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 ")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, uuo\\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