When the first excitement of this unexpected meeting had somewhat
subsided, Catharine, in her turn, told of the wondrous and providential
dealings to which she was indebted for her preservation amid countless
perils.
The good sutler's wife was not forgotten in this extraordinary account;
and with what sensitiveness and touching expressions of gratitude she
disclosed to her attentive listener the innumerable acts of kindness she
had received all these years from the noble Polish lord and his lady,
who had loaded her with constant benefits, and had in every respect
treated her as their own child.
In a few days Catharine's father had quite recovered from the effects of
his wound. His business required attention, and he was impatient to
restore his beloved child to her mother's arms, so father and daughter
bade adieu to the Polish Count and Countess, but not before assuring
them that their gratitude would never cease as long as they lived.
M. Somoff and his long-lost Catharine returned to Moscow, where they
were welcomed with surprise and joy by the delighted mother, who forgot
all her sorrows when once more embracing her child, who had been lost to
her for so many long years.
Very soon the young Russian's marvellous history became known. She was
asked in marriage by an officer holding high rank in the army, and in
due time she became his wife.
Ten years passed.
Great changes had taken place on the Continent of Europe. Poland had
proclaimed its independence, and Nicholas, the Emperor of all the
Russias, had an immense army in the field to repress the efforts of this
brave but most unfortunate nation.
The horrors that were perpetrated, and the sad issue of this too
unequal warfare, are well known.
Catharine's husband had taken part in this campaign, and she had
followed him to the camp.
We will not stop to describe the heartrending scenes connected with this
war, but merely inform the reader that Warsaw was taken by assault; and
in this is included a whole chapter of misery. On this fatal day many
thousand Poles as well as Russians lost their lives. In the course of
the evening after the battle, the superior officers of the triumphant
army went to inspect the scene of the late bloody combat, where heaps of
dead and dying were lying in confusion, for there might be seen the
victor and the vanquished side by side.
Moved by charity, touched with compassion for the fate of those to whom
fortune had been so unpropitious, Catharine's husband sent all who still
retained a breath of life to the hospitals and ambulances. He was just
on the point of leaving this desolate spot, when, casting his eye on a
heap of corpses being covered over with earth, he noticed a Polish
officer of high rank, decorated with numerous crosses and medals. He
thought he saw some signs of animation, so he had him removed, and
carefully conveyed to the house in which Catharine then was. Once there,
every possible care was bestowed upon him. By degrees he recovered from
his lethargy, and looked around the room.
Catharine was sitting at his bedside. Suddenly she uttered a cry: she
had recognised the Polish lord Barezewski, her preserver and benefactor.
The Count recovered from his wounds, but he had only escaped one peril
to fall into another even more terrible; his name was on the list of
proscribed persons, and the mildest punishment for this in Russia means
degradation and exile to Siberia.
Catharine no sooner discovered the fresh misfortune impending over the
noble Pole than she determined to risk everything, and obtain an
audience of the Czar Nicholas, when, falling before him, she embraced
his knees, and with tears implored him to accord the pardon of her
generous protector, Barezewski.
Nicholas, much touched by her gratitude and her earnest entreaties on
behalf of the Polish lord, graciously granted his pardon.
Perhaps some of my readers may think Catharine need not have been so
frightened at what she had to do in seeking an interview with the
Emperor; but in our highly-favoured land we can scarcely enter into her
feelings, for in Russia the sovereign is all-powerful, and, especially
in past days, political offenders, or those taking their part in any
way, were punished with the greatest severity.
I will tell you what happened during the reign of the Empress Elizabeth
to the most beautiful and delicately nurtured lady at the court of
Russia, because, poor creature, she had the misfortune to offend her
imperial mistress. She was condemned to the _knout_, a fearful
instrument of punishment made of a strip of hide, which is whizzed
through the air by the hangman on the _bare_ back and neck of the
hapless victim, and each time it tears away a narrow strip of skin from
the neck along the back. These blows were repeated until the entire skin
of the lady's back hung in rags; then this woman's tongue was plucked
out by the roots, and she was at once sent off to Siberia.
