GEORGE AT WORK.
LONG after the younger children had gone to bed, husband and wife sat
talking over the new trial which had fallen upon them. George had gone
up to the school to tell the master of his engagement by Mr. Day, and
little Janet sat at the table as quiet as a mouse, darning stockings.
Mrs. Horbrook spoke hopefully, although her heart was very sad.
"When you first came in and told me all sudden like about having to go
away, I felt so taken aback; it all seemed so blank, so dreary, and
then our little George spoke out so manfully. He little knows the good
his words did me. And now, John, I seem as if I could look it all in
the face, and trust in God that it will all be for our good."
"Well said, Susie," replied her husband; "and Dr. Bertram will be kind
to you whilst I am away, and he has promised to give me a letter to one
of the head surgeons who is a friend."
"And who knows but that in London you may chance to hear something of
poor Tom?"
"May be so, wife, though they say London is a large place,—a mighty
large place."
Neither John nor his wife had ever been out of the Isle of Wight, and
would have had considerable difficulty in realizing the fact that
London contains sixty times as many people as there are in the "whole"
of the isle of Wight! Yet such is the fact, so there seemed but little
prospect of John Horbrook coming across his son Tom.
Tom Horbrook had had every chance of doing well in life. He was a
quick boy, and his parents had been able by strict economy to pay
for his being taught a trade. But, unfortunately, Tom was fond of
mixing with the wild and unsteady lads of the town; every town has its
good-for-nothing portion of the population, and Northcliffe had its
share. Over and over again did Tom's parents warn him of the ruin he
was bringing on himself. At length, some money was missing from his
master's counting-house, and grave suspicions fell upon Tom Horbrook.
He disappeared suddenly from Northcliffe, and from that day no one had
ever heard of or from him.
"If he had but written me one line!" his mother would exclaim, in the
bitterness of her sorrow.
Two years had passed away since he left Northcliffe, and most people
thought Tom Horbrook had met with some sudden death. Not so his mother,
she clung to the conviction that "Tom would write some day." And every
night the little ones prayed for their lost brother Tom; whilst Janet,
in the quiet of her tiny room which she shared with her two younger
sisters, never failed to ask God to "make Tom write to poor mother."
And so matters stood when Mrs. Horbrook spoke of the chance of her
husband meeting with his son in the far-off city of London.
When George returned home, he was accompanied by Mr. Gilbert, the
schoolmaster.
"I hope I'm not intruding by coming so late," he said, as Mrs. Horbrook
rose to get him a chair. "But George was telling me about your trouble,
and I came round to see if I could be of any use to you."
"It is very good of you, Mr. Gilbert, I'm sure," answered John
Horbrook. "It was a great shock to my wife and me just at first, but I
think we see matters a little differently now; not but what it 'is' a
trial, however we may try to make the best of it."
"There's no doubt about that," said the schoolmaster; "but, like many
other trials, it may prove to be a blessing, that is, if used rightly."
"We were talking about that very thing before you came in," said Mrs.
Horbrook. "But if the worst should happen," she continued, and her
voice "would" tremble in spite of all her efforts to steady it, "what
could John do if he returned home a—"
She could not bring herself to say the word "cripple," but Mr. Gilbert
understood what she meant.
"It was just on that very point I wished to speak to your husband, Mrs.
Horbrook. It is the part of a Christian man to look troubles in the
face. If your husband should lose the use of his legs, he has still his
hands to fall back upon. And George showed me only last week a pair of
boots which he said his father had mended for him."
"John can do anything with his hands," said his wife proudly.
"Then let him take heart, and be assured that if God in His wisdom sees
fit to close up one path of life to him, He will open another. There is
plenty of work here for shoemakers and shoe-menders. And I will speak
to my brother when your husband returns, and I know he will give him
employment."
"I know something of shoemaking," said John Horbrook, "for when I was a
boy, my father bound me to a shoemaker. But I was not a strong lad, and
so much sitting did not agree with me. And after working at my trade
for more than a year, I was obliged to give it up, and seek out-door
employment."
"All right, Horbrook, see if you don't turn out a first-rate shoemaker,
if occasion requires it of you. And how about George? It seems a pity
that he should lose what knowledge he has gained; and we all know how
soon anything forgotten that we make no use of. I have been telling
him, therefore, that whenever he has a spare hour in the evening, and
likes to come round to my house, I shall be pleased to give him a
little help. In that way, we can manage so that at all events, he shall
not forget what he has already learned; and he may add something to his
stock of knowledge. No man can rise nowadays without some education.
Nay, no thanks, Mrs. Horbrook, I am only doing as I would be done by."
"Mr. Gilbert has promised to teach me a little drawing, father," said
George,—"the very thing I always longed for so very much!"
"It will be useful to him in his trade," replied the schoolmaster. "I
saw a little sketch he made on a slate one day of some flowers one of
the children had brought to school. Now a mason, with anything like
a taste for drawing, will soon rise in the world. It was only this
afternoon I was speaking to one of the stonemasons who are working at
the new church. He was carving a group of flowers for the top of one of
the pillars; and he told me that he can earn with ease seven or eight
shillings a day."
"If 'I' should ever be able to do that!" cried George.
"There is no reason why you should not some of these days. Meanwhile,
accustom yourself to sketch from nature—a leaf, a fern, a flower, you
are surrounded by such things here. And the habit of copying nature
will help you materially. No matter how roughly the thing is done; a
bit of common chalk will serve you as well as a pencil. But I must now
bid you good night; and if I can help you in any way, be sure and let
me know."
As he spoke, he shook John Horbrook warmly by the hand.
And when he left the cottage, George and his parents sat for some time
talking over the kind and hopeful words which had done them so much
good.
George was up with the lark the next morning, and whistled as he went
off to work.
Very few of the men had arrived when he reached the building. But the
foreman was already there, and told George he was glad to see him come
in good time, and that he hoped he would continue to do so.
A lad about two years older than George whispered to one of the
men something about "new brooms sweeping clean," and looked at the
new-comer with no very friendly glance. George took no notice, however,
and was soon busy filling a hod with mortar, and carrying it up a
ladder to one of the masons. This man, upon whom George was to wait,
was a steady, industrious workman; and Mr. Day had told the foreman
that he wished George to be under him.
"I'm glad to see Mr. Day has taken you on, Horbrook," he said; "and I
hope you will do well for your father's sake. We have trouble with boys
sometimes; they are apt to answer impertinently, and one cannot expect
that the men will put up with that."
George worked well that day. The man upon whom he waited had never once
to tell him to make haste with the mortar. And although, long before
the day's work was over, George felt his shoulder becoming painful, he
kept to his work as if nothing were the matter.
Matthew Hale said he had never had a better boy to wait on him; and
George's eyes shone with pleasure, for Matthew was a man of few words,
and not given to praise.
Larkins, the boy who had sneered at George in the morning, overheard
what Matthew Hale said, and exclaimed, "So you are going to set up for
a pattern boy, are you?"
"I am only going to try and do my duty," answered George quietly.
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