LEARNERS.
ALTHOUGH the sense of desolation was gone from Flossy Shipley, she was
not without something to be troubled over. As to that, when one sets out
to be troubled, one can nearly always find an excuse.
Flossy lay awake over hers for hours that night. Mr. Roberts was given
to keeping more proper hours than those in which party goers indulge. So
it happened that the library was vacant when the family returned, the
gas turned low, and the grate carefully supplied with coal to give them
a warm greeting. But the easy chairs before the bright fire told no
tales of all the pleasant and helpful words that had been spoken there
that evening.
So far as the family knew, Flossy had spent her evening in solitude. But
they would come to know it; would have to be introduced to Mr. Roberts;
there would have to be a prompt explanation of their interest in each
other. Flossy meant to have no delays, nor chances for mistakes, this
time.
The momentous question was, how would her father receive the message,
what word would he have for the stranger? She could almost have wished
that his coming had been delayed for a few weeks more, until the sore
sullen feeling over disappointed plans had had time to quiet. But as it
was, since Mr. Roberts was to be in the city and she was to see him, she
would have no pretense of his being merely a chance acquaintance of her
Chautauqua life, making friendly calls; at least her father should know
that they both meant more than that. Whether he would ignore the claims
they made, and choose to treat Mr. Roberts as a stranger, Flossy did not
know; it seemed more than likely that he would.
As to that, she could not help owning to herself that he would have very
plausible reasons for so doing. What was she supposed to know about Mr.
Evan Roberts? Closely questioned, she would have to admit that she had
never heard of his existence till those golden Chautauqua days; that
although she walked and talked much with him during those two weeks,
there had been so much to talk about, such vital interests that pressed
upon them, so many things for her to learn, that they had spent no time
at all in talking about each other's past.
She remembered now, that strangely enough she had no idea even at this
moment what his business was, except that from some casual remark she
judged that he was familiar with mercantile life; he might have some
money or he might be very poor, she had not the least idea which it was;
he might be of an old and honored family, or his father might have been
a blacksmith, and his mother even now a washer-woman. She admitted to
herself that she knew nothing at all about it; and she was obliged also
to admit that so far as she herself was concerned she did not care.
But Mr. Shipley was very different. Most assuredly he would care. How
could he understand why she should be able to feel such perfect trust
in this stranger? If she should try to tell him of those wonderful
prayers she had heard from Mr. Robert's lips, what would such evidence
be to him? If she should try to tell him how by this man, she had been
led into the light of love and trust that glowed brighter and stronger
with every day, how little information it would give him! What an utter
mystery would such language be to him!
As she thought of all these puzzling things, what wonder that she turned
her pillow many times in search of a spot to rest, and gave a great many
long-drawn sighs?
It so happened that Mr. Roberts, while he had not troubled himself to
enlighten Flossy as to his position, and prospects, had by no means
supposed that her father would be as indifferent to these small matters
as she was; he had come armed with credentials, and introductions.
Overwhelming ones they were to Mr. Shipley. He waited for no
introductions nor explanations to come from Flossy.
Instead, the very next morning, at the earliest hour that business
etiquette would allow, he sought Mr. Shipley at his business office,
presented his card and letters, and made known his desire to transact
mercantile business with him in the name of his firm. And the rich man,
Mr. Shipley, arose and bowed before him.
Was he not a representative? nay, a junior partner of the firm of
Bostwick, Smythe, Roberts & Co.? Names world-renowned among mercantile
men. Could human ambition reach higher than to have flattering offers of
business from that great House? than to be actually sought out by this
young partner, singled from among all the merchant princes of the city,
as the one to be taken into business confidence!
Mr. Shipley's ambitious dreams reached no more dizzy height than this.
Mr. Roberts was invited, urged to accept the hospitalities of his home,
to make the acquaintance of his family, to command his horses, his
carriage, his servants, in short, to become one of their family so long
as he could be prevailed upon to remain in the city.
But Mr. Roberts had more communications to make; he frankly announced
that he was already acquainted with his family, at least with that
portion of it, which was of enough importance to include all the rest;
of course, he did not say this to the father, and yet his manner implied
it, as he meant it should. Mr. Roberts was frank by nature; he no more
believed in concealments of any sort, than did Flossy.
Then and there, he told the story that the two easy chairs in the
library knew about. He even apologized earnestly for seeking the
daughter first. It had not been his intention; he had meant to call on
the family; but they were absent, and he found Miss Flossy alone.
And--well, if Mr. Shipley had been particular, as assuredly he would
have been, if Mr. Roberts had not been of the firm of Bostwick, Smythe,
Roberts & Co. it might have been embarrassing to have explained the very
precipitate result of his call.
But, as it was, Mr. Shipley was so amazed and so bewildered, and so
overwhelmed, with delighted pride, that he would almost have forgiven
the announcement that Mr. Roberts was already his son-in-law, without
leave or license from him. As it was, all the caution had to be on Mr.