What does 'sent to Siberia' imply? Worse, far, far worse than any
criminal, however vile and hardened, endures in our beloved country. We
frequently hear of persons being condemned to penal punishment for many
years, or even for life; but this is _absolutely nothing_ compared to
being exiled to Siberia, a place where the criminals of the Russian
empire, and persons suspected of intrigues, are often sent without even
knowing the cause of their banishment.
A faint idea of what the poor unfortunate exiles have to suffer may be
gleaned from the description which follows:--'Barren and rocky
mountains, covered with eternal snows, waste uncultivated plains, where,
in the hottest days of the year, little more than the surface of the
ground is thawed, alternate with large rivers, the icy waves of which,
rolling sullenly along, have never watered a meadow or seen a flower
expand. The Government supplies some of the exiles with food, very poor
and very scanty; those whom it abandons subsist on what they obtain by
hunting. The greater number of these hapless beings reside in the
villages which border the river from Tobolsk to the boundaries of
Tschimska; others are dispersed in huts through the plains. For these
unfortunates not a single happy day exists.'
To such a state of exile and misery would the noble Polish lord have
been reduced if Nicholas had not granted Catharine's petition. This tale
shows how the eye of a tender and watchful Father is ever over the young
and unprotected. How true are these beautiful words:
'No earthly father loves like Thee;
No mother, e'er so mild,
Bears and forbears as Thou hast done
With me, Thy sinful child.'
THE SHABBY SURTOUT.
My reader, need you ever say,
With Titus, 'I have lost a day,'
When right, and left, and all around,
God's poor and needy ones are found?
[Illustration]
THE SHABBY SURTOUT.
I had taken a place on the top of one of the coaches which ran between
Edinburgh and Glasgow, for the purpose of commencing a short tour in the
Highlands of Scotland. It was in the month of June, a season when
travellers of various descriptions flock towards the Modern Athens, and
thence betake themselves to the northern or western counties, as their
business or fancy leads. As we rattled along Princes Street, I had
leisure to survey my fellow-travellers. Immediately opposite to me sat
two dandies of the first water, dressed in white greatcoats and Belcher
handkerchiefs, and each with a cigar in his mouth, which he puffed away
with marvellous self-complacency. Beside me sat a modest and comely
young woman in a widow's dress, and with an infant about nine months old
in her arms. The appearance of this youthful mourner and her baby
indicated that they belonged to the working class of society; and though
the dandies occasionally cast a rude glance at the mother, the look of
calm and settled sorrow which she invariably at such times cast upon her
child seemed to touch even them, and to disarm their coarseness. On the
other side of the widow sat a young gentleman of plain yet prepossessing
exterior, who seemed especially to attract the notice of the dandies.
His surtout was not absolutely threadbare, but it had evidently seen
more than one season; and I could perceive many contemptuous looks
thrown upon it by the gentlemen in the Belcher handkerchiefs. The young
gentleman carried a small portmanteau in his hand, so small, indeed,
that it could not possibly have contained more than a change of linen.
This article also appeared to arrest the eyes of the sprigs of fashion
opposite, whose wardrobes, in all probability, were more voluminous:
whether they were paid for or not, might be another question.
The coach having stopped at the village of Corstorphine, for the purpose
of taking up an inside passenger, the guard, observing that the young
gentleman carried his portmanteau in his hand, asked leave to put it
into the boot, to which he immediately assented. 'Put it fairly in the
centre, guard,' said one of the dandies. 'Why so, Tom?' inquired his
companion. 'It may capsize the coach,' rejoined the first,--a sally at
which both indulged in a burst of laughter, but of which the owner of
the portmanteau, though the blood mounted slightly into his cheek, took
no notice whatever.
The morning being fine at our first setting out, the ride was peculiarly
pleasant. The dandies talked of horses and dogs, and fowling-pieces and
percussion-caps, every now and then mentioning the names of Lord John
and Sir Harry, as if their acquaintance lay among the great ones of the
land. Once or twice I thought I saw an expression of contempt in the
countenance of the young gentleman in the surtout, but in this I might
be mistaken. His attention was evidently most directed to the mourner
beside him, with whom he appeared anxious to get into conversation, but
to lack for a time a favourable opportunity.
