A FATHER'S LAST WORDS.
The winter had now set in with threatenings of severity. Already the
mountain and valley round about the farm were covered with deep snow.
The weakness which old James had been feeling for some time now
culminated in a severe illness. Obtaining her father's consent, Mary
asked a physician from a neighbouring village to visit him. The doctor
came to see James and prescribed for him. Full of foreboding, Mary
followed him to the door to ask him if he had any hope of her father's
recovery. To this the physician replied that the old man was in no
immediate danger, but that he suffered from a disease which would make
his recovery as an old man very improbable. It was with difficulty that
Mary bore up under the news, and, after the physician had gone, she had
a fit of passionate sobbing. For the sake of her father, however, she
wiped away her tears, and endeavoured to appear calm before she went to
him.
During the succeeding days Mary attended her father with the utmost
devotion and loving care. Rarely had he to make his requests known, for
his daughter could read in his eyes all that he wanted. Mary spent
whole nights by his bedside. If at any time she consented to be
relieved for a little rest, it was but rarely that she could close her
eyes. If her father coughed, she trembled with apprehension; if he made
the least stir, she immediately approached him softly and on tiptoe to
know how he was. She prepared and brought to him in the most delicate
forms the food which best suited his condition. She arranged his
pillows from time to time, read to him, and prayed for him continually.
Even when he dozed for a little she would stand by his bed with her
hands clasped and her tearful eyes raised to heaven.
Mary had a little money which she had saved from her hard-won earnings.
To scrape together this small sum she had often spent half the night in
sewing and knitting articles for sale. Now, in her father's illness,
she made use of this little store to procure for him everything which
she thought would be of any service. Good old James, although
occasionally he felt himself a little stronger, was never deceived
about his condition, but felt only too sure that he was on his
deathbed. The thought had no power to disturb him, and he spoke to his
daughter of his approaching death with the greatest serenity.
"Oh," said Mary, crying bitterly, "do not speak thus, my dear father. I
cannot bear the thought. What will become of me? Alas, your poor Mary
will no longer have any one upon the earth!"
"Do not cry, my dear child," said her father affectionately, holding
out his hand to her. "You have a kind Father in heaven who will never
forsake you, although your earthly father be taken away from you. I do
not feel anxious about the manner in which you will gain a livelihood
when I am dead, for the birds easily find their food, and you will find
enough to nourish you. God provides for the smallest sparrow; will He
not also provide for you? The thought that distresses me," he
continued, "is that you will be left alone. Alas, my dear child, you
have little idea of the wickedness that is in the world! There will be
moments perhaps when you will feel inclined to do evil; moments when
you will perhaps yourself be persuaded that sin is not so very wrong.
Listen to the advice which I now give you, and let the last words of
your dying father be for ever deeply impressed on your heart. Forbid
every action, every speech, every thought for which you would have to
blush if your father knew. Soon my eyes will be for ever closed, I
shall not longer be here to watch over you, but remember you have in
heaven a Father whose eye sees everything and reads the secrets of your
heart."
After a little while, when he had recovered breath, he continued: "You
would not wish by an act of disobedience to hurt the father whom you
have on earth; how much more then should you fear to offend your Father
which is in heaven? Look at me once more, Mary. Oh, if you ever feel
the least inclination to do wrong, think of my pale face and of the
tears which wet these sunken cheeks. Come to me, put your hand into
mine which will soon fall into dust. Promise me never to forget my
words. In the hour of temptation, imagine that you feel this cold hand
which you now hold on the border of the grave. My poor child, you
cannot see without weeping, my pale and hollow cheeks. But know that
everything passes away in this world. There was a time when I had the
bloom of health and the fresh colour which you now have. The time will
come when you too will be stretched on the bed of death, pale and
emaciated, as you now see me, if God does not sooner take you to
Himself. The friends of my youth have disappeared like the flowers
which have passed away with the spring, and for whose places you seek
in vain, like the dew which sparkles for a moment on the flowers and is
gone."
The next day James, feeling that his end was near, felt it his duty and
delight, though weak in body, to continue his advice to his daughter.
