PLEASURE BY EXPRESS.
'It was to be expected,' Dane went on resignedly. 'I told Arthur to
send proper notices to the papers; and I suppose he had done it,
and this is the consequence. Never mind; we will run away as soon
as we can. Now, Hazel, what shall we do with all this lumber?'
'Lumber is something out of place, according to Byo,' said Hazel
contemplatively. 'Now one of these two foot rests would be _in_
place in Dr. Maryland's study;is there another tired minister
somewhere else?'
'Tired minister?' said Dane. I suppose there are hundreds of tired
ministers scattered all over the land, out west, and on the
frontiers.If one knew where!'
'Somebody must know.'
'I suppose somebody must.'
'Well cannot you find out?'
'I suppose I can!'
'They may want some of these books, too. Dr. Maryland always
wants books, although he has so many. And if the ministers are
tired, their wives must be,' said Hazel with a new fit of
contemplation settling over her face. Rollo stood in the middle of
the floor, looking at her, and at the same time considering the
confusion.
'I will make a bargain with you.'
'Well?'
'These things must go somewhere, that is clear. I will find out the
names and addresses of a hundred, say, who are in need of help.
We will send off so many boxes; and you shall arrange what is to
go in them.'
Wych Hazel folded her hands and looked up at him.
'OlafI never was tired in my life!At least, but once.'
'I thought I was tired five minutes ago,' said Rollo, 'but I have got
over it.'
'I could think of pretty things enough to send,' Hazel went on. 'Do
they want pretty things out there, I wonder? Good people here do
not always like them, I think. But I never saw a missionaryor his
wife.'
'Perhaps you did not look in the right place. You make your list,
and I will get mine. We might send off a couple of hundred boxes,
and put fifty dollars' worth of comfort in each. These things will all
find a place somewhere.'
'Fifty dollars!' said Hazel opening her eyes. 'My dear friend, have
you any idea how much one dress costs? Fifty dollars will not do
much for two people.'
'I will shew you what can be done with fifty dollars. And give you
your second lesson in economy. Where did you get that name for
me?'
'Picked it up, one day when you ceased to be an enemy.'
'In some place where worn-out were lying about. Worn-out things
are shabby.'
Hazel drew a protesting breath. 'There is nothing shabby or worn-
out about it! It is entirely new,spick and span. Please, is my next
lesson to go deeper than Prim's trunk, and take off _all_ the globe
buttons?'
'For people who have no gloves, Hazel?'
Hazel looked startled for a minute, but then she looked
incredulous.
'Go and find out all about it,' she said; 'and then we shall know
what to do. I am talking of _clergymen's wives_.'
Dane left that point uncombated. The next evening he came in
with his hands full of pamphlets. And after dinner, when the room
was clear, and the gas burners lighted up the warm, luxurious
comfort and seclusion, glowing and rich, around them, Dane took
his papers and sat down by Wych Hazel's side.
'I have found out several things about your clergymen's wives,' he
began. 'Here, as you see, is a bundle of Reports. They concern
certain funds of relief, established in various churches, for the help
of disabled or superannuated ministers and their families. And,
without going into details,there are hundreds of such cases.
Some of them are sick and old ministers, worn out in the service;
others are widows of such men; others again, orphan families,
whose mother and father are both gone. I have been told of the sort
of destitution that is found among them. What do you think of a
delicate child, for whom a bit of flannel could not be afforded?
What do you think of a family of women and girls getting their
own firing out of the woods, cutting it and backing it home, and
that by the year together? What do you think of an old minister
supported by the handiwork of an infirm and herself not young
daughter? And I could tell you of living without books, without
paper for writing, in want of calico for dresses, and muslin for
underclothing, without pocket-handkerchiefs, without yarn to knit
stockings or a penny to buy any, living on the coarsest food And
I am talking of _clergymen's wives_, Hazel.'
Hazel looked up at him with wide-open eyes while he spoke, then
down at herself, taking a sort of inventory of her own belongings.
What stores of embroidery and lace were there, even hidden away
and out of sight! And what sort of relation did these costly silken
folds bear to those needed calicoes? _Her_ note-paper was
monogrammed and edged to double its first cost;that shawl,
tossed carelessly on a chair, would have clothed in flannel a whole
hospital of sick children. Point by point she went over it all past
the thirty dollar buckle at her belt down toI dare not say how
many dollars' worth of shoes that covered the little feet.
And these people were life-long workers for goodor children of
such men and women, who had hazarded their lives for the Lord
Jesus,and she, an idler all her life! Hazel put her head down in
her hands, and answered not a word.
Dane waited awhile; then he ventured a gentle query.
'I cannot bear myself!' Hazel broke out. 'I feel as if I had been
stealing, and defrauding, and embezzling, and every other
dishonest word in the dictionary! O do you think the cry of _such_
labourers has been going up against me, all my life?'
'What shall we put in our boxes?' said Dane smiling.
Hazel caught up a bit of paper and ran off a list long enough to call
for good packing,then she stopped suddenly.
'Olafwe cannot send in the dark. One man may have ten
children, and another may have no wife. And people in Florida
don't want thick shawls, and Oregon can do without thin muslins.'
'We will pack every box according to its destination. Let me hear
your list.'
'Well,' said Hazel, folding her hands and gazing into the fire, 'let's
begin with an imaginary family. People rather old, five children,
and one of them delicate. And suppose they want a general
outfit,a great piece of white cotton, and plenty of flannel; and I
have seen Mrs. Bywank dispense ready-made felt shirts.'
'All right so far. Go on.'
'Then there must be dresses, of course; and one specially nice for
the minister's wife. And a shawl. For her, I mean. The delicate
child must have a soft quilted jacket, and bright-coloured warm
wrapper, for days when she wants to lie on the sofa.'
