweet Temper's house, and 
 he thundered away at the door as if 
 he would knock it down ; but the 
 great king was there before him, and 
 he dropped another bar over it; so 
 thump and bang, loud as he might, 
 he would never get in while the King 
 staid there, and he would stay until 
 Zaidee wore his patience out by hav- 
 ing her walls tumble down too often. 
 As for Mr. Selfishness, he began to 
 be a little alarmed at what he had 
 done ; he only wanted the book ; he 
 did pot want all these ugly people in 
 the city, with the broken walls, and 
 the angry King. No, indeed, these 
 consequences had never entered into 
 his thoughts. 
 
 "And that is always the way, Ra- 
 chel. The wicked part of us that does 
 wrong, in the end suffers more than
 
 132 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 the good part which it tries to injure, 
 unless, indeed, we become all wicked, 
 then all is lost together." 
 
 " Did the good King make new 
 walls ?" 
 
 "No; when the walls which he 
 has built are broken down he leaves 
 the city as it is, until by prayer and 
 repentance, and trust in his Son, the 
 child begins to lay one stone after an- 
 other; then, when he finds she is in 
 earnest, and really wishes to be safe 
 within the gates, he helps her, but he 
 only works just so far, and just so 
 fast, as she is able and willing to work 
 with him. You don't know, Rachel, 
 how long it takes, and what hard 
 work it is to build up again.". 
 
 Rachel sat looking into the fire, evi- 
 idently thinking intently over what 
 she had heard. At last she asked :
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 133 
 
 " Where is Zaidee now ? Has she 
 gone home?" 
 
 " Zaidee ? O, Zaidee," said Nancy, 
 puzzled ; " why, Zaidee, she is only 
 Rachel Tilton." 
 
 " Me !" said Rachel, " I never saw 
 any great king, or any of those 
 things you have been telling me 
 about." 
 
 " Haven't you, my darling ? Well, 
 heaven is the beautiful land, and God 
 is the great king; he it was that made 
 you and all the other little children 
 that you see, and placed you here to 
 be tried, so that you may grow to be 
 good and pious, and when you die go 
 to be like his blessed angels, and live 
 in golden houses, and 'never have 
 any need of the sun, for the Lamb is 
 the light thereof.' " 
 
 Nancy said this very solemnly.
 
 134 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 Rachel only half understood her, but 
 she felt that it was true, and that 
 there was something about her ot 
 which she had never thought before. 
 After a few minutes' silence she 
 asked: 
 
 "Are my city walls all broken 
 down because I was angry this morn- 
 ing ? Who lives there now ?" 
 
 "Yes, Rachel, when you struck 
 and pinched me, every blow went 
 right against the walls, and you did 
 not stop to shut the gates. O, I don't 
 know what dreadful work th6y made, 
 nor who has crept in to push the 
 good people out of the houses. You 
 will have to pray very often to God 
 to help you, for his Son's sake, and 
 work very diligently with your own 
 hands to build them up again soon, 
 and when they are whole and strong,
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 135 
 
 the wicked feelings do not stay. God 
 shuts them out." 
 
 "And bars the gates?" 
 
 " Yes, but not so tight as to keep 
 them out, unless you are on the 
 watch. When you find you are go- 
 ing to be angry be quick and shut 
 the gates." 
 
 " How ?" 
 
 " Pray ; say, c Grod help me not to 
 be angry, for Christ's sake. Amen.' " 
 
 " Will he help me ?" 
 
 u Yes, always." 
 
 It was now Rachel's bed-time. 
 Nancy had told her of but one of 
 the wicked inclinations which within 
 her heart were ready to help the 
 temptations from without ; but the 
 hands of the clock pointed to the 
 hour for bed, and Nancy well knew 
 how particular Mrs. Tilton was about
 
 136 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 punctuality. So she put away her 
 Bible, and Rachel, kneeling by her 
 bed, prayed again. This time she 
 asked God to make the walls of her 
 city strong, to make the gates shut 
 easily, to take away her naughty tem- 
 per, and make her good. 
 
 My young readers, how is it with 
 the walls of your city ? Are they 
 firm and whole ? Is there no open- 
 ing through which your "easily be- 
 setting sin " enters ? When your 
 great King comes down to visit you, 
 will he find the streets all swept and 
 garnished, the houses inhabited only 
 by those whom he can approve ?
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 137 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE CHILDREN'S MYSTERY. 
 
 OUR book would be too long 
 should we follow Rachel through all 
 the time which remains now between 
 the night when Nancy told her the 
 story of " Zaidee," and the place 
 where we left her in our story about 
 Ernest, when she had just come to 
 Nelson's Island. We trust we have 
 told our readers enough to make them 
 acquainted with her, so they will feel 
 interested in following her through 
 the remaining volumes. 
 
 The winter passed very quickly and 
 happily to her. When her new 
 mother thought she had learned fully 
 the lesson from the empty nail, she
 
 138 RACHEL; OB, 
 
 brought back the canaries, and it was 
 many weeks before Rachel could look 
 at them without being reminded of 
 what had occurred on the morning of 
 their removal. Kitty, too, whom she 
 had christened Zaidee, for the little 
 child who was going to the beautiful 
 land, but always called "Zaid," was 
 a well-mannered kitten, who ran for 
 the ball or the string after the most 
 approved kitten style, purred as loud 
 as a happy kit need, slept long, 
 long naps on the softest seat in the 
 nursery, and never was known to 
 attempt to kill the birds. Perhaps 
 this was because they were entirely 
 out of her reach ; but whatever the 
 true reason was, Rachel and Nancy 
 thought it was because she was so 
 very good, and gave her credit ac 
 cordingly.
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 139 
 
 Zaid always wore some kind of a 
 ribbon or bead necklace around her 
 neck, and was hardly allowed the 
 usual privileges of kittenhood for 
 fear some harm might come to her. 
 During the winter she proved of 
 much use to Rachel in the practical 
 lessons her sweet temper taught, for 
 she was never known to scratch, or 
 bite, or even to insist on doing any- 
 thing which her little mistress did 
 not wish done. Rachel used to tell 
 Nancy laughingly that " Zaid " had a 
 city with walls all up, strong and 
 even, and not so much as a loop-hole 
 through which to peep out. 
 
 When the spring had passed, and 
 the warm weather began to come, 
 Mrs. Tilton was ready to make her 
 usual removal to her cottage on Nel- 
 son's Island, and the reader already
 
 140 RACHEL ; OK, 
 
 knows of the surprise of Ernest and 
 Rachel upon meeting there. We 
 shall now take up our story from a 
 week after Rachel's arrival at her 
 sea-island home, by which time she 
 had become acquainted with Alice, 
 Tom, Sam, and Eddie, to say nothing 
 of the old wreck, the raft, and with 
 every other object of interest and 
 amusement. 
 
 No one can tell how delighted 
 Alice was to have a little girl-com- 
 panion. There was only one thing 
 which really troubled her: Rachel 
 seemed to prefer Ernest's company to 
 hers ; and even Ernest himself, though 
 he was her brother and not Rachel's, 
 loved to talk and play with Rachel 
 quite as well as with herself. The 
 walls about Rachel's city had become 
 much stronger than when Ernest last
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 141 
 
 saw her ; or perhaps it would be bet- 
 ter to say she had, through God's help, 
 learned to shut the gates more quick- 
 ly. She was, at last, really beginning 
 to control her temper; but all this 
 we shall find out as our story goes 
 on. 
 
 One pleasant morning Sam knocked 
 very early at Mrs. Tilton's door. 
 Nancy had been up and out of doors 
 a long time. Zaid was there too ; she 
 was always the last in the house to 
 go to bed, and the first to get up. 
 Nancy was weeding Rachel's garden ; 
 she did not think it was quite proper 
 to do so when the child was around, 
 for fear it might teach her to depend 
 upon others ; but if she had a chance, 
 when she thought she would not find 
 it out, you may be sure she was very 
 diligent about it.
 
 142 EACHEL; OR, 
 
 Sam had come to tell Rachel that 
 they were to go over, right after 
 breakfast, to a small island, one mile 
 from theirs, upon which they were 
 going to do something great. 
 
 Now Sam was not a favorite with 
 Nancy. He was too much of " a 
 humbug" for that. So she got up, 
 and, looking at him over her specta- 
 cles, said, 
 
 " So I suppose you think Mrs. Til- 
 ton is a going to let Rachel go off 
 with you wherever you want to take 
 her, without anything more, do you? 
 I can tell you, you are very much 
 mistaken." 
 
 " Tom is going too, and he sent me 
 round to ask Rachel. He says we 
 shall have prime fun." 
 
 "Don't feel sure," said Nancy, 
 shaking her head. " Tom is a differ-
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 143 
 
 ent boy from Sam ; but there aint 
 no telling. Anyhow, 1 shall run 
 over and see your mother about it 
 before I say a word to Rachel." 
 
 " Ernest is going, and Alice too." 
 
 " Who says so ?" 
 
 " I say so," and Sam tried to look 
 very carelessly into Nancy's face ; but 
 it would not do. Sam very well 
 knew his " say so " was not worth a 
 thought to any one, so he blushed 
 after all, and hung his head. That 
 was bad for Sam; but he was so 
 used to being distrusted, that more 
 than half the time he did not feel 
 quite sure whether he meant what 
 he thought he did himself. 
 
 "I mistrust you," said Nancy. 
 " Come, if your mother is up, I will 
 go home with you before Rachel has 
 any guess what is going on ;" and
 
 144 EACHEL ; OK, 
 
 Nancy, without waiting for any re- 
 ply, walked off toward Mrs. Cady's 
 house. 
 
 She met Tom on the way with his 
 arms full of pieces of old sail, rope, 
 ends of home-spun carpet, and one 
 old bed comforter. He tried to avoid 
 her. but Nancy was not the kind so 
 easily got rid of. She took a short 
 path toward the spot where she saw 
 that Tom would come out, and when 
 he thought she must be almost to his 
 mother's, where she frequently made 
 an early call when there was any 
 plan for the children going on, she 
 came suddenly upon him just round 
 the pine-tree, and confronted him 
 with, 
 
 "So you meant to get rid of rne. 
 Softly, my boy. The best way is to 
 take old Nancy into your confidence,
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 145 
 
 and tell her all about it to start 
 with, 'cause, you see, Rachel can't 
 go no other way in the world. 
 Where are you going, and what are 
 you going to do with all them old 
 traps ? La me, now, I wouldn't have 
 them brought into our house on no 
 account. There is no telling what 
 an army of moths they have about 
 them." 
 
 For a moment Tom hesitated. 
 What splendid help Nancy would 
 be, and how many things he should 
 want that she could procure for him. 
 He liked her too right well. To be 
 sure, she scolded him roundly if she 
 thought he was doing anything im- 
 proper ; but when she approved, 
 what a host she was." So now Tom 
 looked very doubtfully up in her 
 face.
 
