EARLY in the morning after the Sabbath, Joel was in his accustomed place
in the market, waiting for his friend Phineas. His uncle had given a
gruff assent, when he timidly asked his approval of the plan.
The good Rabbi Amos was much pleased when he heard of the arrangement.
"Thou hast been a faithful student," he said, kindly. "Thou knowest
already more of the Law than many of thy elders. Now it will do thee
good to learn the handicraft of Phineas. Remember, my son, 'the balm was
created by God before the wound.' Work, that is as old as Eden, has been
given us that we might forget the afflictions of this life that fleeth
like a shadow. May the God of thy fathers give thee peace!"
With the old man's benediction repeating itself like a solemn refrain in
all his thoughts, Joel stood smoothing the pigeon in his arms, until
Phineas had made his daily purchases. Then they walked on together in
the cool of the morning, to the little white house under the fig-trees.
Phineas was surprised at his pupil's progress. To be sure, the weak arms
could lift little, the slender hands could attempt no large tasks. But
the painstaking care he bestowed on everything he attempted, resulted in
beautifully finished work. If there was an extra smooth polish to be put
on some wood, or a delicate piece of joining to do, Joel's deft fingers
seemed exactly suited to the task.
Before the winter was over, he had made many pretty little articles of
furniture for Abigail's use.
"May I have these pieces of fine wood to use as I please?" he asked of
Phineas, one day.
"All but that largest strip," he answered. "What are you going to make?"
"Something for Ruth's birthday. She will be three years old in a few
weeks, Jesse says, and I want to make something for her to play with."
"What are you going to make her?" inquired Jesse, from under the
work-bench. "Let me see too."
"Oh, I didn't know you were anywhere near," answered Joel, with a start
of alarm.
"Tell me!" begged Jesse.
"Well, if you will promise to keep her out of the way while I am
finishing it, and never say a word about it--"
"I'll promise," said the child, solemnly. He had to clap his hand over
his mouth a great many times in the next few weeks, to keep his secret
from telling itself, and he watched admiringly while Joel carved and
polished and cut.
One of the neighbors had come in to talk with Abigail the day he
finished it, and as the children were down on the beach, playing in the
sand, he took it in the house to show to the women. It was a little
table set with toy dishes, that he had carved out of wood,--plates and
cups and platters, all complete.
The visitor held up her hands with an exclamation of delight. After
taking up each little highly polished dish to admire it separately, she
said, "I know where you might get a great deal of money for such work.
There is a rich Roman living near the garrison, who spends money like a
lord. No price is too great for him to pay for anything that pleases his
fancy. Why don't you take some up there, and offer them for sale?"
"I believe I will," said Joel, after considering the matter. "I'll go
just as soon as I can get them made."
Ruth spread many a little feast under the fig-trees; but after the first
birthday banquet, Jesse was her only guest. Joel was too busy making
more dishes and another little table, to partake of them.
The whole family were interested in his success. The day he went up to
the great house near the garrison to offer them for sale, they waited
anxiously for his return.
"He's sold them! He's sold them!" cried Jesse, hopping from one foot to
the other, as he saw Joel coming down the street empty-handed. Joel was
hobbling along as fast as he could, his face beaming.
"See how much money!" he cried, as he opened his hand to show a shining
coin, stamped with the head of Caesar. "And I have an order for two more.
I'll soon have a fortune! The children liked the dishes so much,
although they had the most beautiful toys I ever saw. They had images
they called dolls. Some of them had white-kid faces, and were dressed as
richly as queens. I wish Ruth had one."
"The law forbids!" exclaimed Phineas. "Have you forgotten that it is
written, 'Thou shalt not make any likeness of anything in the heavens
above or the earth beneath, or the waters under the earth'? She is happy
with what she has, and needs no strange idols of the heathen to play
with."
Joel made no answer; but he thought of the merry group of Roman children
seated around the little table he had made, and wished again that Ruth
had one of those gorgeously dressed dolls.
Skill and strength were not all he gained by his winter's work; for some
of the broad charity that made continual summer in the heart of Phineas
crept into his own embittered nature. He grew less suspicious of those
around him, and smiles came more easily now to his face than scowls.
But the strong ambition of his life never left him for an instant. To
all the rest of the world he might be a friend; to Rehum he could only
be the most unforgiving of enemies.
The thought that had given him most pleasure when the wealthy Roman had
tossed him his first earnings, was not that his work could bring him
money, but that the money could open the way for his revenge.
