Easter Morning
It was indeed a lovely morning for Easter Sunday; the sky was a
cloudless blue, and the birds awoke the children early by their jubilant
thanksgiving.
Nurse was in good spirits as she dressed the children. She had received
a pair of new kid gloves 'from a gentleman friend,' and 'of course,' she
said to the children, 'it would be very bad luck not to have something
new on Easter Sunday!'
'And what have we got new?' asked Olive with great interest.
Nurse showed her a little white serge frock, and put into Roland's hands
a new tie and a pair of gloves.
'Your Aunt Marion brought the frock up to the nursery last night, and
said that you were to put it on. So I looked out a fresh tie and gloves
for Master Roland, so that he might not be left out. And if it keeps
fine, you can go down to the lodge to-day.'
'But we shall go to church, shan't we?'
'Oh no, your aunt said she couldn't hear of it. But if you're good
children, I'll take you down that way this afternoon, and you can peep
in and see the pretty flowers. James says it is lovely, and he has sent
a lot of flowers himself.'
Roland and Olive went downstairs to greet their aunts in great
excitement. They were to have breakfast in the dining-room for a treat,
and when they caught sight of the glittering glass and silver, with
great bowls and vases of golden daffodils in the centre of the table,
Olive exclaimed,--
'It's going to be a lovely day, Roland, from the very beginning! I wish
our breakfast table in the nursery was like this!'
[Illustration]
'Olive looks very well in that little serge frock,' remarked Miss Amabel
presently, looking across at her little niece with approval in her eyes;
'she is getting quite a pink colour in her cheeks, and has lost that
pinched, peaky look. I really think the measles did them both good!'
'And does Roland look nice too?' asked Olive quietly, being quite
accustomed to personal remarks from her aunts, 'because he has got a new
tie on. It's a pretty blue one.'
'Does everybody wear something new on Easter Sunday?' Roland asked
quickly.
'It's an old superstition, dear; no, everybody does not.'
'Why ought we to wear new things?' demanded Olive.
'Why, Olive, of course it's because it's the proper time,' answered
Roland. 'Easter is when people get their new bodies, and the flowers are
all new.'
Olive was quite satisfied with this explanation.
Miss Sibyl, who did not seem quite as bright as usual, looked at them
with wistful eyes. After breakfast was over she took Olive into the
garden with her. The child begged to be told the 'Easter story,' and
Miss Sibyl tried to oblige her, saying as she did so, 'But you know it
much better than I do.'
When she had finished her rather halting narrative, Olive looked up and
added,--
'So everybody dried their tears and were very happy, because they knew
Jesus would never die again.'
Then after a pause she asked, 'Why didn't Jesus always stay down in the
world, Aunt Sibyl? Why did He go back to heaven so soon?'
'I think He told us He had finished His work, my dear.'
'What work?'
'Well--dying on the cross for us. He came down from heaven to do that.
When He had died for our sins, He went back to heaven.'
'But He came out of His grave first!' said the child triumphantly.
Their conversation was interrupted by Roland, who came flying out of the
house.
'Aunt Marion has changed her mind; she says we can go to church, Olive.
Come along and tell nurse!'
Olive scampered into the house, and Miss Sibyl walked along, thinking
deeply. For some weeks past she had been anxious and ill at ease. She
realized how fruitless and empty her life had been, but could not see
how to remedy it. Her own words to Olive came back to her,--
'He had finished His work. When He had died for our sins He went back to
heaven.'
'Has He indeed died for mine?' she murmured. 'Can I trust Him like
these innocent little ones to "wash me and make me whiter than snow"?
Oh, I wish I could, I wish I could!'
She was very silent on the way to church; not even the glee of the
children could distract her thoughts.
Roland and Olive thoroughly enjoyed themselves; the sweet spring flowers
in the church, the joyous Easter hymns, and the familiar story read once
again by the rector, satisfied their little souls. They sat with radiant
faces in the family pew, and when they caught sight of Bob singing away
with tearful eyes and a happy smile in the village choir, they nodded
across at him with great satisfaction.
Miss Sibyl came into church with a burden upon her soul; but when the
Easter anthem fell upon her ear, she listened with more interest than
she had ever felt in it before. 'Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to
be dead indeed unto sin: but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our
Lord.' What did it mean? And then with a burst of triumph the words came
to her: 'For as in Adam all die: even so in Christ shall all be made
alive.'
[Illustration]
Like a flash of light Miss Sibyl saw it all, and then and there her poor
dead soul reached hold of its Saviour, and life--that 'life more
abundant,'--flooded the empty corners of her anxious heart.
The service over, the children begged their aunt's permission to speak
to Bob.
Seizing hold of his hands, they led him to his graves.
'Let's come and see them, Mr. Bob, first, and then we'll see your
lilies. Do tell us. Have they come out? We have been ill such a long
time, and they wouldn't let us come and see you before. Isn't it a
lovely day? And hasn't it all come true about the flowers? We never
thought England could have such pretty ones. Oh, I hope the winter will
never come again!'
'Eh, my dears, how you run on! Old Bob has missed you sure enough, and
as for his lilies, well, you shall see them, for 'tis my custom to do
the same every year.'
He paused as they came in sight of those grassy mounds, and the children
pressed forward with eagerness. There on each mound stood one of the
'ugly flower pots,' but the pot itself was sunk in a bed of moss, and a
lovely pure white lily raised its glorious head in the sunshine. Five
lilies stood on the five graves, and old Bob, gazing at them through a
mist of tears, said in a solemn tone, '"And white robes were given unto
every one of them, and it was said unto them that they should rest yet
for a little season." Life out of death, my dears. That is the lesson of
those lilies. The good Lord has never failed to teach me from them every
Easter.'
The children stood awed and silent, then Roland said timidly,--
'But this Easter hasn't brought the dead people to life, only the
flowers.'
'It has brought a dead soul to life, which is even better.'
The old man and the children turned at the murmured voice; but Miss
Sibyl passed them quickly by, and tears were dropping as she went.
Finis.
[Illustration]
Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome, and London.