While we were changing horses at the little village of Uphall, an aged
beggar approached, and held out his hat for alms. The dandies looked at
him with scorn. I gave him a few halfpence; and the young widow, poor as
she seemed, was about to do the same, when the young gentleman in the
surtout laid his hand gently on her arm, and dropping a half-crown into
the beggar's hat, made a sign for him to depart. The dandies looked at
each other. 'Showing off, Jack,' said the one. 'Ay, ay, successful at
our last benefit, you know,' rejoined the other; and both again burst
into a horse laugh. At this allusion to his supposed profession, the
blood again mounted into the young gentleman's cheek; but it was only
for a moment, and he continued silent.
We had not left Uphall many miles behind us, when the wind began to
rise, and the gathering clouds indicated an approaching shower. The
dandies began to prepare their umbrellas; and the young gentleman in the
surtout, surveying the dress of the widow, and perceiving that she was
but indifferently provided against a change of weather, inquired of the
guard if the coach was full inside. Being answered in the affirmative,
he addressed the mourner in a tone of sympathy, told her that there was
every appearance of a smart shower, expressed his regret that she could
not be taken into the coach, and concluded by offering her the use of
his cloak. 'It will protect you so far,' said he, 'and, at all events,
it will protect the baby.' The widow thanked him in a modest and
respectful manner, and said that for the sake of her infant she should
be glad to have the cloak, if he would not suffer from the want of it
himself. He assured her that he should not, being accustomed to all
kinds of weather. 'His surtout won't spoil,' said one of the dandies, in
a voice of affected tenderness; 'and besides, my dear, the cloak will
hold you both.' The widow blushed; and the young gentleman, turning
quickly round, addressed the speaker in a tone of dignity which I shall
never forget. 'I am not naturally quarrelsome, sir, but yet it is quite
possible you may provoke me too far.' Both the exquisites immediately
turned as pale as death, shrank in spite of themselves into their
natural insignificance, and scarcely opened their lips, even to each
other, during the remainder of the journey.
In the meantime the young gentleman, with the same politeness and
delicacy as if he had been assisting a lady of quality with her shawl,
proceeded to wrap the widow and her baby in his cloak. He had hardly
accomplished this when a smart shower of rain, mingled with hail,
commenced. Being myself provided with a cloak, the cape of which was
sufficiently large to envelope and protect my head, I offered the young
gentleman my umbrella, which he readily accepted, but held it, as I
remarked, in a manner better calculated to defend the widow than
himself.
When we reached West Craigs Inn, the second stage from Edinburgh, the
rain had ceased; and the young gentleman, politely returning me my
umbrella, began to relieve the widow of his now dripping cloak, which he
shook over the side of the coach, and afterwards hung on the rail to
dry. Then turning to the widow, he inquired if she would take any
refreshment; and upon her answering in the negative, he proceeded to
enter into conversation with her, as follows:--
'Do you travel far on this road, ma'am?'
'About sixteen miles farther, sir. I leave the coach six miles on the
other side of Airdrie.'
'Do your friends dwell thereabouts?'
'Yes, sir, they do. Indeed, I am on the way home to my father's house.'
'In affliction, I fear?'
'Yes, sir,' said the poor young woman, raising her handkerchief to her
eyes, and sobbing audibly; 'I am returning to him a disconsolate widow,
after a short absence of two years.'
'Is your father in good circumstances?'
'He will never suffer me or my baby to want, sir, while he has strength
to labour for us; but he is himself in poverty, a day-labourer on the
estate of the Earl of Hyndford.'
At the mention of that nobleman's name, the young gentleman coloured a
little, but it was evident that his emotion was not of an unpleasant
nature. 'What is your father's name?' said he.
'James Anderson, sir.'
'And his residence?'
'Blinkbonny.'
'Well, I trust that, though desolate as far as this world is concerned,
you know something of Him who is the Father of the fatherless and the
Judge of the widow. If so, your Maker is your husband, and the Lord of
Hosts is His name.'
'Oh, yes, sir; I bless God that, through a pious parent's care, I know
something of the power of divine grace and the consolations of the
gospel. My husband, too, though but a tradesman, was a man who feared
God above many.'
