THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 ^
 
 "Dear me I how stiff and proper they both were." P. S35.
 
 THE 
 
 CHAUTAUQUA GIRLS 
 
 AT HOME. 
 
 PANSY. 
 
 AUTHOR OF "FOUR GIRLS AT CHAUTAUQUA," "HOUSE 
 HOLD PUZZLES," " ESTER RIED," &C. 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 t> LOTHROP COMPANY 
 
 FRANKLIN AND IIAWLEY STREETS
 
 Entered, accordicf to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, 
 
 BY D. LOTHROP & CO., 
 IB the Office of the L'oranan of Cor.iress at Washington
 
 25 a o 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PA6K. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 TBEADING ON NEW GEOUND ... 7 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 FLOSSY "BEGINS" 30 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 BURDENS 49 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 COL. BAKER'S SABBATH EVENING . . 72 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 NEW MUSIC 87 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DISTURBING ELEMENTS .... 102 
 
 13) 
 
 16S0277
 
 4 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAG* 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PRAYER-MEETING AND TABLEAUX . 118 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 DR. DENNIS' STUDY 134 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A WHITE SUNDAY 150 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE RAINY EVENING .... 166 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE NEXT THING 181 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 SETTLING QUESTIONS .... 197 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 LOOKING FOR WORK .... 211 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 AN UNARMED SOLDIER .... 227 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 MARION'S PLAN 243
 
 CONTENTS. 6 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THEORY VERSUS PRACTICE . . . 25 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE DISCUSSION 275 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE RESULT 291 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 KEEPING THE PROMISE .... 307 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 HOW IT WAS DONE .... 322 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 RUTH AND HAROLD . ' . . 337 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 REVIVAL 355 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE STRANGE STORY . . . .308 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 LONELINESS . 385
 
 O CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 > THE ADDED NAME 401 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 LEARNERS 418 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 FLOSSY'S PARTY 435 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 A PARTING GLANCE 451
 
 THE CHAUTAUQUA GIELS AT 
 HOME. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 TBEADING ON NEW GBOUND. 
 
 HAT last Sabbath of August was a lovely 
 day ; it was the first Sabbath that our 
 girls had spent at home since the revelation of 
 Chautauqua. It seemed lovely to them. " The 
 world looks as though it was made over new in 
 the night," Eurie had said, as she threw open 
 her blinds, and drew in whiffs of the sweet, soft 
 air. And the church, whither these girls had so 
 often betaken themselves on summer mornings, 
 just like this one how could two or three 
 
 (7)
 
 8 The CJiautauqua Crirh at Home. 
 
 weeks have changed it ? They could not feel 
 that it was the same building. 
 
 Hitherto it had been to them simply the First 
 Church ; grander, by several degrees, than any 
 other church in the city, having the finest choir, 
 and the finest organ, and the most elegant car 
 pets, and making the grandest floral display of 
 all the temples, as became the First Church, 
 of course; but to-day, this glowing, glorious 
 August day, it was something infinitely above 
 and beyond all this ; it was the visible temple of 
 the invisible God, their Saviour, and they were 
 going up to worship aye, really and truly to 
 worship. They, in their different ways, accord 
 ing to their very different natures, felt this and 
 were thrilled with it as their feet trod the aisles. 
 People can feel a great many things, and not 
 show them to the casual observer. Sitting in 
 their respective pews, they looked in no sense 
 different from the way they had looked on a 
 hundred different Sabbaths before this. 
 
 Ruth Erskine, in the corner of her father's 
 pew, attired, as she had often been before, in the 
 most delicate and exquisite of summer silks, with 
 exactly the right shade of necktie, gloves and
 
 Treading on New Ground. 9 
 
 rnish, to set off the beauty of the dress, with the 
 soft and delicate laces about her white throat, 
 for which she was especially noted, looked not 
 one whit different from the lady who sat there 
 three weeks before. You wouldn't have known 
 that her heart was singing for joy. 
 
 Flossy Shipley, aglow with elegance, as she 
 always was, looked the same airy butterfly that 
 had flitted in and out of that church on many a 
 summer day before ; and Marion, in her corner 
 in the gallery, was simply the grave, somewhat 
 weary-looking school-teacher at one of the wards 
 
 "a girl with infidel tendencies," that is all the 
 great congregation knew about her ; in fact, 
 comparatively few of them knew even that. 
 
 Eurie Mitchell was the doctor's eldest daugh 
 ter, and had in no sense improved as to her toilet 
 
 "a thing which could hardly be expected, 
 since she had thrown away so much money on 
 that wild scheme of living in the woods ; " that 
 was what some of the congregation thought 
 about her. 
 
 Dr. Dennis saw all these girls, and looked 
 gloomy over them ; he was in the mood to need 
 sympathetic hearers, to long to be in accord with
 
 10 The Chautauqua Q-irls at Home. 
 
 his audience, and feel that they could sympa 
 thize with him in his reach after a higher type 
 of religion. What could these four girls know 
 about a higher type, when they had no religion 
 at all, and had been spending two lawless weeks 
 in looking at the subject, till their hearts were 
 either attuned to ridicule or disgusted, accord 
 ing to their several temperaments? That was 
 what the faces of our four girls said to him. Yet 
 how they listened to his sermon. 
 
 " I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy 
 likeness." These were the words on which he 
 spoke ; and the burden of his thought was that 
 satisfaction was not to be sought for here ; noth 
 ing less than the absolute likeness should give 
 absolute satisfaction ; and this likeness was to 
 be forever eagerly, earnestly, constantly, sought 
 for, striven after, until some day would coine 
 that blessed awakening, and the picture would 
 be found to be complete I 
 
 Was it the best sermon that had ever been 
 preached? Was it the only spiritual sermon 
 that the First Church people had ever heard, or 
 was it that four girls had been to Chautauqua, 
 and there learned how to listen ? Their cheeks
 
 Treading on New Ground. 11 
 
 glowed, and their eyes dilated over the wonder 
 ful thoughts that the subject presented, the end 
 less possibility for climbing I 
 
 Marion Wilbur had been counted ambitious ; 
 she had longed for a chance to reach high ; here 
 was her chance ; she felt it, and gloried in it ; 
 she meant to try. Every nerve quivered with 
 the determination, and the satisfaction of realiz 
 ing that she belonged to the great royal family. 
 No more obscurity for her. She was a child of 
 the King, and the kingdom was in view. A 
 crown, aglow with jewels nothing less must 
 satisfy her now. The sermon over, the hymn 
 sung, and amid the pealing of the organ, as it 
 played the worshipers down the aisles, our four 
 girls met. 
 
 They knew each other's determination. The 
 next thing to do was to go to Sunday-school. 
 But I suppose you have no idea how strangely 
 they felt ; how much it seemed to them as if 
 they were children who had come to a party un 
 invited, and as if they must at this last minute 
 hide their heads and run home. The very effort 
 to go up to the Sunday-school room seemed too 
 much a cross to undertake.
 
 12 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 There were so many to stare, and look their 
 amazement ; there was no one to go with ; no 
 body to think of such a thing as asking them to 
 go. It would have been so much less awkward 
 if they could have followed in the lead of one 
 who had said, " Won't you come up and see our 
 Sunday-school ? " 
 
 The superintendent passed them as they stood 
 irresolute ; he bowed courteously, and no more 
 thought of asking them to join him than though 
 they had been birds of brilliant plumage flying 
 by. Dr. Dennis passed them; he said good- 
 morning, not gladly, not even graciously ; he 
 dreaded those girls, and their undoubted influ 
 ence. They had not the least idea how much 
 mischief they had done him in the way of frit 
 tering away his influence heretofore. How 
 should they know that he dreaded them ? On 
 the other hand how was he to know that they 
 absolutely longed for him to take them by the 
 hand, and say, " Come ? " They looked at him 
 curiously as he passed, and Eurie said : 
 
 " Doesn't it make your heart beat to think of 
 going to him in his study, and having a private 
 talk?"
 
 Treading on New -Ground. 13. 
 
 " Dear me ! " said Flossy, " I never shall think 
 of such a thing. I couldn't do it any more than 
 I could fly." 
 
 " There are harder things than that to do, I 
 suspect ; and it will come to a visit to his study 
 if we are to unite with the church ; don't you 
 know that is what he always asks of those ? " 
 
 And then these girls looked absolutely blank, 
 for to two of them the thought of that duty 
 had never occurred before ; they did not un 
 derstand it well enough to know that it was a 
 privilege. 
 
 " Well," said Eurie, rallying first, of course, 
 " are we to stand here gazing around us all day, 
 because nobody knows enough to invite us to go 
 upstairs ? It is clear that we are not to be in 
 vited. They are all come all the Sabbath- 
 school people ; and, hark 1 why, they are sing 
 ing." 
 
 " Dear me I " said Flossy j " then it is com 
 menced ; I hate to go in when it is commenced. 
 How very unfortunate this is 1 " 
 
 " Serves us right," said Marion. " We ought 
 to be in a condition to invite others, instead of 
 waiting here to be invited. I'll tell you what,
 
 14 The Chautauqua Crirh at Home. 
 
 girls, if we ever get to feel that we do belong, 
 let's constitute ourselves a committee to see after 
 timid strangers, like ourselves, and give them a 
 chance in, at least." 
 
 " Well," said Ruth, speaking for the first time, 
 " shall we go home and wait till next Sunday, 
 and take a fair start, as Flossy says, it isn't pleas 
 ant to go in after the exercises have fairly 
 opened ? " As she said this, for the first time 
 in her life Miss Ruth Erskine began to have a 
 dim idea that possibly she might be a coward ; 
 this certainly sounded a little like it. 
 
 Each waited to get a bit of advice from the 
 other. Both Marion and Eurie, it must be con 
 fessed, bold spirits that they were, so dreaded 
 this ordeal, that each hoped the other would ad 
 vise retreat as the wisest thing to be done next. 
 It was Flossy who spoke : 
 
 " I am going up now ; it won't be any easier 
 next Sunday, and I want to begin." 
 
 " There I " said Eurie, " that is just what 1 
 needed to shame me into common sense. What 
 a company of idiots we are I Marion, what 
 would you think of a day-scholar who would 
 stand shivering outside your doors for this
 
 Treading on New Ground. 15 
 
 length of time? Now come on, all of you;" 
 and she led the way upstairs. 
 
 How very awkward it was I It was during 
 the opening prayer that they arrived, and they 
 had to stand by the door and be peeped at by 
 irreverent children; then they had to invite 
 themselves to a vacant seat near the door. The 
 superintendent came that way presently, and 
 said: 
 
 " Good-morning, young ladies ; so you have 
 come in to visit our school ? Glad to see you ; 
 it is a pleasant place, I think you will find." 
 
 " That is extremely doubtful," Eurie said, in 
 undertone, as he passed on. How the children 
 did stare ! 
 
 " They are certainly unused to visitors," Ruth 
 said, growing uncomfortable under such pro 
 longed gazing. "What is the use of all this, 
 girls ? We might better be at home." 
 
 "If we had grown up here," Eurie said, 
 bravely, " we should probably have our place by 
 this time. It all comes of our graceful lives. 
 But I must say they make it very easy for peo 
 ple to stay away. Why on earth don't they in 
 vite us to go into Bible classes ? What right
 
 16 The Chautauqua Grirh at Some. 
 
 have they to take it for granted that we came 
 out of pure curiosity ? " 
 
 The business of the hour went on, and our 
 girls were still left unmolested. As the new 
 ness wore somewhat away, the situation begac 
 to grow funny. They could see that the pastor 
 and the superintendent were engaged in anxious 
 conversation, to judge by the gravity of their 
 faces ; and as their eyes occasionally roved in 
 that direction, it was natural to suppose they 
 were discussing the unexpected visitors. 
 
 Could they have heard the anxious talk it 
 would have been a solemn comment on their 
 reputations. 
 
 "That Morris class is vacant again to-day," 
 the superintendent was saying ; " I don't know 
 what we are to do with that class j no one is 
 willing to undertake it." 
 
 The pastor looked toward his own large class 
 waiting for him, and said, with a weary sigh : 
 
 " 1 believe I shall have to give up my class to 
 some one and take that. I don't want to ; it 13 
 a class which requires more nervous energy than 
 I have at command at this hour of the day. But 
 what is to be done with them to-day ? "
 
 Treading on New. Ground. 17 
 
 " Would it do to ask one of the y'/u^g ladies 
 on the visitors' seat ? " 
 
 And then the eyes of the two men turned 
 toward the girls. 
 
 ** They are afraid of us," whispered Eurie, her 
 propensity to see the ludicrous side of things in 
 no whit destroj'ed by her conversion. " Look 
 at their troubled faces ; they think that we are 
 harbingers of mischief. Oh me I What a repu 
 tation to have 1 But I declare it i* funny." 
 Whereupon she laughed softly, but unmi-staka- 
 bly. 
 
 It was at this moment that Dr. Dennis' eyes 
 rested on her. 
 
 " Oh, they are only here for material to make 
 sport of," he said, gloomily ; " Miss Erskine 
 might keep the boys quiet for awhile if she 
 chose to do so, I suppose." 
 
 " Or Miss Wilbur. Some of the boys in that 
 class are in school, in her ward ; they say she 
 has grand order." 
 
 Dr. Dennis' face grew stern. 
 
 "No," he said, "don't ask her; at least we 
 will not put them in a way to learn error, if we 
 can teach them nothing good. Miss Wilbur is
 
 18 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 an infidel. .1 don't know what is to be done 
 with that class, as you say. Poor Morris, I am 
 afraid, will never be able to take it again ; and 
 he was utterly discouraged with them, anyway. 
 They get no good here that I can see ; and they 
 certainly do infinite mischief to the rest of the 
 school." 
 
 " But at the same time I suppose we cannot 
 send them away ? " 
 
 " Oh, certainly not. Well, suppose you try if 
 Miss Evskine will sit there, and try to awe them 
 by her dignity for awhile. And this week we 
 must see what can be done ; she won't try it, 
 though, I presume." 
 
 It ended in the superintendent coming toward 
 them at last. He didn't like to be too personal 
 in his request, so he took the general way of 
 putting a question, resting in the belief that each 
 would refuse, and that then he could press the 
 task on Miss Erskine. 
 
 " We are short of teachers to-day ; would one 
 of you be willing to sit with that class at your 
 right, and try to interest them a little ? They 
 are a sad set ; very little can be done with them, 
 but we have to try/'
 
 Treading on New Ground. 19 
 
 I shall have to confess that both Ruth and 
 Marion were appalled. The one shrank as much 
 as the other. If it had been a class in mathe 
 matics or philosophy Marion would have beeu 
 confident of her powers ; but she felt so very 
 ignorant of the Bible. She had come in, hoping 
 and expecting a chance to slip into a grand Bi 
 ble class, where she might learn some of the in 
 ner truths of that glorious lesson that she had 
 been trying to study. But to teach it I This 
 seemed impossible. As for Ruth, no thought of 
 such an experience had as yet come to her. 
 They, therefore, maintained a dismayed silence. 
 Eurie was frank. 
 
 " I can't teach," she said ; " I don't under 
 stand it myself. I shouldn't have the least idea 
 what to say to any one about the Bible lesson.'* 
 And then they all turned and stared in a maze 
 of surprise and perplexity at little fair-haired 
 Flossy. 
 
 " I would like to try," she said, simply ; " I 
 have thought about the lesson all the week ; I 
 am not sure that I can teach anything, but 1 
 should like to talk the story over, with them if 
 they will let me."
 
 20 Tfte Chautauqua Crirh at Some. 
 
 There was nothing for it but to lead this ex 
 quisite bit of flesh and blood, in her dainty sum 
 mer toilet, before that rough and rollicking class 
 of boys, old enough, some of them, to be called 
 young men, but without an idea as to the man 
 ner of conduct that should honor that name. It 
 would be hard to tell which was the most 
 amazed and embarrassed, the superintendent or 
 the girls whom Flossy left looking after her. 
 They were quite sobered now ; they did not 
 want Flossy to come to grief. A tender feeling 
 that was new and sweet had sprung up in the 
 heart of each of them toward her. 
 
 *' That innocent little kitten knows no more 
 what she has undertaken than if she were a 
 dove," said Marion, dismay and discomfort strug 
 gling in her face. " Why, she might as well be 
 Daniel in the den of lions." 
 
 " Well," said Eurie, speaking gravely, " he 
 came out all right, you know." Then she hailed 
 the passing superintendent : 
 
 " Mr. Stuart, isn't there a Bible class that we 
 can go in ? We didn't come to look on. We 
 want to study the lesson." 
 
 "Oh, why, yes, certainly," Mr. Stuart said,
 
 Treading on New Ground. 21 
 
 stammering and looking unutterable astonish 
 ment. " Where would they like to go ? There 
 were two vacant seats in Mr. Pembrook's class, 
 and one in Judge Elmore's." 
 
 Ruth instantly chose Judge Elmore's, and left 
 Marion and Eurie to make their way to the va 
 cant places in Mr. Pembrook's class. 
 
 The young ladies of the class moved along 
 and made room for the new comers, and the 
 teacher carefully told them what chapter and 
 verse were being studied. They found their 
 places, and Mr. Pembrook searched laboriously 
 for his. He had lost the spot on his lesson leaf 
 where he had read the last question, and he was 
 ill at sea. 
 
 " Let me see," he said, " where were 
 
 None of them seemed to know j at least they 
 gave him no information. One of them tried to 
 button a glove that was too small for her ; one 
 yawned behind her Bible, and the most utter in 
 difference in regard to the lesson or the school 
 seemed to prevail. 
 
 " Oh," said Mr. Pembrook, " here is where we 
 were. I was just reading the thirtieth verse:
 
 22 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 4 As he spake these words many believed on him.' 
 Who spake them ? " 
 
 "Jesus," one answered, speaking the word 
 with a yawn. 
 
 " What did Jesus say- next ? " 
 
 The next young lady thus appealed to, hur 
 riedly looked up the place in her Bible and 
 read: 
 
 " * Then said Jesus to those Jews which be 
 lieved on him, if ye continue in my word, then 
 are ye my disciples indeed.' " 
 
 " Well," said Mr. Pembrook, after a thought 
 ful pause, " there doesn't seem to be anything 
 to say on that verse ; it is all there. Will you 
 read the next verse ? " 
 
 Now the " you " whom he timidly addressed 
 was our Marion. She doesn't understand even 
 now why her heart should have throbbed so 
 strangely ; and her voice trembled as she read 
 aloud the simple words : 
 
 " * And ye shall know the truth, and the truth 
 shall make you free.' " 
 
 " Free from what ? " she asked abruptly. 
 
 The class stared. Clearly the art of asking 
 questions was an unknown accomplishment in
 
 Treading on New Ground. 23 
 
 x 
 
 that class. Mr. Pembrook looked at her through 
 his glasses; then he pushed his glasses up on 
 his forehead. Finally he took them off, and 
 rubbed them carefully with the skirt of his coat 
 before he essayed to answer. 
 
 "Why, my dear young lady, I suppose it 
 means free from sin. The Lord Jesus Christ 
 was speaking to his people, you know, to Chris 
 tian people." 
 
 " Are Christian people free from sin ? " 
 
 There was no note of cavil in Marion's voice. 
 Her eyes were earnest and serious; and she 
 waited, as one waits in honest perplexity, to have 
 a puzzle solved. But she was known as one who 
 held dangerous, even infidel notions, and Mr. 
 Pembrook, bewildered as to how to answer her, 
 seemed to feel that probably a rebuke was what 
 she needed. 
 
 " It is not for us to find fault with the words 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ, my dear young lady. 
 He spoke them, and they must mean what they 
 gay. We are to accept them in all sincerity and 
 humility, remembering that what we know not 
 now we shall know hereafter. That is the Chri*~ 
 tian way to do."
 
 24 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 And then he cleared his throat and asked the 
 next young lady to read the next verse. 
 
 Two bright spots glowed on Marion's cheeks. 
 She bent her head low over her Bible, and it was 
 with difficulty that she kept a rush of tears from 
 filling her eyes. Had she seemed to cavil at 
 the words of her Lord when she simply longed 
 with all her soul to understand ? Did the prom 
 ise mean, You shall be free from sin ? Had she 
 a right to look forward to and hope for the time 
 when sin should have no more dominion ? Then 
 that other sentence : " Continue in my work." 
 Just what did it mean? Could one who was 
 searching it eagerly and prayerfully, and trying 
 to abide by its directions, be said to be continu 
 ing in it ? 
 
 There were a dozen questions that she longed 
 to ask. She had sought the Sabbath-school this 
 morning in search of help. She felt blind and 
 lame, unable to take a step in any direction lest 
 in her ignorance she should err, as already she 
 had. Something in her way of speaking of 
 these things must be radically wrong. She had 
 misled this good man. It was no use to ask him 
 questions.
 
 Treading on New Ground. 25 
 
 As the lesson progressed there appeared other 
 reasons why she need not question him. Clearly 
 the good man knew nothing about his lesson 
 save the questions contained on the bit of paper 
 before him. It was entirely evident that he had 
 not looked at the verses, nor thought of them 
 until he came before his class. 
 
 It was equally plain that his scholars were 
 entirely accustomed to this state of things, and 
 were careful to follow his example. He could 
 read a question at them from his lesson paper, 
 and they could read an answer back to him from 
 their Bibles, and this was all that either party 
 expected of the other. Why these young ladies 
 continued to come Sabbath after Sabbath, and 
 go over this weary routine of question and an 
 swer was a mystery to Marion. 
 
 She came away from the school in a most un- 
 comfortable frame of mind. That to which she 
 had looked forward all the week had proved a 
 disappointment and a failure; She was almost 
 inclined to say that she would have no more to 
 do with Sunday-schools ; that they really were 
 the humbug that she had always supposed them. 
 
 " Imagine my going to a philosophy class,
 
 26 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 knowing no more about the lesson than that old 
 man did to-day 1 " she said to Eurie, as they 
 walked down to the corner of Elm Street to 
 gether. 
 
 " I know," said Eurie, speaking with unusual 
 thoughtfulness ; " but suppose you were dull in 
 the class, if it were known after all that you 
 could make the most brilliant philosophical ex 
 periments you would probably be listened to 
 with respect." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " asked Marion bewil 
 dered. 
 
 " Why, I mean that Deacon Pembrook can 
 perform the experiments successfully. In other 
 words, to come down to your comprehension, he 
 succeeds in living so pure and careful a Christian 
 life that he has the respect and confidence of 
 everybody. What if he can't preach ? He can 
 practice. However, I am willing to admit that 
 the dear old man would be more edifying if he 
 would study his lesson a little. Wasn't it funny 
 to think of calling that * teaching ? ' " And then 
 this volatile young lady laughed. But her mor 
 alizing had done Marion good. 
 
 She said good-morning more cheerily, and
 
 Treading on New Ground. 27 
 
 on her way thinking over the many things 
 that she had heard in honor of Deacon Pern- 
 brook ; so that by the time she had reached her 
 boarding-house, although his teaching would 
 certainly make a very poor show, yet his sweet 
 Christian life had come up to plead for him, and 
 Marion was forced to feel that the truth had 
 
 made him free." 
 
 " But it is a real pity not to study his lesson," 
 she said, as she went about her gloomy-looking 
 room. Those girls didn't get a single idea to 
 help them in any way. Some of them need 
 ideas badly enough. Two or three of them 
 are members of the church, I am sure. That 
 Allie March is, but she has no ideas on any 
 subject; you can see that in the grammar 
 class." 
 
 And .then Marion remembered that Allie 
 March was in her grammer class ; and Allie was 
 a professed Christian. Could she help her? It 
 was not pride in Marion, but she had to smile at 
 the thought of herself being helped by so very 
 third-rate a brain as that which Allie March pos 
 sessed. And then she paused, with her hand on 
 the clothes-press door, and her face glowed at
 
 28 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 the new and surprising thought that just then 
 came to her. 
 
 " Would it not be possible for her, Marion 
 Wilbur, to help Allie March, even in her Chris 
 tian life 1 " 
 
 All that afternoon, though, she went about or 
 gat down in her room with a sense of loneliness. 
 No one to speak to who could understand and 
 would believe in her, even in the Sunday-school 
 they were afraid of her. How could she help 
 or be helped, while this state of things lasted ? 
 
 It was in the early twilight that, as she sat 
 with her hat and sack on, waiting for Eurie, who 
 had engaged to call for her to go to church, she 
 strayed across a verse or two in her new posses 
 sion, the Bible, that touched the point. It was 
 where Saul "essayed to join himself to the 
 disciples ; but they were all afraid of him, and 
 believed not that he was a disciple." Her expe 
 rience precisely I They were afraid of her influ 
 ence ; afraid of- her tongue ; afraid of her exam 
 ple ; and, indeed, what reason had they to feel 
 otherwise ? But she read on, that blessed verse 
 wherein it says : "But Barnabas took him, and 
 brought him to the apostles, and declared unto
 
 Treading on New Ground. 29 
 
 them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and 
 that he had spoken to him." She was reading 
 this for the second time, when Eurie came. 
 
 " See here, Eurie, read this," she said, as she 
 passed her the Bible and made her final prepara 
 tions for church. " Isn't that our experience ? 
 I mean I think it is to be ours. Judging from 
 to-day as a foretaste, they will be afraid of us 
 and believe not that we are disciples." 
 
 Eurie laughed, a quick little laugh tht had 
 an undertone of feeling in it, as she said : 
 
 " Well, then, I hope we shall find a Barnabas 
 to vouch for us before long." 
 
 And Marion knew that she, too, felt the lone 
 liness and the sense of belonging to no one. 
 " We must help each other very much, we girls." 
 This she said to herself as they went dowo the 
 steps together.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 FLOSSY "BEGINS." 
 
 JLOSSY SHIPLEY'S first day at Sab- 
 bath -school was different. She went 
 over to the class of boys, who were al 
 most young men, with trepidation indeed, and 
 yet with an assured sort of feeling that they 
 would be quiet. Just how she was going to ac 
 complish this she was not certain. She had 
 studied the words of the lesson most carefully 
 and prayerfully ; indeed, they had been more in 
 her mind all the week than had anything else. 
 At the same time, she by no means understood 
 how to teach those words and thoughts to the 
 style of young men who were now before her. 
 
 Still, there was that in Flossy which always 
 held the attention of the young men ; she 
 (80)
 
 Flo$sy "Begin*." 81 
 
 knew this to be the case, and, without under 
 standing what her peculiar power was, she felt 
 that she had it, and believed that she could call 
 it into service for this new work. They stared 
 at her a little as she took her seat, then they 
 nudged each other, and giggled, and looked 
 down at their dusty boots, guiltless of any at 
 tempt at being black, and shuffled them in a way 
 to make a disagreeable noise. 
 
 They knew Flossy that is, they knew what 
 street she lived on, and how the outside of her 
 father's house looked, and what her standing in 
 society was; they knew nothing of her in the 
 capacity of a Sunday-school teacher ; and, truth 
 to tell, they did not believe she could teach. 
 She was a doll set up before them for them to 
 admire and pretend to listen to ; they did not 
 intend to do it ; she had nothing in common 
 with them ; they had a right to make her un 
 comfortable if they could, and they were sure 
 that they could. This was the mood in which 
 she found them. 
 
 " Good-morning," she said, brightly ; and they 
 glanced at each other, and shuffled their feet 
 louder, and some of them chuckled louder, while 
 one of them said :
 
 32 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 " It's rather late in the morning, ain't it? We 
 got up quite a spell ago." 
 
 This passed for a joke, and they laughed 
 aloud. At this point Flossy caught Dr. Dennis' 
 distressed face turned that way. It was not re 
 assuring ; he evidently expected disastrous times 
 in that corner. Flossy ignored the discourteous 
 treatment of her " good-morning," and opened 
 her Bible. 
 
 " Do you know," she said, with a soft little 
 laugh, "that I haven't the least idea how to 
 teach a Sunday-school lesson ? I never did such 
 a thing in my life ; so you mustn't expect wis 
 dom from me. The very most I can do is to talk 
 the matter over with you, and ask you what you 
 think about it." 
 
 Whereupon they looked at each other again 
 and laughed ; but this time it was a puzzled sort 
 of laugh. This was a new experience. They 
 had had teachers who knew extremely little 
 about the lesson, and proved it conclusively, but 
 never once did they own it. Their plan had 
 rather been to assume the wisdom of Solomon, 
 and in no particular to be found wanting in in 
 formation. They did not know what answer to 
 make to Flossy.
 
 Flossy "Begin*." 83 
 
 " Have you Bibles ? " she asked them. 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Well, here are Lesson Leaves. These are 
 pieces of the Bible, I suppose. Are they nice ? 
 I don't know anything about them. I have 
 never been in Sunday-school, you see ; not since 
 I was a little girl. What are these cards for, 
 please ? " 
 
 Now, they understood all about the manage 
 ment of the library cards, and the method of 
 giving out books by their means, and Flossy was 
 so evidently ignorant, and so puzzled by their 
 attempts at explanation, and asked so many 
 questions, and took so long to understand it, 
 that they really became very much interested in 
 making it clear to her, and then in helping her 
 carry out the programme which they had ex 
 plained ; and every one of them had a queer 
 sense of relationship to the school that they had 
 not possessed before. They knew more than 
 she did, and she was willing to own it. 
 
 "Now about this lesson," she said, at last. 
 " I really don't see how people teach such les 
 sons." 
 
 " They don't," said one whom they called 
 Rich. Johnson." " They just pretend to, and
 
 34 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 they go around it, and through it, and ask baby 
 questions, and pretend that they know a great 
 deal ; that's the kind of teaching that we are 
 used to." 
 
 Flossy laughed. 
 
 " You won't get it to-day," she said, " for I 
 certainly don't know a great deal, and I don't 
 know how to pretend that I do. But I like to 
 read about this talk that Christ had with the 
 people ; and I should have liked of all things to 
 have been there and heard him. 1 would like 
 to go now to the place where he was. Wouldn't 
 you like to go to Jerusalem ? " 
 
 What an awkward way they had of looking 
 from one to the other, and nudging each other. 
 Rich. Johnson seemed to be the speaker for the 
 class. He spoke now in a gruff, unprepossess 
 ing voice ; 
 
 " I'd enough sight rather go to California." 
 
 The others thought this a joke, and laughed 
 accordingly. Flossy caught at it. 
 
 " California," she said, brightly. " Oh, I've 
 been there. I doi>'t wonder that you want to 
 go. It is a grand country. I saw some of those 
 great trees that we have heard about."
 
 "Flossy laid her Bible in her lap and began. P. 35.
 
 Flossy "Begins" 35 
 
 And forthwith she launched into an eager de 
 scription of the mammoth tree ; and as they 
 leaned forward, and asked now and then an in 
 telligent question, Flossy blessed the good for 
 tune that had made her her father's chosen com 
 panion on his hasty trip to California the yeai 
 before. What had all the trees in California to 
 do with the Sabbath-school lesson ? Nothing. 
 of course ; but Flossy saw with a little thrill of 
 satisfaction that the boys were becoming inter 
 ested in her. 
 
 "But for all that," she said, coming back sud 
 denly, " I should like ever so much to go to Je 
 rusalem. I felt so more and more, after I went 
 to that meeting at Chautauqua, and saw the city 
 all laid out and a model of the very temple, you 
 know, where Jesus was when he spoke these 
 words." 
 
 They did not laugh this time ; on the con 
 trary, they looked interested. She could de 
 scribe a tree, perhaps she had something else 
 worth hearing. 
 
 " What's that ? " said Rich. " That's some 
 thing I never heard of." 
 
 And then Flossy laid her Bible in her lap, and
 
 36 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 began to describe the living picture of th<j \l\ \j 
 Laud, as she had seen and loved it at Cbautau 
 qua. Of course you know that she did tha* 
 well. Was not her heart there ? Had she not 
 found a new love, and life, and hope, while she 
 \\alked those sunny paths that led to Bethany, 
 and to the Mount of Olives? Every one of tht 
 boys listened, and some of them questioned , 
 and Rich, said, when she paused : 
 
 " Well, now, that's an idea, I declare, i 
 wouldn't mind seeing it myself." 
 
 And to each one of them came a glimmering 
 feeling that there actually was such a city as Je 
 rusalem, and such a person as Jesus Christ did 
 really live, and walk, and talk here on the earth. 
 Then Flossy took up her Bible again. 
 
 " But, of course, the next best thing to going 
 to places, and actually seeing people, is to read 
 about them, and find out what the people said 
 and did. I like these verses especially, because 
 they mean ua as* well as thoss to whom they 
 were spoken. Look at this verse. I have been 
 all the week over it, and I don't see but I shall 
 have to stay over it all my life. 4 Then said Je 
 sus, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my
 
 Fktsy "Segim." 87 
 
 disciples indeed.' Just think how far that 
 reaches I All through the words of Jesus. So 
 many et them, so many things to do, and so many 
 not to do ; and then not only to begin to follow 
 them, but to continue ; day after day getting a 
 little farther, and knowing a little more. After 
 all, it's very fascinating work, isn't it ? If it i 
 hard, like climbing a mountain, one gets nearei 
 the top all the while ; and when you do really 
 reach the top, how splendid it is I Or, doing a 
 hard piece of work, it's so nice to get nearer and 
 nearer to the end of it, and feel that you have 
 done it." 
 
 One of the boys yawned. It was not so inter 
 esting as the description of the miniature Jeru 
 salem. One of them looked sarcastic. This way 
 Rich. 
 
 " Do you suppose there ever was anybody lik* 
 that ? " he asked, and the most lofty incredulity 
 was in his voice. 
 
 14 Like what ? " 
 
 " Why, that followed out that kind of talk. I 
 know enough about the Bible to know they are 
 mighty scarce. I'd go to Jerusalem on foot to 
 see a real one. Where's the folks, I'd like to
 
 38 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 know, that live up to half of the things it says 
 in the Bible ? Why, they even say it can't be 
 done, and that's why it seems all bosh to me. 
 What was the use of putting it in there if it 
 can't be done ? " 
 
 Here was one who had evidently thought, and 
 thought seriously about these things. Is there 
 a boy of seventeen in our country who has not ? 
 Flossy felt timid. How should she answer the 
 sharp, sarcastic words ? He had been studying 
 inconsistencies, and had grown bitter. The 
 others looked on curiously ; they had a certain 
 kind of pride in Rich. He was their genius who 
 held all the teachers at bay with his ingenious 
 tongue. But Flossy had been at a morning 
 meeting in Chautauqua where there was talk 
 on this very subject. It came back to her 
 now. 
 
 " As for being able to do it," she said, quickly, 
 " I don't feel sure that we have anything to do 
 with that, until we have convinced ourselves 
 that we have been just as good as we possibly 
 could. Honestly, now, do you think you have 
 been ? " 
 
 " No," said Rich., promptly ; " of course not.
 
 Flossy "Begin*." 89 
 
 And, what is more, I never pretended that I 
 
 was." 
 
 " Well, I know /haven't been j I am perfectly 
 certain that in a hundred ways I could have 
 done better. Why, there is nothing that I could 
 not have improved upon if I had tried. So by 
 our own confessions what right have you and I 
 to stumble over not being able to be perfect, so 
 long as we have not begun to be as near it as we 
 could?" 
 
 How was he to answer this ? 
 
 " Oh, well," he said, " I haven't made any pre 
 tensions ; I'm talking about those who have." 
 " That's exactly like myself ; and, as nearly as I 
 can see, we both belong to the class who knew 
 our duty, and hud nothing to do with it. Now, 
 I want to tell you that I have decided not to 
 stand with that class any longer." 
 
 Flossy paused an instant, caught her breath, 
 and a rich flush spread over her pretty face. 
 This was her first actual " witnessing " outside 
 of the narrow limits of her intimate three friends 
 who all sympathized. 
 
 " i gave myself to this Jesus when I was at 
 Chautauqua," I said to him ; " that I had stood
 
 40 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 one side, and had nothing to do with his words 
 all my life ; just taken his favors in silence and 
 indifference, but that for the future I was to be 
 long to him. Now, of course, I don't know how 
 many times I shall fail, nor how many things I 
 shall fail in. The most I know is, that I mean 
 to * continue.' After all, don't you see that the 
 verse doesn't say, If you are perfect, but simply, 
 * If you continue.' Now, if I am trying to climb 
 a hill, it makes a difference with my progress, to 
 be sure, whether I stumble and fall back a few 
 steps now and then. But for all that I may con 
 tinue to climb ; and if I do I shall be sure to 
 reach the top. So now my resolution is to ' con 
 tinue ' in his words all the rest of my life." 
 
 She did not ask Rich, to do the same. She 
 said not a word to him about himself. She said 
 not a personal word to one of them, but every 
 boy there felt himself asked to join her. More 
 than that, not a boy of them but respected her. 
 It is wonderful, after all, how rarely in this 
 wicked world we meet with other than respect 
 in answer to a frank avowal of our determina 
 tion to be on the Lord's side. They were all 
 quiet for an instant ; and again Flossy caught
 
 Flossy "Begins" 41 
 
 v glimpse of Dr. Dennis' face. It looked per 
 plexity and distrust. Was she telling them a 
 fairy story, or teaching them a new game of 
 whist ? 
 
 " Then there is such a grand promise in this 
 lesson," Flossy went on. "I like it ever so 
 much for that. * And ye shall know the truth, 
 and the truth shall make you free. ' : 
 
 " Free from what ? " asked Rich., abruptly. 
 The very question that Miss Marion Wilbur had 
 asked in such anxiety. But Flossy was in a 
 measure prepared for him. It chanced that 
 she had asked Evan Roberts that self-same ques 
 tion. 
 
 " Why, free from the power and dominion of 
 Satan ; not belonging to him any more, and hav 
 ing a strength that is beyond and above any 
 thing earthly to lean upon, stronger than Satan's 
 power can ever be." 
 
 Rich, gave a scornful little laugh. 
 
 " He is an old fellow that I don't particularly 
 believe in," he said, loftily, as though that for 
 ever settled the question as to the existence of 
 such a person. " I think a fellow is a silly cow 
 ard who lays the blame of his wickedness off on
 
 42 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 Satan's shoulders ; just as if Satan could make 
 him do what he didn't choose to do I always sup 
 posing that there is such a creature." 
 
 Oh wise and wily Flossy I She knew he was 
 wrong. She knew he had contradicted his own 
 logic, used but a few minutes before, but she 
 did not attempt to prove it to him ; for, in the 
 first place, she felt instinctively that the most 
 difficult thing in the world is to convince an ig 
 norant person that he has been foolish and illog 
 ical in his argument. You may prove this to an 
 intelligent mind that is accustomed to reason, 
 and to weigh the merits of questions, but it is a 
 rare thing to find an uncultured brain that can 
 follow you closely enough to be convinced of his 
 own folly. 
 
 Flossy did not understand herself well enough 
 to reason this out. It was simply a fine instinct 
 that she had, perhaps it ought to be called 
 "tact," that led her to be careful how she tried 
 anything of this sort. Besides, there was an 
 other reason. She did not know how to set 
 about doing it. It is one thing to see a sophis 
 try, and another to take to pieces the filmy 
 threads of which it is composed. She waived
 
 Flossy Begin*. n 43 
 
 the whole subject, and jumped to one on which 
 there could be but one opinion. 
 
 " Well, then, suppose you were right, and 
 every one were free to be perfect if he would ; 
 that only reaches to the end of this life. We 
 surely haven't been perfect, you and I, for in 
 stance, so our perfection cannot save us from the 
 penalty of sin, and that is death. What a grand 
 thing it would be to be free from that 1 You 
 believe in death, don't you ? and I suppose, like 
 every other sensible person, you are afraid of 
 death, unless you have found something that 
 makes you free from its power." 
 
 Rich, was still in a scornful mood. 
 
 " Should like to see anybody that is free from 
 that ! " he said, sneeringly. " As near as I can 
 make out, those persons who think they are good 
 are just as likely to die as the rest of us." 
 
 " Ah, yes, but it isn't just that little minute of 
 dying that you and I are afraid of ; it is after 
 ward. We are afraid of what will come next. 
 You see, I know all about it, for I was awfully 
 afraid ; I had such a fear as I suppose you know 
 nothing about. When it thundered I shivered 
 as if I had a chill, and it seemed to me as if
 
 44 Tfte Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 every flash of lightning was going to kill ine ; 
 and when I went on a journey I could enjoy 
 nothing for the fear that there might be an acci 
 dent and I might be killed. But I declare to 
 you that I have found something that has taken 
 the fear away. I do not mean that I would like 
 to be killed, or that I am tired of living, or any 
 thing of the sort. 1 like to live a great deal 
 better than I ever did before ; I think the world 
 is twice as nice, and everything a great deal 
 pleasanter ; but when I was coming home from 
 Chautauqua I would waken in the night in the 
 sleeping-car, and I found to my surprise that, 
 although I thought of the same tiling, the possi 
 bility that there might be an accident that would 
 cost me my life, yet I felt that horrible sense of 
 fear and dread was utterly gone. I could feel 
 that though death in itself might be sad and 
 solemn, yet it was, after all, but the step that 
 opened the door to joy. In short " and here 
 Flossy's face shone with a rare sweet smile 
 " I know that the truth as it is in Jesus has made 
 me free." 
 
 Rich, was utterly silent. What could he re 
 ply in the face of this simple, quiet " I know?'
 
 Flossy ^Begins.'" 45 
 
 To say, " I don't believe it," would be the height 
 of folly, and he realized it. 
 
 As for the rest, they had listened to this talk 
 with various degrees of interest ; the most of 
 them amused that Rich, should be drawn into 
 any talk so serious, and be evidently so earnest. 
 
 Let me tell you a little about these young 
 men. They were not from the very lowest 
 depths of society ; that is, the)' had homes and 
 family ties, and they had enough to eat and to 
 wear ; in fact they earned these latter, each for 
 himself. There were two of them who, had the 
 advantage of the public schools, and were fair 
 sort of scholars. Rich. Johnson was one of 
 these, and was therefore somewhat looked up to 
 and respected by those, even, who would not 
 have gone to school another day if they could. 
 
 But they were far enough out of the reach 
 of Flossy Shipley ; so far that she had never 
 come in contact with one of them before in her 
 life. She had no idea as to their names, or their 
 homes, or their lives. She had no sort of idea 
 of the temptations by which they were sur 
 rounded, nor what they needed. Perhaps this 
 very fact removed all touch of patronage from
 
 46 The Chautauqua Grirh at Home. 
 
 her tone ; as, when the bell rang, she found, to 
 her great surprise, that the lesson hour was over 
 she turned back to them for a moment and said 
 with that sparkling little smile of hers : 
 
 " I'm real sorry you hadn't a teacher to-day. 
 I should have been glad to have taught the les 
 son if I had known how ; but you see how it is ; 
 I have all these things to learn." 
 
 "Now, Rich. Johnson rather prided himself 
 on his rudeness ; a strange thing to pride one's 
 self on, to be sure. But pride takes all sorts of 
 curious forms, and he had actually rather gloried 
 in his ability to say rude and cutting things at a 
 moment's notice ; words, you know, that the 
 boys in his set called "cute." But he was at 
 this time actually surprised into being almost 
 gallant. 
 
 " We never had a better teacher," he said, 
 quickly. " If you are only just learning you 
 better try it again on us; we like the style 
 enough sight better than the finished up kind." 
 
 And then Flossy smiled again, and thanked 
 them, and said she had enjoyed it. And then 
 she did an unprecedented thing. She invited 
 them all to call on her, in a pretty, graceful way,
 
 Flossy "Begins" 47 
 
 precisely as she would have invited a gentleman 
 friend who had seen her home from a concert, 
 the quiet, courteous invitation to her father's 
 house, which is a mere matter of form among the 
 young ladies of her set, but which to these boys 
 was as astonishing as an invitation to the Gar 
 den of Eden. 
 
 They had not the slightest intention of ac 
 cepting the invitation, but they felt, without 
 realizing what made them feel so, a sudden 
 added touch of self-respect. I almost think 
 they were more careful of their words during the 
 rest of that day than they would have been but 
 for that invitation. 
 
 " Isn't Sunday-school splendid ? " Flossy said 
 to Ruth Erskine, as, with her cheeks in a fine 
 glow of glad satisfaction that she had " begun," 
 she joined Ruth in the hall. 
 
 " It was very interesting," said Ruth, in her 
 more quiet, thoughtful way. She was thought 
 ful during the entire walk home. 
 
 It was her lot to slip into one of those grand 
 classes where Bible teaching means something 
 more than simply reading over the verses. There 
 had been good seed sown with a lavish hand,
 
 48 The Chautauqua Crirh at Home. 
 
 and there had been careful probing to see if it 
 had taken root. Ruth had some stronger ideas 
 about the importance of " continuing." She had 
 a renewed sense of the blessedness of being 
 made "free." She went home -with a renewed 
 desire to consecrate herself, and not only to en 
 joy, but to labor, that others might enter into 
 that rest. Blessed are those teachers whose 
 earnest Sabbath work produces such fruit as 
 this!
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 BUEDENS. 
 
 NDER the influence of the sermon, and 
 the prayers, and the glorious music, life 
 grew to be rose-color to Marion before 
 she reached home that Sabbath evening. She 
 came home with springing step, and with her 
 heart full of plans and possibilities for the fu 
 ture. Not even the dismalness of her unattrac 
 tive room and desolate surroundings had power 
 to drive the song from her heart. She went 
 about humming the grand tune with which the 
 evening service had closed : 
 
 " In the cross of Christ I glory, 
 Towering o'er the wrecks of time." 
 
 As she sang, her whole soul thrilled with the 
 
 (49)
 
 50 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 joy of glorying in such a theme, and her last 
 thought, as she closed her eyes for the night, 
 was about a plan of work that she meant to 
 carry out. 
 
 What could have happened in the night to so 
 change the face of the world for her I It looked 
 so utterly different in the morning. School was 
 to open, and she shrank from it, dreaded it. 
 flu- work looked all drudgery, and the plans 
 sin. 1 had formed the night before seemed impos 
 sibilities. The face of nature had changed won 
 derfully. In place of radiant sunshine there 
 was falling a steady, dismal rain ; the clouds 
 bent low, and looked like lead ; the wind was 
 moaning in a dismal way, that felt like a wail; 
 and nothing but umbrellas, and water-proofs, 
 and rubber over-coats, and dreariness, were 
 abroad. 
 
 The pretty, summery school dress that Marion 
 had laid out to wear was hung sadly back in her 
 wardrobe, and the inevitable black alpaca came 
 to the surface. It seemed to her the symbol of 
 her old life of dreariness, which she imagined 
 had gone from her. It was not that she felt ut 
 terly dismal and desolate j it was not that she
 
 Burdens. 61 
 
 had forgotten her late experiences ; it was not 
 that she did not know that she had the Friend 
 who is " the same yesterday, to-day, and for 
 ever ; " it was simply that she could not feel it, 
 and joy in it as she had done only yesterday j 
 and her religious life was too recent not to be 
 swayed by feeling and impulse. 
 
 The fact that there was a clear sun shining 
 above the clouds, and a strong and firm moun 
 tain up in the sunshine, on which it was her 
 privilege to stand, despite what was going on 
 below, she did not understand. She did not 
 know what effect the weather and the sense of 
 fatigue were having on her, and she felt not only 
 mortified, but alarmed, that her joy had so soon 
 gone out in cloud and gloom. 
 
 If she could only just run around the corner 
 to see Eurie a minute, or up the hill to Flossy 'a 
 home, how much it would help her; and the 
 thought that she was actually looking to Flossy 
 Shipley and Eurie Mitchell for help of any sort 
 brought the first smile that she had indulged in 
 that morning ; she was certainly changed when 
 she could look to them for comfort or sympathy. 
 
 Is there any one reading this account of an
 
 52 TJie Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 every day life who does not understand, by past 
 experience, just how trying a first day at school 
 is, when teachers and scholars have come out 
 from the influence of a long summer vacation ? 
 Next week, or even to-morrow, they will have 
 battled with, and, in a measure, choked the 
 spirit of disgust, or homesickness, or weariness, 
 with which they come back from play to work; 
 but to-day nothing seems quite so hard in all the 
 world as to turn from the hundred things that 
 have interested and delighted them, and settle 
 down to grammar, and philosophy, and alge 
 bra. 
 
 Teachers and scholars alike are apt to feel the 
 depression of such circumstances ; and when 
 you add to the other discomforts, that of a 
 steady, pouring rain, with a sound of fall in 
 every whiff of wind, you will understand that 
 Marion was to have comparatively little help 
 from outside influences. She felt the gloom in 
 her heart deepen as the day went on. She was 
 astonished and mortified at herself to find that 
 the old feelings of irritability and sharpness still 
 held her in grasp ; she was not free from them, 
 at least.
 
 Burdens. 63 
 
 Her toDgue was as strongly tempted to be 
 sarcastic, and her tone to be stern, as ever they 
 had been. None of the scholars helped her. 
 Those of them who were neither gloomy, nor 
 listless, nor inclined to be cross, were simply 
 silly ; they laughed on every possible occasion, 
 with or without an excuse ; they devised ways 
 and means to draw off the attention of these 
 who made faint efforts to be studious ; and, in 
 short, were decidedly the most provoking of all 
 the elements of the day. Marion found herself 
 more than once curling her lip in the old sar 
 castic way at the inconsistencies and improprie 
 ties of those among her pupils who bore the 
 name of Christian. 
 
 During the long recess she tried to go away 
 by herself, in the hope that her heart might 
 quiet down, and rest itself on some of the new 
 and solid ground on which she had so lately 
 learned to tread. But they followed her : sev 
 eral of the teachers, in a gayety of mood, that 
 was half affected to hide the homesickness of 
 their hearts, and therefore infected no one else 
 with a cheerful spirit. They were armed with 
 a package of examination papers, given in by
 
 54 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 those scholars who aspired to a higher grade. 
 They loudly called on Marion for assistance. 
 
 " You haven't had a single examination class 
 yet; then it is clearly your duty to help the 
 afflicted. 4 Bear ye one another's burdens,' you 
 know." 
 
 It was Miss Banks who said this, and she had 
 barely escaped being Marion's intimate friend; 
 as it was, she came nearer being familiar with 
 her than with any other. She wondered now 
 how it could have been that she had liked her I 
 Her voice sounded so shrill and uuwinning, and 
 the quotation that she so glibly uttered was such 
 a jar. However, she turned back with a wan 
 attempt at a smile, and said : 
 
 " 1 shall have enough examination papers of 
 my own before night. How do yours range ? " 
 And she took half a dozen that were reached 
 out to her. 
 
 " They range precisely as if we had a parcel 
 of idiots in our care. The blunders that these 
 aspiring young ladies and gentlemen make in 
 orthography are enough to set one's teeth on 
 edge." 
 
 " Orthography I " said Marion, with a curling
 
 Bur dent. 55 
 
 lip. " They are years too old for any such com 
 monplace as that ; it must be history, at least. 
 Here is Allie March struggling for the advanced 
 history class, and I venture to say she doesn't 
 know who was President four years ago." 
 
 And then Marion suddenly remembered that 
 Allie March was the one whom, in her glorified 
 moments of only the day before she had aspired 
 to help forward in her Christian life. If she had 
 seen that sneer and heard those sharp words 
 would it have helped her, or inclined her ever 
 to look that way for help ? Then Marion and 
 the rest gave themselves to silence and to 
 work. 
 
 " What is the prospect for promotion ? " Prof. 
 Easton said, as he came and leaned over the desk 
 before which they worked. 
 
 Miss Banks looked up with a laugh. 
 
 "It reminds one of one's childhood and Scrip 
 ture learning days: 'Many are culled, but few- 
 are chosen.' There will be exceedingly few 
 chosen from this class." 
 
 Why did those Bible quotations so jar Marion? 
 It had been one of her weak points to quote 
 them aptly, and with stinging sarcasm. Per-
 
 56 The Chautauqua Crirh at Home. 
 
 haps that was one reason why she so keenly felt 
 their impropriety now ; she had been so long 
 among the " called," and so very recently among 
 the *' chosen." 
 
 The possibility of having spent a lifetime 
 without ever becoming one of those " chosen " 
 ones, seemed so fearful to her, and she felt that 
 she had so narrowly escaped that end, that she 
 shivered and drew her little shawl around her as 
 she glanced up quickly at Prof. Eastori. 
 
 He was a Christian man, a member of the First 
 Church would he have any reply to make to 
 this irreverent application of solemn truth ? No, 
 he had only a laugh for reply ; it might have 
 been at Miss Banks' rueful face that he laughed ; 
 but Marion would have liked him better if he 
 had looked grave. Miss Banks at that moment 
 caught a glimpse of Marion's grave face. 
 
 " Miss Wilbur," she said, quickly, " what on 
 earth can have happened to you during vaca 
 tion ? I never in my life saw you look so sol 
 emn. Didn't I hear something about your going 
 to the woods to camp-meeting ? How was that ? 
 I verily believe you spent your time on the anx 
 ious-seat, and have caught the expression. Did
 
 Burdens. 57 
 
 you find any one to say to you, ' Come unto me ? ' 
 I'm sure 3 7 ou ' labor ' hard enough, and look 
 * heavy laden,' doesn't she, Prof. Easton ? I 
 really think we shall have to start a prayer- 
 meeting over her." 
 
 Marion threw down the paper she was cor 
 recting with a nervous start, and her voice 
 sounded sharper than she meant. 
 
 " How is it possible, Miss Banks, that you. can 
 repeat those words in such a shockingly irrever 
 ent way ? Surely you profess to have at least a 
 nominal respect for the One who first uttered 
 them ! " 
 
 " Really I " said Miss Banks, with an embar 
 rassed laugh, astonishment and confusion strug 
 gling for the mastery on her flushed face. " ' Is 
 Saul also among the prophets?' There! I de 
 clare, I am quoting again. Is that wicked, too ? 
 Prof. Easton, how is that? Miss Wilbur has 
 been to camp-meeting, and is not responsible for 
 her words, but you ought to be good authority. 
 Is it wicked for me to quote Scripture ? Haven't 
 I as good a right to Bible verses as any of you ? 
 Here has Miss Wilbur been giving us lessons in 
 that art for the last two years, and she suddenly
 
 58 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 deserts arid takes to preaching at us. Is that 
 fair, now ? If it were not wicked I might say to 
 her, ' Physician, heal thyself.' ' 
 
 Marion bestowed a quick, searching, almost 
 pleading glance on Prof. Easton, and then looked 
 down with a flushed and disappointed face. He 
 was not equal to a bold spreading of his pro 
 fessed colors. He laughed, not easily, or as if 
 he enjoyed the sharp words vailed so thinly by 
 pleasantry, but as if he were in an awkward po 
 sition, and did not see his way out. 
 
 " You were just a little hard on Miss Wilbur 
 in your selections, you must remember," he said 
 at last. " People can always be excused for 
 more or less sombreness on the first day of the 
 term." 
 
 And then he went away hurriedly, as if he 
 desired to avoid anything further in that strain. 
 
 Hard on Miss Wilbur? Did he suppose she 
 cared for such vapid nonsense ? What surprised 
 and hurt her was that he so utterly ignored the 
 question at issue. Did he, a professed Christian 
 of many years' standing, see no impropriety in 
 this manner of quoting the very words of the 
 Lord himself I or hadn't he sufficient moral
 
 Burdens. 69 
 
 courage to rebuke it? Either conclusion was 
 distasteful ; especially distasteful to her, Marion 
 found, because the one in question was Prof. 
 Easton. Hitherto she had held him a little 
 above the ordinary. Was he then so very com 
 mon after all ? 
 
 This little occurrence did not serve to sweeten 
 her day. The more so, that after she had 
 quieted down a little, at noon, she tried to join 
 the other teachers as usual, and felt an air of 
 stiffness, or embarrassment, or unnaturalness, of 
 some sort, in their manner to her. Twice, as 
 she came toward them, Miss Banks, who was 
 talking volubly, hushed into sudden and utter 
 silence. 
 
 After that, Marion went into the upper hall 
 and ate her lunch by herself. Matters grew 
 \\orse, rather than better, as the afternoon ses 
 sion dragged its slow hours along. The air of 
 the school-room seemed close and unbearable, 
 and the moment a window was raised the driv 
 ing ruin rushed in and tormented the victim who 
 sut nearest to it. 
 
 Poor Marion, who was as susceptible to the 
 temperature of rooms as a thermometer, tried
 
 60 TJie Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 each window in succession during the afternoon, 
 and came to the desperate conclusion that the 
 rain came from all quarters of the leaden sky at 
 once. 
 
 The spirit of unrest that pervaded the room 
 grew into positive lawlessness as the day waned, 
 and Marion's tone had taken even unusual 
 sharpness ; her self-command was giving way. 
 Instead of helping, she had been positively an 
 injury to Allie March ; first by the sharpness of 
 her reprimands, and then by sarsastic comments 
 on her extreme dullness, 
 
 But the girl who had tried her the most dur 
 ing the entire day was the most brilliant, and, as 
 a rule, the most studious scholar in her room. 
 Every teacher knows that the good scholar who 
 occasionally makes a failure is the one who ex 
 asperates the most; you are so utterly unpre 
 pared for anything but perfection on that one's 
 part. 
 
 Not that Gracie Dennis was perfect ; she was 
 by far too noisy and decided for that ; but she 
 was, as a rule, lady-like in her manners and 
 words, showing her careful teaching and her own 
 sense of self-respect.
 
 Burdens. 61 
 
 There bud been little sympathy, however, be 
 tween Marion and herself. She was too much 
 like Marion in a haughty independence of man 
 ner to ever become that lady's favorite. Why, 
 as to that, I am not sure that she had a favorite ; 
 there were many who liked her, and all respected 
 her, but no one thought of expressing outright 
 affection for Miss Wilbur. 
 
 As for Grace Dennis, she had come nearer to 
 outwitting her teacher than had any other young 
 lady in the room, and she stood less in awe of 
 her. 
 
 On this particular day the spirit of disquiet 
 seemed to have gotten entire possession of the 
 girl ; she had not given fifteen minutes to down 
 right work, but had dawdled and lounged in a 
 most exasperating manner, and at times exhibited 
 a dullness that was very hard to bear patiently, 
 because Marion felt so certain that it was either 
 feigned or the result of willful inattention. 
 Several times had Marion to speak decidedly to 
 the young ladies in her seat, once or twice di 
 rectly to Grace herself, and at last, losing all pa 
 tience with her, she took decided measures. 
 
 " Miss Dennis, I really have something to do
 
 62 The Chautauqua Grirls at Horn*. 
 
 besides watch you all the time. If you please 
 you may bring your book to the desk and taka 
 the seat beside me ; then if you must whisper, I 
 can afford you a special audience '' 
 
 What an unheard of thing I Grace Dennis 
 actually culled to the platform, to the post of 
 disgrace I The leading young lady in the school ! 
 and Rev. Dr. Dennis' only daughter I Some of 
 the scholars looked aghast; some of the class 
 who had long envied her were rude and cruel 
 enough to indulge in an audible giggle. 
 
 As for Grace herself, hardly any one could 
 have been more amazed. It was many a day 
 since, with all her love of fun, and her danger 
 ous position as a leader, she had been obliged to 
 receive a public reprimand ; she had never iu 
 her life been called to that public seat, which 
 was but one remove from being sent to Prof. 
 Easton's private office I 
 
 Her great handsome eyes dilated and flashed, 
 and her cheeks glowed like fire. She half arose, 
 then sat down again, and the school waited 
 breathlessly, being about equally divided as to 
 whether she would obey or rebel. Marion her 
 self wad somewhat iu doubt, and iu her excite-
 
 JBurdent. 63 
 
 ment over the unwonted scene, concluded to 
 make obedience a necessity. 
 
 " On the second thought, you may have youi 
 choice, Miss Dennis ; you may come to the desk 
 or repair at once to Prof. Eastou's room, and 
 state the cause of your appearance." 
 
 Again the hateful giggle I There were those 
 who knew why being sent to Prof. Euston was 
 the worst thing that Gracie Dennis thought 
 could happen to her. She arose again, and now 
 she had the advantage of her teacher, for there 
 were dignity and composure in her voice as she 
 said : 
 
 " I believe I have never disobeyed your or 
 ders, Miss Wilbur ; I certainly do not propose 
 to do so now." 
 
 Then she came with composed step and took 
 her seat beside Marion : but her eyes still glit 
 tered, and, as the business of the hour went on 
 more quietly than any hour that hud preceded 
 it, Marion, as she caught glimpses now and then 
 of the face bent over her Latin Grammar, saw 
 that it was flushed almost to a purple hue, and 
 that the intense look in those handsome eyes did 
 not quiet. She had roused a dangerous spirit.
 
 64 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 To add to the embarrassment and the keen- 
 nei3 of her rebuke, the door leading from the 
 recitation room, behind the platform, suddenly 
 opened, and Prof. Easton himself came around 
 to speak to Marion. He paused in astonish 
 ment as he caught sight of the culprit beside 
 her, and for an instant was visibly embarrassed ; 
 then he rallied, and, bowing slightly and very 
 gravely, passed her by, and addressed Marion in 
 a low voice. 
 
 As for Gracie, she did not once lift her eyes 
 after the first swift glance had assured her who 
 the caller was. 
 