 146 RACHEL ; OR, 
 
 "You'll tell," he said. "I never 
 saw a woman who could keep a se- 
 cret yet." 
 
 Nancy laughed a very good-natur- 
 ed laugh. There was something 
 very droll to her in being spoken so 
 to by a half-grown boy ; but she said 
 at the same time, " You are saucy, 
 but that wont help you any. If you 
 want Rachel Tilton, all you have got 
 to do is to own up. She wont go a 
 step a caracoling off with you boys 
 on this mighty ocean, nobody knows 
 where." 
 
 "You are not her mother," said 
 Tom, trying to gain time for decid- 
 ing what he had better do about the 
 matter. 
 
 " No more I aint ; but Mrs. Tilton 
 never would let her go, no more 
 than nothing, if I told her it wasn't
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 147 
 
 safe. Try it, and see, if you don't 
 believe it." 
 
 " I have half a mind to tell you ; 
 you could help us first-rate, and you 
 would, I know you would." 
 
 "Try it, and see." 
 
 "Will you swear not to tell?" 
 These words had slipped from Tom 
 unawares. He did not mean to say 
 what was wrong, and he was sorry 
 the moment he had uttered them. 
 
 "' Swear not at all,' " was Nancy's 
 instant reply, tu neither by heaven; 
 for it is God's throne : nor by the 
 earth ; for it is his footstool ; neither 
 by Jerusalem ; for it is the city of the 
 great king. Neither shalt thou swear 
 by thy head, because thou canst not 
 make one hair white or black.' " 
 
 u Poh, nonsense, Nancy ; you know 
 I didn't mean any such swearing. I
 
 148 RACHEL ; OR, 
 
 should as soon think of asking a par- 
 son to do it. I only meant, say you 
 wont tell, certain true, black and 
 blue." 
 
 "Well. Thomas Cady, you are 
 making a great fuss about a very 
 little thing ; but if it's perfectly cor- 
 rect, and there ain't a jot of harm in 
 it any way, I'll use my judgment 
 about keeping it to myself." 
 
 " Can't go um," said Tom, swing- 
 ing up the bundles, which he had 
 thrown down when first caught; 
 " you must keep the girl at home if 
 you have a mind to spoil a lot of 
 good fun for her, but I am too old 
 a salt to be caught sailing on that 
 sea." 
 
 Now, this alternative had not oc- 
 curred to Nancy. E-achel had taken 
 so important a part in all the sports
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 149 
 
 of the children on the island that it 
 had not seemed possible to her that 
 ever Tom would think he could do 
 without her, so she watched him go 
 whistling away, expecting every mo- 
 ment to see him turn round and come 
 back, until he was almost out of hear- 
 ing ; then she called after him, " Tom ! 
 Tom ! I say." 
 
 Tom had been expecting this, but 
 he pretended not to hear, and walked 
 steadily on, so Nancy took a few 
 quick steps after him, and called 
 again. 
 
 "That's it," said Tom to himself, 
 " I shall have her on my own terms 
 soon." So he was deafer than ever, 
 but it all would not do. Nancy never 
 began what she did not mean to car- 
 ry out, and not to hear her now 
 
 would have been quite impossible, so 
 10
 
 150 EACHEL ; OK, 
 
 at last he stopped, and turned slowly 
 around. 
 
 " You calling me ?" 
 
 " I should think you ears had 
 grown up. Where are you going, I 
 say, and what are you after ?" 
 
 " Will you promise 2" 
 
 " No, I wont ; I shall use my discre- 
 tion about it." 
 
 "All one ; good morning," and Tom 
 lifted his cap with much politeness, 
 and was going on again. 
 
 " Can't you stop a moment ?" 
 
 " No use. I am very busy ; got a 
 lot to do. I am sorry Rachel can't 
 come ; I quite counted on her, she is 
 so spry and full of fun." 
 
 " Who says she can't ?" 
 
 " I thought you did." 
 
 " I only said I wouldn't promise to 
 keep all your nonsense to myself."
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 151 
 
 " One and the same thing." 
 
 Nancy was beginning to feel warm ; 
 this was a kind of bantering to which 
 she was not used. Tom could read 
 faces pretty well for a boy, and he saw, 
 as he looked back at her, that he had 
 gone far enough, so he threw down 
 his bundle again, and running to her 
 said good-naturedly, " Come, Nancy, 
 now you wont tell, will you ? 'cause 
 if you do you will spoil all our fun ; 
 and I should like to have you know, 
 above all things, you could help us 
 in so many ways. I am going to 
 trust you, and if you are trusted, you 
 know, it is i honor true, 7 and you can't 
 break over it any more than you can 
 over a bounden promise any day." 
 
 "Trust me, then." 
 
 " Yes, I will, and if you peach, 
 Nancy, I will never tell you a secret
 
 152 RACHEL ; OR, 
 
 again as long as my name is Thomas 
 Cady, nor will I take Rachel off on a 
 frolic this whole summer ; so there, I 
 have you." 
 
 Yes, he had, more firmly than he 
 knew. He drew Nancy behind a rock, 
 so that no one could see them from 
 the road, and sitting down, he seemed 
 to go very fully into these plans what- 
 ever they were, and to convince her 
 that nothing must be revealed to any 
 of the grown people on the island. 
 That Nancy did not think there 
 was anything very wrong in what he 
 told her we may judge from the 
 hearty laughs which came from her 
 every now and then, and the promise 
 which, after all, she did give in part- 
 ing, that she would not tell any one 
 but Rachel, and that she would help 
 them all she could.
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 153 
 
 Sam waited for her a long time be- 
 hind the corner of the woodshed. 
 He had not walked to his mother's 
 with her ; she found so much fault 
 with him that he was really afraid of 
 her, so he had run home another 
 way. Now he could not imagine 
 what could have become of her. He 
 was there still, watching and won- 
 dering, when Tom came back from 
 depositing his " traps " upon the 
 raft. 
 
 When Nancy reached home she 
 found Eachel looking out of the win- 
 dow for her very impatiently. It 
 was Nancy's business to dress her and 
 read her verses in her Bible with her 
 before she left her room, and now the 
 sun and the birds had been calling 
 Rachel, and she had been answering 
 them for what seemed to her a very
 
 154 EACHEL ; OB, 
 
 long time. Rachel had to shut the 
 gates behind the city walls many 
 times while she waited. Impatient 
 Temper was knocking very loudly to 
 come in, but she kept all safe, and 
 though it was a flushed, eager face that 
 rushed to meet Nancy as she opened 
 the door, there was no more striking 
 or scratching. Rachel now had these 
 violent indications of her temper 
 quite under her control ; and though 
 she sometimes felt as if it was impos- 
 sible to stand or sit still when she 
 was boiling with anger, still she 
 found, in some mysterious way, that 
 it was never so hard to-day as it was 
 yesterday. One by one the upward 
 step now waiting to be taken is all 
 the more quickly and surely reached 
 because we have planted our feet 
 firmly on the round just below. Nancy
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 155 
 
 saw at a glance that Rachel's city 
 was safe. 
 
 Before Kachel left her room Nancy 
 had told her the secret; not, we 
 would not have our readers think for 
 a moment, in violation of her prom- 
 ise. No, indeed ; Nancy was far too 
 noble and true for that ; but Tom had 
 given her liberty not only to tell Ra- 
 chel, but also to make some plans 
 with her for carrying out his arrange- 
 ments. Rachel was wild with de- 
 light ; she danced and sang, whispered 
 it to Dick, who came and put his head 
 down to the wires of the cage to hear ; 
 caught up Zaid, and told it first into 
 one ear and then into the other, and 
 finally ended by looking very mysteri- 
 ous and happy all the morning when 
 she was with her father and mother. 
 
 Nancy had asked leave for her to
 
 156 EACHEL; OR, 
 
 be absent on a secret expedition all 
 day, and Mrs. Tilton had readily 
 granted it, as she knew if Nancy ap- 
 proved all was safe and right. She 
 had a hint given to her, too, that if 
 she would neither seem to see or 
 hear, it would add a great deal to 
 the children's happiness ; so she was 
 very kindly deaf and blind to every- 
 thing that went on around, and 
 when Ernest and Alice came running 
 up to the door for Rachel she was 
 all ready, with a great covered bask- 
 et, half as large as herself. The 
 children walked very demurely so 
 long as they were in sight of the 
 windows of the house, only talking 
 with those looks and signs so intelli- 
 gible among themselves ; but the very 
 moment they were hidden down went 
 the basket, and they danced round
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 157 
 
 it more like a set of Indian warriors 
 than anything else. Alice wanted to 
 lift the cover and peep in, but this 
 Rachel shook her head over, saying 
 with much authority;.: 
 
 "Wait! wait! it will be soon 
 enough when we get there." 
 
 "But my mother didn't give me 
 half so much. I will show you. Er- 
 nest hid it in the ship, so no one need 
 suspect. It is only a tiny tin pailful, 
 so large," and Alice's hands measured 
 a supposed pail of all sizes, from three 
 inches up to a foot. 
 
 " O Alice ! you know it has lots of 
 nice things in. I saw them myself," 
 said Ernest. 
 
 "Hush! don't tell," and Alice 
 raised her finger at him. " Let's run 
 for it first ;" so Ernest, taking hold of 
 one side of Rachel's basket, the three
 
 158 EACHEL; OK, 
 
 children were soon on the old wreck. 
 Rachel could run up the ladder at the 
 sides quite as nimbly as the boys, and 
 by this time she had begun to feel as 
 if it was her ^property as much as 
 theirs. She had carried some of her 
 prettiest playthings there, and very 
 often, on a warm summer morning, 
 the canaries were brought down, and 
 added a great deal to its pleasantness 
 with their sweet songs. 
 
 This morning the boys from Uncle 
 Seth's were there before them. Tom 
 had been making his plans for a long 
 time, and, good general that he was, 
 did not mean, when the occasion 
 came, to be found wanting in any of 
 the necessary supplies. So ever since 
 breakfast Sam and Eddy had been 
 busy transporting hidden stores from 
 their places to the wreck. Here
 
 Loading the Raft.
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 161 
 
 came an old three-legged chair, almost 
 as good as new since the wanting leg 
 was supplied with a round billet of 
 wood; then a small table, with only 
 one original support left, but fixed 
 upon a curiously shaped block, which 
 had been washed up, and stood quite 
 firmly if well propped ; but we must 
 not anticipate. 
 