But here Dane caught his wife in his arms and between laughing
and kisses informed her that she was playing her "Rolle" of fairy
again and getting impracticable.
'There is no sofa to lie on, in many of these houses, Hazel,' he went
on more gravely. 'And it is better that we should send an essential
supply to many, than to a few all they might want. Keep to
essentials in the main. Now go on.'
'But Olaf!_those_ things not essentials? Then you will rule out
collars and cuffs and gloves and neck-ties? What _are_ essentials? I
do not believe I know.'
'All these, I should say. But even you and I cannot do everything.
The quilted jacket and crimson wrapper, however desirable, must
yield in importance to some other things. Is your list done?
Because I have some items to suggest.'
'I see,' Hazel answered gravely. 'Until everybody learns that the
workman is worthy of his meat, they must live according to the old
description"Be shod with sandals, and not put on two coats."
But Olafhow can the missionary go all about in the snow if he
has but one? And mayn't I send the sick child some delicate things
to eat? And if they have no money, how can they get books?and
papers?andeverything else!" she added, looking round the
room in bewilderment.
'The coat by all means; and the delicacies for those who are feeble.
Books can be sent by mail more conveniently, and more
intelligently when we come to know what is most wanted. But a
few might go in the boxes too; and some of them picture books.
Go on. What next?'
'House linen wears out here,' said Wych Hazel. 'Towels and
tablecloths and sheets. If we knew the names, we could have them
all marked ready,and so with handkerchiefs.'
'If we try to furnish the people and the houses too, we shall have
too much on our hands. These are not the only people in the world
to be helped. Suppose we keep to personalities, for this set of
boxes.'
'I think you must finish the list,' Hazel said after a pause. 'I believe
I count everything "essential" that I have always had. I do not
know how to choose, for people who always do without.'
'Your list is capital, so far. What do you think of a package of tea,
for another item? Chocolate perhaps, and cocoa. Letter paper, and
pens and pencils. A few pocket-knives, and fish hooks; perhaps
some pairs of scissors would not come amiss. Also toilet articles,
which on the frontiers and in the wilds are hard to get. Hey?'
'There is no end to the things,' said Hazel, facing round. 'But Olaf,
in getting them, you would not strike off _all_ good books, to keep to
mere good quality? I should think their eyes must ache to see
pretty things!'
Rollo smiled, making notes on a sheet of paper. 'I believe in the
uses of beauty,' he said. 'Let everything be as pretty as possible. I
leave the charge of that to you. You must go to Stewart's and order
muslin, calico, flannel, ribbands, and everything in that line. I will
take care of the hardware and groceries. Order the things sent here.
I will make arrangements for the reception of them, and Byrom
shall get us a store of packing-boxes and marking ink.'
'And Olaf,' said Hazel eagerly, 'when you have filled the box with
essentials, will you let me put "non"-s in all the vacant space?'
For the gratification of those of our readers who would like to
know how these young people spent the evenings of the remainder
of their honeymoon, a few words more may be added. Dane
secured a small room which could be devoted to receiving stores.
Here day by day Byrom piled stacks of drygoods as they came in;
packages of tea and spices, corn starch and arrowroot, and the like;
heaps of books and paper; and thither he carried all the
heterogeneous articles which had been sent home during that
eccentric New Year's expedition. Here also he provided a store of
packing-boxes, of varying dimensions, with hammer and nails and
marking-ink; much speculating to himself on the peculiarities of
the service in which he found himself. It is true, Byrom had been
now some time with Rollo, and had, as the latter said, got used to
him. He was an English servant, trained and steady as a mill,
eminently respectable, and head groom now at Chickaree.
These things being provided, as soon as dinner was done every
day, Mr. and Mrs. Rollo repaired to this room of supplies. Here
they amused themselves with packing the boxes. It is quick work,
reader, if you have plenty of materials to choose from. To help in
the selection and secure the better fitness of assortment, Rollo had
had a sort of circular letter copied and sent to several hundred of
the addresses with which he had been furnished. This circular
requested details as to the circumstances and special wants of the
family. The answers were directed to be sent to Hazel; to whom,
by the way, the reading and arranging of such answers when they
began to come in, furnished occupation for not a small part of her
mornings.
With half a dozen of the most pressing of these in hand, Rollo and
Hazel went to the packing room; and taking one for their guide in
each instance, threw into the box one after another the articles that
seemed specially called for. Ah, how pleasant it was! It was like
personal contact with the weak and the weary, giving a touch of
comfort and help each time. Hazel had learned the use of the cheap
calico counter, which once had excited her wonder and incredulity;
she chose the prettiest patterns she could, but even she was fain to
see that it was better to give prints or mohairs to a great many who
wanted them, than a silk gown to one here and there who perhaps
could rarely wear it if she had it. In like manner, flannel was to be
preferred to lace; also it became evident that at the rate they were
filling and sending boxes, economy was a very necessary thing;
meaning by economy, the most useful expenditure of money. Let
nobody think, however, that there went nothing but bare
necessaries into those boxes. Ribbands and collars and cuffs and
ruffles and shawls were scattered in with a free hand. Choice
books went into corners. Sometimes slates and maps. Pictures and
pencils, pens and writing paper; magazines and illustrated new
prints. And sugarplums stole in here and there, and even dolls and
tops and pocket knives and balls and jackstraws. Fishing lines and
hooks also. Sometimes an engraving, not costly, but lovely where
there is an utter dearth of all objects of art whatever. The
entertainment and delight of filling those boxes is something quite
beyond my pen to tell. Hazel and Rollo often worked the whole
evening at it; for the list of names was long. Not two hundred, but
four hundred boxes that month were filled and sent; and there went
more than fifty dollars' worth into every one; oftener it was eighty.