' T GAUF. UII1IARY. 1.08
 
 MM .TJUIIIIU
 
 RALPH'S POSSESSION. 
 
 A Simple Record of How It was Given Him and 
 What He Did With It. 
 
 BY GEORGE HOPKINS. 
 
 Ah, were it possible to show 
 How sweet Thy love may be ! 
 With Thee, however, tears may flow, 
 In every joy with Thee. 
 
 From the Latin. 
 
 Unto yon, therefore, who believe, He is precious. 
 
 Epistlt o/Pttiv. 
 
 D 
 
 BOSTON 
 LOTH HOP COMPANY
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, 
 
 BY D. LOTHROP & CO., 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Chap. Page 
 
 I. RALPH GUSHING, .... 6 
 
 H. RALPH AND HIS FATHER, . . 18 
 
 III. REBEKAH, .... 32 
 
 IV. FEAES FOE THE MOTHER, - - 46 
 
 V. PREPARATIONS FOR THE JOUENEY, - 61 
 
 VI. FEIENDLY GATHEEINGS, - - - 76 
 
 VII. THE DEPASTURE, - - - - 104 
 
 vm. COUSIN CECILIA'S WELCOME, 122 
 
 IX. FEEDERICK JAMESON, - - - 138 
 
 X. FIRST LETTER FROM MAEIONDALE, - 163 
 
 (3) 
 
 213091S
 
 Contents. 
 
 
 194 
 
 
 
 XH. VISIT TO THE ORPHANS, 
 
 214 
 
 
 253 
 
 
 
 XIV. HOME CORRESPONDENCE, 
 
 301 
 
 XV. PLEASANT CONVERSATION, 
 
 328 
 
 XVI. RETURN HOME, 
 
 340 
 
 TVTT. nONfiLUSION. 
 
 366
 
 RALPH'S POSSESSION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EALPH GUSHING. 
 
 ; RASH! Plunge! Halt! 
 
 That was all. There was nothing 
 deadly, nothing fearful. 
 
 Only a sudden, brief episode ; an as- 
 tonishment ; an arrest. The fine carriage that 
 had been rolling on so well refused to go, and 
 refused explanation. Its two splendid horses, 
 exactly alike, and totally different, stood still ; 
 
 (5)
 
 6 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 but quiet, handsome William Penn stood prop- 
 erly surprised, on all-fours ; while the high- 
 mettled Philip stood very erect on his hindermost 
 parts. But Philip was soon controlled by the 
 young driver, and shamed, perhaps, by Penn's 
 dignity. 
 
 The two occupants of the carriage, mother 
 and son, were in resemblance and contrast as 
 the two horses. Looking not unlike (the less so 
 that the son was rather old of his age, and the 
 mother was well-preserved), the mother, see- 
 ing all safe, was in no perturbation whatever ; 
 while the son, in all self-possession, was duly 
 excited to make out the dilemma. Having con- 
 trolled Philip, he fell into antics himself; for an 
 adventure always put gay Ralph Gushing into 
 extra spirits. However, here was his mother to 
 be taken care of; and his good heart and head, 
 alike, sobered with the emergency. 
 
 > 
 
 '* The axletree forward, is quite broken I Now 
 what is to be done ? The town is only two
 
 Ralph Gushing. 7 
 
 miles distant. You cannot walk that, my poor 
 niiimma ; but I might." 
 
 " My dear son ! " Then, checking herself, 
 the lady added, "Ah, well ! you have some good 
 plan. If it were but daylight ! " 
 
 " Never mind, mamma, we will make the 
 most of the moonlight. It may answer our 
 need quite as well." 
 
 " Yes. And how soft! how perfect ! It was 
 at full moon when we left your father five weeks 
 ago. Poor papa ! " The voice trembled, and 
 the quick sigh came. 
 
 " Now, mother mine, let us talk about the 
 present predicament." There was a slight, a 
 very slight sharpness in the voice, just a hint 
 of impatience. But there was no impatience in 
 the gesture with which he stroked her chastened 
 face, as he drew it toward his own and kissed it. 
 
 "And what a predicament!" he continued 
 more gayly. " We are in a predicament, sure 
 enough ; but Ralph Gushing is not the man to 
 stay here long. Wouldn't you feel safe on my 
 broad shoulders ? "
 
 8 Ralph" 1 * Possession. 
 
 "Safe, but not comfortable," replied Mrs. 
 Gushing, with a quiet humor not inconsistent 
 with her gentle nature. 
 
 " But do you feel comfortable now, and where 
 you are ? " 
 
 " Comfortable, but not safe. I could pass the 
 night in the carriage very well, but I prefer to 
 be elsewhere." 
 
 " How singular ! " said Ralph. " Not safe in 
 in a place so lonely that there is no finding any- 
 body in it, and no getting out of it ! However, 
 it would not be chivalric in me to leave you 
 here, nor inventive in me to avoid leaving you 
 by staying myself. What do you think of better 
 than my shoulders ? " 
 
 " I think you are taking it coolly, Ralph my 
 boy. But you must have your pleasant thoughts 
 always. Oh! my happy unhappy boyl" 
 
 * Now, mother, don't make yourself unhappy 
 about your happy boy. Cool ? Oh I the Amer- 
 ican sang froid is worth everything. Imagine a 
 Frenchman, now, in this case. The whole affair
 
 Ralph Gushing. 9 
 
 would be wisely dissected, and nothing done. 
 But you see I, being an American, work while I 
 talk. Here are the horses already unhitched, 
 * detached,' Professor Payne would say, and 
 at your service ; or one of them is at your ser- 
 vice. Penn is the safest ; and we'll soon have 
 his harness off, and saddle him somehow." 
 
 " What a pity it is that we had to leave Zed 
 yesterday ! " said Mrs. Gushing, " it is so hard 
 for you to do all this, besides driving me all 
 these two evenings I I hope the poor fellow 
 is better." 
 
 " Oh, it is not hard ; it is easy," said the 
 young man blithely. " That is, easy when done 
 for you, mamma, I mean." 
 
 *' Ralph, you are making yourself finer with 
 every sentence." 
 
 "Thank you, my mother," said Ralph, put- 
 ting down his face meekly; " Now your steed ia 
 ready ; or, rather, he is ready to be ready ; but 
 what for a saddle ? Can you spare a shawl ? " 
 
 '* Why yes, such a night as this, too
 
 10 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 lovely to allow of counting any inconvenience a 
 hardship. Dear Ralph, how shall I hold on? 
 with a shawl for a saddle ! You know I am 
 not practiced in riding these many years. And 
 now, neither stirrup nor pommel I My courage 
 forsakes me." 
 
 But your faith does not, mother. You do not 
 doubt I will hold you on. Now that is the 
 assurance of faith, is it not ? " 
 
 " Ralph, my dear son, the expressions of God's 
 word are too precious for any light citation." 
 
 " I wounded you, mother mine ! Ah, well ! 
 I thought you were fond of illustrations." 
 
 " Yes, but without lightness if the Word of 
 God is touched." 
 
 " Mamma, why did you say ' precious ? ' why 
 not sacred, or something with an ecclesiastical 
 tone ? " 
 
 " Indeed," said his mother, " I don't know 
 why. I did not weigh the words." 
 
 Ralph thought he knew, but there was no 
 time to say so. He had during this conversation
 
 Ralph Gushing. 11 
 
 improvised a seat, if not exactly saddle, that 
 suited the emergency excellently. Two large 
 shawls, each made into a compact roll, and so 
 strapped together as to allow a sufficient space 
 between them, were placed one on each side of 
 Penn's ample back. Between them a cloak 
 thickly folded, and the whole was secured by a 
 little contriving with girth-straps. 
 
 " Penn, you look well, good fellow," said the 
 young man, quite satisfied with his achievements. 
 " Now mamma, you will sink so well into the 
 cloak that you can't well fall off or fall out, I 
 may say. In the first place, I put you on a 
 secure foundation. In the next place, I hold 
 you on " He checked himself suddenly, and 
 then as quickly added ; " mamma, I am not 
 Might.' But you are, little mother," he said, 
 taking her tenderly out of the carriage and 
 placing her softly down between the shawls - 
 " light as a feather, I don't believe Penn knows 
 you are on his back. Now how will it go ? 
 do you feel * safe, but not comfortable ' ? "
 
 12 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 " Quite comfortable, thanks, my dear Ralph. 
 You have made quite a success with your con- 
 trivance." 
 
 The valises and travelling bags were hung 
 across Philip's royal back. Penn was tractable 
 enough to the guidance of his rider ; leaving 
 Ralph free to lead Philip, with a hand for his 
 mother if needed. 
 
 " Are you quite warm with only your light 
 shawl?" he asked. 
 
 " Oh, quite warm, my dear son. These Ten- 
 nessee woods are so sweet ; and this is one of 
 the richest sections we have met. To think of 
 that two-mile walk for you ; why Ralph, what 
 are you turning the corners for ? " 
 
 " To make a short cut." 
 
 * You puzzle me. Please explain." 
 
 " Well mamma, half a mile is quicker done 
 than two miles. If you are not soon sheltered I 
 fear you will be quite sick. That pretty white 
 farm-house or call it by some other name 
 that we passed a half-mile back, I ain sure ia
 
 Ralph CusTiing. 13 
 
 hospitably disposed, and has a spare room for 
 you beside." 
 
 " Indeed, I did not know we had passed such 
 a house," said Mrs. Gushing. 
 
 " No," said Ralph " you were enjoying a nap 
 and I was enjoying the moon-rising. For once 
 you were in dreams while I was taking in 
 realities, my good, practical mamma. I was 
 studying the pretty homestead, and am satisfied 
 that there is a spare room in front, on the west 
 side." 
 
 " Ralph ! Ah, no ! but the longer way is a 
 long walk for you ; really, on every other ac- 
 count I would rather go on to Cousin Cecilia's. 
 We don't know what kind of people they are at 
 this house you speak of. Besides, asking so 
 much at the hands of strangers should be 
 avoided if possible." 
 
 " I don't deny you speak wisely," said Ralph ; 
 "you never speak otherwise. But I fear for 
 your strength. And then, these southern people 
 are so free and cordial, or, if not cordial, mag-
 
 14 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 nificeut in good manners, socially; let them 
 alone politically. But we are wasting time. I 
 have a strange drawing toward the strange, 
 pretty house ; but am quite equal to the long 
 walk." 
 
 " Then, Ralph dear, I decide to go on to 
 Mariondale. No doubt Southern hospitality is 
 munificent ; but I would rather not disturb those 
 good people at this late hour, and with no plea 
 whatever but my own convenience." 
 
 The horses were turned again. The son 
 walked by the mother, leading Philip, and 
 looking manly enough to lead an army. The 
 clear Southern moonlight lent a wonderful ex- 
 pression to his marked features, as well as to the 
 rich, woody landscape that lay out before and on 
 either hand, in almost supernatural festoonery 
 beneath the silver stream. Both parties fell into 
 silence. The horses were good walkers ; and 
 the mere matter of progression, as thinga 
 were, kept all well occupied. Mrs. Gushing 
 spoke first,
 
 Ralph Cushing. 15 
 
 "What an unspeakably droll ending of our 
 journey, Ralph. You are taking a more tre- 
 mendous view of it, I dare say." 
 
 And, to tell the truth, Ralph was wonderfully 
 sensitive about arriving at Cousin Cecilia's in 
 that fashion ; and his gay temperament, always 
 alive to the ludicrous, had been unwontedly 
 sobered by the responsibility of the moment. 
 He was happily aroused by his mother's remark, 
 and for a few minutes the air was ringing with 
 his speeches and his merriment. But this soon 
 passed; and when a silence advertised hia 
 mother that his thinking brain was really in 
 more quiet mood, she said : 
 
 " Ralph, it seems to me that we cannot divide 
 the social from the political ; at least not in our 
 country." 
 
 Ralph looked up an instant inquisitively ; 
 puzzled at the abrupt remark, and then said, 
 * Oh I you have that criticism for my express- 
 ion as to social manners hereabouts. I think I 
 was using the word social in the limited sense
 
 16 Ralph* Possession. 
 
 that attaches to the home life and neighborly in- 
 tercourse. Domestic Etiquette, if you please ; 
 but something more than that. The cultivation 
 of, and appeal to, the feelings, as well as the re- 
 gard for what is correct in expression. In this as- 
 pect, it strikes me, that social manners are more 
 identified with the religious than with the politi- 
 cal. That is, religious life, more than political 
 life, affects the home circle." 
 
 ** Yes, I think you are right," said his mother. 
 
 " But you would not say that there is more 
 religious life in the homes of the South than in 
 those of the North ? " 
 
 "Perhaps not, no; I mean just this: that 
 wherever high-toned living exists, the entrance 
 of true religious belief tends to perfect what 
 were otherwise defective. Refined manners are 
 not always considerate or gentle. Nothing so 
 completes the gentleman in the way of refine- 
 ment, as a heart responsive to the grace and 
 truth of Christ. You know I am not speaking 
 out of experience ; but I think I have seen 
 this."
 
 Ralph Gushing. 17 
 
 " Yes, you are right again,'* said his mother, 
 looking at him fondly, somewhat wonderingly, 
 and with unwonted yearning. He did not 
 notice this, but fell again into revery ; only ask- 
 ing now and then if she was getting too weary, 
 or was keeping warm ; and once playfully man- 
 ifesting great anxiety to know whether she felt 
 
 the more safe, or the more comfortable. 
 2
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 RALPH AND HIS FATHER. 
 
 |f HE scene recorded in the preceding pages 
 has seemed to introduce Ralph Gushing 
 and his mother somewhat to the reader. 
 It is desirable just here to devote a few 
 pages to previous events immediately leading to 
 what shall follow. 
 
 Everard Gushing Esq., Ralph's father, was, 
 as may be supposed, a man of culture and prop- 
 erty. Educated for the bar, at which he made 
 a worthy debut ; and for many years of active 
 
 commercial habits, which he entered as more 
 (18)
 
 Ralph and his Father. 19 
 
 conducive to the health he lacked. His rapid suc- 
 cesses, together with a growing distaste for the 
 pursuits of commerce, had led to an early re- 
 tirement. The age of fifty found him quite 
 exempt from all bodily ailments and mental 
 cares ; established exactly to his mind at his 
 fine country-seat among the highlands of the 
 Hudson, near the pretty village of Apple Downs. 
 In a manner the situation was quite aristocratic. 
 His small family and his numerous household of 
 servants were very properly under his absolute 
 sway ; and his estate was his kingdom. Horti- 
 culture, a fondness for all that is best in English 
 literature ; together with some business corre- 
 spondence and the daily newspaper, had now 
 filled up three years of a life in some sense 
 entitled to rest, but in its strength and largeness 
 were calculated for greater pursuits. He was 
 beloved by his respected wife, and regarded with 
 cold admiration by his well-provided children. 
 He thought himself an affectionate husband and 
 father ; for, was not his wife his honored part-
 
 20 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 ner ? And had not his son and his daughter 
 the culture of Cushings, with the free range of 
 the mansion ? 
 
 Ralph was at this time twenty-two years old. 
 Leaving college at twenty-one with no distin- 
 guished honors, but able to look back upon four 
 years so well spent as to have endeared intel- 
 lectual pursuits. His estimate of his own educa- 
 tion was that it constituted a good beginning, 
 nothing more; a successful entrance upon larger 
 regions that lay beyond. Hence one year of 
 chafing against his father's will that he study 
 law. His own wish was to study for a profes- 
 sorship abroad. A scene in the home library a 
 few weeks before the occasion just related will 
 give us the thread of events preceding, and 
 bring us to our story again. 
 
 
 
 It was on a bright morning in August. 
 Ralph, ever thoughtful for his mother, had 
 passed a troubled night because of an unsual 
 flush on her cheek the evening previous, and a
 
 Ralph and his Father. 21 
 
 too evident weariness in her patient eyes. He 
 arose at the first hint of dawn, and found the 
 heat of his anxiety really cooled by the exquisite 
 freshness inhaled at that hour ; and his unrested 
 brain revived in beholding the transition from 
 rosy tint to golden, that crept over the hills as 
 the dawn advanced, as if a shower of rose-leaves, 
 drawn into one seamless mantle, had spread over 
 all and then passed sweetly, softly, without 
 smell or hint of fire, into glorious, flaming light ; 
 consuming only darkness, and blessing all things 
 waiting its benediction. Ralph sighed with 
 pleasure, as under that benediction himself. 
 And then his thoughts rose higher, while well- 
 remembered words fell through his lips: * Thou 
 makest the outgoings of the morning and the 
 evening to rejoice.' " Those words are good, 
 but I only know them by heart," he said ; " yet 
 they seem to express more than ever." 
 
 And a half-mile walk, and then an encounter 
 with William, who kept the lawn clipped and the 
 orchards pruned, stirred up new and kindly
 
 22 JtalpJis Possession. 
 
 thoughts until the weariness of the night was 
 quite forgotten. 
 
 He re-entered the house on a summons to 
 breakfast, his features having settled into an 
 honest determination, as if some great thing to 
 be achieved rested on himself. At breakfast 
 Mr. Gushing was unusually genial. For this 
 reason Mrs. Gushing was unusually happy, 
 though so quietly that only Ralph's quick dis- 
 cernment noticed it. Ralph's sister Rebekah 
 was strangely provoking, and Ralph was singu- 
 larly silent. Indeed, the conduct of everybody 
 was in some way exceptional ; and Ralph, sure 
 of his father's best mood, waited his opportuni- 
 ty. Half an hour after breakfast he entered the 
 library where his father was sitting, and waited 
 for him to look up. 
 
 " Sit down, Ralph," said Mr. Gushing. You 
 are on business, I see. Any European schemes 
 agog?" 
 
 The young man bit his lip, but noticed the 
 question in no other way ; and said quietly,
 
 Ralph and his Father. 23 
 
 " Father, I positively think that mother must go 
 South for the winter, and go early. I do wish 
 you would hear me through and look at it 
 fairly." 
 
 Mr. Gushing made an impatient gesture. 
 " Your mother is well enough, I think. She has 
 several times lately told me that she feels very 
 well. She looked unusually so this morning.'* 
 
 " Oh ! " said Ralph, " mother is always very 
 well when any one asks her how she does. 
 Yes, she looked finely this morning ; such in- 
 valids, who never will be invalids, always do, at 
 times. But have you not noticed how much 
 less her strength is within a few months ? how 
 quick her breathing becomes on any exertion ? 
 how unrefreshed she is in the morning ? how 
 indifferent her appetite ? Happily, she has no 
 cough ; but I am sure this may lead to that, if 
 neglected. What I think of most is, her great 
 shrinking from cool weather, and her inability to 
 meet it. The winters have been a severe trial 
 to her constitution for five years past, and the
 
 24 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 next one will be worse borne than the last, 
 depend upon it. She ought to be where she can 
 have the open air, and the vision of something 
 alive." 
 
 " Ralph, I knew you would make a good 
 pleader. I still say what I have always said, that 
 a lawyer you will make ; and that you are fitted 
 for nothing else, unless a preacher," he added, 
 with a streak of bitter fun in his tone. 
 
 " No, father," said Ralph hotly, " not a law- 
 yer, nor a preacher. I have no more religion 
 than you have " 
 
 Mr. Gushing started, and so did Ralph ; for, 
 stung by his father's taunt, he had spoken pre- 
 cipitately, and without knowing how the words 
 would sound. 
 
 " No," said his father, with the self-possessed 
 dignity that always served him well. " No, ' 
 Ralph, or less, perhaps ; for I believe religion's first 
 precept is of honor to one's father." 
 
 '* Do you not see that you stung me, father ? " 
 
 " And so you smote the wasp 1 "
 
 Ralph and his Father. 25 
 
 "No, sir! But overlook, forgive. Consider 
 that in a cooler temper I would not have spoken 
 so." 
 
 " Well, let it pass," said his father. " As for 
 religion, more or less, it sets ill where found ; 
 so it is better missed.'* 
 
 " It sets well where it inheres," said Ralph, 
 " but ill enough when assumed. Strange, since 
 it signifies piety toward God, strange that it 
 should ever be assumed." 
 
 " Well, now, my noble son, sharp and solemn 
 the Bar or the Pulpit ? But I did not mean 
 to tease you again. You are sore to-day. Yes, 
 it sets well where it interests, as with your moth- 
 er, for instance," said Mr. Gushing, softening 
 a little. " Ralph, it is well for you to care for 
 your mother. She has been a faultless mother, 
 as she has been an excellent wife. She has al- 
 ways graced my table, and provided well at my 
 entertainments, and had an eye to my interests 
 in every way. * By their fruits ye shall know 
 them ' an old maxim, proved true."
 
 26 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 Ralph, whose color had been coming and 
 going under this dubious eulogium of the mother 
 he so dearly loved, nearly lost his self-possession 
 here. "Was there ever an irony like this?" 
 he thought ; for one second, pale with the quick 
 anger. But then, remembering that his father 
 never opened the book from which he had un- 
 wittingly quoted, and knowing that he esteemed 
 the one of whom he spoke, he replied collect- 
 edly, " I should say, father, that you have 
 misapplied the maxim. But may I resume the 
 subject with which I began ? " 
 
 *' Oh, Ralph, you bother me ! Your mother is 
 quite essential here ; and, I am sure, is better 
 off at home than she can be away. Besides, 
 how can she go ? Who for escort ? and who for 
 company? And what route fair enough for such 
 a very great invalid?" 
 
 " Well, father, the first thing is your consent 
 that she go. I dare say we may find a way and 
 an escort." 
 
 " The doctor says her case is only one of ner- 
 vous debility," said Mr. Gushing.
 
 Ralph and his Father. 27 
 
 " What if it is only debility ? " said Ralph, 
 " she will be miserable all winter, and worse in 
 the spring, with a constitution none the better 
 for the trial. There is the point." 
 
 " Ralph, I must say I admire your concern 
 for your mother, though I think you overdraw 
 matters. And how can your mother be spared ? 
 Think of the Gushing mansion without Mrs. 
 Gushing I But see me again about this after 
 lunch, if you like. As you pass through the 
 hall, strike two bells; I want to see William 
 about those Bartletts; they are looking poorly. 
 What have you ahead this morning ? " 
 
 " Flowers for mother, and Rebekah for com- 
 pany." 
 
 " That will not fill up the morning. What 
 next?" 
 
 Ralph seldom failed to talk his father into a 
 talkative mood. "Rebekah's company has filled 
 many a morning," said he, willing to prolong the 
 scene, for he saw that he was working upon his 
 father's better side. He could not agree with
 
 28 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 him either in his selfishness or his prejudices ; 
 but, trained by his mother's careful hand and 
 example, he felt that he could approach them 
 only in the way of entreaty and filial regard. 
 
 " A gallant speech ! " said Mr. Gushing. 
 " Yes, Rebekah is a fine girl, or woman. Plow 
 old is the beauty ? " 
 
 Now Rebekah Gushing was not beautiful, 
 possessing only a lady-like figure and a fine 
 intellectual face of great plainness. Ralph, 
 therefore, thought this too bad. But he only 
 answered, " Twenty, yesterday." 
 
 " Really ? " said his father ; " I must see and 
 settle something on her soon. After all, Ralph, 
 what next?" 
 
 "Blackstone, sir." 
 
 "What!" 
 
 " Blackstone, sir." 
 
 " Do I believe my ears ? I gee you are in 
 earnest. Indeed, you would not be a Gushing to 
 undertake anything lightly. What has brought 
 you to this?"
 
 Ralph and his Father. 29 
 
 "I suppose I may say mother's counsel, 
 and " 
 
 " That is," interrupted Mr. Gushing, half- 
 sternly, " that is, your regard for your mother, 
 and not your regard for your father ! " 
 
 " I was about to add, sir, and my own con- 
 science." 
 
 " Ah ! then you confess you have been very 
 wrong this year past." 
 
 Ralph did not confess that exactly. He felt 
 that in a sense he had been in the right, and 
 had been suffering wrong. And the dull, hope- 
 less anguish of this new step, as under the 
 edge of his father's words he realized it a step 
 actually taken, he never undertook to weigh or 
 estimate. He only knew that in his own expe- 
 rience it stood unprecedented and alone. Seeing 
 that his father waited for an answer, he said, 
 " Only in part, sir." 
 
 " Well, that is something. But your mother 
 has always sided with you. What is the mean- 
 ing of this new development ? Mrs. Gushing is
 
 30 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 an honest woman, a perfectly true woman." 
 " Mother has always been in sympathy with 
 my preferences," said Ralph, " but never with 
 any opposition to your will." 
 
 "I have no doubt you are right. Your mother 
 has always trained her children as a Christian 
 should ; that is, as one should who professes 
 what those people profess. Well, as I said, 
 come again by-and-by. Don't forget to call Wil- 
 liam. I commend you to Rebekah and the 
 florist; and, above all, to Blackstone." 
 
 Mr. Gushing was possessed of one of those 
 strong, eccentric natures that are somewhat 
 characterized by marked contrasts. Too really 
 noble to be chargeable with any meanness, he 
 was not so absolutely strong as to be free from 
 weakness ; nor were mind and heart so well dis- 
 ciplined as to be truly Catholic. In faot, hia 
 weak points numbered several, and his preju- 
 dices not less than two or three. He was not 
 open to every kind of flattery, but he wa. p
 
 Ralph and his Father. 31 
 
 times flattered by the most guileless conduct on 
 the part of others. His authority, the law of 
 his own will, he above all things worshipped ; 
 and any new discovery of its weight and impor- 
 tance filled him with inexpressible satisfaction. 
 The only good that this ever worked to any one, 
 was in the quiet glow for the time emanating 
 from it toward all his lowly subjects. It was 
 thus he found himself in the midst of a kindly 
 reverie as to whether Mrs. Gushing could pos- 
 sibly be spared, when William entered. And 
 William thought his master had never been so 
 gracious before, nor so easy in his requisitions, 
 nor half so commendatory of the care exhibited 
 in the pear orchard, notwithstanding tho poor- 
 looking Bartletts.
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 
 EEBEKAH. 
 
 f IE 11 HEN Ralph left the library he sought 
 ' Rebekah, who was waiting for him 
 impatiently, but well occupied as usual. 
 She was rambling through Cosmos to 
 find something satisfactory about meteors ; and, 
 quite in despair both of the meteors and of 
 Ralph, she exclaimed on his entering the pretty 
 study and sewing-room, " Ralph, dear, where 
 have you been ? You come like a comet, at long 
 intervals ; but all unexpectedly, like one of those 
 provoking aerolites. That is, nobody can com- 
 pute your movements, and nobody knows very 
 (32)
 
 Jlebekah. 33 
 
 much about you, at least nobody but mamma 
 and I. Dear me ! I don't believe anybody does 
 know what meteors are, nor what this August 
 shower of fire means. But you are a fixed star 
 of the first magnitude. What are meteors, 
 Ralph ? and what is the meaning of all this fusa 
 in the sky lately ? " 
 
 Ralph laughed heartily at this outburst, and 
 especially at the idea of being at once comet, 
 meteor, and fixed star. 
 
 " There ! 1 knew you would laugh at me," 
 continued Rebekah, "you always do." 
 
 " I always don't, dear sister, you sweet, pro- 
 voking sister ! Take that back, please do ! " 
 
 " You never laugh at me maliciously, brother, 
 only sublimely and sweetly, as a star may at 
 anything terrestrial. But I am quite willing to 
 let you laugh at me this time, if only to give 
 your face a pleasant expression. You looked so 
 unsubmissively doleful when you came in. I 
 am sure you have not gained your cause." 
 
 " What cause ? " asked their mother, looking
 
 34 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 up from some embroidery that was making haste 
 to be ready for the trousseau of friend Hope- 
 field's daughter, Faith, who was to be married 
 to Ethelred Summers, Mr. Cushing's head florist. 
 All the household knew that Mrs. Gushing 
 scorned to be idle, and that she lost nothing of 
 position or dignity in contributing by some exer- 
 tion to the happiness of every member. 
 
 " Oh, that is a great secret, mamma," said 
 Rebekah and Ralph, in their haste speaking 
 together. 
 
 " But," continued Rebekah, " it is no secret 
 that we are going down to the green-house to 
 get every kind of flower that doesn't make your 
 head ache. We may bring orange-flowers, I 
 know." 
 
 " A few, very few, dear, for me, and at a 
 tolerable distance." 
 
 " Then you don't want them in your hair ? " 
 
 " No," said her mother, laughing, " I want 
 them before my eyes. The beauty must be 
 seen to make the fragrance perfect."
 
 Rebekah. 3b 
 
 " Oh, sweet philosopher-poet, mamma ' Who 
 can ever love you enough ? Now Ralph, let us 
 go, and 3 r ou shall tell me about meteors." 
 
 But the conversation fell on other subjects, 
 just then all-absorbing to Ralph. As they went 
 out, he took up Rebekah's last words to their 
 mother. " Mamma is more than philosopher, or 
 poet, or both," he said. " When she was read- 
 ing with us this morning, and came upon the 
 verse, ' Who shall tell thee words whereby thou 
 and all thy house shall be saved,' her voice 
 was like a prayer, but a prayer triumphant. 
 But have you ever heard anything read as she 
 read the psalm afterward ? ' Oh, Lord God of 
 my salvation, I have cried day and night before 
 Thee.' It seemed as if she were close in the 
 audience of a friend ; only of one very, very far 
 above one that may be worshipped. I half 
 think she forgot that we were there. And I 
 quite know that we have a wonderful mother." 
 
 Rebekah was silent, half-rebuked for her 
 own harmless bantering ; in full sympathy with
 
 36 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 Ralph, and too nearly tearful to respond. Ralph 
 continued : 
 
 " I have sometimes fancied that we are all 
 safe, all insured for the hereafter, because of 
 mother's faith and faithful living. But of course 
 this would be a perversion of those words, 
 thou and all thy house.' It must be a per- 
 sonal matter with every one. Mother has some- 
 thing that I have not, and which is not in her 
 gift. You have the same ; I don't doubt you 
 have. But then it is a younger, weaker thing 
 with you. You are less settled and less happy. 
 I am wwsettled and tmhappy." 
 
 " Oh, Ralph, brother ! " exclaimed Rebekah 
 gently, " You overcome one's judgment, one's 
 self-possession, with your tremendous emotions. 
 I did not know you were this way, though I 
 have noticed you as very attentive when mamma 
 reads. I am glad you have expressed this. 
 There will certainly be a good end. And if I 
 don't know very well how to help you, there is 
 something very satisfactory, very sweet, in feeling
 
 Rebekah. 37 
 
 perfectly sure that God understands your diffi- 
 culties better than I can. There must be an in- 
 finite depth of compassion in His infinite heart." 
 
 " I have no doubt there is," answered Ralph. 
 "But how do you know there will certainly be 
 a good end ? Many pass through these storms 
 only to strike on a shoal." 
 
 " Rebekah was thoughtful for a moment, and 
 then said, " The certainty is not in you, of 
 course." 
 
 They had been prolonging their walk through 
 the grounds, and Ralph here remembered that 
 they were getting no nearer the green-houses. 
 Accordingly they turned down a short walk 
 leading to the lawn, on the other side of which 
 lay a slope toward the south, where the green- 
 houses were. 
 
 " Orange-flowers are very well," said Ralph, 
 *' and indeed I did not mean to speak so coldly. 
 They are superb, delicious, exquisite, and all 
 that sort of thing. But I like them most of all 
 untouched, in their old habit on the trees. That
 
 38 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 way we get the white flashing among the dark 
 green, and the fragrance diffused into finer tone 
 and less palling richness. It is as if they filled 
 all the space between sky and earth, with just 
 as much as one can well sustain of the perfec- 
 tion of perfumes." 
 
 " You are like mamma," said Rebekah ; " you 
 must see them, and not too near. But one can 
 have them in your chosen way only at tho 
 South. I wonder if mamma will go this year ? " 
 
 " Mamma," said Ralph, " likes nothing so 
 completely as a perfect rose, half-blown, and on 
 a single spray. It may be pink, or any shade 
 of red, or it may be white ; but not ash or straw 
 color." 
 
 " White japonicas for me ! " said Rebekah. 
 
 " Sister ! " exclaimed Ralph, " you are twenty 
 years old, and I never knew that before ! For 
 once I sorrowfully disagree with you." 
 
 " Why, Ralph ? " 
 
 " Oh, they weary me ! They are like some 
 impassive human flowers that one sees here and
 
 Rebekah. 39 
 
 there, painfully exquisite, horribly inexpres- 
 sive ; voiceless, passionless, soulless. Interro- 
 gate them ; they yield nothing. A pillar of salt 
 were better." 
 
 "Ralph! How singular ! Japonicas are uni- 
 versally esteemed to stand well among things of 
 beauty. It seems to me they fill their own place 
 there richly, not inexpressively. And so, for 
 once, /am quite glad to disagree with you. My 
 own declaration would still be that japonicas 
 are delightful. So clear and strong on their 
 stem, no suggestion either of weakness or of 
 self-consciousness or assumption. But the idea 
 of bringing metaphysical analysis to bear on 
 flowers! Ralph, you are spoiling me! But 
 no ! " she said quickly, catching a kiss, " no I 
 I did not mean that. You help me. Never- 
 theless, I like japonicas, the white especially. 
 Brilliancy and fragrance are only qualities, and 
 give their own expression in their own place." 
 
 " I believe," said Ralph, " that the rose and 
 the lily are the only flowers mentioned in the 
 Bible."
 
 40 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 " I never thought of that," said Rebekah. 
 " I suppose they characterized the fields and hill- 
 sides of that country where the Bible was writ- 
 ten. ' Shall He not much more clothe you, O 
 ye of little faith ? ' How sweet, oh, how sweet 
 that is ! Better than our analysis. We get 
 some truths mingled in with our philosophies. 
 But that loving One of Bethlehem, and Galilee, 
 and Bethany; of Gethsemane and Olivet, gave 
 us the truth; and is the Truth." 
 
 And Ralph said " Yes," as one dreaming, not 
 knowing what he said. It was a " yes " in 
 which there was neither confession nor assent. 
 
 They found Ethelred busy as ever among the 
 forest of flowers and exotic green in the apart- 
 ment devoted to tropical plants. Hotter than 
 ever, Rebekah thought it, almost drenching as it 
 was with the sweet earthy vapor that held in 
 itself a mingling of all choice odors. But every- 
 thing looked so well arranged and so perfectly 
 thriving, so luxuriantly happy, that she could
 
 Rebekah. 41 
 
 not help complimenting Ethelred on his skill and 
 diligence. " It is wonderful how much there is 
 co do, and how well you do it, Ethel. You are 
 always busy, and always in good order. Oh, 
 Ethel ! my mother says that you shall have 
 plenty of flowers for the wedding. And you 
 must get some pots ready, besides, with what 
 Faith will best like to have in the cottage win- 
 dow." 
 
 " Thank you, mum" said the young Scotch- 
 man, his fine, honest face lighting up with a 
 satisfied and grateful pleasure. "Mistress Gush- 
 ing never forgets any one. Is my lady well 
 this morning ? ''' 
 
 " Oh, we hope she is pretty well, Ethel. This 
 is too warm for me, and I don't find what 
 I want most. So, Ralph, I am going to the 
 warm regions of the temperate zone. You can 
 find me, I dare say, when you have enough 
 of this." 
 
 Ralph said, " Yes, presently," and fell upon 
 Ethelred with such a volley of questions about
 
 42 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 all manner of plants and shrubs, and trees, too, 
 for that matter, that the good fellow resigned 
 all other employment to give the desired in- 
 formation. With all Ralph's delight in flowers, 
 botany had never been a favorite study with 
 him, and plain Ethelred had always seemed to 
 him marvellous with his long, unpronounceable 
 names for everything. Satisfied at length, for 
 the time, but still in an inquisitive vein, he sud- 
 denly asked, "Ethel, how came a sturdy Scot 
 like you by a name all Saxon ? " 
 
 The florist, who was ill at ease outside the 
 element of his special .calling, looked puzzled ; 
 and Ralph relieved him by saying pleasantly, 
 " The kings Ethelred were good fellows, I dare 
 Bay, and there is reason enough that you be their 
 namesake. Quite likely Faith can tell you about 
 them. If she is as good at housekeeping as you 
 are at flower-tending, the cottage will be a royal 
 cottage, I venture as good as the first Ethel- 
 reel's palace." 
 
 All this time Ethel was cutting flowers here
 
 Eebekah. 43 
 
 and there, as Ralph pointed out. His respectful, 
 intelligent look met Ralph's clear eyes, as he 
 said : " Mr. Ralph, the sunlight, and heat, and 
 moisture, reaching the lily-principle or rose- 
 principle, or whatever may be in seed, or cut- 
 ting, or bulb, bring into action what God has 
 stored up there ; and, as the parson at the kirk 
 would say, ' develop the divine ideas of life 
 and beauty.* Of course, sir, we find our honest 
 labors prospered ; that is part of the ordering. 
 But every day I find the happy thought that it's 
 not me that makes all these things to flourish. 
 It's only Him. And His name's wonderful." 
 
 Ralph remembered the other words, "Coun- 
 sellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, 
 the Prince of Peace." And, as he answered 
 kindly, " You are quite right, Ethel," he found 
 himself wondering if those names standing in 
 prophecy really pointed to Jesus ; and how any 
 one could be sure of it. And then he thought 
 with himself further : " The person who ap- 
 peared to Manoah in the field had the same
 
 44 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 name. Could it be that this one and the one 
 who afterward, as St. John says, 'was made 
 flesh and dwelt among us,' was the same per- 
 son ? And then, who is the person ? Paul's 
 tone is that of conviction, actual knowledge, 
 when he declares that the Rock of Israel, in 
 their wilderness days, was Christ." 
 
 Such thoughts were not unusual with Ralph, 
 and they were nowise hindered, but rather 
 strengthened by the enjoyment of the hour. 
 He was nearly ready to express them to Ethel, 
 and to ask his views, when Rebekah appeared 
 with a playful rebuke for leaving her alone so 
 long. And, bidding Ethel be sure to let them 
 know as soon as the day was fixed, she carried 
 Ralph off without ceremony, " because mamma 
 was certainly weary with embroidery, and with 
 waiting for them." 
 
 " Ralph dear," she said, as they entered the 
 house, " I am not sure that I am less settled or 
 less happy than mamma. Religious life is cer- 
 tainly, as you suppose, a younger and a weaker
 
 Rebekah. 
 
 45 
 
 thing with me, and far more lacking. This must 
 be because there has been less personal acquaint- 
 ance with the Saviour, both in converse and in 
 suffering. But I am quite settled as to who 
 Jesus is, and what He has done for me. The 
 home-nest is there, you know ; the happiness is 
 there."
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FEAKS FOB THE MOTHER. 
 
 ( ALPH went oft by himself to read 
 Blackstone, and Rebekah to " embroider 
 mamma," as she called the adorning of 
 her mother's person and apartment with 
 flowers. The morning passed off busily with 
 all, and the lunch pleasantly. Mr. Gushing was 
 remarkably silent, for his habit at table was 
 conversational, or, if we must be accurate, dic- 
 tatorial. He was fond of hearing himself talk ; 
 and, it must be allowed that he was generally 
 entertaining to others. On this occasion he was, 
 
 as sometimes happened, so indisposed to speak 
 (40)
 
 Fears for the Mother. 41 
 
 that others could be heard without interruption. 
 To-day he was grave and genial by turns, un- 
 usually responsive to Mrs. Cushing's remarks, 
 and, in fact, seemed to take pleasure in listening 
 to others rather than himself. 
 
 As was customary for the first hour after 
 lunch, all withdrew to the library. Mr. Gush- 
 ing placed himself for his usual nap on the old, 
 high-backed lounge, lulled by Rebekah's voice 
 reading to him selections from the Iliad. Ralph 
 said the mother must have a nap by all means. 
 But the mother, as usual, " did not need it at 
 all." She would take her sewing, and talk with 
 Ralph, and they could listen to Rebekah at the 
 same time. 
 
 " Now mamma," said Ralph, " if you can sew, 
 and converse, and listen to reading all at one 
 time, there must be something the matter with 
 you ; your faculties are abnormally elevated. 
 The homoeopathic dictation would be mesmer- 
 ism, if maxims be followed. Now that you are 
 well placed in the big chair, I shall stroke your
 
 48 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 aair awhile, and you shall talk to me, but neither 
 sew nor listen to reading. Those Greek fables 
 are so tiresome ! " 
 
 " Ralph, my scholarly Ralph ! where is your 
 classic taste ? " 
 
 " Oh, it is the ideal that is classic, not the 
 real. It is the imaginative language the 
 Homeric diction, at once stalwart and graceful 
 the sustained energy of the whole as a poem, 
 that gives beauty to the narrative. Strip the 
 story bare of all that is Homeric, and you have 
 left a very ugly series of bloody wars and coarse 
 adventures hardly good to read of. The only 
 benefit the world has received from the Iliad is 
 its contribution to language. The same seems 
 to me true of all the heathen classics, at least 
 measurably so. They have enriched vastly the 
 linguistic fertility and taste of modern times, 
 real thought and historic lore in a less degree." 
 
 " Well, Ralph, quite likely you are right," 
 eaid his mother ; " I never did see that the moral 
 tone is elevated or the heart enriched by any-
 
 Fears for the Mother. 49 
 
 thing in heathen literature. Yet the mere 
 knowledge of language, and the mental disci- 
 pline acquired in putting good Greek or Latin 
 into good English, must have done the race, 
 intellectually, a vast service." 
 
 " Yes," said Ralph, " I suppose anything that 
 tends to develop the individual and enlarge his 
 usefulness, must be to the glory of God. But, 
 if our developed faculties worship themselves, 
 or are spoiled by their own philosophy " 
 He paused and left the sentence unfinished, not 
 wishing to start a conversation that might dis- 
 turb his mother. Presently he added : " And 
 then, so far as we can see, if there had been 
 no Alexandria, no Italy, no Art, and a loss to 
 science beside." 
 
 " You have all those historic links in man's 
 progress far more accurately in your mind than 
 I have," said his mother, " and no doubt you 
 could make a strong case. My own first thought 
 would be that that which more than anything 
 else has originated action as well as thought.
 
 60 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 tending to man's present elevation, is the human 
 life of Christ, and His living Gospel. Bat God 
 has built the whole present, or the whole past. 
 Every bit of the under-structure has its value." 
 
 Ralph was silent so long that his mother at 
 length asked him how he had gotten on with 
 his law-reading. 
 
 "Shall I say just what I want to say?" 
 asked Ralph. 
 
 " Why, yes, T suppose so," said his mother, 
 opening her eyes that were really growing sleepy 
 under Ralph's persistent stroking. 
 
 " Well, then, I hate it ! " said he reluctantly. 
 
 " What ! The Trojans are coming, Cassan- 
 dra 1 " exclaimed Mr. Gushing starting up, and 
 then, more ashamed than sleepy, lapsing into 
 his nap again. 
 