 " I have made an enemy," thought Marion to 
 herself, as, her own excitement beginning to 
 subside, she had time to reflect on whether she 
 had done wisely. " She will never forgive me 
 this public insult, as she will choose to call it. 
 I see it in her handsome, dangerous eyes. And, 
 yet, I can hardly see how I could have done 
 otherwise? If almost any of the others had 
 given me half the provocation that she has to 
 day, I should have sent them to Prof. Easton, 
 without question. Why should I hesitate in her 
 favor? Oh, me, what a miserable day it has
 
 Burdens. 65 
 
 beeii I and I meant it to be such a good one ! 
 I wonder if iny Christian life must be marked by 
 such weary and ignominious failures as this? 
 Gracie Dennis is one of the Christian (f) young 
 ladies. A lovely Christian she has shown, and, 
 if I am not mistaken, will continue to show to 
 me I I wonder if it amounts to nothing but a 
 name, after all, with the most of them ? " 
 
 "And here Marion stopped this train of 
 thought, because she suddenly remembered that 
 she was now numbered among those on whom 
 others were looking and wondering if their relig 
 ion meant anything but name. Suppose that 
 some had been looking at her in that light this 
 day ? How would they have decided ? 
 
 She found that she was not willing to be 
 judged by the same rule that she was almost 
 unconsciously applying to Gracie Dennis. Then 
 she went back over the day, and tried to dis 
 cover wherein she had failed, and how she might 
 have done what would have been better. Could 
 she not, after all, have gotten along without so 
 severe and public a rebuke to this young girl at 
 her side ? 
 
 She knew her temperament well. Indeed it
 
 66 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 was she confessed it to herself a good deal 
 like her own. What would be a trifle to half 
 the girls in the school, what would be forgotten 
 by the best of them in a day or two, would burn 
 in this girl's memory, and affect her after life 
 and manner, almost in spite of herself the 
 more so, because of that unfortunate call from 
 Prof. Easton. 
 
 Marion knew by the swift glance which he 
 gave at this strange situation that it meant 
 something to him. Then it was doubly hard for 
 Gracie. She began to feel sorry for her ; to 
 wish that she might in some way smooth over 
 the chasm that she had builded between them. 
 
 " She is very young," she said to herself, with 
 a little sigh. " I ought not to have expected 
 such wonderful things of her. I wish I had 
 managed differently ; it is too late now ; I won 
 der ho\v I shall get out of it all? Shall I just 
 let her go home without saying anything ? " 
 
 All these troubled thoughts wandered through 
 Marion's bruin during the intervals of quiet, 
 when nothing was heard save the scratch of 
 pens, for the entire room was engaged in a dic 
 tation exercise, which was to determine their
 
 Burdens. 67 
 
 standing in the writing class. At last there Avas 
 quiet. 
 
 The demon of inattention had seemingly been 
 exorcised or subdued, for all were industriously 
 at work, and Marion had a chance to rest from 
 the alert watchfulness which had characterized 
 the day. 
 
 All at work but Gracie. She still bent over 
 her Latin grammar. She had not asked permis 
 sion to join the dictation class, and Marion had 
 not volunteered it. Truth to tell, she hardly 
 dared venture to address her at all. The eyes 
 had lost none of their keen flash, and the color 
 seemed to be deepening, instead of subsiding on 
 her pretty soft cheeks. 
 
 Marion, as her eyes roved over the exercise 
 book in her hand, felt her heart arrested by 
 these words among the selections for dictation : 
 
 " Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill 
 the law of Christ." 
 
 They smote her like a blow from an unseen 
 hand. What burdens of homesickness and 
 ennui and weariness might not all these girls 
 have had to bear to-day ! Had she helped them'.' 
 Had her manner been winning and hopeful and
 
 68 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 invigorating ? Had her words been gentle and 
 well chosen, as well as firm and decisive ? Her 
 answers to these questions stung her. 
 
 Moved by a sudden impulse, and not giving 
 herself time to shrink from the determination, 
 she bent forward a little and addressed Gracie: 
 
 " Read that, Gracie. I have not obeyed its 
 direction to-da}' ; have you ? Do you think you 
 have helped me to bear my burdens? " 
 
 Would Gracie answer her at all ? Would her 
 answer be cold and haughty ; as nearly rude as 
 she had dared to make it? Marion felt her 
 heart throb while she waited. And she had to 
 wait, for Gracie was utterly silent. 
 
 At last her teacher stole a glance at her. The 
 grtat beautiful eyes were lifted to her face. 
 The flash was passing out of them. In its place 
 there was a puzzled, wondering, questioning 
 look. And, when at last she spoke, her voice 
 was timid, as if she were half frightened at her 
 own words, and yet eager as one who must 
 know: 
 
 " Miss Wilbur, you don't mean oh, do you 
 mean that you want to fulfill the law of Christ j 
 that you own him ? "
 
 Burdens. 69 
 
 " That I own him and love him," Marion said, 
 her cheeks glowing now as Gracie's did, " and 
 that I want above all things, to fulfill his law, 
 and yet that I have miserably failed, even this 
 first day." 
 
 Among Marion's sad thoughts that day had 
 been: 
 
 " There is no one to know, or to care, whether 
 I am different or not. If I could only tell some 
 one some Christian who would be glad but 
 who is there to tell ? Prof. Easton is a Chris 
 tian, but he doesn't care enough about the Lord 
 Jesus to rebuke those who profane his name ; 
 he has let me do it in his presence, and smiled at 
 my wit. And these girls " (and here Marion's 
 lip had curled), "they don't know wliat they 
 mean by their professions." 
 
 She was unprepared for what followed. Gra- 
 cie Dennis, graceful, queenly in her dignity, and 
 haughty, even in her mirth, said, suddenly, in a 
 voice which quivered with gladness : 
 
 " Oh, I am so glad ; so glad I Oh, Miss Wil 
 bur, I don't know how to be thankful enough ! " 
 And then she raised her head suddenly, and her 
 glowing lips just touched Marion's cheek.
 
 70 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 It was so unusual for Marion to be kissed. 
 Her friends at Chautauqua had been those who 
 rarely indulged in that sort of caress never, at 
 least, with her. And, while, as I told you, many 
 of them liked, and all of them respected her, it 
 was yet an unheard of thing for the scholars to 
 caress Miss Wilbur. And then, too, Gracie Den 
 nis was by no means lavish of her kisses. This 
 made the token seem so much more. It fel*~ al 
 most like a benediction. 
 
 Gracie's next words were humbling to her : 
 
 " Miss Wilbur, will you forgive me ? I didn't 
 mean to annoy you. I don't know what has 
 been the matter with me." 
 
 But, long before this, the last laggard had fin 
 ished her line, and was staring in undisguised 
 astonishment at the scene enacted on the plat 
 form. 
 
 Marion rallied her excited thoughts. " Dear 
 child," she said, "we have each something to 
 forgive. I think I have been too severe with 
 you. We will try to help each other to-mor 
 row." 
 
 Then she gave the next sentence as calmly as 
 usual. But she went home that night, through
 
 Burdens. 71 
 
 the rain, with a quick step and with joy in her 
 heart. It was not all profession. It meant 
 something to those girls ; to Grace Dennis it 
 meant everything. It was enough to make her 
 forget her passion, and her wounded pride, and 
 to make her face actually radiant with joy. 
 
 It should mean more to her. She had failed 
 that day. She had not been, in any sense, what 
 she meant to be ; what she ought to have been. 
 But there was a blessed verse : " Who forgiveth 
 all thine iniquities." 
 
 What a salvation I Able to forgive transgres 
 sion, to cover sin, to remember it no more. It 
 all seemed very natural to her to-night ; very 
 like an infinite Saviour ; one infinitely loving. 
 
 She began to realize that even poor human 
 love could cover a multitude of sins. How easy 
 it seemed to her that it would be to overlook the 
 mistakes and shortcomings of Gracie Dennis, 
 after this I
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 COL. BAKER'S SABBATH EVENING. 
 
 MONG Marion Wilbur's gloomy thoughts 
 during that trying Monday were these : 
 " Some lives are a good deal harder to 
 bear than others. It -would be nonsense for 
 some people to talk about crosses. There are 
 Ruth and Flossy; what do they know about 
 annoyances or self-denials? Such homes as 
 theirs and such occupations as theirs have very 
 little in common with hard, uncongenial work 
 such as mine. Eurie Mitchell has less easy 
 times ; but then it is home, and father, and 
 mother, and family friends. She isn't all alone. 
 None of them can sympathize with me. I don't 
 (72)
 
 Col. Baker's Sabbath Evening. 73 
 
 see how Flossy Shipley is ever to grow, if 
 * crosses are a fruitful condition of the Christian 
 life.' I'm sure she can do as she pleases, and 
 when she pleases." 
 
 Thus much Marion knew about other lives 
 than hers. The actual truth was that Flossy's 
 shadows began on Sabbath evening, while Mar 
 ion was yet on the heights. 
 
 It was just as they stepped from the aisle of 
 the church into the wide hall that Col. Baker 
 joined her. This was not a new experience. 
 He was very apt to join her. No other gentle 
 man had been a more frequent or more enjoya 
 ble guest at her father's house. Indeed, he was 
 so familiar that he was as likely to come on the 
 Sabbath as on any other day, and was often in 
 the habit of calling to accompany Flossy to any 
 evening service where there was to be a little 
 grander style of music than usual, or a special 
 floral display. 
 
 In fact he had called this very evening on 
 such an errand, but it was after Flossy had gone 
 to her own church. So her first meeting with 
 him since Chautauqua experiences was in that 
 hall belonging to the First Church. 
 
 " Good-evening," he said, joining her without
 
 74 The Chautauqua G-irls at Home. 
 
 the formality of a question as to whether it 
 would be agreeable j his friendship was on too 
 assured a footing for the need of that formality. 
 " You are more than usually devoted to the 
 First Church, are you not ? I saw you in the 
 family pew this morning. I felt certain of being 
 in time to take you to the South Side to-night. 
 St. Stephen's Church has a grand choral service 
 this evening. I was in at one of the rehearsals, 
 and it promised to be an unusually fine thing. 
 I am disappointed that you did not hear it." 
 
 Here began Flossy's unhappiness. Neither 
 Marion nor Ruth could have appreciated it. To 
 either of those it would have been an actual sat 
 isfaction to have said to Col. Baker, in a calui 
 and superior tone of voice : 
 
 " Thanks for your kindness, but I have de 
 cided to attend my own church service regularly 
 after this, and would therefore not have been 
 able to accompany you if I had been at home.'' 
 
 But for Flossy such an explanation was sim 
 ply dreadful. It was so natural, and would 
 have been so easy, to have murmured a word of 
 regret at her absence, and expressed disappoint 
 ment in having missed the choral.
 
 Col. Baker's Sabbath Evening. 75 
 
 But for that address to the children, given 
 under the trees at Chautauqua, by Dr. Hurlbut, 
 she would have said these smooth, sweet-sound 
 ing words as sweetly as usual, without a thought 
 of conscience. But had not he shown her, as 
 plainly as though he had looked down into her 
 heart and seen it there, that these pleasant, 
 courteous phrases which are so winning and so 
 false were among her besetting sins? Had he 
 not put her forever on her guard concerning 
 them ? Had she not promised to wage solemn 
 war against the tendency to so sin with her 
 graceful tongue ? Yet how she dreaded the 
 plain speaking ! 
 
 How would Marion's lips have curled over 
 the idea of such a small matter as that being a 
 cross I And yet Flossy could have been sweet 
 and patient and tender to the listless, home-sick 
 school-girls, and kissed away half their gloom, 
 and thought it no cross at all. Verily there is a 
 difference in these crosses, and verily, " every 
 heart knoweth its own bitterness." 
 
 Col. Baker was loth to leave the subject : 
 " Aren't you being unusually devout to-day ? * 
 he asked. " I heard of you at Sabbath-school
 
 76 The Chautauqua G-irls at Home. 
 
 I was certain after that effort, I should find you 
 at home, resting. What spell came over you to 
 give the First Church so much of your time ? " 
 
 " One would think, to hear you, that I never 
 went to church on Sabbath evening," Flossy 
 said. And then to a certain degree conscience 
 triumphed. " I have not been very often, it ia 
 true ; but I intend to reform in that respect in 
 the future. I mean to go whenever I can, and 1 
 mean to go always to the First Church." 
 
 Col. Baker looked at her curiously in the 
 moonlight. 
 
 "Is that an outgrowth of your experience in 
 the woods ? " he asked. 
 
 " Yes," Flossy said simply and bravely. 
 
 He longed to question further, to quiz her a 
 little, but something in the tone of the monosyl 
 lable prevented. So he said : 
 
 " I am at least surprised at part of the decis 
 ion. I thought part of the work of those gath 
 erings was to teach fellowship and unity. Why 
 should you desert other churches ? " 
 
 " There is no desertion about it. I do not be 
 long to other churches, and nobody has reason to 
 expect me at any of them ; but my pastor has a 
 right to expect me to be in my pew."
 
 Col. Baker's Sabbath Evening. 77 
 
 " Oh ; then it is the accident of the first choice 
 that must determine one's sitting in church foi 
 all future time ? " 
 
 " With me it has been only an accident," she 
 said, simply. " I suppose there are people who 
 had better reasons for selecting their church 
 home. But I am very well satisfied with my 
 place." And then Flossy was very glad that 
 they were nearing her father's house. The glad 
 ness did not last, however. There hung over it 
 another cross. This Col. Baker had been in the 
 habit of being invited to enter, and of spending 
 an hour or more in cosy chat with the family. 
 Nothing confidential or special in these Sabbath 
 evening calls ; they seemed simply to serve to 
 pass away a dull hour. They had been pleasant 
 to Flossy. But it so happened that the hours of 
 the Sabbath had grown precious to her ; none of 
 them were dull; every moment of them was 
 needed. 
 
 Besides, in their walk up the hill from the 
 auditorium one evening, Evan Roberts had said 
 in answer to a wonderment from her that so lit 
 tle was accomplished by the Sabbath services 
 throughout the land : 
 
 " I think one reason is the habit that so many
 
 78 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 people have of frittering away any serious im 
 pression or solemn thought they may have had 
 by a stream of small talk in which they indulge 
 with their own family or their intimate friends, 
 after what they call the Sabbath is past. Do you 
 know there are hundreds of people, good, well- 
 meaning in fact, Christians who seem to 
 think that the old Puritan rules in regard to 
 hours hold yet, in part. It begins at eight or 
 nine o'clock, when they have their nap out; 
 and at the very latest it closes with the minis 
 ter's benediction after the second service ; and 
 they laugh and talk on the way home and at 
 home as if the restraints of the day were over 
 at last." 
 
 How precisely he had described the Sabbath 
 day of the Shipley family. With what a sense 
 of relief had she often sat and chatted with Col. 
 Baker at the close of what had been to her an 
 irksome day, and felt that at last the sense of 
 propriety would not be shocked if they laughed 
 and bantered each other as usual. 
 
 Things were different now. But poor Flossy's 
 face flushed, and her heart beat hard over the 
 trial of not asking Col. Baker to come in. Silly 
 child! Ruth would have said, and her calm,
 
 (Jol. Baker's Sabbath Evening. 79 
 
 clear voice would not have hesitated ovei the 
 words ; " Col. Baker, I can not ask you in this 
 evening, because I have determined to receive 
 no more calls, even from intimate friends, on the 
 Sabbath. On any other evening I shall be happy 
 to see you." 
 
 As for Marion, she would have decidedly en 
 joyed saying it. But Flossy, she could never 
 have explained it to him. Her voice would have 
 trembled too much, and her heart beat too hard. 
 The very most that she could do was to keep her 
 lips closed. No invitation from her should pass 
 them, and this in itself was five times more of a 
 cross than it would have been for either of the 
 others to have spoken. 
 
 However, it did no good. Col. Baker's friend 
 ship was on too assured a footing to wait fo* 
 ceremony. He had received too many invita 
 tions of that nature to even notice the omission 
 now. Though Flossy paused and turned toward 
 him he did not notice it, but himself opened the 
 door for her and passed in at her side, talking 
 still about some matter connected with his plans 
 for the evening, that had been overthrown by 
 her strange propensity for church. 
 
 She did not hear him at all ; she waa both
 
 80 The Chautauqua CrirU at Home. 
 
 grieved and annoyed. If only she dared go di 
 rectly to her room I If she had been Ruth Ers- 
 kine it would have been done in a moment. 
 
 They sat down in the back parlor, and it was 
 made evident to Flossy that the entertainment of 
 Col. Baker would be considered her special duty. 
 The library door was closed, and the sound of 
 subdued voices there told that Kitty Shipley and 
 her suitor were having a confidential talk. Kitty 
 wouldn't help, then. Mrs. Shipley had retired, 
 and Mr. Shipley sat at the drop light reading the 
 journal. He glanced up at their entrance, gave 
 Col. Baker the courteous and yet familiar greet 
 ing that welcomed him as a special friend of the 
 house, and then went on with his reading. As 
 for her brother Charlie, he had not come in, and 
 probably would not for hours to come. 
 
 What was there for Flossy to do but to take 
 a seat and talk to Col. Baker? Yet ho\v she 
 shrank from it! She wanted to be alone, to go 
 over in her heart all the sweet and blessed ex 
 periences of the day, for this day had helped her 
 much. She wanted to think about those boys 
 in the school, and form plans for their future, 
 and try to decide whether it could be that they
 
 Col. Baker's Sabbath Evening. 8.1 
 
 would really like her for a teacher, and whether 
 Dr. Dennis \vould let her undertake the class. 
 Why would not Col. Baker go home ? 
 
 " What is the matter with you ? " he asked, 
 studying her face curiously, and with a doubtful 
 sound in his voice. " I don't believe that strange 
 freak of yours did you any good." 
 
 "It did me more good than anything that 
 ever happened to me in my life," Flossy said, 
 positively. 
 
 If she could only have explained to him just 
 what the nature of that good was I Possibly 
 she might have tried, only there sat her father. 
 Who could tell when his interest in the Times 
 would cease, and he give attention to her ? 
 Flossy could not understand why she should be 
 BO afraid of her father in this matter ; but she 
 was very much afraid. 
 
 The talk they had was of that kind known as 
 "small." To Flossy it seemed exceedingly 
 small, and she did not know how to make it 
 otherwise. She began to wonder if she and 
 Col. Baker really had any ideas in common ; yet 
 Col. Baker could talk with gentlemen, and talk 
 well. It was simply the habit of being frippery
 
 82 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 with the ladies that made his words seem so 
 foolish to Flossy. 
 
 Contrary to her expectation, her brother Char 
 lie suddenly appeared on the scene ; and for a 
 time she was privileged to slip into the back 
 ground. Charlie had been to hear the choral, 
 and Col. Baker was very anxious to know as to 
 its success. You would have supposed them to 
 be talking about a prima donna concert. At last 
 Charlie turned to Flossy with the trying ques 
 tion: 
 
 "Sis. why didn't you go to the choral? I 
 thought you were coming for her, Baker. Didn't 
 you tell me so ? " 
 
 44 I came, but was too late. Miss Flossy had 
 already betaken herself to the First Church." 
 
 44 So you missed the choral ?" 
 
 44 Well, only part of it. I went for an hour ; 
 then I left, and went in search of your sister, to 
 discover if I could what special attractions First 
 Church had for her to-night." 
 
 Now this fashion of going to one service until 
 he was tired, and then quietly slipping out in 
 search of something more attractive, was pecu 
 liar to Col. Baker. Flossy had known of his
 
 Col. Baker's Sabbath Evening. 8J 
 
 doing it on several different occasions. The 
 very most that she had thought about it had 
 been, that it was making one's self very conspic 
 uous. She didn't believe she would like to do 
 it, even if she were a man. But to-night the 
 action had taken an irreverent shade that it 
 never had before. She discovered that she ut 
 terly disapproved of it. There seemed to be 
 many things in Col. Baker that met with her 
 disapproval. Meantime the talk went on. 
 
 " Did you find the attraction ? " Charlie 
 asked. 
 
 Col. Baker shrugged his handsome shoulders. 
 
 " I confess I couldn't find it in the sermon. 
 It was one of the Doctor's sharpest and bluest 
 efforts. That poor man has the dyspepsia, I feel 
 certain. Seems to me he develops an increased 
 ability for making people miserable." 
 
 Now, Col. Baker fully expected to draw forth 
 by this remark one of Flossy's silvery laughs, 
 which, to tell the truth, were becoming sweeter 
 to his ears than any choral. 
 
 He was surprised and annoyed at the steady 
 look of thoughtful, not to say distressed gravity 
 that she gave him out of those soft blue eyes of
 
 84 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 hers. He did not know what to make of thia 
 Flossy ; he was feeling the change in her more 
 decidedly than any one else had done. He 
 waited for Flossy's answer, and she gave it at 
 last, in a grave, rebuking tone of voice : 
 
 " I liked the sermon very much." 
 
 " Did you, indeed ? I confess I am astonished. 
 I gave you the credit of possessing a more tender 
 heart. Frankly, then, I didn't. I must say I 
 don't like to go to church to be made uncom 
 fortable." 
 
 " Did you find that sentence in the paper ? " 
 Flossy asked, a little gleam of mischief in her 
 eyes. " Because, if } r ou did, I should have 
 thought you would have considered it answered 
 very well by the comments." 
 
 " As a rule, I am not obliged to resort to the 
 papers to find remarks to quote," Col. Baker 
 said, with an attempt at gayety, which but half 
 concealed the evident annoyance that he felt. 
 " But I judge the paper found some one suffer 
 ing in the same way. Pray, what was the 
 answer ? " 
 
 "Why, the writer said that he supposed no 
 one liked to be uncomfortable ; but whether it
 
 Col. Baker's Sabbath Evening. 85 
 
 was the sermon that should change, or the life, 
 in order to remove the discomfort, was a ques 
 tion for each to decide for himself." 
 
 "Sharp!" said Charlie, laughing ; "you've 
 got hit, Baker." 
 
 "Oh, no," \i6 Laid, "not at all; Don't you 
 see, the author kindly accorded permission for 
 each person to decide the question for himself? 
 Now I have it decided so far as I am concerned. 
 I prefer a change in the sermon. Oh, Dr. Den 
 nis is a good man ; no one doubts it ; but he is 
 too severe a sermonizer. His own church officers 
 admit that. He is really driving the young 
 people away from the church. I should not be 
 greatly surprised if there had to be a change in 
 that locality very soon. The spirit of the times 
 demands more liberality, and a larger measure of 
 Christian charity." 
 
 Col. Baker was really too well educated a 
 man to have allowed himself to use these terms 
 parrot-like, without knowledge or thought as to 
 their meaning ; but the truth was, he cared so 
 little about church and Christian charity, and all 
 those phrases, as to have very little idea of what 
 he meant himself when he used them.
 
 86 The Chautauqua Girls at Some. 
 
 But pretty little Flossy had never argued with 
 him, never been known to argue with anybody. 
 Why should he not occasionally awe her with 
 his high sounding words ? It is a pity that Ruth 
 or Marion had not been there to take up the 
 theme ; and yet it is doubtful if arguments 
 would have had any weight with him. The 
 truth was, he did not need to be convinced. 
 Probably Flossy's perfect gravity, and dignity, 
 and silence, did more to answer him than any 
 keen words could have done.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 NEW MUSIC. 
 
 i HARLIE arose suddenly and went toward 
 ! the piano. Things were becoming uncom 
 fortably grave. 
 
 " Sis," he said, " can't you give us some new 
 music ? Try this new piece ; Baker hasn't heard 
 you sing it. I don't think it is remarkable, but 
 it is better than none. We seem to have a very 
 small list of music that will pass the orthodox 
 line for Sunday use." 
 
 Both he and Flossy had sighed over the dearth 
 of pretty things that were suited to Sunday. 
 The one in question was one of the worst of its 
 kind one of that class which Satan seems to 
 have been at work getting up, for the purpose of 
 
 (87)
 
 88 The Chautauqua Girls at Some. 
 
 lulling to rest weak consciences. Sickly, senti 
 mental ideas, expressed in words that are on the 
 very verge of silly ; and yet, with just enough 
 solemn sounding phrases in them, thrown in here 
 and there, to allow them to be caught up by a 
 certain class, and pronounced "sacred song." 
 Flossy had herself selected this one, and before 
 her departure for Chautauqua had pronounced 
 it very good. She had not looked at it since she 
 came home. Charlie spread it open for her on 
 the piano, then returned to the sofa to enjoy the 
 music. Flossy's voice was sweet and tender; 
 no power in it, and little change of feeling, but 
 pleasant to listen to, and capable of being ten 
 der and pathetic. She looked over the sacred 
 song with a feeling of aversion almost amount 
 ing to disgust. The pitiful attempts at religion 
 Bounded to her recently impressed heart almost 
 like a caricature. On the piano beside her lay a 
 copy of " Gospel Songs ; " open, so it happened 
 (?), at the blessed and solemn hymn, " How 
 much owest thou ? " Now a coincidence that 
 seemed remarkable, and at once startled and im 
 pressed Flossy, was that Dr. Dennis' text for the 
 evening had been the words, " How much owest
 
 New Music. 89 
 
 thou unto my Lord ? " She hesitated just a 
 moment, then she resolutely pushed aside the 
 sheet music, drew the book toward her, and 
 without giving herself time for a prelude, gave 
 herself to the beautiful and well-remembered 
 words : 
 
 " How much owest thou ? 
 For years of tender, watchful care, 
 A father's faith, a mother's prayer 
 How much owest thou ? 
 
 " How much owest thou ? 
 For calls, and warnings loud and plain, 
 For songs and sermons heard in vain 
 
 How much owest thou ? 
 
 " How much owest thou ? 
 Thy day of grace is almost o'er, 
 The judgment time is just before 
 
 How much owest thou ? 
 
 " How much owest thou ? 
 Oh, child of God, and heir of heaven, 
 Thy soul redeemed, thy sins forgiven 
 
 How much owest thou ? " 
 
 Flossy had heard Mr. Bliss, with his grand and 
 glorious voice, ring that out on a certain even 
 ing at Chautauqua, where all the associations of
 
 90 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 the hour and place had been solemn and sacred. 
 It might have been in part these memories, and 
 the sense of something missed, that made her 
 have a homesick longing for the place and song 
 again, that gave to her voice an unusually sweet 
 and plaintive sound. Every word was plain and 
 clear, and wonderfully solemn; but when she 
 reached the words, 
 
 " Oh, child of God, and heir of heaven, 
 Thy soul redeemed, thy sins forgiven," 
 
 There rang out a note of triumph that filled the 
 room, and made the hearts of her listeners throb 
 with surprise and wonder. Long before the 
 gong was closed her father had laid aside the 
 Times, and, with spectacles pushed above his 
 eyes, was listening intently. Absolute silence 
 reigned for a moment, as Flossy's voice died out 
 in sweetness ; then Charlie, clearing his throat 
 said: 
 
 " Well, I van I I said I didn't consider the 
 song remarkable. But I take it back ; it is cer 
 tainly remarkable. Did you ever hear anything 
 that had so changed since you last met it ? " 
 
 Col. Baker did not at once reply. The very
 
 New Musie. 91 
 
 first line had struck him, for the reason that 
 above most men, he had reason to remember a 
 " mother's prayer." There were circumstances 
 connected with that mother of his that made the 
 line doubly startling to him. He was agitated 
 by the wonderful directness of the solemn words, 
 and he was vexed that they agitated him ; so 
 when he did speak, to conceal his feeling, he 
 made his voice flappant. 
 
 " It is a remarkable production, worthy of 
 camp-meeting, I should say. But, Miss Flossy, 
 allow me to congratulate you. It was sung with 
 striking effect." 
 
 Flossy arose suddenly from the piano, and 
 closed the book of hymns. 
 
 " Col. Baker," she said, " may I ask you to ex 
 cuse me this evening ? I find I am not in a 
 mood to enjoy conversation; my brother will 
 entertain you, I am sure." 
 
 ' And before Col. Baker could recover from his 
 astonishment sufficiently to make any reply at 
 all, she had given him a courteous bow for good- 
 uight, and escaped from the room. 
 
 The situation was discussed by the Shipley 
 family at the next morning's breakfast table.
 
 92 The Chautauqua CrirU at Home. 
 
 Flossy had come down a trifle late, looking pale 
 and somewhat sober, and was rallied by Kitty as 
 to the cause. 
 
 " Her conscience is troubling her a little, I 
 fancy," her father said, eyeing her closely from 
 under heavy brows. " Weren't you just a little 
 hard on the colonel, last night, daughter ? Ktr 
 is willing to endure considerable from you, ] 
 guess ; but I wouldn't try him too far." 
 
 " What was the trouble, father ? W hat has 
 Flossy done now ? I thought she was going to 
 be good at last ? " 
 
 " Done I You may well ask what, Miss Kitty. 
 Suppose the friend you had shut up in the library 
 had been informed suddenly that you were not 
 in a mood to talk with him, and then you had 
 decamped and left him to the tender mercies of 
 two men ? " 
 
 " Whj r , Flossy Shipley I you didn't do that, 
 did you ? Really, if I were Col. Baker I would 
 never call on you again." 
 
 " I don't see the harm," Flossy said, simply. 
 " Father and Charlie were both there. Surely 
 that was company enough for him. I hadn't in 
 vited him to call."
 
 New Music. 93 
 
 " Oh, undoubtedly lie calls on purpose to see 
 father and Charlie ! He has not been so atten 
 tive to the family during your absence, I can as 
 sure you. We haven't so much as had a peep 
 at him since you went away. Floss}', I hadn't 
 an idea you could be so rude. I declare, I think 
 that Wilbur girl is demoralizing you. They say 
 she has no idea of considering people's feelings j 
 but then, one expects it of her class." 
 
 Mrs. Shipley came to Flossy's aid : 
 
 " Poor child, I don't blame her for slipping 
 away. She was tired. She had been to church 
 twice, and to Sunday-school at noon, without 
 any lunch, too. Floss}*-, you mustn't indulge in 
 such an absurd freak another Sunday. It is too 
 much for you. I am sure it is not strange that 
 you wanted to get away to rest." 
 
 Then the father : 
 
 " I dare say you were tired, as your mother 
 says ; in fact, though, I must say I think I never 
 baw you looking better than you were last even 
 ing. But it was a trifle thoughtless, daughter, 
 and I want you to be more careful in the future. 
 Col. Baker's father was my oldest and most val 
 ued friend, and I want Ids son to be treated with
 
 94 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 the utmost consideration, and to feel that he ig 
 always welcome. Since he has so special a 
 friendship for you. you must just remember that 
 his position in society is one of the highest, and 
 that you are really decidedly honored. Not that 
 I am rebuking you, Flossy dear, only putting 
 you on your guard ; for remember that you carry 
 a very thoughtless little head on your pretty 
 shoulders." 
 
 And then he leaned over and patted the 
 thoughtless head, and gave the glowing cheek 
 such a loving, fatherly kiss. 
 
 As for poor Flossy, the bit of steak she was 
 trying to swallow seemed to choke her; she 
 struggled bravely to keep back the tears that 
 she felt were all ready to fall. The way looked 
 shadowy to her; she felt like a deceitful cow 
 ard. Here were they, making excuses for her 
 tired, thoughtless, and the like. Oh, for cour 
 age to say to them that she had not been tired 
 at all, and that she thought about that action oi 
 hers longer than she had thought about anything 
 in her life, up to a few weeks ago. 
 
 If she could only tell them out boldly and 
 plainly that everything was changed to her,
 
 New Music. 95 
 
 that she looked at life from a different stand 
 point; and that, standing where she did now, it 
 looked all wrong to spend the last hoars of the 
 Sabbath in entertaining company. But her poor 
 little tongue, all unused to being brave, so 
 shrank from this ordeal, and the lump in her 
 throat so nearly choked her, that she made no 
 attempt at words. 
 
 So the shadows that had fallen on her heart 
 grew heavier as she went about her pretty room. 
 She foresaw a troubled future. Not only must 
 the explanation come, but she foresaw that her 
 changed plans would lie right athwart the views 
 and plans of her father. 
 
 What endless trouble and discomfort would 
 this occasion I Also, there were her pet schemes 
 for Sunday-school, including those boys for 
 whom she had already planned a dozen different 
 things. 
 
 Her mother had frankly expressed her opin 
 ion, and, although it is not the age when parents 
 say, nor were Flossy's parents of the sort who 
 would ever have said, " You must do thus, and 
 you shall not do so," still, she foresaw endless 
 discussions ; sarcastic raillery from Kittie and
 
 96 The Chautauqui Crirh at Home. 
 
 Charlie ; persuasions from her mother ; earnest 
 protests from her father, and a general air of lack 
 of sympathy or interest about them all. 
 
 These things were to Flossy almost more than, 
 under some circumstances, the martyr's stake 
 would have been to Marion Wilbur. Then she, 
 too, as she went about doing sundry little things 
 toward making her room more perfect in its or 
 der, took up Marion's fashion of pitying herself, 
 and looking longingly at the brightness in some 
 other life. 
 
 Not Marion's, for she was all alone, and had 
 great responsibilities, and no one to shield her 
 or help her or comfort her ; that was dreadful. 
 Not Ruth's, for her life was so high up among 
 books and paintings and grandeur, that it looked 
 like cold elegance and nothing else. 
 
 She wouldn't have lived that life ; but there 
 was Eurie Mitchell, in a little home that had al 
 ways looked sunny and cheerful when she had 
 taken occasional peeps into it somewhat stirred 
 up, as became a large family and small means, 
 but with a cleanly, cheery sort of stir that was 
 agreeable rather than otherwise. 
 
 And there were little children to love and care
 
 New Music. 97 
 
 for children who put their arms around one's 
 neck and said, " I love you," a great many times 
 in a day. 
 
 Flossy, having never tried it, did not realize 
 that if the fingers had been sticky or greasy or a 
 trifle black, as they were apt to be, it would be 
 an exceeding annoyance to her. She saw what 
 people usually do see about other people's cares 
 and duties, only the pretty, pleasant side. To 
 have felt somewhat of the other side she should 
 have spent that Monday with Eurie. 
 
 To Eurie a Monday rain was a positive afflic 
 tion; it necessitated the marshaling of tubs 
 and pails into the little kitchen, and the 
 endurance of Mrs. Maloney's presence in con 
 stant contact with the dinner arrangements 
 on pleasant days Mrs. Maloney betook herself 
 to the open air. 
 
 Then, in the Mitchell family there was that 
 trial to any woman of ordinary patience, a small 
 girl who " helped " worked for her board 
 mornings and evenings, and played at school the 
 rest of the time. 
 
 Sallie Whitcomb, the creature who tried Eu 
 rie, was rather duller than the most of her class,
 
 98 The Chautauqua Grirls at Some. 
 
 and had her days or spells when she seemed ut 
 terly incapable of understanding the English 
 language. This day was very apt to be Mon 
 day ; and on the particular Monday of which I 
 write, the spell was on her in full force. 
 
 Tc add to the bewilderments of the day, Dr. 
 Mitchell, after a very hurried breakfast, had de 
 parted, taking the household genius with him, to 
 see a patient and friend, who was worse. 
 
 " I don't know how you will manage," Mrs. 
 Mitchell had said, as she paid a hasty visit to the 
 kitchen. " There is bread to mix, you know, 
 and that yeast ought to be made to-day ; and 
 then the starch you must look after or it will be 
 lumpy ; and oh, Eurie, do see that your father's 
 handkerchiefs are all picked up, he leaves them 
 around so. You must keep an eye on the baby, 
 for he is a trifle hoarse this morning ; and Rob 
 bie mustn't go in the wind mustn't eat a sin 
 gle apple, for he isn't at all well ; you must see 
 to that, Eurie I wouldn't have you forget him 
 for anything. See here, when the baby takes a 
 nap, see that the lower sash is shut there is 
 quite a draught through the room. I don't 
 know how you are to get through. You must
 
 New Music. 99 
 
 keep Jennie from school to take care of the chil 
 dren, and do the best 3-011 can. If Mrs. Cray- 
 mer hadn't sent for me I wouldn't go this morn 
 ing, much as I want to see her, but I think I 
 ought to, as it is." 
 
 " Of course," Eurie said, cheerily. " Don't 
 worry about us, mother; we'll get through some 
 how. I'll see to Mrs. Maloney and all the rest." 
 
 " Well, be careful about the bread ; don't let 
 it get too light, and don't for anything put it in 
 too soon : it was a trifle heavy last week, you 
 know, and your father dislikes it so. Never 
 mind much about dinner ; your father will have 
 to go to two or three places when he gets back 
 from the Valley, and I can get up a warm bite 
 for him while he is gone." 
 
 And with a little sigh, and a regretful look 
 back into the crowded, steamy kitchen, Mrs. 
 Mitchell answered her husband's hurried call 
 and ran. So Eurie was left mistress of the oc 
 casion. 
 
 It looked like a mountain to her. The dishes 
 were piled higher than usual, for the Sabbath 
 evening lunch had made many that had not been 
 washed. And Sallie, who should have been
 
 100 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 deep into them already, was at that moment 
 hanging on the gate she had gone to shut, and 
 watching the retreating tail of the doctor's 
 horse. 
 
 " Sallie ! " Eurie called, and Sallie came, look 
 ing bewildered and indolent, eating an apple as 
 she walked. 
 
 " Now, Sallie, you must hurry with the dishes , 
 see how soon you can get them all out of the 
 way. I have the bread to mix and a dozen 
 other things to do, and I can't help you a bit." 
 
 At the same time she had an inward conscious 
 ness that the great army of dishes would never 
 marshal into place till she came to their aid. 
 
 This was the beginning, not a pleasant one, 
 and the bewilderments of the morning deepened 
 with every passing half hour. 
 
 What happened ? Dear me, what didn't? In 
 experienced Eurie, who rarely had the family 
 bread left on her hands, went to mixing it before 
 getting baking tins ready, and Sallie left her 
 dishes to attend to it, and dripped dish-water 
 over them and the molding-board and on Eurie's 
 clean apron, in such an unmistakable manner, 
 that the annoyed young lady washed her hands
 
 New Music. 101 
 
 of dough and dumped the whole pile of tins un 
 ceremoniously into the dish-water. 
 
 " They are so greasy I can't touch them I " 
 she said in disdain, " and have drops of dish-wa 
 ter all over them, and besides here is the core of 
 an apple in one. I wonder, Sallie, if you eat ap 
 ples while you are washing the dishes ! Put 
 some wood in the stove. Jennie, can't you come 
 here and wipe these dishes ? We won't get 
 them out of the way before mother comes home." 
 
 Jenny appeared at the door, book in hand. 
 
 "How can I leave the baby, Eurie? Robbie 
 says he can't play with him he feels too sick. 
 I think something ought to be done for Robbie ; 
 his cheeks are as red as scarlet." 
 
 Whereupon Eurie left dishes and bread and 
 went in to feel of Robbie's pulse, and ask how 
 he felt, and get a pillow for him to lie on the 
 lounge ; and the baby cried for her and had to 
 be taken a minute ; so the time went time al 
 ways goes like lightning in the kitchen on Mon 
 day morning. When that bread was finally set 
 to rise, Eurie dismissed Sallie from the dish-pan 
 in disgust, with orders to sweep the room, if she 
 could leave her apple long enough.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DISTUEBING ELEMENTS. 
 
 HE next anxiety was the baby, who con 
 trived to tumble himself over in his high 
 chair, and cried loudly. Eurie ran. Dr. Mitch 
 ell was always so troubled about bumps on the 
 head. She bathed this in cold water, and in ar 
 nica, and petted, and soothed, and pacified as 
 well as she could a child who thought it a spe 
 cial and unendurable state of things not to have 
 mamma and nobody else. Between the pet 
 ting she administered wholesome reproof to 
 Jennie. 
 
 " If you hadn't been reading, instead of at 
 tending to him this would not have happened 
 I wish I had told mother to lock up all the books 
 
 (102)
 
 Disturbing Elements. 103 
 
 before she went. You are great help; worth 
 while to stay from school to bury yourself in a 
 book." 
 
 " I haven't read a dozen pages this morning," 
 Jennie said, with glowing cheeks. " He was sit 
 ting in his high chair, just as he always is, and I 
 had stepped across the room to get a picture- 
 book for Robbie. How could I know that he 
 was going to fall ? I don't think you are very 
 kind, anyway, when I am helping all that I can, 
 and losing school besides." 
 
 And Miss Jennie put on an air of lofty and in 
 jured innocence. 
 
 " I believe she is sweeping right on the bread," 
 said Eurie, her thoughts turned into another 
 channel. " Go and see, Jennie." 
 
 Jennie went, and returned as full of comfort 
 as any of Job's friends. 
 
 " She swept right straight at it ; and she left the 
 door open, and the wind blew the cloth off, and a 
 great hunk of dust and dirt lies right on top of 
 one loaf, and the clothes are boiling over on the 
 others. Nice bread you'll have ! " 
 
 Before this sentence was half finished, Eurie 
 sat the baby on the floor and ran, stopping only
 
 104 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 to give orders that Jennie should not let him go 
 to sleep for anything. 
 
 The door-bell was the next sound that tried 
 her nerves. The little parlor where they had 
 lingered late, she and Nellis, last evening, when 
 they had a pleasant talk together, the pleasant- 
 est she had ever had with that brother ; now she 
 remembered how it looked ; how he had said, as 
 he glanced back when they were leaving : 
 
 " Eurie, I hope you won't have any special 
 calls before you get around to this room in the 
 morning ; it looks as though there had been an 
 upheaval of books and papers here." 
 
 Books, and papers, and dust, and her hat and 
 sack, and Jennie's gloves, and Robbie's play 
 things ; she had forgotten the parlor. 
 
 Meantime, Jennie had rushed to the door, and 
 now returned, holding the kitchen door open, 
 and talking loud enough to be heard distinctly 
 in the parlor. 
 
 " Eurie, Leonard Brooks is in the parlor. He 
 says he wants to see you for just a minute, and I 
 should think that is about as long as he would 
 care to stay ; it looks like sixty in there." 
 
 " Oh, dear me I " said Eurie, and she looked
 
 Disturbing Elements. 105 
 
 down at her dress. It had long black streaks 
 running diagonally across it, and dishwater and 
 grease combined on her apron ; a few drops of 
 arnica on her sleeves and hands did not improve 
 the general effect. 
 
 " Jennie, why in the world didn't you tell him 
 that I was engaged, and couldn't see him this 
 morning ? " 
 
 " Why, how should I know that you wanted 
 me to say so to people ? You didn't tell me. He 
 said he was in a hurry. He isn't alone, either ; 
 there is a strange gentleman with him." 
 
 Worse and worse. 
 
 " I won't go," said Eurie. 
 
 " But you will have to. I told him you were 
 at home, and would be in in a moment. Go on, 
 what do you care ? " 
 
 There was no way but to follow this advice ; 
 but she did care. She set the starch back on 
 the stove, and washed her hands, and waited 
 while Sallie ran up-stairs and hunted a towel ; 
 then she went, flushed and annoyed, to the par 
 lor. Leonard Brooks was an old acquaintance, 
 but who was the stranger ? 
 
 " Mr. Holden, of New York," Leonard said.
 
 106 The Chautauqua Crirls at Some. 
 
 " They would detain her but a moment, as she 
 was doubtless engaged ; " and then Leonard 
 looked mischievously down at the streaked dress. 
 He was not used to seeing Eurie look so entirely 
 awry in the matter of her toilet. 
 
 Mr. Holden was going to get up a tableau en 
 tertainment, and needed home talent to help 
 him ; he, Leonard, had volunteered to introduce 
 him to some of the talented ladies of the city, 
 and had put her first on the list. Eurie strug 
 gled with her embarrassment, and answered in 
 her usual way : 
 
 " He can see at a glance that I merit the com 
 pliment. If myself and all my surroundings don't 
 show a marked talent for disorder, I don't know 
 what would." 
 
 Mr. Holden was courteous and gallant in the 
 extreme. He took very little notice of the re 
 mark; ignored the state of the room utterly; 
 apologized for the unseemly hour of their call, 
 attributing it to his earnest desire to secure her 
 name before there was any other engagement 
 made ; " might he depend on her influence and 
 help?" 
 
 Eurie was in a hurry. She smelled the starch
 
 Disturbing Elements. 107 
 
 scorching ; Robbie was crying fretfully, and the 
 baby was so quiet she feared he was asleep ; the 
 main point was, to get rid of her callers as soon 
 as possible. She asked few questions, and knew 
 as little about the projected entertainment as 
 possible, save that she was pledged to a rehearsal 
 on the coming Wednesday at eight o'clock. 
 Then she bowed them out with a sense of re 
 lief; and, merely remarking to Jennie that she 
 wished she could coax Robbie and the baby into 
 the parlor, and clear it up a little before anybody 
 more formidable arrived, she went back to tha 
 scorched starch and other trials. 
 
 From that time forth a great many people 
 wanted Dr. Mitchell. The bell rang, and rang, 
 and rang. Jennie had to run, and Eurie had to 
 run to baby. Then came noon bringing the 
 boys home from school, hungry and in a hurry ; 
 and Eurie had to go to Sallie's help, who was 
 struggling to get the table set, and something on 
 it to eat. 
 
 Whereupon the bread suddenly announced it 
 self ready for the oven by spreading over one- 
 half of the bread cloth, with a sticky mass. 
 Then the bell rang again.
 
 108 The CJiautaugua Girls at Home. 
 
 " I hope that is some one who will send to the 
 Valley for father right away ; then we shall have 
 mother again." 
 
 This was Eurie's half aloud admission that she 
 was not equal to the strain. Then she listened 
 for Jennie's report. The parlor door being 
 opened, and somebody being invited thither ; 
 and that room not cleared up yet ! Then came 
 Jennie with her exasperating news." 
 
 It is Dr. Suowdon, from Morristown, and he 
 wants father for a consultation ; says he is going 
 to take him back with him on the two o'clock 
 train, and he wants to know if you could let him 
 have a mouthful of dinner with father? He 
 met father at the crossing half a mile below, and 
 he told him to come right on." 
 
 "And where is mother? " said Euiie, pale and 
 almost breathless under this new calamity. 
 
 " Why, he didn't say ; but I suppose she is 
 with father. He stopped to call at the New 
 ton's. I guess you will have to hurry, won't 
 you?" 
 
 Jennie was provokingly cool and composed ; 
 no sense of responsibility rested upon her. 
 
 ** Hurry ! " said Eurie. " Why, he can't have
 
 Disturbing Elements. 109 
 
 any dinner here. We haven't a thing in the 
 house for a stranger." 
 
 " Well," said Jennie, balancing herself on one 
 foot, "shall I go and tell him that he must take 
 himself off to a hotel ? " 
 
 "Nonsense I " said Eurie ; " you know better." 
 Then she whisked into the kitchen. Twenty 
 minutes of one, and the train went at ten min 
 utes of two, and nothing to eat, and Dr. Snow- 
 don (of all particular and gentlemanly mortals, 
 without a wife or a home, or any sense of 
 the drawbacks of Monday) to eat it! Is it 
 hardly to be wondered at that the boys voted 
 Eurie awfully cross ? 
 
 " Altogether, it was just the most horrid time 
 that ever anybody had." That was the way 
 Eurie closed the account of it, as she sat curled 
 on the foot of Marion's bed, with the three 
 friends, who had been listening and laughing, 
 gathered around her in different attitudes of at 
 tention. 
 
 " Oh, you can laugh, and so can I, now that it 
 is over," Eurie said. " But I should just like to 
 have seen one of you in my place ; it was no 
 laughing matter, I can tell you. It was just the
 
 110 The CTiautauqua Q-irh at Home. 
 
 beginning of vexations, though ; the whole week, 
 so far, has been exasperating in every respect. 
 Never anything went less according to planning 
 than my programme for the week has." 
 
 Each of her auditors could have echoed that, 
 but they were silent. At last Marion asked : 
 
 " But how did you get out of it ? Tell us 
 that. Now, a dinner of any kind is something 
 that is beyond me. I can imagine you transfixed 
 with horror. Just tell us what you did." 
 
 " Why, you will wonder who came to my res 
 cue ; but I tell you, girls, Nellis is the best fel 
 low in the world. If I was half as good a Chris 
 tian as he is, without any of that to help him, I 
 should be a thankful mortal. I didn't expect 
 him, thought he had gone away for the day ; 
 but when he came he took in the situation at a 
 glance. Half a dozen words of explanation set 
 him right. ' Never mind.' he said. ' Tell him 
 we didn't mean to have dinner so early, but we 
 flew around and got them a bite then let's do 
 it.' ' But what will the bite be ? ' I asked, and 
 I stood looking up at him like a ninny who had 
 never gotten a meal in her life. ' Why, bread, 
 and butter, and coffee, and a dish of sauce, and
 
 Disturbing Elements. Ill 
 
 a pickle, or something of that sort ; ' and the 
 things really sounded appetizing as he told them 
 off. * Come,' he said, ' I'll grind the coffee, and 
 make it; I used to be a dabster at that dish 
 when I was in college. Jennie, you set the ta 
 ble, and Ned will help ; he's well enough foi 
 that, I know.' 
 
 " And in less time than it takes to tell it, he 
 had us all at work, baby and all ; and, really, we 
 managed to get up quite a decent meal, out of 
 nothing, you understand ; had it ready when fa 
 ther drove up ; and he said it was as good a din 
 ner as he had had in a week. But, oh, me I I'm 
 glad such days don't come very often. You 
 see, none of you know anything about it. You 
 girls with your kitchens supplied with first-class 
 cooks, and without any more idea of what goes 
 on in the way of work before you are fed than 
 though you lived in the moon, what do you know 
 about such a day as I have described ? Here's 
 Marion, to be sure, who has about as empty a 
 purse as mine ; but as for kitchens, and wash 
 days, and picked-up dinners, she is a novice." 
 
 " I know all about those last articles, so far as 
 eating them is concerned," Marion said, grimly.
 
 112 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 " I know things about them that you don't, and 
 never will. But I have made up my mind that 
 living a Christian life isn't walking on a feather 
 bed, whether you live in a palace or a fourth- 
 rate board-house, and teach school. I shouldn't 
 wonder if there were such things as vexations 
 everywhere." 
 
 " I don't doubt it," Ruth Erskine said, speaking 
 more quickly than was usual to her. The others 
 had been more or less communicative with each 
 other. It wasn't in Ruth's nature to tell how 
 tried, and dissatisfied she had been with herself 
 and her life, and her surroundings all the week. 
 She was not s}'mpathetic by nature. She 
 couldn't tell her inward feeling to any one ; but 
 she could indorse heartily the discovery that 
 Marion had made. 
 
 " Well, I know one thing," said Eurie, " it 
 requires twice the grace that I supposed it did 
 to get through with kitchen duties and exasper 
 ations and keep one's temper. I shall think, 
 after this, that mother is a saint when she gets 
 through the day without boxing our ears three 
 or four times around. Come, let's go to meet- 
 ing."
 
 Disturbing Elements. 113 
 
 It was Wednesday evening, and our four 
 girls had met to talk over the events of the 
 week, and to keep each other countenance dur 
 ing their first prayer-meeting. 
 
 " It is almost worse than going to Sunda}-- 
 school," Eurie said, as they went up the steps, 
 " except that we can help ourselves to seats 
 without waiting fur any attentions which would 
 not be shown." 
 
 Now the First Church people were not given 
 to going to prayer-meeting. It is somewhat re 
 markable how many First Churches there are to 
 which that remark will apply. The chapel was 
 large and inviting, looking as though in the days 
 of its planning many had been expected at the 
 social meetings, or else it was built with an eye 
 to festivals and societies. The size of the room 
 only made the few persons who were in it, seem 
 fewer in number than they were. 
 
 Flossy had been to prayer-meeting several 
 times before with a cousin who visited them, but 
 none of the others had attended such a meeting 
 since they could remember. To Eurie and Ruth 
 it was a real surprise to see the rows of empty 
 seats. As for Marion she had overheard sarcas-
 
 114 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 tic remarks enough in the watchful and critical 
 world in which she had moved to have a shrewd 
 suspicion that such was the case. 
 
 " I don't know where to sit," whispered Flossy, 
 shrinking from the gaze of several heads that 
 were turned to see who the new comers were. 
 " Don't you suppose they will seat us ? " 
 
 "Not they," said Eurie. "Don't you remem 
 her Sunday ? We must just put the courageous 
 face on and march forward. I'm going directly 
 to the front. I always said if ever I went to 
 prayer-meeting at all, I shouldn't act as though 
 I was ashamed that I came." Saying which she 
 led the way to the second seat from the desk, di 
 rectly in line with Dr. Dennis' eye. 
 
 That gentleman looked down at them with 
 troubled face. Marion looked to see it light up, 
 for she said in her heart : 
 
 " Gracie has surely told him my secret." 
 
 She knew little about the ways in the busy 
 minister's household. The delightful commu 
 nion of feeling that she had imagined between 
 father and daughter was almost unknown to 
 them. Very fond and proud of his daughter 
 was Dr. Dennis ; very careful of her health and
 
 Disturbing Elements. 115 
 
 her associations ; very grateful that she was a 
 Christian, and so, safe. 
 
 But so busy and harassed was his life, so end 
 less were the calls on his time and his patience 
 and his sympathy, that almost without his being 
 aware of it, his own family were the only mem 
 bers of his church who never received any pas 
 toral calls. 
 
 Consequently a reserve like unto that in too 
 many households had grown up between himself 
 and his child, utterly unsuspected by the father, 
 never but half owned by the daughter. He 
 thought of her religious life with joy and thanks 
 giving ; when she went astray, was careful and 
 tender in his admonition ; yet of the inner work 
 ings of her life, of her reaching after higher and 
 better living, of her growth in grace, or her days 
 of disappointment and failure and decline he 
 knew no more than the veriest stranger with 
 whom she never spoke. 
 
 For while Grace Dennis loved and reverenced 
 her father more than she did any other earthly 
 being, she acknowledged to herself that she could 
 not have told him even of the little conversation 
 between her teacher and herself. She could,
 
 116 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 and did, tell him all about the lesson in algebra, 
 but not a word about the lesson in Christian 
 love. 
 
 So on this evening his face expressed no satis 
 faction in the presence of the strangers. He 
 was simply disturbed that they had formed a 
 league to meet here with mischief ahead, as he 
 verily believed. 
 
 He arose and read the opening hymn ; then 
 looked about him in a disturbed way. Nobody 
 to lead the singing. This was too often the 
 case. The quartette choir rarely indeed found 
 their way to the prayer-meeting ; and when the 
 one who was a church-member occasionally came 
 to the weekly meeting, for reasons best known 
 to herself, apparently the power of song for 
 which she received so good a Sabbath-day salary 
 had utterly gone from her, for she never opened 
 her lips. 
 
 "I hope," said Dr. Dennis, "that there is some 
 one present who can start this tune ; it is simple. 
 A prayer-meeting without singing loses half its 
 spiritual force. Still every one was dumb. " I 
 am sorry that I cannot sing at all," he said again, 
 after a moment's pause. " If I could, ever so
 
 Disturbing Elements. 117 
 
 little, it would be my delight to consecrate my 
 voice to the service of God's house." 
 
 Still silence. All this made Marion remember 
 her resolves at Chautauqua. 
 
 " What tunes do people sing in prayer-meet 
 ing ? " she whispered to Eurie. 
 
 " I don't know, I am sure," Eurie whispered 
 back. And then the ludicrous side happened 
 to forcibly strike that young lady, just then she 
 shook with laughter and shook the seat. Dr. 
 Dennis looked down at her with grave, rebuking 
 eye. 
 
 " Well," he began, "if we cannot sing " 
 
 And then, before he had time to say further, a 
 soft, sweet voice, so tremulous it almost brought 
 the tears to think what a tremendous stretch of 
 courage it had taken, quivered on the air.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PRAYEB-MEETING AND TABLEAUX. 
 
 was Flossy who had triumphed again 
 over self and a strong natural timidity. 
 Her voice trembled but for an instant, then it 
 was literally absorbed in the rich, full tones 
 which Marion allowed to roll out from her throat 
 richer, fuller, stronger than they would have 
 been had she not again received this sharp re 
 buke from the timid baby of their party. But 
 that voice of hers I I wish I could describe it to 
 you. It is not often that one hears such a voice 
 Such an one had never been heard in that room, 
 and the few occupants were surely justified in 
 twisting their heads to see from whence it 
 came. 
 
 (118)
 
 Prayer-Meeting and Tableaux. 119 
 
 It was still a new thing to Marion to sing such 
 words as were in that hymn ; and in the beauty 
 of them, and the enjoyment of their richness, she 
 lost sight of self and the attention she was at 
 tracting, and sang with all her heart. It so hap 
 pened that every one of the three friends could 
 help her not a little, so our girls had the singing 
 in their own hands for the evening. 
 
 When the next hymn was announced, Marion 
 leaned forward, smiling a little, and covered with 
 her firm, strong hand the trembling little gloved 
 hand of Flossy, and herself gave the key-note in 
 clear, strong tones that neither faltered nor 
 trembled. 
 
 " You've taken up your little cross bravely," 
 she whispered afterward. " Shown me my duty 
 and shamed me into it ; the very lightest end of 
 it shall not rest on you any more." 
 
 Notwithstanding the singing, and finding that 
 it could be well done, Dr. Dennis took care to 
 see that there should be much of it, that meeting 
 dragged. The few who were in the habit of 
 saying anything, waited until the very latest 
 moment, as if hopeful that they might find a 
 way of escape altogether, and yet, when once
 
 120 The Chautauqua Crirh at Home. 
 
 started, talked on as though they had forgotten 
 how to arrange a suitable closing, and must 
 therefore go on. Then the prayers seemed tc 
 our new-comers and new-beginners in prayei 
 very strange and unnatural. 
 
 " Do you suppose Mr. Helm really feels such 
 a deep interest in everything under the sun ? " 
 queried Eurie. " Or did he pray for all the 
 world in detail because that is the proper way to 
 do? Someway, I don't feel as if I could ever 
 learn to pray in that way. I believe I shall 
 have to ask for just what I want and then 
 stop." 
 
 " If you succeed in keeping to the latter part 
 of your determination you will do better than 
 the most of them," Marion said. " I can't help 
 thinking that the worst feature of it is the keep 
 ing on, long after the person wants to stop. 
 Now, I tell you, girls, that is not the way they 
 prayed at Chautauqua, is it ? " 
 
 " Well," said Flossy, " it is not the way Dr. 
 Dennis prays, either ; but then, he has a theolog 
 ical education j that makes a difference, I sup 
 pose." 
 
 " No it doesn't, you mouse, make a speck of
 
 Prayer-Meeting and Tableaux. 121 
 
 difference. That old Uncle Billy, as they call 
 him, who sat down by the door in the corner, 
 hasn't a theological education, nor any other sort 
 of education. Did he speak one single sentence 
 according to rule ? Yet, didn't you notice his 
 prayer ? Different from most of the others. He 
 meant it." 
 
 " But you wouldn't say that none of the others 
 meant it ? " Ruth said, speaking hesitatingly and 
 questioningly. 
 
 "No," Marion answered, slowly. " I suppose 
 not, of course ; yet there is something the mat-^ 
 ter with them. It may be that the ones who 
 make them, may feel them, but they don't suc 
 ceed in making me feel." 
 
 "Well, honestly," said Eurie, "I'm disap 
 pointed. I have heard that people who were 
 really Christians liked to go to prayer-meeting 
 better than anywhere else, but I feel awfully 
 wicked about it. But, as true as I live, I have 
 been in places that I thought were ever so much 
 pleasanter than it was there this evening. Now, 
 to tell the plain truth, some of the time I was 
 dreadfully bored. I'm specially disappointed, 
 too, for I had a plan to trying to coax Nellis into
 
 122 The Ohautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 going with me, but I really don't know whether 
 I want him to go or not." 
 
 But this talk was when they were on their 
 way homeward. Before that, as they went down 
 the steps, Eurie said : 
 
 " What plans have you for the evening, girls? 
 Won't you go with me ? " 
 
 And then she went back to that tormenting 
 Monday, and told of Leonard Brooks' call with 
 his friend Mr. Holden, and of the tableau enter 
 tainment to which she was pledged. They had 
 all heard more or less of it, and all in some form 
 or other had received petitions for help, but none 
 of them had come in direct contact with it, save 
 Eurie, and it appeared that the rest of them had 
 given the matter very little attention. Still, 
 they were willing to go with Eurie, and see what 
 was to be seen. At least they walked on in 
 that direction. 
 
 Dr. Dennis and his daughter were directly be 
 hind them. As they neared a brightly-lighted 
 street corner, he came up to Eurie and Marion, 
 who were walking together, with a pleasant 
 good-evening. Something in Marion's manner 
 of singing the hymn had interested him, and also
 
 Prayer-Meeting and Tableaux. 123 
 
 he was interested in learning, if he could, what 
 motive had brought them to so unusual a place 
 as the prayer-meeting. 
 
 " It is a lovely evening for a walk," he said. 
 " But, Miss Wilbur, you don't propose to take it 
 alone, I hope ! Isn't your boarding place at 
 some distance ? " 
 
 She was not going directly home, Marion ex 
 plained, not caring to admit the loneliness, and 
 also what evidently seemed to Dr. Dennis the 
 impropriety of having to traverse the street 
 alone so often that it had failed to seem a strange 
 thing to her. Eurie volunteered further infor 
 mation : 
 
 " We are going up to Annesley's Hall, to make 
 arrangements for the tableau entertainment." 
 
 Now, it so happened that Dr. Dennis knew 
 more about the tableau entertainment than Eurie 
 did, and his few minutes of feeling that perhaps 
 he had misjudged those girls, departed at once ; 
 so did his genial manner. 
 
