GETTING READY TO LIVE.
Amid the laughter that followed this retort the company rose up from the
table and went their various ways, to meet, perhaps, again.
"How on earth do you manage to keep so thoroughly posted in regard to
Chautauqua affairs? One would think you were the wife of the private
secretary. _I_ shouldn't have known whether the gates were to be opened
or closed to-morrow."
This from Ruth as the two girls paced the long piazza while waiting for
the carriage which was to take them to the boat; for, having exhausted
the resources of Mayville for entertainment, they were about to return
to Chautauqua.
Marion laughed.
"I'm here in the capacity of a newspaper writer, please remember," she
answered promptly, "and what I don't know I can imagine, like the rest
of that brilliant fraternity. I am not really positive about a great
many of the statements that I made, except on the general principle that
these people belong to the class who are very much given to doing
according to their printed word. It says on the circulars that the gates
will be closed on the Sabbath, and I dare say they will be. At least, we
have a right to assume such to be the case until it is proven false."
"What class of people do you mean who are given to doing as they have
agreed? Christian people, do you refer to?"
"Well, yes; the sort of Christians that one meets at such a gathering as
this. As a rule, the namby-pamby Christians stay away from such places;
or, if they come, they float off to Saratoga or some more kindred
climate. I beg your pardon, Ruthie, that doesn't mean you, you know,
because you are not one of any sort."
"Then do you take it to be their religion which inclines you to trust
to their word, without having an individual acquaintance with them?"
Marion shrugged her shoulders.
"Oh, bother!" she said, gayly, "you are not turning theologian, or
police detective in search of suspicious characters, are you? I never
pretend to pry into my notions for and against people and things; if I
was betrayed into anything that sounded like common sense I beg your
pardon. I am out on a frolic, and mean to have it if there is any such
thing."
"Well, before you go back into absolute nonsense let me ask you one more
question. Do you really feel as deeply as you pretended to that man, on
all these questions of the Chautauqua conscience? I mean, is it a vital
point in your estimation whether people go there to church on Sunday or
not?"
Marion hesitated, and a fine glow deepened on her face as she said,
after a little, speaking with grave dignity:
"I do not know that I can explain myself to you, Ruth, and I dare say
that I seem to you like a bundle of contradictions; but it is a real
pleasure to me to come in contact with people who have earnest faith
and eager enthusiasm over _anything_, and principle enough to stand by
their views through evil and good report. In this way, and to a great
degree, this meeting is a positive delight to me, though I know
personally as little about the feeling from which they think their
actions take rise as any mortal can. Does that answer satisfy you, my
blessed mother confessor? or are you more muddled than ever over what I
do, and especially over what I do _not_ believe?"
"If I believed as much as you do I should look further."
Ruth said this with emphasis; and there was that in it which, despite
her attempts to throw it off, set Marion to thinking, and kept her
wonderfully quiet during their return trip.
On the whole, the flight to Mayville was not viewed entirely in the
light of a success. Ruth had been quiet and grave for some time, when
she suddenly spoke in her most composed and decided voice:
"I shall go to Saratoga on Monday, whether any one else will or not; I
shall find plenty of friends to welcome me, and I shall take the
morning train from here."
But she didn't.
Meantime Flossy's afternoon had been an uninterrupted satisfaction to
her. She attended the children's meeting, and it was perfectly amazing
to her newly awakened brain how many of the stories, used to point
truths for the children, touched home to her.
Dr. Hurlbut, of Plainfield, seemed to have especially planned his
address for the purpose of hitting at some of the markedly weak points
in her character, though no doubt the good man would have been utterly
amazed had he known her thoughts.
She listened and laughed with the rest over the story of the poor tailor
who promised a coat to a customer for one, two and three weeks, heaping
up his promises one on the other until he had a perfect pyramid of them,
only to topple about his ears. She heard with the rest the magnificent
voice ring out the solemn conclusion:
"Children, he did not mean to lie. He did not even think he was a liar.
He only _broke his promises_."
They all heard, and I don't know how many shivered over it, but I _do_
know that to Flossy Shipley it seemed as if some one had struck her an
actual blow. Was it possible that the easy sentences, the easy promises,
to "write," to "come," to "bring this," to "tell that," made so
gracefully, sounding so kindly, costing so little because forgotten
almost as soon as her head was turned away, actually belonged in that
list described by the ugly word "lie." Flossy had been a special sinner
in this department of polite wickedness because it just accorded with
her nature; such promises were so easy to make, and seemed to please
people, and were so easy to forget. Like the tailor, she hadn't meant to
be a liar, nor dreamed that she was one.
But her wide-open ears took it all in, and her roused brain turned the
thought over and over, until, be it known to you, that that girl's happy
pastor, when he receives from her a decided, "Yes, sir, I will do it,"
may rest assured that unless something beyond her control intervenes she
will be at her post.