 Ralph's manoeuvre was so successful that his 
 mother was soon asleep also, and Rebekah, who 
 had ceased reading, beckoned him to come over 
 to her corner. She had yet had nothing from 
 him as to the conversation with his father in the
 
 Fears for the Mother. 51 
 
 morning, and was impatient to hear about it 
 They withdrew to the verandah to avoid all the 
 risk of being overheard. For although there 
 was nothing in principle to conceal, and they 
 were never disposed to secrecy towards their 
 parents, yet the time seemed not yet ripe for 
 broaching the subject with the family assembled. 
 Ralph rehearsed as much as was expedient of 
 the morning's conversation, and each thought 
 that their father had been remarkably forbear- 
 ing. They felt sure, also, that if he could only 
 be convinced of the advisability of the proposed 
 step, he would coincide in everything. 
 
 " But I do think, Ralph," said his sister, " that 
 your plan of sending me with mamma is not the 
 best one, nor even a good one. Papa must have 
 somebody to fill mamma's place, as far as that is 
 possible, to look over his linen, to preside at 
 table, to look after Jane and Joan in a hundred 
 matters, and all that. After a few weeks there 
 will be very little company at Apple Downs 
 until June ; but think of any friend coming to
 
 62 RalpJis Possession. 
 
 pass day or evening, arid no lady in the house I 
 We must not forget father while we consider 
 mother." 
 
 Ralph saw the truth and right of all this, but 
 felt that the mother needed Rebekah more, say- 
 ing, " And papa could be a good deal in the 
 city ; and when at home would do very well 
 with me. 1 ' 
 
 " Oh, Ralph, dear, do you not see it wouldn't 
 do ? You are the one to go with mamma, and 
 I, if either, can keep papa's house. The house 
 must be kept, you know. Whatever plans papa 
 may make, he never will plan to be of the 
 party himself. He dislikes the South, and de- 
 tests travelling." 
 
 Rebekah always gave good reasons, and gave 
 thorn honestly. Sometimes (and wisely enough) 
 she did not give them all, unless they were 
 asked. In this instance, she felt very strongly 
 that Ralph would have more than his usual need 
 of their mother's presence, and influence, at this 
 juncture of his life ; and also, that the respoD-
 
 Fears for the Mother. 63 
 
 sibility of oaring for her would be good for him. 
 Ralph, however, asked for no further reasons. 
 He only said, " We are talking as if mamma'a 
 going were decided upon. Do you really think 
 father will come to it?" 
 
 " Oh, I think so," said Rebekah. " Papa 
 likes to do the proper thing. But don't say or 
 do anything imprudent, Ralph." 
 
 " Rebekah ! " said their father, appearing on 
 the verandah at that moment, and catching the 
 last words, " if the round world were as prudent 
 as you are, every year would be a cycle. If the 
 human kind never did anything at a venture, 
 there would be few great things done. What 
 are you berating Ralph for ? " 
 
 Ralph drew back somewhat at this sudden 
 outburst, but Rebekah answered quietly, and 
 with a sweet frankness that characterized her so 
 well, " Ah, papa ! if you couldn't * berate ' your 
 perverse daughter for her prudence, now and 
 then, you would miss of a very healthful ex- 
 citement. It is good for you to scold me, papa,
 
 54 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 you always kiss me afterward. Since Ralph 
 has been telling me of his conversation with 
 you this morning, I suppose I may explain that 
 I was begging him to say nothing imprudently ; 
 that is, nothing that could in any way disturb 
 you. I think he feels with me that he has said 
 all he can fitly say, and that nothing more can 
 be said except by you." 
 
 " Only," said Ralph, " by your permission, 
 father, I was to introduce the subject again this 
 afternoon." 
 
 " You or I were to introduce it," said Mr. 
 Gushing. "I said, 'see me again on the sub- 
 ject/ Well, let us all see each other about it. 
 Come in, you two young ones ! " 
 
 Ralph's heart leaped with such a bound that 
 he happily did not hear the last two words, for 
 they would have nettled him sorely. " What 
 can have inclined father so soon toward this ? " 
 he thought. " Is it possible that miserable Law 
 can have worked such a benefit ? " 
 
 Their mother had resumed her sewing, and,
 
 Fears for the Mother. 55 
 
 all unconscious of being waited on by a dep- 
 utation, greeted them with her usual quiet 
 pleasantry. " Well, children, is father bringing 
 you in, or are you bringing him in ? " 
 
 The conversation that followed was long and 
 animated. The mother was at first unable to 
 comprehend that the whole family were enlisted 
 in a plan for wintering her at the South, before 
 she was even aware of a thought in that direc- 
 tion. Mr. Cushing's dictation was less violent 
 and more kindly than usual, but still in suffi- 
 cient keeping with his general habit to make 
 the others feel sure they were not dreaming. 
 Her own acquiescence was the only point now 
 to be gained, and it is not strange that she was 
 less submissive than her wont ; for how could 
 she be so victimized by kindness as to be dis- 
 turbed out of her loved and quiet home ? 
 
 " But you are not the victim of anybody's 
 kindness, mamma," said Raipb.. * Only be the 
 loyal subject of expediency. Do the pruaent 
 thing, so that you may have t?" tbetter health,
 
 56 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 possibly confirmed health, for the next winter 
 at home." 
 
 Ralph got himself laughed at by all for this 
 prudent speech. Mrs. Gushing, who had never 
 been away from home and family except for her 
 annual visit of a few weeks to her own mother 
 in New England, felt very strongly that she 
 could not go away. Since her mother's death, 
 and their own removal from somewhat fashion- 
 able life in New York to their country home, 
 she had indulged to the full her strong attach- 
 ment to the simple routine of domestic life and 
 neighborly visitation, giving only a few enter- 
 tainments to Mr. Cushing's city friends, and 
 other visitors during the summer ; and one or 
 two of a plainer sort iu the winter to their imme- 
 diate neighbors. She had fondly thought that 
 here she should abide undisturbed. The twen- 
 ty-five years of her married life had been fully 
 assured of her husband's honest-hearted esteem, 
 and of the value in which he held her presence ; 
 notwithstanding the habitual lack of that con-
 
 Fears for the Mother. 67 
 
 siderateness which she had always sought and 
 always missed. She was thus quite sure t*>ft it 
 was at a kind of self-sacrifice that he was now 
 propounding a scheme for her relief from the 
 fatigue of home cares and the trial of a northern 
 winter. And indeed it was so. He was quite 
 sure the house would go to ruin without her. 
 But his finer traits had been somewhat aroused, 
 and he based his proposition on the ground that, 
 although he had not noticed the recent decline 
 in her strength, yet he did remember that she 
 was ill two or three times the last winter and the 
 winter preceding, and how Doctor Saywell had 
 suggested that her constitution was ill-adapted 
 to the winter climate of the North and East. 
 " Go South, and go Westward," he said. And 
 though Mrs. Gushing had been apparently so 
 well all the last five months, yet certainly she 
 was not in as good flesh as in the beginning of 
 the autumn a year ago. It would be better to 
 take matters in season. The coming winter 
 might make greater inroads on her health than 
 the last.
 
 58 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 Mrs. Gushing begged that the subject might 
 be laid aside, and canvassed again after a little 
 reflection. 
 
 At breakfast next morning, the discussion was 
 resumed. Southward and westward, Ralph 
 said, would suit exactly, for there were cousins 
 in Ohio, cousins in Tennessee, and cousins in 
 Louisiana. They could easily cross Kentucky 
 aud Mississippi without cousining. There was 
 no way of making a long journey pleasantly, 
 except by stages; and his mamma's cousin 
 Cecilia had repeatedly urged her to give them a 
 good long visit. 
 
 " Ralph," said his father, " you are a true 
 Gushing, and your idea only needs elaboration 
 to make it practical. You dislike to travel by 
 railway, Helen," he said, addressing his wife ; 
 "and my thought is, that keeping Ralph for 
 company as was planned yesterday, you make 
 the most of your opportunities, and travel in 
 the very easiest and most beneficial way, that is, 
 in our own carriage. Zedekiah and the horses
 
 Fears for the Mother. 59 
 
 are very little needed at home in the winter ; 
 and for the autumn, William can turn groom, 
 and the gray colt will have the chance to prove 
 his qualities. This will give you the additional 
 advantage of your private carriage for your 
 own, and your friends' convenience during your 
 visits. But such a plan would necessitate start- 
 ing soon, and proceeding slowly." 
 
 Ilebekah clapped her hands at this delightful 
 arrangement. Mr. Gushing was constitutionally 
 disposed to do a thing handsomely if he did it 
 at all ; and in a way somewhat original and 
 striking. In this instance, it was in a way very 
 agreeable to all concerned. Mrs. Gushing 
 acknowledged that she should enjoy travelling in 
 that way, and that it would be pleasant to visit 
 Cecilia Stanley. She suggested, however, that 
 Doctor Say well be spoken to. It seemed a very 
 serious undertaking to leave home for so long a 
 time, and so soon, but if he considered it of any 
 importance, she would make up her mind to it, 
 and to all the enjoyment of it.
 
 60 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 Ralph declared that if his father pleased, no- 
 body but he should ask the doctor to call. 
 " Then we will write to all the cousins, and be 
 ready to start as soon as we get replies," he 
 said. 
 
 " Be sure you take plenty of law-books," said 
 his father quizzically. 
 
 " My poor sister ! will not you have a hard 
 time, though ? " said Ralph, as they passed 
 through the hall together 
 
 " Oh no, Ralph, never fear," she answered. 
 " It will be so strengthening and joy-giving to 
 think of sweet little mother having a good time 
 all the time, and of your being less provoked and 
 more happy, as you always are with her. I 
 expect papa to be quite in love with my pres- 
 idency." 
 
 " Did you mean ' more happy' or more sub- 
 missive? " he asked half bitterly. 
 
 " Submission brings happiness, when it is a 
 right submission," she answered, as they entered 
 their mother's room for the reading.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR THE JOURNEY. 
 
 .OCTER SAYWELL called duly, and 
 reiterated his former suggestion with 
 additional emphasis. Mrs. Gushing- had 
 certainly lost ground since he last saw 
 her, and would almost certainly not endure the 
 coming winter as well as the last. He said 
 exactly enough in that direction ; and then all 
 manner of frank, honest, kindly things in praise 
 of the journey and of the method chosen ; and 
 in the way of encouragement that the winter 
 
 would thus be passed without drawbacks, and 
 
 (61)
 
 62 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 that another year might find her quite able 
 or, at least, much better able to remain at 
 home. And as he took leave, with his cheery 
 laugh, cautioning against too long daily stages, 
 and against driving after sun-down except on 
 warm evenings and guarded by quinine, Mrs. 
 dishing felt quite fortified for the undertaking. 
 
 The letters were written, and the various pre- 
 parations entered upon step by step. Jane the 
 cook, and her sister Joan the housemaid, arid 
 William's wife Margaret the laundress, were 
 loud in their lamentations that Mistress Gushing 
 should leave them for so long. " And what 
 would master do ? and that sweet young thing, 
 Miss Rebekah ? " Margaret could not bear to 
 think that her bairns might be sick, and Mrs. 
 Gushing away " she was always so good in 
 sickness, and so kind-like at all times." Indeed, 
 Zedekiah the coachman, or ' Zed ' as he was 
 pleased to be called, was the only member of tho 
 domestic retinue who seemed perfectly delighted 
 at the arrangement. It would be a wonderful
 
 Preparations for tht fourney. 68 
 
 thing to see so much of the countiy ; and he re- 
 garded it in the light of a promotion that he 
 should be entrusted with the driving of freight 
 BO precious and honorable, and through so many 
 dangers as they must encounter in all those 
 hundreds of miles. He would be sine to have 
 Penn and Philip in extraordinarily fine order for 
 the start " and wouldn't they look well, en- 
 tering strange towns with their fine trappings?" 
 
 And truly, the horses were handsome, veil- 
 kept animals ; sufficiently " splendid " to attract 
 admiration anywhere. Their names were a con- 
 ceit of Ralph's ; well matched as to size and 
 color, and outline, they yet presented marked 
 contrasts in disposition ; Philip of Macedon, 
 having when left to himself, a martial tread and 
 an untamed eye, was given to snorting, pawing 
 and usurpation. William Penn, on the other 
 hand, was as gentle as he was handsome, and 
 fleet and strong. 
 
 It was the twelfth of August; and, as the 
 chosen method of travel would be impracticable
 
 64 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 after the days became decidedly cool, it was ar- 
 ranged to start so unprecedentedly early as the 
 third of September, in order to accomplish their 
 Ohio visit, and get well on their way southward 
 by the first of October. 
 
 The three weeks slipped quickly away, all 
 too quickly poor Rebekah thought ; and so 
 thought every one except Ralph and the visionary 
 Zed. One after another the looked-for let- 
 ters came in, complimenting Mr. Gushing on 
 his liberal invention, and full of cordiality to- 
 ward the proposed visits. " Cousin Cecilia " was 
 particularly overflowing. "Safety, speed, and 
 comfort," she wrote, " are three words that 
 make a phrase in all railway advertisements 
 now-a-days. And where speed is essential, as it 
 generally is in this hey-day world, the second 
 word is the great thing of beauty in men's eyes. 
 But I say put benefit for * speed,' and couple 
 * safety ' and * comfort ' with that veracious ad- 
 jective absolute, and you have the perfection of 
 travelling. Where is this to be found dear Helen
 
 Preparations for the Journey. 65 
 
 bnt in one's own family carriage ? supposing 
 the horses to be gentle, the driver reliable, the 
 harness perfect, the wheels quite secure, and 
 everything exactly as it should be ; neither flaw, 
 nor jar, nor apprehension of hindrance. In 
 the present instance all this is quite supposable : 
 for Mr. Gushing, I know, is a man of all others 
 to have everything absolute in its way." 
 
 Cousin Cecilia had a sparkle of fun in her 
 constitution, but she had also her absolute quali- 
 ties, and one of these was sincerity. All who 
 knew her at all, knew this. And, as suspicion 
 was not one of Mr. Cushing's weaknesses, the 
 unfair thought happily did not occur to him, that 
 this good creature might possibly be quizzing 
 him, just a very little and quite charitably. 
 
 A great deal was done in those three weeks of 
 preparation, and an unwonted degree of diligent 
 care was awakened on the part of all the ser- 
 vants, to have everything exactly right for mis- 
 tress during her too brief delay before the long 
 
 farewell, so that what had always been done 
 
 I
 
 66 Ralph's Poisession. 
 
 cheerfully and well was now done superlatively. 
 The cooking had never been so faultlessly exact, 
 nor so skilfully varied and elaborate ; the car- 
 pets had never been so accurately swept, nor 
 every speck of dust spied out so ruthlessly by 
 Joan, without a hint from anyone ; the linen had 
 never been quite so snowy or so glossy before, 
 nor so carefully laid away. And with all the 
 natural excitement and disturbance occasioned 
 by the great event, the house had never been 
 more quiet, nor had Mr. Gushing ever been so 
 nearly affectionate towards his wife since the 
 first six months of their wedded life, as during 
 the last two of these three eventful weeks. On 
 two occasions he actually accompanied the 
 family from breakfast to the little drawing-room, 
 and begged the mother to goon with the custom- 
 ary reading as if he were not there, a direc- 
 tion in the form of a request, with which she 
 was hardly able to comply for too much joy. 
 
 One day near sunset, in the last week of that 
 glad, yet half-sad time of preparation, Ralph
 
 Preparations for the Journey. 67 
 
 who had been vexing his soul with the irksome 
 law-study and was not yet quite in a perfect 
 mood, sat leaning out of his western window, 
 indulging in certain reflections, longings and 
 aspirations of which no one but himself has ever 
 known the exact purport. The last hour had 
 been a pleasant one, though not quite filling to 
 his satisfaction, the vacant place that somehow 
 he could never get filled. He had just returned 
 from driving his mother and sister in the light 
 phaeton over to friend Hopefield's, to say a kind- 
 ly farewell to them all, and especially to Faith, 
 whose wedding couldn't possibly be made to come 
 off before October, and she must be excused if 
 the tears did start with the vain regret that Mrs. 
 Gushing could not ornament it with her presence, 
 and warm it with her fresh, kind salutations. 
 
 Ralph always enjoyed these drives, and this 
 evening he had particularly enjoyed the society 
 of his two companions, which, like the famil- 
 iar landscape, never shifting, yet always in soma 
 way changing and newly suggestive, had en-
 
 68 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 livened him greatly for the time. But, for all 
 this, he had returned only to take up again the 
 burden of his vexed and tired mood ; not de- 
 jected, but weary and reflective, he allowed a 
 shade of the vexation in the tone with which he 
 answered a rap at his door, but uttered an excla- 
 mation of glad welcome as Rebekah entered. 
 
 " Not tired of me yet, patient brother ? " she 
 asked gayly, as she stepped forward to his win- 
 dow-seat. 
 
 " Oh, sister, no ; I am sure you don't think 
 I am or can be tired of you. Bat I am not 
 ' patient,' not a bit so. Sit down, you rest me 
 already." 
 
 She sat down, waiting for him to say more ; 
 only stroking his hand fondly, and once saying 
 how much their mamma had enjoyed the drive 
 and the call, these Hopefields were sc simple 
 and intelligent. 
 
 " Rebekah," said Ralph after a long gaze of 
 enjoyment at the glowing sunset, in which he 
 knew she was participating, " did you know that
 
 Preparations for the Journey. 69 
 
 you omitted Cahary? I mean the other day 
 when we talked, walking through the grounds, 
 and you spoke of Christ as the One of Geth- 
 Bemane and Olivet." 
 
 " 1 hoped you would have noticed it, and am 
 glad you have," said Rebekah. " Indeed, I have 
 felt so sure that you would resume our talk of 
 that happy morning before you and mamma 
 leave, that I have been quite safe in waiting for 
 you. Yes, I purposely omitted Calvary then, 
 because I was thinking especially of our 
 Saviour's human living and teaching ; or rather, 
 the Divine teaching of His human lips and 
 life ; of how he was made flesh, and dwelt 
 among us. The fulness of grace and truth were 
 manifested before the precious blood was shed. 
 There was suffering in the life, there was sorrow 
 in the living heart ; but it was all the necessary 
 condition of a living fellowship with the Father 
 in this world that hated the Father, and of the 
 devotion to the work He had, in thj form of a 
 servant, undertaken for His afflicted and poor
 
 70 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 people. There was sacrifice in this Divine 
 opportunity, well fulfilled ; of Divine great- 
 ness in humilation ; of becoming the patient 
 ingatherer of His own flock, and opening their 
 minds to the truth, their hearts to Himself. In 
 all this there was sacrifice. But in the blood- 
 shedding was redemption, and more than redemp- 
 tion, atonement ! for the heart apprehending the 
 death of Christ as He himself does, is at one with 
 Him forevermore." 
 
 Again Ralph made no immediate reply ; and 
 when he did speak he only said somewhat 
 abruptly, " Oh, I have heard endless sermons on 
 these subjects ; some of them very sweetly and 
 manfully spoken, by men who were intellectually 
 strong, and no doubt speaking their convictions 
 and living by them. All I can say is that, in 
 my own belief, I am no where in particular ; 
 except that I am sure there is something in 
 Christ that I want." 
 
 Rebekah did not know what to say. She 
 knew that God had taught her own heart, but
 
 Preparations for the Journey. 71 
 
 she was not sure of her ability to teach another. 
 She spoke soon, saying gently, " It is not only 
 something in Him that you want, or need. You 
 need Him ; and your want, or longing, will be 
 filled when you possess Him. He did not give 
 something that He had or was for us. He gave 
 Himself for us. 1 ' 
 
 " Well " said Ralph, " I dare say you say well, 
 but I do not understand it. I remember your 
 expression of the other day 'personal acquain- 
 tance with the Saviour.' I can realize that there 
 may be a divine, unseen, everywhere present 
 Person such an one as mother seems acquainted 
 with, and seems to be always within reach rf. 
 But then, if the * possessing ' of which you 
 speak lies in a getting, how am I to get or lay 
 claim to the Person as possessed acquaintance, 
 friend, saviour ? The getting, certainly does not 
 come by reformation ; I have seen reformed men, 
 and moral men, who needed no reforming ; spot- 
 less men, in their own eyes, and before any human 
 tribunal. I have admired and disliked them
 
 72 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 about equally. I never could feel that they had 
 Christ." 
 
 " Oh, Ralph dear," said Rebekah, " it is not 
 getting, it is receiving." 
 
 There was no impatience in the tone in which 
 Ralph replied ; " I don't understand the one any 
 better then the other, sister. But everything 
 you say carries the conviction that you are not 
 mistaken." Then, after a moment of silence he 
 added, " You did not answer my question the 
 other day." 
 
 "What question?" 
 
 44 You were certain there would be a good end 
 to this unsettledness, these difficulties and 
 questionings and I asked you how you knew." 
 
 Rebekah laughed her sweet, natural laugh. 
 There was nothing in it that could irritate or 
 wound. " I tried to answer you," she said. 
 '* What was it ? Oh, yes ! I said that the cer- 
 tainty was not in you. Of course it could not 
 be. There is nothing certain in any of us." 
 
 44 You can't persuade me," said Ralph, " that
 
 Preparations for the Journey. 73 
 
 that answered the question, nor that you think 
 it did. Your mind works too accurately to dujre 
 itself that way." 
 
 Rebekah laughed again. She could not help 
 it. But seeing that Ralph could not exactly 
 join her, she let herself again into t!;e stronger 
 mood. " You are concerned about the issue,'* 
 she said, "because you are looking at everything 
 from your own unsettled stand -point, and the 
 largest, most reliable party believed in is your 
 uncertain self." 
 
 Ralph started. Did Rebekah say that ? And 
 was that really true ? But he only said, " Well, 
 the question is not answered yet." 
 
 Rebekah continued: "If I thought you under 
 some vague excitement, or actuated by some 
 definite calculation of self-interest, I should not 
 be at all happy as to the probable result, because 
 1 should not be at all sure that God were lead- 
 ing you to Himself, only that you were your- 
 self endeavoring to impel yourself into some 
 sort of a religious life. But it is quite plain
 
 74 Ralph'* Possession. 
 
 that God is doing with you what He always 
 does with a soul that He is determined to sub- 
 due and lift up. He is making you hungry for 
 Him. The hand of Christ has touched your 
 heart, and discovered to you its weakness, its 
 emptiness. But you are thereby wedded to that 
 hand. Its touch drew you, and awoke you 
 into eagerness, thoughtful, abiding, real, to 
 know and live with the heart that animates and 
 moves that bruising, healing touch. You are 
 thirsty for the living God. And," she said, put- 
 ting up her face to his, all radiant with sisterly 
 pride, affection, and yearning, " it almost seems 
 that you are beginning to drink." 
 
 He bent over and let her kiss him, but did 
 not answer her by word or sign, save that one. 
 They sat until the twilight deepened. Then 
 Ralph said they must look for their mother. 
 " You must have all of mamma that you can 
 while she is at home," he said. And as they 
 rose to go, he told Rebekah that her last word 
 had brought to his mind the words of Jesus :
 
 Preparations for the Journey. 75 
 
 If any man thirst, let Mm come unto me and 
 drink. " Ate you perfectly sure that the living 
 God is there ? " he asked. 
 
 " Perfectly sure ! " she answered, ** and y( u 
 will not rest until you are sure also."
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 FRIENDLY GATHERINGS. 
 
 NE of the last things to be accomplished 
 before the final departure, was an even- 
 ing entertainment to the remnant of 
 " city company " that remained so late 
 at Apple Downs, and to the few resident gran- 
 dees who were able to feel at home on the 
 Brussels and velvet of the mansion. To Mrs. 
 Gushing and Rebekah this was partly an imper- 
 ative ceremony to be begun, conducted, and 
 finished according to Mr. Cushing's most exact 
 
 ideas; partly a pleasant and congenial mode 
 (76)
 
 Friendly Gatherings. 77 
 
 of expressing their cordial interest in their ac- 
 quaintances, and their unwillingness to omit this 
 opportunity of giving them a pleasant evening 
 and a bright farewell. As for Ralph, he liked 
 these occurrences well enough while they lasted, 
 and was very glad when they were well over, 
 lie was quite able to be the life of any com- 
 pany, but was more content to be looking out 
 the two or three choice spirits of the company, 
 with whom he could interchange thought as 
 well as animation. Of animation, however, 
 Ralph had a large fund, and his absence from 
 any circle where he was known, was always 
 a presence missed, as was the case on this 
 eventful evening, for the short and simple reason 
 that Ralph had a headache. Miss Celestina Ru- 
 bens, who sought to rival her illustrious name- 
 sake with paint and brush, was especially disap. 
 pointed that Ralph was not to be seen, because 
 she wished his " valued opinion " as to sundry 
 points in her art where opinions might differ. 
 She had decided to remain in the country a
 
 78 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 month later than usual, in order to sketch in 
 water colors " the best scenes of the season," 
 which she could then copy in oil at her longest 
 leisure. Miss Celestina had brought a miniature 
 landscape, done in oil colors, all the way from 
 the Rubens farm, to present to Mrs. Gushing, 
 if Rebekah thought it would " do ; " a most 
 happy phrase, allowing the martyr critic to say, 
 " Oh, by all means perfectly well," without 
 the least hesitation ; and then, of her own vol- 
 untary pleasure, to invent certain kind and 
 truthful expressions, in order that the aspiring 
 article might escape the slightest wound of mis- 
 giving that her sorry daub was not in every pos- 
 sible way acceptable. Miss Rubens, who was as 
 generally disinterested as she was simple, was 
 thus quite bereft of all concern on the subject. 
 Her face lighted up much as the face of one 
 born blind may become expanded and quickened 
 under a discourse about the sun, and she was 
 able to pass the evening quite comfortably, not- 
 withstanding Ralph's absence, declaring that,
 
 Friendly Gatherings. 79 
 
 when the evening star had set, there was no use 
 expecting it to rise till the world had turned 
 over again. 
 
 Mrs. Gushing moved among her guests with 
 the ease, and fine carriage, and quick perception 
 of which her husband was so proud, and with 
 the benevolent eye and unaffected gesture so in- 
 separable from her nature. Both host and host- 
 ess were admirable in their sphere, noticing the 
 in-coming of each new guest, greeting each with 
 genuine grace and cordiality, never wanting in 
 suitable words of welcome, and making some 
 pleasant introductions for all. With all this, 
 each was moving here and there to see that all 
 were well entertained; occasionally forming new 
 groups, or starting new themes. 
 
 While Rebekah was still entertaining Miss 
 Celestina, and a few other young ladies and 
 gentlemen, Mr. Livermore Maxwell was dis- 
 coursing to Mr. Cushing's great amusement, of 
 the improved state and style of restaurants in 
 New York since he was a boy, forty years then
 
 80 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 gone. And the same gentleman proceeded to 
 edify Mr. Wunderman with an amazing amount 
 of eloquence on the inadequacy of railroad pro- 
 jections to meet the wants of the country ; the 
 like inadequacy of investments for the work in 
 hand, and the deficiency of stone bridges, and of 
 engineering generally. 
 
 Doctor Say well was there, of course ; and was 
 overheard to say that the Cushings entertained 
 better than anybody in the country. The sorest 
 trial of the evening to Mrs. Gushing ( except 
 the wine, which Mr. Gushing had imperatively 
 voted in) was a long disquisition from Matthew 
 Drawdeep, Esq., on the significance of the times, 
 and the important moral lessons to be deduced 
 from recent political and social events. Mr. 
 Drawdeep was Superintendent of the Sunday 
 School in Mr. Hidden's church ; and he ex- 
 pressed his conviction that the children should 
 be instructed more by the moral import of pass- 
 ing facts, and the analogies of nature, than 
 from "the letter of the Gospel," a phrase that
 
 Friendly Gatherings. 81 
 
 was quite new to Mrs. Gushing. She extricated 
 herself at last, pitying the Sunday School chil- 
 dren very much, and pitying herself a little, that 
 she had been obliged to be polite to Mr. Draw- 
 deep, for at least ten minutes, when her presence 
 was essential elsewhere. 
 
 When the company dispersed, Miss Celestina 
 with commendable adroitness, found just the 
 right opportunity to present her " oil sketch " 
 to Mrs. Gushing who, in her sincere regard for 
 the good young lady, had no difficulty whatever 
 in accepting it, in a manner that gave the giver 
 greater pleasure than her own best execution 
 could possibly have done in itself. The ever 
 true and ever perfect word of the Lord Jesus, 
 that it is more blessed to give than to receive, 
 was doubly exemplified in this instance. There 
 was superlative blessing on each side ; because, 
 as each received, each gave, cordially, sincerely, 
 if not equally. 
 
 
 
 But it was not enough for Mrs. Gushing that 
 6
 
 82 RalpJis Possession. 
 
 her friends and her rich neighbors had received 
 gome expression of her husband's society views 
 and her own good-will. She could not be satis- 
 fied without the added pleasure of an entertain- 
 ment that should bring in many of her esteemed 
 and valued neighbors, who would not have felt 
 at home in the gathering first assembled. To 
 this Mr. Gushing made no objection. He liked 
 to have his house thrown open; and if his wife 
 was pleased to flatter those people, it was noth- 
 ing to him. 
 
 The three ministers of the three parishes of 
 Apple Downs, who were present on the evening 
 just noticed, were especially requested to favor 
 Mrs. Gushing with their presence again on the 
 third evening following ; when they would meet 
 with numerous members of their respective 
 flock not among the first company. 
 
 Happily, Ralph was well and in good order 
 for the second occasion ; happily for him, as ha 
 would have missed more the simpler entertain- 
 ment of the simpler folk, than he had missed that
 
 Friendly Gatherings. 8- 
 
 which was more fulsome, and on the whole, 
 more brainless. There were staunch, sensible 
 tradesmen in Apple Downs, and farmers of the 
 same type on the broad, rich lands around ; men 
 who fought sturdily the battle of life, and who 
 thought while they fought, and who read and 
 pondered the thoughts of other men. There 
 were active, conscientious housewives, and well- 
 trained young men and maidens, full of inherited 
 good sense and native good manners. Of these 
 the majority were well to do, and some were 
 poor. They were growing accustomed to these 
 entertainments, for every year there was some- 
 thing of the kind, and the first strangeness was 
 BO far wearing off, that some who could not be 
 persuaded to come at first, were now throwing 
 off their awkwardness, the timidity being ex- 
 changed not for boldness, that were impossible 
 in the presence of the Cushiugs, but for a 
 higher tone of self-respect, and a confidence in 
 the sincere good-will of their entertainers. 
 Thus, of all those mvited, there were missing
 
 84 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 only the widow Rhoda Bailey and her two 
 daughters. Little Rosa would have been glad 
 to be of the number, but her mother and sister 
 Amelia could see no propriety in accepting 
 attentions that they could not possibly return. 
 So little Rose found it quite essential to be 
 resigned, and the more so that she had no 
 acknowledged friend for escort. But Rose had 
 learned the happiness of making others happy, 
 and found her heart always more glad in listen- 
 ing to her mother's expressed judgment, than in 
 advancing her own. " Why should I trouble 
 mother," she would say, " with opposing my 
 wish to her judgment ? Ten to one her judg- 
 ment is always really the best. And even if it 
 be otherwise, it is far happier for me to make 
 what remains of her life smooth and peaceful, 
 than to have my own way." After all, Rose's 
 " own way " was exactly what she was continu- 
 ally doing, viz., to contribute by every possible 
 means to her loved mother's happiness. 
 
 The three ministers were there to a man.
 
 Friendly Gatherings. 85 
 
 There was Reverend Frank Clearwater, with 
 large, serious blue eyes, and quick, bright, manly 
 speech. He was accompanied by his friend, 
 Professor Payn, whose inability to be present oa 
 the first evening was replaced by his ability to 
 present himself on this occasion. If the exact- 
 ness of his costume was somewhat fastidious, it 
 after all did not assort ill with his well-made 
 figure and his regular features. These last only 
 wanted the play of a less conscious manner, and 
 a freer smile to make them fine. Then there 
 was the Reverend A. W. Hidden, with counte- 
 nance of mildly benevolent cast. It was under- 
 stood that the letters A. W. stood for Amaniah 
 Wiseman ; but, as Mr. Hidden was not himself 
 partial to the name Amaniah, he invariably 
 wrote himself A. Wiseman Hidden, a name that 
 was, on the whole, more suggestive to his 
 parishioners and his immediate neighbors than to 
 him. And then the cheery, stately, slightly 
 pompous, very gentle Pastor Laidley, of the 
 Scottish kirk. A favorite maxim with this good
 
 86 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 man ran somewhat thus : " Contentment and 
 accuracy insure happiness.'* And, as he c )uld 
 never be otherwise than profound, (even his 
 simplicity seemed profoundly simple), it fol- 
 lowed that in personifying his own maxim, he 
 became profoundly content and profoundly accu- 
 rate. He was also profoundly original, but 
 that was not his fault, and the gift was well 
 carried and used only for good. When he was 
 entreated that his maxim was a worldly one, 
 conveying no ray of evangelical truth, he would 
 say, every syllable clarified with broad Scottish 
 brogue, " So also is the word 'Thou shalt love 
 thy neighbor as thyself,' if it be left to the 
 world's usage." He would then amplify much 
 as follows: "The grace of the Lord brings 
 contentment, and the truth of the Lord begets 
 accuracy. And the fulness of the Lord's grace 
 and truth is fulness of joy indeed." 
 
 These three good men were all beloved iu 
 their measure ; and it was good for them and for 
 their respective churches to be thus thrown
 
 Friendly Gathering*. 87 
 
 together, and thus once more reminded that 
 they were all brethren, redeemed by one Saviour, 
 fed by one Shepherd, owned by one Lord. The 
 company numbered more than the first. Library, 
 drawing-room, and spacious hall were as full aa 
 was comfortable, and in the words of Patty 
 Jenkins, then present, " all in a buzz." The 
 parlors were not thrown open, and for two 
 reasons, both of which seemed to Mr. Gushing 
 very silly, but then he never troubled himself 
 about " those people." In the first place, Mrs. 
 Gushing had an instinctive dread of doing any- 
 thing that could seem like displa} T ing her posses- 
 sions to her neighbors who had less than she. 
 And then, further, the library and drawing- 
 room were comparatively so plain as to afford 
 a better sense of ease and comfort to her 
 guests. That her judgment was not at 
 fault in this last particular was evinced in a 
 remark of one of the number, Elder Marius Jones 
 by name, to Farmer Black, in the presence of good 
 Doctor Laidley,and reported by him afterward to
 
 88 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 his own and the hostess' " profound " amusement. 
 The three were standing in the hall, taking their 
 coffee, (Mr. Gushing had consented to entertain 
 without wine on this evening). The conversa- 
 tion had turned upon church matters, and Elder 
 Jones was expressing himself quite disturbed 
 because of the perverse impossibility of managing 
 one " social level " in this world for all who are 
 Christ's " I tell you, domine" he said, ad- 
 dressing with much emphasis his reverend 
 neighbor of the Scottish kirk, " the mount of 
 Zion mourns when one brother can't meet another 
 on the same footing in all respects. I dare say 
 it's all right, socially considered. We're in the 
 world, and there must be divisions of trade or 
 occupation ; anil there must be grades of educa- 
 tion accordingly The poor man can't have 
 what the rich man has ; and the manners of us 
 ploughmen can't be every way agreeable to men 
 of learning ; nor theirs ain't to us, as I know of. 
 (I beg pardon, domine ; nothing personal). But 
 it does seem strange, unaccountable, and some-
 
 Friendly Gatherings. 89 
 
 how sorrowful, that where the Spirit of Christ 
 is, His love shouldn't prevail over all these 
 differences, and even wipe 'em out. They come 
 nearer to it here than any place, maybe," he 
 said lowering his voice, and addressing Mr. 
 Black especially. " Now these carpets ain't such 
 as man is afraid to step on ; and, if I can't find 
 a spittoon anywhere 'round, it isn't so much 
 matter for one evening, so long as the chairs are 
 stout enough to sit on. I told my domine the 
 other day that if the convention of churches 
 was to be in New York this year I wouldn't go. 
 Not that I don't love the churches down there, 
 (and Christ's people, be they rich or poor, love 
 one another). I told him, not a doubt but that I 
 would be well treated. I believe that on the 
 whole the love of the Master rules in the 
 churches, bad as things look sometimes. But if 
 I was to go down there, likely as not I should be 
 quartered with some rich family where I couldn't 
 spit if I wanted to ; and though they wouldn't 
 for the world hurt my feelings, I should be all
 
 90 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 the time afraid of offending theirs. On the 
 whole, Pastor Laidley, these ministers of the 
 Gospel the real ones I mean are about the only 
 learned folks that an unlearned brother can feel 
 at home with. And these Cushings " his voice 
 fell nearly to a whisper again as he touched 
 Farmer Black on the shoulder " these Cushings 
 are about the only rich ones where a poor man 
 can feel sure he isn't in the way. Who doesn't 
 like Mister Ralph ? And Miss Rebekah ain't 
 her words like apples of gold ? 
 
 " But what is the explanation of all this, that 
 I believe is right in the main, because in the 
 main necessary ; and that yet seems some- 
 how all wrong ? " 
 
 Farmer Black thought that social grades and 
 distinctions, such as Elder Jones referred to, 
 evidently ordained of God as suited to our pres- 
 ent human estate ; and that, so long as the 
 church on earth is made up of human beings, its 
 members are members also of the great human 
 family, and as such have certain social conditions
 
 Friendly Gatherings. 91 
 
 to fill ; having thus, perhaps, all the better op 
 poitunity to manifest the Spirit of Christ toward 
 one another. To be sure, there is failure in 
 man; but, as far as God's ordination is con- 
 cerned, it is better for us to adorn it than to 
 improve upon it. 
 
 " Ah ! " said Doctor Laidley, " there you 
 made an excellent point. In spirit and in truth 
 God's dear children are all one in Christ Jesus ; 
 no barbarian and Grecian distinctions here. But 
 under present conditions the practical and literal 
 " all things common " seems contrary to the 
 divine economy. Such a social system, when 
 demanded by the peculiar conditions of the pri- 
 mary Jewish flock, was imprompted and inaug- 
 urated by the Divine Spirit in the church. It 
 would be quite unsuited to ordinary times and 
 conditions. Hence we find nothing of the kind 
 transpiring in the Pauline churches, nor sug- 
 gested in any of the apostolic letters. There is 
 something higher and larger shown to us, ' let 
 the brother of low degree rejoice in that he i
 
 92 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 exalted, but the rich in that he is made low.' 
 God desires to work in us absolutely after such 
 searching and unworldly precepts as, ' Let all 
 your things be done with love.' ' That ye love 
 one another.' * It is more blessed to give than 
 to receive.' * Remember the poor.' * Honor to 
 whom honor is due.' * Above a servant ; a 
 brother beloved ' hand in hand with 'Servants 
 obey your masters .... pleasing them well in 
 all things.' It is one chief glory of the Gospel," 
 he continued, " that it revolutionizes society not 
 by models and formulas but by the living energy 
 of divine principles. This is manifest in looking 
 over the social progress of evangelized nations. 
 It is in a way not to please man but to glorify 
 God. We see everywhere among the foremost 
 results of a received Gospel the elevation of the 
 masses ; not in a way to confound, but to de- 
 fine and dignify, social distinctions ; because in 
 the earthly state, if not in the heavenly, these 
 are for the best welfare of all. It would be 
 impugning the wisdom of God to assume that
 
 friendly Gatherings. 93 
 
 the entrance of His truth should unhumanize 
 humanity. Neighbor Black made an excellent 
 point there : we best adorn God's ordination 
 when we accept it as it stands. Albeit, as re- 
 gards love, there is failure in us. We are called, 
 as Christians, to adorn the doctrine of God our 
 Saviour, in all things." 
 
 Before good Doctor Laidley had reached the 
 end of these remarks, which seemed directly the 
 fruit of Mr. Black's happy sentiment, he found 
 himself the oracle of quite an audience, for a 
 number of interested listeners had gathered 
 about him. One of these thought the reverend 
 epeaker was possibly right, but remembered that 
 the only "peculiar condition " mentioned of the 
 church in Jerusalem was that the whole multi- 
 tude " were of one heart and of one soul." 
 
 Elder Jones, listening first to himself and then 
 to the reverend doctor, had forgotten to drink 
 his coffee, and returned now to that fleshly ali- 
 ment. But finding it quite cold, he put down 
 bis cup with mild emphasis, exclaiming, " Hem I
 
 94 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 If there's anything I do despise, it is any kind 
 of cold victuals I " 
 
 It must have been at about the time this 
 conversation occurred, that another scene was 
 transpiring in the library. There was a group 
 of four standing near one of the windows, 
 Rebekah, Ralph, and Professor Payne ; and be- 
 tween these two gentlemen, a kindly, motherly 
 quakeress, who was informing them with some 
 details of household science. This discourse 
 was interesting to the Professor, because he was 
 specifically an economist ; it was interesting to 
 Ralph and Rebekah, because they loved every 
 phase of Christian domestic life ; and it was 
 interesting to all alike because of the rare sim- 
 plicity of gesture, and diction, and sentiment 
 that adorned the garb of gray. " You all be- 
 lievf," she said, "and thee knows, Rebekah, 
 that the work in hand is always best done when 
 the heart is toward God in it. But, after all, 
 one can't make good bread, nor a good washing
 
 Friendly Gatherings. 95 
 
 and ironing, unless one learns how. It is just so 
 with all those qualities and habits that go to 
 make up character, and that find both their nur- 
 sery and their supreme dominion in household 
 life. Neatness, order, punctuality, all these 
 have to be learned ; and if not acquired by our 
 childhood's training, they must be studied after- 
 ward. We are not fit to enter any responsible 
 position till we have learned lessons that give 
 fitness for it." 
 
 A deal more the quiet woman in gray had 
 already said ; and she would have added more 
 beside, had not Professor Payne at that moment 
 plunged himself against an alabaster flower- 
 stand, on which was a light vase filled with 
 day-lilies and salvias ; thereby precipitating the 
 vase to the floor, his own self-possession going 
 topsy-turvy with it. The poor man was in the 
 depths of embarrassment, from which Rehekah 
 sought in vain to extricate him. "It is of no 
 consequence, Mr. Payne, I assure you ; not the 
 slightest. See, the vase is not broken, and the
 
 96 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 white and scarlet are in as fine contrast as 
 ever." 
 
 " Let me collect them and replace them 
 for you, Miss Gushing," stammered the fright- 
 ened man. " I beg, I am sure I beg your par- 
 don ! mightily awkward ! " 
 
 At this juncture his suffering reached its 
 climax, and his fair complexion the altitude of 
 blushes. 
 
 " Why Payne, my dear man, what's the mat- 
 ler ? " said Mr. Clearwater, just then passing 
 that way. 
 
 "Oh! he is contrasting scarlet and white," 
 said the mischievous Ralph, almost bursting 
 with the merriment he must restrain. " But," 
 he added, with quick, true feeling seeking to 
 turn the shaft he had leveled, " I like the lilies 
 better alone, my sister and I never can agree 
 about flowers." 
 