'The remembrance of that must tend much to alleviate your sorrow.'
'It does indeed, sir, at times; but at other times I am ready to sink.
My father's poverty and advancing age, my baby's helplessness, and my
own delicate health, are frequently too much for my feeble faith.'
'Trust in God, and He will provide for you; be assured He will.'
By this time the coach was again in motion, and though the conversation
continued for some time, the noise of the wheels prevented me from
hearing it distinctly. I could see the dandies, however, exchange
expressive looks with one another; and at one time the more forward of
the two whispered something to his companion, in which the words
'Methodist parson' alone were audible.
At Airdrie nothing particular occurred; but when we had got about
half-way between that town and Glasgow, we arrived at a cross-road,
where the widow expressed a wish to be set down. The young gentleman
therefore desired the driver to stop, and, springing himself from the
coach, took the infant from her arms, and then, along with the guard,
assisted her to descend. 'May God reward you,' said she, as he returned
the baby to her, 'for your kindness to the widow and the fatherless this
day!'
'And may He bless you,' replied he, 'with all spiritual consolation in
Christ Jesus!'
So saying, he slipped something into her hand. The widow opened it
instinctively; I saw two sovereigns glitter on her palm. She dropped a
tear upon the money, and turned round to thank her benefactor, but he
had already resumed his seat upon the coach. She cast towards him an
eloquent and grateful look, pressed her infant convulsively to her
bosom, and walked hurriedly away.
No other passenger wishing to alight at the same place, we were soon
again in rapid motion towards the great emporium of the West of
Scotland. Not a word was spoken. The young gentleman sat with his arms
crossed upon his breast, and, if I might judge by the expression of his
fine countenance, was evidently revolving some scheme of benevolence in
his mind. The dandies regarded him with blank amazement. They also had
seen the gold in the poor widow's hand, and seemed to think that there
was more under that shabby surtout than their 'puppy brains' were able
to conjecture. That in this they were right was speedily made manifest.
When we had entered Glasgow, and were approaching the Buck's Head--the
inn at which our conveyance was to stop--an open travelling-carriage,
drawn by four beautiful grey horses, drove up in an opposite direction.
The elegance of this equipage made the dandies spring to their feet.
'What beautiful greys!' cried the one; 'I wonder who they can belong to?'
'He is a happy fellow, anyhow,' replied the other; 'I would give half
Yorkshire to call them mine.' The stage-coach and travelling-carriage
stopped at the Buck's Head at the same moment; and a footman in laced
livery, springing down from behind the latter, looked first inside and
then at the top of the former, when he lifted his hat with a smile of
respectful recognition.
'Are all well at the castle, Robert?' inquired the young gentleman in
the surtout.
'All well, my lord,' replied the footman.
At the sound of that monosyllable the faces of the exquisites became
visibly elongated; but without taking the smallest notice of them or
their confusion, the nobleman politely wished me good morning, and,
descending from the coach, caused the footman to place his cloak and
despised portmanteau in the carriage. He then stepped into it himself,
and the footman getting up behind, the coachman touched the leaders very
slightly with his whip, and the equipage and its noble owner were soon
out of sight.
'Pray, what nobleman is that?' said one of the dandies to the landlord,
as we entered the inn.
'The Earl of Hyndford, sir,' replied the landlord; 'one of the best men,
as well as one of the richest, in Scotland.'
'The Earl of Hyndford!' repeated the dandy, turning to his companion.
'What asses we have been! There's an end to all chance of being allowed
to shoot on _his_ estate.'
'Oh, yes, we may burn our letters of introduction when we please!'
rejoined his companion; and, silent and crestfallen, both walked
upstairs to their apartments.
'The Earl of Hyndford!' repeated I, with somewhat less painful
feelings. 'Does he often travel unattended?'
'Very often, sir,' replied the landlord, 'especially when he has any
public or charitable object in view; he thinks he gets at the truth more
easily as a private gentleman than as a wealthy nobleman.'
'I have no doubt of it,' said I; and having given orders for dinner, I
sat down to muse on the occurrences of the day.