Robert's side. He asked that letters might be sent to his
brother-in-law, Mr. Smythe, to his father, Mr. James Roberts, proving,
not his financial standing, the unmistakable knowledge of the private
affairs of the firm that had established him there, but of his moral
character, and his standing in the Christian world.
Do you believe that Mr. Shipley felt the necessity? Not he! Had he not
been willing more than that, anxious that his daughter's fortune should
be linked with Col. Baker's? Did he not know what was Col. Baker's
standing in the moral and Christian world? After all, is it any wonder,
when there are such fathers that many daughters make shipwreck of their
lives? As for Mr. Roberts, he was almost indignant:
"The man would actually sell her, if by that means he could be
recognized in business by our house."
If it had been any other young man than himself, who was in question,
how his indignation would have blazed at such proceedings! But since it
_was_ himself, he decided to accept the situation.
As for Flossy, she did not look at the matter in that light; when she
found that all the perplexities and clouds had been so suddenly and so
strangely smoothed and cleared from before her way, she thought of
those hours of wakeful anxiety that she had wasted the night before; and
of how, finally, she had made her heart settle back on the watchful care
and love of the Father who was so wise and so powerful, and in the quiet
of her own room, she smiled, as she said aloud:
"'Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it
to pass.' How much pleasanter it would have been to have committed it in
the first place, before I wearied my heart with worrying over what I
could not lift my finger to make different!"
So in less time than it has taken me to tell it, the rough places
smoothed suddenly before Flossy Shipley's feet. She was free now, to go
to parties, or to prayer-meetings, or to stay at home according to her
own fancy, for was she not the promised wife of a partner of the firm of
Bostwick, Smythe, Roberts & Co.?
It transpired that Mr. Roberts had come to make a somewhat extended stay
in the city, to look after certain business affairs connected with the
firm, and also to look after certain business interests of the great
Master, whose work he labored at with untiring persistence, always
placing it above all other plans, and working at it with a zeal that
showed his heart was there.
Flossy, during these days, took great strides as a learner in Christian
work. Among other things, she was let into the mysteries of some of the
great and systematic charities of the city, and found what wonderful
things God's wealth could do, placed in the hands of careful and
conscientious stewards. She had thought at first that it made no
difference at all to her, whether Mr. Roberts had to work for his daily
bread, or whether he had means at his disposal; but very early in her
acquaintance with him she learned to thank God, that great wealth had
been placed in his hands, and so, was to be at her disposal, and that
she was learning how to use it.
Some of her new experiences had their embarrassing side. Mr. Roberts had
been but a few days in the city, when he had certain proteges which
circumstance had thrown in his way, in whom he became deeply interested.
One of these, he engaged to take Flossy to visit.
"They are very poor," he had said to her, supposing that thereby he
enlightened her.
Now Flossy had small knowledge in that direction. There was a certain
old lady living at the extreme east end who had once been a servant in
their family, and Flossy's nurse. In her, Flossy was much interested,
and had been often to see her. She kept house in a bit of a room that
was always shining with cleanliness; her floor was covered with bright
rag carpeting; her bed was spread with a gay covered quilt, and her
little cook stove glistened, and the bright teakettle sputtered
cheerily. This was Flossy's idea of poverty.
Therefore, when she arrayed herself for a wintry walk with Mr. Roberts,
there was to her mind no incongruity between the rich black silk, the
velvet cloak, the elegant laces, and costly furs, and the "very poor
family" she was about to visit. Why should there be? She had trailed
that same silk over old Auntie Green's bright colored rag carpet a good
many times without experiencing any discomfort therefrom.
As for Mr. Roberts, he regarded her with a half amused smile which she
did not observe, and said nothing. Probably he had an idea that she
would soon be wiser than she was then.
"It is too far to walk," he said, as they reached a point where street
cars diverged in many directions; so he hailed a passing car, and during
the talk that followed, Flossy was conveyed to a portion of the city she
not only had never seen before, but that she did not know existed.
She looked about her in dismay as she stepped down from the car, and
during the short rapid walk that followed, had all she could do to
rescue her silken robes from contact with awful filth, and to keep her
dainty handkerchief applied to her poor little nose. Rapidly and
silently they made their way to a long, high building, whose filthy
outside stairs they descended and found themselves in a cellar the like
of which Flossy had never dreamed of.
A dreadful pile of straw covered over by a tattered and horribly dirty
rag that had once been a quilt, on this bed lay a child not yet ten
years old, whose deathly pale face and glassy eyes told the story of
hopeless sickness. No pillow on which to lay the poor little head with
its tangled masses of yellow hair, nothing anywhere that told of care
bestowed or necessary wants attended to. Over in another corner on
another filthy heap of straw and rags, lay the mother, sick too; with
the same absence of anything like decency in everything that pertained
to her.