 The quiet woman in gray drew him aside. 
 "Ralph Gushing," said she, "let a friend say 
 to thee thy tongue has a lesson to learn. It ia
 
 Friendly Gatherings. 97 
 
 not in good training if thee can wantonly wound 
 a neighbor with it But I forget, I am in thy 
 house, not in mine. I must not beg thy pardon 
 for reproving thee; but I do confess I might 
 have waited a more just opportunity." 
 
 Ralph, with true manliness, was sincerely 
 grateful, and too really contrite to take offence. 
 " There couldn't be a better opportunity," he 
 said. 
 
 But Professor Payne had been too absorbed in 
 the calamity to overhear with any sharpness, 
 and nothing had been noticed by him. Mr. 
 Clearwater had helped in re-arranging the flowers, 
 and in res oring the lost equanimity ; and by the 
 time Ralph was missed, he reappeared, having 
 left his matronly friend in the care of one of her 
 own first cousins ; with whom, by virtue of their 
 respective homes being separated by three and a 
 half miles, she had not met for two full years. 
 
 " Ralph," said Rebekah, " the meteors have 
 not been discussed } r et. Mr. Clearwater is just 
 telling me of a fine exhibition that he observed
 
 98 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 a few nights ago. Now, with three learned 
 gentlemen at hand, I have a golden opportunity 
 for getting myself informed. The question I 
 raise is, What are meteors?" 
 
 " Must we all speak at once ? I defer to my 
 superiors," said Ralph, bowing to the other two. 
 
 Mr. Cletirwater in his turn deferred to his 
 learned friend the Professor ; who in his turn 
 declared all subjects related to astronomy to be 
 quite out of his line, and suggested that Ralph 
 being fresh from scientific lectures, and given to 
 all sorts of reading, could doubtless best open 
 the subject. 
 
 Ralph was really disappointed at this ; be- 
 cause, wishing to know more on the subject 
 than he then did, he had hoped that the Pro- 
 fessor would say much that he could not. He, 
 however, took up in brief two or three of the 
 various theories ; and thought either the lunar 
 theory or the planetary consistent enough with 
 known facts to explain the origin of meteoric 
 stones. But the class of meteors known in
 
 Friendly Gatherings. 99 
 
 strictness as shooting stars, was involved in more 
 obscurity. There was, he thought, no authenti- 
 cated instance of any one of these having fal- 
 len to the earth. Their physical character was, 
 therefore, less well ascertained, but there was 
 reason to suppose that they are of very light 
 material. 
 
 " But how far are they from us? " asked Re- 
 bekah. "And what brings them so suddenly 
 within our vision, to be as suddenly gone ? Do 
 they really go out, as a candle does, or do they 
 only go away ? And what gives them such a 
 light, and such a motion ? " 
 
 " In the case of aerolites," said Ralph, " from 
 which are derived meteoric stones, the altitude, 
 when seen, is certainly not very great, since they 
 are then passing through our atmosphere. As 
 to their disappearance, they both go out and go 
 away ; since it seems that their light proceeds 
 only from the intense heat to which they are 
 brought in their tremendous passage through the 
 resisting air, and on passing out of the air, they
 
 100 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 cease to grow. Before we can decide what 
 gives them their motion, we must decide their 
 origin." 
 
 " And the shooting stars ? " asked Rebekah. 
 "Is their light of a different source?" 
 
 " Many of them," said Ralph, " perhaps the 
 majority, are seen at altitudes beyond the earth's 
 atmosphere. They are, therefore, not simply 
 incandescent because of atmospheric resistance, 
 as is the case with meteoric stones. On the 
 contrary, it seems well proved that they are 
 self-luminous. They move also, with planetary 
 velocity, as meteoric stones do not, and as a 
 lunar projectile certainly could not. And this," 
 said he, " is about the sum of what I am able 
 to state ; according to which there is about as 
 much surmised as known. I dare say facts have 
 accumulated since I turned my attention to the 
 subject." 
 
 "Indeed, gentlemen," said Rebekah, when 
 Ralph paused, " is all this only a little ? And 
 what does it mean ? It is all very interesting,
 
 Friendly Gatherings. 101 
 
 but, as you say, not all fact. And, in part at 
 least, Ralph, you should explain your explana- 
 tion. Do you really mean, for instance, that a 
 planet of our system has at some time been 
 destroyed ? " 
 
 *' Oh, that is well known to everybody," said 
 Ralph, with a twinkle toward Clearwater. 
 
 "Not so, Ralph," said Rebekah; "you are 
 wrong for once, for I claim that * everybody ' 
 includes me, and I did not know it." 
 
 " Ah, well ! " replied he, " I mean all except 
 those mortals who are so devoted to Greek, and 
 metaphysics, and needlework, that they overlook 
 some other matters." 
 
 Mr. Clearwater suggested that the fact of all 
 fallen aerolites being uniformly made up of four 
 or five identical substances, would hardly com- 
 port with the idea of their planetary origin, since 
 fragments of a broken planet could hardly bo 
 of such unvarying material. Ralph had not 
 thought of this, and would be sorry to give up 
 his pet theory.
 
 102 Ralph** Possession. 
 
 "Then these showers that we encounter, 
 especially in the months of August and Novem- 
 ber, are of shooting-stars, not aerolites ? " asked 
 Rebekah. 
 
 ** Oh, by all means not aerolites," said Ralph. 
 
 Professor Payne cited the nebular theory, which 
 he remembered to have seen discussed some- 
 where, as accounting for shooting-stars. It 
 seemed to him quite possible that the earth 
 should encounter zones of nebulous matter, at 
 certain given parts of its own orbitary course. 
 Ralph advanced certain difficulties in the way 
 of maintaining that theory, as, that there could 
 hardly be zones of nebula passing within our 
 system, yet only visible when so near the earth 
 is to be disturbed by it. And the Professor 
 remembered to have seen that some eminent 
 scientist was so in despair of assigning this 
 doubtful class of meteors to any cosmical origin, 
 that he contented himself with considering the 
 whole phenomena a freak of electricity." 
 
 Rebekah continued interested so long that she
 
 Friendly Gathering*. 103 
 
 was ashamed; and, coming to herself, she begged 
 Ralph to attend to two forlorn persons at a little 
 distance, who had no one to speak to them, at 
 the same time excusing herself to the other gen- 
 tlemen in order to look up a few of the guesta 
 whom she had not yet greeted. 
 
 " Mistress Gushing," said the quiet woman in 
 gray as the company was breaking up, " I wish 
 thee all sorts of prosperity in thy absence, and 
 a speedy return to thy family and thy neighbors. 
 Thee has a good escort in thy son, and he knowi 
 the way he should go."
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE DEPARTURE. 
 
 VVEETLY, softly, brightly, came the 
 dawning of the day that was to witness 
 the farewells and the departure. The 
 house was early astir. Even Mr. Gush- 
 ing had beeu slightly enthusiastic and melan- 
 choly by turns during the last few days, and this 
 morning he was strangely impatient for the very- 
 last good and orderly breakfast that he could 
 possibly expect to have for many months. What 
 would become of the house he could not tell. 
 He was perfectly sure that the travellers would 
 
 not get off in season to make their first thirty 
 (104)
 
 The Departure. 105 
 
 miles that day, and perfectly sure that every- 
 thing at home would go to ruin after they had 
 gone ; and equally distressed with each of the 
 two apprehensions. " was ever a Gushing the 
 subject of such a complication of domestic agi- 
 tations, or of necessity BO tyrannical?" 
 
 Rebekah rallied him a little at this. ** Why, 
 papa, who is agitated ? or what is there in agita- 
 tion ? Wait till you have had a cup of my 
 coffee, made with my own hand because Jane, 
 in her hurry, knocked her edition off the stove 
 and your nerves will come so sweetly un- 
 der it, that you will want me to make your 
 coffee all winter. I expect you to be in admi- 
 ration of my supervisory care of the house this 
 winter, and almost reconciled to your unhappy 
 lot, papa. And Jane has a superb omelet for 
 you, for MS, shall I say? and such muffins 
 for all, but for ' Mistress Gushing ' especially. 
 The good creature ! " and Rebekah bit her 
 lip to choke back the merriment at thinking, 
 What she did not dare to say, the thought
 
 106 RalpKi Possession. 
 
 that Jane had inevitably mingled a tear with 
 every dish, since the bright, perfect morning 
 had, to her, been misty with weeping. 
 
 Just here Joan came to the library to say that 
 breakfast was quite ready, and waiting; but 
 mistress was receiving a caller in the drawing- 
 room, and should she put the dishes by the fire 
 again ? " for it wouldn't be no way right 
 that mistress should have a cold breakfast this 
 morning." 
 
 " It is not possible," said Rebekah, " that any 
 one should detain Mrs. Gushing long at this 
 hour.- Who is it, Joan ? " 
 
 "Oh, it's she that's Ethel's sweetheart?" 
 Baid Joan with manifest indignation, but, in awe 
 of Mr. Cnshing's presence, afraid to say more. 
 
 " Ah, well, Joan, poor Faith is like the rest 
 of us not quite ready to let Mrs. Gushing go," 
 and Rebekah's voice shook slightly. But she 
 controlled it instantly, and dismissed the hand- 
 maid, saying, " Very well, Joan, we will come." 
 
 "Now, papa," she continued, "you like to
 
 The Departure. 107 
 
 linger over your coffee, so we can easily overtake 
 you if you make a beginning without ceremony. 
 Come, do, papa " taking his arm and leading 
 him off. There was something in Rebekah's 
 influence that always moulded her father more 
 or less, but this morning he was singularly pas- 
 sive, and contented himself with grumbling all 
 the way from the library to the breakfast-room. 
 Rebekah knew very well that the temper would 
 be smoother with the breakfast well begun, and 
 was determined with herself to have all " quite 
 right before mamma comes." Once seated, she 
 continued : " I am proud to pour for you a cup 
 of my coffee, papa. It is positively ambrosial. 
 Joan, don't you spill a drop ! " 
 
 " No, ma'am," said Joan, enjoying the episode 
 as much as she dared, acd passing the coffee 
 with unruffled accuracy. 
 
 Meantime Faith Hopefield was unbosoming 
 some of her troubles to Mrs. Gushing, seeking a 
 stock of sympathy and counsel to fill up the 
 demand of the many months when the loved
 
 108 RalpW Possession. 
 
 face and voice would be absent. Faith had no 
 mother. She could remember her, and quite 
 distinctly, her quiet, matronly face without a 
 wrinkle ; her uniform of gray without a spot ; 
 her gentle " thee may, Faith," or " thee may 
 not, Faith," without ever a variation on key or 
 pitch ; her sympathy often unspoken for very 
 depth ; and her reprimand as often eloquent 
 with expressive silence. She remembered her 
 orderly and active industry, and many a prac- 
 tical lesson both of her life and precept. And 
 she remembered the parting, when she herself 
 was but nine years old. But the only of the 
 many last words that remained distinct in her 
 memory were those that she repeated to Mrs. 
 Gushing this morning : " The Heavenly Father 
 will have a special care for thee, Faith dear, 
 when thee is orphaned." And she felt herself 
 still orphaned, although for some years under 
 the supervision of a stepmother of unimpeach- 
 able rectitude. 
 
 ** I sometimes think," she said, " that I have
 
 The Departure. 109 
 
 taken those words presumptuously not enough 
 in thankfulness and humility, and the right fear 
 of the good and loving God. I have been 
 father's only child, thee knows, and father never 
 could he stern with me. But he says it is a trial 
 to him that I should marry out of the Society, 
 and I am young yet to leave him." 
 
 "Ethelred would not wish you to marry 
 against your father's will," said Mrs. Gushing, 
 " neither should you. Much is sometimes 
 gained to all by patient waiting in such a case." 
 
 A few minutes later the fragrance of 
 Rebek.ih's coffee penetrated to the drawing- 
 room, and suggested to Faith that she must 
 have been very stupid not to bethink herself of 
 expedition without a hint so unmistakable. 
 She withdrew at once with her accustomed de- 
 corous modesty, but without apology, knowing 
 that Mrs. Gushing did not like apologies for un- 
 intentional oversight, neither did she herself. 
 
 The coffee had done for Mr. Cushing's royal 
 temper what Rebekah's words could not do ; so
 
 110 Ralph's Possession, 
 
 that the breakfast-room was quite luminous 
 when Mrs. Gushing entered. But, for an un- 
 usual occurrence, Ralph was missing. 
 
 " Joan, did you call Mr. Ralph ? " 
 
 '* I went up to his room ma'am, but got no 
 answer. I suppose maybe he's out setting Zed 
 right, Zed's quite out of his head, like, this 
 morning, ma'am." 
 
 ** There ! " said Mr. Gushing, I knew very 
 well something would turn up. Pretty well 
 this! to pack you off with a crazy dinner* 
 Joan, what is the matter with Zedekiah?" 
 
 " Stumbles over everything, sir, and quite for- 
 gets what he comes for till he goes back without 
 it." 
 
 At this juncture Joan grew so uncomfortable 
 with repressed laughter that Mrs. Gushing re- 
 lieved her by sending her foi some hot muffins. 
 And in fact Zed's state of mind had the effect 
 to finish what the coffee had begun. J mn's 
 manner of viewing the crisis was certainly hap- 
 pier than either Jane's or their master's.
 
 The Departure. Ill 
 
 *' Mamma," said Rebekah, " papa's regard for 
 you would have kept him waiting, but I was 
 sure he ought not to wait longer. Haven't I 
 made a good beginning, papa ? " 
 
 4k Very. You have made me quite comforta- 
 ble, Rebekah." This was a great deal for Mr. 
 Gushing to express, and both wife and daughter 
 were by so much the happier for it. 
 
 " It is all just right, my dear," said Mrs. 
 Cashing. " Poor Faith ! Did you know I have 
 had a call from Faith Hopefield ? It pleased 
 me very much that she should come to repeat 
 the farewell." 
 
 "Was that all she came for, mamma?'* 
 
 44 No, dear, not all. You know she has always 
 something to tell me." 
 
 Here Ralph entered, all aglow with the life 
 of the fresh morning, his hands full of flowers, 
 and his heart full of manly sympathy for every 
 living thing. His words fairly tumbled over one 
 another in description of his walk, and in expla- 
 nation and apology for his tardiness.
 
 112 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 ** Oh, my ready Ralph," said Mr. Gushing, 
 " good for an apology is good for nothing else. 
 So says Doctor Johnson, and he must be right. 
 At least the time was when he must be right." 
 
 "Early Ralph, punctual Ralph," said hia 
 mother, " the exception proves the rule. We 
 must all excuse your * malgre,' even the 
 apology." 
 
 " Good Ralph," said Rebekah, " come quickly, 
 do, and taste my coffee, mine, Ralph, a grand 
 success just for once." 
 
 Ralph found himself quite overwhelmed with 
 epithets. *' Ready, early, punctual, good-for-noth- 
 ing, good," said he slowly. Then laughing back 
 to the first glow. " Good people, all, 1 have a 
 stoiy to spice our breakfast with. But first, 
 now, good Rebekah, and * quickly, do ' taste of 
 my flowers. I could hardly make up my mind 
 to bring you a white japonica this morning. 
 But seeing you will prefer them, and wishing to 
 do just the right thing, I have brought one." 
 
 Rebekah knew, but the others did not, why
 
 The Departure. 113 
 
 when he began speaking of the japonica both 
 eye and voice softened a little. 
 
 " That is so good of you, Ralph." 
 
 " But," he continued, " 1 am not going to 
 give it to 3 r ou in all its own lone blankness. 
 There ! with a fuchsia on one side and two or 
 three sprigs of heliotrope we shall get both 
 ardor and fragrance. That will do," he added, 
 as he placed them by her on the table. " And 
 mamma, here are some superb roses." 
 
 ** Oh, come to your muffins, Ralph,'* inter- 
 rupted his father. " What is all this fuss about 
 flowers ? One would think human flesh could 
 breakfast on nectar ! " 
 
 " Yes, sir ; yes, sir ! " said Ralph, with a sud- 
 den departure of both animation and appetite. 
 
 Mrs. Gushing said something in joyous appre- 
 ciation of the roses ; while Rebekah, unwilling 
 that the effect of the last remark should remain, 
 sent around Ralph's coffee, and continued, 
 
 " Metaphysician ? poet ? What shall we call 
 
 you, Ralph dear ? I insist that japouicas are not 
 8
 
 114 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 soulless ; not even inexpressive. They are 
 reticent; they do not give out their best self to 
 all alike. But interrogate them rightly and you 
 cannot want a better acquaintance. Oh ! I like 
 them. I like them. I do like them ! " And she 
 took the japonica from the other flowers only 
 for one instant. Then quickly placing all to- 
 gether again she added, "But I like fuchsias 
 and heliotropes extremely. And really there 
 could not be a more lovely combination than 
 this, with just the one leaf of deep, deep green. 
 I shall keep these until you come again, dear 
 brother." But here her voice shook a little. 
 She could not touch upon that. 
 
 ** It is the strength and lustre of its own 
 abiding green," said Ralph, " that redeems it, 
 and sustains your argument." 
 
 " Some * good in everything,' " murmured Mr. 
 Gushing, with Shakespeare to back him. As 
 Ralph had really fallen to work and was partak- 
 ing in good earnest of tangible substantial nour- 
 ishment, his father softened into so much of sub-
 
 The Departure. 115 
 
 stantial praise. " But what about Zed ? Have 
 you seen him, Ralph ? " 
 
 41 Why yes, sir, I have seen him. Nothing 
 about him that I know of.'* 
 
 44 Joan says he is quite topsy-turvy this morn- 
 ing." Poor Joan wished there were more 
 muffins wanted. 
 
 44 Oh ! well, yes," said Ralph, 44 he was in a 
 deal of trouble because he could not remember 
 whether you had said corn or oats for the horse 
 to-day." 
 
 44 And what did you say ? " 
 
 44 1 told him that I knew nothing about it. I 
 never knew you to have any choice for a single 
 occasion ; and I supposed oats.' 1 
 
 44 There ! " said Mr. Gushing, 44 You will be 
 two smart men to take care of yourselves and 
 an invalid ! It will be a wonder if you get 
 started, and a greater wonder if you ever get 
 back. I said corn. I should like to see Zedekiah 
 hold Philip straight with oats in him such a morn- 
 ing as this, when he can't hold himself right 
 side up."
 
 116 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 This was too much for Joan, who darted out 
 of the room almost choked with laughter, in 
 which state she appeared in the kitchen, to the 
 great scandal of Jane and Margaret. 
 
 " Oh, now father," said Ralph quietly, " you 
 know there is no horse steadier under a firm 
 rein than Philip. Hasn't Zed driven him for 
 three years? And we all know him through 
 and through. I am sorry I blundered counter 
 to your wish, if blunder it was. But, soberly, 
 do you really care so very much ? " 
 
 "I don't care for the mere fact of the blunder, 
 since there was no disregard. I do apprehend 
 the effect." 
 
 But, as nobody else did, there was a brief 
 pause ; when Ralph continued, 
 
 '* Ethel seems in a woful way, too, this morn- 
 ing." 
 
 "What has Ethel to trouble him?" asked 
 Rebekah. " I thought no one had a more quiet 
 mind or more glowing prospects than he." 
 
 I don't know what," said Ralph. * I told
 
 The Departure. 117 
 
 him that you would give him news of us so often 
 that he could hardly miss us. He said it was a 
 grief to have us go, but that was not all." 
 
 '* You have not given us your story, Ralph " 
 said his mother, thinking it best to turn the cur- 
 rent another way. 
 
 "Ah! I forgot," said Ralph, who by this time 
 could eat no more. '* I forgot for the moment ; 
 you have all kept me so busy. The story is not 
 very long ; only this : I met Professor Payne 
 and Mr. Clearwater at the gate. They kindly 
 took their morning walk this way in order to 
 wish us a pleasant journey, and also to say that 
 in the storm of night before last the turnpike 
 near Evans' Ridge was very badly washed, and 
 the bridge so broken that there is no passing. 
 We must make the first fifteen miles either by 
 Eagle Dell or that unpleasant Glenville road." 
 
 " There I " said Mr. Gushing, " I knew some- 
 thing would happen, something would go 
 wrong at the start. You will have to drive at 
 least twenty miles to make fifteen, by eithei
 
 118 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 of the side roads, such narrow turnouts, and 
 with oats, too ! " 
 
 " My dear husband," interposed the mother, 
 " let us look at it as it is for one moment. I 
 would not think of the Glenville road. It is 
 both rough and unpretty. But the way by 
 Eagle Dell is really very good, and through a 
 charming country. And since Zed is reliable, 
 and Philip is easily managed, and the oats have 
 been eaten, shall we not accept things as they 
 are? For my part, I am very glad to go by 
 Eagle Dell. That was very kind, though, of 
 those two good gentlemen." 
 
 " Yes, very," said Mr. Gushing, who had a 
 high appreciation of neighborly courtesy. " But, 
 Mrs. Gushing, I know more about oats, and 
 horses, and these country roads than you do. 
 Now," he added, suddenly softening, and pass- 
 ing into his most courtly manner, " what is 
 to be done next ? " 
 
 " We are all ready, I think," said Mrs. Gush- 
 ing. " The trunks are locked, ready for the
 
 The Departure. 119 
 
 express ; and our smaller luggage is easily gath- 
 ered up. So we have quite time to read.*' 
 
 Mr. Gushing almost said pshaw! But he 
 knew that nothing would more surely or deeply 
 wound the wife he so fully respected, and whom, 
 somewhere in his heart, he really loved. 
 
 *' Will you join us this morning ? " she asked. 
 
 " Yes. It is your last morning. Yes, I will 
 eome." 
 
 
 
 Ten o'clock found the last preparations com- 
 pleted ; all the kisses pressed, all the farewells 
 said. Mr. Gushing not only allowed his wife to 
 kiss him, he actually kissed her, warmly, 
 strongly, tenderly, once, twice ; very much as 
 he had kissed her in days well remembered 
 twenty-five years ago. The sweet impress of 
 this new embrace sank down, down, into her 
 hungry, weary heart; and never, never faded 
 out of it. 
 
 The carriage was at the door. The servants 
 all stood near. Even, Joan showed signs of
 
 120 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 weeping. Perm and Philip looked well. So 
 did Zed. The Eagle Dell road was decided 
 upon, and there were no signs of anything 
 wrong anywhere. Mr. Gushing took Ralph by 
 the hand. " You will make good progress, I 
 have no doubt, during these absent months. 
 Write freely. And Ralph," he said kindly, 
 " put a flower in your letters here and there, to 
 Rebekah, if not to me." 
 
 Ralph knew that he must not seem to notice 
 the implied retraction of what had been less 
 gently said before. " Never fear, sir," he an- 
 swered, " I shall write, and I dare say I shall 
 study." 
 
 The seats were taken. " Ready, sir ? " said 
 the impatient Zed. 
 
 Ralph excused the fellow, but took no notice. 
 He drew Rebekah towards him that he might 
 speak in her ear softly; "I say, darling sister, 
 it is of more value that you pray than that you 
 write. So, while you write, pray. And, mind, 
 don't keep the house so well that papa will not 
 want us back again."
 
 The Departure. 121 
 
 '* Dear, naughty boy ! " said his sister, with 
 a pat more loving than resentful, and that made 
 his cheek tingle. 
 
 The signal was given, and the carriage rolled 
 away. 
 
 9 
 
 The reading of that morning had been from 
 two of the evangelists, and there was a single 
 verse from each that fixed itself in Mr. Cush- 
 ing's mind. He could not put the words away. 
 The first : *' Blessed are the pure in heart, for 
 they shall see God." The other : " He that is 
 of God heareth God's words, ye therefore hear 
 them not because ye are not of God." The 
 first searching him through as with a scorcliing 
 heat. And the other what could it mean (
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 COUSIN CECILIA'S WELCOME. 
 
 is not at all necessary to our story that 
 we follow the travellers through all the 
 detail of their daily route. Devoting 
 very few words to it, therefore, we will 
 at once join them where they were first intro- 
 duced to us after the broken axletree put 
 Ralph's ingenuity to the test and sent them on 
 their slow way to Mariondale. From the very 
 first, their chosen mode of travel proved of great 
 
 benefit to the invalid, who enjoyed more than 
 (122)
 
 Cousin Cecilia's Welcome. 123 
 
 she anticipated ; more, indeed, than Ralph had 
 ever seen her enjoy before. As he expressed it 
 when writing to Rebekah, " her enjoyment took 
 on a freshness really youthful ; throwing her 
 habitual serenity, that must ever prevail, into 
 contrast all the sweeter." Their progress of 
 from twenty-five to thirty miles a day, with but 
 one or two interruptions from rain, brought 
 them to Ohio and their friends on the Scioto in 
 little more than two weeks. Here they passed 
 only two days, as the weather was growing 
 sensibly cooler, and the days shorter. Thence 
 their route lay nearly due South ; and, crossing 
 
 the Ohio River at , they proceeded still 
 
 Southward, and a little Westward, through the 
 rich, lovely country of " Old Kentucky," the old- 
 est of the new States, till they entered glowing, 
 lavish, delightful Tennessee. 
 
 At the time we left them on the road near 
 Maiiondale, they were a day or more south-west 
 from Nashville, not far from the east bank of the 
 Tennessee River. We now take up our narra- 
 tive from that point.
 
 124 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 " Mother," said Ralph, as they approached 
 the village where lights had been for some time 
 visible, "of course the Stanleys do not know at 
 all when to expect us; neither the day nor the 
 hour." 
 
 "Not the day, nor yet the hour," replied his 
 mother. " True. But the late hour will not 
 surprise them. You know I wrote from Dul- 
 wich that we like to drive in the moonlight, and 
 might arrive at any odd hour. I am bearing this 
 adventure remarkably well even enjoying it. 
 Your contrivance in lieu of saddle is a gra'id 
 success, and the evening is so warm and perfect ! 
 It is wonderful how my strength has increased 
 since leaving home, notwithstanding a shade of 
 homesickness here and there. How dismal if 
 this had occurred of a dark evening ! " 
 
 " But we wouldn't have been driving of a 
 dark evening, you know," suggested Ralph, 
 adding, ** Can you be sure of the house ? You 
 have not been here for a very, very long time, 
 if your last visit was, as you say, when I was a 
 little boy! How little was I then?"
 
 Cousin Cecilia's Welcome. 125 
 
 "The average size of a four -year-old Yan- 
 kee," said his mother tartly. " That was not so 
 very long ago, Ralph." 
 
 " I dare say not," said he, laughing, " but I 
 can remember events later than that, which 
 seem dimly far off. I do assure you that the 
 hair on my temples is sprinkled with gray. I 
 pulled out two hairs, this morning, as silvery as 
 any old man's. This pursuit of law is bringing 
 me rapidly to a peaceful old age." 
 
 There was a dry bitterness in the tone with 
 which Ralph uttered these words. They were 
 his first allusion to the unloved subject of hia 
 new studies since the journey began. Their 
 conversations, their books, their interchanged 
 delight in the ever-changing scenery, had all 
 tended to keep the theme out of mind, or to 
 repress it. The remark that had now escaped 
 him was half at unawares ; and his own quick 
 manner in changing the subject forbade any 
 response. " Cousin Cecilia may not be unpre- 
 pared for the odd hour of our arrival," he said,
 
 126 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 "but she is certainly unprepared for the odd 
 manner of it. Were we only with saddle and 
 pillion, on one horse, the farce would be com- 
 plete." 
 
 But Mrs. Gushing thought the scene very 
 complete as it was, since she was so uniquely 
 mounted, and with a footman so very knightly. 
 She might even be a queen. 
 
 44 Oh yes, you might well have been a 
 queen ! " said Ralph. 
 
 Continuing their conversation, they approached 
 the Stanley homestead almost before they were 
 aware. On the outskirts of the village it stood, 
 approached by a carriage-way embowered with 
 magnolia and linden trees, and sweet with night- 
 blooming jasmine. Mrs. Stanley was a lady of 
 three or four and forty, and now for several 
 years a widow. Surrounded with every good 
 thing that wealth, joined with correct taste, 
 could give, at peace with all the world, and full 
 of energy for the duties of life. She devoted 
 herself ardently to the training and happinesa
 
 Cousin Cecilia's Welcome. 127 
 
 of her children, to the order and prosperity of 
 the estate, and to the oversight and well-being 
 of her tenants. With all this she sought, not in 
 vain, for opportunity to reach, and in some way 
 to bless, her neighbors near at hand and those 
 far off. She had strong affections and disaffec- 
 tions. Her chief earthly joy and pride lay in 
 her children, in whose moral and intellectual 
 growth she was greatly and rightly absorbed. 
 The oldest, Grace, then on a visit to an uncle in 
 San Francisco, was seventeen. Then there were 
 Mary, and Janie, and Frank, Janie being the 
 youngest. The ages of these three children, 
 physically beautiful (which they did not know), 
 and mentally bright (which they found out for 
 themselves), were respectively twelve, and ten, 
 and seven. 
 
 It was half-past nine when the travellers ap- 
 proached the house. Ralph intended, by all 
 means, to lift his mother down near the veran- 
 dah, and then quietly lead the horses into the 
 shadow of the shrubbery, after which they would
 
 128 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 shake off some of the dust and appear in very 
 quiet garb at the door, two tired pilgrims solicit- 
 ing entrance. He would not, ' for the world,' 
 have his mother seen mounted in that fashion, 
 and would only disclose their adventure after 
 the first salutations were over. But what if the 
 house-dog should bark ! That would quite spoil 
 their plan. Or if they should meet any of the 
 servants, it would be so provoking ! 
 
 No. The dog did not bark. He was soundly 
 asleep under the library table. Mrs. Stanley 
 was sitting near with some needle-work. Mary 
 was occupied likewise, and Franky was yawning 
 over history, which he disliked, and always put 
 off till the other lessons were learned. 
 
 " It is past your bed-time, Franky," said his 
 mother. " You are slow this evening. Mother 
 thinks you have studied long enough. You shall 
 get up early to-morrow, and, after a glass of 
 milk, you can study awhile before breakfast." 
 
 Franky was ambitious, but he did not ask 
 " Why mayn't I finish now ? " but said only,
 
 Cousin Cecilia's Welcome. 129 
 
 ** Yes, mamma," and, closing the book, he added 
 with the air of a philosopher, " I suppose I 
 would learn this old history quicker when I am 
 not so sleepy." 
 
 " Old history ? " said Mary, " why, I thought 
 you were studying modern history." 
 
 * k You know what I mean, Mary," piped the 
 little fellow. " It's bothersome ! I can learn it, 
 but 1 can't like it. But you don't think modern 
 history is young history, do you ? I'm sure it's 
 old enough, all of it that I ever heard of. And 
 I guess I am in the most ancient part of the 
 modern, now, away back in the rosy wars of 
 York and Lancaster. The idea of such hateful 
 people being named for white and red roses I " 
 
 " Oh, Franky ! modern history begins long be- 
 fore that, ages before," said Mary, looking very 
 wise, and laughing because she was trying to 
 look grave. 
 
 " Well," said Master Frank, I should think 
 it had better be called * old history,' then, at that 
 
 rate. Then we shall have Ancient, Old, Modern, 
 9
 
 130 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 and Recent, that will be young, will it not ? You 
 must write a history on my plan, Mary, when 
 you are grown up." 
 
 " If you want ancient history, you had better 
 read the Chinese," said Mary. 
 
 " Oh, now, the Greek is as old, I let you," 
 said Frank, " and a great deal nicer. But the 
 Roman, the Roman for me ! Hurrah ! I'm going 
 to bed." 
 
 " Franky," said his mother gently, " I don't 
 like you to say ' bet ' and ' I'll bet you.' There 
 is neither good feeling nor good taste in 
 that." 
 
 '* All the boys do say so, mamma," said Frank, 
 a little irritated. " But I'll not say it, mamma ; 
 I'll not," he added ardently, as he met her pa- 
 tient look. 
 
 At this moment Philip of Macedon neighed 
 long and loud, close to the house, and again, 
 even louder. 
 
 " What is that ? n exclaimed all at once. 
 
 *I bet they've come," cried Frank. "Oh,
 
 Cousin Cecilia's Welcome. 131 
 
 mamma, I didn't mean to I What can 1 say ? 
 I'm sure they've cornel" 
 
 
 
 And at this same moment poor Ralph was say- 
 ing, " Oh, Philip ! Why didn't you wait another 
 minute ? just one minute ! Now, now mamma ! 
 There ! You are safely down, and like a feather. 
 I do believe it is the smell of these jasmines 
 that makes Philip so provoking. They nearly 
 intoxicate me. Now they are tied, the 
 horses I mean. Come mamma. What a grand 
 old house, but what an arrival ! " 
 
 
 
 Mrs. Stanley had checked Frank's impulse to 
 rush to the door. "No, my son," she said. 
 ' We will not answer such an equestrian sum- 
 mons. They would not wish it. No doubt the 
 driver will ring presently; if indeed that was 
 one of Mr. Cushing's perfect arrivals." 
 
 Ralph, " the driver " was so much in ad- 
 miration of the ponderous old-fashioned knocker 
 that hung brightly polished where it had hung
 
 132 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 for sixty years, that he did not look further for 
 a possible bell-knob, and his rather faint knock 
 failed to arouse black Richard who was nodding 
 in the dining-room. Franky ran " to punch him 
 up," as he called it, and by that time Ralph's 
 better sense enabled him to pull the bell. 
 " Richard, hurry ! " said Frank, out of breath, 
 " I'm sure it is some one I want to see very 
 much." 
 
 " Beg pardon, Mas'r Frank," said Richard, 
 rubbing his eyes open. " Yes, sir, right away." 
 
 In another moment the guests were shown to 
 the reception room. 
 
 
 
 *' Dear Cousin Helen Gushing ! " exclaimed 
 Mrs. Stanley, entering with both hands extended. 
 " How good, how good to see you ! And after 
 6O long a time I I had thought I should be 
 quick enough to meet you at the carriage. And 
 Ralph, too, my cousin Ralph! I can hardly 
 make it seem real, so like a stranger, aud yet 
 not a stranger. I am so glad, so glad to sea
 
 Cousin Cecilia's Welcome. 133 
 
 you ! These are my Mary, and my Frank. Do let 
 us lead you to the library where we were sitting. 
 It is a pleasanter room, and will give you the 
 home feeling at once." 
 
 Of course this was not a connected speech. 
 All were speaking together, in that pure flow of 
 gladness and genial greeting that belongs to the 
 meeting of friend with friend, and makes confu- 
 sion harmony. 
 
 Mrs. Stanley was anxious that Richard should 
 send Sam at once to escort Zed and the horses to 
 the stables, and could hardly credit her ears as 
 to the breaking down, and the manner of ac- 
 complishing the last two miles. And Zed sick, 
 too ! Then the absolute perfection of Mr. Gush- 
 ing's carriage had belied itself! The naughty 
 thought would come, but there was too much 
 true feeling to allow it spoken. 
 
 Everything had to be told, from the day they 
 left home. And Franky waited so long to hear, 
 that the mocking-birds under his window did 
 not wake him in the morning, and he got a bad 
 mark in history.
 
 134 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 When Ralph found himself alone in his room, 
 that night he was not at all ready to sleep. The 
 events of the journey from the beginning, just 
 narrated in a general way for their cousins' bene- 
 fit, crowded upon him more in detail, and seemed 
 to him amazing in their sum and sequence. Not 
 that there had been many of striking import in 
 themselves considered. But the whole chain of 
 daily progress and incident ; the variety of pleas- 
 ant trifling adventures without one mishap or 
 hindrance until the very last ; the smooth pro- 
 cession of each day's stage as planned ; and 
 above all, the happy advance already made in his 
 mother's condition ; all this filled him with won- 
 der. Then the good news from home (they had 
 found letters in Nashville two days back) seemed 
 to render everything complete. In all, and in 
 everything there was diversion, life, happiness; 
 yet Ralph confessed,/^, that he was not happy. 
 Miserable he certainly was not ; but he was not 
 at rest; and to him rest seesied the essential 
 quality of happiness the desideratum of exia-
 
 Cousin Cecilia's Welcome. 135 
 
 tence the prime condition toward complete 
 being and efficient work. Then all those con- 
 versations with Rebekah passed through his 
 mind. Those words, " You will never be at 
 rest until you are sure of it, too/' sounded 
 strangely then as now. " They were naturally 
 enough spoken," he thought ; " spoken in 
 response to my question if she was sure of the 
 Godhead of Jesus. Yet I think I could not ask 
 that question now. That is, I suppose I am sure 
 of it, since I am sure I do not doubt it. But 
 it cannot seem to me as it does to her. It is not 
 * precious,' as mother would say. I cannot think 
 mere credence given to a dogma is what God 
 esteems as faith. Even admitting that the One 
 who ' upholds all things bv the word of His 
 power,' is the one who 'by Himself purged 
 His people's sins,' how can I know that I am one 
 of those ' purged ' ones ? Rebekah says this is 
 not to be gotten, it is to be received ; or rather, 
 she said that He, Himself, the Redeemer, is to 
 be received. But I am sure He is not one of my
 
 136 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 acquaintances. And He never can be one till He 
 is the chief one ; I am equally sure of that." 
 
 Ralph had never thought it unmanly to bend 
 the knees before God. He had always thought 
 the refusal to do so unworthy of true man- 
 hood. But he was not always able to do it ; 
 either from the sore, sore sense, or that blank 
 want of sense, that he had no heart in it ; or, 
 though the heart was in need of speaking, a 
 strange feeling that he could not reach God. 
 To such mental frames the believer in Jesus 
 the child crying ' Father ' need not yield ; 
 because the new and living way which God has 
 opened is always open, and faith is more than 
 feeling. The mind of God does not change con- 
 cerning this. 
 
 But this evening Ralph's heart was too full 
 for anything else than a kneeling and an utter- 
 ance. He knelt. He made no record of what 
 was said, and we make no inquiry. He had no 
 vision, and arose much as he had knelt; with 
 longing unrelieved. Yet he was not tempted to
 
 Cousin Cecilia's Welcome. 137 
 
 impugn God's compassion, nor to think that He 
 did not listen. But those great questions con- 
 cerning the forgiveness of Sins, life in Christ, 
 and the possession of it, fellowship with the 
 risen Jesus ; when would these be settled ? 
 
 As he lay down, the words came to his mind 
 ' Unto you, therefore who believe, He is pre- 
 cious.' " I wonder," thought he, " I wonder 
 what this believing is ? " 
 
 Poor Ralph I He was always thinking, think 
 
 tog.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 FREDERICK JAMESON. 
 
 EXT morning, at breakfast, there was 
 naturally a great deal said, or said over 
 again, about home and the journey. 
 The visit in Ohio, and the progress 
 through Kentucky, were especially discussed. 
 Zed, left in Nashville, seemed to Mrs. Stanley 
 suggestive as illustrating one difference between 
 free service and bond service. 
 
 " When our servants are sick," she said, " we 
 feel bound to take care of them. The compar- 
 ison must not seem odious. I do not know 
 
 whether our way be owing to the interest of 
 (138)
 
 Frederick Jameson. 139 
 
 ownership, or to some other difference in the 
 two cases.'* 
 
 Mrs. Gushing thought the matter of self- 
 interest not necessarily a selfish one after all. 
 Propert}' in anything enhances interest, and 
 rightly so. But viewed in the light of philan- 
 thropy, the cases should be exactly equal. They 
 had remained with Zed a day, and then, finding 
 he had been right in supposing that some old 
 acquaintances were living in Nashville, and that 
 they were quite glad to give him a room and 
 take care of him, he had begged that he might 
 not be a hindrance to their progress if Ralph 
 preferred driving to waiting. The physician 
 had thought he would not be severely sick, but 
 might be unfit to proceed for several days. He 
 had contracted fever and ague on the way, to- 
 gether with a cold from a severe wetting. 
 
 "It is quite a marvel," said Mrs. Stanley, 
 " that you did not all get fever and ague driving 
 so much in the evening, and in an open carriage. 
 Did you not know it is a great exposure in some 
 localities? "
 
 140 Ralph's Possession, 
 
 " Yes," said Mrs. Gushing, " I confess we did 
 know it. But, as Doctor Saywell had instructed 
 us how to guard ourselves with quinine if there 
 should be any such exposure, I felt quite per- 
 suaded that we were safe. The days have been 
 so uncomfortable, and the nights so superb ! I 
 must exonerate Ralph." 
 
 "You are very good to exonerate me, mother," 
 said Ralph, " but, after all, since you are in my 
 care, I am responsible. Rebekah would not let 
 me off so easily, the good, prudent Rebekah ! 
 Really, mamma, I had thought that Rebekah's 
 guardianship would enrich your way more than 
 mine. But with her curacy you would not have 
 been allowed these moonlight gambols ; I am 
 quite sure of that. As for Zed, he would not 
 cake the quinine.'* 
 
 " Our servants do as they are told," inter- 
 posed Frank. 
 
 "Ah! But Zed was not Hold,' Franky," 
 replied Ralph good-naturedly. 
 
 " Oh, Franky boy I " said his poor mother.
 
 Frederick Jameson. 141 
 
 And then addressing the others, " You must ex- 
 cuse him, I trust you will. He is too much 
 with rough boys at school.'* 
 
 " Why I Was that rude, mamma ? " asked 
 Frank. '* I said only what was exactly true. I 
 didn't feel rude." 
 
 There was a laugh at this, and Frank felt 
 quite restored. 
 
 
 
 There had yet been no account of Ralph's 
 plot for delaying their arrival by an appeal to 
 the hospitality of the house by the way. Black 
 Sam, with Ned (who was quite a smithy and 
 general tinker), had been sent at an early hour 
 with the two horses, to bring the broken-down 
 carnage. Some allusion to this brought out thv3 
 omitted episode. 
 
 " I thought," said Ralph, " that it would be 
 safer for mother than so long a ride on horse- 
 back. And then it would have added so much 
 to the adventure ! Anything for adventure I 
 1 mean, of course, anything reasonable."
 
 142 Ralph's Possession* 
 
 " But really I " exclaimed Mrs. Stanley, " the 
 idea of spoiling us of the pleasure of receiving 
 you just when and as you came ! True, your 
 thought for your mother was good. But she has 
 not suffered ; so I am at liberty to be very glad 
 chat you came on. You would have been well 
 received at the white house, no doubt; indeed, 
 more than well received. They are a very 
 estimable, well-bred family. Great friends of 
 Franky, too." 
 
 " Why, where was it, mamma?" asked Frank. 
 
 " From Cousin Ralph's description, the house 
 must have been the Jamesons'." 
 
 " No ? You don't say so ! Oh, I wish you 
 had gone there, Cousin Ralph. Fred Jameson 
 is a bully fellow." 
 
 " Franky, that is not a word for you to use, 
 my dear boy ! Besides, if words mean anything, 
 Frederick Jameson is not that. Can't you give 
 your cousin a better portrait of him ? " 
 
 " Oh, I reckon I might, if I had some chalk 
 and a blackboard," said the naughty Frank, with
 
 Frederick Jameson. 143 
 
 a shy look at his mother to see if he must beg 
 pardon for his fun. 
 
 "Try what you can do with your tongue, 
 Franky," said Ralph. " A word-portrait is 
 sometimes very good." 
 