 " Indeed ! " he said, in the coldest tone imagi 
 nable, and almost immediately dropped back 
 with his daughter. 
 
 There was a gentleman hurrying down the
 
 124 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 walk, evidently for the purpose of overtaking 
 him. At this moment he pronounced the doc 
 tor's name. 
 
 " Walk on, Grace, I will join you in a mo 
 ment," the girls heard Dr. Dennis say, and Grace 
 stepped forward alone. 
 
 Marion glanced back. But a few weeks ago 
 it would have been nothing to her that Grace 
 Dennis or any one else walked alone, so that she 
 had no need for their company. But the law of 
 unselfishness, which is the very essence of a true 
 Christian life, was already beginning to work 
 unconsciously in this girl's heart, and it made 
 her turn now and say to Grace, with winning 
 voice : 
 
 " Have you lost your companion? Come and 
 walk with us until you can have him again. 
 Miss Mitchell, Miss Dennis." 
 
 It was a fact that, though Eurie was of the 
 same church with Grace Dennis, and though she 
 knew Grace by sight, and bowed to her in the 
 daytime, their familiarity with each other was 
 not so sufficient as to insure a gas-light recogni 
 tion. 
 
 " We know each other," Grace said, brightly
 
 Prayer -Meeting and Tableaux. 125 
 
 " at, least we ought to. We do when we see 
 each other plainly enough. I have been mean 
 ing to call with papa, Miss Mitchell, but I haven't 
 been able to, yet ; I am only a school girl, you 
 know." 
 
 Eurie preferred to ignore the calling question ; 
 she had little sympathy with that phase of fash 
 ionable life ; so she plunged at once into another 
 subject. 
 
 " Are you going to the hall to-night, Miss 
 Dennis, to help in getting up the tableau enter 
 tainment ? " 
 
 Something in the quick way in which Grace 
 Dennis said, " Oh, no," made Marion anxious to 
 question further. 
 
 Why not ? " she asked. " Miss Mitchell 
 says they want all the ladies of talent ; I'm sure 
 you and I ought to be there. I can imagine 
 you in a splendid tableau, Gracie ; perhaps you 
 would better go and help. To be sure, I haven't 
 been really invited myself, but I guess I can get 
 in somehow. Won't you go with us now ? " 
 
 " I can't, Miss Wilbur. I should like to go ; 
 I enjoy tableaux ever so much ; but papa does 
 not approve of making tableaux of Scripture
 
 126 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 scenes. You know, ministers have to be in ad 
 vance on all these subjects." 
 
 Grace spoke in an apologetic tone, and with a 
 flushed face, as one who had been obliged into 
 saying a rude thing, and must make it sound aa 
 best she could. 
 
 "Are they to be Scripture scenes?" Eurie 
 asked ; and in the same breath added : " Why 
 does he disapprove ? " " 
 
 " I don't think I could give his reasons. Ha 
 thinks them irreverent, sometimes, I fancy ; but 
 I am not sure. I never heard him say very 
 much on the subject; but I know quite well 
 that he would not like me to go. Don't you 
 know, Miss Mitchell, that clergymen always 
 have to stand aloof from so many things, because 
 they are set up as examples for others to fol 
 low ? " 
 
 " But what is the use of it if others don't fol 
 low?" said quick-witted Eurie. "We must 
 look into this question. I have never thought 
 of it. It will have to be put down with that 
 long list of subjects on which I have never had 
 any thoughts ; that list swells every day." 
 
 At this point Dr. Dennis somewhat decidedly
 
 Prayer-Meeting and Tableaux. 127 
 
 summoned his daughter to his side, and it waa 
 after they had turned onto another street that 
 the girls took the prayer-meeting into considera 
 tion. 
 
 They were still talking of it when they reached 
 the hall. Quite a company were assembled, 
 among them Eurie's brother, who was to meet 
 her there, and Col. Baker, who had come for the 
 purpose of meeting Flossy, much to her discom 
 fiture. Mr. Holden and Leonard Brooks came 
 over to the seat which they had taken, and the 
 former was presented to the rest of the party. 
 
 " This is capital I " Nellis Mitchell said. 
 "Holden,! congratulate you. I knew Flossy 
 would help, and possibly Miss Wilbur ; but I 
 will confess to not even hoping for you, Miss 
 Erskine." 
 
 " If your hopes are necessary to the comple 
 tion of this scheme, I advise you not to raise 
 them high so far as I am concerned, fcr they 
 will have a grievous fall. I am the most indif 
 ferent of spectators." This from Ruth, in her 
 most formal and haughty tone. Nellis Mitchell 
 was not one of her favorites. 
 
 " Oh, you will help us, will you not?" Mr.
 
 128 The Chautauqua Crirls at Rome. 
 
 Holden asked, in a tone so familiar and friendly 
 that Ruth flushed as she answered : 
 
 " Thank you, no." 
 
 Whereupon Mr. Holden discovered himself to 
 be silenced. 
 
 " Never mind," Leonard Brooks said, " we 
 have enough helpers promised to make the thing 
 a grand success. Eurie, let me show you the 
 picture of one which we have planned for you ; 
 the scenic effect is really very fine Oriental, 
 you know ; and you will light up splendidly in 
 that picture." 
 
 " Thank you," said Eurie, in an absent-minded 
 tone : and she had to be twice recalled from her 
 thoughts before she turned to look at the plate 
 spread before her. On the instant an angry 
 flush arose, spreading itself over her face as she 
 looked. " You do not mean that you are to pre 
 sent this ? " she said, at length. 
 
 " Why not ? " asked Leonard, in astonishment. 
 Mr. Holden hastened to explain : 
 
 " It is not often chosen for tableaux, I admit ; 
 but on that account is all the more desirable. 
 We want to get away from the ordinary sort. 
 This is magnificent in its working up. I had it
 
 Pray er -Meeting and Tableaux. 129 
 
 in New York last winter, and it was one of the 
 finest presented." 
 
 " It will not be presented with my help." Eu- 
 rie's tone was so cold and haughty that Marion 
 turned toward her in surprise, and for the first 
 time glanced at the plate. 
 
 "Why, Miss Mitchell!" Mr. Holden ex 
 claimed, " I am surprised and grieved if I have 
 annoyed you by my selection. I wus thinking 
 how well you would light up an Oriental scene. 
 Is it the representation of the Saviour that you 
 dislike ? I cannot see why that should be ob 
 jectionable. It is dealing with him as a mere 
 man, you know. It is simply an Oriental dress 
 of a male figure that we want to represent, and 
 this figure of Christ as he sat at the well is so 
 exceedingly minute and so carefully drawn that 
 it works up finely." 
 
 " Christ at the well of Samaria ! " read Flossy, 
 now bending over the book, and her eyes and 
 cheeks told the story of her aversion to the idea. 
 " Who would be willing to personate the Sa 
 viour?" 
 
 Mr. Holden was prompt with his answer: 
 
 " I ha-v e had not the slightest difficulty in that
 
 130 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 matter. My friend, Col. Baker here, expressed 
 himself as entirely willing to undertake it. Why, 
 my dear young ladies, you see it is nothing but 
 the masculine form of dress that we want to 
 bring out. There is really nothing more irrever 
 ent in it than there is in your looking at this 
 picture here to-night." 
 
 " Then we will not look longer at the picture," 
 Eurie said, drawing back suddenly, the color on 
 her face deepening into crimson. " It is useless 
 for you to undertake an argument with me. I 
 will be very plain with you, and inform you that, 
 aside from the irreverent nature of the tableau, 
 I consider myself insulted in being chosen to 
 make a public representation of that character. 
 I am certainly absolved from my promise, Mr. 
 Holden ; and I beg you to withdraw my nams 
 from your list at once." 
 
 Mr. Holden turned the leaf on the offending 
 picture. He was amazed and grieved ; he had 
 looked at the picture purely in an artistic light ; 
 he supposed all people looked thus at tableau 
 pictures ; it was certainly a compliment that he 
 meant to pay, and not the shadow of a discour 
 tesy ; but since they looked at it in that singu-
 
 Prayer-Meeting and Tableaux. 131 
 
 lar manner, of course it should be withdrawn 
 from the lists; nothing further should be said 
 about it. Let him show them, just allow him to 
 show them, one plate which was the very finest 
 in scenic effect of anything that he had ever got 
 ten up. The name of it was " The Ancient 
 Feast." 
 
 Eurie turned hotly away, but Flossy and Ruth 
 looked. It was a representation of Belshazzar* 
 at his impious feast, at the time when he was ar 
 rested by the handwriting on the wall. Ruth 
 Erskine curled her handsome lip into something 
 like a sneer. 
 
 " Does Col. Baker kindly propose to aid you 
 in representing the hand of God ? " she said, in 
 her haughtiest tones. " He is so willing to lend 
 himself to the other piece of sacrilege, that one 
 can hardly expect him to shrink even from this." 
 
 Mr. Holden promptly closed his book. 
 
 " There is some mistake," he said. " 1 sup 
 posed the ladies and gentlemen gathered here 
 came in for the purpose of helping, not for ridi 
 culing. Of course if we differ so entirely on 
 these topics we can be of very little help to each 
 other."
 
 132 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 "So I should judge," Marion said. "And, 
 that being the case, shall we go ? " 
 
 " What nonsense I " said Leonard Brooks, fol 
 lowing after the retreating party, but speaking 
 only in a low tone, and addressing Eurie. " One 
 expects such lofty humbug from Miss Erskine, 
 and even from Miss Wilbur the tragic is in 
 her line ; but I thought you would enter into 
 and enjoy the whole thing. I told Holden that 
 you would be the backbone of the matter." 
 
 " Thank you," said Eurie, her voice half 
 choked with indignation and wounded pride. 
 " And I presume you assisted in the selection of 
 the characters that I should personate ! As I 
 said, I consider myself insulted. Please allow 
 me to pass." 
 
 Much excited, and some of them very much 
 ashamed, they all found themselves on the street 
 again, Nellis Mitchell being the only one of the 
 astonished gentlemen who had bethought him 
 self, or had had sufficient courage to join them. 
 
 " Well, what next ? " he said. 
 
 " Nell," said Eurie, " what do you think of 
 that?" 
 
 Nellis shrugged his shoulders.
 
 Prayer-Meeting and Tableaux. 133 
 
 " It is not according to my way of thinking," 
 he said ; " but they told nie you had promised, 
 and I thought if you had, with your eyes open, 
 it was none of my business. I congratulate you 
 on being fairly out of it. That Holden is a 
 scamp, I believe." 
 
 " And Col. Baker was going to take that char 
 acter," said Flossy to herself. And Eurie, in 
 her heart, felt grieved and hurt that her friend 
 of long standing, Leonard Brooks, could have 
 said and done just what he had ; he could never 
 be to her as though he had not said and done 
 those things. As for Marion, all she said was : 
 
 " I begin to have a clearer idea of what Grace 
 Dennis and her father mean."
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 DR. DENNIS' STUDY. 
 
 HEY walked on in absolute silence for a 
 few minutes, each busy with her own 
 thoughts. Eurie was the first to speak : 
 
 " Girls, I propose we go and call on Dr. Den 
 nis." 
 
 Ruth and Marion uttered exclamations of dis 
 may, or it might have been of surprise. Flossy 
 spoke : 
 
 " You don't mean now ? " 
 
 " Now, this minute. We have an hour at our 
 disposal, and we are all together. Why not, and 
 have it over with ? I tell you, that man is afraid 
 of us I And when you come to think of i\ why 
 should he not be ? What have we ever d; ne to 
 (134)
 
 Dr. Dennis' Study. 135 
 
 help his work ; and how much we may have 
 done to hinder it ! I never realized how much, 
 until this present moment. It enrages me to 
 think how many enterprises, like this one, I have 
 been engaged in without giving it a thought. 
 Just imagine how such things must look to Dr. 
 Dennis I " 
 
 " But, Eurie, you have never been mixed in 
 with anything like that performance, as it is to 
 be I What do you mean by admitting it ? " It 
 was Ruth who spoke, in some heat ; the associa 
 tion rankled in her heart. 
 
 " Not precisely that sort of thing, I admit ; 
 but what must be the reputation I have earned, 
 when I can be so coolly picked out for such 
 work ? I tell you, girls, I am angry. I suppose 
 I ought to be grateful, for my eyes have certainly 
 been opened to see a good many things that I 
 never saw before ; but it was a rough opening. 
 Shall we go to the parsonage, or not ? " 
 
 " Oh, dear ! I don't feel in the least like it," 
 Flossy said, timidly. 
 
 " Do you ever expect to feel like it ? " Eurie 
 asked, still speaking hotly. " For myself, I must 
 Bay that I do. I am tired of my place ; I want
 
 136 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 to be admitted, and belong, somewhere. It is 
 entirely evident to me that I don't belong where 
 I did. I have discovered that a great many 
 things about me are changed. I feel that I shall 
 not assimilate well. Let me get in where I can 
 have a chance. I want to belong to that Sun 
 day-school, for instance ; to be recognized as a 
 part of it, and to be counted in a place. So do 
 you, Flossy, I am sure ; why not settle the mat 
 ter?" 
 
 Yes, Flossy certainly wanted to belong to that 
 Sunday-school ; more than that, she wanted to 
 belong to that class. Her heart had been with 
 it all the week. If there was a hope that she 
 might be permitted to try it for awhile, she was 
 willing even to call on Dr. Dennis, though that 
 act looked awfully formidable to her. 
 
 ** I suppose it is very silly not to want to go 
 this evening, as well as any time," she admitted 
 at last. 
 
 " Of course it is," Marion said, energetically. 
 " Let us turn this corner at once, and in two 
 minutes more we shall have rung his bell ; then 
 that will settle the question. Nothing like go 
 ing ahead and doing things, without waiting to 
 get into the mood."
 
 Dr. Dennis 1 Study. 137 
 
 " See here," said Nellis Mitchell, speaking for 
 the first time. " Please to take into considera 
 tion what you propose to do with me ? I take it 
 that you don't want me to make this call with 
 you. My sister has been remarkably bewilder 
 ing in her remarks, but I gather that it is some 
 thing like a confidential talk that you are seek 
 ing with the doctor, into which I am not to be 
 admitted." 
 
 " I forgot that you were along," said Eurie, 
 with her usual frankness. " No, Nell, we don't 
 want you to call with us ; not this time." 
 
 " I might ask for a separate room, and make 
 my call on Miss Grace. At least I might try it ; 
 but I doubt her father's permitting such a tre 
 mendous action: so, really, I don't see quite 
 what you are to do with me. I am entirely at 
 your disposal." 
 
 " See here, Nell, couldn't you call for us, in 
 half an hour, say ? Girls, could we stay half an 
 hour, do you suppose? We shall have to do 
 something of the kind ; it won't do for us to go 
 home alone. I see what we can do, Nell. You 
 go to father's office, and wait just a little while ; 
 if we are not there in half an hour, you can call 
 for us at Dr. Dennis' ; and if we find we are not
 
 138 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 equal to a call of that length, we will come to 
 the office ; will that do ? " 
 
 The obliging brother made a low bow of mock 
 ceremony, assured her that he was entirely at 
 her service, that she might command him and he 
 would serve to the best of his knowledge and 
 ability, made a careful minute of the present 
 time, in order to be exact at the half hour, and 
 as they laughingly declined his offer to ring the 
 doctor's bell for them, he lifted his hat to them, 
 with the lowest of bows, and disappeared around 
 the corner. 
 
 " He is such a dear fellow ! " said Euiie, look 
 ing fondly after him. 
 
 " I don't see in what respect," muttered Ruth 
 in an aside to Flossy. Ruth had a special aver 
 sion to this young man ; possibly it might have, 
 been because he treated her with the most good- 
 humored indifference, despite all her dignity and 
 coldness. 
 
 Meantime, in Dr. Dennis' study, his daughter 
 was hovering around among the books, trying 
 to bring order out of confusion on the shelves 
 and table, and at the same time find a favorite 
 volume she was reading. The doctor turned on
 
 Dr. Dennis 1 Study. 139 
 
 a brighter flaine of gas, then lowered it, and 
 seemed in a disturbed state of mind. At last he 
 spoke : 
 
 "I don't know that my caution is needed, 
 daughter I have no reason to think that it is, 
 from anything in your conduct at least; but I 
 feel like saying to you that I have less and less 
 liking for those young ladies, who seem, since 
 their unfortunate freak of attending that Chau- 
 tauqua meeting, to have banded themselves to 
 gether, I can hardly imagine why ; they are cer 
 tainly unlike enough. But I distrust them in 
 almost every way. I am sorry that you are at 
 school, under Miss Wilbur's influence ; not that 
 I dread her influence on you, except in a general 
 way." 
 
 At this point Grace opened her bright lips 
 to speak ; there was an eager sentence glow 
 ing on her tongue, but her father had not fin 
 ished his : 
 
 " I know all that you can say ; that you 
 have nothing to do with her religious, or non- 
 religious, views, and that she is a splendid 
 teacher. I don't doubt it ; but I repeat to you 
 that I distrust all of them. I don't know why
 
 140 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 they have seen fit to come to our Sabbath-school, 
 and to our meeting this evening, unless it be to 
 gain an unhappy influence over some whom they 
 desire to lead astray. I can hardly think so 
 meanly of them as that, either. I do not say 
 that such was their motive, but simply that I do 
 not understand it, and am afraid of it ; and I de 
 sire you to have just as little to do with any of 
 them as ordinary civility will admit. Hitherto I 
 have thought of Ruth Erskine as simply a leader 
 of fashion, and of Flossy Shipley as the tool of 
 the fashionable world ; but I am afraid their 
 dangerous friends are leading them to be more. 
 The tableau affair, to-night, I have investigated 
 to a certain degree, and I consider it one of the 
 worst of its kind. I would not have you associ 
 ated with it for well, any consideration that I 
 can imagine j and yet, if I mistake not, I heard 
 them urging you to join them." 
 
 Again Grace essayed to speak, but the pealing 
 of the door bell interrupted her. 
 
 " Who is it, Hannah ? " Dr. Dennis questioned, 
 as that personage peeped her head in at the door. 
 
 " It is four young ladies, Dr. Dennis, and they 
 want to see you."
 
 Dr. Dennis' Study. 141 
 
 Grace arose to depart. 
 
 " Do you know any of them, Hannah ? " the 
 doctor asked. 
 
 " Well, sir, one of them is the Miss Wilbur 
 who teaches, and I think another is Dr. Mitch 
 ell's daughter. I don't know the others." 
 
 " Show them in here," said Dr. Dennis, 
 promptly. " And, daughter, you will please re 
 main. They have doubtless come to petition 
 rne for your assistance in the tableaux, and I 
 have not the least desire to be considered a 
 household tyrant, or to have them suppose that 
 you are my prisoner. I would much rather that 
 you should give them your own opinions on the 
 subject like a brave little woman." 
 
 " But father," Grace said, and there was a 
 gleam of mischief in her eye, " I haven't any 
 opinions on this subject. The most that I can 
 say is, that you don't wish me to have anything 
 to do with them ; and so, like a dutiful daugh 
 ter, I decline." 
 
 " Well, then," he said, smiling back on her in 
 a satisfied way, " show them how gracefully you 
 can play the part of a dutiful daughter. While 
 you are so young, and while I am here to have
 
 142 The CTiautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 opinions for you, the dutiful part cheerfully done 
 is really all that is necessary." 
 
 And this was the introduction that the four 
 girls had' to the pastor's study. How shy they 
 felt ! Ruth could hardly ever remember of 
 feeling so very much embarrassed. As for Eurie, 
 she began to feel that distressing sense of the lu 
 dicrous creeping over her, and so was horribly 
 afraid that she should laugh. Marion went for 
 ward to Grace, and in the warm, glad greeting 
 that this young girl gave, felt her heart melted 
 and warmed. 
 
 Dr. Dennis, confident in the errand that had 
 brought them, decided to lead the conversation 
 himself, and give them no chance to approach 
 the topic smoothly. 
 
 " Have you done up the tableaux so prompt 
 ly ? " he asked. And while he addressed hia 
 question to Marion, Eurie felt that he looked 
 right at her. 
 
 Marion's answer was prompt and to the point. 
 
 " Yes, sir, we have. Miss Mitchell was the 
 only one of us who was pledged ; and I believe 
 she was entirely dissatisfied with the character 
 of the entertainment, and withdrew her sup 
 port."
 
 Dr. Dennis 1 &'tudi/. 1-13 
 
 " Indeed I " Dr. Dennis' manner of pronounc 
 ing this word was, in effect, saying, " Is it possi 
 ble that there can be an entertainment of so 
 questionable a character that Miss Mitchell will 
 withdraw from tt ? " 
 
 At least that was the way the word sounded 
 to Eurie, but she had been roused to unusual 
 sensitiveness. The effect was to rouse her still 
 further, to put to flight every trace of embar 
 rassment and every desire to laugh. She spoke 
 in a clear, strong voice : 
 
 " Dr. Dennis, we shall be talking at cross pur 
 poses if we do not make some explanation of out 
 object in calling this evening. We feel that we 
 do not belong in the society where you are class 
 ing us ; in fact, we do not belong anywhere. 
 Our views and feelings have greatly changed 
 within a short time. We want to make a corre 
 sponding change in our associations ; at least, so 
 far as is desirable. Our special object in calling 
 just now is, that we know it will soon be time 
 for the communion in your church, and we have 
 thought that perhaps we ought to make a public 
 profession of our changed views." 
 
 Was ever a man more bent on misunderstand 
 ing plain English than was Dr. Dennis this even-
 
 144 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 ing ? He looked at his callers iii an astonished 
 and embarrassed way for a moment, as if uncer 
 tain whether to consider them lunatics or not ; 
 and then said, addressing himself to Eurie : 
 
 " My dear young lady, I fear you are laboring 
 under a mistake as to the object in uniting with 
 the Church of Christ, and the preparation nec 
 essary. You know, as a church, we hold that 
 something more than a desire to change one's 
 social relations should actuate the person to take 
 such a step ; that, indeed, there should be a rad 
 ical change of heart." 
 
 Poor Eurie ! She thought she had been so 
 plain in her explanation. She flushed, and com 
 menced a stammering sentence ; then paused, 
 and looked appealingly at Ruth and Marion. 
 
 Finally she did what, for Eurie Mitchell to do, 
 was unprecedented, lost all self-control, and 
 broke into a sudden and passionate gust of tears. 
 
 " Eurie, don't ! " Marion said ; to her it was 
 actual pain to see tears. As for Dr. Dennis, he 
 was very much at his wits' end, and Ruth's em 
 barrassment grew upon her every moment. 
 Flossy came to the rescue. 
 
 " Dr. Dennis," she said, and he noticed even
 
 Dr. Dennis* Study. 145 
 
 then that her voice was strangely sweet and win 
 ning, " Eurie means that we love Jesus, and we 
 believe he has forgiven us and called us by name. 
 We mean we want to be his, and to serve him 
 forever; and we want to acknowledge him pub 
 licly, because we think he has so directed." 
 
 How simple and sweet the story was, after all, 
 when one just gave up attempting to be proper, 
 and gave the quiet truth. Ruth was struck 
 with the simplicity and the directness of the 
 words ; she began to have not only an admira 
 tion, but an unfeigned respect for Flossy Shipley. 
 But you should have seen Dr. Dennis' face. It 
 is a pity Eurie could not have seen it at that 
 moment ; if she had not had hers buried in the 
 sofa pillow she would have caught the quick 
 glad look of surprise and joy and heartfelt thank 
 fulness that spoke in his eyes. He arose sud 
 denly, and, holding out his hand to Flossy, said : 
 
 "Let me greet you, and thank you, and ask 
 you to forgive me, in the same breath. I have 
 been very slow to understand, and strangely 
 stupid and unsympathetic. I feel very much as 
 I fancy poor doubting Thomas must Ivave done. 
 Forgive me ; I am so astonished, and so glad,
 
 146 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 that I don't know how to express the feeling. 
 Do you speak for all your friends here, Miss 
 Flossy ? And may I ask something about the 
 wonderful experience that has drawn you all 
 into the ark ? " 
 
 But Flossy's courage had forsaken her ; it was 
 born of sympathy with Eurie's tears. She 
 looked down now, tearful herself, and trembling 
 like a leaf. Ruth found voice to answer for her. 
 
 " Our experience, Dr. Dennis, can be summed 
 up in one word Chautauqua." 
 
 Dr. Dennis gave a little start ; another aston 
 ishment. 
 
 " Do you mean that you were converted dur 
 ing that meeting ? " 
 
 Marion smiled. 
 
 " We do not know enough about terms, to 
 really be sure that that is the right one to use," 
 she said j at least, I do not. But we do know 
 this, that we met the Lord Jesus there, and that, 
 as Flossy says, we love him, and have given our 
 lives into his keeping." 
 
 " You cannot say more than that after a hun 
 dred years of experience," he said, quickly. 
 
 " Well, dear friends, I cannot, as I said, ex-
 
 Dr. Dennis 1 Study. 147 
 
 press to you my gratitude and joy. And you 
 are coining into the church, and are ready to take 
 up work for the Master, and live for him ? 
 Thank the Lord." 
 
 Little need had our girls to talk of Dr. Dennis* 
 coldness and dignity after that. How entirely 
 his heart had melted I What a blessed talk they 
 had I So many questions about Chautauqua, so 
 much to tell that delighted him. They had not 
 the least idea that it was possible to feel so much 
 at ease with a minister as they grew to feel with 
 him. 
 
 The bell rang and was answered, and yet no 
 one intruded on their quiet, and the talk went 
 on, until Marion, with a sudden recollection of 
 Nellis Mitchell, and their appointment with him, 
 stole a glance at her watch, and was astonished 
 into the announcement : 
 
 " Girls, we have been here an hour and a 
 quarter I " 
 
 " Is it possible 1 " Ruth said, rising at once. 
 " Father will be alarmed, I am afraid." 
 
 Dr. Dennis rose also. 
 
 " I did not know I was keeping you so," he 
 said. " Our theme was a fascinating one. Will
 
 148 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 you wait a moment, and let me make ready to 
 see you safely home ? " 
 
 But it appeared, on opening the door, that 
 Nellis Mitchell occupied an easy-chair in the 
 parlor, just across the hall. 
 
 " I'm a patient young man, and at your ser 
 vice," he said, coining toward them as they 
 emerged. " Please give me credit for prompt 
 ness. I was here at the half hour." 
 
 As they walked home, Nellis with his sister 
 on one arm, and Flossy Shipley on the other, he 
 said: 
 
 " Now, what am I to understand by this sud 
 den and violent intimacy at the parsonage? 
 Miss Flossy, my sister has hitherto made yearly 
 calls of two seconds' duration on the doctor's 
 sister when she is not home to receive them." 
 
 " A great many things are to be different from 
 what they have hitherto been," Flossy said, with 
 a softly little laugh. 
 
 " So I begin to perceive." 
 
 " Nell," said Eurie, turning back when she 
 was half way up the stairs, having said good 
 night, " are you going to help them with those 
 tableaux ? "
 
 Dr. Dennis* Study. 
 
 149 
 
 " Not much," said Nellis. 
 
 And Eurie, as she went on, said: 
 
 " I shouldn't be surprised if Nell felt differ 
 ently about some things from what he used to. 
 Oh, I wonder if I can't coax him in ? "
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A WHITE SUNDAY. 
 
 * 
 
 L MONG other topics that were discussed 
 with great interest during that call at 
 Dr. Dennis' was the Sunday-school, and the place 
 that our girls were to take in it, Flossy was not 
 likely to forget that matter. Her heart was too 
 full of plans concerning " those boys." 
 
 Early in the talk she overwhelmed and em 
 barrassed Dr. Dennis with the request that she 
 might be allowed to try that class. Now if it 
 had been Ruth or Marion who had made the 
 same request, it would have been unhesitatingly 
 granted. The doctor had a high opinion of the 
 intellectual abilities of both these young ladies, 
 (160)
 
 A. White Sunday. 151 
 
 and now that they had appeared to conse 
 crate those abilities, he was willing to receive 
 them. 
 
 But this little summer butterfly, with her 
 Bmall sweet ways and winning smile I He had 
 no more idea that she could teach than that a 
 humming-bird could ; and of all classes in the 
 school, to expect to do anything with those large 
 wild boys I It was preposterous. 
 
 " My dear friend," he said, and he could hardly 
 keep from smiling, even though he was embar 
 rassed, " you have no idea what 3 r ou are asking I 
 That is altogether the most difficult class in the 
 school. Some of our best teachers have failed 
 there. The fact is, those boys don't want to be 
 instructed ; they are in search of fun. They are 
 a hard set, I am really afraid. I wouldn't have 
 you tried and discouraged by them. We are at 
 a loss what to do with them, I will admit ; for 
 no one who can do it seems willing to try them. 
 In fact, I am not sure that we have any one who 
 can. I understand your motive, Miss Flossy, and 
 appreciate your zeal ; but you must not crush 
 yourself in that way. Since you have been out 
 of the Sunday-school for BO many years, and, I
 
 152 TJie Chautauqua Grirh at Home. 
 
 presume, have not made the Bible a study un 
 happily, it is not used as a text book in many of 
 our schools would it not be well for you to 
 join some excellent Bible-class for awhile? I 
 think you would like it better, and grow faster, 
 and we really have some superior teachers among 
 the Bible-classes." 
 
 And while he said this, the wise doctor hoped 
 in his heart that she would not be offended with 
 his plain speaking, and that some good angel 
 would suggest to Marion Wilbur the propriety 
 of trying that class of boys. 
 
 Flossy was not offended, though Marion Wil 
 bur, spoken to in the same way, would have been 
 certain to have felt it. Little Flossy, though 
 sorely disappointed, so much so that she could 
 hardly keep the tears from rising, admitted that 
 she did not know how to teach, and that, of 
 course, she ought to study the Bible, and would 
 like ever so much to do so. 
 
 It so happened that the other girls were more 
 than willing to be enrolled as pupils; indeed, 
 had not an idea of taking any other position. 
 So, after A little more talk, it was decided that 
 they all join Dr. Dennis' class, every one of them
 
 A White Sunday. 153 
 
 expressing a prompt preference for that class 
 above the others. In his heart Dr. Dennis en 
 tirely approved of this arrangement, for he 
 wanted the training of Flossy and Eurie, and he 
 meant to make teachers of the other two as soon 
 as possible. 
 
 Now it came to pass that an unlooked-for ele 
 ment came into all this planning none other 
 than the boys themselves. They had ideas of 
 their own, and they belonged to that part of the 
 world which is hard to govern. They would 
 have Miss Flossy Shipley to be their teacher, 
 and they would have no one else ; she suited 
 them exactly, and no one else did. 
 
 " But, my dear boys," Dr. Dennis said, " Miss 
 Shipley is new to the work of teaching j she is 
 but a learner herself ; she feels that her place is 
 in the Bible-class, so that she may acquire the 
 best ways of presenting lessons." 
 
 " Did she say she wouldn't teach us ? " queried 
 Rich. Johnson, with his keen eyes fixed on the 
 doctor's face. 
 
 What could that embarrassed but truthful 
 man do but slowly shake his head, and say, hesi 
 tatingly :
 
 154 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 " No, she didn't say that ; but I advised her to 
 join a Bible-class for awhile." 
 
 " Then we want her," Rich, said, stoutly. 
 " Don't we, boys ? She just suits us, Dr. Den 
 nis j and she is the first one we ever had that we 
 cared a snap for. We had just about made 
 up our minds to quit it ; but, on the whole, 
 if we can have her we will give it another 
 trial." 
 
 This strange sentence was uttered in a most 
 matter-of-fact business way, and the perplexed 
 doctor, quite unused to dealing with that class 
 of brain and manners, was compelled to beat a 
 retreat, and come to Flossy with his novel re 
 port. A gleam of satisfaction, not to say triumph, 
 lighted up her pretty face, and aglow with smiles 
 and blushes, she made her way with alacrity to 
 her chosen class. Teachers and scholars thor 
 oughly suited with each other ; surely they 
 could do some work during that hour that would 
 tell on the future. Meantime, the superinten 
 dent was having his perplexities over in another 
 corner of the room. He came to Dr. Dennis at 
 last for advice. 
 
 " Miss Hart is absent to-day ; her class is al-
 
 A White Sunday. 155 
 
 most impossible to supply ; no one is willing to 
 try the little midgets." 
 
 " Miss Hart," Dr. Dennis repeated, thought 
 fully ; " the primary class, eh ; it is hard to 
 manage ; and yet, with all the sub-teachers pres 
 ent, one would think it might be done." 
 
 " They are not all present," Mr. Stuart said. 
 ** They never are." 
 
 Dr. Dennis ignored this remark. 
 
 " I'll tell you what to do," he said, with a sud 
 den lighting up of his thoughtful face. " Get 
 Miss Wilbur to go in there ; she is equal to the 
 emergency, or I am much mistaken." 
 
 Mr. Stuart started in unqualified astonish 
 ment. 
 
 "I thought," he said, recovering his voice, 
 " that you seriously objected to her as a teacher 
 in Sabbath-school ? " 
 
 " I have changed my mind," Dr. Dennis said, 
 with a happy smile, " or, the Lord has changed 
 her heart. Ask her to take the class." 
 
 So two of our girls found work. 
 
 Another thing occurred to make that Sabbath 
 u memorable one. The evening wis especially 
 lovely, and, there happening to be no other at-
 
 156 The Chautauqua Crirh at Home. 
 
 traction, a much larger number than usual of the 
 First Church people got out to the second ser 
 vice. Our girls were all present, and, what was 
 unusual, other representatives from their fami 
 lies were with them. 
 
 Also, Col. Baker had obliged himself to endure 
 the infliction of another sermon from Dr. Dennis, 
 in order that he might have the pleasure of a 
 walk home in the glorious moonlight with Miss 
 Flossy. 
 
 The sermon was one of special solemnity and 
 power. The pastor's recent communion with 
 new-born souls had quickened his own heart 
 and increased the longing desire for the coming 
 of the Spirit of God into their midst. At the 
 sermon's close, he took what, for the First 
 Church, was a very wide and startling departure 
 from the beaten track. After a tender personal 
 appeal, especially addressed to the young people 
 of his flock, he said : 
 
 "Now, impelled by what I cannot but feel is 
 the voice of the Lord Jesus, by his Spirit, I want 
 to ask if there are any present who feel so much 
 of a desire to be numbered with the Lord's 
 friends, that they are willing to ask us to pray
 
 A White Sunday. lo? 
 
 for them, to the end that they may be found of 
 him. Is there one in this audience who, by ris 
 ing and standing for but a moment, will thus 
 simply and quietly indicate to us such a desire 
 and willingness ? " 
 
 Who ever heard of the First Church pastor 
 doing so strange a thing ? His people had voted 
 for festivals, and concerts, and lectures, and pic 
 nics, and entertainments of all sorts and shades. 
 They had taken rising votes, and they had voted 
 by raising the hand ; they had made speeches, 
 many of them, on the questions to be presented ; 
 they had added their voice to the pastor's explana 
 tions ; they had urged the wisdom and the propri 
 ety of the question presented ; they had said they 
 earnestly hoped the matter would meet careful 
 attention ; and no one in the church had thought 
 such proceedings strange. But to ask people to 
 rise in their seats, and thus signify that they 
 were thinking of the question of eternal life, and 
 home, and peace, and unutterable blessedness 
 what innovation was this ? 
 
 Much rustling and coughing took place ; then 
 solemn silence prevailed. Not a deacon there, 
 or officer of any sort, had the least idea of audi
 
 158 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 bly hoping that the pastor's words would receive 
 thoughtful attention ; not a person arose ; the 
 silence was felt to be embarrassing and oppres 
 sive to the last degree. 
 
 Dr. Dennis relieved them at last by reading 
 the closing Irvmn. During the reading, when 
 rtartled thoughts became sufficiently composed 
 to flow in their accustomed channels, many, al 
 most unconsciously to themselves, prepared 
 speeches which they meant to utter the moment 
 their lips were unsealed by the pronouncing of 
 the benediction. 
 
 " A very strange thing to do." 
 
 " What could Dr. Dennis be thinking of? " 
 
 " A most unwise effort to force the private 
 lives of people before the public." 
 
 " An unfortunate attempt to get up an excite 
 ment." 
 
 " Well meant, but most ill-timed and mistaken 
 zeal, which would have a reaction that would do 
 harm." 
 
 These and a dozen other mental comments 
 that roved through people's brains, while they 
 were supposed to be joining in the hymn of 
 praise, were suddenly cut short by the sound of
 
 A White Sunday, 159 
 
 Dr. Dennis' voice again not in benediction, as 
 surely they bad a right to expect by this time, 
 but with another appeal. 
 
 " I am still of the impression that there are 
 those present who are doing violence to their 
 convictions of right, and to good judgment, by 
 not responding to my invitation. Let us remem 
 ber to pray for all such. Now, I want to ask if 
 there are any in this congregation who have 
 lately proved the truth of the doctrine that there 
 is a Saviour from sin, and a peace that the world 
 cannot give. If there are those present, who 
 have decided this question recently, will they 
 rise for a moment, thus testifying to the truth of 
 the words which have been spoken this evening, 
 and thus witnessing that they have chosen the 
 Lord Jesus for their portion ? " 
 
 Another sensation I Dr. Dennis must have 
 taken leave of his senses I This was more em 
 barrassing than the last. The wise ones were 
 sure that there had been no conversions in a long 
 time. So far as they knew and believed, en 
 tirely other thoughts were occupying the minda 
 of the people. 
 
 Then, into the midst of this commotion ol
 
 160 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 thought, there stole that solemn hush, almost of 
 heart-beatings, which betokens a new revelation, 
 that astonishes and thrills and solemnizes. 
 
 There were persons standing. Ladies ! One 
 two three. Yes, one in the gallery. There 
 were four of them 1 Who were they ? Why, 
 that little, volatile Flossy Shipley was one ! 
 How strange 1 And that girl in the gallery 
 was the teacher at one of the Ward schools. It 
 had been rumored that she was an infidel ! 
 
 Who in the world was that beside Judge Ers- 
 kine ? It couldn't be his daughter ! Yet it cer 
 tainly was. And behold, in the doctor's pew 
 stood Eurie, the young lady who was so free and 
 careless in her manners and address, that, were 
 it not for the fact that she was the doctor'a 
 daughter, her very respectability would have 
 stoKl a chance of being questioned 1 
 
 As it was, there were mothers in the church 
 who were quite willing that their daughters 
 should have as little to do with her as possible. 
 Yet, to-night their daughters sat beside them, 
 unable to rise, in any way to testify to the truth 
 of the religion of Jesus Christ ; and Eurie Mitch 
 ell, with grave, earnest face, in which decision
 
 A White Sunday. 161 
 
 and determination were plainly written, stood 
 up to testify that the Lord was true to his prom 
 ises. 
 
 Gradually there dawned upon the minds of 
 many who knew these girls, the remembrance 
 that they had been together to that great Sun 
 day-school meeting at Chautauqua. How fool 
 ish the scheme had seemed to them when they 
 heard of it ; how sneeringly they had commented 
 on the absurdity of such supposed representa 
 tives from the Sunday-school world. 
 
 Surely this seeming folly had been the power 
 of God, and the wisdom of God. There were 
 those in the first church, as, indeed, there are 
 many in every church of Christ, who rejoiced 
 with all their souls at the sound of this good 
 news. 
 
 There was another thing that occurred that 
 night over which the angels, at least, rejoiced. 
 There was another witness. He was only a poor 
 young fellow, a day laborer in one of the ma 
 chine shops, a new-comer to the city. He knew 
 almost nobody in that great church where he 
 had chanced to be a worshipper, and, literally. 
 no one knew him.
 
 162 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 When the invitation was first given, he had 
 shrunken from it. Satan, with ever-ready skill, 
 and with that consummate wisdom which makes 
 him as eager after the common day laborers as 
 he is among the wealthy and influential, had 
 whispered to him that the pastor did not mean 
 such as he ; no one knew him, his influence 
 would be nothing. This church was too large 
 and too grand, and it was not meant that he 
 should make himself so conspicuous as to stand 
 alone in that great audience-room, and testify 
 that the Lord Jesus hud called him. 
 
 So he sat still; but as one and another of 
 those young ladies arose quietly, with true dig 
 nity and sweet composure testifying to their 
 love for the Lord, John Warden's earnest soul 
 was moved to shame at his own shrinking, and 
 from his obscure seat, back under the galleiy, he 
 rose up, and Satan, foiled that time, shrunk 
 away. 
 
 As for our girls, they held no parley with their 
 consciences, or with the tempter; they did not 
 even think of it. On the contrary, they were 
 glad, every one, that the way was made so plain 
 and so easy to them. Each of them had friends 
 whom they especially desired to havs know of
 
 A White Sunday. 163 
 
 the recent and great change that had come to 
 their lives. With some of these friends they 
 shrank unaccountably from talking about this 
 matter. With others of them they did not un 
 derstand how to made the matter plain. 
 
 But here it was explained for them, so plainly, 
 so simply, that it seemed that every one must 
 understand, and their own future determination 
 as to life was carefully explained for them. 
 There was nothing to do but to rise up, and, by 
 that simple act, subscribe their names to the ex 
 planation so making it theirs. 
 
 I declare to you that the thought of its being 
 a cross to do so did not once occur to them. 
 Neither did the thought that they were occupy 
 ing a conspicuous position affect them. They 
 were used to conspicuous positions ; they had 
 been twice as prominent in that very church 
 when other subjects than religion had been un 
 der consideration. 
 
 AC a certain festival, years before, they had 
 ever} one taken part in a musical entertainment 
 that b> ")ught them most conspicuously before an 
 audieru *> three times the size of the evening con 
 gregation. So you see they were used to it. 
 
 And, as for the fancy that it becomes a more
 
 164 The Chautauqua Girls at .Home. 
 
 conspicuous and unladylike matter to stand up 
 for the Lord Jesus Christ, than it does to stand 
 up for anything else under the sun ; Satan was 
 much too wise, and knew his material entirely 
 too well, to suggest any such absurdity to 
 them. 
 
 Flossy had been the only one of their number 
 in the least likely to be swayed by such argu 
 ments. But Flossy had set herself with earnest 
 soul and solemn purpose to follow the light 
 wherever it should shine, without allowing her 
 timid heart time for questioning, and the father 
 of all evil finds such people exceedingly hard to 
 manage. 
 
 " How do you do," said Dr. Dennis to John 
 Warden, two minutes after the benediction was 
 fully pronounced. " I was very glad to see you. 
 to-night. I am not sure that I have ever met 
 you ? No ? I thought so ; a stranger ? Well, 
 we welcome you. Where do you board ? " 
 
 And a certain black book came promptly out 
 of the doctor's pocket. John Warden's name, 
 and street, and number, and business were writ 
 ten therein, and John Warden felt for the first 
 time in his life as though he had a Christian
 
 A White Sunday. 165 
 
 brother in that great city, and a name and a 
 place with the people of God. 
 
 Another surprise awaited him. Marion and 
 Eurie were right behind him. Marion came up 
 boldly and held out her hand : 
 
 " We seem to have started on the road to 
 gether," she said. " We ought to shake hands, 
 and wish each other a safe journey." 
 
 Then she and Eurie and John Warden shook 
 each other heartily by the hand ; and Flossy, 
 standing watching, led by this bolder spirit into 
 that which would not have occurred to her to 
 do, slipped from her place beside Col. Baker, 
 and, holding her lavender kidded little hand out 
 to his broad brown palm, said, with a grace and a 
 sweetness that belonged to neither of the others : 
 " I am one of them." Whereupon John War 
 den was not sure that he had not shaken hands 
 with an angel.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE RAINY EVENING. 
 
 COOL, rainy evening, one of those sud 
 den and sharp reminders of autumn thai 
 in our variable climate come to us in the midst 
 of summer. The heavy clouds had made the 
 day shut down early, and the rain was so persist 
 ent that it was useless to plan walks or rides, or 
 entertainments of that nature. Also it was an 
 evening when none but those who are habitual 
 callers at special homes are expected. 
 
 One of these was Col. Baker. The idea of 
 being detained by rain from spending the even 
 ing with Flossy Shipley did not occur to him ; 
 (166)
 
 The Rainy Evening. 167 
 
 on the contrary, he rejoiced over the prospect of 
 a long and uninterrupted talk. The more in 
 different Flossy grew to these long talks the 
 more eager was Col. Baker to enjoy them. The 
 further she slipped away from him, the more 
 eagerly he followed after. Perhaps that is hu 
 man nature ; at least it was Col. Baker's na 
 ture. 
 
 In some of his plans he was disappointed. 
 Mrs. Shipley was gone for a three days' visit to 
 a neighboring city, and Flossy was snugly set 
 tled in the back parlor entertaining her father. 
 
 " Show him right in here," directed her father, 
 as soon as Col. Baker was announced. Then to 
 Flossy : " Now we can have a game at cards as 
 soon as Charlie comes in. Where is he ? " 
 
 Rainy evenings, when four people could be 
 secured sufficiently disengaged to join in his fa 
 vorite amusement, was the special delight of Mr. 
 Shipley. So behold them, half an hour after, 
 deep in a game of cards, Col. Baker accepting 
 the situation with as good a grace as he could 
 assume, notwithstanding the fact that playing 
 cards, simply for amusement, in that quiet way 
 in a back parlor, was a good deal of a bore to
 
 168 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 him ; but it would be bad policy to tell Mr. 
 Shipley so. Their game was interrupted by a 
 ring of the door-bell. 
 
 " Oh, dear I " said Mr. Shipley, " I hope that 
 is no nuisance on business. One would think 
 nothing but business would call people out on 
 such a disagreeable night." 
 
 " As, for instance, myself," Col. Baker said, 
 laughingly. 
 
 " Oh, you. Of course, special friends are an 
 exception." 
 
 And Col. Baker was well pleased to be ranked 
 among the exceptions. Meantime the ringer 
 was heralded. 
 
 " It is Dr. Dennis, sir. Shall I show him in 
 here?" 
 
 " I suppose so," Mr. Shipley said, gloomily, as 
 one not well pleased ; and he added, in under 
 tone, " What on earth can the man want ? " 
 
 Meantime Col. Baker, with a sudden dexter 
 ous move, unceremoniously swept the whole 
 pack of cards out of sight under a paper by his 
 Bide. 
 
 It so happened that Dr. Dennis' call was 
 purely one of business ; some item connected
 
 The Rainy Evening. 169 
 
 with the financial portion of the church, which 
 Dr. Dennis desired to report in a special sermon 
 that was being prepared. 
 
 Mr. Shipley, although he was so rarely an at 
 tendant at church, and made no secret of his 
 indifference to the whole subject of personal re 
 ligion, was yet a power in the financial world, 
 and as such recognized and deferred to by the 
 First Church. 
 
 Dr. Dennis was in haste, and beyond a spec 
 ially cordial greeting for Flossy, and an expres 
 sion of satisfaction at her success with the class 
 the previous Sabbath, he had no more to say, 
 and Mr. Shipley soon had the pleasure of bow 
 ing him out, rejoicing in his heart, as he did so, 
 that the clergyman was so prompt a man. 
 
 " He would have made a capital business 
 man," he said, returning to his seat. " I never 
 come in contact with him that I don't notice a 
 sort of executive ability about him that makes 
 me think what a success he might have been." 
 
 There was no one to ask whether that remark 
 meant that he was at present supposed to be a 
 failure. There was another subject which pres 
 ently engrossed several of them.
 
 170 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 "Now be so kind as to give an account of 
 yourself," Charlie Shipley said, addressing Col. 
 Baker. " What on earth did you mean by mak 
 ing a muddle of our game in that way ? I was 
 in a fair way for winning. I suppose you won't 
 own that that was your object." 
 
 Col. Baker laughed. 
 
 " My object was a purely benevolent one. I 
 had a desire to shield your sister from the woe 
 begone lecture she would have been sure to re 
 ceive on the sinfulness of her course. If he had 
 found her playing cards, what would have been 
 the result ? " 
 
 Mr. Shipley was the first to make answer, in a 
 somewhat testy tone : 
 
 " Your generosity was uncalled for, Colonel. 
 My daughter, when she is in her father's house, 
 is answerable to him, and not to Dr. Dennis, or 
 any other divine." 
 
 " I don't in the least understand what you are 
 talking about," said mystified Flossy. " Of what 
 interest could it have been to Dr. Dennis what 
 I am doing ; and why should he have delivered 
 a lecture ? " 
 
 Col. Baker and Charlie Shipley exchanged
 
 The Rainy Evening. 171 
 
 amused glances, and the former quoted, signifi 
 cantly : 
 
 " Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be 
 wise." Then he added, as Flossy still waited 
 with questioning gaze : " Why, Miss Flossy, of 
 course you know that the clergy think cards are 
 synonyms for the deadly sin, and that to hold 
 one in one's hand is equivalent to being pois 
 oned, body and soul ? " 
 
 " I am sure I did not know it. Why, I knew, 
 of course, that gambling houses were not proper ; 
 but what is the harm in a game of cards ? What 
 can Dr. Dennis see, for instance, in our playing 
 together here in this room, and simply for amuse 
 ment?" 
 
 Col. Baker shrugged his handsome shoulders. 
 That shrug meant a great deal, accomplished a 
 great deal. It was nearly certain to silence a 
 timid opposer ; there was something so expres 
 sively sarcastic about it; it hid so much one felt 
 sure Col. Baker might say if he deemed it pru 
 dent or worth while. It had often silenced 
 Flossy into a conscious little laugh. To-night 
 she was in earnest ; she paid no attention to the 
 shrug, but waited, questioningly, for her answer ,
 
 172 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 and as it was her turn to play next, it seemed 
 necessary to answer her if one wanted the game 
 to go on. 
 
 " I am sure I don't know," Col. Baker said, at 
 last. " I have very little idea what he would 
 consider the harm ; I am not sure that he 
 would be able to tell. It is probably a narrow, 
 strait-laced way that the cloth have of looking at 
 this question, in common with all other ques 
 tions, save prayer-meetings and almsgiving. 
 Their lives are very much narrowed down, 
 Miss Flossy." 
 
 Flossy was entirely unsatisfied. She had a 
 higher opinion of Dr. Dennis' " breadth " than 
 she had of Col. Baker's ; she thought his life had 
 a very much higher range ; she was very much 
 puzzled and annoyed. Her father came into the 
 conflict : 
 
 " Come, come, Flossy, how long are you going 
 to keep us waiting ? It is of no particular con 
 sequence what Dr. Dennis thinks or does not 
 think. He has a right to his own opinions. It 
 is a free country." 
 
 Ah, but it did make a tremendous difference 
 to Flossy. She had accepted Dr. Dennis as her
 
 The Rainy Evening. 173 
 
 pastor ; she had determined to look to him for 
 help and guidance in this new and strange path 
 on which her feet had so lately entered. 
 
 She wondered if Col. Baker could be right. 
 Was it possible that Dr. Dennis disapproved of 
 cards played at home in this quiet way ! If he 
 did, why did he ? And, another puzzling point, 
 how did Col. Baker know it ? They two cer 
 tainly did not come in contact, that they should 
 understand each other's ideas. 
 
 She went on with her card-playing, but she 
 played very badly. More than once Col. Baker 
 rallied her with good-humored sarcasm, and her 
 father spoke impatiently. Flossy 's interest in 
 the game was gone ; instead, her heart was busy 
 with this new idea. She went back to it again 
 in one of her pauses in the game. 
 
 " Col. Baker, don't you really know at all what 
 arguments clergymen have against card-playing 
 for amusement ? " 
 
 Again that expressive shrug ; but it had lost 
 its power over Flossy, and its owner saw it, and 
 made haste to answer her waiting eyes. 
 
 " I really am not familiar with their weapons 
 of warfare ; probably I could not appreciate
 
 174 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 them if I were ; I only know that the entire 
 class frown upon all such innocent devices for 
 passing a rainy evening. But it never struck 
 me as strange, because the fact is, they frown 
 equally on all pastimes and entertainments of 
 any sort ; that is, a certain class do fanatics, I 
 believe, is the name they are known by. They 
 believe, as nearly as I am capable of understand 
 ing their belief, that life should be spent in 
 psalm-singing and praying." 
 
 Whereupon Flossy called to mind the witty 
 things she had heard, and the merry laughs 
 which had rung around her at Chautauqua, given 
 by the most intense of these fanatics ; she even 
 remembered that she had seen two of the most 
 celebrated in that direction playing with a party 
 of young men and boys on the croquet ground, 
 and laughing most uproariously over their de 
 feat. It was all nonsense to try to compass her 
 brain with such an argument as that ; she shook 
 her head resolutely. 
 
 "They do no such thing; I know some of 
 them very well ; I don't know of any people 
 who have nicer times. How do you know these 
 things, Col. Baker ? "
 
 The Rainy Evening. 175 
 
 Col. Baker essayed to be serious: 
 
 " Miss Flossy," he said, leaning over and fix 
 ing his handsome eyes impressively on her face, 
 " is it possible you do not know that, as a rule, 
 clergymen set their faces like a flint against all 
 amusements of every sort ? I do not mean that 
 there are not exceptions, but I do mean most as 
 suredly that Dr. Dennis is not one of them. He 
 is as rigid as it is possible for mortal man to be. 
 
 " Herein is where the church does harm. In 
 my own opinion, it is to blame for the most, if 
 not for all, of the excesses of the day ; they are 
 the natural rebound of nerves that have been 
 strained too tightly by the over-tension of the 
 church." 
 
 Surely this was a fine sentence. The Flossy 
 of a few weeks ago would have admired the 
 smooth-sounding words and the exquisitely mod 
 ulated voice as it rolled them forth. How had 
 the present Flossy been quickened as to her 
 sense of the fitness of things. She laughed mis 
 chievously. She couldn't argue ; she did riot 
 attempt it. All she said was, simply : 
 
 " Col. Baker, on your honor, as a gentleman 
 of truth and veracity, do you think the excesses
 
 176 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 of which you speak, occur, as a rule, in those 
 whose lives have been very tightly bound by the 
 church, or by anything else, save their own 
 reckless fancies ? " 
 
 Charlie Shipley laughed outright at this point. 
 He always enjoyed a sharp thing wherever 
 heard, and without regard to whether he felt 
 himself thrust at or not. 
 
 " Baker, you are getting the worst of it," he 
 said, gayly. "Sis, upon my word, that two 
 weeks in the woods has made you real keen in 
 argument ; but you play abominably." 
 
 " There is no pleasure in the game now ! " 
 This the father said, throwing down his cards 
 somewhat testily. " Flossy, I hope you will not 
 get to be a girl of one idea tied to the profes 
 sional conscience. What is proper for you could 
 hardly be expected to be just the thing for Dr. 
 Dennis ; and you have nothing to do, as I said 
 before, with what he approves or disapproves." 
 
 "But, father," Flossy said, speaking somewhat 
 timidly, as she could not help doing when she 
 talked about these matters to her father, " if we 
 call clergymen our spiritual guides, and look up 
 to them to set examples for us to follow, what is
 
 The Ron, ^y Evening. 177 
 
 the use of the example if we don't follow it at 
 all, but conclude they are simply doing things 
 for their own benefit ? " 
 
 " I never call them my spiritual guides, and I 
 have not the least desire to have my daughter 
 do so. I consider myself capable of guiding my 
 own family, especially my own children, without 
 any help." 
 
 This was said in Mr. Shipley's stiffest tone. 
 He was evidently very much tried with this 
 interruption to his evening's entertainment. 
 Whatever might be said of the others, he was 
 certainly very fond of cards. He, however, threw 
 down the remaining ones, declaring that the spirit 
 of the game was gone. 
 
 " Merged into a theological discussion," Char 
 lie said, with a half laugh, half sneer ; and of 
 all the people to indulge in one, this particular 
 circle would be supposed to be the last." 
 
 " Well, I am certainly very sorry that I waa 
 the innocent cause of such an upheaval," Col. 
 Baker said, in the half serious, half mocking, 
 tone that was becoming especially trying to 
 Flossy. "It seems that I unwittingly burst a 
 bombshell when I overturned those cards. I
 
 178 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 hadn't an idea of it. Miss Flossy, what can I do 
 to atone for making you so uneasy ? I assure 
 you it was really pure benevolence on my part. 
 What can I do to prove it ? " 
 
 " Nothing," Flossy said, smiling pleasantly. 
 She was very much obliged. He had awakened 
 thought about a matter that had never before oc 
 curred to her. She began to think there were a 
 good many things in her life that had not been 
 given very much thought. She meant to look 
 into this thing, and understand it if she could. 
 Indeed, that was what she wanted of all things 
 to do. 
 
 Nothing could be simpler and sweeter, and 
 nothing could be more unlike the Flossy of Col. 
 Baker's former acquaintance. 
 
 " I shouldn't wonder a bit if you had roused 
 a hornet's nest about your ears," Charlie Shipley 
 said to his friend. " Now I tell you, you may 
 not believe it, but my little sister is just exactly 
 the stuff out of which they made martyrs in thoss 
 unenlightened days when anybody thought there 
 was enough truth in anything to take the trou 
 ble to suffer for it. She can be made by skillful 
 handling into a very queen of martyrs, and
 
 The Rainy Evening. 179 
 
 if you fall in the ruins, it will be your own 
 fault," 
 
 But he did not say this until Flossy had sud 
 denly and unceremoniously excused herself, and 
 the two gentlemen were alone over their cigars. 
 
 " Confound that Chautauqua scheme I " Col. 
 Baker said, kicking an innocent hassock half 
 across the room with his indignant foot. " That 
 is where all these new ideas started. I wish 
 there was a law against fanaticism. Those 
 young women of strong mind and disagreeable 
 manners are getting a most uncomfortable in 
 fluence over her, too. If I were you, Charlie, I 
 would try to put an end to that intimacy." 
 
 Charlie whistled softly. 
 
 " Which do you mean ? " he asked at last. 
 " The Erskine girl, or the Wilbur one ? I tell 
 you, Baker, with all the years of your acquain 
 tance, you don't know that little Flossy as well 
 as you think you do. Let me tell you, my man, 
 there is something about her, or in her, that is 
 capable of development, and that is being devel 
 oped (or I am mistaken), that will make her the 
 leader, in a quiet way, of a dozen decided and 
 outspoken girls like those two, and of several
 
 180 The Chautouqua G-irls at Home. 
 
 men like yourself besides, if she chooses to lead 
 you." 
 
 " Well, confound the development then 1 I 
 liked her better as she was before." 
 
 " More congenial, I admit ; at least I should 
 think so ; but not half so interesting to watch. 
 I have real good times now. I am continually 
 wondering what she will do next."
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE NEXT THING. 
 
 HAT she did next that night was to sit 
 with her elbows in her lap, and her chin 
 resting on her hands, and stare into vacancy for 
 half an hour. She was very much bewildered. 
 Col. Baker had awakened a train of thought 
 that would never slumber again. He need not 
 hope for such a thing. Her brother Charlie saw 
 deeper into her nature than she did herself. She 
 was tenacious of an idea ; she had grasped at 
 this one, which, of itself, would perhaps never 
 have occurred to her. 
 
 Hitherto she had played at cards as she had 
 played on the piano or worked at her worsted 
 
 (181)
 
 182 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 cats and dogs, or frittered away an evening in the 
 smallest of small talk, or done a hundred other 
 things, without thought of results, without so 
 much as realizing that there were such things as 
 results connected with such trifling common 
 places. 
 
 At least, so far as the matter of cards was con 
 cerned, she would never do so again. Her quiet 
 had been disturbed. The process of reasoning 
 by which she found herself disturbed was very 
 simple. She had discovered, as if by accident, 
 that her pastor; as she loved to call Dr. Dennis, 
 lingering on the word, now that it had such a 
 new meaning for her, disapproved of card-play 
 ing, not only for himself, but for her ; at least 
 that Col. Baker so supposed. 
 
 Now there must be some foundation for this 
 belief of his. Either there was something in the 
 nature of the game which Col. Baker recognized, 
 and which she did not, that made him under 
 stand, as by instinct, that it would be disap 
 proved by Dr. Dennis, or else he had heard him 
 BO express himself, or else he was totally mis 
 taken, and was misrepresenting that gentleman's 
 character.
 
 The Next Thing. 183 
 
 She thought all this over as she sat staring 
 into space, and she went one step further she 
 meant to discover which of these three state 
 ments was correct. If Dr. Dennis thought it 
 wrong to play cards, then he must have reasons 
 for so thinking. She accepted that at once as a 
 necessity to the man. They must also have been 
 carefully weighed reasons, else he would not 
 have given them a place in his creed. This also 
 was a necessity to a nature like his. 
 
 Clearly there was something here for her to 
 study ; but how to set about it ? Over this 
 she puzzled a good deal ; she did not like to go 
 directly to Dr. Dennis and ask for herself ; she 
 did not know ho\v to set to work to discover for 
 herself the truth j she could pray for light, that 
 to be sure ; but having brought her common 
 sense with her into religious matters, she no 
 more expected light to blaze upon her at the 
 moment of praying for it, than she expected the 
 sun to burst into the room despite the closing of 
 blinds and dropping of curtain, merely because 
 she prayed that it might shine. 
 