That thought, like a dark undercurrent, gained depth and force as the
days went by. As he saw how much he could do in spite of his lameness,
he thought of how much more he might have accomplished, if he had been
like other boys. It was a constant spur to his desire for revenge.
One day Phineas laid aside his tools much earlier than usual, and
without any explanation to his wondering pupil, went up into the town.
When he returned, he nodded to his wife, who sat in the doorway
spinning, and who had looked up inquiringly as he approached.
"Yes, it's all arranged," he said to her. Then he turned to Joel to ask,
"Did you ever ride on a camel, my boy?"
"No, Rabbi," answered the boy, in surprise, wondering what was coming
next.
"Well, I have a day's journey to make to the hills in Upper Galilee. A
camel caravan passes near the place where my business calls me, as it
goes to Damascus. I seek to accompany it for protection. I go on foot,
but I have made arrangements for you to ride one of the camels."
"Oh, am I really to go, too?" gasped Joel, in delighted astonishment.
"Oh, Rabbi Phineas! How did you ever think of asking me?"
"You have not seemed entirely well, of late," was the answer. "I thought
the change would do you good. I said nothing about it before, for I had
no opportunity to see your uncle until this afternoon; and I did not
want to disappoint you, in case he refused his permission."
"And he really says I may go?" demanded the boy, eagerly.
"Yes, the caravan moves in the morning, and we will go with it."
There was little more work done that day. Joel was so full of
anticipations of his journey that he scarcely knew what he was doing.
Phineas was busy with preparations for the comfort of his little family
during his absence, and went into town again.
On his return he seemed strangely excited. Abigail, seeing something was
amiss, watched him carefully, but asked no questions. He took a piece of
timber that had been laid away for some especial purpose, and began
sawing it into small bits.
"Rabbi Phineas," ventured Joel, respectfully, "is that not the wood you
charged me to save so carefully?"
Phineas gave a start as he saw what he had done, and threw down his saw.
"Truly," he said, smiling, "I am beside myself with the news I have
heard. I just now walked ten cubits past my own house, unknowing where I
was, so deeply was I thinking upon it. Abigail," he asked, "do you
remember my friend in Nazareth whom I so often speak of,--the son of
Joseph the carpenter? Last week he was bidden to a marriage in Cana. It
happened, before the feasting was over, the supply of wine was
exhausted, and the mortified host knew not what to do. Six great jars of
stone had been placed in the room, to supply the guests with water for
washing. _He changed that water into wine!_"
"I cannot believe it!" answered Abigail, simply.
"But Ezra ben Jared told me so. He was there, and drank of the wine,"
insisted Phineas.
"He could not have done it," said Abigail, "unless he were helped by the
evil one, or unless he were a prophet. He is too good a man to ask help
of the powers of darkness; and it is beyond belief that a son of Joseph
should be a prophet."
To this Phineas made no answer. His quiet thoughts were shaken out of
their usual routine as violently as if by an earthquake.
Joel thought more of the journey than he did of the miracle. It seemed
to the impatient boy that the next day never would dawn. Many times in
the night he wakened to hear the distant crowing of cocks. At last, by
straining his eyes he could distinguish the green leaves of the vine on
the lattice from the blue of the half-opened blossoms. By that token he
knew it was near enough the morning for him to commence saying his first
prayers.
Dressing noiselessly, so as not to disturb the sleeping family, he
slipped out of the house and down to the well outside the city-gate.
Here he washed, and then ate the little lunch he had wrapped up the
night before. A meagre little breakfast,--only a hard-boiled egg, a bit
of fish, and some black bread. But the early hour and his excitement
took away his appetite for even that little.
Soon all was confusion around the well, as the noisy drivers gathered to
water their camels, and make their preparations for the start.
Joel shrunk away timidly to the edge of the crowd, fearful that his
friend Phineas had overslept himself.
In a few minutes he saw him coming with a staff in one hand, and a small
bundle swinging from the other.
Joel had one breathless moment of suspense as he was helped on to the
back of the kneeling camel; one desperate clutch at the saddle as the
huge animal plunged about and rose to its feet. Then he looked down at
Phineas, and smiled blissfully.
[Illustration: "HE LOOKED DOWN AT PHINEAS, AND SMILED BLISSFULLY"]
Oh, the delight of that slow easy motion! The joy of being carried along
without pain or effort! Who could realize how much it meant to the
little fellow whose halting steps had so long been taken in weariness
and suffering?