 " Fred Jameson is Mr. Jameson, properly," 
 said Frank, drawing himself up on his friend's 
 behalf. " But I remember him since he was 
 seventeen, and so I have always called him 
 * Fred.' He is twenty-three now. He is tall 
 enough, and handsome enough, but not remark- 
 ably tall nor remarkably handsome. He has 
 brown hair, and no particular kind of eyes that 
 I know of. Perhaps what you call gray eyes. 
 Now is he drawn sufficiently, Cousin Ralph ? " 
 
 " Why, yes," said Ralph pleasantly, " I think 
 you have done all that the chalk could do, and 
 more. But of other points, qualities, charac- 
 teristics, and so on. What makes you like 
 him?" 
 
 " Oh, I don't know 1 " sighed Frank, " I can't 
 help itl"
 
 144 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 " There is something lovable about him," 
 said Mrs. Stanley, "and something that com- 
 mands respect. That is the long and short of 
 it. He takes care of his mother and sister. 
 His father was a small planter, but died in- 
 volved, and most of the estate was sold. Fred- 
 erick, with his younger brother and one servant, 
 carries on what remains. He also has great 
 fondness for carpentry and joinery-work, and 
 fills up odd hours with that. The strange 
 thing is, that with all this activity and practical 
 ability, and with a deal of general reading, he 
 is at once the most meditative and the most 
 delightful character that one could well find, 
 nothing sombre about him, nothing unmanly. 
 Such a character could hardly be drawn in a 
 book without perpetual inconsistencies. But 
 there it is, a living fact." 
 
 " Quite a character, indeed ! " exclaimed Mrs. 
 Cushing. 
 
 " Yet no prodigy, I dare say," said Ralph. 
 As a rule prodigies are detestable."
 
 Frederick Jameson. 145 
 
 ** Oh, nothing detestable about it," said Frank, 
 looking very red, first with anger, and then with 
 shame that he had been angry. "But mamma 
 has not told the best." 
 
 " What is the best ? " asked Mrs. Gushing 
 and Ralph together. 
 
 " He preaches," said Frank. 
 
 '* He does what ? Preaches ? " 
 
 Mrs. Stanley laughed, and assured them that 
 Frank had made no mistake. The young man 
 had fair gifts, and a great love for Gospel work ; 
 and held a license to preach given him by some 
 ministerial convention. He now often held re- 
 ligious services as he found opportunity, some- 
 times in the open air. 
 
 " This is very interesting ! " said Mrs. Gush- 
 ing. "But he is very young. Do you feel sure 
 it is all well-judged and stable ? " 
 
 " Oh, no doubt of it whatever. He has been 
 well tested now, and is occasionally called upon 
 to supply some pulpit." 
 
 "It is quite evident that he is no upstart," 
 10
 
 146 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 said Mrs. Gushing. " But he is very young to 
 be in such a work, and so much noticed. In 
 general, one would be what we call 'spoiled,' 
 under such circumstances." 
 
 " I think not," said Mrs. Stanley, " where 
 there is a real work of God in the soul, and the 
 individual is absorbed rather with God's glory in 
 Redemption than with his own position or gifts. 
 Frederick very well said, in one of his recent 
 addresses, that religion is more than excitement 
 or impulse, more, even, than great emotions 
 and purposes ; more than regrets and aspira- 
 tions. It is thought, earnest thought, living 
 thought, sober, divine ; such thought as God 
 gives ; thought that has the mind of Christ. 
 Hence, he said, if we would use terms correctly, 
 as God always does use them, religion is more 
 than conversion. Conversion is a turning again 
 in the right direction ; a turning toward God. 
 Religion is a binding again ; a binding of heart, 
 thought, life to God, that is, to Christ Jesus, 
 by whose spirit we cry to the Father.* Thia 
 
 E. g. compare John xiv. 6, with Galatians iv.
 
 Frederick Jameson. 147 
 
 state, he said, is a new state, the result of a 
 new creation, a sovereign work. It is always 
 thoughtful, for it has the mind of Christ. It is 
 always active and self-possessed, for it has the 
 love and the Spirit of Christ. The man who is 
 filled with it seeks to bless and to comfort, to lift 
 up and to save ; because, being himself saved, he 
 has become debtor to all. And while in the 
 world, he yet seeks to keep himself unspotted 
 from it as responsible to the Lord whom the 
 world still crucifies." 
 
 '* 1 might repeat much more. His speaking ia 
 with singular clearness and vigor, and his ex- 
 pressions easily remembered." 
 
 " Do, then, give us some more, by all means," 
 gaid Mrs. Gushing. 
 
 *' I don't know about giving you a sermon foi 
 breakfast," said Mrs. Stanley, laughing. 
 
 " Oh, never fear ! " said Ralph, " we shall eat 
 our breakfast. I join mamma in asking for 
 more." 
 
 . Stanley continued : " Of course I give
 
 148 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 you the merest abstract. ' This binding to God,' 
 he said, ' is unlike any other bondage. It is not 
 of earth, but of heaven. It is the normal state 
 of the creature, and profoundly so of the re- 
 deemed creature. It is the sweetest and most 
 absolute servitude, flowing out of adoption to 
 the now loved object of worship. Every re- 
 sponsibility of the soul toward God is enhanced 
 by redemption, as truly as every relationship is 
 endeared. The human life of Christ does not 
 derogate from, but interprets God's sovereignty. 
 If God be infinite, then His sovereignty is in- 
 finite. And if all of God be absolute then His 
 sovereignty is so. Him, therefore, the soul, will- 
 ing or unwilling, is bound to serve. And to 
 Him the willing soul is bound ; but by what 
 endearing bonds ! since He is reached by the 
 Way, the Truth and the Life, the risen, living, 
 everlasting witness that sin has been put away.' 
 " And towards the close of the sermon were 
 these words : ' Religion then, dear friends, 01 
 the state that the word indicates, is thou< *t f
 
 Frederick Jameson, 149 
 
 but it is thought in the mind of Christ ; thought 
 that lives outward, that breathes and acts ; 
 having its life in and from the Lord of life, the 
 Saviour.' " 
 
 Mrs. Stanley had given them quite a dis- 
 course ; of which, indeed, none of them were 
 weary. But Mary, seeing that Mrs. Gushing 
 and Ralph were silent, ventured to say : 
 
 " Mother can quote Frederick Jameson by the 
 hour. I don't comprehend how she does it." 
 
 41 Oh, not by the hour dear child," said her 
 mother. "Frederick never speaks an hour. I 
 confess to retaining what he says more readily 
 than what I hear from some others." 
 
 " Indeed you have quite favored us," said, 
 Mrs. Gushing sincerely. 
 
 Ralph thought the best of all was near the 
 first ; those words * Religion is more than 
 great emotions and purposes. It is thought; 
 living, sober, divine.' " Was not that well said, 
 mother?" he asked. 
 
 Mrs. Gushing hesitated, and then answered,
 
 150 Ralph'* Possession. 
 
 * Yes, as it was amplified afterward. It would 
 not so well stand alone." 
 
 Ralph looked incredulous. He thought a 
 proposition that could not stand alone hardly 
 worthy of support. "Doubtless," he said, "you 
 know more about it than I do." 
 
 Mrs. Stanley looked at him inquisitively, but 
 said nothing. 
 
 The breakfast passed off pleasantly. Frank 
 begged to be excused, that he might have a few 
 minutes with the respected, disagreeable history 
 before school. Little Janie crept around shyly 
 to Ralph, and put her hand in his, regarding him 
 with a very wondering pair of large hazel eyes. 
 It did not take long to make his acquaintance ; 
 and, her lessons being with her mother, she 
 begged for a little time to lead cousin Ralph to 
 see her rabbits and other pets. This being 
 granted, the two ladies withdrew to the library. 
 
 The library was so called rather by courtesy 
 than otherwise, and because the word sitting 
 room was not in vogue with the Stanleys. It
 
 Frederick Jameson. 151 
 
 was light and spacious ; and, having windows 
 on sou h and east, was by far the pleasanter 
 family room for winter than either of the par- 
 lors \vhich were lighted the one from the north 
 and east, the other from the north ; the house 
 facing east. One side only of this winter hab- 
 itat was devoted to book-shelves, which, in 
 keeping with the furniture, were of oak. One 
 window, only one, was filled with flowering 
 plants. Mrs. Stanley said that she had no fancy 
 for living either in bower or booth; that she 
 must have unobstructed daylight on at least one 
 side, and a firm sense of something solidly 
 architectural about her. This was quite essen- 
 tial, she thought, to anything like a due appre- 
 ciation of our advantages as creatures of a 
 civilized age. But against the book-shelves was 
 trained a magnificent English ivy of most lux- 
 uriant growth, that went branching upward and 
 outward in such provoking profusion that it 
 taxed all the ingenuity of the combined family 
 to keep it so trained as to allow free access to
 
 152 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 the books. These looked all the more attractive 
 and good for something under the bright shade 
 of the branching green. And, to the credit of 
 the family be it said, they were not only well 
 kept, but they were well read also. Their con- 
 tents often afforded themes for conversation that 
 lasted for days, and sent the children explor- 
 ing up and down the shelves to get some ques- 
 tion answered. A small library, if well selected 
 and intelligently used, is one of the greatest of 
 earthly goods. So thought Mrs. Stanley, and so 
 the children were early learning. The only 
 inmates of the room who never read were Rex 
 the spaniel, and Jack the canary. But Rex 
 had the appearance of thinking a great deal ; 
 and Jack was happy with his observations and 
 his song. 
 
 Ralph was delighted to be led by Janie, who, 
 in her turn was very proud to lead Cousin 
 Ralph. She proved a very entertaining escort ; 
 her prattle being rather be} r ond her years, with- 
 out the least self-consciousness or affectation,

 
 Frederick Jameson. 153 
 
 the simple outflow of well-trained feelings in a 
 child of ardent temperament and bright intelli- 
 gence. And Ralph proved a good listener ; in- 
 terested and responsive. This was what made 
 him so delightful a companion to all, old and 
 young alike. He not only knew how to talk, 
 but he knew how to listen. The one is as es- 
 sential as the other to good companionship, and 
 even to the discharge of common courtesy. It 
 was his attentiveness and his suggestive re- 
 sponses that held Janie to him this morning, 
 though the charm did not define itself to her 
 notice and she probably could not have explained 
 it to herself. Before they reached the rabbits 
 they were turned aside in two or three directions 
 by different objects, of interest to both. Susan's 
 boy Ben, the blackest boy that Ralph had 
 ever seen, was feeding them with some dry 
 crusts and some clover. There were two white 
 ones, and two black with white paws. 
 
 " Aren't they pretty, Cousin Ralph ? " said 
 Janie. " And so tame ! and so clean ! and so
 
 154 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 soft ! And oh, Cousin Ralph, they are so "know- 
 ing ! They know Ben from me right away." 
 
 Ralph had to laugh a little at this. " Yes, 
 Janie," he said, " they are beauties, and I dare 
 say they know a great deal. But there is a 
 great difference between you and Ben." 
 
 " Ben," said Janie thoughtfully, " this black 
 one is exactly as black as you. But then you 
 haven't white paws, Ben, so you are the black- 
 est." 
 
 " Oh, now, Miss Janie,*' chuckled Ben, " that's 
 too good ! But Miss Janie is part way mistaken. 
 I'se got big whites to my eyes, and plenty of 
 white teeth. I reckon him and me are about 
 even." Here Ben fell into hilarious merriment 
 that showed his white teeth to enormous advan- 
 tage. Janie went on about the rabbits. 
 
 " They are so pretty when feeding, Cousin 
 Ralph! They feed, but we eat. I never thought 
 of that. What makes the difference? Why 
 don't we feed?" 
 
 Ralph smiled. " Some persons do, Janie," he 
 said.
 
 Frederick Jameson. 155 
 
 " How ? Tell me, please, Cousin Ralph. What 
 is the difference ? " 
 
 Ralph laughed again. " Eating," he said, 
 "admits of conversation; feeding does not. As 
 the rabbits have no occasion to converse, they 
 commit no breach of good manners in devoting 
 their whole attention to their food." 
 
 u Then a man who forgets everything while 
 he eats, just to attend to that, is feeding. Is 
 that what you mean, Cousin Ralph ? " 
 
 " It is as well to say so," said Ralph. " At 
 all events, it would be good for him to mend his 
 ways." 
 
 Janie was stroking a rabbit with each hand. 
 " How pink their ears are," she said. " And 
 they are always moving them. There must be 
 some nice arrangement, that they can put them 
 forward or backward as they choose. How 
 strange that they should like crusts and clover, 
 and eat one as well as the other ! We could 
 eat the crusts very well, but I don't think we 
 could eat the clover. I suppose it must be that 
 it tastes different to them."
 
 156 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 '* In general we dislike what is not suited to 
 us," said Ralph. 
 
 " But we do eat some green things," replied 
 Janie. ** In the spring we eat watercresses." 
 
 " Yes ; but spring clover you could not per- 
 suade yourself to eat if you tried." 
 
 " But is it only that one tastes good and the 
 other does not ? " asked Janie. 
 
 " No," said Ralph. " Our taste most often 
 determines our selection. But our experience 
 would teach us to reject the clover, if we ate it 
 once." 
 
 This was a little beyond Janie, who looked 
 puzzled. Ralph, seeing this, added, kindly, 
 " You must get your mamma to give you some 
 first lessons in physiology, where you will find 
 some of your perplexities cleared up." 
 
 " I will," said Janie, " for I want to understand 
 these things. Physi what did you say, Cousin 
 Ralph ? " 
 
 " Physi ology," said Ralph, slowly, as they 
 walked away.
 
 Frederick Jameson. 157 
 
 Janie was sure the half-hour was not up ; her 
 mother had given her half an hour. And as 
 Ralph's watch declared that they had yet ten 
 minutes the child must needs show him where the 
 oriole's nest hung. It had been inhabited by 
 a large family this year; all now fledged, and 
 grown, and flown away. Two were brighter than 
 the others. There it hung on the twig of a 
 quince-bush ; a strange place for an oriole to 
 build. There were others in the oak trees and 
 the tallest lindens, but this one yearly built in 
 this green spot. 
 
 " This one, or some one. How long do they 
 live ? " asked the child. 
 
 " Indeed I don't know, Janie. You must put 
 me into ornithology." 
 
 " Ornithology I Cousin Ralph I You make 
 long words. What is that ? " 
 
 Ralph laughed. " The classification of birds,'* 
 he said, " and their natural history is called 
 ornithology." 
 
 " Well, I don't know what classification is,"
 
 158 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 said Janie, looking funnily sober; "butlsup 
 pose natural history is the history of their nat- 
 ural lives. And that would tell us how long 
 they live. Are all birds called ' sparrows,' 
 Cousin Ralph?" 
 
 " Why no, Janie," said Ralph, " no more than 
 they are all called orioles. What put that in 
 your head?" 
 
 " Oh, people speak so sometimes," said Janie. 
 u They say * God feeds the sparrows.' And 
 Jesus says that our Heavenly Father does not 
 forget one of them. I always thought it meant 
 all birds." 
 
 ** Yes, Janie, yes ; it does mean all these," 
 said Ralph quickly, astonished at the child and 
 ashamed of himself. "But," he added, "I 
 suppose Jesus spoke of them there as being 
 among the very sweetest birds, so small that 
 two were sold for a farthing. Even the smallest 
 one not forgotten before God. By this we may 
 be sure He does not overlook the least of us." 
 
 44 1 thought so," said Janie.
 
 Frederick Jameson. 159 
 
 " But, Janie, are you sure that God Himself 
 feeds every one of these little birds ? " 
 
 Janie looked up. The hazel eyes pierced him. 
 His own quivered before their steadiness. They 
 smote him ; they held him. Unconsciously both 
 stopped in their walk. Inquiry, perplexity, 
 pain, all this was in those upturned eyes. Then 
 she drew his hand that he might sit with her on 
 the gra*s, and, putting her head on his knee, 
 she burst into weeping. 
 
 " Why, Janie I " he said, " little Janie ! " 
 and his own voice grew unsteady, " how is 
 this? I would not put the question just so, 
 perhaps. I think we are both sure of it. But 
 I don't know how, I am sure of it ; and I thought 
 you might help me." 
 
 The faith of a child, or a child-like faith, in 
 the case of any one unaccustomed to sophistry, 
 is alarmed and bewildered at the first hint of 
 skepticism regarding anything divinely true and 
 already received. Janie had never heard such a 
 question raised before ; and, being perfectly
 
 160 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 happy in her belief of all the words of Jesus, 
 she was startled, first into an unconscious 
 dignity of bewildered feeling, and then into a 
 revulsion of weeping. It is not in a child to 
 speak soon again after such a commotion ; and 
 there were several minutes of silence, seeming 
 longer to the distressed Ralph than to her. 
 
 " Janie, my poor little Janie, we must go," 
 he said. 
 
 " No, Cousin Ralph, not yet. Mamma will 
 excuse me. I didn't know I was going to cry. 
 What strange questions you ask me ! Am I sure, 
 or how am I sure of something that Jesus says ? 
 I never thought of it before. He is the Lord, 
 and knows all things. I am sure of everything 
 He says because He says it." 
 
 To Ralph there seemed nothing weak in this 
 anreasoning trust ; only the quality of something 
 greater than human, as if divinely imparted. 
 The judgment of all men, learned and unlearned, 
 places the authority of conscience above that of 
 reason, and the moral nature over the intel-
 
 Frederick Jameson. 161 
 
 lectual. And of all moral qualities the highest 
 is that of faith in God, that quality which 
 listens when God speaks. Ralph felt this, 
 and that his own intellectual difficulties, which 
 he sometimes fancied lustrous, were palling 
 before this light, and discovering their own 
 deformity. He had already shivered in the 
 apprehension of having caused " one of these 
 little ones " to stumble. And now the words 
 that his mother had read on that last morning at 
 home came to his mind; "He that is of God 
 heaieth God's words." 
 
 " This child hears the words of Christ and of 
 God," he thought, " in a way that I do not ; and. 
 I do not find how to do it. * He that believeth 
 shall not make haste.' That not making hatte 
 certainly signifies a state of quietness, a quiet- 
 ness that is not at all expressed by unconcern, 
 but by settledness rest rest under the shadow 
 of the Almighty. I have seen it in my mother ; 
 in Rebekah; and now here it is in this little 
 12
 
 1C2 
 
 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 child. The least in the kingdom of heaven is 
 greater than the sages." 
 
 
 
 This time Janie thought the silenoe long 
 She said so, and they went in.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 FIRST LETTER FROM MARIONDALB. 
 
 > 
 
 ju EN days passed away. Mrs. Gushing, 
 either from the sudden change to com- 
 plete inactivity, or from the fact that 
 the journey had really been too much for 
 her strength, and accomplished under more ex- 
 citement than she had been conscious of, lost 
 ground somewhat to her own disappointment 
 and Ralph's great disquietude. His increased 
 anxiety on her account, and care of her, together 
 with the daily walk or drive and the many 
 attractions of the book-shelves, had kept him 
 
 from getting very much absorbed in his own law- 
 
 (163)
 
 164 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 books. He said that he must give himself one 
 week to get the home feeling on, and then go to 
 work in earnest. The library, though much 
 smaller than his father's, contained some books 
 of a class that the latter was deficient in ; and 
 Ralph's zeal to read everything of real excellence 
 that he had never met with before was somewhat 
 irrepressible. 
 
 It was early of a sunny afternoon. Ralph and 
 his mother were in the east parlor, the short ses- 
 sion of after-dinner lessons being in progress in 
 the library. Mrs. Gushing was reclining on one 
 of the sofas, and the conversation of the last 
 quarter of an hour had given place to silence. 
 Letters from Rebekah had enriched the morning. 
 " Everything went well," she said. *' Her mam- 
 ma would rejoice to see how admirable her house- 
 keeping was. Even her papa found no fault. 
 Indeed he was singularly considerate, and 
 pleased to be pleased with everything ; and her 
 mamma would be really flattered to see how he
 
 First Letter from Mariondale. 166 
 
 watched for letters, and how how he devoured 
 them, and discussed them, and made himself 
 happy over every word of improvement on her 
 part. They had just received their first letter 
 from Mariondale, and had been much amused at 
 the manner of the final arrival. Mr. Gushing had 
 taken the account of the breaking down quite 
 coolly for him ; saying he knew something would 
 happen before they got through, and thanking 
 his stars that Philip did not kick up and dash 
 them both out. Poor, dear, papa ! " she con- 
 tinued. " He does not know how to thank any 
 higher power or goodness higher than the stars. 
 We are of course more together now than ever 
 before ; I am able to do more for him ; and he 
 softens and expands wonderfully under the real 
 trial of your absence; so that I am receiving 
 much from him, and in ways quite new. I have 
 never realized, until now, how far some of papa's 
 ways that have been trying to me may have been 
 owing to real infirmity of organization ; an afflic- 
 tion to himself. He is quite disposed to have his
 
 166 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 evenings prefaced with a drive, and filled out 
 with some reading together, or with conversation 
 on what we have seen or read ; and often your 
 letters afford fruitful theme for comment for 
 days. I am satisfied that it is largely by force 
 of that tremendous will of which he is possessed 
 that he submits himself to the new order of 
 things ; he mil make the best of your absence 
 This keeps his best side always to the sunlight. 
 But there is a love at work also. Deep down in 
 his great soul, too long smothered by him and 
 concealed from us, is an unselfish affection toward 
 you, now exalted into a determination that you 
 shall be allowed to receive all possible benefit 
 and comfort in what, at our urgency, you have 
 undertaken. Of all this he said very little ; 
 much less than I have said here ; but in some 
 way he makes me feel it, see it, continually. He 
 speaks often of Ralph, and is evidently counting 
 much on his future. 
 
 " Ethelred goes about, not gloomily, but like 
 one broken down. He says he is not sick. I
 
 First Letter from Mariondale. 167 
 
 imagine there must be something not of the 
 emoothest between him and Faith, or her family. 
 The others of ' the Gushing retinue,' as Ralph 
 calls these good creatures who make house- 
 keeping tolerable, are moving in their smooth, 
 beaten track ; Joan beaming with every bit of 
 intelligence from you, and Jane dissolving in 
 tears. As for William and Margaret, so long as 
 * the bairns ' are not sick, your absence is en- 
 dured philosophically. Zed, poor fellow 1 They 
 are all in lamentation over Zed's sickness, even 
 Joan. But congratulations concerning your im- 
 provement predominate. 
 
 " I miss, miss the after-breakfast readings, 
 the solace, the establishment, the renewal of 
 thought and of soul-strength that we always 
 found there. This is the time of day when your 
 absence seems the hardest. But, oh mamma 1 
 how much I miss you, all the time!" 
 
 This somewhat lengthy extract from R&- 
 bekah's letter is given as being of interest after
 
 168 RalpJis Possession. 
 
 our recent acquaintance with the home at the 
 Gushing mansion. It was this letter, chiefly, 
 that had formed a text for the conversation 
 between Ralph and his mother which had just 
 lulled into silence. And, while the letter con- 
 tinued to occupy Mrs. Cushing's thoughts, Ralph, 
 who had been reading the classics of human law 
 all the morning, turned to a small book that he 
 had spied out in the library as something strange 
 or new to him, and had brought away to ex- 
 amine. Thomas a Kempis. He had, of course, 
 a vague knowledge of him as a devout monk of 
 the middle ages, who had left to the world or 
 the church a book called *' The Imitation of 
 Christ." But his acquaintance further than this 
 he had never made, and his book he had never 
 seen. He sat now running his eye over the 
 pages, held and led on by the dreamy, unfan- 
 ciful, yet half-real dialogues between disciple 
 and master. The quiet was interrupted, not 
 disturbed, by the entrance of Mrs. Stanley. 
 Lessons were over, and the already-arranged
 
 First Letter from Marlondale. 169 
 
 order of the afternoon was a drive of four miles 
 to a neighboring plantation, where, in that cour- 
 teous lack of all ceremony so peculiar to well- 
 bred Southern life, they would pass an hour or 
 two with Mrs. Stanley's valued friends, the 
 Claytons. 
 
 Zed had turned up three days before, quite 
 recovered ; lavishly glad to be re -instated in 
 office, and wofully ashamed of having been sick. 
 Thus, the Cushings' carriage being provided 
 with a new axletree, and the horses with their 
 old driver, Mrs. Stanley was to be seated with 
 them, and the children would follow on in the 
 pony-carriage, which Frank was proud to drive. 
 The drives around Mariondale never became 
 wearisome, more especially as one rarely need 
 return by the way one had driven out. Their 
 way to-day lay through the village. There were 
 two long, straight streets, very wide, running 
 parallel to each other, lined on either side with 
 two-story white houses, and bordered with two 
 rows of magnificent trees, interlined by a third
 
 170 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 row, thus forming two complete archways of 
 living green one mile long. Each street was 
 like a copy of the other, with broad turf and 
 smooth road-ways stretching out under the 
 shade. These streets were intersected at right 
 angles by two shorter, somewhat narrower ones, 
 to which the warehouses and the trading were 
 confined. The village was a sort of centre for 
 the plantations for miles around, being the mar- 
 ket for their ordinary purchases, and the point 
 whence most of their produce was freighted to 
 Nashville and the landings on the Tennessee 
 river. 
 
 " How delightful I " exclaimed Mrs. Gushing, 
 as they came upon the first long, green street. 
 " How charming ! I suppose, Cecilia, your an- 
 tipathy to booth and bovver doesn't allow you to 
 enjoy this as you ought to. Oh, I say again, 
 how charming ! how delightful ! " 
 
 Mrs. Stanley was overjoyed that her own dear 
 Mariondale was so well appreciated, and pro- 
 tested that she enjoyed it none the less because
 
 First Letter from Mariondale. 171 
 
 preferring to live with a secure sense of cornice 
 and panel about her. After driving the entire 
 length of the two streets, admiring everything 
 admirable, and duly criticising the odd inter- 
 spersion of homely and elegant houses, they 
 emerged into the rich, open country, and drove 
 on, partly through groves and partly through 
 cotton-fields, toward Clayton Hall. 
 
 Mrs. Clayton was more than glad to see them* 
 and, embracing Mrs. Stanley with unaffected 
 sweetness, received her two friends and guests 
 with a royal ease and cordiality quite consistent 
 with her claims as a descendant of Pocahontas. 
 They were duly introduced to her daughter 
 Maria, who had received her name certainly not 
 by virtue of her maternal descent ; but in ac- 
 cordance with a conceit of her father's that 
 Grecian mythology and Athenian culture, 
 either in name or aspect, should stamp his en- 
 tire domain. In all other respects he was a 
 reasonable and average gentleman. Miss Maria 
 was pretty enough ; but had the dark eyes and
 
 172 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 the deviating nose neither aquiline nor flat- 
 tened, but yet as far from the Grecian type as 
 possible, that at once betrayed her appellation a 
 standing misnomer, grim and graceless in its 
 abiding irony. Her two brothers being that day 
 away from home, and Mr. Clayton not then in 
 the house, it devolved upon her to entertain 
 Ralph ; who, it must be said, found himself well 
 entertained. There was something in Maria 
 Clayton's conversation fairer than the weather, 
 and larger than the space between North and 
 South. Plantation life is not favorable to the 
 growth of gossip ; and her charity, as well aa 
 her good sense, was entirely averse to anything 
 savoring of sharp personalities or petty criticism. 
 ( Apropos : We see a deal of charity whose 
 good sense is not manifest ; and there are many 
 worldly-wise, good-sense people whose hearts 
 are too dry a soil for charity to groxy i n . 
 But the ideal of charity, as somewhere sketched 
 by Paul, is boih sensitive and sensible.) 
 The mere fact that Maria Clayton had been
 
 First Letter from Mariondale. 173 
 
 * educated at the North did not make her educa- 
 tion any better ; but it naturally gave a turn to 
 her introductory words with Ralph. She had 
 never been on the Hudson, and she asked from 
 him some description of the palisades and high- 
 lands ; of West Point, and of his own home. 
 Her enthusiasm regarding all that is finest and 
 fairest in nature was as impartial as it was spoh~ 
 taneous and free. They fell into some discus- 
 sion of the unhappy differences, nominally 
 political, but really social, that more or less 
 debarred perfect unity of thought and sympathy 
 between North and South, and of course tended 
 to segregate the national life. Miss Clayton 
 expressed herself well on this point, and Ralph 
 of course gave his own best thoughts in re- 
 sponse. The conversation thus grew in ardor, 
 and even bordered on a politic kind of vehe- 
 mence that ignores controversy. But when Miss 
 Clayton declared herself most of all tried in 
 seeing that even the churches of the two sec- 
 tions could not b<) of one heart and one mind,
 
 174 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 
 
 and asked why the mind of Christ should not 
 cause the churches of Christ to think alike, 
 Ralph said that he must be excused from giving 
 any judgment on that point, as he had never 
 been at all identified with church matters. The 
 lady would not be put off so. She discerned in 
 her mother's guest a gentleman ; one who she 
 was sure would speak temperately and patiently 
 on such a matter. For this reason she endeav- 
 ored to lead him on. He had, she said, doubt- 
 less thought much on the subject ; for no think- 
 ing man could be a living citizen of this country 
 at this crisis, and not exercise himself often in a 
 theme so vital to our social state and progress. 
 If he had thought more than some others he 
 was bound to give out his thoughts ; and even 
 if others had thought more than he, his fewer 
 thoughts might be choicer. Ralph, however, 
 disclaimed all right of judgment, since he was 
 not himself individually a Christian. If an 
 impression might be held as such, and not 
 advanced as an opinion, he would suggest that
 
 First Letter from Mariondale. 175 
 
 it might be God's way to unite the churches in 
 love as brethren, giving the same mind and 
 judgment in spiritual matters, but leaving them 
 to be taught by lessons of time regarding social 
 questions inseparable from their local positions 
 or circumstances. 
 
 But the moral borders very nearly on the 
 spiritual," said Miss Clayton ; " and indeed, the 
 spiritual, being once inaugurated. We have a 
 written word of God, held to be an infallible 
 directory as to all social questions that involve 
 morality. It would seem that it must settle for 
 us our opinions and decisions as churches, and 
 keep out these differences that so jar upon the 
 idea of ' a habitation of God through the 
 Spirit.' " 
 
 '* I think of two facts," said Ralph, " that may 
 be helpful here. One is that, though the Bible, 
 being God's Word, is infallible, it does not fol- 
 low that the interpretations put upon it shall 
 be so, even in the churches, touching points in 
 which salvation is not involved. This seems to
 
 176 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 me a fair supposition, a probable fact, although 
 I am not myself established in what are called 
 the orthodox doctrines. Then again, it seems 
 the Divine rule, to which few exceptions are 
 allowed, that all great processes shall be worked 
 out slowly, both in churches and nations." 
 
 " Yes," said Miss Clayton, " the idea born 
 with Christ's nativity and announced by angels, 
 will no doubt sometimes be realized a clothed 
 and living fact, 'Peace on earth.' Does it not 
 reach to the harmony of all social relations ? 
 And must there not be to this end a Divine 
 renewal of humanity, perfecting social intelli- 
 gence and moral judgment? At all events,'* 
 she continued, " our Saviour's idea for His church 
 is that of absolute peace and oneness, ' that the 
 world may believe." 1 His idea must be His will, 
 and His will must be consummated. We seem 
 a long time waiting for the millennium. Of 
 course He could consummate it by an act of ar- 
 bitrary power. 1 sometimes wonder if that will 
 be the way at last."
 
 First Letter from Mariondale. 177 
 
 " Few seem to be waiting for it," said Ralph 
 dryly. 
 
 "Do you mean few Christians?" asked the 
 young lady. 
 
 "Well, 3'es," he answered, a little hesitating, 
 " few of the many who compose the churches." 
 
 "Oh, I do not think so," she replied. " There 
 are earnest men at work in all lands, with much 
 prayer for God's presence and for the progress 
 of His Gospel. And we often hear the mil- 
 lennium preached of and prayed for." 
 
 " There is," said Ralph, " at least I suppose 
 there is, a great deal of real spiritual life hidden 
 from view. But at best it has seemed to me 
 that those who wait for this expectation, wait for 
 it half-forgetfully, as a thing languidly desired 
 and a great way off." 
 
 " A great way off it may be," said Miss Clay- 
 ton. " I wish it may be near." 
 
 " I might say," said Ralph, " that the ques- 
 tion to which all this leads is the one which 
 
 most concerns me at present, the one great 
 12
 
 178 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 personal question that exists between the soul 
 and God." 
 
 " It seems a necessity of our being that that 
 question be settled first," she replied. And, see- 
 ing that he was waiting for her to say more, she 
 added, " But if you are desiring this reign of 
 peace, is it not because the soul is itself at 
 peace ? " 
 
 " I am not desiring it," said Ralph. "Christ's 
 kingdom cannot be desired unless He is Himself 
 desired. Any who imagine that they desire the 
 millennium but are not ready to meet Him, must 
 be deluded." 
 
 Ralph said this with a warmth that comported 
 well with his strong feeling, and startled Misa 
 Clayton. She let her dark eyes fall for one in- 
 stant, and then, raising them fully to his own, 
 frank, open gaze, she said, " Whenever He does 
 come it must be to rejoice the hearts of Hi? 
 friends, as He used to do at Bethany ; only not 
 in humiliation, but in glory." 
 
 At this juncture Mr. Clayton entered, and
 
 First Letter from Mariondale. 179 
 
 after greeting Mrs. Stanley, was presented in 
 turn to Mrs. Gushing and to Ralph, both of 
 whom he received with a heartiness certainly 
 cordial, but somewhat too brusque for elegance. 
 He, however, wore an ease that kept every one 
 else at ease, the ease of a large and kindly 
 nature. If his manner was not studied or pat- 
 terned after rules, it was at least genuine, 
 and marked by the refinement of true feeling. 
 Knowledge of the world was one of Mr. Clay- 
 ton's acquisitions which he wore on the outside. 
 Everybody could see that he possessed it. There 
 were many things in the world that he disliked, 
 and nearly as many that he despised; but on 
 the whole he liked the world very well, and the 
 world generally liked him. The world of sci- 
 ence was only a distant acquaintance of his ; but 
 the world of business and politics, of music, lit- 
 erature, and art, the world of fashion and the 
 religious world, all these were intimate and 
 about equally valued friends. It must be very 
 nearly, if not quite, time that he had not a
 
 180 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 grudge or an ill-will toward any living thing. 
 He used to say that there are some persons, as 
 there are some animals and insects, who are not 
 personally agreeable, and whom no amount of 
 philanthropy can render so. These he would 
 on no account molest, and he would, of course, 
 help them out of trouble when opportunity 
 offered, or contribute to their happiness in any 
 desired and proper way ; but if this might be at 
 arm's length, all the happier for him. This sen- 
 timent he was wont to express, as he lived, in a 
 humorous, rather kindly vein that amused him- 
 self and perhaps injured nobody. His entrance 
 now so far interrupted conversation as to direct 
 it into new channels. He very properly devoted 
 himself to the two ladies, which movement gave 
 Mrs. Clayton the opportunity to make Ralph's 
 acquaintance, and left Urania free for a frolic 
 with the children. She knew their fondness for 
 her garden and her games, and if Janie had ral>~ 
 bits Urania had squirrels, which Janie must by 
 all means see. Of croquet there was none in
 
 First Letter from Mariondale. 181 
 
 those days, and there was no velocipede for 
 Frank ; nevertheless both Frank and his sister 
 were always well entertained by Urania. In- 
 deed Frank, manly boy though he was, felt more 
 at home in Miss Urania's society than in that of 
 her brothers, whom he, therefore, did not par- 
 ticularly miss. This might have been because 
 there was more in her nature like his own, and 
 which understood his ; or perhaps only because 
 she was at more pains to entertain him. The 
 eldest of her two brothers may have been 
 twenty-three or four ; her senior by two or three 
 years. The other was but eighteen. Herbert, 
 the eldest, happily had a good English name, 
 which befell him from the fact that his father 
 and grandfather had borne the same. But the 
 younger brother, Orpheus, was the victim of the 
 odd parental conceit that in his case, as in his 
 sister's, had done what it could to flatter the 
 myths of Greece. This trait of Mr. Clayton's 
 may have been inherited. At all events his 
 own only sister bore the name of Penelope, foi
 
 182 Ralph** Possession. 
 
 which her parents must have been responsible. 
 The name of Orpheus, however, suited the youth 
 better than it could have suited his brother, 
 better, even, than Urania's fitted her. Herbert 
 was much like his father, although taller ; some- 
 what more deliberate ; even less imaginative. 
 Purely practical, full of stolid energy and de- 
 cision ; given to study, but only to that which 
 he considered of use, as mathematics, architect- 
 ure, mechanics, and so much of chemistry as 
 was worth while to intelligent agriculture. Or- 
 pheus, on the other hand, was lightly built, and 
 of light, regular features ; hated business ; was 
 fond enough of historic and scientific studies, but 
 was under the ruling passion of music. 
 
 Mrs. Clayton, thinking that her guests looked 
 weary, would not at all allow them to return 
 without some refreshment, and accordingly sent 
 orders for an early tea, for the evenings were 
 growing cooler, and Mrs. Cushing's favored 
 moonlight had dropped out of the evening role 
 just then. The lady then finding that they
 
 First Letter from Mariondale. 183 
 
 would be delighted to walk over the grounds 
 and herself wishing to see the children at their 
 sports, they all sallied out. Instead of lions ou 
 the door-steps, were a stone Cerberus on one 
 side and an eagle opposite, the coupling of which 
 nearly overturned Ralph's gravity. His rich fun 
 was always alive, and often troublesome. Every- 
 thing in the house and over the finelj-arranged 
 premises endured some Grecian sage or deity. 
 Apollos, Minervas, Ariadnes ; busts of Homer, 
 and Sophocles, and Plato; and so on indefi- 
 nitely. Fountains swarming with Cupids intent 
 upon hitting somebody. All this in the pres- 
 ence of a horticultural art certainly unknown to 
 the ancients, and in the absence of anything else 
 suggestive of Christian culture or modern life. 
 ** Really," thought Ralph, " a fortune were a 
 small price to pay for a genuine taste." 
 
 But Ralph, as well as his mother, was inter- 
 ested in much that they saw peculiar in Southern 
 homesteads, and differing also from anything 
 seen at Mrs. Stanley's because of the different
 
 184 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 character of the plantation and the large number 
 of " operations " in progress. They came upon 
 the children in a great state of enjoyment with 
 Urania. But most of all they observed some of 
 the negro cabins, at a short distance rearward to 
 the house, half-screened by clumps of box-wood 
 and cedar, and reached by smooth pebble walks 
 of white and gray. Ralph had to acknowledge 
 that everything was faultlessly kept. Mrs. 
 Clayton suggested that her Northern guests 
 might like to walk toward the negro quarters. 
 This they were very willing to do. Mrs. Stanley 
 kept but few servants, and they had never seen 
 genuine plantation-life. The children had 
 joined them with Urania, and thus there was 
 quite a procession. Janie could not walk with- 
 out Cousin Ralph's hand, which was only one 
 of many proofs given him since their first walk 
 together that nothing then said had frightened 
 her from him. She now gave him much of her 
 sweet prattle, and he gave her his whole atten- 
 tion. Mary and Frank and herself had been
 
 First Letter from Marionddle. 185 
 
 playing one game and another with Urania, and 
 had seen her squirrels. " And oh, Cousin 
 Ralph ! " she said, " the squirrels are a great 
 deal funnier than my rabbits, and have prettier 
 ways. They seem more like persons. Such 
 warm nests they make in such warm places ! 
 My rabbits are ever so pretty, but they are 
 always dipping, dipping. Then those squirrels 
 jump and climb so gracefully ; but how a rabbit 
 does look when he tries to jump! And the 
 prettiest of all is these long, bushy tails, that 
 are never in the way like Rex's tail. There 
 seems to have been some mistake about my rab- 
 bits' tails ; don't you think so, Cousin Ralph ? " 
 she asked, pausing dreamily, as the child always 
 did when a new thought struck her. 
 
 " Why, no, little Janie," said Ralph, " not a 
 mistake, I think. There is no doubt a perfect 
 reason why they are just as they are." 
 
 ** Oh, I know what you mean," said Janie. 
 " There could be no mistake in what God makes, 
 just as there could be no mistakes in what He
 
 186 Ealph's Possession. 
 
 says. All is good and all is true. And now 
 that I think, I am sure a long, bushy tail 
 wouldn't look very well on a rabbit/' and 
 Janie's laugh rang out like a silver bell as the 
 idea pictured itself before her. Mrs. Gushing 
 and the Claytons started with surprised pleasure 
 at the merry peal, unlike any child-laughter that 
 they knew besides. Mr. Clayton and the three 
 ladies were walking in advance, and behind 
 Ralph and Janie were the older children with 
 Urania. 
 
 " That is a good thought," said Ralph, " but 
 that is not all. The rabbit would have no use 
 for the squirrel's tail. His motions are so differ- 
 ent that it would be greatly in his way, a sad 
 inconvenience to him. And then, as he is 
 always down among the things that grow low- 
 est, finding his pleasure and his occupation 
 on the ground, a bushy tail would get extremely 
 du-ty." 
 
 " Yes," said Janie, " his bob-tail is the neatest 
 possible, after all."
 
 First Letter from Mariondale. 187 
 
 " A thing is always prettier where it fits best," 
 said Ralph. 
 
 
 
 They were now close upon one of the cabins, 
 under the shade of an old oak-tree. Its sleek 
 denizen, "Aunt Eve," was making ready the 
 supper for her good man "Uncle Israel," who, 
 with several of the other " hands," had come in 
 with an overseer earlier than usual for some 
 work on the immediate premises. Aunt Eve 
 curtsied in the doorway as the party was pass- 
 ing, and received in return a sort of choral 
 salutation, of which the predominant words, 
 44 Well, Aunt Eve, tidy as ever in your cabin," 
 were in Mr. Clayton's voice. The tidy black 
 creature was pleased to see that Missus Clayton 
 had so many gentry-folks to inspect the men- 
 tioned neatness of her quarters, and declared, 
 in a modest respectful manner and satisfied 
 tone, that Israel junior would go with her to the 
 house this evening to carry " the lightest, pastry 
 and the snowiest linen that ever Missus Clayton 
 could wish to see."
 
 188 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 As they passed on they neared others of the 
 cabins, all neatly kept after Aunt Eve's example, 
 and Mrs. Clayton's frequent injunction and show- 
 ing. Returning to the house, they passed near 
 where the work was in progress ; four or five of 
 the men in a group. Ralph drew attention to 
 two striking faces among them, equally forcible 
 yet in singular contrast. The one was that of 
 a tall, rather awkwardly formed man ; the 
 strong face marked by regular, well-cut features, 
 and strong expression of honest will and of 
 earnest submission to a destiny that must be 
 worked out on principle. The other face was of 
 a younger man, a shade lighter and a trifle less 
 wiry ; with features more animal, yet hardly less 
 intelligent, marked by an animus intensely evil. 
 The first, Urania said, was Uncle Israel. The 
 other was a man called Joe, a field-hand who had 
 not been long on the place. 
 
