THE CURTAINS
"THE girls will have plenty to do in making the curtains for the
Tabernacle itself," observed Lucius, who, while his mother and sisters
had been conversing, had been engaged in looking over the description
in the book of Exodus. "Why, there are four distinct sets of curtains!
First, the undermost, ten curtains of fine-twined linen, with blue,
and purple, and scarlet, and cherubims of cunning—that must mean
skilful—work upon them!"
"How splendid that must be!" exclaimed Elsie.
"Then a covering of goats' hair curtains above these fine embroidered
ones," continued Lucius; "then a third of rams' skins dyed red; and
then, to complete the whole, a covering of badgers' skin curtains the
outermost of all."
The four young workwomen were somewhat startled at the difficulties
which their brother's words had raised.
Dora gave a voice to the thoughts of her sisters when she said, with a
look of disappointment, "It will be hard to get rams' skins dyed red,
but I do not know where goats' hair can be bought in England; and as
for badgers' skins, I am afraid that it will be quite impossible even
for mamma to find such a thing, unless it be in the British Museum."
"So we must give up making the Tabernacle," said Amy, with a sigh.
"Nay, nay," cried their smiling mother, "we must not be so readily
discouraged. Learned men tell us that the Hebrew word translated into
'badgers' skins' in our Bible is one of uncertain meaning which some
think denotes a blue colour, and which, if intended for a skin at all,
is not likely to have been that of a badger. Blue merino for the outer
covering, red Turkey cloth instead of rams' skins, and mohair curtains
instead of goats' hair, will do, I think, for our model; as well as
the pasteboard, wire, and gold and silver thread, which must represent
metal and wood."
"Yes," said Lucius quickly, "they will do a great deal better than the
real materials; for if we could manage to get rams' skins or badgers'
skins to cut up, such curtains would be a great deal too thick and
heavy for a little model like ours. Why, our tabernacle will be only
fifteen inches long by five inches in breadth."
All the grave little faces brightened up with smiles at this way of
getting over what had seemed a very great difficulty.
Elsie looked especially pleased. Pressing close to her mother, and
laying her little hand on Mrs. Temple's arm in a coaxing way, she
cried, "Oh, mamma, don't you think that I could make one set of the
curtains? You know that I can hem and run a seam, and don't make 'very'
large stitches. Might I not try, dear mamma? I should like to help to
make the Tabernacle."
It would have been difficult to the mother to have resisted that
pleading little face, even had Elsie made a less reasonable request.
"I cannot see why these little fingers should not manage the red Turkey
cloth which will stand for the rams' skins," replied Mrs. Temple,
stroking the hand of her child; "the outermost covering of all will, of
course, need finer stitching, and one of the twins will take that and
the mohair besides. To make both these sets of curtains will take far
less time, and require less skill than must be given to the embroidery
on linen in blue, scarlet, and purple, which will adorn the inner walls
and ceilings of our model."
"Do, do let me have the embroidery, it is just the work which I delight
in," cried Dora; and she might have added, "excel in," for she was
remarkably clever in making things requiring fancy and skill.
Agnes, her twin, flushed very red, not merely from the straining of the
cough which had frequently distressed her, but from jealous emotion.
Agnes had not a lowly heart, and in her heart, angry feelings were
rising at her sister's asking that the finest and most ornamental
portion of the work should be given to her.
"Of course mamma will not let you have the beautiful embroidery to
do, Dora, and leave the plain mohair and merino to me, her 'eldest'
daughter!" exclaimed Agnes, laying a proud stress on the word 'eldest,'
though there was but an hour's difference between the ages of the twins.
"Why, Agnes, what nonsense that is!" cried Lucius bluntly. "You know
as well as I do that your clumsy fingers can't so much as hem a silk
handkerchief neatly, and how would they manage embroidery in purple,
scarlet, and blue? Your bad work would spoil the whole thing."
"Don't you meddle; you don't know anything about work!" exclaimed
Agnes, in a loud, angry tone, which brought on another severe fit of
coughing and whooping.
Mrs. Temple was grieved at the ill-temper shown by her eldest daughter,
and all the more so as Agnes was in so suffering a state as to make it
difficult for her mother to reprove her as she would have done had she
been in health.