 Clearly if she wanted the sun, it was her part 
 to open blinds and draw back curtains j clearly if
 
 184 The Chautauqua GHrls at Home. 
 
 she wanted mental light, it was her part to use 
 the means that God had placed at her disposal. 
 Thus much she realized. But not being a self- 
 reliant girl, it resulted in her saying to Eurie 
 Mitchell when she slipped in the next evening 
 to spend an hour : 
 
 W I wish we girls could get together some 
 where this evening ; I have something to talk 
 over that puzzles me a great deal." 
 
 You are to understand that the expression, 
 " we girls," meant the four who had lived Chau 
 tauqua together; from henceforth and forever 
 " we girls " who went through the varied expe 
 riences of life together that were crowded into 
 those two weeks, would be separated from all 
 other girls, and their intercourse would neces 
 sarily be different from any other friendships, 
 colored always with that which they had lived 
 together under the trees. 
 
 " Well," said Eurie, quick, as usual, to carry 
 out what another only suggested, " I'm sure that 
 is easily managed. We can call for Ruth, and 
 go around to Marion's den ; she is always in, and 
 she never has any company." 
 
 " But Ruth nearly always has," objected
 
 The Next Thing. 185 
 
 Flossy, who bad an instant vision of herself 
 among the fashionable callers in the Erskine 
 parlor, unable to get away without absolute 
 rudeness. 
 
 " I'll risk Ruth if she happens to want to come 
 with us." Eurie said, nodding her head sagely. 
 " She will dispose of her callers in some way ; 
 strangle them, or what is easier and safer, simply 
 ignore their existence and beg to be excused. 
 Ruth is equal to any amount of well-bred rude 
 ness ; all that is necessary is the desire to per 
 form a certain action, and she will do it." 
 
 This prophecy of Eurie's proved to be the case. 
 Nellis Mitchell was called into service to see the 
 girls safely over to the Erskine mansion, where 
 they found two gentlemen calling on Ruth and 
 her father. No sooner did she hear of their de 
 sire to be together, than, feeling instant sympa 
 thy with it, she said, " I'll go in five minutes." 
 Then they heard her quiet voice in the parlor : 
 
 " Father, will you and our friends excuse me 
 for the remainder of the evening, and will you 
 enjoy my part of the call and yours too ? I have 
 just had a summons elsewhere that demands at* 
 tention."
 
 186 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 " Isn't that perfect iu its propriety, besides 
 bringing things to the exact point where she 
 wants them to be? " whispered Eurie to Flossy 
 as they waited in the hall. " Oh, it takes Ruth 
 to manage." 
 
 " I wonder," said Flossy, with her far-away 
 look, and half-distressed, wholly -perplexed curve 
 of the lip "I wonder if it is strictly true ; that 
 is what troubles me a good deal." 
 
 Oh, Dr. Hurlburt I your address to the chil 
 dren that summer day under the trees was the 
 germ of this shoot of sensitiveness for the 
 strict truth, that shall bloom into conscientious 
 fruit. 
 
 It was by this process that they were all to 
 gether in Marion's den, as Eurie called her stuffed 
 and uninviting little room. Never was mortal 
 more glad to be interrupted than she, as she un 
 ceremoniously tossed aside school-books and pa 
 pers, and made room for them around the table. 
 
 " You are a blessed trio," she said, exultantly. 
 "What good angel put it into your hearts to 
 come to me just now and here ? I am in the 
 dismals; have been down all day in the depths 
 of swamp-land, feeling as if I hadn't a friend on
 
 The Next Thing. 187 
 
 earth, and didn't want one ; and here you are, 
 you blessed three." 
 
 " But we didn't come for fun or to comfort 
 you, or anything of that sort," explained Flossy, 
 earnestly, true to the purpose that had started 
 her. " We came to talk something over." 
 
 " I don't doubt it. Talk it over then by all 
 means. I'll talk at it with all my heart. We 
 generally do talk something over, I have ob 
 served, when we get together ; at least we do of 
 late years. Which one wants to talk ? " 
 
 Thus introduced, Flossy explained the nature 
 of her perplexities ; her occupation the evening 
 before ; the interruption from Dr. Dennis ; the 
 sweeping action of Col. Baker, and the conse 
 quent talk. 
 
 " Now do you suppose that is true ? " she said, 
 suddenly breaking off at the point where Col. 
 Baker had assured her that all clergymen looked 
 with utter disfavor on cards. 
 
 Marion glanced from one to another of the 
 faces before her with an amused air ; none of 
 them spoke. 
 
 " 1 1 is rather queer," she said, at last, " that I 
 have to be authority, or that I seem to be the
 
 188 The Chautauqua Grirh at Some. 
 
 only one posted, when I have but just emerged 
 from a state of unbelief in the whole subject. 
 But I tell you truly, my blessed little innocent, 
 Col. Baker is well posted ; not only the clergy, 
 but he will find a large class of the most enlight- 
 ened Christians, look with disapproval on the 
 whole thing in all its variations." 
 
 " Why do they ? " This from Flossy, with a 
 perplexed and troubled tone. 
 
 " Well, said Marion, " now that question is 
 more easily asked than answered. It requires an 
 argument." 
 
 "An argument is just what I want; I like to 
 have things explained. Before that, though, 
 one thing that puzzles me is how should Col. 
 Baker be so familiar with the views of clergy 
 men?" 
 
 ** That is a curious fact, my mousie ; you will 
 find it, I fancy, in all sorts of strange places. 
 People who are not Christians seem to have an 
 intuitive perception of the fitness of things. It 
 is like dancing and theatre-going, and a dozen 
 other questions. It is very unusual to meet 
 people who do not sneer at Christians for up 
 holding such amusements ; they seem to realize
 
 The Next Thing. 189 
 
 an incongruity between them and the Christian 
 profession. It was just as plain to me, I know, 
 and I have sneered many a time over card-play 
 ing Christians, and here you are, dear little 
 Flossy, among them, just for the purpose of 
 teaching me not to judge." 
 
 Ruth, for the first time, took up the subject : 
 " If your statement is true, Marion, how is it 
 that so many professed Christians indulge in 
 these very things ? " 
 
 " Precisely the question that I just asked my 
 self while I was talking. By what means they 
 become destitute of that keen insight into con 
 sistencies and inconsistencies, the moment they 
 enter the lists as Christian people, is more than 
 I can understand, unless it is because they de 
 cide to succumb to the necessity of doing as 
 other people do, and let any special thinking 
 alone as inconvenient and unprofitable. I don't 
 know how it is ; only you watch this question 
 and think about it, and you will discover that 
 just so surely as you come in contact with any 
 who are active and alert in Christian work, whose 
 religion you respect as amounting to something, 
 you are almost sure to see them avoiding aJJ
 
 190 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 these amusements. Who ever heard of a minis 
 ter being asked to spend an evening in social 
 card-playing ! I presume that even Col. Bakei 
 himself knows that that would be improper, and 
 he would be the first to sneer." 
 
 " Of course," Ruth said, " ministers were ex 
 pected to be examples for other people to fol 
 low." 
 
 " Well, then," Flossy said, her perplexity in no 
 way lessened, " ought we not to follow ? " 
 
 Whereupon Marion clapped her hands. 
 
 " Little Flossy among the logicians ! " she said. 
 " That is the point, Ruth Erskine. If the exam 
 ple is for us to follow, why don't we follow ? 
 Now, what do you honestly think about this 
 question yourself?" 
 
 " Why," said Ruth, hesitatingly, " I have al 
 ways played cards, in select circles, being care 
 ful, of course, with whom I played; just as I am 
 careful with whom I associate, and, contrary to 
 your supposition, I have always supposed those 
 people who frowned on such amusements to bs 
 a set of narrow-minded fanatics. And I didn't 
 know that Christian people did frown on such 
 amusements ; though, to be sure, now that 1
 
 The Next Thing. 191 
 
 think of it. there are certain ones who never 
 come to card-parties nor dancing -parties. I 
 guess the difficulty is that I have never thought 
 anything about it." 
 
 Marion was looking sober. 
 
 " The fact is," she said, gravely, " that with 
 all my loneliness and poverty and general for- 
 lornness, I have had a different bringing up from 
 any of you. My father did not believe in any of 
 these things." 
 
 " And he was a Christian man," Flossy said, 
 quickly. " Then he must have had a reason for 
 his belief. That is what I want to get at. What 
 was it ? " 
 
 " He found it in an old book," said Marion, 
 looking at her, brightly, through shining eyes. 
 " He found most of his knowledge and his hope 
 and joy in that same book. The Bible was al 
 most the only book he had, and he made much 
 of that." 
 
 " And yet you hated the Bible I " Eurie 
 said this almost involuntarily, with a surprised 
 tone. 
 
 " I hated the way in which people lived it, so 
 different from my father's way. I don't think I
 
 192 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 ever really discarded the book itself. But I waa 
 a fool ; I don't mind owning that." 
 
 Flossy brought them back to the subject. 
 
 " But about this question," she said. " The 
 Bible was just where I went for help, but I 
 didn't find it ; I looked in the Concordance foi 
 cards and for amusements, and for every word 
 which I could think of, that would cover it, but 
 I couldn't find anything." 
 
 Marion laughed again. This little morsel's ig 
 norance of the Bible was to this girl, who had 
 been an avowed infidel for more than a dozen 
 years, something very strange. 
 
 " The Bible is a big book, darling," she said, 
 still laughing. " But, after all, I fancy you will 
 find something about the principle that governs 
 cards, even if you cannot find the word." 
 
 Meantime Ruth had been for some minutes re 
 garding Eurie's grave face and attentive eyes, 
 with no small astonishment in her gaze. At this 
 point she interrupted : 
 
 " Eurie Mitchell, what can be the matter with 
 you ? were you ever known to be so quiet ? I 
 haven't heard you speak on this theme, or any 
 other, since you came into the room ; yet you
 
 The Next TJtinj. 193 
 
 look as though you had some ideas, if you chose 
 to advance them. Where do you stand on this 
 card question ? " 
 
 " We never play cards at home," Eurie said, 
 quickly, "and we never go where we know they 
 are to be played." 
 
 Flossy turned upon her the most surprised 
 eyes. Dr. Mitchell's family was the most de 
 cidedly unconventional and free and easy of any 
 represented there. Flossy had supposed that 
 thej', of all others, would make cards a daily pas 
 time. 
 
 " Why not ? " she asked, briefly and earnestly, 
 as one eager to learn. 
 
 "It is on Nell's account," Eurie said, still 
 speaking very gravely. "Nell has but one fault, 
 and that is card-playing ; he is just passionately 
 fond of it; he is tempted everywhere. Father 
 says Grandfather Mitchell was just so, and Nell 
 inherits the taste. It is a great temptation to 
 him, and we do not like to foster it at home." 
 
 *' But home card-playing is so different ; that 
 isn't gambling." This from Flossy, question- 
 
 " Nell learned to play at home," Eurie said,
 
 194 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 quickly. " That is, lie learned at Grandfather 
 Mitchell's when he was a little boy. We have 
 no means of knowing whether he would have 
 been led into gambling but for that early educa 
 tion. I know that Robbie shall never learn if 
 we can help it ; we never mean to allow him to 
 go where any sort of cards are played, so long 
 as we have him under control." 
 
 All this was utterly new to Flossy. 
 
 " Then, if your little Robbie should come, with 
 other children, to see me, and I should teach 
 them a game of cards to amuse them, I might be 
 loing you a positive injury," she said, thought 
 fully. 
 
 " I certainly should so consider it," Eurie said, 
 with quickness and with feeling. "Girls, I 
 speak vehemently on this subject always ; hav 
 ing one serious lesson at home makes people 
 think." 
 
 "It is a question whether we have any right 
 to indulge in an amusement that has the power 
 to lead people astray," Ruth said, grave and 
 thoughtful, " especially when it is impossible to 
 tell what boy may be growing up under that in 
 fluence to whom it will become a snare." 
 
 Marion added :
 
 The Next Thing. 195 
 
 " FJcwsy, do you begin to see ? " 
 
 " I see in every direction," Flossy said. 
 " There is no telling when we may be doing 
 harm. But, now, let me be personal; I play 
 with father a great deal ; he is an old man, and 
 he has no special temptation, certainly. I have 
 heard him say he never played for anything of 
 more value than a pin in his life. What harm 
 can there possibly be in my spending an evening 
 with him in such an amusement, if it rests and 
 entertains him ? " 
 
 "Imagine some of your Sunday-school boys ac 
 cepting your invitation to call on you, and find 
 ing you playing a social game with your father ; 
 then imagine them quoting you in support of 
 their game at the billiard saloon that same even 
 ing a little later," Marion said, quickly. u You 
 see, my little Flossy, we don't live in nutshells 
 or sealed cans ; we are at all times liable to bo 
 broken in upon by people whom we may influ 
 ence and whom we may harm. I confess I 
 don't want to do anything at home that will 
 have to be pushed out of sight in haste and 
 confusion because some one happens to come 
 in. I want to be honest, even in my play." 
 
 Over this Flossy looked absolutely aghast.
 
 196 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 Those bo} r s of hers, they were getting a strong 
 hold upon her already ; she longed to lead them. 
 Was it possible that by her very amusements 
 she might lead them astray I Another point 
 was, that Nellis Mitchell could never be invited 
 to join them in a game. She had invited him 
 often, and she winced at the thought. Did his 
 sister think she had helped him into temptation ? 
 Following these trains of thought, she was led 
 into another, over which she thought aloud. 
 
 ** And suppose any of them should ask me if I 
 ever played cards I I should have to say yes." 
 
 " Precisely," said Marion. " And don't you 
 o to thinking that }*ou can ever hide behind 
 that foolish little explanation, 'I play simply for 
 amusement; I think it is wrong to play for 
 money." It won't do : it takes logical brains to 
 see the difference, and some even of those won't 
 see it ; but they can readily see that, having 
 plenty of money, of course you have no tempta 
 tion to play cards for it, and they see that with 
 them it is different."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 SETTLING QUESTIONS. 
 
 HERE is Bible for that doctrine too." 
 
 "Where?" Flossy asked, turning 
 quickly to Marion. 
 
 "In lliis verse: * If meat maketh my brother 
 to offend, I will eat no meat while the world 
 stands.' Don't you see you never can know 
 which brother may be made to offend ? " 
 
 " And it is even about so useful a thing as 
 food," said Floss}-, looking her amazement; she 
 had never heard that verse before in her life. 
 "About just that thing; and nothing so really 
 unnecessary to a complete life as card-playing 
 may be."
 
 198 The Chautauqua Crirh at Home. 
 
 "Col. Baker sneers at the inconsistency of 
 people xv ho liave nothing to do with cards, and 
 who play croquet." Eurie said this with cheeks 
 a little heightened in color; she had come in 
 contact with Col. Baker on this very ques 
 tion. 
 
 Ruth looked up quickly from the paper on 
 which she was scribbling. 
 
 " I think myself," she said, " that if it should 
 seem necessary to me to give up cards entirely, 
 consistency would oblige me to include croquet, 
 and all other games of that sort." 
 
 " I shouldn't feel obliged to do any such 
 thing,' 1 Marion said, promptly ; at least, not un 
 til 1 had become convinced that people played 
 croquet late into the night, in rooms smelling of 
 tobacco and liquor, and were tempted to drink 
 freely of the latter, and pawn their coats, if nec 
 essary, to get money enough to carry out the 
 game. You see, there is a difference." 
 
 " Yet people can gamble in playing croquet," 
 Euiie said, thoughtfully. 
 
 u Oh, yes, and people can gamble with pins, or 
 in tossing up pennies. The point is, they are 
 not in the habit of doing it ; and pins suggest no
 
 Settling Questions. 199 
 
 such thing to people in general ; neither do cro 
 quet balls ; while the fact remains that the ordi 
 nary use of cards, is to gamble with them ; and 
 comparatively few of those who use them habit 
 ually confine themselves to quiet home games. 
 People are in danger of making their brothers' 
 offend by their use ; we all know that." 
 
 " If that is true, then just that one verse from 
 the Bible ought to settle the whole question." 
 There was no mistaking the quiet meaning in 
 Flossy's voice ; it was as good as saying that the 
 whole question was settled for her. Marion re 
 garded her with evident satisfaction ; her man 
 ner was all the more fascinating, because she was 
 BO entirely unconscious that this way of looking 
 at questions, rather than this firm manner of set 
 tling questions, was not common, even among 
 Christians. " Can you show me the verse in 
 your Bible ? " she presently asked. 
 
 " I can do that same with the greatest pleas 
 ure," Marion said, bringing forward a new and 
 shining concordance. " I really meant to have a 
 new dress this fall; I say that, Rutlne, for your 
 special comfort ; but the truth is, there was an 
 army of Bible verses that I learned in my youth
 
 200 The Chautauqua Girh at Home. 
 
 trooping up to me, and I had such a desire to 
 see the connection, and find out what they were 
 all about, that I was actually obliged to sacrifice 
 the dress and get a concordance. I have lots of 
 comfort with it. Here is the verse, Flossy." 
 
 Flossy drew the Bible toward her with a little 
 sigh. 
 
 " I wish I knew an army of verses," she said. 
 " Seems to me I don't know any at all." Then 
 she went to reading. 
 
 " I know verses enough," Eurie said, " but 
 they seem to be in a great muddle in my brain. 
 I can't remember that any of them were ever ex 
 plained to me ; and it isn't very often that I find 
 a place where any of them will fit in." 
 
 " They do fit in, though, and with astonishing 
 closeness, you will find, as you grow used to 
 them. I have been amazed at that feature of 
 the Bible. Some of the verses that occur in the 
 selections for parsing are just wonderful ; they 
 seem aimed directly at me. What have you 
 found, Flossy ? " 
 
 " Wonderful things," said Flossy, flushing and 
 smiling. 
 
 44 You are reading backward, aren't you ? I
 
 Settling Questions, 201 
 
 know those verses ; just } r ou let me read them, 
 substituting the object about which we are talk 
 ing, and see how they will fit. You see, girls, 
 this astonishing man, Paul by name do you 
 happen to know his history? more wonderful 
 things happened to him than to any other nrortal 
 I verily believe. Well, he was talking about 
 idols, and advising his Christian friends not to 
 eat the food that had been offered to idols ; not 
 that it would hurt them, but because well, 
 you'll see the ' because ' as I read. I'll just put 
 in our word, for an illustration, instead of meat. 
 ' But cards commend us not to God: for neither 
 if we play are we the better ; neither if we play 
 not, arc we the worse. But take heed lest by 
 any means this liberty of 3' ours become a stum 
 bling-block to them that arc weak ; for if any 
 man see thee which hast knowledge, sit at cards, 
 shall not the conscience of him which is weak be 
 emboldened to sit at cards also ? And through 
 thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish for 
 whom Christ died ? But when ye sin so against 
 the brethren and wound their weak conscience, 
 ye sin against Christ. Wherefore if cards make 
 my brother to offend, I will play no more cards
 
 202 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 while the world standeth,lest I make my brother 
 to offend.' Doesn't that fit?" 
 
 M Let me look at that," said Eune, suddenly, 
 drawing the Bible to her. " After all," she said, 
 after a moment " what right have 3*011 to substi 
 tute the word cards ? It is talking about another 
 matter." 
 
 "Now, Eurie Mitchell, you are too bright to 
 make such a remark as that I If the Bible is for 
 our help as well as for Paul's, we have surely 
 the right to substitute the noun that fits our 
 present needs. We have no idols nowdaj-s ; at 
 least they are not made out of wood and stone ; 
 and the logic of the question is as clear as sun 
 light. We have only to understand that the 
 matter of playing cards is a snare and a danger 
 to some people, and we see our duty clearly 
 enough, because, how are we ever to be sure that 
 the very person who will be tempted is not 
 within the reach of our influence. What do }*ou 
 think, Flossy ? Is the question any clearer to 
 you?" 
 
 ** Why, yes," Flossy said, slowly, " that eighth 
 verse settles it : ' For meat commendeth us not 
 to God, for neither if we eat are we the better.
 
 Settling Questions. 203 
 
 neither if we eat not are we the worse.' It cer 
 tainly can do no one any harm if I let cards 
 alone, and it is equally certain that it may do 
 harm if I play them. I should think my duty 
 was clear." 
 
 " I wonder what Col. Baker will say to that 
 duty ? " quered Eurie, thinking aloud rather 
 than speaking to any one. " lie is very much 
 given over to the amusement, if I am not mis 
 taken." 
 
 Flossy raised her eyes and fixed them thought 
 fully on Ernie's face, while a flush spread all 
 over her own pretty one. Was it possible that 
 she had helped to foster this taste in Col. Baker. 
 How many evenings she had spent with him in 
 this way. Was he very much adicted to the use 
 of cards, she wondered ; that is, outside of theb 
 own pailor ? Eurie seemed to know something 
 about it. 
 
 " What makes you think so ? " she asked, at 
 lost. 
 
 " Because I know so. He has a great deal to 
 do wi'.h Nell's infatuation. He was the very 
 first one with whom Nell ever played for any 
 thing but fun. Flossy Shipley, you surely know
 
 204 The CTiautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 that be derives a good deal of his income in that 
 way?" 
 
 " I certainly did not know it," Flossy said, 
 with an increasing glow on her cheeks. The 
 glow was caused by wondering how far her own 
 brother, Charlie, had been led by this man. 
 
 " Girls," said Marion, concluding that a change 
 of subject would be wise, " wouldn't a Bible 
 reading evening be nice ? " 
 
 u What kind of an evening can that be ? " 
 
 Marion laughed. 
 
 " Why, a reading together out of the Bible 
 about a certain subject", or subjects, that inter 
 ested us, and about which we wanted to inform 
 ourselves? Like this, for instance. 1 presume 
 there are dozens of texts that bear on this very 
 question. It would Le nice to go over them to 
 gether and talk them up." 
 
 Flossy's eyes brightened. 
 
 " I would like that exceedingly," she said. " 1 
 need the help of you all. J know so very little 
 about the Bible. We have musical evenings, 
 and literary evenings ; why not Bible evenings ? 
 Let's do it." 
 
 " Apropos of the subject in hand, before we 
 
 '
 
 Settling Questions. 205 
 
 take up a new one, what do you think of this by 
 way of illustration ? " Ruth asked, as she threw 
 down on the table a daintily written epistle. 
 Thers was an eager grasping after it by this, 
 merry trio, and Eurie securing it, read aloud. It 
 was an invitation for the next evening to a select 
 gathering of choice spirits for the purpose of en 
 joying a social evening at cards. 
 
 " What do you propose to do with it?" Mar 
 ion asked, as Eurie balanced the note on her 
 hand with an amused face ; the illustration fitted 
 so remarkably into the talk. 
 
 " Decline it," Ruth said, briefly. And then 
 added, as an after-thought, " I never gave the 
 subject any attention in my life. I am, perhaps, 
 not entirely convinced now, only I see as Flossy 
 does, that I shall certainly do no harm by declin 
 ing ; whereas it seems 1 may possibly do some 
 by accepting ; therefore, of course, the way is 
 clear." 
 
 She said it with the utmost composure, and it 
 \vas evident that the idea of such a course being 
 disagreeable to her, or of her considering it a 
 cross to decline, had not occurred to her. She 
 cared nothing at all about these matters, and had
 
 20o The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 only been involved in them as a soit of necessity 
 belonging to society. She was more than wil 
 ling to be "counted out." 
 
 As for Flossy, she drew a little sigh of envy. 
 She would have given much to have been con 
 stituted like Ruth Erskine. She knew that the 
 same like invitation would probably come to her, 
 and she knew that she would decline it; but, 
 aside from loss of the pleasure and excite 
 ment of the pretty toilet and the pleasant even 
 ing among her friends, she foresaw long and 
 wearisome discussions with Col. Baker, with 
 Charlie, with her father ; sarcastic remarks from 
 Kitty and her lover, and a long train of an 
 noyances. She dreaded them all ; it was so 
 easy to slip along with the current ; it was so 
 hard to stem it and insist on going the other 
 way. 
 
 As for Marion Wilbur, she envied them both ; 
 a chance for them to dash out into a new chan 
 nel and make some headway, not the everlasting 
 humdrum sameness that filled her life. 
 
 Flossy was fascinated with the Bible words, 
 that were so new and fresh to her. 
 
 " Those verses cover a great deal of ground,"
 
 Settling Questions. 20 1 
 
 she said, slowly reading them over again. " I 
 can think of a good many things which we call 
 right enough, that, measured by that test, would 
 have to be changed or given up. But, Marion, 
 you spoke of dancing and theatre-going. I can't 
 quite see what the verses have to do with either 
 of those amusements ; I mean not as we, and 
 the people in our set, have to do with such 
 things. Do you think every form of dancing is 
 wicked ? " 
 
 " What wholesale questions you ask, my mor 
 sel I And you ask them precisely as though I 
 had been made umpire and you must abide by 
 my decisions, whatever they are. Now, do 
 you know I never believed in dancing ? I had 
 some queer, perhaps old-fashioned, notions about 
 it all my life. Even before there was any such 
 thing as a conscientious scruple about it, I should 
 not have danced if I had had a hundred chances 
 to mingle in just the set that you do ; so, per 
 haps, I am not the one of whom to ask that ques 
 tion." 
 
 "I should think you were just the one. Jf 
 you have examined it, and know why you think 
 BO, you can surely tell me, and give me a chance
 
 208 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 to see whether I ought to think as you do or 
 not." 
 
 "/need posting, decidedly, on that question," 
 Eurie said, throwing off her earnestness and 
 looking amused. " If there is any one thing 
 above another that I do thoroughly enjoy, it is 
 dancing ; and I give you all fair warning, I don't 
 mean to be coaxed out of it very easily. I 
 shall fight hard for that bit of fun. Marion 
 don't know anything about it, for she never 
 danced; but the rest of you know just what a 
 delicious exercise it is ; and I don't believe, 
 when it is indulged in reasonably, and at proper 
 places, there is any harm at all in it. If i am to 
 give it up, you will have to show me strong rea 
 sons why I should." 
 
 " All this fits right in with my idea," Marion 
 said. " Nothing could be more suitable for our 
 first Bible reading. Let us take an evening for 
 it, and prepare ourselves as well as we can be 
 forehand, and examine into the Bible view of it. 
 Eurie, you will be expected to be armed with all 
 the Scriptural arguments in its favor. I'll try 
 for the other side. Now, Ruth and Flossy, 
 which aide will you choose ? "
 
 Settling Questions. 209 
 
 " Neither," Ruth said, promptly. " I am in 
 terested in the subject, and shall be glad to be 
 informed as to what the Bible says about it, if 
 any of you are smart enough to find anything 
 that will bear on the subject; but I believe the 
 Bible left that, as well as some other things, to 
 our common sense, and that each of us have to 
 decide the mutter for ourselves." 
 
 " All ngni," said Marion, we'll accept you on 
 the non-committal side. Only, remember you 
 are to try to prove from the Bible that it has 
 left us to decide this matter for ourselves." 
 
 " I shall take every side that I find," Flossy 
 said. " What I want to know is, the truth about 
 things." 
 
 " Without regard as to whether the truth is so 
 fortunate as to agree with your opinion or not ? " 
 said Marion. " You will, probably, be quite as 
 likely to find the truth as any of us. Well, I 
 like the plan ; there is work in it, and it will 
 amount to something. When shall it be?" 
 
 " Next Friday," said Flossy. 
 
 "No," said Ruth; "Friday is the night of 
 Mrs. Garland's lawn party." 
 
 "A dancing party," said Eurie. "Good I
 
 210 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 Let us come together on Thursday evening. If 
 there is a dancing party just ahead, it will make 
 us all the more zealous to prove our sides ; I 
 shall be, at least, for I want to go to Mrs. Gar- 
 landV
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 LOOKING FOR WOBK. 
 
 . DENNIS had just gone into his study 
 to make ready for the evening prayer- 
 meeting, when he heard his door-bell ring. lie 
 remembered with a shade of anxiety that his 
 daughter was not yet out of school, and that hU 
 sister and housekeeper was not at home. It \va.s 
 more than likely that he would be interrupted. 
 
 "What is it, Hannah?" he asked, as that 
 person appeared at his door. 
 
 " It is Miss Erskine, sir. I told her that Miss 
 Dennis was out of town, and Miss Grace was at 
 school, and she said it was of no consequence 
 she wanted to see the minister himself. Will 1 
 tell her that you are engaged ? " 
 
 (211)
 
 212 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 " No," said Dr. Dennis, promptly. The sen 
 sation was still very new, this desire on the part 
 of any of the name of Erskine to see him. His 
 preparation could afford to wait. 
 
 Two minutes more and Ruth was in the study. 
 It was a place in which she felt as nearly embar 
 rassed as she ever approached to that feeling. 
 She had a specific purpose in calling, and words 
 arranged wherewith to commence her topic ; hut 
 they fled from her as if she had been a school 
 girl instead of a finished young lady in society ; 
 and she answered the Doctor's kind enquiries as 
 to the health of her father and herself in an ab 
 sent and constrained manner. At last this good 
 man concluded to help her. 
 
 " Is there any thing special that I can do lor 
 you to-day?" he asked, with a kindly interest 
 in his tone, that suggested the feeling that he 
 was interested in her plans, whatever they were, 
 and would be glad to help. 
 
 " Yes," she said, surprised into frankness by 
 Lis straightforward way of doing things ; "or, at 
 least, I hope you can. Dr. Dennis, ought not 
 every Christian to be at work ? " 
 
 "Our great Example said; 4 I must work
 
 Looking for Work. 213 
 
 the works of him that sent me while it is 
 day.' " 
 
 " I know it ; that very verse set me to think 
 ing about it. That is what I want help about. 
 There is no work for me to do ; at least, I can't 
 find any. I am doing just nothing at all, and I 
 don't in the least know which way to turn. I 
 am not satisfied with this state of things ; I can't 
 settle back to my books and my music as I did 
 before I went away ; I don't enjoy them as I 
 used to ; I mean, they don't absorb me ; the}* 
 seem to be of no earthly use to any one but my 
 self, and I don't feel absolutely certain that they 
 are of any use to me ; anyway, they are not 
 Christian work." 
 
 "As to that, you are not to be too certain 
 about it. Wonderful things can be done with 
 music; and when one is given a marked talent 
 for it, as I hear has been the case with you, it is 
 not to be hidden in a napkin." 
 
 " I don't know what I can do with mu 
 sic, I am sure," Ruth said, skeptically. " I 
 suppose I must have a good deal of talent 
 in. that direction ; I have been told so ever 
 since I can remember; but beyond entertain-
 
 214 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 ing my friends, I see no other special use 
 for it." 
 
 " Do }'ou remember telling me about the songs 
 which Mr. Bliss sang at Chautauqua, and the 
 effect on the audience ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Ruth, speaking heartily, and her 
 cheeks glowing at the recollection " but he was 
 wonderful I " 
 
 " The same work can be done in a smaller 
 way," Dr. Dennis said, smiling. "1 hope to 
 show you something of what you may do to help 
 in that way before another winter passes ; but, 
 in the meantime, mere entertainment of friends 
 is not a bad motive for keeping up one's music. 
 Then there is the uncertain future ever before 
 us. What if you should be called upon to teach 
 music some day ? " 
 
 A vision of herself toiling wearily from house 
 to house in all weathers, and at all hours of the 
 day, as she had seen music teachers do, hovered 
 over Ruth Erskine's brain, and so utterly im 
 probable and absurd did the picture seem, when 
 she imagined it as having any reference to her, 
 that she laughed outright. 
 
 " I don't believe I shall ever teach music/' she 
 said, positively.
 
 Looking for Work. 215 
 
 ** Perhaps not ; and yet stranger things than 
 that have happened in this changeful life." 
 
 " But, Dr. Dennis," she said, with sudden en 
 ergy, and showing a touch of annoyance at the 
 turn which the talk was taking, " my trouble is 
 not an inability to employ my time ; I do not be 
 long to the class of young ladies who are afflicted 
 with ennui." And a sarcastic curve of her hand 
 some lip made Ruth look very like the Miss 
 Erskine that Dr. Dennis had always known. 
 She despised people who had no resources within 
 themselves. " I can find plenty to do, and I en 
 joy doing it ; but the point is, I seem to be liv 
 ing only for myself, and that doesn't seem right. 
 I want Christian work." 
 
 To tell the truth Dr. Dennis was puzzled. 
 There was so much work to do, his hands and 
 heart were always so full and running over, that 
 it seemed strange to him for any one to come 
 looking for Christian work ; the world was teem 
 ing with it. 
 
 On the other hand he confessed to himself 
 that he was utterly unaccustomed to hearing 
 people ask for work ; or, if the facts be told, to 
 having any one do any work. 
 
 Years ago he had tried to set the people of the
 
 216 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 First Church to work ; but they had stared at 
 him and misunderstood him, and he confessed to 
 himself that he had given over trying to get 
 work out of most of them. While this experi 
 ence was refreshing, it was new, and left him for 
 the moment bewildered. 
 
 " I understand you," he said, rallying. " There 
 is plenty of Christian work. Do you want to 
 take a class in the Sunday-school ? There is a 
 vacancy." 
 
 Ruth shook her head with decision. 
 
 " That is not at all my forte. I have no fac 
 ulty for teaching children ; I am entirely unused 
 to them, and have no special interest in them, 
 and no sort of idea how they are to be managed. 
 Some people are specially fitted for such work ; 
 I know I am not." 
 
 " Often we find our work much nearer horns 
 than we had planned," Dr. Dennis said, regard 
 ing her with a thoughtful air. " How is it with 
 your father, Miss Erskine ? " 
 
 "My father?" she repeated; and she could 
 hardly have looked more bewildered if her pas 
 tor had asked after the welfare of the man in the 
 moon.
 
 Looking for Work. 217 
 
 " Are you trying to win him over to the Lord's 
 Bide ? " 
 
 Utter silence and surprise on Miss Erskine's 
 part. At last she said : 
 
 "I hardly ever see rny father; we are never 
 alone except when we are on our way to dinner, 
 or to pay formal calls on very formal people. 
 Then we are always in a hurry. I cannot reach 
 my father, Dr. Dennis ; he is immersed in busi 
 ness, and has no time nor heart for such matters. 
 I should not in the least know how to approach 
 him if I had a chance ; and, indeed, I am sure I 
 could do no good, for he would esteem it an im 
 pertinence to be questioned by his daughter as 
 to his thoughts on these matters." 
 
 " Yet you have an earnest desire to see him a 
 Christian ? " 
 
 " i"es," she said, speaking slowly and hesitat 
 ingly ; " of course I have that. To be very 
 frank, Dr. Dennis, it is a hopeless sort of desire ; 
 I don't expect it in the least ; my father is pecu 
 liarly unapproachable ; I know he considers him 
 self sufficient unto himself, if you will allow the 
 expression. In thinking of him, I have felt that 
 a great many years from now, when he is old,
 
 218 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 and when business cares and responsibilities have 
 in a measure fallen off, and given him time to 
 think of himself, he might then feel his need of a 
 Friend and be won ; but I don't even hope for it 
 before that time." 
 
 u My dear friend, you have really no right to 
 set a different time from the one that your Mas 
 ter has set," her pastor said, earnestly. " Don't 
 you know that his time is always now? How 
 can you be sure that he will choose to give 
 your father a long life, and leisure in old age 
 to help him to think? Isn't that a terrible 
 risk?" 
 
 Ruth Erskine shook her decided head. 
 
 *' I feel sure that my work is not in that direc 
 tion," she said. " I could not do it ; you do not 
 know my father as well as I do ; he would never 
 allow me to approach him. The most I can hope 
 to do will be to hold what he calls my new views 
 so far into the background that he will not posi 
 tively forbid them to me. He is the only person 
 I think of whom 1 stand absolutely ia a\ve. 
 Then I couldn't talk with him. His life is a 
 pure, spotless one, convincing by its very moral 
 ity; so he thinks that there is no need of a S;i-
 
 Looking for Work. 219 
 
 viour. I do pray for him ; I mean to as long as 
 he and I live ; but I know I can do nothing else ; 
 at least not for many a year." 
 
 IIo\v was Dr. Dennis to set to work a ludy 
 who knew so much that she could not work? 
 This was the thought that puzzled him. But he 
 knew how difficult it was for people to work in 
 channels marked out by others. So he said, en 
 couragingly : 
 
 " I can conceive of some of your difficulties in 
 that direction. But you. have other friends who 
 are not Christians ? " 
 
 This being said inquiringl}', Ruth, after a mo 
 ment of hesitation, answered it : 
 
 " I have one friend to whom I have tried to 
 talk about this matter, but I have had no suc 
 cess, lie is very peculiar in his views and feel 
 ings, lie agrees to every thing that I say, and 
 admits the wisdom and reasonableness of it all, 
 but he goes no further." 
 
 " There are a great many such people," Dr. 
 Dennis said, with a quick sigh. He met many 
 of them himself. "They are the hardest class 
 to reach. Does your friend believe in the power 
 of prayer ? I have generally found the safest
 
 220 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 and shortest way with such to be to use my in 
 fluence in inducing them to begin to pray. If 
 they admit its power and its reasonableness, it is 
 such a very simple thing to do for a friend that 
 they can hardly refuse." 
 
 "I don't think he ever prays," Ruth said, 
 " and I don't believe he would. He would think 
 it hypocritical. lie says as much as that half 
 the praying must be mockery." 
 
 " Granting that to be the case, does he think 
 he should therefore not offer real prayer ? That 
 would be a sad state. Because I have many 
 hypocrites in my family whose words to me are 
 mockery, therefore no one must be a true 
 friend." 
 
 " I know," said Ruth, interrupting. " But I 
 don't know how to reach such people. Per 
 haps he may be j r our work, Dr. Dennis, but I 
 don't think he is mine. I don't in the least 
 know what to say to him. I refer to Mr. 
 Wayne." 
 
 " I know him," Dr. Dennis said, " but lie is 
 not inclined to talk with me. I have not the in 
 timacy with him that would lead him to be fa 
 miliar. I should be very certain, if I were you,
 
 Looking for Work. 221 
 
 that my work did not lie in that direction before 
 I turned from it." 
 
 " I am certain," Ruth said, with a little laugh. 
 
 " I don't know how to talk to such people. I 
 should feel sure of doing more harm than good." 
 
 " But, my dear Miss Erskine, I beg your par 
 don for the reminder, but since you are thrown 
 much into his societ}', will it not be necessary for 
 you, as a Christian, to talk more or less about 
 this matter? Should not your talk be- shaped in 
 such a way as to influence him if you can ?" 
 
 "I don't think I understand," Ruth said, 
 doubtfully. "Do you mean that people should 
 talk about religion all the time they are to 
 gether?" 
 
 "During this question Dr. Dennis had drawn 
 his Bible toward him and been turning over the 
 leaves. 
 
 "Just let me read you a word from the Guide 
 book on this subject : * Only let your conversa 
 tion be as becometh the Gospel of Christ.' ' Az 
 he which hath called yon is holy, so be ye holy 
 in all manner of conversation.' * Seeing, then, 
 that all these things shall be dissolved, what 
 manner of person ought ye to be, in all holy con-
 
 222 The CKautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 vcrsation anil godliness?' What should you con 
 clude as to Christian duty in the mutter of daily 
 conversation ? " 
 
 Ruth made no answer to this question, but sat 
 with earnest, thoughtful look fixed on her pas 
 tor's face. 
 
 "Who follows that pattern?" she asked, at 
 last. 
 
 " My dear friend, is not our concern rather to 
 decide whether you and I shall try to do it in the 
 future ? " 
 
 Someway this brought the talk to a sudden 
 lull. Ruth seemed to have no more to say. 
 
 u There is another way of work that I have 
 been intending to suggest to some of you young 
 ladies," Dr. Dennis said, after a thoughtful si 
 lence. "It is something very much neglected 
 in our church that is the social question. Do 
 you know we have many members who complain 
 that they are never called on, never spoken with, 
 never noticed in any way ? " 
 
 " I don't know anything about the members," 
 Rath suid. " I don't think I have a personal ac 
 quaintance with twenty of them a calling ac 
 quaintance, I mean."
 
 Looking for Work. 223 
 
 "That is the case with a greut many, uu<! 
 It is a state of things that should not exist. 
 The family ought to know each other. I be 
 gin to see your work clearer ; it is the young 
 ladies, to a large extent, who must remedy this 
 evil. Suppose you take up some of that work, 
 not neglecting the other, of course. * These 
 ought ye to have done, and not to have Jeft the 
 other undone,' I am afraid will be said to a good 
 many of us. But this is certainly work needing 
 to be done, and work for which you have 
 leisure." 
 
 He hoped to see her face brighten, but it did 
 not. Instead she said: 
 
 "I hate calling." 
 
 " I dare say ; calling that is aimless, and in a 
 sense useless. It must be hateful work. But if 
 you start out with an object in vie\v, a something 
 to accomplish that is worth your while, will it 
 not make a great difference ? " 
 
 Ruth only sighed. 
 
 " I have so many calls to make with father," 
 she said, wearily. " It is the worst work I do. 
 They are upon fashionable, frivolous people, who 
 cannot talk about anything. It is worse martyr*
 
 224 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 dom now than it used to be. I think I am pe 
 culiarly unfitted for such work, Dr. Dennis." 
 
 " But I want you to try a different style of 
 calls. Go alone ; not with your father, or with 
 any one who will trammel your tongue ; and go 
 among a class of people who do not expect you, 
 and will be surprised and pleased, and helped, 
 perhaps. Come, let me give you a list of per 
 sons whom I would like to have you call on at 
 your earliest opportunity. This is work that I 
 am really longing to see done." 
 
 A prisoner about to receive sentence could 
 hardly have looked more gloomy than did Ruth. 
 She was still for a few minutes, then she said: 
 
 " Dr. Dennis, do you really think it is a per 
 son's duty to do that sort of work for which he 
 or she feels least qualified, and which is the most 
 distasteful ? " 
 
 *' No," said Dr. Dennis, promptly. " My dear 
 Miss Erskine, will you be so kind as to tell me 
 the work for which you feel qualified, and for 
 which you have no distaste ?" 
 
 Again Ruth hesitated, looked confused, and 
 then laughed. She began to see that she was 
 making a very difficult task for her pastor. 
 
 " I don't feel qualified for anything," she said,
 
 Looking for Work. 225 
 
 at last. " And I feel afraid to undertake any 
 thing. But at the same time, I think I ought to 
 be at work." 
 
 " Now we begin to see the way clearer," he 
 said, smiling, and with encouragement in his 
 voice. " It may seem a strange thing to you, 
 but a sense of unfitness is sometimes one of the 
 very best qualifications for such work. If it is 
 strong enough to drive us to the blessed Friend 
 who has promised to make perfect our weakness 
 in this as in all other efforts, and if we go out 
 armed in His strength we are sure to conquer. 
 Try it. Take this for your motto : * As ye have 
 opportunity.' And, by the way, do you know 
 the rest of that verse ? * Especially to them 
 who are of the household of faith.' It is mem 
 bers of the household that I want you to call on, 
 remember." 
 
 Ruth laughed again, and shook her head. But 
 she took her list and went away. She had no 
 more that she wanted to say just then ; but she 
 felt that she had food for thought. 
 
 " I may try it," she said, as she went out, hold 
 ing up her list, " but I feel that I shall blunder, 
 and do more harm than good." 
 
 Dr. Dennis looked after her with a face on
 
 226 The CJiautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 which there was no smile. " There goes one," 
 he said to himself, " who thinks she is willing to 
 be led, but, on the contrary, she wants to lead. 
 She is saved, but not subdued. I wonder what 
 means the great Master will have to use to lead 
 her to rest in his hands, knowing no way but 
 his?"
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 AN UNABMED SOLDIEB. 
 
 iANY things intervened to keep Ruth 
 Erskine from having much to do with 
 that list which her pastor had given her. She 
 read it over indeed, and realized that she was 
 not familiar with a single name. 
 
 " What an idea it will be for me to go blun 
 dering through the city, hunting up people 
 whom I shall not know when I find." 
 
 This she said as she read it over ; then she 
 laid it aside, and made ready to go out to dinner 
 with her father, to meet two judges and their 
 wives and daughters who were stopping in to\vn. 
 
 During that day she thought many times of 
 the sentences that had been read to her out of 
 
 (227)
 
 228 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 that plain-looking, much-worn Bible on Dr. 
 Dennis' study-table. The only effect they had 
 on her was to make her smile at the thought of 
 the impossibility of anything like a religious con 
 versation in such society as that I 
 
 " How they would stare," she said to herself, 
 " if I should ask them about a prayer-meeting ! 
 I have half a mind to try it. If father were not 
 within hearing I would, just to see what these 
 finished young ladies would sf.y." 
 
 But she did not try it ; and the evening passed, 
 as so many evenings had, without an attempt on 
 her part to carry out any of the thoughts which 
 troubled her. She looked forward to one bit of 
 work which she expected to fall to her share , 
 at least she liked to call it work. 
 
 That card-party to which she hud been in 
 vited ; she would be expected to attend in com 
 pany with Mr. Wayne ; she meant to decline, 
 and her father would be surprised and a trifle 
 annoj'ed, for it was at a place where, not liking 
 the people well enough himself to be social, he 
 desired his daughter to atone for his deficiency. 
 But she would steadily refuse. She did not 
 ehriuk from this effort as Flossy did; on the
 
 An Unarmed Soldier. 229 
 
 contrary, she half enjoyed the thought of being 
 a calm and composed martyr. 
 
 But, quite to her discomfort, the martyrdom 
 was not permitted ; at least it took a different 
 form. Mr. Wayne was obliged to be out of 
 town, and sent profuse regrets, assuming that, of 
 course, it would be a sore disappointment to her. 
 
 Her father took sufficient notice of it to make 
 one or two efforts to agreeably supply his place. 
 and failing in that, assured his daughter that 
 rather than have her disappointed, he would 
 have planned to accompany her himself if he had 
 known of Mr. Wayne's absence in time. The 
 actual cross that it would have been to explain 
 to her father that she did not desire to go, and 
 the reasons therefor, she did not take up ; but 
 the occurrence served to annoy her. 
 
 Two days afterward she was busy all the 
 morning with her dressmaker, getting a special 
 dress ready for a wedding among the upper cir 
 cles. She had been hurried and worried, and 
 was as nearly out of patience as her calmness 
 ever allowed her to be. Still she remembered 
 that it was the prayer-meeting evening, that she 
 should see Dr. Dennis, and that he would be
 
 230 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 likely to ask her about the people on that list. 
 She ought to go that afternoon, and try what 
 she could do. 
 
 Once since her call on Dr. Dennis she had 
 met him as he was going down Clinton Street, 
 and he had turned and joined her for a few steps, 
 while he said : 
 
 "I have been thinking about another friend of 
 yours, that I should be very glad to see influ 
 enced in the right direction. His sister is try 
 ing, I presume ; but other people's sisters some 
 times have an influence. Young Mitchell, the 
 doctor's son, is a young man of real promise ; he 
 ought to be on the Lord's side." 
 
 " You are mistaken in supposing him to be a 
 friend of mine," Ruth said, with promptness and 
 emphasis. " We have the most distant speaking 
 acquaintance only, and I have a dislike for him 
 amounting to absolute aversion." There was 
 that in Ruth Erskine's voice when she chose to 
 let it appear that said, " My aversion is a very 
 serious and disagreeable thing." 
 
 " Yes," the Doctor said, quietly, as one in no 
 degree surprised or disturbed ; " yet he has a 
 soul to be saved, and the Lord Jesus Christ died 
 to save him."
 
 An Unarmed Soldier. 231 
 
 There was no denying this ; and certainly it 
 would not look well in her to say that she had 
 no desire to have part in his salvation ; so she 
 kept silence. But there followed her a disagree 
 able remembrance of having negatived every 
 proposition whereby the doctor had hoped to set 
 her at work. She decided, disagreeable as it 
 was, to make a vigorous assault on those fami 
 lies, thereby showing him what she could do. 
 
 To this end she arrayed herself in immaculate 
 calling attire with a rustle of silk and a soft 
 ness of ruffle, and a daintiness of glove that none 
 but the wealthy can assume, and, in short, with 
 that unmistakable air about every thing pertain 
 ing to her that marks the lady of fashion. These 
 things were as much a part of Ruth Erskine as 
 her hair and eyes were. Once ready, her dress, 
 perhaps, gave her as little thought as her eyes or 
 hair did. But she looked as though that must 
 have been the sole object of thought and study 
 in order to produce such perfect results. 
 
 Her preparation for her new and untried work 
 had been none of the best. As I said, the morn 
 ing had been given to the cares of the dressmaker 
 and the deceitfuluess of trimmings, so much so 
 that her Bible reading even had been omitted,
 
 232 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 and only the briefest and most hurried of pray 
 ers, worthy of the days when prayer was noth 
 ing to her but a formal bowing of the head, on 
 proper occasions, had marked her need of help 
 from the Almighty Hand. These thoughts trou 
 bled her as she went down the Street. She 
 paused irresolutely before one of the principal 
 bookstores. 
 
 " I ought to have some tracts," she said, doubt 
 fully, to herself ; " they always take tracts when 
 they go district visiting ; I know that from hear 
 ing Mrs. W hippie talk ; what is this but a dis 
 trict visiting ; only Dr. Dennis has put my dis 
 trict all over the city ; I wonder if he could have 
 scattered the streets more if he had tried ; re 
 spectable streets, though, all of them ; better 
 than any Mrs. Whipple ever told about." 
 
 Then she tried to select her tracts ; but when 
 one has utter ignorance of such literature, and a 
 few minutes at a crowded counter in which to 
 make a selection, it is not likelj to be very se 
 lect. She finally gave up any attempt at choice, 
 beyond a few whose titles seemed inviting, 
 chose a package at random, and hastened on her 
 way.
 
 An Unarmed Soldier. 233 
 
 " Mrs. C. Y. Sullivan " was the first name on 
 her list, and, following her directions, she came 
 presently to the street and number. A neat 
 brick house, with a modern air about it and its 
 surroundings ; a bird singing in a cage before 
 the open window, and pots of flowers blooming 
 behind tastefully looped white curtains ; not at 
 all the sort of a house that Ruth had imagined 
 she would see. 
 
 It did not suit her ideas of district visiting, 
 crude though those ideas were. However, she 
 rang the bell. Having commenced the task she 
 was not one to draw back, though she admitted 
 to herself that she never felt more embarrassed 
 in her life. Nor did the embarrassment lessen 
 when she was shown into the pretty, tasteful 
 parlor, where presently Mrs. Sullivan joined 
 her. 
 
 " I am Miss Erskine," Ruth said, rising as Mrs. 
 Sullivan, a tall woman of some degree of dignity 
 after a slight bow, waited as if she would know 
 her errand. Unfortunately Ruth had no errand, 
 save that she had come out to do her duty, and 
 make the sort of call that Dr. Dennis expected 
 her to make. Her embarrassment was exces-
 
 234 The Chautauqua Grirh at Home. 
 
 sive ? What could she do or say next ? Why 
 did not Mrs. Sullivan take a chair, instead of 
 standing there and looking at her like an idiot ? 
 
 " Do you get out to church every Sabbath ? " 
 she asked, suddenly, feeling the need of saying 
 something. 
 
 Mrs. Sullivan looked as though she thought 
 she had suddenly come in contact with a lu 
 natic. 
 
 " Do I get out to church ? " she repeated. 
 " That depends on whether I decide to go or 
 not. May I ask why you are interested ? " 
 
 What had become of Ruth's common sense ? 
 Why couldn't she have said, in as natural a way 
 as she would have talked about going to a con 
 cert, that she was interested to know whether 
 she enjoyed such a privilege ? Why couldn't 
 she have been herself in talking about these 
 matters, as well as at any other time ? Does 
 any one know why such a sense of horrible em 
 barrassment creeps over some people when their 
 conversation takes the least tinge of religion 
 people who are wonderfully self-possessed on all 
 other themes ? 
 
 tt Well," said Ruth, in hast and confusion, " I
 
 An Unarmed Soldier. 235 
 
 merely inquired ; I mean no offence, certainly ; 
 will you Lave a tract ? " And she hastily seized 
 one from her package, which happened to be en 
 titled, " Why are you not a Christian ? " 
 
 " Thank you," Mrs. Sullivan said, drawing 
 back, " I am not in special need of reading mat 
 ter ; we keep ourselves supplied with religious 
 literature of a kind that suits our tastes. As to 
 tracts, I always keep a package by me to distri 
 bute when I go among the poor. This one 
 would not be particularly appropriate to me, as 
 I trust I am a Christian." 
 
 Dear me I how stiff and proper they both were 1 
 And in their hearts how indignant they both 
 felt. What about ? Could either of them have 
 told? 
 
 " I wonder what earthly good that call did ? " 
 Ruth asked herself, as with glowing cheeks and 
 rapid steps, she made her way down the street. 
 " What could have been Dr. Dennis' object in 
 sending me there to call ? I thought I was to 
 call on the poor. He didn't say any thing about 
 whether they were poor or not, now I think of 
 it ; but I supposed, of course, that was what he 
 meant. Why need she have been so disa-
 
 236 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 greeable, anyway ? I am sure I didn't insult 
 her." 
 
 And I tell you truly that Miss Erskiue did 
 not know that she had seemed disagreeable hi 
 the extreme to Mrs. Sullivan, and that she was 
 at that moment raging over it in her heart. 
 
 Extremely disgusted with her first attempt, 
 and almost ready to declare that it should be the 
 last, Ruth still decided to make one more ven 
 ture that inborn dislike which she had for 
 giving up what had once been undertaken, com 
 ing to her aid in this matter. 
 
 Another pretty little house, white and green 
 blinds, and plant in bloom ; the name on the 
 door and on her list was " Smith." That told 
 her very little. She was ushered into what was 
 evidently the family sitting-room, and a pretty 
 enough room it was; occupied just now by three 
 merry girls, who hushed their laugh as she en 
 tered, and by a matronly lady, whom one of them 
 called " mother." 
 
 Ruth had never made calls before when she 
 had the least tinge of embarrassment. If she 
 could have divested herself of the idea that she 
 was a district visitor out distributing tracts, she
 
 An Unarmed Soldier. 237 
 
 would not have felt so now ; but as it was, the 
 feeling grew upon her every instant. Pretty 
 little Miss Smith had decidedly the advantage 
 of her, as she said, promptly : 
 
 " Good afternoon, Miss Erskine ; mother, this 
 is Judge Erskine's daughter;" and then pro 
 ceeded to introduce her friends. 
 
 Now, if Ruth could have become unprofes 
 sional, all might have been well ; but she had 
 gone out with a sincere desire to do her duty ; 
 so she took the offered seat near Mrs. Smith, and 
 said: 
 
 " I called this afternoon, at Dr. Dennis' re 
 quest, to see if there was anything that I could 
 do for you." 
 
 Mrs. Smith looked politely amazed. 
 
 " I don't think I quite understand," she said, 
 slowly ; while in the daughter's bright eyes 
 there gleamed mirth and mischief. 
 
 " I do," she said, quickly. " Dr. Dennis is 
 very kind. Miss Erskine, I am very anxious to 
 have a blue silk dress, trimmed in white lace, to 
 wear to the party next week ; could you manage 
 it for me, do you think ? " 
 
 " Caroline 1 " spoke Mrs. Smith, in a surprised
 
 238 The Chautauqua Grirls at Horn*. 
 
 and reproving tone, while Ruth looked her in 
 dignant astonishment. 
 
 " Well, mother, she said she called to see 
 if we wanted anything, and I certainly want 
 that." 
 
 " There is some mistake," Mrs. Smith said, 
 speaking kindly, and evidently pitying Ruth's 
 dreadful embarrassment. " You have mistaken 
 the house, I presume ; our name is such a com 
 mon one. You are out on an errand of charity, 
 I presume ? We are glad to see you, of course, 
 but we are not in need of anything but friends. 
 I believe you attend the same church with our 
 selves ; we ought to know each other, of course. 
 So we shall profit by the mistake after all. My 
 daughter is a wild little girl, and lets her sense 
 of fun get the better of her politeness sometimes ; 
 I hope you will excuse her." 
 
 What was to be said ? Why could not Ruth 
 get rid of her horrible embarrassment and rally 
 to meet this kind and frank greeting ? In vain 
 she tried to command her tongue ; to think of 
 something to say that would be proper under 
 these strange circumstances. How had she mis 
 understood Dr. Dennis! Why should these
 
 An Unarmed Soldier. 239 
 
 people be called on ? Why should they feel 
 that they were being neglected when they were 
 in need of nothing ? 
 
 It was all a mystery to her ; and the world is 
 full of people who do not understand a sense of 
 loneliness, whose lives are so full of friendships, 
 and engagements, and society, that they imagine 
 all other people are like themselves except that 
 class known as the poor, who need old clothes, 
 and cold pieces, and tracts I 
 
 That was all that Ruth Erskine knew. She 
 could not recover from her astonishment and 
 confusion ; she made her stay very short, indeed, 
 apologizing in what she was conscious was an 
 awkward way for her intrusion, and then went 
 directly toward home, resolving in great firmness 
 that she had made her last calls on people se 
 lected from that horrible list. 
 
 She was more than embarrassed ; she was ut 
 terly dismayed and disheartened. Was there, 
 then, nothing for her to do ? It had been a real 
 honest desire to be up and doing which had sent 
 her to Dr. Dennis ; it had been a real cross, and 
 one keenly felt to take up this work about which 
 she had started. What an utter failure I What
 
 240 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 could he have meant? How was she expected 
 to help those people ? They needed nothing ; 
 they were Christian people ; they were pleas 
 antly circumstanced in every way. She had not 
 the least idea how to be of any help to them. 
 There was nothing for her to do. She felt hum 
 bled and sad. 
 
 Yet that young lady was joined in a few min 
 utes by Nellis Mitchell, who cordially volun 
 teered to shield her dainty summer toilet from 
 certain drops of rain that began to fall, and so 
 walked six entire blocks by her side, pleasant 
 and genial as usual, and not a word said she to 
 him about the great topic to which her life was 
 consecraied. He even helped her by himself re 
 ferring to the evening meeting, and saying that 
 he should have to escort Eurie as far as the door 
 if this rain continued, and she did not so much 
 as think to ask him to come farther and enjoy 
 the meeting with them. She did not like Nellis 
 Mitchell, you will remember. 
 
 Also that same evening she spent an houi 
 after prayer-meeting in conversation with her 
 friend, Mr. Wayne, and she said not a single 
 word to him about this matter. She could not
 
 An Unarmed Soldier. 241 
 
 talk with him, she told herself ; he did not un 
 derstand her, and it did no good. Some time, 
 when he was in a less complaisant mood, she 
 could do something for him, but not now. She 
 was not very companionable, however ; her mind 
 was dwelling on her afternoon disappointment. 
 
 " It was the most horrid time I ever had in my 
 life ! " she told Marion, after going over an ac 
 count of the experience. "I shall not be caught 
 in that way again." 
 
 And Marion, unsympathetic girl that she was, 
 laughed much and long. 
 
 " What a creature you are ! " she said, at last. 
 "I declare, it is funny that people can live in the 
 world and know so little about their fellow-mor- 
 tals as you and Flossy do. She knows no more 
 about them than a kitten does, and you know no 
 more than the moon. You sail right above all 
 their feelings and ideas. It served you right, I 
 declare. What earthly right had you to go sail 
 ing down on people in that majestic fashion, and 
 asking questions as if they were Roman Catho 
 lics and you were the priest ? " 
 
 " I don't see what in the world you mean I M 
 Ruth said, feeling exceedingly annoyed.
 
 242 The Chautauqua Girls at Some. 
 
 " Well, my dear young woman, you ought to 
 see ; you can't expect to get through the Chris 
 tian world even without having a due regard for 
 common sense. Just suppose the President's 
 wife should come sweeping into your parlor, ask 
 ing you if you went to church, and if you would 
 have a tract. I am afraid you would be tempted 
 to tell her it was none of her business." 
 
 " The cases are not at all parallel," Ruth said, 
 flushing deeply. *' I consider myself on quite an 
 equal footing with the President's wife or any 
 other lady." 
 
 Whereupon Marion laughed with more aban 
 don than before. 
 
 " Now, Ruth Erskine," she said, " don't be a 
 goose. Do use your common sense ; you have 
 some, I am sure. Wherein are these people 
 whom you went to see on a lower footing than 
 yourself? Granting that they have less money 
 than you do, or even, perhaps, less than I have, 
 are you ready to admit that money is the ques 
 tion that settles positions in society ? "
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 MARION'S PLAN. 
 
 WILBUR I Miss Wilbur! can't we 
 go in Miss Lily's class to-day, our 
 teacher isn't here ? " 
 
 " Miss Wilbur, they are crowding us off the 
 seat ; there isn't room for no more in this 
 class." 
 
 "Miss Wilbur, sister Nellie can't come to 
 day ; she has the toothache. Can I go in Kitty's 
 class?" 
 
 Every one of these little voices spoke at once ; 
 two of the owners thereof twitched at her dress, 
 and another of them nudged her elbow. In the 
 midst of this little babel of confusion the door
 
 244 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 opened softly, and Dr. Dennis came in. Marion 
 turned toward him and laughed a perplexed 
 laugh that might mean something besides amuse 
 ment. 
 
 " What is it ? " he asked, answering the look 
 instead of the laugh. 
 
 "It is everything," she said, quickly. " You 
 mustn't stay a minute, Dr. Dennis ; we are not 
 in company trim to-day at all. Unless you will 
 do the work, we can't have you." 
 