 Busy children are always happy, 
 and almost always good. It is only 
 for idle hands that Satan finds the 
 " mischief still ;" so you may be sure 
 that these very busy children were 
 also both happy and good. Every- 
 body was so willing and obliging, that 
 long before they had thought it pos- 
 sible to be ready they were formed 
 into a procession, and were marching 
 down with their odd property toward 
 the raft, which lay hauled up high
 
 162 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 and dry on the shore. This raft was 
 now a very nice bit of sea-craft. The 
 sailors who saw it pronounced it a 
 much safer thing for the children to 
 venture out upon the water in than 
 any "boat, and they had been so in the 
 habit of going and returning safely, 
 that their parents had lost all fear of 
 accident if Tom were there to act as 
 helmsman. It was carefully stored 
 with as many of their commodities as 
 it could well carry, and then came 
 the question, which of the children 
 should go over with Tom first? Of 
 course, every one was eager to go ; and 
 here, at the very beginning, trouble 
 would have come, if Tom had not in- 
 sisted on his rights as captain to make 
 his choice. He chose Ernest and 
 Rachel, and, deaf to all complaints 
 from the others, rowed away.
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 163 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HOW THE STRENGTH OF RACHEL'S 
 WALLS IS TRIED. 
 
 THE sea upon which the raft was 
 sailing was delightfully smooth, and 
 so blue and deep that it made Rachel 
 think at once of that beautiful land 
 to which Nancy had told her Zaidee 
 was going. She looked down, and 
 it seemed to her that it was a sea of 
 glass, and that beneath it were the 
 precious stones and the houses of 
 .gold and the gates of pearl. She re- 
 membered, too, what was better than 
 this, that Nancy had said that she 
 was one of the children the King had 
 placed in the trial-land, and she re- 
 solved that all the time they were
 
 164 RACHEL; OK, 
 
 about this pleasant play she would 
 try and keep her city walls whole, 
 and have her gates ready to move 
 quickly on their hinges and shut her 
 in. These thoughts did not stay 
 long in Rachel's mind ; but I need not 
 say God sent them ; we all know 
 that. 
 
 They went direct, wind and waves 
 aiding, to a very little island one 
 short mile from the point where they 
 had started. This island, from being 
 so pretty and so small, had always 
 been called the " Children's Island," 
 and they felt as if it belonged to 
 them as much as the old wreck of 
 the old ship. It was nothing more 
 than a large rock, upon which the 
 \dnds and the waves had dropped 
 soil and seeds, until trees and shrubs 
 had come up and made it quite a
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 165 
 
 shaded spot. The children knew 
 every inch of it, and could tell which 
 was the largest pine-tree, where the 
 scrub-oaks grew nearest the ground, 
 and where, by some odd freak, the 
 wintergreen berries ripened quickest 
 and sweetest. They had their port 
 here and their wharf, and now they 
 had come to take legal possession and 
 make formal settlement. The secret 
 it will out, so we may as well take our 
 readers into our confidence at once 
 was to build a sort of Robinson 
 Crusoe house, have their church, their 
 school-house, their stores ; in short, be 
 all ready when Captain Lee returned 
 (he was expected back at the end of 
 August) to give a party for him, and 
 entertain him, as Tom said, "like a 
 prince." No one of the older mem- 
 bers of the families were to be admitted
 
 166 EACHEL; OR, 
 
 into the secret; it was to be a sur- 
 prise to all. Now any one can see 
 that so extensive a plan as this among 
 six young children would put them 
 all into positions and circumstances 
 that would greatly test their charac- 
 ter ; and so the events proved. 
 
 Ernest had learned to pull an oar 
 very well for so small a boy, and he 
 was so much help to Tom that in a 
 short time they touched the wharf, 
 and with many formalities Tom 
 sprang on shore, ran up to the top 
 of the rock, and swung out the stars 
 and stripes from a pole put up for the 
 occasion. The children on Nelson's 
 Island saw it and shouted impatient- 
 ly. There wasn't one of them but 
 would have walked over the water 
 to it if they could. 
 
 Eager children work quickly, and
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 167 
 
 very soon the raft was cleared, and 
 Tom was once more crossing the wa- 
 ter. He wanted to bring over a load 
 before he took what he called his 
 "live stock," but the children would 
 not hear of it, and with his usual 
 good-nature he carried them first. 
 
 Ernest and Rachel had been busy 
 in the mean time selecting a spot for 
 their house. They played that they 
 were an emigrant ship, wrecked, and 
 all on board lost but one man 
 (Tom) and five children. While 
 the man had gone to the wreck to 
 bring off the rest of the saved, it 
 was their business, with all haste, to 
 provide the home. 
 
 Now about this home there had 
 been a variety of opinions expressed 
 before they started, some wanting 
 
 one spot chosen, and some another ; 
 11
 
 168 RACHEL ; OR, 
 
 but the last thing Tom had said was 
 that Rachel might choose, and the 
 others should abide by her decision. 
 So, now, Ernest and Rachel were 
 busy exploring, and feeling very wise 
 and important. 
 
 After a thorough search, they de- 
 cided upon two places. One, where 
 the main rock upon which the island 
 was founded ran up to a point, and 
 just below this point, upon which the 
 flag was flying, another rock met it, 
 forming a snug sort of a room. It 
 was nothing like a cave ; it was rather 
 a large hollow, quite large enough to 
 hold the six children at once, besides 
 a table, and perhaps a chair. This, 
 then, for the beginning, and for one 
 side of the real house they were in- 
 tending to build. The other place 
 had in it this morning what children
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 169 
 
 all love so well, bright sunshine. It 
 was a spot between four pine-trees, all 
 nearly the same shape and size, with 
 their broad arms meeting above and 
 making a roof. All over the ground, 
 so smooth and slippery from the dead 
 leaves of the trees, the sunlight lay in 
 patches ; beautifully checkered it was, 
 almost as if some fairy had begun to 
 pave it with gold. And then they 
 could see Nelson's Island from the 
 front .door, a very desirable thing to 
 poor shipwrecked, homesick marin- 
 ers. So Rachel decided that this 
 should be the spot, and Ernest, very 
 well pleased, began to drag thither 
 the articles from the wharf. By the 
 time the raft had returned almost 
 everything had disappeared from 
 the landing-place, and when Alice 
 came she found Kachel quite taking
 
 170 EACHEL; OR, 
 
 upon herself airs as mistress of the 
 house. 
 
 Alice had been, as we know, with- 
 out any one to share her pleasures 
 until Ernest came, and we must not 
 blame her too much if she often 
 thought her own way the best, and 
 that everybody else should follow it. 
 She was not naturally more selfish 
 than most other children, but she had 
 never been obliged to give up to the 
 wishes of others, excepting when she 
 played with her boy cousins, and 
 then if she was displeased she always 
 took refuge in running home to her 
 mother. Since Ernest had been with 
 her she loved him so much, and he 
 was so gentle and yielding, that she 
 was not really, in these particulars, 
 gaining so much from her little new 
 brother as her parents had hoped.
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 171 
 
 But her mother was very watchful, 
 never allowing this fault of hers to 
 pass under her notice unreproved. 
 Since Rachel had been on the island 
 she had been obliged to see a rival 
 coming in to do many things which 
 had been her sole right before. 
 Sometimes she bore it pleasantly, 
 and sometimes she sulked, and they 
 could not make her join in the play 
 again without a great deal of teasing. 
 Now two things displeased her. 
 One, that Rachel should have been 
 brought over first, when she wanted 
 to go; and another, that she should 
 have been allowed, without her voice, 
 to choose. the home. We must say 
 we do not think this was quite fair 
 in Tom. It would have been better, 
 and more in American style, if they 
 had all come together and chosen their
 
 172 
 
 several shares in the performances by 
 acclamation or by vote, or in some 
 such impartial way. Still Alice's 
 mother had always taught her that it 
 was very mean for one child to spoil 
 the fun of all the others because she 
 was not satisfied, and Alice had begun 
 to think of it as almost a sin to be 
 cross and sulky for such a cause. 
 But how many of us there are who 
 determine not to do this, that, and 
 the other wrong thing, but when we 
 are tempted cannot resist, and fall 
 very easy victims. So it was with 
 Alice to-day. That very morning, 
 when she said her prayers, she had 
 asked God to make her a good, pleas- 
 ant little girl all day long, to keep 
 her from being selfish, or cross, or 
 sulky. There was one thing her 
 father had often told both Ernest and
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 1Y3 
 
 herself for which they should never 
 forget to pray, and this Alice remem- 
 bered particularly ; it was, that God 
 would make them generous and noble 
 in their plays, would make them kind 
 and unselfish with their young friends, 
 and give them the love of other chil- 
 dren. . 
 
 There are many children who are 
 taught to pray properly who still 
 remember only their relations to God 
 in their prayers. They think that 
 they are to pray for the salvation of 
 their soul so that they may go to 
 heaven. That is right ; but they 
 should also pray that they may be 
 happy, and have a good influence 
 here that may make others happy, 
 and love and be loved. This is an 
 important part of our preparations 
 for that beautiful land. Alice was
 
 174 
 
 earnest in her intention to remember 
 all this when she left her room that 
 morning ; but how soon we forget. 
 
 When Tom landed the second time, 
 he applauded the young workers very 
 heartily for what they had done. 
 He said the " house lot couldn't be 
 beat," and the shelving rocks were 
 meant for a store-house and nothing 
 more ; and even the little cloud, which 
 was settling down over Alice, was 
 lifted up by a sight of the cunning 
 place which was to hold the " ten- 
 ement." Two loads more of old 
 boards and material needed for build- 
 ing were to be brought, and Tom, tak- 
 ing first Ernest and then Sam, went 
 over to bring them. While they 
 were gone Alice and Rachel began to 
 plan out the interior of the house, 
 dividing it into parlor, kitchen, and
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 1^5 
 
 dining-room, and one sleeping-room. 
 Now Rachel wanted the parlor ar- 
 ranged first, and Alice the kitchen ; 
 so they had a little dispute about it, 
 not a very bad one, but enough to 
 throw a slight shadow over the 
 bright spots of sunshine on the tes- 
 selated ground, and it ended in Alice's 
 beginning the kitchen with Eddie to 
 help her, while Rachel had Sam or 
 Ernest, whichever was not on the 
 raft. This would have done very 
 well, for in case of dispute separation 
 is always the wisest course ; but they 
 were both so often wishing the same 
 thing that they came into constant 
 collision. Once Rachel grew so angry, 
 to see Alice snatch away a bit of old 
 carpet from Sam, saying that it must 
 answer for a mat before the kitchen 
 door, while she wanted it before the
 
 176 RACHEL J OR, 
 
 parlor fireplace, that she flew at her, 
 pulled the carpet away, and shook her 
 roughly. So when Tom came up 
 from the raft with the last load he 
 found Alice sitting at quite a distance 
 from the house crying, and Rachel, 
 with a flushed and downcast looking 
 face, moping about the house as if she 
 had lost every friend on earth. 
 
 "Hey dey!" he said, stopping 
 abruptly ; " what is to pay now ? 
 There is always trouble in the camp 
 when there are women around. Al- 
 ly, what's the matter ?" 
 