 " We can't make him out," she said. " He is 
 always sullen, and seems opposed to every good 
 influence. I am half sorry papa has him ; but
 
 First Letter from Mariondale. 189 
 
 we may be able to do him good. I dare say he 
 has had a hard lot. And we must confess that 
 some of those poor creatures do have a bitter 
 history. Some think this is inevitable to the 
 system ; and others, you know, do not." 
 
 " A prevailing impression at the North," said 
 Ralph, " an impression that I think exists with- 
 out regard to party, is that the blacks at the 
 South are very generally Christians that they 
 are, as it were, constitutionally religious." 
 
 " Oh dear, no ! " said Urania, " not in any 
 right sense. They are constitutionally emotion- 
 al ; and where pains is taken with them they 
 seem readily open to religious impressions. But 
 there are comparatively few in whom the con- 
 science seems really awake, and the heart with 
 Jesus. A great many blacks, as whites also, 
 speak his name : but we look to see it spoken 
 out of a full heart the life corresponding." 
 
 " After all " said Ralph, " the life is the con- 
 fession." 
 
 " No, I think not,"' said Urania ; " I would
 
 190 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 rather say the life is the witness to the truth or 
 falsenesss of the confession. If an Englishman 
 is loyal to his sovereign he says so. And then 
 his life demonstrates it. And he does not say so 
 once, as a matter of necessity or propriety ; never 
 again mentioning the sovereign's name. The 
 same loyalty that regulates his life leads to evi- 
 dent loyalty of speech ; and the name supremely 
 honored will be often fittingly mentioned." 
 
 " I do not undertake to answer you," said 
 Ralph. " Indeed my own feeling is that you are 
 right. Still there is much to which this subject 
 leads that is not plain to me. I am glad to lis- 
 ten." 
 
 "The illustration is of course incomplete," 
 said Urania ; " good only as far as it goes. It 
 seems to me that when Christ is received in all 
 His blessed claims, it is because we find, not 
 always knowing how, that He is personally 
 necessary to us in just those relations which His 
 claims qualify Him to fill. For instance : we 
 find that we are absolutely weak and dependent.
 
 First Letter from Mariondah 191 
 
 We thus need a Sovereign Lord who cares for 
 us and can do all things. This is Jesus. We 
 find that we are involved in sin beyond remedy. 
 We then need an Almighty Saviour. This is 
 Jesus. And so on, through all the relations that 
 He fills to His people. When He is so received 
 we receive of His Spirit, of His nund. We 
 thus begin to think as God thinks, and what 
 Christ says satisfies ; we do not need it refuted. 
 It is doutless His good will to be confessed ; and 
 that in the most ample sense. But it is hardly 
 in good taste to argue the point. When He is 
 received He is confessed." 
 
 Ralph was silent for a moment. And Urania, 
 feeling that to offer apology for having said so 
 much would seem like apologizing for the truth, 
 was silent also. Presently Ralph said, 
 
 " You have discovered that these subjects in- 
 terest me. But, let me ask, does the individual 
 receive Christ in all His claims because convinced 
 that He is just thus necessary to us ? Is the pro- 
 cess so logical as that ? "
 
 192 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 " I did not intend to be understood logically, 
 but vitally," said Urania ; " my remark may have 
 been badly constructed. I believe that when 
 any soul receives the Lord, the Saviour, it is be- 
 cause He is revealed to the soul ; to the heart ; 
 to the understanding. The whole man is 
 * drawn.' There is a renewed mind ; a birth 
 from above, a new creature in Christ. On 
 the part of the individual, no amount of 
 analysis or reasoning can affect the matter. 
 The relation of the believer to the Saviour is 
 a conscious relation. No doubt it may be logi- 
 cal also." 
 
 " Yes, I thought so," said Ralph. 
 
 The change in his tone surprised her. It was 
 not of irony ; neither exactly of acquiescence. It 
 was as of one unsettled, and under some shadow 
 of a sorrow altogether manly, and too quiet to 
 obtrude itself. 
 
 But the party had left the pebbled walks, and 
 were thrown more together again ; stepping over 
 the lawn toward the house. The conversation
 
 First Letter from Mariondale. 
 
 193 
 
 thus became more general, and Ralph found 
 himself by Mrs. Clayton, with Janie again 
 
 pulling at his hand. 
 IS
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 LIGHT. 
 
 'HE drive home was enjoyed by all be- 
 cause of the pleasant way they went, and 
 especially because all were in a mood to 
 enjoy. They were, however, a little 
 later than they had intended to be ; so that 
 the short Southern twilight was fast fading 
 before they reached home. Mrs. Gushing had 
 proposed taking Janie with them in the carriage, 
 as she knew that Mrs. Stanley would feel better 
 to have Ralph with Frank, since it was growing 
 dark; beside which, Ralph was fond of the chil- 
 dren and would doubtless be glad of the change. 
 (194)
 
 Light. 195 
 
 Ralph's quick true feeling discerned that he 
 could not do otherwise ; and accordingly, al- 
 though really preferring the first arrangement, 
 he said cordially, and in his own droll way, at 
 once comic and elegant, 
 
 " By all means. Anything for a change, and 
 for your service, Cousin Cecilia. I shall feel 
 honored in charge of your infants; and they 
 always treat me well." 
 
 Mrs. Stanley accepted the proposal, and as 
 they drove away ( Frank, of course, driving the 
 pony ) Ralph said, 
 
 " Don't mind what I said, Franky, we are all 
 infants in our mother's eyes, you know." 
 
 " I don't mind," said Frank, " only you can't 
 have these reins. This is my establishment. 
 Let me alone, and I don't mind what you say. 
 But May here is a real stuck up old woman. 
 She will be pointing at you, cousin Ralph," 
 
 " Oh Franky, Franky ! your manners are not 
 improving," said Mary. 
 
 " There, cousin Ralph, don't you see ? It is
 
 196 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 something about manners from morning to night. 
 When it isn't manners it is morals. Oh, May, 
 when did you grow up ? " 
 
 44 Don't you think he is a tease, Cousin 
 Ralph ? " " But after all, he is a first-rate 
 fellow," she said, patting him with real fondness. 
 44 The best brother, for a little one, in all Ten- 
 nessee, I believe." 
 
 44 Now May, sister May I " said the really 
 sensitive Frank. " I will stop teasing you if you 
 will only stop your compliments. Nevertheless, 
 May, your mauner-and-moral lectures are a 
 severe trial to me ; a real thorn in the flesh," 
 said he, with mock pathos. 
 
 44 Oh brother, you mischief! you do stop teas- 
 ing, indeed. Suppose now we give Cousin 
 Ralph a chance to speak." 
 
 44 Oh ! for manners ! Yes for manners' sake 
 we will," said the boy. "Now cousin Ralph, 
 here is your chance. Please adapt your speech 
 to Mary's grown-up comprehension." 
 
 They were driving on at a good rate ; keeping
 
 Light. 197 
 
 close to the carriage, which Zed caused to roll 
 rapidly. Ralph was too well entertained to care, 
 about being heard himself. "You are doing 
 very well," he said, " both in your talking and 
 driving. The pony has something to do o 
 keep up with the carriage to-night. They are 
 getting you home in time for your history lesson, 
 Franky." 
 
 " Pray don't suggest history ! " gasped Frank. 
 " It will be endured when it comes." 
 
 " There is a star ! " exclaimed Mary. " Just 
 above the sunset glow. How bright! how 
 lovely ! " 
 
 "Yes," said Ralph, "it is indeed. We al- 
 ways look for the evening star at home. I dare 
 say father and Rebekah are looking at it now." 
 
 " Now there is a grand study for us," said 
 Frank. " That star served me a good turn, to 
 help me forget my history lesson. Astronomy 
 must be grand ! " 
 
 " Yes, you are right enough there," said 
 Ralph. " But certain astronomical facts are all
 
 198 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 that you could gain until you have acquired 
 a good deal of mathematics. Just so the science 
 of history is grander, but requires greater study, 
 than the memorizing of bare facts in history. 
 What do you know of either ? " 
 
 " Not much," said Frank, coloring. ** I am 
 going into algebra next year, but I don't know 
 when I can take geometry. History takes so 
 much time, when a fellow might be learning 
 some of these good things ! " 
 
 " But," said Ralph, " you could not, and 
 would not wish to grow up ignorant of history. 
 There is time for all." 
 
 " Oh, I suppose so ! '* said Frank dolefully. 
 " But it takes so long to grow up ! Except 
 Mary, hush now, May ! Cousin Ralph, is the 
 evening star a star or a planet ? " 
 
 " A planet, in some sense a star," said Ralph, 
 " though the stars are not planets. The even- 
 ing star, so called, is properly the planet 
 Venus." 
 
 There was a brief silence, and Mary asked
 
 Light. 199 
 
 thoughtfully, "What is light? It must be 
 something" 
 
 " Mary, you are a philosopher ! " cried Frank. 
 " Oh, Mary ! something must be something I 
 The something that we see by, and almost exist 
 by ; the something that reveals the world, 
 that, they say, gives color, and form, and all 
 beauty; this something that we call light, 
 why, it must be something ! How profound ! " 
 
 " Franky, now you promised not to tease me." 
 
 " I am not teasing, Mary. I say I am going 
 to propose your name as a member of the Na- 
 tional Scientific Society." 
 
 " Come Franky ! you never can stop. Cousin 
 Ralph, will you please to tell us what light is? " 
 
 Ralph explained to them in as simple words 
 and as few as possible, the " undulating theory," 
 namely, that light is motion ; a peculiar mode of 
 motion, consisting in an inconceivably rapid se- 
 ries of undulations, or waves, of an invisible 
 fluid without appreciable weight or substance, 
 that fills all space. "These undulations," he
 
 200 RalpJis Possession. 
 
 said, " are perceived by the eye, as the undula- 
 tions of the air are perceived by the ear. The 
 one is light; the other is sound. Light, then, 
 objectively, is motion. Subjectively, as regards 
 the observer, it is sensation. The invisible fluid 
 which is the medium of this is called ether." 
 
 " What sets all this going, Cousin Ralph ? " 
 asked Frank. " What starts the waves ? And 
 how is it that they are everywhere when it is 
 light, and nowhere when it is dark ? " 
 
 Ralph laughed. *' Your last question," he 
 said, "arises from a wrong impression that it 
 would take time to correct. As to the first, you 
 must remember that undulation is motion of 
 form, not of matter. Thus, if you place a straw 
 or a cork on the surface of smooth water, and 
 then disturb the water by throwing a pebble 
 near the floating substance, you will see that this 
 does not move outward with the undulations, 
 showing that the water itself does not progress 
 outward, only that there is a progressive change 
 of form. In like manner, those active processes
 
 Light. 201 
 
 that are at work between the particles of lumi- 
 nous bodies, agitate the ether, as your pebble 
 agitates the water ; and the agitation is ex- 
 pressed in undulations, of which the undulations 
 of water are a correct but an exceedingly coarse 
 illustration." 
 
 " But the rays of light seem to come in 
 straight lines," said Mary, " and the water 
 moves in circles." 
 
 " The undulations move in right lines as re- 
 gards any object that they shine (or fall) upon," 
 said Ralph. " But if we could stand at the 
 point from which they proceed, we would see 
 that they move equally in all directions ; that is, 
 in circles as regards the centre." 
 
 " Is all this proved? " asked the practical 
 Frank. " My teacher says that a theory is good 
 for nothing unless induced from facts." 
 
 " This theory of light originated," said Ralph, 
 " before the most wonderful facts now known 
 about light were established. It originated aa 
 being one of the only two theories conceiv
 
 202 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 able for examining light on any physical ba- 
 sis. But the longer the phenomena of light 
 are studied, the stronger is the support given to 
 this theory. Philosophers are so delighted with 
 its uniform explanation of facts, that there is 
 no longer any disposition to dispute its correct- 
 ness." 
 
 " People pretend to know how fast light 
 travels," said Mary. " Ever so many miles in 
 one second." 
 
 " That," said Ralph, " is the discovery of a 
 Danish astronomer named Roemer. He noticed 
 that an eclipse of one of the moons of Jupiter, 
 observed when the earth is at that point of its 
 own orbit nearest to Jupiter, returned sixteen 
 minutes later than calculated when the earth was 
 at the opposite part of the orbit, that is, about 
 two hundred million miles farther from Jupiter 
 than before. These calculations for the real re- 
 turn of the eclipse were found correct beyond 
 all controversy. Its observed return was, there- 
 fore, sixteen minutes too late. It follows then,
 
 Light. 203 
 
 that an eclipse of one of these satellites that 
 would be seen by us at a certain time when we 
 are nearest Jupiter, is seen sixteen minutes (or 
 about one thousand seconds) later when we are 
 two hundred million miles farther away. This 
 gives to light a velocity of two hundred thou- 
 sand miles in one second." 
 
 " Then," exclaimed Frank, delighted, " we 
 can tell how long it takes light to come to us 
 from the stars." 
 
 " Yes," answered Ralph, " provided we can 
 calculate the distances of the stars. In the case 
 of one or more of them this has been done by 
 actual measurement. And, upon the basis of 
 this known distance of the nearest, Herschel 
 worked out his method of computing distances 
 by magnitudes." 
 
 " How far from us are they ? " asked Frank. 
 "And what are they, anyhow?" 
 
 Ralph laughed again. " Your questions come 
 too fast," he said. " As to the distances, some 
 of them are so great that they only bewilder us.
 
 204 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 We really seem no better informed after know- 
 ing all about it. The first whose distance was 
 actually measured (doubtless one of the very 
 nearest), is six hundred thousand times farther 
 from us than our own sun ; and a wave of light 
 starting from it at this moment, will reach us in 
 about ten years. But some of them are hun- 
 dreds of times farther from us than this." 
 
 " Ten years ! " exclaimed Mary. " And hun- 
 dreds of ten years ! To think that the undula- 
 tions should keep on so long. How very singu- 
 lar." 
 
 "Yes truly," said Ralph. " And the rapidity 
 of this light-motion, as compared with all ordi- 
 nary physical motion known to us, is proved to 
 be inconceivable by comparing it with other ve- 
 locities. For instance: a cannon-ball is com- 
 puted to move at the rate of about five 
 hundred miles an hour. Now, aim your cannon 
 at the star we speak of, and suppose the ball, 
 never to fall back to the earth, but to keep 
 right on at five hundred miles an hour. It will,
 
 Light. 205 
 
 at that rate, reach the star only after about 
 fourteen million years. But the light waves pass 
 from the star to us in ten years. So then, those 
 little waves of ether of which the eye is sensi- 
 ble, move many thousand times faster than a 
 cannon-ball." 
 
 " How wonderful ! " said Frank. " Mary, I'll 
 have to thank you after all for your inquiry, and 
 commend your conclusion. Light is something, 
 sure enough. We hear of ethereal beauty, 
 ethereal lightness, and so on. I think we must 
 begin to talk of ethereal swiftness, and ethereal 
 distances. But, Cousin Ralph, how do we really 
 know and prove all these facts ? " 
 
 " By different means," said Ralph. " Greatly 
 by means of Geometry. Of course in some 
 sense the telescope has done everything for 
 astromony. Yet it was in some good sense a 
 science before we had the telescope. The law 
 of gravitation being understood, and the teles- 
 cope in hand, this might have sufficed to reduce 
 star-gazing to a system, but-after all, the calcula-
 
 206 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 tions which consolidate the system, and give it 
 compactness as a science, are due to Geome- 
 try." 
 
 " Then," said Frank, " I must get into geome- 
 try as soon as ever I can." 
 
 " Better systematize your history, first," said 
 Ralph. 
 
 And as they turned into the Stanley grounds, 
 and the pony walked slowly up the carriage-way, 
 Mary said, 
 
 " Mamma thinks that the works of God not 
 only prove Him holy, and loving, and good, but 
 prove Him in every sense absolute. We can't 
 find that He has made a mistake, or fallen short 
 of any design, or ever grown weary. That 
 seems to me a nice thought." 
 
 " Yes," said Frank, " mother has ever so many 
 nice thoughts. What was that the other day, 
 May, about 'God infinite?" 1 
 
 " Oh ! I tried to remember," said Mary. " It 
 was something like this : That the God who 
 redeemed is the God who created, for only the
 
 Light. 207 
 
 Creator could redeem a fallen creation. That 
 Redemption, then, is as infinite as Creation. 
 That God being in all things absolute, as He is 
 infinite, it follows that everything which He says 
 is not only infinitely said but absolutely sure. 
 God having spoken in grace, can neither retract 
 nor fail." 
 
 " And," said Frank, " she said that this is the 
 stability of the Christian. God, having promised, 
 will surely fulfil. His written word, she said, 
 proves itself of Him as clearly as His works do." 
 
 " All these sentiments are what good Parson 
 Laidley at home would call ' excellent points,' ' 
 said Ralph. "And," he continued, as they 
 drove up to the door, " I must consider your 
 part of the discourse better than mine." 
 
 
 Franky went to his history and his Latin. 
 Janie had a deal to tell Ralph about the drive 
 after those twc fine horses, " and with a white 
 man to drive. It seemed so fine and so 
 strange I " And Mary had a story for her
 
 208 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 mother of the wonders they had been discussing 
 with Ralph. 
 
 " Cousin Ralph was very good to tell you so 
 much, and at so much pains," said her mother. 
 
 
 
 The daily reading at Mrs. Stanley's was in 
 the evening ; being so preferred by her. She 
 used to say that our Father's thoughts toward us 
 being for our refreshment, should be read when 
 we are weary, and, being for our instruction, 
 should be read when we are most at leisure 
 from other things. That was her own feeling ; 
 but others might find some earlier part of the 
 day giving larger, happier room to the sayings 
 that are faithful and true. This evening the 
 words from Deuteronomy, " Oh, that there 
 were such an heart in them, that they would 
 fear me, and keep all my commandments 
 always," considered in connection with the 
 words of Jesus : " If ye love me keep my com- 
 mandments," were realized by Ralph as expres- 
 sive not only of good will, but also of love as
 
 Light. 209 
 
 we understand it, on God's part toward His 
 people ; and of His desire for the love of the 
 ones loved. And in the conversation that 
 followed, (the children having retired) Ralph 
 gave some outline of his conversation with 
 Urania Clayton. 
 
 " How God waits to be gracious to them that 
 resist Him ! " said Mrs. Stanley. " We need to 
 remember that the wrath of God is not vindic- 
 tive. He delights in mercy ; not in the death of 
 the sinner. Judgment is His 'strange works/ 
 but it is part of His perfect doing." 
 
 The remark was not pointed at Ralph, but he 
 perhaps thought it was. He answered rather 
 abruptly, " I never found an explanation of eter- 
 nal judgment as coinciding with eternal love." 
 
 " Not in the cross ? " asked Mrs. Stanley. 
 
 Ralph did not answer; and his mother said, 
 "Faith rests in God, and does not seek for 
 explanations that He is not pleased to give. 
 Our Saviour certainly is not playing with us, nor 
 
 with word?, when He uses not figures only, but 
 14
 
 210 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 declarations on this point. But there is no de- 
 light in them. God is love. God is the Judge. 
 God the Redeemer is God the Sovereign, the 
 Holy. When His judgments are in the earth 
 they will be right judgments." 
 
 " Yes," said Ralph, " I suppose that must be 
 so. And the answer of an evil conscience is 
 after all the best answer to the problem. The 
 one question pressing me, you know, is, how 
 shall a man be justified ? The very rising of 
 the question seems to justify God." 
 
 Mrs. Stanley looked up from her needle-work. 
 " I did not know that you were not satisfied as 
 to that, Cousin Ralph," she said. 
 
 " Oh, I know the orthodox doctrine," said 
 Ralph ; " and I do not altogether repudiate it. 
 But I am not clear about the blood-shedding ; 
 and I am sensible that Christ is not all to me 
 that He is fitted to be, nor His peace my posses- 
 sion." 
 
 " That last is not strange, if the shedding of 
 His blood has no meaning to you," said
 
 Light. 211 
 
 Stanley. "Then where do you find atone- 
 ment ? " 
 
 " I am assured," said Ralph, " that He in 
 some way gave himself for us that He might 
 redeem us from all iniquity. And if I were 
 assured as to the Divine necessity of a perfect 
 demonstration of the Divine justice on account 
 of sin, then I dare say I should see how perfectly 
 the sorrow and darkness and death of the Son 
 of God in flesh will meet the case." 
 
 " If Jesus be indeed the Son of God," said 
 Mrs. Stanley, " there could be no other meaning 
 in His death than Atonement ; it is impossible. 
 But, Cousin Ralph, let me say that you are 
 simply yielding to a temptation, or to some 
 pride of intellect, in all this. If you are con- 
 vinced that the crucified Jesus is risen again, de- 
 clared to be the Son of God with power, it is 
 because God has convinced you of it has 
 taught j'ou. Yet I do not see that you are con- 
 vinced. That is your heart is not holding 
 this truth, and worshipping Him. If it were
 
 212 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 there would be neither cavilling nor stumbling 
 at the meaning of His sacrifice." 
 
 " I do recognize His claims as Divine," said 
 Ralph. 
 
 " My dear cousin," said Mrs. Stanley, " you 
 may think that you recognize in Jesus the Son of 
 God. But recognizing is not believing. When 
 you get the view of Him and of His work that 
 God gives, your heart will be broken ; it may be 
 with pain, it may be with rapture ; but, in 
 either case, you will know that it is broken, and 
 that the blind eyes see." 
 
 
 
 As Ralph was retiring that night he turned to 
 some words from Thomas a Kempis that had 
 held his eye in the quiet moment after dinner, 
 and had lain in his thought all day : ' Blessed 
 and true is that comfort that is inwardly received 
 from the truth. A devout man always carries 
 about with him Jesus his comforter, and saith to 
 Him, * Be with me, O Lord Jesus, in all 
 places and at all times.'
 
 Light. 
 
 213 
 
 "I have never experienced that," thought 
 Ralph ; "I do not know that. No, I do 
 not."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 VISIT TO THE ORPHANS. 
 
 T was on this same evening that a scene 
 transpired in the * pretty white house,' as 
 Ralph always called the Jamesons' 
 domicile ; some record of which must 
 here be given. 
 
 Mrs. Jameson, the mother of ' the young 
 preacher,' was sitting with her daughter Alice, 
 who was somewhat older than Frederick. 
 Mother and daughter were busy with their 
 needle-work. The apartment was an extreme 
 one in several respects. It was at the extreme 
 
 of the north wing ; and was of extreme neat> 
 (214)
 
 Visit to the Orphans. 215 
 
 ness, and extremely plain in its furnishing. Al- 
 though there were many other rooms in the 
 house, some of which were large, and one at 
 least having better adornments, this one was 
 found most convenient for general use. The 
 neat kitchen with its waxed floor opened off on 
 the left ; and, there being no servant claiming 
 rule, the proximity was altogether to be pre- 
 ferred. This apartment served as dining-room, 
 (or rather as breakfast, dinner and supper-room,) 
 sewing-room for the two just introduced, and 
 study for Frederick and the growing Robert. It 
 was the very life of these four to live within 
 sight and sound of one another's look and voice. 
 The busy Frederick was all day at his fruit-nur- 
 sery and orchard, or at some business connected 
 therewith ; or at his profitable recreation of cab- 
 inet work. And Robert was helping him when 
 not at school. Thus the evening was Fred's 
 only time either for the society of mother and 
 sister, or for the studies which also made so large 
 part of his existence. As he was possessed of
 
 216 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 one of those rare, happy temperaments that 
 allows its owner to read or think without com- 
 plete isolation from others of mortal kind, it 
 fell out that the family room and the study 
 stood one and undivided. 
 
 Mrs. Jameson was elderly, not old ; above the 
 medium height, but well proportioned, with a 
 face that must have been once beautiful, now 
 only slightly lined with care. Her well-ar- 
 ranged hair was fine and soft, with all the 
 enviable beauty of a luxuriant gray. Her 
 deeply-set eyes were a soft hazel, and her hands 
 slender, delicate, and of a texture and touch that 
 could belong only to a lady. Her whole appear- 
 ance rendered it quite superfluous that any one 
 seeing her be told of her genuine culture and 
 self-respect. And, before knowing her long, 
 one would discover that these qualities, (in-born 
 and in-wrought as they were), were co-existent 
 with genial sweetness, with humility, and with 
 a truly catholic delight in realizing brotherhood 
 with all mankind. This was the woman who
 
 Visit to the Orphans. 217 
 
 had borne and reared Frederick Jameson, and 
 by means of whose teaching and example he had 
 imbibed his first love of the truth as it is in 
 Jesus. The daughter was not much like the 
 mother. Although she was fond of her mother 
 and of Frederick, yet her natural fondness had 
 not at all times by any means either concealed or 
 controlled her enmity to the Christian living of 
 the others. It was only lately that she had 
 withdrawn from an attitude and an occasional 
 outspoken impatience that amounted to a phase 
 of persecution ; and, finding that she was not 
 only unlovely but really herself miserable, had 
 softened, and at length allowed some faithful 
 word from her mother, kindly urged, to open her 
 eyes and her heart before the very cross of 
 Christ. From that time her strong, natural affec- 
 tion found no hindrance. Frederick, whom she 
 had really ardently loved, became her great help, 
 and, next to the mother, her chief source of 
 solicitude and of joy. But Robert, seventeen 
 years old, who had always been the baby and
 
 218 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 the pet, was loved with a peculiar love. Since 
 the enmity had been destroyed, and that hard- 
 ness and hatred toward the truth, which divides 
 so many households, had been taken away, no 
 more peaceful and united family could be found. 
 
 
 ** Alice, dear, what can keep Fred and Robie 
 so long out ? " asked Mrs. Jameson. " They 
 went only those few rods, the short way through 
 the brush-wood, to Mr. Smith's, with the book- 
 shelves, meaning to return at once, I think." 
 
 " Sure enough, it is too long," said Alice. 
 ** Oh, I dare say they found some one there 
 whom they know. Mr. Smith, if alone, would 
 hardly invite them to stay." 
 
 " Mr. Smith is a hard man, truly," said the 
 mother. " But, you know, he has had a hard 
 life. Alone so many years, and not sustained 
 by anything unseen ! How could there be any 
 expansiveness without any sunshine ? " 
 
 " Oh, mother, he was just so years and years 
 ago, before his wife and baby died."
 
 Visit to the Orphans. 219 
 
 *' Somewhat so," said Mrs. Jameson. " Yes, 
 he is naturally morose." 
 
 
 
 At this moment the two young men entered, 
 accompanied by Orpheus Clayton, who, by 
 reason of a common love for music, (and by 
 other tastes in common) had been strongly 
 bound to Robert from childhood. Robert was 
 in high glee at having found Orpheus at Mr. 
 Smith's, entertaining " the old man," with a 
 new composition for the flute. " One of his 
 own, mother. There is no music that smoothes 
 out Smith's crabbedness like Orpheus Clay- 
 ton's." 
 
 Orpheus blushed slightly at this ; for Robert 
 had spoken more proudly than if it had been 
 some success of his own. 
 
 " I am glad to see you Orpheus," said Mrs. 
 Jameson. " The more so that we had not ex- 
 pected you. A pleasure is always enriched by 
 surprise." 
 
 " You are very kind, Mrs. Jameson," said the
 
 220 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 young man. " If my coming gives you pleasure 
 I must preserve its quality by not coming too 
 often." 
 
 " Ah ! you always have a ready answer," said 
 Mrs. Jameson with a quiet laugh that told of 
 deep enjoyment. " Are your father and mothei 
 well ? and your sister ? " 
 
 " Very well ; yes ma'am, thank you. I came 
 this way with Herbert this afternoon. He had 
 some business for father at Mr. Way land's, and 
 afterward we rode around by Mr. Smith's to 
 conclude arrangements for letting out Joe. 
 Mrs. Smith, who is always in love with my flute, 
 and fancies to have me blow on his when mine 
 is not at hand, would have me stay and sup with 
 him, as he calls drinking tea." 
 
 " You must have done him good," said Fred- 
 erick. " He has never, I believe, smiled so 
 entirely, or been so talkative, as this evening." 
 
 ** The old man has a warm spot around his 
 heart somewhere," said Robert. " The spark 
 only needs to be fanned the right way."
 
 Visit to the Orphans. 221 
 
 "Why do you call him 'the old man,' Robie ?" 
 said Mrs. Jameson. " He is not old, and the 
 expression, as you use it, is rude." 
 
 " Oh, it is convenient, mother, and it describes 
 him very well, I think. But, if you don't like 
 to hear it, I'll not say it." 
 
 Mrs. Jameson knew that the two youths were 
 * up to music,' as Frederick was wont to call the 
 working of their ruling passion, and she gave 
 them the opportunity to hold their own converse 
 while she asked Frederick further about their 
 call at Mr. Smith's. 
 
 " It does seem to me," he said, * that God is 
 drawing that hard, strange man to Himself by 
 ways of singular tenderness. It has led me to 
 think that traits which seem to us to mark cer- 
 tain individuals as peculiarly evil, may be only 
 the working of constitutional habit from which 
 others are constitutionally free. If God judges 
 so, and is dealing with this hardness as an in- 
 firmity demanding compassion as well as correc- 
 tion, He is so reproving the uncharity of our 
 impatience."
 
 222 RalpKs Possession. 
 
 " You are giving me quite a lecture, brother," 
 said Alice. " You know I am not at all patient 
 \vith Mr. Smith. He snaps so ! One can better 
 bear with the great bark of a great dog." 
 
 *' There is something large about his nature, 
 notwithstanding," replied Frederick. " I have 
 seen it in many ways. But just to think how 
 this short acquaintance with Orpheus has been 
 used for his good, and for the bringing out of 
 his large qualities ! It is not the music only, for 
 he will talk with Mm by the hour." 
 
 There was a moment's pause, and then, as 
 Fred Jameson always told his mother every- 
 thing, he continued : " Mr. Smith asked me this 
 evening where I am going to speak next Sunday, 
 and said he should like to be there. It is the 
 first time he has said any kind word about it." 
 
 This was true, but it was not all the truth. 
 Mr. Smith had often made wnkind remarks on 
 the subject of his young neighbor's course, 
 remarks that had been no small trial to Fred- 
 erick. The exclamations of good sympathy from
 
 Visit to the Orphans. 223 
 
 mother and sister at what he now said, were 
 natural. Perhaps, aleo, they were gracious. 
 Frederick responded, 
 
 " I am glad also, glad that the enmity is 
 breaking down ; especially (indeed I may say 
 only) because, in as far as I am speaking the 
 true words of God, it indicates the breaking of 
 the enmity toward Him." 
 
 " Do you not speak anywhere before Sun 
 day ? " 
 
 " Not this week. Next week, if God please, 
 in the new church at Keuyonville." 
 
 Orpheus caught the last words, and said, 
 *' Frederick, Mr. Smith says that a man who 
 preaches the Gospel ought to do nothing else." 
 
 "That is a strange remark for Mr. Smith," 
 said Mrs. Jameson. " He has always had a 
 good deal to say in disapproval of the clerical 
 profession, as he calls the ministry." 
 
 *' Mr. Smith is both right and wrong, I dare 
 Bay," said Frederick thoughtfully, adding, " I 
 think cases do arise in the ordering of God
 
 224 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 where one is called to some work as an Evan- 
 gelist without wisdom for a pastoral charge. 
 * Some, evangelists ; some, pastors and teach- 
 ers.' " 
 
 " / would like to see you all minister," said 
 Orpheus. 
 
 "Oh, J wouldn't!" said Robert. "He 
 wouldn't seem like Fred. Think of him in a 
 white neck-cloth, and a long-tailed black frock ! 
 Oh, Fred ! And then, what should I do if you 
 were in a parsonage and I alone here ? " 
 
 The ardent Robert had taken alarm in such 
 funny earnest, that all present laughed with a 
 gusto which partly re-assured him. 
 
 " Rob, the case is plain enough," said Fred- 
 erick. " The Lord, no doubt, has foreseen and 
 noted all our past, and his good hand has been 
 in it. He makes our gifts and capacities just 
 what they are, and our circumstances are of His 
 ordering or allowance. Here are mother and 
 sister to be supported ; and if I am sure of any- 
 thing as to the present, it is that these handa 
 must work."
 
 Visit to the Orphans. 225 
 
 " How can a man always know what God's 
 call is?" asked Orpheus, addressing Mrs. Jame- 
 son. 
 
 " I hardly know how to answer you," she 
 said. " I think sometimes, perhaps generally, 
 the will of God as to our course is so evi- 
 dent that one cannot but know it, if the heart 
 is attentive to learn God's will and not intent 
 upon its own. In case of any unusual conflict 
 or perplexity, the believing soul will not be in 
 haste." 
 
 The youth paused before replying : " And 
 then they say ' Pray? Frederick believes in 
 prayer, and so does Rob. And I think I do, 
 also." 
 
 "Witho.it any argument on that point," said 
 Mrs. Jameson, "it is sufficient now to say that 
 the child of God who has his Saviour's fellow- 
 ship cannot live without prayer, nor forego it ; 
 either on his own account, or on account of his 
 brethren, or of the kingdom of God. God 'a 
 
 thoughts about it are no doubt higher and 
 15
 
 226 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 sweeter than the reasoning of men. In on 
 view it is presented as a test of obedience. 
 Pray because God says so. That might be 
 enough of itself. But it is presented also on a 
 higher plane ; ' Praying in the Holy Spirit.'' 
 * Praying always with all prayer and supplication 
 in the Spirit.' This is not mere obedience. It 
 is communion with God. And it may well lead 
 us to watch lest we make prayers, instead of 
 being so filled with the Spirit that they are 
 wrought in us." 
 
 " Albeit," said Frederick, " the highest, sweet- 
 est, only service toward God is obedience ; un- 
 questioning, filial doing of what is bidden." 
 
 " Yes ; the word filial embracing love and 
 understanding," said his mother. " For ' the 
 end of the commandment is love, out of a pure 
 heart, of a good conscience, and of faith un- 
 feigned.' And the growth of a child of God ia 
 in wisdom and understanding." 
 
 . 
 
 A day or two after this, Herbert and Opheua
 
 Visit to the Orphans. 227 
 
 Clayton drove over to the Stanleys to pay their 
 compliments to Ralph whose visit they had 
 missed ; bringing messages to the ladies from 
 their mother, who was that day unable to ac- 
 company them. Ralph thought he had never 
 seen a contrast more emphatic between tvv 
 brothers ; but found them both well-informed, 
 agreeable young gentlemen, whom he was glad 
 to know. Mrs. Stanley came in to see them ; 
 and while Herbert was conversing with her, 
 Ralph went over with Orpheus the adventure 
 that followed the breaking down of the carriage, 
 which led Orpheus to speak of his own ac- 
 quaintance with the Jamesons and of his recent 
 evening with them. Frederick had been several 
 times spoken of by Mrs. Stanley with a desire 
 that her friends might know him, and Ralph 
 was glad to know of the appointment at Ken- 
 yonville. The Clayton brothers withdrew soon, 
 declining an invitation to dinner, and feeling 
 that they had made an acquaintance, \\ horn 
 they could not fail to value. For those two
 
 228 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 brothers, though so unlike, were yet unlike in a 
 way that assimilates, and drew strongly together 
 in many of their tastes. 
 
 It fell out, by-the-by, that Ralph met with 
 Frederick Jameson before hearing him at Ken 
 yonville. At dinner that day he sr"ke of 
 young Clayton's acquaintance with the i'amily, 
 and of his apparently ardent friendship ff v 
 Robert, of whom Ralph had not heard. Mrs 
 Stanley proposed that they should, on the day 
 following, d'"*'e on the Nashville road, and call 
 at Mrs. J%.nesou's. Mr. Stanley and Mr. 
 Jameson had been close friends, and the two 
 ladies esteemed each other cordially, but seldom 
 met ; as Mrs. Jameson was unable to pay visits. 
 Mrs. Stanley would feel quite free to take her 
 friends there. 
 
 This was agreed to by all except Mary, who, 
 if her mamma would allow I er, would prefer 
 staying at home. She did not like Alice 
 Jameson; was sure she never could like her; 
 and really felt every way uncomfortable at the
 
 Visit to the Orphans. 229 
 
 Jamesons'. Frank was disposed to take this as 
 a personal affront, as he considered the Jamesons 
 ( all except Alice ) the most delightful acquaint- 
 ances. And what if Alice was plain, and inex- 
 pressive, and lacking all tact in entertaining ? 
 She was a good soul who injured nobody ; and 
 there must be something to her, since she was 
 always careful of her mother, and her brothers 
 were very fond of her. Mary thought this very 
 probable, but did not see how those com- 
 mendable qualities, in a person whom she did 
 not like, could at all affect the case in point. 
 She did not like Alice Jameson, and Alice Jame- 
 son certainly was not agreeable to strangers. 
 
 Mrs. Stanley gently checked the children ; 
 Baying that they were speaking too much, and 
 that personal criticism with no good end in view 
 is quite out of taste. They begged their 
 mamma's pardon, and the conversation was led 
 by her in a way of more general interest. But 
 after dinner, the three children being together 
 in one corner of the library, Frank, with some
 
 230 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 polite reserve, opened his batteries on poor 
 May. 
 
 " I think you are quite too bad, May," he 
 Baid, " Mamma says we should have charity for 
 all." 
 
 44 Yes. I have charity for Alice," said Mary, 
 not out of patience, but quite in earnest. " I 
 wouldn't harm her, and I would be willing to do 
 her good. But what is the harm of not going 
 to see her ? I don't like her, and I can't help it. 
 She is a good creature, I dare say ; but if she is, 
 let her prove it by making herself agreeable, 
 like Urania Clayton or Ursula Farr." 
 
 " Comparisons are not good, May darling," 
 said their mother, as she was cutting some 
 flowers near them. " Be gentle, my dear 
 daughter, in your feelings, and in the expression 
 of them." 
 
 " Yes, mamma," replied Mary. " But just 
 think, mamma, how impossible it is to like what 
 one dislikes." 
 
 " Oh, May, May ! grown-up May ! " said
 
 Visit to the Orphans. 231 
 
 Frank. ** Philosophy again, and such philoso- 
 
 ** Gentle, Franky, no teasing," said Mrs 
 Stanley, adding to Mary, " You may not like 
 qualities that are opposed to your tastes. But 
 respect and love are quite disconnected frorr 
 what is essentially agreeable. I can tell yon 
 my dear, that Alice is more deserving of your 
 regards than Cousin Ursula." 
 
 " Why, mamma ! how is that possible ? I 
 think Ursula is lovely." 
 
 " Ursula has an agreeable manner with those 
 whom she seldom meets," said Mrs. Stanley, 
 " because politeness is, with her, less a principle 
 arising out of genuine good feeling and unselfish 
 regard for others, than a custom in the obser- 
 vance of which she is conscious of appearing 
 well. Ursula is more lovely out of her home 
 than in it. You do not know that she regards 
 her own comfort first in everything ; and yet 
 continues always to make herself uncomfortable 
 and her mother unhappy."
 
 232 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 Mary was quite blank at this. "Oh, mamma! 
 Why did you tell me ? " she exclaimed. 
 
 " I will tell you now why I have told you 
 this," said her mother. " You would certainly 
 observe it yourself as you grow older ; and I 
 have anticipated your own discovery of it be- 
 cause it conveys just the lesson that you need at 
 this time. You are naturally prone to i'orm 
 judgments on first appearances ; that is, you pre- 
 judge, and then you allow your prejudice to 
 rule you, caring neither to inform yourself 
 further, nor to judge yourself wi h your neigh- 
 bor. This you must take pains to correct, my 
 dear child. For the Saviour's name you must 
 correct it." 
 
 The tears had come in Mary's eyes, and in 
 Frank's, too ; the generous fellow instinctively 
 feeling the reproof his sister bore. Little Janie, 
 who was absorbed in a frolic with Rex, had 
 heard nothing connectedly, but looked up just 
 here, saying, " Uncle John says we ought to like 
 everybody."
 
 Visit to the Orphans. 233 
 
 *' That is not what you say, is it mamma ? " 
 said Mary beseechingly. 
 
 " No, my dear child," said her mother. " I 
 say that qualities are inseparable from persons, 
 and that you cannot like what your tastes are 
 wholly adverse to. But you can lead that wholly 
 unselfish life which is love, and which not only 
 renders to all their due, but finds an interest in 
 the happiness of all." 
 
 " Thank you, mamma, thank you really, 
 mamma," she said, rather tremulously, but not 
 allowing the tears to rise again. Janie noticed 
 that there was some strong emotion transpiring ; 
 but, apprehending that it was not her affair, 
 drew a little sigh and went to her lessons. As 
 Mary passed the parlor-door half an hour later, 
 Ralph rallied her on her disposition to stay alone 
 at home when the going out was not of her 
 preference. "Cousin Mary," he said, "you 
 must surely not be one of those sickly mortals 
 who make happiness to consist in enjoying one's 
 telf. They ask us ' How did you enjoy your-
 
 234 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 self?' on such an occasion; not ' what did you 
 enjoy in others ? ' or ' Did you see or hear what 
 enlarged your soul toward God and men ? ' 
 This enjoying one's self can be turned into mis- 
 erable work." 
 
 " Oh, Cousin Ralph ! " said Mary, half-crying 
 again ; " will you make me ashamed, too ? 
 Mamma has been giving me one of her sweet 
 scathings. And now you! But I do want to 
 enjoy others than myself. That is just the diffi- 
 culty, I don't always find how" 
 
 " No, Mary, no," said Ralph quickly. " I 
 spoke like a fool. Forgive me ! I spoke like a 
 fool." 
 
 " You had better go with us, May dear," said 
 Mrs. Gushing. " You will have the opportunity 
 to see the spot of our adventure, with a new 
 graphic description by Ralph." 
 
 " I shall go, Aunt Helen, you may be sure I 
 shall go," she replied. " I see that I have been 
 very wrong. Cousin Ralph, I don't think you 
 spoke like a fooL"
 
 Visit to the Orphans. 235 
 
 But their drive that afternoon was in quite 
 another direction ; to visit first an orphan school 
 and asylum, endowed by bequest, and, in part, 
 maintained by private charity. Mrs. Stanley 
 wished also to visit two poor families whom she 
 knew to be worthy and in need. All these ob- 
 jects of visitation by a happy coincidence lay on 
 the Kenyonville road ; by which means Zed was 
 made sufficiently acquainted with the route for 
 Tuesday evening. 
 
 How pleasant that visit to the orphan house 
 was ! How much one learns from beholding 
 God's manifest faithful care of these little ones 
 (whom His wisdom has bereaved), in the happy 
 fruit of a little love and toil that some of our 
 fellows, as His instruments, have been led to 
 bestow on them. Mrs. Gushing, whose nerves 
 had been weaker for a few days, and who had 
 even required some nursing, was quite refreshed 
 by what she saw, " really fortified and com- 
 forted," she said. (She had already missed 
 very much the opportunities of going out of her-
 
 236 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 self that her home neighborhood supplied ; for, 
 although, full of loving interest in her cousin's 
 family, there was no field for benevolent action 
 there, since the servants were, of course, not ac- 
 cessible to a stranger. Except, indeed, during 
 the two hours of Sunday instruction, which was 
 a time-honored custom on the part of the Stan- 
 leys toward their servants.) 
 