 " I came to hear, not to work," he said, smil 
 ing, and at the same time looking troubled. 
 
 44 You will hear very little that will interest 
 you for the next ten minutes at least ; though I 
 don't know but you would better stay ; it would 
 be a good introduction to the talk that I want to 
 have with you early in the week. I am coming 
 to-morrow after school, if I may." 
 
 Dr. Dennis gave the assent promptly, named 
 the hour that he would be at leisure, and went 
 away wondering what they were accomplishing 
 iri the primary class. 
 
 This was the introduction to Marion's talk in 
 the study with Dr. Dennis. She wasted no time 
 in preliminaries, but had hardly seated herself
 
 Marion's Plan. 245 
 
 before the subject cm her miiid was brought for 
 ward. 
 
 " It is all about that class, Dr. Dennis. I am 
 going to prove a failure." 
 
 " Don't," he said, smiling at her words, but 
 looking his disturbance ; " we have had failures 
 enough in that class to shipwreck it ; it is quite 
 time we had a change for the better. What is 
 the trouble ? " 
 
 " The trouble is, we do nothing. Two-thirds 
 of our time is occupied in getting ready to do ; 
 and even then we can't half accomplish it. Then 
 we don't stay read)', and have to begin the work 
 all over again. Yesterday, for instance, there 
 were three absences among the teachers ; that 
 means confusion, for each of those teachers have 
 seven children who are thus thrown loose on the 
 world. Think how much time we must consume 
 in getting them seated somewhere, and under 
 some one's care ; and then imagine, if you can, 
 the amount of time that they consume in saying, 
 * Our teacher doesn't do so, she does *o.' ' 
 
 " What is the reason that the teachers in that 
 room are so very irregular ? " 
 
 44 Why, they are not irregular ; that is as Sun-
 
 246 The Chautauqua Grirh at Home. 
 
 day-school teachers rate regularity. To be sure, 
 it would never do to be teaching a graded school, 
 for instance, and be as careless as some of them 
 are about regularity. But that is a different 
 matter, of course ; this is only a Sunday-school I 
 But for all that, I think they do as well as the 
 average. You see, Dr. Dennis, there are twenty 
 of them, and if each one of them is present every 
 Sunday in the year save three, that makes a good 
 deal of regularity on their part, and yet averages 
 absences every Sabbath to be looked after. 
 Don't you see ? " 
 
 " I see, he said, smiling ; that is a mathemat 
 ical way of putting it. There is reason in it, too. 
 How in the world do you manage when there 
 are vacancies ? " 
 
 ** Which is always," Marion said, quickly. 
 ** There has not been a Sabbath since I have had 
 charge when all the teachers were present ; and 
 I have taken pains to inquire of the former su 
 perintendent, who reports very much the same. 
 Isn't it so in all schools, Dr. Dennis ? " 
 
 " Of course there must of necessity be some 
 detentions ; but not so many, probably, as there 
 actually are, if we were in the habit of being
 
 Marion's Plan. 247 
 
 very conscientious about these matters ; still, I 
 don't know that we are worse than others. But 
 you haven't told me how you manage ? " 
 
 " I manage every way ; there is no set way to 
 do it. I stand around in much the same state oi 
 perplexity in which you found me yesterday. 
 The children each have their special friends who 
 have been put in other classes, and they are on 
 the qui vive to be with them, which adds not a 
 little to the general confusion. Sometimes we 
 have a regular whirl about of seats, enlarge two 
 or three classes, and crowd some seats most un 
 comfortably, leaving others empty ; sometimes 
 we go out to the Bible-classes for volunteers 
 and, by the way, it is nearly impossible to find 
 any. I wish you would preach a sermon on that 
 subject. It is so easy to say, ' Oh, please excuse 
 me ; ' it requires so little courage to do it ; and 
 is such a comfortable and unanswerable way of 
 disposing of the whole matter. At the same 
 time there is some degree of excuse for the refu 
 sals. Think of the folly of setting a young girl 
 who knows nothing about little children, and 
 has made no preparation to teach them, beside 
 half a dozen little restless mortals, and bidding
 
 248 TJte Chautauqua Girls at Some. 
 
 her interest them in the lesson for ten min 
 utes. She doesn't know ho\v to interest them, 
 and she knows she doesn't, and the fact embar 
 rasses her. Before she has fairly found out what 
 she is expected to do her time is gone ; for it 
 takes a wonderful amount of time to get ready 
 to work." 
 
 ** But these young girls have only to teach cer 
 tain Scripture verses, and a prayer or a hymn, or 
 something of that sort have they not? One 
 would think they might be equal to that with 
 out preparation." 
 
 " Do you think so ? " Marion asked, a gleam 
 of fun in her keen eyes. " I should like to see 
 you try it, provided you have no better mental 
 caliber to assist you than some of the volunteers 
 have. Why, there is a right and wrong way of 
 teaching even a Bible verse. Do you know, sir, 
 that you may repeat over words to children like 
 a list from a spelling lesson, and they will get no 
 more idea from it than if it were a French sen 
 tence, and will be able to commit it about as 
 readily? If I had children, I should rebel at 
 their being taught even Bible verses by novices. 
 Why, it isn't allowed in public schools. The
 
 Marion's Plan. 249 
 
 days have gone by when anybody is supposed to 
 be smart enough to teach children to drawl 
 through the alphabet. We have the best of 
 trained teachers even for that work, why should 
 the Sunday-school not need them even more, 
 infinitely more ? 
 
 "Now that reminds me of a difficulty which 
 is present even when the teachers are all there. 
 They are not the right sort of teachers, many of 
 them ; they do just such work as would not be 
 tolerated on week-days by any board of trustees ; 
 they whisper to each other ; sometimes about 
 the music which they are practicing, sometimes 
 about the party that is to come off to-morrow. 
 These are the exceptions, I know ; but there are 
 such exceptions in our school, and human nature 
 is much the same the world over. I presume 
 they are everywhere ; at any rate, we have to 
 deal just now with our school, and I know they 
 are there. 
 
 " Dr. Dennis, there are at least seven of those 
 twenty teachers in my room who ought to be in 
 good, solid, earnest working Bible classes, get 
 ting faith for help every Sunday ; getting ideaa 
 that shall make them of use in the world, instead
 
 250 Th Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 of frittering their time away on what at best, 
 seems to them but a very mechanical work, 
 teaching some little children to repeat the Twen 
 ty-third Psalm, or to say the Lord's Prayer. 
 The very fact that they do not recognize the 
 dignity of such work unfits them for it ; and the 
 fact that they have no lesson to teach, I mean no 
 lesson which they have to prepare carefully, ex 
 cuses them from any attempt at Bible study." 
 
 " I believe you would make an excellent lec 
 turer, if you were to take the field on a subject 
 that interested you." This was Dr. Dennis' 
 most irrelevant answer to Marion's eager words. 
 She was not to be thrown off her theme. 
 
 " Then I shall try it, perhaps, on this very sub 
 ject, for it certainly interests me wonderfully. 
 Indeed, I am practicing now, with you for my 
 audience." 
 
 " Don't think I am not interested, for I am," 
 he said, returning to gravity and anxiety on the 
 instant. " I see the subject to be full of per 
 plexities ; the class has seemed a bewildering 
 one ; the idea of putting the babies away alone 
 in their own room fitted up for the purpose, and 
 feeding them with milk until they are old
 
 Marion's Plan. 251 
 
 enough to bear strong meat, has been something 
 of a hobby with me. I like it theoretically, but 
 I confess to you that I Lave never been able to 
 enjoy its practical workings in our school." 
 
 " I don't wonder," Marion said, with energy. 
 " It works most distressingly. I am coming to 
 the very pith of my lecture now, which is this : 
 I have been teaching school for more than seven 
 years. I have taught all sorts and sizes of pu 
 pils. I had a fancy that I could manage almost 
 anything in that line, believing that I had been 
 through experiences varied enough to serve me 
 in whatever line I could need, but I have found 
 myself mistaken ; I have found a work now that 
 I can't accomplish. Mind you, I don't say that 
 no one can do it ; I am not quite so egotistic as 
 that. If I do lecture, I have only to say that 
 my teaching in that room is a failure, I can't do 
 it, and I mean to give it up." 
 
 " Don't," Dr. Dennis said, nervously. u You 
 will be the third one in a year's time." 
 
 " I don't wonder. I wonder that they are 
 dive." 
 
 " But, Miss Wilbur, you are a dark and gloomy 
 lecturer. When you demolish air castles, have
 
 252 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 you nothing to build up in their places ? Would 
 you send the babies back into the main room 
 again, to be worn out with quiet and lack of mo 
 tion ? " 
 
 " Not a bit of it. I like the baby-room plan 
 as well as any mortal ; and I have a remed}' 
 which it seems to me would arrange the whole 
 thing. Of course it seems so to me ; we always 
 like our own ways. The truth is, Dr. Dennis, I 
 like nurseries, and think they ought to be main 
 tained ; but I don't like the idea of too many 
 mothers there." 
 
 " Just what, in plain English, would you do, 
 my friend, if you were commander-in-chief of 
 the whole matter, and all we had to do was to 
 obey you ? " 
 
 u It isn't at all modest to tell," Marion said, 
 laughing, " but it is true. I would banish every 
 one of those twenty teachers, and reign alone in 
 my glory. No I wouldn't either. I would pick 
 out the very best one among them, and train her 
 for an assistant." 
 
 " And manage the whole number } r ourself ! " 
 
 44 Why not ? There are only a hundred of 
 them, and I have managed that number for six
 
 Marion's Plan. 253 
 
 hours a day, five days in a week, without diffi 
 culty." 
 
 " Well, now, let me see just what you think 
 you gain." 
 
 " It would take too long to tell. In my own 
 opinion, I gain almost everything. But, in the 
 first place, let me suppose a case. We have one 
 good teacher, we will say, in that class, who 
 knows just what she is about, and comes pre 
 pared to be about it. She has, say, two assis 
 tants, each carefully trained to a certain work ; 
 each understanding that in the event of the de 
 tention of the leader one of them will be called 
 on to teach the class, each pledging herself to 
 notify the other of necessary absences. Don't 
 you see that it will rarely, if ever, happen that 
 one of the three cannot be at her post ? The 
 very sense of importance and responsibility at 
 tached to their office will lessen the chance of 
 absence, while one teacher in twenty is almost 
 sure to be away. Then we have those young 
 girls in their places in the Bible class learning to 
 be teachers indeed." 
 
 " But, Miss Wilbur, would not such a work be 
 very hard for the leader ? "
 
 254 The Chaatauqua Girls at Home* 
 
 " Why harder than the present system in our 
 school? I think, mind you, that it wouldn't be 
 nearly so hard. But, for the sake of the argu 
 ment, I will say, Why any harder ? Why can 
 not her one assistant relieve her in just the same 
 way that the other twenty are supposed to do 
 now ? Is there any known reason why a hun 
 dred children cannot repeat the Lord's Prayer 
 together as well as have a lesson taught them 
 together ? Children like it, I assure you ; there 
 is an enthusiasm in numbers ; they would much 
 rather speak aloud and in beautiful unison, as 
 they can be trained to do, than to speak so low 
 that the recitation loses half its beauty, because 
 they must not disturb others. 
 
 " Then, I don't know how it is with other 
 teachers, but, theoretically, you may plan out 
 the work of these young teachers as much as you 
 please, and, practically, they will do very much 
 as they please ; and it is a great deal harder for 
 me to sit listening to a sort of teaching that I 
 don't like, and know that I am obliged to be 
 still and endure it, than it is to do it myself. 
 
 " The idea that one hour of work on the Sab 
 bath is so fearfully wearing, is in my humble
 
 Marions Plan. 265 
 
 opinion all nonsense ; those who think so. have 
 never been teachers of graded schools six hours 
 a day, five days in the week, I don't believe. 
 However, that is my opinion, you know. I may 
 be quite mistaken as to theory ; but I know as 
 much as this, I am sure I could do the teaching 
 alone, and I am sure that I can't do it with 
 twenty helpers, so I just want to give it up." 
 
 " Don't give up the subject yet, please ; I am 
 interested. There is an argument on the other 
 side that is very strong, I think. You haven't 
 touched upon it. I have heard a good deal said, 
 and thought it a point well taken, about the per 
 sonal influence of each teacher. A sense of 
 ownership that teachers of large classes cau 
 hardly call out because of their inability to visit 
 their scholars, and to be intimate with theii 
 little plans, and with their home life." 
 
 Marion did a very rude thing at this point 
 she sat back in her rocking-chair and laughed. 
 Then site said : 
 
 "We are dealing, you remember, with our 
 school. Now, you know the young ladies in 
 that class. What proportion of them, should 
 you imagine, without knowing anything about
 
 256 The CJiautauqua G-irls at Home. 
 
 the facts, do really visit their pupils during the 
 week and keep themselves posted as to the fam 
 ily life of any of them ? " 
 
 A faint attempt at a smile hovered over Dr. 
 Dennis' face as he said : 
 
 " Not many I am afraid. Indeed, to be very 
 truthful, I don't believe there are five." 
 
 " I know there are not," Marion said, decid 
 edly. "And my supposition is that our school 
 will average as well as others. There are excep 
 tions, of course, but we are talking about the av 
 erage. Now, that item sounds real well in a 
 lecture, or on paper, but when you come to the 
 practical part they simply don't do it. Some of 
 them know no more how to do it than kittens 
 would, or than Ruth Erskine knows how to call 
 on the second stratum of society in her own 
 church." 
 
 Whereupon both pastor and visitor laughed. 
 Dr. Dennis had heard of Ruth's attempt in that 
 line. 
 
 "We have to deal with very common-place 
 human beings, instead of with angels. I think 
 that is the trouble," Marion said, returning to 
 the charge. " We can make nice rules, and they
 
 Marion's Plan. 257 
 
 look well and sound beautifully ; then if we can 
 carry them out they are delightful, no doubt. 
 But if we can't, why, what are we going to do 
 about it ? If the ladies in question were salaried 
 teachers in the day-school, a board of trustees 
 could come together and dismiss them if they 
 did not obey the laws. Who thinks of such a 
 thing in the Sunday-school ? It is like calling 
 all these teachers together for a teachers' meet 
 ing. You can call them to your heart's content ; 
 I know you can, for I have tried it ; and if there 
 is not a concert, or a tea-party, or a lecture, or a 
 toothache on the evening in question same cf 
 them will come, and the others won't"
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THEORY VERSUS PRACTICE. 
 
 [R. DENNIS sat regarding his caller with 
 a thoughtful air, while she sat back in 
 the rocker and fanned herself, trying to cool off 
 her eagerness somewhat, and feeling that she 
 was exhibiting herself as a very eager person in 
 deed, and this calm man probably thought her 
 impetuous. She resolved that the next remark 
 he called forth should be made very quietly, and 
 in as indifferent a manner as possible. 
 
 " Why should not the primary room be classi 
 fied as well as the main department ? " he asked, 
 at last. 
 
 (258)
 
 Theory Versus Practice. 259 
 
 To Marion there was so much that was ab 
 surd involved in the question that it put her in 
 difference to flight at once. 
 
 " Why should there be a separate room at all 
 if they are to be so classified ? Why not keep 
 them in the regular department, under the su 
 perintendent's eye, and where they can have the 
 benefit of the pastor's remarks? " 
 
 " Because while they are so young they need 
 more freedom than can be given them in the 
 main room. They need to be allowed to talk 
 aloud, and to sing frequently, and to repeat in 
 concert." 
 
 " Precisely ; and they do not need to be set 
 down in corners, to be whispered at for a fe\v 
 minutes. Besides, Dr. Dennis, don't you think 
 that if in the school proper, the scholars were all 
 of nearly the same age and the same mental abil 
 ities I mean if they averaged in that way it 
 would be wiser to have very large classes and 
 very few teachers?" 
 
 " There are reasons in favor of that, and rea 
 sons against it," he said, thoughtfully. " I am 
 inclined, however, to think that the arguments 
 in favor overbalance the objections ; still, the se-
 
 260 TJie CTiautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 rious objection is, that a faithful teacher wants 
 little personal talks with her pupils, and will 
 contrive to be personal in a way that she cannot 
 do so well in a large class." 
 
 " That is true," Marion said, as one yields a 
 point that is new to her, and that strikes her as 
 being sensible. " But the same objection cannot 
 be made in the primary classes, because little 
 children are innocent and full of faith and frank 
 ness. There is no need of special privacy when 
 you talk with them on religious topics ; they 
 would just as soon have all the world know that 
 they want to love and serve Jesus as not ; they 
 are not a bit ashamed of it ; it is not until they 
 grow older, and the influences of silent tongues 
 on that subject all around them have had their 
 effect, that they need to be approached with 
 such caution." 
 
 " How is it that you are so much at home in 
 these matters, Miss Wilbur? For one who has 
 been a Christian but a few weeks you amaze 
 me." 
 
 Marion laughed and flushed, and felt the first 
 tinge of embarrassment that had troubled her 
 since the talk began.
 
 Theory Versus Practice. 261 
 
 "Why,** she said, hesitatingly, "I suppose, 
 perhaps, I have common sense, and see no rea 
 son why it should be smothered when one is talk 
 ing about such matters. People's brains are not 
 made over when they are converted. The same 
 class of rules apply to them, I suppose, that ap 
 plied before." 
 
 " I shouldn't wonder if a majority of people 
 thought that common sense had nothing to do 
 with religion," he said, laughing ; and that is 
 what makes us silly and sentimental when we 
 try to talk about it. In our effort to be solemn, 
 and suit our words to the theme, we are unnatu 
 ral. But your statement with regard to the 
 little children is true ; I have often observed it.'* 
 
 " That other point, about visiting, was the one 
 that troubled me," Marion said. " It doesn't an 
 nihilate it to say that teachers don't visit ; they 
 don't, to be sure, with here and there a delight 
 ful exception. My experience on this matter, 
 as well as on several other matters connected 
 with the subject, reaches beyond these fen 
 weeks of personal experience. I have had my 
 eyes very wide open ; I was alive to inconsisten 
 cies wherever I found them ; the world and the
 
 262 The Chauiauqua G-irls at Some. 
 
 church, and especially the Sunday-school, seemed 
 to me to be full of professions without any prac 
 tice. I rather enjoyed finding such flaws. Why 
 I thought the thin spots in other people's gar 
 ments would keep me any warmer, I am sure I 
 don't know j but I was fond of bringing them 
 to the surface. 
 
 " Still, because a duty isn't done is no sign that 
 it cannot be. Of course a teacher with six pupils 
 could visit them frequently, while one with a 
 a hundred could do it but rarely ; and yet, sys 
 tematic effort would accomplish a great deal in 
 that direction, it seems to me. 1 don't know 
 why we should have more than fifty people in 
 our churches; certainly the pastor could visit 
 them much more frequently, and keep a better 
 oversight, than when he had eight hundred, as 
 you have ; yet we don't think it the best way 
 after all. We recognize the enthusiasm of num 
 bers and the necessity for economizing good 
 workers so long as the field for work is so large. 
 
 "But I know a way in which a strong per 
 sonal influence could be kept over even a hun 
 dred children ; by keeping watch for the sick 
 and sorrowirg in their homes, and establishing
 
 Theory Versus Practise. 263 
 
 an intimacy there, and by making a gathering of 
 some sort, say twice a year, or oftener, if a per 
 son could, and giving the day to them ; and, 
 well, in a hundred different ways that I will not 
 take your time to speak of ; only we teachers of 
 day-schools know that we can make our influ 
 ence far reaching, even when our numbers are 
 large ; and we know that there is such an influ 
 ence in numbers and in disciplined action, that, 
 other things being equal, we can teach mathe 
 matics to a class of fifty better than we can to a 
 class of five ; and if mathematics, why not the 
 Lord's Prayer ? 
 
 " Now I have relieved my mind on this sub 
 ject," she added, laughing, as she arose, " and I 
 feel a good deal better. Mind, I haven't said at 
 all that the present system cannot be carried out 
 successfully ; I only say that I can't do it. I 
 have tried it and failed ; it is not according to 
 my way of working." 
 
 " But the remedy, my dear friend ; in our 
 class, for instance. Suppose we wanted to reor 
 ganize, what would we do with the teachers in 
 rule at present ? " 
 
 Marion dropped back again into her chair with
 
 264 The Chautauqua Girls at Some. 
 
 a dismayed little laugh and an expressive shrug 
 of her shapely shoulders. 
 
 "Now you have touched a vital difficulty," 
 she said. " I don't pretend to be able to help 
 people out of a scrape like that. Having gotten 
 themselves in, they must get out the best way 
 they can, if there is any way." 
 
 " I am surprised that you do not suggest that 
 they be unceremoniously informed that their ser 
 vices are not needed, and advise them to join a 
 Bible class," Dr. Dennis said, dryly. " That is 
 the practical and helpful way that the subject is 
 often disposed of in our conventions. I often 
 wonder if those who so suggest would like to be 
 the pastor of the church where such advice was 
 adopted, and undertake to heal all the sores that 
 would be the result." 
 
 " So long as human nature is made of the 
 queer stuff that it is, I offer no such remedy," 
 Marion said, decidedly. " It is very odd that 
 the people who do the least work in this world 
 are the most sensitive as to position, etc. No, I 
 see the trouble in the way. It could be partly 
 disposed of in time, by sending all these sub 
 classes out into the other school, and organizing
 
 Theory Versus Practice. 265 
 
 a new primary class out of the babies who have 
 not yet come in." 
 
 "But there would be an injustice there. It 
 would send out many babies who ought to have 
 the privileges of the primary-room for some time 
 yet." 
 
 " And there is another difficulty ; it would 
 send out those young girls as teachers of the 
 children, and they are not fit to teach ; they 
 should be studying." 
 
 " After all," he said, going back to his own 
 thoughts, instead of answering her last remark, 
 " wouldn't the style of teaching that you suggest 
 for this one woman and her assistant involve an 
 unusual degree of talent, and consecration, and 
 abnegation ? " 
 
 " Yes," Marion said, quickly and earnestly, " I 
 think it would ; and I believe that there is no 
 teaching done in our Sabbath-school that is 
 worthy of the name that does not involve all of 
 these requirements; especially is it the casein 
 teaching little children divine truths ; one might 
 teacli them the alphabet without positive mental 
 injury if they were not fully in sympathy, 3 r et I 
 doubt that; but one cannot teach the Sermon on
 
 266 The Chautauqua G-irls at Home. 
 
 the Mount in a way to reach the child-heart un 
 less one is thoroughly and solemnly in earnest, 
 and loves the souls of the little children so much 
 that she can give up her very self for them. 
 
 " This is my theory ; I want to work toward 
 it. That is one of the strong reasons why I 
 think two or three teachers are better for a pri 
 mary class than twenty ; because a church can 
 generally furnish that number of really conse 
 crated workers that she can spare for the pri 
 mary class, while to find twenty who can be 
 spared for that room one would need to go to 
 paradise I am afraid. Now I know, Dr. Dennis, 
 that such talk sounds as if I were insufferably 
 conceited ; but I don't believe I am ; I simply 
 know what I am willing to try to do ; and, to a 
 certain extent, I know what I can do. Why 
 should I not ? I have tried it a long time." 
 
 " If you are conceited," Dr. Dennis said, smil 
 ing, " it is a real refreshing form for it to appear 
 in. I am almost a convert to your theory ; at 
 least so far as I need converting. If I should 
 tell you that something like } r our idea has always 
 been mine, you would not consider mo a hypo 
 crite, would you?"
 
 Theory Versus Practice. 267 
 
 'tf 
 
 " If you think so, why have we the present 
 system in our school? " 
 
 " My dear friend, I did not manufacture the 
 school; it is as I found it ; and there are those 
 young ladies, who, however unfaithful they are 
 and a few of them are just that do not 
 reach the only point where they could give posi 
 tive help, that of resigning, and giving us a 
 chance to do better. Besides, they are, as you 
 say, sensitive ; they do not like to be called to 
 account for occasional absences ; in fact, they do 
 not like being controlled in any way." 
 
 "That is one of the marked difficulties," Mar 
 ion said, eagerly. " Now 1 have heard people 
 tallc, who led you to infer that it was the easiest 
 tiling in life to mold these young teachers into 
 the required shape and form ; that you had only 
 to sweetly suggest and advise and direct, and 
 they sweetly succumbed. Now, don't their 
 mothers know that young ladies naturally do no 
 such thing ? It is very difficult for them to 
 yield their opinions to one whose authority they 
 do not recognize ; and they are not fond of ad 
 mitting authority even where family life sanc 
 tions it. Oh, the whole subject is just teeming
 
 268 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 with difficulties ; put it in any form 3-011 will, it 
 seems to me to be a mistake. 
 
 "Where you give these young ladies the les 
 son to teach, the diverse minds that are brought 
 to bear on it make it almost impossible for the 
 leader to give an intelligent summing up. How 
 is she to discover what special point has been 
 taken up by each teacher? As a bit of private 
 experience, I think she will be a fortunate woman 
 if she finds that any point at all has been reached 
 in many of the classes. 
 
 " There is only now and then a teacher who 
 believes that little children are capable of un 
 derstanding the application of a story. 1 can't 
 understand why, if that is the best method of 
 managing a primary class, people take the trou 
 ble to have a separate room and another superin 
 tendent. Why don't they stay in the main de 
 partment? I always thought that one of the 
 special values of a separate room was that the 
 lesson may be given in a distinct and natural 
 tone of voice, and with illustrations and accom 
 paniments that cannot bo used, where many 
 classes are together, without disturbing some of 
 them.
 
 Tfieory Versus Practice. 269 
 
 " If, on the other hand, the sub-teachers are 
 not expected to give the lesson, but only to 
 teach certain opening recitations, then you have 
 the spectacle of employing a dozen or twenty 
 persons to do the work of one. Then there's 
 another thing ; our room is not suited to the 
 plan of subdivision, and there is only occasion 
 ally a room that has been built to order, which 
 is" 
 
 " On the whole, you do not at all believe in 
 the plan of subdivision," Dr. Dennis said, laugh 
 ing. 
 
 And then callers came, and Marion took he-r 
 leave. 
 
 "lam not quite sure whether I like him 01 
 dislike him, or whether I am afraid of him just a 
 trifle." This she said to the girls as they went 
 home from prayer-meeting. " He has a queer 
 way of branching off from the subject entirely, 
 just when you suppose that you have interested 
 him. Sometimes he interrupts with a sentence 
 that sounds wonderfully as if he might be quiz 
 zing you. He is a trifle queer anyway. I don't 
 believe I love him with all the zeal that a person 
 should bestow on a pastor. I am loyal on that
 
 270 The Chautauqua Q-irls at Home. 
 
 subject theoretically, but practically I stand in 
 awe." 
 
 " I don't see how you can think him sarcastic," 
 Flossy said. "There is not the least tinge of 
 that element in his nature, I think ; at least I 
 have never seen it. I don't feel afraid of him, 
 either ; once I thought I should ; but he is so 
 gentle and pleasant, and meets one half way, 
 and understands what one wants to tell bet 
 ter than they understand themselves. Oh, I 
 like him ever so much. He is not sarcastic to 
 me." 
 
 Marion looked down upon the fair little girl 
 at her side with a smile that had a sort of 
 almost motherly tenderness in it, as she said, 
 gently : 
 
 " One would be a very bear to think of quiz 
 zing a humming-bird, you know. It would be 
 very silly in him to be sarcastic to you." 
 
 Eurie interrupted the talk: 
 
 " What is the matter with the prayer-meet 
 ings?" she asked. "Do any of you know ? I 
 do wish we could do something to make them 
 less forlorn. I am almost homesick every time 
 I go. If there were more people there the room
 
 Theory Versus Practice. 271 
 
 wouldn't look so desolate. Why on earth don'l 
 the people come ? " 
 
 " Constitutionally opposed to prayer-meet 
 ings; or it is too warm, or too damp, or too 
 something, for most of them to go out," Marion 
 said. 
 
 And Ruth added : 
 
 " It is not wonderful that you find sarcastic 
 people in the world, Marion. The habit grows 
 on you." 
 
 " Does it," Marion asked, speaking with sad 
 ness. " I am sorry to hear that. I really thought 
 I was improving." 
 
 " The question is, can we do anything to im 
 prove matters ? " Eurie said. " Can't we man 
 age to smuggle some more people into that chapel 
 on Wednesday evenings?" 
 
 " Invite them to go, do you mean ? " Flossy 
 said, and her eyes brightened. " I never thought 
 of that. We might get our friends to go. Who 
 knows what good might be done in that way ? 
 What if we try it ? " 
 
 Ruth looked gloomy. This way of working 
 was wonderfully distasteful to her. She spec 
 ially disliked what she called thrusting unpopu-
 
 172 The Chautauqua G-irls at Home. 
 
 lar subjects on people's attention. But she re 
 flected that she had never yet found a way to 
 work which she did like ; so she was silent. 
 
 Flossy, according to her usual custom, persist 
 ently followed up the new idea. 
 
 "Let us try it," she said. "Suppose we 
 pledge ourselves each to bring another to the 
 meeting next week." 
 
 " If we can," Marion said, significantly. 
 
 " Well, of course, some of us can," Eurie an 
 swered. "You ought to be able to, anyway. 
 There you are in a school-room, surrounded by 
 hundreds of people who ought to go ; and in a 
 boarding-house, coming in contact with dozens 
 of another stamp, who are in equal need. I 
 should think you had opportunities enough." 
 
 "I know it," Marion said, promptly. "If I 
 were only situated as you are, with nobody but 
 a father and mother, and a brother and a couple 
 of sisters to ask people who are of no special 
 consequence to you, and about whom it will 
 make no personal difference to you whether 
 they go, to church or not it would be some ex 
 cuse for not bringing anybody ; but a boarding- 
 house full of men and women, and a room full of
 
 Theory Versus Practice. 273 
 
 scbool girls ! consider your privileges, Mariok 
 Wilbur." 
 
 Eurie laughed. 
 
 " Oh, I can get Nell to go," she said. " He 
 nearly always does what I want him to. But I 
 was thinking how many you have to work 
 among." 
 
 " Six people are as good to work among as 
 sixty, until you get them all," Marion answered, 
 quickly. 
 
 As for Ruth, it was only the darkness that hid 
 her curling lip. She someway could not help 
 disliking people who, like Nellis Mitchell, always 
 did what they were asked to do, just to oblige. 
 Also, she dreaded this new plan. She had no 
 one to ask, no one to influence. So she said to 
 herself, gloomily, although (knowing that it 
 was untrue ) she did not venture to say it aloud. 
 She gave consent, of course, to the proposition 
 to try by personal effort to increase the number 
 at prayer-meeting. It would be absurd to object 
 to it. She did not care to own that she shrunk 
 from personal effort of this sort ; it was a grief 
 to her very soul that she did so shrink. 
 
 " Remember, we stand pledged to try for one
 
 274 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 new face at the pra}^er-meeting," Eurie said, ua 
 she bade them good night. " Pledged to try, you 
 understand, Marion, we can at least do that, 
 even if we don't succeed." 
 
 "In the meantime, remember that we have 
 our Bible evening to-morrow," Marion returned. 
 " You are to come bristling with texts from youi 
 standpoint ; it will not do to forget that."
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE DISCUSSION. 
 
 :ARION went about her dingy room 
 brushing off a bit of dust here, setting a 
 chair straight there, trying in what ways she 
 might to brighten its homeliness. She was a 
 trifle sore sometimes over the contrast between 
 that room and the homes of her three friends. 
 Sometimes she thought it a wonder that they 
 could endure to leave the brightness and cheer 
 that surrounded their home lives and seek her 
 out. 
 
 There were times when she was very much 
 tempted to spend a large portion of her not too 
 large salary in bestowing little home-looking 
 things on this corner of the second-rate hoard- 
 
 (275)
 
 276 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 ing-bouse ; a rocking-chair ; a cozy-looking, 
 bright-covered old-fashioned lounge ; a tiny cen 
 tre-table, instead of the square, boxy-looking 
 thing that she had ; not very extravagant her 
 notions were, just a suggestion of comfort and a 
 touch of brightness for her beauty-loving eyes to 
 dwell on; but these homethings,and these bright 
 things, cost money, more money than she felt at 
 liberty to spend. 
 
 When her necessary expenses of books and 
 dress, and a dozen apparently trifling incidentals 
 were met, there was little enough left to send 
 to that far-away, struggling uncle and aunt, 
 \vho needed her help sadly enough, and who 
 had shared their little with her in earlier 
 days. 
 
 There was no special love about this offering 
 Df hers ; it was just a matter of hard duty ; they 
 Uad taken care of her in her orphanhood, a grave, 
 preoccupied sort of care, bestowing little time 
 and no love on her that she could discover ; at 
 the same time they had never either of them 
 been unkind, and they had fed and clothed her, 
 and never said in her presence that they grudged 
 it; they had never asked her for any return,
 
 The Discussion. 277 
 
 never seemed to expect any ; and they were reg 
 ularly surprised every half year when the remit 
 tance came. 
 
 But so far as that was concerned Marion did 
 not know it ; they were a very undemonstrative 
 people. Uncle Reuben had told her once that 
 she need not do it, that they had not expected 
 it of her ; and Aunt Hannah had added, " No 
 more they didn't." But Marion had hushed 
 them both by a decided sentence, to the effect 
 that it was nothing more than ordinary justice 
 and decency. And she did not know even now 
 that the gratitude they might have expressed 
 was hushed back by her cold, business-like 
 words. 
 
 Still, the remittances always went; it had re 
 quired some special scrimping to make the check 
 the same as usual, and yet bring in Chautauqua ; 
 it had been delayed beyond its usual time by 
 these new departures, and it was on this particu 
 lar evening that she was getting it ready for the 
 mail. For seven years, twice a year, she had 
 regularly written her note : 
 
 AUNT HANNAH : I inclose in this letter a
 
 278 The Chautauqua Grirls zt Home, 
 
 check for . I hope you are as well aa 
 
 usual. In haste, 
 
 M. J. WlLBUB. 
 
 This, or a kindred sentence as brief and as 
 much to the point. To-night her fingers had 
 played with the pen instead of writing, and at 
 last, with a curious smile hovering around her 
 lip, she wrote the unaccustomed words, " Dear 
 Aunt." It would have taken very little to have 
 made the smile into a quiver ; it seemed just 
 then so strange that she should have no one to 
 write that word " dear " to ; that she should use 
 it so rarely that it actually looked like a stranger 
 to her. Then the writing went on thus : 
 
 " I hope I have not caused you discomfort by 
 being somewhat later than usual with your 
 check. Matters shaped themselves in such a 
 way that I could not send it before. I hope it 
 will be of a little help and comfort to you. I 
 wish it were larger. Give my re love to Un 
 cle Reuben." 
 
 The "re" was the beginning of the word 
 " regards," but she thought better of it and 
 wrote " love." He was her father's brother, and
 
 The Discussion. 279 
 
 the only relative she had. Then the pen paused 
 again, and the writer gnawed at the painted 
 holder, and niused, and looked sober first, then 
 bright-faced, and finally she dashed down this 
 line : 
 
 "Dear Aunt Hannah, I have found my fa 
 ther's Friend, even the Lord Jesus Christ. He 
 is indeed mighty to save, as father used to say 
 that he was. I have proved it, for he has saved 
 me. I wish you and Uncle Reuben knew him. 
 " Yours truly, MABIOX." 
 
 I suppose Marion would have been very much 
 surprised had she known what I know, that Aunt 
 Hannah and Uncle Reuben shed tears over that 
 letter, and put it in the family Bible. And, 
 someway, they felt more thankful for the check 
 than they had ever done before. 
 
 Marion did not know this, but she knew that 
 her own heart felt lighter than usual as she hur 
 ried about her room. The girls came before she 
 was fairly through with her preparations a 
 bright trio, with enough of beauty and grace and 
 elegance about them to fairly make her room 
 glow.
 
 280 The Chautauqua Crirh at "Some. 
 
 " Here we are," said Etirie. " We have run 
 the gauntlet of five calls and a concert, and I 
 don't know how many other things in prospec 
 tive, for the sake of getting to you." 
 
 " Did you come alone ? " 
 
 " No ; rny blessed Nell came with us to the 
 door, and most dreadfully did he want to come 
 in. I should have let him in, only I knew by 
 Ruth's face she thought it awful ; but lie would 
 luive enjoyed the evening. Nell does enjoy new 
 things." 
 
 " There is no special sensation about Bible 
 verses. I presume they would have pulled on 
 him before the evening was over." This was 
 said in Ruth's coldest tones. 
 
 u You are mistaken in that, my lady Ruth. I 
 have found several verses in my search that have 
 given me a real sensation. Besides which, I 
 have proved my side beyond the shadow of a 
 reasonable doubt, and I am very anxious to 
 begin." 
 
 Marion laughed. 
 
 " 1 dare say we have each proved our sides to 
 our entire satisfaction," she said. " The ques 
 tion is, which side will bear the test of our com*
 
 The Discussion. 281 
 
 Lined intellects being brought to bear on it? 
 Did you bring your Bibles, girls ? Oh, yes, you 
 are armed. Flossy, your Bible is splendid ; 
 when the millennium dawns I am going to have 
 just such a one. By the way, won't that be a 
 blissful time? Don't you want to live to see it? 
 Eurie, inasmuch as you are so anxious to begin, 
 you may do so. Let us ' carry on our investiga 
 tions in a scientific way,' as Prof. Easton says. 
 Give us your * unanswerable argument,' and I 
 will answer it with my unanswerable one on the 
 other side ; then if Ruth can prove to us that we 
 are both mistaken, and each can follow her own 
 judgment in the matter, we will be quenched, 
 you see, unless Flossy can give a balancing 
 vote." 
 
 "Well, in the first place," Eurie said, "1 
 found to my infinite astonishment, and, of course, 
 to my delight, that the Bible actually stated 
 that there was a time to dance. Now, if there 
 is a time for it, of course it is the proper thing 
 to do ; that just settles the whole question. 
 How absurd it would be to put in the Bible a 
 statement that there was a time to dance, and 
 then to tell us that it was wrong to dance I "
 
 282 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 " Eurie, are you in earnest or in sport ? n 
 Marion asked, at last, looking at her with a puz 
 zled air, and not sure whether to laugh or be dis 
 gusted. 
 
 " A little of both," Eurie said, breaking into a 
 laugh. " But now, to be serious, there really is 
 such averse; did you know it? I am sure I 
 didn't. I was very much astonished ; and I 
 think it does prove something. It indicates that 
 dancing is a legitimate amusement, and one that 
 was indulged in during those times." 
 
 " Do you advocate its use under the same 
 circumstances in which it was used in those 
 times ? " 
 
 " I'm sure I don't know. Was there anything 
 peculiar in its use ? " 
 
 " Didn't you follow out the references as to 
 dancing?" 
 
 " No, indeed, I didn't. I wish I had. Does 
 it give an account of it ? That would have been 
 better yet." 
 
 " It would have enlightened you somewhat," 
 Marion said, laughing. " If you had been on 
 the other side now, you would have been sure to 
 have followed out the connection as I did ; then
 
 The Discussion. 283 
 
 you would have found that to be true to joui 
 Bible you must dance in prayer-meeting, or in 
 church on the Sabbath, or at some time when 
 you desired to express religious joy." 
 
 " Pooh! " said Eurie. Now is that so ? " 
 
 " Of course it's so. Just amuse yourself by 
 looking up the references to the word in the 
 concordance, and I will read them for our en 
 lightenment." 
 
 " Well," said Eurie, after several readings, " I 
 admit that I am rather glad that form of worship 
 is done away with. I am fond of dancing, but I 
 don't care to indulge when I go to prayer-meet 
 ing. But, after all, that doesn't prove that dan 
 cing is wrong." 
 
 " Nor right ? " Ruth said, questioningly. 
 " Doesn't it simply prove nothing at all ? That 
 is just as I said ; we have to decide these ques 
 tions for ourselves." 
 
 " But, Eurie, did you content yourself with 
 just one text ? I thought you were to have an 
 army of them." 
 
 " What is the use in that ? " Ruth asked. 
 " One text is as good as a dozen if it proves one's 
 position."
 
 284 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 " A multitude of witnesses," Marion said, sig' 
 nificautly ; and added, " girls, Ruth has but one 
 text in support of her position ; see if she has." 
 
 " Well, I have another," said Eurie. " Thf 
 wisest man who ever lived said, ' A merry heart 
 doeth good like a medicine.' Now I am sure 
 that advocates bright, cheerful, merry times, just 
 such as one has in dancing ; and there are dozens 
 of such verses, indicating that it is a duty we 
 owe to society to have happy and merry times 
 together; and a simpler way of doing it than any 
 1 know is to dance. We are not gossiping, nor 
 saying censorious things, when we are dancing; 
 and we are having a very pleasant time for our 
 friends." 
 
 " ' Is any merry, let him sing psalms,' " quoted 
 Marion. " Would you like to indulge in that 
 entertainment at the same time you were dan 
 cing ; or do you think the same state of mind 
 could be expressed as well by either dancing, or 
 psalm-singing, as one chose ? " 
 
 " Eurie Mitchell, you are just being nonsensi 
 cal 1" Ruth said, speaking in a half-annoyed 
 tone. " You are not absurd enough to suppose 
 that either of those verses are arguments lit fa-
 
 The Discussion. 285 
 
 vor of dancing, or against dancing, or indeed 
 have anything to do with the subject? What is 
 the use in trying to make people think you are a 
 simpleton, when you aren't." 
 
 Dreadful 1 " said Eurie. " Is that what I'm 
 doing? Now, I thought I was proving the sub 
 tle nature of my argumentive powers. See 
 here, I will be as sober as a judge. No, I don't 
 think those verses have to do with it ; at least 
 the latter hasn't. I admit that I thought the 
 fact that a time to dance was mentioned in the 
 Bible was an item in its favor as fur as it went ; 
 but it seems I should rather have said as far as I 
 went, for it went farther, as Marion has made 
 me prove with that dreadful concordance of hers. 
 We don't own such a terrible book as that, and 
 I have to go skimming over the whole Bible in 
 a distracting manner. I just happened on the 
 verse that says " there is a time to dance," and I 
 didn't know but there might be a special provi 
 dence in it. But now, frankly, I am on the side 
 thai Ruth has taken. It seems to be a question 
 that is left to individual judgment. There is no 
 4 thus saith the Lord ' about it, any more than 
 there is about having company, and going out to
 
 286 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 tea, and a dozen other things. We are to do in 
 these matters what we think is right ; and that, 
 in my opinion, is all there is about it." 
 
 "Then you retire from the lists?" Marion 
 asked. 
 
 " Not a bit of it. I am just as emphatically of 
 the opinion that there is no harm in dancing as 
 I ever was. What I say is, that the Bible is si 
 lent on that subject, leaving each to judge for 
 herself." 
 
 " * As he thinketh in his heart, so is he,' " 
 quoted Ruth. " That is my verse, one of them ; 
 and I think it is unanswerable. If you, Marion, 
 think it is wicked to dance, then you would be 
 doing a wrong thing to dance ; but, Eurie, be 
 lieving it to be right and proper, has a right 
 to dance. Each person as he thinks in his 
 heart." 
 
 " Then, if I think in my heart that it is right 
 to go skating on Sunday, it will be quite right 
 for me to go ? Is that the reasoning, Ruth ? " 
 
 " No, of course ; because in that instance you 
 have the direct command, ' Remember the Sab 
 bath day, to keep it holy.' " 
 
 " But who is going to prove to me in what way
 
 The Discussion. 287 
 
 I should keep it holy? I may skate with very 
 good thoughts in my heart, and feel that I am 
 keeping the spirit of the command ; and, if I 
 think so in my heart, why, isn't it so ? " 
 
 44 You know it isn't a parallel case," Ruth said, 
 slightly nettled. 
 
 44 Flossy, would you speak for a dollar ? '' 
 Eurie asked, suddenly turning to her. She had 
 been utterly grave and silent during all this war 
 of words, but, to judge from her face, by no 
 means uninterested. She shook her head now, 
 with a quiet smile. 
 
 44 1 know what I think," she said, " but I don't 
 want to speak yet ; only I want to know, Ruth, 
 about that verse ; " I found that, and thought 
 about it. I couldn't see that it means what you 
 think it does. I used to think in my very heart 
 that joining the church, and trj'ing to do about 
 right, was all there was of religion ; but I have 
 found that I was wonderfully mistaken. Can't 
 persons be honest, and yet be very much in the 
 dark because they have not informed them 
 selves?" 
 
 44 Why, dear me I " said Marion, " only see, 
 Ruth, where your doctrine would lead you I
 
 288 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 What about the heathen women who think in 
 their hearts that they do a good deed when they 
 give their babies to the crocodiles ? " 
 
 " I found that verse about Paul persecuting all 
 who called on the name of Jesus, and he says he 
 verily thought he was doing God's service." 
 This was Flossy's added word. 
 
 " See here," said Eurie, " we are not getting 
 at it at all. I haven't any verses, and you have 
 demolished Ruth's. The way is for you and 
 Flossy to open your batteries 011 us, and let us 
 prove to you that they don't any of them mean 
 a single word they say, or you say ; or something, 
 anything, so that we win the argument. What I 
 want to know is, what earthly harm do people 
 Bee in dancing? I don't mean, of course, going 
 to balls and mingling with all sorts of people and 
 dancing indecent figures. I mean the way we 
 girls have been in the habit of it, Ruth and 
 Flossy and I. We never went to a ball in our 
 lives, and we were never injured by dancing, so 
 far as I can discover, and yet we have done a 
 good deal of it. Now I love to dance ; it is the 
 yery pleasantest amusement I can think of ; and 
 yet I honestly want to get at the truth of this
 
 The Discussion. 289 
 
 matter ; I want to learn ; I don't in the least 
 know why churches and Christians think such 
 dancing is wrong. I couldn't find a thing in the 
 Bible that showed me the reason. To be sure I 
 had very little time to look, and a very ignorant 
 brain to do it with, and no helps. But I am 
 ready to be convinced, if anybody has anything 
 that will convince me." 
 
 " Just let me ask you a question," Marion 
 said : " Why did you think, before you were 
 converted, that it was wrong for Christian peo 
 ple to dance ? " 
 
 " How do you know I did ? " asked Eurie, 
 flushing and laughing. 
 
 "Never mind how I know ; though you must 
 have forgotten some of the remarks I have heard 
 you make about others, to ask me. But please 
 tell me." 
 
 " Honestly, then, I don't know ; and it is that 
 thought, or rather that remembrance, which dis 
 turbs me now. I had a feeling that someway it 
 was an inconsistent thing to do, and that if I 
 was converted I should have to give it up, and it 
 was a real stumbling-block in my way for some 
 days. But I don't this minute know a single
 
 290 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 definite reason why I, in common with the rest 
 of the girls and the young men in our set, 
 felt amused whenever we saw dancing church- 
 members. I have thought perhaps it was preju 
 dice, or a misunderstanding of the Christian 
 life."
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE BESULT. 
 
 OW, what I want," said Marion, "is to 
 have you people who are posted answer 
 a few questions. You know I am not a dancer; 
 I have only stood aside and looked on ; but I 
 have as high a respect for common sense as any 
 of you can have, and I want to use some of it in 
 this matter ; so just tell me, is it true or not that 
 there is a style of dancing that is considered im 
 proper in the extreme ? " 
 
 " Why, yes, of course there is," Eurie said, 
 quickly. 
 
 " Is it the style that is indulged in at our ordi 
 nary balls, whei e all sorts of characters are ad- 
 
 (29J)
 
 292 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 mitted, where, in fact, any one who can buy a 
 ticket and dress well is welcome ? You know 
 you were particular to state that none of you 
 went to balls ; are these some of the reasons ? " 
 
 " My principal reason is," Ruth said, with an 
 upward curve of her haughty lip, " that I do not 
 care to associate with all sorts of people, either 
 in the ball-room or anyxvhere else." 
 
 " Besides which, you are reasonably particular, 
 who of your acquaintances have the privilege of 
 frequently clasping your hand and placing an 
 arm caressingly around your waist, to say noth 
 ing of almost carrying you through the room, 
 are you not ? " 
 
 Ruth turned toward the questioner flashing 
 eyes, while she said : 
 
 " That is very unusual language to address to 
 us, Marion. Possibly we are quite as high-toned 
 in our feelings as yourself." 
 
 " Oh, but now, I appeal to your reason and 
 common sense; you say, yourself, that these 
 should be our guide. Isn't it true that you, as a 
 dancer, allow familiarity that you would consider 
 positively insulting under other circumstances ? 
 Am I mistaken in your opinion as to the proper
 
 The Result. 293 
 
 treatment that ladies should receive fom gentle 
 men at all other times save when they are daii- 
 cing?" 
 
 " It's a solemn fact," said Ernie, laughing at 
 the folly of her position, " that the man with 
 whom I dance has a privilege that if he should 
 undertake to assume at any other time would 
 endanger his being knocked down if my brother 
 Nell was within sight." 
 
 " And it is true that there are lengths to 
 which dancers go that you would not permit un 
 der any circumstances ? " 
 
 " Undeniable," Eurie said again. " Yet 1 
 don't see what that proves. There are lengths 
 to which you can carry almost any amusement. 
 The point is, we don't carry them to any such 
 lengths." 
 
 "That isn't the whole point, Eurie. There 
 are many amusements which no one carries to 
 improper lengths. We do not hear of their being 
 BO perverted ; but we do not hear of them in the 
 ball-room. The question is, has dancing such a 
 tendency ? Do impure people have dance-houses 
 which it is a shame for a person to enter ? Are 
 young men and young women, our brothers and
 
 294 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home, 
 
 sisters led astray in them ? We mustn't be too 
 delicate to speak on these things, for they exist ; 
 and they are found among people for whom the 
 Lord died, and many of them will be reclaimed 
 and be in heaven with us. They are our breth 
 ren ; can they be led away by the influences o 
 the dance ? If we are all really in earnest in 
 this matter, will you each give your opinion on 
 this one point ? " 
 
 " I suppose it is unquestionable," Ruth said, 
 " that dance-houses are in existence, and that 
 they are patronized by the lowest and vilest of 
 human beings ; but the sort of dance indulged 
 in has no more likeness to the dances of culti 
 vated society than " 
 
 " Than the drunkard lying in the gutter bears 
 likeness to the elegant young man of fashion 
 who takes his social sips from a silver goblet 
 lined with gold at his mother's refreshment ta 
 ble," Marion said, interrupting her, and speaking 
 with energy. " Yet you will admit that tho one 
 may be, and awfully often is, the stepping t tone 
 to the other." 
 
 " It is true," Eurie said ; " both are true. I 
 never thought of it before, but there is no deny 
 ing it."
 
 The Result. 295 
 
 As for Flossy, she simply bowed her head, as 
 one interested but not excited. 
 
 " Then may I bring in one of my verses, * f*ure 
 religion and undefiled before God and the Father 
 is this, to visit the fatherless and the widow in 
 their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted 
 from the world.' Does that apply? If the 
 world can carry this amusement to such depths 
 of degradation, and if the elegant parlor dance is 
 or can be in the remotest degree the first step 
 thereto, are we keeping ourselves unspotted if 
 we have anything to do with it, countenance it 
 in any way ? Don't you see that the question, 
 after all, is the same in many respects as the 
 card-playing one ? We have been over this 
 ground before. 
 
 " Suppose we grant, for argument's sake, that 
 not one of you is in danger of being led away to 
 any sort of excess, and I should hardly dare to ad 
 mit it in my own case, because of a verse in this 
 same old book, * Let him that thinketh he stand- 
 eth take heed lest he fall ; ' but if it should be so, 
 let me give you another of my selections 
 rather, let me read the entire argument." 
 
 Whereupon she turned to the tenth chapter of 
 First Corinthians and read St. Paul's argument
 
 296 The Chautauqua Grirh at Home. 
 
 about eating meat offered to idols, pausing with 
 special emphasis over the words, " Conscience, I 
 say, not thine own, but of the other." " Did 
 I understand you to say, Eurie, that it is a very 
 general belief among dancers that Christians 
 are inconsistent who indulge in this amuse 
 ment." 
 
 " It is a provoking truth that there is. Don't 
 you know, Ruth, how we used to be merry over 
 the Symonds girls and that j r oung Winters who 
 were church-members ? Well, they made rather 
 greater pretensions with their religion than some 
 others did, and that made us specially amused 
 over them." 
 
 " Then, Eurie, wasn't their influence unfortu 
 nate on you?" 
 
 " I am not on your side, Mistress Wilbur. 
 You should have more conscience than to keep 
 me all the time condemning myself I " 
 
 " That is answer enough," Marion said, smil 
 ing. " I am only asking for information, you 
 know. I never danced. But in the light of 
 that confession, hear this : * But if thy brother be 
 grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not 
 charitably Pestroy not him with thy meat for
 
 The Result.. 297 
 
 whom Christ died. Let not, then, your good be 
 evil spoken of* Isn't that precisely what you 
 were doing of the good in those church-members, 
 Eurie ? Now a sophist would possibly say that 
 the argument of Paul had reference to food of 
 fered to idols, and not to dancing ; but I think 
 here is a chance for us to exercise that judgment 
 and common sense which we are so fond of talk 
 ing about. 
 
 " The main point seems to be not to destroy 
 those for whom Christ died. Does it make any 
 difference whether we do it with our digestive 
 organs or with our feet ? But what is the sophist 
 going to do with this : * It is good neither to eat 
 flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby 
 thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made 
 weak.' You see he may, or may not, be a fool 
 for allowing himself to be led astray. St. Paul 
 says nothing about that. He simply directs as 
 to the Christian's duty in the matter." 
 
 Ruth made a movement of impatience. 
 
 " You are arguing, Marion, on the supposition 
 that a great many people are led astray by 
 dancing ; wheieas I don't believe that to be the 
 case."
 
 *298 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 " Do you believe one soul ever was ? " 
 
 " Wh}'-, yes, I suppose so." 
 
 " We even know one," Eurie said, speaking 
 low, and looking very grave. 
 
 " Do you believe it is possible that another 
 soul may in the next million years ? " 
 
 " Of course it is possible." 
 
 u Then the question is, how much is one soul 
 worth ? I don't feel prepared to estimate it, do 
 you ? " To which question Ruth made no reply 
 " There is another point," Marion said. " You 
 young ladies talk about being careful with whom 
 you dance. Don't you accept the attentions of 
 strange young gentlemen, who have been intro 
 duced to you by your fashionable friends ? Take 
 Mr. Townsend, the young man who came here 
 a stranger, and was introduced in society 
 by the Wagners, because they met him when 
 abroad. Didn't you dance with him, Eurie 
 Mitchell?" 
 
 " Dozens of times," said Eurie, promptly. 
 
 " And Flossy, didn't you ? " 
 
 Flossy nodded her golden head. 
 
 " Well, now you know, I suppose, that he has 
 proved to be a perfect libertine. Honestly,
 
 The Result. 299 
 
 wouldn't you both feel better if he had never had 
 his arm around you ? " 
 
 " Marion, your way of saying that thing is sim 
 ply disgusting I " Ruth said, in great heat. 
 
 " Is it my way of saying it, or is it the thing 
 itself? " Marion asked, coolly. " I tell you, girls, 
 it is impossible to know whether the man who 
 dresses well, and calls on you at stated intervals, 
 looking and talking like a gentleman, is not a 
 very Satan, who will lead away the pretty guile 
 less, unsuspecting young girl who is worth his 
 trouble ; and the leading often and often com 
 mences with a dance ; and the young girl may 
 never have been allowed to dance with him at 
 all had not stately and entirely unexceptionable 
 leaders of society, like our Ruth here, allowed it 
 first. 
 
 " It is the same question after all, and it nar 
 rows down to a fine point. A thing that can 
 possibly lead one to eternal death, a Christian 
 has no business to meddle with, even if he knows 
 of but one soul in a million years who has been 
 so wrecked. In all this we have not even 
 glanced at the endless directions to * redeem the 
 time,' to be ' instant in season and out of season,
 
 300 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 to 'work while the day lasts,' 'to watch and be 
 sober.' What do all these verses mean ? Are 
 we obeying them when we spend half the night 
 in a whirl of wild pleasure ? 
 
 " The fact remains that a majority of people 
 are not temperate in their dancing ; they do it 
 night after night ; they long after it, and are 
 miserable if the weather, or the cough, keeps 
 them away. I know dozens of such young la 
 dies ; I have them as my pupils ; my heart trem 
 bles for them ; they are just intoxicated with 
 dancing ; and they quote you, Ruth Erskine, as 
 an example when I try to talk with them ; I have 
 heard them. Whether it is wrong for other peo 
 ple or not, as true as I sit here I can tell you 
 this : I have two girls in my class who are kill 
 ing themselves with this amusement, carried to 
 its least damaging extreme, for they still think 
 they are very careful with whom they dance; 
 and you are in a measure, at least, responsible 
 for their folly. You needn't say they are sim 
 pletons ; I think they are, but what of it ? 
 * Shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ 
 died?'" 
 
 "Nell made a remark that startled me a little,
 
 The Result. 801 
 
 it was so queer." Eurie said this after the 
 startled hush that fell over them at the close of 
 Marion's eager sentence had in part subsided. 
 " We were speaking of a party where we had 
 beefi one evening and some of the girls had 
 danced every set, till they were completely worn 
 out. Some of them had been dancing with 
 rather questionable young men, too ; for I shall 
 have to own that all the gentlemen who get ad 
 mitted into fashionable parlors are not angels by 
 any means. I know there are several, who are 
 supposed to be of the first society, that father 
 has forbidden me ever to dance with. 
 
 " We were talking about some of these, and 
 about the extreme manner in which the dancing 
 was carried on, when Nell said : ' I'll tell you 
 what, Eurie, I hope my wife wasn't there to 
 night.' 'Dear me I ' I said, ' I didn't know she 
 was in existence. Where do you keep her ? ' 
 He was as sober as a judge. ' She is on the earth 
 somewhere, of course, if I am to have her,' he 
 said ; * and what I say is, I hope she wasn't there. 
 If I thought she was among those dancers, I 
 would go and knock the fellow down who in 
 sulted her by swinging her around in that fash-
 
 302 The CJiautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 ion. I want my wife's hand to be kept for me 
 to hold ; I don't thank anybody else for doing 
 that part for me.' " 
 
 " Precisely ! " Marion said. " It is considered 
 unladylike, I believe, for people to talk about 
 love and marriage. I never could see why ; I'm 
 sure neither of them is wicked. But I suppose 
 each of us occasionally thinks of the possibility of 
 having a friend as dear even as a husband. How 
 would you like it, girls, to have him spend his 
 evenings dancing with first one young lady and 
 then another, offering them attentions that, under 
 any other ciroum stances, would stamp him as a 
 libertine ? 
 
 " Whichever way you look at this question it 
 is a disagreeable one to me. I may never be 
 married ; it is not at all likely that I ever shall ; 
 I ought to have been thinking about it long 
 ago, if I was ever going to indulge in that sort of 
 life ; but if I should, I'm heartily glad of one 
 thing and, mind, I mean it that no man but 
 my husband shall ever put his arm around me, 
 nor hold my hand, unless it is to keep me from 
 actual danger ; falling over a precipice, you 
 know, or some such unusual matter as that."
 
 The Result. 303 
 
 " Flossy hasn't opened her lips this evening. 
 Why don't you talk, child ? Does Marion over 
 whelm you ? I don't wonder. Such a tornado 
 as she has poured out upon us 1 I never heard 
 the like in my life. It isn't all in the Bible ; 
 that is one comfort. Though, dear me I I don't 
 know but the spirit of it is. What do you think 
 about it all ? " 
 
 " Sure enough," Marion said, turning to Flossy, 
 as Eurie paused. "Little Flossy, where are 
 your verses ? You were going to give us what 
 ever you found in the Bible. You were the best 
 witness of all, because you brought such an un 
 prejudiced determination to the search. What 
 did you find ? " 
 
 "My search didn't take the form I meant it 
 should," Flossy said. " I didn't look far nor 
 long, and I did not decide the question for any 
 body else, only for myself. I found only two 
 verses, two pieces of verses ; I mean, I stopped 
 at those, and thought about them all the rest of 
 the week. These are the ones," and Flossy's 
 soft sweet voice repeated them without turning 
 to the Bible : 
 
 " ' Whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all
 
 304 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 in the name of the Lord Jesus ; ' * Whatsoever ye 
 do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto 
 men.' Those verses just held me ; I thought 
 about dancing, about all the times in which I 
 had danced, and the people with whom I had 
 danced, and the words we had said to each other, 
 and I could not see that in any possible way it 
 could be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, or 
 that it could be done heartity, as unto the Lord. 
 I settled my own heart with those words ; that 
 for me to dance after I knew that whatever in 
 word or deed I did, I was pledged to do heartily 
 for the Lord, would be an impossibility." 
 
 An absolute hush fell upon them all. Marion 
 looked from one to the other of the flushed and 
 eager faces, and then at the sweet drooping face 
 of their little Flossy. 
 
 " We have spent our strength vainly," she 
 said, at last. " It is our privilege to get up 
 higher ; to look at all these things from the 
 mount whereon God will let us stand if we 
 want to climb. I think little Flossy has got 
 there." 
 
 " After all," Eurie said, " that verse would cut 
 off a great many things that are considered 
 harmless."
 
