In their hands the girls carried a scroll; on their backs they carried a
bundle, and they were five in number--five girls with rosy cheeks and
healthy bodies. But now their cheeks were browned by the sun and their
shoulders drooped as they walked by the way.
For they had walked and walked and walked as the morning had turned into
noon, and now the afternoon shadows were already falling on the way. Then
as the search seemed almost useless, they saw her--the one for whom they
had come; the one into whose hands they wished to place their scrolls.
Eagerly they watched her as she came slowly toward them dressed in shining
white--the Angel Who Rights Things.
When she smiled, they found courage to speak.
"We have come to search for you but we thought we should never find you,"
said the oldest of the girls. "We can never grow strong and beautiful if
we carry these heavy burdens on our backs. They are much too large for us
and we do not like them. We have come to ask you to take them away and
make us free. Lo! we have written it all here in our scrolls."
But the Fairy Who Rights Things drew back as the five handed to her the
scrolls which they carried.
"Take away the burdens!" said she. "Oh, no, I could never do that. He that
carrieth no burden gaineth no strength. All must carry if they would
grow."
"But we do not like them. If we must have a burden, might we not exchange
them? Surely all our friends do not have burdens to carry. We have
watched them and we know they have none," said another girl.
"You are quite mistaken," said the fairy. "All have burdens to carry. But
I can let you choose if you will exchange your own. Let me see what you
have brought."
"Well," said the first. "Here is mine. I have to go to school. Now father
has plenty of money and I shall never have to work. Why should I study and
do all the hard work of the school? I hate it all and I want to be free
from it. I want to live at home and read, and play, and do as I like."
"And here is mine," said the second, lifting it from her back. "I have to
go to church every Sunday when I want to sleep. There is nothing there for
me and I am so tired of it. But father and mother insist that I go, at
least in the morning. I want to be free from the church."
"Oh," said the third. "I don't mind school and I don't mind going to
church but I do mind having to help at home. It is iron and sweep and wash
dishes; then wash dishes and sweep and iron. Always something to do when I
am in the house. I hate housework and I want to be free from doing it.
Mother says all girls should help at home. But it is a big burden."
"My burden is quite different from the others," said the fourth. "I cannot
dress as I choose. I must wear heavy clothes and low heels. I must dress
my hair as if I were old and tidy. All the girls do differently and I want
to be like them. Really my burden makes me very unhappy. Please let me
change it."
Then the fairy turned to the last girl, who had been resting her burden
against a stone wall.
"What have you here, dear?" she said kindly. "Your burden seems weighing
you down. Let me help you open it."
"Oh dear," said the girl, and the big tears welled up in her eyes. "This
is my home life. Nobody seems to understand me. They scold and fret and
fuss all the time. Mother is cross and the children are always bothering
me. I want to go away from home and work for my living and then board as
the other girls do. I should love to have a little room in a
boarding-house where the girls could come to see me. My burden grows
heavier and heavier and I am also very unhappy."
"Well, well, well," said the Fairy Who Rights Things. "It looks as if I
had a big task. All of you seem to be unhappy, but then we are usually
unhappy because we look at ourselves instead of others. Let's try what
these magic spectacles can do. They will show you the burdens some of your
friends carry and also show you how they carry them."
Then she fitted a pair to the eyes of each girl and they looked at the
passers-by.
There was Kate, who was always smiling and happy. Her burden was almost as
large as she. There was a sick mother away back on the little farm in the
country. Kate was trying to support her and still have enough to keep her
own expenses paid. Her days were full of work. In her room, she was sewing
to make extra money. She was very lonely, for she loved the little mother
and longed to be with her, but she must earn money. Oh! what a pile of
worries she had on every side! How could she ever carry them? But beneath
the pile as it rested on her back they saw a little lever that was lifting
all the time--and the lever was _Love_.
And here was May. They had money and automobiles and everything to make
her happy. She had never seemed to have any burden but now she was
carrying a very large one. She wanted to go to college, she wanted to make
her life worth while, but her parents wanted her to stay at home and play
the hours away. They would not let her go and as the months went by she
longed more and more to study and serve. Did she have a lever to help
carry hers? Indeed she did. It was right under the burden and it was
called _Vision_.
Then there was Tom, the baseball star. He too carried a burden. They had
never known that he had a father. But he carried the burden of a father
who drank and drank. Oh, what a shame to take him through the streets in
such a helpless condition! Did Tom have a lever? All looked eagerly to see
and they saw _Ideals_--he would have a spotless character and retrieve the
family name.
And there was Helen. Her people used profane language and she loved the
pure. They loved the world and she loved the ideals of the church. They
made fun of her faith and tried to change it. How heavily she was loaded,
yet they had never dreamed of it when they had seen her teaching her
little class in the Church School. But _Belief in God_ was helping her to
carry her load.
So they passed along the way before the five girls. All were carrying
something but not all were carrying their load alike. Some smiled, and
some sang as they staggered beneath a heavy load; others groaned and
fretted with the weight of a much lighter one. Some were not only carrying
their own load but helping to carry others.
"And now," said the Angel Who Rights Things, "do you see a load that you
would prefer? If so, then I will ask the bearer to exchange with you. Will
you choose by the size of the burden or the ease with which it is
carried?"
But though they searched long and diligently, they found no load easier
than their own.
At last one turned to the Angel and said, "We find no one to choose. And
since we must carry a burden, will you tell us how best we may carry
these?"
Then the face of the Angel lighted with pleasure till it glowed like the
sun. "When one asks _how_ to carry and not _why_ he must carry, already
the load is lighter," she replied. "If you will, your school can give to
you a vision that will make your load seem very easy; your church can give
to you a love that will make you eager to go there and learn to serve;
your home cares can give you ideals for your own little home some day;
your mother can show you how to grow into beautiful womanhood if you will
but give her a chance; your troubles at home can give to you a sympathy
that will not only lift your own burden but help with those of others. All
these levers that you have seen helping to lift loads have been right at
your hand to help you if you would only have given them an opportunity.
"How shall you bear your burdens? With a smile on your face, and love in
your heart, and any _lifter_ that you can find."
Then the Angel Who Rights Things went on her way to find others who
groaned beneath their burdens because they had never learned how to carry
them.