Utter dismay seized upon Flossy. Could it be possible that human beings,
beings with souls, for whose souls her blessed Saviour died, were left
to such awful desolation of poverty as this! Mr. Roberts promptly turned
upside down an old tub that was used to doing duty as a chair, and
seated her thereon, while he went forward to the woman.
"Have you had your dinner to-day?" was the first question he asked.
"Yes, I have; and thank you kindly, too," she added gratefully. "The
woman took the money and bought meat as you told her, and made a broth,
and I and the little girl had some; it was good. The little girl took
quite a few spoonfuls of it and said it tasted good; it did me more good
to hear her say that, than it did to eat mine," the poor mother said,
and a wistful motherly look went over to the heap of rags in the corner.
"I am glad that she could eat it," he said simply. Then he further told
that he had been arranging for some things to be brought to make both
of them more comfortable; they would be here soon, could the woman who
made the broth come in and attend to them?
The sick woman shook her head. She was gone for the day: would not be
back till dark, then would have to get her children's supper, and do her
washing that very night. "She's _awful_ poor," the woman added with a
heavy sigh. "We are all of us that; if I could get up again, I could do
something for my little girl I most know I could, but, as it is--" And
then there was that hopeless sigh.
Meantime Flossy, after sitting with a distressed and irresolute face for
a few minutes, had suddenly risen from her tub and gone over to the
little girl. Bending beside her they had talked together in a low voice,
and as Mr. Roberts turned to see if she had endured the scene as long as
her nerves would admit, she turned towards him and there was more
decision in her voice than he had ever heard before.
"Mr. Roberts, can you find some clean water for this basin, and haven't
you a large handkerchief with you? This poor child must have her face
washed. She says her head aches very badly; that will help it. And Mr.
Roberts, can't you go out immediately to the store and get some clothes
for this bed, and a pillow, don't they have such things in stores?"
"I have seen to that," he said; "there will be some bed clothing here,
and other necessaries very soon; but how can we manage to have the beds
made up? I have ordered bedsteads and mattresses, and bed clothing has
been prepared; but I have failed thus far in getting anyone to help
arrange them?"
"Can't you set up a bedstead?" asked Miss Flossy.
"Why, I think I could," he answered her meekly.
"Very well, then, I can make the beds. As for the child, she must have a
bath and a clean dress before she is ready for any bed. I can tell you
just what to do, Mr. Roberts; you must go down to the east end, No. 217
South Benedict Street and find my old Auntie Green, and tell her that
she is needed here just as soon as she can get here; tell her I want
her; it will be all right then. In the meantime, this child's face must
be washed and her hair combed. I see there is a kettle behind that
stove, could you manage to fill it with water, and then could you make
a better fire? Then, I can stay here and do a good many things while you
are gone."
While our little Flossy was talking, she was removing her lavendar kid
gloves, and pinning up out of sight her lace ruffles. Then she produced
from some one of the bewildering and dainty pockets that trimmed her
dress, a plain, hemstitched handkerchief, which she unceremoniously
dropped into the tin basin, and announced herself all ready for the
water.
"But, Flossy," said her embarrassed attendant in dismay, "you can't do
these things, you know; wouldn't it be better to come with me, and we
will go after this Auntie Green and tell her just what to do, and
furnish the means to do it with. You know you are not used to anything
of this kind."
"I know it," she said quietly. "I never knew there was anything like
this in the world; I am bowed in the very dust with shame and dismay.
There is very little that I know how to do, but I can wash this poor,
neglected child's face. Go right away, please; there is no time to lose
I am sure."
What swift deft fingers she had to be sure. He could not help stopping
for a moment in his bewilderment to watch her; then he went, and meekly
and swiftly did her bidding. There was much done during that afternoon.
Mr. Roberts quietly sinking into the errand man who was useful, chiefly
because he could promptly do as he was told; and he felt with every
additional direction and with every passing moment an increased respect
for the executive abilities of the little girl, whom he had looked
forward to rousing by degrees to a sense of the importance of this work,
and gradually to a participation in other than the money charities of
the day.
When they went away from that door, as they ascended the filthy stairs
again, she said:
"What an awful thought that human beings exist in such places as this,
and that I did not know it and have done nothing for them!" She was
certainly not exhausted, not overcome with the stench and the filth,
though there was water dripping at that moment from her rich silk dress.
She noticed it, and as she brushed off the drops, she said:
"Evan, if you knew, I wonder that you did not tell me to wear my
Chautauqua dress. I shall know better next time. I must have that poor
little girl cured; there are ever so many things to do, oh Evan, you
must teach me how."
"You need no teacher," he said softly, almost reverently, "other than
the divine Teacher whom you have had. I am become a learner."
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