 The Remit. 805 
 
 " What does that prove, my beloved Eureka ? " 
 Marion said, quickly. " If thy right hand of 
 fend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee,' is an 
 other Bible verse. These verses of Flossy'a 
 mean something, surely. What do they mean, 
 is the question left for us to decide ? After all, 
 Ruth, I agree with you; it is a question that 
 must be left to our judgment and common sense ; 
 only we are bound to strengthen our common 
 sense and confirm our judgments in the light of 
 the lamp that is promised as a guide to our feet." 
 
 Almost nothing was said among them after 
 that, except the commonplaces of good-nights. 
 The next afternoon, as Marion was working 
 out a refractory example in algebra for Gracie 
 Dennis, she bent lower over her slate, and said : 
 
 " Miss Wilbur, did you know that your friends, 
 Miss. Erskine, Miss Shipley and Miss Mitchell, 
 had all declined Mrs. Garland's invitation, and 
 sent her an informal little note signed by them 
 all, to the effect that they had decided not to 
 dance any more?" 
 
 " No," said Marion, the rich blood mounting to 
 her temples, and her face breaking into a smile. 
 " How did you hear ? " 
 
 " Mrs. Garland told my father ; she said she
 
 806 The Chautauqua Chris at Home. 
 
 honored them for their consistency, and thought 
 more highly of their new departure than she 
 ever had before. It is rather remarkable so 
 early in their Christian life, don't you think ? " 
 
 " Rather," Marion said, with a smile, and she 
 followed it by a soft little sigh. She had not 
 been invited to Mrs. Garland's. There was no 
 opportunity for her to show whether she wsa 
 consistent or not.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 KEEPING THE PROMISE. 
 
 T was carious how our four girls set about 
 enlarging the prayer-meeting. That idea 
 had taken hold of them as the next thing to be 
 done. 
 
 " The wonder was," Eurie said, " that Chris 
 tian people had not worked at it before. I am 
 sure," she added, " that if any one had invited 
 ine to attend, I should have gone long ago, 
 just to please, if it was one that I cared to 
 please." 
 
 And Marion answered with a smile : 
 " I am sure you would, too, with your present 
 feelings." 
 
 (307)
 
 308 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 Still none of them doubted but that they 
 would have success. They saw little of each 
 other during the days that intepvened, and their, 
 plan necessarily involved the going alone, or 
 with what company they could gather, instead 
 of meeting and keeping each other company, as 
 they had done in the first days of their prayer- 
 meeting life. 
 
 Marion came first, and alone. She went for 
 ward to their usual seat with a very forlorn and 
 desolate air. She had entered upon the work 
 with enthusiasm, and with eager desire and ex 
 pectation of success. To be sure she was a long 
 time deciding whom to ask, and several times 
 changed her plans. 
 
 At last her heart settled on Miss Banks, 
 the friend with whom she had almost been inti 
 mate before these new intimacies gathered 
 around her. Latterly they had said little to 
 each other. Miss Banks had seemed to avoid 
 Marion since that rainy Monday when they came 
 in contact so sharply. She was not exactly rude, 
 nor in the least unkind ; she simply seemed to 
 feel that the points of congeniality between them 
 were broken, and so avoided her.
 
 Keeping the Promise. 309 
 
 She did this so successfully, that, even after 
 Marion's thought to invite her to the meeting 
 had taken decided shape, it was difficult to find 
 the opportunity. Having gotten the idea, how 
 ever, she was persistent in it ; and at last, during 
 recess, on the very day of the meeting, she came 
 across her in the librar}^, looking aimlessly over 
 the rows of books. 
 
 " In search of wisdom, or recreation ? " Marion 
 asked, stopping beside her, and speaking with 
 the familiarity of former days. 
 
 " In search of some tiresome references for my 
 class in philosophy. Some of the scholars are 
 provokingly in earnest in the study, and will 
 not be satisfied with the platitudes of the text 
 book." 
 
 " That is a refreshing departure from the ordi 
 nary state of things, isn't it ? " Marion asked, 
 laughing at the way in which the progress of her 
 pupils was put. Then, without waiting for an 
 answer, and already feeling her resolution be 
 ginning to cool, she plunged into the subject that 
 interested her. "I have been in search of you 
 all the morning." 
 
 " That's surprising," Miss Banks said, coolly.
 
 310 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 " Couldn't I be found ? I have been no further 
 away than my school-room ? " 
 
 " Well, I mean looking for you at a time when 
 you were not engaged, or perhaps looking for 
 ward to seeing you at such a time, would be a 
 more proper way of putting it," said Marion, try 
 ing to smile, and yet feeling a trifle annoyed. 
 
 " One is apt to be somewhat engaged in a 
 school-room during school-hours, especially if 
 one is a teacher." 
 
 They were not getting on at all. Marion de 
 cided to speak without trying to bring herself 
 gracefully to the point. 
 
 " I want to ask a favor of you. Will you go 
 to meeting with me to-night?" 
 
 " To meeting," Miss Banks repeated, without 
 turning from the book-case. " What meeting is 
 there to-night ? " 
 
 " Why, the prayer-meeting at the First Church. 
 There is always a meeting there on Wednesday 
 nights." 
 
 Miss Banks turned herself slowly away from 
 the book she was examining and fixed her clear, 
 cold gray eyes on Marion : 
 
 " And so there has been every Wednesday
 
 Keeping the Promise. 311 
 
 evening during the five years that we have been 
 in school together, I presume. To what can I 
 be indebted for such an invitation at this late 
 day?" 
 
 It was very hard for Marion not to get angry. 
 She knew this cold composure was intended as 
 a rebuke to herself for presuming to have with 
 drawn from th<* clique that had hitherto spent 
 much time together. 
 
 " What is the use of this ? " she asked ; a shade 
 of impatience in her voice, though she tried to 
 control it. " You know, Miss Banks, that I pro 
 fess to have made a discovery during the last few 
 weeks ; that I try to arrange all my actions with 
 a view to the new revelations of life and duty 
 which I have certainly had ; in simple language 
 you know that, whereas, I not long ago pre 
 sumed to scoff at conversion, and at the idea of a 
 life abiding in Christ, I believe now that I have 
 been converted, and that the Lord Jesus is my 
 Friend and Brother ; I want to tell you that I 
 have found rest and peace in him. Is it any 
 wonder that I should desire it for my friends ? 
 I do honestly crave for you the same experi 
 ence that I have enjoyed, and to that end I
 
 812 The Chautauqua Grirh at Home. 
 
 have asked you to attend the meeting with me 
 to-night." 
 
 It is impossible to describe the changes on Miss 
 Banks' face during this sentence. There was a 
 touch of embarrassment, and more than a touch 
 of incredulity, and over all a look of great amaze 
 ment. She continued to survey Marion from 
 head to foot with those cold, gray eyes, for as 
 much as a minute after she had ceased speaking. 
 Then she said, speaking slowly, as if she were 
 measuring every word : 
 
 "I am sure I ought to be grateful for the 
 trouble you have taken ; the more so as I had 
 not presumed to think that you had any interest 
 in either my body or my soul. But as I have 
 had no new and surprising revelations, and know 
 nothing about the Friend and Brother of whom 
 you speak, I may be excused from coveting the 
 like experience with yourself, however delight 
 ful you may have found it. As to the meeting, 
 I went once to that church to attend a prayer- 
 meeting, too, and if there can be a more refined 
 and long drawn-out exhibition of dullness than 
 was presented to us there, I don't know where 
 to look for it. I wonder why the school-bell
 
 Keeping the Promise. 813 
 
 doesn't ring ? It is three minutes past the time 
 by my watch." 
 
 Marion, without an attempt at a reply, turned 
 and went swiftly down the hall. She was glad 
 that just then the tardy bell pealed forth, and 
 that she was obliged to go at once to the recita 
 tion-room and involve herself in the intricacies 
 of algebra. 
 
 Without this incentive to self-control, she felt 
 that she would have given way to the hot disap 
 pointed tears that were choking in her throat. 
 How sad her heart was as she sat there alone in 
 the prayer-room. It was early and but few were 
 present. She had never felt so much alone. 
 The companionship which had been so close and 
 so constant during the few weeks past seemed 
 suddenly to have been removed from her, and 
 when she essaj^ed to go back to the old friend, 
 she had stood coldly and heartlessly aye, worse 
 than that mockingly aloof. 
 
 She had overheard her, that very afternoon, 
 detailing to one of the under teachers, fragments 
 of the conversation in the library. Marion's 
 heart was wounded to its very depths. Perhaps 
 it is little wonder that she had made no other
 
 314 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 attempt to secure company for the evening. 
 There were school-girls by the score that she 
 might have asked ; doubtless some one of the 
 number would accept her invitation, but she had 
 not thought so. She had shrunken from any 
 other effort, in mortal terror. 
 
 " 1 am not fitted for such work," she said, in 
 bitterness of soul ; " not even for such work ; 
 what can I do ? " and then, despite the class, 
 she had brushed away a tear. So there she sat 
 alone, till suddenly the door opened with more 
 force than usual, and closed with a little bang, 
 and Eurie Mitchell, with a face on which there 
 glowed traces of excitement, came like a whiff 
 of wind and rustled into a seat beside her, alone 
 like herself. 
 
 " You here ? " she said, and there was surprise 
 in her whisper. " Thought you would be late, 
 and not be alone. I am glad of it I mean I 
 am almost glad. Don't you think, Nell wouldn't 
 come with me I I counted on him as a matter of 
 course, he is so obliging always willing to take 
 me wherever I want to go, and often disarrang 
 ing his own engagements so that I need not be 
 disappointed. I was just as sure of him I
 
 Keeping the Promise. 315 
 
 thought as I was of myself, and then I coaxed 
 him harder than I ever did before in my life, and 
 he wouldn't come in." He came to the door 
 with me, and said I needn't be afraid but that he 
 would be on hand to see me home, and he would 
 Bee safely home any number of girls that I chose 
 to drum up, but as for sitting in here a whole 
 hour waiting for it to be time to go home, that 
 was beyond him too much for mortal pa 
 tience I 
 
 " Wasn't it just too bad I I was so sure of it, 
 too I told him about our plans about our 
 promise, indeed, and how I had counted on him, 
 and all he said was : ' Don't you know the old 
 proverb, sis : " Never count your chickens before 
 they are hatched ;" or, a more elegant phrasing 
 of it, "Never eat your fish till you catch 
 him?" Now, I'm not caught yet ; someway the 
 right soit of bait hasn't reached me yet.' I was 
 never so disappointed in my life ! Didn't you 
 try to get some one to come ?" 
 
 " Yes," said Marion, " and failed." She forced 
 herself to say that much. How could Eurie go 
 through with all these details ? " If her heart 
 had ached as mine does, she couldn't," Marion
 
 316 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 told herself. She might have known if she had 
 used her judgment that Eurie's heart was not of 
 the sort that would ever ache over anything as 
 hers could ; and yet Ernie was bitterly disap 
 pointed. 
 
 She had counted on Nell, and expected him, 
 had high hopes for him ; and here they were 
 dashed into nothingness ! Who knew that he 
 could be so obstinate over a trifle? Surely it 
 was a trifle just to come to prayer-meeting once! 
 She knew she would have done it for him, even 
 in the days when it would have been a bore. 
 She did not understand it at all. 
 
 Meantime, Ruth had been having her experi 
 ences. This promise of hers troubled her. Per 
 haps you cannot imagine what an exceedingly 
 disagreeable thing it seemed to her to go hunt 
 ing up somebody to go to prayer-meeting with 
 her. Where could she turn ? There were so 
 few people with whom she came in contact that 
 it would not be absurd to ask. 
 
 Her father she put aside at once as entirely 
 out of the question. It was simply an absurdity 
 to think of asking him to go to prayer-meeting I 
 He rarely went to church even on the Sabbath ;
 
 Keeping the Promise. 317 
 
 less often now than he used to do. It would 
 simply be annoying him and exposing religion to 
 his contempt ; so his daughter reasoned. She 
 sighed over it while she reasoned ; she wished 
 most earnestly that it were not so ; she prayed, 
 and she thought it was with all her heart, that 
 God would speak to her father in some way, by 
 some voice that he would heed ; and yet she al 
 lowed herself to be sure that his only and cher 
 ished daughter had the one voice that could not 
 hope to influence him in the least. 
 
 Well, there was her friend, Mr.. Wayne. I 
 wonder if I can describe to you how impossible 
 it seemed to her to ask him to go ? Not that he 
 would not have accompanied her; he would in a 
 minute; he would do almost anything she asked ; 
 she felt as sure that she could get him to occupy 
 a seat in the First Church prayer-room that 
 evening as she felt sure of going there herself ; 
 but she asked herself, of what earthly use would 
 it be? 
 
 He would go simply to please what he would 
 suppose was a whim of hers ; he would listen 
 with an amused smile, slightly tinged with sar 
 casm, to all the words that would be spoken that
 
 318 The Ohautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 evening, and he would have ready a hundred 
 mildly funny things to say about them when the 
 meeting closed ; for weeks afterward he would 
 be apt to bring in nicely fitting quotations 
 gleaned from that evening of watchfulness, fit 
 ting them into absurd places, and making them 
 seem the veriest folly that would be the 
 fruit. 
 
 Ruth shrank with all her soul from such a re 
 sult ; these things were sacred to her; she did 
 not see how it would be possible to endure the 
 quizzical turn that would be given to them. I 
 want you to notice that in all this reasoning 
 she did not see that she had undertaken not only 
 her own work but the Lord's. When one at 
 tempts not only to drop the seed, but to make 
 the fruit that shall spring up, no wonder one 
 stands back appalled ! 
 
 Yet was she not busying Ler heart with the re 
 sults ? The end of it was that she decided what 
 ever else she did, to say nothing to Mr. Wayne 
 about the meeting. No, I am mistaken, that 
 was not the end ; there suddenly came in with 
 these musings a startling thought : 
 
 44 If I cannot endure the foolishness that will
 
 Keeping the Promise. 819 
 
 result from one evening, how am I to endure 
 companionship for a lifetime ? " 
 
 That was a thought that would not slumber 
 again. But she must find some one whom she 
 was willing to ask to go to prayer-meeting ; there 
 was her miserable promise hedging her in. 
 
 Who was she willing to ask ? She ran over 
 her list of acquaintances ; there wasn't one. 
 How strange it was I She could think of those 
 whom Flossy might ask, and there was Eurie 
 surrounded by a large family ; and as for Marion, 
 her opportunities were unlimited; but for her 
 forlorn self, in all the large circle of her acquain 
 tance, there seemed no one to ask. The truth 
 was, Ruth was shiveringly afraid of casting 
 pearls before swine not that she put it in that 
 way ; but she would rather have been struck 
 than to have been made an object of ridicule. 
 And yet there were times when she wished she 
 had lived in the days of martyrdom I The 
 church of to-day is full of just such martyr 
 spirits ! 
 
 The result was precisely what might have 
 been expected : she dallied with her miserable 
 cowardice, which she did not call by that name
 
 320 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 at all, until there really was no person within 
 reach to invite to the meeting. Who would 
 have supposed all this of Ruth Erskine I No 
 one would have been less likely to have done so 
 than herself. 
 
 She went alone to the meeting at a late hour, 
 and with a very miserable, sore, sad heart, to 
 which Marion's was nothing in comparison. 
 Yet there was something accomplished, if she 
 had but known it. She was beginning to un 
 derstand herself ; she had a much lower opinion 
 of Ruth Erskine as she sat there meeting the 
 wondering gaze of Eurie, and the quick, inquir 
 ing glance of Marion than she ever had felt in 
 her life. 
 
 I said she was late, but Flossy was later. 
 Somebody else must have been at work about 
 that meeting, and have been more successful 
 than our girls, for the room was fuller than usual. 
 Marion had begun to grow anxious for the little 
 Flossy that had crept so near to their hearts, and 
 to make frequent turnings of the head to see if 
 she were not coming. 
 
 When at last she shimmered down the aisle, a 
 soft, bright rainbow, for she hadn't given over
 
 Keeping the Promise. 821 
 
 wearing her favorite colors, and she could no 
 more help getting them on becomingly than a 
 bird can help looking graceful in its plumage. 
 (Why should either of them try to help it?) 
 But Flossy was not alone ; there was a tall 
 portly form, and a splendidly balanced head, rest 
 ing on firm shoulders, that followed her do\vu tc 
 the seat where the girls were waiting for her.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 HOW IT WAS DONE. 
 
 3LOSSY came quite down the broad aisle 
 i to t lie seat which the girls had, by tacit un- 
 standing, chosen for their own, her face just ra- 
 dient with sort of surprised satisfaction, and 
 the gentleman who followed her with an assured 
 and measured step was none other than Judg3 
 Kr*l<im.' liimst'lf. He luay have been surprised 
 at lii>o\\u appearance in that place for pra}*er, 
 but no surprise of Ins could compare with the 
 amazement of his daughter Ruth. For once in 
 her life her well-bred composure forsook her, and 
 her look could be called nothing less than an ab 
 solute stare.
 
 How it was Done. 323 
 
 Of the four, Flossy only had succeeded. The 
 way of it was this : 
 
 Having become a realist, in the most emphatic 
 sense of that word, to have promised to bring 
 some one with her to meeting if she possibly 
 could, meant to her just that, and nothing less 
 than that. Of course, such an understanding 
 of a promise made it impossible to stop with the 
 asking of one person, or two, or three, provided 
 her invitations met with only refusals. 
 
 She had started out as confident of success as 
 Eurie ; she felt nearly certain of Col. Baker ; 
 not because he was any more likety of his own 
 will to choose the prayer-meeting than he had 
 been all his life thus far, but because he was 
 growing every day more anxious to give pleas 
 ure to Flossy. 
 
 Having some dim sense of this in her heart, 
 Flossy reasoned that it would be right to put this 
 power of hers to the good use of winning him to 
 the meeting, for who could tell what words from 
 God's Spirit might reach him while there ? So 
 she asked him to go. 
 
 To her surprise, and to Col. Baker's real an 
 noyance, he was obliged to refuse her. He was
 
 324 The Chautauqua Grirls at Some. 
 
 more than willing to go, even to a prayer-meet 
 ing, if thereby he could take one step forward 
 toward the place in her life that he desired to 
 fill. Therefore his regrets were profuse and 
 sincere. 
 
 It was club night, and, most unluckily, they 
 were to meet with him, and he was to provide 
 tlie entertainment. Under almost any other cir 
 cumstances he could have been excused. Had 
 he even had the remotest idea that Flossy would 
 have liked his company that evening, he could 
 have made arrangements for a change of even 
 ing for the club ; that is, had he known of it 
 earlier. But, as it was, she would see how im 
 possible it would be for him to get away. Quick 
 witted Flossy took him at his word. 
 
 " Would he remember, then," she asked, with 
 her most winning smile, " that of all places where 
 she could possibly like to see him regularly, the 
 Wednesday evening prayer-meeting at the First 
 Church was the place." 
 
 What a bitter pill an evening prayer-meeting 
 would be to Col. Baker I But he did not tell 
 her so. He was even growing to think that he 
 could do that, for a while at least.
 
 How it was Done. 325 
 
 From him Flossy turned to her brother ; but 
 it was club night to him, too, and while he had 
 not the excuse that the entertainer of the club 
 certainly had, it served very well as an excuse, 
 though he was frank enough to add, " As for 
 that, I don't believe I should go if I hadn't an 
 engagement ; I won't be hypocrite enough to go 
 to the prayer-meeting." Such strange ideas have 
 some otherwise sensible people on this subject of 
 hypocrisy ! 
 
 It required a good deal of courage for Flossy 
 to ask her mother, but she accomplished it, and 
 received in reply an astonished stare, a half-em 
 barrassed laugh, and the expression : 
 
 44 What an absurd little fanatic you are getting 
 to be, Flossy ! I am sure one wouldn't have 
 looked for it in a child like you ! Me ? Oh, 
 dear, no ! I can't go ; I never walk so far you 
 know ; at least very rarely, and Kitty will havo 
 the carriage in use for Mrs. Waterman's recep 
 tion. Why don't you go thare, child ? It really 
 isn't treating Mi's. Waterman well; she is such 
 an old friend." 
 
 These \\ere a few of the many efforts which 
 Flossy made. They met with like results, until
 
 326 The Chautauqua G-irls at Home. 
 
 at last the evening in question found her some 
 what belated and alone, ringing at Judge Ers- 
 kine's mansion. That important personage being 
 in the hall, in the act of going out to the post- 
 office, he opened the door and met her hurried, 
 almost breathless, question : 
 
 "Judge Erskine, is Ruth gone? Oh, excuse 
 me. Good-evening. I am in such haste that I 
 forgot courtesy. Do you think Ruth is gone ? " 
 
 Yes, Judge Erskine knew that his daughter 
 was out, for she stepped into the library to leave 
 a message a few moments ago, and she was then 
 dressed for the street, and had passed out a mo 
 ment afterward. 
 
 Then did he know whether Katie Fliun, the 
 chamber-maid, was in? "Of course you won't 
 know," she added, blushing and smiling at the 
 absurdit}' of her question. " I mean could you 
 find out for me whether she is in, and can I speak 
 to her just a minute ? " 
 
 He was fortunately wiser to-night than she 
 gave him credit for being, Judge Erskine said, 
 with a courtly bow and smile. 
 
 It ho happened that just after his daughter de 
 parted, Katie hud sought him, asking permission
 
 How it was Done. 327 
 
 to be out that evening until nine o'clock, a per 
 mission that she had forgotten to secure of his 
 daughter ; therefore, as a most unusual circum 
 stance which must have occurred for Flossy's 
 special benefit, he was posted even as to Katie's 
 whereabouts. He was unprepared for the sud 
 den flushing of Flossy's cheeks, and quiver of 
 her almost baby chin. 
 
 " Oh, I am so sorry 1 " she said, and there were 
 actual tears in her blue eyes. 
 
 Judge Erskinc saw them, and felt as if he were 
 in some way a monster. He hastened to be 
 sympathetic. If she was alone and timid it 
 would afford him nothing but pleasure to see her 
 safely to any part of the city she chose to mention. 
 He was going out simply for a stroll, with no 
 business whatever. 
 
 " Oh, it isn't that," Flossy said, hastily. " I 
 am such a little way from the chapel, and it is so 
 early I shall not be afraid ; but I am so disap 
 pointed. You see, Judge Erskiue, we girls were 
 each to bring one with us to the meeting to 
 night, and I have tried so hard, I have asked al 
 most a dozen people, and none of them could go. 
 At last I happened to think of your Katie Flinn ;
 
 328 The Chautauqua Grirls at Ilome. 
 
 I knew she was in our Sunday-school, and 1 
 thought perhaps if I asked her she would go 
 with me, if Ruth had not done it before me. She 
 was my last chance, and I am more disappointed 
 than I can tell you." 
 
 Shall I try to describe to you what a strange 
 sensation Judge Erskine felt in the region of his 
 heart as he stood there in the hall with that 
 pretty blushing girl, who seemed to him only a 
 child, and found that her quivering chin and 
 swimming eyes meant simply that she had failed 
 in securing even his chambermaid to attend the 
 prayer-meeting? He never remembered to have 
 had such an astonishing feeling, nor such a queer 
 choking sensation in his throat. 
 
 His own daughter was dignified and stately ; 
 the very picture of her father, every one said ; 
 he had no idea that she could shed a tear any 
 more than he could himself; but this timid, 
 flushing, trembling little girl seemed made of 
 some other material than just the clay that he 
 supposed himself to be composed of. 
 
 He stood regarding her with a sort of pleased 
 wonder. In common with many other stately 
 gentlemen, he very much admired real, uuaf-
 
 How it was Done. 829 
 
 fected, artless childhood. It seemed to him that 
 a grieved child stood before lam. IIo\v oould he 
 comfort her ? If a doll, now, with curling hair 
 and blue e} T es could do it, how promptly should 
 it be bought and given to this flesh-and-blood 
 doll before him. 
 
 But no, nothing short of some one to ac 
 company her to prayer-meeting would appease 
 this little troubled bit of humanity. In the 
 magnanimity of his haughty heart the learned 
 judge took a sudden and almost overpowering 
 resolution. 
 
 Could he go? he asked her. To be sure, 
 he was not Katie Flinu, but he would do his best 
 to take the place of that personage if she would 
 kindly let him v go to the said meeting with 
 her. 
 
 It was worth a dozen sittings even in prayer- 
 meeting, Judge Erskine thought, to see the sud 
 den clearing of that tearful face ; the sudden 
 radiant outlook from those wet eyes. 
 
 Would he go ? Would he really go ? Could 
 anything be more splendid ! 
 
 And, verily, Judge Erskine thought, as he be 
 held her shining face, that there hardly could.
 
 330 The Chautauqua G-irh at Home. 
 
 He felt precisely as you do when you have been 
 unselfish toward a pretty child, who, someway, 
 has won a warm spot in your heart. 
 
 He went to the First Church prayer-meeting 
 for the first time with no higher motive than 
 that never mind, he went. Flossy Shipley 
 certainly was not responsible for the motive of 
 his going ; neither did it in any degree affect the 
 honest, earnest, persistent effort she had made 
 that day. Her account of it was simple enough, 
 when the girls met afterward to talk over their 
 efforts. 
 
 " Why, you know," she said, " I actually 
 promised to bring some one with me if I possibly 
 could ; so there was nothing for it but to try in 
 every possible way up to the very last minute of 
 the time I had. But, after all, I brought the 
 one whom I had not the least idea of asking ; he 
 asked himself." 
 
 " Well," Marion said, after a period of amazed 
 silence, " I have made two discoveries. One is, 
 that people may possibly have tried before this 
 to enlarge the prayer-meeting ; possibly we may 
 not, after all, be the originators of that brilliant 
 idea ; they may have tried, and failed even as we
 
 How it was Done. 331 
 
 did ; for I have learned that it is not so easy a 
 matter as it at first appears ; it needs a power 
 behind the wills of people to get them to do even 
 BO simple a thing as that. The other important 
 thought is, there are two ways of keeping a 
 promise ; one is to make an attempt and fail, 
 saying to our contented consciences, ' There ! 
 I've done my duty, and it is no use you. see ; ' 
 and the other is to persist in attempt after at 
 tempt, until the very pertinacity of our faith ac 
 complishes the work for us. What if we follow 
 the example of our little Flossy after this, and 
 (et a promise mean something ? " 
 
 " My example ! " Flossy said, with wide open 
 eyes. " Why, I only asked people, just as I said 
 I would ; but they wouldn't come." 
 
 There was one young lady who walked home 
 from that eventful prayer-meeting with a very 
 unsatisfied conscience. Ruth Erskine could not 
 get away from the feeling that she was a shirker ; 
 all the more so, because the person who had sat 
 very near her was her father I not brought there 
 by any invitation from her ; it was not that she 
 had tried and failed ; that form of it would have 
 been an infinite relief ; she simply had not tried,
 
 552 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 and she made herself honestly confess to herself 
 that the trouble was, she could not be satisfied 
 with one who was within the reach of her ask 
 ing. 
 
 Yet conscience, working all alone, is a very 
 uncomfortable and disagreeable companion, and 
 often accomplishes for the time being nothing 
 beyond making his victim disagreeable. This 
 was Ruth to the fullest extent of her power ; she 
 realized it, and in a measure felt ashamed of her 
 self, and struggled a little for a better state of 
 mind. 
 
 It seemed ill payment for the courtesy which 
 had made Harold Wayne forsake the club before 
 supper for the purpose of walking home with her 
 from church. He was unusually kind, too, and 
 patient. Part of her trouble, be it known, was 
 her determination in her heart not to be driven 
 by that dreadful conscience into saying a single 
 personal word to Harold Wayne. Not that 
 she put it in that way ; bless you, no ! Satan 
 rarely blunders enough to speak out plainly ; he 
 lias a dozen smooth-summing phrases that mean 
 the same thing. 
 
 "People need to be approached very carefully 
 on very special occasions, which are uot apt to
 
 How it was Done. 333 
 
 occur ; they need to be approached by just such 
 persons, and in just such well-chosen words," 
 etc. etc. 
 
 Though why it should require such infinite 
 tact and care and skill to say to a friend, " I wish 
 you were going to heaven with me," when the per 
 son would say without the slightest hesitation, 
 *' I wish you were going to Europe with me," 
 and be accounted an idiot if he made talk about 
 tact and skill and caution, I am sure I don't 
 know. 
 
 Yet all these things Ruth said to herself. The 
 reason the thought ruffled her was because her 
 honest conscience kne\v they were false, and 
 that she had a right to say, " Harold, I wish you 
 were a Christian ; " and had no right at all with 
 the results. 
 
 She simply could not bring herself to say it ; 
 she did not really know why, herself ; probably 
 Satan did. 
 
 Mr. Wayne was unusually quiet and grave ; he 
 seemed to be doing what he could to lead Ruth 
 into serious talk ; he asked about the meeting, 
 whether there were many out, and whether she 
 enjoyed it. 
 
 " I sort of like Dr. Dennis," he said. " He ia
 
 834 The CJiautauqua Crirls at Some. 
 
 tremendously in earnest ; but why shouldn't a 
 man be in earnest if he believes what he is talk 
 ing about. Do you suppose he does, Ruth? " 
 
 " Of course," Ruth said, shortly, almost crossly ; 
 " you know he does. Why do you ask such a 
 foolish question ? " 
 
 " Oh, I don't know ; half the time it seems to 
 me as if the religious people were trying to hum 
 bug the world ; because, you see, they don't act 
 as if they were in dead earnest very few of 
 them do, at least." 
 
 " That is a very easy thing to say, and people 
 seem to be fond of saying it," Ruth said : and 
 then she simply would not talk on that subject 
 or any other ; she was miserably unhappy ; an 
 awakened conscience, toyed with, is a very fruit 
 ful source of misery. She was glad when the 
 walk was concluded. 
 
 "Shall I come in ?" Mr. Wayne asked, linger 
 ing on the step, half smiling, half wistful. 
 " What do you advise, shall I go back to the club 
 or call on you ? " 
 
 Now, Ruth hated that club ; she was much 
 afraid of its influence over her friend ; she had 
 determined, as soon as she could plan a line of 
 operation, to set systematically at work to with-
 
 Ho a' it wis 
 
 draw him from its influence; but she w;is uot 
 ready for it yet. And, among other things that 
 she was not ready for, was a call from Mr. 
 Wayne ; it seemed to her that in her present 
 miserable, unsettled state it would be simply ira - 
 possiblo to carry on a conversation with him. 
 True to her usually frank nature, she answered, 
 promptly : 
 
 " I have certainly no desire for you to go tc 
 the club, either on this evening or any other; 
 but, to be frank, I would rather be alone this 
 evening ; I want to think over some matters of 
 importance, and to decide them. You will not 
 think strangely of me for saying that, will you? " 
 
 " Oh, no," he said, and he smiled kindly on 
 her; yet he was very much disappointed; he 
 showed it in his face. 
 
 Many a time afterward, as Ruth sat thinking 
 over this conversation, recalling e\ery litllu de 
 tail of it, recalling the look on his face, and the 
 peculiar sadness in his eyes, she thought \vithir, 
 herself, " If I had said, ' Harold, I want you to 
 come in ; I want to talk with you ; I want you 
 to decide now to live for Christ,' I wonder what 
 he would have answered. 
 
 But she did not say it. Instead, she turned
 
 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 him and went into the bouse; and he 
 went directly to his club: an unaccountable 
 gloom hung over him ; he must have companion 
 ship ; if not with his chosen and promised wife, 
 then with the club. That \vas just what Ruth 
 was to him ; and it was oue of the questions that 
 tormented her. 
 
 There were reasons why thought about it had 
 forced itself upon her during the last few days. 
 She was pledged to him long before she found 
 this new experience. The question was, Could 
 she fulfil those pledges ? Had they a thought in 
 common now ? Could she live with him the sort 
 of life that she had promised to live, and that she 
 solemnly meant to live ? If she could, was it 
 right to do so ? You see she had enough to tor 
 ment her; only she set about thinking of it in 
 so strange a manner ; not at all as she would 
 have thought about it if the pledges she had 
 given him had meant to her all that the} 7 mean 
 to some, all that they ought to mean to any one 
 who makes them, This phase of it also troubled 
 her.
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 RUTH AJO> HABOLD. 
 
 HERE had been in Judge Erskine's mind 
 a slight sense of wonderment as to how 
 lie should meet his daughter the morning after 
 his astounding appearance at prayer-meeting. 
 Such a new and singular departure was it, that 
 he even felt a slight shade of embarrassment. 
 
 But, before the hour of meeting hor arrived, 
 his thoughts were turned into an entirely new 
 channel. He met her, looking very grave, and 
 with a touch of tenderness about his manner that 
 was new to her. She, on her part, was not 
 much more at rest than she had been the evening 
 before. She realized that her heart was in an 
 
 (337)
 
 838 Tlie Chautauqua Crirh at Home. 
 
 actual otate of rebellion against any form of de 
 cided Christian work that she could plan. 
 Clearly, something was wrong with her. If she 
 had been familiar with a certain old Christian, 
 she might have borrowed his language to express 
 in part her feeling. 
 
 "To will is present with me, but how to per 
 form that which is good I know not." Not quite 
 that, either, for while she said, " I can't do this 
 thing, or that thing," she was clear-minded 
 enough to see that it simply meant, after all, " I 
 will not." The will was at fault, and she knew 
 it. She did not fully comprehend yet that she 
 had set out to be a Christian, and at the same 
 time to have her own way in the least little 
 thing ; but she had a glimmering sense that such 
 was the trouble. 
 
 Her father, after taking surreptitious glances 
 at her pale face and troubled eyes, decided fi 
 nally that what was to be said must be said, and 
 asked, abruptly : 
 
 " When did you see Harold, my daughter ? " 
 
 Ruth started, and the question made the blood 
 rush to ker face, she did not know why. 
 
 " I saw him last evening, after prayer-meeting,
 
 Ruth and Harold. 339 
 
 I believe," she answered, speaking in her usual 
 quiet tone, but fixing an inquiring look on ln:r 
 father. 
 
 " Did he speak of not feeling well ? " 
 
 " No, sir ; not at all. Why ? " 
 
 " I hear that he is quite sick this morning ; 
 was taken in the night. Something like a fit, I 
 should judge ; may be nothing but a slight at 
 tack, brought on by late suppers. He was at 
 the club last night. I thought I would call af 
 ter breakfast, and learn the extent of the illness. 
 If you want to send a message or note, I can de 
 liver it." 
 
 That was the beginning of dreary d.ij-s. Ruth 
 prepared her note a tender, comforting one : 
 but it was brought buck to her ; and as her fa 
 ther handed it to her he suid : 
 
 " He can't read it now, daughter. I dare say 
 it would comfort him if he could ; but he is de 
 lirious; didn't know me; hasn't known any one 
 since he was taken in the night. Keep the let 
 ter till this passes off, then he will be ready for 
 it." 
 
 Very kind and sympathetic were Ruth's 
 friends. The girls came to see her, and kissed
 
 340 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 her wistfully, with tears in their ej-es, but they 
 hud little to say. They knew just how sick her 
 friend was, and they felt as though there was 
 nothing left to say. Her father neglected his 
 business to stay at home with her, and in many 
 a little, thoughtful way touched her heavy heart, 
 as the hours dragged by. 
 
 Not many hours to wait. It was iu the early 
 dawn of the third morning after the news had 
 reached her, that the door-bell pealed sharply 
 through the house. There was but one servant 
 up ; she answered the bell. 
 
 Ruth was up and dressed, and stood in the hall 
 above, listening for what that bell might bring 
 to her. She heard the hurried voice at the door; 
 heard the peremptory order : 
 
 " I want to see Judge Erskine right away." 
 She knew the voice belonged to Nellis Mitchell, 
 and she went down to him in the library. He 
 turned swiftly at the opening of the door, then 
 stood still, and a look of blank dismay swept 
 over his face. 
 
 " It was your father that I wanted to see," he 
 said, quickly. 
 
 "I know," she answered, speaking in her
 
 Ruth and Harold. 841 
 
 usual tone. " I heard your message. My fa 
 ther has not yet risen. He will be down pres 
 ently. Meantime, I thought you might possibly 
 have news of Mr. Wayne's condition. Can you 
 tell me what your father thinks of him this 
 morning ? " 
 
 How very quiet and composed she was I It 
 seemed impossible to realize that she was the 
 promised wife of the man for whom she was ask 
 ing. Nellis Mitchell was distressed ; he did not 
 know what to say or do. His distress showed 
 itself plainly on his face. 
 
 " You need not be afraid to tell me/' she said, 
 half smiling, and speaking more gently than she 
 was apt to speak to this young man. It almost 
 seemed that she was trying to sustain him, and 
 help him to tell his story. " I am not a child 
 you know," she added, still with a smile. 
 
 " You do not know what you are talking 
 about," he said, hoarsely. " Ruth, won't you 
 please go up-stairs and tell your father I want 
 him as soon as possible ? " 
 
 She turned from him half impatiently. 
 
 " My father will be down as soon as possible," 
 she said, coldly. "He is not accustomed to
 
 342 The Chautauqua Grirls a.t Home. 
 
 keep gentlemen waiting beyond what is neces 
 sary. Meantime, if you know, will you be kind 
 enough to give me news of Mr. Waj'ne ? I beg 
 you, Mr. Mitchell, to remember that I am not a 
 silly child, to whom you need be afraid to give a 
 message, if you have one." 
 
 He must answer her now ; there was no es 
 cape. 
 
 " He is," he began, and then he stopped. And 
 her clear, cold, grave eyes looked right at him 
 and waited. His next sentence commenced al 
 most in a moan. " Oh, Ruth, you will make me 
 tell you I It is all over. He has gone." 
 
 " Gone ! " she repeated, incredulously, still 
 staring at him. " Where is he gone ? " 
 
 What an awful question I She realized it her 
 self almost the instant it passed her lips. It 
 made her shudder visibly. But she neither 
 screamed nor fainted, nor in any way, except 
 that strange one, betrayed emotion. Instead, 
 she said : 
 
 " Be seated, Mr. Mitchell, and excuse me ; 
 father is coming." Then she turned and went 
 back up-stairs. 
 
 He heard her firm step on the stairs as she
 
 Ruth and Harold. 343 
 
 went slowly up ; and this poor bearer of faithful 
 tidings shut his face into both his hands and 
 groaned aloud for such misery as could not vent 
 itself in any natural way. He understood that 
 there was something more than ordinary sorrow 
 in Ruth's face. It was as if she had been petri 
 fied. 
 
 Through the days that followed Ruth passed 
 as one in a dream. Every one was very kind. 
 Her father showed a talent for patience and 
 gentleness that no one had known he possessed. 
 
 The girls came to see her ; but she would not 
 be seen. She shrank from them. They did not 
 wonder at that ; they were half relieved that it 
 was so. Such a pall seemed to them to have 
 settled suddenly over her life that they felt at a 
 loss what to say, how to meet her. So when 
 she sent to them, from her darkened and gloomy 
 room, kind messages of thanks for their kind 
 ness, and asked them to further show their sym 
 pathy by allowing her to stay utterly alone for 
 awhile, they drew relieved sighs and went away. 
 This much they understood. It was not a time 
 for words. 
 
 As fcr Floss} 7 , she should not have been num-
 
 344 The Chautauqua Q-irls at Home. 
 
 bered among them. She did not call at all ; she 
 sent by Nellis Mitchell a tiny bouquet of lilies of 
 the valley, lying inside of a cool, broad green 
 lily leaf, and on a slip of paper twisted in with 
 it was written : 
 
 " Yea, though I walk through the valley of 
 the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." How 
 Ruth blessed her for that word ! Verily she felt 
 that she was walking through the very blackest 
 of the shadows I It reminded her that she had a 
 friend. 
 
 Slowly the hours dragged on. The grand and 
 solemn funeral was planned and the plans car 
 ried out. Mr. Wayne was among the very 
 wealthy of the city. Ilis father's mansion was 
 shrouded in its appropriate crape, the rooms and 
 the halls and the rich, dark solemn coffin glitter 
 ing with its solid silver screws and handles, were 
 almost hidden in rare and costly flowers. Ruth, 
 in the deepest of mourning robes, accompanied 
 by her father, from whose shoulder swept long 
 streamers of crape, sat in the Erskine carriage 
 and followed directly after the hearse, chief 
 mourner in the long and solemn train. 
 
 In every conceivable way that love could de-
 
 Ruth and Harold. 845 
 
 vise and wealth carry out, were the last tokens 
 of respect paid to the quiet clay that understood 
 not what was passing around it. 
 
 The music was by the quartette choir of the 
 First Church, and was like a wail of angel voices 
 in its wonderful pathos and tenderness. 
 
 The pastor spoke a few words, tenderly, sol 
 emnly pointing the mourners to One who alone 
 could sustain, earnestly urging those who knew 
 nothing of the love of Christ to take refuge now 
 in his open arms and find rest there. 
 
 But alas, alas ! not a single word could he say 
 about the soul that had gone out from that si 
 lent body before them ; gone to live forever. 
 Was it possible for those holding such belief as 
 theirs to have a shadow of hope that the 
 end of such a life as his had been could be 
 bright ? 
 
 Not one of those who understood anything 
 about this matter dared for an instant to hope it. 
 Tl'ey understood the awful solemn silence of the 
 minister. There was nothing for that grave but 
 silence. Hope for the living, and he pointed 
 them earnestly to the source of ull hope ; but for 
 the dead, silence.
 
 846 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 What an awfully solemn task to conduct such 
 funeral services. The pastor may not read the 
 comforting words : " Blessed are the dead who 
 die in the Lord," because before them lies one 
 who did not die in the Lord, and common sense 
 tells the most thoughtless that if those are blessed 
 who die in the Lord theie must be a reverse side 
 to the picture, else no sense to the statement. 
 So the verse must be passed by. It is too late 
 to help the dead, and it need not tear the hearts 
 of the living. He can not read, " I shall go to 
 him, but he shall not return to me." 
 
 God forbid, prays the sad pastor in his heart, 
 that mother or father or friend shall so die as to 
 go to this one, who did not die in the Lord. 
 We can not even hope for that. All the long 
 line of tender, helpful verses, glowing with light 
 for the coming morning, shining with immortal 
 ity and unending union must be passed by ; for 
 each and every one of them have a clause which 
 shows unmistakably that the immortality is glo 
 rious only under certain conditions, and in this 
 case they have not been met. 
 
 There must in these verses, too, be a reverse 
 side, or else they mean nothing. What shall the
 
 Ruth and Harold. 347 
 
 pastor do ? Clearly he can only say, " In the 
 midst of life we are in death." That is true ; 
 his audience feel it ; and he can only pray : " So 
 teach us to number our days that we may apply 
 our hearts unto wisdom." 
 
 But, oh, how can the mothers stand by open 
 graves wherein are laid their sons or daughters, 
 and endure the thought that it is a separation 
 that shall stretch through eternity ! How won 
 derful that any of us are careless or thoughtless 
 for a moment so long as we have a child or a 
 friend unsafe ! 
 
 During all this time of trial Ruth's three 
 friends were hovering around her, trying by ev 
 ery possible attention and tlioughtfulness to help 
 or comfort her, and yet feeling their powerless- 
 ness in such a way that it almost made them 
 shrink from trying. 
 
 " Words are such a mocker}'," Marion said to 
 her one evening, as they sat together. " Some 
 times I almost hate myself for trying to speak to 
 you at all. What can any human being say to 
 one who is shrouded in an awful sorrow ? " 
 
 Ruth shuddered visibly. 
 
 ** It w an ' awful ' sorrow," she said ; " you
 
 348 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 have used the right word with which to express 
 it ; but there is a shade to it that you do not uu- 
 derstaud. I don't believe that by experience you 
 ever will ; I pray God that you may not. Think 
 of burying a friend in the grave without the 
 slightest hope of ever meeting him in peace 
 again 1" 
 
 "You have nothing to do with that, Ruth; 
 God is the judge. I don't think you ought to 
 allow yourself to think of it." 
 
 44 There I think you are mistaken ; I believe I 
 ought to think of it. Marion, you know, and 1 
 know, that there is simply nothing at all on 
 which to build a hope of meeting in peace the 
 man we buried last week. You think it almost 
 shocking that I can speak of him in that way ; 
 I know you do. People are apt to hide behind 
 the very flimsiest vail of fancied hopes when 
 they talk of such things. 
 
 44 Perhaps a merciful God permits some to hug 
 a worthless hope when they think of their dead 
 treasures, since it can do no harm to those who 
 are gone ; but I am not one of that class of peo 
 ple. Besides, I am appearing to you, and every 
 body, in a false light. I am tired of it. Marion,
 
 Muth and Harold. 849 
 
 Mr. Wayne was not to me what he ought to have 
 been, since I was his promised wife. You know 
 howl have changed of late; }"ou know theie 
 was hardly a thought or feeling of mine in which 
 he could sympathize ; but the worst of it is, he 
 never did sympathize with me in the true sense ; 
 he never filled my heart. 
 
 " My promise to him was one of those false steps 
 that people like me, who are ruled by society, 
 take because it seems to be the proper thing to 
 do next, or because we feel it might as well be 
 that as anything ; perhaps because it will please 
 one's father in a business point of view, or please 
 one's own sense of importance ; satisfy one's de 
 sire to be foremost in the fashionable world. I 
 am humiliating myself to tell you, plainly, that 
 my promise meant not much more than that. 1 
 did not realize how empty it was till 1 found 
 that all my plans, and aims, and hopes in life 
 were changed. That, in short, life had come to 
 seem more to me than a glittering weariness, 
 that was to be borne with the best grace 1 could 
 assume. This was nearly all I had found in so 
 ciety, or hoped to find. 
 
 " I followed Mr. Wayne to the grav^ in the po-
 
 850 The Ohautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 sition of chief mourner, because I felt that it was 
 a token of respect that I o\ved to the memory of 
 the man whom I had wronged, and because I felt 
 that the world had no business with our private 
 affairs ; but he was not to me what people think 
 he was, and I feel as though [ wanted you to 
 know it, even though it humiliates me beyond 
 measure to make the confession. At the same 
 time I have an awful sorrow, too awful to be ex 
 pressed in words. 
 
 " Marion, I think you will understand what I 
 mean when I say that I believe I have the blood 
 of a lost soul clinging to my garments. I know 
 as well as I sit here to-night that I might have 
 influenced Harold Wayne into the right way. I 
 know his love for me was so sincere, and so 
 strong, that he would have been willing to try to 
 do almost anything that I had asked. I believe 
 in my soul that had I urged the matter of per 
 sonal salvation on his immediate attention, he 
 would have given it thought. But I never did 
 never. 
 
 " Marion, even on that last evening of his life 
 I mean before he was sick when he himself 
 invited the words, I was silent. I did not mean
 
 Ruth and Harold. 351 
 
 to continue so ; I meant, when I got ready, to 
 speak to him about this matter ; I meant to do 
 everything right ; but I was determined to take 
 my own time for it, and I took it, and now he ia 
 gone! Marion, you know nothing about such a 
 sorrow as that ! Now, why did I act in this in 
 sane way ? 
 
 " I know the reason, one of them at least ; and 
 the awful selfishness and cowardice of it only 
 brands me deeper. It was because I was afiaid 
 to have him become a Christian man I I knew 
 if he did I should have no excuse for breaking 
 the pledges that had passed between us ; in plain 
 words, I would have no excuse for not marrying 
 him ; and I did not want to do it ! I felt that 
 marriage vows would mean to me in the future 
 what they never meant in the past, and that 
 there was really nothing in common between 
 Mr. Wayne and myself; that I could not assent 
 to the marriage service with him, and be guilt 
 less before God. So to spare myself, to have 
 what looked like a conscientious excuse for 
 breaking vows that ought never to have been 
 made, I deliberately sacrificed his soul I Marion 
 Wilbur, think of tkat I "
 
 362 The CTiautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 " You didu't mean to do that ! " Marion said, 
 in an aAve-stricken voice ; she was astonished 
 and shocked, and bewildered as to what to 
 say. 
 
 Ruth answered her almost fiercely : 
 
 "No, I didn't mean to; and as to that, I never 
 meant to do anything that was not just right in 
 my life ; but I meant to have just exactly my 
 own way of doing things, and I tell you I took 
 it. Now, Marion, while I blame myself as no 
 other person ever can, I still blame others. I 
 was never taught as I should have been about 
 the sacredness of human loves, and the awful- 
 ness of human vows and pledges. I was never 
 taught that for girls to dally with such pledges, 
 to flirt with them, before they knew anything 
 about life or about their own hearts was a siii in 
 the sight of God. I ought to have been so 
 taught. 
 
 " Perhaps if I had had a mother to teach me I 
 should have been different ; but I am not even 
 sure of that. Mothers seem to me to allow 
 strange trifling with these subjects, even if they 
 do not actually prepare the way. But all this 
 does not relieve me. I have sinned; no one
 
 Ruth and Harold. 353 
 
 but myself understands how deeply, and no one 
 but me knows the bitterness of it. 
 
 " Now I feel as though the whole of the rest 
 of my life must be given to atone for this hor 
 rible fatal mistake. I wasted the last hour 
 I ever had with a soul, and I have before 
 me the awful consciousness that I might have 
 saved it. 
 
 " It is all done now, and can never be undone ; 
 that is the saddest part of it. But there is one 
 thing I can do ; I need never live through a 
 like experience again ; I will give the rest of my 
 life to atone for the past ; I will never again be 
 guilty of coming in contact with a soul, unpre 
 pared for death, without urging upon that soul, 
 as often as I have opportunity, the necessity for 
 preparation ; I see plainly that it is the impor 
 tant thing in life." 
 
 There hovered over Marion's mind, while 
 these last sentences were being spoken, words 
 something like these : 
 
 " The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth 
 from all sin." 
 
 She almost said to Ruth that even for this 
 gin the atonement had been made ; she must
 
 854 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 not try to make another. But the error that 
 only faintly glimmered hi Ruth's sentence was 
 so mixed with solemn and helpful truth that she 
 felt at a loss as to whether there was error at all, 
 &nd BO held her peace.
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 REVIVAL. 
 
 S the early autumn months slipped away, 
 and touches of winter began to show 
 around them, it became evident that a new feel 
 ing was stirring in the First Church. 
 
 No need now to work for increased numbers 
 at the prayer-meeting; at least there was not 
 the need that formerly existed ; the room was 
 full, and the meetings solemn and earnest. The 
 Spirit of God was hovering over the place. 
 Drops of the coming shower were already begin 
 ning to fall. 
 
 What was the cause of the quickened hearts ? 
 
 (355)
 
 856 The Chautauqua Grirls at Nome. 
 
 Who knew save the Watcher on the tower in 
 the eternal city? Was it because of the sudden, 
 and solemn, and hopeless death occurring in the 
 very center of what was called " the first cir 
 cles ? " Was it the spirit developed apparently 
 by this death, showing itself in eager, indefatiga 
 ble effort wherever Ruth Erskine went, with 
 whomsoever she carne in contact? 
 
 Was it Marion Wilbur's new way of teaching, 
 that included not only the intellect of her pupils. 
 but looked beyond that, with loving word, for 
 the empty soul ? Was it Eurie Mitchell's pa 
 tient way of taking up home work and care, that 
 had been distasteful to her, and that she had 
 shunned in days gone by? Was it Flossy Ship 
 ley's way of teaching the Sabbath-school lessons 
 to " those boys " of hers ? 
 
 Was it the quickened sense which throbbed in 
 the almost discouraged heart of the pastor when 
 ever he came in contact with either of these 
 four? Was it the patient, persistent, unassum 
 ing work of John Warden as he went about in 
 the shop among his fellow- workmen, dropping 
 an earnest word here, a pressing invitation there ? 
 
 Who shall tell whether either, or all of these
 
 Revival. 857 
 
 influences, combined with hundreds <jt' others, 
 set in motion by like causes, were the beginnings 
 of the solemn and blessed harvest time, that- 
 dawned at last on those who had been sowing 
 iu tears? 
 
 The fact was appr/ent. Even in the First 
 Church, that model of propriety and respectabil 
 ity, that church which had so feared excitement 
 or unusual efforts of any sort, there was a revi 
 val I 
 
 Among those who were coming, and who were 
 growing willing to let others know that they were 
 awakening to a sense of the importance of these 
 things, were Dr. and Mrs. Mitchell, Eurie's fa 
 ther and mother. To themselves they did not 
 hesitate to say that the change in Euiie was so 
 marked and so increasing in its power over her 
 life, that it obliged them to think seriously of 
 this thing. 
 
 Among the interested also were a score 01 
 more of girls from Marion's room in the great 
 school ; and more came every day. Marion's face 
 was shining, and she gathered her brood about 
 her as a mother would the children of her love 
 and longing.
 
 858 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 Among them were four of Flossy's boys ; and 
 half a dozen boys, friends of theirs, who xvere 
 not Flossj^'s, and who yet, somewaj r , joined her 
 train and managed to be " counted in." Among 
 them was Judge Erskine I mean among those 
 who continued to come to the meetings com 
 ing alone, and being reverent and thoughtful 
 during the services, but going away with bowed 
 head, and making no sign : there was something 
 in the way with Judge Erskine that no one un 
 derstood. 
 
 As for Ruth how she worked during these 
 days I Not with a glad light in her eyes, such as 
 Marion and Flossy hud ; not with a satisfied face 
 as if the question of something to do that was 
 worth doing, and that helped her, had been set 
 tled, such as Eurie Mitchell wore ; rather with a 
 Bad feverish impatience to accomplish results ; 
 shrinking from nothing, willing to do anything, 
 go anywhere, yet meeting with far less encour 
 agement, and seeing far less fruits, than any of 
 the others. She did not realize that she was 
 working with a sort of desperate intention of 
 overbalancing the mischief of her mistakes by so 
 much work now, that there would be a sort of
 
 Revival. 359 
 
 even balance at the scales. She would have 
 been shocked had she understood her own 
 heart. 
 
 Meantime, where was Satan ? Content to let 
 this reaping time alone ? Oh, bless you, no I 
 Never busier, never more alert, and watchful, 
 and cautious, and skillful than now ! It was 
 wonderful, too, how many helpers he found 
 whose names were actually on the roll of the 
 First Church ! 
 
 There were those who had had in mind all the 
 fall having little entertainments, "just a few 
 friends, you know, nothing like a party ; they 
 were sorry to be obliged to have them just now 
 while there were meetings ; but Miss Gilmore 
 was in town, and would be here so short a time, 
 they must invite her ; it would not be treating 
 her well to take no notice of her visit; and, 
 really, the people whom they proposed to invite 
 were those who did not attend church, so no 
 harm could be done." 
 
 These were some of Satan's helpers. There 
 were others who were more outspoken. They 
 " did not believe in special efforts ; seasons of 
 excitement ; religious dissipations nothing else.
 
 360 The Chautauqua Q-irls at Home. 
 
 People should be religious at all times, not put 
 it oil for special occasions." 
 
 It was well enough to have a special season foi 
 parties, and a special season for going to the sea 
 side, and a special season for doing one's dress 
 making, and a special season for cleaning house, 
 and a special season for everything under the sun 
 but religious meetings; these should be con 
 ducted at all times. Was that what they 
 meant ? Oh, dear, no I They should not be con 
 ducted at all. Was that what they meant? 
 Who should tell what they did mean ? One 
 lady said : 
 
 " The idea of the bell ringing every evening 
 for prayer-meeting I It was too absurd ! Peo 
 ple must have a little time for recreation ; these 
 weeks just before the holidays were always by 
 common consent the time for festivities of all 
 sorts; it was downright folly to expect young 
 people to give up their pleasures and go every 
 evening to meeting." 
 
 So she issued her cards for a party, and gath 
 ered as many of the young people about her as 
 she could. And this woman was a member of 
 the First Church ! And tliis woman professed
 
 Revival. 361 
 
 to believe in the verse that read, " Whether 
 therefore ye eat or drink, or whatever ye do, do 
 all to the glory of God ! " 
 
 There were others who went to these parties, 
 hushing their consciences meantime by the ex 
 planation that the social duties were important 
 ones, and that one whose heart was right could 
 serve God as well having religious conversation 
 at a party, as she could occupying a seat at a 
 prayer-meeting. Perhaps they really believed 
 it. What marvel? Satan himself is trans 
 formed into an angel of light. 
 
 The trouble about the sincerity was, that those 
 same persons were not unaware of certain sneering 
 remarks that were being made, to the effect that 
 if church-members could go to parties when there 
 were meetings at their own church, they could 
 surely be excused from the meetings ; and they 
 could not have been utterly ignorant of the 
 verse that read plainly, " Let not your good be 
 evil spoken of." 
 
 There were still others who compromised mat 
 ters, taking the meetings for the first hour of the 
 evening and a party for the next three ; and the 
 lookers-on said, sneeringly, that there was a strife
 
 362 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 going on between the soul, the flesh and the 
 devil, and they wondered which would conquer I 
 
 So all these classes flourished and worked in 
 their different ways in the First Church ; just as 
 they always will work, until that day when the 
 wheat shall be forever separated from the tares. 
 The wonder is why so many blinded eyes must 
 insist that because there are tares, there is there 
 fore no wheat. The Lord said, " Let both grow 
 together until the harvest." 
 
 " I don't understand it," Ruth said one day to 
 Marion, as they talked the work over, and tried 
 to lay plans for future helpfulness. " Why do 
 you suppose it is that I seem able to do nothing 
 at all ? I try with all my might ; my heart is 
 surely in it, and I long with a desire that seems 
 almost as if it would consume me, to see some 
 fruit of my work, and yet I don't. What can be 
 the difficulty?" 
 
 " I don't know," Marion said, speaking hesitat 
 ingly, as one who would like to say more if she 
 dared. " I don't feel competent to answer that 
 question, and yet, sometimes, I have feared that 
 you might be trying to compromise with the 
 Lord."
 
 Revival. 363 
 
 " I don't understand you ; in what way do you 
 mean ? I try to do my duty in every place that 
 I can think of. I am not compromising on any 
 subject, so far as I know. Jf I am, I will cer 
 tainly be grateful to any one who will point it 
 out to me." 
 
 " I am not sure that it is sufficiently clear to 
 my own mind to be able to point it out," Marion 
 said, still visibly embarrassed. " But, Ruth, it 
 sometimes seems to me as if you had said to 
 yourself, 'Now I will work so much and pray so 
 much, and then I ought to have rest from the 
 pain that is goading me on, and I ought to be 
 able to feel that I have atoned for past mistakes, 
 and the account against me is squared.' " 
 
 Ruth turned from her impatiently. 
 
 " You are a strange comforter," she said, al 
 most indignantly. " Do you mean by that to in 
 timate that you think I ought never to look or 
 hope for rest of mind again because I have made 
 one fearful mistake ? Do you mean that I ought 
 always to carry with me the sense of the bur 
 den?" 
 
 " I mean no such thing. You cannot think 
 I so estimate the power of the sacrifice for sin.
 
 864 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 Ruth, I mean simply this : Nothing that you or 
 I can do can possibly make one sin white, one 
 mistake as though it had not been, give one mo 
 ment of rest to a troubled heart. But the blood 
 of Jesus Christ can do all this, and it does seem 
 to me that you are ignoring it, and trying to 
 work out your own rest." 
 
 Ruth was thoughtful; the look of vexation 
 passed from her face. 
 
 " It may be so," she said, after a long silence. 
 " I begin dimly to understand your meaning ; 
 but I don't know how to help it, how to feel dif 
 ferently. I surely ought to work, and surely I 
 have a right to expect results." 
 
 " In one sense, yes, and in another I don't be 
 lieve we have. I begin to feel more and more 
 that you and I have got in some way to be made 
 to understand that it is not our way, but the 
 Lord's, that we must be willing to do, or, what 
 is harder, to leave undone, exactly what he says, 
 do or not do. I can't help feeling that you are 
 planning in your own heart just what ought to 
 be done, and then allowing yourself to feel al 
 most indignant and ill-used because the work is 
 not accomplished."
 
 Revival. 865 
 
 " [ don't know how you have succeeded in 
 seeing so deeply into my heart," Ruth said, with 
 a wan smile. " I believe it is so, though I am not 
 sure that I ever saw it before." 
 
 " I know why I see it ; because it is my temp 
 tation as well as yours. You and I are both 
 strong-willed ; we have both been used to hav 
 ing our own way ; we want to continue to have 
 it ; we want to do the right things provided we 
 can have the choosing of them. Flossy, now, 
 with her yielding nature, is willing to be led, as 
 you and I are not. I have to fight against this 
 tendency to carry out my plans and look for my 
 results all the time. The fact is, Ruth, we must 
 learn to work for Christ, and not set up business 
 for ourselves, and still expect him to give the 
 wages." 
 
 "Still," said Ruth, "I don't know. There 
 seems to me to be nothing that I am not willing 
 to do. I can't think of anything so hard that I 
 would not unhesitatingly do it. I have changed 
 wonderfully in that respect. A little while ago 
 I was not willing to do anything. Now I am 
 ready for anything that can be done." 
 
 " Are you ? " Marion asked, with a visible
 
 366 The CJiautauqua G-irls at Home. 
 
 shiver. " Ruth, are you sure f I can't say that ; 
 I want to say it, and I pray that I may be able ; 
 yet I can think of so many things that I might 
 be called on to do that I shrink from. I have 
 given up trying to do them, and fallen back on 
 the promise, ' My grace is sufficient,' only pray 
 ing, 4 Lord, give me the needed grace for to-day ; 
 I will not reach out for to-morrow.' And, Ruth, I 
 feel sure that neither you nor I must try to cover 
 our past errors with present usefulness. Noth 
 ing but the blood of Christ can cover any wrong; 
 we must rest on that, and on that alone." 
 