This, however, was not the last time that I was destined to hear of that
amiable young nobleman, too early lost to his country and mankind. I had
scarcely returned home from my tour in the Highlands, when I was waited
upon by a friend, a teacher of languages in Edinburgh, who told me that
he had been appointed Rector of the Academy at Bothwell.
'Indeed!' said I; 'how have you been so fortunate?'
'I cannot tell,' replied he, 'unless it be connected with the
circumstance which I am going to relate.'
He then stated that, about a month before, he was teaching his classes
as usual, when a young gentleman, dressed in a surtout that was not over
new, came into his school, and politely asked leave to see his method of
instruction. Imagining his visitor to be a schoolmaster from the
country, who wished to learn something of the Edinburgh modes of
tuition, my friend acceded to his request. The stranger remained two
hours, and paid particular attention to every department. When my friend
was about to dismiss the school, the stranger inquired whether he was
not in the habit of commending his pupils to God in prayer before they
parted for the day. My friend replied that he was; upon which the
stranger begged that he would not depart from his usual practice on his
account. My friend accordingly prayed with the boys, and dismissed them;
after which the stranger thanked him for his politeness, and also
withdrew. Nothing more occurred; but, four or five days afterwards, my
friend received a letter from the Earl of Hyndford, in which that
nobleman, after stating that he had satisfied himself as to his piety
and ability as a teacher, made him an offer of the Rectorship of the
Academy at Bothwell.
'Was your visitor fair-haired,' said I, 'and his surtout of a claret
colour?'
'They were,' replied my friend; 'but what of that?'
'It was the Earl of Hyndford himself,' said I; 'there can be no doubt of
it.' And I gave him the history of my journey to Glasgow.
'Well, he took the best method, certainly, to test my qualifications,'
rejoined my friend. 'I wish all patrons would do the same; we should
have better teachers in our schools, and better ministers in our
churches.'
'All patrons, perhaps, are not equally qualified to judge,' said I; 'at
all events, let us rejoice that, though "not many wise men after the
flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called," still we see one
here and one there distinguished by divine grace, to the praise and the
glory of God the Saviour.'
JANE HILL.
[ILLUSTRATION]
JANE HILL.
'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'
Some years since a fire broke out in one of the narrow alleys which
abound in the poorer parts of the town in which I live. It originated,
as fires so often do, in the carelessness, or rather helplessness, of a
tipsy woman, who had thrown herself across her bed, and lain there in a
drunken stupor, while a candle, which she had left burning on a table in
the room, had fallen over and set fire to some shavings, by which the
flame had gradually been communicated to the furniture and to the house.
The author of the mischief was rescued; she lived on the ground floor,
and the firemen had gained access to her room through the window from
which the smoke was first seen bursting, thus giving the alarm of fire
to the neighbourhood. She was quite insensible, partly from the effects
of drink, and partly from being half-suffocated with smoke; but she soon
recovered, while the effects of the mischief she had wrought lighted
upon other and more innocent heads. It was an old rickety house, and the
landlord had determined on putting it into thorough order, as otherwise
it ran the risk of tumbling to pieces altogether. He had therefore given
notice to all his tenants to quit; and they had done so, with the
exception of the woman I have mentioned, who caused the fire, and a very
respectable widow, who, with five children, occupied the attics. These
women had been allowed to stay two or three weeks after the tenants of
the first floor had left, because they had not succeeded in getting
houses to suit them; and the work of patching up the old house not
having yet been begun, they had remained in it on sufferance. The
opening of the window gave the fire the draught which was all it wanted
to gain fresh strength for its fatal work; and in two or three minutes
after the unfortunate woman who had caused it had been carried out, the
flame might be seen leaping upwards with fearful force and rapidity, as
if furious at having been disappointed of its prey. I had been spending
the evening with a friend, and had to pass the alley where the fire was;
and as the house was very near the end of it, I could see and hear what
was going on without being in the very thick of the crowd.