So much did Dr. Hurlbut accomplish that afternoon without ever knowing
it. There were many things done that afternoon, I suspect, that only
the light of the judgement day will reveal. Over the story of the two
workmen, who each resolved to stick to a certain effort for six months,
and did it, the one earning thereby a patent right worth thousands of
dollars, and the other teaching a little dog how to dance to the
whistling of a certain tune, Flossy looked unutterably sober, while the
laughter swelled to a perfect roar around her. It was hard to feel that
not "six months" only, but a dozen years of intelligent life, were gone
from her, and she had not even taught a dog to dance a jig! That was the
very way she put it in her humility; and I do not say that she placed it
too low, because really I don't know that Flossy Shipley had _ever had_
even so settled a purpose in life as that! She had simply fluttered
around the edge of this solemn business that we call living.
But along with the sober thought glowed the earnest purpose: given
another dozen years to my young lady's life and they will bear a
different record; and whatever they bear, Dr. Hurlburt will be in a
sense responsible for, though he never saw her and probably never will.
Verily this living is a complicated bewildering thing Well for us that
_all_ the weight of the responsibility is not ours to bear.
There was still another story, and over it Flossy's lips parted, and her
eyes glowed with feeling. That wonderful machine that the most skillful
workmen tried in vain to repair, that was useless and worthless, until
the name of the owner was found on it, and he was sent for, then indeed
it found the master-hand, the only one who could right it; she did not
need Dr. Hurlbut's glowing application. "So He who made us, and engraved
his name, his image, on our bodies, can alone take our hearts and make
them right."
Flossy listened to this and the sentences that followed, thrilling her
heart with their power and beauty--thrilling as they would not have done
one week ago, for did she not know by actual experience just how blessed
a worker the great Maker was? Had she not carried her heart to him, and
had he not left his indelible impression there? Oh, this was a wonderful
meeting to Flossy--one that she will never forget--one that many others
will have reason to remember, because of the way in which she listened.
But was it not strange, the way in which her education was being cared
for?
After tea she stood at the entrance of the tent, looking out for the
girls--looking out, also, on the cool, quiet sunset and the glory spread
everywhere, for there had been sunshine that day, part of the time, and
there was a clear sun setting. Under her arm she held the treasure which
she had in the morning determined to possess--a good, plain, large-print
Bible, not at all like the velvet-covered one that lay on her
toilet-stand at home, but such as the needs of Bible students at
Chautauqua had demanded, and therefore much better fitted for actual
service than the velvet.
Among the many passers-by came Mrs. Smythe. She halted before Flossy.
"Good-evening. I thought your party must have left. I haven't seen you
since Thursday. Haven't you been fearfully bored? We are going to leave
on Monday morning--going to Saratoga. Don't some of you want to join us?
"I don't know," Flossy said, thoughtfully mindful of Ruth and her plan
that had not worked. "It is possible that Miss Erskine may. Do your
entire party go?"
"Oh, not my nephew, of course! Nothing could tear him away. He is
perfectly charmed with all this singing and praying and preaching, but I
confess it is too much of a good thing for me. I am not intellectually
inclined, I like the music very well, and some of the addresses are
fine; but there is such a thing as carrying meetings to excess."
At this point she turned quickly at the sound of a firm step behind her,
and greeted a young man.
"Speak of angels and you hear their wings, or the squeak of their
boots," she said. "We were just talking about you, Evan. My nephew, Mr.
Roberts, Miss Shipley. I believe you have never met before."
Had they not! There was a heightened flush on the cheek of each as they
shook hands. It was clear that each recognized the other.
"Are we strangers?" he asked, with a bright smile, speaking so low that
Mrs. Smythe, whose attention had already wandered from them to a group
who were passing, did not hear the words, "On the contrary, I think we
are related, though I do not know that we have happened to hear each
other's names before."
Flossy understood the relationship--sons and daughters of one
Father--for she knew this was the young man who had twice questioned her
concerning her allegiance to that Father. Also, she remembered him as
the only one whom she had ever heard pray for her.
Mrs. Smythe called out a gay good-evening to them, and joined a party of
friends, and Mr. Roberts leaned against a tree and prepared to cultivate
the acquaintance of his newly-found relative.
"You have one of those large, sensible-looking Bibles, I see," he said.
"I have been very much tempted, but I could not make myself feel that I
really needed one."
"I really needed mine," Flossy said, smiling. "I left my Bible at home.
I had not such a thought as bringing it along. I feel now as if I had a
treasure that I didn't know how to use. It is quite new to me. I don't
know where to read first, but I suppose it makes no difference."
"Indeed it does make great difference," he said, smiling, "and you will
enjoy finding out how to read it. Chautauqua is a good place for such a
study, and the Bible reading this evening is an excellent place to
commence. Are you going?"
"Yes, indeed!" Flossy said, with brightening eyes. "I have been looking
forward to it all day. I can't think what a Bible reading is. Do they
just read verses in the Bible?"
"Yes," he said, smiling. "It is just Bible verses, with a word of
explanation now and then and a little singing. But the Bible verses are
something remarkable, as you will see. It is nearly time for service.
Are you ready? Shall we walk down and secure seats?"
So they went down together it the early twilight, and took seats under
the trees amid the glowing of brilliant lights and the soft sound of
music coming from the piano on the stand.