 " I believe I only understand in part what you 
 mean. I don't see how you ever reached so far 
 ahead of me in faith and in understanding. But 
 I believe you are farther. Still, I can't think of 
 anything that I am not willing and ready to do. 
 I wish I might be tried ; I wish He would give 
 me some work, not of my own planning, that 
 He might see how willing I am to do anything." 
 
 This was Ruth's last remark to her friend that 
 evening. Flossy and Eurie both came in, and 
 they went out to the meeting together, Ruth 
 thinking still of the talk they had, and feeling 
 sure that she could do whatever she found, and
 
 Revival. 
 
 367 
 
 yet the Master was planning a way for her that 
 very evening, the entrance to which she had 
 never seen, never dreamed of as possible. So 
 many ways he has for leading us I Blessed are 
 those who have come to the experience that 
 makes them willing to be led, even in darkness 
 and blindness, trusting to the Sun of Righteous 
 ness for light.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE STRANGE 8TOEY. 
 
 ERSKINE was in his library, pac- 
 ing slowly back and forth, his forehead 
 lined with heavy wrinkles, and his face wearing 
 the expression of one involved in deep and trou 
 bled thought. He had just come home from the 
 evening meeting, the last meeting of the series 
 that had held the attention of so many hearts 
 during four weeks of harvest time. 
 
 Judge Erskine had been a silent and attentive 
 listener. All through the solemnities of the ser 
 mon, that seemed written for his sake, and to 
 point right at him, he had never moved his keen, 
 steady eyes away from the preacher's face. Tha 
 (368)
 
 The Strange Story. 869 
 
 text of that sermon he was not likely to forget. 
 He had looked it up, and read it, with it3 con 
 nections, the moment he reached the privacy of 
 his library. 
 
 " The harvest is past, the summer is ended, 
 and we are not saved." That was the text. 
 Judge Erskine said it over and over to his own 
 soul. It was true ; it fitted his condition as pre 
 cisely as though it had been written for him. 
 The harvest that would tell for eternity had been 
 reaped all around him. He had looked, and lis 
 tened, and resolved ; and still he stood outside, 
 ungarnered. 
 
 Moreover, one portion of the solemn sermon 
 fitted him, also. When Dr. Dennis spoke of 
 those who had let this season pass, unhelped, be 
 cause they had an inner life that would not bear 
 the gaze of the public, because they were not 
 willing to drag out their past and cast it away 
 from them, Judge Erskine had started and fixed 
 a stern glance on the preacher. 
 
 Did he know his secret, that had been hidden 
 away with such persistent care? What scoun 
 drel could have enlightened him ? This, only 
 for a moment ; then he settled back and realized
 
 370 TJte Cliautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 his folly. Dr. Dennis knew nothing of himself 
 or his past. Then came that other awfully sol 
 emn thought there was One who did ? Could 
 it be that his voice bad instructed the pastor 
 what special point to make in that sermon, with 
 such emphasis and power? Was the keen eye 
 of the Eternal God pointing his finger, now, at 
 him, and saying ; " Thou art the man ? " 
 
 He knew all this was true ; he knew that the 
 work of the past month had greatly moved him ; 
 he knew on the evening when the text had been, 
 " Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian," 
 that he had felt himself almost persuaded ; he 
 knew then, as he did now, that but one thing 
 stood in the way of his entire persuasion. 
 
 As he walked up and down his library on this 
 evening, he felt fully persuaded in his own mind 
 that the time had arrived when he was being 
 called on persistently for a decision. More than 
 that, he felt that the decision was to be not only 
 for time, but for eternity ; that he must settle 
 the question of his future then and there. He 
 had locked the door after him, as he came into 
 the library, with a sort of grim determination to 
 settle the question before he stepped into the
 
 The Strange tilory. 371 
 
 outside world again. How would it be settled * 
 He did not know himself. He did not dare tc 
 think how it would end ; he simply felt that the 
 conflict must end. 
 
 Meantime, Ruth was up-stairs on her knees, 
 praying for her father. Her heart felt very 
 heavy. She had prayed for this father with all 
 her soul; prayed, with what she felt was a de 
 gree of faith, that this evening, -at the meeting, 
 he might settle the question at issue, and settle 
 it forever. She had felt a bitter, and almost an 
 overwhelming, disappointment that the meeting 
 closed and left him just where he had stood for a 
 month. 
 
 There seemed nothing left to do. She had 
 not spared her words, her entreaties. She had 
 gotten bravely over her fears of approaching her 
 father. But now it seemed to her that there 
 was nothing left to say. She could still pray, 
 and it was with a half-despairing cry that she 
 fell on her knees, realizing in her very soul that 
 only the power of God could convert her father. 
 Into the midst of this longing, clinging cry for 
 help there came a knock. 
 
 " Judge Erskine would like to have you come
 
 372 The Chautauqua Girls at Homt. 
 
 to the library for a few minutes, if you have not 
 retired." 
 
 This was Katie Flinn's message. And Ruth, 
 a.B she swiftly set about obeying the summons, 
 said: 
 
 " Oh, Katie, pray for father ! " for among those 
 who, during the last few weeks, had learned to 
 pray was Katie Flinn. Poor Katie, with the 
 simple child-like faith and loving heart which she 
 brought to the service, was destined to be a 
 shining light in a dark world ; and the glory 
 thereof would sparkle forever in Flossy Ship 
 ley's crown. 
 
 Judge Erskine turned as his daughter opened 
 the door, and motioned her to a seat. Then he 
 continued his walk. Something in his face 
 hushed into silence the words that were on her 
 lips ; but presently he stopped before her, and 
 his voice startled her with its strangeness. 
 
 w My daughter, I have something to tell you, 
 and something to ask you. I shall have to cause 
 you great grief and shame, and I want to begin 
 first by asking you to forgive your father." 
 
 Ruth felt her face growing pale. What could 
 he mean? Had she not always looked up to
 
 TJte Strange Story. 373 
 
 him as above most men, even Christian men? 
 faultless in his business transactions, blameless 
 in his lift 1 ? She attempted to speak, and yet 
 felt that she did not know what to say. Appar 
 ently he expected no word from her ; for he went 
 on hurriedly : 
 
 "You have, during these few weeks past, 
 shown a sort of interest in me, that I never saw 
 manifested before. I have reason to think that 
 you have concluded, lately, that the most earnest 
 desire you can have concerning your father, is to 
 see him a Christian man ? I can conscientiously 
 tell you that I have felt the necessity for this ex 
 perience as I never did before ; that I realize its 
 importance, and that I want it; yet there is 
 something in the way, something that I must do, 
 and confess, and abide by for the future, that I 
 shrink from more on your account than my own. 
 My child, do you want this thing enough to en 
 dure disgrace and humiliation, and a cross, 
 heavy and hopeless, all your life?" 
 
 " Father," she said, half rising, and looking 
 at him with a bewildered air, a vague doubt of 
 bis sanity, and a half fear of his presence, creep 
 ing into her heart, "what can you possibly
 
 374 The Chautauqua (jf-irls at Home. 
 
 mean ? How can disgrace, or cross-bearing, or 
 trouble of any sort, be connected with you ? I 
 cannot understand you." 
 
 "I know you can not. You think I am talk 
 ing wildly, and you are half afraid of me ; but 
 I am perfectly sane. I wish, with all my soul, 
 that a certain portion of my life could be called 
 a wild dream of a disordered brain ; but it is 
 solmnly true. Ruth, if I come out before the 
 world and avow myself a Christian man, with 
 the determination to abide by the teachings of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, it involves my bringing to 
 this house a woman who will have to be re 
 cognized as my wife, and a girl who will have to 
 share with you as my daughter ; a woman whom 
 you will have to call mother, and a girl who is 
 your sister. Are you equal to that ? " 
 
 Every trace of blood left Ruth Erskine's face, 
 Her father watched her narrowly, with his hand 
 touching the bell-rope ; it seemed as if she must 
 faint ; but 8he motioned his hand away. 
 
 " Don't ring," were the first words she said ; 
 ' I am not going to faint. Father, tell me what 
 you mean." 
 
 The actual avowal made, and the fact estab
 
 Strange Story. 375 
 
 lished that his daughter was able to bear it, and 
 to still keep the story between themselves, seemed 
 to quiet Judge Erskine. His intense and almost 
 uncontrollable excitement subsided; the wild 
 look in his eyes calmed, and, drawing a chair be 
 side his daughter, he began in a low steady voice 
 to tell her the strange story : 
 
 "Acts that involve a lifetime of trouble can 
 be told in a few words, Ruth. When your 
 mother died I was almost insane with grief; I 
 can't tell you about that time ; I was young and 
 I was gay, and full of plans, and aims, and in 
 tentions, in all of which she had been involved. 
 Then came the sudden blank, and it almost un 
 settled my reason. There was a young woman 
 boarding at the same house where I went, who 
 was kind to me, who befriended me in various 
 ways, and tried to help me to endure my sor 
 row. She grew to be almost necessary to my en 
 durance of myself. After a little I married her. 
 I did not take this step till I found that my 
 friendship with her, or, rather hers with me, was 
 compromising her in the eyes of others. Let me 
 hurry over it, Ruth. We lived together but a 
 few weeks ; then I was obliged to go abroad.
 
 f76 The CJtautauqua Girts at Home. 
 
 Away from old scenes and associations, arid 
 plunged into business cares, I gradually recov 
 ered my usual tone of mind. But it was not till 
 I came home again that I discovered what a fatal 
 blunder I had made. That young woman had 
 not a single idea in common with my plans and 
 aims in life ; she was ignorant, uncultured, and, 
 it seemed to me, unendurable. How I ever al 
 lowed myself to be such a fool I do not know. 
 But up to this time, I had at least, not been a 
 villain. I didn't desert her, Ruth ; I made a de 
 liberate compromise with her ; she was to take 
 her child and go away, hundreds of miles away, 
 where I would not be likely ever to come in con 
 tact with her again, and I was to take your 
 mother's child and go where I pleased. Of course 
 I was to support her, and I have done so ever 
 since ; that was eighteen years ago ; she is still 
 living, and the daughter is living. I have always 
 been careful to keep them supplied with money ; 
 I have tried to have done for the girl what 
 money could do ; but I have never seen their 
 faces since that time. Now, Ruth, you know the 
 miserable story. There are a hundred details 
 that I could give you, that perhaps would lead
 
 The Strange Story. 877 
 
 you to Lave more pity for your father, if it did 
 not lead you to despise him more for his weak 
 ness. It is hard to be despised by one's child. I 
 tell you truly, Ruth, that the bitterest of this 
 bitterness is the thought of you." 
 
 The proud man's lip quivered and his voice 
 trembled, just here. 
 
 Poor Ruth Erskine ! " I am willing to do 
 anything" she had said to Marion, not two hours 
 before ; and here was a thing, the possibility of 
 which she had never dreamed, staring her in the 
 face, waiting to be done, and she felt that she 
 could not do ifc. Oh, why was it necessary ? 
 " Why not let everything be as it has been ? " said 
 that xvily villain Satan, whispering in her ears. 
 " They were false vows ; they are better broken 
 than kept. He does not love her, though he 
 said he did. And how can we ever endure it, 
 the shame, the disgrace, the horrid explanations 
 our name, the Erskine name, on everybody's lips 
 common loafers sneering at us ? And then to 
 have the family changed ; myself to be only a 
 back figure ; a mother who is not, and never 
 was my mother, taking my place ; and the other 
 one Oh, it can not be possible that we must
 
 378 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 endure this ! There must be some other way. 
 They are doubtless contented, why could it not 
 remain as it is ? " 
 
 As if to answer her unspoken thoughts, Judge 
 Ersldne suddenly said: 
 
 " I have canvassed the entire subject in all its 
 bearings, you may be sure of that. I am living 
 a lie. I am saying my wife is dead, when a 
 woman to whom before God I gave that name is 
 living ; I am saying that I have but one child, 
 when there is another to whom I am as certainly 
 father as I am to j-ou. I am leaving them, nay, 
 obliging them, to live a daily lie. I have assured 
 myself to a certainty that one sin can never be 
 atoned for by another sin ; there is but one atone 
 ment ; and the Source of all help says, ' If we 
 confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive 
 us our sins ; and to cleanse us from all unright 
 eousness.' I know there is only one way of 
 cleansing, daughter." 
 
 " Get thee behind me, Satan." The only per 
 fect life gave that sentence once, not alone for 
 Himself ; thank God he has many a time since 
 enabled his weak children of the flesh to repeat 
 it in triumph. The grace came then and there
 
 The Strange Story. 
 
 to Ruth Erskine. She rose up from her chair, 
 and going over to her father did what she had 
 never remembered doing in her life before. She 
 bent down and wound both arms around his 
 neck and kissed him. Her voice was low and 
 steady : 
 
 u Father, don't let this, or anything earthly, 
 stand between you and Christ. You are not a 
 sinner above all others. It is only the interpos 
 ing hand of God that has kept me from taking 
 sinful vows upon my lips. Let us do just what 
 is right. Send for them to come home, and I 
 will try to be a daughter arid a sister ; and I will 
 stand by you, and help ) r ou in every possible 
 way. There are. harder trials than ours will be, 
 after all." 
 
 It was his daughter who finally and utterly 
 broke the proud, haughty heart. Judge Erskine 
 bowed himself before her and sobbed like a child 
 in the bitterness and the humiliation of his soul. 
 
 " God bless you," he said, at last, in broken 
 utterance. " There is an Almighty Saviour ; I 
 need nothing more than your words to convince 
 me of the truth of that. If love to him can lead 
 your heart to such forgiveness as this, what must
 
 880 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 his forgiveness be ? Ruth, you have saved ray 
 soul ; I will give up the struggle ; I have tried 
 to fight it out ; I have tried to say that I coulJ 
 not ; for my own sake, and for my own name, it 
 seemed impossible. Then when I got beyond 
 that, and felt that for myself, if I could have 
 rest in the love of Christ, and could feel that he 
 forgave me, I cared for nothing else. Thsu I 
 said, 'I can not do this, for my child's sake; I 
 can never plunge her into this depth of sin and 
 shame.' Then, my daughter, there came to me a 
 message from God, and of all those that could 
 come to a mi "enable man like me, it was this: 
 ' He that love) l\ son or daughter more than m<j, 
 is not worthy of me.' Then I saw that 1 rr.not 
 be willing even to lose your love, to make you 
 despise me ; and that was the bitterest r up of 
 all. But, thank God, he has spared me this. 
 God bless you, my daughter." 
 
 There was something almost terrible to Rut^ 
 in seeing her cold, calm father so moved. She 
 had never realized what awfully solemn things 
 tears were till she saw them on her father's 
 cheeks, and felt them falling hot on her head, 
 from eyes so unused to weeping. The ldsseu slid
 
 The Strange Story. 381 
 
 gave him were very soft and clinging full of 
 tender, soothing touches. Then father and 
 daughter knelt together, and the long, long 
 struggle with siu and pride and silence was con 
 cluded. 
 
 Do you think this was a lasting victory for 
 Ruth Erskine ? You do not understand the 
 power of " that old serpent, the Devil," if you 
 can not think how he came to her again and 
 again in the silence of her own room, even into 
 the midst of her rejoicings over the newly- washed 
 soul, even while the joy in heaven among the an- 
 $els was still ringing out over her father, came 
 whispering to her heart to say : 
 
 " Oh, I can't, I can't. Think of it ! The 
 Erskines ! How can we endure it ? Is it possi 
 ble that we must ? Perhaps the woman would 
 rather live as she is." 
 
 As if that had anything to do with the ques 
 tion of right and wrong I The very next instant 
 Ruth juried her lip sneeringly over her own 
 folly. She never forgot that night, nor how the 
 conflict waged. She tried to imagine herself 
 saying " mother " to one who really had a nomi 
 nal right to the title. Not that it was an unfa-
 
 882 The Cliautauqua Ctirh at Home. 
 
 miliar word to her. The old aunt who hud oc 
 cupied the mother's place in the household since 
 Ruth was a wee creature of two years, she had 
 learned almost from the instincts of childhood to 
 call " mamma." And as she grew older and was 
 unused to any other name for Mrs. Wheeler, the 
 widowed aunt, she toned it into the familiar and 
 comfortable word " mother," and had always 
 spoken to and of her in that name. 
 
 Yet she knew very well how little the title 
 meant to her. She had loved this old lady with 
 a sort of pitying, patronizing love, realizing even 
 very early in her life that she, herself, had more 
 self-reliance, more executive ability, in her 1'Xle 
 finger, than was spread all over the placid lad*- 
 who early learned that " Ruthie " was to do pre 
 cisely as she pleased. 
 
 Such a cipher was this same old lady in the 
 household, that when a long lost son appeared 
 oil the surface, during Ruth's absence at Cluiu- 
 tauqua, proving, sturdy old California!! as he 
 was, to have a home and place for his mother, 
 and a heart to take her with him, her departure 
 caused scarcely a ripple in the well-ordered 
 household of trie Era Lines.
 
 The Strange Story. 383 
 
 She had been its nominal head for eighteen 
 years, but the real head who was absent at Chau- 
 tauqua, had three or four perfectly trained ser 
 vants, who knew their young mistress' will so 
 well, that they could execute it in her absence 
 as well as when she was present. 
 
 So when Ruth took, in the eyes of everybody, 
 the position that had really been hers so long, it 
 made no sort of change in her plans or ways. 
 And beyond a certain lingering tenderness when 
 she spoke of her by that familiar title, " mother," 
 there was no indication that the woman who had 
 had so constant and intimate connection with 
 her life was remembered. 
 
 But this name applied to another, and that 
 other, one whom she had never seen in her life. 
 and who yet was actuaHy to occupy the position 
 of head of the household her father's wife, in 
 the eyes of society her mother, spoken of as 
 such, herself asked, " How is your mother ? " or 
 u What does your mother think of this ? " Would 
 any one dare to use that name to her ? No one 
 had so spoken of her aunt. They all knew she 
 was only her aunt, though she chose to pet her 
 by the use of that tender name. Could she bear
 
 384 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 all these things and a hundred others that would 
 come up ? 
 
 " Marion," she said the next day as she chanced 
 to meet that young lady on the street, " I have 
 something to tell you. I want to call on you to 
 witness that I shall never again be guilty of that 
 vainglorious absurdity of saying that [ am ready 
 for anything. One can never know whether 
 this is true or not ; at least I am sure I never 
 can. What I am to say in the future is simply, 
 * Lord, make me willing to do what there is for 
 me to do this day.' Remember that in a few 
 days you will understand what I mean." 
 
 Then she went on. Marion pondered over it. 
 She did not understand it at all. What trial 
 could have come to Ruth that had brought her 
 the knowledge of the weakness of her own 
 heart ? She wondered if it had also brought her 
 peace.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 LONELINESS. 
 
 SUPPOSE there has never been an earn 
 est worker, an enthusiast on any subject, 
 in this changeful world, but has been a victim 
 at some time to the dismalness of a reaction. 
 The most forlorn little victim that could be im 
 agined was Flossy Shipley on that evening after 
 the meetings, on which her soul had fed so long, 
 were closed. 
 
 Everything in nature and in circumstances 
 conspired to sink her into her desolate mood. 
 In the first place it was raining. Now a rain 
 closing in upon a warm and dusty summer day 
 is a positive delight ; one can listen to the pat- 
 
 (385*
 
 386 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 tering drops with a sense of eager satisfaction 
 but a rain in midwinter, after a day of sunlesa 
 mist and fog, almost amounting to rain, when the 
 streets are that mixture of snow and water thai 
 can be known only as " slush," when every open 
 ing of a door sends in gusts of damp air that 
 chill to one's very bones, this weather is a trial ; 
 at least it seemed such to poor little Flossy. 
 
 She shivered over the fire in the coal grate. 
 It glowed brightly, and the room was warm and 
 bright, yet to Flossy there was a sense of chill in 
 everything. She was all alone ; and the circum 
 stances connected with that loneliness were not 
 calculated to brighten the evening for her. The 
 entire family had gone out to a party, not one of 
 those quiet little entertainments which people 
 had been so careful to explain and apologize for 
 during the meetings, but a grand display of toilet 
 and supper, and expenditure of all kinds. 
 
 Mrs. Westervelt, the hostess, being at all times 
 noted for the display of her entertainments, had 
 lavished more than the usual amount of time and 
 money on the present ones, and waited for the 
 meetings to close with the most exemplary pa 
 tience, in order that she might gain a very few
 
 loneliness. 887 
 
 among her guests from those who felt the impro 
 priety of mixing things too much. 
 
 To be sure, the society in general which was 
 admitted to Mrs. Westervelt's parlors was not 
 from that class who had any scruples as to what 
 time they attended parties, but there were two 
 or three notable exceptions, and those the lady 
 had been anxious to claim. 
 
 Prominent among them had been the Erskines, 
 it never seeming to occur to Mrs. Westervelt's 
 brains that there could be other excuse found for 
 not accepting her invitation save the meetings 
 that Ruth had taken to attending in such a fran 
 tic manner. Let me say, in passing, that neither 
 Ruth Erskine nor her father honored the invita 
 tion ; they had other matters to attend to. 
 
 Meantime, Flossy Shipley, had utterly dis 
 gusted her mother, and almost offended her fa 
 ther, by giving a peremptory and persistent refu 
 sal. Such a storm of talk as there had been over 
 this matter almost exhausted the strength of 
 poor little Flossy, who did not like argument, 
 and who yet could persist in a most unaccount 
 able firm manner when occasion required. 
 
 " Such an absurd idea I " her sister Kitty said,
 
 388 The Chautauqua Qirh at Home. 
 
 flashing contemptuous eyes on her. " I wonder 
 what }-ou think is going to become of you, 
 Flossy ? Do you mean to mope at home all the 
 rest of the winter? I assure you that Mrs. Wes- 
 tervelt is not the only one who intends to give 
 a party. We are going to have an unusually 
 gay season to revive us after so much bell-toll 
 ing. Don't you mean to appear anywhere? 
 You might as well retire into a convent at once, 
 if that is the case." 
 
 " People will be saying of me, as they do of 
 Mrs. Treslam, soon, that I do not allow you to 
 appear in society while Kitty is still a young 
 lady." This Mrs. Shipley said, and her tone, if 
 not as sharp as Kitty's, had a note of grievance 
 in it that was hard to bear. 
 
 Then Charlie had taken up the theme : 
 " What is the use in turning mope, Sis ? I'm 
 sure you can be as good as you like, and go to a 
 party occasionally." 
 
 " I don't mean to mope, Charlie," Flossy said, 
 trying to speak cheerfully, but there were tears 
 in her eyes and a tremulous sound in her voice. 
 " 1 am truly happier at home than I am at those 
 places ; I don't like to go. It is not entirely be-
 
 Loneliness. 889 
 
 cause I feel I ought not ; it is because I don't 
 
 want to." 
 
 " She has risen above such follies," Kitty said, 
 and it is impossible to tell you what a disagree 
 able inflection there was to her voice. " Mother. 
 I am sorry that the poor child has to associate 
 with such volatile creatures as you and I. She 
 ought to have some kindred spirit." 
 
 " I am sure I don't know where she will find 
 any," Mrs. Shipley said, with a sigh, " outside of 
 that trio of girls, who among them have con 
 trived to make a perfect little slave of you. I 
 am sure I don't know who has any influence 
 over you. I used to think you regarded your 
 mother's wishes a trifle, but I find I am mis 
 taken." 
 
 " Oh, mother I " Flossy said, and this time the 
 tears began to fall, " why will you talk so ? I 
 am sure I try to please you in every way that I 
 can. I did not know that you cared to have me 
 go to parties, unless I wanted to go." 
 
 Either the tears or something else made her 
 Lvother indignant. "What a scene about noth 
 ing," he said, irritably. " Why can't you let 
 Flossy go to parties or not, as she pleases ? Par-
 
 390 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 ties are not such delightful institutions tluit she 
 need be expected to be iu love with them. I 
 should be delighted if I never had to appear at 
 another. Why not let people have their fun in 
 this world where they choose to find it ? If 
 Flossy has lately discovered that hers can only 
 be found in prayer-meeting, I am sure it is a 
 harmless enough diversion while the fit lasts." 
 
 Mrs. Shipley laughed. Her son could nearly 
 always put her into good humor. Besides, she 
 didn't like to see tears on her baby's face ; that 
 was her pet name for Flossy. 
 
 " Oh, I don't know that it makes any serious 
 difference," she said ; " not enough to spoil your 
 eyes over, Flossy. I don't want you to go out 
 with us unless you want to ; only it is rather 
 embarrassing to be constantly arranging regrets 
 for you. Besides, I don't see what it is all com 
 ing to. You will be a moping, forsaken crea 
 ture ; old before your time, if this continues." 
 
 As for Mr. Shipley, he maintained a haughty 
 silence, neither expressing an opinion on that 
 subject nor on any other, 'which would involve 
 him in a conversation with Flossy. She knew 
 that he was more seriously displeased with her
 
 Loneliness. 391 
 
 than were any of the others ; not so much about 
 the parties as about other and graver mat 
 ters. 
 
 Col. Baker was the son of Mr. Shipley's old 
 friend. For this reason, and for several others, 
 Mr. Shipley was very fond of him. It had long 
 been in accordance with his plans, that Flossy 
 should become, at some future time, Mrs. Col. 
 Baker, and that the estates of the two families 
 should be thus united. 
 
 While he was not at all the sort of man who 
 would have interfered to push such an arrange 
 ment against the preferences of the parties con 
 cerned, he had looked on with great and increas 
 ing satisfaction, while the plans of the young 
 people evidently tended strongly in that direc 
 tion. 
 
 That his daughter, after an absence from 
 home of only two weeks, should have come in 
 contact with that which seemed to change all 
 her tastes and views and plans, in regard to other 
 matters, but which had actually caused her to 
 turn, with a steady and increasing determination, 
 away from the friend who had been her acknowl 
 edged protector and attendant ever since she
 
 392 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 was a child, was a matter that he did not under 
 stand nor approve. 
 
 " I am not a tyrant," he would say sullenly, 
 when Mrs. Shipley and himself talked the mat 
 ter over ; when she, with the characteristics of a 
 mother, even while her child annoyed and vexed 
 her, yet struggled to speak a word for her when 
 a third person came in to blame. " I never or 
 dered Flossy to be so exceedingly intimate with 
 Col. Baker that their names have been coupled 
 together ever since she was a baby. I never in 
 sisted on her accepting his attentions on all oc 
 casions. It was her own free will. I own that 
 I was pleased with the inclination she displayed, 
 and did what I could to make the way pleasant 
 for her, but the thing is not of my planning. 
 What I am displeased with is this sudden 
 change. There is no reason for it and no sense 
 in it. It is just a mere baby performance, a girl 
 ish freak, very unpleasant for him and very dis 
 agreeable for us. The child ought not to be up 
 held in it." 
 
 So they did their best not to uphold her, and 
 succeeded among them in making her life very 
 disagreeable to her.
 
 Loneliness. 393 
 
 The matter had culminated on the evening 
 before the party in question. Col. Baker, de 
 spite the persistent and patient efforts on Flossy's 
 part to show him the folly of his course, had in 
 sisted on obliging her to speak a decided nega 
 tive to his earnestly pressed question. The re- 
 Bulfc was, an unusually unpleasant domestic 
 scene, and a general air of gloom and unhappi- 
 ness. 
 
 Mr. Shipley had not ordered his daughter to 
 marry Col. Baker. He would have been shocked 
 beyond measure at such a proceeding on the part 
 of a father. But he made her so unhappy, with 
 a sense of his disappointment and disapproval, 
 that more than once she sighed wearily, and 
 wished in her sad little heart that all this living 
 was over. 
 
 Finally, they all went off to Mrs. Westervelt'a 
 party, and left her alone. She had never felt so 
 much alone in her life. The blessed meetings, 
 which had been such a wealth of delight and 
 helpfulness to her heart, were closed. The 
 sweet, and holy, and elevating influences that 
 had surrounded her outer life for so long were 
 withdrawn. She missed them bitterly.
 
 394 The Chautauqua Cf-irls at Home. 
 
 It almost seemed to her as if everything were 
 withdrawn from her. Father, and mother, sis 
 ter, and even her warm-hearted brother, were 
 all more or less annoyed at her course. Charlie 
 had been betrayed into more positive sharpness 
 than this favorite sister had ever felt from him 
 before. He felt that his friend Col. Baker had 
 been ill-treated. 
 
 There was a very sore spot about this matter 
 for Flossy. The truth was, she could not help 
 seeing that in a sense her father was right ; she 
 had brought it on herself; not lately, not since 
 her utter change of views and aims, but long be 
 fore that. With what satisfaction had she al 
 lowed her name to be coupled familiarly with 
 that of Col. Baker ; how much she had enjoyed 
 his exclusive attentions ; not that she really and 
 heartily liked him, with a liking that made her 
 willing to think of him as belonging to her for 
 ever; she had chosen, rather, not to allow her 
 self to think of any such time ; she had con 
 tented herself with saying that she was too young 
 to think of such tilings ; that she was not obliged 
 to settle that question till the time came. 
 
 But, mind you, all the time she chose to allow, 
 and enjoy, and encourage by her smiles and her
 
 Loneliness. 395 
 
 evident pleasure in them, very special attentions, 
 that gave other people liberty to speak of them 
 almost as one. To call it by a very plain name, 
 which Flossy hated, and which made her cheek 
 glow as she forced herself to say it of herself, 
 she had been flirting with Col. Baker. It isn't a 
 nice word ; I don't wonder that she hated it. 
 Yet so long as young ladies continue to be guilty 
 of the sort of conduct that can only be described 
 by that unpleasant and coarse sounding word, I 
 am afraid it will be used. 
 
 All that was over now, at least it was over as 
 much as Flossy could make it ; but there re 
 mained an uncomfortable sense that she had 
 wronged a man who honestly loved her ; not in 
 tentionally no decent woman does that but 
 thoughtlessly ; so many silly girls do that. She 
 had lost her influence over him now ; rather, she 
 had been obliged to put herself in a position to 
 lose all influence. She might have been his true, 
 faithful friend now, and helped him up to a 
 higher manhood only by her former folly she had 
 put it out of her power. These were not pleas 
 ant reflections. Then there was no denying that 
 she felt very desolate. 
 
 " A forlorn friendless creature,'' her mother
 
 396 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 had said she would become, or words to that ef 
 fect. The thought lingered with her. Sli^ 
 looked over her list of friends ; there was always 
 those three girls, growing dearer by every day of 
 association ; yet their lives necessarily ran much 
 upart; it would naturally grow more and more 
 so as the future came to them. Then, too, she 
 was equally intimate with each of them ; they 
 were all equally dear to her. 
 
 Now a woman can not have three friends who 
 shall all fill that one place in her heart which she 
 finds. She thought of her home ties ; strong they 
 certainly were; growing stronger every day. 
 There were few things that she did not feel willing 
 to do for her father ; but the one thing that he 
 wanted just now was that she should marry Col. 
 Baker 1 ; she could not do that even to please 
 him. 
 
 He would recover from that state of feeling, 
 of course ; but would not other kindred states of 
 feeling constantly arise, both with him and with 
 her mother? Could she not forsee a constant 
 difference of opinion on almost every imaginable 
 topic ? Then there was her sister Kitty. Could 
 any two lives run more widely apart than hers
 
 Loneliness. 397 
 
 and Kitty's were likely to ? Had they a single 
 taste in common? 
 
 As for Charlie, Flossy turned from that sub 
 ject ; it was too sore and too tender a spot to be 
 probed. She trembled for Charlie ; he was walk 
 ing in slippery places ; the descent was growing 
 easier ; she felt that rather than saw it ; and, she 
 felt, too, that his friend Col. Baker was the 
 leader ; and she felt, too, that her intimacy with 
 Col. Baker had greatly strengthened his. 
 
 No wonder that the spot was a sore one. 
 Grouping all these things together and brooding 
 over them, with no sound breaking the silence 
 save the ceaseless drip, drip of the rain, and 
 the whirls of defiant wind, sitting there in her 
 loneliness, the large arm-chair in which she 
 crouched being drawn up before that glowing 
 fire, is it any wonder that the firelight revealed 
 the fact that great silent tears were slowly fol 
 lowing each other down Flossy's round smooth 
 cheek ? She felt like a pitiful, lonely, forsaken 
 baby. 
 
 It was not that she was utterly miserable ; 
 she recognized even then the thought that she 
 had an almighty, everlasting, unchanging Friend,
 
 898 The Chautauqua G-irls at Home. 
 
 She re-juiced even then at the thought, not as 
 she might have rejoiced, not as it was her privi 
 lege to do, but I mean she knew that all these 
 trials, and mistakes, and burdens, were but for a 
 moment. She knew that to-morrow, when the 
 sun shone again, she would be able to come out 
 from behind these clouds and grasp some of the 
 brightness of her life, and endure with patience 
 the little annoyances that were to be borne ; re 
 membering that she was still very young, and 
 that there was a chance for a great deal of bright 
 ness for her, even on this side. 
 
 But, in the meantime, her intensely human 
 heart craved human companionship and sympa 
 thy ; craved it to such a degree, that if it had 
 not been for the rain and the darkness, and the 
 growing lateness of the hour, she would have 
 gone out then after one of those three girls to 
 share her mood with her. 
 
 Into the midst of this state of dismal journey 
 ing into the valley of gloom there pealed the 
 Mtund of the bell. It did not startle her ; the 
 callers in their circle would be sure to be engaged 
 at ihf, party, and to suppose that she was. Be 
 sides, it was hardly an evening for ordinary call-
 
 Loneliness. 399 
 
 era something as important as a party was, 
 would be expected to call out people to-uiglit. 
 It was some one with a business message for fa 
 ther, she presumed ; and she did not arouse from 
 her curled-up position among the cushions of 
 that great chair. 
 
 Half listening, half giving attention to her own 
 thoughts, she was conscious that a servant came 
 to answer the bell, that the front door opened 
 and shut, that there was a question asked and 
 answered in the hall. Then she gave over at 
 tending to the matter. If she were needed the 
 girl knew she was in the library. Yes, she was 
 to be summoned for something, to receive the 
 message probably, for the library door quietly 
 unclosed. 
 
 " What is it, Katie ? " she asked, in a sort of 
 muffled undertone, to hide the traces of disturb 
 ance in her voice, and not turning her head in 
 that direction ; she knew there were tears on her 
 cheeks. 
 
 " Suppose it should not be Katie, may any one 
 else come in and tell you what it is ? " This 
 was the sentence wherewith she was answered. 
 What a sudden springing up there was from that
 
 400 The Chautauqua Grirls at Some. 
 
 chair ! Even the tears were forgotten ; and 
 what a singular ring there was to Flossy's voice 
 as she whirled round to full view of the intruder, 
 and said, " Oh, Mr. Roberts ! " 
 
 Now, dear friends of this little lonely Flossy, 
 are you so stupid that you need to be told that 
 in less than half an hour from that moment she 
 believed that there could never again come to her 
 an absolutely lonely hour? That whatever 
 might come between them, whether of life or 01 
 death, there would be that for each to remember 
 that would make it impossible ever to be deso- 
 olate again. For there is no desolation of heart 
 to those who part at night to meet again in the 
 morning ; there may be loneliness and a reaching 
 out after, and sometimes an unutterable longing 
 for the morning, but to those who are sure, sure 
 beyond the possibility of a doubt, that the eter 
 nal morning will dawn, and dawn for thra, there 
 is never again a desolation.
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE ADDED NAME. 
 
 HAT same evening was fraught with 
 memorable associations to others beside 
 Flossy Shipley. It began in gloom and unusual 
 depression even to bright-faced Marion. The 
 day had been a hard one in school. Those of the 
 scholars who had been constant attendants at the 
 meetings felt the inevitable sense of. loneliness 
 and loss that must follow the close of such un 
 usual means of help. 
 
 I have actually heard some Christian people 
 advance this fact, that there was a reaction of lone 
 liness after such meetings closed, as a good reason 
 why they were unwise efforts, demoralizing in 
 their results. It is a curious fact, that such rea- 
 
 (401)
 
 402 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 Boners are never found to advocate the entire 
 separation of family friends on the plea that a 
 reunion followed by a separation is demoralizing 
 in its results because it leaves an added sense of 
 loneliness. 
 
 It is, perhaps, to be questioned whether loneli 
 ness is, after all, demoralizing in its effects. Be 
 that as it may, many of the scholars felt it. 
 Then there were some among their number who 
 had persistently shunned the meetings and their 
 influences, who, now that the opportunity was 
 passed, felt those stings of conscience that are 
 sure to follow enlightened minds, who have per 
 sisted in going a wrong road. 
 
 Also there were those who had been almost 
 persuaded, and who yet, so far as their salvation 
 was concerned, were no nearer it that day than 
 though they had never thought of the matter, for 
 almost never saves a soul. All these influences 
 combined served to make depression the pre 
 dominant feeling. Marion struggled with it, and 
 tried to be cheerful before her pupils, but sank 
 into gravity and unusual sadness at every inter 
 val between the busy hours of the day. 
 
 Late in the afternoon she had a conversation
 
 The Added Name. 403 
 
 with one of the girls which did not serve to en 
 courage her heart. It was the drawing hour. 
 Large numbers of the young ladies in her room 
 had gone to the studio with the drawing master ; 
 those few who remained were engaged in copy 
 ing their exercises for the next morning's class. 
 Marion was at leisure, her only duty being to 
 render assistance in the matter of copying 
 wherever a raised hand indicated that help was 
 needed. 
 
 Answering one of these calls she found herself 
 at the extreme end of the large room, quite near 
 to Grace Dennis' desk, and in passing she noticed 
 that Gracie, while her book was before her and 
 her pen in hand, was not writing at all, but that 
 her left hand was shading a face that looked sad 
 and pale, and covering eyes that might have tears 
 in them. After fulfilling her duty to the needy 
 scholar she turned back to Grace. 
 
 "What is it?" she said, softly, taking the 
 vacant seat by Grace's side, and touching ten 
 derly the crown of hair that covered the droop 
 ing head. Grace looked up quickly with a 
 gleam of sunshine, through which shone a tear. 
 
 " It is a fit of the blues, t am almost afraid. I
 
 404 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 am very much ashamed of m} r self ; I don't feel 
 so very often, Miss Wilbur. I think the feeling 
 must be what the girls call blues ; I am not 
 sure." 
 
 "Do you feel in any degree sure what has 
 caused such a remarkable disease to attack you ? " 
 Marion asked, in a low, tender, yet cheery and a 
 half-amused tone. 
 
 The words made Gracie laugh, but the tender 
 ness in the tone seemed to start another tear. 
 
 " You will be amused at me, Miss Wilbur, or 
 ashamed of me, I don't know which. I am 
 ashamed of myself, but I do feel so forlorn and 
 lonely." 
 
 " Lonely 1 " Marion echoed, with a little start. 
 She realized that she herself knew in its fulness 
 what that feeling was, but for Gracie Dennis, 
 treasured as she was in an atmosphere of fatherly 
 love, it was hard to understand it. " If I had 
 my dear father I don't think I should feel 
 lonely," she said gently. 
 
 " I know," Grace answered ; " he is the 
 dearest father a girl ever had, but there is only 
 a little bit of him mine, Miss Wilbur. I don't 
 mean that either ; I am not selfish. I kuow he
 
 The Added Name. 405 
 
 loves me with all his heart, but I mean his time 
 is so very much occupied that he can only give 
 me very little bits now and then. It has to be 
 so ; it is not his fault. I would not have him 
 an}* different, even in this ; but then if I had a 
 sister, don't you see how different it would be ? 
 or even a brother, or," and here Gracie's head 
 dropped low, and her voice quivered. " Miss 
 Wilbur, if I had a mother, one who loved me, 
 and would sympathize with me and help me, I 
 think I would be the happiest girl in all the 
 world." 
 
 There was every appearance that, with a few 
 more words of tender sympathy, this young girl 
 would lose all her self-control and be that which 
 she so much shrank from, an object of general 
 wonderment and conversation. Marion felt that 
 she must bestow her sympathy sparingly. 
 
 " I dare say you would give yourself over to a 
 hearty struggle not to hate her outright," she said, 
 in a quiet, matter-of-fact tone. The sobs which 
 were shaking the young girl beside her were sud 
 denly checked, Presently Gracie looked up, a 
 gleam half of mirth, half of defiance in her hand 
 some eyes. " I mean a real mother," she said.
 
 406 The Chautauqua G-irU at Home. 
 
 " Haven't you one ? Doesn't she love her dar 
 ling and watch over and wait for her coming ? " 
 The voice had taken on its tenderness again. 
 Then, after a moment, Marion added : 
 
 " It is hard to realize, I know, but I believe it, 
 and I look toward that thought with all my soul. 
 You remember, Gracie, that I have nothing but 
 that to feed on, no earthly friend to help me real 
 ize it." 
 
 Grace stole a soft hand into her teacher's. " I 
 wish you would love me very much," she said, 
 brightly. " I wish you would let me love you. 
 Do you know you help me every time you speak 
 to me ? and you do it in such strange ways, not 
 at all in the direction that I am looking for help. 
 I do thank you so much." 
 
 " Then suppose you prove it to me, by show 
 ing what an immaculate copy of your exercise 
 you can hand in to-morrow. Don't you know it 
 a by just such common-place matters as that, 
 ;hat people are permitted to show their love and 
 rratitude and all those delightful things ? That 
 is what glorifies work." 
 
 Another clinging pressure of hands and teacher 
 and pupil went about their duties. But though
 
 The Added Name. 407 
 
 Marion had helped Gracie she had not helped 
 herself, except that in a tired sort of way she 
 realized that it was a great pleasure to be able to 
 help anybody most of all, this favorite pupil. 
 Still the dreariness did not lessen. It went home 
 with her to her dingy boarding-house, followed 
 her to the gloomy dining-room and the uninviting 
 supper-table. 
 
 The most that was the trouble with Marion 
 Wilbur was, that she was tired in body and 
 brain. If people only realized it, a great many 
 mental troubles and trials result from overworked 
 bodies and nerves. Still, it must be confessed 
 that there were few, if any, outside influences 
 that were calculated to cheer Marion Wilbur's 
 life. 
 
 You are to remember how very much alone 
 she was. There were no letters to be watched 
 for in the daily mails, no hopeful looking forward 
 if one failed to come, no cheery saying to one's 
 heart, " Never mind, it will surely come to-mor 
 row." This state is infinitely better than the 
 hopeless glance one bestows upon the postman, 
 realizing he is nothing to them. 
 
 No friends father and mother gone so long
 
 408 The Chautaugua Girls at Home. 
 
 ago 1 That of one there was no recollection at 
 all, of the other, tender childhood memories, 
 sweet and lasting and incomparably precious, but 
 only memories. No sister, no brother, no cous 
 ins that had taken the place to her of sisters ; 
 only that old uncle and aunt, who were such 
 staid and common and plodding people, that 
 sometimes the very thought of them tired this 
 girl so full of life and energy. 
 
 Girl I call her, but she had passed the days of 
 her girlhood. Few knew it ; it was wonderful 
 how young and fresh her heart had kept. That 
 being the case, of course her face had taken the 
 same impress. It was hard for Ruth Erskine to 
 realize that her friend Marion was really thirteen 
 years older than herself. There were times when 
 Marion herself felt younger than Ruth did. 
 
 But the years were there, and in her times of 
 depression, Marion realized it. So many of them 
 recorded, and yet no friends to whom she had a 
 right, feeling sure that nothing in human experi 
 ence this side of death would be likely to come 
 in and take her away from them. The very sup 
 per-table at that boarding-house was sufficient to 
 add to her sense of desolation.
 
 The Added Name. 409 
 
 It is a pitiful fact that we are such dependent 
 creatures that even the crooked laying of a cloth, 
 and the coffee-stains and milk-stains and gravy- 
 stains thereon, can add to our sense of friendless- 
 ness. Then, what is there particularly consoling 
 or cheering in a cup of weak tea and a bit of 
 bread a trifle sour, spread over by butter more 
 than a trifle strong ; even though it is helped 
 down by some very dry bits of chipped beef? 
 This was Marion's supper. 
 
 The boarders were, some of them, cross, some 
 of them simply silent and hurried, all of them 
 damp, for they were every one workers out in 
 the damp, dreary world ; the most of them, in 
 fact, I may say all of them, were very tired ; yet 
 many of them had work to do that very evening. 
 Marion ate her supper in silence, too ; at least 
 she bit at her bread and tried to swallow her 
 simpering tea. 
 
 When her heart was bright and her plans for 
 the evening definite and satisfactory, she could 
 manage the sour bread and strong butter even, 
 with something like a relish, but there was no 
 use in trying them to-night. She even tor 
 mented herself with the planning of a dainty
 
 410 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 supper, accompanied by exquisite table arrange 
 ments such as she would manage for a sister, say, 
 if she had one a sister who had been in school 
 all day and was wet and hungry and tired, if 
 she had the room, and the table, and the china, 
 and the materials out of which to construct the 
 supper. She was reasonable enough to see that 
 there were many ifs in the way, but the picture 
 did not make the present supper relish. 
 
 She struggled to rally her weary powers. She 
 asked the clerk next her if it had been a busy 
 day, and she told the sewing-girl at her left 
 about a lovely bouquet of flowers that one of the 
 girls brought to school, and that she had meant 
 to bring home to her, if it was presented. To 
 be sure it was not. But the intention was the 
 same, and the heart of the sewing-girl \vas 
 cheered. 
 
 Finally Marion gave over trying to swallow 
 the supper, and assuring herself with the deter 
 mination to go early to bed, and so escape faint- 
 ness, she went up three flights of stairs to her 
 room. 
 
 ** When I am rich and a woman of leisure, 1 
 will build a house that shall have pleasant rooms 
 and good bread and butter, and i will boaid
 
 The Added Name. 411 
 
 Bchool-teachers and sewing-girls and clerks for a 
 gong." This she said aloud. 
 
 Then she set about making a bit of blaze, or a 
 great deal of smoke in the little imp of a stove. 
 The stove was small and cracked and rusty, and 
 could smoke like a furnace. What a contrast to 
 the glowing coal-grate where Flossy at this hour 
 toasted her pretty cheeks. Yet Marion, in her 
 way, was less dismal than Flossy in hers. 
 
 It was not in Marion's nature to shed any 
 tears ; instead, she hummed a few notes of a glo 
 rious old tune triumphant in every note, trying 
 this to rob herself of gloom and cheat herself 
 into the belief that she was not very lonely, and 
 that her life did not stretch out before her as a 
 desolate thing. She did not mean to give her 
 self up to glooming, though she did hover over 
 the little stove and lean her cheek on her hand 
 and look at nothing in particular for a few min 
 utes. What she said when she rallied from the 
 silence was simply : 
 
 " What an abominable smoke you can make 
 to be sure, Marion Wilbur, when you try. 
 Hardly any one can compete with you in that 
 line, at least." 
 
 Then she drew her school reports toward her,
 
 412 The Chautauqua Crisis at Home. 
 
 intending to make them out for the week thus 
 far, but she scribbled on the fly -leaf with her 
 pencil instead. She wrote her own name, " Mar 
 ion J. Wilbur," a pretty enough name. She 
 smiled tenderly over "the initial of "J" no 
 body knew what that was for. 
 
 Suppose the girls knew that it stood for " Jo- 
 siah,"her father's name ; that he had named her, 
 after the mother was buried, Marion that after 
 the mother, Josiah that after the father, Wil 
 bur the dear name that belonged to them 
 both ; in this way fancying in his gentle heart 
 that he linked this child to them both in a way 
 that would be dear to her to remember. 
 
 It was dear ; she loved him for it ; she thor 
 oughly understood the feeling, but hardly any 
 one else would. So she thought she had never 
 given them a chance to smile over the queer 
 name her father had given. She could smile 
 herself, but she wanted no one else to do so. 
 
 Then she wrote " Grace L. Dennis." What a 
 pretty name that was. She knew what the "L" 
 was for Lawrence, the family name Grace's 
 mother's name. Her mother, too, had died when 
 she was a wee baby. Gracie remembered her,
 
 Tlie Added Name. 413 
 
 though, and by that memory so much more div" 
 she miss her. 
 
 Marion knew ho\v that was by her remem 
 brance of her father. All the same she would 
 not have that blotted out, by so much richer was 
 Gracie than herself, and then that living, loving 
 father. Marion Smiled over the folly of Grace 
 Dennis considering her life a lonely one. " Yet, 
 I presume she feels it, poor darling," she said 
 aloud, and with a sigh. It was true that every 
 heart knew its own bitterness. 
 
 Then she said, " I really must go to work at 
 these reports. I wonder what the girls are doing 
 this evening ? Eurie is nursing her mother, I 
 suppose. Blessed Eurie I mother and father 
 both within the fold, brought there by Eurie's 
 faithful life. Mrs. Mitchell told me so, herself. 
 What a sparkle that will make in Eurie's crown. 
 I wonder what Ruth meant this morning ? Poor 
 child 1 she has trouble too ; different from mine. 
 Why as to that, I really haven't any. Ruth 
 ought to ' count her marcies,' though, as old Di 
 nah says. She has a great deal that I haven't, 
 Yes, indeed, she has I I suppose little Flossy is 
 going through tribulation over that tiresome
 
 414 The Cliautauqua Girh at Hotnc. 
 
 party. I wonder why one-half of the world have 
 to exist by tormenting the other half? Now, 
 Marion Wilbur, stop scribbling names and go to 
 work." 
 
 Steady scratching from the old steel pen a few 
 minutes, then a knock and a message : " Dr. 
 Dennis wanted to see her a few minutes, if she 
 had leisure." 
 
 " Dr. Dennis ! " she said, rising quickly and 
 pushing away her papers. " Oh, dear me ! where 
 is that class-book of mine? He wants those 
 names, I dare say, and I haven't them read}'. I 
 might have been copying them while I was moon 
 ing my time away here." 
 
 The first words she said to him as she went 
 down to the stuffy boarding-house parlor were, 
 ** I haven't them ready, Dr. Dennis ; I'm real 
 sorry, and it's my fault, too. I had time to copy 
 them, and I just didn't do it." 
 
 " I haven't come for them," he said smiling and 
 holding out his hand I " How do you do ? " 
 
 " Oh, quite well. Didn't you come for them ? 
 I am glad, for I felt ashamed. Dr. Dennis, don't 
 you see how well one woman can do the work of 
 twenty ? Don't you like the way the primary
 
 Tlie Added Name. 415 
 
 class is managed ? Oh, by the way, you want 
 that book, don't you ? I meant to send it home 
 by Gracie." 
 
 " I don't want it," he said, laughing this time. 
 " Are you resolved that I may not call on you 
 without a good and tangible reason ? If that be 
 the case, I certainly have one. I want you to sit 
 down here, while I tell you all about it." 
 
 " I'm not in the mood for a scolding," she said, 
 trying to speak gaylj T , though there was a curious 
 little tremble to her voice. " I have been away 
 down in the valley of gloom to-day. I believe I 
 am a little demoralized. Dr. Dennis, I think I 
 need a prayer-meeting every evening ; I could 
 be happier then, I know." 
 
 " A Christian ought to be able to have one," 
 he said, quickly. " Two souls ought to be able 
 to come together in communion with the Master 
 every evening. There is a great deal of wasted 
 happiness in this world. I want to talk to you 
 about that very thing." 
 
 Dr. Dennis was not given to making long calls 
 on his parishoners; there were too many of 
 them, and he had too little time ; but he made 
 an unprecedentedly long one on Marion Wilbur;
 
 416 Tlie Chautauqua Grirh at Home. 
 
 When she went back to her room that night, 
 the fire was gone out utterly ; not even a smoke 
 remained. She lighted her smoky little lamp 
 there was no gas in the third story and looked 
 at her watch with an amazed air ; she had not 
 imagined that it could be nearly 11 o'clock I 
 Then she pushed the reports into a drawer and 
 turned the key ; no use to attempt reports for 
 that evening. As she picked up her class-book, 
 the scribbling on the fly-leaf caught her eye again. 
 She smiled a rare, rich, happy smile ; then swiftly 
 she drew her pencil and added one more name 
 to the line. "Marion Wilbur Marion J. Wil 
 bur," it read. There was just room on the line 
 for another word ; then it read " Marion J. 
 Wilbur Dennis I " To be sure, she took her rub 
 ber quickly from hr pocket and obliterated every 
 trace of that last. But what of it ? There are 
 words and deeds that can not so easily be oblit 
 erated ; and Marion, as she laid her grateful 
 head on her fluffy little pillow that night, was 
 thankful it was so, and felt no desire to erase 
 them. 
 
 Desolate ? Not she ; God was very gracious. 
 The brightness that she felt sure she could throw
 
 TJie Added Name. 41T 
 
 around some lives, she knew would have a reflex 
 brightness for her. Then, queerly enough, the 
 very next thing she thought of, was that dainty 
 supper she planned for herself, that she could 
 have prepared for a school-teacher, wet, hungry 
 and tired. Why not for a school-girl ? If she 
 had no sister to do it for, why not for a daughter ? 
 " Dear little Gracie I " she said. Then she went 
 to sleep. 
 
 " Meantime, during that eventful evening Ruth 
 sat in her room, alone, busy with grave and 
 solemn thoughts. Her father was already many 
 miles away. He had gone to see his wife and 
 daughter. Eurie at that same hour was bend 
 ing anxiously over a sick mother, trying to catch 
 the feebly-whispered direction, with such a 
 heavy, heavy pain at her heart. But the same 
 patient, wise, all-powerful Father was watching 
 over and directing the ways of each of his four 
 girls.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 LEARNERS. 
 
 .LTHOUGH the sense of desolation wag 
 gone from Flossy Shipley, she was not 
 without something to be troubled over. As to 
 that, when one sets out to be troubled, one can 
 nearly always find an excuse. 
 
 Flossy lay awake over hers for hours that 
 night. Mr. Roberts was given to keeping more 
 proper hours than those in which party goers in 
 dulge. So it happened that the library was va 
 cant when the family returned, the gas turned 
 low, and the grate carefully supplied with coal to 
 give them a warm greeting. But the easy chairs 
 before the bright fire told no tales of all the pleas 
 ant and helpful words that had been spoken there 
 that evening. 
 (418)
 
 Learners. 419 
 
 So far as the family knew, Flossy had spent 
 her evening in solitude. But they would come to 
 know it ; would have to be introduced to Mr. 
 Roberts ; there would have to be a prompt ex- 
 planation of their interest in each other. Flossy 
 meant to have no delays, nor chances for mis 
 takes, this time. 
 
 The momentous question was, how would her 
 father receive the message, what word would he 
 have for the stranger? She could almost have 
 wished that his coming had been delayed for a 
 few weeks- more, until the sore sullen feeling 
 over disappointed plans had had time to quiet. 
 But as it was, since Mr. Roberts was to be in the 
 city and she was to see him, she wojild have no 
 pretense of his being merely a chance acquaint 
 ance of her Chautauqua life, making friendly 
 calls ; at least her father should know that they 
 both meant more than that. Whether he would 
 ignore the claims they made, and choose to treat 
 Mr. Roberts as a stranger, Flossy did not know ; 
 it seemed more than likely that he would. 
 
 As to that, she could not help owning to her 
 self that he would have very plausible reasona 
 for so doing. What was she supposed to know
 
 420 The Chautauqua Grirh at Home. 
 
 about Mr. Evan Roberts? Closely questioned, 
 she would have to admit that she had never 
 heard of his existence till those golden Chautau 
 qua days ; that although she walked and talked 
 much with him during those two weeks, there 
 had been so much to talk about, such vital inter 
 ests that pressed upon them, so many things for 
 her to learn, that they had spent no time at all 
 in talking about each other's past. 
 
 She remembered now, that strangely enough 
 she had no idea even at this moment what his 
 business was, except that from some casual re 
 mark she judged that he was familiar with mer 
 cantile life ; he might have some money or he 
 might be very poor, she had not the least idea 
 which it was ; he might be of an old and hon 
 ored family, or his father might have been a 
 blacksmith, and his mother even now a washer 
 woman. She admitted to herself that she knew 
 nothing at all about it ; and she was obliged also 
 to admit that so far as she herself was concerned 
 she did not care. 
 
 But Mr. Shipley was very different. Most as 
 suredly he would care. How could he under 
 stand why she should be able to feel such perfect
 
 Learners. 421 
 
 trust in this stranger ? If she should try to tell 
 him of those wonderful prayers she had heard 
 from Mr. Robert's lips, what would such evidence 
 be to him ? If she should try to tell him how 
 by this man, she had been led into the light of 
 love and trust that glowed brighter and stronger 
 with every day, how little information it would 
 give him 1 What an utter mystery would such 
 language be to him I 
 
 As she thought of all these puzzling things, 
 what wonder that she turned her pillow many 
 times in search of a spot to rest, and gave a great 
 many long-drawn sighs ? 
 
 It so happened that Mr. Roberts, while he had 
 not troubled himself to enlighten Flossy as to 
 his position, and prospects, had by no means sup 
 posed that her father would be as indifferent to 
 these small matters as she was ; he had come 
 armed with credentials, and introductions. Over 
 whelming ones they were to Mr. Shipley. He 
 waited for no introductions nor explanations to 
 come from Flossy. 
 
 Instead, the very next morning, at the earliest 
 hour that business etiquette would allow, he 
 sought Mr. Shipley at his business office, pre-
 
 422 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 sented his card and letters, and made known his 
 desire to transact mercantile business with him 
 in the name of his firm. And the rich man, Mr. 
 Shipley, arose and bowed before him. 
 
 Was he not a representative ? nay, a junior part 
 ner of the firm of Bostwick, S my the, Roberts & 
 Co.? Names world-renowned among mercantile 
 men. Could human ambition reach higher than to 
 have flattering offers of business from that great 
 House ? than to be actually sought out by this 
 young partner, singled from among all the mer 
 chant princes of the city, as the one to be taken 
 into business confidence I 
 
 Mr. Shipley's ambitious dreams reached no 
 more dizzy height than this. 
 
 Mr. Roberts was invited, urged to accept the 
 hospitalities of his home, to make the acquaint 
 ance of his family, to command his horses, his 
 carriage, his servants, in short, to become one of 
 their family so long as he could be prevailed 
 upon to remain in the city. 
 
 But Mr. Roberts had more communications to 
 make ; he frankly announced that he was already 
 acquainted with his family, at least with that 
 portion of it, which was of enough importance
 
 Learners. 423 
 
 to include all the rest ; of course, he did not say 
 this to the father, and yet his manner implied it, 
 as he meant it should. Mr. Roberts was frank 
 by nature ; he no more believed in concealments 
 of any sort, than did Flossy. 
 
 Then and there, he told the story that the two 
 easy chairs in the library knew about. He even 
 apologized earnestly for seeking the daughter first. 
 It had not been his intention ; he had meant to 
 call on the family ; but they were absent, and 
 he found Miss Flossy alone. And well, if 
 Mr. Shipley had been particular, as assuredly he 
 would have been, if Mr. Roberts had not been of 
 the firm of Bostwick, Smytlie, Roberts & Co. it 
 might have been embarrassing to have explained 
 the very precipitate result of his call. 
 
 But, as it was, Mr. Shipley was so amazed and 
 so bewildered, and so overwhelmed' with de 
 lighted pride, that he would almost have for 
 given the announcement that Mr. Roberts was 
 already his son-in-law, without leave or license 
 from him. As it was, all the caution had to be 
 on Mr. Robert's side. He asked that letters 
 might be sent to his brother-in-law, Mr. Smyth, 
 to his father, Mr. James Roberts, proving, not
 
 424 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 his financial standing, the unmistakable knowl 
 edge of the private affairs of the firm that had 
 established him there, but of his moral character, 
 and his standing in the Christian world. 
 
 Do you believe that Mr. Shipley felt the ne 
 cessity? Not he! Had he not been willing 
 more than that, anxious that his daughter's for 
 tune should be linked with Col. Baker's ? Did 
 he not know what was Col. Baker's standing in 
 the moral and Christian world ? After all, is it 
 any wonder, when there are such fathers that 
 many daughters make shipwreck of their lives ? 
 As for Mr. Roberts, he was almost indignant : 
 
 " The man would actually sell her, if by that 
 means he could be recognized in business by our 
 house." 
 
 If it had been any other young man than him 
 self, who was in question, how his indignation 
 would have blazed at such proceedings! But 
 since it was himself, he decided to accept the 
 situation. 
 
 As for Flossy, she did not look at the mattei 
 in that light ; when she found that all the per 
 plexities and clouds had been so suddenly and 
 BO strangely smoothed and cleared from before
 
 Learners. 425 
 
 her way, she thought of those hours of wakeful 
 anxiety that she had wasted the night before ; 
 and of how, finally, she had made her heart settle 
 back on the watchful care and love of the Father 
 who was so wise and so powerful, and in the 
 quiet of her own room, she smiled, as she said 
 aloud : 
 
 " ' Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also 
 in him, and he shall bring it to pass.' How 
 much pleasanter it would have been to have 
 committed it in the first place, before I wearied 
 my heart with worrying over what I could not 
 lift my finger to make different I " 
 
 So in less time than it has taken me to tell it, 
 the rough places smoothed suddenly before 
 Flossy Shipley's feet. She was free now, to go 
 to parties, or to prayer-meetings, or to stay at 
 home according to her own fancy, for was she 
 not the promised wife of a partner of the firm 
 of Bostwick, Smythe, Roberts & Co. ? 
 