 The visit of to-day filled Mrs. Cushing's whole 
 soul with new health. They had but a few 
 minutes in the school-room, as the daily session 
 was just closing. The closing exercise was one 
 of recitations from Scripture, which also, they 
 were informed, inaugurated the exercises of the 
 morning. One of the texts in choius was from 
 the Psalm : " Seven times a day do I praise 
 Thee, because of Thy righteous judgments." 
 
 At this point a little hand went up, and its 
 owner being permitted to speak, a bright-eyed 
 little fellow said, " We only give thanks to our 
 Father morning and evening, and here it saya 
 seven times a day."
 
 Visit to the Orphans. 237 
 
 "Yes, Johnny," said the teacher. "But our 
 action as a school is not the limit of the free 
 service of every one of us toward our Heavenly 
 Father. These expressions in the Psalms are 
 the expressions of a soul happy in the forgive- 
 ness of sins and singing praises to God at all 
 times." 
 
 " The Saviour hadn't come then, had He ? " 
 said Johnny. 
 
 u No. But there were promises and teach- 
 ings indicating that a Deliverer should come. 
 The Gospel was not fully revealed as now, but 
 God's true people understood that God Himself 
 was Saviour ; and that forgiveness was of His 
 grace, not of our merit. The Old Testament is 
 full of this." 
 
 Another hand went up, and an older scholar 
 asked, " How can we give thanks to God be- 
 cause of His judgments ? " 
 
 " Ah, Willie Jones ! " said the teacher, " Mr. 
 Root or Mr. Jameson might give us a gracious 
 sermon from that text. I can only say it is be-
 
 238 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 cause the judgment of condemnation that was 
 due to us has been taken by Jesus, in whom our 
 sins were put away. And He Himself, the 
 Lord, is the risen living witness of this. God'a 
 judgments are for us, not against us, if we are 
 honoring Jesus, if our hearts are receiving 
 Him. The heart that loves Him knows how to 
 praise Him for all His judgments, in all things, 
 for they are right and good." * 
 
 A few more verses were recited, among which 
 the one most dwelt upon was 1st John, iv. 11 : 
 " Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also 
 to love one another." It was shown to be a 
 thought suited to affect only the believer in 
 Jesus ; because only as Grod is believed can His 
 love move us to love one another. As the 
 teacher was about dismissing them, another hand 
 was seen signaling to speak. 
 
 " Well, Annie ? " said the teacher, patiently, 
 " Our time is up, but we will hear you." 
 
 " May we sing * I lay my sins on Jesus ' ? " 
 asked the child. 
 
 *"Pnlms rxix. 12^.
 
 Visit to the Orphans. 239 
 
 The singing was generally reserved until after 
 supper. But as eight or ten little hands went 
 up quickly in favor of the hymn, it was thought 
 best not to deny it. Familiar as it was to all 
 present, it was yet so full of " the old, old 
 story," which is always new, that every heart 
 which had ever felt its sweetness and its 'power, 
 united as in a new song of gladness and of 
 peace. 
 
 And while the children went to their out-door 
 recreation, the visitors were conducted over the 
 building by a sweet-faced matron, who took a 
 quiet delight in exhibiting the neatness and 
 system of the establishment. " Oh, for a hand 
 in such a work ! " thought Mrs. Gushing as their 
 conductress went over its details. Mrs. Stanley 
 related the scene they had witnessed in the 
 school-room, and thought the little girl's request 
 a simple and touching one. 
 
 " Yes," said the matron, I do not think it was 
 asked in order that strangers might hear them 
 sing. There are BO many visitors every week
 
 240 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 that the children cease to regard it as extraor- 
 dinary, almost cease to notice it. And Annie 
 Benson is an unaffected, truthful child." 
 
 Their visit was limited, of course, but Mrs. 
 Gushing and Ralph both felt that, in value, those 
 forty minutes exceeded many ordinary hours. 
 The drive was renewed with greater pleasure for 
 the good received in seeing so many children 
 happy. That the kind care and wise training 
 bestowed in that orphan house was not the fruit 
 of a dead philanthropy, but of a living faith, 
 was too manifest to be overlooked by any who 
 had eyes to see. 
 
 Where the Spirit of Christ is there is the fruit 
 of the Spirit, and the Father is glorified for 
 Jesus' sake. 
 
 Mrs. Gushing would not intrude upon her 
 cousin's private charities, nor disturb the families 
 visited, by pushing her own way among them. 
 She would drive on with Ralph, she said ; and 
 would return that way at such time as Mrs. 
 Stanley might be ready to join them. Less than
 
 Visit to the Orphans. 241 
 
 an hour would suffice, Mrs. Stanley thought ; as 
 the two houses stood not far apart. A by-road, 
 which she pointed out, would give them a 
 pleasant drive of half an hour and return ; in 
 the course of which they would get a pretty 
 view of Kenyonville a little northward. They 
 parted, therefore, at the house of Widow Brown, 
 whose son Ephraim was crippled these twelve 
 years gone ; and whose daughter Ellen was sole 
 nurse and provider for Ephraim and their some- 
 what infirm mother. The other house was the 
 scene and centre of a different history. It con- 
 tained only two aged persons, Rufus Gray and 
 his wife Sally. Their only son, Charles, had 
 been but twice heard from since he " 'listed " in 
 the army during the Mexican war, seven years 
 before. 
 
 This Charlie Gray was then a short, cheery, 
 popular fellow of eighteen ; a full-sized man at 
 that ; the hope of his father and the joyful pride 
 of his mother. Always a good son to them, and 
 
 ambitious to be their support, he was yet restive 
 16
 
 242 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 under the restraints of the tame, rustic life to 
 which he was born ; and, in an hour of reckless 
 ardor, he took the fatal step that he could not 
 retrace. Bitter weeping followed. There was 
 no reproach ; only deep, ungovernable grief that, 
 for the time, swallowed up the whole nature of 
 parents and son. The three wept on each other's 
 necks. There was a night of anguish. Then 
 the father said, " You must go, my son ; the 
 Lord keep and save you and us." And the 
 mother kissed him, and again kissed him ; and 
 said, " The Lord bless you, my son, and give you 
 back to us if it be good in His sight." And 
 they both forgave him freely, fully, at once and 
 forever, as God forgives His children. And for 
 their sakes Charlie cheered up for the little time 
 that remained ; but the poor boy went out i 
 the bitterness of his soul. He never forgave 
 himself. 
 
 In him his parents had lost a noble, filial boy 
 and Nelly Brown a pure-minded ardent lover 
 He had written his parents once, just on em'
 
 Visit to the Orphans. 243 
 
 barking at New Orleans; a letter brimful of 
 affection, and of the penitence that he could not 
 repress, though happy in their forgiveness ; and 
 enlivened here and there by an ill-concealed 
 enthusiasm for the adventures in prospect. 
 (For Rufus and Salty were not so destitute then 
 as now. The infirm ties of age had crept upon 
 them rapidly since their great sorrow.) The 
 other letter was to Nelly Brown; written on 
 Mexican soil ; with her in his heart, and a battle 
 in prospect. His natural courage was great ; he 
 feared no evil. But no one except Nelly had 
 supposed that Charlie Gray was a Christian 
 Yet there was one expression in his letter to his 
 parents that comforted them concerning this. 
 44 1 believe," he said, " if the blessing of God, 
 that you invoked for me, is given, it will come 
 through Jesus only ; for I find that I am without 
 goodness and without strength, though not 
 before men." And to Nelly he had written, 
 " A battle ! Only think of going into battle 
 and in such a war as this ! If it were in self-
 
 244 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 defence, or in defence of a good cause, it might 
 be better ; though bloodshed is sad and dubious 
 work, at best. But think of giving one's life in 
 a cause that cannot be justified I I do not 
 doubt you are praying for me. And I am will- 
 ing to tell you that I pray sometimes ; if for 
 myself, then be sure for you likewise, lor no 
 distance can separate us. If ones self is men- 
 tioned before God, the other must be also. This 
 for you only. Farewell." 
 
 Nelly kept the secret tenderly ; conveying to 
 his father and mother the message sent them. 
 But when months had passed, and no word 
 came, and hope had faded into resignation, then 
 she felt herself released ; not from her willing 
 vows to him, but from keeping any longer that 
 which would comfort alike all the mourners. 
 She showed his parents all the letter ; and they 
 thanked God, and theii bowed heads were 
 lifted up. 
 
 
 
 When Mrs. Stanley alighted at the Brown
 
 Visit to the Orphans. 245 
 
 house the pony-carriage drew up also ; for the 
 children must see Nelly and Ephraim. Thus it 
 was that Ralph and his mother pursued their 
 drive alone. Ralph, who was always talkative, 
 and especially so when he had his mother 
 quite to himself, became unusually silent, and 
 continued so until she asked him of what he was 
 thinking. 
 
 " I was thinking," he said, " how different 
 my reminiscences of my own boyhood would be 
 if you were not in them ; and father, and 
 Rebekah, and all that made the old house 
 home. How doleful, comparatively, how unnat- 
 ural, to be able to recall no family life ! to have 
 been only a little living bit of a great institution 
 itself alive, it may be, with all pleasant charities 
 and useful instruction, but containing no father, 
 no mother, everybody, everything ; mine gener- 
 ally and loosely ; nothing mine particularly, 
 I had almost said, nothing divinely. I can see 
 only two divine institutions on the earth ; one is 
 the family, the other is the church. All other
 
 240 Ralph'% Possession. 
 
 institutions that work good seem to me (if one 
 may speak so) divine expedients for amelioration 
 of evil, in which men and women may find di- 
 vine work to do. As to the family and the 
 church, in each men fail of the ideal, but 
 that does not impeach the institution as ordained 
 of God. And some of us are bereft of the 
 first ; and there are some who never enter the 
 second." Then, pausing, he added, " Much as I 
 prize what I have seen to-day, I half wish I had 
 not seen it." 
 
 Ralph's mother was not surprised at this view 
 of the subject, nor at its vehement expression. 
 It was like Ralph. She knew and sympathized 
 with his earnest method of thought on all great 
 subjects, and his sensitive manner of analyzing 
 everything appealing to the sensibilities. 
 
 " Some such thoughts," she answered, " I sup- 
 pose occur to every one who thinks at all. I 
 had not taken such an extreme view of these 
 cases. Or, if your view is not extreme, I had 
 not thought so far."
 
 Visit to the Orphans. 247 
 
 But Mrs. Cushing's enthusiasm was not at all 
 abated by Ralph's gloomy logic ; and she went 
 on with her own commentary in her own happy 
 rein. And indeed, Ralph was himself quite as 
 Jiuch interested, only taking the trouble to trou- 
 ble himself with some passionate imagination of 
 a contrast that never existed between his own 
 childhood as it was and as it might have been. 
 The very happy children whom he had that day 
 seen for the most part did not know that there 
 are such contrasts in the world, nor concern 
 themselves at all that they might have been 
 some thousands of times happier than they were. 
 A few of the older ones had some vivid recollec- 
 tions of father and mother, (Oh, the mother !) 
 and of home scenes too sweet to fade away. 
 And these few, it must be owned, were the only 
 ones of the many the light of whose happiness 
 was toned with a shade that already gave their 
 lives the beginnings of the strength ot experi- 
 ence. 
 
 The conversation went on ; they enjoying, the
 
 248 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 while, the new scenes of the new road, and the 
 glimpse of fair Kenyonville below. 
 
 The morning had brought letters from home ; 
 Mr. Cushing's to his wife being remarkably full 
 of cheerful, homely details, and full, as all his 
 had been, of the genuine admiration thai was 
 slowly moulding back again to the tender re- 
 gard, and the appreciative, complacent love, so 
 long hidden away ; to come forth at last in the 
 finer proportion of a ripe maturity. Rebekah's 
 letter was addressed to Ralph, but it was really 
 half to him and half to their mother. Brimming 
 it was, and overflowing with sparkling gladness 
 at the continued good accounts of " mamma's 
 health," and at the deal of new, fresh enjoy- 
 ment witnessed in the details given of their daily 
 life. Cousin Cecilia's must be a charming fami- 
 ly. And what a lovely region for country and 
 climate ! But the home-life at " Gushing Cas- 
 tle," as she gayly called it, since " intrenched " 
 there with her papa and their faithful retainers, 
 Ralph must hear of that. There was always
 
 Visit to the Orphans. 249 
 
 something new to give. It was really wonder- 
 ful how well things went on, and how cheerful 
 their father almost uniformly was. The house 
 had not gone to ruin yet. 
 
 Such letters, received every few days, kept 
 every homesick feeling at bay ; and even made 
 it seem almost real that they were themselves at 
 home. Ralph was sure it was not the climate 
 alone that was doing his mother good. 
 
 
 
 They drove up to the Gray house just as Mrs. 
 Stanley was ready to join them. She had made 
 two delightful visits, she said ; there was so 
 much living, Christian faith in those households, 
 with its consistent fruit of simplicity and neat- 
 ness and industry. The great lesson always 
 learned there was of our real oneness in Christ, 
 and of our nearness to each other on that 
 ground. When they reached home the visits 
 were discussed further. The children always 
 loved to speak of plain, sweet Nelly Brown. 
 As for Ephraim, Mary did not " like " him very
 
 250 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 well. At least it was not agreeable to look at 
 him. But she did think him very patient, and 
 she noticed that his eyes followed Nelly every- 
 where. Frank thought him a fine fellow. He 
 had been able to tell all about the books that 
 Frank had lent him last, and they were always 
 returned, Frank said, as perfectly nice as if they 
 had not been opened." 
 
 " But old Mr. Gray," said Franky, * isn't he a 
 delightful old man ? " 
 
 " /like him best of all," said Mary. " He has 
 such a bearing; so somehow dignified and yet 
 somehow humble. He has a pleasant way of 
 meeting every one. And then, he converses as 
 if he had brains and a soul." 
 
 " Oh, May ! " said Franky, " you are outra- 
 geous with your likes and dislikes ! " 
 
 " I like him," said Janie, " because he loves 
 God, and has a pleasant voice. But all those 
 people have pleasant voices, except Ephraim; 
 and I suppose he can't help the crack in his." 
 
 * Oh, Janie I little Janie I " cried Ralph. " Do
 
 Visit to the Orphans. 251 
 
 we like you because you are wimple, or because 
 you are funny ? " 
 
 Janie did not know ; but as Frank thought it 
 must be because she was simple, Janie thought 
 BO too. " But since you love me," she said, " it 
 is no matter why"
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ATONEMENT. 
 
 H 
 
 RALPH'S mind had been busy with other 
 thoughts than those touching the Orphan 
 House. He had seen and heard much 
 that afternoon that had condemned him, 
 and that had raised again the question, ringing 
 more loudly than ever, What is truth ? " A 
 real Pilate-question " he said to himself. " And 
 if I do not receive Christ completely it is as if I 
 sent him away to be crucified ; for it is impossi- 
 ble to have nothing to do with Him." 
 
 The scripture-recitations had impressed Ralph 
 (252)
 
 Atonement. 253 
 
 tenderly, deeply ; but the singing of the hymn 
 had not expressed the language of his heart. 
 How could it ? He was " recognizing, not be- 
 lieving." There was that in Christ that he 
 needed. By his own confession he had long 
 known and felt this, and that no one else could 
 satisfy his sense of need, his unrest. He even 
 thought that he could not bear to hear that Holy 
 One spoken against. Yet he was not laying hia 
 sins on Jesus. He was not fully satisfied that 
 Jesus, whom he called " Lord," be all; and Ralph 
 Gushing saved for nothing except the mighty 
 price that Jesus paid alone. There was within 
 him an enmity toward God's chosen way of ex- 
 pressing to the universe His justice, unswerving 
 and all lovely in its moral rectitude ; an enmity 
 against the demonstration of Calvary that the 
 mercy of God (in which God delights) yields 
 nothing of truth, and that the peace of God is 
 not separated frcm a righteousness that is clean 
 in His sight. The blood of Christ was not pre- 
 cious to Ralph ; the putting away of sin by that
 
 254 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 means, and with no merit of ours, was not to hia 
 taste. There might be with God some higher, 
 sweeter, more perfect judgment in this than is 
 possible to any mere natural or human estimate 
 Ralph was conscious of quailing under these re- 
 flections. If God had spoken ; if God, all-wise, 
 and infinite in goodness as in understanding, had 
 spoken, it was man's business to listen, and to 
 say, " Amen. O my God ! Flessed be thy name 
 and Thy glory, and blessed be Thou in the 
 hearts of Thy creatures ; for Thou art God 
 alone, and beside Thee there is no Saviour.'* 
 
 Ralph knew this ; but he liked to place that 
 IF before himself, for himself to stumble at. It 
 seemed to make an excuse for his unstibmission 
 to God's word, that was piercing him to the 
 dividing asunder of soul and spirit. 
 
 Was Jesus then to be valued as the slain 
 Lamb, who, in pouring out His soul unto death 
 had borne the sins of many ? Or was the in- 
 finite grace of that to be rejected ? 
 
 He remembered (he could not forget) Mrg.
 
 Atonement. 255 
 
 Stanley's remark to him a few days before, 
 "When you get the view of Christ and of His 
 work that God gives, your heart will be broken.'* 
 He remembered the teacher's reply to Willie 
 Jones, " God's judgments are for us, not against 
 us, if we are valuing the Redeemer s work and 
 sacrifice as He does" 
 
 Ralph noticed that the two remarks fitted well 
 together, and his soul rose up against their coin- 
 cidence. For it showed him that he was surround- 
 ed by persons who were fully satisfied that the 
 things written of Jesus should be received as they 
 are written ; that the declaration of an Atone- 
 ment, one and sufficient, expresses the sovereign 
 mind of the blessed God. He knew that these 
 persons had what he had not, namely, peace. 
 And they seemed to have the Presence of a 
 Person ; safety in a living Saviour. To him 
 Christ was admirable ; he thought adorable ; but 
 far off. To them Christ was the worshipped, 
 the Beloved, the All-sufficient, the abiding One; 
 never far off. Ralph knew that this was what
 
 256 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 he needed ; and in some sense he wanted it* 
 Arid he may have been right in supposing that 
 he wished to accord to the Lord Jesus all His 
 claims ; to render Him all His due. 
 
 But this being saved for nothing, as regards 
 ourselves, and saved by blood, Ralph was not 
 ready for this. 
 
 For it is not in human nature to submit to 
 the righteousness of God. 
 
 During a conversation with his mother the 
 same evening, Ralph gave some expression to 
 these thoughts. And the responsive thoughts 
 offered by her, spoken in great tenderness, kept 
 faithfully before him that his state was simply 
 one of rebellion against sovereign Redemption, 
 against the written Word of God, which arrests 
 the conscience with its own proof as being of 
 God and not of man. " God could not give 
 peace," she said, " until God's way of peace 
 should be accepted. God's right hand has ex- 
 alted Jesus, a Prince and a Saviour. He is as 
 absolutely the one as the other, and He will not
 
 Atonement. 257 
 
 yield the right of being received. Bat," she 
 added, " our dear cousin said too truly, my poor 
 son. Your heart is not broken. It is still stout 
 against this way of God's truth and grace." 
 
 " Have you not great anxiety about Cousin 
 Ralph ? " asked Mrs. Stanley, as the two ladies 
 were sitting together, Ralph having gone up- 
 stairs. 
 
 " Not anxiety" said Mrs. Gushing. " I have 
 great sorrow ; for he is not only not happy, but 
 is, we know, very wrong. But I have no doubt 
 that the work of God is underlying all this. 
 Let him be in your prayers. That God is hear- 
 ing us I do not doubt." 
 
 Mrs. Gushing had reason to speak thus. With- 
 out controversy, God's promise to the people of 
 Jesus is that, if they honor Him before their 
 clrldren, these shall not be forgotten before God. 
 From their earliest days she had sought to im- 
 press her children with the truth as it is in 
 Jesus, both by teaching and example. From 
 
 the first, and without ceasing, there had been 
 17
 
 258 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 prayer equally for them and for their father, in 
 the belief that such prayer is according to God's 
 will, and that in answering us He is but fulfilling 
 His own gracious promise. The fact that neither 
 Ralph nor his father were yet glad in God's 
 salvation, did not shake her faith in God's prom, 
 ise, nor in His loving-kindness ; but it opened 
 her heart to a fuller learning of two needed les- 
 sons. First : that God, infinitely good, is sov- 
 ereign still, and works when He will. And 
 second, that there had been failures in her own 
 faith and example which rendered it plain that 
 this seeming delay on God's part conveyed a 
 discipline altogeth ,-r right, and for her profit. It 
 never occurred to her to find any difficulty in 
 harmonizing all this with the undoubted fact of 
 Ralph's accountability for his own unbelief, and 
 of God's waiting readiness to receive the heart's 
 confession at any moment that it might be 
 yielded. For the filial method of searching the 
 deep things of God is as much above the con- 
 troversial, as the heavens are above the earth,
 
 Atonement. 259 
 
 God's way is a complete way, not patterned after 
 any way of man. And the heart taught of God, 
 and happy in its place of adoption, does not ask 
 the head to analyze for it its consciousness of the 
 truth of truth, and the love of love, and the light 
 of the knowledge of God's glory in the face of 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 
 The next day the drive was, as had been 
 planned, on the Nashville road, toward the 
 Jamesons'. This was like * k renewing old scenes," 
 Ralph sa ; 4. But the country between the Stan- 
 leys and the Jamesons looked differently now 
 than on that moonlit night. The foliage was 
 older, and more of it had fallen, and the dreamy 
 sense of that bright, dim, half-penetrable lustre, 
 was gone. What, then, is that strange, lumi- 
 nous essence which, by night, spreads both light 
 and veil in one over the landscape, and stamps 
 the mark of its impress on each subdued fea- 
 ture? allowing the pleased vision to see unsub- 
 stantially, - - multiplying shadows while it keeps
 
 260 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 darkness at bay ? It serves a purpose, but it 
 makes no life, nor does it reveal anything in its 
 true aspect. Let the light of da}- come in, and 
 the charm is uncharmed, and the pretty thing 
 vanished, not being even missed. May there 
 be some moral fact symbolical here that our dull 
 senses fail to find ? 
 
 Rex was with the children to-day. Rex did 
 not drive out often ; having a fondness for home, 
 and especially for the library, where he felt him- 
 self royal possessor, although he set no value 
 on the books, nor even knew there was anything 
 fair either in look or love of those vine-clad 
 shelves. If, in his regal state, he could have 
 been lonely in the vacant library his depopu- 
 lated kingdom all chance of that was lost in 
 the company of Jack the canary, who sang to 
 him the livelong time just for irrational joy at 
 the absence of human creatures. But Rex had 
 a long acquaintance with the Jamesons, whose 
 estate he regarded as provincial to his own, and 
 for whom he felt an interest half lordly, half
 
 Atonement. 261 
 
 affectionate. Thus it was that, hearing the 
 destination of to-day's drive declared, he (with 
 a reflective self-possession that asks leave of no 
 one) placed himself in the pony-carriage in 
 ample season ; the children, his loving subjects, 
 seating themselves around him as best they 
 might. Rex was always allowed to do as ha 
 liked when he essayed nothing wrong. Hence, 
 when he chose to take a drive he was made 
 quite welcome, especially by Frank and Janie. 
 Mary had as lief he would stay at home ; al- 
 though, when at home, and in nobody's way, she 
 confessed to liking him very well. But it was a 
 matter of course, she said, that Rex should go 
 with them when they went to the Jameson's. 
 And away they went at a round pace. 
 Prince, the pony, who was growing old, had 
 improved greatly since Penn and Philip had 
 taken the lead. There was a spark of enthu- 
 siasm, and a whole fire of equine ambition, re- 
 maining in the stocky little animal yet ; and his 
 old, tired limbs, that used to be so nimble, were
 
 262 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 supple and young again under the stimulus of 
 instinctive energy at the bare idea of being out- 
 done. If he could have spoken he would have 
 said, " You ought to have seen, you big young 
 fellows, what I could do once." But there was 
 something better than this in Prince after all. 
 If he had a weakness regarding his own reputa- 
 tion, he had also a high regard for the society of 
 his own species; and would leap a hedge any 
 day for the sake of grazing in horse company. 
 Hence, the incoming of his new acquaintances 
 to share his stable had been counted no intru- 
 sion. It was nothing to him whether they ate 
 of his grain or their own. He was younger in 
 the stable, as well as on the road, because no 
 longer enjoying his declining days alone. It 
 would be a mournful day for the rejuvenated 
 Prince when Penn and Philip should leave him. 
 
 ft 
 
 When the two carriages entered the enclosure 
 bounding the homestead of which the white 
 house was heart and centre, Ralph's curiosity,
 
 Atonement. 263 
 
 which had taken a comical turn from the start, 
 sobered a degree or two. He began to think 
 of the introduction to the lady dwelling there 
 as a matter of polite fact ; and of the meeting 
 with the young preacher less as a matter of 
 curiosity than as a matter of study, and one that 
 might prove of more than passing interest. The 
 house, too, in the midst of its modest and taste- 
 ful surroundings, looked less romantic and more 
 dignified than in the moonlight of that night of 
 long ago. Everything in the aspect of the 
 place appealed more to respect than to curiosity. 
 Ralph Gushing was not of a temperament in 
 which superstition has any place. But he was 
 possessed of a certain sobriety inherent to some 
 deep natures ; full of healthful, manly freshness 
 that can abruptly, and without shock or affecta- 
 tion, take the place of a mirthful mood ( so good 
 and necessary in itself) whenever the real is 
 best realized. This sobriety of which we speak, 
 sweet and becoming where it flourishes most, is 
 about as far from solemnity in any proper sense,
 
 264 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 as the verdured Highlands are from the peaks 
 of Teneriffe or of the Jura. The one is 
 within the reach and compass and understanding 
 of every manly soul ; the other is incomprehen- 
 sible, and touched only by the few. The one is 
 within happy access of any flight stronger than 
 a butterfly's; the other is inaccessible except 
 under some great impulse that we call divine. 
 If Ralph was sobered when he entered the 
 premises of these strangers, soon to be friends, 
 it was simply that his strongest, manliest, truest 
 side was outermost. 
 
 Zed rang the bell, with Mrs. Stanley's card 
 announcing her friends. The door was opened 
 by Alice, who retired with her usual well-mean- 
 ing infelicity. But Mrs. Jameson would have no 
 ceremony. She came out at once, not waiting 
 for them to alight, overflowing with warm, 
 decorous greetings. Graceful, simple, cordial, 
 self-possessed, not overlooking the children, and 
 filling all with a serene sense of welcome ; she 
 waited upon them in with a genuine dignity of
 
 Atonement. 265 
 
 which she had no need to be conscious, and 
 which disturbed no one, because it belonged en- 
 tirely to its possessor, and moved in a sweetness 
 that seemed part of itself. Entering, they met 
 Alice who had advanced as far as the hall. She 
 was glad to see Mrs. Stanley, glad to see the 
 children, and no one could see whether she was 
 glad to see their two friends or not. 
 
 They were seated in the south parlor where 
 everything, though inexpensive, bespoke the re- 
 finement that ruled the house. In answer to 
 inquiries for Frederick, Mrs. Jameson said that 
 he was in one of the orchards and would be 
 disappointed not to see them. They must allow 
 her to send for him. But Alice, fortunately if 
 not handsomely, reminded her mother that there 
 was no one to send ; si:ice the only servant 
 " Jim," was gathering the fruit, whereupon 
 Franky begged to be allowed to bear Mrs. 
 Jameson's message, " and in that way he would 
 have just what he coveted; the first greeting 
 with Fred."
 
 66 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 " My dear boy, yes indeed," said Mrs Jameson. 
 " With your mamma's permission I would have 
 sent a note by the driver. But you shall have 
 your wish, and the note need not be written." 
 
 And Franky soon brought Frederick, who 
 did not look ill in his russet suit of working 
 clothes. His clear brown eyes and frank ease of 
 manner were ornaments that he never examined, 
 and could never put off. They were quite suffi- 
 cient, and by their means alone he was well 
 introduced everywhere. He might be the 
 preacher ; he might well enough be anything 
 else honest and good. 
 
 Between these two young men an acquain- 
 tance was not long in forming. There are cer- 
 tain spiritual affinities that may find analogies in 
 the laboratory, certain natures that draw out 
 certain others, or that are drawn into each 
 other, neither being the stronger. Of these 
 affinities, the physical are not a whit better un- 
 derstood than the spiritual. In each case alike, 
 the facts that we recognize, we acquiesce in ; 
 that is all.
 
 Atonement. 267 
 
 Mrs. Stanley and Mrs. Jameson saw each 
 other too seldom to make short visits possible. 
 There was too much to say. Indeed, neither 
 the Jamesons nor their guests were persons with 
 whom conversation could fl;ig ; nor was there 
 likely to be much note taken of time. Mrs 
 Jameson had taken Ralph from Frederick, and 
 Frederick had turned to the ladies. Franky and 
 Mary were absorbed in listening to the old folks, 
 and Alice Jameson was entertaining Janie, her 
 only pet in the wide world except her brother 
 Robert. Ralph had been much interested in 
 Frederick's account of the way in which the 
 homestead had been kept up since his father 
 died ; of the success of the vineyards and 
 orchards ; of the sales of the fruits in Nashville, 
 and of the happy hours spent at his cabinet- 
 work, for which he had as many orders as he 
 could well fill. Ralph making some reference to 
 this when speaking with Mrs. Jameson of horti- 
 culture North and South, the lady gave expres- 
 sion to some happy thought as to " our Heavenly
 
 268 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 Father's care and abundant blessing." Such 
 thoughts were always uppermost with Mrs. 
 Jameson, and their expression was as natural 
 and genuine as it was inevitable, because the 
 thoughts were so abundantly in the heart. The 
 conversation flowing out of this remark showed 
 Mrs. Jameson to Ralph as another of those 
 enviable persons by whom he seemed surrounded 
 of late, who, holding fast the letter of the 
 Scriptures, were yet at rest as no one else 
 seemed to be. And it showed Ralph to Mrs. 
 Jameson as a lovely young admirer of Christ, 
 who was well conscious of lacking something 
 yet. This consciousness he defined for her him- 
 self. " It is," he said, " a consciousness of not 
 possessing and being possessed by Christ. At 
 least I conclude that is it." 
 
 Mrs. Jameson was not an inquisitor. She man- 
 ifested her interest in her young friend's difficul- 
 ties by a close attention to what he was disposed 
 to say, and by such responses or remarks as might 
 lead him to examine the Word of God more at*
 
 Atonement. 2G9 
 
 tentively, and to give it his whole confidence. 
 " If you are settled," she said, " that the Bible 
 affords its own evidence of Divine authorship, 
 then you will find something there to rest upon, 
 and God's way of peace, as declared in it, is 
 surely not submitted for man's criticism, but for 
 his acceptance." 
 
 Already, when defining his own position, 
 Ralph had cited a verse from the Epistle of 
 John (whose character, by-the-by, as a " sou 
 of thunder " is, throughout his epistles, remark- 
 ably interwoven with the loving and beloved). 
 The verse* was given by Ralph in candid avowal 
 of his own condition as one of darkness. " For," 
 he said, "fellowship must express a living, con- 
 scious state between living persons. If I should 
 profess to such relationship to Christ as that 
 rord expresses for all living Christians, I should 
 simply lie ; nothing less or more." Ralph could 
 now and then quote a verse from the Bible as 
 expressing a real Divine truth, to be in no wise 
 
 1st John, i, 6.
 
 2TO Ralph's Possession. 
 
 doubted, yet would stumble at something in 
 the immediate context. As if God would have 
 given us a written embodiment of truth so lame, 
 so sick, and out of joint in all its pages as to 
 require every art of human logic to prop it up. 
 In this case he had forgotten the verse following, 
 to which Mrs. Jameson afterward called his at- 
 tention : " But if we walk in the light as He 
 is in the light, we have fellowship one with 
 another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, 
 cleanseth us from all sin." " To walk in the 
 light," she said, " must be to let God's whole 
 word shine upon us, and direct us. As the Lord 
 Jesus Himself said, * My mother and my breth- 
 ren are those which hear the word of God and 
 do it.' r ' 
 
 " But," said Ralph, " did they of whom that 
 was said know anything about the doctrine of 
 atonement as it is now declared, by the blood 
 of Christ ? " 
 
 *' Our Saviour Himself uttered many declara- 
 tions concerning His blood and His sacrifice,"
 
 Atonement. 271 
 
 said Mrs. Jameson. " The doctrine was perhaps 
 less clearly stated then than afterward. We 
 can receive or reject only what is presented. 
 But we are made responsible to receive what 
 is presented. The Lord just there, on the oc- 
 casion referred to, had been enjoining them: 
 4 Take heed how ye hear.' * Unto you that hear 
 g'lall more be given.' And that there was * noth- 
 ing secret that should not be made manifest.' ' 
 
 It was near this point in their conveisation thaf 
 Mrs. Jameson's attention was called by Mrs. 
 Stanley, who desired her to hear some statements 
 of her cousin's concerning certain charitable in 
 stilutions at the North. Frederick, who had 
 overheard his mother's last words with Ralph, 
 gave her his chair, and, sitting again by Ralph 
 just as he had been seated when speaking of 
 the vineyards and cotton-fields, he said with the 
 same frank manner and manly cheer, " Our 
 faith does not stand in the wisdom of men, but 
 in the power of God. We speak as the Wore 1 
 
 Luke viii. Mark iv.
 
 272 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 of God speaks, of * being justified freely by His 
 grace through the redemption that is in Christ 
 Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitia- 
 tion through faith in His blood; ... to declare 
 at this time His righteousness : that He might 
 be junt and the justifier of him that belie veth 
 in Jesus." 
 
 There was power in those words. Ralph felt 
 it. And they were sweetly, strongly spoken. 
 Was it the words, or was it their enunciation, 
 that seemed like shafts of light ? He would so 
 much prefer to hear more than to answer, that 
 he bowed and made no reply. Frederick con- 
 tinued : " Such words are, to them that perish, 
 foolishness. Nevertheless this Jesus, the Lord 
 from heaven, was delivered for our offences and 
 raised again for our justification. This is the 
 testimony. It is God's testimonj'. He has given 
 to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." 
 
 " That is not disputed," said Ralph. " I dare 
 say the life is in some way in Christ. I feel that 
 it must be. But there is another point in your
 
 Atonement. 273 
 
 theology where I fail to see any beauty, that 
 ' without shedding of blood is no remission.' " 
 
 It was not strange that a shade of pain passed 
 quick across Frederick's face, nor that he leaned 
 a moment with his brow supported by both 
 hands and his face quite concealed. There was 
 certainly no affectation in it. No one could 
 have failed to see that some quick, sharp, deep 
 necessity bowed down that head and kept it 
 bowed. And when he raised it again to speak, 
 the eye was mellowed and the voice tremulous, 
 one could not have told whether with anguish 
 or tenderness. 
 
 '* Mrs. Gushing," he said, " we preach not our- 
 selves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. If we do not 
 preach Christ crucified ; Christ the ransom ; 
 Christ's death for the life of His people ; we are 
 not preaching the Gospel of God. There must 
 be some awful significance in the fact that the 
 Son of the living God assumed a nature in which 
 He could receive the wages of sin in His own 
 
 person ; and that He did receive it. What then 
 18
 
 274 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 does it signify ? Surely only that He was there 
 in His people's place. The momentary tak- 
 ing, by Christ the Lord, of the wages due 
 sin, has taken condemnation away from His be- 
 lieving people. The wages was by Him fully re- 
 ceived. The law cannot be executed twice. 
 Now as to the blood : the whole scriptures are 
 full of the idea that the life is in the blood. 
 Blood represents life. The shedding of blood is 
 the taking of life. When the blood of Jesus 
 was shed, His life was taken from the earth. 
 But death, or the forfeiture of life, being the 
 wages of sin, it was not possible that the Holy 
 One of God should taste it for himself. He 
 tasted it for us. In it He received the condem- 
 nation due His people ; for He suffered as the 
 Infinite One, and brought in life in infinite meas- 
 ure. God, who delights in mercy, is now seen at 
 once as the Just and the Justifier. We receive, 
 we rejoice in, forgiveness ; but in God's perfect 
 way, wherein He delivers and sanctifies those 
 whom the law had condemned.
 
 Atonement. 21 b 
 
 " There is nothing sound, then, in making any 
 difficulty about faith in His blood, or being 
 washed in His blood. To mock, as some do, at 
 this Divinely revealed truth on the assumption 
 that the doctrine represents God as bloodthirsty, 
 proves only that sin in us is blind to His grace 
 and mad against it. (All such sin is surely of 
 the same root as that which crucified Him once.) 
 For it is to the praise of the glory of His grace 
 that He has made us accepted in the Beloved ; 
 in whom we have redemption through His 
 blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the 
 riches of His grace. God being holy, and sin 
 being exceeding sinful, how shall any dare to 
 count as an unholy thing, or valueless, that 
 blood of the covenant of redemption wherewith, 
 in God's perfect way, the sinner's pardon is 
 sealed?" 
 
 And as Ralph again simply bowed, Frederick 
 continued, 
 
 " Indeed, I cannot understand, if you regard 
 Jesus as the Son of God, the Lord from heaven,
 
 276 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 how you can see any meaning in His death, any 
 explanation of it but redemption, atonement, the 
 bringing in of eternal life to all those not reject- 
 ing it." 
 
 He paused. He had spoken calmly, tenderly, 
 in no heat of controversy ; but earnestly, with 
 quick, decided utterance ; as a man must speak 
 who is speaking what he knows and testifying 
 what he has seen, the issues being life or death 
 only. 
 
 Ralph replied, " You speak convincingly ; and 
 I may say that I have not before considered 
 all this as fully as you here present it." 
 
 " Mr. Gushing," continued Frederick, "I must 
 be safe in saying that you are not holding to the 
 eternal Godhead of Christ, the Creatorship of 
 the Redeemer. This is not to you the truth of 
 all truth : the heart's most precious conviction." 
 
 " You are partly right," said Ralph. " The 
 impression that Christ is more than human, that 
 He is in some sense Divine, is with me more 
 than acquiescence in a theological dogma. I have
 
 Atonement. 277 
 
 held it as a moral fact of great value to our 
 race, the full significance of which I have been 
 conscious of not grasping. I have felt that 
 there is that in Christ, as a living person, which 
 I want and cannot rest without. But there are 
 Scripture expressions with regard to His God- 
 head which I own are not held and cherished as 
 convictions." 
 
 " No, surely not " said Frederick. " When it 
 is so, you will be worshipping Him ; at peace in 
 Him ; and His blood will be precious to you, 
 the cleansing blood. For it is as true now as it 
 was in apostolic days, that ' whosoever believeth 
 that Jesus is the Christ is born of God ; ' and 
 * whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of 
 God, God dwelleth in him and he in God.' " 
 
 *' The mere confession does not cost much 
 now-a-days," said Ralph ; " and hence it seems 
 to me no test." 
 
 " No," replied Frederick, " in the good order- 
 ing of God the mere avowal of one's self as a 
 believer in Jesus, is not now-a-days at great
 
 278 Ralph'* Possession. 
 
 cost, in general. But a genuine confession 19 
 more than a mere saying so. The heart's con- 
 fession of that living truth is always the work of 
 the Holy Spirit; for flesh and blood does not 
 reveal it nor make it precious. Let the heart 
 once be in possession of the truth as it is in 
 Jesus, and the confession of it becomes as 
 necessary to the individual as it is to the glory 
 of redemption. The heart's belief is attested 
 by confession. But, as toward man, the quality 
 of the confession is attested by the fruit that 
 follows ; whether of endurance under persecu- 
 tion, or of love, gentleness, temperance, while 
 surrounded by evil. For when the Son of God 
 gave Himself for us, it was that He might re- 
 deem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Him- 
 self a peculiar people zealous of good works." 
 " I do feel," said Ralph, *' that it would be 
 good to hold all these matters as assuredly as 
 you do. But I still have to say that I do not. 
 A nd as to good works, I know very well that I 
 have seen many persons zealous about them who
 
 Atonement. 279 
 
 acknowledged no need of a Saviour. I never 
 could feel in sympathy with those mortals who 
 are quite satisfied with their own lives. But 
 there is something not consonant with any 
 degree of self-complacence, in this idea of sal- 
 vation for nothing; life unmerited." 
 
 " Ah ! But what have we to do with self 
 complacence in such a matter as this ? " asked 
 Frederick. "It is indeed nature's way. But 
 refine it to any degree you may, it is extin- 
 guished before the first glimpse of the Divine 
 holiness. Human conceptions here are so low 
 that humanity measures ths Infinite by itself. 
 As to good works again ; there are none until 
 we have life in Christ, standing saved, com- 
 plete in Him. Here again the human scale 
 seeks to measure the Divine, and fails. But 
 when, in that eternal bond-service sweet as 
 absolute in which the Lord holds His dear 
 people, our conscience is purged from dead 
 works ( no more law-working to get life ) then, 
 m Him, begin " good " works ; for Thou O Lord
 
 280 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 hast wrought all our works in us.* This brings 
 us to the blood-shedding again. The blood of 
 Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered 
 Himself without spot unto God, can purge our 
 conscience from dead works to serve the living 
 G-od.^ For the Way, the Truth, and the Life 
 are in Jesus our Lord, who was delivered for our 
 justification. To as many as received Him to 
 them gave He the right to become the children 
 of God ; even to them that believe on His name. 
 It is not a getting, it is a receiving with which we 
 are concerned." 
 
 Rebekah's words exactly. Ralph recalled 
 them with a strange emotion. He was too 
 much interested to be wearied, and too much 
 convinced to dispute. In this state he did not 
 know what to say. Conscious of being con- 
 vinced but not satisfied, he said what his reason 
 was prone to fall back upon ; though he might 
 doubtless have said something that would have 
 given his friend less pain. 
 
 * Hebrews ix : 14. f Isaiah xxvi . 12.
 
 Atonement. 281 
 
 "Human nature," he said, "is quite likely 
 much the same through all its contrasts. I hear 
 some urging that they are not good enough to bo 
 Christians. I believe that after all, these stand 
 very nearly where I do. To me there is some- 
 thing unwelcome in the idea of being good for 
 nothing ; able to do nothing but to receive ; ab- 
 solutely fit for nothing before God but to be 
 forgiven." 
 
 " Nevertheless," said Frederick sadly, as the 
 ladies rose to go. " Nevertheless we preach 
 Christ crucified ; to the self-righteous a stumb- 
 ling-block, and to the learned foolishness. Life 
 freely in Jesus. Life only in Jesus. Jesus 
 crucified. Jesus risen. Jesus reigning. Jesus 
 the beginning and the end. Happy sire they 
 who are not offended in Him." 
 
 
 
 And so the two parted; Frederick with hi3 
 mother accepting an invitation from Mrs. Stan- 
 ley to drive with her the next week. 
 