 " She shook me," said Ally, lifting 
 her face, all covered with tears, and 
 pointing to Rachel. u I don't like 
 her one bit; I wish she had never 
 come here." 
 
 "That's not polite, Miss Lee. We 
 emigrants can't quarrel among our-
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 177 
 
 selves; if we do there will be mis- 
 chief to pay. There may be savages 
 here, who knows ?" 
 
 Kachel thought at once of her city 
 walls, and how badly they were 
 broken down, all ready for the sav- 
 ages to enter ; but she was not peni- 
 tent enough to care now. 
 
 " Come," said Tom good-naturedly, 
 " own up, Eachel, what did you shake 
 Alice for ? We are not shaking 
 Quakers here." 
 
 " She took it, and would keep 
 snatching it away from Sam. It's for 
 the parlor, and not for the kitchen 
 mat, and she sha'n't snatch it." 
 
 " What ! is it that old bit of carpet 
 you are quarreling over? Well, here 
 goes," and taking it up, Tom threw it 
 as far as he could over the water. It 
 spread itself out and floated for a
 
 178 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 moment on the top of a wave, and 
 then slowly sank away from their 
 sight. Both children forgot every- 
 thing else in watching it, and Tom 
 always afterward called this his 
 " masterstroke of discipline." " So I 
 shall end all disputes," said he, when 
 it was fairly gone. " Whatever any- 
 body quarrels about both shall lose, 
 and we shall all lose it too, so I think 
 the better tempers we can keep, all 
 hands of us, the better for our new 
 settlement. Halloo, now, no more 
 playing; all hands to work in earnest. 
 The first thing to be done is to build 
 the house, and then we will furnish it 
 as best we can. Here, Alice, hold 
 this box of nails ready for me the 
 minute I want it. Now, Rachel, go 
 with Ernest, and drag round that 
 pole ; it must be nailed across from
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 1*79 
 
 tree to tree to form the ridge-pole of 
 the house. Sam, find the next long- 
 est, and don't be two minutes having 
 it here ; and, Ed, you pick up bits 
 of dry wood ready for the fire, by 
 which we are going to cook our din- 
 ner. We must get a house built first 
 for fear of intruders, and then we 
 will be ready for a bite." 
 
 Sam had already helped himself 
 out of Rachel's basket in a private 
 way; he never saw the time when 
 he would not "eat on the sly," as 
 Tom said, if he could get a chance. 
 Alice's tears were dry. / She felt a 
 great deal happier than Rachel, when 
 she went to work, for Rachel was 
 more conscious of having done wrong. 
 
 Before dinner-time came quite a 
 house was built. To be sure, they 
 had not plank enough to make the
 
 180 KACHEL ; OB, 
 
 walls very close, but that was not 
 necessary; and as for shutting the sun 
 out with a roof, who would think of 
 it for a moment ? Old sails and the 
 comforter made the inside partition ; 
 and when the fire was kindled in the 
 rude fireplace, (which was mostly com- 
 posed of oyster-shells,) and a fish, 
 caught late the night before, was laid 
 upon an old gridiron to broil, there 
 was not a happier set of children in 
 the world. Wonderfully happy they 
 were, considering the loneliness of 
 their position, and the disputes with 
 which they had begun the day. 
 
 Now came Nancy's share in the 
 enterprise. When Rachel's large 
 basket was unpacked, what a treasure 
 of good things it contained! The 
 fish was " done to a turn," Tom said ; 
 and though an experienced cook
 
 The Picnic on the Island.
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 183 
 
 might, perhaps, have thought one 
 part a little too much blackened, and 
 the other not quite done, still never 
 was feast so delicious as this. The 
 dining-room, with the sun shimmer- 
 ing in between the long needle-like 
 leaves of the pine-tree, and laying it- 
 self like a service of gold all over the 
 odd table ; the soft summer breeze, 
 filled with life and vigor as it came 
 to them over the sparkling water ; the 
 low song, which the waves sang for 
 them, and in whose chorus every 
 child's heart joined ; the birds alight- 
 ing on the old limbs above their 
 heads, and peeping in with their 
 round brown eyes to see what the lit- 
 tle folks were doing, and their own 
 good-natured prattle ; certainly fewer 
 things than these have made children 
 happy. For a time nothing could
 
 184 KACHEL; OR, 
 
 exceed their enjoyment. If there had 
 been any moments during the morn- 
 ing when they were questioned wheth- 
 er their hard work " would pay," they 
 were answered now. But, somehow, 
 it seems to be always when we are 
 happiest, and least on our guard, that 
 our temptation comes. Among Nan- 
 cy's stores was a nice supply of raisins. 
 These, with the greatest impartiality, 
 Rachel had counted out, laying an 
 equal share by each plate, or rather 
 by every bit of china which served 
 for a plate. Sam and Ernest sat side 
 by side, and it was not very long 
 before Sam's sly ways began to show 
 themselves in his taking one raisin 
 after another from Ernest's heap, 
 while all the time he would have 
 his head turned another way, and be 
 talking very busily about something
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 185 
 
 in which Ernest was interested. This 
 had not been going on long before 
 Rachel spied him, and the first knowl- 
 edge he had of the detection was so 
 smart a blow upon his cheek, that 
 for a moment he hardly knew where 
 he was. Sam's temper was very 
 quick too, and in another instant 
 he had sprung upon Rachel, and she 
 would have received such a speedy 
 and severe punishment for her offense 
 as had never been hers before if Tom 
 had not seized the children and held 
 them apart. 
 
 "Hands off!" he said promptly, 
 " what is all this row about ? Ra- 
 chel, what did you strike him for 2" 
 And the big boy's grasp was very 
 tight on Rachel's arm. 
 
 " He was stealing Ernest's raisins," 
 said Rachel, struggling to get away. 
 
 12
 
 186 EACHEL OK, 
 
 " Well, what if he was ? That was 
 my business, not yours. The next 
 time you lift your hand to strike a 
 blow you shall be put on board that 
 raft and taken home before you can 
 say Jack Robinson. Do you hear 
 me?" 
 
 "Yes," said Rachel, yielding at 
 once to the " powers that be." 
 
 " Well, then look out ; we don't al- 
 low fighting in any shape, getting 
 mad, lying, stealing, or breaking any 
 other of the ten commandments in 
 our colony. The punishment in any 
 case is instant exile." Before he had 
 finished this long speech there was a 
 good deal of drollery in Tom's face, 
 which rather took away from his au- 
 thority. So Sam began to rub his 
 cheek and act as if he meant to make 
 fun of the whole thing ; but he had
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 187 
 
 " mistaken his man," as Tom said, this 
 time. 
 
 " For you," he said, dropping Ra- 
 chel's arm gently and taking Sam by 
 both arms, in the manner of an ar- 
 resting officer, " I arrest you for steal- 
 ing and fighting, and condemn you to 
 banishment from our house and work 
 for th% remainder of the afternoon. 
 In case of any resistance or trouble 
 on your part I shall increase your 
 punishment as it may seem best to 
 me, the governor, in whom is vested 
 all legal authority. Now go, sir ; I 
 confiscate the rest of your dinner, 
 and drum you out of camp." So say- 
 ing, Tom took up an old tin pail, 
 which had come over to act the part 
 of a bell, and pushing Sam out to 
 quite a distance beyond the pine- 
 trees, stood beating with a stick upon
 
 188 EACHEL; OR, 
 
 the pail in a very noisy, provoking 
 way. 
 
 Sarn was by no means content to 
 go without a struggle. He tried to 
 kick and snatch the pail away, and 
 failing in that, he kicked and struck 
 Tom, behaving as only a very naughty, 
 angry child can. But Tom was so 
 much the stronger that it was 0f no 
 use. Sam had to take to flight, and 
 content himself with firing back 
 stones from such a distance as made 
 this occupation safe. 
 
 The children returned to their din- 
 ner after he had gone, but the pleas- 
 ure of the whole thing was gone too. 
 They ate what remained in silence, 
 or in discussing what a very naughty 
 boy Sam was. It was in vain that 
 the sun and the ocean, the summer 
 air and the birds tried to make them
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 189 
 
 happy. If Rachel had only shut the 
 gates of her city soon enough, such a 
 host of unhappy feelings would not 
 now have been marching in over her 
 broken walls, and Sana would not 
 have been sitting, silent, sullen, and 
 angry, out on the rock behind the 
 house, wishing a great many things 
 which would not have entered into 
 his heart if his city walls had not 
 been so rudely assaulted. Not that 
 we mean to defend Sam's meanness 
 and selfishness ; far from it ; but we 
 want to impress it upon our young 
 readers how often a gap in their own 
 city walls leads to large rents and 
 fissures in the walls of neighboring 
 cities.
 
 190 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SAM'S PUNISHMENT. 
 
 IT was in vain, after these events, 
 that the children tried to get back 
 the fun and interest which had made 
 their morning so happy. Sam hov- 
 ered, like a discontented spirit, with- 
 in sight of them, but never came near 
 enough to need to be sent away again. 
 Occasionally he would dart down 
 and take away an article which he 
 saw them about to need in their 
 work, giving Tom a chase, and mak- 
 ing him say some quick, harsh words, 
 for which he felt immediately sorry ; 
 and sometimes Sam threw a stick of 
 wood, or a stone with good aim, 
 knocking down some part of the
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 191 
 
 building which they had erected. 
 But this was by no means the worst 
 part of his behavior. He looked so 
 sullen that all the sunshine in the 
 world could not make the others hap- 
 py with that face near them. Ra- 
 chel, too, had lost the merry good- 
 nature which added so much to their 
 enjoyment. She knew she had done 
 wrong, and she was sorry. Now, if 
 being sorry would only do away the 
 past, how well it would be for us ; or, 
 perhaps, not so well after all, for 
 God has ordered these things just as 
 they shall work out for us our pres- 
 ent and eternal good ; and he knows 
 that if feeling regret could do away 
 a sin, we should none of us be half 
 so careful to abstain from evil. It is 
 the dread of consequences not to 
 be remedied, that he has given
 
 192 EACHEL; OR, 
 
 as a warning to keep us from doing 
 wrong. 
 
 Rachel would have done anything 
 in her power to have Sam back with 
 them, to hear his happy laugh, and 
 see his handy, helpful ways ; but 
 nothing that she could do would 
 avail, and she missed him so much. 
 If it had been a case where she had 
 not been the first offender, she would 
 have begged Tom to let him return ; 
 but now she did not dare to; and 
 Tom answered so savagely when Er- 
 nest asked for him, that it took away 
 what little courage she had. 
 
 In truth Sam, by his continued at- 
 tacks upon the camp, was preventing 
 any leniency which Tom might have 
 been inclined to show. The after- 
 noon, under such circumstances, would, 
 of course, be long and rather dull ;
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 193 
 
 the life and spirit of the whole/thing 
 had died out, and if we must confess 
 what we think to be the real reason, 
 we should be obliged to say that it 
 was because Rachel had not kept her 
 city walls. Twice, to-day, they had 
 been invaded and had fallen. 
 