 It transpired that Mr. Roberts had come to 
 make a somewhat extended stay in the city, to 
 look after certain business affairs connected with 
 the firm, and also to look after certain business 
 interests of the great Master, whose work he la-
 
 426 The Chautauqua GHrls at Home. 
 
 bored at with untiring persistence, always plac 
 ing it above all other plans, and working at it 
 with a zeal that showed his heart was there. 
 
 Flossy, during these days, took great strides 
 as a learner in Christian work. Among other 
 things, she was let into the mysteries of some of 
 the great and systematic charities of the city, 
 and found what wonderful things God's wealth 
 could do, placed in the hands of careful and con 
 scientious stewards. She had thought at first 
 that it made no difference at all to her, whether 
 Mr. Roberts had to work for his daily bread, or 
 whether he had means at his disposal ; but very 
 early in her acquaintance with him she learned 
 to thank God, that great wealth had been placed 
 in his hands, and so, was to be at her disposal, 
 and that she was learning how to use it. 
 
 Some of her new experiences had their embar 
 rassing side. Mr. Roberts had been but a few 
 days in the city, when he had certain proteges 
 which circumstance had thrown in his way, in 
 whom he became deeply interested. One of 
 these, he engaged to take Flossy to visit. 
 
 "They are very poor," he had said to her, 
 supposing that thereby he enlightened her.
 
 Learners. 427 
 
 Now Flossy had small knowledge in that di 
 rection. There was a certain old lady living at 
 the extreme east end who hud once been a ser 
 vant in their family, and Flossy 's nurse. In her, 
 Flossy was much interested, and had been often 
 to see her. She kept house in a bit of a room 
 that was always shining with cleanliness ; her 
 floor was covered with bright rag carpeting ; her 
 bed was spread with a gay covered quilt, and 
 her little cook stove glistened, and the bright tea 
 kettle sputtered cheerily. This was Flossy's 
 idea of poverty. 
 
 Therefore, when she arrayed herself for a win 
 try walk with Mr. Roberts, there was to her 
 mind no incongruity between the rich black silk, 
 the velvet cloak, the elegant laces, and costly 
 furs, and the " very poor family " she was about 
 to visit. Why should there be ? She had trailed 
 that same silk over old Auntie Green's bright 
 colored rag carpet a good many times without 
 experiencing any discomfort therefrom. 
 
 As for Mr. Roberts, he regarded her with a 
 half amused smile which she did not observe, and 
 said nothing. Probably he had an idea that she 
 would soon be wiser than she was then.
 
 428 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 " It is too far to walk," he said, as they readied 
 a point where street cars diverged in man}' di 
 rections ; so he hailed a passing car, and during 
 the talk that followed, Flossy was conveyed to a 
 portion of the city she not only had never seen 
 before, but that she did not know existed. 
 
 She looked about her in dismay as she stepped 
 down from the car, and during the short rapid 
 walk that followed, had all she could do to res 
 cue her silken robes from contact with awful 
 filth, and to keep her dainty handkerchief applied 
 to her poor little nose. Rapidly and silently 
 they made their way to a long, high building, 
 whose filthy outside stairs they descended and 
 found themselves in a cellar the like of which 
 Flossy had never dreamed of. 
 
 A dreadful pile of straw covered over by a tat 
 tered and horribly dirty rag that had once been a 
 quilt, on this bed lay a child not } r et ten years 
 old, whose deathly pale face and glassy eyes told 
 the story of hopeless sickness. No pillow on 
 which to lay the poor little head with its tangled 
 masses of yellow hair, nothing anywhere that 
 told of care bestowed or necessary wants attended 
 to. Over in another corner on another filthy
 
 Learners. 429 
 
 heap of straw and rags, lay the mother, sick too,' 
 with the same absence of anything like decency 
 in everything that pertained to her. 
 
 Utter dismay seized upon Flossy. Could it be 
 possible that human beings, beings with souls, 
 for whose souls her blessed Saviour died, were 
 left to such awful desolation of poverty as this I 
 Mr. Roberts promptly turned upside down an old 
 tub that was used to doing duty as a chair, and 
 seated her thereon, while he went forward to the 
 woman. 
 
 " Have you had your dinner to-day ? " was the 
 first question he asked. 
 
 " Yes, I have ; and thank you kindly, too," she 
 added gratefully. " The woman took the money 
 and bought meat as you told her, and made a 
 broth, and I and the little girl had some ; it was 
 good. The little girl took quite a fe w spoonfuls 
 of it and said it tasted good ; it did me more good 
 to hear her say that, than it did to eat mine," 
 the poor mother said, and a wistful motherly 
 look went over to the heap of rags in the cor 
 ner. 
 
 " I am glad that she could eat it," he said sim 
 ply. Then he further told that he had been ar-
 
 430 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 ranging for some things to be brought to make 
 both of them more comfortable ; they would be 
 here soon, could the woman who made the broth 
 come in and attend to them ? 
 
 The sick woman shook her head. She was 
 gone for the day : would not be back till dark, 
 then would have to get her children's supper, and 
 do her washing that very night. " She's awful 
 poor," the woman added with a heavy sigh. 
 " We are all of us that ; if I could get up again, 
 I could do something for my little girl I most 
 know I could, but, as it is " And then there 
 was that hopeless sigh. 
 
 Meantime Flossy, after sitting with a distressed 
 and irresolute face for a few minutes, had sud 
 denly risen from her tub and gone over to the 
 little girl. Bending beside her they had talked 
 together in a low voice, and as Mr. Roberts 
 turned to see if she had endured the scene as 
 long as her nerves would admit, she turned 
 towards him and there was more decision in her 
 voice than he had ever heard before. 
 
 " Mr. Roberts, can you find some clean water 
 for this basin, and haven't you a large handker 
 chief with you ? This poor child must have her 
 face washed. She says her head aches very
 
 Learners. 431 
 
 badly ; that will help it. And Mr. Roberts, 
 can't you go out immediately to the store and 
 get some clothes for this bed, and a pillow, don't 
 they t have such things in stores ? " 
 
 " I have seen to that," he said ; " there will be 
 some bed clothing here, and other necessaries 
 very soon ; but how can we manage to have the 
 beds made up ? I have ordered bedsteads and 
 mattresses, and bed clothing has been prepared ; 
 but I have failed thus far in getting any one to 
 help arrange them ? " 
 
 " Can't you set up a bedstead ? " asked Miss 
 Flossy. 
 
 "Why, I think I could," he answered her 
 meekly." 
 
 " Very well, then, I can make the beds. As 
 for the child, she must have a bath and a clean 
 dress before she is ready for any bed. I can tell 
 you just what to do, Mr. Roberts ; you must go 
 down to the east end, No. 217 South Benedict 
 Street and find my old Auntie Green, and tell 
 her that she is needed here just as soon as she 
 can get here ; tell her I want her ; it will be all 
 right then. In the meantime, this child's face 
 must b'e washed and her hair combed. I see 
 there is a kettle behind that stove, could you
 
 432 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 manage to fill it with water, and then could you 
 make a better fire ? Then, I can stay here and 
 do a good many things while you are gone." 
 
 While our little Flossy was talking, she was 
 removing her lavendar kid gloves, and pinning 
 up out of sight her lace ruffles. Then she pro 
 duced from some one of the bewildering and 
 dainty pockets that trimmed her dress, a plain, 
 hemstitched handkerchief, which she unceremo 
 niously dropped into the tin basin, and an 
 nounced herself all ready for the water. 
 
 " But, Flossy," said her embarrassed attendant 
 in dismay, "you can't do these things, you know ; 
 wouldn't it be better to come with me, and we 
 will go after this Auntie Green and tell her just 
 what to do, and furnish the means to do it with. 
 You know you are not used to anything of this 
 kind." 
 
 " I know it," she said quietly. " I never knew 
 there was anything like this in the world ; I am 
 bowed in the very dust with shame and dismay. 
 There is very little that I know how to do, but I 
 can wash this poor, neglected child's face. Go 
 right away, please ; there is no time to lose I am 
 sure."
 
 Learners. 433 
 
 What swift deft fingers she had to be sure. 
 He could not help stopping for a moment in his 
 bewilderment to watch her; then he went, and 
 meekly and swiftly did her bidding. There was 
 much done during that afternoon. Mr. Roberts 
 quietly sinking into the errand man who was 
 useful, chiefly because he could promptly do as 
 he was told ; and he felt with every additional 
 direction and with every passing moment an in 
 creased respect for the executive abilities of the 
 little girl, whom he had looked forward to rous 
 ing by degrees to a sense of the importance of 
 this work, and gradually to a participation in 
 other than the money charities of the day. 
 
 When they went away from that door, as they 
 ascended the filthy stairs again, she said : 
 
 " What an awful thought that human beings 
 exist in such places as this, and that I did not 
 know it and have done nothing for them ! " She 
 was certainly not exhausted, not overcome with 
 the stench and the filth, though there was water 
 dripping at that moment from her rich silk dress. 
 She noticed it, and as she brushed off the drops, 
 she said : 
 
 " Evan, if you knew, I wonder that you did
 
 434 The Chautauqua G-irls at Home. 
 
 not tell me to wear my Chautauqua dress. 1 
 shall know better next time. I must have 
 that poor little girl cured ; there are ever so 
 many things to do, oh Evan, you must teach me 
 how." 
 
 " You need no teacher," he said softly, almost 
 reverently, "other than the divine Teuchei 
 whom you have had. I am become a learner."
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 FLOSSY'S PARTY. 
 
 ^ARION on her way from school, had 
 stopped in to learn, if she could, what 
 shadow had fallen over Ruth. But before any 
 thing like confidence had been reached, Flossy 
 Shipley, came, full of life and eagerness. 
 
 " I am so glad to find two of you together," 
 she said, " it expedites matters so much. Who 
 do you think can be going to give a party next ? " 
 " A party ! " said Marion, " I am sure I don't 
 know. I am prepared for any sort of news on 
 that subject ; one would think there had been a 
 party famine for years, and lost time was to be 
 made up, to see the manner in which one en- 
 
 (435)
 
 436 Tlie Cliautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 tertainmcnt crowds after another, since the 
 meetings closed. It is a mercy that I am never 
 invited, it would take all my leisure, and a great 
 deal of note paper to prepare regrets. Who is 
 it?" 
 
 " I haven't the least idea that you could guess, 
 BO I am going to tell you ; it's just myself." 
 
 Both of her listeners looked incredulous. 
 
 " I am," she said, gleefully. " I am at work 
 on the arrangements now as hard as I can be ; 
 and Marion Wilbur, you needn't go to talking 
 about note paper and regrets ; you are to come. 
 I shall have to give up Eurie, and I am sorry 
 too, she would have helped along so much ; but 
 of course she cannot leave her mother." 
 
 " How is her mother ? " asked both girls at 
 once. 
 
 " Oh, better ; Nellis says the doctor feels very 
 hopeful, now ; but of course, Eurie doesn't leave 
 her, and cannot for a long time. Nellis Mitchell 
 is a splendid fellow. How strange it is that his 
 interest in religious matters should have com 
 menced with that letter which Eurie sent him 
 from Chautauqua, before she had much interest 
 herself."
 
 Flo&stfs Party. 437 
 
 "Nobody supposed that he had, I am sure," 
 Ruth said ; " I thought him the most indifferent 
 of mortals." 
 
 " So did I, and would never have thought to 
 pray for him at all, if Eurie had not asked me 
 to, specially. Did you know he led the young 
 people's meeting last evening ? Did splendidly, 
 Grace Dennis said. By the way, isn't Grace Den 
 nis lovely ? Marion, don't you think she is the 
 most interesting young lady in your room ? " 
 
 " I think you don't enlighten us much in re 
 gard to that party," Marion said, her cheeks 
 growing red under that last question. 
 
 " I ought to be on my way ; my tea will be 
 colder than usual if I don't hasten ; what scheme 
 have you now, Flossy, and what do you want to 
 do with it ? " 
 
 " Ever so many things ; you know my boys ? 
 Well, they are really young men ; and any one 
 can see how they have improved. Some of them 
 have real good homes, to be sure ; but the most 
 of them are friendless sort of boys. Now, I want 
 to get them acquainted ; not with the frippery 
 people who would have nothing to do with them, 
 but with some of our real splendid boys and girla
 
 438 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 who will enjoy helping them. I'm going to have 
 the nicest little party I ever had in my life ; I 
 mean to have some of the very best people there ; 
 then I shall have some of the silly ones, of 
 course ; partly because I can't help it, and partly 
 because I want to show them what a nice time 
 reasonable beings can have together, if they 
 choose. Nellis Mitchell is enlisted to help me in 
 ever so many ways, and Mr. Roberts will do what 
 he can, but you know he is a stranger. My great 
 dependence is on you two. I want you to see 
 to it, that my boys don't feel lonely or out of 
 place one single minute during the entire even- 
 ing." 
 
 " But I am afraid I shall feel lonely, and out 
 of place," Marion said ; " you know I am never 
 invited to parties." 
 
 Flossy laughed. 
 
 " Wouldn't it be a strange sight to see you 
 feeling out of place ? " she asked, gaily. Mar 
 ion, I can't conceive of a place to which you 
 wouldn't do credit." 
 
 Whereupon Marion arose and made a low 
 courtesy. 
 
 " Thank you,*' she said, in mock gravity. " I
 
 Flossy'g Party. 439 
 
 never had a compliment before in ID j life ; I 
 shall certainly come ; there is nothing like a lit 
 tle flattery to win people." 
 
 " Don't be nonsensical," pleaded Flossy ; " f 
 am really in earnest. Ruth, I may depend upon 
 you ? I know you are not going to entertain 
 ments this winter, but mine is to be a small one, 
 compared with the others ; and you know it 
 will be unlike any that we have had at our 
 house." 
 
 Ruth hesitated. 
 
 " When is it to be ? " she asked, her cheeks 
 glowing over her own thoughts. " I shall be en 
 gaged on Friday evening of next week." 
 
 " It is to be on Wednesday." 
 
 " Then I will come. And if I play, Marion, 
 will you sing to entertain the unusual guests ? " 
 
 " Of course," Marion said, promptly. " I never 
 sang in company in my life ; but do you suppose 
 there is anything I will not do for Flossy's guests, 
 after what she has just said ? Only, Flossy, I 
 shall have to wear my black cashmere." 
 
 " Wear your brown calico, if you choose ; you 
 look royal in it," Flossy said, turning a beaming 
 face on Marion. She had heard her sing, she
 
 440 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 knew what a rare musical treat it would be to 
 those boys of hers. So this was Flossy's last de 
 parture from the beaten track. 
 
 Those who are familiar with the imperative 
 laws and lines which circumscribe the fashiona 
 ble world will realize just how marked a depart 
 ure it was. It was a remarkable party. The 
 very highest and most sought after of the fash 
 ionable world were there, a few of them, and 
 John Warden was there in his new business suit 
 of grey, looking and feeling like a man. 
 
 Flossy's boys were all present, and those who 
 knew of them and their associations and advan 
 tages, marvelled much at their ease of manner 
 and perfect propriety of behaviour. How could 
 they have learned so much ? Flossy did not 
 know, herself, but the boys did. 
 
 Her exquisite grace of manner, her perfect ob 
 servance of all the rules and courtesies of polite 
 society in her intercourse with them, had pro 
 duced its legitimate fruit ; had instinctively in 
 clined them to be able to treat her with the same 
 sort of grace which she freely and everywhere 
 bestowed on them. 
 
 Had she not met them on the street, in. the
 
 Flossy's Party. 441 
 
 very heart of Broadway when she was walking 
 with some of her fashionable friends ? Had she 
 not taken pains to recognize them with a spec 
 ially cordial bow, and if near enough, with a de 
 liberate speaking of their names, being sure to 
 slightly emphasize the unusual prefix "Mr." 
 
 These and a hundred other kindred trifles, so 
 small that they are not noted among the qualifi 
 cations for Sabbath-school teachers, so powerful 
 for good, that they often turn the current of a 
 human life, had been carefully regarded by 
 Flossy, and to-night she was triumphant over 
 her success. She had not only helped her boys 
 to be true to their convictions of right and dig 
 nity, not only to take on true manliness of decis 
 ion in regard to the all important question of 
 personal religion, she had helped them to be gen 
 tlemen. There is many a faithful teacher to 
 whom, thinking of these minor matters, it might 
 be said : 
 
 "These ought ye to have done, and not to 
 kave left the other undone." 
 
 From first to last, Flossy's party was a suc 
 cess. To Ruth and Marion it was a study, de 
 veloping certain curious features which they
 
 442 The Chautauqua G-irls at Home. 
 
 never forgot. Marion had her own private Lit 
 of interest that not another present, save Gracie 
 Dennis knew about. She was not a party goer. 
 Even so small a gathering as this, was new to 
 her. She looked upon all these people with a 
 keen interest ; many of them she was meeting 
 for the first time. That is, she was being intro 
 duced to them, and receiving their kindly greet 
 ings ; for Flossy had succeeded in gathering only 
 those, who whatever they might think of her 
 choice of guests, were much too well bred to ex 
 hibit other than pleasure while they were her 
 guests. 
 
 But only Marion knew that she was destined 
 to meet these people again, and probably often, 
 under different circumstances ; the probability 
 was that many of them would be her own guests, 
 would receive and return her calls, would fall 
 into the habit of consulting her in regard to this 
 or that matter of church interest that would 
 come up ; not one of them dreamed of such a 
 thing ; and when she tried to lead them into con 
 versation on matters pertaining to the church in 
 terests, they looked their surprise that she should 
 have such intelligent knowledge concerning 
 these matters.
 
 Flossy' s Party. 443 
 
 Altogether it was an evening full of private 
 fun on her part. There was to be such a curi 
 ous turn about of position, she realized so fully 
 that it would be such unutterable surprise to the 
 people, that it was impossible not to feel amused, 
 and to treasure up certain words and phrases 
 that would sound very queerly to the speakers 
 thereof, if they remembered them when those 
 said changes became manifest to the eyes of the 
 world. 
 
 There was more than fun to be gotten out of 
 the evening ; she watched the young people with 
 eager interest. She was to be a great deal to 
 these young people ; she must try to understand 
 them, to win them. She wanted to be a help, 
 a comfort, a guide. She had wonderful plans 
 and aims. She blessed Flossy in her heart for 
 this opportunity to study her lesson before it 
 should be time to practise it. 
 
 That same Flossy afforded her help in another 
 direction. There was no hiding the hold that 
 she had gotten, not only on those young men of 
 her class, but those of their friends that they had 
 brought within her influence. There was no dis 
 guising the fact, that among the young ladies she 
 was a favorite ; one whom they liked to have
 
 444 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 among them, whom they liked to please. How 
 had she done it all ? 
 
 " I can never be Flossy," Mai-ion said to her 
 self, an amused smile hovering around hei 
 lips meanwhile, at the thought that she should 
 have a shadow of desire to become their little 
 Flossy. " But it is worth while to steal her se 
 cret of success, if I can, and practise it." 
 
 Close watching revealed a good deal of the 
 secret ; as much of it at least as could be put in 
 to words. Evidently the little lady had the 
 power of making other people's interests her 
 own for the time being ; of impressing the one 
 with whom she came in contact, with a sense of 
 his own importance, in her eyes; at least she was 
 interested in what he said and did, and in what 
 interested him. She could enter into the mi 
 nute details of a matter which did not concern 
 her in the least, with such apparent interest and 
 desire to know all that was to be known about 
 it, that one could hardly help the feeling that 
 certainly the subject was worthy of attention. 
 
 Then her face spoke for her ; it could cloud in 
 an instant in sympathy with any sort of trouble 
 or anxiety, and sparkle with happy smiles in the
 
 Flossy 's Party. 445 
 
 very next second over some bit of brightness 
 that was mentioned. 
 
 " She is a blessed little hypocrite, and that is 
 the whole of it," was Marion's mental comment. 
 " That sort of hypocrisy is worth studying. It 
 is as natural to Flossy as that lovely pink on her 
 cheek ; but I am afraid I should have to acquire 
 it ; I don't feel interested in other people's 
 affairs ; now, that is a fact. Why should she ? 
 In the first place, I know it is natural for her to 
 like to please people ; that is the beginning of it ; 
 she has that advantage over me, for she was al- 
 was so, and I always wasn't so. But she has 
 something else ; she did not care once to please 
 such as these rough boys of hers, at least they 
 were rough when she started the refining pro 
 cess ; how she had worked for them ; I never 
 realized it so much as to-night. It is just this : 
 she has sanctified her power of pleasing, and put 
 it to a grand use in fishing for souls. Meantime, 
 I have some degree of power of that kind, though 
 it doesn't show in the same wa}% But I am not 
 sure I have thought of it, with a view to using it 
 for such work ; also, I dare say one can cultivate 
 an interest in other people if they try. I mean
 
 446 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 to try. I know one way in which I can please 
 people, I can sing." 
 
 Whereupon she immediately sought Ruth and 
 proposed music, herself going after Rich. John 
 son to come and sing tenor, and bidding him 
 bring a friend to sing bass. Then such music as 
 they had that evening, was certainly never heard 
 at a party at Mr. Shipley's house before. 
 
 The music room was a little bower of a spot 
 at the left of the parlors. It was not only the 
 music room but the flower room ; at least there 
 were vines and plants and blooming flowers in 
 the windows, festooning the curtains, hanging 
 from lovely wire baskets, a profusion everywhere. 
 Thither went Ruth, Marion, and the two young 
 men who went in silence from very astonishment 
 over this new invitation. In silence and embar 
 rassment, believing in their hearts that they 
 could not sing at all. As for Marion, she knew 
 better. She had stood near them in Sunday- 
 school. 
 
 Ruth swept the piano clear of all sheet 
 music and substituted the Bliss and Sankey Gos 
 pel hymns, and Marion passed a book to each, 
 naming a page, and instantly her full, grand
 
 Flossy 1 * Party. 447 
 
 voice joined Ruth's music. Very faint were the 
 tenor and bass accompaniments ; but as the first 
 verse closed and they entered upon the second, 
 the melody had gotten possession of their hearts, 
 and they let out their voices without knowing it, 
 so that when the piece was ended, Marion turned 
 with a bright face, and said : 
 
 " I haven't enjoyed a song so much in years. 
 What a splendid tenor you sing, Mr. Johnson." 
 To herself she said : " There ! I'm improving ; I 
 honestly think that. But twenty-four hours 
 ago, I should have kept it to myself. It isn't 
 hypocrisy, after all : it is sincerity. 
 
 Another, and another piece was tried, the 
 music room meantime filling ; for Flossy had 
 brought in her train others of the boys. And 
 at last, as the last verse of " Hold the Fort " 
 rang out, Marion turned from the piano to dis 
 cover that utmost silence prevailed in the rooms 
 where chatter had been before, and every avail 
 able place in and about the music room was fill 
 ed with hushed listeners, while those who could 
 not get in, sat or stood outside in silence and 
 wrapt attention. Such music as that at a party 
 they had never heard before.
 
 448 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 " You and I are a success, I think," Marion 
 said brightly, as she linked her hand in Ruth's 
 arm, when they left the piano. 
 
 " We are doing our duty beautifully." 
 
 " Are you complimenting yourself because you 
 are afraid no one will perform that office ? " Ruth 
 asked, laughing. 
 
 " No, I'm doing it because I have begun to be 
 sincere. I've made a discovery to-night. Ruth, 
 it is you and I who are hypocritical, in refusing to 
 say what we think about people, when it would 
 sound real nicely, and would doubtless make 
 them feel pleasanter and happier." 
 
 Meantime, Ruth had her lesson also that she 
 had been learning. What a trial parties had al- 
 was been to her I How haughtily she had stood 
 aloof enduring with annoj^ed heart, and often 
 times with curling lip, sillinesses that she could 
 not avoid, listening to conversations and joining 
 in monosyllables when obliged to do so, that 
 drove her to the very verge of patience, not once 
 imagining that there was any help for her, any 
 hope of stemming the current, or in any way 
 changing the accepted course of things. 
 
 She was learning. Several times during the 
 evening it had been her fortune to stand near
 
 Flossy'* Party. 449 
 
 Evan Roberts and join in the conversation which 
 he was carrying on. Each time she was amazed 
 and thrilled to see with what consummate skill 
 and tact he turned the current of thought to 
 wards the vital question of personal religion. 
 Always with an easy familiarity of expression 
 that made one feel and realize that to him it was 
 a matter of course, and as natural to be talked 
 about, as the sunshine or the moonlight. 
 
 Wondering over this peculiarity of his, once 
 as they talked together she referred to it. 
 
 " I can conceive of parties being less of a trial 
 to you than to many of us, because of the ability 
 you have of turning the conversation to some ac 
 count." 
 
 He smiled brightly. " They are not," he said. 
 " I have often looked forward to an evening gath 
 ering with eager interest and thankfulness, be 
 cause of the opportunity for meeting some there 
 whom I could not catch elsewhere and saying a 
 word for my Master. But, Miss Erskine, you 
 speak of * ability,' I simply use my tongue on 
 that subject as on any other worthy of thought." 
 
 " But don't you think it requires a peculiar 
 sort of tact to be able to bring in such subjects 
 in a manner calculated to do any good ? "
 
 450 The CJiautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 He shook his head, " I should say rather, it 
 required a sincere heart, and an earnest desire 
 to interest a soul. We depend too much on tact 
 and too little on God's spirit. ' Open thy mouth 
 and I will fill it,' is a promise that applies to more 
 places than a prayer-meeting, I think. What 
 we need most to overcome is the idea that there 
 is anything wicked in talking about religion in 
 an everyday tone, as we talk about other topics 
 tf absorbing interest." 
 
 " There are different ways of going to parties," 
 Ruth said to herself in a musing tone as she 
 turned from him, and she wondered if she could 
 ever get to feel that she might even go to a party 
 occasionally, with the glory of God in view. 
 This started a train of thought that made her 
 turn suddenly back to Mr. Roberts with a ques 
 tion. 
 
 " That doctrine wouldn't lead you to be a con 
 stant frequenter of parties, would it ? " 
 
 He shook his head. 
 
 " By no means. And there are parties many 
 of them, which, as a Christian man, I could not 
 attend at all. We must guard against a tempta 
 tion to do evil, that good may come."
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 A PAETINQ GLANCE. 
 
 [R. DENNIS and his friend, the Rev. Mr. 
 Harrison met again at the street corner ; 
 they stopped and shook hands, as they always 
 did, even if they chanced to meet three times in 
 one day. 
 
 " Meetings closed ? " questioned Mr. Harrison, 
 after the preliminary words had been spoken. 
 " What a glorious time you have had I Such a 
 pity that our flocks are so far apart I If we 
 could have united with you in regular atten 
 dance, it would have been a great blessing ; as it 
 was, many a drop came to us." 
 
 (451)
 
 452 The Chautauqua Grirls at Home. 
 
 " Yes," Dr. Dennis said, " we have had a great 
 blessing ; and I need not use the past tense, the 
 work is going on yet, although the meetings do 
 not continue. The work will continue forever, 
 I believe ; the truth is, we have had a new bap 
 tism, the members who came to us early in the 
 fall, came filled with the Spirit, and have worked 
 as no other members of mine ever did." 
 
 " You mean your Chautauqua reinforcement, 
 don't you ? " 
 
 " Indeed I do ; I thank God for Chautauqua 
 every day of my life. What a dreadful blunder 
 I made when I limited the power of God in the 
 way I did when we talked that matter over I you 
 remember ? " 
 
 ** I remember," Mr. Harrison said with a pecu 
 liar laugh ; " It was a wonderful meeting, but 
 then, after all, were they not rather peculiar 
 young ladies ? It isn't every lady who even after 
 she is converted, lives just the sort of life that 
 they are living." 
 
 " I know," Dr. Dennis said ; " Yes, they are 
 unusual, I think ; especially one of them," was 
 bis mental addition. 
 
 "Especially one of them," murmured Mr.
 
 A Parting Glance. 453 
 
 Harrison in his heart ; and each gentleman 
 smiled consciously, neither having the slightest 
 idea what the other meant by the smile. 
 
 Marion Wilbur came down the street with 
 her hands full of school books. 
 
 " Good-evening," said Dr. Dennis ; " How do 
 you do this evening ? Air. Harrison, do you 
 know this lady ? She is one of my flock." 
 
 No, Mr. Harrison did not know her ; and in 
 troductions followed. After she passed by, Mr. 
 Harrison said, " I think you told me once that 
 she had been an infidel ? " 
 
 " It was a mistake," Dr. Dennis said, hastily. 
 "She had peculiar views, and I think she imag 
 ined herself at one time an unbeliever ; but she 
 is really wonderfully well grounded in the doc 
 trines of the church ; she is like an old Chris 
 tian." 
 
 Many of Dr. Dennis' people were abroad ; the 
 next passer by was Eurie Mitchell ; the doctor 
 stopped her. " One minute, Miss Eurie, how is 
 your mother to-night? Mr. Harrison, do you 
 know Miss Mitchell, the doctor's daughter ? " 
 
 Yes, Mr. Harrison had met Miss Mitchell bo- 
 fore. In the fast coming dusk, Dr. Dennis failed
 
 454 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 to see the flush of embarrassment on his friend's 
 cheek, as he acknowledged the introduction. 
 
 " She is a grand girl," Dr. Dennis said, look 
 ing after her. " Her development is wonderful ; 
 more marked of late, I think, than before. Well, 
 as you say, they were unusual girls, but I tell 
 you, we as pastors have reason to say : " God 
 bless Chautauqua." 
 
 "Amen," said Mr. Harrison, and Dr. Dennis 
 thought him unusually earnest and intense, es 
 pecially when he added : 
 
 " I propose we go next year, and take with us 
 as many of our respective flocks as we can be 
 guile into it." 
 
 " Aye, that we will," Dr. Dennis answered ; 
 then the two gentlemen went on their respective 
 ways. 
 
 It was a large city, and they were both busy 
 ministers, and lived far apart, and met but sel 
 dom, except in their ministerial meetings ; there 
 was chance for each to have interests that the 
 other knew nothing about. 
 
 Marion reached home just in time for supper ; 
 the table appointments at that home were not 
 improving ; indeed, there were those who said,
 
 A Parting Glance. 455 
 
 that the bread grew sourer every week ; this 
 week, it had added to its sourness, stickiness, 
 that was horrible to one's fingers and throat. 
 The dried fruit that had been half stewed, was 
 sweetened with brown sugar, and the looking 
 over process, so necessary to dried fruit, had been 
 wholly neglected. 
 
 But Marion ate her supper, almost entirely un 
 conscious of these little defects ; that is, she ac 
 cepted them as a matter of course and looked 
 serene over it. Things were not as they had 
 been on that rainy evening, when it had seemed 
 to her that she could never, no never eat another 
 supper in that house ; then, it seemed probable 
 that in that house, or one like unto it, she would 
 have to eat all the suppers that this dreary life 
 had in store for her ; but now, the days were 
 growing fewer in which this house would be 
 called her home. 
 
 No one knew it ; at least, no one but herself 
 and two others. She looked around on her fel 
 low boarders with a pitying smile ; that little 
 sewing-girl at her left, how many such suppers 
 would she have to eat I 
 
 "She shall have a nice one every now and
 
 456 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 then, see if she doesn't," was Marion's mental 
 conclusion, with a nod of her glad head ; there 
 were so many nice things to be done I Life was 
 BO bright. 
 
 Hadn't Oracle Dennis whispered to her this 
 very afternoon : 
 
 " Miss Wilbur, one of these days I shall hate 
 to come to school, I shall want to stay at 
 home." 
 
 And she answered softly, surreptitiously kiss 
 ing the glowing cheek meanwhile : 
 
 " The teacher who reigns here shall be your 
 special friend. And you are to bring her home 
 with you to lovely little teas that shall be wait 
 ing for you." 
 
 This matter of "teas" had gotten a strong 
 hold on Marion. Perhaps, because in no other 
 way had a sense of unhomelike loneliness pressed 
 upon her, as at that time when families gener 
 ally gathered together in pretty homes. 
 
 She went up, presently, to her dingy room. 
 Just every whit as dingy now, as it had been on 
 that rainy evening, but she gave no thought at 
 all to it. She lighted her fire, and sat down to her 
 writing ; not reports to-night. She muat write a
 
 A Parting Glance. 457 
 
 letter to Aunt Hannah ; a brief letter it was, 
 but containing a great deal. This was it : 
 
 " DEAE ATJNT HANNAH : 
 
 " Don't you think, I am going to be married ! 
 Now, you never expected that of me, did you ? 
 Neither did I, but that is the way the matter 
 stands. Now, the question is: May I come 
 home to the wedding ? The old farm-house is 
 all the home I have, you know. I hope you will 
 let us come ; I am giving you plenty of notice ; 
 we shall not want to come until after the spring 
 term ; one of us wants to be there by the seven 
 teenth of June, I thought I ought to tell you 
 before the spring house-cleaning. Let me hear 
 from you as soon as you can, so that I may know 
 how to plan. 
 
 " I could be married in the church, I presume, 
 but I feel, and the other one concerned feels so 
 too, that I would like to go back to the old 
 farm-house. We won't make much trouble, nor 
 have any fuss, you know. 
 
 " Dear Aunt Hannah, I am so glad the money 
 gave you comfort. Then I am so very glad that 
 you thought about that other matter of which I
 
 458 The Chautauqua G-irls at Home. 
 
 wrote ; that is the greatest and best thing to 
 have in the world. I think so now, when I am 
 on the eve of other blessings ; that one stands 
 before them all. The gentleman whom I am to 
 many is a minister. He is very good. 
 
 " Aunt Hannah I shall want your advice about 
 all sorts of sewing when I come home. I shall 
 come in May, that is, if you let me come at 
 all. I hope you will. Give my love to Uncle 
 Reuben. My friend sends his respects to you 
 both. Lovingly, 
 
 " Marion J Wilbur." 
 
 She had a fondness during those days, foi 
 writing out that name in fall. 
 
 A gentle tap at the door being answered, ad 
 mitted Flossy Shipley. 
 
 " You darling I " said Marion, brightly, as she 
 gave her eager greeting. " How nice of you to 
 come and see me when you have so much to 
 think of. Flossy where is Mr. Roberts ? Why 
 don't you bring him to call on me ? " 
 
 " He hasn't time to call on anybody," Flos 
 sy said, with a mixture of pride, and a sort of 
 comic pettishness. 
 
 " He has so many poor families on his hands ;
 
 A Parting Glance. 459 
 
 he and I have been out all day. Marion you 
 have no idea at all of the places where we have 
 been ! 1 do think there ought to be an organ 
 ized system of charity in our church ; some 
 thing different from the hap-hazard way of doing 
 things that we have. Mr. Roberts says, that in 
 New York, their church is perfectly organized to 
 look after certain localities, and that no such 
 thing as utter destitution can prevail in their sec 
 tion. Don't you think Dr. Dennis would be in 
 terested in such an effort." 
 
 " He will be interested in anything that is 
 good," Marion said, with unusual energy even 
 for her. 
 
 Flossy turned her pretty head towards her, and 
 eyed her curiously. , 
 
 " You like him better than you did ; don't 
 you, Marion ? " 
 
 "Didn't I always like him," Marion asked, 
 with averted face and a laugh in her voice. 
 
 " Oh, you used to think him stiff, and said you 
 felt all shut up in his presence. Don't you re 
 member our first call at his study ? " 
 
 "I think I do," Marion answered, bursting 
 into a merry laugh. " Ever so many things have 
 happened since then, little Flossy I "
 
 460 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 " Haven't there ! " said innocent Flossy. 
 
 " It has been such a wonderful year ! dating 
 from that day when it rained and you made me 
 go, do you remember, Marion ? Do you ever 
 get to wondering what would have been, if we 
 had just stayed on here at home, going to our par 
 ties and getting up festivals, and all that, and 
 paying no attention to the Chautauqua meet 
 ings ? " 
 
 " I don't want to think about any such horrid 
 retrospect as that ! " Marion said, with a shrug 
 of her handsome shoulders, and a genuine shiver. 
 
 Flossy laughed. 
 
 "But you kuo\v it is only something to think 
 of, to make us more grateful. It can never foj, 
 never. By the way, I suppose it is early to be 
 gin to make plans for the summer, at least for 
 those who have no occasion to talk about sum 
 mer yet ; this last with a conscious little 
 laugh " But don't you mean to go to Chautau 
 qua next summer ? Mr. Roberts and I are going ; 
 we would rather give up a journey to Europe 
 than that. Can't we all contrive to meet there 
 together ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Marion, " we /mean to go."
 
 A Parting Glance. 461 
 
 " Dr. Dennis is going," Flossy said, though 
 why that had anything to do with the matter, 
 or why it occurred to her just then, Flossy did 
 not know. " He told Mr. Roberts that he meant 
 to be there, and to take with him as many of his 
 people as he could. And Eurie told me last 
 night that his friend, Mr. Harrison, of the Fourth 
 church was going. I don't know how Eurie / 
 heard that, through Nellis, I suppose. 
 
 " Isn't Nellis splendid nowadays ? I shouldn't 
 wonder if quite a large company went from here. 
 I wonder if Dr. Dennis will take his daughter 
 Grace. I think she is just lovely, don't you ? " 
 
 "Very," said Marion; and just here Flossy 
 roused to the fact that she was doing most of the 
 talking, and that Marion's answers were often in 
 monosyllables. 
 
 " I dare say I am tiring you," she said, rising. 
 " I forget that you have to talk all day in that 
 school-room, Marion. Are you sure you love to 
 teach well enough to keep at it, year after 
 year ? " 
 
 "No," said Marion, laughing. "I know I 
 don't ; I don't mean to do it ; I mean to get a sit 
 uation as somebody's housekeeper."
 
 462 The Chautauqua Crirls at Home. 
 
 "Do you understand housekeeping?" asked 
 innocent little Flossy, with wide open eyes. 
 
 " Oh, Marion ! are you sure it will be even as 
 pleasant as school teaching ? " 
 
 "I think so," Marion answered with grave 
 face. "At least, I mean to try. It depends 
 on whose house you get into, you know." 
 
 Flossy's sober face cleared in an instant. 
 
 " So it does," she said. " Marion, I have a 
 nice plan, but I shall not tell you a bit about it 
 to-night. Good-bye." 
 
 " Oh, the dear blessed little gooeie I " Marion 
 said, laughing immoderately as the door closed 
 after Flossy. "Now, I know as well as if she 
 told me, that she is going to beguile Mr. Roberts 
 into offering me a situation in their dove cote, 
 when they set it up. " Blessed little darling I " 
 and here, the laugh changed into a bright tear. 
 " I know just what a sweet and happy home she 
 would make for me. If I had only that to look 
 forward to, if it had just opened as my escape 
 from this boarding house, how very thankful I 
 should be I How glad the dear child will be to 
 know that my home is as nearly in view as her 
 ow."
 
 A Parting Glance. 463 
 
 As for Flossy, she went down the walk, say 
 ing: 
 
 " What a dismal room that is ? It is too bad 
 for our bright Marion to have to live in it, I 
 know my plan will work. How nice of her to 
 have put it in my head I my head must be for 
 the purpose of carrying out nice things that 
 somebody else proposes. Oh dear I there are so 
 many desolate homes here, on earth I " 
 
 A cloud over the bright face for a minute, 
 then it cleared as she said, softly : " In my Fa 
 ther's house are many mansions ; I go to prepare 
 a place for you." 
 
 After all, that was the place for brightness. 
 This was only a way station ; never mind the 
 discomforts, so that many were helped to the 
 right road that the home be reached at last, in 
 peace. 
 
 She paused at the corner and looked towards 
 Eurie's home, but shook her head resolutely, she 
 must not go there, it was too late ; though she 
 longed to tell Eurie that Marion was going to 
 Chautauqua, and ask her if she did not think it 
 possible for them all to meet there. 
 
 Then the inconsistent little creature sighed
 
 464 The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
 
 again, for she remembered Eurie's weary face 
 and the long struggle with sickness, and the long 
 struggle with ways and means to which she was 
 looking forward. There was much in the world 
 that she would like to brighten. 
 
 Meantime, Eurie, in her home around the cor 
 ner was arranging the pillows with tender touch 
 about her mother's head, and drawing the folds 
 of the crimson shawl carefully about her, as she 
 said: 
 
 " Now, mother, you begin to look like your 
 self: it makes a wonderful difference to get a 
 touch of color about you." 
 
 A very tender smile preceded her answer. 
 
 " Dear child I I will be glad to get well enough 
 so that you may have a chance to get a touch of 
 color about you. You are looking very pale and 
 tired." 
 
 ** Oh me, mine is the brightest life you can im 
 agine ; there is plenty of color down in my heart 
 so long as I can think of our Nell leading the 
 young people's meeting, and father to lead at the 
 mission to-morrow, it will rost me. I have to 
 keep * counting my marcies.' To crown them all, 
 here you are sitting up at this time of night, with
 
 A Parting Glance. 465 
 
 a cap and wrapper on once more, instead of that 
 unbecoming white gown ; how pleased father will 
 be!" 
 
 "We have many mercies," the low, feeble 
 voice of the invalid said ; " not the least among 
 them being, our daughter Eurie ; but I could 
 wish that I saw a way for you to have less care, 
 and more rest than you will get this summer. I 
 must be willing to be very useless, your father 
 says, and that means hard work for you. When 
 Ruth Erskine was in this afternoon, looking so 
 quiet, and at rest, nothing to weary her or hin 
 der her from doing what she chose, I just coveted 
 some of the peace of her life for you." 
 
 "There's no occasion, mother; I am not by 
 any means willing to exchange my life with hers ; 
 I like my own much the best. As for rest, don't 
 you worry ; there'll be a way planned for what 
 rest I need." 
 
 Yes, and there was being a way planned, even 
 then ; though mother and daughter knew noth 
 ing of it. How queerly people go on, planning 
 their lives, as though they had the roads opening 
 out into the future, all under their own care I 
 
 It was at that moment that Ruth Erskine, the
 
 466 The Chautauqua Grirh at Home. 
 
 young lady who, according to Mrs. Mitchell, had 
 so quiet, and settled, and peaceful a life, that she 
 coveted it for her daughter, stood in the great 
 hall that was glowing with light and beauty, and 
 caught her breath with an almost convulsive 
 sound, as she rested against a chair for support ; 
 her face deathly pale, her eyes bright with a 
 calm that she had forced upon herself, in her 
 solemn determination to try to do just the right 
 thing, say just the right words ; her ear had 
 caught the sound of a carriage that had drawn 
 up before the door, and the sound of a familiar 
 voice ; she knew that she was now to meet not 
 only her father, but her mother, and sister ! 
 
 Little they knew about each other even yet, 
 with all their intimacy, those four Chautauqua 
 girls I 
 
 But what mattered it, so long as they had 
 given themselves over, body and soul, into the 
 keeping of their Father in heaven, who knew 
 not only the beginning, but the end ? 
 
 THE END.
 
 In 1833 the wife or Horace Mann spent the 
 winter in Cuba under circumstances extremely 
 favorable to an intimate knowledge of life there ; 
 but was under a double restraint from making a 
 book, a close and sympathetic friendship and nu 
 merous hospitalities. 
 
 Nevertheless the book was written, but kept for 
 fifty years till the death of the last of her friends 
 who figured in it. 
 
 Juanita, a Romance of Real Life in Cuba Fifty Years Ago. 
 By Mary Mann (wife of Horace Mann, sister of Mrs. Haw 
 thorne and of the venerable Elizabeth Peabody). 436 pages. 
 12mo, cloth, $1.50. 
 
 It is less a romance than a fragment of history ; 
 less a history than an impassioned picture of hu 
 man life above and below incredible greed and 
 cruelty ; less a picture than protest. And, coming 
 at this late day when freedom has blessed both 
 slave and master, it gives a new zest to liberty. 
 It draws the reader from page to page not so 
 much by the arts and resources of fiction as by an 
 overmastering sympathy. 
 
 It is not another Uncle Tom's Cabin; and the 
 times are kindlier. But the book must be read. 
 
 A writer who keeps his name to himself had 
 been telling his children what heraldry had to do 
 with our stars and stripes, with the seals of the 
 United States, and of the States themselves. " It 
 occurred to him " what are we not indebted to 
 children for? "that heraldry, brilliant with mem 
 ories of tournaments and hard-won victories, 
 might interest " other youngsters. Hence a play 
 ful book of careful enough research into heraldic 
 history, legends, usages, meanings, proprieties. 
 
 Dame Heraldry 117 illustrations, 271 pages. 8vo, cloth, 
 $2.50. 
 
 There is no harm in knowing these things be 
 tween times, especially when the knowledge 
 comes. In the arulse of entertainment
 
 There is nothing more refreshing to pick up in 
 odd minutes than a bright collection out of the 
 poetry of all time of the brightest on almost no 
 matter what subject, even the weather. 
 
 Through the Year with the Poets, edited by Oscar Fay- 
 Adams. A volume a month of about 140 pages each, with 
 ample indices. ICrno, cloth, 75 cents each; parti-colored cloth, 
 $1.00. 
 
 And dainty book-making has much to do with 
 the pleasure of scrappy reading. 
 
 New Every Morning, a year-book for girls, by 
 Annie H. Ryder, is a helpful thought or two, out of 
 current writers mainly, for every day in the year ; 
 not religious, but chosen for serious aptitude to 
 the state of things in the world we live in. 196 
 pages. Square ICmo, cloth. $1.00. 
 
 Notable Prayers of Christian History. By Hez- 
 ekiah Butterworth. So far as we know, there is 
 no other book in which are gathered the notable 
 prayers of devout men of fill times with their 
 biographical and historical connections. 304 pages. 
 16mo, cloth, 1.00. 
 
 Let not the bookseller venture a word on so ab 
 struse a subject as Browning. 
 
 Christmas Eve and Easter Day, and Other Poems. By 
 Robert Browning. Introduction by W. J. Rolfe. The Theory 
 of Robert Browning concerning Personal Immortality by 
 IleloiseEdwiiiaHersey. With notes. 175 pages. 16ino, cloth, 
 75 cents. 
 
 For Browning Classes and Clubs. The text is 
 in very generous type. 
 
 Faith and Action is an F. D. Maurice Anthology. 
 Preface by Phillips Brooks. The subjects are : 
 Life, Men, Reforms, Books, Art, Duty, Aspira 
 tion, Faith. 269 pages. 12mo, cloth, $1.00.
 
 Quite a new sort of history. School days over, 
 four girl friends return to their homes and life 
 begins. As often happens, life is not as they 
 picture it. What it was for the four and how 
 they met it you shall read in the quiet book. 
 
 After School Days. By Christina Goodwin. 196 pages. 
 12mo, cloth, $1.00. 
 
 It is a comforting fact a thousand times that 
 nobody knows, to be sure of it, what is good for 
 him or her. Disappointments are often shorn of 
 their bitterness by the remembrance of it. Often 
 what we look forward to, hope for, strive for, 
 make ourselves anxious about, turns out to be of 
 no particular value ; and what we fear and strive 
 against turns out good fortune. Rarely is this 
 practical wisdom made so sure as in this whole 
 some history out of the stuff that dreams are 
 made of. 
 
 A practical help for a girl to surround herself 
 with pleasant things without much shopping. The 
 book is mainly filled with ways to exercise taste 
 on waste or picked-up things for use with an eye 
 to decoration as well. 
 
 For a Girl's Room. By Some Friends of the Girls. 236 
 pages. 12mo, cloth, $1.00. 
 
 A friendly sort of a book to fill odd minutes, 
 whether at home or out, for herself or another. 
 By no means on ' ' fancy-work " not all work 
 Chapter XXI is How to Tame Birds and XXV is 
 What to Do in Emergencies.
 
 When a novel-writer makes a girl so uncon 
 sciously bright and catching in the very first chap 
 ter he must not complain if the reader mixes her 
 up in a plot of his own. 
 
 Romance of a Letter. By Lowell Choate. 356 pages. 12mo, 
 cloth, $1.25. 
 
 But we are not going to spoil a good story by 
 letting the least of its secrets out. 
 
 Whether city boys go to the country or country 
 boys go to the city wonderful things are experi 
 enced. 
 
 Boys of Gary Farm. By Minna Caroline Smith. 313 pages. 
 12mo, cloth, $1.25. 
 
 The story lies between Chicago and Iowa. 
 The boys get mixed up variously. It is a Sunday 
 School book to this extent : The boys are good 
 boys and the girls are good girls ; the seeing and 
 doing are all well meant if they are a trifle ad 
 venturous here and there. 
 
 The Spare Minute series of anthologies is en 
 riched by one from Ruskin. 
 
 Thoughts of Beauty from John Buskin. By Rose Porter. 
 286 pages. 12mo, cloth, $1.00. 
 
 " I have confined myself to his discoveries on 
 Nature, Morals and Religion ; gathering for your 
 perusal revelations of the blessed wonders of sky 
 and cloud, mountain and rock, trees, mosses, and 
 the green grass, birds of the air, and flowers, and 
 the marvelous coloring all these display which in 
 beauty of hue and delicacy of tinting as far out- 
 pass the works of man as the heavens are higher 
 than the earth." From The Introduction.
 
 Dorothy Thorn is a first-class American novel. 
 
 By which we do not mean to declare the author 
 a Walter Scott on his second book. The world 
 may take its time and rate him as it will; but 
 Dorothy Thorn we are sure of. 
 
 It begins as life begins, wherever we pick up 
 the threads of it, human. It goes on the same. 
 The tale is a sketch of not-surprising events. 
 There is not an incident told in the book that does 
 not seem tame in the telling, tame with the unro- 
 mantic commonplace of life ; and yet there is not 
 a spot where the people forget their parts or hesi 
 tate for words or fail to suit the action to them : 
 and, however easy the pages, the chapters move 
 with conscious strength; and the whole is one; 
 it falls with the force of a blow. 
 
 There is a moral to Dorothy Thorn ; there are 
 more than one. She is made to live for something 
 beyond the reader's diversion. What that purpose 
 is, or what those purposes are, is not set down in 
 the book ; but nobody reads and asks. It is high 
 in the sense of being good ; and good in the sense 
 of being successful. It touches the question of 
 questions, work ; and the wisdom comes from two 
 women who do not work. It touches never so 
 lightly the rising question, the sphere of woman 
 the wisdom on that is said in a dozen words by a 
 woman who has never given her "sphere" an 
 anxious thought. 
 
 Dorothy Thorn of Thornton. By Julian Warth. 276 pages. 
 12mo, cloth, $1.25. 
 
 There is hardly a less promising condition out 
 of which to write a novel than having a hobby to 
 ride ; and of hobbies what can be less picturesque 
 than the question how we who work and we who 
 direct are going to get on together harmoniously? 
 
 t
 
 But, when a novel is full of every high satisfac 
 tion, refreshment and gratification in spite of its 
 carrying freight of practical wisdom, or rather, 
 when wisdom itself is a part of the feast and the 
 flow of soul is all the more refreshing for it, then, 
 we take it, that novel stands apart from the novels 
 of any time or country. And such is the Dorothy 
 Thorn of Julian Warth. Not the loftiest flight of 
 imagination ; simple in plot iccleed there is no 
 plot the passing *>f time lets the story go on, 
 and it goes the easy way ; and, when it is clone, it 
 is done. We close the book with regret. The 
 exaltation has passed; and we are again in the 
 world where wisdom is tame and common things 
 bereft of their dignity. But we have sat with the 
 gods and the nectar was heavenly. 
 
 Stories have not run out ; but we often think, 
 as we read some quaint and simple tale that be 
 longs to another time or people, " how good the 
 stories were in those days! " or " they are better 
 story-tellers than ours ! " The truth is, good 
 stories are rare and live forever. To-day may 
 lose them ; to-morrow finds them. 
 
 Swiss Stories for Children and for those who Love Children. 
 From the German of Madame Spyri by Lucy Whcelock. 214 
 pages. 12mo, cloth, $1.00. 
 
 So true to child life and family life, they belong 
 to us as truly as to the Swiss mountaineers. 
 
 Some of these have delighted English ears 
 before.
 
 As & people we hold opinions concerning the 
 rest of the world notoriously incomplete. A book 
 that makes us familiar with life abroad as it 
 really is is a public benefit as well as a source of 
 pleasure. 
 
 The common saying goes : there is nothing like 
 travel for opening one's eyes to the size of the 
 world, to the diversity of ways of thinking and 
 living, and to the very little chance of our having 
 hit on the true interpretation of everything; no 
 education is so broadening. But it is true that 
 few have the aptness at seeing strange things in a 
 way to cemprehend them; and to see and mis 
 judge is almost worse than not to see at all. 
 
 There is no preparation for travel or substitute 
 for it that goes so far towards mending our recep 
 tivity or ignorance as an agreeable book that 
 really takes one into the whole of the life one pro 
 poses to study. There is an excellent one out just 
 now. 
 
 Life Among the Germans. By Emma Louise Parry. 340 
 pages. 12mo, cloth, $1.50. 
 
 The wonder of it is : it is written by a student- 
 girl! that a girl has the judgment, the tact, the 
 self-suppressing watchfulness, the adaptability, 
 freshness and readiness, teachableness, the charm 
 ing spirit and manner that lets her into the inside 
 view of everything, makes her welcome in homes 
 and intimate social gatherings, not as one of 
 themselves, but as a foreigner-learner ; and added 
 to all these splendid endowments the gift of easy- 
 flowing narrative, light in feeling and full of sub 
 stance ! 
 
 The book is wonderfully full in the sense of 
 solidity. Sentence piled on sentence. Little dis 
 course; all observation; participation. You see 
 and share; and you rise from the reading, not
 
 with a jumble of unconnected information, but 
 with a clear impression of having met the people 
 and lived in the fatherland. You know the Ger 
 mans as you might not get to know them if you 
 lived for a year or two among them. 
 
 Nobody but Mrs. Diaz could get so much wit, 
 good sense, and bright nonsense out of barn 
 lectures before an audience of nine by a philoso 
 pher of eight years and a month. But trust the 
 author of the Cat Book, the William Henry Letters, 
 Lucy Maria, Polly Cologne and the Jimmyjohns. 
 
 The John Spiccr Lectures. By Abby Morton Diaz. 99 
 pages. 16mo, 60 cents. 
 
 All in perfect gravity. These are the subjects : 
 Christmas Tree, Knives, Swapping, Clothes, Food, 
 Money. And the passages where the applause 
 came in are noted. The applause and groans are 
 often important parts of the text. 
 
 Excellent reading are sketches of eminent men 
 and women if only they are bright enough to 
 make one wish they were longer. A great deal 
 of insight into history, character, human nature, 
 is to be got from just such sketches. 
 
 Here are two bookf uls of them : 
 
 Stories of Great Men and Stories of Remarkable Women. 
 Both by Faye Huntingdon. 136 and 99 pages. IGmo, cloth, 
 60 cents each. 
 
 Both the great men and remarkable women, of 
 Avhom by the way there are twenty-six and twenty- 
 two, are chosen from many sorts of eminence; 
 but they are sketched in a way to draw from the 
 life of each some pleasant practical lesson. Not 
 designed for Sunday Schools apparently ; but good 
 there. 
 
 *
 
 Can you imagine a more welcome visitor than a 
 civilized Chinaman with the recollections of the 
 flowery land still fresh, but seeing with our eyes 
 and estimating by our weights and measures, and 
 gifted with a tolerable English tongue? 
 
 When I was a Boy in China. By Yan i'liou Lee. 112 pages 
 16mo. cloth, 60 cents. 
 
 The author, grandson of a mandarin, son of a 
 merchant, born in '61, went to the Government 
 School at Shanghai, and in '73 was chosen one of 
 the thirty sent to the United States to be educa 
 ted. 
 
 He writes on : Infancy : House and Household ; 
 Cookery; Games and Pastimes; Girls of My Ac 
 quaintance; School and School-life; Religions; 
 Holidays; Stories and Story- tellers (gives a speci 
 men story) ; How I Went to Shanghai ; How I 
 Prepared for America ; First Experiences. 
 
 The narrative is personal. Jumps right into 
 it. Tells of himself as a baby, of course from 
 knowledge of what happens to boy oabies there. 
 Illustrates Lowell's commendation of President 
 Lincoln's English " strikes but once and so well 
 that he needn't strike but once." An easy writer, 
 graceful enough, but quick and done with it ; full 
 of his subject, and yet not over-fond ; impatient 
 lest his reader tire. He need not hurry. We are 
 eager listeners, not at all critical. 
 
 An American boy of twelve beginning life in the 
 heart of China and writing a book at twenty-six 
 " When I was a Boy in America " would indeed be 
 a remarkable man to write so well ! 
 
 May Yan Phou Lee have a million readers I
 
 A deeper book concerning self -education, what- 
 ever other education may be, and growth of bodj 
 and soul. 
 
 Hold Tip Tour Heads, Girls! By Annie H. Ryder 197 
 pages. 12mo, cloth, $1.00 
 
 The girls are supposed to be out of school. 
 How to Talk, How to Get Acquainted with Nature, 
 How to Make the Most of Work, What Can I Do? 
 What to Study? and so on to the eleventh chap 
 ter, Youths and Maidens. 
 
 All depends on the preacher. The preacher is 
 kind and wise. 
 
 Still another; but this is a story of mothers and 
 daughters. Ruth was untidy. Busy with books. 
 No time for trifles. Work would have to come 
 sometime, let it come when it must, but why so 
 soon? And Alice was busy with music. There 
 were four of them. 
 
 How They Learned Housework. By Christina Goodwin. 
 149 pages. 12mo, cloth, $1.00. 
 
 If you, young girl, imagine you are going to 
 learn housework by reading the book, you had 
 better read it and find your mistake ; for next to 
 knowledge itself is the knowing how to get it. 
 
 A New England Idyl, by Belle C. Greene, is a 
 story right out of the soil ; and the soil is pretty 
 well taken up with stones, and leans up edgewise 
 besides. This rough and hard New England has 
 had its share in forming American character. 
 
 12mo, cloth, $1.00. 
 
 The Idyl is work. The story is good enough 
 without any Moral. The Moral is more than any 
 story.
 
 The praise of a book of travel is rightly held to 
 be "It is next to the journey itself." 
 
 Some Things Abroad. By Rev. Alexander McKenzie, 
 D. D. 450 pages. 12ino, eloth, $1.50. 
 
 You sit by your evening lamp and read, as if 
 from the letters of a friend, the record of his 
 daily experiences. He sees the north and south 
 of Europe, via Constantinople into Asia, tb e Holy 
 Land, etc. 
 
 As in the case of friendly letters, your enjoy 
 ment in reading depends on the writer's geniality 
 quite as much as on the news he has to tell of his 
 wanderings. What could be more agreeable than 
 to be taken thus to the far-off haunts of seekers 
 after knowledge and pleasure without the toilsome 
 goings and waitings and coming back at the end 
 of it all. You have the shade of your own home 
 trees in the hot afternoon and delicious sleep in 
 your own home bed and the sound of your break 
 fast bell in the morning; nevertheless you have 
 seer Some Things Abroad and talked them over 
 delightfully. You probably know quite as much 
 about them as many who bear the tossings and 
 dust and tossiugs again of a journey a quarter 
 round the world. For our part we ask no better 
 company. Dr. McKenzie tells it off so gayly, we 
 can hardly believe in the hardships of seeing. 
 
 The book has the air of talking over the day in 
 the cool of *,he evening, only two or three of us 
 there. 
 
 Garland from the Poets, selection of short 
 miscellaneous poems by Coventry Patmore, with 
 not a word of comment or explanation beyond the 
 poets' names. 250 pages, 128 poems. 16mo, cloth, 
 75 cents.
 
 Never were easier stories told than the Cats* 
 Arabian Nights. If Pussyanita lives till the chil 
 dren tire of reading or hearing them read, she will 
 live to be very old indeed. They softened King 
 Grimalkum and saved the lives of Pussyanita and 
 all the rest of the cats. 
 
 Cats' Arabian Nights ; or King Grimalkum and Pussyanita. 
 By Abby Morton Diaz. 227 quarto pages and full of cat 
 pictures. 8vo, boards, $1.25. 
 
 Mrs. Diaz puts most wonderful wisdom into 
 nonsense, and nobody gives it the credit of seri 
 ousness. It takes the wisdom underneath to give 
 it the fizz. 
 
 A Book of Golden Deeds of All Times and Lands 
 is a series of fifty tales of heroic and noble actions 
 culled out of history by Charlotte M. Yonge " for 
 the young, and intelligent uneducated people " by 
 which the learned author means not for historians. 
 ' ' Enough of the surrounding events have in gen 
 eral been given to make the situation comprehen 
 sible, even without knowledge of the general 
 history." And "there is a cloud of doubt," she 
 says in her preface, " resting on a few of the 
 tales, which it may be honest to mention, though 
 they were far too beautiful not too tell." 466 
 pages including a time-table. 12mo, cloth, $1.25. 
 
 Waifs and their Authors is a collection, by A. 
 A. Hopkins, of poetry worthy of preservation, 
 mainly out of newspapers and by living writers 
 not yet ranked as Poets with notes, personal, 
 biographical, critical, genial always, under twenty- 
 one names. 317 pages.
 
 N
 
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