"I have seen the world," said he, "as well as other people, in the day
when I accompanied the young Count on his travels. If there was
anything in the large cities superb or magnificent, I went there. I
spent whole weeks in pleasure. If there was a brilliant assembly or a
lively conversation, I saw and heard as well as my young master. I
shared in the most exquisite meals, and of the scarcest wines, and
always had more than I wished for. But all these worldly pleasures left
me with an empty heart. I assure you solemnly, my dear Mary, that a few
moments of peaceful thought and fervent prayer in our arbour in
Eichbourg, or under this roof that covers us now, gave me more real joy
than all the vain pleasures of the world. Seek then your happiness in a
life of service of our blessed Saviour. You will find Him and He will
bless you.
"Too well you know, my child, that I have not been without misfortune
in this life. When I lost your dear mother my heart was for a long time
like a dry and barren garden, whose soil, burned by the sun, cracks
open, and seems to sigh for rain. In this way I languished, thirsting
for consolation, and at last I found it in the Lord. Oh, my dear
daughter, there will be days in your life when your heart also will be
like dry and barren ground; but let it not dishearten you. As the
thirsty ground calls not for rain in vain, but God sends the refreshing
showers, so if you seek your consolation from God, He will refresh your
heart as the sweet rain refreshes the thirsty parched earth. Let your
confidence in your heavenly Father be unshaken. Firmly believe that
there is nothing He will not do for those He loves. Sometimes He may
lead us by paths of grief, but be sure that these paths lead to
unmingled happiness. Do you recollect, my good Mary, all the grief you
felt when, after our painful walk, I fell down with fatigue in the
middle of the road? Now you can see that this accident was the means
which God made use of to procure for us the comforts which we have
enjoyed for three years with the good people of this house. Had I not
taken ill that day then we should not have come before their door, or
their hearts would not have been touched with compassion for us. All
the pleasures which we have enjoyed here, all the good which we may
have been enabled to do, are so many benefits which sprang from the
sickness which at first so sorely distressed you.
"But you will always find, my dear Mary, that in the troubles of life
there are proofs of the Divine goodness, to those who will look for
them. If the liberal hand of the Lord has scattered with flowers the
mountains and valleys, forests and river-banks, and even the muddy
marshes, to give us everywhere the opportunity of admiring the
tenderness and beauty of nature, He has also imprinted on all the
events of our life the evident traces of His great wisdom, and all His
passionate love to man in order that the attentive man may learn by
them to love and adore Him.
"In all our life, we have never had to suffer more than when you were
accused of a theft, when you were chained and likely to be doomed to
death. We were weeping together in prison and lamenting our affliction.
Well, even this trial has been a source of great good to us. Looking
back upon it we can see that, when the young Countess favoured you
above other young girls, honoured you by admitting you to her company,
made you a present of a beautiful gown, and expressed a wish that you
should always be near her, there was a danger that these great
advantages of life would render you vain and trifling, fond of the
things of this world, and apt to forget God. Doubtless the Lord
consulted our highest interests when He changed our condition, and
banished us from happiness into despair. In the misery of our state, in
prison and in poverty of circumstances, we have been enabled to live
nearer to Him. He has brought us far from the corrupt influences of
large towns into this lonely country where He has prepared for us a
better home. Here you are like a flower flourishing in solitude, where,
if it has not the admiration of man, it has nothing to fear from his
hand.
"The good and faithful God who has done all these things for us will
give a still more happy turn to your life. For I firmly believe that He
has answered my prayer, that He will one day show to the world your
innocence. When that time shall come I shall be no more, but I can die
in peace without seeing it, for I am convinced of your innocence. Yes,
my daughter, the pain which you have suffered will yet be the means of
leading you to much happiness on earth, though this kind of happiness
is the least, and you will see that God's great design in afflicting us
was to sanctify our hearts, and to prepare us for that home to which we
can arrive only through tribulation and suffering.
"Believing this, let not your heart be troubled that you are in
misfortune. Believe firmly that God's tenderness watches over you, that
His care will be sufficient for you in whatever place He chooses to
take you. In whatever painful situation you may be placed, say, 'It is
the best place for me. Notwithstanding all that, I am safe, for He has
brought me here.'"