 By the time the sun began to go 
 down toward the western sea the 
 children were thinking often of home, 
 and wishing they were there. Yet 
 they looked with a great deal of 
 pride and pleasure upon their day's 
 work. It was a very pretty spot ; any 
 one would have known that children's 
 hands had built it. It looked like a 
 big baby-house, much more than like 
 the home of shipwrecked manners, 
 but that was just as well ; it was 
 right pleasant and taking, what more 
 could they ask.
 
 194 RACHEL J OR, 
 
 Alice was the first one to express a 
 wish to go home. She had not been 
 quite comfortable since her shaking 
 in the morning, though she had tried 
 many times during the day to be gen- 
 erous, unselfish, and to make the oth- 
 ers happy, as she had asked God to 
 help her to do in the morning. Al- 
 ice, you see, knew that prayer, true 
 prayer, is not only asking sincerely, 
 but trying to carry out what you have 
 asked for. She was made still more 
 uneasy by Rachel's quarrel with Sam, 
 and now, tired and homesick, she be- 
 gan to long for her home and her 
 mother, with a desire far greater than 
 that of finishing the school-house up- 
 on which they were busy. 
 
 " Yes," said Tom, when Eddy join- 
 ed with her ; " yes, yes, I am as tired 
 as a whipped dog. I tell you what,
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 195 
 
 Ernest, if this is play I don't know 
 what work is. I have heard Uncle 
 William say, when I have been build- 
 ing some of what he calls my air-castles, 
 about being captain one day of the 
 handsomest ship of the line that ever 
 sailed from Boston harbor, ' Uneasy 
 lies the head that wears a crown,' 
 and if every governor has such a tug 
 as I have had to-day, here is one fel- 
 low who wont run for 'the chief 
 honor in his state ' for some years 
 yet, I can tell you. Come, we will 
 make snug, and be off in fifteen min- 
 utes. All hands, ahoy! Man the 
 ship. Spread the sails. Hoist the 
 anchor. Three cheers for port." 
 
 With scarcely less enthusiasm than 
 they had shown in the " dew of the 
 morning," the children were now 
 busy putting up things in such a
 
 196 RACHEL ; OK, 
 
 way that no intruders should <L> 
 them harm during their night's ab- 
 sence, for they were to return early 
 in the morning. They had many a 
 day's work before them yet to make 
 the necessary preparations for the 
 grand party. 
 
 While they were thus occupied, 
 Sam, who had become very restless, 
 from being so long shut out by him- 
 self, came near where they were, to 
 put in execution his final piece of 
 mischief. He had determined to 
 creep in at the kitchen-door and 
 tear down the partitions, throwing 
 them in a heap in the middle of the 
 parlor, where they should astonish 
 the others on their return to-morrow, 
 and make them think some persons 
 with evil intent had been on the 
 island. This he succeeded in accom-
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 197 
 
 plishing unseen. The partitions were 
 not firmly fixed, and they yielded eas- 
 ily. Laughing with much revenge- 
 ful enjoyment over what he had done, 
 he came down boldly to the wharf, 
 to sail with the others for home. 
 But, unfortunately, Torn had return- 
 ed for a moment to the house, and 
 seeing the mischief which had been 
 done, knew at once who was its au- 
 thor ; so, without saying a word, he 
 went back to the raft, saw one child 
 after another seated upon it, and 
 whenever Sam tried to go he held 
 him back. When all were on board 
 he sprang quickly on himself, and as 
 he pushed off, leaving Sam stand- 
 ing surprised on the wharf, he called 
 out, 
 
 "We shall leave you here, sir, 
 until to-morrow; you will have the
 
 198 RACHEL; OE, 
 
 whole night to put those partitions 
 back ; and I advise you to go to 
 work and do as much as you can be- 
 fore dark." 
 
 Everybody thought Torn was in 
 fun, and the children laughed at the 
 joke of being left, to which in one 
 way and another they were all accus- 
 tomed ; but Sam had a slight feeling 
 of fear mingling with his sense of the 
 fun. 
 
 How quick Tom had found him 
 out, and how determined he looked 
 at him from under his cap. Still, 
 Sam made his mind up not to take 
 the thing seriously ; so he waved his 
 cap back to them, and wished them 
 good-night, with as great an appear- 
 ance of unconcern as he could.* 
 
 There he stood, the raft leaving 
 
 *See Frontispiece.
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 199 
 
 more and more blue water between 
 them every moment ; how blue amd 
 deep it was. Sam looked down into 
 it, earnestly wishing he could run 
 over it and catch the raft before it 
 was any further away. On it went, 
 until it seemed like a speck on the 
 waters. Once in a while he could 
 Ernest would stand up and wave 
 his cap, and Sam always waved his 
 in return, but he saw no sign of 
 their turning around. The white sail 
 curved charmingly in the evening 
 breeze ; but it was filled toward home, 
 and thither, too, the rudder unswerv- 
 ingly steered. 
 
 " When are you going back ?" said 
 Ernest at last, thinking the joke had 
 been carried far enough. 
 
 " To-morrow morning," replied 
 Tom.
 
 200 KACHEL; OR, 
 
 The children all laughed, and the 
 raft danced on. 
 
 " I say, Tom, don't keep Sam wait- 
 ing there any longer ; you will get us 
 all late home, and mother will be anx- 
 ious about Ally," said Ernest again. 
 
 "Have you there in ten minutes, 
 or less." 
 
 " Why, no, you can't, it will take 
 that time to tack her round, and 
 bring her along side Sam." 
 
 " Sam will stay some time before 
 the raft comes along side of him." 
 
 "You don't mean, Tom," said Al- 
 ice eagerly, " that you are going to 
 leave Sam there alone on that island 
 all night ?" 
 
 " I mean that I shall not take this 
 raft across again to-night, and that, 
 if Sam has all night to learn to mend 
 in, he probably will have his lesson
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 201 
 
 well committed by to-morrow morn- 
 ing." 
 
 "That aint fair," said Alice. 
 
 " Who says it isn't fair ?" said Tom, 
 lowering down upon her. 
 
 "I say so; don't you too, Ra- 
 chel 8" 
 
 " I do," said Ernest, without wait- 
 ing for Rachel to answer ; " and if I 
 was only a little bigger I would go 
 over to the island myself and bring 
 him home." 
 
 "If is a great word," said Tom 
 scornfully. " Little Hop-o'-my-thumb 
 needn't brag." 
 
 "You are mean," said Rachel, 
 breaking in. 
 
 " You don't say so. Well, now, do 
 tell !" and Tom's voice was very pro- 
 voking. 
 
 "You are, too," shouted Eddy 
 
 13
 
 202 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 " and I will tell mother the very mo 
 ment I get home." 
 
 " Go it, young one ; do you want a 
 ducking? 1 ' and Tom held his hands 
 toward Eddy, as if he meant to throw 
 him in, so Eddy shrank close to Er- 
 nest's side. 
 
 " Let him alone," said Ernest in a 
 manly way. " Look here, Mr. Tom, 
 you think, because you are big, you 
 can do as you have a mind to ; but I 
 think it is very mean in you, as Ra- 
 chel says, to be bullying little fellows 
 so, and when I grow larger I will 
 settle with you for it, you see if I 
 don't." 
 
 Torn laughed again ; but in hi? 
 heart he was too good-natured to like 
 to have the others all against him. He 
 was vexed with Sam, and doubtful as 
 to the brotherly character of the act
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 203 
 
 of leaving him alone. There is never 
 a time when we can bear so little 
 from others as when we are not 
 sure of ourselves. They were now 
 half way between the island and 
 home, and Tom had for a moment 
 some idea of taking the whole party 
 off to Egg Island or the Light-house 
 as a punishment. But we must do 
 him the justice to say that this 
 thought was but momentary, and that 
 his better nature triumphed quickly, 
 so he set his teeth tight together, (a 
 way of doing that he had when he 
 wanted to control himself,) and with 
 a few strong strokes of the oars sent 
 the raft rapidly toward home. 
 
 Eddy began to cry, so did Alice ; 
 but it was of no use, the raft touched 
 the shore. Tom sprang off, fastened 
 it, and without speaking a word to
 
 204 EACHEL; OR, 
 
 any one went away by himself, but 
 not toward home. 
 
 " I say it's a shame ; I'll go right 
 home to mother." 
 
 "And so will I," sobbed Eddy; 
 "she will make him go back quick, 
 you see if she don't, double meter, I 
 can tell you? And little Eddy, un- 
 der the wing of his mother's authori- 
 ty, seemed to himself to have sud- 
 denly grown quite large. 
 
 " And my mother will say it's aw- 
 ful cruel in him; and there is poor 
 Sam all alone, frightened most to 
 death, I know he is;" and Alice 
 cried harder than ever. 
 
 Ernest had not left the raft; he 
 stood by it wondering if he would 
 not be able to loosen and take it over 
 himself for Sam ; but his mother had 
 expressly forbidden his venturing up-
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 205 
 
 on the water alone until he became 
 older, and when he remembered this 
 he knew it was useless for him to ask 
 permission. 
 
 Rachel would have seemed, to any 
 one who did not know her, almost 
 unconcerned about what had taken 
 place ; but those who did know her 
 could have seen, from the flash of her 
 eyes, and her tight suppressed lips, 
 that she was trying to keep down her 
 temper, to shut the gates while there 
 was time. Perhaps she was helped 
 in all this by the feeling which there 
 was at the bottom of her heart that 
 she had been the occasion of all the 
 trouble. Poor Rachel has many hard 
 lessons to learn, but in after life she 
 looked back to this, in which she had 
 made so many persons unhappy, as 
 one of the very hardest of them all,
 
 206 RACHEL; OB, 
 
 She did not like to go home. To tell 
 her mother that Sam was left would 
 be to confess all that she had done. 
 She would get no pity from Nancy ; 
 indeed, she dreaded the shake of her 
 head, and the blame she would re- 
 ceive from her, more than anything 
 she expected from her mother. What 
 could be done ? who would help her ? 
 The other children, thinking more 
 of Sam than of her trouble, left her 
 standing, looking out over the sea with 
 a very sad face. So she found her- 
 self alone, with only that dismal, dis- 
 mal moaning that the ocean made as 
 it broke upon the shore. Rachel 
 here, and Sam on the island, were at 
 the same moment listening to it, and 
 with feelings not dissimilar. Sam 
 had not believed that they would 
 really leave him until the raft was
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 207 
 
 fairly out of sight ; then he began to 
 call, louder and louder, as there was 
 less probability of his receiving an 
 answer, until, frightened by the sound 
 of his own voice, he stopped, looked 
 around him timidly, and at last began 
 to cry. With the first burst of tears 
 all his angry, sullen feelings left him, 
 and fear and loneliness gradually took 
 entire possession of him. By the time 
 the raft had reached home, and the 
 children had landed, Sam would have 
 been willing to say anything in the 
 way of promise for the future, or 
 amendment for the past, if it had 
 been possible ; but, alas ! it was now 
 too late. It was yet broad daylight, 
 or the rays of the sun were only begin- 
 ning to fade, still Sam was very con- 
 scious of every change in the light. 
 The dark pines looked darker ; they
 
 208 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 sang from under their boughs a loud- 
 er, sadder song, and the ocean, how it 
 did moan, moan, moan ! 
 