It was a fearful but a glorious sight. The night was frosty and clear;
and as the flames darted out of the windows, and threw out showers of
sparks, the bright red glare of the fire made the sky in relief seem of
the most intense dark blue. Some one told me that the house was empty,
so I was rather enjoying the grand beauty of the scene, when, hearing a
fearful shriek, my eye was attracted to the attic windows of the house,
and I perceived, to my horror, a woman and several children standing at
it. Clear and distinct they stood against a black background, with the
ruddy glow of the flames robing them in a crimson light, and at the
same time revealing the agony of terror which was expressed in their
countenances. 'Go to the back of the house,' shouted the firemen, 'we
can do nothing for you there.' But the little group stood paralyzed with
fear, unable to attend to the directions which were given them, or
perhaps unable to hear them, for the fire was roaring and crackling
enough to deafen any one. Three brave men of the fire-brigade went with
a ladder round to the back of the house, while the engines kept the fire
somewhat down by constantly playing on the front, as far as the confined
space would allow of their doing so. In reality, I suppose, not many
minutes elapsed from the time that the firemen had carried round the
ladder till one of them appeared at the window where the women and
children stood: to me it seemed an age; and what must it not have
appeared to the poor sufferers themselves? As the man came forward and
joined the group, and the flame lighted up his tall, strong figure, a
deafening shout from the crowd hailed his appearance, and encouraged him
to his perilous task. It seemed at first as if the woman were too
stupified to understand what he said to her, for we saw him put a child
into her arms, and then push her from the window. He himself managed to
carry two little ones, and to send a boy and girl of some ten and twelve
years of age after their mother. Then we lost sight of them all, and
there was another interval of terrible suspense, when a shout from the
crowd which had collected at the back of the house announced that
something important had taken place there. In a few minutes we learned
that, by the help of the other two firemen, who had also mounted the
ladder and made their way into the house, the poor woman and all her
children had been saved.
With a thankful and relieved heart I made my way home, determined on the
morrow to seek out these poor sufferers for another's sin, and to see
what assistance could be afforded them; I felt sure they would stand in
no need of further help that night. There is often a princely generosity
among the poor towards their still poorer brethren; and I was confident
that many a kind-hearted man and motherly woman would willingly forego a
night's rest and comfort, if, by so doing, they could afford a shelter
to these poor houseless ones. Nor was my confidence misplaced, for, on
going to inquire after the family on the following day, I found that
they had been well looked after and taken care of. It was now, however,
that their real difficulties were to begin. The poor widow, whose name
was Martin, had lost her little all--her scanty furniture, the decent
clothing which it had cost her many a hard day's work to earn money
enough to buy, and many a wakeful hour at night to keep in order and to
mend, all were gone. They had been in bed when the alarm of fire had
awoke them, and had nothing on but their night-dresses when they were
saved. She had been an industrious, hard-working woman, had long
struggled bravely and womanfully against poverty and difficulties, but
this last blow seemed fairly to have broken her spirit; and when I went
to see her, I found her sitting at the fireside of the kindly neighbour
who had given her a night's shelter, looking the very image of blank
and helpless despair. She was a proud woman in her way, possessed of
that pride which one likes to see and so heartily respects, and which,
alas! is so fast dying out among us,--the pride of honourable
independence, which would willingly work day and night rather than
receive charity from strangers. The bugbear of her life, since ever she
had been left a widow with five helpless little ones to support, had
been the Union Poor's-house; and now want, starvation, and the Union
seemed staring her in the face. It was pitiful to see the spasm of
positive pain which crossed her face as I put a trifle into her hand on
leaving. She murmured a few words of thanks; but I heard her say with a
deep sigh, as I left the room, 'I'm nothing better than a beggar now,
living upon other folk's charity.'
The following day was a Sunday, the fire having taken place on a Friday
night. The lessons in my Bible-class were sooner over than usual that
day, and I took advantage of the short interval of time before the
concluding prayer was offered, to tell my class about the fire, and of
the utter destitution in which the poor widow and her children had been
left. All the girls seemed very sorry, and I heard them discussing the
subject as we were coming out, after the class had been dismissed. The
next morning I was told that a girl wanted to speak to me; and on going
down-stairs I found it was one of my scholars, Jane Hill. She had a
sweet, gentle countenance, and her modest manners, and the attention she
always gave to her lessons, had made her a great favourite with me. I
saw that she felt some timidity in telling me what she had come about,
so I spoke to her encouragingly, and, after a little hesitation, she
said:
'Please, ma'am, would you give this to the poor woman whose house was
burnt?' and, placing a small packet in my hands, she seemed inclined to
run away.