Swinging along in the cool air, so far above the foot-passengers, it
seemed to him that he looked down upon a new earth. Blackbirds flew
along the roads, startled by their passing. High overhead, a lark had
not yet finished her morning song. Lambs bleated in the pastures, and
the lowing of herds sounded on every hill-side.
Not a sight or sound escaped the boy; and all the morning he rode on
without speaking, not a care in his heart, not a cloud on his horizon.
At noon they stopped in a little grove of olive-trees where a cool
spring gurgled out from the rocks.
Phineas spread out their lunch at a little distance from the others; and
they ate it quickly, with appetites sharpened by the morning's travel.
Afterwards Joel stretched himself out on the ground to rest, and was
asleep almost as soon as his eyelids could shut out the noontide glare
of the sun from his tired eyes.
When he awoke, nearly an hour afterward, he heard voices near him in
earnest conversation. Raising himself on his elbow, he saw Phineas at a
little distance, talking to an old man who had ridden one of the
foremost camels.
They must have been talking of the miracle, for the old man, as he
stroked his long white beard, was saying, "But men are more wont to be
astonished at the sun's eclipse, than at his daily rising. Look, my
friend!"
He pointed to a wild grape-vine clinging to a tree near by. "Do you see
those bunches of half-grown grapes? There is a constant miracle. Day by
day, the water of the dew and rain is being changed into the wine of the
grape. Soil and sunshine are turning into fragrant juices. Yet you feel
no astonishment."
"No," assented Phineas; "for it is by the hand of God it is done."
"Why may not this be also?" said the old man. "Even this miracle at the
marriage feast in Cana?"
Phineas started violently. "What!" he cried. "Do you think it possible
that this friend of mine is the One to be sent of God?"
"Is not this the accepted time for the coming of Israel's Messiah?"
answered the old man, solemnly. "Is it not meet that he should herald
his presence by miracles and signs and wonders?"
Joel lay down again to think over what he had just heard. Like every
other Israelite in the whole world, he knew that a deliverer had been
promised his people.
Time and again he had read the prophecies that foretold the coming of a
king through the royal line of David; time and again he had pictured to
himself the mighty battles to take place between his down-trodden race
and the haughty hordes of Caesar. Sometime, somewhere, a universal
dominion awaited them. He firmly believed that the day was near at hand;
but not even in his wildest dreams had he ever dared to hope that it
might come in his own lifetime.
He raised himself on his elbow again, for the old man was speaking.
"About thirty years ago," he said slowly, "I went up to Jerusalem to be
registered for taxation, for the emperor's decree had gone forth and no
one could escape enrolment. You are too young to remember the taking of
that census, my friend; but you have doubtless heard of it."
"Yes," assented Phineas, respectfully.
"I was standing just outside the Joppa gate, bargaining with a man for a
cage of gold finches he had for sale, which I wished to take to my
daughter, when we heard some one speaking to us. Looking up we saw
several strange men on camels, who were inquiring their way. They were
richly dressed. The trappings and silver bells on their camels, as well
as their own attire, spoke of wealth. Their faces showed that they were
wise and learned men from far countries.
"We greeted them respectfully, but could not speak for astonishment when
we heard their question:
"'Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star
in the East, and have come to worship him.' The bird-seller looked at
me, and I looked at him in open-mouthed wonder. The men rode on before
we could find words wherewith to answer them.
"All sorts of rumors were afloat, and everywhere we went next day,
throughout Jerusalem, knots of people stood talking of the mysterious
men, and their strange question. Even the king was interested, and
sought audience with them."
"Could any one answer them?" asked Phineas.
"Nay! but it was then impressed on me so surely that the Christ was
born, that I have asked myself all these thirty years, 'Where is he that
is born king of the Jews?' For I too would fain follow on to find and
worship him. As soon as I return from Damascus, I shall go at once to
Cana, and search for this miracle-worker."
The old man's earnest words made a wonderful impression on Joel. All the
afternoon, as they rose higher among the hills, the thought took
stronger possession of him. He might yet live, helpless little cripple
as he was, to see the dawn of Israel's deliverance, and a son of David
once more on its throne.
Ride on, little pilgrim, happy in thy day-dreams! The time is coming;
but weary ways and hopeless heart-aches lie between thee and that
to-morrow. The king is on his way to his coronation, but it will be with
thorns.
Ride on, little pilgrim, be happy whilst thou can!