 The drive home was full of conversation in
 
 282 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 harmony with all that they had seen and heard. 
 Robert Jameson had come in from school to- 
 ward the last of their stay ; and, being quite 
 jubilant at finding Mrs. Stanley there, had de- 
 voted himself to her ; and had delighted Mrs. 
 Gushing with his reminiscences of the last time 
 he had seen the Stanleys ; and edified her alike 
 with some account of pretty Kenyonville, and 
 with his unofficious attentions to his mother, 
 half boyish, half chivalrous, as they were. The 
 ladies had had a good deal to say about the need 
 >f better institutions for the aid and education 
 f the poor, both North and South ; Mrs. 
 Stanley being chiefly concerned as to the 
 nethod, consistent with existing evils, of bene- 
 iting the black race. 
 
 " If we read prayers with our servants every 
 morning," she said, " and give them a Bible 
 verse or two, with some short Bible lessons on 
 Sunday, we must not think it can be in vain, 
 since it is of the grace and truth of God. But 
 there is something wrong, wrong in the way their
 
 Atonement. 283 
 
 minds rre kept down on a plane where there is 
 no thought possible. I felt this more in other 
 days, when I had more servants. Teach them 
 to read ! to think ! Who dares to do it under 
 this precious rule? I am not an abolitionist, but 
 I am an elevationist. May the Lord save these 
 poor people ! " 
 
 So Mrs. Stanley had been feeling, and so she 
 had been praying for many years. Mrs. Jameson 
 sympathized with her, but did not altogether 
 think with her. " Since the evil exists beyond 
 our remedying," she said, "let us do the best we 
 can with it. And let us at least admire the con- 
 sistency of a State that refuses to enact educated 
 slavery. If the colored race on this continent is 
 liberated as a whole, made self-dependent and 
 entitled to citizenship, they will be educated. 
 But moral intelligence, certainly, is not de- 
 pendent upon such a phase of thinking intelli- 
 gence as is wrought out in what we term 
 education. Independently of this at least in 
 a degree the moral sense is developed and
 
 284 RalJia Possession. 
 
 rectified in proportion as the conscience is in- 
 structed by the presentation of truth in language 
 adapted to the hearers." 
 
 It was further added that when the heart is 
 touched with God's love, the moral sense is al- 
 ways quickened and ready for instruction. The 
 Stanleys' Richard and the Jamesons' Jim were 
 cases proving this. 
 
 So these two ladies agreed, and so they dif- 
 fered. The theme arose again in the carriage, 
 but Ralph heard less than usual, arid asked fewer 
 questions. Was he to be blamed if he was un- 
 woutedly silent? For eighteen centuries the 
 minds of nations of men had been agitated about 
 Jesus the Christ. The advance of nations in all 
 the useful arts and amenities of life, could be 
 clearly traced to the intellectual and moral an- 
 imus emana:ing from Him. The centre about 
 which human thought had been moving, or the 
 point of departure whence it had gone exploring, 
 was this Person ; this Human Life other than 
 human ; this stepping into earth of Him who
 
 Atonement. 285 
 
 was before Abraham. He had been the Eleva- 
 tor of the race, the Saviour of all men. They 
 could not reject the temporal benefit, though 
 they might seek to refute it, and might wholly 
 miss the eternal. 
 
 Such thoughts as these were passing in 
 Ralph's mind. And they were followed by the 
 reflection that he was himself thus involved in a 
 personal indebtedness to Christ that he could 
 neither deny nor cancel. "Everything I have 
 in this life," he thought, " existence itself, with 
 all its benefits, I receive from God. And I am 
 content enough that it be so. I have never 
 thought of assurning part of the credit, of 
 having merited existence or anything belonging 
 to it. My present life is full of good things that 
 flow from Christ having lived on the earth ; and 
 this is satisfactory enough. But to receive all 
 for the Now and the Hereafter as the fruit of a 
 Ransom paid, as a gratuity ! Why is it that 
 opposition comes in here ? Life out of His 
 deaih, at once and for nothing ; why do I hate 
 this? Or do I not hate it?"
 
 286 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 Ralph's mother and Mrs. Stanley of course 
 noticed that his thoughts were busy, for it was 
 not his way with them to listen and say nothing. 
 lie therefore was not listening. Mrs. Stanley 
 presently asked him how he liked Frederick 
 Jameson. 
 
 " Like him ? " exclaimed Ralph. " As I must 
 like any admirable young man who can be pious 
 without moping, and talk religion without drawl- 
 ing ; and keep one talking or listening for five 
 consecutive hours without either manifesting or 
 inducing the slightest weariness." 
 
 " Five hours ! Cousin Ralph. Our whole visit 
 was one hour and a half." 
 
 " Oh, yes, very likely. I mean that he might 
 have talked on for five hours without getting to 
 the end. I like him all over and altogether ; 
 only I have not ma le up my mind to agree 
 with him.'* 
 
 Ralph had assumed his reckless manner, which 
 his mother well knew was an affectation indi- 
 cating that he would rather not pursue the
 
 Atonement. 287 
 
 subject, and she drew Mrs. Stanley's attention 
 another way. Presently Ralph asked his mother 
 if she made the acquaintance of Miss Alice. 
 
 " Yes," said Mrs. Gushing, " I found her quite 
 approachable and intelligent, and, as Mary 
 would say, or should say, likeable. But she was 
 not much near us. Janie and Frank absorbed 
 her mostly. Mary, be it noticed, was very 
 agreeable to her." 
 
 *' Mary is a real comfort to me," said Mrs. 
 Stanley. " She knows how to receive an admo- 
 nition. And she does love her mother." 
 
 And Mrs. Stanley's eye lighted with a joy 
 that it is neither in wealth nor in station to give, 
 nor in any success. Nor does it come of any 
 possession save that of the loving subjection of a 
 beloved child. 
 
 " Yes, she is a dear girl, truly," said Mrs. 
 Gushing. " You have a deal of comfort in all 
 your children." 
 
 *' Janie is remarkable," said Ralph, so bluntly 
 that the others could not tell what he meant 
 But Mrs. Stanley took alarm.
 
 288 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 " Oh! Janie has many faults," she said, "and 
 is not precocious in gifts. She learned to read 
 early, and is beginning to think early ; but she 
 has all the troubles of any other child, and is as 
 fond of a romp as of a book." 
 
 "As for Franky," said Mrs. Gushing, "he is 
 ready to quarrel with Ralph for appi opriating 
 Mr. Jameson ' the whole time, as he says." 
 
 " Oh, I'll risk Frank on a quarrel," said Ralph, 
 more gayly than he had spoken before ; adding, 
 " What is it that makes that family so charm- 
 ing?" 
 
 "It is love," said Mrs. Stanley, "just love; 
 love in the light. Their living faith strengthens 
 the natural ties a thousand-fold. It is not often 
 that one sees an entire family so completely of 
 one heart and one mind in the truth." 
 
 . 
 
 Three days followed, during which Sunday 
 intervened, and on the other days rain prevented 
 the usual drive. Ralph was not sorry for this, 
 except on his mother's account, to whom the
 
 Atonement. 289 
 
 drives were certainly a benefit. For himself he 
 was glad to have his time less interrupted just 
 now. Study and thought were pressing him. 
 Except during the morning hours, which were 
 devoted to his law-books, he was roaming over 
 the book-shelves or making himself useful to his 
 mother and agreeable to everybody. What he 
 liked best of all, except doing a real service to 
 some one, was a frolic with Janie ; sometimes 
 lively, sometimes of a very intellectual sort, as 
 when he reclined on the lounge and she would 
 sit near tangling his hair and exchanging her 
 bright thoughts for some of his, or asking ques- 
 tions that he could sometimes answer and some- 
 times could not. On the Sunday he had been 
 much arrested by a sermon from Mrs. Stanley's 
 minister, drawn from the words : " Though we 
 have known Christ after the flesh, yet now 
 henceforth know we him no more. Therefore, 
 if any man be in Christ he is a new creature." 
 He saw that, at best, hia knowledge of Christ 
 
 hitherto had been after the flesh. Christ admir- 
 19
 
 290 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 able, wonderful, adorable, but still Christ as He 
 walked the earth in lowliness, in humiliation, 
 under a veil of flesh and blood, had been tho 
 Christ of his contemplation ; not Christ risen, 
 the Man triumphant, the Lord of glory, in the 
 glory also that He had with the Father before 
 the world was ; the Almighty, the Prince and 
 the Saviour. 
 
 Ralph's thoughts with the Bible were deeper 
 and more tender after this. Nothing concerning 
 Christ could be lightly treated. He must be in 
 Him in that new creation. 
 
 With the exhortations to those already con- 
 fessing Christ, which closed the sermon, he felt 
 that he had at present less to do. 
 
 "Dear brethren," said the preacher, "if we 
 live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 
 Beware that you do not dream of being in Christ 
 while you are covetous, or provoking and envy- 
 ing one another, or absorbed in fashion, setting 
 your hearts more on the newspaper and the 
 world's progress than on the word of Christ and
 
 Atonement. 291 
 
 the progress of His truth. These things are of 
 the old creature ; not of the Father but of the 
 world. Oh, my brothers! if the word of Christ 
 is not dwelling in you richly, how is it that you 
 are new creatures in Him?" 
 
 It was towards evening of the next day that 
 Ralph, after a letter to his father (glowing with 
 details of their daily existence, of the dear 
 mother's health, and of the good, stupid law- 
 studies,) had brought a book from the library 
 to the parlor where his mother and her cousin 
 were sitting ; the library being given up to the 
 children, who were making themselves wild over 
 their sister Grade's accounts of the Yosemite 
 Valley. The book had caught his eye in the 
 morning as he was searching for some old law- 
 book of Mr. Stanley's. It was a volume of dis- 
 courses in the French, entitled The Redeemer* 
 He sat for some time reading, for the language 
 was attractive, the thoughts singularly strong 
 
 * Le ^Redemption : per Edraond de Pressense.
 
 292 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 and devotional, the theme in harmony with 
 Ralph's mood. The pages with the reading of 
 which he closed the book contained the following 
 words : 
 
 " Fasten your eyes upon that cross, my broth- 
 ers, and turn then from it no more. That it is 
 that consummates your redemption. All the 
 sufferings that constitute condemnation are gath- 
 ered up in that immolation. Enclosed and ac- 
 cepted in an act of complete obedience, accepted 
 by the Just and the Holy, and consequently 
 turned into saving expiation. . . . Shall I speak 
 of the agonies of the soul, of that cry, 4 My God ! 
 My God ! why hast Thou forsaken me ? ' What 
 mysterious link between condemned humanity 
 and the only Son of the Father does that aston- 
 ishing word reveal, which no human explanation 
 would know how to interpret ! Shall I speak 
 of the sorrow which sums up and confounds all 
 others, of that which is the essential wages 
 of sin, namely, of death? What prodigy may 
 equal this, that the Prince of life has died ? , . ,
 
 Atonement. 293 
 
 That wages of sin He has received, He, the sin- 
 less. ... If it be true that all the griefs of hu- 
 man life have fallen upon that sinless head ; if 
 He for it has made one alone sacrifice, and if He 
 has offered it to His Father in his libert}^ and in 
 His holiness ; then recognize with Him that there 
 is nothing more to do for salvation ; for there is 
 nothing more to suffer, nothing more to accept; 
 and say with Him, It is finished." 
 
 While Ralph had been reading, Mrs. Stanley 
 had left the room, and, as he closed the book, he 
 found himself alone with his mother. He told 
 her, more freely than he had yet found oppor 
 tunity to do, of his conversation with Frederick 
 Jameson, and of the still further thought awak- 
 ened by the sermon he had since heard. 
 
 "If it be true," he said, "that Christ has 
 become a High Priest of good things to come, 
 and has by His own blood entered in once into 
 the holy place, having obtained eternal redemp- 
 tion for us ; if all this be so, it is a solemn pity 
 indeed to be finding any fault with it, But
 
 294 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 pride (if it be pride), is in the way, fearfully 
 in the way with me. I am not accepting the 
 idea of self being nothing, and good for nothing, 
 just worth nothing at all." 
 
 44 We are nothing, and good for nothing, sure- 
 ly," said his mother, " as to any strength or 
 excellence. But we are not worth nothing. We 
 are worth so much to God that He has made a 
 way to save us, a way to bring us into His 
 presence with exceeding joy." 
 
 44 You take up my words in metaphysical 
 earnest," said Ralph. "I dare say you are quite 
 right, that in the spiritual sense there is a dif- 
 ference between good for nothing and worth 
 nothing." 
 
 " It is not strange, my dear son," continued 
 Mrs. Gushing, "if no flesh may glory before 
 God. Since He has chosen to provide for the 
 unrighteous a righteousness that can stand in 
 His sight, and a redemption that can put away 
 sin, and in the end deliver from it ; and since in 
 BO doing He has made a way to win our love, let
 
 Atonement. 29o 
 
 us not think that we are worth nothing to Him ; 
 let us acknowledge, as is fit, that the worth is 
 not merit; that as to goodness we are indeed 
 nothing ; and, indeed, accord all to Christ, since 
 we have all in Him. It is God's infinite power 
 and equal grace that place the Christian so com- 
 pletely in Christ that he stands no more before 
 God forever. Christ is become the wisdom, the 
 righteousness, the sanctification, as He is the 
 redemption. Now if we glory, we glory in Him, 
 the Lord, the Saviour. It is enough, surely, 
 that He be honored in what He has wrought. 
 Oh, Ralph, dear Ralph ! the will, the pride ; 
 when will they be broken in you ? Ralph Gush- 
 ing will not be nothing no, not even that 
 Christ may be all ! But of course Ralph Gush- 
 ing is quite impotent to change the blessed, 
 eternal fact, that Christ is all." 
 
 Ralph remembered Rebekah's words : " Sub- 
 mission is happiness when it is a right submis- 
 sion." He was silent a moment, and then only 
 said, " The right of Nicodemus 1 How can 
 these things be?"
 
 296 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 And as Mrs. Stanley entered just here, he ad- 
 dressed her with his quick politeness, that she 
 might not feel herself intruding. " Mother and 
 I are on the theme that you know is all-absorbing 
 just now, and with which I know you are in 
 sympathy." 
 
 44 Yes, indeed I am," she answered, with 
 sweet, hearty emphasis. 
 
 " But mother has talked as long as is good for 
 her," he continued, "and I am going (you will 
 excuse me) to put away my book, but not your 
 kindness nor my thoughts." 
 
 And as he entered the library he found Janie 
 alone ; even Rex gone. Richard had opened the 
 door, Janie said, with the intelligence that Susan 
 was in a heap of trouble about something ; and 
 would Miss Grace please, go see ? " Mary had 
 gone with Grace, and Frank had gone off some- 
 where with Rex. So only Janie was left, too 
 intent upon some sampler-work to be disturbed 
 by the desertion. 
 
 44 Ah, well Janie I this is just right," said
 
 Atonement. 297 
 
 Ralph as lie put up his book. " My head needs 
 Btroking sadly. So I will go down on the lounge 
 and your sampler shall go into the basket, and 
 you will sit by me." 
 
 " Yes indeed, Cousin Ralph " said Janie, ever 
 ready to do what was asked. 
 
 She drew up her chair, and her tiny fingers 
 parted his locks and wandered over his temples 
 with a marvellous effect on the ache that was 
 there, and the weariness. Almost always at 
 such times she chatted loquaciously, or asked 
 questions and waited for answers. But now she 
 was intuitively aware of his mood ; aud, in more 
 sympathy than understanding, kept silent. 
 
 " Well Janie ? " said Ralph, after the rest had 
 passed from her finger-tips softly, sweetly, 
 deeply, through and through the brain that had 
 been so sore a few minutes ago. And, as she 
 did not respond, he opened his eyes toward hers 
 and repeated, " Well Janie ? " 
 
 " Cousin Ralph," said the child, * the Lord 
 Jesus is the good Shepherd, and His sheep heat
 
 298 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 His voice. Perhaps you are not one of Hia 
 sheep." 
 
 Ralph was taken by surprise. Was he awake 
 or dreaming ? How could this child know what 
 he was thinking of ? 
 
 He only weighed her words, and said again, 
 "Well Janie?" 
 
 The poor little voice faltered as she proceeded, 
 " But I wish you were. I wish you would be, 
 now" The little head was bowed only a mj- 
 ment. Then she lifted it up. 
 
 " Well Janie, I am listening." Ralph forced 
 himself to speak firmly. 
 
 The child gathered up her voice again, and 
 spoke strongly now. " Well, then, He laid 
 down His life for the sheep. And they follow 
 Him." 
 
 She paused again; and the pause grew so 
 long, so very silent, that Ralph again spoke. 
 
 " Janie, what would you. do if you were 
 me?" 
 
 " Cousin Ralph," she said, " I think I would
 
 Atonement. OU 
 
 take the cup that Jesus filled with His salvation. 
 There it is, full, and held out for you ; and 
 so good! Why don't you drink it? " 
 
 
 
 Oh, Ralph ! Ralph Gushing ! It is well for 
 you that you could lie there no longer. 
 
 * 
 
 He rose up, but he did not at once stanil up- 
 right. He sat a moment with his brow on his 
 hand, as one not knowing what had happened to 
 him. It was as if transformation had passed 
 upon all things. Yet he was a real man, in a 
 real world. And the child was there by him ; 
 a real child, not an angel. He knew this. And 
 then he knew he must cry out something lhat 
 even she might not hear. He must be alone 
 with the Unseen. He must go. But he would 
 not go in silence. He would not leave the 
 ministering child joyless. He stood upright 
 now. He bent down over her. 
 
 " Janie ! Why Janie ! " 
 
 And his tone was so changed that she knew
 
 800 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 what he meant. And then he went out : and 
 Janie settled back to her needle-work, happy be- 
 cause knowing that Ralph was happier, but not 
 at all understanding what a stupendous work 
 God had wrought by her means. 
 
 And where could Ralph go but to his own 
 room ? For he had a friend now whom he 
 wished to meet there. We have no business 
 with what he said to that Friend, nor with what 
 that Friend said to him. The only words uttered 
 that we are permitted to record were such as 
 have been uttered by many a soul before, and by- 
 many a one since. 
 
 " O Jesus, Saviour ! my Lord, my God ! How 
 art Thou become precious 1 "
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 HOME CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 T was about this time that Ralph wrote 
 Rebekah as follows : 
 
 "STANLEY MANSION, 
 
 November 10th, 18. 
 "DEAREST SISTER: 
 
 With whom do I compare you ? Since 
 * dearest ' denotes comparison in a degree super- 
 lative, you cannot be the dearest by virtue of 
 being the only sister I possess. In this style of 
 address I claim that you are the dearest sister 
 alive. This is not claiming to be acquainted
 
 302 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 with everybody's sister. It is only the assuming 
 that you have as strong a place in fraternal af- 
 fection as it is possible for a sister to have ; and 
 therefore, doubtless, you stand with few fears in 
 that regard, if you be not queen of all. 
 
 " So many things to write you to-day ! al- 
 though I wrote only four days ago, and mamma 
 has written in the meantime. I do not know 
 how to classify the news and the chat I have to 
 give. It is not at all certain that I shall begin 
 with the least, but I shall end with the greatest. 
 So proceed patiently with one. 
 
 " And first, not least. Mamma is improving so 
 much, the climate is evidently so well suited to 
 her, and the autumn is proving so unusually 
 mild, that we are content to prolong our stay 
 here bej'ond our first intent. This, of course, is 
 at Mrs. Stanley's invitation and, indeed, ur- 
 gency. She declares that nothing has enriched 
 her life so much, for years, as our coming and 
 our remaining ; and, so far as mother is con- 
 cerned, this may well be true. If the winter
 
 Home Correspondence. 303 
 
 continues quite moderate we may remain even 
 into the new year. In that case we should 
 abandon the project of proceeding southward in 
 our own carriage ; but, pushing westward to 
 Memphis, take steamboat passage South, car- 
 riage and all ; unless, indeed, we send Zed and 
 the equipage back to you. Louisiana seems 
 very far away, and the going there more like a 
 desertion of home or of the loved ones that 
 make home than the remaining here. For 
 Tennessee, on the map, looks much nearer, and, 
 practically, might prove so if all were not well 
 with you at any time. Nothing but the duty of 
 carrying out, if possible, what we have under- 
 taken could induce either of us to increase the 
 distance of separation, or even to prolong the 
 stay into all the allotted months. How long 
 they must seem to you ! But you have your 
 own sweet perversity about not coming to take 
 my place. And indeed, on father's account, 
 you are quite right; since I could not fill for 
 him the place that you are filling. You make
 
 304 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 his house cheerful, and keep the servants in 
 order; and your presence is doubtless all that 
 enables him to bear so kindly mamma's absence. 
 And then your little * sewing circles ' of rich 
 children for the poor, and of poor children for 
 missionaries. What an original invention ! 
 I surely could not carry those on for you. We 
 were much interested in your account of them. 
 " It is some time since I have written you 
 specially about the law studies. They progress 
 doggedly. Indeed, no I will take that back, 
 they progress quite cheerily on the whole ; with 
 more interest than I had supposed could accrue 
 in my own case. Since we now anticipate re- 
 maining here so long, I have entered my name as 
 law student in the office of Judge Hazelton, 
 Mariondale. This will give me free access to 
 his fine library, and seems more like work in 
 earnest than the method pursued thus far. This, 
 also, will bring me in contact with ' cases ' in 
 counsel; and if we are here until the second 
 week in January, when court sits, I shall see
 
 Home Correspondence. 305 
 
 how they do it. " Still, still as of old, 1 don't 
 like it. Can I ever like it ? 
 
 " Cousin Gracie, as she is pleased to be called, 
 has returned from her prolonged visit in Cali- 
 fornia ; accompanied by Miss Penelope Clayton. 
 ( You have heard of our neighbors the Claytons. 
 * Neighborhoods ' here have an extent elsewhere 
 unknown.) The fair cousin is of the invalid or- 
 der in theory only ; having a robustness that it 
 must require courage on the part of a physician 
 to pronounce against. After almost a year iu 
 that Golden State, whose capital is practically 
 farther from Washington than Montreal is from 
 London, she returns with quite a provincial air, 
 which young people are prone to acquire or to 
 affect. But the young lady is a Stanley every 
 way. Miss Clayton turned aside to dine with us 
 before going on to her brother's; the vehicle 
 passing this way. I should pronounce her one 
 of those sincere well-bred individuals whose 
 genuine worth is manifest to all but themselves 
 
 and the sorry few who lack all discernment. 
 20
 
 306 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 " I believe you have not yet been told of our 
 introduction to the Jamesons. We took a 
 pleasant afternoon for a drive that way, and 
 found them not only ' delightful ' ( which word, 
 like other rapturous adjectives, is getting quito 
 too common ) but a remarkable family I judge 
 them to be. Frederick, the young man of 
 whom I once wrote, who works lustily all the 
 week, and is said to preach lustily on Sundays, 
 is certainly no ordinary youth ; albeit, his gifts 
 are doubtless from God who called him. The 
 respect .and attraction that I felt for this new 
 acquaintance, whose amiability is equal to his 
 strength, have grown or passed into genuine 
 affection, nay love (for why not use tho 
 simpler, greater word?) since I realize how 
 dear he must be to the Saviour who is now, 
 only now, dear to His poor servant, Ralph 
 Gushing. 
 
 " For. my own only sister, I felt that I must 
 keep the greatest news for these last pages, since 
 with no other theme could I finish a letter to
 
 Home Correspondence. 307 
 
 you just now. The light broke in, the heart 
 melted, the will ceased from itself, under some 
 words from that sweet child, Janie, whom the 
 Lord has assuredly called. Oh, Rebekah ! 
 what a fool I have been, what a proud creature ! 
 I can fling no worse reproach over my past self 
 than these words, a proud creature. Nothing 
 could be worse. Pride in the human heart 
 before God ! Objections before God ! Strict- 
 ness upon the wisdom, the perfect way, of God ! 
 narrowing down the broad commandment, as- 
 suming a dictatorship as to Divine ways and 
 means I Not touching the hem of Christ's gar- 
 ment, out of a humiliation and a need that must 
 draw from the Lord of all ; but, with the foot 
 of pride, stepping upon it I Rebekah, I remem- 
 ber your words ; mother's words ; Mr. Clear- 
 water's manly, earnest preaching, and his 
 personal entreaty so delicate always, and yet 
 plain. I have had many good words also from 
 Mrs. Stanley, and from others. And how is it 
 that through all I have been deaf, blind, dead?
 
 308 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 But, though thus it has been, this is not all. 1 
 would not see the Saviour, the Saviour, the Lord. 
 Jesus was too exalted. Salvation was too free. 
 Redemption by blood was not acceptable. The 
 cup was there, filled with life, eternal life, held 
 out to me by the Lord of Life ; His own pur- 
 chase, His own gift. And when that child spoke 
 eoftly about this, and said, ' Why don't you 
 drink it ? ' then, just then, God was pleased 
 to show me what love I was rejecting, what re- 
 bellion I was hugging ; what a fool, oh ! what a 
 fool I had been ! And what a great Saviour, 
 present, living, all-sufficient, the poor fool had 
 now found. 
 
 " Shall I say any more ? Is it possible to say 
 more ? I do not need to tell you that the truth 
 of God is no longer a problem ; nor that the 
 worship of Jesus is the life of the soul. I do 
 not need to tell you that the poor fool's folly is 
 forgiven ; that the sinner's sins are washed away. 
 You are rejoicing with me , for now at last #Q 
 are worshipping one Redeemer.''
 
 Home Correspondence. 309 
 
 This letter accompanied one from Mrs. Gush- 
 ing to her husband from which the following 
 brief extract is given : 
 
 " Doubtless Ralph has written Rebekah of 
 the change in his views and attitude regarding 
 the Saviour. It is, you must know, a great joy 
 to me that Ralph's confession of Christ is at last 
 clear and decided, and that the manly, restless 
 heart has rest. In this my joy you cannot, I am 
 sure, withold a certain sympathy. Give me all 
 you can. 
 
 " Ralph is quite earnest in his studies, for your 
 sake. A good son we may both count him." . . 
 
 
 To these letters Rebekah replied as follows : 
 
 " HOME, November 14th, 18 . 
 "DEAR MAMMA AND RALPH: 
 
 The news of all the year comes in your 
 letters of the tenth received to-day. I had to 
 run away and weep for joy. Oh, Ralph ! dear 
 old brother, I knew it would be so. You know
 
 310 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 I said there would be a good end, not because 
 I believed in you, but because I was persuaded 
 that God was breaking you to pieces. He was 
 only letting your pride raise you very high, that 
 you might fall on that stone on which it is good 
 to be broken. There is no need to gather up the 
 fragments of the broken heart, since a new heart 
 is given. You are still Ralph, my very brother 
 Ralph, though in Christ a new creature. How 
 are old things passed away now ? 
 
 " But I am writing to you both, to mamma 
 and Ralph I I cannot keep the tears from falling 
 on the paper while I write ; tears of joy, and of 
 longing to see you. I am happy and well-occu- 
 pied all day long; and quite content I assure 
 you, more than content, to have things just as 
 they are, especially since I realize more by each 
 new letter received how good a thing it is that 
 we sent you away, mamma. And God has made 
 it work good for Ralph, too. No doubt He will 
 overrule for us all that we commit to Him. 1 
 say this for Ralph's strengthening, or comfort
 
 Home Correspondence. 311 
 
 or whatever of such words he prefers. The 
 law-office entry was a good movement, papa 
 thinks. You both do me good by your faithful 
 letters, in which you make me share so well the 
 daily life you lead. 
 
 " And this brings me to relate to you a few 
 incidents that have transpired recently with us. 
 
 "I wrote you that Rose Bailey was quite sick; 
 and now she has passed away the sweet, fair 
 Rose ; the loving Rose. I had already been 
 twice to see her, when, three evenings ago, a 
 messenger came saying that she was suddenly 
 failing, and ' begged to see Miss Gushing once 
 more.' Papa said he would drive me himself, 
 which was a great treat to me, the more so 
 that on an errand so sad I would need some 
 one to speak to. 
 
 " Rose had been everything to her mother and 
 sister, who are really broken by this loss. As 
 for Rose herself, happy Rose (a * rose-bud ' I had 
 always called her ; a rose full-blown now), she 
 seemed to have passed through more than a life-
 
 312 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 time since I last saw her in health, only thert 
 was nothing like age. It was a ripeness without 
 decay, a weary evening, glowing and fragrant, 
 and fading into a sweet sleep that awaits a sure 
 waking again. 
 
 " ' It is swet,' she said, ' to think of being 
 so soon with Jesus in Paradise, perhaps even 
 to-day.' 
 
 " And after we had talked a few minutes, 
 she speaking very slowly and softly for weakness, 
 she told me that there was one trouble, a 
 temptation, a something, in her experience, which 
 did not disturb her peace ; but still, to have it 
 gone would be a great joy. She was assured 
 of forgiveness, of acceptance in Jesus the Christ, 
 the Beloved. He was dear to her as her Sa- 
 viour, her Lord, worshipped and rested in. But 
 could she know that His love was consciously, 
 individually, taking note of each, even the least, 
 and therefore of her ? 
 
 " I was very glad that Mr. Clearwater came in 
 just here. In answer to her question he said
 
 Home Correspondence. 813 
 
 decidedly Yes ; but it is a matter for conscious- 
 ness, not for logic. *Let us pray,' he said. 
 And after prayer, a prayer of thanksgiving 
 and praise, a few words from Scripture were 
 repeated, such as ' We love Him because He first 
 loved us,' and ' He calleth His own sheep by 
 name.' 
 
 " ' Yes, there it is,' said Rose, with the great 
 joy in her eye. 'He does reveal Himself by 
 His word. He does especially love each one of 
 us. How gracious all this is ! ' 
 
 " She passed away the next evening. It was 
 a sinking, sinking, as if to sleep. Not in 
 apathy (as when ' there are no bands in their 
 death'), but in peace, because the Lord was 
 there. ' It is so sweet,' she said, * to know that 
 the Lord went down among these shadows, and 
 in His rising again gave us the assurance that it 
 is all safe for His own beyond.' 
 
 " The meaning of the words * Christ in you 
 the hope of glory,' (exemplified in her sweet life 
 for years), was, in her dying, marvellously man-
 
 814 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 ifest. Her words to her mother, that fell most 
 sweetly into her old heart were, * Mother, doesn't 
 Jesus comfort you ? He will comfort you.' 
 
 " In all the house there was peace. . 
 
 "I must reserve incidents touching life at 
 home for another letter." 
 
 
 
 A few days later Rebekah wrote as follows : 
 ..." The best news touching the home estate 
 is that Ethelred's patience is rewarded, and his 
 particular sorrow is at an end. Faith came to 
 see me the other day, and told me that her 
 father had been so much in admiration of 
 Ethel's conduct, that he was * 'shamed,' (he 
 said), ' of his own hardness in the matter.' 
 ' Father overblames himself,' she continued, ' for 
 thee knows it was for conscience sake he took 
 the stand he did. But he now says Ethel ia 
 proved a noble fellow, controlled by the princi- 
 ples of the true Gospel. And that if he does 
 not feel that he can enter the Society, that must 
 not signify ; for, to deny his suit, would be to 
 darken two lives without cause.'
 
 Home Correspondence. 315 
 
 " And so they are to be married next month. 
 Ethelred is already opening and airing the cot- 
 tage, and putting in one thing after another. 
 This morning, being the day for bringing flowers 
 to the house, I told Joan to keep him and call 
 me. I was with papa in the library ; and, at his 
 permission Joan got orders to send Ethel in. He 
 came through the hall whistling under breath. 
 (Good Ethel, for a strange thing, forgot his good 
 manners BO far as that.) He is growing con- 
 templative, and, I dare say, whistles unconscious- 
 ly. He brought the flowers, and recollected 
 himself with many humble apologies for his 
 carelessness in the hall. I told him that I al- 
 most envied him his calling; at which he made 
 some candid reply, after the fashion of his own 
 simplicity ; declaring that it must be an ancient 
 calling, since "those that dwelt among plants 
 and hedges " are mentioned in the patriarchal 
 section of the Chronicles. Ethel's memory is 
 stored with Scripture, you know, which always 
 serves him well. I said to him that papa and I
 
 31t> Ralph's Possession. 
 
 must wish him joy of the good end of his waiting 
 not so very long after all. And papa, being 
 somewhat complacent toward the affair, inter- 
 posed some odd remark to the effect that Ethel's 
 Faith and Hope had not disappointed him. But 
 Ethel, standing decorously with hat in hand, 
 sobered a little at this, and begged Mr. Cushing's 
 pardon if he might take the remark in the 
 highest sense and protest that a Christian's faith 
 and hope cannot disappoint ; being the gift of 
 God. ' And so is a faithful wife,' said papa. 
 Ethel did look satisfied ; and when I made an 
 errand with him to the hall window to show 
 nim how the fuchias and begonias were thriv- 
 ing, he said to me, ' Doctor Laidley, ma'am, 
 says that faith toward God is not gained, it is 
 sovereignly given' ' Yes Ethel,' I said, ' but 
 Doctor Laidley would say also that when men 
 seek God, He is found of them. Both statements 
 are true, I think. The prayer " What must I do 
 to be saved ? '' is being answered every da}-.' 
 "Ethel looked as if he would speak if he
 
 Home Correspondence. 317 
 
 dared, and I encouraged him to go on. 4 It 
 remains ma'am,' he said, * that there is one God 
 the Father, of whom are all things . . and one 
 Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and 
 we by Him. Doctor Laidley would say, ma'am 
 that God moves us to seek Him. Since He is 
 all and over all, absolute, eternal, and infinite, 
 His grace is so also.' ' Ah well, Ethel ' I said, 
 ' God gives us the breath we draw ; but we draw 
 it.' ' Yes ma'am,' he answered, ' the breath and 
 the drawing of breath ; we cannot separate the 
 thing from the act. All is of God.' 
 
 " You see, mamma, Ethel is a monarchist in 
 every sense ; more monarchical than analytical. 
 I concluded the discussion (shall I call it so ?) 
 by agreeing with him that we can do nothing 
 without God in a sense that divests us of all 
 sovereignty, but not of responsibility. To whom 
 could we be absolutely responsible but to an ab- 
 solute Sovereign who works all things after tue 
 counsel of His own will? Everything, to us, 
 hinges upon doing what is bidden. The blind
 
 318 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 man cannot make his eyes see, but he can go to 
 the pool and wash. Use God's means for finding 
 God, and God will be found. The great means 
 to this is the searching of His own word. ' Ah ! 
 yes ma'am,' he said, ' the entrance of His word 
 giveth light. There are many sweet thoughts 
 about our Father's Sovereignty. Doctor Laidley 
 says we are to look at it filially. The good man 
 gives us a wonderful deal to think of, ma'am. 
 So much of the love of God to sinners ; so 
 much of His ways in Christ ; so much of Christ ! 
 I said to him one day, ma'am, " Pastor Laidley, 
 how is it that you can say so much that does us 
 good ; and alwa\ T s so easy ; as if there was only 
 to open the mouth, and the word o' wisdom 
 flows out ? "' " Ah ! Ethel," says he, " don't ye 
 know it is naething to pump if ye hae a head o' 
 water on? " And then he sighed, like, (he has 
 a sweet way to sigh betimes,) and said, " But 
 Ethel, my boy, we hae this treasure in earthen 
 vessels, that the excellency o' the power may be 
 of God, and not of us." '
 
 Home Correspondence. 319 
 
 "By-the-by, mamma, I had a call from Doctor 
 Laidley the other day. He came in, sweet, and 
 strong, and hearty as ever ; with grace al- 
 ways flowing out of his lips, as Ethel says. He 
 was glad to hear of your improvement, and 
 sent some stately compliments to you. He also 
 gave me the very best and most helpful sym- 
 pathy touching your absence, that I have had 
 from any source. He talked a long time of 
 Christian love a theme of which, you know, 
 he never tires, with his sweet, rich-sounding 
 Kreestyan for ' Christian ; ' and much else in 
 charming Scottish accent that I cannot imitate, 
 either with tongue or pen. ' Under the light of 
 the Cross,' he said, ' and in this dispensation of 
 grace, full scope and opportunity are made foi 
 the exhibition of God's love. And His Spirit, 
 who is in His children, leads them to love onj 
 another ; as He says to them in His word, 
 Little children love one another, for love is of 
 God.' 
 
 " I confessed that I do not always feel affec-
 
 320 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 tionately towards certain ones who are undoubt- 
 edly Christians. He replied, ' You probably do 
 feel so toward whatever of Christ you discern in 
 them ; and a desire that His grace may be en- 
 larged in them, as well as communicated to the 
 perishing. But,' he added, 'Christian love is not 
 merely a sentiment ; it is a principle. Indeed it 
 is both, it is both.' 
 
 " I was much delighted with his call ; all the 
 more Christian and neighborly because we are 
 not of his parish. I am quite flattered that 
 twice during the conversation he told me that I 
 had ' made an excellent point.' Papa appre- 
 ciated his visit very much. 
 
 " I give you these incidents at such length 
 because I have the time to write, and I know 
 you are glad not to have them passed by. Papa 
 seemed much touched by what I told him of the 
 scene in Rose Bailey's sick-room. But he said 
 little." 
 
 Ralph had indeed been, as Rebekah said,
 
 Home Correspondence. 321 
 
 broken in pieces. He had been made so miser- 
 ably sensible of his own insufficiency to his own 
 need, that long before his heart yielded to the 
 truth, he knew that there was nothing possible 
 to himself but to yield ; and that there was no 
 way for a creature to glory before God. Vanity 
 was thus excluded while pride still held out. 
 The blind man whose eyes, it seemed, were 
 already anointed by the Lord of Glory, was halt- 
 ing about that simple, distasteful, washing in 
 the pool. Because, while pride still has place in 
 the creature, the Lord is not fully believed ; the 
 heart is not giving Him His due place as the 
 One who filleth all things, and who must there- 
 fore so fill the heart as to be the worshipped 
 One, the chief Beloved. When we are truly in 
 His company no idol can stand near us ; and in 
 fellowship with Him we walk in the light ; the 
 " desires of the mind " cease to be fulfilled. 
 
 But now, not only was the vanity cast down, 
 the pride also was broken ; the idols were abol- 
 ished. The Lord of all, while subduing whom 
 21
 
 322 Ralph s Possession. 
 
 He will, yet waits tc lie received. And now 
 being admitted to this broken heart ; being held 
 by the feet and worshipped; He took these 
 native gifts, which at the first caine from Him, 
 and sanctified them, brought them inlo holy 
 service. Ralph Gushing, the forgiven sinner, 
 that is, the Christian, was sitting a learner at the 
 feet of Jesus. That large, ever-thinking intel- 
 lect was illumined now to discern spiritual 
 truths, and to think in the mind of Christ. It 
 was first of all, as with one in ancient days, and 
 with many a one since, ' behold he prayeth ! ' 
 And then such daily lessons of his own need 
 were imparted, and daily such infirmities were 
 manifest, that the sense of dependence grew, 
 and the sweetness of the living bread and water 
 were sought and found daily. Prayer in the 
 Holy Spirit once begun could not cease. The 
 Passover had been realized ; the forgiveness had 
 been received ; and now the heavenly manna, 
 and the water out of the rock were the soul's 
 life. All this expresses fellowship ; fellowship
 
 Home Correspondence. 323 
 
 with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ, 
 which only the forgiven soul has, and in which 
 Ralph daily grew, because by God's good hand 
 kept so low that the Lord could raise him up. 
 
 Let none suppose that all this, in its genuine- 
 ness, is given to those who put a self-complacenl 
 trust in ' interior revelations " or an " inner 
 light," terms with which the devil dupes the 
 simple and persuades them to be wiser than God. 
 The Bread of Life is the Living Word, who is 
 pleaded to reveal Himself to the true flock by 
 means of the word written, and to meet the soul 
 in prayer uttered. If any neglect these means, 
 to which the Holy Spirit leads, let them not 
 think that they are led of the Spirit. 
 
 Thus it was that, in the strength of this 
 growth imparted, Ralph wrote Rebekah some 
 things that follow : 
 
 " December 2nd. 
 GOOD SISTER, WELL-BELOVED: 
 
 "I have let mamma do most of the
 
 324 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 writing of late, giving you only short notes; 
 chiefly for the reason that Judge Hazelton's 
 books and cases absorb most of my time, time 
 being a Divine trust that it becomes us to in- 
 vest well. I have, however, written father once 
 quite fully. ... I like Doctor Laidley's 
 thoughts on Christian love. It surely is not the 
 profession of religion that makes Christians 
 dear to one another. It is Christ in us. A heart 
 that honors Christ is dear to his brother because 
 dear to Christ ; because Christ has set His love 
 upon him and is bringing him to the glory. 
 
 " The youngest, the weakest, may be taught 
 what love means ; for all are ' taught of God to 
 love one another.' But Divine knowledge, as 
 Divine grace, is that in which we must grow. 
 Sometimes I am so hungry and thirsty for more 
 of Him who is ALL, that my soul faints in me. 
 The precious things of Christ ! the deep things 
 of God ! We cannot know all, nor set all that 
 we may know in right order, until we see Him 
 as He is. Beyond the foundation of our faith,
 
 Home Correspondence. 325 
 
 of our peace, the simple good news of life in 
 Christ, there is a progress of doctrine, or a 
 progression in revealed truth, to be followed 
 only by the renewed mind ; only by him who is 
 spiritual, and in each case according to the 
 prayer bestowed, according to the faith, accord- 
 ing to the grace given I shall, I dare 
 
 say, find time to write you again soon, and a 
 mood to give you more of incident. Of late the 
 weather has been too cool for driving, but not 
 for comfort in-doors with a light fire. Mamma's 
 strength is so well advanced that she now walks 
 out with pleasure, and thus avoids too close 
 confinement. Should there be any check in her 
 progress, we shall hasten on southward. We 
 have two letters, within as many weeks, 
 from the Farr cousins, urging us not to delay 
 longer. Our attachments here are becoming so 
 strong and so many that we shall regret to move 
 in any direction except homeward. The Clay- 
 tons, upon further acquaintance, are indeed 
 admirable neighbors. Frederick Jameson, dear
 
 326 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 Christian fellow that he is, was more sweetly 
 moved than I had supposed it possible for a man 
 to be, by my confession to him that in resisting 
 his words I had resisted a message from God ; 
 and by my account of how the Lord had at last 
 broken me and shown me Himself. It was at 
 his own house that I told him this ; for, although 
 he was to drive here the next day I could not 
 let him wait. It was on the day following, that 
 (to me) happy day of all, that I borrowed the 
 pony and rode over to see him. I found him at 
 his work in the field, looking much the same as 
 when we first met. And when he said, ' Oh, my 
 brother ! only the Lord can break the gates of 
 brass, and He breaks them by whom He will.' 
 I understood a little of what is meant by the 
 joy in heaven ovei one sinner that repenteth. 
 For the repentance is a change of mind toward 
 God in His message of life. 
 