'Wait a moment, Jane,' I said, 'and let us talk this matter over.' She
followed me with apparent reluctance, and then, after I had made her sit
down, I opened the little parcel she had given me, and found that it
contained seven and sixpence. I knew that her mother, though a most
respectable, hard-working woman, was very poor, as she had several
children, and her husband was in bad health, and in consequence often
out of work for weeks at a time. I was therefore surprised at what,
under the circumstances, seemed to be really a munificent gift, and
asked whether the money could really be spared; 'because you know,
Jane,' I added, 'though it is true "the Lord loveth a cheerful giver,"
yet we are told also it is accepted according to that a man hath, and
not according to that he hath not.'
'Oh, please, ma'am,' she answered eagerly, but blushing deeply, 'I can
spare it quite well, I can indeed; and mother gave me leave to come to
you with it. She knows all about it.'
'But how do you happen to have so much money to spare?' I said, still
feeling some reluctance in taking so large a sum from her.
'Well, you know, ma'am, I get half-a-crown a week from Mrs. Higgins, for
going messages and carrying the baby out every day for a walk; and so
mother, she said she would keep by sixpence a week to buy me a new cloak
for the winter, as she thought my old one a bit shabby, and she's been
putting it by all summer in a teapot; and yesterday the parson preached
upon that text, how it's more blessed to give away than to get things
given to you. I don't quite mind the words; but mother and me, we talked
it all over when we come home, and tells father about it,--for he has
got one of his bad turns, and can't go to the church,--and I tells them
all about Mrs. Martin and the fire; and I says, "Mother, I don't think
my old cloak is so very shabby after all, and maybe if you could iron it
and bind it, it would do quite well another winter; and at any rate I'll
be better off than Mrs. Martin's children, who haven't got no clothes at
all;" and so mother, she says, "And that's too true, Jenny;" and father
said, "God bless you, my lass, and give you health to wear your old
cloak,"--and oh, ma'am, I did feel so glad that I had something to give
to the poor woman and her children!'
I was much touched with her earnest, simple way of putting what was in
fact a very great sacrifice as if she really felt it to be none at all.
I remembered the old cloak she had worn the winter before, how thin and
thread-bare it was; but I could not refuse the sweet pleading eyes,
which were looking at me with such anxiety, lest I should reject her
gift; so I said, 'Well, Jane, since your father and mother both approve,
and you yourself are willing to give up your new cloak for the sake of
these poor houseless ones, I can only say, God speed your gift, and make
you to realize, in its fullest sense, the blessedness of giving!' Her
face brightened with pleasure, and she thanked me warmly, as she made
her curtsey and prepared to leave. 'No, I cannot let you go away,' I
said; 'you must come with me, and take this money to Mrs. Martin
yourself.'
'Oh, please, ma'am, I'd rather not,' she said, looking shy and timid
again.
'But I want you to go, Jane, because I think this kindness and sympathy
from one so young, and who is not much richer than herself, will do the
poor woman as much good as the money itself. She is very much cast
down; it troubles her to think that she is dependent upon others; and I
think if you could say to her exactly what you have just said to me--if
you told her the real pleasure you have in helping her, it might cheer
and comfort her to think that the charity which is bestowed upon her in
her heavy trouble is not flung at her as we might fling a bone to a dog,
but is the offering of warm, kindly, and loving hearts.'
I am not quite sure if she understood all that I said to her, but she
made no further opposition to going with me. I therefore got ready as
soon as possible, and we went together to see Mrs. Martin. She was still
with the same kind neighbour who had taken her in on the night of the
fire, and still sat cowering over the fire in the very spot and attitude
that I had left her two days before.
'She sits that way the whole day,' the good woman whispered to me, 'and
there's no rousing her; she seems gone stupid-like.'
I went up to her and told her my errand, saying that the money I put in
her hand was from the little girl who came with me, and who was anxious
to contribute something to help her in her sore need. She looked at me,
at the girl, and then at the money, and muttered--
'Yes, yes, I must live on charity now, and then go to the workhouse.'