 It is never pleasant to hear of a 
 frightened child, so we will leave 
 Sam standing there, screaming and 
 crying by turns, calling in vain, 
 
 "Tom! Tom! Tom! if you will 
 only come back for me I never will 
 do so again. 5> 
 
 While Rachel at last goes sorrow- 
 fully home, Eddy finds his mother 
 and tells her ; but she only regards it 
 as one of Tom's tricks, and thinks he 
 is already on his way to bring Sam 
 back, so she does not trouble herself 
 about it. Alice and Ernest meet 
 their mother coming for them, and 
 though she thinks Tom too arbitrary, 
 still she blames Rachel, and hopes a 
 hard lesson will do Sam good. She,
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 209 
 
 too, thinks Tom has gone back, and 
 expects every moment to hear the 
 boys' voices as they come walking 
 past her house together. So Alice 
 and Ernest are comforted, and after a 
 hearty supper, and a pleasant even- 
 ing talk with their dear mother, they 
 go to bed and forget poor desolate 
 Sam. Not so Eachel, though of her 
 experience we must tell in another 
 chapter.
 
 210 RACHEL ; OR, 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 RACHEL'S REPENTANCE. 
 
 IT was so late when Rachel opened 
 the front gate that she found Nancy 
 standing on the door steps waiting 
 for her, and her mother called as 
 soon as she heard her, to know if 
 anything had happened. 
 
 Rachel hardly knew what answer 
 to make ; she knew her mother meant 
 to inquire if there had been any ac- 
 cident. There certainly had not, 
 but still there was so much wrong 
 that Nancy noticed the hesitation 
 in her "No, mamma,' 1 and determ- 
 ined "to go to the bottom of the 
 matter" before she allowed Rachel 
 to go to sleep. Now, therefore, she
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 211 
 
 petted the child in her usual way, 
 gave her the delicacies which she had 
 been keeping for her supper, and was 
 so kind and gentle with her that Ra- 
 chel could hardly keep from bursting 
 into tears several times. Nancy no- 
 ticed all these marks of emotion, 
 and felt the more confirmed in her 
 opinion. 
 
 As it grew dusk, a child came 
 running in from one of the fisher- 
 men's huts to say that his mother was 
 very sick and wanted Nancy, whose 
 knowledge of medicine made her in 
 great request among the poor people 
 on the island. Nancy forgot every- 
 thing else in her kind desire to take 
 with her all that might be needed, 
 and hurried away, entirely forgetting 
 her doubts of Rachel. 
 
 Rachel watched her until she was
 
 212 RACHEL ; OR, 
 
 out of sight, and then very quickly 
 resolved to do what she had wished, 
 but had hitherto no idea of being 
 able to perform. There was no rest 
 for her at home. At the full table her 
 supper, hungry as she was, had been 
 taken with difficulty. Sam constantly 
 hovered near her, not visibly, my 
 young reader ; it would have been a 
 great comfort to her if he had done so ; 
 but still he was there, almost as real- 
 ly, for he was never out of her mind. 
 She seemed to see him as he stood on 
 the wharf waving his cap to them. 
 What was he doing now ? Where was 
 his supper ? Was he afraid there all 
 alone ? Would Tom go for him ? 
 
 These are only a few of the many 
 questions which she kept constantly 
 asking herself, or rather which her 
 conscience asked her. Rachel's con-
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 213 
 
 science was beginning to be the mayor 
 of her city, and took her to task for 
 everything that disturbed or destroy- 
 ed its peace. Now it told her that 
 she was the real cause of all Sam's 
 trouble; not that Sam himself had 
 not been to blame, but she should 
 have taken another and a gentler 
 method of reproving him. If she 
 could only persuade Tom to go back 
 for him what would she not do, what 
 would she not give him ! Rachel 
 was very much puzzled ; she thought 
 over every treasure she possessed 
 in the world. There were her dolls ; 
 there was Ella, the darling, with eyes 
 that would open and shut, he should 
 have her; or Sue, made of rubber, 
 able to cry almost like a real child. 
 Yes, she would take them both and 
 give him his choice, if he would only
 
 214 . RACHEL; OF, 
 
 go back and bring Sam home. She 
 ran to her play-room, and had both 
 dolls hidden under her cape, when 
 she remembered hearing Tom laugh 
 at Eddy for playing with Alice's dolls, 
 and call him "girl-boy;" what should 
 he want of them himself? She put 
 them gladly by, for she loved them 
 dearly, and it was very hard to think 
 of parting with them ; but conscience 
 told her that, next to being sorry, try- 
 ing to make amends was the quickest 
 and surest way of repairing broken 
 walls. The reparation, or sacrifice on 
 her part for the sake of making 
 amendment, was giving up her dolls ; 
 but if Tom did not want them, and 
 would only laugh at her if she offer- 
 ed them to him, why, then, they were 
 safe, and they might really be hers 
 still.
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 215 
 
 Books? She had already quite a 
 library, which her parents had given 
 her ; but these Tom called u girl's 
 trash." He had said that very day, 
 when she was telling the other chil- 
 dren a story she had just read, that 
 he didn't see any fun in such young 
 stuff. When he heard stories he 
 wanted them to be something with a 
 snapper to them; something about 
 shipwrecks, pirates, going to sea, or 
 seeing new countries. He wouldn't 
 give a fig for your home stories about 
 good and bad children ; he had quite 
 enough of them every day of his 
 life. All this had made quite an 
 impression upon Rachel as he said it, 
 and now it made the handsome rows 
 of blue, crimson, and gilt books look 
 quite insignificant to her anxious eyes. 
 
 While she was in this dilemma her
 
 216 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 canaries began to sing. O dear, if 
 she only could ! The thought left 
 her eyes full of tears. Could she 
 give him Nellie ? She didn't sing so 
 much as Dick, and would not be 
 quite so sadly missed. But then 
 there were the cunning eggs, and by 
 and by, Nancy said, Nell would have 
 some little tiny birds to take care of. 
 Dear me ! no ; Tom would like them. 
 He came almost every day to see 
 them, and hear them sing ; but she 
 could not, could not ; and Rachel's 
 tears streamed down so fast that they 
 quite hid the cage from her view. 
 
 "The dearer you love them the 
 more reparation you will make," said 
 her conscience. 
 
 " Dear ! dear ! dear I" said Rachel, 
 wringing her hands, " I can't, I can't, 
 O dear, I can't !"
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 21 *T 
 
 "Then you are not truly sorry," 
 Baid that troublesome conscience 
 again. " If you were, you would be 
 willing to give anything to get Sam 
 safely home." 
 
 " I am sorry, I am ;" and I am 
 afraid if conscience had been a 
 child standing by Rachel's side, not- 
 withstanding her sorrow, she felt so 
 troubled at the thought of parting 
 with her birds she might have easily 
 repented of the offense of growing 
 angry and striking the child. 
 
 " There," said conscience promptly, 
 " don't you see you are only sorry for 
 Sam's suffering and not because you 
 did wrong ? You feel as if it was 
 mean in you to be so comfortable here 
 while he is there all alone. You re- 
 gret this more than you do your sin." 
 
 " O I don't, I don't," groaned Ra- 
 
 14
 
 218 RACHEL ; OR, 
 
 chel, soothing herself down; "what 
 shall I do ? I can't do right any way, 
 and I can't part with ray birds, and 1 
 can't have poor Sam there alone all 
 the long, long night. O I am so un- 
 happy !" 
 
 " You must give up your birds, then, 
 that will make you happier at once. 
 Try it and see." 
 
 " Will it ?" and Kachel lifted up her 
 head and looked again toward the 
 cage. Nell was putting her head far 
 out between the wires, chirping in 
 her pretty way, as if she wanted to 
 ask what made her young mistress so 
 sad,- and Dick, standing on one foot, 
 was singing his evening song. She re- 
 membered how often Nancy had told 
 her this was a way God had given 
 the birds of saying their prayers ; and 
 she wished Dick only knew how
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 219 
 
 wrong she had acted, and would ask 
 God to forgive her, and bring Sam 
 home without any more trouble to 
 her, or without making her think she 
 ought to give up her birds. While 
 Rachel was going through all this 
 discipline, which was a part of what 
 God had assigned to her in this trial- 
 world, it was fast growing dark out 
 of doors. Her mamma had friends 
 from Boston staying with her, and 
 she was busy with them in the par- 
 lor. On such occasions Rachel had 
 generally gone with Nancy to see the 
 sick person, and Mrs. Tilton, knowing 
 that Nancy was away, and not seeing 
 Rachel, supposed she had gone too, 
 so the child was left to do as she 
 pleased. It was against her mother's 
 express command that she should 
 leave the yard after dark. Never
 
 220 EACHEL ; OR, 
 
 having been near the sea before, Ra- 
 chel had found it almost impossible 
 to go home and be shut up in the 
 house while it was calling her from* 
 the beach within sight of her bed- 
 room window. So when they first 
 came to the island she had left home 
 at a late hour without leave, and after 
 some anxious search she had been 
 found on the shore, sitting to watch 
 the stare come up out of the sea. At 
 that time her mother forbade her 
 going out again after tea unless she 
 was with Nancy. 
 
 We must do Rachel the justice to 
 say that in the hurry and trouble of 
 her feelings she forgot this, and it is 
 always so. One sin makes way for 
 so many others. The saying is that 
 " misery loves company," and I think 
 it is so with sins. You give one ad-
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 221 
 
 tnittance and another is sure to fol- 
 low. This is an important thing, 
 which I very much wish to make im- 
 pressive. You may think that this 
 one little thing which you are about 
 to do is so very little that it is quite, 
 unimportant. Far from it ; this little 
 thing is hand in hand with another, 
 perhaps a greater, and you cannot 
 tell where or how the harm will end. 
 Rachel saw now that it was fast 
 growing dark. Whatever she did 
 must be done quickly. At this mo- 
 ment Zaid came in at the door, and 
 seeing her began to purr very loudly, 
 in order to say how glad she was to 
 see her after her long absence. She 
 came to her, rubbed her soft white 
 sides against her, lifted her tail, as if 
 asking her to use it for a handle and 
 take her into her arms, and stared up
 
 222 RACHEL ; OR, 
 
 into her face with her green cat's 
 eyes with as intelligent a look as a 
 kitten can well have. 
 