 " Frederick's brother Robert is a fine youth, 
 but I think not equal to his mate Orpheus 
 Clayton. But in some sense the fairest life of all
 
 Home Correspondence. 327 
 
 here, the one from whom I learn the most, is 
 this little Janie, who is, after all, a romping, 
 glowing, hearty child, in no way morbid, and, if 
 unusually intelligent, is at least healthfully so. 
 Her leading characteristic is a quick, accurate 
 conscientiousness. 
 
 " Our congratulations to Ethel, and greetings 
 to all the servants. Mamma and I have thenked 
 you much for your untiring details of home ; and 
 we are indebted to you for narrating the last 
 scenes in Rose's life. Her poor mother, and 
 Amelia ! How are they off this winter for the 
 comforts of life ? I need not remind you to be 
 beforehand with them. They are slow to 
 acknowledge a need of that kind. . . 
 
 RALPH."
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 PLEASANT CONVERSATION. 
 
 r NE Saturday, the young people from 
 Clayton Hall having dined at Mrs. 
 Stanley's, Fred and Rob Jameson came 
 in. Herbert Clayton being devoted to 
 Grace Stanley, and Urania being monopolized 
 by the children, it fell out that those four young 
 men, Orpheus, Frederick, Robert, and Ralph, 
 were, for a time, thrown together. 
 
 Ralph was settled in his new-found realities 
 of life and peace in the Saviour crucified, the 
 
 Lord risen indeed. Frederick was bright in 8 
 (328)
 
 Pleasant Conversation. 329 
 
 growing experience of all things in Christ, of 
 the presence and sufficiency of that Strong One 
 for all our weakness. Orpheus and Robert loved 
 these truths also, and it was most natural that 
 these four, thrown thus together, spoke out ot 
 the abundance of the heart. Ralph, finding 
 that Robert and Orpheus were clear and well- 
 established in their views of the Atonement, felt 
 that he could safely refer to his own past diffi 
 culties on that point, and gave them some ac- 
 count of it, as demonstrating how very evil hi? 
 heart had been, and how wonderful had been 
 God's forbearance and God's work. Orpheus 
 had never been dissatisfied, he said, as to that 
 doctrine. He had, at one time, been tempted 
 as to the resurrection, not only as to the doctrine 
 of the resurrection as accruing to the believer 
 by the resurrection of Christ, but as to Christ 
 having risen. All this was passed now. There 
 was not only all the evidence of testimony con- 
 cerning the one, and the word of God for the 
 other ; but the risen Saviour, the Lord forever
 
 330 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 owning the manhood once assumed, was hence- 
 forth the One worshipped in the sweet, definite 
 anticipation of being therein like Him in His 
 own time. " Raised in incorruptiou." This 
 must be " the redemption of our body," for 
 which Paul says that we who have the first 
 fruits of the Spirit do wait. 
 
 " It is, no doubt, possible to realize this earnest 
 waiting, always," said Frederick, " but it is only 
 possible by much prayer, by keeping His words, 
 by having Him always with us. The manner of 
 our warfare, the measure of our experience, the 
 degree of our fellowship with Jesus, depends 
 very much upon how dear He is to us. But 
 ultimately all depends upon His gift. " He 
 giveth more grace." This increase is not to the 
 proud, but to the humble. And humility, as 
 God estimates it, seeks subjection to His written 
 word in all things." 
 
 " That is a most sweet work," said Ralph, 
 " where Saint Peter declares that God ' hath 
 begotten us again unto a living hope, by the resur- 
 rection of Jesus Christ from the dead.' "
 
 Pleasant Conversation. 331 
 
 Orpheus, no longer questioning the fact, and 
 the assurances to us therein, yet confessed to 
 some remaining difficulties as to the significance 
 of the resurrection of Christ, spiritually con- 
 sidered, and as bearing on Redemption. What 
 was the meaning, for instance, of the expression, 
 " raised again for our justification " ? Was there 
 not justification when He once suffered, the Just 
 for the unjust ? And then again : " reconciled 
 by His death. . . Saved by His life." Are we 
 not saved by His death ? " 
 
 " Oh, surely," said Ralph, " but not if He be 
 not risen." * 
 
 This expressed the truth, but did not explain 
 it, and both Ralph and Orpheus looked to Fred- 
 erick. 
 
 " If Jesus' claims were true," said he, " if He 
 was indeed the Son of God, the Saviour, then 
 His resurrection followed of necessity. This 
 was the final, the conclusive proof of all His 
 claims, against which the Jews were so exceed- 
 
 * Compare also Romans iv, 26, and v, 9.
 
 332 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 ingly mad, and over the announcement of which 
 the Athenians mocked. If He was not raised He 
 was not the Lord of life, and need not be re- 
 ceived as Messiah indeed. If He was risen, 
 then there was nothing to be said by men against 
 His claims, nor any escape from their own guilt. 
 Thus the Apostles at once preached ' Jesus and 
 the resurrection.' The Holy One of God went 
 down into death for a stupendous purpose, but 
 ' it was not possible that He be holden of it.' 
 There is here at once the justification of His 
 claims and of our belief. Our sins are washed 
 away by His blood. Yet if Christ be riot raised, 
 our faith is vain ; we are yet in our sins. Not 
 that the atonement is in the resurrection ; but, 
 if there is any atonement for sin, there is re- 
 surrection, death being simply the wages of 
 sin." * 
 
 " You have said just what I have needed to 
 hear," said Orpheus. " I cannot express to you 
 how glad I am to hear all this, and just as you 
 
 * See Supplementary Note, at the end of this volume.
 
 Pleasant Conversation. 333 
 
 say it. It is all in the Word of God, but I 
 needed to have it unfolded. It is a relief tc 
 have the difficulties cleared away ; indeed, I 
 might say it is a comfort," said he, with some- 
 thing more than glad emotion in his tone. 
 
 " So it is in the thought of some saint of long 
 ago," said Ralph. " ' The entrance of Thy words 
 giveth light.' God always comforts us, I think, 
 by His own word when we are hungry for it. 
 The clear knowledge of the great truth involved 
 in the Lord's resurrection would seem essential 
 to our establishment in faith. Yet it is certain 
 that faith is not knowledge." 
 
 " Faith, I think, presupposes a certain amount 
 of knowledge," said Frederick. " How shall 
 they believe on Him of whom they have not 
 heard ? Indoctrination as to the foundations of 
 our faith is the grand means to faith. Such 
 knowledge is not faith, but, in God's order, faith 
 waits on it. Then there is spiritual knowledge 
 leyond that, without which faith may exist, and 
 always does, in its beginnings. Paul, after hear-
 
 334 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 ing of the Colossians' faith in Christ Jesus, and 
 love toward all the saints (that is, toward all the 
 children of God), did not cease to pray for them 
 that they might be filled with the knowledge of the 
 Lord's will, in all wisdom and spiritual under- 
 standing. It would even seem, from the con- 
 nection, that we cannot walk (go into daily life) 
 worthy of the Lord, faithful in good works, 
 without this. We need to realize, as to the 
 people of Jesus, how profound our responsibility 
 is to ' add to our faith, virtue ; and to virtue, 
 knowledge.' ' 
 
 " And more beside," said Orpheus. 
 
 "Yes," said Ralph. "He that lacks those 
 things is blind, and cannot see afar off. It is a 
 pity to forget that the call to holiness is because 
 we have been forgiven." 
 
 " And the end or summing up of all is love." 
 said Frederick. " ' And to brotherly kindness, 
 charity.' The end of the commandment is 
 love, but it is qualified as ' out of a pure heart 
 and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.'
 
 Pleasant Conversation. 835 
 
 The rich treasures of instruction in the Epistles, 
 when once the heart is at Jesus' feet, are truly 
 wonderful, and as truly precious. It would be 
 so good were we all wholly subject to them ! " 
 
 " Do you think," asked Orpheus, addressing 
 Ralph, " Do you think that the Christian can 
 live without sin ? " 
 
 " Oh ! don't raise such a question as that," 
 said Ralph, earnestly. " I am just born : and 
 stumbling over the alphabet. What can I know 
 about it ? If you mean to ask, can sin ever 
 cease to dwell in the mortal nature ; the Scrip- 
 ture says no. One's conception of sin must be 
 strangely inadequate if it is imagined to consist 
 solely in what is flagrant and outward. The 
 evil has a deeper root." 
 
 " If we know God at all," said Frederick, 
 *' we know the things that are freely given to us 
 of Him.* Not as the apostles did, for in 
 knowledge, as in all else, there is first, begin- 
 ning, then, increase. But, in Him, we go from 
 
 1st Cor. ii : 154.
 
 336 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 strength to strength. We know what is the 
 fruit of the Spirit, and we soou learn what is 
 the warfare against the flesh. Let us allow the 
 fruit to grow, and let us war a good warfare." 
 
 " We hear so much," said Orpheus, " about 
 out of the seventh of Romans, into the eighth, and 
 more of the same sort." 
 
 " Well," said Ralph, rather wearily, " as I 
 said, don't ask me about it. I know that walk- 
 ing in the light, as He is in the light, will keep 
 as in the confession of sin. The seventh of 
 Romans I should think is, in its general tenor, 
 bondage, or temptation ; in which case the eighth 
 is adoption and peace." 
 
 " That is good," said Frederick. " We who 
 love the Saviour hold fast His commandments, 
 and seek to do them ; but not that we may in- 
 flate ourselves with the klea of sinless attain- 
 ment." 
 
 " No," said Ralph, " not that we may get 
 what He has already given us."
 
 Pleasant Conversation. 337 
 
 At this moment Janie came at somebody's 
 bidding to protest that Ralph was keeping his 
 three friends from all the Stanleys, and was not 
 himself at all attentive to the company. She 
 slipped her hand as usual into Ralph's, who 
 greeted her with his usual low-spoken "Janie, 
 little Janie." They moved toward the company 
 in the other parlor, who, as it proved were 
 waiting for some of Orpheus' music. Robert 
 took the guitar for a soliloquy on the verandah, 
 but Mrs. Stanley would allow nothing of the 
 kind, and, at her request, he sat at the piano 
 while Orpheus took the flute. And the music 
 spoke only of gladness, and peace, and thanks- 
 giving. Following this were a few songs ; re- 
 fined in thought, and fine in melody ; after 
 Orpheus' own taste, which could select no 
 other. 
 
 Then when, after some time, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Clayton, with Miss Penelope, came in, the pas- 
 time was laid aside, and the company fell again 
 
 into groups, and the conversation flowed on. 
 22
 
 338 Ralph" s Possession. 
 
 So the afternoon passed away, and evening 
 shadows gathered ; and tea was set out in the 
 library. And, when Mr. Clayton had referred 
 the giving of thanks to Frederick, the conversa- 
 tion fell, without constraint or forethought, into 
 channels that led the thoughts upward, and the 
 day closed luminous with truth more sweetly 
 realized, and the bright unseen more near. 
 Luminous, that is, to all except three who were 
 less happy than the others. For Herbert Clay- 
 ton did not see that it was worth while to bore 
 one another with such sentiments, and his affi- 
 anced Grace did not pretend to any interest in 
 them ; while Mr. Clayton, who was quite at 
 home on any subject when occasion arose, sailed 
 good-naturedly on the current because the tide 
 set that way. 
 
 Late at night Ralph was alone, reading from 
 the Psalms. And a glad thought from that 
 Hymnal of God fell through his soul like a 
 lullaby and mingled with all his dreams :
 
 Pleasant Conversation. 
 
 339 
 
 IN THY PRESENCE is FULNESS OF JOY; AT 
 
 THY EIGHT HAND ARB PI*EASUBES FOREVER- 
 MORE.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 RETURN HOME. 
 
 i 
 
 .T was found advisable for Mrs. Gushing 
 not to prolong her stay into the Tennes- 
 see winter, beyond the middle of De- 
 cember. And ao it came to pass that 
 the holidays found them delightfully settled with 
 their " other cousins," as Ralph called the Farr 
 family, in their pleasant home near Baton Rouge. 
 The plan was to remain, if God pleased, until 
 the first of April : and, returning northward, to 
 delay during April at the Stanleys' again ; by 
 
 which means they would escape the vicissitudes 
 (340)
 
 Return Home. 341 
 
 of that unsettled month at the North. And so 
 Ralph reluctantly withdrew from the law-office, 
 and fiom all the scenes so recently entered and 
 already so endeared. 
 
 And yet, (so many sided are we) there waa 
 no lack of enthusiasm about a sail down the 
 Mississippi, and a winter green with bay and 
 cypress trees, and ruddy with, roses and oleanders 
 and all the soft light of a misplaced springtime. 
 As to regrets at personal partings, there were a 
 few that Ralph confessed uppermost. In these 
 regrets Frederick, and Orpheus, and Janie largely 
 shared. But Zedekiah was wholly glad to be 
 sent home by steamboat and freight-cars, with 
 Penn and Philip and the carriage. The fellow 
 had seen enough of the world and of nothing to 
 do. He reported to William and Margaret that 
 Mr. Ralph was " wonderfully changed, and h^d a 
 word now and then about the Lord Jesus that 
 fell out of his lips too softly for one to resist." 
 Margaret wept for gladness ; but Zed only 
 looked puzzled, and said it must be a fine thing 
 to be a Christian
 
 342 RalpHa Possession. 
 
 In March, however, all idea of delaying at the 
 Stanleys' through April was abandoned, owing 
 to trouble at home, the severe illness of Mr. 
 Gushing, and Rebekah's overwhelming cares. 
 We must turn for a little while to the scenes 
 there, and note down in brief the history of the 
 month of March as it transpired with Rebekah. 
 
 Mr. Gushing had softened wonderfully in his 
 general tone and mien during the six months of 
 real trial that the great change in his home 
 involved. He was, as we have seen before, a 
 man of strong will and plenty of pride ; and, his 
 determination once made that his wife should 
 have all the benefit possible from the complete 
 carrying out of the change as first planned ; his 
 pride alone, if nothing higher, would not allow 
 him to swerve or to retract. But there was a 
 higher principle at work with Mr. Gushing in 
 this instance. There were many silent hours, 
 both before and following the departure, when 
 he had been led to reveiw the past with sufficient 
 candor to perceive that selfishness had been
 
 Return Home. 843 
 
 dominant in his nature, to the impoverishing of 
 his own life and the embittering of others. He 
 saw virtues in his wife and children that he coveted 
 and knew he did not possess. The gentleness, 
 the generosity, the carefulness for others wel- 
 fare, and the charity for others faults, those 
 traits that so fully adorned the mother's life, and, 
 under her training, were enlarging in the chil- 
 dren, he became aware had been bearing with 
 strong, silent energy upon him these many years, 
 and had rendered his life richer than it could 
 have been without their contact ; yet had been 
 strangely unnoticed, unfelt, unfollowed. In his 
 absorbed selfishness he had thought himself 
 acute, sensitive, suffering greatly from slight 
 causes. Now he began to discern that he had 
 been obtuse, insensible, and causing rather than 
 enduring a suffering worthy the name. Indeed, 
 endurance, in the correct sense, being a high 
 moral quality, there could be no endurance in 
 fostering his own woe at the crossing of his own 
 whims. And there could certainly be nothing
 
 844 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 lovely or excellent in blessing himself on account 
 of his own ease and acquisitions. All this had 
 been opening up to him. There was a something 
 in the combined anxiety of Ralph and Rebekah 
 for their mother which jarred upon his own dor- 
 mant affections, and rang out a contrast so clear 
 that the flash of sound awoke prolonged rever- 
 berations which he must needs ponder. And, as 
 himself grew less, wife, and son, and daughter, 
 and all mankind enlarged in his regard. Thus 
 it was that, as the months rolled on, the absent 
 wife and the present daughter were both more 
 correctly appreciated than ever before ; not only 
 because justice to them had never been possible 
 in the temper of his past, but equally because 
 the one made herself estimated by stepping out 
 of the place she had filled, and the other by the 
 large humility and patience of her filial endeavor 
 as far as possible to fill the vacant place. Thus 
 it was, also, that the simple satisfaction with 
 which he had at first met Ralph's assent to his 
 own will in the matter of professional aim, gave
 
 Return Home. 845 
 
 place to genuine appreciation of the sacrifice, 
 and to some dawning sympathy for the youth 
 whose tastes might be the index of what his life 
 should be. His manful endeavor to do what he 
 hated was (Mr. Gushing still preferred to think) 
 greater proof of his ability to do it than any 
 possible success ; while it argued likewise (he 
 began to believe) some fine filial principle at 
 bottom. On the whole he felt for Ralph, and 
 estimated him more kindly, if not more fairly, 
 than of old. He could not in any degree share 
 Rebekah's joy at Ralph's confession of Christ, 
 because not himself in a position or a state that 
 would enable him to have any part with them in 
 that joy. But, in the better and less bitter 
 mood that now prevailed with him, he thought 
 it might be a very good thing, and would not 
 wish to put anything in his way. If he made 
 as real a Christian as his mother, he would, 
 Mr. Gushing thought, make none the worse 
 lawyer. 
 From the first of March to the first of May f
 
 346 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 Oiily two months ! In looking back over the 
 five and a half months of autumn dreariness 
 and winter snows already past since the absent 
 ones left, the two months of opening spring that 
 should now intervene before their return seemed 
 little, and might be quickly over. So thought 
 Rebekah, who was already five years older in 
 experience, and stronger beyond compute, for 
 the school of responsibility, and of all gentle 
 virtues, in which she had been so nobly exercised 
 while making light, and peace, and patient rule 
 in her father's house. [The gentle virtues, dear 
 reader, are hard of attainment, and are a pos- 
 session of strength when attained. If any 
 doubt it, let them put to proof this that is said, 
 with God's word shining on their lives.] 
 
 It was just as March entered. Windily, 
 keenly, roughly, bitterly cold. In short, Marchly. 
 Albeit they say this may be either " like a lion " 
 or "like a lamb." Such is March. And with 
 his Iconic aspect entire and undisguised he 
 greeted Apple Downs this year. Rebekah was
 
 Return Home. 347 
 
 sitting in the library, where by reason of her 
 father's growing sociability, she passed most of 
 her time. It was n'w toward evening, and 
 warm in that cheerful room. In fact, it was 
 always warm there. William never allowed the 
 furnace fire to flag. The warmly-built house 
 luxuriated in open registers at every corner ; 
 and, that things might look warm also, there was 
 always a fire of glowing coals in the library 
 grate. It was natural, therefore, that Rebekah 
 should be warm. She had been over and over 
 the house to-day without a sensation of cold. 
 She had done all the mending in her mamma's 
 sitting-room, and all the overseeing demanded 
 by Jane and Joan and Margaret, and all the 
 letter- writing, and reading, and fine sewing in the 
 library, in quiet oblivion to the outside weather. 
 She had even stepped over to the snug abode of 
 William and Margaret, a few rods in the rear, to 
 see to their comfort, and encourage little Willie 
 who was getting well of a cold, a " reel hard 
 one " Margaret declared it had been. But
 
 848 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 there was sunshine all the way, and the house 
 broke the force of the wind, and there was sun- 
 shine in her own heart and in the cottage she 
 entered. So that Rebekah had really forgotten 
 that it was a very cold, a very disagreeable day. 
 But now, as she sat in the library, and the sun, 
 who was making longer visits than his shortest, 
 looked brightly, coldly over a black cloud when 
 he was going down, and the wind howled 
 through the maples, and slapped the little 
 willow twigs against the windows, Rebekah, 
 still warm, shivered in sympathy with what she 
 saw and hoard out of doors, and in sympathy 
 with what she thought of. For her father had 
 gone in the sleigh with Zedekiah a two-mile 
 drive to see to the family of Edward Winn, who 
 were suffering from sickness, and, she feared also, 
 from the cold. There were not many families 
 in the county to whom it was possible to offer 
 " charitable assistance " at any season of the year; 
 and cases of indigence were rare about Apple 
 Downs. But Edward Winn being not " steady' '
 
 Return Home. 849 
 
 and his wife feeble, and the children sick, there 
 seemed ample occasion for " seeing to " them 
 for the wife's and children's sake, if not for 
 Edward's. At breakfast that morning Rebekah 
 had mentioned to her father that she had not 
 been to them nor heard from them for a week, 
 and that a severe sore throat would disappoint 
 her of going to-day. At this intelligence Mr. 
 Gushing had declared his willingness to go in 
 her place ; for, as has been mentioned, his regard 
 for the good estate of his fellow-mortals had 
 been on the increase of late. This was one of 
 its first manifestations in a practical way, on 
 which account Rebekah had been doubly glad to 
 accept the proposition. 
 
 Mr. Gushing had not started on his unwonted 
 errand until afternoon, being previously occupied 
 with some business papers, and naturally a little 
 slow to move in the new direction. But it was 
 now past the time for him to return, and " What 
 could keep papa so long ? " was a question that 
 Rebekah was uneasily asking herself. She feared
 
 350 RalpJi* Possession. 
 
 all was not as well at the Winns'. And then she 
 thought of the children's sewing-circle, which 
 should meet to-morrow, and how happy the little 
 faces would be when she announced the receipt 
 of their box of clothing by the missionary's fam- 
 ily a long way off, and the great service it had 
 been to them. And that her mamma (the dear, 
 missed, longed-for mother) was not at home 
 yet, was really a matter of gratulation with Re- 
 bekah, in view of the severe times in their 
 latitude. Ralph was having a fine time in Lou- 
 isiana, and Baton Rouge was as good for law- 
 studies as Mariondale. He found there no one 
 to exactly fill the place of the Claytons and the 
 Jamesons ; neither were the Farrs by any means 
 the Stanleys. (There were no children, and 
 especially no Janie.) But Mr. Pleadgood was, 
 on the whole, as agreeable as Judge Hazelton, 
 and had a library equally fine. Mrs. Gushing 
 continued to make good advance in strength, 
 and in every physical good hoped for. These 
 were the general contents of their recent letters,
 
 Return Home. 351 
 
 which sometimes overflowed, also, with Ralph's 
 growing experience of truth through a growing 
 acquaintance with the Saviour, and, thus, with 
 himself, the saved and still needy one. But, for 
 all this, Ralph's letters said very little about him- 
 self, for the reason that the Holy Spirit leads us 
 to speak not of self but of Christ ; and, if of 
 His work in us, yet in a way to keep not self in 
 view, but Jesus the Lord. Mrs. Cushing's let- 
 ters were often laden with the mother's joy in 
 her son's establishment in grace, and in his 
 growing subjection to the Word of God ; as also 
 in all his natural expansion and settledness of 
 character. His companionship, both toward her- 
 self and their friends, she said, was really a min- 
 istration. Her letters, too, were marked by glad 
 longing to return, and by tender appreciation 
 of the two at home, and tender thankfulness 
 toward God. There was every promise of con- 
 firmed health in her own case, and of good 
 ability to stay at home when once happily there 
 again.
 
 352 Ralph"** Possession. 
 
 The sun had quite set when the sleigh drove 
 around the house, and Mr. Gushing came in. 
 If there had been less to say about the Winns, 
 and less light in his eye from the consciousness 
 of having ministered comfort and relief where 
 these were needed, Rebekah might have no- 
 ticed that he looked strangely tired for him, and 
 that his animation was of pleasant excitement, 
 not of his normal power. As it was, this passed 
 just then unnoticed. The poor family was 
 badly off indeed, their fuel all gone, their pro- 
 visions low, and one of the children worse. 
 Edward realized the situation sadly, and with 
 expressions of penitence, but lacked energy to 
 look for work. And, indeed, all available hands 
 were needed at home. The flannel and the 
 blankets, and the provisions, that Rebekah had 
 sent, had brought tears of joy. Mr. Gushing, 
 seeing the sickness and the grief, and that Ed- 
 ward was trying to help his wife, had no heart 
 to reproach him for not being at work ; but 
 had suggested that, if he had wood at hand,
 
 Return Home. 353 
 
 he would be well occupied in cutting and split- 
 ting it, and keeping two rooms well warmed. 
 He had, therefore, driven on half a mile to 
 Farmer Closefist's, and paid him for a cord of 
 maple wood and a half-cord of mixed hemlock 
 and chestnut, on condition that he would haul it 
 at once to the Winns. Mr. Closefist was a bach- 
 elor. His niece, Ann Freeman, who, with her 
 sister Ruth, kept his house in order, did not 
 know that they were so "bad off" at Edward's, 
 and did feel sorry for his wife and those poor 
 children, but thought Edward was "a hard 
 case," worth saving if he could be saved ; but 
 could he be saved ? Hadn't Mr. Hidden " tried 
 and tried" to reform him, and "labored" to 
 convert him ? Hadn't Elder Jones given him 
 work, and given him counsel, and shown him 
 kindness, long after most folks had given him 
 up ? Ann was afraid there was no use in 
 hoping anything for Edward. But Ruth would 
 ride over on the load of maple, and see if she 
 might stay to-night, and so allow Mrs. Whin to
 
 854 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 Bleep without care. That was the best of all, 
 Rebekah thought, and clapped her hands for 
 Ruth. How happy that her father had gone on 
 to Closefist's instead of looking for wood at 
 Farmer Black's on the way home. Mr. Black 
 was a good man, and would have sent the wood 
 more heartily, but he had no Ruth who could 
 watch with the children and take the mother's 
 care. Certainly God was caring for that sor- 
 rowful mother and those little ones ; and who 
 could say but He was cherishing thoughts of 
 mercy toward Edward also? 
 
 Mr. Gushing had remained a good while at 
 the Winns, and had delayed also at Closefist's, 
 in the first place, to push the man up to the 
 work and see that he was actually, loading the 
 sled with wood ; and, secondly, for the surprised 
 pleasure he found in the simple, decorous man- 
 ners and conversation of Ruth Freeman and her 
 Bister Ann. R.ith, he said, had excused herself 
 for not sitting down. She was stepping about 
 all the time that he was in their nice kitchen,
 
 Return Home. 355 
 
 doing various work; the main items of which 
 were, as far as he could see, the getting herself 
 and a pumpkin pie ready to ride to the Winns* 
 on the maple wood. In all this Rebekah was 
 of course profoundly interested, as was Mr. 
 Gushing also. And it was only when Joan rang 
 the bell for tea that he was himself aware of 
 being chilly, and returned to consciousness of 
 certain vague pains that had been traversing his 
 bones on the drive homeward. As the narra- 
 tive was finished, and his animation faded off, 
 Rebekah noticed how exceedingly tired he 
 looked. But he thought the fatigue and ill feel- 
 ing would pass off with the refreshment of tea- 
 drinking. And the tea did refresh, but he found 
 that he could eat nothing ; and the chilliness be- 
 came more marked during the evening, and the 
 weariness more painful ; so that, for an unheard- 
 of thing, he inclined to retire early. And then 
 the impression that this was only the beginning 
 of a sickness that might require nursing, settled 
 down upon him with the weight of conviction.
 
 350 Ralph"* Possession. 
 
 He thought himself foolish, but he could not 
 shake off the despondency. And, though not 
 increasing Rebekah's apprehensions by express- 
 ing his own conviction, it led him to say to her 
 ( in that considerateness which had marked him 
 of late ) that he had often had the thought 
 if either of them should be sick her mother 
 ought not to be sent for peremptorily, nor even 
 alarmed. " It ought not to be," he said. "The 
 distance is so great, that a sickness, once severe, 
 would probably find its issue one way or another 
 before she could reach home. And a sudden 
 return before the weather is suitable, and under 
 all the fatigue of rapid travel, might, and prob- 
 ably would, work sore ill to her." 
 
 The next day Mr. Gushing was unrefreshed, 
 and every way worse. In the afternoon Doctor 
 Saywell called and pronounced the case pneu- 
 monia. It was impossible to say, so early, 
 whether it would be of light or severe type. 
 Mr. Cushing's general vigor was good, and the 
 disease was one usually well recovered from at
 
 Return Home. 357 
 
 his time of life, if uncomplicated by other 
 disease. 
 
 Poor Rebekah ! whether the type should be 
 light or severe, this was a heavy trial to her. 
 But she should be sustained. She knew the 
 promise could not fail. She believed her father 
 would not die. She would not alarm her 
 mother. She would bear it alone for her 
 mother's sake. But how could she bear it 
 alone ? Then she remembered and knew that 
 she was not alone ; and in the thanksgiving that 
 arose out of this thought she was comforted. 
 
 But Rebekah had never seen sickness like this. 
 It grew worse from day to day. The weakness 
 became extreme. Even the mind lost all its 
 independence, and at last all its clearness and 
 power. A great deal of the nursing had to be 
 left to William; for, happily, William was a 
 clever nurse. Doctor Saywell was, hun anly, 
 everything. Rebekah hung upon his words. 
 She knew he would tell her the truth. He 
 candidly encouraged, and found no cause for
 
 358 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 great anxiety until the eighth day, when the 
 opposite lung became slightly invaded, and de- 
 lirium set in. The case was grave ; but the 
 general symptoms, under the circumstances, 
 were good. There was no positive sinking. 
 
 " What shall I write mamma now ? or shall 
 I telegraph ? " asked Rebekah. 
 
 " What have you written previously ? " asked 
 the doctor in response. 
 
 " Every day a few words, saying that papa 
 was doing well for one so sick, and that he did 
 not wish her to move. 
 
 " I would not telegraph. If your mother 
 were strong, or if she were within two days 
 ride, it would be the best way. But, as it is, 
 the telegram would alarm too much ; the strain 
 would be too great ; and her arrival here five or 
 six days from now might be to find your father 
 better and herself much worse. Write her the 
 truth : that Mr. Gushing is in some respects not 
 as well ; that the case is, in fact, more grave ; 
 but that the general symptoms do not discour-
 
 Return Home. 359 
 
 age ; that we think she had better not move in 
 haste ; and to hope for brighter news in another 
 letter." 
 
 " And do you think do you think ? " fal- 
 tered Rebekah. 
 
 " My dear Miss Gushing," said the doctor, 
 " I think nothing ; I hope everything. Pneu- 
 monia, affecting both lungs, is always very 
 serious. But in this case the lung last affected 
 is but slightly so as yet. Your father's constitu- 
 tion is remarkably vigorous, and his strength is 
 still such as to encourage hope. We are 
 warranted in hoping everything to-day. Let us 
 not burden ourselves with to-morrow." 
 
 
 And Mr. Clearwater came arm in arm with 
 dear old Doctor Laidley. No professional jeal- 
 ousy there ; no anti-Christian offishness, nor eti- 
 quette, subversive of love and the labor thereof. 
 Doctor Laidley might have called alone for that 
 matter, which he very well knew ; for he knew 
 Frank Clearwater through and through. But
 
 360 Ralph s Possession. 
 
 the young minister had called at the house on 
 his way to the Cushings; in the spirit of Christ, 
 taking his old brother's arm and walking him off 
 (not by constraint, but finding his feet willing 
 as ever) to join with him in sympathy and in 
 prayer. And, as those two loving, sorrowful 
 faces greeted Rebekah and entered the sick- 
 room, they seemed to her like the faces of 
 angels. 
 
 * 
 
 A few days later Rebekah thought her father 
 must be a little better, and looked inquiringly 
 at Doctor Saywell. His look and manner as- 
 sured her that she was not wrong. How her 
 heart bounded ! How her weary eyes lightened, 
 and her aching temples were forgotten ! 
 
 " What shall I write mother to-day ? " she 
 asked. 
 
 " Write her," said Doctor Saywell, " that if 
 she will be here the first week in April she will, 
 we think, find the sick man fully convalescent. 
 As his convalescence is the stage during which
 
 Return Home. 861 
 
 your mother can be of real service, without too 
 great strain upon herself, she need have no re- 
 grets or scruples about having been away during 
 the sickness, and it would be unfair, both to you 
 and to your father, to urge her staying away 
 longer. Advise her to coine by steamboat to 
 Cincinnati ; or, if possible, to Wheeling or Pitts- 
 burg, so reducing the travel by rail to the 
 minimum." 
 
 
 
 Oh! there was new light in the house that 
 day ! Long before evening the letter was 
 written, by which Mrs. Gushing and Ralph 
 would be made to rejoice with Rebekah, and 
 would be upheld in their decision already made, 
 on no account to delay after the month of March 
 was fairly passed. Rebekah slept that night as 
 not for near three weeks before. And, the day 
 following, Mr. Gushing was himself sensible of 
 being better, and was glad of the good word 
 gent the absent ones ; only still a little solicitous 
 lest Mrs. Gushing were coming North too early.
 
 362 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 But Rebekah reminded him that there could be 
 no severe cold in April to keep her within doors, 
 which was the chief source of evil to her. And, 
 after that, the anticipation of her speedy return 
 sustained him, and quickened his recovery. 
 
 Sitting one day, or half reclining, in dressing- 
 gown and easy-chair, a few days before the 
 anticipated arrival, he suddenly asked Rebekah, 
 " Do you think Ralph still has longings toward a 
 chair in literature or language, as at first ? " 
 
 " Oh, I dare say, yes," said Rebekah. " You 
 have seen all his letters, except those received 
 while you have been sick ; and you know he 
 has only once or twice made the barest allusion 
 to it. More than ever, since he became a 
 Christian, he seems cheerfully bent upon the 
 law. But then you know it never can be to his 
 taste, nor quite fill out his life." 
 
 Mr. Gushing sighed, and Rebekah thought 
 him tired, and that he had been sitting long 
 enough. But he disclaimed being tired, and 
 said that he must talk a few minutes.
 
 Return Home. 363 
 
 ' I cannot bear to think," he said, " of Ralph 
 drying away in a professor's chair. He is of too 
 large a soul, and of too lively gifts, for disquisi- 
 tional addresses, and stated recitations, and all 
 the stiff enclosure of a professor's destiny. Op- 
 portunity to act on the minds and lives of men 
 in his own free, large, living way, is what he 
 needs for full development. And the legal 
 profession is not a poor field for that. But there 
 is a better one." 
 
 " The medical ? " asked Rebekah, distrust- 
 fully ; for she did not believe it would be better 
 for Ralph. 
 
 Nor did Mr. Gushing. " Medicine," he said, 
 " might be placed before law in some respects. 
 But Ralph's tastes would certainly be more 
 averse to it on the whole. And, now that his 
 mind is settled as to the Christian faith and 
 doctrine, I am thinking that the ministry would 
 afford him as good scope as the law." 
 
 ** Papa ! Why, papa ! how singular you are ! " 
 exclaimed Rebekah, fairly bursting into tears.
 
 364 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 She did not know why. And, drawing her 
 chair closer to her father's, she put her head on 
 his shoulder and wept there, for the first time 
 in her life since babyhood. 
 
 " Indeed I must be singular to make you weep 
 just now," said her father ; " I thought I should 
 make you glad." 
 
 '* Oh ! you do, you do," she sobbed, " but 
 give me time to speak." 
 
 And then, when her commotion of relief, and 
 surprise, and joy had a little subsided, she went 
 over the subject calmly, gravely, thinking it 
 too serious, and involving issues too immense, to 
 be weighed in the scale of natural talent only, or 
 considered in a vein of mere taste. 
 
 '* Yes, I suppose so," answered her father. 
 " And I would hold Ralph back from his old 
 scheme more kindly than I used to, but not less 
 firmly. I think it should be the law or the min- 
 istry with him. I will not dictate between the 
 two." 
 
 '* But it is something quite new and strange
 
 Return Home. 365 
 
 with you, papa, to think favorably of the min- 
 istry for any one, is it not ? " 
 
 " It must seem so to you," he said. Then, 
 pausing, he added, "I have no doubt it is really 
 the very highest calling a man can enter, and the 
 hardest to adorn. So there is at once a plea for 
 and against it. This conviction is somewhat 
 new with me. But, for myself, I am, I fear, 
 just where I have been always." 
 
 But his words indicated to Rebekah that he 
 was not just where, or as, he had been. It 
 seemed to her good that her father was beginning 
 to fear.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 ;IFTEEN years have passed away. The 
 light and shade of those years have 
 been various to Ralph, and to all Ralph's 
 own. What remains to be said on these 
 few pages touches Ralph chiefly; and it touches 
 his present more than the rich, happy, toilsome 
 part embraced in the years intervening between 
 the scenes we have recorded, and the scenes of 
 to-day. 
 
 A petition that stands in living utterance 
 (366)
 
 Conclusion. 367 
 
 among the pages of Thomas a Kempis, crossed 
 Ralph's eye, and fell sweetly, wondrously, 
 through his heart, one day when his whole soul 
 was one living petition that God would lead him 
 into works of obedience, not of self-pleasing ; 
 and that He would keep him out of the Gospel 
 ministry unless He were Himself leading him 
 into it. And that prayer, answered then, lives 
 in his heart still; and, in one language or 
 another, is uttered every day : " Remember Thy 
 tender mercies and fill my heart with Thy 
 grace, Thou who wilt not have Thy works to 
 be empty." 
 
 Sometimes this supplication finds utterance in 
 the language of Scripture itself ; as, " Uphold me 
 according unto Thy word, that I may live ; and 
 let me not be ashamed of my hope." Or again : 
 " In the way of Thy judgments, O Lord, have 
 we waited for Thee. The desire of our soul 
 is to Thy name, and to the remembrance of 
 Thee." And sometimes the language is drawn 
 from no source but that of the heart's fellowship
 
 368 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 with the Lord through the indwelling Spirit: 
 and has no record but on high where Jesus is. 
 
 And this living frame of dependence, and of 
 the expression of it, is that which has kept 
 Ralph Gushing lowly, and strong in the Lord 
 only, during near twelve years of increasing in- 
 fluence, and of blessed success, in preaching 
 the Gospel and expounding the truth as it is 
 in Jesus. 
 
 From the hearty, jovial, thoughtful youth he 
 has, through many temptations and much war- 
 fare, passed on into the still hearty, still jovial, but 
 earnest, serious man. He early found, through 
 the learning of lessons, sorrowful but salutary to 
 himself, that he could do nothing without the 
 fellowship (the indwelling and the converse) 
 of Christ the Lord. And he is still learning in 
 the school in which God has placed him both to 
 learn and to teach ; having, in his own case, 
 made a little of the sweet experience : " I can 
 do all things through Christ, who strengthens 
 me." The sweetest, dearest word in all the
 
 Conclusion. 369 
 
 universe to him is Saviour. And although the 
 \vords of the epistle, " Unto you, therefore, who 
 believe, He is precious," have more than once 
 been the theme of his discourse, he has never 
 yet finished expounding them. 
 
 Ralph still looks back with strong emotion 
 and amazement upon the events of the winter in 
 the South, as the turning-point in his life, and, 
 to all human appearance, the seal of his destiny. 
 He has long had the love and esteem of a large 
 community, and of a devoted church, all of 
 which is reciprocated in the bonds of manhood, 
 and in the bonds of Christ. But there is some- 
 thing peculiar in the affection with which he 
 often turns toward the scenes and the persons 
 of those brightest spots on earth, his father's 
 house and the three houses around Mariondale. 
 He still loves and cherishes his mother as he 
 cherished and loved her then ; or yet the more 
 tenderly because of sorrow that has followed. 
 As long ago as Ralph became the settled minis- 
 ter, Rebekah esteemed herself the settled old
 
 370 Ralph's Possession. 
 
 maid ; married to filial duty ; and too satisfied, 
 she said, with parental love and the service 
 granted her at home to look for, wish for, or 
 accept of any other. And " Rebekah " is a 
 name that Ralph speaks often ; always softly, 
 sometimes out of tears. 
 
 But Ralph has a home, a sweet home of his 
 own ; a home for which he waited long, in quiet 
 assurance that it would be made at last. Ten 
 years after the child Janie first ministered to 
 him he met her again, in her fair maidenhood 
 of seventeen. And then he told her what he 
 had been waiting all these years to tell : that he 
 loved none so well as her, nor could any other 
 be his wife. Three years ago they were united 
 in bonds that only death can sunder. And now, 
 often, in that happy home where the Saviour 
 reigns, and the peace of God is shed abroad, are 
 heard lowly, softly, gladly, the words so often 
 uttered in the same tones long ago, "Janie, 
 little Janie I"
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE. 
 
 (Page 279.) 
 
 FOR the sake of those who are shaken, as 
 Orpheus was not, concerning the reality of the 
 Lord's resurrection, the following striking ex- 
 tract is given from a recent author, Ed' 
 mond de Pressense, of the French Evangelical 
 Church. 
 
 " We know that [the resurrection of Christ] 
 is one of the miracles at which unbelief most of 
 all stumbles, and which appears to it altogether 
 absurd and impossible. It argues skilfully upon 
 the laws of our physical being ; it demonstrates 
 
 with force and clearness that, from a natural 
 
 (371)
 
 372 Ralph" s Possession. 
 
 point of view, the principle of life, once extinct^ 
 cannot be revived ; and it treats the resurrection 
 of our Saviour as a ridiculous fable. As for 
 ourself, between a physical impossibility and a 
 moral impossibility we do not hesitate. The 
 second seems to us alone absolute and invincible. 
 We also believe the permanence and the inflexi- 
 bility of the law of creation. But that law 
 which is the axis around which all things turn is 
 not a material law ; it is a moral law. The laws 
 of the physical world are of necessity subordi- 
 nate to it. It is because of this that God has 
 already shaken the earth ;* and it is in order to 
 give to it a supreme consecration that He has 
 said, I will shake yet once more not only the earth, 
 but also the heavens ; as if to show us, in a man- 
 ner the most solemn, that the whole of the 
 natural laws which rule the exterior world is 
 nothing in His eyes compared to the fundamental 
 law of the Scriptural world. Let them not speak 
 
 *Heb. xii: 26,27.
 
 Supplementary Note. 373 
 
 to us, then, of the impossibility of the resurrec- 
 tion. That which is impossible an Apostle pro- 
 ceeds to tell us : It was not possible, says Saint 
 Peter, that He should be held in the bands of 
 death.* That could not be, because death, be- 
 ing the wages of sin, the justice of God would be 
 at fault if Jesus Christ were held in its bands 
 after the redemption sacrifice. God would not 
 know how to demand again the payment of a 
 debt already cancelled [the judgment of a people 
 fully acquitted]. These bands of death ought, 
 then, to break for Jesus Christ, in the name of a 
 necessity higher than all the necessities of the 
 natural order. It is impossible that He be held 
 there, as it is impossible that God be unjust."f 
 
 And we may add that, God (with whom all 
 moral principles are as immutable as God is) 
 has declared that while " things that are made " 
 shall be " shaken " and " removed," there are 
 " things which cannot be shaken," and which 
 shall remain. 
 
 Acts, ii ; 24. 
 
 t Le Redemption ; (Paris 1858. See Page 297).
 
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 CHARI.RS KiNr;stFv.
 
 The True Story of 
 
 Christopher Columbus 
 
 Called the Admiral 
 
 Told for Youngest Readers by ELBRIDGE 
 S. BROOKS, author of " Historic Boys," 
 " The Story of the American Sailor," " The 
 Story of the United States," etc. 
 
 Itound in elegant illuminated cover, with coat 
 
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 PRICE, $1.25 ; EXTRH CLOTH, $1.50 
 
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 or halo the life of the great Admiral. 
 
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 the children first into looking at it and then into 
 reading it. 
 
 The above is the initial volume of the new True 
 Story Series of Lives of Great Men. Other volumes 
 in preparation.
 
 i ii i ii i i || ill mi 
 
 A 000125057 o