'Speak to her, Jane,' I said, while I left the two together, and began
talking to the woman of the house, that they might not feel themselves
observed. I heard Jane speaking at first in very low tones, timidly and
softly; then there was the same sweet, earnest, pleading voice with
which she had spoken to me. In the intervals of my own conversation, I
overheard one or two sentences. I heard her telling of the sermon she
had heard, which seemed to have made a great impression on her mind; and
then I heard her say:
'I'm sure if it had been mother's house that had been burnt down, and
you had heard how father and mother and me and my brothers and sisters
had no house, nor furniture, nor clothes, you would have done what you
could to help us; now, wouldn't you? And you know it's just the same
thing, only it's you and your children instead of mother and us that's
in trouble; and you needn't mind taking a little help when you would
willingly have given it.'
'And that's true,' I heard the widow reply, in a tone of greater
interest than I had yet known her speak.
Her hostess looked at me, and said low, 'Them's the first words she has
spoken in her own natural voice since her trouble.'
Jane continued, not aware that we were listening to her now:
'I've often heard father say it's no disgrace to be ever so poor, and to
get help from others, when it comes on us from God's hand, and not
because we are idle and won't work. Many a time he says that, when he is
ill and can't work, and mother gets downhearted, and thinks we'll have
to come on the parish; and he says even going on the parish ain't no
disgrace then, when it ain't one's own fault. But mother says she'd work
her fingers to the bone sooner than she'd go on the parish; and with one
thing and another, we've always got on somehow, and so will you, I'm
sure.'
'Yes,' said the woman, with an energy that startled us all, while it
delighted us,--'yes, I may get on too, with God's help; but not if I am
to sit here with my hands folded, before the fire, thinking of my
trouble instead of trying to mend it. God bless you, my lass, for your
money, which I'll take from you thankfully; and if I can't never repay
you, may He do it. It will serve to get me some clothes, and then I can
work; and who knows but I may have a home of my own again some day?'
Finding her able and willing now to listen to reason, I explained to her
that some friends who had heard of her loss had placed three pounds at
my disposal for her use, and that she must look upon the help she got
quite as much as coming from God as Elijah did when the ravens fed him,
because it was God who put it into people's hearts to give her money.
She took what I gave her gratefully, and entered warmly into all the
plans which we suggested for her future. It was agreed that she should
at once take a small furnished room, and go with her children to occupy
it. She said she had for some time had regular work as a charwoman for
three days in every week. This work she could still have; and I engaged
to get her some needlework from a working society, which might help to
occupy her spare time, and bring in a little money. The woman in whose
house she was staying told us that a sister of hers would willingly take
the eldest girl, who was eleven years old, as she wanted a girl to take
care of her baby while she looked after a small shop. She engaged that
for a year her sister should feed and clothe the girl, if she gave
satisfaction; and said that if she behaved herself, she was sure her
sister would keep her till she was old enough to get a better place.
It was pleasant to see how heartily Mrs. Martin entered into all these
arrangements as they were severally proposed, and the eager gladness of
Jane Hill's face as she listened to our plans, and, with the hopefulness
and inexperience of youth, evidently believed that each one was to lead
to competence, if not to actual wealth.
The fire did, indeed, in the end, prove to have been the greatest
blessing to the Martins. Many people were led to interest themselves in
the poor widow and her children, who would never have heard of them but
for it. Mrs. Martin got more work to do than she could get through, and
her children obtained situations as soon as they were old enough to work
for themselves. She never forgot the debt of gratitude she owed to Jane
Hill. 'But for her,' she said, 'she believed she would have moped
herself into her grave.'
The Christmas-day after the fire, I had the pleasure of taking to Jane a
nice, warm, winter cloak. She began to say, in a deprecating way, 'Oh,
ma'am, indeed it's far too kind! mine is quite good yet;' but I stopped
her, saying, 'No, Jane, you must not keep all the pleasure of giving to
yourself. Remember that to others, as well as to yourself, it is true
that "It is more blessed to give than to receive."'
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.