 " O Zaid ! Zaid ! you will do, I 
 know you will, you darling, precious, 
 precious kit;" and Rachel caught 
 her up, covered her with kisses, and 
 hugged her so close that, in spite of 
 her unwillingness to hurt her little 
 mistress, she had to put out a pretty 
 sharp claw in self-defense ; but Rachel 
 did not feel it. She would not give 
 herself a minute in which to think; 
 Tom should have Zaid all his own, 
 she never would ask him to give it 
 back ; he might take it home and keep 
 it forever if he only would go for poor 
 Sam. Going out at the garden gate, 
 she ran off with all speed, carrying 
 Zaid toward the spot where the raft 
 was moored. She had not thought
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 223 
 
 but that Tom would be waiting for 
 her ; but when she found only the 
 lonely shore, and the raft dancing up 
 and down on the water, she felt dis- 
 appointed. Where was he? how 
 could she waste the time to hunt him 
 up ? and the light in the western sky 
 was fading out fast, she saw that 
 plainly. No child stops to think 
 long when it has anything to do ; cer- 
 tainly Rachel did not now. Zaid 
 mewed most emphatically several 
 times to tell her that she was hurting 
 her ; but it did not matter, she hard- 
 ly heard her ; it was only of finding 
 Tom that she thought. She was go- 
 ing to his house, running very fast, 
 and out of breath, when he called 
 her. He had not dared to go home, 
 for he very well knew if he did that his 
 mother would send him back at once
 
 224 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 for Sam ; and though, in truth, he 
 meant to return, yet he did not wish 
 to do so until he had given Sam a 
 good fright, which would make him 
 more manageable for the future. So 
 he had staid around in the woods, 
 where he thought he should not be 
 very likely to be found. And in 
 order to make good his words that 
 the raft should not go back to the 
 island to-night he intended to take the 
 boat, which, though old, (his father 
 had taken the new one,) was sound 
 and sea- worthy, if well-managed. His 
 mother never liked to have him use 
 this ; Tom knew it, and as he loved 
 his mother, he almost always did, in 
 this respect, as she wished. But Tom 
 had been hasty, and acted unkindly 
 to-night, and, as we have already said, 
 it is the way things always go ; after
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 225 
 
 sin some other wrong act follows. 
 When he saw Rachel he wondered 
 where she could be going at such 
 an unusual hour, and what for, and it 
 was his curiosity that made him stop 
 her. 
 
 " O Tom," she said, u are you here ? 
 I am so very, very glad. Here is 
 Zaid, and you may have her for your 
 own if you will go right over and 
 bring Sam home." 
 
 So great had been Rachel's sacri- 
 fice ; so fast had her heart beaten, as 
 she had pressed Kitty against it as 
 she came ; so many tears were waiting 
 all ready to flow, that she spoke very 
 indistinctly, and Tom could not tell 
 what she was saying, until he peeped 
 into the bundle, which was wrapped 
 up in the corner of her cape, and saw 
 the white kitten.
 
 226 RACHEL ; OR, 
 
 " What are you going to do with 
 that ?" he asked. 
 
 " Give her to you, if you will only 
 bring Sam home." 
 
 What a loud, hearty laugh Tom 
 laughed ; it really frightened Rachel, 
 so that, excited as she was, she began 
 to tremble. 
 
 " I wouldn't give a copper for all 
 the kittens there are on Nelson's 
 Island," he said bluntly. " Now, if 
 it was a pup you might hire me; 
 but a cat, what on earth do you sup- 
 pose I could do with a cat ? Why, 
 they are for girls ; who ever knew a 
 boy care a pin for one ?" 
 
 Now Rachel did cry, not aloud, 
 boisterously, as Alice did when Tom 
 troubled her, but with great tears 
 rolling one after another down her 
 cheeks as fast as they could. She
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 227 
 
 made no sound, and Tom watched 
 her for a moment in silence. 
 
 " What are you crying for ?" he 
 said at last ; " do you want to get rid 
 of the kitten ? I can drown her for 
 you if you do." 
 
 Drown Zaid ! The very enormity 
 of the proposition seemed to give Ra- 
 chel courage, and she sobbed out : 
 
 "O Tom! Tom! if you would let 
 me keep her I should be so hap- 
 
 py" 
 
 " Keep her ! of course you may ; 
 what on earth do you suppose a fel- 
 low like me wants to do with a cat ?" 
 
 Rachel felt as if a great weight 
 had been taken off her, for it must be 
 confessed just now she had forgotten 
 Sam in her grief at parting with 
 Zaid. She made kitty scratch and 
 mew many times before she stopped
 
 228 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 caressing her, and then she suddenly 
 recollected. 
 
 " But will you go for Sam ?" 
 
 "Sam! O that is a different thing. 
 He must learn to mind the governor, 
 or, you see, we shall have nothing but 
 law-breaking on the Island, and that 
 wont do. But, say, did you come 
 way over here and bring your cat to 
 give me, all for Sam 2" 
 
 " Yes," said Rachel. 
 
 " Jolly ! you are a girl what is a 
 girl ! I like that now. It shows real 
 grit in you." 
 
 "What is that?" 
 
 " O, don't you know ? Well, never 
 you mind, you will find out soon 
 enough or I lose my guess ;" and Tom 
 looked admiringly at the child as 
 she stood there in the deepening twi- 
 light.
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALL3. 229 
 
 " Come, now, I will tell you what 
 I will do, because it's cute in you, and 
 shows if you have temper you can be 
 sony for it. Aunt Lee tells us often 
 that it is the noblest thing in the 
 w r orld to say you are sorry if you have 
 injured any one, and I think she is 
 right, because it's the hardest. Now 
 you have been and gone and done it. 
 You haven't said it, but you have 
 acted it, and that is a heap better." 
 
 Each el did not understand all that 
 Tom meant. She only felt that he 
 was good-natured, and that perhaps 
 she might accomplish her object if 
 she would persist. 
 
 " You will go for Sam, then," she 
 said hopefully. 
 
 " I don't know. Will you go with 
 me?" 
 
 "Yes."
 
 230 EACHEL; OR, 
 
 " Come on, then." 
 
 The two children went together 
 down to a cove at some distance from 
 that in which the -raft was moored, 
 and found the old boat partly drawn 
 up on shore. She was half full of 
 water. 
 
 " We shall have to bail," said the 
 tired boy, as he looked down into 
 it. For the first time since he had 
 left the island he wished he had 
 brought Sam with them. 
 
 " Is that much work ?" 
 
 " Yes, when a fellow is as tired as 
 a dog, and has only a pint dipper 
 to bail with ; but I don't see any 
 help." So Tom picked up a tin dish, 
 which had been previously used for 
 that purpose, and began the task. 
 Rachel watched him a moment in 
 silence, then she said, "There is an
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 231 
 
 old tin pan in the wreck. I will run 
 for it, it will hold more than that." 
 
 "That's cute; don't let the grass 
 grow under your feet." 
 
 Rachel had no need to be told to 
 be quick in this odd way. She was 
 tired too, but she did not think of 
 it, and it seemed, even to impatient 
 Tom, but a very short time before she 
 came running back with two tin pans 
 in her hand. "That is the kind of 
 girl I like," he said to himself; "she 
 is worth half a dozen like Alice. I 
 declare she is better than Ernest, and 
 I thought he was pretty well up." 
 
 Together the boy and girl soon 
 cleared the water from the boat, and 
 though the late summer twilight had 
 entirely gone before they were ready 
 to start, still the stars came out so 
 bright, and the water looked so white
 
 232 KACHEL; OR, 
 
 and pretty, with its little night-caps of 
 foam, that Rachel felt no fear as she 
 jumped into the boat and Tom 
 pushed off. 
 
 She had never before been on the 
 water in the evening, and now, hav- 
 ing her heart relieved by the knowl- 
 edge that Sam would soon be with 
 her, and her conscience by the expia- 
 tion which she felt she had made in 
 being willing to give away her pre- 
 cious cat, she felt really happy, and 
 quite enjoyed the scene. The low 
 evening song of the mighty ocean 
 might indeed have been pleasant to 
 other and older children. Then there 
 was the clear, starlit sky, the soft rock- 
 ing motion of the waves, and the 
 freshness, the almost fragrance with 
 which the air was filled. How sweetly 
 the billows came and went, never still.
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 233 
 
 never still. There was something in 
 the ceaseless motion which alone 
 would have been charming to a child. 
 
 Tom usually sang as he rowed. He 
 knew several pretty boat songs ; but 
 to-night he was silent. In truth, he 
 was too weary to care for anything 
 but accomplishing the object of the 
 trip and then going to bed, so he sat 
 silent. 
 
 Zaid went to sleep in Rachel's 
 arms, the best compliment she could 
 pay to the evening's sail. 
 
 When they reached the island, Tom 
 called Sam several times in a very 
 loud voice, hoping the child would 
 hear him and would come down and 
 save him the trouble of going on 
 shore ; but no Sam answered. Ra- 
 chel called too. No reply. A little 
 alarmed, Tom left the boat in 
 
 15
 
 234 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 Rachel's care and sprang on the 
 wharf. What if something had hap- 
 pened ? Tom felt his heart stop beat- 
 ing as he asked himself this question. 
 All at once the fondness which he 
 really felt for his brother rushed over 
 him. He did not think of his faults, 
 of the many times in which he had 
 been annoyed by him. All that he 
 remembered was he heard no answer 
 to his call, and perhaps but that 
 perhaps was too hard to be en- 
 dured, and Tom thrust it away from 
 him with a great effort. So it will 
 be with you, my readers. If you are 
 ever unkind to your brothers or 
 sisters there will come a time wher 
 you will not wish to remember it, 
 but will try to put it away. Tom 
 was a very short time going to the 
 house. Here he thought most prob-
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 235 
 
 ably Sam would take refuge, and 
 here he found him asleep, curled 
 up on the pile of cloths which 
 had served for the partitions, and 
 which he had so mischievously torn 
 down. 
 
 At first Tom had a horrible fear 
 that he was dead, he slept so soundly, 
 and gave so little heed to any of his 
 attempts to rouse him. But at last 
 he started with a scream which 
 alarmed Tom almost as much as his 
 silence. It was some time before 
 Tom could waken him to a full sense 
 of where he was, and that he had 
 come to take him home. 
 
 Rachel sat in the boat trying to 
 look through the darkness and see if 
 they were not coming. She heard 
 the scream, and seizing the oars, 
 pushed the boat a little way from
 
 236 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 shore, dropping Zaid on the bottom 
 as she did so ; but in a moment she 
 heard Tom's voice. 
 