Their mother had to wait for some time before the cough was quieted
enough for her gentle voice to be heard, though Amy had quickly brought
a glass of water to help in stopping the cough. When Agnes could
breathe freely again, their mother thus addressed her children:—
"I should be vexed indeed, my dears, if what I proposed as a pleasant
and profitable occupation for you all should become a cause of strife,
an occasion for foolish pride and contention. The tabernacle was in
itself a holy thing, made so by the special appointment and presence
of the Lord; I would wish the making of its model to be a kind of holy
employment, one never to be marred by jealousy and pride.
"The profits of your labour, if there be any, you mean to devote to
helping the poor; therefore I hope that we may consider the work as an
offering to the Lord—a very small offering, it is true, but still one
which He may deign to accept, if it be made in a lowly, loving spirit;
but if selfish, worldly feelings creep in, then good works themselves
become evil. The Israelites were expressly forbidden to offer any
creature in which there was a blemish or fault, and our offerings are
certainly blemished and spoilt if we mix with them jealousy and pride."
Agnes bit her lip and knitted her brow. She was not without both good
sense and good feeling, but she had not yet obtained the mastery over
her jealous temper.
"I do not see why Dora should be favoured above me," she murmured.
"Dora is not favoured above you," replied her mother gravely. "The
simple state of the case is this—different talents are given to
different persons. You have a good memory, Dora has a skilful hand.
Were the work in question to be the repeating of a chapter by heart,
Dora would never expect to be the one chosen to repeat it. Why should
pride make you refuse to own that there are some things in which a
younger sister may excel you?"
Agnes hesitated, and glanced at her mother. The girl's brow was a
little clouded still, and yet there were signs that her pride was
giving way.
"I leave the decision to your own good sense and feeling, my dear,"
said Mrs. Temple. "Judge yourself whether, if your desire be to make a
really beautiful model worthy of the good object to which we devote it,
it would be better to place the embroidery part in Dora's hands or your
own."
"Let Dora do it," said Agnes, with a little effort, her eyes filling
with tears; for it was hard to her, as it is to most of us, to wrestle
down struggling pride.
Mrs. Temple smiled lovingly upon her daughter. "One of the most
precious lessons which we can learn," she said, "is, in obedience to
the command of our Lord, to be willing to be last of all, and servant
of all. The sacrifice of our pride and self-will is more pleasing to
our God than the most costly gifts can be.
"It is worthy of notice, children, that it was not the outer covering
of the Tabernacle, that part which would be seen from every quarter
of Israel's camp, that was most beauteous and precious. The richest
curtains were those seen far less often, those that had the lowest
place in the building. So our Heavenly Father cares far more for what
is 'within' than for what is 'without,' and there is no ornament so
fair in His eyes as that of a meek and quiet spirit."
"I do not think that the Tabernacle was a grand building, after all,"
observed Lucius, "though there is so much written about it in the
Bible. Why, it was only about forty-five feet by fifteen—not so large
as the chapel at the end of the town, and not for one moment to be
compared to the cathedral which we went to see last summer."
"There is one thing which you perhaps overlook," said his mother; "when
the Tabernacle was raised, the Israelites were a nation of wanderers,
and had no fixed habitation. Their Tabernacle was a large, magnificent
tent, made to be carried about from place to place by the Levites.
Every portion of it was so contrived as to be readily taken to pieces,
and then put together again. This could not have been done with a
building of very great size."
"Nobody could carry about the great cathedral, or even the little
chapel!" cried Elsie. "But they were never meant to be moved, they are
fixed quite firm in the ground."
"The size of the Tabernacle was indeed not great," continued Mrs.
Temple; "but, besides its being filled with a glory which is never
beheld now in any building raised by man, the treasures lavished on
it must have given to it a very splendid appearance. It has been
calculated that the gold and silver used in making the Tabernacle must
alone have amounted in value to the enormous sum of £185,000!"
Exclamations of surprise were uttered, and Dora remarked, "Why, that
would be enough to pay for the building of forty large churches as
handsome as the new one which we all admire so much."