 " Wake up old fellow, can't you ? 
 Why you reel about here like a 
 drunken man. There, that is it. 
 Want to take hold of my hand ? So 
 you may. Why, you shake as if you 
 were cold. You aint frightened 
 now, with me along, are you? and 
 here is Rachel and her kitten. Come, 
 wake up ; we'll have you home in a 
 jiffy, see if we don't." 
 
 Tom's voice was very gentle, al- 
 most tender. Rachel had never 
 heard it sound so before, and she 
 wondered as she listened. 
 
 "Here we are; row up, Rachel; 
 what in nature are you out there for ! 
 I say, if that isn't gay, to think Sam 
 and I could step down into the water
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 237 
 
 to you ; why it's five miles deep, I 
 dare say." 
 
 Rachel brought the boat quickly 
 back, the boys jumped on board, and 
 much more quickly than they came 
 over, for the wind was in their favor, 
 they made their way to Nelson's 
 Island. 
 
 Tom told Sam, who had been silent 
 ever since he was wakened, to go di- 
 rectly home, while he went round 
 with Rachel, and without waiting to 
 be spoken to a second time, Sam 
 disappeared. His mother received 
 him as if his corning was a matter of 
 course. He was often out as late with 
 Tom, and always had come back safe- 
 ly,, so she never gave herself any 
 trouble about him. She little knew 
 what a tempest of feeling the little 
 fellow had passed through since she
 
 238 EACHEL; OK, 
 
 saw him last, and it was not until a 
 long time after that he summoned 
 courage to tell any one. 
 
 As Rachel came near home she 
 remembered, for the first time, how 
 disobedient she had been. She had 
 been gone from home nearly two 
 hours, but as Nancy had not yet re- 
 turned, she had not been missed. Mrs. 
 Tilton was, therefore, very much sur- 
 prised when she opened the door of 
 her room, and coming straight to her 
 said: 
 
 "Mamma, I have disobeyed you, 
 and I am very sorry; I forgot all 
 about it, I was so busy thinking of 
 Sain." 
 
 "What have you done, my dar- 
 ling?" said her mother, putting her 
 arm affectionately around her.
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 239 
 
 "I have been with Torn over to 
 the island since dark." 
 
 Here followed a long conversation, 
 which, as it would be only a repeti- 
 tion of what we have already said, it is 
 not necessary to detail to the reader. 
 Suffice it to say, Mrs. Tilton felt that 
 she never loved Rachel better than 
 when, after a full confession on her 
 part, she knelt down with her, and 
 begged God to strengthen the walls 
 of her city, and set sharp watchmen 
 around upon it, that none of these 
 harmful, unbidden guests might en- 
 ter.
 
 240 RACHEL; OB, 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 CAPTAIN LEE'S RETURN. 
 
 THE early summer sun waited a 
 long time the next morning for the 
 " shipwrecked mariners " to make 
 their appearance. The unusual fa- 
 tigue and excitement of the day be- 
 fore had made them sound and late 
 sleepers, and when, at last, one after 
 the other made their appearance 
 down by the shore, they were tired, 
 sleepy looking children, seeming not 
 to care very much whether the raft 
 left her moorings for all the live-long 
 day. 
 
 Tom, too, had lost much of his in- 
 terest in the new home ; it is so true 
 that the spirit of happiness to the
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 241 
 
 young is in doing right. The cloud, 
 not bigger than a man's hand, that can 
 cover their whole heaven, is what 
 may seem at the time the smallest 
 sin. Tom was tired of the authority 
 which brought him so much trouble 
 and some repentance. He began to 
 think the children too young to play 
 with, and to wish John was back 
 from sea, or that some bigger children 
 would drop down on the island. The 
 consequence was that when the lag- 
 ging mariners were all ready for em- 
 barkation, Rachel with a larger bask- 
 et than she had brought before, and 
 every one with hands full of articles 
 which were to supply some discover- 
 ed necessity, Tom told them he had 
 changed his mind, and instead of go- 
 ing to the island he was going down 
 to the cove to fish.
 
 242 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 There was no denying his right to 
 do as he pleased ; so, after some con- 
 sultation among themselves, they de- 
 termined to spend the day upon the 
 wreck, picnicing there, instead of do- 
 ing so at their new home. 
 
 The day was not more than half 
 through, a very quiet, happy day it 
 was, in which they all agreed, told 
 stories, played at housekeeping, and 
 each one took pains to- be obliging 
 and kind to the others, when the 
 shell sounded from Mrs. Lee's house, 
 and Ernest ran to see what their 
 mother wanted. 
 
 A letter had just been brought 
 from their father, in which he wrote, 
 that having determined not to go to the 
 port which made the extreme length 
 of his journey, he had already set 
 sail for home, and might be expected
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 243 
 
 in a very few days after the arrival of 
 the steamer which would bring this 
 letter. What a time of rejoicing it 
 was, how quickly the children flew 
 from one house to another, telling 
 the good news, and how little else 
 was talked of or thought of that day, 
 those of my readers who have learned 
 to love Captain Lee may imagine. 
 
 In their delight they even forgot 
 the party which they had intended 
 to get up on the little island for his 
 reception, and it was not until grave- 
 ly reminded of it by Tom after his 
 return at night from his fishing ex- 
 cursion, that they began to feel how 
 much remained to be done. For sev- 
 eral successive days they went regular- 
 ly to the island, worked with much 
 concord and earnestness, and when at 
 last the white sails of the ship rose
 
 244 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 above that distant horizon beneath 
 which they last disappeared, every- 
 thing was in readiness. 
 
 Tom's raft had been lying at the 
 island, on the side toward the harbor, 
 waiting for this signal, and now, amid 
 a universal rejoicing which made it 
 rather unsafe for such young voyagers, 
 it was crowded with the children and 
 headed toward the ship. It had not 
 gone far when they saw the ship drop 
 anchor, a boat lowered, and two per- 
 sons run down the side. 
 
 "There's father! there's uncle! 
 there's John ! Hurrah ! Now for it, 
 three times three cheers;" and the 
 raft tipped quite into the water as 
 the boys stamped and clapped and 
 cheered at the same time. Back from 
 the boat came an answering call, and 
 very soon the two crafts were along-
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 245 
 
 side, and Alice, without much regard 
 to the deep water which rolled be- 
 tween them, sprang into her father's 
 arms. 
 
 The children must all come on 
 board the boat ; the practiced eye of 
 the sea-captain saw at once that joy 
 and rafts were not very safe compan- 
 ions under children's guidance ; so 
 Tom and John were left to row the 
 raft in, while the homeward bound 
 boat, under the long, steady pulls of 
 the captain, soon outstripped it, and 
 came into port. 
 
 Our readers must imagine all the 
 details of the return, how happy 
 Mrs. Lee's home was that night, and 
 how much pleasure it gave their fa- 
 ther to see the growth and improve- 
 ment of Ernest and Alice during his 
 absence. Nor can we find room in
 
 246 EACHEL; OR, 
 
 this volume, which is already too 
 long, to relate the particulars of the 
 party which took place in due time 
 upon the little island: we will only 
 say everything passed off to the de- 
 light of all concerned. 
 
 The great secret of the' children 
 was revealed to those at home, from 
 whom it had been faithfully and care- 
 fully kept, and Nancy won from Tom 
 the praise of being able to keep a 
 secret right smart if she was a wo- 
 man. 
 
 Mrs. Tilton and Captain Lee were 
 old friends, and the addition of the 
 little orphan Rachel to her family 
 met with his warmest approbation 
 and praise. 
 
 "To think of it," said the good 
 captain, with tears dimming his kind 
 blue eyes, "that God should have
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 247 
 
 sent us both to the same place, and 
 we should have taken these dear 
 children to bring them up as it were 
 together on this island ;" and then, as 
 he ran his eye over the group of chil- 
 dren, a sudden thought seemed to 
 strike him. 
 
 " I'll tell you what it is," he said, 
 " this shall be a kind of branch Or- 
 phan Asylum. That nice Scotch boy, 
 what do you call him, Rachel? the 
 light-haired, blue-eyed fellow, with a 
 whole summer of sunshine hidden 
 away somewhere within his laughing 
 face; the one that put on my hat, 
 you know ?" 
 
 " Christie," said both Rachel and 
 Ernest together. 
 
 "Yes, that's the one; well now, 
 children, I guess we must manage 
 some way to get him down here too ;
 
 248 KACHEL; OR, 
 
 pretty nice that would be, wouldn't 
 it?" 
 
 " Yes, sir," said both children ea- 
 gerly. 
 
 u So it would ; we will think it over 
 and let you know when we decide," 
 and the captain's face had at once the 
 look which it always wore when he 
 was thinking it over. 
 
 He held a long consultation that 
 night with his wife and Mrs. Tilton, 
 the result of which we shall make 
 known in our next volume, called 
 " Christie ; or, Where the Tree Fell." 
 We must now leave our party of 
 children. 
 
 Tom was very much pleased to 
 have done with the little folks, and 
 to be able to join in the more manly 
 sports of his elder brother John. 
 
 Sam was still plotting, and still not
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 249 
 
 to be trusted, getting himself and other 
 people into trouble, and never learn- 
 ing the great life-lesson that honesty, 
 even in trifles, is by far the best pol- 
 icy, to say nothing of its being the 
 only life pleasing to a spirit-searching 
 God. 
 
 Ernest, with no marked faults, and 
 a strong desire to do right, was quick- 
 tempered and impulsive, and still went 
 wrong sometimes because he would 
 not stop to think. 
 
 Alice, selfish and sullen by fits, suc- 
 ceeded at last in remembering the 
 prayer that she might be generous, 
 loving, and loved. 
 
 Little Eddy took the coloring of 
 whatever atmosphere he was in, hap- 
 py when the others were happy, sor- 
 ry when they were sorry, good when 
 they were good, and naughty when 
 
 16
 
 250 RACHEL; OR, 
 
 they were naughty; but we must not 
 forget that Eddy was only a very 
 little boy, and he would have more 
 character as he grew older. 
 
 As for Rachel, what shall we say 
 of the walls of her city? Certainly, 
 they were not yet safe from all assaults 
 of the enemy. Almost every day of 
 her life there were times when they 
 shook to their foundations, times 
 when she forgot to shut her gates, 
 times when the good mayor within 
 warned and invited and plead with her 
 to do so ; but she turned a deaf ear to 
 all that was said. The most difficult 
 enemy still to deal with was the vio- 
 lent temper ; but Rachel was learning 
 the value of prayer, was learning that 
 the only way to show her earnestness in 
 what she asked was to live up to the 
 light that she had. Poor little Rachel !
 
 THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS. 251 
 
 there is a lesson in her life for each 
 one of you, my young readers. 
 Have you not discovered it? Are 
 there none of you that will be more 
 watchful to rule over your own spirit, 
 so that your city may not be broken 
 down and without walls ? 
 
 THE END.
 
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